More On Gold

Standard & Poor's Equity Research reiterated a "neutral" view on its gold coverage. S&P Equity Research said, "We continue to believe that long-term fundamentals for gold and gold stocks are positive, but we remain 'neutral' on the group over the coming 12 months, as we believe a bear market rally in the U.S. dollar will place downward pressure on gold." The research firm noted that in 2004 gold-related stocks lagged the metal, with the gold sub-index falling 8.6%, compared with a 5.5% rise in gold. "We believe that the stocks may hold up better than the metal, given 2004's divergence, but we wouldn't add to positions now," the firm said. S&P Equity Research has "hold" ratings on Barrick Gold

CBOT Celebrates One-Year Anniversary of Listing Full-Size Gold and Silver Contracts
CBOT’s Precious Metals Complex Continues to Experience Steady Growth since Adding Electronically Traded Gold and Silver Contracts
Chicago, IL. October 6, 2005 – The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT®) marks today as the one-year anniversary of adding full-size Gold (100 oz.) and Silver (5,000 oz.) futures contracts, which trade exclusively on the CBOT’s premier electronic trading platform, to the Exchange’s Precious Metals Complex. According to industry sources, within one year, the CBOT’s Gold Complex (100 oz. Gold and 33.2 oz. mini-sized Gold contracts) captured a monthly market share of 7.5 percent of all exchange-traded precious metals on U.S.-based futures exchanges.

CBOT® Chicago, IL, November 3, 2005 – The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT®) announced today that open interest for the Exchange's 100 oz. Gold futures contract surpassed 10,000 contracts setting a new record of 10,054 contracts on November 2, surpassing the previous record of 9,739 contracts. Overall, the CBOT's electronically traded Precious Metals Complex's open interest closed at 19,149 contracts yesterday.