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Gold remained near unchanged in early Asian trade and rose near $705 by early London trade, but it then fell into the New York open and dropped to under $695 by midmorning New York trade.  Those losses were brief, however, as gold then rose throughout the rest of trade and ended near its highs of the session at a new 25 year high.  Silver followed a very similar pattern, but it was not able to rebound as much as gold and it ended over 1% lower on the day.  At the time of writing, both metals are trading nicely higher in after hours trade in reaction to the fed’s statement.

Euro gold made new all-time highs above €550, platinum gained $20 to $1,249 to new all-time highs, palladium lost $4 to $384 to fall from 4 year highs, and copper rose nearly 10 cents to new all-time highs above $3.70.

Gold and silver equities remained mixed and near unchanged throughout most of trade, but they did end near their highs of the session and slightly higher at new all-time highs.

From yesterday’s Midas report by Bill Murphy of LemetropoleCafe.com:

“What you are witnessing is a rare market phenomenon … a bunch of trapped bullies trying to get out of their massive gold short positions in a market which is in a steep supply/demand deficit to begin with. At the rate the bad guys are exiting the market, it might take them another TWO YEARS to eliminate their short positions. In a way I am kidding about that and yet in another way I am not. The Gold Cartel and other shorts still CANNOT cover those positions at these LOW prices and it will take a long time for them to bow out.

With all the GATA camp knows about what The Gold Cartel has done and what the gold market is all about, we don’t know exactly what amount of the short position must be covered with physical gold and how much can be paid back with cash. However, as mentioned before, the shorts must be at a point where they must cover price-wise in order to keep their losses from mounting. We are talking about some serious money here with gold moving like it is.”

From The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting:

“The gold market did manage another new high on the session but it was clear that the early trade was undecided on the near term trend. In the wake of the Fed decision to hike rates gold showed some minor weakness but in the end the market didn't really show significant concern off the Fed statement. We would have expected gold to get a little more positive reaction to the Fed's suggestions that Resource utilization is posing an inflation rise as that would seem to give the inflationary threat some credence. On the other hand, with the Fed also suggesting that oil prices are only having a modest impact on inflation there might have been some gold bulls that were disappointed. In the end, the Dollar remained down and that probably served to offset some of the undertow created by the mid afternoon equity market slide. Not seeing the Fed move and seeing the Fed hint at a pause in June would probably have been a major bullish development for gold as some would have seen that stance as a sign that the Fed was getting behind the inflation fighting curve.

The silver bulls have to be disappointed by the action in silver, which did manage to post a two sided trade at times, but in the end it seemed that the majority of the interest was focused on the downside. With copper extending its run off stories that China was planning to secure a host of strategic metals and stories of China potentially extending their gold reserves, the outside market impact on silver on Wednesday should have been more positive. It seems that the spec crowd remains concerned about the overbought technical condition, while other are simply unwilling to pay up for silver without a better economic look or more distinct leadership from gold.”

Oil remained near unchanged ahead of inventory reports that showed crude inventories built 300,000 barrels, gasoline inventories built 2.4 million barrels, and distillates built 200,000 barrels.  The builds, especially in gasoline, were better than expected, and energy prices soon dropped as a result.  Any losses were short-lived, however, as prices for oil, natural gas, and gasoline all moved up to find gains by early afternoon trade as traders looked further into the numbers and saw indications of rising demand.  The end result was oil closing about 2% higher on the day.

The U.S. dollar index fell to new 1 year lows ahead of the fed statement that eventually sent the index even lower on the day.

Treasuries found decent gains on hopes for fed indications of a rate pause, but they did cut those gains slightly after the fed’s statement.

The Dow traded mostly slightly higher and the Nasdaq and S&P traded mostly slightly lower on various company news.  The fed statement initially sent the indices lower before a brief rebound, but all three indices fell back off to end mixed and about where they were before the statement.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Baidu.com, Hartford Financial, Whirlpool and Maytag, Airbus, Hollinger International, Toyota, Yahoo and Telemundo, Legg Mason, Federated, and Interpublic.

