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Gold traded about $1-$4 lower in Asia and London before it jumped up near $590 at the New York open.  Gold fell back near $583 midday, but it then rallied into the close and ended slightly higher.  Silver followed a similar rollercoaster ride and ended unchanged on the day.

Euro gold remained near €480, platinum fell $6 to $1,066, palladium remained unchanged at $337, and copper rose back to new all-time highs above $2.55.

Gold and silver equities jumped about 1% higher at the open and then quickly fell back near unchanged on the day, but they then steadily rose throughout the rest of trade and ended near their highs with about 2% gains.

More Precious Metals Analysis:

“In the end, the gold market managed to reject moderate early weakness just as it did in the prior session and the Press suggests the recovery action is a sign of residual buying interest under the current market price. However, the gold market was supported periodically in the action Wednesday, by perceptions of an upcoming weakening in the US Dollar. We also think that the gold market was supported off a strengthening oil price. With Treasury Secretary Snow indicating that the upcoming US payroll numbers would be "good numbers", we suspect that the gold market was given the fuel to recoil up and away from the early session lows. Certainly the gold market continues to see some indirect flight to quality support from ongoing talk of Chinese currency reserve re-allocation. It almost goes without saying that the gold market also continued to see a fairly positive investment headline news flow during the session Wednesday. In fact, there were a number of noted gold price projections floated this week, some of which smacked of hype. Lastly an exceptionally strong rally in copper and zinc prices providing the gold market with another source of optimism.

Like gold, the silver market has also managed to reject some early selling pressure Wednesday morning and also saw some outside support from record pricing in the copper and Zinc markets. We suspect that silver is being partially held back by choppiness in the equity market and because of the less than stellar US economic outlook. In fact, US economic information released during the session Wednesday, was only marginally improved and that means the overly aggressive bull camp had nothing fresh to work off. In short the early profit taking posture seems was somewhat reversed into mid session, but the buyers didn't appear to be overly aggressive.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

Oil traded slightly higher ahead of inventory reports which showed crude inventories built 2.1 million barrels, gasoline inventories fell 4.4 million barrels, and distillates fell 2.6 million barrels.  While the build in crude inventories was larger than expected, the drop in gasoline inventories was much larger than expected and the drop in distillates was also slightly larger than expected, so the price of oil marched higher as a result.  An increase in gasoline demand and a drop in refinery output due to maintenance shut downs also encouraged traders to buy.

The U.S. dollar index fell to new 10 week lows as the euro gained ahead of an ECB meeting tomorrow that may raise interest rates or at least indicate future interest rate increases in Europe.  The euro rose to near 7 month highs.

Treasuries gained on comments from fed official Hoenig who stated that “we're very close to where we need to be” in terms of interest rates.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P started off higher on encouraging fed speak and decent company news before they dropped to find slight losses midday as oil rose, but the major indices then rallied into the close as the encouraging fed speak and decent company news appeared to win out over higher oil prices.  The Nasdaq made a new 5 year high and the S&P made a new 4 and ¾ year closing high.  The Dow is about 100 points away from a new 6 year high.

Among the big names making news in the market today were GM, Ford, Vodafone and Verizon, Apple and Windows, Triton, Monsanto, and Goodyear.

“My Two Ounces”

I find it quite comical to read over some of the forecasts for metal prices by some of the major financial institutions.  Here is an excerpt from one released today by Credit Suisse: “Gagliano expects gold prices to climb as well, and he shifted his 2006 price assumption for the metal up to $570 per ounce from an earlier estimate of $469 and boosted his 2007 per-ounce estimate to $550 from $430.”  I believe Citigroup recently made a similar call as well.  Who are these guys?  Do they not realize that the current price of gold is higher than their forecast and that gold is clearly in a bull market so it will likely only move higher from here?  Perhaps the only thing more comical than trying to take these guys seriously is listening to the actors on CNBC who cite the upgrade in forecast as a valid reason for the positive move in gold and gold shares on the day.  And they say it with a straight face too!

What are your two ounces?  Access our forum here or send your comments by email to cm@goldseek.com

Gold & Silver Stock News Update from GoldReview.com:

IMA’s drill results from Navidad, Almaden’s drill results from Fuego, Orezone’s drill results from Bondi, Kimber’s drill results from Monterde, Freeport’s declared dividends, First Majestic’s announced acquisition of 63% of First Silver, and Yamana’s completed acquisition of Desert Sun were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.

WINNERS

LOSERS

All of today's gold and silver stock news:

First Majestic Announces Acquisition of 63% of First Silver - "FIRST MAJESTIC RESOURCE CORP. is pleased to announce that it has entered into an irrevocable Share Purchase Agreement to purchase approximately 63% of the issued and outstanding shares of First Silver Reserve Inc. from the major shareholder of FSR. The major shareholder has been integral in the success of FSR's San Martin Mine, which produced 2,100,000 ounces of silver in 2005." More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Consolidated Gold Win Ventures Inc. - News release - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

