This week’s economic reports:

Next week’s economic highlights include Consumer Confidence on Wednesday and Chicago PMI and Existing Home Sales on Thursday.

COT Reports: Gold | Silver

Gold traded mostly slightly higher in Asia and London before dropping down near $500 at the New York open, but it then rallied back above $505 before easing slightly into the close to end with a minor gain.  Silver followed a very similar pattern and ended with a respectable gain.

Gold and silver equities rose about 1% Friday morning, but they then fell off to find slight losses in afternoon trade and ended mixed and near unchanged.

More Precious Metals Analysis:

“The metals started out firm but during the session drifted into negative territory and that seemed to keep the recent bearish threat alive. However, it is possible that some traders were a little disappointed with the pace of the US economic numbers released during the session. The Dollar hardly gave off a material direction to the gold during the session but with the equity market mostly choppy and oil prices weak, we can understand the bull camp holding limited control over prices.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

The U.S. dollar index found decent gains early on before slipping following the release of the economically disappointing New Home Sales report, but it still ended with a slight gain.

Oil traded mostly slightly lower in quiet trade before ending with a minor gain.  Mild U.S. weather continues to be the driving factor in the oil market.

Treasuries found nice gains as investors found Durable Goods Orders excluding transportation and New Home Sales economically disappointing.  The spread between 2 and 10-year notes continued to flatten.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P traded mixed and near unchanged as traders digested economic and company news.

Among the big names making news in the market Friday were NBC and MSNBC, Tommy Hilfiger and Apax, Ford, Albertson’s and Supervalu, various retailers, Affiliated Computer, and Research In Motion.

Gold & Silver Stock News Update from GoldReview.com:

Crystallex’s closing of hedge book and restructuring of standard bank debt, Aurizon’s received commitment from BNP Paribas to arrange and underwrite a senior debt financing facility for up to $75 million, Kinross Gold’s update on their late filing of financial statements, and Royal Gold’s agreement to acquire royalties from Kennecott Minerals for $25 million were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines Friday.

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- Written by Chris Mullen

Winners & Losers tracks NYSE and AMEX listed stocks that trade over $1.

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-- Posted Friday, 23 December 2005 | Digg This Article