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-- Posted Tuesday, 18 December 2007 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com

The Metals:

Gold dropped to $790.75 in Asia and then rose to $806.50 by early trade in New York before it fell back under $800 by late morning, but it then rallied back higher into the close and ended near its high of the session with a gain of 1.06%.  Silver dropped to $13.75 and rose to $14.12 before it fell back under $13.90, but it also rallied back higher in afternoon trade and ended with a gain of 1.59%.

Euro gold rose to about €557, platinum gained $13 to $1507 to a new record high, palladium gained $2 to $356, and copper fell a couple of cents to about $2.84.

Gold and silver equities rose about 2% at the open before they dipped to find slight losses with the major indices by late morning, but they then rallied back higher in afternoon trade and ended with nearly 2% gains.

The Economy:

Housing Starts fell again and Permits dropped to a 14-year low.  Today the fed also announced new rules for the mortgage industry to help combat problems that began in subprime mortgages and spread to other areas in the credit industry.  There are no major economic reports due out tomorrow.

The Markets:

Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/

Oil rose in early trade on news that Turkey entered Iraq and on news that a number of refineries went on strike in France, but prices then pulled back after it was announced that Turkish troops were in fact withdrawing from Iraq and oil ended back under $90 with a more than 1% loss.

The U.S. dollar index ended slightly higher and treasuries rose on poor housing data and news that the European Central Bank allotted a huge $501 billion to banks in an effort to ease the global credit crunch.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose markedly at the open and fell noticeably by early afternoon, but they then rallied to new highs by the close as traders digested earnings reports and news from the ECB and Fed.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Lilly, Best Buy, Goldman Sachs, and Sprint Nextel.

The Commentary:

“February Gold finished up 8.1 at 807.4, 3.6 off the high and 4.9 up from the low.

March Silver closed up 0.185 at 14.165. This was 0.14 up from the low and 0.085 off the high.

Despite the US Dollar managing to mostly hold in positive ground throughout the trading session, the February gold contract managed to post a fairly impressive range up attempt. With the energy market reversing its early strength and at times tracking sharply lower, the strength in gold prices was even more impressive. It also seemed as if the early strength in equity prices provided a lift to gold but, but it should also be noted that a mid day slide in equities didn't really seemed to undermine gold prices. With platinum spiking sharply higher and forging a significant new all time high price, it is possible that the gold market was indirectly buoyed by broad based speculative interest in the precious metals sector.

The silver market mostly mirrored the favorable action in the gold and platinum markets throughout the action Tuesday. Surprisingly the silver market wasn't specifically undermined by the clear reversal in the US equity market, but even more surprising is the fact that the silver bulls weren't notably discouraged in the wake of the soft US housing starts data. Even a two sided choppy trade in copper and the US Dollar failed to weaken the resolve of the silver bulls and that would seem to be a change of pace versus the last week's trade action.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

Frustrated ECB promises banks infinite money at a discount

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 12/17/2007

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: StreetTRACKS added 1.53 tonnes to a new record high and the ASX added 0.31 tonnes.

COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)

Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.

Silver Trust (SLV)

Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.

The Stocks:

Claude’s (CGR) exploration plans, Almaden’s (AAU) optioned project interest, NovaGold’s (NG) drill results, Exeter’s (XRA) drill results, Newmont’s (NEM) cleared suit in Indonesia and Canadian approval to acquire Miramar (MNG), ECU’s (ECU.TO) resource estimate update, Hecla’s (HL) closed stock offering, Bear Creek’s (BCM.V) drill results, and Aquiline’s (AQI.TO) upcoming supreme court response were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.

WINNERS

LOSERS

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:

Temex Acquires Strategic Latchford Gold Project Exploration Program Planned For Early 2008 - More
- December 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Maximus Ventures Announces its Financial Results for the Year Ended September 30, 2007, Appointments and Option Grants - More
- December 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Ecuador seeks to tax miners' windfall revenue - "Ecuador wants to slap a 70 percent windfall-revenue tax on mining companies which would kick in when the prices of copper, gold and other commodities exceed a certain level, Oil and Mining Minister Galo Chiriboga told Reuters on Tuesday." More
- December 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Chapleau Commences Drilling on the La Yegua Porphyry Copper ( /- Gold and Molybdenum) Project in Southern Peru & Mr. Ian Gendall Appointed President - More
- December 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Klondike Star Intersects 1.54 g/t Gold Over 15.2m at the Pioneer Zone - More
- December 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Gold Canyon Closes Private Placement for $3 Million - More
- December 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail

GoldSpring, Inc. Hires Drilling Contractor and Drilling Expected to Commence Immediately - More
- December 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Roxmark completes $1.18 million flow-through financing - More
- December 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail

ECU Silver Update on New Resource Estimate - "Our geological team in Mexico is working diligently and with considerable intensity to reclassify the above mentioned resources, as well as implementing the other recommendations made by Micon. Due to this work and the upcoming holiday season, we now anticipate that the new resource estimate will be released early in the New Year. We continue to look forward to the reporting of our new resource estimate." More
- December 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Newmont Offer to Acquire Miramar Mining Receives Investment Canada Approval - "Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM - News) announced today that the Minister of Industry, The Honourable Jim Prentice, confirmed that he is satisfied that the acquisition of Miramar Mining Corporation (Amex: MNG, TSX: MAE), on the terms provided in the support agreement relating to the transaction and certain undertakings provided by Newmont, is likely to be of net benefit to Canada, as required by the Investment Canada Act." More
- December 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail

Hecla Closes Offering of 6.5% Mandatory Preferred Convertible Stock - "Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL - News) today announced the closing of its public offering of 1.75 million shares of its 6.5% mandatory convertible preferred stock (“Preferred Stock”) at $100.00 per share. The underwriters also exercised their option to purchase an additional 262,500 shares of Preferred Stock to cover over-allotments." More
- December 18, 2007 | Item | E-mail <