Gold Slips Below $1,000 As Dollar Rebounds

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Gold dropped below $1,000 an ounce on Thursday as a weaker U.S. dollar hurt the precious metal's hedge value.

December gold dropped to $998.90 per ounce, down $15.50 on the session. Prices fell as low as $991.30 after earlier hitting as high as $1,021.00.

The dollar climbed off of a yearly low against the euro on Thursday in New York as lower global stocks reduced risk appeal. The buck also gained on the slumping pound.

In economic news, a Labor Department report showed that jobless claims fell to 530,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 551,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to edge up to 550,000 from the 545,000 originally reported for the previous week.

In addition, the National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales fell 2.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.10 million units in August from a 5.24 million unit rate in July. The decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had expected existing home sales to increase to a 5.35 million unit rate.

There's plenty of economic news to watch for tomorrow. Durable goods orders data is expected at 8:30 a.m. ET. An increase of 0.3% is expected after a rise of 5.1% in July. Excluding transportation, orders are expected to rise 1%, compared to a 1.1% hike in July.

The University of Michigan/Reuters consumer sentiment report is expected a little before 10 a.m. ET. A reading of 70.5 is forecast for September, compared to a 70.2 in the prior month.

New home sales data is due at 10am ET. The report is expected to show sales of 440,000 for August, compared to 433,000 in July.

(Market News Provided by RTTNews)