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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (51852)	5/21/2002 3:08:16 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Reuters Market News NY silver leaps to 15-month high, gold stretches rally NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) - COMEX silver sped to its loftiest price in 15 months Tuesday, clearing the previous high for the year, as money managers diverted some of their buying enthusiasm from overbought gold. "I think people woke up to the fact that silver hadn't moved in recent weeks and it's just catching up," said Ian MacDonald, head of bullion dealing at Commerzbank. Silver mimicked a surge in gold, which broke sharply higher as the dollar fell Monday, then stalled on Tuesday after extending the 2002 rally to a fresh high. Shortly after the COMEX opened, July silver (0#SI:) rallied quickly to $4.865 an ounce, its highest since Feb 7, 2001. The contract ended up 6.5 cents, or 1.36 percent, at $4.845 an ounce, off a low of $4.755. It gathered momentum after breaking above the April 2 high at $4.77 overnight and then the $4.80 psychological level, where commodity funds had stacked buy orders expecting silver to accelerate higher once the chart point was exceeded. "People are concerned about stuff. People are looking for alternative investments," said a desk broker. "Dollar weakness probably prompted by those things -- increasing debt, a poor balance of trade, the Middle East problems, global problems, stock market problems. There's a whole litany of things." Spot silver (XAG=) was at $4.82/84, up from Monday's close at $4.77/79, and fixed in London at $4.785. Estimated volume was a brisk 20,000 lots. Dealers said at least one large fund looked like it bought at the top and is thus at risk to any pullback. "There seemed to be some new fund interest above $4.80," said a floor broker. "Anything above $4.80 has been taken out." June gold (0#GC:) ended up 10 cents at $316.10 an ounce, trading from $314 up to a midday high at $317.30, its priciest since June 2000, when the contract was thinly traded toward the back of the board. Volume was 70,000, including switches. Spot gold (XAU=) closed $315.80/6.30, just up from $315.65/6.15 late Monday. It topped at $317 on Tuesday, its highest since February 2000 when it traded $319. The rally cooled as the dollar steadied against the euro, while continuing its slide to a new five-month low against the yen. The weak greenback makes dollar-priced precious metals more affordable to foreign investors in home-currency terms. Wall Street stock prices fell for the second straight session on profit concerns, the slack economy and uncertainty about geopolitical stability. Investors continued to diversify into gold as a form of portfolio insurance against Middle East violence, and more ominous talk of war between nuclear powers India and Pakistan over the disputed Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The neighbors have amassed more than a million troops along the border since India blamed a deadly December attack on its parliament on Pakistan-backed Islamic militants. The armies have exchanged heavy fire for five days running after the most recent murderous assault on an Indian army camp by suspected Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatists. To top it off, the White House this week has been talking up the likelihood of another terror attack on America. "It all helps the gold market and of course the funds are in there jumping in on the trend," MacDonald said. NYMEX July platinum (0#PL:) lost $6.20 to $538 an ounce. Spot platinum (XPT=) was quoted at $540/547. Illiquid June palladium (0#PA:) fell $12.65 to $370.15 an ounce, reversing an $8.30 gain on Monday. Spot palladium (XPD=) fetched $364.50/379.50. "From what we were hearing it was just speculative interest trying to churn it up," said a refinery dealer. "At some point it had to give, the fundamentals weren't there for it." biz.yahoo.com

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (51852)	5/21/2002 3:22:27 PM
From: steve susko	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

here's the article on the dual currencies gold-eagle.com

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (51852)	5/21/2002 3:26:41 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

15:24 ET Small-Cap Breakouts : Gold stocks are once again dominating the breakout list. Runners today include RANGY (+20%), RGLD (+17%), CAU (+15%), HL (+8%). Volume in these stocks today ranges between 400K and 1.1 mln... Small-caps outside of the mining sector achieving new highs on the session include publisher of financial info Hoover (HOOV 5.86 +0.24), fashion designer Perry Ellis (PERY 16.75 +2.35), and catalog retailer The Sportsman's Guide (SGDE 7.87 +0.18).

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (51852)	5/22/2002 4:32:15 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Current gold run just the beginning - Thompson Posted: 05/21/2002 04:00:00 AM \| © Miningweb 1997-2001 TOKYO - Spot gold's overnight gains to its highest levels since February 2000 are sustainable and part of a bullish trend suggesting further potential, according to Chris Thompson, World Gold Council chairman and chief executive of the world's fourth largest gold producer, Gold Fields (GFI). In a telephone interview with Dow Jones Newswires from Johannesburg, Thompson stressed that all the essential conditions for gold to rise higher are in place. Namely, a weaker U.S. dollar, Middle East tensions and lingering doubts surrounding the strength of the U.S. economic recovery. "Quite honestly, all the risks that I can see are to the upside," he said. Spot gold was trading around US$316.05 a troy ounce in Asian trade early Tuesday, well above US$312.45.oz late Monday. Insisting that supply over the coming years will continue to tighten, Thompson's longer term outlook is also bullish. Although Gold Fields' production may have benefited from recent acquisitions, the gold industry's overall production will continue to decline in coming years. "It's a little like shuffling deck chairs around," he said. Commenting on some independent studies that have predicted a 30% decline in industrial production worldwide over the coming 10 years, Thompson said some of the figures appear overly optimistic. Gold supply is certainly falling in South Africa, the world's largest gold producing nation, he noted. He said if the industry were to try to take advantage of the yellow metal's recent rise by boosting production, "it's a long pipeline, somewhere between five-seven years, so nothing is going to change the situation straight away." Thompson insisted that even if gold should rise as high as US$350/oz, producers who belong to the hedgers camp and still have room to short, are unlikely to lock in more attractive prices. "On the contrary, pressure will only grow on producers to reduce their positions," Thompson said. Elected to the WGC chairman's post in April, Thompson is helping oversee the smooth appointment of a successor for Haruko Fukuda, who was WGC chief executive for the past three years. Thompson says he is out to "restructure and remodel" the World Gold Council. Although hesitant to say much more before the issuance of a strategic review of the Council's objectives by consulting firm Bain & Co. in June, he said small-time gold investment, although nascent, needs encouragement, said the news wire service.