Gold futures jump with physical demand on the rise

Gold market update for Wednesday, April 24th. Gold futures are up over 1% today as the market is attracting “bargain-hunters” and increasing physical demand. Some physical demand is the result of new manufacturing data that’s showing weakness in the U.S. economy – in March, orders for durable goods dropped by 5.7%. Economists expected a 3.2% drop. Gold on Tuesday saw it’s first decline in four sessions on disappointing data from China, a rally in stocks and a stronger dollar. In potentially bullish news for the metal, Goldman Sachs withdrew its recommendation for clients to “short” gold, but it still maintains its lower forecasts for the remainder of 2013. According to Jim Wyckoff of Kitco, strong physical demand is an underpinning of support for the market right now. Read more…