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Gold continues to be under pressure today..as of 6:10 am Pacific, the yellow metal is down $29 an ounce at $1,646 after dropping as low as $1,638…on an intra-day basis, Gold has broken support at $1,660 but that’s no reason to panic…it’ll be interesting to see if it rebounds significantly by the close…John sees additional support areas at $1,626 and $1,643…Silver is off 46 cents to $32.95…Copper has fallen 6 pennies to $3.84…Crude Oil is 52 cents lower at $106.19 while the U.S. Dollar Index is up one-fifth of a point to 80.31…

HSBC had some sensible comments on Gold this morning…”Any premium that was built into Gold market on expectations of a third round of QE is essentially being rung out by good recent economic data, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s recent comments to Congress and the latest FOMC statement…further losses near-term are possible, but the Gold market has effectively absorbed the Fed statement and the better economic data, so additional downside may be limited, in our view…monetary policy is still on balance highly accommodative, and demand for Gold exchange-traded funds has been very good…more important, perhaps, we may be nearing price levels that will encourage emerging-market demand, which should help stabilize prices”…

In case you need a little more encouragement regarding Gold, below is a chart from John that shows a potential inverted head and shoulders patten that gives a 2012 measured target of almost $2,000 an ounce…

Throughout this long bull run in Gold, strong physical buying has come into the market during periods of technical weakness and this time should be no different, so the downside from current levels does appear to be very limited as HSBC outlined…meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index continues to show strength…often the Dollar and Gold will go in the opposite directions but not always…as much as Bernanke does not want Gold to go crazy to the upside, he’s not too keen on the Dollar getting ahead of itself either given the fragility of the U.S. recovery…it appears the Dollar is about to test some important resistance around the 81 level according to John’s chart, so this is something to keep an eye on…

The Thirst For Oil In The Emerging Markets

The Asia region is expected to drive demand for Oil over the course of the year, according to the latest International Energy Agency report…Asia, along with other emerging markets, will be the driver for demand which is likely to be subdued in the developed world as a result of higher prices and poorer macro-economics, the report said…overall, the global Oil demand growth forecast was left unchanged by the IEA…the report states that of the total projected global expansion, Asian demand will comprise around 80%…the world will never lose its appetite for Oil which is one reason why development of the oil sands in Alberta is so critical, no matter what route it has to take or how many environmental wing-nuts want to oppose it…

Today’s Stock Markets

European markets reached 33-week highs this morning, led by financials and following through on yesterday’s sharp U.S. advances…major American banks are set to return money to shareholders after the Federal Reserve released the results of “stress tests” on 19 financial groups showing that all but four – including Citigroup – had passed the exercise…results of the test sparked a strong rally in U.S. bank stocks yesterday…the S&P financials index rose 3.9% and is now more than 18% higher for the year…

Stock index futures as of 6:10 am Pacific suggest a slightly positive open on Wall Street…the TSX Venture Exchange was hurt yesterday by slumping Gold prices but lost just 9 points to close at 1627…the TSX Gold Index fell for the 9th time in 13 sessions, falling over 1% to finish at 352…it’s interesting to point out that the Gold Index has almost touched its 1,000 day rising moving average (SMA) which has provided consistent support over the last decade with the brief exception of the 2008 Crash…

Hulda Silver (HDA, TSX-V)

John has two individual company charts this morning…Hulda Silver (HDA, TSX-V), which is on one of our “Watch Lists”, has advanced nicely over the last few sessions and closed yesterday at $1.55 after reaching an intra-day high of $1.63…this is an interesting play but the chart tells us HDA is now up against a resistance band, so some near-term consolidation is quite possible…

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold positions in HDA.

