Gold Seeker Weekly Wrap-Up: Gold and Silver Gain Over 3% and 5% on the Week

	Close	Gain/Loss	On Week
Gold	$926.15	+$22.05	+3.49%
Silver	$12.595	+$0.445	+5.40%
XAU	124.01	-1.18%	-1.53%
HUI	300.10	-0.58%	-1.29%
GDM	938.33	-0.71%	-0.82%
JSE Gold	2633.36	+102.35	+11.43%
USD	85.89	+0.55	+0.43%
Euro	127.93	-1.50	-1.46%
Yen	111.15	+0.15	-1.27%
Oil	$41.68	+$0.24	-10.31%
10-Year	2.844%	+0.029	+8.47%
Bond	126.703125	-0.4375	-2.24%
Dow	8000.86	-1.82%	-0.95%
Nasdaq	1476.42	-2.08%	-0.06%
S&P	825.88	-2.28%	-0.73%

Gold jumped over $15 to above $920 between 3 and 4AM EST before it dropped back near $910 a little after 10AM in New York, but it then climbed to a new session high of $929.40 in afternoon trade and ended near that high with an impressive gain of 2.44%. Silver followed a similar pattern and ended near its high of $12.66 with a gain of 3.66%.

Euro gold rose to about €722, platinum gained $17.50 to $983, and copper added a penny to about $1.46.

Gold and silver equities opened up over 2% higher before they dropped to see over 2% losses about an hour into trade and then rose to find slight gains by mid-afternoon, but they then fell back off in late trade as the major indices dropped to new lows and the miners ended with about 1% losses on the day.

Report	For	Reading	Expected	Previous
GDP	Q4	-3.8%	-5.5%	-0.5%
Chain Deflator	Q4	-0.1%	0.4%	3.9%
Chicago PMI	Jan	33.3	34.9	35.1
Michigan Sentiment	Jan	61.2	61.9	61.9
Employment Cost Index	Q4	0.5%	0.7%	0.7%

Next week’s economic highlights include Personal Income and Spending, Construction Spending, and the ISM Index on Monday, Pending Home Sales on Tuesday, ADP Employment and ISM Services on Wednesday, Initial Jobless Claims, Productivity, Unit Labor Costs, and Factory Orders on Thursday, and January’s jobs data and Consumer Credit on Friday.

The U.S. dollar index also rose on the better than expected GDP report that reinforced the recent belief that the US may not be as bad off as most of the rest of the world.

Treasuries seemed to redeem a bit of their historical safe haven status as they rose slightly at times while stocks fell, but bonds fell back off by the close on worries over the markets ability to absorb the massive amounts of supply due to come on to the market in order to fund various bailout/stimulus programs.

Among the big names making news in the market Friday were Exxon Mobil, Gannett, Procter & Gamble, Caterpillar, and Invesco.

Gold buying accelerated as Europe opened for trading in the overnight hours here in the States with the currency crisis the main factor propelling European based gold prices sharply higher. Paper is definitely OUT in Europe and metal is in. I suppose what is so revealing about this is that ii marks an abrupt reversal from a pattern that has been seen for most of the better part of the entire near-9 year bull market in gold. Asian buying would take the metal higher whereupon the return of Europe based traders to their desks, it would be summarily derailed around the 2:00 AM CST period. What is happening now is that the price is accelerating higher near or about this hour. It has become obvious that a sea-change in sentiment towards the yellow metal has occurred in Europe and particularly in Britain. With no where to put money for a safe haven as bonds become suspect, gold is seeing significant hedge fund activity which is beating back the incessant selling by the bullion banks. That buying drove Gold priced in Euro terms to another brand new, all-time high for the London PM Fix at €715.620. Euro gold has taken out €700, quite a significant feat! So much for the deflationists’ arguments…

Once trade moved into New York, the bullion banks resurfaced in force and attempt to stem the tide. Today they initially showed their hand near and above the $920 level. Their footprint is more than obvious for those who can read price charts. However, in what must have been quite a stunner to these bullies of the sand box, they were beaten back out of their castle as the bulls pushed right through their picket lines. They have been feverishly attempting to stem the rise near $920 as failure means the highs made back in September-October last year around the $940 level would then be in play. If those give way, $1000 is a given and they know it.

