Closing Commodities: Crude Oil Ends Modestly Lower, Gold Flat
- Aug gold touched a session high of $1249.40 per ounce in early morning action following a weak ADP National Employment Report that showed employment in the nonfarm private business sector rose by 179K. This was below the consensus that called for an increase of 200K.
- However, the yellow metal gave up the earlier gain as the dollar index recovered into positive territory. It brushed a session low of $1242.80 per ounce and settled at $1244.40 per ounce, or 20 cents below the unchanged line
- July silver brushed a session high of $18.88 per ounce in morning pit trade but pulled back slightly as the session progressed. It eventually settled at $18.80 per ounce, or 0.2% higher.
- July crude oil touched a session high of $103.72 per barrel in morning action but gave up the gain despite better-than-anticipated inventory data. The EIA reported that for the week ending May 30, crude oil inventories had a draw of 3.4 mln barrels when consensus called for a draw of 0.25-0.3 mln barrels. The energy component brushed a session low of $102.51 per barrel moments before settling with a 0.1% loss at $102.62 per barrel.
- July natural gas came off its session low of $4.58 per MMBtu and broke into positive territory in early afternoon floor trade. It settled 0.4% higher at $4.64 per MMBtu, or just below its session high of $4.65 per MMBtu.