Thai Guru's Gold und Silber ... (Informationen und Vermutungen)

Wer um Himmels Willen kauft denn dieses "unnütze Zeug's das keine Zinsen bringt" ?

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http://money.iwon.com/jsp/nw/n…ate=20040406&cat=INDUSTRY

Peru mining exports up 40 percent so far in 2004

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Tuesday April 6, 3:27 PM EDT

LIMA, Peru, April 6 (Reuters) - Peru's mining exports jumped 40 percent to $938 million in January and February this year, compared with the same period in 2003, boosted by high international mineral prices, the Energy and Mines Ministry said on Tuesday.

Among the leading exports, gold sales rose 22.7 percent to $395 million in the first two months of the year, and copper exports climbed 58 percent generating $287 million, the ministry said.

High metals prices, pushed up by strong demand from China, are giving a major boost to Peru's mining industry, which is the country's economic motor and represents around half of its total exports.

May copper futures are trading at eight-year highs in New York at $1.3190 a pound. Gold last week touched a 15-year high and is now at around $415 an ounce in New York trade.

Peru is home to Latin America's largest gold mine Yanacocha, owned by U.S.-based Newmont Mining (NEM) and Peru's Buenaventura (BUEv) (BVN). Peru is the world's seventh-largest gold producer and is No.5 in copper.

©2004 Reuters Limited.

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http://www.busrep.co.za/index.…nId=566&fArticleId=395464

NUM suspends wage talks to protest plans by Harmony to close shafts

April 7, 2004

By Bloomberg

Johannesburg - The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has suspended wage talks with Harmony Gold Mining so it can protest against plans by the biggest producer of South African gold to close as many as six mine shafts.

Harmony said last week that it might close the shafts, which produce 230 000 ounces of gold a year and employ 5 000 people, because of the rand's 86 percent appreciation against the dollar since 2001 had made the the shafts unprofitable.

Producers such as Harmony pay most of their costs in rands and sell the metal for dollars.

Union leaders will meet today to takie a decision on what action to take.

They say Harmony reneged on a pact to save jobs in exchange for workers agreeing to a seven-day working week.

The NUM might pull out of that agreement, it said.

"We see no reason to continue negotiating with Harmony in this situation of uncertainty," said Welcome Mboniso, the chief negotiator for the NUM in the wage talks.

"Closure of these shafts is going to affect these workers we are negotiating for."

The talks were for higher-paid workers, the union said.

Solidarity, which represents better-paid mineworkers - most of them white - said it would back the NUM in its dispute.

"We shall join the NUM in the trenches to fight the dismissals," said Dirk Hermann of Solidarity.

Harmony's smaller rival Durban Roodepoort Deep fired 3 000 workers in October because of the rand, while in December Afrikander Lease closed its only operating mine.

Shares in Harmony rose by 0.42 percent to R93.91 for the day. The gold mining sector ended 0.5 percent higher.

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http://www2.ccnmatthews.com/sc…pl?/current/0406132n.html

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Aurizon Reports 2003 Financial Results

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Northern Star Mining Corp.: Further Impressive Results From Midway Drilling Including 0.261 Over 41.6 Feet

http://www2.ccnmatthews.com/sc…pl?/current/0407018n.html

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Apollo Gold Announces Underground Core Drilling Starts at Black Fox

http://www2.ccnmatthews.com/sc…pl?/current/0407004n.html

X-Cal Resources ist eine GATA Empfehlung!