DUMONT and CLIFTON launch joint drill program at Cane Springs, Utah - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Golden Goose Resources Inc.: Signature of a MOU for the Acquisition of Mining Licences in Mongolia - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Phoenix Matachewan Mines Inc.: New Issue - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Declares Quarterly Cash Dividends on Common and Preferred Stocks: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance - "Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. today declares the following quarterly cash dividends payable on May 1, 2006 to holders of record as of April 17, 2006: $0.3125 per share of FCX's Common Stock." More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Global Gold Corporation Closes $13 Million Private Placement - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Almaden Minerals Ltd. and Horseshoe Gold Mining Inc.: Results of Drilling Program and of Soil Sampling and Mapping at the Fuego Gold-Silver Project, Mexico - "Further to the news release of January 12, 2006, Almaden Minerals Ltd. and Horseshoe Gold Mining Inc. are pleased to announce that the drilling program on the Fuego project which started in November 2005, and was reinitiated after a Christmas break in January 2006, has now concluded. In all 15 holes were completed for a total of 2,500 meters of drilling." More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Yamana Completes Acquisition of Desert Sun - "Yamana Gold Inc. and Desert Sun Mining Corp. today announced the completion of Yamana's previously announced acquisition of Desert Sun. Pursuant to the acquisition of Desert Sun, shareholders of Desert Sun will receive 0.6 of a Yamana common share for each Desert Sun common share upon submission of their Desert Sun shares together the requisite letter of transmittal." More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Inter-Citic Grants Options - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Gold Hawk Resources Inc.: Appointment of Vice President of Operations - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

NioGold Updates Activities in Malartic and initiates drilling on Camflo West - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Goldcliff Resource Corporation: York-Viking Zone Encounters More High-Grade Gold Mineralization - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Phase IV Drilling Update for IMA's Navidad - "IMA Exploration Inc. is pleased to announce results from 35 diamond drill holes at its Navidad Silver Project in Patagonia, Argentina, from the Phase IV drilling programs that commenced in January of 2006. Phase IV drilling to date has focused on further defining the Calcite NW and Calcite Hill deposits, as well as testing of several geological/geophysical targets away from the main mineralized trends." More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Aquiline Expands 2006 Drilling Program - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

SIRIOS: Highly Significant Results on KUKAMES, OPINACA-ELEONORE Area - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Palladon Appoints Chief Technical Officer and Technical Team - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Tao Minerals Begins Work Program at Golondrina Project - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Mega Uranium Ltd.: Hamlin Copper Deposit Expanded in Footwall Shebandowan Camp, Thunder Bay, Ontario - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Cabo Petro Division Wins Playfair Mining Limited Contract - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

HuntMountain Resources Acquires Options on Quebec Gold Properties - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Galantas Gold Corporation: Rich Extension '22.24 Grammes gold /tonne' to Kearney Vein - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Eloro Resources Intersects Significant Zinc-Silver Mineralization at the Hurdman Property - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Corriente Resources Inc. Shares to Begin Trading on AMEX Under the Symbol 'ETQ' on Thursday, April 6, 2006 - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Aurelian Intersects 237 Metres Averaging 4.14 g/t of Gold and 60 Metres Averaging 3.42 g/t in Initial Drill Program - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Romios Gold Resources Inc.: Airborne Magnetic Survey and Prospecting Link the 'NW', Ken, Jazzman and Boulder Zones at Newmont Lake Project - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Millstream Finds Preliminary Results From Koval Gold Property Encouraging - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Patricia Mining Corp. Announces Acquisition of Vencan Gold Corporation's Edwards Gold Property, Wawa, Ontario - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Franklin, COMIBOL Joint Venture Expanded to Include Processing Plant - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Tournigan Hires Senior Mining Executives - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Orezone Resources Inc.: Drilling at Bondi North Extension Intersects Higher Grade Lens - "Orezone Resources Inc. is pleased to announce the results of an infill drilling program on Zone 2N at the Company's 100 per cent owned Bondigui permit in southwest Burkina Faso, West Africa. To date, RC drilling on 25m by 50m centres has outlined a lens shaped, high grade shoot that is located within an extensive north-south trending zone of lower grade mineralization. Intersections include:" More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Kimber steps out at Carmen returning 24 metres of 4.05 g/t gold-equivalent - "Much of the drilling targeted the area northeast of the Carmen, Los Hilos and Cob structures moving out towards the Cocos structure. Step-out holes MTR-314, MTR-323 and MTR-324 all produced favorable results. The area between Cob and Cocos continues to produce gold and silver assays of interest that validate and expand the Carmen model. Drilling will continue in this area of the deposit. Results include 24 metres of 4.05 g/t gold-equivalent on MTR-314, 36 metres of 2.35 g/t gold-equivalent on MTR-323, a hole which ended in grade, and 74 metres of 1.69 g/t gold-equivalent on MTR-324." More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Pacific North West Capital Corp. - Geological Targets Provide New PGM Intersections - Phase 8 River Valley Drill Results - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

/C O R R E C T I O N From Source - Pelangio Mines Inc./ - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Mountain Lake Applauds Report on Bobby's Pond Zinc-Copper-Lead Deposit - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Tiomin Buys Back Pangea's NPI on its Kenyan Mineral Sands Properties - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Jinshan Begins Exploration in East Tianshan Mineral Belt, Xinjiang Province, China - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Pelangio's Block A yields 64.8 grams over 8 metres - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Alamos Gold Inc. Announces Incentive for Early Conversion of Debentures - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Nuinsco Considers Gold Production at Cameron Lake Deposit - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Wits Basin Updates Gold Assay Results - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Clifton and Dumont launch joint drill program at Cane Springs - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

GlobeStar: US$4.25 million debt with RMB closes - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Trade Winds Discovers 64.38 Grams/Tonne Gold Over 8.0 Metres at Detour Lake, Ontario - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Arimex trades on Frankfurt Exchange - More
- April 05, 2006 | Item | E-mail

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- Written by Chris Mullen

Winners & Losers tracks NYSE and AMEX listed stocks that trade over $1.

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