Gold closed up on Wednesday in U.S. trading, marking its third straight day of gains. Bullion for December delivery finished at $771, up $5.40 on the session. The rise has taken gold away from the 10-day low it reached on Monday. The price of gold gained as the U.S. dollar continued to edge lower against the euro. Bullion usually moves opposite the dollar because of the precious metal's hedge value. Gold added $2.50 on Wednesday and was up $3.10 on Tuesday. Overall, the metal has been trending higher since the middle of August. In economic news on Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended October 20, showing that weekly jobless claims fell much less than economists had been expecting. The report showed that jobless claims fell to 331,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 339,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 320,000 from the 337,000 originally reported for the previous week. Meanwhile, the Department of Commerce released its report on durable goods orders in the month of September on Thursday, showing that orders fell unexpectedly due largely to a steep drop in orders for defense aircraft and parts. The report showed that durable goods orders fell 1.7 percent in September following a revised 5.3 percent decrease in August. The decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had expected orders to rise 1.5 percent compared to the 4.9 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month. Later in the morning, the Department of Commerce released its report on new home sales in the month of September, showing that new home sales increased compared to a downwardly revised reading for the previous month. The report showed that new home sales rose 4.8 percent to an annual rate of 770,000 units in September from a revised August rate of 735,000 units. Despite the increase, however, new home sales were still down 23.3 percent compared to the same month last year.
October 25, 2007 2:52 PM