Weekend Commentary

According to the Commerce Department, the U.S. economy snapped back in the first quarter, growing at an annual rate of 4.8%, the fastest growth in more than two years.

This week U.S. 10-year Treasuries fell, pushing yields at one point to the highest in almost 4- years. Reports on consumer confidence, durable goods orders and home sales provided signs of economic strength and this rosy outlook of the economy was the reason behind Treasury's fall. The benchmark 10-year note's yield rose 0.04 percentage point, to 5.05%. The yield, which moves inversely to the note's price, touched 5.14% on Thursday, the highest since May 2002.

The U.S. dollar fell to an 11-month low against the euro. The euro was up 0.6% at $1.2609 after touching $1.2634 its highest level since May 2005. Against the Japanese yen, Dollar fell 0.3% to 113.84.

Today Gold futures rose more than $18 an ounce to close at or 2.9%, at $654.50, a level not seen since late 1980. (This is about 53.3% gain from $426.90, the price on May 11 when we advised our readers to accumulate gold).

At the same time, Silver prices climbed over 8% as the first U.S. silver exchange-traded fund began trading. The new ETF, dubbed iShares Silver Trust (SLV) finished the session up $9.12, or 7.1%, to $138.12 in active trading in the American Stock Exchange of more than 2.3 million shares.