Gold, Silver Higher and Miners Surge on Fed Policy, U.S. Data

Gold and silver were sharply higher Thursday morning following yesterday’s release of the latest Federal Reserve Open Market Committee report, net positive reports on the U.S. economy and strong quarterly earnings from companies whose shares are key stock index components.

Spot gold was nearly 0.9% higher at 10:50 a.m., bid sharply higher at $1,725.80 with an ask price of $1,726.80. Spot gold traded as high as $1,732.60 and as low as $1,714.70. The London afternoon reference price fix came in at $1,627, a whopping $77 an ounce higher than Wednesday’s reference price, according to Kitco market data.

Spot silver was showing a gain of almost 0.5%, bid at $33.43 an ounce with an ask price of $33.53. The morning high as of time of writing was $33.92, and the low was $33.27. Thursday’s reference price was set at $33.35 in the London a.m., a full $1.68 an ounce above Wednesday’s reference price.

In its latest report, the FOMC stated that its near-zero interest rate policy was likely to remain in effect to 2014, a year longer than previously stated. The Labor Dept. reported today that seasonally adjusted weekly claims for unemployment insurancetotaled 377,000, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week, but still well below the key 400,000 level. The four-week moving average was 377,500, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 380,000.

December single-family home sales fell 2.2%, the Commerce Dept. reported on Thursday, though the Conference Board reported that its Leading Economic Index rose 0.4% to 94.3 for December, its highest reading since last July. Also supporting market buoyancy were strong earnings reports from Caterpillar(NYSE:CAT) and 3M (NYSE:MMM).

Strong bidding pushed gold bullion in London Thursday morning, with prices hitting a seven-week high against all major currencies. according to BullionVault’s London Gold Marketreport.

“People are still very under-invested in gold, and so there is a huge scope of that increasing,” UniCredit, Munich analyst Jochen Hitzfeld was quoted by Bloomberg. “The [Fed's] announcement prompted investors to buy gold as a hedge against inflation,” according to an AP article, “which investors fear could be a result of the its extended low-interest rate policy.”

Gold and silver trusts were heading higher in stock exchange trading.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was moving higher, up 0.73%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was showing gains of more than 0.7%.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was moving higher, up around 0.5%.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were up sharply.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was up nearly 1.7%.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was up nearly 0.75%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was up over 1.15%.

Gold mining shares were were surging higher, Yamana Gold leading the way.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) was showing gains of nearly 2.4%.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) was up around 1.6%.
• Eldorado Gold (NYSE: EGO) was up around 2.5%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was some 2.8% higher.
• Kinross Gold Corp. USA (NYSE:KGC) was showing gains of around 1.95%.
• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was up nearly 0.9%.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) was up more than 1.8%.
• Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY) was trading sharply higher, up nearly 3.1%.

Silver mining shares were sharply higher as well, Pan American Silver’s shares particularly.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) was moving higher, up more than 1.5%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was nearly 1.4% higher.
• Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) was up around 3.4%.
• Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) was showing gains of more than 2.1%.
• Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) was up around 1.7%.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault contributed to this report.