The fly in the gold ointment however is once again, the mining shares which were whacked well off their session highs in a near perfect copy of Monday’s performance. The battle for 310 in the HUI and 127 in the XAU is quite fierce as the trapped shorts seem to be literally mounting a life or death defense of those levels. So far the bulls simply cannot dislodge them from their lairs but the day is not done yet and the longs are also showing some mettle for a change as they push the indices back up off the session lows. A strong closing breach of those levels, especially coming at the end of the week and thus painting a very strong showing on the weekly price charts, is something that the shorts are desperately trying to prevent. They know that a technical breakout will bring even more money into the gold shares which will overwhelm them and that is the reason we are seeing such fierce opposition coming in near those levels. I am sure that they are quite concerned about the reported record inflows in the largest gold ETF – GLD. That is why observing this kind of fierce and determined selling in the face of what is evidently a significant move into all things gold is so noteworthy. Just who sells like this and does so in such huge size when the path of least resistance is up?

Technically gold has CONFIRMED yesterday’s bounce off of the top of the triangular consolidation formation – the downsloping trendline which it broke out above earlier this week and then came back down and touched before ricocheting sharply upward off of that same line. The price action in this market is textbook and its behavior is more like I have come to observe in a normal, freely-traded market, bullion bank capping efforts notwithstanding. The fact that it has been performing so well-behaved tells me that serious buying has come into this market, buying which makes itself known on any price dips. Simply put – the safe haven flow into bonds has completely dried up and gold has now become the go-to vehicle. (I will show this on the Gold/Bond ratio chart which I will send up later this afternoon or evening). If the funds will stick to their guns, there is no reason that they cannot dislodge the bullion banks out of their defensive lines since the fundamentals are on the side of the longs. Keep in mind that the gold universe is still rather small in size and that it does not take all that much money to push it around.”- Dan Norcini, More at JSMineset.com

“April Gold closed up 21.9 at 928.4. This was 12.4 up from the low and 2.4 off the high.

March Silver finished up 0.42 at 12.565, 0.015 off the high and 0.175 up from the low.

The gold market continued to rise in the face of strength in the Dollar on Friday. As suggested in the mid day coverage today even the US President admits that conditions in the US are severe and with the "Bad Bank" plans seemingly calling for backing of up to $1 trillion the flight to quality argument clearly remains in the forefront of market psychology. Some players in the gold market even suggested that the not as bad as expected US GDP reading was another reason to buy gold and that highlights the bulls capacity to spin most of the data flow into a positive. Some traders even suggested that the fear of labor problems and subsequent strikes at US and UK refineries were serving to lift energy prices and that in turn could also be another anxiety issue that serves to push buyers toward gold.

The silver market remains in a tight flight to quality track with the gold market. As suggested in the gold coverage ongoing strength in the Dollar and somewhat better than expected US economic readings didn't seem to have much of a limiting force on silver prices during the trade today. While the silver market could have been initially undermined by the weakness in copper early in the trading session today, as the session progressed even the copper and platinum markets managed to climb back into positive ground and that highlights general favor toward all the metals markets.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: SPDR added 10.71 tonnes to a new record high holding and the LSE added 0.36 tonnes.

International Royalty’s (ROY) royalty update, Eldorado’s (EGO) positive court decision, Tanzanian Royalty’s (TRE) assay results, Lihir Gold’s (LIHR) resumed operations, Kinross Gold’s (KGC) Ecuadorian Mining Law update, Linear Gold’s (LRR.TO) decision not to match B2-Gold’s (BTO.TO) offer for Central Sun (SMC), and Fortuna’s (FVI.V) director resignation were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines Friday.

Winners & Losers tracks NYSE and AMEX listed gold and silver mining stocks that trade over $1.

