Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Gain Over 1% While Stocks Fall

	Close	Gain/Loss
Gold	$901.00	+$10.40
Silver	$12.45	+$0.15
XAU	123.44	+3.00%
HUI	296.16	+2.03%
GDM	934.58	+2.49%
JSE Gold	2518.63	-75.41
USD	85.65	+0.77
Euro	128.31	-2.07
Yen	111.80	+0.04
Oil	$40.32	-$0.46
10-Year	2.914%	+0.072
T-Bond	126.640625	-0.328125
Dow	7956.66	-1.51%
Nasdaq	1515.05	-0.08%
S&P	832.23	-0.75%

Gold climbed to as high as $909.05 by about 10AM EST in New York before it fell nearly 1% from that high in the last few hours of trade, but it still ended with a gain of 1.17%. Silver rose to as high as $12.605 before it also retraced a bit, but it still ended with a gain of 1.22%.

Euro gold rose to about €700, platinum gained $6 to $962, and copper rose slightly to about $1.53.

Gold and silver equities rose over 3% at the open before they fell back off to near unchanged around 2PM EST, but they then rallied back higher into the close and ended with over 2% gains on the day.

Report	For	Reading	Expected	Previous
ADP Employment Change	Jan	-522K	-535K	-650K
ISM Services	Jan	42.9	39.0	40.1

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings Initial Jobless Claims for 1/31 expected at 580,000, fourth quarter Productivity expected at 1.5%, and fourth quarter Unit Labor Costs expected at 2.8%. At 10AM is the Factory orders report for December expected at -3.1%.

Oil fell slightly on more inventory builds while OPEC reiterated intentions for more supply cuts. “Crude inventories rose for a sixth straight week to 346.1 million barrels last week, the highest level since July 2007, the Energy Information Administration reported.”

The U.S. dollar index rose on better than expected US economic data and the Fitch downgrade of Russia's foreign and local currency issuer default ratings that sent the ruble and euro lower.

Treasuries fell on continued worries over the ability to fund the massive amounts of supply due to come on the market to be able to fund bailout programs and other measures aimed at stimulating the economy.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose in morning trade as economic data came in better than expected and raised hopes over a possible economic recovery, but all three indices turned markedly lower in afternoon trade and ended with about 1% losses on worries over the banks and poor earnings reports.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Time Warner, Kraft Foods, Sara Lee, Panasonic, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Fidelity.

Yesterday the Euro was in – today the Euro is out. Yesterday the Swiss Franc was in – today the Swiss Franc is out. Yesterday the Dollar was out – today the Dollar is in.

I am going to make a suggestion to the regulators since we have now apparently reached the point where the Federal Government gets to now dictate executive compensation and such (then again the fools that dreamed up these financial weapons of mass destruction only have themselves to blame for bringing down the heavy-hand of the government busybodies upon them). One way to restore some sort of stability to the financial markets would be to issue an executive order banning all hedge funds from investing anywhere with real money. To compensate them for their loss of entertainment, the government should buy all of their managers and their employees an X-Box complete with the newest, fastest moving and most addicting video games and have them all distributed before the month of February is out.

Such an act would to two things – it would rid those of us who love the markets and remember when they were once sane, of the hedge fund created idiocy that we are forced to daily observe. Secondly it would demonstrate a compassionate care for the feelings of the hedgies by helping to ameliorate their withdrawal from the trading business. After all, those guys are used to pushing lots of buttons without knowing why or what they are doing and to cut them off cold turkey might be harmful to their overall psychological well being. I would hate to think that we might see some of them standing on street corners furiously pushing the crossing buttons on the red lights. Such a sight would no doubt even move the most dispassionate among us.”- Dan Norcini, More at JSMineset.com

“April Gold closed up 9.7 at 902.2. This was 2.7 up from the low and 6.3 off the high.

March Silver finished up 0.17 at 12.47, 0.07 off the high and 0.07 up from the low.

The gold market remained in favor despite strength in the Dollar and very favorable US equity market action early in the trade Wednesday. Perhaps seeing a massive escalation in US refunding supply prompted buying of gold, but with all the metals markets trading higher for a large portion of the trading session today, one almost got the sense that part of the gains today were the result of hopes that certain sectors of the global economy might be capable of getting around the slowdown. In other words, some gold players might have been buying gold because the rising spiral of US debt commitments, while others might be taking a leap of faith that inflation could ultimately surface in the wake of the unprecedented stimulus being thrown at the global economy.

