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-- Posted Friday, 25 April 2008 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com

The Metals:

Gold fell to $877.50 by late trade in Asia before it rallied back strongly in London and rose to as high as $896.20 by about 9:30AM EST in New York, but it then fell back to $884.20 by late morning, bounced modestly higher in the last couple of hours of trade, and ended with a loss of just 0.03%.  Silver dropped to $16.38 and rose to $16.90 before it fell back off to $16.627, but it then rallied back near its high by the close and ended with a gain of 0.78%.

Euro gold rose to about €568, platinum lost $10.50 to $1952, and copper gained over 6 cents to about $3.96.

Gold and silver equities traded roughly 1% higher for most of the day.

The Economy:

All of this week’s economic reports:

Next week’s economic highlights include Consumer Confidence on Tuesday, ADP Employment, GDP, the Chain Deflator, the Employment Cost Index, Chicago PMI, and the FOMC Policy Statement on Wednesday, Initial Jobless Claims, Personal Income and Spending, PCE Core Inflation, Construction Spending, and the ISM Index on Thursday, and April’s jobs data and Factory Orders on Friday.

The Markets:

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

Oil rose on strikes in Scotland and Nigeria, another pipeline attack in Nigeria, and reports that a US cargo ship fired several warning shots towards Iranian fast boats, but the Iranian media denies any confrontation with US interests.  Nevertheless when all was said and done oil ended the day with an over 2% gain and just 85 cents away from a new record closing high.

The U.S. dollar index rose a little and treasuries fell slightly despite news that Michigan Sentiment came in at the weakest in 26 years.  The bond and currency markets remain focused on next week’s fed meeting that is expected to announce an interest rate cut of 25 basis points to 2.00%, but also signal steady rates going forward.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell for most of trade as Microsoft disappointed on earnings, Michigan Sentiment disappointed, and oil soared higher again, but a late day rally brought the Dow and S&P modestly higher by the close on hopes that the credit crisis is over.

Among the big names making news in the market Friday were Microsoft and Yahoo, Honda, Goodyear, and ITT.

The Commentary:

“June Gold finished up 0.3 at 889.7, 9 off the high and 2.7 up from the low.

May Silver closed up 0.19 at 16.85. This was 0.15 up from the low and 0.01 off the high.

The bull camp might suggest that it took a significant geopolitical threat to shut off the liquidation pattern in the gold market. However, it should be noted that the gold market stood up relatively well to residual strength in the US Dollar and rather dismal scheduled US economic news. Certainly seeing June crude oil at times up by more than $3.50 a barrel and seeing the potential for a re-escalation of tension between Iran and the US rekindles flight to quality interest, but the market overall didn't appear to be definitively back into a bullish mode during the trade on Friday.

The silver market seemingly outperformed the gold and platinum markets for most of the session Friday. Certainly sharply higher energy prices provided the bull camp with some fodder but seeing copper prices firming would seem to suggest that both markets were attempting to discount the ongoing strength of the US Dollar. With equity and energy prices both moderately higher at times, some traders might have been prompted to buy into silver off the perfect storm mentality, which in the past has fomented talk of a return to classic inflation.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

Al Korelin interviews GATA board member Ed Steer

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 4/24/2008

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: StreetTRACKS subtracted 20.56 tonnes.

StreetTRACKS Gold losses 50 tonnes in 4 days, iShares Silver zero
Resource Investor

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.

Silver ETF Starts Off the Year Strong: Can It Continue to Shine? - Seeking Alpha

The Stocks:

New Gold’s (NGD) noteholders meeting, DRD Gold’s (DROOY) possible mine closure, Paramount’s (PZG) added core drill rig, IAMGOLD’s (IAG) and Aurelian’s (ARU.TO) meeting with the Ecuadorian government, and Oro Silver’s (OSR.V) non-brokered, private placement financing were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines Friday.

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:

Ecuador meets with Canadian miners on assets - "Ecuador's president has met with a group of Canadian miners to offer reassurances about the future of mining in the country, a move that boosted shares of the companies on Friday despite continued uncertainty about their mining concessions and exploration rights." More
- April 25, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Lounor drills 2.54 m of 3.1 g/t au at Harker - More
- April 25, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Ungava Mines Inc.: Expo Ungava Property, Exploration Update - More
- April 25, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Silk Road Resources Ltd. announces financial results for Year Ended December 31, 2007 - More
- April 25, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Taranis Resources Inc. announces Flow-Through Private Placement with the MineralFields Group - More
- April 25, 2008 | Item | E-mail

GoldSpring Provides Results to Exploratory Drilling Holes 18-24 - More
- April 25, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Miners vow to escalate Chile copper strike - "Chilean subcontract workers vowed on Friday to escalate a mine strike that has shut three divisions at the world's largest copper miner Codelco and seen workers injured during 10 days of sometimes violent protests."