-- Posted Friday, 1 February 2008 | Digg This Article
| Source: GoldSeek.com
| Close | Gain/Loss | On Week |
Gold | $907.90 | -$15.30 | -0.29% |
Silver | $16.79 | -$0.08 | +2.32% |
XAU | 184.61 | -0.91% | -0.50% |
HUI | 451.56 | -1.62% | -2.17% |
GDM | 1361.86 | -1.59% | -2.29% |
JSE Gold | 2498.37 | -95.31 | +1.56% |
USD | 75.48 | +0.31 | -0.67% |
Euro | 148.16 | -0.47 | +1.02% |
Yen | 93.98 | +0.05 | +0.59% |
Oil | $89.01 | -$2.74 | -1.87% |
10-Year | 3.600% | -0.039 | +0.45% |
Bond | 119.78125 | +0.46875 | -0.08% |
Dow | 12743.19 | +0.73% | +4.39% |
Nasdaq | 2413.36 | +0.98% | +3.75% |
S&P | 1395.42 | +.122% | +4.87% |
The Metals:
Gold rose to a new record intraday high of $936.65 in London, but it then plummeted at about 10AM EST in New York and fell all the way to $904.40 by early afternoon before it closed slightly off that low with a loss of 1.66%.
Silver made a new 27 year intraday high of $17.288 before it fell to $16.70 at about noon EST, but it then rallied almost 10 cents from that low and ended with a loss of just 0.47%.
Euro gold fell to about €613, platinum gained $25 to $1756 to a new record high, palladium gained $32 or 8.44% to $411, and copper fell a few cents to about $3.26.
Gold and silver equities rose nearly 2% in the first half hour of trade, but they then dropped with the metals around 10AM EST and traded roughly 1% lower for the rest of the day.
The Economy:
Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous |
Nonfarm Payrolls | Jan | -17K | 70K | 82K |
Unemployment Rate | Jan | 4.9% | 5.0% | 5.0% |
Hourly Earnings | Jan | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% |
Average Workweek | Jan | 33.7 | 33.8 | 33.8 |
Construction Spending | Dec | -1.1% | -0.5% | 0.1% |
ISM Index | Jan | 50.7 | 48.4 | 48.4 |
Michigan Sentiment | Jan | 78.4 | 79.0 | 80.5 |
The BLS Net Birth/Death adjustment was -378,000 and helped payrolls show a drop for the first time in four and a half years.
All of this week’s economic reports:
Next week’s economic highlights include Factory Orders on Monday, ISM Services on Tuesday, Productivity on Wednesday, Initial Jobless Claims, Pending Home Sales, and Consumer Credit on Thursday, and Wholesale Inventories on Friday.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil fell to about $89 as the weak jobs report raised worries about the economy and slowing demand. OPEC kept output levels unchanged as expected.
The U.S. dollar index initially dropped under 75 near a new record low after the poor jobs report, but it then rebounded to find a gain after manufacturing data came in better than expected.
Treasuries rose as the bond pit focused on the poor jobs report that makes it more likely the fed will continue to cut interest rates
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P eventually rose after a mixed morning as rate cut hopes encouraged buying.
Among the big names making news in the market Friday were Moody’s, Alcoa, Chalco, Rio Tinto, the bond insurers, Microsoft, Exxon Mobil, Motorola, Bristol-Myers, Gannett, and Google.
The Commentary:
“February Gold finished down 14 at 908.7, 22.3 off the high and equal to the low.
March Silver closed down 0.125 at 16.87. This was 0.1 up from the low and 0.44 off the high.
Apparently different markets viewed the US non Farm payroll report in different perspectives. For instance the Dollar seemed to view the numbers as soft but potentially indicative of an economy that could still avoid a recession and perhaps a series of additional interest rate cuts. With the Dollar firming and macro economic sentiment somewhat moderating in the face of the US number flow, there seemed to be a profit taking mentality surface in gold. Perhaps the stock markets surprisingly up beat reaction to the US monthly payroll reading cushioned sentiment or perhaps the markets saw the Microsoft buyout of Yahoo as another indication that some sectors of the economy are capable of holding together. Certainly the gold market was at least partially overdone from the initial rally but with the slide in gold prices through mid session, the April contract took out the week's lows and reached down to the lowest level since January 24th.
The silver market did initially manage another new high move early in the session but in the wake of a sharp US Dollar bounce and aggressive profit taking in gold, silver prices reversed and forged a rather expansive trading range. At least initially the silver market held up better than the gold market which is surprising considering the disappointing US report flow. However, with the silver market in the prior session seeing a sharp decline in Mexican silver production stats, it wasn't surprising to see silver and copper avoiding the type of selling pressure that was seen in the gold market on Friday afternoon. Surprisingly the favorable action in the equity market didn't seem to lend much support to the silver market.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 1/31/2008
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,555,811 | +4,711 |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 135,486,662 | -423,439 |
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 | 631.98 | 20,318,642 | US$ 18,753m |
London Stock Exchange (LSE) AND Euronext Paris AND Borsa Italiana AND Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Deutsche Börse ) | Gold Bullion Securities | 105.20 | 3,382,247 | US$ 3,071m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 17.64 | 566,923 | US$ 515m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 27.15 | 872,920 | US$ 805m |
Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: StreetTRACKS added 1.23 tonnes and the JSE added 0.86 tonnes.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 1/31/2008 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,750,511,827 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 1,897,762.380 |
Shares Outstanding | 19,200,000 |
Gold Seeker Weekly Wrap-Up: Gold Falls Slightly and Silver Gains Over 2% on the Week