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Gold, Silver and Crude Oil Trading in

GS

US Gold prices finished pit trade higher Thursday on a technical bounce from Wednesday’s selling.

Bargain hunting and short covering were seen Thursday.

The Key outside markets were Bullish for the precious metals as the USD index weakened and Crude Oil prices rose.

Feb Gold last traded + 11.20 at 1,730.00 oz.

Spot Gold was last quoted + 8.40 at 1,728.75 oz.

Mar Comex Silver last traded +0.64 at 34.41 oz.

The Gold market is still talking about fast and deep action in Gold futures prices Wednesday morning. Just after the Comex gold futures market opened at 8:20 a EST Wednesday heavy sell orders came in and prices dropped by over 20 oz.

Some reports said there were heavy put options purchases seen in the Gold futures market Tuesday.

There was no major news event during or near that time Wednesday morning to explain the sudden fall in Gold prices.

The rumors: Thursday that a large “fund” trader unleashed a major sell order at the futures open Wednesday. If that large fund trader was the 1 that purchased the Put options on Gold futures the day before, or was involved with the firm that did, then it lends credibility to those market watchers who believe that Gold can be and has been manipulated.

It appears a group of traders tried to “Game” the Gold market on a short-term basis.

But, from an overall and a longer-term market perspective is that no single trading entity has the power to control a market’s price for very long, especially a market so robust as Gold.

Some shorter term Gold traders got burned in Wednesday’s volatile trading action absorbed a lot of pain from that action.

There was more of a risk mentality in the market Thursday, the raw commodity markets, including Gold and Silver benefitted.

The chatter continued among US lawmakers and President Obama regarding the F-Cliff tax increases and spending cuts that are approaching.

US House Speaker John Boehner and Senate leader Harry Reid traded barbs Thursday. This time the market reacted little to their rhetoric. This suggests the market is coming to the conclusion that some type of agreement will be reached on the F-Cliff matter before the end of the year.

There was upbeat economic data coming out of the US and EU Thursday. The US Q-3 GDP came in at up 2.7%, which was the strongest growth rate in 3 yrs.

Lower unemployment in Germany and upbeat business confidence in the EU were reported Thursday.

Spanish and Italian bond yields declined to their lowest levels in months. Declining Spanish and Italian bond yields suggest a stabilizing EU debt situation, even though serious financial problems in the bloc remain.

The WS-J reported Wednesday and Goldman Sachs NYSE:GS predicted Thursday that the December meeting of the US Federal Reserve’s FOMC would produce further monetary policy stimulus aka QE-4. That was mildly market-sensitive and has given the raw commodity sector some support, including the precious metals.

In the Middle East: the Egyptian political unrest continues to simmer, and a report from the United Nations said Iran continues to expand its nuclear enrichment program.

The USD index was lower Thursday, the Greenback Bulls are still struggling.

Nymex Crude Oil prices traded higher Thursday on Short covering and bargain hunting.

Crude Oil (WTI) 88.23 +1.74 (+2.01%)

The Crude Oil Bears still have the slight overall near-term technical advantage.

The London PM Gold fixing was 1,725.00 Vs the prior PM fixing at 1,708.00.

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