Oil is not going lower as many had hoped.  It now sits at a 6 week high after today’s $1.67 gain to $48.04.  Today’s rally was spurred by a rally in natural gas that has increased in demand due to a cold snap across the Midwest.  “Natural gas futures in New York were up 52.7 cents to $6.47 per million British thermal units as frigid weather arrived in the U.S. heartland. Natural gas is by far the most used heating fuel in the Midwest.”  Increased demand due to cold weather is definitely one factor causing the price to rise, but lower supplies throughout the world due to various problems is also a big factor.

The 10-Year Treasury note yield started off down and fell lower for the entire day, ending down by 0.049 points to 4.187% as the March 2005 US Treasury bond gained 21/32 to 113 21/32.  “U.S. Treasury prices rallied on Thursday as investors piled into longer-dated debt despite mixed economic data and spotty results in the latest debt auction.  Traders said many were covering short positions taken since the Federal Reserve sounded a warning about inflation in its December meeting minutes, dashing hopes of a pause in its monetary tightening campaign.”

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P were not able to keep yesterday’s late day rally going this morning and fell further today in light volume, with major losses coming in the last hour of trading.  Analysts said the drop was due to higher oil and unexpectedly high unemployment claims among other factors as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P all now sit at their closing lows for the year.  The Dow lost 1.05% to 10505.83, the Nasdaq lost 1.05% to 2070.56, and the S&P lost 0.86% to 1177.45.

The U.S. dollar index gained 0.30 points to 82.47, the euro index lost 0.66 points to 132.09, and the yen lost 0.25 points to 97.47.

Gold & Silver Report from GoldSeek.com & SilverSeek.com:

Gold and silver were mixed in Asian trade and started to fall off in London trade before small rallies into the New York close.  Gold closed down $1.30 to $424.20 and silver remained unchanged at $6.70.

The XAU, HUI, and GDM started off the day by moving about 1.5% lower and after a rally midday, fell off into the close and ended with losses.  The XAU lost 0.95% to 94.12, the HUI lost 0.74% to 204.25, and the GDM lost 0.81% to 653.02.

Gold & Silver Stock News Update from GoldReview.com:

Goldcorp’s and Wheaton River’s conference call tomorrow, Cumberland’s submitted statement, Cardero’s new listing on AMEX, Glamis Gold’s comments on protests that resulted in a loss of a life near their mine in Guatemala, Anglogold Ashanti’s partnership with Redstar, Randgold Resources’ mills, Goldcorp’s struggles with the Wheaton River merger, Gold Fields’ filing relating to their potential merger with Harmony, Sterling Mining’s positive results, SilverCrest’s drill results, Apex Silver’s San Cristobal contract for the Washington Group, and IMA Exploration’s drilling news were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today; get the full stories at http://www.goldreview.com/.  Access our archives here and use the menu on the left hand side in order to navigate through all of our stories.

- Written by Chris Mullen

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-- Posted Thursday, 13 January 2005 | Digg This Article