Galway Resources (GWY, TSX)

Galway Resources (GWY, TSX-V) released more encouraging drill results this morning from its Vetas Project (Volcan Gold-Silver Mine) in in Colombia…after going 10 consecutive trading sessions without posting a gain (9 losses, 1 unchanged day), GWY has moved up gently in each of the last 5 sessions and closed yesterday at $1.39…John’s chart shows the stock remains in an upsloping channel with strong resistance at $1.70…

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold positions in GWY…

Gold continues to hover around $1,700 an ounce with strong chart support between $1,660 and $1,680, and resistance around $1,720…as of 5:50 am Pacific, the yellow metal is off $14 an ounce at $1,687…Silver is down 30 cents to $33.31…Copper has gained 4 pennies to $3.88…Crude Oil is 44 cents higher at $106.77 while the U.S. Dollar Index is up one-third of a point to 80.15…

Nothing dramatic is expected from today’s FMOC meeting as it’s widely believed the Fed will “stay the course” and say nothing new…April’s meeting could be more interesting as that’s when the Fed will be issuing a new economic forecast…U.S. jobs data is looking encouraging but the American economy continues to face headwinds including “fiscal drag” from budget cuts…governments around the world are constrained in their ability to provide “stimulus”, which is actually a good thing as the days of Big Government need to come to an end, so stimulating economic activity has been left to the central bankers which is why there have been more than 75 easing moves globally over the last six months…that trend is likely to continue which creates a bullish environment for commodities and the stock market as a whole…particularly noteworthy is the easing mode that China is in right now, and in the case of the Chinese they also have a government that’s sitting on mountains of cash…

Today’s Markets

Asian markets were up overnight with China’s Shanghai Index advancing 21 points to 2456…European markets are up by about 1% as investors cheered solid economic data from Germany…

Stock index futures as of 5:50 am Pacific are pointing toward a positive open on Wall Street…U.S. retail sales rose 1.1% in February, in line with expectations, to a five-month high…

The Venture Exchange fell 14 points yesterday on low volume to close at 1636…this is an interesting level on the Venture because it’s just above the rising 100-day moving average (SMA) and right at the 1,000 day SMA…the 1,000-day has been in decline since the fall of 2008 but it will likely reverse to the upside later this year which is very bullish for the CDNX…this long-term moving average was resistance last November at 1675 but now it seems to be providing support, another clue that this is the right time to be a buyer in this market…

Meanwhile, the Volatility Index (VIX), which of course has an inverse relationship to the CDNX, has broken previous support which gives additional credence to the view that the CDNX hit an important low March 6 (1596) and will strengthen in the days ahead…

Prodigy Gold (PDG, TSX-V)

Prodigy Gold (PDG, TSX-V) has discovered a significant thick zone of high-grade mineralization in the footwall of the main Magino deposit…drill hole MA-11-205 intersected 10 metres (83 to 93 metres) grading 8.55 g/t Au within a thicker zone of 24 metres grading 4.22 g/t Au (82 to 106 metres)…interestingly, the drill intercept correlates with a district scale zone of higher grade Gold mineralization that extends from hole #205 through the main Magino deposit and continues to the east to the Island zone being mined by Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX) east of the Magino Property….Prodigy will drill deeper along the structure discovered in hole #205, below the currently proposed open pit operation, in an effort to find significant volumes of high grade Gold mineralization similar to the deep high grade zones at the adjacent Island Mine…

Orko Silver (OK, TSX-V)

As BMR readers know, we’re very bullish on Silver and another company to watch closely in this space is Orko Silver (OK, TSX-V) which is developing one of the world’s largest primary Silver deposits, La Preciosa, near the city of Durango in Durango State, Mexico…OK and joint venture partner Pan American Silver (PAA, TSX) released a Preliminary Economic Assessment for La Preciosa last August…Orko is looking at ways to improve the project economics and has contracted a company to complete a new independent PEA to be delivered by the middle of this year…the new PEA will also include an updated resource estimate which is expected by the end of this month…meanwhile, Pan American continues to be active in advancing Preciosa on different fronts including finalization of an Environmental Impact Study…Orko jumped 33 cents yesterday on strong volume to close at$2.46…previous resistance at $2.12 is now the new support as John shows in the chart below…

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold positions in OK.

Armistice Resources (AZ, TSX)

John has one more chart to share this morning and it shows a “textbook” buying opportunity…Armistice Resources (AZ, TSX), which we first brought to our readers’ attention a little while back when it was in the low 20’s, got as high as 30 cents in early February and has fallen back to its now-rising 100-day moving average (SMA)…it closed yesterday at 23 cents…RSI has declined to previous support and Slow Stochastics (not shown) indicates oversold conditions…Armistice has been hoisting and stockpiling ore from its McGarry Mine at Kirkland lake since December and has just signed a custom milling contract with SMC (Canada) for processing 30,000 tons of Gold-bearing ore from McGarry…the contract with SMC will meet Armistice’s requirements for the start-up phase and is open for extension if the processing of the first 30,000 tons meets all expectations…

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold positions in AZ.

