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The Coming Big Money Bang

The Markets:

Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/

Oil fell over 2% as more refineries appear to be coming back on line in the U.S., but the move came in light volume as traders rollover from the May contract, which expires tomorrow, and into the June contract.  London Brent crude, which has been trading at roughly a $5 premium to U.S. crude recently, actually rose slightly by $0.13 to $66.17 as geopolitical worries over Iran and Nigeria offset potential waning demand concerns from China if they raise interest rates to curb their strong 11.1% 1^st quarter economic growth reported today.

The U.S. dollar index continued its recent free fall as the yen rose on the possibility for higher interest rates out of China.  Losses in the dollar today were somewhat minimal, but it still marks the eighth straight losing session for the index.

Treasuries fell despite poor economic data as traders took gains from the previous four day rally in bonds.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P opened markedly lower on concerns that China will raise interest rates to curb its rapid growth, but all three indices rose back near unchanged by the close on decent earning reports as investors watched U.S. oil prices fall as well.  The Nasdaq and S&P ended slightly lower, but the Dow ended barely higher to make a new record closing high.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Amgen, Altria, AMC Entertainment, D.R. Horton, Merrill Lynch, Merck, and Bank of America.

The Commentary:

“June Gold finished down 5 at 688.3, 2.7 off the high and 5.8 up from the low.

May Silver closed down 0.24 at 13.735. This was 0.155 up from the low and 0.155 off the high.

The gold market started out by waffling around unchanged, the market managed a mid morning rally but in the early afternoon action it was clear that the trade was still exhibiting some concern of too much slowing in China. Certainly the threat of slowing in China is not something that many physical commodity markets can take lightly and it is possible that the market will be forced to deal with the issue for a number of days ahead. With the Dollar not showing a direct downside extension in the wake of the news that China might have to hike interest rates significantly to quell excess speculation and inflation, it is clear that the Dollar bears and therefore the gold bulls are having some second thoughts.

Certainly the silver market suffered the brunt of the slowing fears off the China situation. However, as long as copper, the base metals, equity prices and energy prices don't end up tumbling down sharply off fears of global deflation, it is possible that the whole China issue will moderate into a background item. However, the trade is concerned about the overbought condition of the silver market in the spec categories and therefore, the bull camp in silver probably needs some help from favorable economic readings or some recovery action in the stock market.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

British pound hits 26-year high against U.S. dollar

Mike Maloney: The Dow isn't going up -- it's actually crashing

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 4/18/2007

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The LSE added 0.93 tonnes.

COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)

Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.

Silver Trust (SLV)

Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.

The Stocks:

Freeport’s (FCX) production in Indonesia, Meridian’s (MDG) banned gold mine in Argentina, Crystallex’s (KRY) filed final short form prospectus, Fronteer’s (FRG) expanded deposit, Great Basin’s (GBN) completed financing, NovaGold’s (NG) priced public offering, Metallica’s (MRB) dore pours, Newmont’s (NEM) share sale to the Indonesian government, Metalline’s (MMG) additions to mineral concessions, IMPACT’s (ITP.V) $2.4 million in operating earnings, Bear Creek’s (BCM.V) drill results, YGC’s (YGC.TO) drill results, and Hecla’s (HL) completed Hollister sale were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.

WINNERS

LOSERS

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:

Argentine Supreme Court upholds gold mine ban - "U.S. miner Meridian Gold Inc. has lost an appeal to Argentina's Supreme Court over an environmental ban on its mining project in a Patagonian province.

A spokeswoman for Nevada-based Meridian (MDG.N: Quote, Profile , Research)(MNG.TO: Quote, Profile , Research) said on Thursday the company was aware of the court's decision, but that it remained committed to the Esquel project, which has been frozen since 2003." More
- April 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Ball Mill for Adanac's Ruby Creek Molybdenum Project Awarded to Outokumpu Technology - More
- April 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Bolero announces drill program at Cannivan Gulch Moly Project - More
- April 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Carlisle grants stock options - More
- April 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Metalline Mining Company Announces Additions to Mineral Concession Holdings - "The total area of the added concessions is 9,557.8611 hectares. With these additions, the total area of concessions in the region, held through our subsidiary Minera Metalin S.A. de C.V., is 15,645.9702 hectares." More
- April 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Stratabound Private Placement - More
- April 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail

El Nino Outlook for 2007 - 2008 Work Program and Report on the Bathurst Mining Camp First Year Results - More
- April 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail

IMPACT Reports $2.4 Million in Operating Earnings for 2006 - "IMPACT Silver Corp. (TSX VENTURE:IPT - News; "the Company") is pleased to announce its results for the year ended December 31, 2006. The Company's consolidated financial statements include the results of Royal Mines of Zacualpan Project ("Zacualpan") that was purchased on January 16, 2006. For the year 2006, the Company's net earnings per share (EPS) were $0.03." More
- April 19, 2007 | Item | E-ma