-- Posted Thursday, 4 January 2007 | Digg This Article
| Close | Gain/Loss |
Gold | $624.00 | -$3.10 |
Silver | $12.66 | +$0.14 |
XAU | 134.41 | -1.85% |
HUI | 317.09 | -2.27% |
GDM | 1022.34 | -2.04% |
JSE Gold | 2824.24 | -3.35% |
USD | 84.35 | +0.41 |
Euro | 130.86 | -0.80 |
Yen | 83.94 | +0.25 |
Oil | $55.59 | -$2.73 |
10-Year | 4.618% | -0.00.46 |
T-Bond | 112.40625 | +0.46875 |
Dow | 12480.69 | +0.05% |
Nasdaq | 2453.43 | +1.25% |
S&P | 1418.34 | +0.12% |
The Metals:
Gold rose slightly in Asia before it fell a few dollars in London and then rallied to trade on either side of unchanged for most of trade in New York, but it then fell off a bit in afternoon trade and ended near its lows with a loss of 0.49%. Silver rose about 10 cents in Asia before it saw over 10 cent losses in early London trade, but it then rallied throughout most of the rest of trade in London and New York and ended near its highs with a gain 1.12%.
Euro gold fell to about €475, platinum lost $4 to $1,124, palladium gained $2 to $338, and copper fell another 6 cents to about $2.58.
Gold and silver equities fell throughout most of trade and ended with about 2% losses.
The Economy:
Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous |
Initial Claims | 12/30 | 329K | 320K | 319K |
Factory Orders | Nov | 0.9% | 1.4% | -4.5% |
ISM Services | Dec | 57.1 | 57.0 | 58.9 |
Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings December’s jobs data. Nonfarm Payrolls are expected at 100,000, the Unemployment Rate is expected at 4.5%, Hourly Earnings are expected at 0.3%, and the Average Workweek is expected at 33.9.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil again fell notably on warmer than expected weather as crude inventories fell 1.3 million barrels, gasoline inventories built 5.6 million barrels, and distillates built 2 million barrels.
The U.S. dollar index rose on signs that the slowdown in economic growth is not as severe as some feared and traders looked ahead to payrolls data tomorrow.
Treasuries rose as economic data came in about as expected or a little worse than expected and pushed interest rates down.
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell in early trade on disappointing reports from various retailers, but all three indices rose to find gains by the close as oil fell markedly and interest rates fell back off as well.
Among the big names making news in the market today were Boeing, Wal-Mart. Monsanto, Toyota, Cisco, and Gap.
The Commentary:
“What hits me over the head is that this volatility we saw in the markets today (including gold and silver) is a good omen for gold and silver in the months to come. If real estate, commodity, and stock markets fall apart, the Fed will have to lower rates, even as they are concerned with inflation. If they don’t, there will be a serious debacle. That scenario is a gold/silver friendly one, especially as The Gold Cartel continues to lose more and more of their available central bank gold supply, a supply which continues to gradually dwindle down to critically low levels.” - From yesterday’s Midas report by Bill Murphy of LemetropoleCafe.com
“February Gold finished down 3.6 at 626.2, 5.6 off the high and 0.2 up from the low.
March Silver closed up 0.165 at 12.835. This was 0.205 up from the low and 0.095 off the high.
Gold closed lower today as a stronger dollar, weaker energy prices and fund long liquidation pressured the market from all sides. The dollar gained for the second day in a row, pushing through key resistance at the December highs and trading to its highest level since late November. In addition, crude oil broke solidly for the second day in a row, trading to its lowest level since June 2005. After the recent run of strong US economic data, the trade is looking for an increase of 110,000 in tomorrow morning's non-farm payrolls report, and a significantly weaker number could give some life to the gold bulls. Adding to fundamental bearish news was a report by the European Central Bank that gold reserves held by central banks in the Eurosystem rose by 2.8 billion euros the week ending December 29.
Silver held yesterdays lows today and managed a modest recovery back towards the 13.00 resistance level that held the market last week before closing towards the middle of the day's range. After initially trading lower on what appeared to be follow through selling from yesterday's decline, March silver held support at the December lows this morning and recovered more than half of yesterday's losses at one point. The set of strong US economic data that has sent the dollar higher and pressured gold could be taken an indication of stronger industrial demand for silver. With recent COT data indicating that the funds were not particularly invested in silver from the long side, the fund liquidation pressure is much lighter.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
GATA Posts:
Kitco's Nadler can only sneer at Blanchard report, not answer it
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 1/03/2007
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,533,807 | - |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 113,084,699 | - |
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 | 453.24 | 14,572,124 | US$ 9,361m |
LSE (London Stock Exchange) AND Euronext Paris | Gold Bullion Securities | 90.29 | 2,902,850 | US$ 1,804m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 10.53 | 338,363 | US$ 210m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 10.25 | 329,481 | US$ 211m |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 1/3/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $896,060,709 | 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 1/3/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,563,267,227 | 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:
Almaden’s (AAU) yearly review, Canyon’s (CAU) acquired royalty, and an ad campaign against a mine in Alaska owned by Northern Dynasty (NAK) were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.
WINNERS
1. Almaden | AAU +2.65% $2.32 |
2. Northern Orion | NTO +2.08% $3.43 |
3. Nevsun | NSU +1.92% $2.12 |
LOSERS
1. Northern Dynasty | NAK -8.61% $6.79 |
2. Aurizon Mines | AZK -8.44% $2.82 |
3. US Gold | UXG -7.63% $4.48 |
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:
High River Gold Completes Transfer of its 50% Interest in Non-Operating New Britannia Mine - More
- January 04, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Running Fox Announces $2,400,000 Private Placement Financing - More
- January 04, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Drilling Commences on the Ramard Copper-Zinc-Silver Project in Sonora - More
- January 04, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Matamec Closes Two Private Placements for $1,000,000 for Gold and Uranium Exploration - More
- January 04, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Tagish Reports Hole SC06-95 Intersects 6.91 g/t Gold and 72.4 g/t Silver over 9.72 metres - More
- January 04, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Adanac Molybdenum Corporation: Private Placement Closes - More
- January 04, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Win-Eldrich Mines' update on the Ashdown Project - More
- January 04, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Renforth Resources Inc.-News Release - More
- January 04, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Northern Peru Reports an Initial Gold Resource Estimate at Hilorico - More
- January 04, 2007 | Item | E-mail
2006 Year Review of Almaden's Exploration Activ
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold Falls While Silver Rises