Welcome to our site, or at least the initial version of it!  BMR has been online for more than two years and strictly through word-of-mouth we have built a loyal following. 

We’re continuing with our plans to ultimately build a very unique investment and money-management resource site that goes considerably beyond what we have now.  While we focus very much on the Gold and Silver markets and trends in the global economy, and of course the technical health of the TSX Venture Exchange (CDNX), an important component of this site will always be original research on undiscovered junior exploration companies or small producers, mostly in the Gold and Silver exploration space, that offer very real and significant upside potential. We are extremely selective in the companies we feature and put forward to investors – we prefer quality over quantity.  However, investors must understand that these are still highly speculative situations and entail considerable risk, volatility and unpredictability.  Our stock coverage is for informational and entertainment purposes only and must not be viewed or interpreted as “buy”, “sell” or “hold” recommendations. Always perform your own due diligence and please read our disclaimer at the bottom.

We use a combination of fundamental and technical factors in determining the value and potential of a stock.  In terms of fundamentals we look for a company with a superb project supported by strong management.  Management must possess integrity, solid ethics and a determination to succeed and build shareholder value.

At BullMarketRun (BMR) we approach the handling of money from a biblical perspective and this is an important topic we will be sharing with our readers (and listeners) as the site continues to develop. The Bible teaches so much about money and how to handle it and invest it –  there are literally thousands of verses on how we should handle the money and possessions that God entrusts us with.  By examining the life of Jesus and reading the Word of God, we can all become fully equipped to be successful investors and handle money wisely.  If it’s the other way around –  if you’re a slave to money by being in debt for instance, or if you don’t respect the value of money and spend it foolishly –  you’re in trouble and you’ll never be blessed financially.  We have a God who thinks big – He created the universe – and He wants us to think big  in every area of our lives.  When we handle money from a Biblical perpective (His money that we have been given stewardship of) He will bless our financial decisions and an increase of tenfold or a hundredfold is always possible.  This all begins, of course, with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by accepting Him as your Lord and Savior and putting Him at the throne of your life.  It is the most important decision you’ll ever make.

God Bless,

Terry Dyer

Owner/Publisher, www.BullMarketRun.com

Disclaimer:

BullMarketRun.com (BMR) is completely independent from any companies it covers.  BMR accepts no compensation of any kind from any groups, individuals or corporations for coverage of any company mentioned on this site.  We accept no advertising either.  Our stock coverage is for informational and entertainment purposes only and must not be viewed or interpreted as “buy”, “sell” or “hold” recommendations. No investment opinion or other advice is being rendered on any stock or company. We strongly recommend that you consult with a qualified investment adviser, one licensed by appropriate regulatory agencies in your legal jurisdiction, and do your own due diligence and research before making any investment decisions. The stocks we cover, by definition, are highly speculative and potentially very volatile. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment if they make a purchase or short sale in these speculative stocks.  We are not Registered Securities Advisers. Our opinions can only be construed as a solicitation to buy and sell securities when they are subject to the prior approval and endorsement of a Registered Securities Adviser operating in accordance with the appropriate regulations in your area of jurisdiction. It should be assumed that BMR personnel, writers and their associates may hold or dispose of or trade in positions in any securities mentioned herein at any time.  Owner/Publisher of BullMarketRun.com is Terry Dyer of Langley, British Columbia.

Forward Looking Statements:

All statements in BMR’s reports, other than statements of historical fact, may be forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or future performance. Forward-looking statements are often but not always identified by the use of words such as “seek”, “anticipate”, “plan”, “continue”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “project”, “predict”, “potential”, “targeting”, “intend”, “could”, “might”, “should”, “believe” and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements.

