Written by Sumit Roy  |

September 07, 2012

Morning Call: Gold Spikes To $1730, Silver Passes $33 After Weak Jobs Data Fuels QE3 Hopes, Copper Surges

Details

Gold and silver lead commodities higher.

Gold is leading commodities higher today after a disappointing U.S. nonfarm payrolls report fueled hopes that the Federal Reserve may announce a third round of quantitative easing (QE3) next week. Employers added only 96K jobs in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's below the anticipated130K.

However, the unemployment rate—which is derived from a separate survey—painted a different picture, as it ticked down from 8.3 to 8.1 percent.

Average hourly earnings in August were flat, below the expected 0.2 percent increase. Average weekly hours worked was flat at 34.4.

• Gold was last trading up by $24.47, or 1.44 percent, to $1727.75, while silver rose by $0.57, or 1.74 percent, to $33.22.
  
  Platinum rose on gold's coattails despite a resolution to the South African mine strike. The metal was last trading up by $11.57, or 0.73 percent, to $1594.32. Palladium edged up by $1.83, or 0.28 percent, to $648.08.
  
  
• Crude oil is rising amid the broad-based buying in commodities. Brent was last trading up by $0.65, or 0.56 percent, to $114.14, while WTI added $0.67, or 0.7 percent, to $96.20.
  
  
• Natural gas is underperforming today, as the fuel sheds $0.05, or 1.77 percent, to $2.73/mmbtu.
  
  
• Grains are lower. Corn was last trading down by $0.03, or 0.41 percent, to $7.94/bushel, while soybeans fell by $0.14, or 0.82 percent, to $17.30 and wheat lost $0.03, or 0.37 percent, to $8.68.
  
  
• Copper surged $0.08, or 2.3 percent, to $3.60/lb—the highest level since May 14 amid stimulus hopes and technical buying.
  
  

What to Watch For:

5:30 a.m. ET: Nonfarm payrolls report/Unemployment rate

1:00 p.m. ET: Baker Hughes rig count