-- Posted 21 April, 2010 | | Source: SilverSeek.com

The Metals:

Gold erased decent gains seen in Asia and London and fell to see a $1.85 loss at $1137.15 by about 9:15AM EST, but it then rallied back higher for most of the rest of trade in New York and ended near its late session high of $1150.24 with a gain of 0.79%.  Silver dropped a couple of cents to $17.69 before it also rallied back higher and ended near its late session high of $18.116 with a gain of 1.52%.

Euro gold rose to about €857, platinum gained $18.50 to $1728.50, and copper added a couple of cents to about $3.53.

Gold and silver equities traded mixed for most of the morning, but they then rose to see roughly 1% gains by early afternoon and remained at about that level for the rest of the day.

The Economy:

Fed paid record $47.4 bln to Treasury in 2009  Reuters

Senate committee passes derivatives bill  Reuters

Banks' loan losses easing but demand down  Reuters

Fox Business Expands Suit Against Federal Reserve  FOXBusiness

There were no major economic reports today.  Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings Initial Jobless Claims for 4/17 expected at 450,000, PPI for March expected at 0.5%, and Core PPI expected at 0.1%.  At 10AM is the Existing Home Sales report for March expected at 5,280,000 and the FHFA Home Price Index for Mach expected at -0.2%.

The Markets:

Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/

Oil fell after the Energy Information Administration reported that crude inventories rose 1.9 million barrels, gasoline inventories rose 3.6 million barrels, and distillates rose 2.1 million barrels.  All increases were larger than expected, but prices losses were rather minimal on news of resumed flights in Europe.

The U.S. dollar index rose as the euro fell on renewed worries over Greek debt that also sent treasuries higher.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P traded mixed as concerns over Greece were offset by mostly better than expected at earnings reports.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Wells Fargo, Gilead, McDonald’s, AT&T, Boeing, Morgan Stanley, Visa, Lockheed, Calpine, Chrysler, EADS, Apple, and Yahoo.

The Commentary:

“The open interest numbers for Monday's activity shows no signs of any carry-over from Friday's trading.  Gold open interest was up once again... this time by 1,035 contracts.  Total volume was a reasonably light 129,465 contracts.  Silver's volume was 38,534 contracts... of which about 20% were roll-overs in future months as options expiry and first notice day loom.  Open interest was up an insignificant 62 contracts.

Tuesday's open interest numbers, when reported later this morning, will be the final numbers for Friday's Commitment of Traders report, as the cut-off was at the close of trading yesterday.  The bullion banks have a tendency to make their big moves [either up or down] on a Wednesday... the day after the cut-off... so their shenanigans don't get reported until the following Friday's COT.  Let's see if that applies today.

The CME Delivery Report on Tuesday showed that 32 gold and zero silver contracts are up for delivery on Thursday.  There were no reported changes in GLD or SLV yesterday, either... however, the U.S. Mint had some sales to report.  They showed that another 10,000 one-ounce gold eagles and another 609,000 silver eagles were sold.  That brings gold eagle sales up to 43,500 for the month... and silver eagles are up to 1,756,000.  Silver eagle sales are outselling gold eagles by about 40-1.  You can never own too many silver eagles, dear reader.

And that goes for Canada's silver maple leaf as well.  Shortly before 10:00 a.m. yesterday morning, the phone rang, and I found myself talking to a representative of the Royal Canadian Mint... who actually asked for me by name!  I had sent in an e-mail sometime in February asking if they would provide mintage amounts for their silver maple leaf production for 2009.  About a month after I sent that e-mail, I got a reply saying that the numbers I wanted were in the annual report due out in April... and I could check there.  Then, out of the blue, I got this call.

The lady on the other end of the phone had the sexiest French-Canadian accent you can possible imagine... and the conversation didn't last long enough to suit me.  Anyway, she told me that the Royal Canadian Mint produced 9,727,592 silver maple leafs last year.  And that, dear reader, is an absolutely stunning number!  It blows the old record right out of the water by many millions.  She also went on to say that the mint also produced 569,000 one ounce silver coins in support of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games held in Vancouver earlier this year.  There were also hundreds of thousands of other silver coins the mint produced in various levels of silver purity.  So Canada has done its part in taking silver off the market.

If you want to dig further into Canadian silver sales in 2009... the mint's 88-page annual report for that year is linked here.

And finally, the Comex-approved depositories indicated that another chunk of silver was taken out of their inventories on Monday.  This time it was a paltry 298,372 troy ounces.  There was a lot of activity on Monday... and all the action is linked here.”– From Ed Steer’s Gold & Silver Daily, read the full report here.

