-- Posted Thursday, 16 August 2007 | Digg This Article
| Close | Gain/Loss |
Gold | $648.00 | -$20.90 |
Silver | $11.40 | -$1.13 |
XAU | 125.64 | -5.14% |
HUI | 300.14 | -5.12% |
GDM | 932.87 | -5.07% |
JSE Gold | 2218.25 | -3.05% |
USD | 81.75 | -0.11 |
Euro | 134.01 | -0.64 |
Yen | 88.50 | +2.23 |
Oil | $71.00 | -$2.33 |
10-Year | 4.600% | -0.106 |
T-Bond | 110.59375 | +1.03125 |
Dow | 12845.78 | -0.12% |
Nasdaq | 2451.07 | -0.32% |
S&P | 1411.26 | +0.32% |
The unwinding of the yen carry trade made another huge move today. Traders that previously borrowed cheap yen to buy other higher yielding assets have been forced to sell those assets, which seems to be pretty much everything, and buy back their previously borrowed yen. The end result was a strengthening yen and weakening stocks, gold, oil, and other assets. Indiscriminate selling, forced liquidation, throwing the baby out with the bath water… call it whatever you want, but as irrational as it seems the biggest and best gainers this year were sold most aggressively today as many were forced to raise cash for a variety of reasons.
The catalyst for this move was, of course, further credit worries. Countrywide’s bankruptcy rumors from yesterday spread to today as they “borrowed the entire $11.5 billion available in a bank credit line” to fund its operations. Poor economic data and rumors that a hedge fund may collapse certainly didn’t help things, but rumors of a possible emergency fed rate cut seemed to calm the markets and take them well off their lows by the end of trade. One fed operation that can be confirmed today was the injection of $17 billion in liquidity.
The Metals:
Gold traded roughly $5 lower around $664 in Asia and London before it plunged over $10 more a little after 10AM EST in New York and tried to stabilize in the low $650s for the next two hours of trade, but it then plummeted further a little after noon EST and dropped to as low as $641.70 by 1PM ahead of a roughly 1% rebound into the close that left it with a loss of 3.12%. Silver dropped to $11.10 before it rebounded over 2% off its low, but it still ended with a loss of 9.02%. However, at the time of writing, both metals are higher in after hours access trade with gold seeing about 0.66% gains and silver finding 3.25% gains from today’s closes.
Euro gold fell to about €483, platinum lost $34 to $1,227, palladium lost $15 to $331, and copper lost over 22 cents to about $3.18.
Gold and silver equities fell roughly 9% in the first hour of trade and then rebounded to see about 5% losses as gold and silver bounced from their initial drop. Gold and silver then dropped again and made new lows as the Dow and other major indices all plummeted to new lows as well, but the XAU, HUI, and GDM refused to make significant new lows and held about 8% lower before they rebounded again in afternoon trade and ended with about 5% losses.
The Economy:
Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous |
Initial Claims | 8/11 | 322K | 315K | 316K |
Housing Starts | July | 1381K | 1405K | 1470K |
Building Permits | July | 1373K | 1400K | 1413K |
Philadelphia Fed | Aug | 0.0 | 8.0 | 9.2 |
Housing Starts fell to the lowest in a decade as the Philadelphia Fed business activity index gave its weakest reading since December 2006. Tomorrow at 10AM EST brings the preliminary reading for August Michigan Sentiment expected at 88.5.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil fell on global economic slowdown worries despite uncertainty over Hurricane Dean that is moving into the Caribbean, but it remains quite uncertain where exactly that hurricane is headed and if it will do any real damage. Tropical Storm Erin was downgraded back down to a depression as it hit landfall and weakened without reports of major damage.
The U.S. dollar index fell despite marked weakness in the euro as the yen surged higher on carry trade unwinding.
Treasuries rose on safe haven buying as stocks fell for most of trade. “Two-year notes rose for a fourth day following the biggest gain in three-month bills since 1989, pushing the gap between two- and 10-year yields to the widest since May 2005.”
The Dow fell as much as 343 in early trade before it bounced back and the Nasdaq and S&P followed similar percentage moves while financials traded higher for most of trade. Amazingly all three indices ended mixed and near unchanged after a huge rally higher in the last half hour of trade.
Among the big names making news in the market today were Moody’s, KKR, Countrywide, and J.C Penney.
The Commentary:
A silver Update from InvestmentRarities:
“Silver analyst Theodore Butler claims silver to be more oversold than ever. According to Ted, ‘The best thing you can own in the world today has just been marked down. Forced liquidations and margin calls have caused silver to plummet. This will only be temporary,’ says Butler. ‘Buy silver now.’”
