Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Mixed While Stocks Rise on FASB Change

	Close	Gain/Loss
Gold	$907.20	-$17.95
Silver	$13.01	+$0.08
XAU	134.41	-4.40%
HUI	328.31	-4.34%
GDM	1019.59	-4.22%
JSE Gold	2663.20	-187.73
USD	84.47	-1.09
Euro	134.55	+2.24
Yen	100.55	-0.91
Oil	$52.64	+$4.25
10-Year	2.752%	+0.094
T-Bond	129.15625	-1.421875
Dow	7978.08	+2.79%
Nasdaq	1602.63	+3.29%
S&P	834.38	+2.87%

Gold saw slight gains in Asia before it tumbled lower in London and morning New York trade to as low as $894.50 by a little before noon EST, but it then bounced back higher in the last couple of hour of trade and ended 1.4% off that low with a loss of just 1.94%. Silver saw over 1% gains in Asia before it also fell in London and early New York trade to as low as $12.57 by about 10AM EST, but it then rallied back higher in the last few hours of trade and ended with a gain of 0.62%.

Euro gold fell to about €673, platinum gained $18.50 to $1152, and copper gained four cents to about $1.89.

Gold and silver equities fell over 5% by late morning before they rebounded a bit in afternoon trade, but they still ended with over 4% losses.

Report	For	Reading	Expected	Previous
Initial Claims	3/28	669K	650K	657K
Factory Orders	Feb	1.8%	1.5%	-3.5%

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) announced this morning their changes to mark-to-market accounting. “The changes, which apply to the second quarter that began this month, will allow the assets to be valued at what they would go for in an "orderly" sale, as opposed to a forced or distressed sale. The new guidelines also will allow banks to avoid reporting some losses on securities by splitting them among factors like fluctuating interest rates that won't have to be counted toward net income or loss.”

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings March’s jobs data. Nonfarm Payrolls are expected at -658,000, the Unemployment Rate is expected at 8.5%, Hourly Earnings are expected at 0.2%, and the Average Workweek is expected at 33.3. At 10AM is the ISM Services report for March expected at 42.0.

Oil climbed back above $52 on hopes that measures taken at the G20 will help stimulate demand.

The U.S. dollar index plummeted while the euro soared on the ECB’s decision to cut rates by just 25 basis points rather than the cut of 50 basis points that was widely expected.

Treasuries fell and the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P ended about 3% higher on news that companies no longer need to properly account their activities.

Among the big names making news in the market today were GM, Rite Aid, Monsanto, CarMax, Bank of America, K+S and Morton, and KPMG.

Anti gold promotion of IMF gold sales as negative to gold is simply rank STUPIDITY, without historic references, and totally wrong. There is no more I can say about that except I am 100% correct. All and every ounce they have will be consumed by other central banks and NEVER see the free market. In the 1970s this was extremely bullish for the gold market because it let major buyers in at a singular price on blocks they could not have otherwise entered in such a class manner. 2009-2012 will be similar.

When it is all said and done the dollar/gold inverse relationship remains the primary criteria for the precious metal.

Please do not contact me asking or complaining about this as my ability to maintain decorum will be strained.

Our living genius, Martin Armstrong, has come up with three touches and through the $1000 mark. Does that sound like anything you have read here? I do not mean to infer that his three touches and past 1000 was read here by Armstrong, but that we agree independent of each other that this is the performance of gold to be anticipated.

Armstrong is looking at $2500 and $5000 for gold. He does not limit gold there but anticipates those numbers under certain market scenarios.

The sharp rally in equities has convinced many investors that the worst of the economic turndown is behind us. That coupled with auto sales numbers that were not as horrific as expected (only less horrific) has fed ideas that the economy is bottoming out and that the recovery will begin later this year. All safe haven plays are therefore being jettisoned as investors plow back into equities with bonds, the Dollar, and gold all getting summarily dumped. After all, who needs a safe haven if the water is safe to play in? That is the mentality that is dominant for now. If that were not enough, we had the usual old soldier trotted out of his worn out barracks once again by Gordon Brown, namely, gold sales by the IMF. Do I hear China saying, “Please say YES IMF – we’ll take it all and then some”?

