Good U.S. December industrial production and producer price inflation numbers
buoyed silver and stocks Wednesday morning, but gold was slightly lower. Spot
gold was down nearly 0.2%, with a bid price of $1,648.40 per ounce and an ask
price of $1,649.40. Spot gold traded as high as $1,656.60 and as low as
$1,641.10. The London afternoon reference price fix came in at $1,647, $9 per
ounce lower than Tuesdays reference price, according to Kitco market data . Spot
silver was up 1%, bid at $30.36 per ounce with an ask price of $30.46. The
morning high as of time of writing was $30.52 and the low was $29.93. Fridays
reference price was set at $30.15 in the London a.m., 26 cents per ounce lower
than yesterdays price fix. U.S. industrial production rose 0.4% in December
after falling 0.3% in November the 10th consecutive and largest gain of 2011.
For Q4, industrial production increased at an annual 3.1% rate. Manufacturing
output rose 0.9% in December with similarly sized gains for both durables and
nondurables. Decembers capacity utilization rate came in at 78.1%, 2.3% below
its long-run average. Total industrial production in December was 2.9% above its
level a year ago, according to the Fed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
that Decembers seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index for finished goods fell
0.1% after increasing 0.3% in November and falling 0.3% in October. the
intermediate goods index fell 0.5%, and crude goods prices dropped 1.1% in the
last month of 2011. Gold bullion prices rallied and reached $1,658 an ounce in
London morning trading, though they remained below the five-week high of $1,667
hit yesterday, BullionVault reports in its London Gold Market report. Gold is
working on its third up week, according to Scotia Mocatta technical analysts
latest market commentary. (Gold) faces critical resistance at $1,667 (which) was
the mid-November low. Our view is that while $1,667 holds, (the) big picture
risk remains bearish. Gold trusts were lower and the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:
SLV ) was moving higher. The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD ) was showing losses of
around 0.25%. The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU ) was down some 0.2%. The
iShares Silver Trust was up around 0.7%. Gold and silver mining ETFs were moving
higher early Wednesday. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX ) was
showing gains of more than 0.3%. The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF
(NYSE: GDXJ ) was up around 1.1%. The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE: SIL )
was up 1.3%. Gold mining shares were broadly higher, with Kinross Gold (NYSE:
KGC ) shares showing strong gains. Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE: AEM ) was showing
gains of around 0.7%. Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX ) was up nearly 0.4%. Eldorado
Gold (NYSE: EGO ) was showing gains approaching 0.4%. Goldcorp (NYSE: GG ) was
up nearly 0.7%. Kinross Gold was up 2.5%. Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM ) was down
another 1% and more. NovaGold Resources (AMEX: NG ) was down nearly 0.7%. Yamana
Gold (NYSE: AUY ) was trading 0.55% higher. Silver mining shares were mixed.
Coeur dAlene Mines (NYSE: CDE ) was moving higher, up nearly 1.5%. Hecla Mining
(NYSE: HL ) was down nearly 1.5%. Pan American Silver (NASDAQ: PAAS ) was down
nearly 0.8%. Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW ) was showing gains of more than 1.3%.
Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ: SSRI ) was up around 1.5%. As of this
writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned
securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault contributed to this report.
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