“December Gold finished down 21.7 at 658, 17.7 off the high and 6 up from the low.
September Silver closed down 1.06 at 11.495. This was 0.395 up from the low and 0.925 off the high.
While the flight to quality crowd probably remained hopeful throughout the session Thursday, it had to be painfully clear to the bull camp that gold was simply not in a position to assume its position as a safe haven. However, a number of players continue to hold out hope that at some point extreme turmoil in the financial markets will reverse the bearish tide of sentiment toward the gold market. However, as suggested in the mid day coverage, the physical commodity market carnage was widespread and technical damage to many charts only seemed to add to the bearish tone.
With the base metals markets coming under intense liquidation early in the session and then the US stock market caving in for another very significant failure, the silver trade is fearing deflation and recession, instead of inflation and growth. Like the gold market silver does seem to have a quadrant of players that remain hopeful of some type of flight to quality buying interest and to others that simply suggests that the market has yet to reach rock bottom.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
GATA Posts:
Mike Kosares: There's no rationalizing dishonesty by central banks
Gartman Letter: Gold rigging by central banks is only to be expected
Antal Fekete challenges Barrick and solves the interest-rate 'conundrum'
Maybe the central banks can start leasing eggs
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 8/15/2007
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,085,083 | -46,655 |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 134,256,622 | +251,304 |
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 | 510.21 | 16,403,846 | US$ 10,944m |
London Stock Exchange (LSE) AND Euronext Paris AND Borsa Italiana AND Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Deutsche Börse ) | Gold Bullion Securities | 88.49 | 2,844,981 | US$ 1,845m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 12.71 | 408,385 | US$ 265m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 14.28 | 459,201 | US$ 306m |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 8/15/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,016,360,252 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 1,519,696.371 |
Shares Outstanding | 15,350,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 47.27 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
Silver Trust (SLV)
Profile as of 8/15/2007 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,771,192,792 | 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:
Almaden’s (AAU) optioned project and management changes, Barrick’s (ABX) limited cash investment exposure, Buenaventura’s (BVN) unaffected operations by an earthquake in Peru, Richmont’s (RIC) drilling, New Gold’s (NGD) cash holding update, Royal Gold’s (RGLD) fiscal 2007 financial results, Great Basin’s (GBN) project developments, Agnico-Eagle’s (AEM) expiring warrants, Freeport’s (FCX) possible increase in gold royalties in Indonesia, South American Silver’s (SAC.TO) drill results, Minco Silver’s (MSV.TO) assay results, Minefinders’ (MFN) project update, Excellon’s (EXN.V) drilling, Silver dragon’s (SDRG.OB) appointments, and Valencia’s (VVI.V) completed drill programs were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.
WINNERS
1. U.S. Gold | UXG +6.09% $6.27 |
2. Royal Gold | RGLD+5.28% $29.11 |
3. Apex Silver | SIL +4.29% $17.50 |
LOSERS
1. New Gold | NGD -19.25% $4.74 |
2. Mines MGMT | MGN-16.07% $2.82 |
3. Ivanhoe | IVN -13.78% $9.26 |
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:
Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. - 2007 Second Quarter Results - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Candente Resource Corp.-Personnel and Projects Are Safe and All Activities Operate as Usual - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Almaden Options Ponderosa Project to Strongbow Exploration - "Almaden Minerals Ltd. (Toronto:AMM.TO - News)(AMEX:AAU - News) is pleased to announce it has signed an agreement with Strongbow Exploration Inc. (CDNX:SBW.V - News) whereby Strongbow can earn a 60% interest in the 6,950 ha Ponderosa property, located within the Spences Bridge gold belt, approximately 30 km southwest of the city of Merritt in southern British Columbia. The property hosts the Axel Ridge gold showing which was discovered by Almaden in June 2006 (see Almaden news release of December 12, 2006)." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
EXMIN Provides Exploration Drill Results From the Horcon Project, Guanajuato Region, Mexico - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Redcorp Ventures Ltd.: Payment of a Portion of Outstanding Short-Term Funds - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Largo to Expand Drill Program at Northern Dancer Tungsten-Molybdenum Project, Yukon - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Tamerlane announces investor conference call - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Century Mining comments on Peruvian earthquake - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Almaden Minerals Ltd. (the "Company") (TSX: AMM)(AMEX: AAU) News Release - "At the meeting of directors following the Company's Annual General Meeting, the following changes were made to the management of the Company: Duane Poliquin became Chairman of the Board and Morgan Poliquin became President." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Tara Gold Announces Drilling Initiated at Las Minitas Silver-Gold Project - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Barrick Advises Limited Cash Investment Exposure - "Barrick Gold Corporation (Toronto:ABX.TO - News)(NYSE:ABX - News) advised today that its exposure to the Canadian Asset- Backed Commercial Paper Market is limited to an investment of US$65 million. This amount represents less than 3 per cent of Barrick's total cash position of about US$2.6 billion. The commercial paper investment is currently rated R-1 high by Dominion Bond Rating Service Limited." