Gold was flat in the far East, picked up a bit in London trading, and really took off during the New York session yesterday, fought off a late morning slump and continued higher into the Globex, finishing at $965.30/oz., up $18.90. For the week, gold was up 3.4%.

Platinum spent most of the day pushing hard for $2040 but couldn’t get there and in the end retreated to $2018/oz., up $27. For the week, platinum eked out a gain of less than a half of one percent.

Silver rose more sharply than gold, and its late morning retreat was shallower, as it wound up closing just off its intraday high at $18.80/oz., up 51 cents. For the week, silver pushed higher by 3%.
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It was another banner day for the precious metals, as well it should have been, since the market movers were all lined up in their favor with oil blasting higher, and the dollar and equities declining in the face of serious questions about the solvency of Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE).

Add in reports that Israeli warplanes have been practicing in Iraqi air space, fueling speculation about a potential strike on Iranian targets, and investors would be expected to flee to the safe haven of gold.

Are we now into the next leg up for this bull market? Many analysts are beginning to suggest just that.

A good example is Peter Spina, of Goldforecaster.com, who wrote that, “The growing sense of concern over the stability of the financial system is starting to teeter on the edge of a panic. There remain many, even those within the gold industry, ignorant to the severity of the unfolding financial turmoil. As the education process continues and the significance of situation deepens in severity, the destruction of confidence will translate into greater flow of capital into both gold and silver. Confidence in gold and silver’s monetary integrity is backed up by many attributes including history itself.

“Mining stocks have particularly been depressed and further short-term downside risks do remain. The valuations of these mining investments continue to diverge from the current metal prices and future prospects. There will be, sometime in the coming months, the start of a tremendous influx of capital flow into these mining equities. The risk to reward opportunities here are quite incredible. I believe that once these metal prices establish new record highs that will be the likely trigger for many institutional and retail funds to pour into these equities.

“Next week gold has the opportunity to build on gains and once again challenge the $1,000 level and potentially higher. Once we break past the prior record levels, I expect the next leg higher to ensue. Is this another false start? Next few weeks will be telling!” Spina concluded.

Source: Precious Metals Spike Again