Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Fall Over 2% and 4%

	Close	Gain/Loss
Gold	$1393.10	-$31.70
Silver	$34.16	-$1.69
XAU	204.21	-1.06%
HUI	534.57	-2.25%
GDM	1566.16	-2.29%
JSE Gold	2615.85	-35.41
USD	76.35	+0.04
Euro	139.96	+0.05
Yen	123.82	+1.32
Oil	$97.18	-$4.01
10-Year	3.323%	-0.024
T-Bond	122.875	+0.53125
Dow	11855.42	-1.15%
Nasdaq	2667.33	-1.25%
S&P	1281.87	-1.12%

Gold fell all the way to $1381.24 by about 8:30AM EST before it bounced back higher in New York, but it still ended with a loss of 2.22%. Silver dropped to as low as $33.577 before it also rallied back higher, but it still ended with a loss of 4.71%.

Euro gold fell to about €997, platinum lost $46.75 to $1698.75, and copper fell to about $4.13.

Gold and silver equities fell over 5% at the open, but they then rallied back higher for the rest of the day and ended with only about 1.5% losses.

Report	For	Reading	Expected	Previous
Empire Manufacturing	Mar	17.5	17.0	15.43
Import Prices	Feb	1.4%	-	1.3%
Import Prices ex-oil	Feb	0.3%	-	0.7%
Export Prices	Feb	1.2%	-	1.3%
Export Prices ex-ag.	Feb	0.9%	-	1.0%
NAHB Housing Market	Mar	17	17	16

The FOMC kept the fed funds rate unchanged in its target range of 0% to 0.25% as expected. The fed also repeated its intention to purchase $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011. “The recent increases in the prices of energy and other commodities are currently putting upward pressure on inflation. The Committee expects these effects to be transitory, but it will pay close attention to the evolution of inflation and inflation expectations.”

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings the fourth quarter Current Account Balance expected at -$110.0 billion, PPI for February expected at 0.6%, Core PPI expected at 0.2%, Housing Starts for February expected at 575,000, and Building Permits expected at 573,000.

Oil fell on worries over falling energy demand due to Japan’s nuclear crisis.

The U.S. dollar index erased nearly all of its significant early gains as the yen rose on risk aversion and repatriation.

Treasuries rose as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell on concerns about Japan, but the major indices ended well off their opening lows.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Nasdaq, HP, and Citigroup.

“The big non-news of the day outside of the developments in Japan was the FOMC's press statement maintaining the status quo of low interest rates and a continuation of the QE2 purchases through the end of June.

Given the fact that there is a lag between the time of their meeting and the actual release of the FOMC minutes, it is safe to say that events in Japan now totally overwhelm whatever the FOMC was looking at prior to the horrific earthquake that has shattered the lives of so many of those suffering on the battered island.

While the Fed has seen the US bond market rally sharply as a result of both the events in MENA and those in Japan, the falling interest rates that have resulted are not especially what they were hoping for given the collapse in global equity markets.

With many tossing out 2008 as a comparison to what could happen to prices in general if the hedge funds continue their barrage of selling, the Fed will no doubt be closely watching the level of the US stock market. They are probably a bit pleased to see the mauling occurring in the commodity sector but not with the plunge in the equities. They will not let a repeat of 2008 occur on their watch and will do whatever is necessary to provide sufficient liquidity to prevent it.

Given all the turmoil and market uncertainty associated with the tragedy in Japan, not to mention continued unrest across the MENA, it is again very telling that the US Dollar cannot seem to maintain any sort of strong safe haven bid.

Instead it is the Swiss Franc that is the main beneficiary of such flows.

We keep seeing this type of pattern during periods in which risk aversion is the order of the day. The Dollar initially gets the knee jerk safe haven bid and then runs out of steam as sellers look to take advantage of the rally. I am hesitant to be too dogmatic with all this insane volatility but I am wondering if we are already beginning to see the global investment community voting with their feet against the Dollar remaining as the sole reserve currency.”- Dan Norcini, More at http://www.traderdannorcini.blogspot.com/

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: SPDR subtracted 1.82 tonnes.

COMEX Gold Trust (IAU) Total Tonnes in Trust: 122.52 - No change from yesterday’s data.

Silver Trust (SLV) Total Tonnes in Trust: 10,957.36 - No change from yesterday’s data.

