Precious Metals Steady Early Friday in Wake of Sharp Sell-Off

Gold and silver dropped through the trapdoor along with stocks and commodities
as full-blown fear of recession hit investors and traders yesterday in late N.Y.
trading. Gold dropped nearly $40 per ounce, from over $1,680 to just above the
$1,640 before bottoming out and recovering during after-hours Globex and
overnight Asia-Pacific trading. Silver dropped from over $42 to bottom out below
$39 before steadying. Spot gold was set at $1,658.75 per ounce at the London PM
fix and was trading at $1,657.70 Bid, $1,658.70 Ask early Friday. Spot silver
was set at $39.24 per ounce in the London AM and was trading at $39.01 Bid,
$39.11 Ask. On the exchanges, gold trusts were moving higher early Friday. The
SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD ) was moving higher, up more than 0.4%. The iShares
Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU ) was around 0.3% higher. The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:
SLV ) was up more than 0.6%. Gold and silver mining ETFs were volatile. The
Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX ) was moving between small gains and
losses. The Market Vector Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ ) was down around
3.9%. The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE: SIL ) was up 0.08%. Shares of gold
miners were broadly higher, with NovaGold Resources the exception. Agnico Eagle
Mines (USA) (NYSE: AEM ) was up more than 1.1%. Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX )
was trading about 0.7% higher. Goldcorp (NYSE: GG ) was moving about 0.6%
higher. Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM ) was up around 1.2%. NovaGold Resources
(USA) (AMEX: NG ) was down around 3.5%. Silver mining shares were also volatile
and broadly lower. Coeur DAlene Mines Corp. (NYSE: CDE ) was moving between
small gains and losses of 0.4%. Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL ) was up around 0.1%. Pan
American Silver Corp. (USA) (NASDAQ: PAAS ) was down around 1.2%. Silver Wheaton
Corp. (USA) (NYSE: SLW ) was moving lower, down about 0.9%. Silver Standard
Resources Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ: SSRI ) was moving lower, down about 0.5%. The
author does not hold positions in any of the above-mentioned investments.