-- Posted Wednesday, 23 April 2008 | Digg This Article
| Source: GoldSeek.com
| Close | Gain/Loss |
Gold | $905.60 | -$16.40 |
Silver | $17.185 | -$0.515 |
XAU | 179.38 | -3.46% |
HUI | 425.21 | -4.13% |
GDM | 1276.79 | -3.83% |
JSE Gold | 2445.69 | -49.60 |
USD | 71.82 | +0.50 |
Euro | 158.90 | -0.98 |
Yen | 96.61 | -0.48 |
Oil | $118.30 | +$0.23 |
10-Year | 3.730% | +0.010 |
T-Bond | 116.984375 | -0.171875 |
Dow | 12763.22 | +0.34% |
Nasdaq | 2405.21 | +1.19% |
S&P | 1379.93 | +0.29% |
The Metals:
Gold remained near unchanged in Asia before it fell in London and early New York trade to as low as $896.80 by about 10AM EST, but it then rallied back higher into the close and ended almost $10 of its low with a loss of 1.8%. Silver dropped to as low as $16.965 before it also rallied back higher into the close, but it still ended with a loss of 2.9%.
Euro gold fell to about €570, platinum lost $24.50 to $1996, and copper fell over 5 cents to about $3.95.
Gold and silver equities steadily fell for most of trade and ended with about 4% losses.
The Economy:
There were no major economic reports today, but the Mortgage Bankers Association's index of applications to buy a home or refinance a loan fell 14.2% and did have some talking. Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings Durable Goods Orders for March expected at 0.0% and Initial Jobless Claims for 4/19 expected at 375,000. At 10AM is the New Home Sales report for March expected at 580,000.
The Markets:
Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/
Oil traded mixed and ended slightly higher as traders debated the implications of an inventory report that brought both a bigger than expected rise in crude stocks and a bigger than expected fall in gasoline supplies. Crude inventories rose 2.4 million barrels, gasoline inventories fell 3.2 million barrels, distillates fell 1.4 million barrels, and refinery utilization was 85.6%.
The U.S. dollar index rebounded from yesterday’s record low as the euro dropped from its new peak above 1.60 on ECB talk and weaker than expected manufacturing data in Europe.
Treasuries fell while the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose on mostly better than expected earnings reports.
Among the big names making news in the market today were Boeing, Liberty Mutual and Safeco, Schering-Plough, WellPoint, Microsoft, Northwest Airlines, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.
The Commentary:
“June Gold finished down 16.2 at 909, 2.2 off the high and 9.7 up from the low.
May Silver closed down 0.545 at 17.165. This was 0.165 up from the low and 0.135 off the high.
The gold market was under moderate pressure for most of the trading session Wednesday. Certainly strength in the Dollar was a large portion of the bear case but at times it appeared as if a liquidation wave was settling into a range of physical commodity markets. It is also possible that trade expectations for a minor rise in the Thursday morning US Durable Goods report inspired the Dollar rally and that in turn increased the liquidation pressure in the gold market. While some energy prices were firm on Wednesday, periodic weakness in the headline market (crude oil) probably served to discourage some would-be gold bulls. Surprisingly the gold market didn't seem to garner any support from up beat gold price forecasts from a major metals miner and that also highlighted the markets prevailing bearish attitude.
