Gold prices continued to rise as the US unemployment rate rose to a 26-year high of 10.2%. Some experts believe that gold prices are nearing their peak and will begin to retract as speculative funds reduce their investments in gold. For more on this, see the following article from The Street.
Gold futures briefly broke $1,100 as investors fled to the safe haven asset after the worst U.S. unemployment number in 26 years.
Gold delivery for December was rising $9.40 to $1,098.70 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract has traded as low as $1,086 and as high as $1,100.
Silver prices were rising 14 cents to $17.5 and copper was unchanged at $2.96.
The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 10.2% from 9.8% in September pressuring markets and lifting gold's appeal as an alternative investment. "Uncertainly, a crisis situation, anything along those lines usually adds to the buying side of the gold side. Certainly those that have wealth to preserve...will certainly do so" says David Morgan, founder of Silver-Investor.com.
Speculative funds are primarily responsible for gold's bullish move, but it might not last. Once their buying dries up, the precious metal could see some downside. "It's like throwing a baseball into the air", says Morgan. "At some point it reaches the peak, the pinnacle and then it starts to retrace. Actually, I think we are pretty close to that....[also]sentiment is so strong for gold right now you can hardly find a bull anywhere and that's usually a sign that you are getting near a top."
Mining stocks, which can carry a 3 to 1 leverage to gold's spot price, were also rising. Barrick Gold(ABX Quote) was popping almost 3% to $41.61 while other big cap miner, Newmont Mining(NEM Quote) was up 4% to $49.05.
Shares of Yamana Gold(AUY Quote) were rising 2.63% to $12.07 after the company announced a fourth quarter dividend of .01 cents a share.
SPDR Gold Shares(GLD Quote) were rising slightly to $107.79.
This article has been republished from The Street. You can also view this article at The Street, an investment news and analysis site.
