Gold and Silver Log Best Day of 2013

On Thursday, gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) futures for June delivery, the most active contract, jumped $38.30 to close at $1,462.00 per ounce, while silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) futures for May surged $1.31 to finish at $24.14. It was gold’s biggest one-day percentage gain since June.

Both precious metals continue to rebound from their dramatic lows seen earlier this month, despite better-than-expected jobless claims. Applications for unemployment benefits fell 16,000 last week to 339,000, the second-lowest level in five years.

The plunge in gold and silver prices sparked more demand at the U.S. Mint, which had to halt sales of the one-tenth ounce American Gold Eagle earlier this week. So far in April, the Mint has sold 201,000 ounces of gold, more than the previous two months combined. Last year, the Mint only sold 20,000 ounces of gold product in April. The all-time record for a single month is 231,500 ounces sold in December 2009.

In afternoon trading, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEARCA:GLD) gained 2.5 percent, while the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEARCA:SLV) jumped 4.6 percent. Gold miners (NYSEARCA:GDX) such as Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) and Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) increased 2.8 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Endeavour Silver (NYSE:EXK) shares surged more than 6.0 percent.

Don’t Miss: The U.S. Mint Halts American Gold Eagle Sales

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Disclosure: Long EXK, AG, HL, PHYS