Gold rose up near $690 in Asia before it fell off in London to come into New York near unchanged.  It then quickly dropped $20 to $660, briefly bounced to $665, and then fell near $650 before it rebounded into the close, but it still ended with a 3.47% loss on the day.  Silver rose to around $12.75 in Asia before it also fell off in London and came into New York near unchanged.  It then dropped to about $12.10 and traded in a range of about $12.10 to $12.45 before it closed near the top of that range to end with a loss of just 1.04%.

Gold and silver equities dropped throughout morning trade to find about 5% losses by noon EST, rallied in early afternoon trade to near unchanged on the day, fell back off to find about 2% losses, and then rallied into the close to end with losses of less than 1%.

Euro gold fell near €515, platinum gained $3 to $1,298, palladium lost $19 to $346, and copper dropped over 20 cents to about $3.40.

From Julian D.W. Phillips of www.goldforecaster.com:

"The $70 dollar fall looks frightening, particularly because of the two phase fall.   It is healthy that it happened, so as to bring out the bulls and the bears in full cry.   Where the market resolves itself now is critical!   However a look at the fundamentals today shows no vital issues that have changed the gold picture.   The market needed a confident base from which to buy.   $730 was not that base, yet!   But you can be sure the market is a lot happier here than there?   Now it’s an interesting market."

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

“Watching the shares fall apart is frustrating for all of us. You can thank many of the gold pundits for that. Most are all bearish. Our shares can’t go up if the so-called experts are telling their clients to get out all the time.

One thing for sure. There is less than NO FROTH in the gold market, contrary to some of the pontifications out there. It is the opposite. Pessimism is at a negative extreme.

This is time to heed what the famed Jesse Livermore said: He made most of his money by staying the course, rather than by thinking. This is very likely to be one of those times.”

The U.S. dollar index found decent gains on interest rate speculation as “Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui indicated that the central bank would not rush to raise Japan's near-zero interest rates.”  The possibility that the fed may need to continue to raise interest rates in the U.S. to combat inflation also supported the dollar.

Oil fell on easing geopolitical concerns over Iran and on word from OPEC that they will likely not cut production soon.

Treasuries, the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P remained near unchanged, but they were able to close with slight gains as most digested this week’s events and contemplated whether or not the fed will continue to raise interest rates.

Among the big names making news in the market Friday were MasterCard, Vitesse Semiconductor, American Tower, SafeNet, Microsoft, Anheuser-Busch and Rolling Rock, Mittal and Arcelor, Calpine, Dell and Advanced Micro Devices and Intel, Albertson’s, AnnTaylor, and British Airways.

GATA Posts:

Jason Hommel: Don't worry about corrections in price

Gold & Silver Stock News Update from GoldReview.com:

Almaden’s (AAU) expiration of accelerated warrant exercise date, Gammon Lake’s (GRS) completed $40-million credit facility increase, Cambior’s (CBJ) Rosebel workers returning back to work, Gold Fields’ (GFI) increased stake in Western Areas (WARJ.J), and Endeavour’s (EDR.TO) warrant listing were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines Friday.

WINNERS

LOSERS

All of Friday's gold and silver stock news:

Almaden Minerals Ltd.: Expiration of Accelerated Warrant Exercise Date-Warrants Fully Exercised - "In accordance with the provisions of the warrants (other than Brokers' warrants) issued as part of the private placement of Units of the Company which closed on November 16, 2005 notice was duly given to Warrant holders that, by reason of the closing price of the Common Shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange being higher than $ 2.75 per share over 20 consecutive trading day period at any time after four months and one day after November 16, 2005, the time for expiry date of the Warrants was accelerated." More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

