Platinum also pushed higher through the day, cresting $800 and holding there, to end at $819, up $45. For the week, platinum lost 1.7%.

Silver’s followed gold’s lead and posted a steadily rising day, closing at $9.64/oz., up 72 cents. For the week, silver was up 1.7%. (Click here for charts)

Gold bugs have been predicting (or hoping for) the day when gold would finally break the shackles of the $750 barrier and submit a monster up day, and yesterday they got what they were looking for, in spades.

Assisted by the usual suspects, rising oil and a falling dollar, and perhaps by the surging equities markets, gold finally had its $50+ day, pulling both of its sister metals along on its ample coattails. Gold also had its most positive week since mid-September.

“Hard assets for hard times,” said Frank McGhee, of Integrated Brokerage Services in Chicago. “Even with all the money central banks have thrown at the financial system, it’s not enough to stop systemic risk. People are looking for something that’s going to go up, and that’s gold.”

Obviously, it’s a tad early to break out the champagne, as one day does not confirm the re-ignition of a long-term trend. And maintaining prices above the $750 ceiling under which gold has been trapped for so long will be critical. But a little modest celebrating can surely be forgiven.

Some observers seem to be catching on to what Ben Bernanke—an avowed student of, and expert on, the Great Depression—is up to, and what it means for both the USD and the price of gold.

As Casey Research head economist Bud Conrad put it a while back, “Bernanke is acting out his doctoral thesis.”

Thus, “Any steps to avert deflation would be bearish for the dollar and a signal for gold to rally in 2009,” analysts at Deutsche Bank wrote yesterday. “In the 1930s, a relatively quick solution to deflation in the U.S. was a significant depreciation in the U.S. dollar.”

Source: Gold’s banner day! Surge carries other precious metals along.