-- Posted Wednesday, 7 February 2007 | Digg This Article
| Close | Gain/Loss |
Gold | $652.20 | -$0.60 |
Silver | $13.63 | +$0.03 |
XAU | 139.26 | -0.51% |
HUI | 332.45 | -0.65% |
GDM | 1070.83 | -0.54% |
JSE Gold | 2765.83 | -0.88% |
USD | 84.71 | -0.06 |
Euro | 130.09 | +0.28 |
Yen | 82.81 | -0.44 |
Oil | $57.71 | -$1.17 |
10-Year | 4.745% | -0.020 |
T-Bond | 110.96875 | +0.1875 |
Dow | 12666.87 | +0.00% |
Nasdaq | 2490.50 | +0.77% |
S&P | 1450.02 | +0.14% |
The Metals:
Gold traded about $3 higher in Asia and London and dropped to about unchanged in early New York trade before it again rallied a few dollars higher in late morning trade, but it then fell back off into the close and ended with a minor loss of 0.09%. Silver traded about 5 cents higher in Asia before fell in late London trade and saw slight losses in early New York trade, but it then rallied higher and saw over 10 cent gains by late morning ahead of a dip into the close that left it with a gain of just 0.22%.
Euro gold fell near €500, platinum gained $19 to $1,199, palladium gained $6 to $344, and copper fell over 7 cents to about $2.42.
Gold and silver equities found slight gains in morning trade before they fell about 1% in early afternoon trade, but they did rally a bit into the close and ended off of their lows with a little over 0.5% losses.
The Economy:
Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous |
Productivity | Q4 | 3.0% | 2.0% | -0.1% |
Consumer Credit | Dec | $6.0B | $6.5B | $13.7B |
Productivity came in higher than expected, but unit labor costs came in lower than expected at 1.7% and eased any inflation fears raised by the stronger than expected Productivity reading. Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings Initial Jobless Claims for 2/03 expected at 310,000 and at 10AM is the Wholesale Inventories report for December expected 0.6%.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil eventually fell after crude inventories fell 400,000 barrels, gasoline inventories built 2.6 million barrels, and distillates fell 3.7 million barrels.
Although Productivity came in strong, unit labor costs came in lower than expected and sent the U.S. dollar index and interest rates lower while bonds rose after a decent 10-year note auction.
The Dow and S&P traded on either side of unchanged while the Nasdaq traded higher on strong earnings from Cisco as fluctuating oil prices kept many traders guessing.
Among the big names making news in the market today were Vornado, Equity Office, and Blackstone, Whirlpool, Nortel, New Corp., Lazard, and Cigna.
The Commentary:
“What is the gold market all about? What makes its price rise?
For many years now I have stated that if you don’t know what GATA knows, or at least deal with what we know, then you are missing the "essence" of the market … and in reality, you are a bit clueless. Over and over again the pundits relate to the public why gold is moving higher, when it does go up. Cutting to the chase, by far the most important factor is the ability of a surging physical market to overpower the shenanigans of The Gold Cartel’s efforts to keep the price from moving up to any significant degree, at any given time. That’s it. Period! Other market considerations are surely important, but very secondary.” - From yesterday’s Midas report by Bill Murphy of LemetropoleCafe.com
“April Gold finished down 1.4 at 657.3, 4.5 off the high and 0.8 up from the low.
March Silver closed up 0.035 at 13.71. This was 0.04 up from the low and 0.1 off the high.
With the oil market failing once again to rise above what has become a psychologically important price zone of $60.00 it appeared as if some gold bulls decided to bank some profits and move to the sidelines. With the Dollar seemingly caught in a tight trading range ahead of the upcoming G7 meeting, it doesn't seem like the gold market can expect much of an influence from the currency markets. However, the gold market might have been supported by the rather stellar gains being forged in the platinum market. In the end, the tight correlation between the energy markets and the precious metals dominated the action on Wednesday. It is also possible that a slight downtick in the US Unit Labor Costs report undermined the gold market as declining labor costs and declining oil prices within the same session certainly reduces inflationary expectations.
While the pattern of higher highs held in the silver market the bull camp had to be disappointing in the oil market action. As suggested in the gold recap, the metals trade continues to look to the oil market for guidance and therefore the ebb and flow of oil prices will remain the focal point, especially since action in the currency markets is being held to a minimum ahead of the upcoming G7 meeting. While overt weakness in copper prices might have been negative to silver prices, the fact that platinum thrust higher early in the session and then managed to sustain positive gains into the close, would seem to help underpin silver against additional near term weakness.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
GATA Posts:
Central banks are becoming gold buyers, Blanchard & Co. says
Miners march in Bolivian capital to protest tax increase
Commodity supplies in doubt as developing countries can't settle mining law
Clive Maund: Gold is probably manipulated but I don't care
Commodities were up but somehow Goldman's index for them was down
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 2/6/2007
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,487,683 | -3,230 |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 114,719,789 | + 229,428 |
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 | 458.63 | 14,745,324 | US$ 9,629m |
LSE (London Stock Exchange) AND Euronext Paris | Gold Bullion Securities | 87.09 | 2,800,036 | US$ 1,824m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 10.89 | 349,888 | US$ 228m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 10.24 | 329,366 | US$ 212m |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 2/6/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $917,379,077 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 1,403,670.518 |
Shares Outstanding | 14,150,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 43.66 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
Silver Trust (SLV)
Profile as of 2/6/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,632,947,249 | Ounces of Silver
in Trust | 119,551,954.200 |
Shares Outstanding | 12,000,000 | Tonnes of Silver
in Trust | 3,718.48 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
The Stocks:
Golden Star’s (GSS) 2006 operating results and 2007 guidance, IAMGOLD’s (IAG) Rosebel talks, Kimber’s (KBX) January newsletter, Minera Andes (MNEAF.OB) listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and Endeavour’s (EXK) drill results were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.
WINNERS
1. Mines MGMT | MGN+3.18% $6.16 |
2. Endeavour | EXK +3.13% $4.28 |
3. Aurizon | AZK +2.97% $3.12 |
LOSERS
1. Kimber | KBX -20% $1.68 |
2. Minco | MGH-4.05% $1.42 |
3. Exeter | XRA -3.33% $2.03 |
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:
Gold Summit to Raise $300,000; Carolina Update - More
- February 07, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Candorado Operating Company Ltd.: Closes $350,000 Non Brokered Private Placement - More
- February 07, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Adanac Molybdenum Corporation: Private Placement Closes - More
- February 07, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Inter-Citic Minerals Inc.: Five New Mineralized Gold Zones Discovered Near Dachang East Main Zone - More
- February 07, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Newmont Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend - "The Board of Directors of Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM - News) today declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, payable March 29, 2007 to holders of record at the close of business on March 7, 2007." More
- February 07, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Drilling Confirms Gold Mineralization along 328.0 m of Strike Length on Mato Velho Project, Brazil - More
- February 07, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Endeavour Outlines Three New High Grade Silver Mineralized Zones at Guanacevi Mines Project, Durango, Mexico - "We are very encouraged by the fact that new high grade silver mineralized zones continue to be outlined at the Guanacevi Mines Project, even after two years of continuous drilling along the Santa Cruz vein system. Once these new discoveries are modelled for resource estimation, Endeavours operations team will schedule these zones for mining as part of a minimum five year mine plan." More
- February 07, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Cameco profit tumbles; sales growth seen in 2007 - More
- February 07, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Pershimco Resources Inc.: Update on Mexicain Operations and 2007 Development Guidance - More
- February 07, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold & Silver End Mixed & Near Unchanged After Early Gains