Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold Ends At a New Record High While Silver Falls Slightly

	Close	Gain/Loss
Gold	$1215.70	+$4.00
Silver	$19.05	-$0.24
XAU	192.51	-2.28%
HUI	496.88	-2.68%
GDM	1170.74	-2.61%
JSE Gold	2714.35	-29.74
USD	74.70	+0.07
Euro	150.75	+0.29
Yen	113.37	-1.02
Oil	$76.46	+$0.14
10-Year	3.380%	+0.057
T-Bond	120.96875	-0.96875
Dow	10366.15	-0.83%
Nasdaq	2173.14	-0.54%
S&P	1099.92	-0.84%

Gold rose to as high as $1226.40 in Asia before it fell back off in London and early New York trade to see a loss of $7.25 at as low as $1204.45 by a little after 10AM EST, but it then stormed back higher in the last few hours of trade and ended at a new record high with a gain of 0.33%. Silver fell to as low as $18.79 by midmorning in New York before it also rallied back higher into the close, but it still ended with a loss of 1.24%.

Euro gold remained at about €806, platinum lost $12 to $1287, and copper fell slightly to about $3.22.

Gold and silver equities fell over 2% in the first hour of trade before they rallied back higher in early afternoon trade to see less than 1% losses at one point, but they then fell back off in the last hour of trade and ended back with over 2% losses on the day.

Report	For	Reading	Expected	Previous
Initial Claims	11/28	457K	480K	462K
Productivity	Q3	8.1%	8.5%	9.5%
ISM Services	Nov	48.7	51.5	50.6

Bernanke testified before the Senate Banking Committee today in confirmation hearings for his next term as fed chairman. For the most part those hearings were pretty tame, but the Q&A session with Senator Jim Bunning was anything but. That portion of the hearing should be available at YouTube later today. Ron Paul was also on Fox Business News this past Monday in response to Bernanke’s op-ed published over the weekend aimed at defending the fed against Ron Paul’s bill to audit the fed. See that interview here.

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings November’s jobs data and at 10AM is the Factory Orders report for October expected at 0.0%. Nonfarm Payrolls are expected at -125,000, the Unemployment Rate is expected at 10.2%, the Average Workweek is expected at 33.1, and Hourly Earnings are expected at 0.2%.

Oil ended just slightly lower as the U.S. dollar index’s losses versus the euro were more than offset by gains against the yen after the ECB left rates unchanged.

Treasuries fell after the “Treasury said it will auction $40 billion of 3-year notes on Dec. 8, $21 billion of 10-year notes on Dec. 9 and $13 billion of 30-year bonds on Dec. 10.”

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P traded mixed and near unchanged for most of trade as the better than expected Initial Jobless Claims report was offset by the worse than expected at ISM Services report, but stocks then fell off rather markedly in the last half hour of trade and ended notably lower on worries over tomorrow’s jobs report.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Toll Brothers, Comcast and NBC, and Bank of America.

“I mentioned yesterday that I was more than apprehensive about what Tuesday's open interest numbers were going to show because of the big run-up in the gold price that occurred in the Far East earlier in the trading day. This fear turned out to be totally unfounded because, for once, the open interest data for gold showed a reasonable amount of short covering, as gold open interest fell 4,902 contracts. Some of that decline in open interest was due to deliveries, and that number has to be subtracted to obtain the true open interest decline... the same for silver. Volume [as I mentioned yesterday] was under 200,000 contracts at 189,337... with total open interest declining to 521,433 contracts. Silver's had a spectacular rise in price on Tuesday, but the open interest numbers only show an increase of a very small 383 contracts [minus deliveries] on volume of 39,358 contracts... so I would suspect that there was short covering there as well. Total silver open interest now stands at 131,899 contracts.

It's entirely possible that not all the trading that was done on Tuesday was reported on Tuesday... but what was reported, will be in tomorrow's Commitment of Traders report for sure. It will be interesting to see what Wednesday's final open interest numbers are like when they become available on the CME website later this morning, as anything that was left out [deliberate or otherwise] will certainly be included in Wednesday's open interest numbers... too late for the COT... and the new Bank Participation Report. And it wouldn't be the first time that the bullion banks didn't report big changes in a timely manner... but we'll just have to wait and see.

