Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Gain Over 2% While Stocks Fall to New Lows

	Close	Gain/Loss
Gold	$926.80	+$19.95
Silver	$13.11	+$0.26
XAU	119.25	+5.08%
HUI	286.32	+5.22%
GDM	908.42	+5.22%
JSE Gold	2625.43	-52.49
USD	89.01	+0.45
Euro	125.63	-0.97
Yen	102.03	+1.12
Oil	$43.61	-$1.77
10-Year	2.819%	-0.192
T-Bond	128.265625	+3.203125
Dow	6594.44	-4.09%
Nasdaq	1299.59	-4.00%
S&P	682.55	-4.25%

Gold and silver added $11.50 and $0.352 to as high as $918.35 and $13.202 in London before they fell back near unchanged in late morning New York trade to as low as $907.65 and $12.864 to see gains of just $0.80 and $0.014, but they then soared back up to new session highs of $928.80 and $13.217 in the last few hours of trade and gold ended with a gain 2.2% while silver added 2.02%. Both metals have also risen to new highs in after hours access trade.

Euro gold rose to about €737, platinum gained $13 to $1054, and copper fell roughly 4 cents to about $1.65.

Gold and silver equities rose throughout the day and ended with over 5% gains despite over 4% losses in the major indices.

Report	For	Reading	Expected	Previous
Productivity	Q4	-0.4%	1.0%	3.2%
Unit Labor Costs	Q4	5.7%	3.8%	1.8%
Initial Claims	2/28	639K	650K	670K
Factory Orders	Jan	-1.9%	-3.5%	-4.9%

“The Federal Reserve Board of Governors receives daily reports on loans to banks and securities firms, the institution said in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Bloomberg News.

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings February’s jobs data and at 2PM is Consumer Credit for January expected at -$5.0 billion. Nonfarm Payrolls are expected at -650,000, the Unemployment Rate is expected at 7.9%, Hourly Earnings are expected at 0.2%, and the Average Workweek is expected at 33.3.

Oil fell on renewed worries over declining demand while the U.S. dollar index rose as the euro fell after the European Central Bank cut their rate 0.5% to 1.5% and indicated they may cut further and the pound fell after the Bank of England cut their rate 0.5% to 0.5% and said they would launch “an unprecedented program to effectively print money by buying 75 billion pounds ($106 billion) of commercial paper and government bonds over the next three months.”. In other words they are pursuing the path of quantitative easing.

Treasuries rose in reaction to the ECB and BOE moves while the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell for the 12^th time in 14 sessions as yesterday’s rumors over a second Chinese stimulus plan were denied by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao who said that “the government's current stimulus plan would help the world's third-largest economy grow by 8 percent this year.” GM also warned of a likely need to file for bankruptcy if it doesn’t receive more government help while it also seems likely that more downgrades for the financial stocks are coming, but some retail sales reports were better than expected to provide at least one bright spot in a very dark market. The Dow and S&P erased all of yesterday’s gains and ended the day at new 12-year closing lows.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Citigroup, General Dynamics, GM, Wal-Mart, and Legg Mason.

Gold came roaring back today as equity buyers from yesterday barfed them all up today in a case of indigestion that was reportedly due to disappointment over lack of further news out of China in regards to their stimulus package. That was at least the rumor – whatever – the fact is that yesterday’s blip turned into a classic example of a “dead cat bounce”. By the way, for those new to the investing and trading jargon – if you drop a dead cat from a high enough building, it will manage a small bounce after it hits the ground. Now that we have that cleared up…Did you ever think you would live to see CITI trading as a penny stock?

While yesterday was a “reflation” day in the commodity sector with money coming back in on the China news, today was a “deflation” day in which most of the commodity markets got sold off once again. Yo-Yo – let’s all play hedge fund Yo-Yo.

Copper ran out of buyers today but silver, platinum and gold were all higher. Again, these three metals are trading as precious metals or safe havens in today’s session. Today hedge fund computers were selling commodities as the equities collapsed. Panic buying also hit the bonds today forcing shorts out and driving the long bond up into the 20- day moving average. For the life of me, I do not understand the obsession of bond buyers in the face of a coming avalanche of supply and serious dilution of any value those paper IOU’s might have but I suppose old habits die hard and lemmings will always be lemmings. It dovetails nicely with Monty’s comments on the rush into the Dollar in his remarks yesterday. Bond buying will run its course when serious minded investors realize that bonds are a sucker’s play. I harp quite a bit on this because if only a small fraction of the knee-jerk, reflexive buying that screams into bonds would instead move to gold, it would easily surpass the $1000 mark again. Of course the cynic in me says that the feds are delighted to see the bonds soaring higher because it sends a signal to the market that those paper scraps are actually worth something especially as they intend to issue gazillions more of them and desperately need some sucker/(s) to buy them. Oh yes, I forgot – they are backed by the “full faith and CREDIT of the US government”. I don’t know whether to sit down and guffaw about that or to weep. The words, “confidence” and “US government”, are like oil and vinegar. They no longer mix.