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X-Cal Resources Ltd.: Mill Creek Drill Program/Cortez Area

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Apr 7, 2004) - X-Cal Resources Ltd. has received all necessary approvals to begin a drill program on its 100% owned Mill Creek Gold Property, located in Lander County, Nevada. The Mill Creek Gold Property is within
the area known as the Cortez Joint Venture Area, where Placer
Dome operates the Cortez and Pipeline Gold Mines. Placer has
announced a new discovery, named "Cortez Hills", in this
district. X-Cal's 640 acre Mill Creek Gold Property is situated
on a lower plate window, known locally as the "Goat Window",
located northwest of the Pipeline Gold Mine. Previous work on the
X-Cal property encountered encouraging gold values in drill holes
and outlined additional attractive drill targets.

weiter...

http://www2.ccnmatthews.com/sc…pl?/current/0407087n.html

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http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaH…nomy/artikel.php?ID=55507

Anglogold Ashanti deal gets shareholder endorsement

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http://portale.web.de/Finanzen/Boersennews/?msg_id=4617659

Börsennews

Goldpreis steigt in London nach Berichten über neuerliche Gefechte im Irak

LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Der Goldpreis ist am Mittwochnachmittag nach Berichten über neuerliche Gefechte im Irak deutlich angestiegen. Der Goldpreis legte je Feinunze auf bis zu 423 US-Dollar zu. Am Nachmittag war die Feinunze Gold in London noch mit 419,00 (Vortag: 418,50) US-Dollar festgesetzt worden. Bei einer massiven Offensive der US-Armee im sunnitischen Westirak sind am Mittwoch mehr als 100 Menschen getötet worden. Angesichts der geopolitischen Spannungen gilt Gold unter den Anlegern als "sicherer Hafen"./FX/jha/mnr

© dpa - Meldung vom 07.04.2004 18:00 Uhr

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http://de.news.yahoo.com/040407/12/3z5b5.html

Mittwoch 7. April 2004, 16:59 Uhr

Im Goldkrieg trat niemand zurück

Berlin (AP) Zwischen der Bundesbank und der Bundesregierung herrscht im Moment offensichtlich eine Art Waffenstillstand. Als Begründung für die relative Gelassenheit, die die Bundesregierung im Fall Welteke dokumentiert, führten Beobachter an, dass der Bundesbankpräsident sich mit Finanzminister Hans Eichel über einige Elemente der Regierungspolitik nicht einig ist und das auch laut ausgesprochen hat.

Dagegen spricht jedoch, dass es Zeiten gab, in denen das Verhältnis beider Institutionen in wissenschaftlichen Kreisen mit ganz anderen militärischen Begriffen beschrieben wurde. «Goldkrieg» nennt zum Beispiel Mark Duckenfield vom Center for European Studies an der Harvard Universität eine Episode aus der Endphase der Regierung Helmut Kohl 1997. Angesichts der damaligen Schlacht zwischen Finanzminister Theo Waigel und Bundesbankpräsident Hans Tietmeyer können die jüngsten Differenzen über die Geldpolitik höchstens Scharmützel genannt werden.

Deutschland war von Wirtschafts- und Arbeitsmarktkrise gezeichnet, und es gelangen weder Steuerreform noch die Ausgabenkürzung. Waigel versuchte daher, Änderungen in der Bewertung der Goldreserven der Bundesbank durchzusetzen. Das bis dahin angewendete Niederstwertprinzip hatte zur Folge, dass in den 60er Jahren von der Bundesbank zum Preis von 125 Mark pro Unze gekauftes Gold mit genau diesem Preis noch 1997 in den Büchern stand, als der Marktpreis 588 Mark betrug. Heute ist es übrigens 340 Euro, also 640 Mark, pro Feinunze wert.

Insgesamt hatte das Gold der Bundesbank damals einen Buchwert von 13,7 Milliarden und einen Marktwert von 56 Milliarden Mark (rund 28 Milliarden Euro) - eine Differenz, deren Gutschrift dem Bundeshaushalt gut getan hätte. Genau dafür war die Bundesbank aber nicht zu haben. Tietmeyer ebenso wie Vorstandsmitglied Johann Wilhelm Gaddum waren zwar alte Weggefährten Kohls, aber eine Mehrheit im Direktorium stemmte sich dagegen, mit dem Buchgewinn den Haushalt zu sanieren.

