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-- Posted Wednesday, 11 June 2008 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com

The Metals:

Gold steadily rose throughout most of world trade and ended near its high of $882.90 with a gain of 1.41%.  Silver fell slightly to $16.50 by late trade in Asia, but it then stabilized in London, climbed nicely in morning New York trade, and ended near its high of $16.90 with a gain of 1.63%.

Euro gold rose to about €566, platinum gained $41 to $2037.50, and copper rose a couple of cents to about $3.58.

Gold and silver equities rose over 1% by late morning before they fell back off a bit as the major indices fell roughly 2% in afternoon trade, but the miners still ended at about unchanged on the day.

The Economy:

The fed’s Beige Book noted some ability of businesses to pass along higher costs despite a continued economic slowdown.

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings Import and Export Prices for May, Retail Sales for May expected at 0.5%, and Initial Jobless Claims for 6/07 expected at 370,000.  At 10AM is the Business Inventories report for April expected at 0.3%.

The Markets:

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

Oil rose over $5 as crude inventories once again surprised with a large decline.  Oil inventories have now fallen almost 24 million barrels in just the past 4 weeks.  Exxon Mobil also reported a malfunction at a refinery as Russia announced declining output as well.  Previously it was Russia’s rising oil output that was covering for the increasing demand out of China and India and a reversal of this situation could prove to be quite bullish for the overall demand/supply picture.  Oil inventories fell 4.6 million barrels, gasoline inventories rose 1.0 million barrels, distillates rose 2.3 million barrels, and refinery utilization fell 1.1% to 88.6%.  Prices closed just $2.16 from the new record closing high set last Friday.

The U.S. dollar index fell as traders began to doubt whether all of the fed and government talk of the past week or so will actually be followed up by any action.

Treasuries rose as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell markedly on another dramatic rise in oil prices, further concerns over inflation, and more worries about Lehman Brothers and the financials.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Staples and Corporate Express, and Martha Stewart Living.

The Commentary:

“August Gold finished up 11.7 at 882.9, 2.6 off the high and 4.6 up from the low.

July Silver closed up 0.22 at 16.855. This was 0.175 up from the low and 0.07 off the high.

Clearly weakness in the Dollar provided gold bulls with a significant leg up on Wednesday. However, with a sharp upward explosion in energy prices and a host of physical commodities, it is just as likely that classic inflationary buying was being seen in the gold trade. With the US equity market at times under significant selling pressure as a result of the sharp price gains being registered in the commodity markets, it is also likely that classic flight to quality buying was taking place. While the Dollar Index was weak some traders suggested that without a decline below the Tuesday low of 73.31, the currency influence on gold prices might not intensify. In the end seeing crude oil prices virtually explode during the session Wednesday probably rekindled investment interest for gold from a broad range of angles.

Certainly the silver market was lifted by the reversal in the US Dollar and certainly the silver market was lifted by the positive leadership being displayed in the gold market but in the end seeing a host of physical commodity markets on the rise again probably revived investment interest in the silver market. As mentioned in the mid day coverage the silver market had to overcome some patently discouraging physical supply side news but in retrospect both silver and gold focused intently on inflation and flight to quality themes.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

Ted Butler: The real speculators

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 6/10/2008

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: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: 20.78 tonnes were added to the trust.

The Stocks:

A free new stock report by Peter Zihlmann on First Majestic posted at http://www.goldreview.com/news/ZihlmannInvest/1213207229.php, Almaden’s (AAU) work program, Apollo’s (AGT) purchase agreement, Silvermex’s (SMR.V) drill results, and Bear Creek’s (BCM.V) amended agreement with Rio Tinto (RTP) 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:

Mexivada finds 1.5 by 8 mm nugget at Mbandza gold discovery, ROC Congo - More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Lac Dore Vanadium-Titanium-Iron Project Site Inspection Underway - More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Almaden Initiates Work Program at the Munro Molybdenum Copper Project, Canada - "Almaden Minerals Ltd. ("Almaden" or "the Company") (Toronto:AMM.TO - News)(AMEX:AAU - News) is pleased to announce that it will conduct a detailed stream sediment sampling program on its 100% owned, road accessible Munro Lake porphyry molybdenum-copper-silver project located near Summerland, B.C." More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Uranium Closes a Flow-Through Financing With the MineralFields Group - More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Mainstream Minerals New High-Grade Molybdenum, Copper Acquisition and Discovery - More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Kola Mining Announces 1.977-Billion Pound Nickel NI 43-101 Resource Estimate - More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail

GWR Grants Incentive Stock Options to Dr. Bailey - More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Colibri intersects 72 meters of 0.195 % Moly within widely distributed molybdenum-copper porphyry mineralization on Leon Project - More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail

StrataGold discovers new gold zones at Tassawini, Guyana - More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Inspiration Intersects 1.042% Ni Over 9.95 M or 32.64 Ft Containing 1.248% Ni Over 7.09 M or 23.26 Ft (True Width) 247m Below Surface - More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Vaaldiam Resources Ltd.: First Gold Sale From Duas Barras Mine - More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Duran Ventures Corporate Update - More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Volta Resources acquires two new gold exploration permits in Burkina Faso, West Africa - More
- June 11, 2008 | Item | E-mail