GATA Posts:

China plans to build strategic reserves of key minerals, along with oil

The Klondike gold rush may be on again

Gold market acts 'like someone big is trying to get in'

Jay Taylor tells a TV audience what's really happening with gold

Loonie only 9 cents away from parity with U.S. dollar

Ted Butler's best yet: Buffett loses his silver

Yikes! China urged to quadruple gold reserves

Gold rally similar yet 'more orderly' than in 1980

Gold & Silver Stock News Update from GoldReview.com:

Apex Silver’s (SIL) first quarter results, Queenstake’s (QEE) first quarter results, North American Palladium’s (PAL) first quarter results, Fronteer’s (FRG) $38.4 million bought deal financing, Orezone’s (OZN) drill results, U.S. Energy’s (USEG) new joint venture projects, Nevsun’s (NSU) C$10 million private placement, Western Areas (WARJ.J) share issue after a mine incident, Banro’s (BAA) drill results, Endeavour’s (EDR.TO) new director, and Minco Silver’s (MSV.TO) drill results 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:

Taseko to Release Q2 Results on May 11, 2006 - "Taseko Mines Limited will release its second quarter results before the market open on Thursday, May 11, 2006 and will host a telephone conference call that same day at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time (11:00 a.m. Pacific) to discuss these results." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Melkior Appoints IR Firm and Special Advisor - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Fronteer Announces $38.4 Million Bought Deal Financing - "Fronteer Development Group Inc. is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters pursuant to which the Underwriters have agreed to purchase 6,000,000 common shares on a "bought deal" basis, at a price of $6.40 per common share for aggregate gross proceeds of $38,400,000." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Nautilus Minerals Inc.: Deep Sea Copper-Gold Explorer Now Trading - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

VME announces further increase in non-brokered private placement to $2.5 million - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

CORRECTION/Richmont Mines Inc Announces Bought Deal of Common Shares - "Richmont Mines Inc. has today entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters under which the underwriters have agreed to buy 3,100,000 Common Shares from Richmont Mines at a price of CDN$4.90 per Share representing aggregate gross proceeds of approximately CDN$15.2 million subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions. Closing is expected to be on or before May 30, 2006." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Molycor Acquiring Nevada Patents and Reviews Silver Properties - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

MGM Mineral Resources Announces a Corporate and Shareholder Update - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

King's Bay Gold Commences Drilling Program at 'North Rock' Area Property - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Searchgold Updates on the Kimberlitic Diamond Aspect of its Gunean Partnership - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Goldbelt purchases plant for its Inata project - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Alturas Minerals Announces the Passing of Dr. Bruce Nisbet, Director - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Great Western Minerals Group Ltd.: Walter Benecki Nominated Director - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Mediterranean Resources expands project properties in Turkey - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Triumph Announces New President and CEO - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

American Bonanza Develops New Copperstone Exploration Model and Drilling Targets - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Endeavour Appoints New Director - "Mr. Handley was most recently Executive Vice-President, Strategic Development for Placer Dome Inc., where he was responsible for global exploration, acquisitions and strategic planning. Geoff brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Endeavour having worked in the mining industry for over 30 years." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Northern Lion Awarded Portuguese Exploration License - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Orezone Resources Inc.: Sega Project Drilling Update, Tiba 4 Zone Intersects 39m at 2.3g/t - "Orezone Resources Inc. is pleased to announce RC drill results from an ongoing drilling program designed to increase resources on the 100% owned Sega project in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Orezone continues to infill and upgrade the RZ, Bakou and Gambo as well as the new Tiba 4 and Tiba 5 zones. Recent highlights of RC drilling at Bakou returned from hole BKC857, 21m at 3.8 g/t Au; RC drilling at RZ returned from hole RZC870, 16m @3.0g/t Au and RC drilling at Tiba 4 returned 39m at 2.3 g/t Au from hole TBC806." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Media Advisory - Dynatec Corporation: First Quarter 2006 Results and Conference Call - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Federico Villasenor Joins the Board of Directors of Normabec - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

SEMAFO: Conference Call Notification - Q1-2006 Financial Results - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Romios to Resume Drilling on its Scossa Gold Property, Nevada - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Phoenix Matachewan Mines Inc.: 1100 Kilometre Airborne Geophysical Survey at Steel River Project - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Franklin Mining, Inc.'s Financial Audit Is Complete - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Campbell Resources announces an increase in the brokered private placement and its first quarter results for 2006 - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Golden Odyssey Announces the Commencement of 2006 Exploration Activities - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Romarco Starts Drilling at Cori Puncho - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

U.S. Energy Corp. / Crested Corp. and Uranium Power Corp. Announce New Joint Venture Projects - "U.S. Energy Corp. and Crested Corp. are pleased to announce the addition of two new projects to the joint venture with Uranium Power Corp., the Green River North and the Green River South projects. Both projects are located in Emery County, Utah. USEG and Crested will hold a 50% interest, and UPC will hold a 50% interest in the projects in accordance with their Mining Joint Venture agreement." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Tiberon Reports Q1 2006 Financial and Operating Results - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

