Gold, Silver Continue Their Slump

A slew of positive economic data sent stocks sharply higher at Thursdays open,
but didnt help precious metals much. Gold was moving between small gains and
losses, while silver prices continued to slide lower. The Federal Reserve and
the European Central Banks decision to refrain from any additional monetary
stimulus appears to have taken whatever wind was there out of precious metals
sails. Spot gold was off slightly, recently trading at $1,582 an ounce. Spot
silver was down nearly 0.6%. Share of Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL ) were dropping
sharply on Thursday, off nearly 6%, as the company reported that all miners at
its Lucky Friday mine near Mullan, Idaho had been safely removed from the site
following a rock burst that occurred late Wednesday. While gold and silver were
trading off their lows of the day, gold prices are down nearly 7% on the week,
and have breached its 200-day moving average support zone, Londons Bullion Vault
reports. Smaller markets tend to get hurt more during periods of heavy selling,
commented Ole Hansen, vice president of trading advisory at Saxo Bank in
Copenhagen. The main problem from an upside perspective is that investment
decisions are not being made this time of year which should limit the upside for
now. Turning to stock exchange trading, gold and silver trusts continued to
fall. The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD ) was showing losses of more than 0.4%. The
iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU ) was down more than 0.3%. The iShares Silver
Trust (NYSE: SLV ) was off 1.3%. Gold and silver mining ETFs were moving lower
as well. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX ) was moving lower, down
nearly 1.5%. The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ ) was down
1.5%. The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE: SIL ) was down 0.3%. Gold mining
shares were showing losses across the board. Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE: AEM ) was
showing losses of 2%. Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX ) was down 1%. Goldcorp (NYSE: GG
) was off 0.6%. Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM ) was around 0.5% lower. NovaGold
Resources (AMEX: NG ) was more than 0.3% lower. Silver mining shares continued
to drop sharply. Coeur dAlene Mines (NYSE: CDE ) was moving lower, down around
2.75%. Pan American Silver (NASDAQ: PAAS ) was down 3.4%. Silver Wheaton (NYSE:
SLW )