-- Posted Wednesday, 23 May 2007 | Digg This Article
| Close | Gain/Loss |
Gold | $662.00 | +$3.20 |
Silver | $13.03 | +$0.14 |
XAU | 137.97 | +1.59% |
HUI | 329.41 | +1.40% |
GDM | 1067.90 | +1.21% |
JSE Gold | 2784.59 | +0.93% |
USD | 82.30 | -0.11 |
Euro | 134.57 | +0.03 |
Yen | 82.20 | -0.07 |
Oil | $65.77 | +$0.26 |
10-Year | 4.859% | +0.028 |
T-Bond | 109.25 | -0.34375 |
Dow | 13525.65 | -0.11% |
Nasdaq | 2577.05 | -0.42% |
S&P | 1522.28 | -0.12% |
The Metals:
Gold traded within about $2 of either side of unchanged in Asia and early London trade before it began to rise in late London and early New York trade, remained solidly above $660 throughout the rest of trade in New York, and ended about $2 off its high with a gain of 0.49%. Silver followed a similar pattern and rose over $13.10 in late morning New York trade before it fell off a bit into the close, but it still ended with a gain of 1.09%.
Euro gold rose near €492, platinum gained $13 to $1,305, palladium gained $5 to $375, and copper fell roughly 4 cents to about $3.31.
Gold and silver equities rose over 2% by late morning before they drifted lower in afternoon trade, but they still ended with about 1.5% gains.
The Economy:
There were no major economic reports due out today. Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings Durable Goods Orders for April expected at 0.9% and Initial Jobless Claims for 5/19 expected at 305,000. At 10AM is the New Home Sales report for April expected at 860,000.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil traded mostly higher as inventory reports came in about as expected and geopolitical tensions increased as the U.S. moved nine warships through the Straits of Hormuz into the gulf off of Iran’s coast to hold drill’s in a show of force. Crude inventories built 2.0 million barrels, gasoline inventories built 1.5 million barrels, distillated built 500,000 barrels, and refinery utilization rose 1.6% to 91.1%.
The U.S. dollar index fell as minutes from the Bank of England’s last meeting revealed their decision to raise interest rates was unanimous and there was even talk of a 0.5% hike instead of the 0.25% move. Strong European industrial data also suggested the European Central bank will continue to raise interest rates from the current level of 4.25% while the fed appears to be keeping interest rates in the U.S. unchanged for the time being.
Treasuries fell as the yield on the 10-year rose to a new 3 and ½ month high on further transition to the belief that the fed will not lower interest rates anytime soon.
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose in the first few hours of trade on more takeover news before they fell off mid-afternoon after Greenspan commented that he feared a “dramatic correction” in Chinese stocks, but losses were mostly marginal at the close.
Among the big names making news in the market today were Payless ShoeSource and Stride Rite, Amazon and Brilliance Audio, Morgan Stanley, GameStop, Ross Stores, Target, KKR and Blackstone, and Dillard’s.
The Commentary:
“June Gold finished up 2.7 at 662.6, 2.7 off the high and 1.4 up from the low.
July Silver closed up 0.115 at 13.105. This was 0.015 up from the low and 0.095 off the high.
With the US Dollar forging a rather wide trading range and finishing lower, the bull camp in the gold was able to discount some of the recent flow of bearish fundamental news. Certainly the fear of ongoing central bank sales has the market undermined and certainly the fear of money rotating toward the stock market is hampering the gold market, but as long as the Dollar shows some weakness it seems as if gold prices can perk up quickly. However, the market continues to lack a definitive optimism from the investment front and it would also seem like the sloppy action in copper and platinum prices is serving as a distraction.
