-- Posted Friday, 23 March 2007 | Digg This Article
| Close | Gain/Loss | On Week |
Gold | $656.20 | -$7.10 | +0.61% |
Silver | $13.13 | -$0.26 | +0.23% |
XAU | 137.78 | +0.08% | +3.35% |
HUI | 340.86 | +0.10% | +4.24% |
GDM | 1083.96 | -0.27% | +3.65% |
JSE Gold | 2874.41 | -0.08% | +1.37% |
USD | 83.30 | +0.22 | +0.11% |
Euro | 132.90 | -0.41 | -0.17% |
Yen | 84.76 | +0.13 | -1.07% |
Oil | $62.28 | +$0.59 | +9.05% |
10-Year | 4.613% | +0.024 | +1.50% |
Bond | 112.40625 | -0.375 | -0.42% |
Dow | 12481.01 | +0.16% | +3.06% |
Nasdaq | 2456.18 | +0.18% | +3.52% |
S&P | 1436.11 | +0.11% | +3.54% |
The Metals:
CoT Reports: Gold | Silver
Gold traded roughly $1-$3 lower in Asia and London before it rebounded and found slight gains in early New York trade, but it then fell over 1% between 10AM and 11AM EST, remained about 1% lower for the rest of trade, and ended with a loss of 1.07%. Silver followed a similar pattern and outpaced gold’s drop with a loss of 1.94%.
Euro gold fell back under €495, platinum lost $10 to $1,226, palladium remained unchanged at $352, and copper remained at about $3.06.
Gold and silver equities opened briefly higher before they steadily and slowly fell off and saw about 1% losses by early afternoon, but they then rallied higher into the close and ended mixed and near unchanged.
The Economy:
Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous |
Existing Home Sales | Feb | 6.69M | 6.30M | 6.44M |
Existing Home Sales unexpectedly rose, but they rose in an environment of rising inventories and falling prices.
All of this week’s economic reports:
Next week’s economic highlights include New Home Sales on Monday, Consumer Confidence on Tuesday, Durable Goods Orders on Wednesday, Initial Jobless Claims, GDP, and the Help-Wanted Index on Thursday, and Personal Income and Spending, Chicago PMI, Construction Spending, and Michigan Sentiment on Friday.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil closed over $62 for the first time this year on worries over news that Iran has captured 15 British Navy personnel. The event is hoped to be just a misunderstanding, but few wanted to be caught short heading into the weekend with the issue so far unresolved.
The U.S. dollar index rose and treasuries fell as Existing Home Sales came in better than expected and pushed the yield on the 10-year to close over 4.6% for the first time in nearly four weeks.
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P found slight gains as better than expected Existing Home Sales data encouraged investors about the housing sector and its potential impact on the economy as a whole. The S&P closed with its largest weekly gain in four years.
Among the big names making news in the market Friday were Vonage, GE and Sanyo, Citigroup and ABN AMRO, TD Banknorth, Blackstone, Freddie Mac, and GM.
The Commentary:
“April Gold finished down 6.9 at 657.3, 8 off the high and 1.8 up from the low.
May Silver closed down 0.253 at 13.227. This was 0.077 up from the low and 0.243 off the high.
All things considered the fundamental bulls in gold had to be pretty disappointed with the action in the gold market. In fact, with the US economic numbers hinting at a positive condition in the US housing sector, equity prices mostly supportive and oil prices keeping the hope of inflation alive, the gold bulls had to be thoroughly disappointed with the rather aggressive attempt to press prices downward. In fact, to add insult to injury, the bull camp couldn't even benefit from news that Iran might have captured 15 UK navel personnel in Iraqi waters! However, Iranian officials claimed the captures were made in Iranian waters. Certainly minor Dollar gains and a slightly overbought technical condition were aiding the bear camp and with the end of the week mentality.
With gold and silver starting out weak and then coming under additional liquidation pressure later in the session it was clear that the bearish bias was in place early and that the bias wasn't the least bit altered by the flow of fundamental news during the session. In fact, even the outside supportive markets of copper and platinum came under liquidation pressure and that would seem to confirm a broad based technical profit taking, as opposed to an internal negative for silver.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
GATA Posts:
Cramer tries to wiggle out of confession to market manipulation
Dollar is now minority of Iran's oil receipts
Next week, an EFT for credit derivatives
Run for your lives! Fedsters laud credit derivatives
Let IMF know its new rules should come clean on gold
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 3/22/2007
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,578,550 | +31,938 |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 121,239,010 | -121,092 |
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 | 479.31 | 15,410,289 | US$ 10,215m |
LSE (London Stock Exchange) AND Euronext Paris | Gold Bullion Securities | 87.98 | 2,828,665 | US$ 1,860m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 11.30 | 362,862 | US$ 239m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 11.10 | 356,933 | US$ 236m |
Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The NYSE added 2.47 tonnes.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 3/22/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $953,708,854 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 1,437,943.875 |
Shares Outstanding | 14,500,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 44.73 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
Silver Trust (SLV)
Profile as of 3/22/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,724,407,452 | 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:
Eldorado’s (EGO) 2006 financial results, Canyon’s (CAU) new Stockholder Rights Plan and drill program, Claude’s (CGR) new board member, Aurizon’s (AZK) drill results, and Freeport’s (FCX) priced offering were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines Friday.
WINNERS
1. Cardero | CDY+4.44% $2.35 |
2. Almaden | AAU+3.48% $2.08 |
3. Solitario | XPL+2.56% $4.00 |
LOSERS
1. Great Basin | GBN -3.27% $2.07 |
2. Aurizon | AZK -2.99% $3.54 |
3. Claude | CGR -2.65% $1.47 |
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:
Cusac Gold Mines Ltd.: Taurus Project and Table Mountain Mine Update - More
- March 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Metanor Resources Inc. - Recall - Expiration delay on March 31, 2007 - Private placements closed on March and June 2005 - More
- March 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Tonogold Resources, Inc. Announces Change to Warrant Pricing - More
- March 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Azteca Gold Corp.: Announces Bunker Hill Mine Letter of Intent - More
- March 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Charles J. Hartley, P.Geo., Joins Inter-Citic as Senior Geologist - More
- March 23, 2007
Gold Seeker Weekly Wrap-Up: Gold & Silver End With Slight Gains on the Week After Falling Today