Barely A Breeze

We'd like to be able to report strong winds blowing on the sails of gold today. Sadly, we can't.

After the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits for the week ending August 9 increased by 21,000 to 311,000 from the previous week's revised total of 290,000, for a 45-minute period beginning at roughly 8:30 this morning, gold prices spiked. Just as suddenly, they came flying back down.

Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by only 5,000 to 295,000 last week.

The range was a bit broader than it has been, skidding around from 1309 to 1321 and then back to the 1313 to 1314 area.

Profit takers stepped in at the 1321 price point and took their profits. 

There is another part to today's story, though. Despite the bump on the weekly jobless claims road, overall sentiment is positive about the U.S. economy. People are not so positive about europe, which has seen Spain recently overtaking Germany as the largest job creator and having a proportionately higher growth rate in GDP. But, those diametrically opposed stats are probably a blip.

But no one, anywhere wants to see or hear of Germany slowing down.

While many are still under the spell of China's great economic leap forward, we need to remember that the country is in the middle of a well-concealed slump due to bad credit. The general impression is that China can earn its way out of any economic challenge. Stop, in the name of money. All countries need and use credit to grow.

For the moment, it seems as if both the Ukraine situation and Iraq are stabilizing. That took some steam out of precious metals, too.

In a speech in Crimea, Vlad Putin said: "We will do everything in our power so that this conflict is ended as soon as possible, so that the blood can stop flowing in Ukraine.'' The Russian president observed somewhat cryptically: "We need to consolidate and mobilize but not for war or any kind of confrontation ... for hard work in the name of Russia."

We read that to mean that he wants to get out of the tightening headlock of western sanctions, either by easing tensions internationally, or using some of Russia's financial reserves to build up certain sectors that were shown to be vulnerable to outside pressure. Or both.

As always, wishing you good trading,