-- Posted 7 August, 2006 | Digg This Article

The Metals:

Gold rose to over $650 in Asia, fell back near unchanged in London, rose back above $650 by late morning New York trade before it again fell off into the close, but it still ended slightly higher on the day.  Silver traded in about a 10 cent range on either side of unchanged in Asia, London, and most of trade in New York, but it then fell off right at the close and ended 1.37% lower on the day.

Euro gold rose to about €505, platinum gained $7 to $1,245, palladium remained unchanged at $322, and copper fell slightly to just under $3.60 despite the start of a strike at Chile's Escondida copper mine, the world’s largest.

Gold and silver equities rose about 2% by early afternoon before they fell back off a bit, but they still ended around 1% higher on the day.

The Economy:

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings second quarter Productivity expected at 0.9%.  At 2:15PM is the FOMC policy statement which most predict will show a pause in interest rate hikes.

The Markets:

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

A BP oilfield problem in Alaska unexpectedly took about 400,000 barrels per day off of the market to add to the supply disruptions in Nigeria and Iraq.  Escalating violence in the Middle East also helped oil to gain more than $2 on the day.

The U.S. dollar index rose a bit, treasuries fell slightly, and the yield on the 10-year rebounded from 4 month lows ahead of tomorrow’s FOMC policy statement and ahead of this week’s debt auctions.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell on worries over oil, but any losses were limited ahead of tomorrow’s rate decision.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Apple, Martha Stewart, Forbes, AG Edwards, Morgan Stanley, Northwest Airlines, Teledyne and CollaborX, Occidental Petroleum and Plains Exploration, CommScope and Andrew, Amerisource and Kindred, BP, Toyota, and KKR.

The Commentary:

“What a week for gold and silver and what a week for the increasingly pathetic Gold Cartel. What strikes me the most is how the new Gestapo chief at the US Treasury, Herr Hank Paulson, is so blatant about his manipulation of the gold price. All subtleties since he took over have been thrown overboard. In years past The Gold Cartel would do its thing in conjunction with a rising dollar, etc., in attempt to mask their intervention. Not anymore. This arrogant fellow couldn’t care less about who sees what they are doing. Probably because he knows the cowardly wimps in the mainstream gold world won’t utter a peep.

Yesterday was beyond ludicrous. The news could not have been more bullish for gold, which was why it rocketed up $8 in the early going. That news was probably the reason for its violent trashing on Thursday ahead of today’s US economic news (gold was battered around $13 before closing $6 and change lower). The Gold Cartel is consistent in this oft-mentioned regard: the more bullish the reason for gold to move higher, the more the cabal smothers the price.” - From Saturday’s Midas report by Bill Murphy of LemetropoleCafe.com

“December Gold closed up 3.5 at 659.5. This was 2.5 up from the low and 4 off the high.

September Silver finished down 0.22 at 12.265, 0.225 off the high and 0.085 up from the low.

While the gold market failed to hold a large portion of the early morning gains it is difficult to make the action Monday a negative development. However, the Dollar managed to forge some moderate gains off its low of the day and that probably served to prompt some profit taking in the gold market. On the other hand, with reports of loud explosions inside Beirut, in the afternoon headlines, we suspect that Middle East tensions were worsening and with crude oil prices also showing gains at times in excess of $2.54 per barrel, it certainly seemed like flight to quality issues and financial uncertainty were every bit as prevalent in the gold market late Monday afternoon, as they were in the morning gold trade. With the Israeli and Lebanese forces ramping up their aggression into a perceived cease fire ahead, it is possible that the coming 24 hours will bring about a possible geopolitical crescendo.

Certainly the silver market was short term overbought from the aggressive action last week and that would seem to explain the sharp setback on Monday. In fact, many traders cited the curse of major headline coverage as the reason for the slide in silver. With the gold market also giving up early gains in the action Monday, it seems like the precious metals were up ended by the recovery in the Dollar or the sagging macro economic view. Some players even suggested that some silver longs were simply banking profits, rather than continue to hold long positions into the FOMC meeting. In fact, some players think that last week's gains factored in on-hold Fed and that those who remain long risk a surprise from the Fed.” - The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

Barrick's bid for NovaGold: Deal of the century?

NovaGold may be the next battlefield in the gold war

Peter Brimelow: Questions about gold market manipulation and missing M3 figures

Add them or chop them off at will: Zeroes are a central bank's best friend

Pipeline corrosion and spill close Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil field

James Turk: The dollar weakens further

Newmont president to address October CMRE meeting in New York

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 08/4/2006

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

 Note: Change in Total Tonnes from Friday’s report: The LSE subtracted 0.01 tonnes.

COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)

 Note: No change in Total Tonnes from Friday’s report.

Silver Trust (SLV)

 Note: No change in Total Tonnes from Friday’s report.

The Stocks:

Coeur d'Alene’s (CDE) court ruling, earning’s from Harmony (HMY), Randgold (GOLD), and Aurizon (AZK), Newmont’s (NEM) stake in Allstate, copper hedge, and settlement with Peruvian protestors, and Cardero’s (CDY) and AngloGold’s (AU) acquisition of shares in International Tower Hill Limited (ITH.V) 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:

Canyon Resources Corporation Schedules Release of 2nd Quarter Results and Conference Call - "Canyon Resources Corporation, a Colorado-based mining company, today announced that the Company will release financial results for its fiscal 2006 second quarter, ended June 30, 2006, on Wednesday, August 9, 2006. Senior management will hold an earnings call on Thursday, August 10 at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern)." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Gold & Silver Minerals, LLC Signs Joint Venture Agreement With Astrologer Mine Near Silver City, New Mexico - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Tornado Gold Acquires Option for 53 Additional Claims at Jack Creek Property in Elko County - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Enterayon Reports New Assays of 177 g/t of Gold at Horseshoe - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Oregon Resources Corp. Restructures Transaction for Acquisition of Industrial Property - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Northwater Resources, Inc. Announces Assay Results - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Harmony boosted by rocketing gold - "South African gold miner Harmony on Monday reported a 111.1 percent rise in cash operating profit to R645.2-million for the quarter ended June, thanks to the higher gold price. On the revenue side the gold price received for the June quarter improved from R110 399 per kilogram to R131 358/kg. This resulted in the cash operating margin improving from 15.9 percent to 28.5 percent. Gold production decreased by 1.3 percent to 17 243kg quarter on quarter, Harmony said." More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

U.S. Antimony Announces Completion of Mexican Antimony Smelter - More
- August 07, 2006 | Item | E-mail

Atlas Mining Company Updates on NanoClay and Technologies Inc. Collaborative Agreement - More
- August 07, 2006 |