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-- Posted Wednesday, 19 December 2007 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com
| Close | Gain/Loss | Gold | $801.10 | -$1.80 | Silver | $14.07 | +$0.04 | XAU | 161.08 | -0.60% | HUI | 379.59 | -0.66% | GDM | 1170.84 | -0.94% | JSE Gold | 2238.76 | -2.01% | USD | 77.58 | +0.14 | Euro | 143.84 | -0.25 | Yen | 88.20 | -0.04 | Oil | $91.24 | +$1.16 | 10-Year | 4.070% | -0.050 | T-Bond | 115.71875 | +0.4375 | Dow | 13207.27 | -0.19% | Nasdaq | 2601.01 | +0.19% | S&P | 145300 | -0.14% |
The Metals:  Gold dropped to $797.40 by late trade in London before it rebounded to $804.70 by late morning in New York and then dropped back under $800 by early afternoon, but it then climbed back higher into the close and ended with a loss of just 0.22%. Silver dropped to $13.91 and rose to $14.14 before it fell back off a bit in the last few hours of trade, but it still ended with a gain of 0.29%.
Euro gold remained at about €557, platinum gained $9 to $1516 to a new record high, palladium remained unchanged at $356, and copper rose nearly 8 cents to about $2.92. Gold and silver equities traded mostly slight lower and ended with less than 1% losses. The Economy: There were no major economic reports today, but of note in the housing sector was RealtyTrac reporting that foreclosure filings fell in November from October. Filings are still up 68% compared to a year ago. Also of note were details of the fed’s auction of $20 billion in notes that drew strong demand at an interest rate of 4.65%. Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings the final reading for 3rd quarter GDP expected at 4.9%, the Chain Deflator expected at 0.9%, and Initial Jobless Claims for 12/15 expected at 335,000. At 10AM is the Leading Economic Indicators report for November expected at -0.3% and at noon is the Philadelphia Fed survey expected at 6.0. Today's Gold Seeker Report Is Sponsored By:
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The Markets: 
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/ Oil rose after crude inventories fell a much larger than expected 7.6 million barrels, but gains were somewhat tempered by the fact that the draw was mostly due to the Houston Ship Channel being closed due to fog last week and that will likely result in a build next week as those supplies finally come through. Gasoline inventories rose 3.0 million barrels, distillates fell 2.1 million barrels, and refinery utilization fell 1.0% to 87.8%. The U.S. dollar index rose as the dollar gained markedly versus the pound after the Bank of England’s minutes from their December meeting were released and showed wide support for the move to cut interest rates and surprisingly little concern over inflation. Treasuries rose on continued concerns over the credit crisis. The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose in early trade on decent earnings reports before they turned lower in late morning trade after S&P downgraded its ratings on several bond insurers, but the Nasdaq was still able to end higher and the Dow and S&P ended just slightly lower on optimism over upcoming earning reports. Among the big names making news in the market today were Mastercard, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, General Mills, and TomTom. The Commentary:  “February Gold finished down 2 at 805.4, 3.7 off the high and 2.6 up from the low.