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Goldbelt Receives Signed Mining Convention for Inata Gold Project - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Pershimco Initiates Drilling at the Las Minitas Silver-Gold Project, Sonora, Mexico - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Century Mining announces operations update at Sigma-Lamaque - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Altius Announces Five New Exploration Agreements - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Silver Shield Resources Makes Second Mexican Option Payment, Commences Preliminary Exploration Work - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
International Royalty Declares Dividend - "International Royalty Corporation (AMEX: ROY, TSX: IRC) (the "Company"or "IRC") is pleased to report that its Board of Directors declared a dividend on August 14, 2007 of US$0.015 per share. The dividend is payable to shareholders of record on September 7, 2007 and will be paid on or about September 24, 2007." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Buenaventura Operations Unaffected by Earthquake - "Compania de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. ("the Company" or "Buenaventura") (NYSE: BVN; Lima Stock Exchange: BUE.LM) today announced that its operations sustained no damages due to yesterday's earthquake in the coastal region of Peru. None of the Company's mining operations were affected in any way." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
South American Silver Corp. Reports August Drill Results at the Malku Khota Silver Project in Bolivia - "South American Silver Corp. ("SASC")(Toronto:SAC.TO - News) is pleased to announce the results of the next series of diamond drill holes from its Malku Khota silver property in Bolivia. Results have been received for LMD007 and LMD008 and the last 18 metres ("m") of LMD006." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Eurasia Gold Inc. announces changes to its board of directors - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Chariot Confirms Mina Justa Not Affected by Quake - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Copper Ridge confirms U values at Borealis - Airborne radiometric survey completed - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
New Labrador nickel discovery - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Minco Silver Continues to Expand Fuwan Deposit With the Completion of Phase IV Drilling - "Minco Silver Corporation (the "Company" or "Minco Silver") (Toronto:MSV.TO - News) is pleased to report the assay results of 30 holes from the Phase IV exploration program on its Fuwan Silver deposit located in Guangdong Province, China. The program was designed to further increase the level of confidence of the resource through infill and step out drilling and encompasses a broad spectrum of detailed engineering work designed to investigate the geotechnical, hydrological, and metallurgical aspects of the project. Phase IV drilling was completed in late June with a total of 45 holes being drilled for 11,451.8 metres." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Redcorp stock falls as credit woes hit investments - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Redcorp Ventures Ltd.: MX Permit Granted for Tulsequah Project - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Tara Earned $975,532 in Q1 2006 - 10-QSB Quarterly Report Filed - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Matamec Discovers Two Types of Uranium Mineralization on its Tansim Property - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Unico, Inc. Announces New Photo Gallery Showing Additional Progress of Work at the New Deer Trail Mine Electrical Substation - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Noront Resources Ltd.: Double Eagle Project, James Bay Lowlands - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Copper Fox announces the closing of a Brokered Private Placement Financing of $9,602,100 - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Vena Employees Safe and Projects Continue After Peru Earthquake - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Dr. Warren Pratt Joins Sienna's Board of Directors - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Spirit Exploration, Inc. Begins Production at Muluncay - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Chariot Announces Appointment of CIBC, SCB, and Scotia Capital as Arrangers of Bank Financing for Mina Justa - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Dia Bras' Bolivar Property Highlighted in Special Mexican Publication - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Malaga Inc. reports $6,749,432 revenue from the sale of gold and tungsten in its second quarter 2007 - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Murgor Drilling discovers a new zinc zone at the Fon deposit and extends the Blue, Brown and Red zones. - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Redcorp Ventures Ltd.: Short-Term Investment Repayment Delayed - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Uruguay Mineral Exploration Inc.: Appointment of Roger Davey as Non Executive Director - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Mainstream Minerals Corporation Announces Closing of Financing With the MineralFields Group - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Richmont Mines Begins Drilling at Valentine Lake - "Richmont Mines Inc. (Toronto:RIC.TO - News)(AMEX:RIC - News) and Mountain Lake Resources Inc. (CDNX:MOA.V - News) announced today that diamond drilling began on August 6, 2007, on their Valentine Lake property, located in Central Newfoundland. Eleven (11) initial drill targets were identified based on previous geological and geochemical data as well as geophysical data collected through high-definition helicopter-borne spectrometric and magnetic VLF surveys completed in June 2007." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