Apparently the silver market was partially emboldened by the recovery in gold and the reversal in the US Dollar as it managed a fairly impressive recovery bounce during the action Wednesday. As suggested in the mid day coverage today, the market could have been discouraged by the fact that the World Silver Survey projected a decline in 2006 Silver Fabrication demand. On the other hand, the market also saw evidence that soaring silver prices were not necessarily reducing investment demand and that seemed to allow the market to accept the balance of the survey as a partially bullish development. However, dampening silver prices somewhat were fresh suggestions from Gold Fields Mineral Services that government silver sales jumped to 77.7 million ounces from just 65.9 million in the prior year. In another potentially fresh bearish development the survey also pointed to a rise in silver supply to 188 million ounces from 186.4 million ounces.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
GATA Posts:
Shanghai can't find domestic help -- the maids are out day-trading
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 5/22/2007
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,668,449 | -50,297 |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 132,013,261 | - |
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$ 9,983m |
London Stock Exchange (LSE) AND Euronext Paris AND Borsa Italiana AND Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Deutsche Börse ) | Gold Bullion Securities | 90.83 | 2,920,193 | US$ 1,934m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 11.84 | 380,411 | US$ 252m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 11.59 | 372,531 | US$ 246m |
Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The JSE added 0.25 tonnes.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 5/22/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $973,009,645 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 1,476,628.340 |
Shares Outstanding | 14,900,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 45.93 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
Silver Trust (SLV)
Profile as of 5/22/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,774,650,635 | 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:
Gold Reserve’s (GRZ) exercised over-allotment option, Rio Narcea’s (RNO) hot commissioning commencement at Tasiast, Great Basin’s (GBN) increased resource, NovaGold’s (NG) partnership with Teck Cominco to build the Galore Creek mine, Fury’s (FUR.V) drilling, Silver Eagle’s (SEG.TO) assay results, Aquiline’s (AQI.TO) drill results, and Silver Dragon’s (SDRG.OB) project development were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.
WINNERS
1. Nevsun | NSU+11.79% $2.18 |
2. NovaGold | NG +7.90% $15.16 |
3. Allied Nevada | ANV +5.88% $4.50 |
LOSERS
1. U.S. Energy | USEG-3.35% $6.05 |
2. Fronteer | FRG -3.32% $12.52 |
3. Crystallex | KRY 2.82% $4.83 |
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:
Teck Cominco joins NovaGold to build Galore Creek - "NovaGold Resources Inc. (NG.TO: Quote, Profile , Research) said on Wednesday it will team up with Teck Cominco Ltd. (TCKb.TO: Quote, Profile , Research) to build its $2 billion Galore Creek copper-gold mine in northwestern British Columbia.
NovaGold stock surged nearly 11 percent after the highly anticipated announcement, but later pulled back. Shares added C$1.12, or 7.3 percent, to close at C$16.37 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, while Teck Cominco stock slipped 30 Canadian cents to end at C$43.40 in Toronto." More
- May 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
North Atlantic Commences Airborne Survey of Uranium Permits in Niger - More
- May 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Wildcat Exploration Ltd.- More High Grade Gold at the Jeep Project - More
- May 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Goldcliff Resource Corporation: Panorama Ridge Drilling Confirms Gold Continuity and Expands York-Viking Gold Zone - More
- May 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Guyana Goldfields Inc.: Aurora Exploration Update-45m @ 7.20 g/t Au - More
- May 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Tonogold Resources, Inc. Announces Initial Work Program at Tonopah Divide Gold Project - More
- May 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Cameco takes 10 percent stake in Western Uranium - More
- May 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Amseco Exploration Acquires a Gold Property in the Opinaca Gold Play Area - More
- May 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Goldeye Grants Employee Incentive Options - More
- May 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Petaquilla Finalizes Debt Financing for Molejon Gold Mine - More
- May 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Gold Reserve's Underwriters Exercise Over-Allotment Option - "Gold Reserve Inc. (TSX:GRZ - News; AMEX:GRZ - News) announced today that the underwriters of its May 18, 2007 public offering of Class A common shares ("Common Shares") and senior subordinated convertible notes ("Convertible Notes") have exercised over-allotment options and will purchase an additional US$13,500,000 principal amount of Convertible Notes and 962,300 Common Shares at US$5.80 per share. The Convertible Notes were offered and sold to the public at their stated principal amount of US$1,000 per Convertible Note and have a semi-annual cash interest coupon of 5.50% per year. Each US$1,000 principal amount of Convertible Notes is convertible at the option of the holder into 132.6260 Common Shares, subject to adjustment, representing an initial conversion price of US$7.54." More
- May 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Grandview Gold Inc. Announces Private Placement - More
- May 23, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Recoup Yesterday’s Losses