ITH’s (THM) hired construction manager, Exeter’s (XRA) pre-feasibility study progress, Capital Gold’s (CGC) 51% increase in revenue for the quarter ending, and Gammon Gold’s (GRS) and Timmins Gold’s (TMM.V) offers for Capital Gold 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.

Augen Gold Appoints New Advisory Board Members - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Portage's Trenching Results Return High Grade Antimony and Extends Mineralized Zone at Bald Hill, New Brunswick; - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Meadow Bay Appoints Directors and CFO - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Pacific Rim Mining Announces Fiscal 2011 Third Quarter Results - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Northaven Resources Corp.: Corporate Name Change Completed - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Pancontinental Uranium Corporation: Crossland CEO, Geoff Eupene, Interviewed on REE Results and Discovery Announcement - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Standard Gold Announces Acquisition of Assets from Shea Mining and Milling with Resulting Revenues Projected in 2011 - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Gammon Gold Makes Firm and Final Offer to Capital Gold - "Gammon Gold Inc. ("Gammon") (TSX:GAM.to - News) and (NYSE:GRS - News): Gammon today proposed to amend its merger agreement with Capital Gold to increase the cash component of the merger consideration to be paid to Capital Gold's stockholders by US$0.30 per share to US$1.09. If Capital Gold accepts Gammon's proposed amendment and Capital Gold's stockholders approve the merger involving Gammon Gold, Capital Gold's stockholders will receive 0.5209 Gammon shares and US$1.09 in cash for each share of Capital Gold common stock that they hold." More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

J.A.G. Mines Ltd/Olitra Inc.: Fifth Year of Conventional Natural Gas Research Program Completed on the Temiscouata Property - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Oroco Resource Corp. Announces Closing of Private Placement - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Platinex Inc. and Creso Exploration Inc.: Gold Corona Joint Venture Trenching and Drilling Results - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

CuCo Resources Closes US$45 Million Private Placement Equity Financing with Leading Resources Sector Investors - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Platinex Inc. and Creso Explorations Inc.: Gold Corona Joint Venture Trenching and Drilling Results - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Montoro Retains Ethos Consulting for Investor Relations - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Sparton Reports Positive Sampling Results From China Vanadium Project - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Denison Mines Corp. Closes Bought Deal Financing - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Powertech Closes Unit Offering and Refinancing Transaction - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Colorado Rare Earths, Inc. Announces the Appointment of Kevin Cassidy to Its Board of Directors - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Canasil Completes ZTEM Airborne Geophysical Surveys on Three Silver and Silver-Gold Projects in Durango State, Mexico - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Trevali Identifies New Mineralized Body at Santander Project in Peru - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Alexis Finds Kilometre-Scale Gold Zones on the Noralex Property, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

RX Exploration Intersects 1.07 opt Gold and 5.69 opt Silver Over 4.3 Metres at Drumlummon Mine - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Cartier Resources Inc.: High Priority Targets Identified on Riviere Dore Property - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Guyana Frontier Commences Drilling at Favourable Lake Project - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Gold-Ore Announces First Quarter Gold Production and 2011 Production Guidance - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Iron Metallurgical Test Work Confirms Magnetite Recovery at Far West Mining's Santo Domingo Project - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Rockland Minerals Releases Technical Report on Retty Lake Airborne Survey - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

International Enexco Commences Trading on OTCQX - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Woulfe Mining's Plan to Move Sangdong Tungsten Molybdenum Project Towards Production - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Luna Gold Drills 19.00 M @ 1.45 G/T Au and 2.00 M @ 130.45 G/T Au at Aurizona - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Richfield drills 145 metres of 2.70 g/t Au including 40 metres of 5.00 g/t Au - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

East Asia Minerals Confirms Connection Between Miwah Bluff and Block M With 2.28 g/t Gold Over 95 Metres Within 159.5 Metres Grading 1.46 g/t Gold - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Gold Canyon Discovers Shallow High-Grade at Springpole Gold Project: Hole SP11-040 Intersects 100.5 Meters at 7.23 Grams per Tonne Gold - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Verbina Resources Inc. Announces Commencement of Work Compilation on Banso and Muoso Mining Licenses (the "Licenses") in Ghana, West Africa - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Detour Gold Reports Final Drill Results From Its 2010 Drilling Program at Detour Lake Project in Ontario - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Probe Mines Announces Assay Results for Its Borden Lake Project Near Chapleau, Ontario; Expands Discovery Zone to 960 Metres in Length and to 330m Depth - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Hunter Bay Minerals Enters Into Agreement to Acquire Operating Rights on Sela Creek Project - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Strateco Files Form 15F to Terminate Its Reporting Obligations in the United States - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

