Gold, silver soar; Dow rises 72

Traders of precious metals and currency markets today booed the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave its monetary policy alone as gold (-GC) hit a new high. Silver (-SI) briefly surged above $49 an ounce before falling back below $48.

But stocks managed to push higher, even as the government reported that economic growth slowed in the first quarter and jobless claims jumped. The gains came despite first-quarter results from Exxon Mobil (XOM) that disappointed. Energy, metals and tech stocks were laggards.

The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) closed up 72 points to 12,763. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index ($INX) added 5 points to 1,360, and the Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) was up 3 points to 2,873 after trading in the red most of the day. The Russell 2000 Index ($RUT.X) and the Dow Jones Transportation Average ($DJT) closed at all-time highs.

After the close, Research In Motion (RIMM) shares fell 11.5% to $50.10 after a warning that fiscal-first-quarter revenue and earnings will be lower than expected. The problem is lower-than-expected shipments for its BlackBerry devices as well as lower prices.  Shares had finished at $56.59, up 1.8%, in regular trading.

In addition, shares of Microsoft (MSFT) were 1.4% lower after hours to $26.34 after rising 1.3% to $26.71. Fiscal-third-quarter earnings net of a tax benefit of 5 cents a share met estimates of 56 cents a share. Sales of server and Office products and Xbox 360, Xbox Live and Kinnect grew smartly. (Microsoft publishes MSN Money.)
 

But a 4.4% decline in Windows sales raised questions on whether tablet devices are stunting personal-computer sales growth. Revenue of $16.4 billion was up 13% from a year ago and ahead of Street estimates.

(NOTE: PAY STRICT ATTENTION TO THIS PARAGRAPH: IS THIS THE PREDICTIVE PRICE FOR MAY THRU JULY? IF SO, START BUYING NOW) Silver comes up just short of a record

Silver for July settled up $1.554 to $47.54 an ounce. May silver settled up $1.562 to $47.52. Both contracts had traded above silver’s record close of $48.70, set on Jan. 17, 1980, but didn’t breach the intraday high of $50.35, set a day later.

Gold for June delivery settled at a new closing high of $1,531.20 an ounce, up $14.10 from Wednesday, after reaching an intraday high of 1,536.40.

Crude oil (-CL), which had risen to as high as $113.97 a barrel, settled up 10 cents to $112.86. Brent crude was off 32 cents to $124.81 in late trading.
 

ARTICLE CONTINUED AT: http://money.msn.com/market-news/post.aspx?post=0fc0f7a9-e321-48f3-af2f-a14f460f7785&GT1=33009