Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Gain Over 1% and 2%

	Close	Gain/Loss
Gold	$891.45	+$10.00
Silver	$12.30	+$0.27
XAU	116.18	+0.08%
HUI	279.95	-0.19%
GDM	868.32	+0.25%
JSE Gold	2302.25	-27.51
USD	86.30	-0.25
Euro	129.98	+0.45
Yen	102.12	+0.82
Oil	$48.85	+$0.30
10-Year	2.964%	+0.062
T-Bond	124.640625	-1.015625
Dow	7886.57	-1.04%
Nasdaq	1646.12	+0.14%
S&P	843.55	-0.77%

Gold traded slightly higher in Asia and London and climbed about 1% to almost $890 at the open in New York before it fell back to around $886 for the rest of the morning, but it then climbed to a new session high of $892.97 in afternoon trade and ended near that high with a gain of 1.13%. Silver climbed to over $12.30 by late morning in New York before it fell back to about $12.20 by a little after noon EST, but it then climbed back near that earlier high in the last hour of trade and ended with a gain of 2.24%.

Euro gold rose to about €685, platinum gained $20 to $1170, and copper fell a few cents to about $2.06.

Gold and silver equities rose about 2% by early afternoon, but they then fell back off into the close and ended near unchanged as the Dow dove to new lows in the last minutes of trade.

There were no major economic reports today, but the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that applications rose 5.3% last week. Tomorrow 8:30AM EST brings Initial Jobless Claims for 4/18 expected at 639,000 and at 10AM is the Existing Home Sales report for March expected at 4.65 million.

Oil rose despite the fact that the IMF gave another grim economic forecast and inventories rose more than expected. Crude inventories rose 3.9 million barrels, gasoline inventories rose 800,000 barrels, and distillates rose 2.7 million barrels.

The U.S. dollar index and treasuries fell as recent evidence has shown that the US is not any better off than Europe and the rest of the world as was previously believed and priced in.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P mostly traded mixed and ended near unchanged on offsetting earnings reports, but the Dow dove to new lows in the last minutes of trade and ended over 1% lower on worries over upcoming reports.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, McDonald’s, and WellPoint.

The vast majority of those who read this site are fully aware of the shenanigans of the bullion banks over at the Comex and how they continue to bamboozle the hedge funds whose automaton-like response to momentum trading prevents them from beating this group at the paper game by standing for delivery in size. Additionally, their allegiance to system-trading and computer algorithms prevents them from thinking creatively and learning to take advantage of their enemies’ tactics against them. Good traders learn to adapt to changing market conditions and modify their strategies when confronted by successive losses - the hedge funds, however, when it comes to gold, do no such thing.

Keep in mind that the name of the game in gold, as far as the monetary authorities are concerned, is deception. By artificially suppressing the price of gold, for much the same reason as the Fed has been artificially attempting to suppress long term interest rates by a deliberate policy of quantitative easing, the money lords hope to cloud the signals that free market prices would generate to the investing public.

Remember when gold prices first spiked above $1,000.00 and all the coverage that was received on both the financial cable shows and the internet news sites? That is the last thing any Western Central Banker wants to see because it is in effect a condemnation of the policies and practices that they have embarked upon. So what to do? Simple, confuse the issue and distort the signal by working over the gold price to dampen down any potential excitement, not to mention attempting to kill a rival.

When one looks at the present price at the Comex as of today and the short term technical chart pattern, it is not particularly encouraging for the bulls so you could say that Central Bank efforts in conjunction with their favored insiders at the bullion banks have been somewhat effective of recent weeks. However, there is one thing that no amount of market intervention and price manipulation can succeed in doing and that is in changing the basic structure of the futures market as evidenced by the relationship of the front month contracts to the later dated contracts.

In trading terms, we refer to the “spread” between the front month and a back month/months or the difference in price between the two, as a gauge of demand for that particular commodity. As a general rule, when the front month trades at a discount to the next month or to a later-dated month, the structure of that particular commodity futures market is normal or in contango. A market in contango will see those distant month contracts trading at enough of a premium to the front month to account for any storage charges, insurance against loss and interest rates. Simply put, a seller has to be recompensed for his/her expense in storing a commodity while they wait to sell it into the market at some point in the future.

