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,

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Gold, higher in the far East on Monday, was drifting lower until the 10:00 hour, when it suddenly went vertical, adding $18 in the space of a few minutes, after which it traded mostly sideways for the rest of the day, finishing at $836.90, up $14.90 from Friday. Overnight, gold is slightly lower.

Platinum traded to $850 in Hong Kong, but that was the high for the day and, though it failed to hold a mid-morning bump similar to gold’s, it still managed to finish in the green at $835, up $12. Overnight, platinum has been flat.

Silver followed a path very similar to gold’s, but its mid-morning spike was even more impressive as it shot from $10.25 to $10.65, then held onto nearly all of its gains, closing at $10.63, up 39 cents. Overnight, silver is trending lower. (Click here for charts)

It was a solid start to the

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