On Wednesday, gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) futures for August delivery, the most active contract, increased $8.50 to close at $1,251.90 per ounce, while silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) futures for September gained 39 cents to finish at $19.70.
Both precious metals climbed higher as the rate of growth in the U.S. services sector slowed to its weakest level in more than three years in June. The Institute for Supply Management’s services index dropped to 52.2 compared to 53.7 in the previous month and worse than expected. Economists expected a reading of 54.0.
Christopher Vecchio, a currency analyst at DailyFX, said, “There is little reason to believe that the U.S. labor market in June made any significant progress; and in context of the Initial Jobless Claims average for June (346K), it’s clear that NFP growth should remain meager at best.”
By the end of the abbreviated trading day, shares of the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEARCA:GLD) increased 0.57 percent while the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEARCA:SLV) gained 1.83 percent. Gold miners (NYSEARCA:GDX) such as Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) and Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) both jumped 3.62 percent. First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) surged nearly 7.0 percent.
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