I do not agree with the slap happy economy view because I do not see the factors in place that can sustain it; namely, jobs and low levels of existing consumer indebtedness. Where is the spending to come from that will fuel a lasting resurgence in the economy when so many consumers are struggling with levels of indebtedness that are swamping them? How many are going to rush forth and immediately take on new levels of indebtedness when they have doubts about the viability of their own employment merely because the stock market has rallied? Also, there is growing concern about even the prime mortgage market where many homeowners are sitting on properties that are now valued at levels far below the current mortgage value. I understand that the stock market is a forward looking indicator but there is a world of difference between an economy that bottoms, recovers and moves higher and one in which a bottom can be struck but that same economy remains mired in a sideways grind for years on end. Just look at Japan if you have any doubts. When the US is basically following the same path that the Japanese followed going all the way back to the bursting of their bubble in late 1989 – 1990, why should be expect much difference in results?

It does clear up one thing however – the rally in the mining shares, as evidenced by the moves up in the HUI and the XAU yesterday, was proven to be not a leading indicator for bullion but rather a rally in all things paper. When the focus shifted back to the underlying metal behind the mining equities, they were dumped. It just goes to show how difficult it is to make projections on anything market related today based solely on the technical price charts. Breakouts, breakdowns, everything is and should be suspect in this new insane world of day traders’ delights.

There are a couple of things at play here – the first is that we might be seeing the beginning of the effects of the Fed’s inflationary quantitative easing policies taking hold in the world of equities.

Secondly – Instead of the weaker dollar being viewed as beneficial to gold, investors are looking at the mass stimulus effects of quantitative easing and rate cuts elsewhere around the globe as beneficial to those respective struggling economies and are therefore bidding up their currencies from depressed levels and moving away from the Dollar, where comparatively speaking, yields on government bonds are lower than those of several other nations. As they do so, gold, measured in terms of various major currencies, is dropping quite sharply. For example, gold priced in British Pounds is moving closer to 600 after peaking closer to 700.

This is the “reflation trade” in which the price of both paper and hard assets experience the full effects of currency debauchment globally. This means “risk” is back in vogue and that translates to gold is out along with bonds. This is the short term. The long term is that at some point the focus will shift back again to what is happening to all of the major currencies as their Central Banks flood the world with paper and gold will then reflate. As to when that will occur, who knows? It could be tomorrow for all I know the way these markets have become any more.

If you will notice, crude oil shot up higher today, even after the incredibly bearish EIA report of yesterday showed us swimming in the stuff to the extent of something like a 19 year high in supply. That is proof to me that the black liquid is being pushed up by investors in more of an inflation play than anything based on its current fundamentals. When the Dollar gets hit hard, computer algorithms rush buy orders to the crude oil pit and that is all she wrote. Up it goes, no questions asked. Personally I think this is sheer idiocy but one cannot argue with billions of dollars being blindly thrown into an assortment of markets by wild-eyed hedge funds and index funds. All you can do is go with the flow or get the heck out of the way. The Dollar goes down – commodities in general go up. The Dollar goes up – commodities in general go down. It is all computers and nothing more or nothing less. As Monty pointed out the other day and I echoed then and am echoing now – long term buy and hold strategies in this new world of hedge fund madness is becoming a dinosaur. The only thing that matters is where the order flow is going on any particular day. Traders can make money out of this but investors with a longer term horizon can be driven mad by the extent of the seemingly inexplicable price swings.

Back to gold – the back to risk trade brought a wave of both fresh selling and long liquidation into that market and took it down below the very tight recent trade range between $940 and $920. That touched off more sell stops that then took it all the way down to the bottom of the larger trading range that has contained it for some time now, with $960 the top and $900 the bottom. Price broke through the bottom of that larger range but then rebounded and returned within it. Considering the extent of the selling earlier in the session, it is a minor miracle that gold was able to claw its way back above the $900 level. Longs will need to dig in to keep bears from attempting to push price back down below the $900 level. Should gold take out that price level, it will move down to $890 - $885. A breach of that level would do significant technical damage to the chart. If the bulls can hold it back inside the $900 level, they have a good shot at reinforcing the range trade and attracting more short term range buyers to their cause. They will need to move prices back above the $920 level however to give themselves a bit of breathing room.