Whenever a market begins to see this “spread” between the front month and the next month or more distant months begin to tighten or narrow, then something is beginning to change regarding the demand/supply picture in that particular commodity. Why is this? Because the market is ratcheting up the front month price and attempting to send a signal to potential sellers that demand is increasing and that they are better served by selling sooner rather than later. Economically speaking, the incentive to store the commodity, pay all those storage costs, insurance costs, etc,. is not worth the increased cost that they might hope to receive at some point in the future. “Sell it to us now and we will pay you more for it than if you try to sell it later”, is the message the market is sending.

When markets begin moving in this direction, narrowing the spread, they are said to be moving towards a condition known as, “backwardation”. True backwardation occurs when the front month moves to a PREMIUM over the next month and particularly over the next set of three or four different contract months ( a note here - generally a market will not go into backwardation more than a few distant contracts out because it is assumed that the increased demand will result in increased production at some point and induce producers of that particular commodity to increase production on out into the more distant future bringing the demand/supply picture into more of an equilibrium. That will serve to bring the market back into a more normal structure of contango).

Backwardation is a powerful signal of very strong demand that is attempting to send a signal to the market that it needs more of that commodity to satisfy existing levels of demand. While market price manipulation can be somewhat effective short term for fogging signals generated from a rising price in gold for example, it is generally unable to affect the spread structure of the entire set of futures contracts listed on the board at any given time.

With this in mind, take a look at the April 09 Comex gold contract and its spread between the June 09 Comex gold contract. Notice the narrowing of the spread, or the move in the direction of backwardation. It is not there yet but the fact that this particular spread has narrowed so significantly is more than noteworthy. It is a mere $0.60 from moving into backwardation after having traded as wide as $6.50 at one point.

To show that it is not just an April/June phenomenon, but rather one that is beginning to characterize the structure market of the Comex gold contracts, please note that the EXACT same thing has been occurring in the April 09/Dec 09 Comex gold spread. It too has narrowed quite significantly.

While nothing is foolproof in this day and age of managed markets and official sector shenanigans, the timeless spread charts are telling us a story that even the best efforts (or worst efforts if you prefer) of the Western Central Bankers and their unending war on gold is drawing to a close in which their policies have all but ensured their defeat at the hands of the “barbarous relic”. Short term they can win many battles but long term they cannot prevail in the war against gold.”- Dan Norcini, More at JSMineset.com

“June Gold closed up 9.8 at 892.5. This was 8.4 up from the low and 2.3 off the high.

May Silver finished up 0.245 at 12.305, 0.005 off the high and 0.21 up from the low.

The gold market managed to forge a slight higher trade in the face of fairly mundane conditions. In fact, with a mid morning recovery bounce in the equity markets, one could even suggest that flight to quality conditions were at least partially deflated on Wednesday morning. However, mid session news that GM would fail to make a June 1st debt payment could arguably have pumped up the flight to quality sentiment in the marketplace. Some players and press outlets were suggesting that the gains in gold might have been the result of revived inflationary conditions but given the action in a number of physical commodity markets, the idea of inflation didn't seem to be a widely attended angle.

The silver market generally seemed to outperform the gold market as the silver market managed a fresh new high for the move early in the trading session, while the gold market seemed to exhibit more back and forth type action. However, the silver market was probably indirectly supported by the weakness in the Dollar and periodic strength in the platinum market. If silver was lifted by inflation views that view had to be the result of the Canadian rate cut in the prior trading session because there didn't seem to be much in the way of classic inflation developments in the headlines.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

Fronteer’s (FRG) new COO, Centerra Gold’s (CG.TO) discussions with the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, Freeport’s (FCX) first quarter results, Lihir’s (LIHR) share purchase plan, and Scorpio’s (SPM.TO) March update 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.

KWG Resources Inc. - Ground geophysics supports 1.1 kilometre strike length for Big Daddy Chromite Deposit, James Bay Lowlands of Ontario - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Richmond Minerals Inc. - Exploration Update - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

RJK Update and Amendment to News Release of March 12, 2009 Regarding Dorion South Platinum-Palladium-Copper-Nickel Property Acquisition - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Yale Uncovers Higher Gold Values at La Verde - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Geo Can Resources Company Limited and Atomic Minerals Ltd. Terminate Option to Purchase Agreement for Uranium Properties in Southern Tanzania - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Spider Resources Inc.: Ground Geophysics Supports 1.1 Kilometre Strike Length for Big Daddy Chromite Deposit, James Bay Lowlands of Ontario - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Ventana Acquires El Cuatro Property-Extends Potential Strike Length of La Mascota - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

News Release and Shareholder Update - Helio reports drill results from Kenge Target, SMP Gold Project and plans for 2009 - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

