Gold and silver prices increased Wednesday. U.S. Treasury bond yields fell after the publication of data showing a stagnation in sales growth retail sales in December, a sign of a slowdown in the economy before the publication of key employment data.

The spot gold price was up by 0.7 % to $5,057.23 per ounce at 4:23am GMT.

American gold futures for Deliveries in April increased by 1% to $5,081.40 the ounce.

The cash price increased by 2.3% to $82.56/oz, after falling by more than 3% during the session previous.

Over the past two weeks, metals precious have strongly disconnected themselves from the fundamentals, thus decoupling themselves from interest rate policy.

Spot platinum has increased by 2.1% to $2,131.60 per ounce, while the palladium rose 2% to $1,741.78