US MIDDAY: gold jumps

Gold rose 1.5 percent Friday, its biggest daily gain in two weeks, on safe-haven buying as investors fretted about eurozone debt after Fitch cut Greece's credit ratings. Bullion fell early in the session before turning higher after Fitch downgraded Greece's rating and as the International Monetary Fund urged Europe to agree to more comprehensive measures to tackle the debt crisis.
The euro fell against the dollar on caution before upcoming Spanish elections this weekend and the uncertain Greek debt situation. Crude oil and commodities reversed early losses as the dollar pared gains, and the eurozone worries boosted gold and silver.Spot gold rose 1.5 percent to $1,514.49 by 2:52 pm EDT (1852 GMT). US June gold futures settled up $16.50 at $1,508.90 an ounce, after trading between $1,486.40 and $1,515.80, which marked a one-week high.
Gold is up 1.5 percent for the week. The metal is still 4 percent lower after rallying to a lifetime high near $1,575 an ounce in early May. Silver was up 0.6 percent at $35.16, but remained down 30 percent from the record $49.51 hit on April 28. Bullion has dropped three out of the last four sessions on weak US housing and manufacturing data and uncertainty about the end of the Federal Reserve's bond-buying program.
"This week, we've had one of the worst weeks for economic data so far this year, as most of the data came in below expectations. I don't think that will be the case next week," said Kleintop, whose firm has an overall commodity allocation of between 10 to 20 percent. CBOE gold volatility index, a gauge of bullion investor anxiety, rose 3 percent, its first rise this week, after the metal moved in a $30 range on Friday.
Prices tend to gravitate toward large pools of open interest as options expire. June options are scheduled to expire May 25. On the charts, gold kept finding support at its 50-day moving average, a level it has held for more than three months. Silver was set to end the week about 1 percent for its third consecutive weekly decline. Holdings of the largest silver-backed exchange-traded-fund (ETF), New York's iShares Silver Trust, dropped 2.32 percent on Thursday from Wednesday. Among platinum group metals, platinum was up 0.4 percent at $1,769 an ounce, while palladium rose 1.4 percent to $733.97.