World Ventures Inc. - Joint Venture Funding for Nevada Gold Project - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

GoldPoint Resources, Inc. Announces Discussion With Private Company for a Possible Sale - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Affinity Gold Corporation Announces Update - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

SLAM encouraged by drilling results at TSN - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Paul Gobeil Joins MDN Board of Directors - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Additional Assay Results Reported by Ireland Inc. Expand the Boundaries of New Gold Discovery - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Gilla Discovers Anomalous Gold Values in Angola - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Dios New Uranium UGO Project Yields 0,058% U3O8 - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Avalon Announces Extension of Land Use Permit at Thor Lake and Provides Update on NWT Community Relations Activities - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Roxmark reports 7.6 g/t Au across 20.5 metres within EP Zone open pit target, as Hardrock drilling continues to intersect high grade gold - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Temex cuts 141 g/t gold - Hallnor property Timmins - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Elray Releases NI43-101 Report on SE Asia Properties - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Zoro Mining Corp. Announces Reverse Share Split - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Silverado's Nolan Property in Early Breakup - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Premier Hardrock Drilling continues to intersect high grade gold 7.6g/t Au across 20.5 metres within the EP Zone open pit target - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Amarillo Intersects 50 m @ 1.82 g/t Au From Surface at Lavras do Sul in Southern Brazil - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Hidalgo Mining International (HMIT) Expands Banking Relationship - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

TVI Pacific enters into agreement to settle previously filed class actions - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Strateco/Matoush: Discovery of Two New Mineralized Zones - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Vantex Cuts 245.5 Metres at 0.522 gt/Au on Galloway - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

First Gold Detects a New InfiniTEM Conductor on its Jointly Owned Matchi-Manitou Project - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Hindustan Zinc Limited Audited Results for the Fourth Quarter and Year Ended 31 March 2009 - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Wallbridge Mining Annual General Meeting to be held at Toronto Board of Trade - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Searchlight Minerals Corp. to Seek Independent Verification of Precious Metals Circuit at Clarkdale Slag Project - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Kinross Advises Canasia of Planned Drill Program on Debut Property in Nevada - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Trinity Comes Up With a Large Copper-Gold-Silver Play at its Manarsa Tres Property, Northern Peru - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Mr. Troy Fierro Joins Fronteer as Chief Operating Officer - "Fronteer Development Group Inc. (Toronto:FRG.TO - News)(AMEX:FRG - News)(NYSE Amex: FRG.A) is pleased to announce the appointment of Troy J. Fierro as Chief Operating Officer ("COO"), a newly created executive position strengthening the Company's operational and mine-development expertise and focus." More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Centerra Gold Provides Update Regarding Its Discussions With the Kyrgyz Government Concerning the Kumtor Project - "Centerra Gold Inc. ("Centerra" or the "Company") (TSX:CG - News) comments today regarding ongoing discussions between the Company and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic (the "Government") in relation to the Company's Kumtor Project. The Company is aware of press reports in the Kyrgyz Republic today quoting the Prime Minister as saying that the Government and Centerra have reached agreement on resolving matters at issue in relation to the Kumtor Project." More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Eurasian Minerals Discovers Two New High-Grade Copper-Silver-Gold Prospects at Treuil Property, Haiti - More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Scorpio Provides March 2009 Update - "March 2009 was not only another productive and cost-efficient month for the Company, but our best operational month yet. The Scorpio team continues to outperform expectations set for 2009 and underground development continues on schedule in preparation for greater access to mineable, low-cost, high-grade stopes. Underground delineation drilling was recently initiated to define new stopes for extraction, expanding the Company's long-term ability to respond to future increases in metal prices by increasing the number and variety of potential active headings in the mine. The Company is currently negotiating the offshore sale of its concentrates at very reasonable terms for the next six months, commencing May 2009." More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Reports First-Quarter 2009 Results - "Net income applicable to common stock for first-quarter 2009 was $43 million, $0.11 per share, compared with net income applicable to common stock of $1.1 billion, $2.64 per share, for first-quarter 2008." More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

LGL (Lihir Gold Limited): Share Purchase Plan - "The SPP closed at 5.00pm (AEST) on Wednesday 15 April 2009. Applications for approximately A$25 million of new fully paid ordinary LGL shares were received from eligible shareholders. Successful applicants will be issued the full dollar amount of LGL shares for which they applied at an issue price of A$2.82." More
- April 22, 2009 | Item | E-mail

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