Deliveries into the December contract for both gold and silver yesterday are as follows: The CME Delivery Report showed that only 300 gold and 238 silver contracts were put up for delivery on Friday. So far in December, 4,874 gold and 1,660 silver contracts have been delivered. The preliminary December open interest numbers were just published moment ago on the CME's website... and they show that gold open interest has declined another 845 contracts to 9,420 contracts... so a little over 50% of the current open interest has already been delivered. Silver's open interest in December also declined by about 10%... 229 contracts, with December o.i. now down to 2,118 contracts standing for delivery... so roughly 80% of this amount has already been delivered. At the moment, December futures contracts are showing declines, but they can also go up as well, as buyers of physical can show up at any time during the December delivery month to ask for the metal... or a Registered Warehouse Receipt. The CME's Delivery Report for yesterday is linked here.”– From Ed Steer’s Gold & Silver Daily, read the full report here.

The following is one of the more important charts I will post this week. It details the Gold/Bond ratio which is basically a comparison of the TWO generally regarded “SAFE HAVEN” assets – Gold and US Treasury Bonds.

If you note the colored ellipses on the charts and the comments you will see that in the summer of last year, just as the credit crisis erupted in full force, massive Japanese Yen carry trade unwinding occurred as deleveraging began in earnest. That caused a flight out of just about anything tangible, including gold, into the “safety” of the US Dollar and Treasuries. For the next few months, the Gold/Bond ratio fell rather precipitously as bonds became the “go –to” investment of choice for the risk averse. Translation – Gold underperformed in comparison to Bonds as a safe haven asset.

Look down at the red ellipse which bottomed exactly a year ago in late November/early December. From that point forward, the trend has been relentlessly in favor of Gold when investors are looking for a place to secure their wealth from the depredations of the banking class. Do you not find it odd that there are still those today, who in spite of the chart, will assert that gold is not a safe haven instrument and that Treasuries still remain the investment of choice for those looking for a harbor against the financial storm?

Perhaps those who have bought into that line of thinking are attempting to find solace in the fact that they have “not lost” anything by moving into paper bonds, but with the Dollar losing value at its current rate, just how much are they “not losing”?

What will really tip this ratio into overdrive to the upside is a move lower in the bonds brought about by a buyers’ strike involving Foreign Central Banks (think China) and the realization that the collapse in the Dollar has generated a horrific wave of inflationary pressure in all things tangible.”- Dan Norcini, More at JSMineset.com

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: SPDR added 0.61 tonnes and the LSE subtracted 0.78 tonnes.

COMEX Gold Trust (IAU) Total Tonnes in Trust: 81.77: -0.02 change from yesterday’s data.

Silver Trust (SLV) Total Tonnes in Trust: 9,401.30: -3.49 change from yesterday’s data.

Almaden’s (AAU) offering, Seabridge’s (SA) property sales, Freeport’s (FCX) output, Great Panther’s (GPR.TO) name change, and Sabina’s (SBB.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.

TTM Resources Inc. completes private placement and reports on annual general meeting - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Western Troy Announces $1,600,000 Financing - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Alder Closes $1,000,000 Private Placement Financing - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Crown Minerals Completes Non-Brokered Private Placement - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Almaden Raises $2.6 Million - "Almaden Minerals Ltd. (TSX:AMM - News)(AMEX:AAU - News) has agreed to raise $2.6 million from a group of strategic investors. Upon completion of this offering, Almaden will have approximately $13.5 million in cash. Almaden also holds 1,597 ounces of gold in inventory currently valued at approximately $1.9 million which the Company produced from its Elk Mine in the 1990s." More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada releases public opinion survey that shows Canadians understand and support mining and mineral exploration - "The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) says Canadians have a reasonably good understanding of the mining industry, clearly differentiate between exploration and extraction and consider the industry important to the Canadian economy, according to the results of a public opinion survey released today." More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Excalibur Resources Ltd.: VTEM Survey Suggests Extensive Sulphide Bearing Conductors - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Cameco Approves Dividend Increase for 2010 - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Golden Peaks Resources Ltd. - Drilling to focus on the T-11 & G gold zones - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Killdeer Minerals Inc. Expands Gold Belt Property - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Gold Hawk Announces Share Consolidation Effective Date and New Trading Symbol - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Zoro Mining Corp. Announces Completion of Gold Exploration Property Acquisitions in Chile - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Amarillo Options More Ground at Lavras do Sul and Provides Drilling Update on Butia Gold Prospect - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Freewest Will Hold a Conference Call to Discuss the Increased Offer From Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Silvore Fox Minerals Corp. Announces Drilling Program - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Tirex Arranges $1.57 Million in Financing With EBRD - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Pacific North West Capital Intersects high grade gold up to 44.39 g/t (1.56 ounces/ton) at Destiny Gold Project, Quebec - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Eastmain Resources Inc. - Eau Claire Assays & Metallurgy 35 High Grade Gold-Tellurium intersections 94 to 96% Gravity flotation gold recovery - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Pebble Creek Mining Ltd. announces extension of terms of warrants - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Diadem Announces Election of Directors and Shareholder Approval of Change of Auditor - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Great Panther Announces Proposed Name Change - "GREAT PANTHER RESOURCES LIMITED (TSX:GPR - News) (the "Company") is pleased to advise that it is seeking shareholder approval at its Extraordinary General Meeting on December 17, 2009, to change its name from Great Panther Resources Limited to Great Panther Silver Limited, without any change to its capital structure." More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Macarthur Minerals Completes Acquisition of Interest in Lake Giles Project From Minmetals Mining Corporation Limited - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

