Todays Gold News..

Gold Rises After Bernanke's Remarks []
Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:14:10 PM - Gold prices gained on Wednesday after Fed chief Ben Bernanke said that he believed the economy may see further weakness, boosting gold's hedge value. June gold finished the session at $900.20, up $12.40 on the session. With the rally, the metal took back a portion of its sharp losses from the three previous sessions.
Bullion prices dropped sharply on Tuesday, a day that saw most commodities head lower. June gold closed at $887.80, down $33.70 on the session. Prices hit as low as $876.30 in the mid-morning, reaching a two-month low.
The precious metal lost $64.80 over the last three sessions. Gold prices plunged on Monday and closed at $921.50, down $15 for the session. Monday's trading took place as US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson announced a White House plan to police Wall Street financial firms in the wake of the recent credit crisis. The metal added to sharp losses from Friday, when it pared some of its gains from earlier in the week. Gold finished down $17.50 on the session.
The U.S. dollar gave back some of its recent gains against the other majors on Wednesday in New York. The dollar had hit an 8-day high of 1.5536 versus the euro and also rallied against the yen and Swiss franc. Gold usually moves opposite the dollar because of the precious metal's hedge value.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke discussed the “difficult period” the U.S. economy is trudging through in testimony on Capitol Hill. In prepared remarks, Bernanke addressed the recent financial turmoil and actions that the Federal Reserve is taking to address these issues. For the first time, Bernanke admitted that GDP may “contract” slightly in the first half of 2008, citing a weaker near-term economic outlook. He added that while growth is expected to tick up in the second half of 2008 and into 2009, the forecast is not certain.
In economic news on Wednesday morning, Automatic Data Processing (ADP) released its report on private sector employment in the month of March, showing that the private sector unexpectedly added jobs compared to the previous month. The report showed that non-farm private employment increased by 8,000 jobs in March following a revised decrease of 18,000 jobs in the previous month. Economists had expected a decrease of about 30,000 jobs compared to the decrease of 23,000 jobs originally reported for February.
On Tuesday morning, the ISM said that its purchasing managers index edged up to 48.6 in March from 48.3 in February, although a reading below 50 indicates a contraction in the sector. Economists had been expecting the index to slip to a reading of 47.5.Crude oil closed modestly lower on Tuesday after plunging below $100 earlier in the day.
Light sweet crude for May delivery finished at $100.98, down 60 cents on the day. Oil fell to as low as $99.55 in electronic trading and hovered around the century mark in the morning before turning higher to reclaim much of its decline. All eyes now are on Wednesday's inventory report from the Department of Energy.
Crude rallied last Wednesday following the release of the report that showed stockpiles unexpectedly remained the same. The report from the Energy Information Administration showed that crude oil inventories were unchanged at 311.8 million barrels. Analysts had been expecting crude oil inventories to increase by about 1.7 million barrels.

source:RTTNews.com