Another quiet trading morning with precious metals

Another quiet trading morning with precious metals locked into the comfortable trading range. Commodities sold off yesterday on China raising fuel prices and concerns about the potential slowdown there. Traders will be listening closely to US Fed Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Geithner’s testimony with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, regarding European debt crisis and US exposure to it. Markets will try to find any clues to potential QE3 or the lack of one in the testimony. Despite a mild recovery of the US housing and labor markets, China and Europe will continue to dominate headlines. Any spread of European financial crisis beyond Greece, deteriorating economic news out of China, and any worsening in US economic data would deliver serious blows to equity markets, crude prices, and industrial metals. We reiterate our position to buy gold and silver on any significant sell off and sell platinum and palladium above $1725 and $725 respectively. We are still concerned about the global economic recovery and the slow winding of the loose monetary policies worldwide. We would trade the precious metals within the trading ranges and closely monitor headline news.

Metals	Last	%Change	Low	High
Au- Apr	1659.5	0.77%	1646.3	1661.9
Pt-Apr	1644.2	-0.62%	1635.5	1664.5
Pd-Jun	695.7	-0.14%	683.80	701.30
Ag-May	32.325	1.54%	31.865	32.410
London	AM	PM	Minor	PGMs
Au	1656	-	Rh	1525
Pt	1654	1640	Ru	130
Pd	696	690	Ir	1100
Ag	31.97	DJI	13155.5	-14.69
Currencies
	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP
USD	0	1.3249	0.011941	1.5852
EUR	0.7548	0	0.90123	1.1965
JPY	83.75	110.95	0	132.749
GBP	0.6309	0.83579	0.7533	0
Crude Brent	124.27	Comex Copper	385.65
Crude WTI	106.41	Nat Gas	2.328
*THESE PRICES ARE FOR INDICATION ONLY CALL FOR QUOTES

Markets are very quiet overnight

Markets are very quiet overnight and this morning with no economic news. The precious metals continue to be range bound. With the US economy improving and lingering questions about contagion of the European financial crisis to Portugal and/or others, we expect the dollar to strengthen in the coming week. We would be buyers of gold and silver at any major selloff as we think the metals are oversold in the short term. We would be a seller of platinum and palladium above $1750 and $725 as economic fundamentals would not support prices at those levels. Keep a close eye on euro/dollar and metals ratios for trading opportunities. We would trade lightly and be on the lookout for major headline new risks. All signs point to a very quiet Monday.

Metals	Last	%Change	Low	High
Au- Apr	1655.2	-0.04%	1652.3	1665.1
Pt-Apr	1675	-0.04%	1670.5	1684
Pd-Jun	702.65	0.07%	698.00	703.90
Ag-May	32.490	-0.35%	32.330	32.770
London	AM	PM	Minor	PGMs
Au	1654	-	Rh	1525
Pt	1672	1673	Ru	130
Pd	700	702	Ir	1100
Ag	32.44	DJI	13218.59	-14.03
Currencies
	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP
USD	0	1.3156	0.011975	1.586
EUR	0.7599	0	0.91017	1.2055
JPY	83.5	109.86	0	132.435
GBP	0.6305	0.8295	0.7551	0
Crude Brent	125.36	Comex Copper	390.25
Crude WTI	107.44	Nat Gas	2.329
*THESE PRICES ARE FOR INDICATION ONLY CALL FOR QUOTES

With very little news coming from the Asian and European fronts

With very little news coming from the Asian and European fronts, the markets turned their attention to the US economic data this morning. The weekly US initial jobless claims and continuing claims data were both better than expected at 351k and 3343k respectively. US producer price index rose 0.4% and excluding food and energy rose 0.2% in Feb while rising 3.3% and 3.0% year over year. The data points to a recovering labor market in the US and the inflation numbers might keep the US Fed from further QE until there are signs of deteriorating economic conditions in the US or around the world. The commodity markets have been range bound today after the volatility of the past few trading sessions. The commodity bulls are still holding onto the idea that central banks around the world will continue to pump liquidity into the financial systems while economic recoveries will stall due to China and austerity measures in Europe. The commodity bears are looking at financial stability in Europe and better economic situation in the US to sell off gold and silver. We believe that QE3 in the US is most likely not coming in the near future but the Fed will continue to leave interest rates at historical lows as the fragile economies around the world continue to recover. China is the 300lb gorilla in the room and all eyes will be on their balancing act between curbing the housing bubble and growing the economy at the same time. We believe that gold and silver are oversold and nearing a bottom in the short term and would be a buyer on the next strong sell off. We expect platinum and palladium to continue to trade in a range. We would be watching the platinum/gold and gold/silver ratio for any trading opportunities while the metals search for directions.

Metals	Last	%Change	Low	High
Au- Apr	1648.8	0.36%	1636.2	1651.9
Pt-Apr	1678.5	0.23%	1661.4	1684.9
Pd-Jun	700	0.36%	690.20	701.95
Ag-May	32.270	0.28%	31.935	32.620
London	AM	PM	Minor	PGMs
Au	1646.75	1648	Rh	1525
Pt	1680	1676	Ru	130
Pd	698	693	Ir	1100
Ag	32.36	DJI	13196.79	2.69
Currencies
	USD	EUR	JPY	GBP
USD	0	1.3078	0.012015	1.5672
EUR	0.7649	0	0.91898	1.1984
JPY	83.22	108.83	0	130.415
GBP	0.6381	0.83445	0.7668	0
Crude Brent	122	Comex Copper	388
Crude WTI	104.36	Nat Gas	2.302
*THESE PRICES ARE FOR INDICATION ONLY CALL FOR QUOTES