-- Posted 13 November, 2008 | Digg This Article |

The Metals:

Gold fell $10.05 to $708.40 in after hours access trade late yesterday before it climbed back higher in Asia and London and rose to as high as $721 by about 10:30AM EST in New York, but it then fell back off into the close and ended near its low of $699.55 with a loss of 1.55%.  At the time of writing in after hours access trade gold has more than erased today’s loss and has even climbed past its earlier high by setting a new high of $739.67.

Silver fell to $0.245 to $9.24 in after hours access trade late yesterday before it climbed back higher in Asia and London and rose to as high as $9.46 by about 8:30AM EST in New York, but it also fell back off into the close and ended near its low of $8.78 with a loss of 6.59%.  Silver has also erased more than today’s loss in after hours access trade and has climbed to as high as $9.515 at the time of writing.

Euro gold fell to about €566, platinum lost $12.50 to $807, and copper fell a few cents to about $1.62.

Gold and silver equities rose over 3% about an hour into trade and fell over 3% by early afternoon, but they then rallied back higher into the close and ended with over 12% gains.

The Economy:

Jobless Claims climbed to the highest in 7 years and the budget deficit was the largest on record.

The House Oversight Committee hosted a hearing today on hedge funds and the financial markets in which several hedge fund managers who made over $1 billion last year testified about their role in and thoughts about recent events in the markets.

“President George W. Bush asserted Thursday that the global financial crisis is "not a failure of the free market" and urged world leaders to adopt modest financial reforms that stop short of the tighter regulations Europeans favor.”

Soros, Falcone Defend Hedge-Fund Industry as House Panel Weighs Regulation   Bloomberg

Soros says deep recession inevitable, depression possible  Yahoo

Obama Pushing for $50 Billion Automaker Rescue, Czar to Oversee Companies  Bloomberg

Bernanke Must Reveal Who Got $2 Trillion Loans, Investors, Congressmen Say   Bloomberg

Foreclosure Filings Surged 25% in October as Prices Slid, Economy Weakened   Bloomberg

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings Import and Export Prices for October and Retail Sales for October expected at -2.1%.  At 10AM is The Business Inventories report for September expected at -0.1% and Michigan Sentiment for November expected at 57.0.

The Markets:

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

Oil fell as inventory reports showed a larger than expected build in gasoline supplies and confirmed the continued drop off in demand, but it then rallied back higher in late trade and ended with a decent gain on optimism over rebounding conditions heading forward.

The U.S. dollar index fell as worries eased over the health of the financial markets and urged traders to put money to work.

Treasuries fell as stocks reversed early losses and ended markedly higher.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P traded lower for most of the day on further economic worries and more disappointing company reports and the Dow was down over 300 points at one point, but all three indices soared higher in the last couple of hours of trade and ended with over 6% gains after President Bush delivered a passionate speech about free markets as he prepares for the G20 meeting that starts tomorrow.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Las Vegas Sands, JPMorgan, GM, Intel, and Wal-Mart.

The Commentary:

“December Gold closed down 13.3 at 705. This was 6 up from the low and 20 off the high.

December Silver finished down 0.68 at 8.8, 0.51 off the high and 0.01 up from the low.

The gold market continued to see a tight positive correlation with the US equity market. With the stock market under pressure again it was clear that deflationary selling interest surfaced in the gold market again. In fact, while the Dollar was periodically lower early in the trading session the direction of the stock market seemed to be more important to the gold trade. As mentioned in the mid day coverage more evidence of slowing in the regularly scheduled US economic data seemed to turn up the selling pressure on gold and that isn't that surprising considering the ever lengthening expected duration of recessionary conditions.

With the outlook for the US economy apparently deteriorating further in the wake of ongoing gains in initial and ongoing claims it wasn't that surprising to see the December silver contract fall to the lowest level since October 28th. In fact, as long as the equity markets are pointing to significant financial and economic uncertainty ahead it would seem like a host of physical commodity markets are going to be viewed as vulnerable to more price declines.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

GATA Posts:

Gold mining mergers on hold until share prices stabilize

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Abandon all hope once you enter deflation

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 11/12/2008

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

 Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: SPDR subtracted 0.27 tonnes and the JSE added 0.37 tonnes.

COMEX Gold Trust (IAU)

 Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: 0.62 tonnes were removed from the trust.

Silver Trust (SLV)

 Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.

The Stocks:

A free, new stock report by Peter Zihlmann on Seabridge Gold, Agnico-Eagle’s (AEM) spending cut on exploration, Allied Nevada’s (ANV) third quarter results, AngloGold’s (AU) cash costs, Pan American’s (PAAS) third quarter results, and Avino’s (ASM.V) optioned property 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:

La Mancha Announces its Third Quarter Results - More
- November 13, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Tanqueray Resources Ltd. - Appointment of new Director - More
- November 13, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Shutdown looms at Cameco's Port Hope plant - union - More
- November 13, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Zaruma Resources reports on Third Quarter 2008 - More
- November 13, 2008 | Item | E-mail

SIRIOS RESOURCES INC.: $550,000 Debenture and Loan Financing from SIDEX, Limited Partnership - More
- November 13, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Latin American Minerals Inc. Acquires Lithium Project in Argentina Following Positive Initial Sampling Program - More
- November 13, 2008 | Item | E-mail

Inter-Citic Minerals Inc. Approves Increase to Authorized Capital - More
- November 13, 2008 | Item | E-mail