Daily Gold Update

Source:Dana Samuelson, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Precious metals sold off today following the Labor department�s better than anticipated jobs report which buoyed prospects for the Fed to remain on track with future rate hikes. The dollar and stocks were buoyed as well. While gold, platinum and palladium were all pressured lower during the New York session, silver dropped disproportionally to a new 2017 low. During the New York session gold declined 1.2%, platinum fell 1% and palladium ebbed 0.1% lower. All metals rebounded modestly in electronic trading following the New York close, with gold finishing the trading week at $1,211.30, silver at $15.56, platinum at 906.50 and palladium at $835.60.

Today�s precious metals decline followed an unusual flash crash last night in silver during Japanese market trading. Silver plummeted almost 10% from just over $16.00 when 5,000 x 5,000-ounce contracts were suddenly �sold� ramming the price to a low of $14.34 before silver rebounded immediately back into the $15.90�s. Following the flash crash silver flatlined between $15.80 and $15.85 until the release of the jobs report this morning. Following the jobs report, however, silver fell from $15.85 as low as $15.33 during the New York session before closing at $15.37 for a 55-cent loss of 3.9%. Silver moved 19 cents higher in electronic trading to close the week at $15.56, a new low for 2017.

We are told by very reliable sources that all silver flash crash trades that were automatically filled last night below $15.54 and the flash crash low of $14.34 were revalued back up to $15.54 today by the Comex exchange. It appears that the flash crash was most likely set off by a trading error, and many computer stop loss and buy trades that were executed automatically under $15.54 would not have been executed otherwise, hence the revaluations per Comex rules.

The Labor department reported this morning the economy added 220,000 new jobs last month, more than analysts expected, while conversely the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.3% to 4.4%. More workers are being drawn back into the available labor pool causing the unemployment uptick. With wages rising only a modest 2.5% this June from a year ago, the labor market is still absorbing slack, helping to explain why wage growth and inflation remain low and below the usual gains at this late stage of an expansion despite the economy being at almost �full employment.� The U.S. dollar index gained a modest 0.2% to 96.02 on the better than expected jobs report.

At the Comex close: August gold fell $13.60 to $1,209.70; September silver plummeted 55 cents to $15.43; October platinum dropped $6.20, to $904.10; and September palladium gained $0.95 to $831.25 an ounce.