“Dear CIGAs,

Today was quite remarkable given the weakness in the Euro and the strength in the Dollar. The commodity markets seemingly entered a different realm with buying originating across a good many of the individual commodity futures markets even as the bonds were higher and the equity markets were showing some hesitancy. Dollar strength was a non-factor today. Once again it appears that managed money wants to own this sector irrespective to some extent of what the Dollar is or is not doing. This bodes extremely well for gold as you will recall that one of the 5 pillars for a bull market in gold, which Jim detailed many years ago and is still applicable even now, is rising commodity prices.

The Continuous Commodity Index put in a 3 month high today and is threatening an upside breakout from the 2 month long congestion pattern that has dominated its daily chart since early February. Palladium made a two year high today while platinum pushed further above $1700. Clearly industrial demand for both metals is on the rise as is the investment demand aspect of both. That strength is being reflected in both silver and copper and is one of the myriad reasons that gold is moving higher. Incidentally, speaking of silver, it needs to push past its ten day moving average near today’s session high to set up a challenge of $18.60.

I have been keeping an eye on lumber futures and they are putting in a very strong showing having moved up sharply the last week. I am not sure what to make of this whether it is related to mill closures or anticipation of a rebound in home building, but for whatever reason, lumber is signifying an improvement in that area. Lumber has been one of the few commodity markets, along with natural gas, that has not participated in the surge of buying in that sector. Perhaps it is playing catch up as fund managers look for undervalued markets.

Natural gas might be next if that is the case although it is still being plagued with supply issues. If Nat Gas were to finally get something going to the upside, it would help push the CCI (Continuous Commodity Index) higher with rising energy costs then percolating through the entire economy. Again, that would work to the benefit of gold. Energy intensive industry has been the beneficiary of cheap natural gas prices allowing them to keep some of their input costs contained. Should that change, eventually, they would have to push these costs through to the end product which would impact buyers of their production. The Fed is supposedly going to work to nip the inflation genie in the bud but it is the perception of inflation that is more dangerous as once that sets hold, it is difficult to root out without drastic action, something which this nascent recovery is in no wise able to bear.

Speaking of inflation – the bond market certainly is not the least bit concerned by it judging from the price action on the long end. They broke out to the upside and now have a rather clear path to 118^10 level on the technical price charts. Bond traders are betting that there will be sufficient demand for new issues to absorb the tremendous supply coming. They are also betting that the labor market is still so weak that inflationary pressures from wages will not be an issue for the foreseeable future. For now, that seems to be overriding any concerns from the rise in commodity prices. But that can change, and in a hurry so we will keep an eye on this market for clues.

Copper, another bellwether market, has been able to attract buying on dips down towards $3.45. Only if it can accomplish an upside breakout above $3.65 will it be able to mount a sustained charge higher. That level has thus far stymied its upward progress. If it can push past there, it will signify that this market is anticipating a further improvement in the global economy.

The mining shares, while higher today, do not look quite as healthy as the bullion chart although they are higher even as the broader equity markets are struggling. The HUI looks to be caught up in a bit of a crosswind with pressure from the lower stock market battling against buying coming from the stronger gold and silver markets. It is encouraging to see it attempting to disattach itself somewhat from the action in the S&P. If gold can push past the $1175 level, the HUI will follow it higher regardless of what the general equity markets do. If they go higher, while gold sustains an upside run, the HUI will have an additional tailwind at its back that will make it outperform the market as a whole. We will have to wait and see what transpires.”- Dan Norcini, More at JSMineset.com

GATA Posts:

South Africa's Business Report notes GATA's work at CFTC

Did everyone already know what Jeff Christian told CFTC?

James Turk: Hyperinflation looms as the dollar reaches its 'Havenstein moment'

The Statistics:

Activity from: 4/20/2010

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

 Note: No change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data.

COMEX Gold Trust (IAU) Total Tonnes in Trust: 76.48 - No change from yesterday’s data.

Silver Trust (SLV) Total Tonnes in Trust: 8,912.94 - No change from yesterday’s data.

The Miners:

Great Basin’s (GBG) ore purchase agreement with Newmont (NEM), AngloGold’s (AU) and Gold Fields’ (GF) discussions on mine operations in South Africa, Freeport’s (FCX) first quarter results, Gold Fields’ (GF) mine development, AngloGold’s (AU) secured credit facility, Hochschild’s (HOCM.L) mining output, Silver Quest’s (SQI.V) drill program, Scorpio’s (SPM.TO) production outlook, and Arian’s (AGQ.V) property progress were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.