UC Resources Ltd. Acquires 44,830 Hectares to Copalquin Mining District and Acquires Drilling Equipment for Ongoing Exploration - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Endeavour to List 2,555,000 Warrants on May 23 - "The warrants were issued in connection with a private placement of 5.11 million special warrants. The details of the closing of the private placement were contained in a news release dated April 25, 2006. Each special warrant was deemed exercised into one common share and one-half of a warrant upon the issuance of a MRRS decision document with respect to a short form prospectus dated May 15, 2006, qualifying the common shares and warrants underlying the special warrants. Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one additional common share of the company at a price of $5.25 per share until October 24, 2007." More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Cigma Metals Corporation Announces Completion of Regulatory Review of Its Previously Announced Two for One Forward Stock Split - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Terex Closes Private Placement Over-Subscribed - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Gold Summit Retains Contact Financial for Investor Relations Services - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Sage options Lincoln gold property in Beardmore, Ontario historical high grade gold channel samples - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

PGM Ventures Corporation-Press Release - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Coral Gold Resources Ltd.: Agnico-Eagle Commences Drilling - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

ECU Silver Mining Inc.-Financial Results For The Period Ending March 31st, 2006 - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Gammon Lake Resources Announces Completion of US $40-Million Credit Facility Increase with Scotia Capital and Societe Generale - "The Company had contemplated issuing an equity offering to finance the Project, however Scotia Capital and Societe Generale have committed to the same interest rates as the original US $60-million facility. We feel that this is in the best interest of our shareholders. This facility is more than sufficient for the full completion of the Ocampo Project, and releases the Company from any need to issue equity for further funding," commented Fred George, Chairman and President of Gammon Lake. "We are pleased to be working with Scotia Capital and Societe Generale." More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Moto Goldmines Limited: Significant Results Confirm Potential for Extension of Resources at Chauffeur/Durba - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Sea Green Capital Corp. Completes Financing - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Cambior: Rosebel's Workers Have Ceased their Illegal Work Stoppage - "Cambior reports that the Rosebel Goldmines Werknemers Organisatie (RGWO) is now associated to Moederbond, a recognized union federation in Suriname. An agreement was reached last evening between Rosebel Gold Mines N.V. and the union representatives to cease the work stoppage and promptly resume regular operations. Employees have progressively started to return to work and management expects the mine to be back to its full production capacity within the next 48 hours." More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Great West Gold, Inc. Corporate Update - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Franklin Releases Additional Data on Joint Venture's San Miguel Vein, Cerro Rico de Potosi - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Sage options Jacobus copper-nickel property, Beardmore, Ontario - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

AntOro Acquires a Property in Casa Berardi, Quebec - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

MGM Mineral Resources Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire the "Manantiales" Property in the Province of Antioquia, Colombia - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Ghana gold diggers pose headache for mining firms - "Using chisels and spades, Alhassan Fuseini and his crew of 20 co-workers dig out $1,000 worth of gold a week from a muddy patch of ground in western Ghana. But the land is on a concession held by South African mining giant Gold Fields Ltd. and Fuseini and his colleagues are "galamsey" or illegal miners, some of the thousands who compete with large corporate miners to tap Ghana's gold riches." More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Eastmain Resources to Acquire Eastmain Gold Mine - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Rare Element Resources Hires European Investment Relations Firm - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Campbell Resources announces the sale of the Eastmain Mine property - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Unico, Inc. Announces Additional Improvements to Mill and Processing Facility at Deer Trail Mine - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Update on Continental-Great China Mining Transaction - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

China Gold Corp. Announces Shareholder Update - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Southwestern Resources and Anglo American Launch First Phase Drilling on the Antay Copper-Molybdenum Porphyry Project, Peru - More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Gold Fields ups stakes in battle for South Deep - "A battle for exposure to South Africa's massive South Deep gold deposit intensified on Friday as Gold Fields boosted its holding in a joint venture owner, two months after Harmony Gold bought a big stake. The news that Gold Fields increased its stake to 15.47 percent in Western Areas, which owns half of South Deep, sent Western Areas shares racing higher." More
- May 19, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Gold Fields Increases Stake in Western Areas to 15.47% - "Gold Fields Limited is pleased to announce that it has acquired an additional 18.27 million Western Areas Limited shares, at a price of R40-00 per share. This acquisition, completed on Wednesday, 18 May, 2006, brings Gold Fields' total stake in Western Areas to 23.27 million shares, or 15.47% of that Company's total issued share capital." More
- May 19, 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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