By Barry Stuppler – MintStateGold.com
GOLD
Today the 17 Euro-Zone nation’s leaders committed to an inter-governmental treaty that will make tougher fiscal rules binding. The European leaders also added 200 billion euros to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and scaled back bondholder loss-sharing provisions in a bid to satisfy the European Central Bank. As a result of this agreement the world’s equity, commodities and currency markets calmed down. At 11am PDT, gold is up $4.10, trading at $1,715.90 per ounce on light weekend trading.
SILVER
This morning, based on the news coming out of the European leadership’s agreement, we saw demand of Silver coming from Asia and Europe. At 11am Silver was up $0.57, trading at $32.20 per ounce. Trading was light, which is normal for a Friday.
Other Important news that affects precious metal prices:
Chinese consumer inflation fell in November to 4.2 per cent from a year earlier, a steep decline from 5.5 per cent in October and well below the three year peak it reached in July. Other indicators also pointed to slowing growth in China: industrial production grew by 12.4 percent year-on- year, down from 13.2 percent in October.
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed by 1.6% in October to $43.5 billion, the Commerce Department said Friday. The deficit has narrowed for four straight months to the lowest monthly trade gap this year. Underlying the report was a sharp upward revision to the trade deficit in September to $44.2 billion from the initial estimate of $43.1 billion.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s preliminary reading on their overall index of consumer confidence climbed for a fourth straight month, to 67.7. This compared with 64.1 in November and a low of 55.7 back in August. The early December figure exceeded the 65.5 predicted by analysts recently polled by Reuters.
