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-- Posted Thursday, 13 March 2008 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com

The Metals:

Gold rose throughout world trade and climbed to a new record intraday high at $999.75 by about 10:40AM EST before it fell back off a bit in the last few hours of trade, but it still ended with a gain of 1.3% at a new record closing high.  Silver climbed to as high as $20.872 by about 8AM EST before it also fell back off into the close, but it still ended with a gain of 2% and closed just 31 cents away from setting a new 27 year closing high.

Euro gold rose to about €637, platinum gained $30 to $2090.50, and copper fell slightly to about $3.84.

Gold and silver equities rose over 3% at the open to new record highs and remained near those highs into the close.

The Economy:

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings CPI for February expected at 0.3% and Core CPI expected at 0.2%.  At 10AM is Michigan Sentiment for March expected at 69.5.

The Markets:

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

Oil touched $111 before it fell back off a bit, but it still made another new record closing high as the U.S. dollar index fell to another new record low on continued worries about financial failures and a recession in the US.  The dollar dropped below 100 yen for the first time in 12 years, sank to a new record low versus the euro, and approached parity with the Swiss franc for the first time ever.

Treasuries rose and the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell about 2% in morning trade on the poor Retail Sales report and on financial worries as Carlyle Group admitted it's close to collapse, but bonds turned lower and stocks climbed by higher mid-afternoon after a poor 10-year auction and after Barney Frank “unveiled plans to increase government efforts to prevent foreclosures amid the worst housing slump in a quarter century.”

Among the big names making news in the market today were Carlyle Group, VW, Electronic Arts and Take-Two, and Expedia.

The Commentary:

“April Gold finished up 13.3 at 993.8, 7.2 off the high and 1 up from the low.

May Silver closed up 0.425 at 20.42. This was 0.01 up from the low and 0.465 off the high.

The gold market did manage to rise above the critical psychological even number price zone of $1,000 an ounce but the market was initially unable to hold that key technical area. Certainly seeing the Dollar recoil from its lows, seeing crude oil fall back from its highs and seeing a ratings agency hint at a possible upcoming end to the pattern of sub-prime write downs tempered flight to quality concerns and that in turn seemed to take some of the speculative buying interest out of the gold market. However, given the multiple ongoing threats from the US financial sector, it would not seem like anxiety will be easily deflated.

The silver market mostly followed the gold market throughout the trading session but early in the session Thursday silver seemed to be outperforming gold. With the US equity market managing a bounce and the Dollar also managing a recovery it wasn't surprising to see silver prices fall back from their initial highs. Certainly seeing copper prices under pressure and seeing crude oil fade from its highs gave off the impression of a profit taking wave in a host of physical commodity markets and that might have prompted some silver longs to bank profits.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 3/13/2008

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	652.48	20,977,756	US$ 20,460m
London Stock Exchange (LSE) AND Euronext Paris AND Borsa Italiana AND Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Deutsche Börse )	Gold Bullion Securities	112.85	3,628,204	US$ 3,613m
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)	Gold Bullion Securities	19.57	628,800	US$ 626m
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE)	New Gold Debentures	28.12	904,099	US$ 881m

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The ASX added 0.18 tonnes and the JSE added 0.74 tonnes.

COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)

Profile as of 3/12/2008
Total Net Assets	$1,967,313,423	Ounces of Gold in Trust	2,010,183.086
Shares Outstanding	20,350,000	Tonnes of Gold in Trust	62.52

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

Silver Trust (SLV)

Profile as of 3/12/2008
Total Net Assets	$3,445,137,096	Ounces of Silver in Trust	174,908,876.800
Shares Outstanding	17,650,000	Tonnes of Silver in Trust	5,440.27

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

The Stocks:

Paramount’s (PZG) trading halt, Imperial’s (III.TO) drill results, Solitario’s quadrupled land holding, Newmont’s (NEM) and Freeport’s (FCX) mines in Indonesia, Canyon’s (CAU) approved merger with Atna, Sterling’s (SRLM.OB) ribbon-cutting ceremony, Oro Silver’s (OSR.V) drill results, Silvercorp’s (SVM.TO) exploration and development programs, and Coeur’s (CDE) debt offering 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:

Paramount Gold And Silver Corp. to Address Temporary Trading Suspension - "The Board of Directors of Paramount Gold and Silver Corp. (Toronto:PZG.TO - News)(AMEX:PZG - News)(Frankfurt:P6G.F - News)(WKN: A0HGKQ) (the "Company") met today to address the temporary suspension in trading of the Company's shares of common stock today by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The suspension was announced in a SEC news release today which states that trading will be suspended until 11:59 p.m. E.T. on March 27, 2008. As a result of the SEC's actions, the Company's shares have been temporarily suspended for trading on AMEX." More
- March 13, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Verena Minerals Announces Private Placement With Sprott Securities - More
- March 13, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Canyon Resources Announces Shareholder Approval of the Merger With Atna Resources - "Canyon Resources Corporation ("Canyon") (Amex: CAU - News). On March 13, 2008, Canyon Resources Corporation, a Colorado based mining company, held a special stockholder meeting. The stockholders voted to approve and adopt the Agreement and Plan of Merger dated November 16, 2007, by and among Atna Resources Ltd. ("Atna"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Atna, and Canyon (the "Merger"). The Merger is expected to be complete after the close of business on March 18, 2008." More
- March 13, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Platinum Group Metals Amends November 30, 2007 MD&A - More
- March 13, 2008 | Item | E-mail

CMP Gold Trust Invests in Cadiscor Resources - More
- March 13, 2008 |