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-- Posted Thursday, 6 March 2008 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com

The Metals:

Gold rose a few dollars to $992.35 by late trade in Asia, but it then fell in choppy trade for the rest of the day in London and New York and made a low of $965.75 before it rebounded almost $10 in the last hour and a half of trade and closed with a loss of 1.36%. 

Silver climbed to a new 27 year intraday high of $21.205 by late trade in Asia before it fell to as low as $19.837 by early afternoon in New York, but it also rebounded in the last hour and a half of trade and ended about 30 cents off that low with a loss of 2.5%.

Euro gold fell to about €635, platinum lost $85 to $2170, and copper fell over 7 cents to about $3.91.

Gold and silver equities fell over 1% by early afternoon, but they then rallied back higher into the close and ended mixed and near unchanged despite the fact that the major indices dropped to new lows in late trade.

The Economy:

“U.S. mortgage foreclosures rose to an all-time high at the end of 2007 as borrowers with adjustable-rate loans walked away from properties before their payments increased, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today.

New foreclosures jumped to 0.83 percent of all home loans in the fourth quarter from 0.54 percent a year earlier. Late payments rose to a 23-year high, the organization said in a report today.”

“U.S. household wealth fell in the fourth quarter for the first time in five years and borrowing slowed as home values plunged and lenders restricted credit, Federal Reserve figures show.”

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings February’s jobs data.  Nonfarm Payrolls are expected at 25,000, the Unemployment Rate is expected at 5.0%, Hourly Earnings are expected at 0.3%, and the Average Workweek is expected at 33.7.  At 3PM is Consumer Credit for January expected at $7.0 billion.

The Markets:

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

Oil rose to a new record high at $105.97 before it fell to see slight losses by early afternoon, but it then rallied back higher into the close and ended with a decent gain at a new record closing high.

The U.S. dollar index fell to another new record low as the European Central Bank held rates unchanged and did not hint towards future interest rate cuts despite the euro’s recent rally that ECB President Trichet did not reference as some had speculated he would.  The Bank of England also held rates unchanged.

Treasuries rose as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell roughly 2% on continuing credit worries and poor housing data.  The Nasdaq and Russell 2000 fell to new 52 week lows and the Dow and S&P fell to their January lows in important technical developments.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Carlyle, Wal-mart, Fidelity, Ambac, and Blockbuster.

The Commentary:

“April Gold finished down 11.4 at 977.1, 12.9 off the high and 10.1 up from the low.

May Silver closed down 0.56 at 20.225. This was 0.275 up from the low and 0.715 off the high.

Despite a continuation of flight to quality conditions and another sharp slide in the US Dollar, the gold market showed periodic bouts of moderate weakness during the trade Thursday. Certainly seeing a host of physical commodity markets under intense pressure provided some spillover selling pressure in gold, but with an extremely important monthly non farm payroll report due out Friday morning, there would still seem to be a high level of economic anxiety in the marketplace. Perhaps seeing the IMF hint at an overvaluation of the Euro could have undermined gold but given the fact that the Dollar stayed mostly lower, it would seem as if something other than currency market views were prompting the selling. In fact, with platinum prices under significant pressure and grain prices also showing weakness the profit taking argument was surfacing from a number of angles.

Initially the silver market attempted to hold up in the face of weakness in gold and platinum but with the reversal in copper and grain prices the outside market pressure on silver appeared to turn the early bullish tide around. With the US equity market under ongoing pressure and the outlook for the US economy deteriorating further on Thursday, the silver trade might have become concerned about the markets recent overbought status. It is possible that reports from the Fed about US home equity levels falling below 50% for the first time since 1945 put the fear of too much slowing in the markets mind.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

With inflation rising, European central banks hold rates steady

Italy intervenes in bond market as spreads soar

When gold breaks $1,000, what then?

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 3/6/2008

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The ASX added 0.17 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 increase in power to mines, Allied Nevada’s (ANV) assay results, Barrick’s Pascua-Lama gold mine progress and gold price outlook, Royal Gold’s (RGLD) conversion details, Eldorado Gold’s (EGO) mine reopening, Exeter’s (XRA) offering terms, Stillwater’s (SWC) note offering, Minco Gold’s (MGH) government approvals, International Royalty’s (ROY) dividend, and ECU’s (ECU.TO) assay results and 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:

Sherwood Increases Holdings to Approximately 93% of Western Keltic Shares - More
- March 06, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Olympus to Commence Trading in the US on OTCBB - More
- March 06, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Crosshair Exploration & Mining Corp.: Revised Terms for the Previously Announced C$15 Million Bought Deal Financing - More
- March 06, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Delta Uranium Announces the Appointment of New Director and Chief Financial Officer - More
- March 06, 2008 | Item | E-mail

International Royalty declares dividend - "International Royalty Corporation (AMEX: ROY, TSX: IRC) is pleased to report that its Board of Directors declared a dividend on February 29, 2008 of US$0.015 per share. The dividend is payable to shareholders of record on March 14, 2008 and will be paid on or about March 31, 2008." More
- March 06, 2008 | Item | E-mail

GoldQuest Mining Corp. Clarifies Alert From British Columbia Securities Commission - More
- March 06, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Yale Finishes Trenching Program at Carol Property and Accelerates Property Payments - More
- March 06, 2008 | Item | E-mail

MetalQuest Minerals Completes Asset Divestiture - More
- March 06, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Pele Mountain Reports Additional Positive Drill Results From Its Elliot Lake Uranium Mine Project - More
- March 06, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Allied Nevada Drills Brimstone Oxide Zone At Hycroft Intersects 510 Feet of 0.037 opt Au Equivalent - "Allied Nevada Gold Corp. ("Allied Nevada" or the "Company") (Toronto:ANV.TO - News)(AMEX:ANV - News) is pleased to announce complete gold and silver assay results for thirty (30) exploration holes, twenty-one (21) of which are reported here. The holes were drilled at the Company's Hycroft Heap Leach Mine ("Hycroft") located near Winnemucca, Nevada." More
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