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-- Posted Thursday, 31 January 2008 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com

The Metals:

Gold fell to $918.75 by early trade in London and rose to $928.20 by early trade in New York before it fell back off near $920 by midmorning in New York, but it then rallied back higher for most of the rest of trade and ended with a gain of 0.22%. 

Silver fell to $16.65 by late trade in Asia and held mostly slightly lower in London and early New York trade, but it then rocketed higher after 11AM EST and set a new 27 year intraday high of $17.01 by early afternoon before it pulled back a bit in the last hour of trade and ended with a gain of 1.02%.

Euro gold remained at about €622, platinum gained $46 to $1731 to a new record high, palladium remained unchanged at $387, and copper gained nearly 7 cents to about $3.29.

Gold and silver equities fell roughly 2% in the opening minutes of trade and remained at about that level for the rest of the day.

The Economy:

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings January’s jobs data.  Nonfarm Payrolls are expected at 70,000, the Unemployment Rate is expected at 5.0%, Hourly Earnings are expected at 0.3%, and the Average Workweek is expected at 33.8.  At 10AM is Construction Spending expected at -0.5%, the ISM Index expected at 48.4, and Michigan Sentiment expected at 79.0.

The Markets:

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

Oil fell back near $90 in early trade on worries over a recession and its possible impact on demand, but it ended with less than a dollar loss as the major indices rebounded nicely by the close on easing economic worries.  OPEC meets tomorrow, but few expect any surprises and most see the cartel keeping output levels unchanged.

The U.S. dollar index and treasuries remained near unchanged ahead of tomorrow’s jobs data.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell markedly at the open on worries about the economy, but they soon rose and found notable gains by the close as worries over bond insurers eased.

Among the big names making news in the market today were CVS, Mattel, Sony, MBIA, Colgate, Wyeth, and Burger King.

The Commentary:

“February Gold finished up 2.1 at 922.7, 2.3 off the high and equal to the low.

March Silver closed up 0.235 at 16.995. This was 0.24 up from the low and 0.095 off the high.

The gold market was able to throw off some early weakness and mount a run back into positive ground just ahead of mid session. Surprisingly the gold market made the rally in the face of a slight bounce in the Dollar and a sharp downside failure in the energy markets. One almost got the sense that the gold bounce was inspired by the recovery in the US equity market but one could also argue that uncertainty toward the US financial sector was another issue that might have attracted buyers to the gold market. It is also possible that some players were buying gold ahead of the monthly non farm payroll report as a good reading would play down the recession threat and might also increase the prospect of inflation. On the other hand, a disappointing US Non farm payroll report could sink the Dollar and rekindle fresh uncertainty toward the US credit situation. In conclusion, the gold market continues to see plenty of macro economic uncertainty during the Thursday trade.

The silver market also showed some early weakness but managed to regain its footing around mid morning and eventually managed to carve out another new high for the move. Certainly seeing copper prices forge an impressive rally provided some silver bulls with incentive, but part of the silver gains seemed to come in conjunction with the US equity market bounce.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

Wall Street Journal's lead story: Investors rush to gold

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 1/30/2008

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The LSE added 1.87 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:

South Africa’s continuing power problems, Buenaventura’s (BVN) optimism for 2008, Polyus Gold’s (PLZL.MM) output, IAMGOLD’s (IAG) unapproved permit, Royal Gold’s (RGLD) quarterly results, Gold Fields’ (GFI) quarterly results, and Silver Dragon’s (SDRG.OB) retention of Micromine Pty Ltd 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:

Global Minerals Ltd. announces $3,000,000 brokered private placement - More
- January 31, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Golden Band Resources: Drill results from EP gold deposit - More
- January 31, 2008 | Item | E-mail

High Desert Gold Corporation Announces Start of Drilling at the Gold Lake Porphyry Copper-Molybdenum-Gold Property in New Mexico, USA - More
- January 31, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Corriente Initiates Panantza-San Carlos Partnership Process - More
- January 31, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Virginia Silver Property optionor Mega Silver Inc. completes major transaction and listing - More
- January 31, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Golden Dawn pleased with SWAN & VMS progress - More
- January 31, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Government of Laos approves Amanta's application for a copper exploration and development concession - More
- January 31, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Victory Nickel Expands Land Position at Mi