Der bankinterne Kompromiss lautete also: Neubewertung ja, aber den Buchgewinn für den Altlastenfonds der Deutschen Einheit verwenden. Dazu äußerte die Bundesbank in seltener Allianz mit der SPD unter Oskar Lafontaine Kritik am angeblich zu engen Zeitplan der Euro-Einführung. Tietmeyers Botschaft lautete: Entweder die Debatte über die Neubewertung hört auf, oder es wird nichts mit dem Zeitplan der Euro-Einführung. Am Ende einigte man sich zwar, aber es gab dennoch eine Personaldebatte. Sie ging aber um Waigel - der sie überstand - und nicht um Tietmeyer.

Sieben Jahre zuvor war ein Konflikt zwischen dem Kanzler selbst und Bundesbankpräsident Karl Otto Pöhl ausgetragen worden. Kohl soll eine schnelle Währungsunion nur versprochen haben, um der konservativen Allianz den Erfolg bei der ersten - und letzten - freien Wahl zur DDR-Volkskammer am 18. März 1990 zu sichern.

Vor der Wahl hatte Kohl öffentlich vorgeschlagen, in der DDR die D-Mark einzuführen, obwohl Pöhl davor gewarnt hatte. «Wenn wir verhindern wollten, dass die Leipziger zur D-Mark kommen, dann musste die D-Mark zu den Leipzigern kommen», lautete einer von Kohls berühmten Sätzen aus jener Zeit.

Die DDR wurde als unmittelbar vor dem wirtschaftlichen Kollaps stehend beschrieben. Pöhl machte denn auch bei einer Kabinettsitzung keine Einwände, sondern erklärte, die Devisenreserve der DDR sei erschöpft, und es gebe wohl keine andere Wahl. Dann schwieg Pöhl bis nach der Wahl, die zu einem überwältigenden Erfolg für die Konservativen wurde.

Kohl rechtfertigte sein Vorgehen später mit dem Primat gesellschaftspolitischer vor währungspolitischen Erwägungen. «Ich war mir dabei bewusst,dass eine schnelle Einführung der D-Mark in der DDR mit ökonomischen Risiken verbunden, aber technisch machbar sein würde. Vor allem aber war sie politisch zwingend geboten.» Es sei um mehr gegangen «als nur um eine kaufkräftige Währung, nämlich um gesellschaftliche und politische Reformen, um Freiheit und Menschenrechte».

Pöhl soll ein Jahr später in Brüssel erklärt haben, die deutsche Währungsunion sei ein «Beispiel für das, was wir in Europa nicht machen dürfen», ihre Auswirkungen seien katastrophal. Im Mai 1991 kündigte er seinen vorzeitigen Rücktritt an. Jahre später erklärte er, die Bundesbank sei überrumpelt worden. Auch die Frage nach dem Wechselkurs soll Kohl entschieden haben, indem er fünf Tage vor der Wahl auf einer Kundgebung versprach, kleinere Sparguthaben 1:1 umzutauschen.

http://www.bundesbank.de/

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http://www.lemetropolecafe.com

April 7 - Gold $422.10 up $3.60 - Silver $8.17 down 3 cents

Gold Poised To Take A Run At $430 Again

Zitat

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle... Sun-Tzu ( ~ 400 B.C.)

GO GATA!!!!

Gold traded in a wide range, spending a little time on the downside early on and then shooting up on a weakening dollar and on geo/political concerns. It surely appears like the Iraq mess is going to affect the financial markets for the foreseeable future. Hard to imagine how it is not going to have a significant effect on the gold price in the weeks to come.

Morgan Stanley was the featured buyer and propelled gold to a $424.80 high off of a $417 low.