GoldSpring Announces First Quarter Net Profit From Operations; Gold Production Expected to Increase Three Fold by the Third Quarter of 2006 - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Golden Eagle Appoints Experienced Mining Professional to Board of Directors - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Minco Silver Releases Excellent Drilling Results and Expands the Drilling Program on the Fuwan Silver Project - "Minco Silver Corporation is pleased to announce that the company has completed a 9-hole (2,700 meters) drilling program on its Fuwan Silver Project located in Guangdong, China. Based on the outstanding results generated so far, the Company decides to expand the drilling program by adding two more drills on the project. Currently, there are five drills on the property." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Manicouagan Minerals acquires airborne survey identifying geophysical anomalies coincident with main copper/nickel showing at Mouchalagane - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Cascadero Copper Corporation: Permits Submitted For Two Drill Programs In The Toodoggone - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Golden Tag Resources Ltd: Update on Exploration, San Diego JV Project, Mexico - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Aquila Drilling Back Forty VMS Project - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Pelangio advised by Trade Winds of 8.31 grams over 9.0 metres at Detour Lake Block A - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

North American Palladium Ltd. Announces First Quarter 2006 Financial Results - "The Company realized a net loss for the three months ended March 31, 2006 of $4,141,000 ($0.08 per share) on revenues of $31,492,000, a reduction from the net loss for the corresponding quarter of 2005 of $7,736,000 ($0.15 per share) on revenues of $26,206,000 and the fourth quarter's net loss of $11,037,000 ($0.21 per share). The improvement in financial performance is chiefly a result of increased revenue realized from higher average prices for palladium and all by-product metals during the quarter." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Lake Shore Gold Corp.: Shareholders Approve Rights Plan at AGM - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Beartooth Platinum Awards Progressive Drilling Company the 2006 Contract for Their Stillwater Complex Exploration Program - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

AXMIN Inc.: Pre-Feasibility Study Identifies 200,000 Ounces Annual Production for Passendro Gold Project, Central African Republic - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Twin Mining's Atlanta Gold Corporation Has Revised Supplemental Plan For Proposed Gold And Silver Mine Accepted By Boise National Forest - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Ascendant Copper Expands Its Junin Project, Ecuador - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Stellar's 2006 exploration program and drilling to resume on Vassan - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Consolidated Gold Win Ventures Inc.: Caustic Fusion Started-Mudlake Kimberlite NWT - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Lateegra Gold Acquires High Grade Silver-Copper-Gold Property in Mexico - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Trade Winds Reports 8.31 Grams Over 9.0 Metres at Detour Lake, Ontario - More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Nevsun Announces CDN$10 Million Private Placement - "Nevsun Resources Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has agreed to sell to an investor by way of a non-brokered private placement 2,500,000 common shares at a price of $4.00 per share. The proceeds from the private placement will be used for working capital." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Western Areas to issue shares after mine accident - "South African gold producer Western Areas said it would issue shares to bolster cash following an accident that would slash output by half for up to a year at its joint venture South Deep mine. Its shares tumbled as analysts said the company would be hard hit, especially since it may not be able to meet hedging commitments -- gold sold in advance at fixed prices." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Banro intersects gold mineralization from its drilling at Twangiza - "Banro Corporation is pleased to announce initial drilling results from the Company's current core drilling program at its wholly-owned Twangiza project, located on the Twangiza-Namoya gold belt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Queenstake's First Quarter Results - "Queenstake Resources Ltd. reported gold production of 29,873 ounces of gold at cash operating costs of $558 per ounce from its Jerritt Canyon operations in northeastern Nevada in the first quarter of 2006. The higher than expected cash operating costs per ounce were due principally to lower than expected gold production caused by mechanical issues at the mill." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Apex Silver Reports on First Quarter 2006 Results - "Apex Silver Mines Limited today reported a net loss of $60.6 million or $1.18 per share for the first quarter 2006 compared to a net loss of $4.9 million or $0.10 per share for the same 2005 period. The loss in the first 2006 quarter is mainly due to a $59.0-million mark-to-market charge (of which approximately $56 million is non-cash) primarily related to the previously-announced hedge position put in place by the company in connection with $225-million project financing for its 100%-owned San Cristobal open-pit silver-zinc-lead project located in southwestern Bolivia." More
- May 10, 2006 | Item | E-mail

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- Written by Chris Mullen

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