Linear Gold Advises Central Sun That it Will Not Match B2-Gold's Proposal - "We are disappointed that Central Sun's Board of Directors is recommending an alternative bid. Nevertheless, Linear has demonstrated its financial discipline over the years and will not be drawn into a bidding war. We remain committed to pursuing acquisition and growth opportunities in the best interests of our shareholders." More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

International Royalty update: Voisey's Bay resolution and resumption of shipments - "International Royalty Corporation (TSX: IRC, NYSE-A: ROY) ("IRC") reports on developments affecting operations at the Voisey's Bay mine. IRC owns an effective 2.7% NSR royalty on the Voisey's Bay mine." More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Ghana gold output rises 4 pct in 2008 - "Ghana's gold output rose 4 percent to 2.6 million ounces in 2008, and higher prices pushed overall mining revenues to $2.3 billion, up 28 percent on 2007, Ghana Chamber of Mines data showed on Friday." More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Tiger Resources Issues December 2008 Quarterly Report - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Serengeti Extends Exercise Term of Warrants - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Tournigan Cuts Costs, Opens Denver Office, Appoints CFO, Corporate Secretary - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Amerigo Announces Q4 2008 Production Results - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Fortuna Announces Resignation of Director - "Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (CDNX:FVI.V - News)(BVLAC: FVI) announces that it has accepted the resignation of Arden "Buck" Morrow as a Director of the Company. Mr. Morrow is President, CEO and Director of Northland Resources Inc. and has been a director of Fortuna since 2006. He leaves the Board of Fortuna to concentrate his efforts on the development of Northland." More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Colombia Goldfields Ltd. Announces TSX Review of Continued Listing - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Orex Reports More Positive Gold Assays, Including 46.46 g/t Over 10.5m, and Extends Gold Corridor 575m at Goldboro - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Rockgate Capital Corp. and Delta Exploration Inc. Complete Plan of Arrangement - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Afri-Can Closes a Private Placement - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Zaruma Resources reports TSX reviewing Listing - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Cash Minerals Announces Acquisition of the Agnew Lake Property - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Olympus Hands Over Clean Water Project - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Azimut's partner Goldcorp to drill at Wabamisk, James Bay region - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Northern Gold Mining Inc. Announces Rights Offering - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Bannerman Resources Releases December Quarter Report on Corporate and Exploration Activity - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Andean Resources Limited: Quarterly Report for the Quarter Ended 31st December 2008 - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Rossing South - Zone 2 and Ida Dome Recent significant chemical assays - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Centamin Egypt Reports on Activities in the Quarter Ended December 31, 2008 - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Fusion Resources Limited - Quarterly report to the Australian Securities Exchange for the period ending 31 December 2008 - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Intrepid Reports Operating Activities for the Quarter Ended 31 December 2008 - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

ROCA Reports First Quarter Results - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Mineral Deposits Limited: Quarterly Report for the Period Ended 31 December 2008 - More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Eldorado Gold Corporation: Efemcukuru Receives Positive High Court Decision - "Eldorado Gold Corporation ("Eldorado" the "Company" or "we") (Toronto:ELD.TO - News)(AMEX:EGO - News) is pleased to announce that on, January 26, 2009 the Sixth Department of the High Administrative Court in Ankara, Turkey delivered a positive decision in the cases regarding the Company's Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA") certificate for the Efemcukuru project." More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Tanzanian Royalty Extends Gold Zones to Depth, Confirms Bulk Mining Potential in Surface Gravels - "Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corp (Toronto:TNX.TO - News) (AMEX:TRE - News), is pleased to report that it has received assay results from the multi-phase drill program completed late last year on its Kigosi Project in Tanzania. The program included 3,418 metres of diamond drilling, 5,974 meters of RC (Reverse Circulation) drilling and 7,688 meters of RAB (Rotary Air Blast) drilling." More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

LGL (Lihir Gold Limited): Lihir Island Operations Resumed - "Lihir Gold Ltd (Toronto:LGG.TO - News)(ASX:LGL.AX - News)(NasdaqGS:LIHR - News) ("LGL") announces that its Lihir Island operation has resumed full production following a resolution of a dispute between landowner representative groups." More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Kinross Provides Update on New Ecuadorian Mining Law - "Kinross Gold Corporation (Toronto:K.TO - News)(NYSE:KGC - News) is pleased to acknowledge that on January 29, 2009 the new Ecuadorian Mining Law was published in the Ecuadorian government's official registry and has now taken effect." More
- January 30, 2009 | Item | E-mail

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