Retailers will start to release second-quarter results this week, accounting for nearly 10% of the 246 scheduled reports. Dow component Wal-Mart (WMT) will be joined by 15 other members of the S&P 500, including J.C. Penney (JCP), Kohl's (KSS) and Macy's (M).

The Fed will hold a 2-day meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. No change in interest rates will be made, though the statement should acknowledge that the economy is nearing stabilization.

The bond markets could be volatile, not only because of the Fed meeting, but also because of quarterly refunding. The Treasury Department will auction 3-year, 10-year and 30-year bonds. The offerings should total $75 billion.

Most of the week's economic data will be released after the Fed's meeting, with the exception of the preliminary estimate of Q2 productivity. We'll see the latest industrial production and consumer sentiment numbers on Friday.

Tuesday: Q2 productivity Wednesday: June

...

Gold traded sideways through Hong Kong then shot north at the London open and remained range-bound between $951 and $953 for the rest of the day, finishing at $951.60/oz., up $3.60. For the week, gold is up 1.5%. Platinum sank in Hong Kong, falling to an intraday low of $1167 before adding back all the early losses and a bunch more over the rest of the trading day, closing at $1186/oz., up $11. For the week, platinum is up 1.2%.

Silver developed the gentlest of upward trends early in London and rode that trend through the Globex, ending just off its intraday high at $13.87/oz., up 17 cents. For the week, silver is up 3.4%. (Click here for charts)

Although profit-taking kept gold from staging a big rally this week, the yellow metal should be well supported at current levels because of dollar weakness and inflation fears, analysts said.

“We

...

Commodity related stocks bounced off their recent lows and that helped the Canadian markets post gains during Thursday’s session. For the tale of the tape: the TSX Exchange rallied 1.25%, while the TSX Gold Index bounced up 0.8% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 0.85% with the advancers edging out the decliners by a 386 to 325 margin on a pathetic 108 million shares traded.

Union workers are becoming the star attraction for investors with Kinross Gold’s La Coipa gold mine in Chile on strike. Affected production is stated at 300 ounces of gold per day and the workers are standing by their wage demands. Kinross (NYSE:KGC) ended the session up C$0.05 at C$20.71.

Closer to home, a strike against Vale Inco in Sudbury is all but certain to begin on Monday with the contract expiring for members of United Steelworkers Local 6500. Vale is

...

Deja vu all over again… are stocks just following the 2008 playbook?… Bill Jenkins shares his favorite global currency… Gold bugs beware: Gold chart forecasts a sell-off… Yet league of famous funds (and Chris Mayer) are buying up gold stocks… Plus, are we reading this right? A bank bails out the government?

We’re scanning markets of the world today and scratching our heads… haven’t we heard this before? There was a scare at the start of the year – banks were in trouble, the housing market was crashing and unemployment was rising. The S&P fell at a rate unseen in a long, long time. But then,a sucker’s rally! The worst was likely over, they said… stocks were oversold. The U.S. consumer, China and oil companies promised to lead us out of this mess. And of course, the current administration’s new multibillion stimulus

...

Deprecated and reduced as a financial asset, gold is fast-gaining new buyers yet remains under-invested compared to previous crises…

“FEAR, Mr. Bond, takes gold out of circulation and hoards it against the evil day,” as 007 learns from a Bank of England officer in Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger (1959).

So “in a period of history when every tomorrow may be the evil day, it is fair to say that a fat proportion of the gold dug out of one corner of the earth is at once buried again in another corner.”

Evil-day gold buying really motored since the credit collapse began in August 2007. Soaking up investment dollars worldwide, in fact, new allocations to the metal – whether trust fund or owned outright – swelled by 38% during the first quarter of 2009 compared with total demand between Jan. and March 2008, according to marketing-group the World Gold Council (WGC).

Within that figure,

...

The bulls went on another rampage during Wednesday trading on the Canadian Markets as investors gobbled up resource stocks. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange added 2.66%, while the TSX Gold Index surged 4.5% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, tacked on 1.70% with the advancers swamping the decliners by a 500 to 391 margin on good volumes of 213 million shares traded.

Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) tabled first quarter earnings of $86 million or $0.12 per share on revenues of $224.3 million. Production rang in at 271,482 gold equivalent ounces with cash costs hitting $379 per ounce. Yamana ended the day up C$0.39 at C$10.33.

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) earned $76.5 million or $0.11 per share in the first quarter on production of 526,888 gold equivalent ounces. Revenue rang in at $532.7 million with cost of sales coming in at $419 per ounce. Kinross

...

News that construction spending in the United States rose 0.3 per cent in March sent investors into a buying frenzy during Monday trading on the Canadian Markets. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange surged 3.93%, while the TSX Gold Index added 4.7% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, tacked on 1.68% with the advancers beating out the decliners by a 528 to 362 margin on good volumes of 210 million shares traded.

Shares of Kaminak Gold added C$0.055 to close at C$0.18 after the junior announced that it picked up an option to earn 100 per cent in three projects located in the White Gold area of the Yukon.

Moly miner Roca Mines added C$0.065 to close at C$0.40 on no new developments.

Charles Fipke-led Metalex Ventures reported that the third vertical hole drilled on a kimberlite discovery in Angola hit kimberlite at

...

For the first time in a couple of decades, some of America’s most successful, big-name investors are buying gold.

David Einhorn, the hedge fund manager who predicted the downfall of Lehman Bros., recently bought gold for the first time. And then there is John Paulson, the guy who made billions of dollars by correctly anticipating the housing bust and credit crisis.

Paulson just plunked down $1.3 billion for an 11% stake in AngloGold (NYSE:AU). He’s also got a big position in Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC).

Peter Munk, the 82-year-old chairman and founder of Barrick Gold, also offers up his own anecdote about gold’s broadening appeal. “I have had more phone calls in the past six months than ever before – from people who have $120,000 inherited from grandmother, and from hedge fund managers with millions,” he says. “I am not saying George Soros, but people of that caliber have told me they

...

As predicted, the market is going to hell in a handbasket today - the only bright spot I can find is Yamana Gold Inc. (Public, NYSE:AUY). Gold futures rebounded this morning after suffering their longest losing streak since August. June futures were climbing $14.30 to $882.20 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York ...

The bulls made a valiant effort to fight off the surging bears during Wednesday trading on the Canadian markets. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange added 1.64%, while the TSX Gold was essentially unchanged and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, gave back 0.19% with the decliners beating out the advancers by a 350 to 327 margin on volume of 119 million shares traded.

Aurizon Mines (AMEX:AZK) inked a C$50 million bought deal financing comprising just over 9.7 million shares priced at C$5.15 each. The gold miner ended the day down C$0.51 at C$5.13.

Shares of Goldsource Mines continued to slump on the back of the last batch of drill results from the Border coal project in Saskatchewan. Goldsource fell C$0.15 to C$1.38.

Teck Cominco (NYSE:TCK) cashed in 5.6 million shares of Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) that it acquired in January on the sale

...