Gold, Silver, Oil, Gas Jump On Middle East “Powder Keg” Concerns
GoldCore.com
13 June 2014
Iraq and disappointing U.S. economic data propelled gold and silver higher yesterday. Disappointing U.S. retail sales and an uptick in weekly jobless claims led to investor buying of haven assets.
The Commerce Department reported a gain in retail sales of 0.3% in May. Economists were expecting a gain of 0.6% last month. Jobless claims rose 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 317,000 according to the Labor Department. This is 7,000 more than economists were expecting.
Uncertainty has returned and in a big way. This is favouring safe haven assets such as gold and weakness in toppy looking risk assets such as many stock markets.
The combination of poor economic data along with the risk of war in Iraq could be the catalyst that gold needs to get out of its recent funk.
Violence in Iraq exploded as Iraqi separatists, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), took over the second largest city in Iraq. ISIS forces are just 50 miles from Iraq’s capital, Baghdad.
Sunni Islamist militants gained more ground in Iraq overnight, moving into two towns in the eastern province of Diyala. U.S. President Barack Obama is considering military strikes to halt their advance towards the capital Baghdad.
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