-- Posted 7 August, 2008 | Digg This Article |

The Metals:

Gold rose over $10 to $884.95 in Asia, but it then fell back off in early New York trade and closed near its low of $869.30 with a loss of 0.43%.  Silver climbed over 20 cents higher to $16.673 by midday in London before it also fell back off in New York and closed near its low of $16.15 with a loss of 1.4%.

Euro gold rose to about €568, platinum lost $21 to $1578.50, and copper remained at about $3.46.

Gold and silver equities fell about 1% by early afternoon and remained near their lows into the close.

The Economy:

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST is second quarter Productivity expected at 2.5% and at 10AM is the Wholesale Inventories report for June expected at 0.6%.

The Markets:

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

Oil rose on supply disruption concerns as a one million barrel per day pipeline was attacked in Turkey and could remain closed for up to two weeks.

The U.S. dollar index rose as the euro fell after Trichet cited risks to growth in his comments following the ECB’s decision to hold rates at 4.25%.  A more inflationary tone was expected from the European Central Bank President and dollar bulls were cheered by his dovishness as it implies that the ECB will join the fed in its stance towards not raising interest rates anytime soon.  The Bank of England held rates at 5.0%.

Treasuries rose as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell nearly 2% on disappointing retail sales reports and the larger than expected jobless claims reading that was the highest level since March 2002.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Freddie Mac, Toyota, Wal-mart, Costco, AIG, Nestle, and Sara Lee.

The Commentary:

“August Gold finished down 4.9 at 870.7, equal to the high and equal to the low.

September Silver closed down 0.248 at 16.257. This was 0.092 up from the low and 0.378 off the high.

The gold bulls seemed to have a full head of flight to quality steam in the headlines from the overnight action but the strength in gold prices reversed quickly in the face of a persistent rise in the Dollar. In fact, the gold market actually managed a fresh new low for the move during the trade which saw crude oil gains that were at times $3.00 per barrel. Furthermore, given all the financial sector concerns generated by a fresh round of write-downs, the bull camp might have expected to get a wave of flight to quality of safe haven buying. Even in the face of slack US data, falling equity prices and supportive supply side information from South Africa, the gold market simply favored the downside.

The silver market forged a big range down move Thursday in the face of overt weakness in the gold market. Clearly an upside breakout in the US Dollar masked over the prospect of flight to quality buying in silver, which in turn was probably undermined by sagging physical demand expectations. With the Dollar rising and the economy slowing it is also possible that some silver traders are concerned that investment interest in silver will continue to soften.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

Thai gold shops fear pretend gold will suppress real gold

Peter Degraaf: August lows are upon gold and silver

Join GATA at the Silver Summit in Coeur d'Alene

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 8/06/2008

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: 76.88 tonnes were removed from the trust.

The Stocks:

Tanzanian Royalty’s (TRE) completed private placement, Newmont’s (NEM) fire, Paramount’s (PZG) completed private placement, and Western Goldfields (WGW) production 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 discovers 30 metre wide disseminated gold zone at Ngouaka, Roc Congo; begins Placer Gold mining test program - More
- August 07, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Searchlight Minerals Corp. provides update on Searchlight Gold Project - More
- August 07, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Dutton Associates Announces Investment Opinion: Midway Gold Upgraded To Strong Speculative Buy Rating In Update Coverage By Dutton Associates - More
- August 07, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Taranis Intersects 29% Combined Cu-Pb-Zn, 3.51 g/t Au and 697 g/t Ag Over 2.43 m True Thickness in Deeper Drilling of the Great Northern Zone at Thor Project - More
- August 07, 2008 | Item | E-mail

BacTech Closes First Tranche of Note Financing - More
- August 07, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Lysander Minerals Corporation: Board Changes - More
- August 07, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Goldeye Completes Option Requirements to Acquire Balance of Sonia-Puma Property in Chile With TSX Venture Approval - More
- August 07, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Radius Announces Initial Results From Trebol Drilling - More
- August 07, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Expo Ungava Property Development Update - More
- August 07, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Merrex Resignation of Director - More
- August 07