Gold Reaches Two-Month High As Dollar Fails To Mount Comeback

By IBTimes Staff Reporter | August 04 2009 3:59 PM

RTTNews - Gold rallied to a two-month high near $970 on Tuesday as the dollar failed to stage a rebound against the euro. August gold closed at $957.50 per ounce, up $10.90 for the session. Prices touched as high as $969.50 earlier in the day.

Sponsorship Link

The dollar stabilized against the euro after touching an eight-month low of 1.4444 yesterday. The buck also settled into a range against the pound near a 9 1/2-month low.

In economic news, a Commerce Department report showed that personal spending rose 0.4% in June following a revised 0.1% increase in May. Economists had been expecting spending to increase by 0.3% compared to the 0.3% increase originally reported for the previous month.

At the same time, the Commerce Department said that personal income fell by 1.3% in June after increasing by a revised 1.3% in the previous month. The decrease compares to economist estimates of a 1% decline.

Later, the National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index jumped 3.6 percent to 94.6 in June from an upwardly revised reading of 91.3 in May. Economists had been expecting a much more modest increase by the index of about 0.7 percent.

ADP employment data is due at 8:15 a.m. ET, kicking off a string of key jobs data this week. A decline of 340,000 jobs is expected for July, compared to a drop of 473,000 last month.

Factory orders data are expected at 10 a.m. ET. A rise of 0.5% is expected for June, compared to 1.2% in May.

At the same time, the ISM services index for July is due. A reading of 48.0 is forecast, compared to a 48.8 in June.

Yesterday, gold for August delivery rose to $956.60 per ounce, up $2.90 for the day.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com