Gold did practically nothing from the time Globex trading opened in the Far East on Thursday morning, until noon in London [7:00 a.m. in New York]. From there, and until about a half hour after the Comex open, gold tacked on about $12 in two quick spikes.

However, what little gains there were, evaporated by the close of New York electronic trading at 5:15 p.m. yesterday afternoon.

click to enlarge

Silver didn’t show much activity until 3:00 p.m. in Hong Kong yesterday afternoon. From there, it was an eleven-hour battle for it to add about 35 cents to the price…with the peak coming during lunch time in New York. From there it got sold off hard…and in the next four hours all these gains disappeared as well. One might have thought that there was some sort of prize for

...

By: Gene Arensberg

HOUSTON — As expected gold paused just after attempting a second assault at the big round number target with three zeros, US$1,000 this past week.   We could all feel a pullback or correction coming.Apparently sensing that the market for gold had moved too far or too fast, the very large commercial futures traders had strongly positioned for a gold correction as readers of this report know. They finally got a correction going this past week.

Gold had advanced a total of $326, or 47%, since its October panic lows near $681 in not all that much time. Indeed, the largest of the largest futures traders were evidently willing to take the short side of gold futures contracts aggressively as gold was crossing the $900 line of the gold futures battlefield as we reported in early February. As the yellow metal neared the $1,000 mark mid-month,

...

Both gold and silver had short, sharp rallies once Globex trading began in Sydney on Friday morning. Both were sold off immediately.

However, at 1:00 p.m. in Hong Kong [midnight in New York] a serious rally began which really accelerated to the up-side at 11:00 a.m. in London while North America slept. The rally ended at 9:00 a.m. in New York…shortly after floor trading began on the Comex. From there, both metals got sold off [for an hour] into the London p.m. fix [3:00 p.m. London - 10 a.m. New York]. Once the London gold fix was in, away they went again, with both metals being sold off hard once the gold price went vertical through $1,000…which occurred shortly before 1 p.m. in New York. Once that happened, profit taking dropped both metals back. Estimated volume on Friday was 152,368 contracts…with a switch effect of 9,898 lots.

Here’s the 2-year gold chart.

…

Gold didn’t do much in the Far East or Europe on Wednesday…but the bottom, if you want to call it that, occurred shortly after the start of floor trading on the Comex yesterday morning in New York. From that low, gold rose steadily…gaining a little over $20 between then and the close of electronic trading at 5:15 yesterday afternoon. In the process, it set another new high for this move.

For the most part, silver’s action mirrored gold. The low of the day was at the London silver fix (noon London…7 a.m. New York). From there it rose, just like gold…closing at a new high for this leg up. And, for the second day in a row, I was underwhelmed by the performance of the HUI.

In the last three days, I’ve noticed that there has been a change in pattern during Far East trading. It’s not a lot, but it’s something

...

Well, the bottom for gold on Wednesday was about 2:00 p.m. in Hong Kong…1:00 a.m. in New York. From there it rose in fits and starts until the Comex open…where it got sold off for about an hour or so. Then, at precisely 9:00 a.m., away it went to the upside…until it ran into some opposition at the London p.m. fix [3:00 p.m. London...10:00 a.m. New York.] The London close occurred an hour later…and that was obviously it for the day. Volume was extremely heavy…170,000 contracts were traded…and that’s net of what few switches there were.

The silver chart was almost a mirror image of its golden cousin…with the top silver price coming at the close of London trading.

The open interest number for gold on Tuesday was a big surprise. Even though gold rose about $18 on that day, there was actually a decline of 99 contract in open interest to

…

Gold got smacked just a bit harder than normal when trading began in the Far East on Friday morning, but had gained all that back by 3:00 a.m. New York time…then promptly lost in all in the next hour. However, shortly after London opened it appeared that a sustainable rally was underway.

But the moment the traders on the Comex started their day, gold got hit for about $13 and never recovered after that.

click to enlarge

For silver, it was a different story. Although it, too, was hit at the beginning of Globex trading on Friday morning…it began to rally just before lunch in London…and with the odd pause, continued its winning ways right until the end of Comex trading in New York.

click to enlarge

Of

...

It came as no surprise to me that both gold got sold off a bit the moment that the gold market opened in the Far East on Monday morning. But it didn’t amount to much, because shortly after 2 p.m. in Hong Kong…1:00 a.m. Monday morning N.Y. time…gold began a slow rise that continued right through the London open. This lasted until the silver fix in London (noon) before selling off about ten bucks. But as soon as floor trading opened on the Comex in New York, the price rose…then spiked to its high of the day…before it was gently capped and then got slowly sold off until the end of Globex trading at 5:15 p.m. Eastern time.

Silver followed a similar route, but it got sold off shortly before the Comex opened…with the selloff continuing until about 8:30 a.m. in New York. From there it rose in fits and starts

...

Gold and silver didn’t do a lot in early Far East trading on Tuesday. The price for both metals bottomed very early in London…and from there a solid rally in both metals ensued…which ended shortly after the Comex opened for business…and that was it for the day.

The usual NY gold commentator had the following yesterday…”News reports indicate that Turkey imported 15 tonnes of gold in November. Considering that the Turkish currency has slumped by some 30% in the last couple of months, this is actually quite remarkable. Probably it reflects the volume of Turkish imports subsequently re-exported to countries to the south…Today’s ECB (European Central Bank) weekly statement of condition reports that ‘gold and gold receivables’ dropped E115 Mm, which ‘reflected’ gold sales by two captive CBs. At 5.7 tonnes, this is somewhat higher than of late (last week’s quantum was 2.83 tonnes), but is still small even compared to

...

Gold had a nothing day yesterday, but most of the action it did have occurred on the Comex in New York, where an attempt to break through $740 was once again thwarted. Silver was where all the action was. After a 20 cent sell off on the Comex open, silver jumped up sixty cents from the bottom by lunchtime, but someone was there to put an end to this “irrational exuberance.”

Monday’s open interest numbers showed another substantial decrease in gold open interest…this time 4,551 contracts. But in silver, o.i. rose 1,191 contracts to 93,757. Was it short selling? I’ll let you know on Saturday morning.

Talking about silver, here’s a graph (courtesy of Gene Arensberg) showing Comex silver stocks from October 17th to November 17th. Since that graph was published early yesterday, Comex silver stocks have fallen again…this time by 314,095 troy ozs. to 128,720,340 troy ozs. Options expiry and first

...

On Tuesday, both gold and silver started to decline at one of their usual times…about 3:00 a.m. New York time on Tuesday morning…with the bottom coming at the close of London trading. The price managed to recover somewhat after that…but once again (at 3:00 a.m. New York time on Wednesday morning) gold and silver prices began to decline. There was a temporary bottom at the London close again yesterday, but the recovery was short-lived, and both metals were taken down right into the close of after-hours trading on the Globex.

Monday’s activity showed another decline in gold open interest…down 2,312 contracts. Tuesday’s sell-off brought another o.i. decline in gold of 906 contracts. Without doubt, yesterday’s activity will show a further decline when the data becomes available later this morning.

In silver, Monday showed a decline of 1,600 contracts and Tuesday’s o.i. was up (surprisingly) by 730 contracts. I would suspect that Wednesday’s

...