Gold sees slight gains, silver solidly up and hits 5-wk high

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(Kitco News) - Gold and silver pricesare higher in midday U.S. trading Tuesday, with silver sharply up and notchinga five-week high. Gold prices have backed well down from the session high onprofit taking by the shorter-term futures traders. A drop in the U.S. dollarindex to a three-week low today and more bullish near-term chart postures forboth metals invited buyers to step up. December gold futures were last up $3.00at $1,768.70. December Comex silver was last up $0.601 at $23.865 an ounce.

Globalstock markets were mostly higher in overnight trading. The U.S. stock indexesare higher at midday. The U.S. stock indexes have made solid rebounds fromtheir recent lows and are now not far below their record highs. Yet, gold andsilver markets were able to rally today, which is a good sign for the metalsmarket bulls.

Stillnear the front burner of the marketplace is the global supplies shortage andtransportation bottlenecks that have many of those supplies' prices rising,including energy. Many industrial metals prices are soaring, including copper,aluminum and magnesium. Nymex crude oil prices are higher and hit a seven-yearhigh of $83.58 a barrel overnight. Natural gas prices are also at very elevatedlevels. As winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, amid the rising energycosts and worries in some countries about securing winter heating needs, itseems "Murphy's law" will almost certainly come into play: a much harsher-than-normalwinter for many countries in the Northern Hemisphere.

The10-year U.S. Treasury note yield is presently fetching 1.597%. For perspective,the U.K. 10-year gilt yield is presently 1.135% and the German 10-year bundyield is at -0.144%.

Technically,December gold futures bulls have the slight overall near-term technicaladvantage amid a price uptrend in place on the daily bar chart. Bulls need toshow more power soon to keep it alive. Bulls' next upside price objective is toproduce a close above solid resistance at the October high of $1,801.90. Bears'next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solidtechnical support at the September low of $1,721.10. First resistance is seenat today's high of $1,786.00 and then at $1,800.00. First support is seen atthis week's low of $1,760.30 and then at $1,750.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating:5.5

December silver futures prices hit a five-week hightoday. The silver bulls have gained the slight overall near-term technicaladvantage. Prices are in a three-week-old uptrend on the daily chart. Silverbulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technicalresistance at $25.00 an ounce. The next downside price objective for the bearsis closing prices below solid support at $22.50. First resistance is seen attoday's high of $24.18 and then at $24.50. Next support is seen at $23.50 andthen at today's low of $23.22. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.5.

DecemberN.Y. copper closed down 140 points at 471.15 cents today. Prices closed nearerthe session low today on profit taking after hitting a five-month high onMonday. The copper bulls have the solid overall near-term technical advantage.Prices are in a steep four-week-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. Copperbulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solidtechnical resistance at the May high of 487.05 cents. The next downside priceobjective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at440.00 cents. First resistance is seen at this week's high of 482.30 cents andthen at 487.05 cents. First support is seen at today's low of 466.85 cents andthen at 460.00 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 8.0.

By Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Follow @jimwyckoffjwyckoff@kitco.comwww.kitco.com Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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