Milestones For Gold and Silver

Published on Tuesday, 28 February 2012 18:48 Written by Todd Shriber

New York, February 28^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Helped by a weaker dollar and some bargain shopping, Comex gold futures added $13.50, or 0.8%, to close at $1,788.40 an ounce. That’s good for a three-month closing high and snapped a two-day losing streak for the yellow metal. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (NYSE: UUP) gave up half a percent today and gold’s strength propelled the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) and the iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU) to gains of better than 1%.

Not to be out done was silver. In fact, the white metal surged $1.62, or 4.6%, to settle at $37.14 an ounce. That’s good enough for silver’s best closing price since September 2011. Year-to-date, silver futures are up 33% and are higher by 11% in February. That’s all very good news for the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV), which surged 4.3% today on volume that was almost double the daily average. SLV’s holdings of physical silver gained 22.66 metric tons to 9,715.62 tons as of yesterday, according to iShares.

Platinum futures added 2.1% while palladium futures settled higher by half a percent. The ETFS Physical Platinum Shares (NYSE: PPLT) gained three-quarters of a percent and is up over 23% year-to-date. The ETFS Physical Palladium Shares (NYSE: PALL) jumped 2.65% on light volume and can once again be found peaking above the all-important $71 area.

Copper futures closed modestly higher and that helped the Global X Copper Miners ETF (NYSE: COPX) gain 1%. COPX’s near-term fortunes will be determined by the ETF’s ability to crack resistance at $15.50 and then repeat the trick just over $16. The iShares MSCI Chile Investable Market Index Fund (NYSE: ECH) was higher by 1.4%.

Not surprisingly, it was a great day for the Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE: SIL). The ETF traversed $26 for the first time since its November high, adding 3.6% on volume that was about 50% higher than average.  The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX) is another mining fund whose chart is getting better almost by the minute. GDX added 2.3% on above average turnover today and at this point, it’s hard to bet against this ETF getting back to the low $60s. If gold and stocks continue climbing, GDX is primed to run back to $66-$67.

While the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ) gained 1.5%, that is somewhat of a disappointment compared to SIL and GDX. Really what’s going on with GDXJ is the same technical situation we’ve been harping on for a few days now. This ETF must find a way to break the $30-$31 area to stoke new buying.