Gold Breaks $1,500 as NovaGold (NG) (EGO) (AZK) (TRE) Close Mixed

After blowing past the $1,500 an ounce mark on Tuesday, gold prices settled just under the important psychological barrier at $1,495.10, as gold miners NovaGold Resources Inc. (AMEX:NG), Eldorado Gold Corporation (NYSE:EGO), Aurizon Mines (AMEX:AZK) and Tanzanian Royalty Exploration (AMEX:TRE) closed mixed on the day.

Gold prices settled just below $1,500 an ounce after hitting that level earlier Tuesday's session, helped by a weaker dollar.

The gold contract for June delivery rose $2.20 to settle at $1,495.10 an ounce, shy of its all-time and daily high of $1,500.50 an ounce. Spot gold prices dropped 50 cents, to close at $1,495.90 an ounce.

Silver prices for May delivery climbed almost a dollar to settle at $43.91.

Most of this is based upon the collapsing U.S. dollar, which pulled back again today, the tightening in China, sovereign debt crisis in Europe, unrest in the Middle East, inflation concerns and consequences of the Japanese earthquake.

Add to that the warning from rating agency S&P that the U.S. could have its debt downgraded if it doesn't deal with the growing debt crisis and you have a weak macroeconomic outlook favoring gold and other commodities.

NovaGold Resources Inc. closed Tuesday at $13.18, gaining $0.07, or 0.53 percent. Eldorado Gold Corporation ended the session at $17.97, up $0.21, or 1.18 percent. Aurizon Mines closed at $6.63, falling $0.07, or 1.04 percent. Tanzanian Royalty Exploration closed the day at $6.30, down $0.04, or 0.63 percent.

Barrick (ABX) (GG) (NEM) Jump as Gold Breaches $1,500 For First Time

Shares of gold mining giants Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) and Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) were trading up today as gold prices soared past the $1,500 an ounce mark for the first time in history.

The gold contract for June delivery was up $4.50 at $1,497.40 an ounce Tuesday and has traded as high as $1,500.50 an ounce.

Silver prices for June delivery were up 75 cents to $43.71 an ounce.

The dollar was down against 12 of 16 major peers, losing 1 percent or more versus Norway’s krone and Sweden’s krona. The euro was up against 13 of its 16 major counterparts.

The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.8 percent to $1.0450 after the consumer price index rose 3.3 percent in March over last year, compared with a 2.2 percent pace of increase in the previous month.

Newmont Mining was trading at $58.32, gaining $0.45, or 0.78 percent, as of 2:11 PM EDT. Goldcorp was at $54.61, rising $0.89, or 1.66 percent. Barrick Gold was trading at $54.15, up $0.68, or 1.27 percent.

Gold Prices Today Explode in a Delayed Reaction to Fed's QE

Everyone was waiting to see how long it would take the market to punish the U.S. dollar and reward gold and silver investors, and it happened today, as prices have soared to over $1,380 an ounce, another new record.

Gold prices before the anticipated announcement had been more benign than expected, and even though no one believed there wouldn't be another round of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve, they seemed to pause for a day or two to see how far the Fed was going to go and how they were going to implement it.

That has been found out now and the market has responded to gold in the way it always does in situations like these, pushing it ever higher.

One slight surprise was the market was looking for the Fed to inflate by $500 billion, but the $600 billion made the pent up uncertainty explode today, and that momentum should continue on relatively unabated in reference to gold prices for a little while.

Freeport (NYSE:FCX), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), Newmont (NYSE:NEM) Soar on Rising Gold Prices

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE:FCX), Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) and Goldcrop (NYSE:GG) made nice upward moves today as the price of gold soared to another record high, with December delivery gold prices reached as high as $1,375.70.

Spot gold was at $1,370 a 1:25 PM EDT.

Freeport was among the leaders in the sectors, pushing up to $99.45, gaining $4.32, or 4.45 percent at 1:25 PM EDT

Goldcrop was up to $45.26, gaining $1.29, or 2.93 percent, and Newmont rose to $63.04, gaining $1.04, or 1.68 percent at 1:25PM EDT as well.

Gold Prices Today Soar to Record High

Gold prices today surged to another record high, as gold futures for December delivery increased by $10.20 to $1,308.80 an ounce in early trading. That breaks last weeks record of $1,302.30 an ounce

At 1:00 PM EDT, spot gold had risen $14.80 to $1,309.40 an ounce, also a record.

While gold usually moves up on economic bad news, when it retains support in the face of good economic news, you know it has legs, and that continues to be the case.

The numerous fundamentals remain in place for the economy, inflation, safety, protecting assets, weak U.S. dollar, debt, low interest rates, quantitative easing, and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, which encourage the upward move of gold.

Not one of those are going to be changing any time soon, and in some cases, if not all, will continue to get worse, other than interest rates, which are about as low as they can go.

Enjoy the ongoing gold bull market. Until there is real economic recovery, lowered debt and higher interest rates, nothing is going to change this.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) Sees Gold Remaining Strong in Fourth Quarter

With fundamentals expected to remain in place, Barclays (NYSE:BCS) believes gold will continue to perform strongly in the fourth quarter.

Barclays said “we maintain our view for the fourth quarter of this year to be the strongest quarter on record yet for gold prices, with downside corrections finding support from the seasonally strong period for fabrication demand with the forthcoming wedding and festival season in key gold-consuming countries.”

Several reasons were cited by the financial firm, including expected continuation of quantitative easing, ongoing low interest rates, and gold miners continuing to abandon their hedge books.

Gold broke all-time records several times last week, and some are saying it could hit $1,300 this week if quantitative easing is mentioned by the Federal Reserve.

Gold Price Closes Week at $1,255.10

Gold prices on Friday closed only about $3 below their all-time high, finishing the day at $1,255.10. The all-time closing high for gold is $1,258.30.

Crushing economic news during the week ensures gold will continue on its upward run in the near term, as news housing starts plummeted over 30 percent and the GDP in the u.S. was downwardly revised for the third time for the first quarter.

The news that jobless claims dropped some was being spun as a positive note, but the market knows that's a bogus claim, as the hiring of worthless census workers is all that's propping up that part of the market, and just like the tax break that increased housing sales, once that's gone the real health of the job market will be revealed, and it won't be pretty.

So while almost everyone agrees gold prices moving up in the long term is a surety, the data confirming the global and U.S. economy remain in shambles makes the short-term upward movement of gold prices a surety as well.

There will of course continue to be corrections and profit-taking in the gold sector, but overall support is there for gold and isn't going to go away any time soon.

Gold Prices Today Reach New Record High on Weak Economy

Economic data released on Thursday confirmed what many gold investors have known for some time, that is we're really not in an economic recovery, and gold will continue to be the key place to put our money for safety and retaining wealth.

Gold prices continue to break records again, after yesterday's all-time record close, and gold reaching another record today, surging past $1,260.00 an ounce for the first time in history.

Momentum for gold continues on from yesterday's record gold close, as numerous data show there is nothing that can be pointed to which can justify saying there is a sustainable economic recovery, if there ever one was to begin with. More than likely we've never left the recession, and even though economists may ultimately call this a double-dip recession, it would be probably more accurate to describe it as an ongoing recession.

Unemployment continues to rise in the U.S., manufacturing is slowing way down, new housing starts have plunged, and the sovereign debt crisis and Europe and China battling inflation in its urban property markets is dragging down the global economy, and there's nothing in the near-, or probably mid-term that will change any of that.

Consequently gold prices will continue to move up, and even though we'll always have temporary corrections, there's nothing in the way of gold that will stop it from its climb ... at least not in the near future.