Sovereign Society members and readers often ask me if there’s any U.S. law that forces them to report their gold, silver or other precious metals to the U.S. government - especially if they hold those precious metals in foreign accounts or safety deposit boxes.

It was a banner day for the precious metals Thursday as gold, silver, and platinum all posted solid gains on the day. Gold recovered from its pounding on Wednesday, rising slightly during Far East trading before shooting up during the NYMEX. Gold finished up $7.90, at $913.30/oz. Overnight, gold traded lower.

Platinum traded sharply up in the Far East to an intraday high of $1761.50/oz. While the metal slid slightly in later sessions, platinum still closed at $1736/oz., up $14. Overnight, platinum dipped sharply.

Silver actually dipped a little bit in early trading. This all changed, however, at the start of the NYMEX session when silver prices surged to an intraday high of $17.897/oz. Silver finished up $0.37 to finish at $17.71/oz. Overnight, silver also trended lower.  (Click here for charts)

The rise in precious metals was fueled largely by the dollar’s weakness against other major currencies and troubling news for the U.S. economy.

“Dollar weakness and the GDP surprise this morning are pushing the market up in gold,” remarked Zachary Oxman of Wisdom Financial, referring to reports Thursday that the U.S. GDP grew by an annualized 1.9% in the second quarter, lower than expected.

It seems likely that the pullback from Wednesday’s assault on the $900 barrier will continue in the near future.

Silver’s large gains were also aided by reports that China will remove tax rebates on silver exports from that country.

“It is likely that the abolition of the rebate will depress exports,” wrote analysts at Barclays Capital. If so, we will likely see lower global supplies and higher prices for silver in the near future.

Source: Precious Metals Spike, Dollar’s Woes the Cause

It ain’t much fun being a miner in these torrid times. It’s raining supply problems, infrastructure problems and energy costs are rocketing. Time for investors to be really picky!

Trying to preserve buying power with advanced purchases of oil! Sort of like buying gold and silver, but messier. Stick with silver and gold. You’ll be glad you did, as your motives are the same as everybody else’s…

Gold was slightly lower until the open of the New York session on Thursday, but went vertical at that point, adding $20 in an hour and peaking at $908 before easing during the rest of the NYMEX and dropping further in the Globex to fall back below $900 and finish at $898.00/oz., up only $4.40. Overnight, gold is trending higher.