Daily Gold Update

Source: Dana Samuelson, American Gold Exchange

Austin, TX— After an explosive week higher, precious metals held their gains for the week and finished the New York trading session almost unchanged from yesterdays closes. December gold ended the New York session at $1,672.90 up $0.10 from yesterday�s close. It traded in a narrow $9.40 range between $1,665.80 and $1,675.20 with modest volatility. September silver gained $0.16, closing the New York session at $30.62, up 0.50% from yesterday. In yesterday�s update we noted that silver was the only precious metal that had not yet closed over its 200-day moving average. Today silver completed the precious metals sweep, closing above its 200-day moving average by a very modest $0.09. October platinum finished the session at $1,554.40, down $0.40 from yesterdays close of $1554.00. And September palladium closed the week at $651.28, down $6.11, or 1.0%. The U.S. dollar index closed up slightly at 81.49, up 0.07 from yesterday.

From last Friday�s New York close to today�s New York close gold gained $58.50, up 3.30%, silver gained $2.62, up 9.35%, platinum gained $81.30, up 5.5% and palladium gained $46.20, up 7.63%.

Helping to buoy precious metals prices today was the news that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke had written a letter dated Wednesday to Darrell Issa, the California Republican who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform committee. In the letter Mr. Bernanke wrote, �there is scope for further action by the Federal Reserve to ease financial conditions and strengthen the recovery.� Continuing on later in the letter, Mr. Bernanke also wrote, �the Committee will closely monitor incoming economic information on economic and financial market developments and will provide additional accommodation as needed to promote a stronger economic recovery and sustained improvement in the labor market conditions in a context of price stability.� These were Mr. Bernanke�s first public comments since the July 31 to August 1 FOMC monetary-policy meeting. Markets interpreted these comments as a mild reinforcement of the FOMC minutes released Wednesday, which revealed the Fed has been in active discussions over its options to further stimulate the U.S. economy should weak economic conditions necessitate such action.