The silver market started out weak in sympathy with other metals markets and saw the selling pressure increase as the day progressed. In fact, with a host of physical commodity markets under pressure on Wednesday it certainly appeared as if some type of liquidation wave was being felt. Certainly the rise in the Dollar contributed to the selling pressure in silver, which at times fell below the psychological even number zone of $17.00.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting
GATA Posts:
Hugo Salinas Price: Dorothy's silver slippers
Gartman urges government intervention in commodities markets
Wistar Holt: GATA gives vital confidence to precious metals investors
Bill Murphy: The 'strong dollar' policy was gold price suppression
The Statistics:
As of close of business: 4/22/2008
Gold Warehouse Stocks: | 7,693,105 | +56,382 |
Silver Warehouse Stocks: | 135,698,977 | -1,388,781 |
Global Gold ETF Holdings
[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]
| Product name | Total Tonnes | Total Ounces | Total Value |
New York Stock Exchange Arca (NYSE Arca) AND Singapore Exchange (SGX) | StreetTRACKS Gold Shares | 623.41 | 20,043,157 | US$ 18,394m |
London Stock Exchange (LSE) AND Euronext Paris AND Borsa Italiana AND Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Deutsche Börse ) | Gold Bullion Securities | 114.03 | 3,666,206 | US$ 3,318m |
Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) | Gold Bullion Securities | 20.92 | 672,014 | US$ 609m |
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) | New Gold Debentures | 27.00 | 868,190 | US$ 796m |
Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: StreetTRACKS subtracted 18.41 tonnes.
COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)
Profile as of 4/22/2008 | |
Total Net Assets | $1,898,392,574 | Ounces of Gold
in Trust | 2,058,818.136 |
Shares Outstanding | 20,850,000 | Tonnes of Gold
in Trust | 64.04 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
Silver Trust (SLV)
Profile as of 4/22/2008 | |
Total Net Assets | $3,260,239,522 | Ounces of Silver
in Trust | 185,719,016.300 |
Shares Outstanding | 18,750,000 | Tonnes of Silver
in Trust | 5,776.51 |
Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.
The Stocks:
Claude’s (CGR) drill results, Orezone’s (OZN) project update, Freeport’s (FCX) first quarter results, Minco Silver’s (MSV.TO) bankable feasibility study, and Excellon’s (EXN.TO) assay results were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.
WINNERS
1. Anglo American | AAUK +1.14% $34.46 |
2. Solitario | XPL +0.54% $5.60 |
3. Aurizon | AZK +0.21% $4.75 |
LOSERS
1. Great Basin | GBN -9.72% $2.88 |
2. Minefinders | MFN-9.61% $10.53 |
3. Endeavour | EXK -7.12% $3.00 |
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:
Newmont Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend - "The Board of Directors of Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM - News) today declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, payable June 27, 2008 to holders of record at the close of business on June 6, 2008." More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Gold Crest Mines, Inc. and Electrum Ltd. Form an Alaskan Joint Venture - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
SearchGold Hires New CFO - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Golden Share Mining Corp. Hires New CFO - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Los Andes Copper Begins Vizcachitas Metallurgical Program - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
GWR Reports on 2008 Annual General Meeting - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Dia Bras: New Agreement With Compania Minera Cusi - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
La Quinta Signs Final Agreements for the Acquisition of 7,010 Sq Km in Maniema South Kivu Gold Belt-DRC - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
GBS Gold Releases New Drilling Results - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Freeport-McMoRan profit more than doubles - "Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday first-quarter profit more than doubled, topping Wall Street estimates, as the miner benefited from higher metals prices.
The company lowered slightly its estimate for copper sales this year, and raised its estimate for gold sales.
"They were good (earnings) numbers, but their (copper production) guidance was down slightly," said Amir Arif, a mining industry analyst with Friedman Billings Ramsey." More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Marathon PGM Competes 17-Hole Drill Program at Gossan's Bird River Property - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Trelawney Announces Drilling Results Indicating Wide Spread Gold Mineralization in Wawa, Ontario - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Consolidated Puma Minerals Corp.: Reporting on 2007 Exploration Program - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Stingray Copper Inc.-21 Metwork Drill Hole Results: Delivered to Metcon - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
HuntMountain's La Josefina Drilling Continues to Hit Strong Gold and Silver Intercepts - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Mantis signs amendment to option agreement on Rottenstone Property and awaits data interpretation from completed VTEM Airborne Survey - More
- April 23, 2008 | Item | E-mail
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Lose Nearly 2% and 3%