Bumpy Day for Gold, Silver; Agnico-Eagle Mines Shelled

Shares of Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE: AEM ) were down almost 17% at midday
Wednesday after management announced it was suspending operations for safety
reasons at its Goldex mine in Val DOr, Quebec, effective immediately. AEMs
plunge led similar declines across both gold and silver miners. Gold and silver
prices moved higher in early morning trading Wednesday but reversed course and
were in negative territory as morning trading drew to an end. The Federal
Reserve reported that the September Consumer Price Index rose at its slowest
month-over-month pace in three months 0.3% while September U.S. housing starts
rose a greater-than-expected 15% annual rate. Spot gold was down 0.5% at midday
Wednesday, having hit a high of $1,662.20 and a low of $1,642.40. Spot gold was
bid at $1,646.70 with an ask price of $1,647.70 at 11:30 a.m., while the London
p.m. reference price fix came in at $1,652.50, according to Kitco market data .
Spot silver was down 1.9% and trading at $31.43 Bid, $31.53 Ask, having hit a
morning high of $32.24 and a low of $31.18. Wednesdays reference price was set
at $31.97 in the London a.m. In stock exchange trading, gold and silver trusts
were sliding lower. The SPDR Gold Trust (AMEX: GLD ) was nearly 1% lower. The
iShares Gold Trust (AMEX: IAU ) was just more than 1% lower. The iShares Silver
Trust (AMEX: SLV ) was down 2.2%. Gold and silver mining ETFs were headed lower
as well. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (AMEX: GDX ) was around 3.4% lower.
The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (AMEX: GDXJ ) was more than 3.6%
lower. The Global X Silver Miners ETF (AMEX: SIL ) was down about 2.5%. Shares
of gold miners were heading south, with AEM leading the dive. Agnico-Eagle Mines
was down a whopping 17.5%. Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX ) was down more than
2.3%. Goldcorp (NYSE: GG ) was nearly 3.5% lower. Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:
NEM ) was more than 3.5% lower. NovaGold Resources (USA) (AMEX: NG ) was showing
losses between 2.2% and 2.7%. Silver miners shares were down sharply for the
third consecutive morning. Coeur DAlene Mines Corp. (NYSE: CDE ) was about 2.5%
lower. Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL ) also was down more than 4.6%. Pan American
Silver Corp. (USA) (NASDAQ: PAAS ) was 2.15% lower. Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA)
(NYSE: SLW ) was down more than 3.65%. Silver Standard Resources Inc. (USA)
(NASDAQ: SSRI ) was about 5.7% lower. As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not
own a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.