Gold Holds Gains After April U.S. Consumer Confidence Index Rises
Editor's Note: Updating earlier story with more details from report.
(Kitco News) - Gold held onto its earliergains after a Conference Board report Tuesday showing that the U.S. consumerconfidence index rose to 128.7 in April from a revised 127.0 in March.
Consensus expectationsfrom most news organizations called for the confidence reading to be around 125.9to 126.1.
As of 10:22 a.m. EDT, Comex June gold was trading up by $7.70 for the day to $1,331.70 an ounce.Two minutes ahead of a pair of mid-morning reports - both stronger thanforecast -- on consumer confidence and the sales of new homes, the metal was at$1,330.10.
“Consumer confidence increased moderately inApril after a decline in March,” said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicatorsat The Conference Board. “Consumers’ assessment of current conditions improvedsomewhat, with consumers rating both business and labor market conditions quitefavorably.
“Consumers’ short-term expectations alsoimproved, with the percent of consumers expecting their incomes to decline overthe coming months reaching its lowest level since December 2000 (6%). Overall,confidence levels remain strong and suggest that the economy will continueexpanding at a solid pace in the months ahead.”
The present situation index increased from 158.1to 159.6, while the expectations index improved from 106.2 last month to 108.1this month, according to the report.
While higher, the headline confidence index wasslightly below its previous peak, pointed out AndrewGrantham of CIBC.
“The main disappointment in last month'sconfidence report was the weakness in intentions to make major purchases, butall of those rebounded this month and actually more than corrected for theprevious decline,” he said.
“The strong data won't be enough to alterexpectations that GDP [gross-domestic-product] growth decelerated in Q1;however, they are further indicators that the economy appears to have picked upsteam in the spring and Q2 should show stronger growth again.”
By Allen SykoraFor Kitco News
Follow @AllenSykora
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