Incidentally, yesterday there was a rather dramatic drawdown reported in both the gold and silver Comex warehouse numbers. Gold stocks dropped by a total of 371,000 ounces with over 200,000 of that coming from the registered category. Silver showed a HUGE drawdown of 2.18 million ounces with 1.2 million of that coming out of the registered category. The bulk of both the gold and silver drawdowns came out of the HSBC warehouses. I am not quite sure what to make of this but it was way of the ordinary and bears watching. There still remains about 2.7 million ounces of registered gold sitting around up there. April gold deliveries have now began to drastically tail off but so far we are over 1 million ounces taken this month. Only 3,555 contracts remain outstanding in the April contract as of yesterday or 355,500 ounces of potential stoppers but after today’s sell off, I suspect that number will be reduced quite a bit.

Back to the mining shares - the HUI is very close to putting in a bearish outside reversal pattern on its daily price chart. Bulls will need to hold price from falling below yesterday’s low on the close today to prevent further technical-related selling pressure. The XAU will need to maintain a close above 131 both today and certainly tomorrow, to prevent a topping formation developing. They have managed to take the gold and silver shares off of their worst session levels here near midday but their work is not yet complete. If they can thwart the bears on a day like today, they might just yet recapture the initiative once again.”- Dan Norcini, More at JSMineset.com

“April Gold closed down 18.7 at 907.4. This was 12.5 up from the low and 7.1 off the high.

May Silver finished up 0.05 at 13.025, 0.13 off the high and 0.465 up from the low.

The gold market came under what appeared to be an increasing amount of pressure on Thursday with the selling potentially coming from a number of sources. Certainly seeing the US stock market rise and seeing what appeared to be an improvement in macro economic sentiment provided a large measure of the selling interest. In fact, some media outlets were touting a very favorable outcome from the G20 meeting but the justification for that claim is somewhat suspect. Other media outlets were suggesting that the worst of the financial crisis might be past while others were speculating that the US housing market was in a position to bottom. In short, "macro economic" optimism seemed to reign even in the face of a fresh record US ongoing claims reading!

Like the gold market, the silver market seemed to be suffering from a wave of euphoria and perhaps an increase in risk appetites for financial assets. With the US Dollar soaring and US equity prices soaring, it is possible that some silver investors were less enamored with their holdings and some decided to liquidate. Apparently macro economic optimism wasn't so prevalent or conclusive that inflationary conditions were being considered. In the end, seeing an aggressive rally in energy prices, strong gains in industrial metals and strength in a host of physical commodity markets was of little help to the silver bulls.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

The world’s 100 hottest mining stocks, ITH’s (THM) drill results, Randgold’s (GOLD) latest resource and reserve declaration and focus on sustainable profitability, AngloGold’s (AU) production, Orko’s (OK.V) intention to terminate SEC reporting obligations, Excellon’s (EXN.TO) completed private placement and concentrate deal, and International Minerals (IMZ.TO) earn in agreement 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.

Orko Silver Corp. Announces Intention to Terminate Securities and Exchange Commission Reporting Obligations in the United States - "The Company expects that its termination of registration will be accepted by the SEC on or before 90 days after the date hereof. As a result of this filing, Orko's reporting obligations with the SEC, including its obligations to file annual reports on Form 20-F, and reports on Form 6-K, will immediately be suspended." More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Castle Gold to Advance Crushing Plant Enhancement at El Castillo Gold Mine Offering US$34 Per Ounce Reduction in Cash Costs, Engages Investor Relations Firm - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Goldeye Announces Its Intention to Sell Its Interest in McFaulds Lake Claims to Tribute Minerals - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Merc Mobilizes Drill to Damoti Lake Gold Project - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

LKA Announces Preliminary Results of Efforts to Extend Previous Production Zones at Golden Wonder Mine - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Azteca Discovers Sullivan-Style Massive Sulfides at Two Mile - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Forsys Signs Second Agreement With GFI - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Consolidated Thompson Announces Filing Of Year End Results and Initiates Feasibility Study for Expansion From 8 Million Tonnes to 16 Million Tonnes Per Year - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Excellon Completes Tranche of Private Placement - "Excellon Resources Inc. (Toronto:EXN.TO - News) is pleased to announce that it has completed a third tranche of a $7.5 million best-efforts private placement financing (the "Offering"). Under this tranche, Excellon sold 10,316,000 common shares for gross proceeds to Excellon of approximately $1.96 million. To date Excellon has raised gross proceeds of approximately $5.63 million under the Offering." More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