Technically gold found support near that 40 day and 50 day moving average region that I have detailed. There is a zone of congestion that occurred back in late January and early February that lasted for around 2 weeks from which it may be able to set up a trading range with perhaps $930 as the upper portion of that range and $890-$900 as the bottom of the range. I am simply not sure just yet and need some more time to elapse to get a better read on things. That being said, should $930 give way on a pit session close, it would bring back $960 as a probable test.

The HUI put in a potential spike bottom on Tuesday of this week but needs to close above the 290 level to confirm that. The XAU’ action is very similar and needs a close above the 120 level to confirm a short term bottom is in.

The action in the Dollar is interesting in this sense. Today should have had a lot going for the Dollar with the bonds soaring on a safe haven bid and the equities tanking. We have seen the Dollar put in strong gains on days like this in recent weeks. Today however it seemed to run into a wall of selling just below the 90 level. I do not want to call a top yet in the Dollar because it has defied gravity and been the recipient of safe haven but the fact that sellers were willing to step in on a day like today, at a technically significant level, is something I take notice of. Again, it is too early to make any predictions yet but I am keenly watching this especially because the shorter term technical indicators are showing some signs of bearish divergence. I am also watching the Euro which came well off the session lows.

I want to repeat this even at the risk of beating a dead horse and mainly on account of the emails I receive every single time gold experiences any sort of price movement that is not straight up. The deflationists are dead, flat out wrong about the future of gold prices. The Prechterites, who have been wrong on gold going back as far as this bull market in gold began, continually are forced to raise the ceiling from which their long anticipated and predicted collapse in gold prices must occur. Anytime you see them coming out of the woodwork like roaches keep this in mind – GOLD IS NOT A COMMODITY – it is a CURRENCY. Loss of trust in paper currencies is why gold shines. Whenever you hear chatter about market tops and such, remember that their analysis is US centric and is not global. IN other words, they base their entire premise on the Dollar price of Gold. That is their fatal weakness. While many here in the US think we are the be all and end all of things, there are millions and millions of investors outside of the US who do not price gold in Dollars; they price it in terms of their own domestic currencies. Contrary to the foolish deflationist assertions that gold is experiencing a contra rally in a bearish long term trend, gold has just come off of making new, all-time, record highs in terms of most every other currency on the face of the earth. That my friends, is not a bear market and any assertions to the contrary display an ignorance that is nothing short of remarkable.

According to this mentality, record inflows to the gold ETFs, scarcity of gold bullion coins, high premiums in those same coins, record all time highs in price, etc. are all somehow synonymous with a bear market rally in gold! Astonishing….the only explanation that I can come up with for such a nonsensical assertion is that the proponents of such blather have just loaded up on put options and are hoping like hell that they make some money to compensate them for all their previous trading losses in gold.

Folks – savvy investors buy gold because they are worried about protecting themselves from the depredations of Central Bankers and their currency-debauching activities. Short term oriented traders on the other hand move in and out of gold and will go long or even short at times, but their time-line and their motives are not the same as those seeking safety and capital preservation. Do not confuse the two.”- Dan Norcini, More at JSMineset.com

“April Gold closed up 21.1 at 927.8. This was 16.8 up from the low and 0.2 off the high.

March Silver finished up 0.205 at 13.105, equal to the high and equal to the low.

Clearly the gold market was back onto the flight to quality track and given the amount of uncertainty toward a number of bellwether companies, the sharp slide in the equity markets and the amount of policy changes coming out of Washington one can understand a strong flow toward gold and the precious metals. In fact, with gold, the Dollar and the Yen all three rising in tandem one got the sense that the safe haven play was really back in vogue. With GE even being called into question and company officials denying the presence of financial issues, one could suggest that a host of blue chip companies were being scrutinized intensely. As suggested in the mid day coverage the scheduled US data wasn't as bad as expected and recently the presence of decent numbers has benefited gold perhaps because better than expected numbers downplays the deflationary spiral talk.

