In case somebody on this board still cares about yellow stuff:
Gold Rises to $600 for First Time Since 1981 Amid Oil Concern
bloomberg.com
online.wsj.com
Gold Hits $600 Mark;
Silver at New 22-Year High
Oil Nears $68 a Barrel
By MYRA P. SAEFONG and CIARA LINNANE
April 6, 2006 3:22 p.m.
Gold futures set a fresh 25-year high at $600 an ounce in intraday trading, pulling other metals to multiyear levels and helping copper to a new all-time high.
"Gold is exploding and silver isn't far behind," said Kevin Kerr, trader and editor of Global Resources Trader, a newsletter published by MarketWatch, which is owned by Dow Jones & Co., which publishes WSJ.com.
Gold for June delivery hit a high of $601.90 in electronic trade, and peaked at $600 an ounce in regular trading. The metal settled at $595.20 an ounce, up $7.30, on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver settled at a new 22-year high of $12.007 an ounce, after peaking at $12.08 in electronic trade. Silver has rallied sharply in recent weeks as excitement has built about the pending launch of a silver exchange-traded fund that could boost physical demand for the metal.
Copper rose 4.85 cents to $2.6765 a pound, a new record. Platinum rose $18.20 to $1,085.80 an ounce and palladium was up $15.40 at $358.05 an ounce.
"Key resistance was broken overnight and, as we have been building support and healthy consolidation over the last week or so, now we have a firm base to move higher," said Mr. Kerr, who noted that Thursday's early rally has come without any real news to drive it.
But Jon Nadler, an investment products analyst at bullion dealers Kitco.com, said he thinks it is "reasonable to conclude that [Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice's call for sanctions on Iran and the car bombing in Iraq are weighing on trader's minds."
Metals continue to find strong support from continued buying by funds, seeking out asset classes with a potential for strong returns. Now that gold has hit the psychologically key $600-an-ounce level, some nearer-horizon funds may take the opportunity to lock in profits.
"Going forward, inflationary concerns will only gain steam, the U.S. dollar will continue its downward decline and geopolitical tensions will continue to draw safe-haven buying from around the globe," said Emanuel Balarie, senior market strategist at Wisdom Financial.
Oil Climbs on Supply Concerns
Crude-oil futures shot to a nine-week high at Thursday's open, climbing about a dollar to target $69 a barrel on mounting summer supply fears.
Benchmark light, sweet crude futures for May rose 87 cents to settle at $67.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Crude's front month hasn't punched above $68 a barrel since Feb. 1, when it notched a high of $69. The peak so far this year of $69.20, posted in January, missed crude's all-time high of $70.85, reached Aug. 30, 2005.
Though commercial U.S. petroleum inventories remain at above-average levels for this time of year, a decline in gasoline stocks of more than 14 million barrels in the past five weeks has raised worries of a supply crunch during peak summer demand. Outside the U.S., the potential for disruptions to crude and fuel production continues to keep the petroleum complex on edge, from tensions surrounding oil titans Iran and Nigeria to labor actions at refineries across Europe.
For many, these worries have coalesced, backing a fresh conviction among energy traders: There appears to be little to stop oil from testing $70 a barrel -- or even higher.
"Because the market is stabilizing up here above $66, I think the consensus is we're not going to pull back," said Michael Guido, director of commodity strategy in New York for Societe Generale. "We haven't seen a point of pain yet to introduce any demand destruction. We may have to hit the mid-$70s before we get there."
Nymex refined-product futures also rose, with gasoline leading. May gasoline futures traded up 5.29 cents at $2 a gallon, while Nymex heating oil futures for the same month traded at $1.89 a gallon, up 2.12 cents. Crude's rally has been backed in recent days by the soaring price of gold futures. |