WINNERS

LOSERS

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

All of today's gold and silver stock news:

Golden Phoenix to Host Shareholder Conference Call Following Completion of Major Debt Reduction Initiative - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Parallel Commences Drilling at Matehuala Property, San Luis Potosi, Mexico - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Great Quest Defines Gold Soil Anomaly on Dabia Ouest Concession - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Minera Andes Announces First Quarter 2010 San Jose Mine Production - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Gold Values From Adumbi Adit Sampling Include 3.24 Grammes Per Tonne Over 15 Metres in the DRC, Part of a Wide Mineralized Gold Bearing Package - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Cardero Baja IOCG Project Update - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Vena and Glencore Agree to Extend Azulocha West Joint Venture and Vena Appoints Mr. Enrique Winkelried as GM of Vena-Peru - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Royal Roads advised that Acadian Mining Corporation intends to sell its 29.18% interest in Royal Roads - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Pebble Creek Mining Ltd. relocates head office - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Great Basin Gold Enters Into Ore Purchase Agreement with Newmont and Provides Further Operational Updates - "Great Basin Gold Ltd, ("Great Basin" or the "Company"), (TSX: GBG; NYSE Amex: GBG; JSE: GBG) today announced that the Company has entered into an ore purchase agreement with Newmont Mining Ltd ("Newmont") to sell up to a maximum of 50,000 ore tons, but not less than 35,000 ore tons, currently stockpiled at the Hollister property. The Company plans to immediately send 40,000 tons in terms of this agreement. At April 11 2010, the stockpile comprised approximately 51,000 wet tons containing an estimated 49,000 gold equivalent ounces (Au eqv oz)(1)." More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Victoria Gold Begins 2010 Yukon Exploration Program and Closes $4.3 Million Flow-Through Financing Priced at a Premium - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Khan Files Formal Claim in Mongolian Administrative Court, Requests Prime Minister's Assistance and Provides Update on the CNNC Offer - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

AngloGold, Gold Fields in talks over SAfrica ops - "Gold producer AngloGold Ashanti (ANGJ.J) and rival Gold Fields (GFIJ.J) said on Wednesday the firms have talked about a possible combination of their South African operations, but only at an informal level." More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

North American Palladium Increases Bought Deal Financing to C$87 Million - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Terra Ventures Inc.: Hathor Plans Detailed Follow-up Drilling as Roughrider East Gives 100 m of Strike Extent to Uranium Mineralization - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Riverstone Resources Inc. to Host Conference Call on Wednesday, April 21, 2010, at 10:00 PDT, on Karma Results - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Puma Exploration: Copper Recovery of 95% at Turgeon - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Riverstone Intersects High Grade Gold at Nami - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Hana Mining Ltd.: Inferred Copper Resource Tonnage Estimate for Banana Zone Increases by 80.7%, With Cu Grade of 1.47% - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Quaterra Drilling Significantly Expands Acid-Soluble Copper Zone at Macarthur - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

United Reef Updates West Timmins Option for Nixon-Bartleman Property - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Volcanic Data Compilation Reveals Significant Copper Mineralization Reported Historically - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Foundation Intersects 10.05 g/t Gold Over 2.10 m Within a 27.46-Metre-Wide Zone at the Sanders Zone Located 500 m Northeast of Historic Resource at Coldstream - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Premier - Drilling expands PG70 Zone discovery in Red Lake and discovers new gold zone at East Bay - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Vista Partners Initiates Coverage on Black Hawk Exploration Inc.; $1.85 Target Price - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Logan Copper's Dansey Project operations update - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Ruby Creek Resources Hires Porter, LeVay & Rose as Investor Relations Counsel - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Volta Reports More Wide Mineralized Intercepts in the Next Section of Drilling at its Kiaka Gold Project Including 119.5m (at) 1.15g/t Gold - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Panoro Minerals Ltd.: Community Agreement Signed for Antilla Copper/Molybdenum Project in Peru - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Drilling by Agnico-Eagle Commences at Columbus Gold's Summit Property - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

47.9 Metres Averaging 1.14 g/t Gold Drilled on Alto's Coldstream Property - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Western Pacific Identifies Targets at Mineral Gulch Project - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Midland Completes an Airborne Survey and Identifies New Exploration Gold Targets in the Goldcorp's Eleonore Area - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Benton Commences Drilling on Deloro Option in Heart of Timmins Gold Camp - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

First Liberty Power Corp. Releases Results From Uravan Mineral Claims Radon Survey - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Hindustan Zinc Limited Results for the Fourth Quarter and Year Ended 31 March 2010 - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Mantis announces Probe to option the Cree Lake Gold Project, Swayze Belt, Ontario - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Farallon announces new gold zones at G-9 - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