The silver market followed in the foot steps of the gold market on Thursday and that is somewhat surprising considering that silver attempted to diverge from gold early in the trading week. Clearly the silver trade is embracing the flight to quality angle and not the physical commodity focus and for that reason silver joined the gold, Dollar, Yen and US Treasuries in a flight to quality type rally.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

A free, new, stock report by Peter Zihlmann on West Timmins Mining, Yamana’s (AUY) margins, Tanzanian Royalty’s (TRE) private placement, Rubicon’s (RBY) closed financing, Paramount’s (PZG) equity financing, Centerra’s (CG.TO) repaired mill, and Excellon’s (EXN.TO) agreement to acquire Silver Eagle (SEG.TO) 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.

Gabriel Resources Ltd.: Amendment to Shareholder Rights Plan Approved by Shareholders - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Castle Gold Options Grant - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Tanzanian Royalty Chairman Completes One Million Dollar Private Placement - "Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corporation (Toronto:TNX.TO - News) (AMEX:TRE - News) (AMEX:TRE - News) announces that the $1,000,000 private placement with Mr. James E. Sinclair announced February 23, 2009 has closed. Mr. Sinclair purchased 189,036 common shares at a purchase price of $5.29 per share." More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Golden Peaks Resources Ltd - La Fortuna: Expanded - New Discoveries - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Affinity Gold Corp. Enters Into Asset Purchase Agreement to Acquire Mining Concession Rights From AMR Project Peru, S.A.C. in Peru Covering a Total of 500 Hec. - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Gryphon Resources Inc. Secures Revenue Stream with First Manganese Sale - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Current works on Mininko and new appointments within Robex - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Rubicon Minerals closes C$40 million financing - "Rubicon Minerals Corporation (TSX.RMX: NYSE-AMEX.RBY) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced "bought deal" private placement (the "Offering"), raising gross proceeds of C$40,000,000. Pursuant to the Offering, the Company issued 25,000,000 common shares (the "Common Shares") at a price of C$1.60 per Common Share." More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Metanor Announces Private Placement - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

NWM assumes financial and operational obligations at the Lluvia-Jojoba project - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Royal Standard Minerals Inc. Announces Changes to Its Board of Directors and the Suspension of Its Shares From Trading on the TSX Venture Exchange - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Firstgold Corp. Begins Production of Gold at Relief Canyon Mine - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Tiomin Schedules Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders for May 26, 2009 - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Cameco Completes Bought Deal Offering of Common Shares - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

North Bay Resources Updates Financing Plans - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Canadian Arrow announces extension of loan - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Work Resumes at New Dawn's Blue Dot Mine Development Project - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Gabriel Resources Ltd: Fourth Quarter 2008 Report - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Boxxer Closes First Tranche of Private Placement, Drilling to Start on Boss - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Northland to Focus Financial Resources on Key Projects, Continue to Reduce Expenses - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Platinum Group Metals Signs US$10 Million Option Funding Agreement for War Springs Project - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Capella Announces Non-Brokered Private Placement to Raise up to $1,000,000 and Concurrent Shares for Debt Settlement - More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Paramount Gold and Silver Corp. Arranges $9,000,000 Equity Financing - "Paramount Gold and Silver Corp. (Toronto:PZG.TO - News)(NYSE-A: PZG)(AMEX:PZG - News)(Frankfurt:P6G.F - News) is pleased to announce an agreement in principal to make a non-brokered private placement of C$9,000,000 through the sale of 12,000,000 restricted units at 75 cents per unit." More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Centerra Gold Inc.: Kumtor Mine SAG Mill Repair Completed - "Centerra Gold Inc. (TSX:CG - News) reported today that the SAG mill at the Kumtor mine is operating normally after the successful replacement of the SAG mill girth gear with an on-site spare unit. The temporary shutdown of the SAG mill at Kumtor has not changed the Company's 2009 guidance on gold production or cash costs." More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Yamana Gold says lower costs to improve margins - "Falling costs for energy, labor and equipment are rolling back the clock on mining costs, promising stronger cash flows for miners as gold prices stay near historic highs, Yamana Gold's (YRI.TO) chief executive said on Thursday.

Speaking on a conference call to discuss the company's fourth-quarter results, Peter Marrone said industry costs peaked during the third quarter of 2008, and should continue to decline over coming quarters." More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Excellon Agrees to Acquire Silver Eagle - "Excellon Resources Inc. (TSX:EXN - News) and Silver Eagle Mines Inc. (TSX:SEG - News) are pleased to announce that they have signed a letter of intent (the "Letter of Intent") providing for the acquisition by Excellon of all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Silver Eagle (the "Transaction"). Under the terms of the proposed Transaction, Silver Eagle shareholders will receive 0.2704 Excellon common shares in exchange for each Silver Eagle share held." More
- March 05, 2009 | Item | E-mail

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