BG: Dollar Falls, Gold Rises As Payrolls and Spending Beat Expectations
By Tiernan Ray
The dollar declines and gold rises past as a raft of economic data hits this morning.
Personal income rose $30 billion, or 0.2%, ahead of the 0.1% increase and faster than September’s rise, while personal spending outstripped incomes, rising 0.7%, ahead of a 0.5% increase, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed this morning. The boost in incomes came from service-sector jobs and government outlays, offsetting private sector goods payrolls.
Separately, the Bureau of Labor reported intial claims for unemployment fell to 466,000 last week from 501,000 the week prior, better than forecasts for 500,000. (But see the Wall Street Journal this morning on why it doesn’t matter much — weekly claims on average, in good times and bad, are 245,000, so we’ve got a ways to go.)
The dollar index on the ICE fell .7% to 75.125 as gold futures for delivery in December rose $14.90 to $1,180.70 per ounce. Stocks, meanwhile, are opening weak, with the Dow down 10 points at 10,423, and the S&P 500 off a fraction at 1,105.