Gold is weaker this morning after showing resiliency Friday and staging an intra-day reversal in the face of a stronger U.S. Dollar and a bullish jobs report…as of 6:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is down $16 an ounce at $1,697…Silver is 50 cents lower at $33.82…Copper is off 3 pennies at $3.83…Crude Oil is $1.27 lower at $106.13 while the U.S. Dollar Index is up slightly at 80.00…

The Fed’s Open Market Committee meeting tomorrow is expected to be a ho-hum affair with no significant policy changes…the rate-setting decision was reduced from two days to one and there will be no press conference to follow the meeting…

Stock index futures point to a mildly lower open on Wall Street…Asian markets were mixed overnight while European markets are down slightly…

We have a couple of charts this morning that we believe are quite revealing and demonstrate that the Venture Exchange, after a bumpy start this month, should pick up steam as the month progresses…it’s always a positive sign when the Venture is outperforming Gold and the TSX Gold Index (the reverse was true for much of last year, beginning in March)…so there has been a change in trend and this is important to note…year-to-date. the Venture (up 11%) has also out-paced the TSX (4.6%) and the Dow (5.4%)…below is a 2012 comparative chart from John through Friday that features the CDNX, Gold, Silver, Copper, the TSX Gold Index and the U.S. Dollar Index…

What’s also interesting is the chart for the TSX Gold Index which is looking increasingly bullish…it’s at support and may need a bit more time to gear up for a strong move, but the bias appears to be to the upside…a 5% jump by this Index could easily result in the Venture surging through the 1700 resistance area given its out-performance vs. the Gold Index so far this year…

Gold itself has a strong support band between $1,660 and $1,680 and that’s the area that held last week…during periods of technical weakness, physical buying has always held the Gold market up and that has been the case again recently…as John’s 3-month daily chart shows below, near-term resistance is around $1,720…a close above that level would be a bullish development…

China’s “Slowdown”

There was a lot of talk in the mainstream media last week, and more this morning, regarding China’s “slowing” economy and how that could pose a threat to the global economy as reporters seized on comments by Premier Wen Jiabao who gave a 7.5% GDP growth target for 2012…the Chinese, interestingly, seem to have mastered the art of a “soft landing” and the government has consistently under-estimated GDP growth over the last decade as the chart below shows…

China’s annual rate of inflation in February receded to a 20-month low of 3.2%, barely seven months after being twice that at a 3-year peak of 6.5%…”aggressive easing” may not be in the cards for now but moderating inflation will allow for continued smooth liquidity conditions supportive of growth…fresh data this morning showed February exports from China fell 23.6% from the previous month, and rose a slower-than-expected 18.4% from the previous year…the fall in exports, combined with spectacularly strong imports as China bought commodities such as crude oil and iron ore, brought the trade deficit to its highest level in 22 years…on balance, China’s $7.5 trillion economy is bustling along just nicely and that’s bullish for commodities…more and more Chinese of course are also participating in the Gold market…

Arian Silver (AGQ, TSX-V)

We’ve been bullish on Arian Silver (AGQ, TSX-V) since January when the stock was trading in the upper 20’s…on Friday it closed at 44.5 cents, and now the company has come out with results of an updated NI-43-101 resource estimate for its 100%-owned San Jose Property in Mexico…the report shows a 29% increase in resource tonnage with mineralization open along the western and eastern strikes of the San Jose Vein and to depth…almost two kilometres of the structure to the west, and over 1.5 kilometres to the east, remain to be drilled…a significant amount of infill drilling will also allow for upgrading of current resources…indicated resources are 8 million tonnes grading 119 g/t Ag, 0.38% Pb and 0.85% Zn while inferred resources consist of 24.5 million tonnes grading 110 g/t Ag, 0.38% Pb and 0.76% Zn…there are 117.26 total indicated and inferred contained ounces of Silver…stocks often show some weakness when a resource estimate comes out, so don’t be surprised if there’s a pullback in AGQ but the primary trend remains up…

Rainbow Resources (RBW, TSX-V)

Part 2 of our article on Rainbow will be posted to the site around 8:30 am Pacific (it was sent out to our eAlert subscribers earlier this morning)…Rainbow remains our favorite “Strong Play” (“A” Group) with major upside potential looking out over the next several months given its current market cap of only $8.9 million…

GoldQuest Mining (GQC, TSX-V)

GoldQuest is on our “Sleeper” list and historically has always been a smart buy for patient investors around current levels…GQC, which holds an impressive land package in the Dominican Republic, closed Friday at 11.5 cents…below is an updated chart from John that shows the stock has established support after a breakout…this is a nice pattern…

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold positions in GQC.

