-- Posted Wednesday, 27 December 2006 | Digg This Article
| Close | Gain/Loss |
Gold | $627.30 | +$3.40 |
Silver | $12.76 | +$0.16 |
XAU | 142.09 | +1.97% |
HUI | 337.19 | +2.21% |
GDM | 1080.22 | +1.82% |
JSE Gold | 2920.50 | +2.62% |
USD | 83.96 | -0.10 |
Euro | 131.29 | +0.24 |
Yen | 84.24 | +0.30 |
Oil | $60.34 | -$0.76 |
10-Year | 4.654% | +0.051 |
T-Bond | 11.90625 | -0.5625 |
Dow | 12510.57 | +0.83% |
Nasdaq | 2431.22 | +0.73% |
S&P | 1426.84 | +0.70% |
The Metals:
Gold remained near unchanged in early Asian trade before it began to steadily rise in late Asian trade and found nearly $5 gains by midmorning in New York. It then fell back off a couple dollars, rebounded, and ended a little over a dollar off of its highs with a decent gain. Silver rose about 5 cents in Asia before it added another 20 cents in London, but it then erased most of those gains in morning New York trade ahead of a rally into the close that left it with a gain of over 1%.
Euro gold rose near €480, platinum lost $6 to $1,112, palladium lost $2 to $322, and copper rose over 4 cents to above $2.90.
Gold and silver equities rose over 1% at the open and continued to gain throughout the session to close with gains of about 2%.
The Economy:
Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous |
New Home Sales | Nov | 1047K | 1015K | 1013K |
Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings Initial Jobless Claims for 12/23 expected at 320,000 and at 10AM are Existing Home Sales for November expected at 6,150,000 and Consumer Confidence for December expected at 102.0.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil traded on either side of unchanged ahead of tomorrow’s inventory reports as traders weighed geopolitical worries over Iran versus mostly warmer than expected weather in the U.S., but it did end over 1% lower on signs of falling demand due to warmer weather.
The U.S. dollar index fell after the United Arab Emirates central bank said it will convert some of its reserves of U.S. assets into European currency, but it did trim its losses a bit after New Home Sales came in better than expected.
Treasuries fell after New Home Sales came in better than expected and then made new lows after a two-year note auction despite decent demand for new debt at that auction.
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose over 0.5% at the open and remained near their highs into the close on merger and acquisition talk as traders bought some of the year’s winners to dress up their portfolios before the end of the year. The Dow ended at a new all-time high above 12,500 for the first time.
Among the big names making news in the market today were Star Tribune, Ford, Toyota, Essar and Hutchinson, and the retailers.
The Commentary:
“February Gold finished up 3.4 at 630.3, 1.7 off the high and 1.3 up from the low.
March Silver closed up 0.2 at 12.925. This was 0.125 up from the low and 0.015 off the high.
The gold market started out firm, saw a slight mid morning profit taking and then attempted to firm again into mid session. After seeing moderate follow through selling in the energy complex energy prices seemed to right the ship, and that might have mitigated some of the profit taking mentality in the gold market. Significant gains in the Toronto stock market were supposedly fueled by gold strength, and that in turn might serve to fan the speculative flames in gold in the coming sessions. With the February gold contract finding support in the recent gap area on the charts, it would seem like the gold market solidified a portion of the recent gains. However, a number of traders continue to look for more definitive direction from the US Dollar and it could take a move outside of 83.90 and 83.30 to see gold get a distinct impact from the currency markets. However, with the US posting a clean sweep of favorable scheduled numbers during the session Wednesday, it is possible that the Dollar will be able to avoid near term weakness.
