-- Posted Thursday, 31 May 2007 | Digg This Article
| Close | Gain/Loss |
Gold | $660.60 | +$7.20 |
Silver | $13.37 | +$0.22 |
XAU | 139.63 | +2.63% |
HUI | 334.20 | +3.62% |
GDM | 1063.99 | +3.25% |
JSE Gold | 2673.78 | -0.17% |
USD | 82.39 | -0.15 |
Euro | 134.52 | +0.29 |
Yen | 82.11 | -0.16 |
Oil | $64.01 | +$0.52 |
10-Year | 4.890% | +0.012 |
T-Bond | 109.15625 | UNCH |
Dow | 13627.64 | -0.04% |
Nasdaq | 2604.47 | +0.46% |
S&P | 1530.62 | +0.03% |
The Metals:
Gold rose $2-$3 in Asia and London and added another $5 in early New York trade to above $660 before it fell back to about $658 around 10:30AM EST, but it then rose to new highs by late morning, fell back off again in early afternoon trade, and again rose to new highs in the last half hour of trade and ended with a gain of 1.10%. Silver rose near $13.50 by about 9:45 before it chopped its way slightly lower into the close, but it still ended with a gain of 1.67%.
Euro gold rose over €491, platinum gained $26 to $1,285, palladium gained $5 to $373, and copper gained a few cents to about $3.38.
Gold and silver equities rose over 1% at the open, steadily added to their gains throughout the day, and ended with about 3% gains.
The Economy:
Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous |
GDP | Q1 | 0.6% | 0.8% | 1.3% |
Chain Deflator | Q1 | 4.0% | 4.0% | 4.0% |
Initial Claims | 5/26 | 310K | 315K | 314K |
Chicago PMI | May | 61.7 | 54.0 | 52.9 |
Construction Spending | Apr | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.6% |
Help-Wanted Index | Apr | 29 | 31 | 30 |
GDP came in lower than expected at the slowest growth in over four years, but that economic disappointment was offset by better than expected Initial Claims and Chicago PMI data. Also making economic news was a rarely watched government report showing prices for single family homes rose just 4.3% from a year earlier, the smallest gain about 10 years.
Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings jobs data for May. Nonfarm Payrolls are expected at 135,000, the Unemployment Rate is expected at 4.5%, the Average Workweek is expected at 33.8, and Hourly Earnings are expected at 0.3%. Also at 8:30 are Personal Spending for April expected at 0.4%, Personal Income expected at 0.3%, and Core PCE Inflation expected at 0.2%. At 10AM are Pending Home Sales for April expected at 0.4%, Michigan Sentiment for May expected at 88.0, and the ISM Index for May expected at 54.0.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil traded all over the place and ultimately ended higher on mixed inventory data as crude inventories unexpectedly fell 2.0 million barrels, gasoline inventories built 1.3 million barrels, distillates built 100,000 barrels, natural gas stocks built 107 billion cubic feet, and refinery utilization remained unchanged at 91.1%.
The U.S. dollar index fell versus the euro on weak GDP growth, but losses pared by the end of the day as the dollar gained versus the yen on stronger than expected Chicago PMI.
Treasuries fell in early trade as interest rates rose near 9 month highs in reaction to the stronger than expected Chicago PMI report, but losses were erased by the close as traders prepared for tomorrow’s jobs report.
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P opened higher on more takeover news, but worries over mixed economic data pared gains by the close and the three indices ended mixed and near unchanged.
Among the big names making news in the market today were WellPoint, Sears, Tiffany, Morgan Stanley and Investa, Northwest Airlines, Ceridian, Wachovia and A.G. Edwards, and Costco.
The Commentary:
“August Gold finished up 7.4 at 666.7, 0.8 off the high and 3.1 up from the low.
July Silver closed up 0.25 at 13.47. This was 0.085 up from the low and 0.09 off the high.
The gold market forged a pretty impressive range up bounce on Thursday and managed to forge the gains without a distinct break down in the US Dollar. Apparently evidence of inflationary pressure within the Chicago Purchasing Managers report provided some buyers with the impetus to push up prices. With oil prices at least temporarily showing upside interest and the metals complex in general managing a concerted rally it certainly seemed like a number of bullish themes were being embraced. If fact, the Chicago Purchasing Managers readings were on the face strong enough to countervail the disappointment from the US GDP readings and therefore some traders think that the gold market actually saw some fresh bargain hunting buying from the improved forward outlook on the economy.
With the silver market mostly outperforming the gold market and both the copper and platinum markets making very clear upward bids on the charts it is not surprising to see the silver spring back to life. Certainly the second set of economic readings from the US (the Chicago Purchasing Managers report) gave silver an additional lift and certainly the minor decline in the Dollar was helpful but the main burst of buying seemed to come from the physical commodity side of the equation.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
GATA Posts:
Senators draft legislation for currency intervention by U.S.
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 5/30/2007
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,667,935 | - |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 130,496,143 | -1,631,572 |
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 | 463.60 | 14,905,362 | US$ 9,724m |
London Stock Exchange (LSE) AND Euronext Paris AND Borsa Italiana AND Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Deutsche Börse ) | Gold Bullion Securities | 90.82 | 2,919,934 | US$ 1,929m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 11.92 | 382,878 | US$ 253m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 12.82 | 412,092 | US$ 272m |
Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The NYSE/SGX subtracted 8.63 tonnes.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 5/30/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $964,064,917 | 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 5/30/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,779,890,444 | 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:
Gammon Lake’s (GRS) operations at Ocampo, Vista Gold’s (VGZ) drill results, Sabina Silver’s (SBB.V) agreement for engineering services, U.S. Silver’s (USA.V) 1st quarter financial results, and Minefinders’ (MFN) drilling were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.
WINNERS
1. Nevsun | NSU +9.76% $2.25 |
2. Minefinders | MFN+8.70% $11.62 |
3. Agnico-Eagle | AEM+6.60% $36.36 |
LOSERS
1. Entree Gold | EGI -2.82% $2.07 |
2. Richmont | RIC -1.46% $2.70 |
3. Exeter | XRA -1.16% $2.55 |
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:
Utah Uranium Announces Property Acquisitions, Additional Director - More
- May 31, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Gammon Lake Resources Inc. Confirms Continuous Operations at Ocampo - "In response to recent Mexican media reports about the potential for mine production disruption at Gammon Lake's Ocampo project arising from minor land permitting clarifications with government authorities, Gammon management wishes to assure shareholders that these discussions are regular and ongoing and have no impact on the Company's operations at Ocampo." More
- May 31, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Clarification: Strathmore Completes Option Agreement on Duddridge Lake Uranium Project - More - May 31, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Pershimco Resources Inc.: 3 Million Non-Brokered Private Placement - More
- May 31, 2007 | Item | E-mail
CanAm Uranium Corp. Acquires Option to Own 100 Percent of the Reilly Uranium Property - More
- May 31, 2007 | Item | E-mail
New Cantech Ventures Inc. Announces
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Gain Over 1%