-- Posted Wednesday, 8 August 2007 | Digg This Article
| Close | Gain/Loss |
Gold | $674.80 | +$3.90 |
Silver | $13.11 | +$0.06 |
XAU | 146.92 | +2.86% |
HUI | 347.26 | +3.53% |
GDM | 1087.63 | +2.97% |
JSE Gold | 2307.85 | +2.98% |
USD | 80.31 | -0.25 |
Euro | 138.03 | +0.53 |
Yen | 83.49 | -1.25 |
Oil | $72.15 | -$0.27 |
10-Year | 4.860% | +0.117 |
T-Bond | 108.9375 | -1.25 |
Dow | 13657.86 | +1.14% |
Nasdaq | 2612.98 | +2.01% |
S&P | 1497.49 | +1.41% |
The Metals:
Gold remained near unchanged in Asia before it began to rise in London and topped $676 at about 10:45AM EST in New York, but it then fell back off slightly into the close and ended about $2 off its high with a gain of 0.58%. Silver rose over $13.15 in morning New York trade before it also fell back off slightly into the close, but it still ended with a gain of 0.46%.
Euro gold rose near €489, platinum gained $3 to $1,284, palladium gained $3 to $361, and copper fell a few cents to about $3.62.
Gold and silver equities steadily rose throughout most of trade and saw about 4% gains by mid-afternoon before they fell back off in the last hour of trade, but they still ended with roughly 3% gains.
The Economy:
Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous |
Wholesale Inventories | June | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
Also making economic news today was a sharp rise in mortgage applications and a National Association of Realtors report that downwardly revised its home sales estimates for 2007. Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings Initial Jobless Claims for 8/04 expected at 310,000.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil initially rose after inventory data came in worse than expected, but it fell off to find slight losses by the close as a near record amount of longs in the market seemed to take profits and exit their positions. Crude inventories fell a large 4.1 million barrels, gasoline inventories fell 1.7 million barrels rather than an expected build, distillates built 1.0 million barrels, and refinery utilization surprisingly fell 2.3% to 91.3%.
The U.S. dollar index fell back near a 15-year low around the 80.00 level as China has recently been threatening its “nuclear option” of dumping its vast dollar reserves. For more on this, please see the GATA posts noted here yesterday of Chinese scholar warns U.S. to lay off currency issue and China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar sales. Also see today’s post at GoldSeek by Justice Litle titled Tactical View: Midnight MADness.
Treasuries also fell markedly on worries that China may dump some of its large treasury holdings.
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose on mostly strong earnings reports.
Among the big names making news in the market today were Revlon, Tyco, Sprint, Toll, and Cisco.
The Commentary:
“December Gold finished up 4 at 686.3, 1.7 off the high and 1.6 up from the low.
September Silver closed up 0.075 at 13.17. This was 0.05 up from the low and 0.06 off the high.
The gold market at times showed signs of an upside breakout and probably managed the majority of the strength off the renewed weakness in the Dollar. It is also possible that gold was lifted indirectly by the strength in the equity market, as gains in stock prices might be a sign that the severe threat of slowing off the sub-prime loan situation are abating. We also can't rule out some buying interest off the idea that Iran might be implicated in Iraqi insurgent attacks. A number of traders pointed to the $680 level as a critical technical breakout level for the trade in the October gold contract and seeing the market rise above that level this week, in the wake of the recent macro economic threat, could be considered a turning point for the bull camp.