Nothing wrong with this gold chart:

http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/GD/64

Who would want to be short gold with what is going on in Iraq? Seems like a Holy War could break out any time, as if one isn’t going on already. The reasons to own gold are better than ever and still a "10+++." With the geopolitical scene heating up, The Gold Cartel is going to have a heckuva time keeping gold from taking out $430 in the weeks to come.

The gold open interest fell 380 contracts to 305,611, while the silver open interest dropped 1287 contracts to 120,507.

The Café’s gold floor traders liked the gold close.

Morgan Stanley was active in the silver pit too, except on the buy side. For the second day in a row MS did all they could to break silver down. Not much luck so far. Morgan Stanley was the ONLY major seller. If silver is going to break, now is the time due to the margin increase. Some weak hands and Johnny Come Lately’s may not be able to hold on.

As silver has been unable to hold the $8.20 to $8.30 level, Morgan will undoubtedly go all out to bury silver tomorrow. He sold the close (only around 100 lots) to take silver down 6 cents late, fearing a close above $8.25 basis the May contract. The silver floor would construe such a close to be very bullish. Should Morgan Stanley fail to break silver tomorrow, look out above.

Silver broke early to $8.04, then rallied to $8.26 before retreating.

The euro looks like it pulled a false breakdown, trapping shorts going the wrong way. Should the euro head up from here, it can only help gold (obviously). It closed at 121.53, up .81, while the dollar sank .53 to 88.55.

June euro:

http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/EC/64

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The John Brimelow Report

Tide turning?

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Indian ex-duty premiums: AM $5.96, PM $7.41, with world gold at $419.20 and $418. Adequate, and lavish, for legal imports. The rupee surged today, ending at a 51-month high, which of course facilitates gold imports.

Japanese futures traders are showing considerable interest in Platinum and Palladium, but little in gold. The active TOCOM contract was unchanged, aggregate volume fell 36% to equal 17,893 Comex contracts; Open interest fell 376 Comex equivalent; $US gold went out $1 above the NY close. (NY yesterday traded 32,654 lots; open interest was down a mere 380 contracts.)

Dow Jones found a very outspoken gold trader yesterday:

Zitat

"Dealers said that most players had presumed the gold price weakness seen Friday and Monday had been fueled by fund long liquidation…Had that been the case, open interest, or the number of outstanding contracts in the market, would have declined…. Instead, the rise in open interest indicates that a good portion of the selling seen during gold's recent price decline was fresh short selling…"We stayed pretty much above $415 and bounced back a bit today despite all these rosy things going for the dollar. I say that's pretty encouraging for gold," said a floor dealer with a U.S. commission house. "It's understandable that (gold) prices fell when the dollar surged, as we all thought it was long liquidation. But now that we can see that there were short sales in there as well, gold's performance could actually be viewed as quite impressive,"(JB emphasis)

Nevertheless, resolute selling capped gold’s recovery yesterday. Standard NY notes:

Zitat

"The market reached a high of $419.40 bid in early New York trading before running into good bullion bank selling, which pushed the price back towards $417 where renewed physical buying emerged."

As suggested yesterday, the re alignment of non-Euro currencies (beyond the rupee, the Korean won and the Taiwanese dollar have been on the move in the past few days) is underpinning the physical gold marketing a way most bullion commentators overlook.

Bianco Research this morning carries a remarkable chart of the rising level of "Market Based Inflation Expectations", derived from the 3 & 10 year Treasury minus relevant TIPS instrument. There has been a steep upward inflection since the Fall.

Gold’s friends will tale great heart from the stirring words of the CEO of the World Gold Council, reported in a German magazine:

Interview with World Gold Council CEO James Burton in Swiss Finanz und Wirtschaft today…

What was your view of gold when you headed Calpers?

"I was too busy with financial markets to bother about gold. In the area of raw materials we had a position in timber."

Were there any limitations on Calpers investing in gold?

"No."

Do we live in a more uncertain world than before?

"I doubt whether citizens of the USA in 1870 or 1825 were as secure as we are today."

