Daily Market Update 4/18/11

GOLD
Gold is up $13.30, closing at $1,496.10 a new all-time high. Gold reached $1,498.80 during trading, approaching the important $1,500 barrier.  Gold trading today was highly influenced by Standard & Poor’s putting a “negative” outlook on the AAA credit rating of the U.S.  S&P cited a “material risk” --- the nation’s leaders will fail to deal with rising budget deficits and debt. “We believe there is a material risk that U.S. policy makers might not reach an agreement on how to address medium- and long-term budgetary challenges by 2013,” New York-based S&P said today in a report.

Today trading makes an excellent argument for owning physical Gold & Silver, not the paper alternatives.  Gold and Silver are setting new highs, while Gold/Silver equities and funds are all lower by 2-3% on a 140+ drop in the DJIA. 

SILVER
Silver traded actively today, closing at $43.28, up 60 Cents from last Friday close. Demand continues to grow for U.S. Silver Dollars and trade units.

Over the weekend the People’s Bank of China raised the required reserve ratio for banks (for the seventh time since last October) to a record 20.5%, to slow down economic growth. This move will soak up about 360 billion yuan ($55.1 billion) that could otherwise have been lent out. With the central bank making clear it is willing to use all the tools at its disposal to contain inflation, the yuan will likely continue its steady crawl upwards against the dollar.

Today’s Important News

• Crude-oil futures dipped in Asian trading on Monday, despite the world’s largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, saying it had cut output on the belief the market is oversupplied  On Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister reportedly said the nation cut its oil output by around 800,000 barrels a day in March, due to oversupply.
• Bank of Japan has injected $688.3 billion into their marketplaces over just a few days. The US is only injecting $600 billion by June.