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-- Posted Tuesday, 20 March 2007 | Digg This Article
| Close | Gain/Loss | Gold | $657.90 | +$5.10 | Silver | $13.26 | +$0.14 | XAU | 135.62 | +0.47% | HUI | 332.51 | +0.53% | GDM | 1063.56 | +0.66% | JSE Gold | 2887.68 | +0.10% | USD | 83.07 | -0.29 | Euro | 133.13 | +0.17 | Yen | 85.38 | +0.32 | Oil | $56.73 | +$0.14 | 10-Year | 4.547% | -0.024 | T-Bond | 112.78125 | +0.21875 | Dow | 12288.10 | +0.51% | Nasdaq | 2408.21 | +0.58% | S&P | 1410.94 | +0.63% |
The Metals:  Gold rose a few dollars in Asia before it fell back to about unchanged in London, but it then surged over 1% higher to over $660 a little before 9AM EST, remained around 1% higher for most of the rest of trade, and closed with a gain of 0.78%. Silver topped $13.35 a little before 9AM EST before it also fell off a bit heading into the close, but it still ended with a gain of 1.07%.
Euro gold rose to about €495, platinum gained $2 to $1,228, palladium remained unchanged at $350, and copper fell slightly to about $3.02. Gold and silver equities rose over 1% at the open, but they then fell off a bit in afternoon trade and ended with about 0.5% gains. 
The Economy: Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous | Housing Starts | Feb | 1525K | 1445K | 1399K | Building Permits | Feb | 1532K | 1550K | 1571K |
Tomorrow at 2:15PM EST is the FOMC policy statement expected to keep the fed funds rate unchanged at 5.25%. The Markets: 
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/ Oil ended slightly higher as the April contract closed out and traders positioned themselves ahead of tomorrow’s inventory reports that are expected to show a slight build in crude inventories and slight draws in gasoline and distillate inventories. The U.S. dollar index fell as the Chinese announced plans to stop accumulating forex reserves and the Bank of Japan did not raise interest rates as some were expecting. Treasuries rose on mixed housing data, but gains were limited ahead of tomorrow’s fed announcement. The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P steadily rose for most of trade and ended with decent gains on optimism the fed will keep interest rates steady and not indicate a possible hike in rates anytime soon. Among the big names making news in the market today were Blockbuster, Accredited, and Affiliated Computer and Cerberus. The Commentary:  “April Gold finished up 4.7 at 659, 3 off the high and 3.5 up from the low.
May Silver closed up 0.137 at 13.37. This was 0.065 up from the low and 0.11 off the high. A very impressive range up extension in April gold would seem to suggest that the bull camp is back in control of prices. Apparently the bull camp saw enough from the US numbers or saw enough macro economic confidence manifesting itself in the equity market to bid up prices. It is also clear that the Dollar was weaker despite what seemed to be an improved view toward the US economy and that means that the gold market benefited from an improving demand perspective and it also benefited from a flight to quality or currency aspect. While the European gold didn't manage to hold a new 2 week high into its close, it was clear that the US gold market added to gains in the afternoon action and that probably will end up giving European gold a lift on Wednesday morning. Apparently the metals aren't nearly as concerned about a severe slowdown and that is allowing the trade to regain ground lost in the wake of the February stock market debacle. With the silver clearly managing a rise above the 100 day moving average on Tuesday, it is possible that longer term technical systems are set to upgrade their opinion of the silver market. While the copper market didn't finish that impressively, it did set a positive early example for silver and that in conjunction with the "mostly" favorable stock market action probably conspired to lift silver prices. Certainly seeing the overall macro economic outlook improved and in turn seeing the Dollar weaken is a good combination for silver and that more than anything might have sparked the concentrated buying.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting GATA Posts: 
Blanchard research note: Gold rose last week despite heavy ECB sales China says it will stop accumulating FX reserves New York Post: Cramer reveals a bit too much David Pauly: Since when don't investors have the right to know? Inflation is eating U.S. wage gains Arabs again test whether their dollars are any good in U.S. Chinese market recovers to near record high Jim Cramer explains on TV how to manipulate the markets The Statistics: As of close of business: 3/19/2007 Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,546,010 | - | Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 119,672,777 | - |
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 | 476.84 | 15,331,027 | US$ 10,040m | LSE (London Stock Exchange) AND Euronext Paris | Gold Bullion Securities | 87.98 | 2,828,760 | US$ 1,863m | Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 11.30 | 362,874 | US$ 239m | Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 11.10 | 356,945 | US$ 233m |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data. COMEX Gold Trust (IAU) Profile as of 3/19/2007 | | Total Net Assets | $929,215,888 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 1,423,071.777 | Shares Outstanding | 14,350,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 44.26 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data. Silver Trust (SLV) Profile as of 3/19/2007 | | Total Net Assets | $1,696,750,015 | Ounces of Silver
in Trust | 128,965,697.300 | Shares Outstanding | 12,950,000 | Tonnes of Silver
in Trust | 4,011.28 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data. The Stocks: New Gold’s (NGD) resource estimate and webcast alerts from Silvermex (SMR.V), SilverCrest (SVL.V), Endeavour (EXK), and Dia Bras (DIB.V) were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today. WINNERS 1. Rubicon | RBY +8.47% $1.28 | 2. Pacific Rim | PMU+6.86% $1.09 | 3. Cardero | CDY +4.72% $2.44 |
LOSERS 1. Almaden | AAU -2.91% $2.00 | 2. Entree Gold | EGI -2.60% $1.50 | 3. Exeter | XRA -2.60% $1.87 |
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: Largo Reports Strong Platinum and Palladium Values From Maracas Deposit in Bahia, Brazil - More
- March 20, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Art Freeze, P. Geo, Joins Board Of Soho Resources - More
- March 20, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Shoreham Resources Ltd. ("SMH") Joins TSX-Venture - More
- March 20, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Ontex Announces Brookbank Gold Ore Deposit Results and New Diamond Drill Program for 2007 - More
- March 20, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Great Western Minerals Group Ltd.: Hoidas Lake Winter Program Update - More
- March 20, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Drilling Contractor Secured for C de Baca Uranium Property, New Mexico - More
- March 20, 2007 | Item | E-mail
New Gold Inc.: New Afton Cu-Au Project - "New Gold Inc. (Toronto:NGD.TO - News)(AMEX:NGD - News) is pleased to release the resource estimation for the new mineralized Zone (C Zone) which is located vertically below the existing resource (Main Zone) at its New Afton Project, located 10 kilometres west of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. The description of the intersections which outlined the C Zone was provided in the press release of November 8, 2006." More
- March 20, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Sunridge Gold Accelerates Work at Emba Derho Based on Continuing Positive Drill Results - More
- March 20, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Azteca Gold Corp.: Private Placement Closes, New Mexican Acquisition - More
- March 20, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Asian Dragon Group Inc. Enters Final Negotiations At World Renowned Tieluping Silver and Lead Mine - More
- March 20, 2007 | Item | | 
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold & Silver Gain About 1%