World`s 100 hottest mining stocks - up by an average of 367% in six months - "A selection of 100 of the world's best performing mining stocks shows an aggregate value of USD 33bn, and a weighted average gain of 367% over the past six months, vastly outperforming any other known grouping of equities. There are multiple themes that emerge from the names on the list, but the presence of gold and silver miners and developers is close to overwhelming." More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Excellon Announces Concentrate Deal - "Excellon Resources Inc. (Toronto:EXN.TO - News) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an interim offtake agreement to sell its lead and zinc concentrates to Ocean Partners (USA), Inc. Ocean Partners, headquartered in Wilton, Connecticut, is a trader of base metal concentrates and provides financial services to the mining industry. The agreement is for a three-month period and gives Excellon the time it needs to complete negotiations on a longer term contract." More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Canarc Resource Corp.: Caza Gold to Acquire Two Large Gold Exploration Properties in Mexico; Offers to Purchase 30% of the Moris Gold Mine - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Azimut: Strategic and Corporate Update - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

RJK Explorations Flies Airborne Mag Survey of Claims in the Magma Metals Platinum-Palladium-Copper-Nickel Discovery Camp, Thunder Bay North - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Centamin Egypt-Procurement of Finance Facility - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Virgin announces the TSX is conducting a Remedial Review Process of its common shares and it has engaged Haywood Securities to advise on strategic alternatives - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Deep drilling continues to intersect high grade gold - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Robex returns Kossoya permit: Robex SARL (Mali) update - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Tiomin Receives Notice From Jaguar of its Intent to Commence Legal Action - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Sulliden Exploration Inc. - Appointment of New Executive Management Team - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Unico, Inc. Releases April 2009 Newsletter Highlighting Recent Study of Tellurium Content and Plans for Processing of Gold and Silver at the Deer Trail Mine - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Ivernia Completes the Issue of US$5 Million in New Funding - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Arbitration Award in Favour of Canadian Royalties: Vests 80% in Expo-Ungava Property; Joint Venture Declared - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

3D processing of airborne magnetic data identifies additional copper-gold porphyry targets at the Gaoua project - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Tombstone Exploration Sets Strategic Exploration Priorities - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Tribute Minerals Announces It Has Signed a Letter of Intent With Goldeye Explorations to Acquire 100% of the McFaulds Lake "Ring of Fire" Properties - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Nevada Exploration Inc. ("NGE") Reports Results of Hot Pot Drilling - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Minera IRL Limited: Ollachea Project-Drilling Results Confirm Significant Gold Discovery - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Sunergy Reports Update on $1,000,000 Purchase of 150 sq. km. Ghana Mining Concession - More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

New Dimension and International Minerals Sign Agreement to Drill Reese River Silver Property, Nevada - "New Dimension Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:NDR - News) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Dimension Resources (USA) Inc. (the "Company" or "New Dimension") is pleased to announce that it has executed a Letter Agreement (the "Agreement") with International Minerals Corp. (TSX:IMZ - News; "International Minerals") to earn an interest in New Dimension's Reese River Project, (the "Property" or "Reese River"), located in the Austin Mining District of Nevada." More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

International Tower Hill expands Livengood Southwest Zone Discovery. - "International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. ("ITH" or "the Company") (CDNX:ITH.V - News)(AMEX:THM - News)(Frankfurt:IW9.F - News) is pleased to announce results from an additional six holes from the 2009 resource expansion drill program on its Livengood Gold Project, Alaska. These results include four holes from the previously unexplored south-western extension of the deposit." More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Randgold Resources Limited: Continued organic growth in reserves and resources - "Randgold Resources' latest resource and reserve declaration, published today as part of its 2008 annual report, shows a significant increase year on year in both asset classes through the conversion of Tongon resources into reserves, and the entry of Massawa into the resource category. More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Randgold Resources Limited: Sustained profitability lays foundation for growth - "Randgold Resources maintained its focus on sustainable profitability based on continued value creation in 2008 to deliver another strong performance, according to the annual report published today." More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

AngloGold Ashanti sees Q1 production 2.5% below guidance - "Mineral extractor AngloGold Ashanti said Thursday that it expects first-quarter production of approximately 1.1 million ounces, 2.5% below previous guidance of 1.13 million ounces." More
- April 02, 2009 | Item | E-mail

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