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Visit our comments section during the day today for updates and helpful information, and be sure to check for the possibility of a BMR Evening Alert. BMR Morning Market Musings returns tomorrow.

1. Gold has traded between $1,259 and $1,269 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $1 an ounce at $1,267…Silver has added 7 cents to $16.63…Copper has slipped a penny to $2.85…Nickel has retreated 2 cents to $4.65…Crude Oil is 14 cents higher at $49.73 while the U.S. Dollar Index has recovered nearly one-tenth of a point to 92.98 as it hovers near strong support at 93…Gold touched a 7-week high yesterday with investors positioning themselves ahead of U.S. jobs data tomorrow which should give further clues on the outlook for further interest rate increases…investors in global Gold ETP’s have scaled back their exposure to the yellow metal at the fastest pace since December…net redemptions reached 64 tonnes in July, the weakest month for ETP activity in 2017…

2. Global demand for Gold fell 14% in the 1st half of this year, including 10% in Q2, due mainly to a sharp decline in purchases by ETFs, the World Gold Council reported today…but the WCG remains optimistic, noting that if ETFs are taken out of the equation, Gold demand shows healthy signs in other sectors…“dramatically” lower ETF inflows were the biggest disappointment during Q2, totaling just 56 tonnes, down 76% from the record-hitting Q2-2016 ETF data…keep in mind that during last year’s Q2, Gold-backed ETF demand was the 4th largest on record, in part fueled by market uncertainty around the U.K. referendum on EU membership…that has skewed comparisons to what occurred this year in Q2…demand from jewelry and technology sectors during the most recently completed quarter was very strong, up 8% and 2% respectively, the WCG said…bar and coin investment also saw strong gains, with Q2 figures rising 13%, driven by a recovery in India…the report also showed that central bank demand remained supportive, climbing 20% to 94 tonnes in Q2…one of the highlights was the purchase of 21 tonnes of Gold by the Turkish central bank, marking the first significant addition to its reserves since the 1980’s…

3. Gold prices could react positively to economic news just out that showed a drop in momentum in the U.S. service sector…the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) has reported that the non-manufacturing PMI reading came in at 53.9% in July, below expectations and down from June’s reading of 57.4%…that marks the slowest activity in 11 months…

4. The Venture is off 1 point at 768 as of 7:00 am Pacific…3 of the top 5 volume leaders in early trading are companies active in the Eskay Heart of Gold Camp…significantly, Metallis Resources (MTS, TSX-V), which has only about 20 million shares outstanding and adjoins the southern border of Garibaldi Resources’ (GGI, TSX-V) E&L Project with its 100 sq. km Kirkham Property, has come to life by hitting a new multi-year high of 31 cents…drilling begins soon at Kirkham which features a known Copper-Gold porphyry system, based on historical drilling, and high-grade Gold targets parallel to that…Cobalt Power Group (CPO, TSX-V) is active this morning, hitting a 5-month high of 14.5 cents…the Dow has slipped slightly below 22,000 while in Toronto, the TSX is also flat in early trading…home prices in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, posted their biggest monthly drop in at least 17 years in July and sales plunged as government efforts to cool the market and the near-collapse of a mortgage lender made buyers leery…prices are still up 18% from the same month a year ago, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board…

5.  Aben Resources (ABN, TSX-V) has commenced its summer diamond drilling program at its 230 sq. km Forrest Kerr Gold Project in the Eskay Heart of Gold Camp…the company intends to drill 2,100 m with initial targets focused on the Carcass Creek and Boundary zones to confirm and extend impressive high-grade Gold mineralization discovered in historical drilling…based on recent data compilation, structural geological interpretation and additional field reconnaissance work, Aben has a solid opportunity at Forrest Kerr…the company currently owns certain mineral tenures outright and has agreements in place with various 3rd parties whereby it has the exclusive right to a 100% interest in the large property area that was wisely consolidated last year…ABN is off half a penny at 19.5 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

6. Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX) reported robust Q2 financial results this morning, posting earnings of $10.5 million (CDN) or 17 cents per share…company-wide production was 31,249 ounces of Gold for the quarter, primarily driven by solid production from the Island Gold Mine which had record low cash costs…company-wide All-In-Sustaining-Costs were $957 (CDN) or $711 (U.S.), positively impacted by record low AISC of $677 (CDN) or $503 (U.S.) from the Island Gold mine…that operation remains on-track to meet, or beat, annual production and cost guidance…Richmont’s cash balance at the end of the quarter increased to $95.9 million (CDN), an increase of $20.7 million over Q1…RIC is up 21 cents at $10.46 as of 7:00 am Pacific…

7. Kirkland Lake Gold (KL, TSX), another highly attractive Canadian producer, is holding steady around $13 in early trading after it reported strong Q2 results yesterday with net earnings jumping to $34.6 million (U.S.), or 17 cents per share, compared to $13.1 million or 6 cents per share in the previous quarter this year, and $10.6 million or 9 cents per share in Q2 2016…revenue more than doubled from Q2 2016 to $189.9 million in Q2 2017, based on sales of 151,208 ounces at an average realized price of $1,256 per ounce…cash and cash equivalents of $267.4 million at June 30, 2017…both Fosterville and Macassa were key drivers of KL’s improved cost performance, which included achieving AISC per ounce sold of $729 (U.S.) on a consolidated basis…

The most popular recent BMR articles/videos…

Two Big Plays Emerge in B.C., Setting The Stage For A Summer To Remember

How To Bring A Junior Resource Market To Life!

The Dramatic New Chase For A Nickel-Copper-Rich Massive Sulphide Deposit In The Heart Of A Famous Gold Camp

Northern Ontario Cobalt Junior Attracts Interest From Metal Trading Companies

The Most Important Venture Development Since The New Bull Market Began

CSR Builds Momentum At Castle Mine

Check back later this morning for today’s BMR Morning Market Musings.

1. Gold has traded between $1,262 and $1,271 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $1 an ounce at $1,270…Silver has eased off 4 cents to $16.64…Copper and Nickel are both relatively flat at $2.86 and $4.64, respectively…Crude Oil is unchanged at $49.16 while the U.S. Dollar Index is steady at 93.02…strangely, despite Gold’s advance last month, holdings in the largest Gold-backed exchange-traded-fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, fell more than 7%, the biggest monthly outflow since April 2013…that’s a hard one to explain…

2. The American Petroleum Institute (API) said yesterday that U.S. Crude stocks rose by 1.8 million barrels in the week ending July 28 to 488.8 million…analysts were expecting inventories to fall by 2.9 million barrels last week, according to a Reuters survey…a government report is due to be released within the hour and is expected to show that inventories have decreased…meanwhile, Russia’s Oil output stood at 10.95 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, unchanged for a 3rd month and in line with its pledge to curb production in an effort to support the price of Crude…Goldman Sachs says 2nd quarter company results had shown that Oil majors “are adapting to $50 per barrel prices and can afford to pay dividends in cash” at that level…

3. U.S. companies added 178,000 jobs in July (private payrolls) on a surge in service-related occupations despite a decrease in manufacturing jobs, according to this morning’s private payrolls report from ADP and Moody’s Analytics…the Labor Department will release its non-farm payrolls report Friday…the ADP/Moody’s number was just shy of Wall Street expectations of 185,000…as the economy inches closer to full employment, the report showed that job growth continues but is slowing somewhat…the July count was the 2nd lowest of 2017…

4. The Dow topped 22,000 for the first time this morning after Apple posted quarterly results that exceeded expectations…the company reported earnings per share of $1.67 on revenue of $45.4 billion…analysts polled by Reuters expected EPS of $1.67 on revenue of $44.89 billion…John’s latest Dow chart shows next measured Fib. resistance at 23,000, so expect the index to continue trending higher during this 2nd half of the year…

