METALS STOCKSGold rises amid growing economic concerns By Polya...

METALS STOCKS
Gold rises amid growing economic concerns

By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
Last Update: 9:42 AM ET Sep 14, 2007Print E-mail Subscribe to RSS Disable Live Quotes
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures rose sharply Friday, as data on U.S. retail sales came in below expectations and a British lender tapped the Bank of England for emergency funds reigniting concerns about economic weakness and credit-market woes.
Gold for December delivery rose $7.70, or 1%, at $725.60 an ounce on New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, the benchmark gold contract closed down $2.80 an ounce.
"The weakness in consumer spending patterns reinforces the rate-cut expectations for Tuesday," said Jon Nadler, analyst at Kitco Bullion Dealers, in a research note.
"That, coupled with the U.K. bank troubles, sent gold back to the plus column," he said.
Helping set the tone for metals trading, the Commerce Department said that U.S. retail sales increased a healthy 0.3% in August, but the data showed that all the gains came from cars and trucks. Excluding motor vehicles, sales fell a disappointing 0.4%, below expectations, marking the biggest decline since last September.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected total sales to rise 0.6%, with a 0.2% increase in sales excluding autos. See Economic Report.
On the currency markets, the dollar fell 0.1% against the euro and dropped 0.2% against Japan's yen. See

Currencies.
Further adding to worries, U.K. mortgage lender Northern Rock (UK:NRK: news, chart, profile) said Friday that it had to tap the Bank of England for emergency funding after the credit crunch left it struggling to raise financing, sending the stock down as much as 25% in morning trading in London. See full story.
Other metals prices traded mixed Friday on Nymex.
December silver gained 7 cents at $12.750 an ounce, October platinum rose $1 at $1,300.9 an ounce, December palladium dropped $3.65 at $332.95 an ounce and December copper lost 0.95 cent to $3.3870 a pound.

Inventories and indexes
Gold warehouse inventories were unchanged at 7 million troy ounces, according to Nymex data as of late Thursday. Silver supplies fell to 133.7 million troy ounces, down 81,279 million troy ounces as of late Wednesday, and copper supplies were flat at 20,518 short tons.
Indexes tracking mining and metals stocks rose Friday. The CBOE Gold Index (GOX:CBOE Gold Index
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Last: 160.05+1.65+1.04%

9:57am 09/14/2007

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GOX160.05, +1.65, +1.0%) gained 0.3% at 158.80 points and the Amex Gold Bugs Index (HUI:amex gold bugs index equal-$ weight
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Last: 369.69+4.28+1.17%

9:57am 09/14/2007

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HUI369.69, +4.28, +1.2%) rose 0.5% at 367.33 points. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index (XAU:phlx gold silver index capital-weight
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Last: 159.07+1.51+0.96%

9:57am 09/14/2007

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XAU159.07, +1.51, +1.0%) was flat at 157.56 points.
As for sector exchange-traded funds, the StreetTracks Gold Trust ETF (GLD:streetTRACKS Gold Shares ETF
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Last: 70.75+0.67+0.96%

9:37am 09/14/2007

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GLD70.75, +0.67, +1.0%) gained 1% at $70.77, the iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV:ishares silver trust ishares
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Last: 125.24+0.55+0.44%

9:37am 09/14/2007

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SLV125.24, +0.55, +0.4%) rose 1.2% at $126.16 and the Market Vectors-Gold Miners ETF (GDX:market vectors etf tr gold miner etf
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Last: 42.32+0.11+0.25%

9:37am 09/14/2007

GDX42.32, +0.11, +0.3%) gained 0.3% at $42.40.
Polya Lesova is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York.

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