TSX Venture Exchange and Gold

Investors were concerned about the so-called “PDAC Curse” last week and indeed the CDNX stumbled out of the gate Monday and Tuesday, falling 5% from the March 2 close of 1679 to an intra-day low of 1596 Tuesday.  However, the Index showed its resilience by recouping most of those losses and closing at 1650 Friday for a weekly loss of only 29 points or 1.7%.  Volumes were relatively low but in part that was due to PDAC with so many investors less focused on trading as they made the rounds at PDAC.  This market does need a substantial increase in retail interest and buying to push through resistance around 1700.  Based on the charts and our gut instincts, we do believe that will occur as the month progresses.

The CDNX continues to look very healthy from a technical perspective.  Rising 50 and 100-day moving averages are supporting the Index, as we saw early last week, and what we also find encouraging is how the CDNX has performed on a relative basis vs. other markets through the first two months of the year.

It’s always a bullish sign when the CDNX is out-performing Gold, the TSX and other markets.  The Venture is up 11% so far in 2012 – more than double the gains posted by the Dow (5.4%) and the TSX (4.6%).  The Nasdaq is leading the way, up a whopping 14.7% for the year (that’s also a very encouraging sign).

Below is a 2.5-year weekly CDNX chart from John that shows how the RSI(14) has plenty of room to move higher to support a strong surge in this market.  The catalyst could be a major discovery and/or a powerful run by Gold and commodities in general.  Technical “breakouts” (i.e. a move through the 1700 area) will add additional fuel.

Gold

Gold tested important support levels between $1,660 and $1,680 last week and finished the week on a very positive note with a sharp intra-day turnaround Friday to close at $1,713 (a small weekly gain).   John’s 3-month daily chart below shows a market that is regaining momentum and will likely find higher ground this coming week.

Silver lost 41 cents for the week to close at $34.32.  Copper fell 2 pennies to $3.86.  Crude Oil climbed 70 cents to $107.40 while the U.S. Dollar Index gained half a point to 79.96.

The “Big Picture” View Of Gold

As Frank Holmes so effectively illustrates at www.usfunds.com, Gold is being driven by both the Fear Trade and the Love Trade.  The transfer of wealth from west to east, and the accumulation of wealth particularly in China and India, is having a huge impact on Gold.

The fundamental case for Gold remains incredibly strong – currency instability and an overall lack of confidence in fiat currencies, governments and world leaders in general, an environment of historically low interest rates and negative real interest rates that won’t end anytime soon (inflation is greater than the nominal interest rate even in parts of the world where rates are increasing), money supply growth, massive government debt from the United States to Europe, central bank buying, flat mine supply, physical demand, investment demand, emerging market growth, geopolitical unrest and conflicts, and inflation concerns…the list goes on.  It’s hard to imagine Gold not performing well in this environment.  The Middle East is being turned on its head and that could ultimately have major positive consequences for Gold.

Gold has turned lower on a positive U.S. jobs report…as of 6:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is off $17 an ounce at $1,682…Silver has fallen 36 cents to $33.56……Copper is up 3 pennies at $3.82…Crude Oil has gained 53 cents to $107.11 while the U.S. Dollar Index has shot up two-thirds of a point to 79.77…don’t worry about Gold…there is plenty of physical demand to support this market and the overall global environment for Gold remains very bullish…

China’s Inflation Slows

China’s annual rate of consumer inflation slowed sharply to a 20-month low of 3.2%  in February, comfortably within Beijing’s 2012 target of 4%…abating price pressures give China plenty of room to further loosen monetary policy to support slowing growth…fresh data out this morning show Chinese factory output retreated to August 2009 levels while fixed asset investment, which accounted for 54% of China’s economic growth in 2011, grew slightly ahead of expectations (21.5%) in the first two months of the year but at the lowest level in nearly a decade…retail sales grew 14.7% in January-February from a year earlier, short of the 17.% that was expected…China is very effective at engineering “soft landings” and an overall 2012 growth rate in excess of 8% would be bullish for commodities and financial markets…

Today’s Markets

Asian markets were up overnight with China’s Shanghai Index climbing 19 points to 2439…European markets have turned modestly higher after a better-than-expected U.S. non-farm payrolls report that came out about 30 minutes ago at 5:30 am Pacific…futures in New York are pointing to a positive open on Wall Street as optimism continues to grow regarding the outlook for the U.S. economy…

