PRECIOUS METALS RECAP 3/29/2012

April Gold closed up 3.6 at 1661.5. This was 17.2 up from the low and 3 off the high.

May Silver finished up 0.161 at 31.992, 0.108 off the high and 0.362 up from the low.

Gold and silver prices showed some divergence today, with silver at times outperforming gold. Clearly gold and other physical commodities were at least partially undermined by residual Chinese slowing fears but it is also possible that noted weakness in US equities and adverse currency market action served to give the bear camp in gold an edge. Ongoing declines in energy prices and harsh talk from the US Administration toward US Oil Company profits might have caused some spillover selling of gold today as persistent declines in energy prices could have a dampening influence on inflationary expectations.

The silver market waffled around both sides of unchanged this morning before giving wave to what appeared to be a broad based physical commodity market washout. However, silver managed to throw off a large portion of the bearish case ahead of mid session and it managed to return to positive ground. Therefore silver at times managed to outperform gold and the rest of the metals complex. On the other hand, May silver spent most of the trading session within relatively close proximity to the Wednesday closing level.