JB

All along MIDAS has harped that the World Gold Council is a retard operation. This sort of comment from their new CEO clinches it.

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CARTEL CAPITULATION WATCH

Just when the US stock market looked like it was going to pull one of its patented late day Hail Mary rallies, it sold off fairly sharply. The DOW closed down 90 to 10,480, while the DOG slumped 9 to 2050. You got to wonder why anyone would want to be long this market with Iraq blowing up like it is.

An explanation why the Fed and Washington won’t tell the truth to the American public:

April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Public expectations about inflation are a more reliable indicator of future retail price trends than raw materials or commodities, St. Louis Federal Reserve President William Poole said.

Zitat

``My conclusion is that the unfolding inflation experience is most strongly anchored by how the public and financial market participants expect inflation to evolve,'' Poole said in a speech at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. ``Well-designed and articulated policy under such conditions can produce great outcomes.''

Poole rejected several conventional inflation signals, such as commodity prices, monetary growth, and the producer price index as reliable near-term indicators of retail prices. The 66- year-old central banker is a voting member of the Fed's Open Market Committee, which sets the level of interest rates. –END-

GATA’s Mike Bolser:

Hi Bill:

The Fed added $5.75 Billion in temporary repurchase agreements today April 7th 2004, an action that moved the repo pool down a bit to $28.83 Billion.

We clearly see the Fed hesitating in a robust DOW support action at this juncture. The repo pool's 30-day moving average is tracking flat and I expect the DOW to follow suit for a few days at least. At this hour the DOW tracks around 10,480 and its 30-day ma has begun to round off to a level phase, just as the Fed has intended through it's repo tools.

After lengthy discussions with an avid follower, there are two other indicators that must be watched carefully in addition to the repo pool. They are the NASDAQ 200-day ma and the 10 year treasury yield. In the former, its 200 day ma was touched ever-so-briefly in March, only to sharply rebound and the 10year treasury yield which has run quickly up from 3.67% to 4.23% of late.

Its former recent high is 4.68% and, like the NASDAQ 200-day ma represents a warning sign that pressure on the Fed is getting very high. Today the 10 year is a bit better (for the Fed) doubtless as a result of its put buying. As they deteriorate, these indicators will signal a divergence from the DOW which will be maintained in an upward trajectory by the Fed at all costs. Such divergences, even with a rising DOW, will serve to draw even more investors to tangible instruments and away from paper.

Gold shot upwards this morning along with silver, a reminder that a sea of new precious metals investors still exists. The sustained high open interest positions must be very worrisome to the Fed. My website

http://www.pbase.com/gmbolser/interventional_analysis

reveals that the all-important DIVG 200-day ma continues in a linear up-slope and I interpret this very odd pattern as a Fed retreat to a higher defense level in progress.

Moreover, the two glaring patterns set since March 2003 (The obvious, three-phase, cyclical defense of DIVG=323 which failed in December leading to today's linear up phase) fit the conclusion that the Fed and its central mbank acolytes utilize the DIVG as an internal metric to value their remaining gold reserves and as a gauge of their status in today's gold war. The news continues to be very good on this metric.
Mike

Mike Bolser sure nailed it with this call yesterday, made BEFORE the news from Iraq hit the tape:

"Indeed, it is reasonable to predict within a month or two, the fall of an outpost or two similar to the fall of Ke San in Viet Nam. The archived pictures of burning C-130 re supply planes bull-dozed off the field still resonate. History is repeating itself."

Chuck checks in:

Bill:

Even though today was strongly influenced by the events in Iraq, the markets feel like something is ready to give here. The sharp rally in stocks followed by the late day reversal might be ominous here. It certainly was unusual.

Second, in the gold complex, in spite of the strength of gold, some of the golds continue to languish. Newmont, in particular, has acted sloppily, but I think that since it has had two bad gaps in the past week, and never closes well and yet is only off its recent high by two dollars, it is getting ready to join in. By contrast, GSS has acted entirely differently, with a nice move today.