March Silver closed up 0.057 at 14.222. This was 0.072 up from the low and 0.068 off the high. The gold market mostly waffled around unchanged throughout the session Wednesday and that had to be somewhat discouraging to the bull camp, especially when one considers that platinum, silver and copper at times forged impressive upside action. In other words, the strength of the Dollar seemed to knock the gold market off the bullish tilt that was surfacing as a result of a minor improvement in macro economic sentiment. While it might be an overstatement to suggest that the macro economic view improved, it was clear that the Fed liquidity auction results at least temporarily provided some optimism and that benefited a number of physical commodity markets. With eventual strength in energy prices and the prospect of a bounce in equity prices one could suggest that a number of outside markets forces were serving to offset part of the negative drag from the Dollar action. As suggested in the gold coverage, the silver market clearly outperformed the gold market on Wednesday and that appears to be a classic case of the financial baggage in gold, off the currency markets, being seen as less important in the silver trade. However, the silver market hasn't broken off its financial market focus completely and therefore the ebb and flow of the equity market seems to remain a key focal point of the trade. Like gold, the silver market probably benefited because of the favorable liquidity auction results and certainly because of the impressive recovery bounce in the copper market.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting GATA Posts: 
James Turk: Print, print, print China takes 10% stake in Morgan Stanley to cover junk mortgages Citing Liberty Dollar, Rep. Paul offers Free Competition in Currency Act Korelin Economic Report asks: Is gold price manipulated? Ted Butler: More CFTC speculation 'Helicopter money' is so passe; this is a fleet of C-17s The Statistics: As of close of business: 12/18/2007 Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,365,304 | - | Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 133,209,779 | -1,956 |
Global Gold ETF Holdings [WGC Sponsored ETF’s] 
| Product name | Total Tonnes | Total Ounces | Total Value | New York Stock Exchange Arca (NYSE Arca) AND Singapore Exchange (SGX) | StreetTRACKS Gold Shares | 617.43 | 19,851,059 | US$ 15,962m | London Stock Exchange (LSE) AND Euronext Paris AND Borsa Italiana AND Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Deutsche Börse ) | Gold Bullion Securities | 97.50 | 3,134,677 | US$ 2,509m | Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 16.38 | 526,183 | US$ 421m | Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 22.37 | 719,286 | US$ 578m |
Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The JSE added 0.49 tonnes. COMEX Gold Trust (IAU) Profile as of 12/18/2007 | | Total Net Assets | $1,397,097,209 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 1,740,187.247 | Shares Outstanding | 17,600,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 54.13 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data. Silver Trust (SLV) Profile as of 12/18/2007 | | Total Net Assets | $2,050,747,844 | Ounces of Silver
in Trust | 146,833,360.500 | Shares Outstanding | 14,800,000 | Tonnes of Silver
in Trust | 4,567.03 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data. The Stocks: Fronteer’s (FRG) exploration program, Seabridge’s (SA) assay results, Newmont’s (NEM) elected chairman, Apollo’s (AGT) repaid debentures, Harmony’s (HMY) sold uranium assets, Barrick’s (ABX) acquired 94% stake in Arizona Star, Minefinders’ (MFN) closed credit facility, and Tumi’s (TUMIF.OB) commenced drilling program were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today. WINNERS 1. NovaGold | NG +13.65% $6.91 | 2. ITH | THM+7.26% $1.448 | 3. Orezone | OZN +5.36% $1.18 |
LOSERS 1. Rubicon | RBY -9.02% $1.11 | 2. Gold Reserve | GRZ -3.85% $4.24 | 3. Great Basin | GBN -3.75% $2.57 |
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: UC Resources Shareholders Update - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Centamin Egypt Sukari Gold Project Resource Upgrade 7.46 Moz Measured and Indicated, Plus 3.7 Moz Inferred - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Kakanda Purchases Melkior Resources Inc.'s Otish Basin Uranium Interests - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Clarification news release - Creston Moly Corp. - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
First Narrows' Director W.E.G. (Blue) Taylor Dies - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
New Island Reports on Annual General Meeting, Board Changes and Grant of Options - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Barrick Acquires 94% of the Shares of Arizona Star Resource Corp.; Directors and Officers of Arizona Star Commence Transition - "Arizona Star Resource Corp. ("Arizona Star" or the "Company") (CDNX:AZS.V - News)(AMEX:AZS - News) announced today that Barrick Gold Corporation ("Barrick") has announced that it has acquired approximately 40.7 million shares of Arizona Star, constituting more than 94% of the common shares of Arizona Star on a fully-diluted basis, pursuant to its offer dated November 9, 2007. Arizona Star understands that Barrick intends to acquire the remaining outstanding shares by way of compulsory acquisition." More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
American Bonanza Closes $2 Million Private Placement and Agrees to Assignment of Option Agreement for the Taurus Property - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Strait Gold Announces Grant of Stock Options - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Amerix Appoints Senior Mining Executive to the Board of Directors - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
First Uranium ups Buffelsfontein cost projections - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
DPM and Global Yatirim Holding A.S. Agree to Pursue Mineral Resource Opportunities in Turkey - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Results Released From 2007 Drilling Program at Copper Canyon - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
Augusta Signs Agreement For Rosemont's Long-Lead Equipment - More
- December 19, 2007 | Item | E-mail
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Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Mixed and Near Unchanged