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-- Posted Tuesday, 20 May 2008 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com

The Metals:

Gold remained near unchanged in Asia and London before it exploded higher in late morning New York trade and ended near its high of $923.40 with a gain of 1.62%.  Silver also surged higher in the last four hours of trade and ended near its high of $17.67 with a gain of 3.83%.

Euro gold rose to about €587, platinum lost $9 to $2134, and copper remained at about $3.79.

Gold and silver equities steadily rose throughout most of trade and ended at their session highs with over 2.5% gains despite noticeable weakness in the major indices.

The Economy:

Tomorrow at 2PM EST brings the minutes from the fed’s April 30^th meeting.

The Markets:

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

Oil rose to a new record high of $129.60 and gasoline reached a new record high average of $3.80.  A further weakening U.S. Dollar and strong demand from Asia helped propel energy prices higher as T. Boone Pickens came out with his forecast of $150 a barrel by the end of the year and OPEC's president said they won't raise output before their next meeting in September.

The U.S. dollar index fell markedly as continually poor US economic data keeps the fed’s hands tied from raising interest rates anytime soon while rising inflationary pressures in Europe may influence the ECB to raise rates despite recent pressure from the US to join the fed in cutting rates to levels below what even official inflation numbers are running at.

Treasuries rose as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell on poor earning reports and worries over the economy as oil rose to yet another new record high.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Home Depot, Target, and AIG Capital.

The Commentary:

“As oil nears $130, the historical relative value of gold to oil is now again at extreme lows. This measurement, among with others, places the true value of gold much higher than we are seeing it presently trade at.  With today’s very weak US Dollar and with continual prospects of additional expansion of the money supply, gold becomes even that more attractive at this present time.  The short-term prospects are encouraging and a return to the mid-$900’s is quite possible over the coming weeks.  Despite the appearance of weakness in this market, the short-term bullish factors could become drivers of the gold price higher. Sub-$900 pullbacks are going to look more and more attractive going forward.  Capital seeking shelter from monetary debasement will continue to deviate to preservation assets such as gold and silver.” - Peter Spina, www.goldforecaster.com

“June Gold finished up 14.4 at 920.2, 2.2 off the high and 13.9 up from the low.

July Silver closed up 0.697 at 17.725. This was 0.675 up from the low and 0.015 off the high.

The June gold contract managed to reach the highest level since April 23rd in the wake of another sharp decline in the US Dollar Index. Clearly, another new all-time high in energy complex added to the inflationary views and supported gold prices during the session. Apparently some traders were pointing to renewed US financial sector concerns as a development that inspired flight to quality buying of gold. Apparently renewed fears of slowing in the US and talk of rising gold production from Peru was of little concern to the gold trade on Tuesday.

With silver at times Tuesday reaching up to the highest level since April 23rd and at times seeing the silver market outperform the gold market, it was clear that the bulls were seeing support from a number of angles. Certainly the sharp decline in the Dollar provided silver with an initial lift, but seeing oil prices rocket to another new all time high and seeing the US equity market under moderately surprising pressure seemed to kick up the flight to quality interest in silver. Some traders were surprised by the silver markets capacity to rally in the face of mostly weak action in the platinum and copper markets.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

Ted Butler disputes and criticizes CFTC silver market study

For 7 years buying gold in summer has been profitable fast

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 5/19/2008

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The JSE added 0.37 tonnes.

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:

Goldcorp’s (GG) investor day, US Gold’s (UXG) updated resource estimate, Barrick’s (ABX) Getchell mine shutdown, Apollo Gold’s (AGT) mill update, Richmont’s (RIC) joint venture with Mountain Lake (MOA.V), Anatolia’s (ANO.TO) mine strategy, Paramount’s (PZG) assay results, Gold Fields’ (GFI) partnership with Sino Gold (ASX: SGX) in China, South American Silver’s (SAC.TO) drill results, and Orko Silver’s (OK.V) private placement 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:

US Gold's Tonkin Resource Estimate Increases to 1.76 Million Oz Gold - "US GOLD CORPORATION (Toronto:UXG.TO - News)(AMEX:UXG - News)(Frankfurt:US8.F - News) is pleased to announce details of the updated resource estimate for its Tonkin property, audited by the independent firm Ore Reserve Engineering of Denver, Colorado in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 standards. The resource estimate is calculated based on a gold price of US$575 per ounce." More
- May 20, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Goldcorp to Host Investor Day - "The Company's Red Lake mine will present progress of underground infrastructure development that will provide the foundation for the next phase of production growth from the world's richest gold mine. Recent results from the mine's $32 million 2008 drilling program will also be highlighted, with particular emphasis on five priority target areas: the deep high grade zone, deep Campbell, party wall, RLC sulfides, and surface mining targets." More
- May 20, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Explor Start Drilling Kidd Township Property - More
- May 20, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Anooraq Concludes a Binding Credit Approved Term Sheet With Standard Chartered Bank - More
- May 20, 2008 | Item | E-mail

South American Silver Announces Strong Silver Enrichment at Limosna and High Grade Silver-Indium in the Sucre Zone at Malku Khota - "South American Silver Corp. (Toronto:SAC.TO - News) ("SASC" or the "Company) is pleased to announce the results from the next 10 holes at Malku Khota, Bolivia. Five holes are from the Limosna ridge and five are from the Sucre Zone located approximately 800 metres to the east of Wara Wara zone." More
- May 20, 2008 | Item | E-mail

High Desert Gold Corporation Completes Phase 1 Diamond Drilling Program at the Canasta Dorada Property in Sonora, Mexico - More
- May 20, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Golden Dawn Minerals Announces Retraction to the News Release Sent on May 16, 2008 - More
- May 20, 2008 | Item | E-mail

AXMIN Announces Amendments to the Non-Brokered Private Placement Announced on May 12, 2008 - More
- May 20, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Getchell mine on care and maintenance, Barrick says - "Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday it has put its Getchell gold mine in Nevada on "care and maintenance" shutdown status due to safety concerns following three deaths over the past year." More
- May 20, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Bellhaven's Australian JV Partner Provides Panama Drilling Update - More
- May 20, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Peru gold output seen up 10 pct - industry group - "Peru's gold production is expected to rise by 10 percent this year as new mines start operating, the president of the gold committee at the country's mining chamber told a conference in Lima on Tuesday." More
- May 20, 2008 | Item | E-mail<