The silver market mostly followed in the foot steps of the gold market. However, initial strength in equities, energy prices and favorable US numbers also seemed to lift silver early in the trade. While the copper market surrendered a large portion of its early strength, silver at times seemed to be drafting off the copper market gains. While the stock market ended up trading on both sides of unchanged, the markets in general were at least partially heartened by the fact that scheduled US numbers this week have largely been better than expected.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The LSE added 0.95 tonnes.

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: 77.05 tonnes were added to the trust.

Almaden’s (AAU) drill program, Apollo’s (AGT) laid off workers, Osisko’s (OSK.TO) equity sale, and Yale’s (YLL.V) drill results were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.

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

New Dawn Mining Corp. announces a work stoppage at its South African Exploration and Mine Development Project - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Pancontinental Uranium Corporation Reports Promising Drill Results at Chilling Project - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Almaden Plans Diamond Drill Program at ATW Diamond Property - "Almaden Minerals Ltd. ("Almaden") (Toronto:AMM.TO - News)(AMEX:AAU - News) has received the results of a comprehensive reinterpretation of past magnetic, electromagnetic/resistivity and gravity survey data. The reinterpretation was undertaken by Petra Geophysical Consulting Inc. (Petra) on geophysical surveys previously completed at Almaden's 58.8% owned ATW diamond property located at Mackay Lake, NWT." More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp. announces private placement - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

First Gold Acquires a 50% Interest in the Croinor Mining Lease and Holds its Annual Meeting - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

82 workers laid off at Montana Tunnels metal mine - "The Montana Tunnels metal mine about 25 miles south of here ended the employment of 82 workers on Tuesday, following through on 60-day layoff notices issued in early December. The miners and heavy-equipment mechanics had not worked for two months but were paid during that time, said Tim Smith, manager of the lead, zinc, silver and gold open-pit mine operated by Apollo Gold Corp. of Denver. The pay ended on Tuesday, Smith said." More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Yale Discovers New Target at La Verde - "Yale Resources Ltd. (CDNX:YLL.V - News) (Frankfurt:YAB.F - News) is pleased to announce that it has discovered a new mineralized target at its wholly owned La Verde Project. The new target, named El Alamito, outcrops over an area measuring 80 metres by 30 metres and, as with all of the targets within the La Verde Project, has the potential to contain significant mineralization as samples returned high values of 1.91 % copper, 125.0 g/t silver, 12.25 % zinc and 0.53 g/t gold. Visible copper mineralization consists of malachite, azurite and chrysocolla occurring as disseminations as well as fracture fill." More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Osisko stock plunges on equity sale to fund mine - "Osisko Mining (OSK.TO) shares plunged nearly 17 percent on Wednesday after the Canadian gold junior agreed to sell at least C$350.4 million ($287 million) of stock below market prices to fund its Malartic project in Quebec.

The stock sale will get the company most of the way through funding the $700 million project, Canada's largest open pit gold mine when it opens in 2011." More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

RESEARCH ALERT-UBS upgrades Barrick Gold, 4 others - "UBS upgraded five North American gold producers, including the world's largest gold miner Barrick Gold Corp, saying investor and speculative demand are boosting gold prices, even as jewellery demand falls and U.S. dollar strengthens." More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Gabriel Resources Ltd.: Rosia Montana Gold Corporation Should Receive the Dam Safety Permits Immediately, According to Court Decision - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Premier launches PQ-North drill program - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

La Mancha Takes Advantage of Strong Gold Prices - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Opawica Announces Resources and Update for the Atikwa Lake Gold-Copper Project in NW Ontario - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Atna Provides Update on Exploration Venture Properties - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Africo Reaches Agreement with Gecamines and the DRC Government in respect of Kalukundi - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

TVI Pacific provides update on commissioning activities for Canatuan Sulphide Project - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Argentex intersects 12.7 meters of 141 g/t silver, 9.39% combined lead-zinc and 60 g/t indium at Pinguino - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Golden Share Intersects Additional High Grades of Up to 15.27 g/t Au in Malartic Lakeshore Drilling Program - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

International KRL provides update on Nor IOCG project, Yukon - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Inter-Citic Releases New Drill Hole Results From Dachang Gold Project - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Alberta Star Shareholders Approve Shareholder Rights Plan - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Vena Resources Expands Uranium Drill Program in Lagunillas - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Uranium Star's Assay Results from Three Horses Property in Madagascar Indicates World Class Vanadium Potential - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Northland Appoints Anders Hvide to the Board; Sets Date for Annual General Meeting - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Frontera Copper Enters Into Definitive Agreement in Support of Southern Copper Corporation's Cash Offer of $0.65 per Share - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

El Capitan Precious Metals, Inc. Seeking Strategic Alternatives - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Capstone Reports Record Copper Production for 2008 and Increases Forecast in 2009 - More
- February 04, 2009 | Item | E-mail

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