In trading at 4 o’clock in New York, gold is sitting at $1261 per ounce. It is pulling the rest of the precious metals complex up, although it appears that raging palladium would do quite well if it went solo.

Two reports of note were issued today. The first, and more complicated, is the Fed national Beige Book, which covers the (approximately) six weeks through February 22.

Markets were driven by our usual friend – crude oil, as well as by stronger-than-expected data from the U.S. economy.