New Gold Inc.: Corporate Update - "In light of recent uncertainty in global credit markets, the Company felt it prudent to provide an update on the status of its cash holdings of approximately $420 million. The Company has continued to invest this in accordance with its investment policy, the objectives of which are (in decreasing order of importance) to preserve capital by investing in highly rated instruments, to ensure liquidity, and to ensure adequate returns. All of the Company's invested assets are rated (by DBRS Ltd.) R1 High and were selected on the basis of professional advice." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Bayswater Upgraded to Tier 1 Issuer Status - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Canada's Cameco looks to cash in on nuclear power's future - More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Royal Gold Announces Record Fiscal 2007 Financial Results - "Royal Gold, Inc. (Nasdaq: RGLD - News; TSX: RGL - News), the leading publicly-traded precious metals royalty company, today announced record revenues of $48.4 million for fiscal 2007 (ended June 30), a 70% increase over revenues of $28.4 million in fiscal 2006. The Company reported net income of $19.7 million, or $0.79 per basic share, for fiscal 2007 compared to net income of $11.4 million, or $0.50 per basic share, for fiscal 2006. Free cash flow for fiscal 2007 was approximately $37.9 million, or 78% of revenues, compared to $20.5 million or 72% of revenues, in fiscal 2006." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Minefinders Provides Dolores Project Update-Mine on Schedule to Produce Gold this Year - "Minefinders Corporation Ltd. (the "Company") (Toronto:MFL.TO - News)(AMEX:MFN - News) reports on the progress of its Dolores 18,000 tonnes per day open-pit gold and silver mine in Chihuahua, Mexico. The Company and its contractors are progressing steadily towards the completion of construction and the transition to owner-operated production later this year." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Excellon Begins Drilling North of Guadalupe Manto - "The two-pronged program will focus on immediate tracing of the progressive thickening trend of the Guadalupe Manto beyond the boundaries of the NI-43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate disclosed on August 17, 2006, and beyond the area of additional mineralization intersected in multiple drill holes reported on January 22, 2007." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Silver Dragon Resources Inc. Appoints Chief Financial Officer and Board Member - "Silver Dragon Resources Inc. (OTC BB:SDRG.OB - News) is pleased to announce the appointment of Colin P. Sutherland as Chief Financial Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors. As Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Sutherland will be responsible for the overall management of the Company's consolidated financial reporting requirements." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Great Basin Gold Reports Good Progress on Both Its Development Projects - "The company continues to make good progress on both its development projects and released a Feasibility Study for its Hollister Project and an updated Feasibility Study for its Burnstone Project, both indicating robust returns. In addition our BEE agreement was finalised for the Burnstone Project and the mine was officially inaugurated by the Hon. Minister of Minerals, Minister Buyelwa Sonjica on 10 July 2007." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Valencia Successfully Completes Drill Programs at Cachinal and Rancheria Projects - "Valencia Ventures Inc. (TSX VENTURE:VVI - News) pleased to advise that it has successfully completed the first portion of the Company's resource definition drilling program at its Cachinal Silver Project in Chile. In addition, the 2007 summer exploration program of airborne geophysics, trenching and diamond drilling at its Rancheria Silver Project in the Yukon has been completed." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited - Expiry of warrants - "Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited ("Agnico-Eagle") announced today that its outstanding share purchase warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on November 14, 2007. At such time, all unexercised warrants will become void and of no effect and holders will have no further rights under such warrants. The share purchase warrants were issued pursuant to a warrant indenture dated November 14, 2002 with Computershare Trust Company of Canada. Each share purchase warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one common share of Agnico-Eagle for US$19.00." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Indonesia audit wants Freeport gold royalty tripled - "An Indonesian government team has called for a tripling of the gold royalties paid by Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) while maintaining copper royalties, a mining official said on Thursday. Freeport currently pays royalty on gold at 1 percent of the gold price while according to an Indonesian law issued in 2003, the royalty should be between 3-3.5 percent, said M.S. Marpaung, Director of Mining and Coal at the Energy Ministry." More
- August 16, 2007 | Item | E-mail
- Chris Mullen, Gold Seeker Report
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-- Posted Thursday, 16 August 2007 | Digg This Article
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Fall Over 3% and 9%
