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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold and Silver Juniors, Mid-tiers and Producers -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LoneClone who wrote (36055)	3/15/2007 9:16:28 PM
From: LoneClone	Respond to of 78416

Gold futures gain after surprise surge in PPI Source: MarketWatch metalsplace.com Gold futures logged their first gain in five sessions on Thursday, after producer price data showed a surprising surge in U.S. wholesale inflation for February, bolstering the metal's appeal as an inflation hedge. Gold for April delivery closed up $4.60 at $647.10 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold prices were boosted by the release of February's PPI, which showed prices up 1.3%, outpacing expectations for a 0.6% increase. Excluding food and energy prices, core PPI rose 0.4%, twice the 0.2% gain that was expected. "The big problem is that the economy is showing some significant signs of slowing right now and the real estate/homebuilder/mortgage debacle isn't helping," said Neal Ryan, director of economic research at Blanchard, in emailed comments. The real question is "can the Fed continue to walk down the middle of the road on the growth or inflation equation without being hit by trucks traveling in both directions?" The PPI report's expected to keep the pressure on the Federal Reserve to remain vigilant on inflation, even as the economy shows signs of slowing. A separate report on manufacturing in the New York region released this morning was much weaker than expected. U.S. stocks closed higher Thursday, as investors found comfort in the market's resilience to recent subprime jitters, helping them ignore data pointing to both waning economic growth and rising inflation. "There is not much remaining doubt that the subprime lending market troubles are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg and that more turmoil is facing various markets in the weeks ahead," said Jon Nadler, analyst at bullion dealer Kitco.com, in emailed comments. On Wednesday, gold closed at a one-week low and tallied a loss of $13 over four sessions, caught up by the sell-off in equity markets amid growing fears about rising mortgage defaults in the U.S. "With the current relationship of the equity markets and gold locked together on sharp sell-offs, investors will soon see a nasty divorce take place," said Peter Spina, chief investment strategist at GoldSeek.com, in e-mailed comments. At some point, gold will benefit from the "subprime fiasco," Spina said: "The implications it holds for the real estate market and the general economy will drive additional safe-haven investors into the metal." Copper closes at 3-month high Copper was the biggest winner among the metals, closing at its highest level since Dec. 19. Boosted by falling supplies and a rebound in financial markets, May copper rose 16.2 cents to close at $2.988 a pound. "With more evidence of increasing Chinese imports and a realization that the apparent weakness in demand at the end of last year was largely a mirage caused by destocking, the fundamentals for copper have improved," said William Adams, an analyst at BaseMetals.com, in a note. "If sentiment swings more bullish again, which we think is starting to happen, then we would not be surprised to see copper accelerate to the upside, especially if there are more shorts caught up in the market." Other metals prices were mixed. May silver rose 24.5 cents to close at $13.075 an ounce and April platinum added $14.70 to end at $1,215.70 an ounce, while June palladium fell $1.80 to close at $351.70 an ounce. On the supply side, gold warehouse stocks were unchanged at 7.55 million troy ounces as of late Thursday, according to New York Mercantile Exchange data. Silver supplies rose by 560,520 troy ounces to stand at 119.1 million troy ounces, while copper supplies were unchanged at 36,435 short tons.