-- Posted Wednesday, 18 July 2007 | Digg This Article
| Close | Gain/Loss |
Gold | $672.10 | +$7.70 |
Silver | $13.20 | +$0.30 |
XAU | 154.41 | +3.58% |
HUI | 365.10 | +3.96% |
GDM | 1151.77 | +3.94% |
JSE Gold | 2728.75 | +1.20% |
USD | 80.43 | -0.11 |
Euro | 138.06 | +0.24 |
Yen | 82.11 | +0.39 |
Oil | $75.05 | +$1.03 |
10-Year | 5.010% | -0.068 |
T-Bond | 107.96875 | +0.6875 |
Dow | 13918.22 | -0.38% |
Nasdaq | 2699.49 | -0.47% |
S&P | 1546.17 | -0.21% |
The Metals:
Gold rose to find over $4 dollar gains in Asia before it fell back off in London and traded near unchanged in early New York trade, but it then gained over 1% between 10AM and 11AM EST as Bernanke began to speak and oil inventory data was released. After topping $672 by late morning, it then remained close to its high near $674 for the rest of trade and closed with a gain of 1.16%. Silver dropped to find small losses at $12.87 in early New York trade before it also rose during mid to late morning and closed with a gain of 2.33%.
Euro gold rose near €488, platinum gained $11 to $1,318, palladium remained unchanged at $365, and copper rose roughly 2 cents to about $3.58.
Gold and silver equities rose throughout the day and ended with nearly 4% gains.
The Economy:
Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous |
CPI | June | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.7% |
Core CPI | June | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
Housing Starts | June | 1467K | 1450K | 1434K |
Building Permits | June | 1406K | 1490K | 1520K |
Bernanke’s testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services weighed his concerns over inflation versus worries about the housing market stemming from subprime mortgage problems. While Bernanke recognized that “sizable increases in food and energy prices have boosted overall inflation and eroded real incomes in recent months,” he also said he expected core inflation will fall in 2008. He further noted that he thought subprime problems could get worse before they would get better and that certainly was not encouraging for Wall Street. Bernanke testifies before the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow.
Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings Initial Jobless Claims for 7/14 expected at 310,000. At 10AM is the Leading Economic Indicators report for June expected at -0.1%, at noon is the Philadelphia Fed survey for July expected at 14.0, and at 2PM is the release of FOMC minutes from their June 28th meeting.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil rose over 1% above $75 and gasoline rose over 2% after inventory reports surprised with draws across the board instead of an expected build in gasoline at minimum. Oil inventories fell 500,000 barrels, gasoline inventories fell 2.3 million barrels, distillates fell 200,000 barrels, and refinery utilization rose 0.8% to 91.0%.
The U.S. dollar index found slight gains early as CPI came in a bit higher than expected, but it soon fell back off to new all-time lows versus the euro and new 15 year lows overall as subprime worries spread to other U.S. bankers after Bernanke expressed concern and Bear Stearns announced late yesterday that two of its hedge funds had “no value left” due to poor bets on the sector.
Treasuries rose as interest rates dropped back near 5.00% on subprime worries.
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell markedly on poor earnings reports, higher energy prices, and concerns about failure in subprime loans and their impact on both the housing sector and the financial sector overall, but losses were roughly cut in half in the last minutes of trade on optimism over earnings reports due out late today and early tomorrow.
Among the big names making news in the market today were Knight, Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Chase, KKR and Macy’s, Delta Air Lines, Pfizer, Altria, Southwest Airlines, CIT Group, Imperial and Altadis, and Sainsbury and Qatar.
The Commentary:
“August Gold finished up 7.8 at 673.7, 1.6 off the high and 7.4 up from the low.
September Silver closed up 0.272 at 13.29. This was 0.3 up from the low and 0.03 off the high.
Gold prices benefited from a sharply weaker dollar, stronger energy prices and a weaker stock market today, as concerns over the sub-prime loan crisis escalated and fund buying stepped into the market. The dollar fell to new contract lows against the Euro today, and nearby crude oil rallied to its highest level in almost a year. Fed Chairman Bernanke's testimony before congress acknowledged that the weakness in the housing sector could get worse before it gets better, and that outlook is raising fears of more sub-prime spillover impact on the economy. August gold traded to its highest level since early June.
Silver benefited from flight to quality buying along with other precious metals today, as the traders were confronted with stock market declines, a weakening dollar and sharply higher energy prices. With the Fed looking for moderate growth and an easing of inflation, it also suggests the Fed is not poised to tighten interest rates, which also supports the bull case for metals and weakens the outlook for the dollar.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
GATA Posts:
Scientists find economic process for creating gold from base metals
Bear Stearns admits two subprime mortgage funds are worthless
Ted Butler: The principle of substitution
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 7/17/2007
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 6,968,917 | - 160,882 |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 133,844,470 | - 3,131,970 |
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 | 487.92 | 15,687,034 | US$ 10,453m |
London Stock Exchange (LSE) AND Euronext Paris AND Borsa Italiana AND Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Deutsche Börse ) | Gold Bullion Securities | 93.10 | 2,993,358 | US$ 2,011m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 12.28 | 394,350 | US$ 265m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 13.43 | 431,654 | US$ 287m |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 7/17/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $980,683,732 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 1,475,649.875 |
Shares Outstanding | 14,900,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 45.90 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
Silver Trust (SLV)
Profile as of 7/17/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,795,102,740 | Ounces of Silver
in Trust | 139,186,961.000 |
Shares Outstanding | 14,000,000 | Tonnes of Silver
in Trust | 4,329.20 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
The Stocks:
Entree Gold’s (EGI) exploration agreement, Harmony Gold’s (HMY) postponed bond issue, Great Basin’s (GBN) earn-in agreement, Aurelian’s (ARU.TO) drill results, Kirkland’s (KGI.TO) year end update, Yale’s (YLL.V) access agreement, Orko’s (OK.V) drill results, ECU’s (ECU.V) new assays, Silver Dragon’s (SDRG.OB) subsidiary incorporation, and Silver Standard’s (SSRI) new VP of finance and CFO were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.
WINNERS
1. Seabridge | SA +9.14% $25.92 |
2. Cardero | CDY +7.47% $1.87 |
3. Kinross | KGC+7.27% $14.17 |
LOSERS
1. Entree | EGI -6.77% $2.89 |
2. Metalline | MMG-1.93% $3.56 |
3. Orezone | OZN -1.66% $1.78 |
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:
Gemini Explorations Inc Reports on La Planada Gold Project Phase 2 Channel Sampling and Upcoming Drill Program - More
- July 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Aldershot Resources Ltd.: Yuinmery Uranium Project Update - More
- July 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Ungava Minerals Corp. Completes Private Placement - More
- July 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Eloro Announces $750,000 Financing - More
- July 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Duran Announces $3,500,000 Private Placement Financing - More
- July 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Shoreham Resources Completes $2,183,250 Flow-Through Private Placement and Announces Additional $300,000 Subscription - More
- July 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Western Copper Corporation-Casino Deposit: Initiation of Pre-Feasibility Study and Intention to Exercise Casino Option Agreement - More
- July 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Gain Over 1% and 2%