Continued safe-haven demand amid worries about the global economy and financial sector underpinned gold futures, although the market remained within its recent trading range. Spot gold was last quoted at $858.95. Comex gold futures strengthened $8.70 (1.02%) to $858.80. Spot silver was last quoted at $11.41.
West Texas Intermediate was last quoted at US$42.27 per barrel.

Base metals continued to slide Thursday, as worse-than-expected US housing and jobs data weakened sentiment on demand for industrial metals.

Base metals on the LME finished mixed. Aluminium fell $8 (0.60%) to $1,335 while copper weakened $145 (4.46%) to $3,105 and nickel rose $125 (1.15%) to $10,975. Zinc dropped $20 (1.74%) to $1,130 and lead shed $18 (1.64%) to $1,053. Comex copper was last quoted at 138.10 US cents per pound.

US Stocks Retreat as Banking System Remains Under Fire
US stocks traded lower late Thursday as an afternoon bounce collapsed under the weight of more dire concern about the banking system and its impact on the overall economy.

Setting the tone in a volatile trading session continued to be the banking sector as insurers and regional banks were hit hard by concerns about their profits, while larger Wall Street bellwethers suffered from continued speculation there might be even more government oversight and directives from the incoming Obama administration.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average weakened 105.3 points (1.28%) to 8,122.8 as a morning release of job cuts and lower second-quarter earnings from bellwether Microsoft continued to weigh on the index.

In addition, the Dow was paced lower by Bank of America, off 14.4%, after Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis dismissed former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain. The bank lost confidence in Thain after learning of mounting fourth-quarter losses at Merrill.

Fellow Dow component Citigroup, like BofA and some other big banks, viewed by many traders as potential candidates for federal takeovers – swooned Thursday after shooting higher in the previous session. Citi was off 14% at $3.15.

And with the drag on large banks, traders note the overall view on the economy remains dim with stock market volatility continuing to rise. The CBOE Volatility Index recently tacked on 1% to 46.63.

In other indices, the Standard and Poor’s S&P500 fell 12.7 points (1.52%) to 827.5.