Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (38130)	8/1/1999 1:31:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116764

Dollar Seen Lower as Weakening U.S. Stocks, Bonds Cut Demand for Currency By Mark Tannenbaum Dollar Seen Falling on Concern Over U.S. Bonds, Stocks (Repeat) (Repeats story from July 30.) New York, Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar will likely fall this week on concern that weakness in U.S. bonds and stocks will dim demand for the U.S. currency, and as markets in Japan and Europe attract funds amid signs those economies are rebounding. With expectations building for stronger growth outside the U.S., ''there's going to be money moving to those places,'' said John McCarthy, manager of foreign exchange at ING Baring Capital Markets. ''The attraction of dollar assets may be diminished by growth elsewhere.'' The dollar fell as low as 114.18 yen Friday, its lowest since it touched 113.80 yen on Feb. 15. It recovered to 114.53 yen, down from 115.43 in late New York trading Thursday. The dollar pared gains against the euro, to trade at $1.0711 per euro from $1.0725 Thursday. On the week, the yen gained 1.7 percent against the dollar, while the euro gained 1.9 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.3 percent last week, and the 30-year Treasury bond's yield rose 8 basis points to 6.10 percent, as a government report on labor costs fanned concern that inflation may be accelerating rapidly enough to warrant higher interest rates. These declines hurt the dollar, as foreign investors who abandon U.S. financial assets must convert proceeds into their home currencies. A rebound in U.S. stocks this week could strengthen the dollar to below $1.06 per euro and above 115 yen, said Karl Halligan, chief trader at CIC Bank New York. Absent such a recovery in equities, ''the trend is that dollar-yen is a sell into rallies,'' he said. Investor nervousness that the Federal Reserve may raise rates in coming months -- is likely to continue through this week, ahead of the release on Friday of July jobs figures, traders said. The Fed's policy committee next meets Aug. 24. ''Ultimately earnings drive stock performance, but in the short term stocks have proven to be more dependent on the direction of interest rates,'' said Charles Crane, chief market strategist at Key Asset Management Inc., which oversees $75 billion. Japanese Intervention? Heading into this week, speculation also abounds that Japan may sell yen in an effort to weaken the currency, as it has done seven times since June 10. Japanese finance officials are concerned that a strong yen could hurt exporters' profits and slow the nation's nascent economic rebound. Yet the Bank of Japan's yen-selling has had limited effect. The central bank has been unable to boost the dollar above the 117.60 yen level, where the first of the round of intervention took place on June 10. Demand for yen has risen along with foreign investors' appetite for Japanese equities. Japan's Nikkei-225 stock index has risen about 29 percent since the beginning of the year on prospects for a recovery in the world's second largest economy. ''The market has no fear whatsoever'' of pushing the yen higher in face of the threat of BOJ interventions, said Ben Strauss, a trader at Bank Julius Baer. 'Support Level' Traders and investors who analyze currency movements by using historical patterns and levels are also looking at whether the dollar will break through a key ''support level'' early this week, traders said. The level of about 113.70 yen represents one such support point on the dollar's path of descent from a high of 147.66 yen, reached in August 1998, said Strauss. The 113.70 level is the halfway point between that peak last year and the dollar's postwar low against the yen of 79.75 in April 1995, and is called a ''Fibonacci retracement'' level. The dollar's decline could accelerate if it drops through that level and triggers automatic sell orders from traders and investors looking to minimize losses on dollar holdings, traders said. The dollar has lost 5.6 percent against the euro since mid- month on increasing optimism that economies in the euro zone are rebounding. A report Friday showed unemployment in France, the area's second largest economy, fell in June. Traders are now looking to this week's German jobs report to see if July unemployment fell in the region's largest economy. Economists expect figures to show that the unemployment rate, when adjusted for seasonal variations, stayed at 10.5 percent. Traders want to see further reports confirming that European economies are strengthening and that the gap in interest rates between the U.S. and Europe is shrinking before pushing the euro higher, said ING's McCarthy. ''We've come a long way in the last two weeks,'' he said. With the euro's rapid rise, when the new single currency climbs above the $1.0725 per euro level, ''there seems to be an interest to sell'' it. ©1999 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Trademarks.

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (38130)	8/1/1999 1:35:00 PM
From: Ken Benes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116764

This is a small change and it is being capitalized on by GATA in its attempt to foil the sale of IMF gold. Much more needs to be done. The gold market will not change until the producers learn to act like modern corporations. Placer Dome and a few others are beginning to recognize that production has to be cut. What they should be doing as the others should be doing, cutting production to the point that the burden is placed on the cb's to make up the difference in a market where demand is increasing. Normally, market forces would take care of the imbalance with a gold price high enough to meet supply. Because of the efforts of the cb's and the speculators to keep gold prices lower, this imbalance is not occurring. In fact the producers have been retailing the cb's gold further underming the markets function in setting prices. I have said many times, miners are great explorers and can do remarkable things in very adverse conditions, however, running corporations is not one of their forte's. They are like military men, they love to be given a direction and charge without thinking. Ken