Improving Economic Data putting pressure on Gold

There are several things working against gold in today's trading session.

First is the hawkish tone taken by ECB President Trichet which is being viewed as confirming the theme that the global economy is improving. That is taking some of the safe haven bid out of gold. You can also see the same by observing the sharp drop in the US long bond.

Second is the reduction in jobless claims. The market was not looking for a fall but only a slight increase. The statistic caught traders off guard and fed into the idea that the labor markets might begin improving.

Third is that there is no particular fresh news out of the Middle East or North Africa and that is taking some pressure off of crude oil. It is not much, but some are saying; "At least it ain't goin' up further".

All of this taken together is feeding money into the "risk" trades and resulting in money coming out of gold and back into equities in today's session. You can see the same by monitoring the gold/copper spread which is decidedly in the favor of copper today as it is holding up much better than gold or silver.

For today at least, money flows are favoring copper compared to gold.