Pack a lunch and blow the froth off a cool one…as I’ve got three days of gold and silver market activities to talk about…and lots of fascinating reading as well.

Wednesday, November 26th

This was the last day for all parties to get their gold and silver contracts switched to the 2009 year…or they would have to stand for delivery on Friday. With the U.S. in holiday mode almost from the beginning of trading, the tiny rally at the Comex open was stepped on and never recovered. But it hardly mattered…as volume was virtually non-existent. Silver was the same. Call the day a big zero. However, the shares reacted otherwise. Even though gold was down ten bucks at the close of the equity markets, the HUI still managed a surprising 6% increase…the second day in a row that gold has been flat or down…and the HUI up. Hmmm!

Open interest on Tuesday showed

Gold slumped into early London trading on Tuesday, but rallied at the New York open, gaining $25 in the first hour, to $830, but that proved the high point of the day, as it traded listlessly from there, finishing at $819.40, down $2.30. Overnight, gold has slipped lower.

Platinum traded tightly rangebound, between $850 and $860 for most of the day, just poking its head above the range at the end, to $863, down $2. Overnight, platinum has been flat.

Silver also shot higher at the Comex open, gave it all back by late morning, but then reversed field again to regain some lost ground and went flat on the Globex to close at $10.30/oz., down 27 cents. Overnight, silver is unchanged. (Click here for charts)

Trading was thin yesterday, as some undoubtedly left their desks early, ahead of Wednesday’s half-day and prior to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. The good

Gold sold off gently in thin Far East trading on Monday morning…and the bottom was in a couple of hours before Hong Kong closed. From there, gold rose until about 10:00 a.m. in London, and although it tacked on about another ten bucks during Comex trading in New York, it had given all that back by the Comex close.

As for the silver price, it bottomed at the same time as gold and was off to the races shortly after London opened. The top was was in shortly after 10:30 Eastern time when it appeared that the about-to-become-parabolic rally drew the attention of the boyz. From that point on, the silver price didn’t do too much.

As would be expected, volume in gold on the Comex Friday was pretty heavy; but somewhat lighter yesterday. In silver, volume was heavier yesterday than it was on Friday…which stands to reason when you consider the