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-- Posted Wednesday, 5 March 2008 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com

The Metals:

Gold fell to $958.97 in London, but it then rallied back higher throughout most of trade in New York and made a new record high of $993.05 before closing with a gain of 2.51%.  Silver dropped to $19.37 in London, but it also rallied back fiercely in New York and rose to a new 27 year high of $20.82 before it closed with a gain of 4.56%.

Euro gold rose to about €645, platinum gained $20 to $2255 to a new record high, and copper gained over 16 cents to about $3.98.

Gold and silver equities rose over 4% by early afternoon before they fell back off a bit with the major indices, but they still ended with over 3.6% gains at new record closing highs.

The Economy:

The fed’s Beige Book noted that most major parts of the economy are weak and that economic growth has slowed since the beginning of the year.  Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings Initial Jobless Claims for 3/01 expected at 360,000 and at 10AM is the Pending Home Sales report for January, but most will likely already be looking forward to Friday’s jobs data.

The Markets:

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

Oil rose markedly to a new record high of $104.95 as crude inventories surprisingly fell, OPEC said it would keep production levels steady, and Venezuela moved troops to the Columbian border.  Crude inventories fell 3.1 million barrels, gasoline inventories built 1.7 million barrels, distillates fell 2.4 million barrels, and refinery utilization rose 1.2% to 85.9%.

The U.S. dollar index fell to yet another new record low despite the fact that interest rates rose and treasuries fell as ISM Services did not contract as much as expected and raised hopes for the ailing economy while the fed continues to ignore inflation that the street seems no longer able to ignore.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose in morning trade before they fell after the bailout plan for Ambac was revealed and was not a buyout as some had hoped for, but all three indices rallied back higher to find slight gains by the close.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Ambac, Exxon, Credit Agricole, JBS SA and National Beef Packing, Costco, BJ’s, and Saks.

The Commentary:

“April Gold finished up 22.2 at 988.5, 6.5 off the high and 22.5 up from the low.

May Silver closed up 0.945 at 20.785. This was 1.085 up from the low and 0.135 off the high.

The gold market initially waffled around unchanged early in the session before gaining bullish momentum just ahead of mid session. While the gold market didn't seem to be able to definitively extend the mid morning run up throughout the afternoon trade, seeing the Dollar finish weak and also seeing crude oil prices at times up by roughly $5.00 per barrel seemed to give the bull camp a number of bullish arguments. In fact, seeing rising oil, a falling Dollar and strength in equity prices has been referred to in the past as a perfect storm in the precious metals markets. However, given the fact that equity prices fell hard from their highs, the perfect storm in gold was somewhat short lived. Some players suggested that the $1,000 even number zone in gold might be seen as a temporary psychological resistance zone, while others suggest that gold has a number of reasons to extend beyond the $1,000 level.

The March silver contract managed to rise in excess of $1.00 per ounce at times during the session Wednesday. Certainly the round of new highs for the move in silver, sharp gains in oil and a slide in the Dollar had the spec players very interested in the market. In fact, with the copper market reaching up to the highest level since May of 2006 it is possible that traders are beginning to look more favorably at all the quasi industrial commodity markets in a slightly more bullish light.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

U.S. dollar still goes far ... filling wheelbarrows in Zimbabwe

Citigroup and other banks seen needing more Arab capital

Euro bond spreads hit record as panic grips markets

Ron Paul easily wins Republican renomination to Congress

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 3/4/2008

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

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

COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: 2.59 tonnes were added to the trust.

Silver Trust (SLV)

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: 1.76 tonnes were removed from the trust.

The Stocks:

South Africa’s power delays, Barrick’s (ABX) completed property acquisition, Harmony’s (HMY) protested asset sale, Exeter’s (XRA) secured partner and expanded land position, and First Majestic’s (FR.TO) drill results 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:

American Creek announces appointment of new director and grant of stock options - More
- March 05, 2008 | Item | E-mail

GoldSpring, Inc. Announces Experts to Join Metallurgical Team - More
- March 05, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Noront Resources Ltd.: Windfall Lake Gold Project Update - More
- March 05, 2008 | Item | E-mail

U.S. Precious Metals Authorized Two More Drill Rigs - More
- March 05, 2008 | Item | E-mail

GoldQuest New Gold Discovery in Dominican Republic and Update on Gold Fields Exploration Alliance - More
- March 05, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Plexmar Formally Invited to Present at Meeting - More
- March 05, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Barrick Completes Acquisition of Cortez Property in Nevada - "Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX - News)(Toronto:ABX.TO - News) announced today that it has completed its acquisition of the additional 40% interest in the Cortez property from Kennecott Explorations (Australia) Ltd., a subsidiary of Rio Tinto plc, for a total cash consideration of $1.695 billion. The transaction was previously announced on February 21, 2008 when the parties entered into a definitive purchase and sale agreement. Barrick has been entitled to the production and economic benefit of 100% of the property from March 1, 2008." More
- March 05, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Rising price of gold has not spurred production - "A jump in the price of gold over the magical level of $1,000 an ounce would not be enough to bring on a marked increase in production because of uncertainty over long-term prices, logistics problems and a scarcity of projects." More
- March 05, 2008 | Item | E-mail

First Narrows Reports Final Drill Results From Resource Delineation Program at Chester - More
- March 05, 2008