Price Data Spur Gold Buying

An increase in a key inflation measure had investors scrambling to buy hard assets and sent precious metals rallying Thursday in New York.

Gold contracts expiring in August were rising $4.60 at $663.90 an ounce in recent action. Contracts for July delivery of silver were adding 24 cents at $13.36 an ounce.

Helping the metals was a report from the Commerce Department on the economy. The government said that gross domestic product grew at only a 0.6% annual pace in the first three months of the year, but the chain deflator, which measures prices of goods and services, jumped 4%, more than double the rate in the fourth quarter. ...