-- Posted Thursday, 1 March 2007 | Digg This Article
| Close | Gain/Loss |
Gold | $663.20 | -$4.80 |
Silver | $13.58 | -$0.55 |
XAU | 136.71 | -2.11% |
HUI | 334.35 | -1.60% |
GDM | 1065.26 | -1.96% |
JSE Gold | 2732.45 | -0.09% |
USD | 83.73 | +0.19 |
Euro | 131.91 | -0.41 |
Yen | 85.00 | +0.52 |
Oil | $62.00 | +$0.21 |
10-Year | 4.556% | +0.006 |
T-Bond | 112.875 | -0.125 |
Dow | 12234.34 | -0.28% |
Nasdaq | 2404.21 | -0.49% |
S&P | 1403.17 | -0.26% |
The Metals:
Gold rose nearly $10 to over $675 in Asia, traded between $670 and $675 in London, remained on either side of unchanged in morning New York trade, and then fell off in afternoon trade and ended near its low of the day with a loss of 0.72%. Silver traded mostly higher in Asia and London and remained near unchanged in morning New York trade before it sold off dramatically in the last minutes of trade and ended with a loss of 3.89%.
Euro gold fell near €500, platinum lost $5 to $1,233, palladium lost $1 to $346, and copper fell roughly a penny to about $2.71.
Gold and silver equities fell almost 3% at the open before they rebounded for the rest of the morning and saw only slight losses heading into afternoon trade, but they then sold back off for the rest of trade and ended with about 2% losses.
The Economy:
Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous |
Initial Claims | 2/24 | 338K | 325K | 332K |
Personal Income | Jan | 1.0% | 0.3% | 0.5% |
Personal Spending | Jan | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.7% |
Construction Spending | Jan | -0.8% | -0.4% | 0.6% |
ISM Index | Feb | 52.3 | 50.0 | 49.3 |
Tomorrow at 10AM EST brings the revised reading for February Michigan Sentiment expected at 93.3.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P opened substantially lower and the Dow fell over 200 points just minutes after the open, but all three indices then rebounded higher following the release of economically positive ISM data at 10AM EST. Minimal gains were accomplished by about 2PM EST, but stocks then fell back off into the close and ended modestly lower.
Oil followed the Dow lower in early trade on further demand concerns, but it then turned higher and ended with slight gains after ISM data pointed towards continued strong demand.
The U.S. dollar index remained near unchanged in early trade as strength in the yen battled weakness in the euro, but it then rose following the stronger than expected ISM reading and ended slightly higher.
Treasuries rose in early trade as the major indices opened markedly lower again, but gains dissipated and turned to small losses as the day wore on and stocks recovered from their early lows.
Among the big names making news in the market today were Viacom, Sears, and Oracle.
The Commentary:
“April Gold finished down 7.4 at 665.1, 11 off the high and 0.6 up from the low.
March Silver closed down 0.57 at 13.53. This was 0.08 up from the low and 0.67 off the high.
All things considered the gold market seemed to fight off a number of outside market negatives without suffering another round of "extremely heavy" liquidation selling. In fact, with the Dollar higher, stock prices at times significantly lower and the energy complex unable to show dominating strength, one has to be impressed that gold managed to avoid renewed selling for most of the session. However, it was clear toward the end of the trading session that the negative developments were weighing on the market and that some players in the end decided to step aside rather than accept the outside market adversity.
While the silver market initially showed signs of discounting the outside market negatives, it was clear that the strength in the Dollar, weakness in gold and ongoing concern of global slowing was simply too much for the bull camp in silver. With the last scheduled report of the session, the ISM coming in slightly better than expected one might have expected the silver market to discount the slowing economy, but weakness in equity prices into the silver close seemed to leave the bear camp with a distinct edge. With the slide in the March silver contract clearly violating a number of critical chart support points, many traders were suggesting that a violation of $13.50 might be in the cards.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 2/28/2007
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,487,176 | - |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 117,193,056 | -14,460 |
Global Gold ETF Holdings
[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]
| Product name | Total Tonnes | Total Ounces | Total Value |
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) AND Singapore Exchange (SGX) | Streettracks Gold Shares | 481.31 | 15,474,497 | US$ 10,275m |
LSE (London Stock Exchange) AND Euronext Paris | Gold Bullion Securities | 87.07 | 2,799,354 | US$ 1,860m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 11.30 | 362,951 | US$ 241m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 10.73 | 345,134 | US$ 233m |
Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The NYSE subtracted 6.16 tonnes.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 2/28/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $952,607,329 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 1,423,505.730 |
Shares Outstanding | 14,350,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 44.28 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
Silver Trust (SLV)
Profile as of 2/28/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,802,787,555 | Ounces of Silver
in Trust | 126,026,951.100 |
Shares Outstanding | 12,650,000 | Tonnes of Silver
in Trust | 3,919.88 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
The Stocks:
Buenaventura’s (BVN) quarterly results and dividend, U.S. Energy’s (USEG) hiring of Behre Dolbear & Company to do a pre-feasibility study, Golden Star’s (GSS) completed share offering, Barrick’s (ABX) construction plans, NovaGold’s (NG) permit, Rubicon’s (RBY) financing, Randgold’s (GOLD) block listing, Great Panther’s (GPR.V) drill results, Oremex’s (ORM.V) silver property status, and South American Silver’s (SAC.TO) drilling were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.
WINNERS
1. Rubicon | RBY +6.87% $1.40 |
2. Northern Orion | NTO +4.68% $4.47 |
3. Hecla Mining | HL +3.64% $7.97 |
LOSERS
1. Minco Gold | MGH-8.33% $1.54 |
2. Endeavour | EXK -6.09% $4.32 |
3. Seabridge | SA -6.04% $15.10 |
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:
Peru's Buenaventura net falls on lower gold output - "Buenaventura (BUEv.LM: Quote, Profile , Research) (BVN.N: Quote, Profile , Research), the largest precious metals producer in mineral-rich Peru, posted a 19 percent drop in quarterly profit as its gold output fell by almost half.
Fourth-quarter net profit declined to to $78.8 million from $96.7 million a year earlier as gold output fell 46 percent due to declining production at Yanacocha, the largest gold mine in South America." More
- March 01, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Geophysics Identifies High Chargeability Anomalies At Colquipucro - More
- March 01, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Goldcliff Resource Corporation: Panorama Ridge-Spar Gold Zone Discovered at Depth - More
- March 01, 2007 | Item | E-mail
U.S. Energy Corp. Announces That Sutter Gold Engages Behre Dolbear for Pre-Feasibility Study on Lincoln Project - "U.S. Energy Corp. (USE) (Nasdaq: USEG - News) announced that Sutter Gold Mining Inc. (TSX-VX: SGM) today announced that it has hired Behre Dolbear & Company (USA), Inc. (BDUSA), a preeminent minerals industry consulting firm, to complete a Canadian NI 43-101 compliant pre-feasibility study on the Lincoln Project, SGM's advanced stage gold property located in the historic Mother Lode District east of Sacramento, California." More
- March 01, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Gold Crest Mines Announces Completion of Regulation D Private Placement - More
- March 01, 2007 | Item | E-mail
MacMillan Gold Commences Drill Program at La Mus - More
- March 01, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Solid Announces Hearing Date - More
- March 01, 2007 | Item | E-m
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold & Silver Drop in Late Trade After Early Gains