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

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

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

Still near the front burner of the marketplace is the global supplies shortage and transportation 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-year high of $83.58 a barrel overnight. Natural gas prices are also at very elevated levels. As winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, amid the rising energy costs and worries in some countries about securing winter heating needs, it seems "Murphy's law" will almost certainly come into play: a much harsher-than-normal winter for many countries in the Northern Hemisphere.