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-- Posted Friday, 4 April 2008 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com

The Metals:

Gold curiously dipped to as low as $899.17 by about 9AM EST following the release of a worse than expected jobs report that sent the dollar lower, but yellow metal soon rallied back higher and ended at its high of the session with a gain of 0.45%.  Silver dropped to as low as $17.222 by about 9AM before it also rallied back higher for the rest of the day and ended near its high of $17.745 with an impressive gain of 1.8%.

Euro gold remained at about €578, platinum gained $20 to $2005, and copper gained over 5 cents to about $3.95.

Gold and silver equities rose about 1% at the open and remained near their highs into the close.

The Economy:

The BLS net birth/death adjustment added 142,000 payrolls, but that was not enough to halt the third straight monthly decline in jobs.  Payrolls in prior months were also revised lower to -152,000 in January and February compared to the previous reading of -85,000 while the Unemployment Rate rose to its highest since September 2005.

Also making economic news today was a poll by the New York Times reporting that 81% of Americans feel the country is heading in the wrong direction.

All of this week’s economic reports:

Next week’s economic highlights include Consumer Credit on Monday, Pending Home Sales and FOMC Minutes on Tuesday, Wholesale Inventories on Wednesday, Initial Jobless Claims, the Trade Balance and Treasury Budget on Thursday, and Export and Import Prices and Michigan Sentiment on Friday.

The Markets:

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

Oil rose over 2% on refinery problems and a lower dollar while gasoline made another new record high above $3.30.

The U.S. dollar index fell and treasuries rose on the weaker than expected jobs data that also dragged the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P lower at the open, but the three indices rose to find small gains by early afternoon and held near unchanged into the close as traders found it more likely that the fed will cut by 50 basis points, rather than just the already assumed 25 basis points, at their next meeting at the end of the month.

Among the big names making news in the market Friday were Family Dollar, UBS, Honeywell and Norcross, Microsoft and Yahoo, and Bear Stearns.

The Commentary:

“April Gold finished up 4 at 909, equal to the high and equal to the low.

May Silver closed up 0.275 at 17.755. This was 0.415 up from the low and 0.015 off the high.

The gold market was initially undermined by the Non Farm payroll report but then managed a mid day recovery bounce and a rise above the prior two sessions highs. However, it was clear that the Dollar weakness wasn't significant enough to drive aggressive buyers back into gold. However, energy prices were supportive to gold as was the initial reaction in the equity market to the monthly payroll information. It is also positive that other metals markets and a host of other physical commodity markets showed some strength on Friday as that suggests the fear of too much slowing and the fear of broad based physical commodity selling has been temporarily mitigated.

The silver market seemed to dodge a bullet today with the weaker than expected Payroll readings failing to rekindle a broad wave of physical commodity selling. In fact, the slack payroll reading didn't seem to undermine the industrial metals or the energy complex and that probably gave the silver bulls the confidence to move back into the long side of silver. While one can't conclude that the fear of excess slowing in the US has passed because of the markets reactions on Friday, it is possible that traders could assume that many markets are becoming less sensitive to macro economic negatives.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

MiningMX: Hedge book causing big trouble at AngloGold

Andy LaPerriere: Questions for the Fed

In high prices, moribund mines find a silver bullet

David Morgan: Short silver

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 4/03/2008

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

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

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:

AngloGold’s (AU) first quarter outlook and Gold Fields’ (GFI) management changes were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines Friday.

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