-- Posted Friday, 18 May 2007 | Digg This Article
| Close | Gain/Loss | On Week |
Gold | $660.60 | +$4.50 | -1.42% |
Silver | $12.89 | +$0.13 | -2.35% |
XAU | 136.72 | +1.30% | -2.12% |
HUI | 328.34 | +1.78% | -2.81% |
GDM | 1062.40 | +1.87% | -2.16% |
JSE Gold | 2721.83 | +1.91% | -0.28% |
USD | 82.17 | -0.15 | +0.06% |
Euro | 135.09 | +0.12 | -0.13% |
Yen | 82.55 | +0.10 | -0.85% |
Oil | $64.94 | +$0.08 | +3.64% |
10-Year | 4.804% | +0.048 | +2.87% |
Bond | 109.9375 | -0.50 | -1.24% |
Dow | 13556.53 | +0.59% | +1.73% |
Nasdaq | 2558.45 | +0.75% | -0.15% |
S&P | 1522.75 | +0.66% | +1.12% |
The Metals:
CoT Reports: Gold | Silver
Gold traded slightly higher in Asia and rose over $660 in early London trade before it fell back off and saw minimal losses at $655.40 in early New York trade, but it then rallied back higher for most of the rest of the day and ended with a gain of 0.69%. Silver dropped to $12.74 before it also rallied for most of the rest of the day and ended with a gain of 1.02%.
Euro gold rose back near €490, platinum gained $9 to $1,324, palladium remained unchanged at $361, and copper rose roughly 6 cents to about $3.43.
Gold and silver equities rose over 1.5% by early afternoon and remained near their highs into the close.
The Economy:
Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous |
Michigan Sentiment | May | 88.7 | 86.5 | 87.1 |
All of this week’s economic reports:
Next week’s economic highlights include Durable Goods Orders, Initial Jobless Claims, and New Home Sales on Thursday, and Existing Home Sales on Friday.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil rose as refinery outages continue to keep supply from the market, but gains were limited as tensions in Nigeria eased slightly.
The U.S. dollar index fell as the yen rallied on China’s move to widen the yuan trading band versus the dollar to 0.5% per day from 0.3%.
Treasuries fell as Michigan Sentiment came in better than expected and pushed interest rates higher. The yield on the 10-year rose to a new 3 month high.
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose on another round of takeover news and speculation. The Dow closed at a new record high and the S&P closed at a new 7 year high and about 5 points from a new record high.
Among the big names making news in the market Friday were British Airways, Kohl’s, J.C. Penney, Nordstrom, Clear Channel, Microsoft, and Saudi Basics and GE Plastics.
The Commentary:
“June Gold finished up 4.8 at 662, 2 off the high and 5.5 up from the low.
July Silver closed up 0.12 at 13.003. This was 0.163 up from the low and 0.072 off the high.
While the gold market initially waffled around unchanged and then seemed to sag just ahead of mid session, it should be noted that the June gold contract did reject the lows and move back toward the prior session's highs in the afternoon action. With the Dollar failing to respond to better than expected US economic readings and the US stock market charging hard into new high ground again, it is possible that the hope for revived physical demand provided the gold market with a lift. It is also possible that straight speculative bargain hunting buying lifted prices or that speculators anticipating Middle East turmoil or extreme volatility in Asian equity markets next week served to lift prices. Given the persistent selling interest this week, it is also likely that the shift in macro economic psychology inspire short covering activity.
Certainly the silver market was helped by the renewed vigor in the US equity market on Friday and it is possible that some in the silver trade were also prompted to bank some profits from short positions implemented earlier in the week. However, with all the metals market showing coordinated strength after some early weakness it would seem like a combination of short covering and fresh buying might have been present during the action Friday. However, just seeing a minor bounce in the copper market probably wasn't enough to signal the all clear on the industrial metals demand front, as the copper market was under intense pressure for most of the week and that seemed to damage silver sentiment.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
GATA Posts:
China will let its currency rise faster
NYPost prods Treasury for answers on government's rigging stock market
China reluctant to turn its markets over to MorganChase, Goldman Sachs
China to use another $20 billion to buy influence in Africa
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 5/17/2007
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,718,845 | - |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 132,011,183 | - 47,582 |
Global Gold ETF Holdings
[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]
| Product name | Total Tonnes | Total Ounces | Total Value |
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) AND Singapore Exchange (SGX) | Streettracks Gold Shares | 469.15 | 15,083,560 | US$ 9,904m |
London Stock Exchange (LSE) AND Euronext Paris AND Borsa Italiana AND Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Deutsche Börse ) | Gold Bullion Securities | 90.83 | 2,920,355 | US$ 1,932m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 11.84 | 380,432 | US$ 252m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 11.34 | 364,632 | US$ 239m |
Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The NYSE/SGX subtracted 8.62 tonnes and the ASX added 0.07 tonnes.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 5/17/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $968,780,847 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 1,476,628.340 |
Shares Outstanding | 14,900,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 45.93 |
Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: 0.77 tonnes were added to the trust.
Silver Trust (SLV)
Profile as of 5/17/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,751,680,801 | Ounces of Silver
in Trust | 135,821,754.600 |
Shares Outstanding | 13,650,000 | Tonnes of Silver
in Trust | 4,224.53 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
The Stocks:
A possible strike at Peru’s Yanacocha mine, Gold Reserve’s (GRZ) closed offerings, International Royalty’s (ROY) increased line of credit, and Richmont’s (RIC) reserve calculation were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines Friday.
WINNERS
1. Taseko | TGB+11.22% $3.37 |
2. Fronteer | FRG+9.66% $12.72 |
3. Banro | BAA+9.23% $10.65 |
LOSER
1. Nevsun | NSU-0.50% $1.98 |
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:
Evolving Gold Announces Exploration Progress at Winnemucca Mountain; Appoints New VP Exploration - More
- May 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Energy Metals in Exclusive Negotiations Regarding Potential Sale of Company - More
- May 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Gold Seeker Weekly Wrap-Up: Gold & Silver Lose Roughly 2% on the Week