I believe that events are ready to propel gold and the stocks upward very soon. The continued lack of interest in the small companies and the bad closes, which tend to discourage, to me, are actually positive signs. I am more concerned when there is rife speculation and abounding confidence. That day will come. Chuck

But, there is no inflation:

Bill,

Did you notice in yesterday's WSJ story about skyrocketing soybean prices the passing mention of the Farm Bureau Research Board's price index of groceries being up over 10% for the first quarter? Quite a different story than that CPI food number of .6 of 1 % for February. So basically Farm Bureau says food inflation is clipping at 40% annual and the government says about 6 or 7%. The Bush boys had better dispatch the goon squad down to those Farm Bureau folks and enlighten them to the wonders of hedonic deflators and seasonal adjustments. Crisco up 21% ? It's new and improved. Rice up 79%? It was a dry season in Asia. See how it works? Look for the next Farm Bureau report to be postponed until about, say, December. If gold merely tracked that grocery index it would be $500 bid this minute. I have never felt more strongly about the wheels coming off this economy. It is almost palpable. Too bad GATA was ignored these last several years.

Silver margins raised again.... what a hoot. I'm e-mailing them to request assurance to me I will get my May deliveries since they seem to be panicking. Maybe they hadn't thought of that response?

James McShirley

Mr. Gold Sale himself is biting the dust:

April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke agreed to take leave of absence after a 7,661-euro ($9,336) hotel stay paid by Dresdner Bank AG for him and his family sparked a probe by Frankfurt prosecutors and the German central bank.

Welteke, 61, will leave today, the Bundesbank said in a statement after a board meeting that lasted at least seven hours. The central bank's vice president, Juergen Stark, 55, will assume his duties temporarily, the Frankfurt-based central bank said. It didn't find sufficient reasons to fire him.

–END-

Oil and the PPI:

Hi Bill - I pulled this article off Bloomberg this morning (quoting the Bejing Morning Post). China is considering developing its own SPR (strategic petroleum reserve). It makes a lot of sense if you ask me. China currently consumes around 6 million barrels per day of oil - so a 180 day reserve would be north of a billion barrels. Anyone who thinks the oil based cost pressures that are squeezing the global economy are going to go away anytime soon - had better think again. Wonder how long the magicians in the Bureau of Labor Statistics can spin the PPI at the 1.2% annualized rate as they did in February? Stay tuned. Mark.

On the Comex margin increase:

Bill:

Quite incisive commentary on Tuesday. Red flag indeed! The Comex silver bullies might as well have reeled in their Jolly Roger and raised the white flag of surrender. The motives of these short-favoring crooks in raising silver contract margins ANOTHER 25% (after a 33% hike in February!) is transparent as air. This is like shipwrecked sailors clinging to flotsam and desperately pouring blood into the water to distract the sharks from their own vulnerability. I believe we are going to have an excellent opportunity to witness how intelligent AND hungry the "sharks" trading the silver (and gold) futures are.

To continue the analogy, it appears to me that the heretofore fully-conditioned Pavlov's dog-like traders may no longer be salivating on command of the exchange bureaucrats, but are ready and willing to savage their bumbling former handlers. I believe you are correct that we may be experiencing a paradigm change in the structure and behavior of the gold and silver markets, which may well initiate an event(s) of seismic proportion which will continue to generate devastating aftershocks throughout world markets. As you are apt to say: It's guts ball time. Lock and load for a silver showdown at the Crimex Corral!
GATA go!

Tom Kirsling

More on silver:

Hi Bill,

More evidence of VERY tight silver supplies?: I contacted a commodity broker today with the intention of opening a second futures account and asked how long it takes to receive delivery of silver nowadays. The broker said they do not process silver deliveries and said I should buy silver certificates. Some commodity broker, eh? Maybe I should have informed him that a paper certificate is not a commodity and that he should remember what business he is in - the commodity business.

