-- Posted Monday, 24 March 2008 | Digg This Article
| Source: GoldSeek.com
| Close | Gain/Loss |
Gold | $917.90 | -$1.15 |
Silver | $17.05 | +$0.12 |
XAU | 171.19 | -0.48% |
HUI | 430.14 | -2.03% |
GDM | 1294.16 | -1.24% |
JSE Gold | 2492.63 | -116.39 |
USD | 72.89 | +0.14 |
Euro | 154.14 | -0.39 |
Yen | 99.25 | -1.81 |
Oil | $100.86 | -$0.98 |
10-Year | 3.522% | +0.194 |
T-Bond | 118.796875 | -2.15625 |
Dow | 12548.64 | +1.52% |
Nasdaq | 2326.75 | +3.04% |
S&P | 1349.88 | +1.53% |
The Metals:
Gold fell to as low as $906.30 by late trade in Asia before it rose to as high as $926.70 by early afternoon in New York, but it then fell back off slightly in the last half hour of trade and ended with a loss of 0.13%. Silver fell to $16.764 and rose to $17.22 before it also fell off slightly in the closing minutes of trade, but it still ended with a gain of 0.71%.
Euro gold rose to about €596, platinum gained $19 to $1879, and copper gained over 4 cents to about $3.65.
Gold and silver equities traded mostly slightly higher in morning trade, but they then fell back off into the close and ended with roughly 1% losses.
The Economy:
Report | For | Reading | Expected | Previous |
Existing Home Sales | Feb | 5.03M | 4.86M | 4.89M |
The median home value fell a record 8.2% to under $200,000 as sellers gave in to lower prices to accomplish the first rise in sales in a year. Tomorrow at 10AM EST brings Consumer Confidence for March expected at 73.4.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil remained near unchanged in rather quiet trade as London remained closed in observance of the Easter Holiday, but it did end lower while the U.S. dollar index rose and treasuries fell as Existing Home Sales came in better than expected and pushed interest rates higher.
The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose on decent housing data and on JPMorgan’s increased bid for Bear Stearns from $2 to $10 a share that does not require shareholder approval.
Among the big names making news in the market today were Sirius and XM, Biovail, Bear Stearns and JPMorgan, Tiffany, and Walgreen.
The Commentary:
“April Gold finished down 1.3 at 918.7, 8.3 off the high and 4.7 up from the low.
May Silver closed up 0.26 at 17.11. This was 0.19 up from the low and 0.07 off the high.
The gold market waffled around both sides of unchanged early before managing a slight mid day bounce which then faded just ahead of the close. Certainly residual Dollar strength and sharp gains in the equity market gave off the impression that money might be better served in something other than precious metals markets. With the stock market managing a very impressive range up extension it is also likely that flight to quality longs in gold were unwilling to continue to hold against the declining flight to quality condition. Even the US existing home sales report seemed to deflate the flight to quality condition because strength in that area seems to hit right at the heart of the US financial market turmoil.
Unlike the gold market, the silver market appeared to be able to hold in positive ground for most of the trading session. In fact, the silver market seemed mostly immune to the strength in the Dollar and the weakness in crude oil prices. With platinum and copper prices also higher on the day it seemed as if the metals trade was indeed making a distinction between financial/flight to quality instruments and physical demand driven commodities. With some of the US numbers better than expected and the US equity market surprising some traders with its strength, it wasn't totally surprising that the prospect of improved physical demand trumped the sagging flight to quality views.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
GATA Posts:
Morgan's revised bid for Bear emphasizes original ripoff, Fed desperation
Time grows short to register for GATA's Washington conference
Clamor grows for more central bank intervention -- at least in Financial Times
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Fed's rescue of Bear halted derivatives Chernobyl
Fed joins Bank of England in denying junk mortgage purchase plan
Ed Steer on last week's smashing of gold and silver
James Turk: Paper vs. metal
Emirs take pity for now but dollar's dominance is ending
Bank of England denies mortgage purchase plan
Banker scolds Bank of England: Damn moral hazard, send us more cash
Central banks plot mass purchase of junk mortgages
Fed, Wall Street might not survive these questions on Bear deal
Southeast Asian central banks meet about dollar
A bailout for the dollar too?
Broke, European banks get daily injections from ECB, BoE
Revealed: The dirty tricks of rogue traders
Investment firms tap Fed for billions
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 3/20/2008
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,507,789 | - |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 135,168,384 | - |
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 | 637.13 | 20,484,311 | US$ 18,958m |
London Stock Exchange (LSE) AND Euronext Paris AND Borsa Italiana AND Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Deutsche Börse ) | Gold Bullion Securities | 113.92 | 3,662,759 | US$ 3,363m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 19.97 | 641,722 | US$ 590m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 28.61 | 919,814 | US$ 881m |
Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: StreetTRACKS subtracted 11.66 tonnes.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 3/20/2008 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,984,366,627 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 2,158,326.840 |
Shares Outstanding | 21,850,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 67.13 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
Silver Trust (SLV)
Profile as of 3/20/2008 | |
Total Net Assets | $3,143,349,315 | Ounces of Silver
in Trust | 179,367,461.900 |
Shares Outstanding | 18,100,000 | Tonnes of Silver
in Trust | 5,578.95 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
The Stocks:
New Gold’s (NGD) Participation Agreement and Centerra’s (CG.TO) ball mill update were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.
WINNERS
1. Orezone | OZN +22.4% $1.53 |
2. Gold Reserve | GRZ +13.41% $4.65 |
3. Metallica | MRB +12.13% $4.90 |
LOSERS
1. Golden Star | GSS-14.15% $3.70 |
2. Northgate | NXG -8.18% $3.03 |
3. Solitario | XPL -6.31% $4.90 |
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:
Simberi Announces Increase in Ownership of Zanthus Property - More
- March 24, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Lakota Resources Announces Board and Management Changes - More
- March 24, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Yankee Hat Announces Changes to the Board of Directors and Issuance of Options - More
- March 24, 2008 | Item | E-mail
First Gold Applies for Frankfurt Stock Exchange - More
- March 24, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Frontera Copper Announces the Appointment of Rodney Prokop as Vice President, Investor Relations - More
- March 24, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Baja Mining Files Annual Statements; Provides Project Update - More
- March 24, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Champion Minerals Expands Its Iron Property Holdings in Labrador and Quebec; Appoints Exploration Management Team - More
- March 24, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Ur-Energy Presents Upgraded License Application to NRC - More
- March 24, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Bruce Power Ontario Bruce 6 reactor shut - More
- March 24, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Lake Shore Gold Corp. Announces Management Changes - More
- March 24, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Norsemont Mining Appoints Gaston Loyola as VP Exploration - More
- March 24, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. Announces Drill Hole Results - More
- March 24, 2008 | Item |
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Mixed and Near Unchanged