Gold Rebounds as Wall Street Slumps to 12-Year Low, Euro-Gold Price Hits New High

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

The Gold Price fell as much as $23.85 to $975.35 by the Wall Street opening on Monday, but it then stormed back – hitting $998.05 in late trade – as the major stock market indices slumped.

Gold Bullion closed near that high with a loss of 0.6% for US investors overall. The Gold Price in Euros touched a new record high above €779 an ounce.

Platinum lost $9 to $1072.50, while copper gained a couple of cents to $1.43. Silver dropped as much as 37¢ to $14.09 before it rallied and closed near its high, up 0.1% for the day.

Gold Mining and silver equities fell over 3% at the open before they rebounded to see slight gains midday. They then fell back off into the close and ended with roughly 2% losses.

There were no major economic reports in the United States, but rumors continued about possible bank nationalization and President Obama's plan to cut the US budget deficit in half in the next four years.

Tuesday at 09:00 EST brings the S&P/CaseShiller Home Price Index for December, expected down by 18%, plus Consumer Confidence for February – expected at 36.0 – at 10:00 EST, alongside Fed chairman Bernanke's Monetary Policy Report before Congress.

Crude oil fell back below $39 despite reports that the Opec oil cartel has cut back on production as worries over the global economy continue to keep demand low.

The US Dollar index and Treasury bonds rose slightly while the Dow and S&P fell over 3% to their lowest levels since 1997 on continued worries over the economy and the banking system.

The Nasdaq tech-stock index remained above its November 2008 closing low of 1316.12, but the S&P joined the Dow at new 12-year closing lows after it fell through its previous drop to 752.44.

So far, however, the S&P has not yet broken through its November 2008 intra-day, bottoming Monday at 742.37.