GWR announces $1.5M brokered private placement - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Vaaldiam Attends ResourceOne Conference, Gives Strategic Update - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Trijet Acquires Letourneur Property - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

JOURDAN Acquires Additional Strategic Claims Contiguous to and Within the New Zone Recently Discovered by First Gold Exploration - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Taku Arranging $2 Million Financing for Projects in White Gold District of Yukon - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Probe Mines to Option the Cree Lake Gold Project, Swayze Belt, Ontario from Mantis Mineral Corp - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Beaufield Active for Iron and Zinc at Schefferville - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Dagilev Capital Announces Significant Resource Increase for Salave Gold Deposit in Spain - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

International Northair Mines Appoints Paul Dircksen to the Board of Directors - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Hathor Plans Detailed Follow-Up Drilling as Roughrider East Gives 100 m of Strike Extent to Uranium Mineralization - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Fjordland: Drilling at Woodjam North Intersects 61.9 m Grading 0.82 g/t Gold and 0.41% Copper at Takom Zone; Two New Copper Areas Discovered - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Pitchstone Advances Targets on Dome Property, Namibia - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Elray Resources' Ecuador Property Has Infrastructure to Sustain Large Mining Production - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Galway reports high grade gold results from the upper level of El Volcan Mine - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Source Gold Increases Property Holdings in Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Camp - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Mercator Gold plc: Copper Flat Project Update - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Tiger Resources Limited - Kipoi Stage 1 Development - Update - More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Hochschild Mining says Q1 output dips, FY on track - "Latin American precious metal producer Hochschild Mining Plc (HOCM.L) posted a 1 percent dip in its output for the first quarter, excluding the Selene mine, and said it was on track to meet its full-year target." More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Silver Quest Resources Ltd.: Follow-up Drilling Commenced on Davidson Property - "Silver Quest Resources (TSX-V:SQI - News) ("Silver Quest" or "the Company") wishes to report that Richfield Ventures Corp. ("Richfield") has announced the start of a follow-up drill program on the Company's Davidson Property, located approximately 110 kilometres southwest of Vanderhoof, British Columbia. The Davidson Property is under option to Richfield and forms part of Richfield's "Blackwater Project"." More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Scorpio Mining Provides Future Production Outlook - "The Company is in the process of finalizing an expansion plan for its Mexico operations. Metallurgical work and flow sheet design completed by SGS Lakefield Research show that the San Rafael mineralization (Platte River project) reports a lead concentrate that grades 58% lead and 680 g/t silver with 78% recovery, and a zinc concentrate that grades 51% zinc and 128 g/t silver with 82% recovery. The current plan is to install a second circuit for the San Rafael material at the Nuestra Senora (Cosala) mill facility, at a normal throughput of 2,500 tonnes per day (TPD)." More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Announces Increase in Annual Common Stock Dividend to $1.20 Per Share - "Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX - News) announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized an increase in its annual common stock dividend from $0.60 per share to $1.20 per share. The Board would declare a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, with the initial increased dividend expected to be paid in August 2010." More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Reports First-Quarter 2010 Results - "Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX - News) reported first-quarter 2010 net income attributable to common stock of $897 million, $2.00 per share, compared with net income of $43 million, $0.11 per share, for the first quarter of 2009." More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Gold Fields Reaches Key Milestone in South Deep Development - "Gold Fields Limited (Gold Fields) (JSE, NYSE, NASDAQ Dubai: GFI) today announced that it has started the depth extension of the South Deep Ventilation Shaft, a crucial milestone in the development of South Deep, the newest mine in Gold Fields' South African portfolio. The Ventilation Shaft is the second of the two shafts which together form the Twin Shaft Complex of South Deep. The first shaft of the Twin Shaft Complex, the Main Shaft, was completed in 2004." More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

AngloGold Ashanti Secures US$1 Billion, Four-Year Revolving Credit Facility - "AngloGold Ashanti has secured a US$1 billion, four-year unsecured revolving credit facility (RCF) from its banking syndicate, to refinance its existing unsecured revolving credit facility that matures in December 2010 and to extend the overall tenor of its balance sheet." More
- April 21, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Arian Silver Reports on Progress at San Jose - "Arian Silver Corporation ("Arian" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:AGQ - News; AIM:AGQ)(PLUS:AGQ)(FRANKFURT:I3A - News), a silver exploration and development company with a focus on projects in the silver belt of Mexico, is pleased to report on progress at its 100% owned San Jose Property in Zacatecas State in Central Mexico." More
- April 21, 2010 | Item |

- Chris Mullen, Gold Seeker Report

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