RE: gold Read this bauerbar. BTW I wish somebody would shoot that Cramer and put him out of OUR misery, lol. Also - Ok guys I'm finally in for 10,000 of NNA @ .61 today. Might add another 10,000 next week on a dip and if I can sell something else. Let's hope they find something that lights up the stock !!! ZOOM ZOOM !!
On the MSQ front guys get ready for another round of Mosquito Fever !!!! I can hardly wait to start posting this in Goldie's face on another bullboard he frequents when we hit $5 bucks. I just feel sorry that "geosmud" isn't here to join us. I just hope he pops up again one day. If you're out there geo we haven't forgotten your efforts in the past !!!
Copper rallies on tight supplies; gold closes up $8
Source: MarketWatch
Precious Metals Catalog
Copper futures rallied more than 5% Thursday to close at a record level, taking their cue from a growing conviction in the metals pits that prices for the metal are justified by the current state of strong demand and tight supplies
Meanwhile, gold prices climbed $8 an ounce to send prices to their highest closing level in almost 26 years.
Copper's move "has been fueled by the same old stories of ongoing concern about inadequate supply and production difficulties," said William Adams, an analyst at BaseMetals.com.
"It seems as though the same factors that the market was talking about nine months ago are still the main drivers, which you might have thought would have been in the price by now," he said.
Against this backdrop, July-dated copper touched a high of $3.505 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a record level for a front-month contract. Prices closed up 17.45 cents, or 5.3%, at $3.4795. On Wednesday, July copper gained 2.85 cents.
Mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd. said Thursday it views both refined copper and copper-concentrate markets as "very positive," reflecting low stockpiles as well as expectations that production disruptions are likely to continue.
Inventories at current levels provide a floor under copper prices, BHP Billiton said during a briefing on its base-metals business, adding: "From such low levels, it will take some time to rebuild stock to normal levels."
BHP's comments "did the trick" Thursday, sending copper prices higher, said Adams. But "the only new development seems to be the rise in nationalism which could become an issue at some stage but until it does, it would be difficult to buy into, especially at these levels," he said.
On Monday, Bolivian President Evo Morales said the move to nationalize the country's hydrocarbons sector was just the beginning. "Tomorrow it will be the mines, the forest resources and the land," he said, according to the Associated Press.
Tight copper concentrate supply
Nick Hatch, industry analyst at Investec Securities in London, said he "didn't appreciate just how tight" the concentrate market is.
BHP Billiton's assessment "suggests a cap on supply and a positive impact on pricing fundamentals," Hatch said in a research note.
Overall, "production difficulties at several mines have reduced concentrate availability: long-running strike at Grupo Mexico, freezing weather in Kazakhstan and lower production in [the first quarter of 2006] reported by Freeport, Codelco and other producers," John Reade, an analyst at UBS, said in a note to clients Thursday.
Gold gains for a fifth day
Gold futures also climbed Thursday to take its winning streak to five sessions as investors continued to use the precious metal as a hedge against potential financial losses.
"A roaring market in silver (aided by encouraging ETF offtake in the launch phase), copper (all-time highs being made on low inventories and an insatiable global appetite for it) and other base metals ... boosted gold's own performance today," said Jon Nadler, an investment products analyst at bullion dealers Kitco.com.
"Background factors (Iran, oil, dollar) continue to lend support, but the parabolic rise is giving rise to questions about when and how a correction may come," he said.
Peter Grandich, editor of the Grandich Letter said he suspects the market will have a "$20 down day or even 10% correction any time now." But that "should remain a blip in an otherwise run away secular bull market that remains fundamentally sound," he said.
Indeed, "for the moment, traders appear happy to keep loading up on what has indeed been a spectacularly performing asset – no matter what time frame in the past several years one applies to it," said Nadler.
June gold finished the day up $8, or 1.2%, at $676.50 an ounce. That's the highest futures closing price since September 1980. Prices traded as high as $679.80 earlier, matching the intraday peak from Wednesday, a level the front-month futures contract hasn't traded at since October 1980.
July silver rose 3 cents to close at $13.825 an ounce on the heels of the previous session's 2.9% decline.
July platinum fell $10.30 to close at $1,176.40 an ounce after reaching a record $1,198 on Wednesday, while June palladium slipped $2.10 to end at $380.25 an ounce.
On the supply side, copper inventories were down 539 short tons at 15,779 short tons as of late Wednesday, according to Nymex data.
Gold supplies were unchanged at 7.33 million troy ounces and silver supplies were unchanged at 123.6 million troy ounces.