GoldQuest Provides Update on Dominican Los Comios Project - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Macarthur Minerals Limited: Issue of Incentive Stock Options - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Puma Resumes Drilling at Nicolas-Denys - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Ur-Energy Announces Approval of Lost Creek Development Plan by Sweetwater County - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Stelmine Acquire Rare Earth Metal Properties in the Wakefield Alkaline Complex of Gatineau, Quebec - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Seabridge Gold Enters Into Letter of Intent to Sell Nevada Properties - "Seabridge Gold (TSX:SEA - News)(AMEX:SA - News) reports that it has entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent to sell all of its interests in certain Nevada exploration properties, including Seabridge's Castle-Black Rock Project, to Constitution Mining Corp. for consideration exceeding US$7 million consisting of: (i) staged payments of US$3.0 million in cash; (ii) a US$1.0 million convertible debenture; and (iii) 3.0 million common shares of Constitution Mining." More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Cortez Gold Corp.: New Proposed Qualifying Transactions Under Review - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Otish Energy Acquires the Noyelles Gold Property, Abitibi Area, Quebec - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

New Drilling Hits 11.6 Metres of 27 g/t Gold at Pele Mountain's Ardeen Project - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Millrock Reports Chip Sampling Results From Estelle Project, Alaska - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Jinshan Agrees to US$40 Million Loan From China National Gold Group Corporation to Redeem Outstanding Promissory Notes - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

2009 Drill Program Tests Gold Targets at Bear Lodge - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

EVG Infill Drilling Demonstrates Continuity of Bulk Tonnage Targets at Rattlesnake Hills, Wyoming - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Northern Freegold Extends Gold Mineralization in Step-Out Drilling to the Southwest of the Nucleus Zone at Freegold Mountain, Yukon - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Lake Victoria to Commence Geophysical Survey to Target Drill Holes at Singida Gold Project, Tanzania - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Source Gold Corp. Welcomes New Advisory Committee Member - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Elray Resources Reviews Property Portfolio as Gold Price Continues to Rise as Investors Look to Security - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Ironwood Gold Corp. Signs Assignment Agreement for Historically Significant Gold Asset in Nevada - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Skeena Announces Robust Preliminary Assessment Results for Malpica Copper-Gold Project, Mexico - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Management's Exploration Plans for VG Gold in 2010 - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Klondike Silver Corp: Drilling Commences on Espiritu Gold-Copper Porphyry Project - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Landore Resources Limited - Significant gold discovery Junior Lake property - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Freewest Announces Increase in Purchase Price to $0.90 Per Share for Acquisition by Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp. signs mining contract with Small Mine Developers - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Silver Quest Announces Senior Appointments - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Metals Creek Resources Corp. Announces 1.37 g/t Gold Over 26.31 Meters at Its 100% Owned Staghorn Gold Property and Mobilizes Second Drill to the Property - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

General Metals Releases Favorable Hill Zone Delineation Drill Results Including 85 Feet Grading 0.021 Opt Au and 0.37 Opt Ag From Surface - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Eurasian Reports Drill Intercept of 28.4 Meters Averaging 20.45 g/t Gold at Grand Bois Property, Haiti - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Noront Resources announces Ring of Fire project development plans - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Kootenay Gold Inc.: Drilling underway at Espiritu gold copper porphyry project - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Paladin Energy Ltd: Settlement of Areva Proceedings - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Goldrich Amends Terms of Forward Gold Sales - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Weststar Resources Corp. Announces Analytical Results From Axe Property - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Habanero to Acquire Silver Project in the Yukon - More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Sabina Releases Additional Results from New Discovery at Echo Zone and Regional Exploration on Del Lake Claims - "Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. (TSX:SBB - News) is pleased to report the remaining drillhole assay results from the newly discovered Echo Zone and also to report new surface grab sample results from the Del Lake claim group. Preliminary assays from the Echo Zone were released on October 7, 2009." More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Freeport Indonesia sees steady 2010 copper output - "The Indonesian unit of Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N) expects its copper production to be steady next year, while gold output may fall by about a fifth because of lower ore grades, it said in a statement." More
- December 03, 2009 | Item | E-mail

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