The silver market ran right up to the even number $13.00 level before the specs began to have second thoughts. However, it is possible that the silver market is beginning to get some indirect support from the physical demand tilt, as strong US home sales and an up tick in the Chicago Fed readings, might take the pressure off copper prices and in turn off the silver market. In the near term the silver market looks to continue to derive its focus from the gold market and the direction of the Dollar.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
GATA Posts:
UAE trading dollars for euros
Gold market manipulation: Nothing new under the sun
The Great Gold Conspiracy -- an excerpt from 'The Money Men'
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 12/26/2006
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,534,516 | - |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 111,354,908 | - |
Global Gold ETF Holdings
[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]
| Product name | Total Tonnes | Total Ounces | Total Value |
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) AND Singapore Exchange (SGX) | Streettracks Gold Shares | 452.01 | 14,532,457 | US$ 9,004m |
LSE (London Stock Exchange) AND Euronext Paris | Gold Bullion Securities | 90.30 | 2,903,107 | US$ 1,822m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 10.53 | 338,393 | US$ 213m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 10.00 | 321,579 | US$ 199m |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 12/22/2006 | |
Total Net Assets | $884,743,410 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 1,429,417.361 |
Shares Outstanding | 14,400,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 44.46 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
Silver Trust (SLV)
Profile as of 12/22/2006 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,513,851,265 | Ounces of Silver
in Trust | 121,144,585.200 |
Shares Outstanding | 12,150,000 | Tonnes of Silver
in Trust | 3,768.02 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
The Stocks:
Freeport’s (FCX) mine stake sale in Indonesia, Northgate’s (NXG) extended timeline, Claude’s (CGR) royalty agreement, Strategic Nevada Resources’ (SNS.V) new board member, and Gold Fields’ (GFI) sale of its stake in Comaplex were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.
WINNERS
1. Hecla Mining | HL +7.10% $7.84 |
2. Great Basin | GBN +6.13% $1.73 |
3. Bema Gold | BGO +3.20% $5.16 |
LOSERS
1. Entree | EGI -5.45% $1.56 |
2. Almaden | AAU-4.82% $2.37 |
3. Exeter | XRA-4.46% $1.71 |
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:
Vannessa arranges $1,000,000 loan - More
- December 27, 2006 | Item | E-mail
NORTHGATE MINERALS CORPORATION: TIMELINE FOR KEMESS NORTH JOINT PANEL REVIEW EXTENDED - "Northgate Minerals Corporation (TSX:NGX.TO - News)(AMEX:NXG - News) reports that the Ministers of the Environment for Canada and British Columbia have amended the schedule for the completion of the Joint Panel Review for the Kemess North Project. The schedule previously called for December 14, 2006 to have been the public hearing record closing date after which time the Panel was to have completed its recommendation report within 60 days. The amendments provide for an additional period of 90 days, commencing January 1, 2007, to permit time for the federal and provincial governments "to resolve outstanding issues related to First Nations participation in the review process, and for First Nations to prepare additional evidence and submissions". Subsequent to this 90 day period, the Panel has been given discretion to hold further hearings for up to 45 days." More
- December 27, 2006 | Item | E-mail
Closing of a $ 1,547,109 Flow-Through Private Placement - More
- December 27, 2006 | Item | E-mail
Claude Resources Enters into Royalty Agreement - "Claude Resources Inc. ("Claude") (TSX: CRJ - News; AMEX: CGR - News) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Royalty Agreement ("Agreement") with Red Mile Resources No. 8 Limited Partnership ("Red Mile"). Under the terms of the Agreement, Claude has sold a royalty on a portion of the gold production at its Seabee Mine; this agreement lasts 10 years. The Company received cash of $39.2 million, which included royalty income of $35.0 million and fees and interest of $4.2 million." More
- December 27, 2006 | Item | E-mail
St Andrew Increases Interest to Approximately 50.2% in New Zealand Based Explorer Glass Earth Limited - More
- December 27, 2006 | Item | E-mail
Vior Completes $500,000 Financing With MineralFields Group - More
- December 27, 2006 | Item | E-mail
American Creek closes Tide Project Agreement - More
- December 27, 2006 | Item | E-mail
Enterayon Consolidates Fraser River Platinum Property and Acquires Adjacent Uranium Deposits - More
- December 27, 2006 | Item | E-mail
New Gold Anomalies Discovered near Granite Mountain, Alaska - More
- December 27, 2006 | Item | E-mail
Freewest Resources Announces Closing of $1.5 Million Private Placement - More
- December 27, 2006 | Item | E-mail
Carpathian Gold Inc. Exploration Update - More
- December 27, 2006 | Item | E-mail
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold & Silver Gain Again