Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Gain About 2%

The Metals:

Gold fell $7.20 to $1655.50 by a little before 5AM EST, but it then climbed to new highs throughout most of trade in New York and ended near its late session high of $1693.47 with a gain of 1.76%.Silver surged to as high as $32.93 and ended with a gain of 2.27%.

Euro gold rose to over €1266, platinum gained $23.50 to $1645, and copper gained 8 cents to about $3.89.

Gold and silver equities rose over 2% at the open before they pared their gains a bit midmorning, but they then climbed back higher in late trade and ended near their earlier highs.

The Economy:

“The U.S. economy needs to grow more quickly to bring down the unemployment rate further, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Monday, defending the central bank's policy of very low interest rates.

While he offered no indication that the Fed is keen to embark on a third round of bond purchases, Bernanke also made clear the Fed is in no rush to reverse course after responding aggressively to a deep recession.”

Bernanke: Not clear if good jobs trends will last MarketWatch

Plosser Sees No Need for More Stimulus as Economy Recovers Bloomberg

Bernanke Says Accommodative Policy Needed to Cut Joblessness Bloomberg

Tomorrow at 9AM EST brings the Case-Shiller 20-city Index for January expected at -3.8% and at 10AM is Consumer Confidence for March expected at 70.8.

The Markets:

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

Oil held near unchanged on worries about waning energy demand as a strong economic survey in Germany was offset by concerns about debt burdens in Italy and Spain.

The U.S. dollar index and treasuries fell as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose over 1% on Bernanke’s comments to the National Association for Business Economics (noted above).

Among the big names making news in the market today were Bats, Pimco, MF Global, and Yahoo.

The Commentary:

“In news this morning that most of the gold community was completely expecting I might add, Chairman 'Easy Money Ben' Bernanke announced this morning that he was concerned whether economic recovery was strong enough to sustain itself without supportive and accommodative monetary policy. Translation - near zero interest rates will remain as far as the eye can see.

Talk about messing with the heads of the Fed Funds Futures traders - they are getting beat to death by this Fed. Every single time they start anticipating a rise in the short term interest rates based on economic data releases, some one or more of the Fed governors comes down from his or her ivory tower and squashes the idea that the economy is sufficiently on the mend. Out through the front door goes the notion that these insanely low interest rates are finally going to be begin lifting.

I have said it before and will say it again - the FED IS TERRIFIED OF RISING INTEREST RATES. Do not forget these two reasons:

1.) the entire "recovery" has been fueled by an ultra low interest rate environment in which short term money is basically free for those who want to borrow it and then leverage it up for speculative trading purposes. (Think a rising stock market which has all the feel of another speculative bubble).

2.) the US federal debt is at banana republic levels and any, I repeat, any rise in interest rates, will suck more of the incoming federal revenue into servicing the cost of this debt (paying the interest on it), leaving less for the spendthrift class to buy votes with.

Bernanke and company cannot afford to have a stock market that stops moving higher because if and when it did, the entire facade of an economy on the mend would come crashing down with it.

The monetary masters have reversed the entire reason for a rising stock market from one driven higher by solid underlying fundamentals to one being rammed higher by lots of JUICE. I am reminded of that scene for the original version of the hit movie, "The Matrix", where Neo and Trinity go to rescue Morpheus from the clutches of agent Smith where they are asked what they are going to need to pull off the stunt. "Guns, lots of Guns", comes the answer.

"Juice, lots of Juice" –

The mining shares have been absolutely obliterated over the course of the last couple of months as their longsuffering owners can all too sadly attest.

The carnage however has dropped the index deeply into oversold territory on the weekly price chart. If you notice the chart carefully, this particular indicator which I have tweaked a bit to optimize it to the index, is now nearing levels seen only TWICE since the entire bull market began. Not only that, it is also nearing an important Fibonacci retracement level of the rally that began off the 2008 low before peaking last fall.

Between the extreme undervaluation against the price of bullion and the broader S&P 500, we should be nearing a turning point on this sector within the not too distant future. They have not yet flashed a buy signal but are getting close.”- Dan Norcini, More at http://www.traderdannorcini.blogspot.com/

GATA Posts:

Bron Suchecki: Fake bars -- the facts

GGR examines disgust with mining shares, notes big commercial shorts are covering

BRICs and South Africa move to unseat dollar as trade currency

Zero Hedge: Can gold-plated tungsten be rehypothecated too?

Max Keiser interviews Lars Schall on 9/11 insider trading, German gold reserve secrecy

Alasdair Macleod: Asia's golden future

James Turk: Chinese gold imports will keep increasing

Corzine ordered MF Global customer money moved to Morgan, memo says

Hong Kong exchange to launch yuan-settled gold, copper futures

Ben Traynor: Gunning for gold

High-frequency trading distorts commodity prices, study says

Gold investors ditch equity funds for bullion

The Statistics:

As of close of business: 3/23/2012

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: 181.60: -0.76 change from yesterday’s data.

Silver Trust (SLV) Total Tonnes in Trust: 9,716.42: -10.57 change from yesterday’s data.

The Miners:

New Gold’s (NGD) shareholder rights plan, Lake Shore’s (LSG) fourth quarter and 2011 results, Silvermex’s (SLX.TO) drill results, and Silver Standard’s (SSRI) concentrate sale contracts 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.

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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