Ron Lutka

Bill;

This headline is currently on the homepage of Quayle'e website. Speaks volumes if you ask me. Website:

http://www.stevequayle.com/index1.html

"As of April 6th, silver reached $8.26/oz. I just received word that the margin requirements for speculators have been raised starting tomorrow. This means that speculators must come up with more cash to cover their positions. The last three times this happened, silver sold down $.50-$.75 only to move back higher in the following days. The purpose of raising the margin requirements is to force liquidation of positions in the long camp – those who are expecting higher silver prices. The timing of this event is more than suspicious. Based on world turmoil and the number of investors taking delivery of their silver, this is indicative of much, much higher silver prices after the potential $.50-$.75 downward correction. Palladium is $316/oz headed toward the $400 mark."

Silver seems alot like a weeble these days - the powers that be seem to be able to make it wobble - but it never falls down. Kind of reminds me of fiat currency up till now.

best
Rob

The Morgan Silver Dollar:

Bill, The GATA response on our Morgan Silver Dollar offer was outstanding. If there are any CAFE members who are still interested in buying silver coins which offer great value and enormous upside potential, have them contact me ASAP. The Certified Coin Dealer Newsletter writes on 4/2/04, page 1: "Morgan Dollars remain extremely strong. Generics continue to march onward and upward with MS65, MS66 and MS67 being bid to higher levels." Supplies are getting tighter and prices should be going up again soon. Keep up the great work,

Brother Tim

Tim Murphy
Swiss America Trading Corp
800-289-2646 ext 1019
trmurphy@swissamerica.com

ECU Silver, my fourth largest holding, was shellacked the past two days. Before it was halted, it closed at 59 cents Cdn. Today panic selling set in and it fell to 30 ½ cents Cdn. I added to my position below 40 cents, which is where it closed.

Last September ECU was at 8 cents. Shortly before the trading halt, it traded as high as 68 cents. A 50% correction takes it back to 38 cents. Due to a poorly received press release, sellers couldn’t wait to get out and it over shot the 50% correction mark.

My take is ECU was overbought and due for a technical correction anyway. If you don’t have access to any charts, go to http://www.stockwatch.com and look ECU up. It went ballistic since last fall.

I’m no Jay Taylor or Bob Bishop when it comes to analyzing companies. I like ECU because I respect Michel Roy, the CEO, who he has turned the company around. When they upgrade their mill in Mexico, as they in the process of doing, ECU will be a very profitable little silver producer. Since I see silver shooting up to $40, it ought to be a nice winner.

Regarding the press release, I have not spoken to Michel about it. However, my guess is the authorities raked him over the coals and to get the stock up and running, he probably had to put the worst light on most everything.

The ECU share drop is annoying, but nothing like watching it drop to a penny like it did a few years ago. Now, that was brutal.

The gold shares continue to diddle. Still can’t understand it. Gold isn’t that far from making a closing high, yet the HUI is light years from its high. It finished at 232.29, up only 1.33. The XAU gained .39 to 102.81. Golden Star Resources, my largest holding, was by far the big HUI winner, closing at $6.94, up 32 cents or 4.83%.

The quality gold/silver shares are headed for the moon.

GATA BE IN IT TO WIN IT!

MIDAS

Appendix

Hi Bill,

This appeared in the Australian Financial Review today. Seems there are some people taking note that the 'fantasy economy' is nothing more than a house of cards.

Silver and gold looking strong in the Aussie session.

Cheers,
Malcolm

IMF warns investors against complacency

Apr 07 12:41

Jim Parker

World markets may be enjoying a sweet spot, the IMF has warned, but higher interest rates, a collapse in the US dollar and further terrorist attacks could turn everything sour very quickly.

