On August 11, the price of gold collapsed: down over $30. So did the price of silver, platinum, and palladium. A lot of people are asking why.

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.…

Gold didn’t do much on Friday until Sydney closed for the weekend. Then it began a gentle rise through the balance of Hong Kong and most of London trading.

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!

Q: “Please comment on Suntech Power Holdings. Comparing STP with KHD Humboldt Wedag, which is the better investment at this time?”

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…

The gold price lost about eight bucks (silver was down about 20 cents) from the open in Sydney on Thursday morning until about fifteen minutes before the Comex opened in New York yesterday morning.

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.

Why housebuilders are demanding state hand-outs… More hilarity in the housing industry this weekend. Builders are now demanding state help. As housing sales have collapsed, the construction industry faces mass redundancies, while house builders themselves have seen their share prices dive.

Gold rose when Globex trading resumed in New York late Thursday evening, but sold off the second the Sydney market closed for the weekend. The bottom was in London…about 7:00 a.m. NY time. From there it rose (with lots of opposition) until Globex trading was through for the weekend in New York.