While the silver market managed to extend the prior session's strength the action in silver seemed to be a reaction to the Dollar slide and strength in gold, instead of relief toward the macro economic condition. It is possible that overt weakness in the copper market held back the silver market, as silver prices recently were attempting to track with the copper market. With both platinum and copper showing divergent and weak price action on Wednesday, it is not surprising that the silver market simply fought the early highs throughout the trading session.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
GATA Posts:
Disorderly dollar fall could damage Treasuries
Democrats would unload junk mortgages onto Fannie and Freddie
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 8/7/2007
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,151,958 | - |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 133,346,423 | -29,243 |
Global Gold ETF Holdings
[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]
| Product name | Total Tonnes | Total Ounces | Total Value |
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) AND Singapore Exchange (SGX) | Streettracks Gold Shares | 509.60 | 16,384,063 | US$ 10,944m |
London Stock Exchange (LSE) AND Euronext Paris AND Borsa Italiana AND Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Deutsche Börse ) | Gold Bullion Securities | 94.64 | 3,042,653 | US$ 2,053m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 12.48 | 400,756 | US$ 271m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 14.28 | 459,246 | US$ 306m |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 8/7/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,002,436,117 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 1,494,949.081 |
Shares Outstanding | 15,100,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 46.50 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
Silver Trust (SLV)
Profile as of 8/7/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,839,365,806 | Ounces of Silver
in Trust | 141,612,134.500 |
Shares Outstanding | 14,250,000 | Tonnes of Silver
in Trust | 4,404.63 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
The Stocks:
Quarterly results from Metallica (MRB), New Gold (NGD), Yamana (AUY), Golden Star (GSS), Hecla (HL), and Coeur (CDE), Rio Narcea’s (RNO) completed sale by Lundin Mining of the Tasiast Gold Mine to Red Back Mining, Pacific Booker’s (PBM) Amex listing, Fronteer’s (FRG) arrangement with NewWest Gold, Sterling Mining’s (SRLM.OB) Silver Summit Hoist commissioning, and Arian’s (AGQ.V) drill results were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.
WINNERS
1. US Gold | UXG +8.87% $6.75 |
2. Paramount | PZG +8.36% $2.98 |
3. Royal Gold | RGLD+8.34%$31.83 |
LOSERS
1. Kimber | KBX -4.88% $1.17 |
2. Arizona Star | AZS -3.43% $10.43 |
3. Allied Nevada | ANV -2.74% $5.68 |
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:
NewWest Gold Corporation Receives Interim Court Order for Arrangement With Fronteer Development Group - "Fronteer Development Group (Toronto:FRG.TO - News)(AMEX:FRG - News)("Fronteer") and NewWest Gold Corporation (Toronto:NWG.TO - News)("NewWest") announced today that the British Columbia Supreme Court has issued an interim order providing for the holding of a special meeting of NewWest shareholders and optionholders to consider the previously announced arrangement with Fronteer." More
- August 08, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Metallica Resources Announces Second Quarter 2007 Financial Results and Recent Corporate Developments - "Metallica Resources Inc. (Toronto:MR.TO - News)(AMEX:MRB - News) is pleased to report its second quarter 2007 financial results and corporate developments for the second quarter to date. Complete quarterly results will also be available on SEDAR, EDGAR and on the Company's website at www.metal-res.com. All dollar values are in U.S. currency unless otherwise stated." More
- August 08, 2007 | Item | E-mail
North American Palladium Second Quarter Conference Call Confirmation - "North American Palladium Ltd. ("NAP") (Toronto:PDL.TO - News)(AMEX:PAL - News) released its second quarter financial results on Wednesday, August 8, 2007. A conference call to discuss the results will be held on Thursday, August 9, 2007 at 8:30 a.m. ET, presided by Mr. James Excell, President and Chief Executive Officer. A question and answer period will immediately follow." More
- August 08, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Global Uranium Update on Tin Negouran Uranium Project, Niger - More
- August 08, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Knight Resources Ltd./New Discovery at West Raglan-Seahawk: 3.50 Metres of 3.22% Nickel and 1.93% Copper, Including 1.05 Metres of 8.60% Nickel and 3.41% Copper - More
- August 08, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Skygold Ventures Ltd.: Spanish Mountain Similar to Large Russian Deposits - More
- August 08, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Dave Clark Appointed CEO of Uranium Resources, Inc. - More
- August 08, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Tumi Resources Limited - Tumi Resources: Company and Exploration Update, 2007 Drill Programs Planned for Mexico and Sweden - More
- August 08, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Mediterranean intercepts 7.19 g/t gold over 11.10 metres in continued expansion of Tac resource mineralization - More
- August 08, 2007 | Item | E-mail
HuntMountain Finalizes Contract to Develop Argentine Gold Property - More
- August 08, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Jean Depatie to join Stellar's team as Technical Advisor for Vassan Project - More
- August 08, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Gain About 0.5% as the Dollar Drops on China Worries