The Economy:

There are no major economic reports due out tomorrow.

The Markets:

Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/

Oil fell slightly on mild weather forecasts and ample supplies when stockpiles are compared to levels last year, but losses were minimal on rumors over further OPEC production cuts.

The U.S. dollar index and treasuries remained very near unchanged as the not closely watched Leading Economic Indicators report came in as expected.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P traded on either side of unchanged and ended mixed as traders digested a decent amount of merger/acquisition news.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Freeport-McMoRan and Phelps Dodge, Lowe’s, Campbell Soup, TD Bank and TD Banknorth, Evraz and Oregon Steel, Blackstone and Zell’s Trust, Nasdaq and LSE, and Bank of America and Charles Schwab.

The Commentary:

“The intensity of the effort by The Gold Cartel to prevent gold from rallying is remarkable. The PM Fix came in at $624.50. From there on in it was downtown. As soon as the cabal traders checked in for work, gold was sent to the cleaners.

The query and posit this week has been that something is really wrong out there in America and that something possibly big is brewing.

Talking it over last evening with a few colleagues at the New Orleans Investment Conference, one thought was that those in control of the markets are petrified of a collapsing housing market. Therefore, they need to keep interest rates from rising, or take them down from present levels. An impediment to that task is a rising gold price because of what that would mean to the average pundit, or to the psychology of those who trade US interest rates.” - From Friday’s Midas report by Bill Murphy of LemetropoleCafe.com

“December Gold finished down 0.4 at 622.1, 5.4 off the high and 1.6 up from the low.

December Silver closed down 0.06 at 12.74. This was 0.01 up from the low and 0.26 off the high.

After showing signs of strength early Monday, the gold market managed to add to the early gains but then faded back into weaker territory late in the session. The Dollar however was not a factor in the gold action, but it is likely that weak oil prices were indeed undermining for the bull camp. After a mid morning stock market rally seemed to lift gold prices, the afternoon action in stocks seemed to lose its influence. With the Iranians asking for a weekend meeting with Iraq and Syria to attempt to quell the violence in Iraq, the gold market might have seen some flight to quality buyers liquidate and return to the sidelines. While the platinum market inspired the gold market early in the session the fact that January platinum finished $35 an ounce below its highs of the day was probably discouraging to would be buyers of gold.

Apparently the $13.00 level was significant resistance to December silver as the December contract made a fleeting attempt to rise above that level and failed rather distinctly on Monday. With the platinum market initially sparking a sharply higher opening and the gold market also contributing to the bullishness, it seemed like silver was poised for a big day up. However, in retrospect the chart action in silver was disappointing to the bull camp and the outlet toward the US and world economy deteriorated slightly with the Monday news flow. Even the copper market failed during the trade Monday despite news of a massive merger and that seems to suggest that even the industrial metals outlook is suspect. In short, both the financial market themes and the industrial/physical market themes look bearish in silver.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

Derivatives market grows by a quarter in just six months

Freeport-McMoRan pays 33% premium to acquire Phelps Dodge

Growth in demand will prevent crash in mineral prices, World Bank says

GATA's reception in New Orleans draws conference notables

New York museum shows glory of gold, if not central banking

Gartman flees argument with Veneroso on gold price suppression

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 11/17/2006

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.

COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)

Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.

Silver Trust (SLV)

Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.

The Stocks:

Freeport-McMoRan’s (FCX) buyout of Phelps Dodge (PD), Geocom’s (GOCM.OB) and Kinross Gold’s (KGC) completed recon program, Fronteer’s (FRG) drill results, Cumberland’s (CLG) federal approval, Minco’s (MMK) Normal Course Issuer Bid, Richmont’s (RIC) gold pour, Yamana’s (AUY) operations update, Valencia’s (VVI.V) drill results, Coeur’s (CDE) exploration agreement, and Silver Standard’s (SSRI) and Esperanza’s (EPZ.V) drill results were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.

WINNERS

LOSERS

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

All of today's gold and silver stock news:

Valencia Confirms High Grade Silver Mineralization at Rancheria Project - "Valencia Ventures Inc. (TSX VENTURE:VVI - News) is pleased to report initial results for the 2006 exploration program on the Rancheria Silver Project in the Yukon Territory and British Columbia include intersections of high grade silver mineralization. These intersections were contained within the Hall Zone on the Blue Heaven property." More
- November 20, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Itronics Increases Third Quarter 2006 Sales by 22 Percent, Nine Months Sales Increased 34 Percent - More
- November 20, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Sheffield Updates 97.5 Metres (320 Ft) of 1.08% Copper with 7.1 G/T Silver - More
- November 20, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Dia Bras Receives more than CDN $10.2 Million from the Exercice of Warrants - More
- November 20, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Altius Increases Cash Position With Reduced Stake in Aurora - More
- November 20, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Minera Andes joint venture arranges in-house financing on San Jose project - More
- November 20, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Globex Mining Enterprises Inc.: Milling Contract for Russian Kid Gold Ore - More
- November 20, 2006 | Item | E-mail

New trenching completed at Jutamos Copper prospect - More
- November 20, 2006 | Item | E-mail

UNOR Announces Financing - More
- November 20, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Geocom Resources Inc. and Kinross Gold Corporation Complete South Chile Recon Program - Phase I - "After an initial ground-based program indicated significant mineral potential in the area, Geocom and its partner Kinross Gold Corporation elected to accelerate the program to a multi-team helicopter-supported evaluation. By utilizing a regional approach, the geologic teams were able to visit and sample areas of alteration and mineralization that had originally been scheduled for a 2007 program in addition to areas planned for the 2006 season. The accelerated reconnaissance program identified several high priority anomalous areas that Kinross and Geocom management have elected to stake." More
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