Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Gain Over 1% and 3%

The Metals:

Gold climbed $30.59 to $1639.69 by a little after 9AM EST before it fell back off a bit in New York, but it still ended with a gain of 1.39%.Silver surged to as high as $30.295 before it also fell back off a bit, but it still ended with a gain of 3.36%.

Euro gold climbed to almost €1278, platinum gained $24.30 to $1457.80, and copper gained 10 cents to about $3.51.

Gold and silver equities rose over 2% at the open and remained near that level for the rest of the day.

The Economy:

U.S. Job Openings Decreased for Second Month Bloomberg

Tomorrow at 2PM brings the fed’s Beige Book from January.

The Markets:

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

Oil rose and the U.S. dollar index fell after poor trade data from China raised speculation that it may take measures to stimulate its economy.

Treasuries remained slightly lower after today’s $32 billion 3-year note auction sold at a high yield of 0.37% with a bid to cover of 3.73.

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P rose on hopes that China will take measures to spur economic growth.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Kodak, Apple, Olympus, Tiffany, Alcoa, Ford, Pimco, and WebMD.

The Commentary:

“The HUI has been lagging the broader US equity markets since August of last year but has found some good buying down near levels commensurate with valued based buying for nearly two years now.

What this tells us is that further rallies in the US equity markets should see corresponding support continuing in the mining sector.

Now if only the ratio trade employed by the hedge funds against the miners in relation to bullion would ever come to an end. For most of 2011, with brief exceptions, the miners lagged poorly against the price of gold. Note the trend has been down but the ratio is now at levels that have attracted a reversal in the spreads last year. The shares remained undervalued when compared to bullion but something will need to change in order to put the nail in the coffin of this spread trade which has gutted the value of so many quality mining companies.

There has been a band of overhead chart resistance centered between $1630 - $1620 that has been keeping gold in check for the last few weeks. Gold has been probing this level for the last couple of days and has been unable to convincingly push past it. Today that all changed as gold charged higher in the very early hours of European trading. While it has been stymied in New York from furthering its overnight gains (no surprise there), it has also been attracting additional buying above $1630. As long as this buying continues, gold will have sufficient momentum to launch an attack on the $1650 level.

A large number of traders are watching the 200 day moving average to see how the metal handles itself here. The longer it holds ABOVE this level, the more nervous the shorts are going to become. From a technical perspective, a market in a bearish mode should not be able to push through this level but should fail near or at that level and then begin retreating in price. This average comes in near the $1629 level which reinforces the horizontal resistance levels noted on the chart. You will note that gold is trading above both these levels as of this hour.

If this market can continue higher tomorrow and take out $1650, we will see $1680 in very short order as shorts begin exiting more earnestly while buyers sitting on the sideline observing its performance will grow emboldened. That will bring the open interest up as hedge fund money returns more strongly.

Downside probes should meet up with valued-based buying above and just slightly below the $1600 level. Only a failure there will see the metal retreat deeper back towards $1575.

The Dollar is setting back a bit from its recent 52 week high but remains above both its 10 day and 20 day moving averages. The weekly chart is positive but does show a level of chart resistance just shy of the 82 level which is exactly where it is currently stalling a bit. Dollar bulls need to clear this level before the week is out if they hope to take the Dollar up towards 83.50 - 84.00.

The HUI is rising alongside of both gold and silver today as there is a general bid into equities across the board. The equity guys are anticipating better economic numbers coming out of the US and seem to be dismissing any concerns related to European sovereign debt issues for the time being. That will help keep the miners moving higher but I am noting the fact that they not been able to extend their gains from the opening hour of trading today. Sellers are emerging but the buyers have still been continuing so both sides are currently stalemated heading into the last hour of trading. We will see which side blinks first.

Note that the index still remains below the 50 day moving average although it is well above the bottom of the 15 month long trading range down near 500 - 490.”- Dan Norcini, More at http://www.traderdannorcini.blogspot.com/

GATA Posts:

Forex trade emails cast doubt on Swiss central banker Hildebrand

Ted Butler: Three elements of silver manipulation

U.S. Gold's McEwen expects investment mania in precious metals

Michigan radio host Dave Janda interviews GATA Chairman Murphy

The Statistics:

Activity from: 1/09/2012

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: 171.00: No change from yesterday’s data.

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

The Miners:

Tanzanian Royalty’s (TRX) drill results, Nevsun's (NSU) fourth quarter operating highlights, Timmins Gold’s (TGD) third quarter gold production, Seabridge’s (SA) updated mineral resource model, Mines Management’s (MGN) letter of intent ("LOI") with Estrella Gold Corp. ("EGC") for an option to acquire up to 75% of the La Estrella gold and silver project, and Endeavour Silver’s (EXK) fourth quarter production 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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