The Venture Exchange found support right around 1600 the other day (25 points above its rising 100-day SMA)  and that very well could have been the bottom in the five-day mini-correction that set in February 29…the primary trend is up so embracing weakness (buying into it as opposed to selling into it) is the key to maximizing profits in this market…

Rainbow Resources (RBW, TSX-V)

Rainbow Resources added another 1,500 hectares to its Big Strike Project land package yesterday, and also announced that a comprehensive technical report on its West Kootenay properties is expected next week…this should include results of fourth quarter exploration work completed by Rainbow at the International and elsewhere…if Rainbow has been able to confirm historical high-grade assays at the International, look out…a couple of things we picked up on in yesterday’s news…first, the Rainbow group clearly has its pulse on what’s happening on the ground in the West Kootenays and we suspect that’s because of David Johnston’s extensive work in the area over the last five years through the privately-held company that Rainbow acquired (Braveheart Resources)…it appears Rainbow has picked up some strategic claims in the immediate vicinity of Anglo-Swiss‘ (ASW, TSX-V) Kenville Gold Mine where drilling commenced more than a month ago and initial results could come as early as next week according to ASW’s latest news release (February 1)…the Kenville Mine is extending to the south and at depth …other good news for Rainbow is that, according to ASW, “a newly interpreted regional structural splay located on the west half of the Kenville Gold Mine Property has also been identified as a potential shear system capable of hosting Gold veins and will be drill tested during the current program”…a reliable source has confirmed to BMR that due to financial constraints, Anglo-Swiss couldn’t continue with options late last year on certain ground in the Nelson Gold camp…Rainbow has jumped in and could reap the rewards…a “quartz-tourmaline stockwork system” at Referendum is music to our ears, and obviously Rainbow must like what it sees at its Rhea Property as they continue to add ground contiguous to it…what’s also interesting about yesterday’s news is that not only is Rainbow going to be very aggressive in developing its Big Strike Project, but a quote from Johnston stated the company is “selectively targeting under-explored Gold and Silver opportunities in this prolific region (West Kootenays) and elsewhere in other friendly jurisdictions…the Rainbow group includes a part-owner of the Calgary Flames (Bob Libin), a mining engineer who helped raise millions to lift Grande Cache Coal out of difficulty and eventually to great success (Jim Durham), and a highly respected geologist who has been involved in some significant discoveries (Bruce Durham)…Rainbow is on track for another breakout through resistance at 30 cents and that could certainly occur at any point now…

Anglo Swiss Resources (ASW, TSX-V)

Yesterday’s news from Rainbow prompted us to take a closer look at Anglo-Swiss which has many more shares outstanding but is trading at just 6 cents…it appears to have bottomed out on the charts, as John shows below, and as a result we’re adding it to our “Watch” list “A” group…

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold positions in ASW (John and Jon hold positions in RBW with Jon adding to his position yesterday).

Gold Bullion Development (GBB, TSX-V)

The drills are turning again at Granada with GBB drilling an area of the LONG Bars Zone – the north part of the eastern Extension – that has shown great promise to date…what has us particularly excited is that two deep holes are being drilled (with a minimum of one wedge per hole) to be followed by a third hole strategically located between two cross-sections and the existing known drilled area…this is going to be highly interesting and what it shows is that SGS, the company’s new geological consultant, has the right approach to understanding this system…technically, GBB is looking much healthier and a move through the 100-day moving average (SMA) at 17.5 cents for the first time in months appears imminent…after being in decline for about a year now, the 100-day is flattening out and has a good chance of reversing to the upside in the coming weeks…below is John’s updated GBB chart…

Note: John and Terry hold positions in GBB (Jon does not).

Seafield Resources (SFF, TSX-V)

Seafield had a strong day yesterday, climbing from 16.5 cents to close at 19.5 cents on volume of 1.5 million shares…Seafield has been going in the right direction under Cesar Lopez and we believe this could be a very strong year for the company as it continues to develop its Quinchia Project in Colombia and examines other opportunities as well…

Note:  John and Jon do not hold positions in SFF (Terry does).

