Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Mixed and Near Unchanged

The Metals:

Gold climbed to $1669.85 in Asia before it fell back to $1649.21 by early afternoon in New York, but it then bounced back higher in late trade and ended with a loss of just 0.26%. Silver rose to $30.88 in London before it fell back to $30.34, but it also bounced back higher in late trade and ended with a gain of 0.2%.

Euro gold fell to about €1279, platinum gained $0.50 to $1520.70, and copper gained another 5 cents to about $3.80.

Gold and silver equities fell throughout most of trade and ended with about 2% losses.

The Economy:

Rate on 30-year mortgage down to record 3.88 pct. Yahoo

Tomorrow at 10AM EST brings Existing Home Sales for December expected at 4,550,000.

The Markets:

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

Oil ended slightly lower in mixed trade.

The U.S. dollar index and treasuries fell as the euro rose after successful debt auctions in Spain and France.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose on optimism over Europe and better than expected earnings reports.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Kodak.

The Commentary:

“Once again the weakness in the gold mining shares is leading to weakness in gold as the yellow metal fights to retain its footing above the $1650 level. This is occurring even as the US Dollar is weakening and a general bid is coming into the commodity sector overall.

The HUI is down nearly 2% at the time of this writing even as the S&P 500 is up 2/3 of a percent. Note that the HUI to Gold ratio it is currently pressing into levels which saw a low made last year, a level which I might note was commensurate with where it was trading way back nearly three years ago.

No matter how you analyze it, the gold miners are so cheap compared to the price of bullion that it is difficult for me to envision how we are NOT going to see takeovers, mergers or acquisitions. If someone wanted a fire sale, they are surely getting one on some of these firms.

One other side note, the long bond is getting whacked today (down almost a full two points) as traders apparently took the news that Spain and France were able to peddle their debt to some fool somewhere as proof that the situation in Europe is not all that dismal. In other words, even though Greece continues to lurk in the background, investors/traders are basically ignoring the problems there now as they rush back into the Euro which some now feel is undervalued. Yep, another episode of "How the Hedge Fund World Turns" is on television for us all to witness.

Note the following chart of the long bond and the weakening chart pattern. A technical breakdown (while not here YET) would signify that the market is anticipating a RISE in longer term interest rates. The bonds seem to have reached a level that they are unable to rise above (if they do, it will herald the onset of a massive deflationary event) and are thus retreating. Still, the bears are unable to break this market down significantly due to lingering concerns in the background of traders' minds about the potential for more bad news out of Europe.”- Dan Norcini, More at http://www.traderdannorcini.blogspot.com/

“My Dear Friends,

2011 was a year of confusion among financial leadership, many conversations, much speculation, spectacular MOPE and no action. Europe almost talked the euro to death while the media carefully avoided the epic debt of Great Britain and the insolvency of US States.

2012 is going to be year of action and consequences. Today action by the IMF simply throws more money at the problem, which is treating symptoms. The question now is where are these funds coming from? The US Fed has already provided more than $600 billion via swaps with the ECB, who in turn lend this money to the Euro banks, who in turn buy Euro debt. It is international debt monetization, a thinly bearded global QE3. You can be certain that the creation of funds for the IMF’s eventual one trillion in financial aid will be created as thinly bearded global QE3.

Before 2012 is out, political pressures in the US will bring the Fed out of the closet and full-blown QE3 will actively be pursued in daylight.

Rather than a collapsing euro there will be a collapsing dollar. The economic effect of QE3 will bring on extremely complex factors of monetary science. A contraction in general business activity will be contrary to what will be anticipated.

2012 will be the year of actions and consequences with a range in the price of gold, in my opinion, between $1700 and $2100. This is the absolute opposite of what was generally anticipated just one week ago.

Gold shares were actively depreciated by scheming hedge funds run by young bucks that have no knowledge of the extractive industry. They all will make spectacular recoveries.

Take the most recent transaction in the gold market between Eldorado and Euro Gold as a benchmark. It took place at $271 per pounce average price from inferred to proven. Many of these companies are selling at a discount to wholesale value and all the campaigning by the hedge fund shorts cannot hold the price at such a discount to wholesale value. The unsolicited calls of the concerned stockholder hedge fund trader should be viewed against the size of their put positions before using their hedge long to hammer the market in order to profit from their short via put positions taken listed and as OTC derivatives. These destroyers have no idea of what building entails.

I spent a 12-hour day traveling to New York City meeting with six different major investment funds and firms specializing in precious metals shares. In the last four months I have met with over 100 professional money managers in precious metals and have no intention of letting up slack in my activities. We discussed the economics of gold and gold shares. I can guarantee you that the change, when it comes for bullied and forced lower price gold shares, now in many cases below wholesale value of the entities, gold resources will move violently to the upside.

The cash and willingness to act is there. All that is needed is a catalyst and the upside move will be as or more vicious than the calculated manipulation was by young destroyers to the downside.

2012 will be the year of consequences for actions, more so than just in the price of gold and the unexpected dollar weakness of the 2nd half. It will be payback time.

Respectfully,”- Jim Sinclair, JSMineset.com

GATA Posts:

New York Sun: Gingrich goes for gold

The Statistics:

Activity from: 1/18/2012

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: 173.18: No change from yesterday’s data.

Silver Trust (SLV) Total Tonnes in Trust: 9,516.75: No change from yesterday’s data.

The Miners:

Comstock’s (LODE) exploration permits, Vista Gold’s (VGZ) drill results, Pan American’s (PAAS) comments on new mining legislation in Argentina, and Coeur’s (CDE) new Senior Vice President of Operations were among 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.

Please see Yahoo’s Mining/Metals News Wire for all of today’s mining news.

- Chris Mullen, Gold Seeker Report

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Additional Resources for today’s Gold Seeker Report can be found:

• http://www.capitalupdates.com
• http://www.goldseek.com
• http://www.silverseek.com
• http://www.goldreview.com

©Gold Seeker 2012

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