In a cautiously optimistic global financial stability report released overnight, the International Monetary Fund noted that the vulnerability of markets had subsided further since its previous report in September last year.

But it warned that the currently favourable climate of low interest rates, increasing economic activity and rising corporate earnings might be generating a sense of complacency among many investors.

Zitat

"The main risk to the benign outlook for global financial markets is that such an outlook rests on a very fine balancing of opposing economic forces," the Washington-based fund said.

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"The continued abundance of liquidity and a lack of two-way interest rate risk could lead to a sense of complacency and intensify the search for yield, while neglecting risk factors."

Its warning is timely as markets in recent days have responded to strong US employment data by pricing back in the expectation that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year.

The IMF also cited the risk to interest rates and asset markets from a disorderly correction in the US dollar as Asian central banks slow their market interventions to keep a lid on their own currencies.

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"At any sign of that risk materialising, foreign investors could demand a risk premium on dollar assets, including pushing bond yields higher and with more volatility than current market expectations,"the fund said.

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"This adverse development could reverse the strengthening of financial institutions' balance sheets and create headwinds to the economic recovery."

The Asian demand for US assets - mainly Treasury bonds - has helped the US fund its record current account deficit and has ensured that the greenback's depreciation to date has been relatively orderly.

Echoing concerns by some market commentators, the IMF also pointed to evidence of "herding behaviour" by some risk-hungry investors who have responded to easy money by moving into unfamiliar areas.

"This process could lead to an overvaluation of certain financial assets, particularly in small and illiquid markets such as many emerging markets. The longer this process persists, the greater the potential for disruptive corrections."

Aside from economic risks, the IMF also cited geopolitical factors and the possibility of further terrorist attacks - similar to the recent train bombings in Madrid - as a potential destabilising influence.

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"It is clear that if there were more incidents along the lines of Madrid, it would have an impact on the real economy," Gerd Haeusler, the IMF's director of international capital markets told reporters in London."

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"I would be somewhat concerned that an additional risk premium would be built into some asset classes that would be quite unwelcome."

April 7, 2004

Nader Calls for Bush to Be Impeached

By MAURA KELLY, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO - Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader (news - web sites) called Tuesday for President Bush (news - web sites) to be impeached for "deceiving the American people night after night after night" about U.S. involvement in Iraq.

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"When you plunge our country into war on a platform of fabrications and deceptions, and you bring back thousands of American soldiers who are sick, injured or dead, and that war is unconstitutionally authorized to begin with, Mr. Bush's behavior qualifies for the high crimes and misdemeanor impeachment clause of the Constitution,"

the 2000 Green Party presidential nominee said to applause from about 200 students at Columbia College Chicago.

Nader said President Clinton was impeached for "far less of an offense."

"Lying under oath is not a trivial offense, but it cannot compare with deceiving the American people night after night after night on national television, staging untruths and rejecting the advice of his advisers," he said.

Merrill Smith, a spokeswoman for Bush's re-election campaign, declined to comment.

Nader previously called for Bush's impeachment during an anti-war rally March 20 in the president's hometown of Crawford, Texas, to mark the first anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Nader, a longtime consumer advocate, was in Illinois to gather the 25,000 signatures he needs before June 21 to qualify for the state ballot. He failed Monday to qualify for Oregon's ballot, but said he would try again under another option there.

Many Democrats blame Nader for Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites)'s loss to Republican George W. Bush in 2000, and have urged him not to run this time. They cite the vote Nader captured in close contests in New Hampshire and Florida and argue that Gore would have won if either state had gone to the then-vice president.

But Nader says Gore is to blame for his misfortune, and he rejected the idea that he could draw support away from Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

In Portland, Ore., on Monday, former Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean (news - web sites) warned that "a vote for Ralph Nader is the same as a vote for George Bush."

An audience member in Chicago was booed for suggesting something similar.

Nader responded:

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"What we have to tell the two parties in unmistakable terms is that this country does not belong to two parties."