IBC Signs Agreement with the US Army Research Lab to Develop Beralcast(R) UAV Aerospace Applications - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Typhoon Exploration Announces an Average of 22.2 g/t Gold for Drilling in 2010 - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

BE Resources Completes First Two Holes of 12 Hole Drill Program at Its Warm Springs Beryllium Project - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Alamos Gold Reports Record Annual Earnings of $0.57 Per Share - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

North American Palladium Added to S&P/TSX Composite Index - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

BonTerra Applies for Ice Permit to Extend Strike - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Further Progress in the Permitting Process for the Restart of the Rio Tinto Mine - More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Timmins Gold Increases Offer for Capital Gold by Adding US$0.25 Cash Per Share - "Timmins Gold Corp. (TSX-V:TMM - News) today announced that it has delivered an increased offer to the Capital Gold Board of Directors for the merger of Timmins Gold and Capital Gold. Under the increased offer, Capital Gold shareholders will now receive 2.27 Timmins Gold common shares and US$0.25 in cash for each share of Capital Gold common stock." More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

International Tower Hill Mines Hires Construction Manager for the Livengood Project, Alaska - "International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. ("ITH" or the "Company") (TSX:ITH - News)(AMEX:THM - News)(Frankfurt:IW9 - News) is pleased to announce the hiring of Thomas E. Irwin as the Company's Construction Manager at its Livengood Gold Project near Fairbanks, Alaska. Mr. Irwin has over 35 years' experience in the natural resource industry constructing, optimizing, operating and permitting major mining projects with companies such as Amax Gold and Kinross. Most recently, he served for six years as the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources." More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Exeter Reports Progress on the Caspiche Stand-Alone Oxide Pre-Feasibility Study - "Exeter Resource Corporation (AMEX:XRA - News) (TSX:XRC - News) (Frankfurt:EXB - News) ("Exeter" or the "Company") is pleased to report on the progress of a stand-alone oxide ore pre-feasibility study ("PFS") that is expected to be completed in Q2 2011. The oxide ore PFS will be followed by the full project PFS in Q3-2011. The later PFS will include mining and leaching of the oxide material but on a far shorter timeline." More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Capital Gold Corporation Reports a 51% Increase in Revenue for Second Quarter - "Capital Gold Corporation (Amex:CGC - News) ("CGC") today reported a 51% increase in revenue for the quarter ending January 31, 2011, compared to the prior year's period. Net income for the six months ended January 31, 2011 and 2010 was approximately $8,242,000 and $5,884,000, respectively, representing an increase of approximately 40% over the prior period. During the quarter, 14,573 ounces of gold were sold at an average price of $1,375 per ounce." More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

Capital Gold Corporation Urges Stockholders to Vote Today FOR the Gammon Gold Merger - "Capital Gold Corporation (Amex:CGC - News) is reminding stockholders that the special meeting to vote on the merger with Gammon Gold Inc. is this Friday, March 18, 2011. Capital Gold is urging all of its stockholders to vote the WHITE proxy card FOR the Gammon merger. If the Merger is completed, stockholders will receive 0.5209 common shares of Gammon Gold and a cash payment in the amount of $0.79 for each share of CGC common stock owned immediately prior to the Merger." More
- March 15, 2011 | Item | ShareThis

- Would you like to receive the Free Daily Gold Seeker Report in your e-mail? Click here

Note: This article may be reproduced provided the article, in full, is used and mention to Gold-Seeker.com is given.

Disclosure: The owner, editor, writer and publisher and their associates are not responsible for errors or omissions. The author of this report is not a registered financial advisor. Readers should not view this material as offering investment related advice. Gold-Seeker.com has taken precautions to ensure accuracy of information provided. Information collected and presented are from what is perceived as reliable sources, but since the information source(s) are beyond Gold-Seeker.com’s control, no representation or guarantee is made that it is complete or accurate. The reader accepts information on the condition that errors or omissions shall not be made the basis for any claim, demand or cause for action. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. Any statements non-factual in nature constitute only current opinions, which are subject to change. Nothing contained herein constitutes a representation by the publisher, nor a solicitation for the purchase or sale of securities & therefore information, nor opinions expressed, shall be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any stock, futures or options contract mentioned herein. Investors are advised to obtain the advice of a qualified financial & investment advisor before entering any financial transaction.