Gold is moving higher for the second straight day but for now will likely face resistance around $1,725…as of 6:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $11 an ounce at $1,695…Silver has jumped 30 cents to $33.73…Copper has gained a nickel to $3.81…Crude Oil is 38 cents higher at $106.54 while the U.S. Dollar Index is off half a point to 79.30…Asian physical demand is apparently helping the Gold market while the Wall St. Journal reported yesterday that the Federal Reserve was considering “sterilized” bond purchases…under this new approach, the Fed would buy long-term mortgage or Treasury bonds but tie up the money by borrowing it back for short periods at low rates…the Fed will use every trick in the book to inject liquidity into the financial system and try to stimulate growth, and attempt to disguise it as something other than QE3….that’s why we’re so bullish on the markets…central banks around the world are in “full-on expansion mode”…continually low interest rates and strong demand will keep Gold in an extended bull market…

An interesting report in the Financial Times this morning…China intends to extend renminbi loans to other Brics nations in another step toward the internationalization of its currency…the China Development Bank will sign a memorandum of understanding in New Delhi with its Brazilian, Russian, Indian and South African counterparts on March 29, say people familiar with their talks…the initiative aims to boost trade between the five nations and promote use of the renminbi, rather than U.S. dollar, for international trade and cross-border lending…under 13% of China’s Asia trade is transacted in renminbi, according to Helen Qiao, chief Asia economist for Morgan Stanley…HSBC estimates that the currency’s share of regional trade could swell to up to 50% by 2015…

China sees the big picture and is acting aggressively on the economic front in many ways…a geologist we spoke to at PDAC yesterday gave a startling statistic related to the mining industry – China is graduating thousands upon thousands of mining engineers every year now while the United States graduated just 150 last year…

Today’s Markets

Asian markets were strong overnight…China’s Shanghai Index seems to have found support at 2400 which the charts suggested it would…it closed up 1% today at 2420…European markets are very strong today while stock futures point to a higher open on Wall Street…new U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, a government report showed this morning, but not enough to change perceptions that the labor market was strengthening…U.S. non-farm payroll data will be released tomorrow…

The TSX Venture Exchange will attempt to follow-through on yesterday’s 17-point gain…volume was very light yesterday, however, which hopefully was related to so many market participants traveling home from PDAC…the Index closed at 1622…the rising 50 and 100-day moving averages (SMA’s) are providing strong support directly underneath…we’re convinced this recent sell-off has been a Golden buying opportunity…

We’ll be reviewing our “Strong Play”, “Watch” and “Sleeper” lists over the weekend for posting on Monday morning with some minor tinkering possible following PDAC…Rainbow Resources (RBW, TSX-V), as our favorite, continues to look as strong as ever in every way…President David Johnston has promised strong news flow for the month of March and he adheres to the “Cowboy Code” so his word is his bond…investors are patiently waiting for the technical report on all of Rainbow’s West Kootenay properties and that should really help in terms of putting some meat on the bones of this story…from a technical perspective, the chart continues to look bullish and suggests another attempt at a breakout through 30 cents is in the cards…John updates the Rainbow chart below after yesterday’s 27-cent close…

Note: John and Jon hold positions in RBW (Terry does not).

Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX) is one of our favorite producers with its share price currently in the “sweet spot”, technically heavily oversold after falling as low as $8.74 Tuesday…it closed at $9.17 yesterday which is only around 11 times 2011 earnings of 81 cents per share…this is a solid and profitable company that should do extremely well in 2012 with increased production and a growing resource at Wasamac…John’s chart below is a classic example of how to make money in the markets (near-term and longer-term)…when you see such obvious oversold conditions, it’s time to go against the crowd and pile in…this one’s a “no-brainer” at current levels for technical and fundamental reasons…

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold positions in RIC.

We’ve had some readers inquiries about Cadillac Mining (CQX, TSX-V) which gained a penny-and-a-half yesterday to close at 27 cents…Cadillac’s near-term focus is on completing a financing in order to proceed with a 5,000 metre drill program at its promising Goldstrike Project in Utah…one independent and experienced geologist we spoke to at PDAC, quite familiar with the general area, is very bullish on Goldstrike and has taken a position in CQX…the key for Cadillac right now is to complete a financing quickly and on the most favorable terms as possible…hopefully management can execute in that regard…we say “hopefully” because the market is not their area of expertise…anyway, we believe there will be strong interest in a CQX financing…the stock is likely range-bound for a while, however, while this is all worked out…John updates the chart below…

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold positions in CQX.