Gold Futures Recede

Precious metals prices were pulling back Tuesday after a better-than-expected economic report from the government helped to firm the greenback.

Benchmark gold prices were down $1.70 at $657.50 an ounce, while silver was off 12 cents at $12.62 an ounce in recent futures market action.

The Commerce Department says factory orders fell only 0.5% during May, beating consensus forecasts of a 1.2% drop. Orders for April grew 0.5%, revised up from a gain of 0.3%.

The news helped the dollar rise against the euro, to $1.3603 from $1.3622 late Monday. The dollar was steady against the yen at 122.32.

During the prior session, gold jumped more than $8 and silver rallied 27 cents following weekend terrorist activity in the United Kingdom. Therefore, some traders were likely taking profits, adding to the downward price pressure on the futures.

The exchange-traded funds that hold inventories of the metals, iShares Comex Gold Trust (IAU) and iShares Silver Trust (SLV), were off 0.2% and 1%, respectively.

The ETFs tracking currency prices were on the move also. The Currency Shares Japanese Yen Trust(FXY) was up 0.2%, and the Currency Shares Euro Trust(FXE) was off slightly.

As for base metals, copper prices were down 3 cents at $3.50 a pound. Elsewhere, crop prices were slipping, with corn futures off 3 cents at $3.47 a bushel and soybeans losing 4 cents at $8.94 a bushel.

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