5. The Venture is up 3 points at 771 as of 7:00 am Pacific…GT Gold (GTT, TSX-V) has hit a new high of $1.32 in early trading after pushing past Fib. resistance at $1.16 as expected…we’ll have an updated GTT chart in today’s Morning Musings…Colorado Resources (CXO, TSX-V) is looking better than it has in many months from a technical perspective as it has finally broken out above its 200-day SMA which is now reversing to the upside…CXO is active on multiple fronts including KSP in the Eskay Heart of Gold Camp, Castle (next to GT Gold), North ROK (east of GT Gold) and Green Springs in Nevada…Aben Resources (ABN, TSX-V), also breaking out technically, is unchanged at 16.5 cents as it prepares to drill high-grade targets at its Forrest Kerr Project in the northern part of the Heart of Gold Camp…

6. Kirkland Lake Gold (KL, TSX) reported strong Q2 financial results this morning…the company’s net earnings jumped to $34.6 million (U.S.), or 17 cents per share, compared to $13.1 million or 6 cents per share in the previous quarter this year, and $10.6 million (9 cents per share) in Q2 2016…revenue more than doubled from Q2 2016 to $189.9 million in Q2 2017, based on sales of 151,208 ounces at average realized price of $1,256 per ounce…cash and cash equivalents of $267.4 million at June 30, 2017…both Fosterville and Macassa were key drivers of KL’s improved cost performance, which included achieving AISC per ounce sold of $729 (U.S.) on a consolidated basis…Tony Makuch, President and CEO, stated: “Both of our high-grade, cornerstone assets, Fosterville and Macassa, performed very well in Q2 2017. Fosterville achieved record production, very low unit costs and average grades well above target levels. In addition, we recently released an updated mineral reserve estimate for Fosterville, which more than doubled underground reserve ounces, came close to doubling the grade, and significantly increased the value of the operation. There also remains significant exploration upside for further growth, both through continued expansion of existing deposits, and by exploring our many large district targets in the area. At Macassa, we continued to see year-over-year improvement in both production levels and unit costs. We also made excellent progress with our drilling programs, having recently announced a significant extension to the South Mine Complex.”

7.  Investors should take note that Golden Predator Mining (GPY, TSX-V) now controls 24.65% of CSE-listed Taku Gold (TAK, CSE)…it was announced within the last 45 minutes that GPY has entered into another property option agreement with Taku pursuant to which the company has granted to Taku the option to acquire Golden Predator’s 100% interest in the Sonora Gulch Property in Yukon’s White Gold district in exchange for shares of Taku and a 1% NSR…the agreement follows the previously announced sale of additional non-core assets located in the White Gold District from GPY to Taku…Golden Predator is focused on the high-grade Gold 3 Aces Project in southeastern Yukon…the company views the sale of the White Gold assets as an opportunity to maximize value from its non-core assets…tightly-held TAK, which has been a relatively light trader, is up 4 pennies at 24 cents through the first 30 minutes of trading…

The most popular recent BMR articles/videos…

Two Big Plays Emerge in B.C., Setting The Stage For A Summer To Remember

How To Bring A Junior Resource Market To Life!

The Dramatic New Chase For A Nickel-Copper-Rich Massive Sulphide Deposit In The Heart Of A Famous Gold Camp

Northern Ontario Cobalt Junior Attracts Interest From Metal Trading Companies

The Most Important Venture Development Since The New Bull Market Began

CSR Builds Momentum At Castle Mine

Check the comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information. BMR Morning Market Musings resumes tomorrow.

1. Gold has traded between $1,262 and $1,274 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $2 an ounce at $1,271…Silver has eased off 4 pennies to $16.77…Copper and Nickel are both down slightly at $2.86 and $4.59, respectively…Crude Oil, after a strong push in recent days, has retreated 60 cents to $49.57 while the U.S. Dollar Index is flat at 92.92…over the last 2 decades, August has been Gold’s 4th-best month with an average return of 1.5% according to BMR historical charts…the metal has recorded a winning August two-thirds of the time over the last 20 years, virtually the same winning percentage the Venture has enjoyed for August…

2. A private gauge of China’s factory activity rose for a 2nd straight month in July and hit its highest level in 4 months, indicating a faster pace of expansion despite official data showing renewed weakness in production and demand…the Caixin China manufacturing PMI rose to 51.1 in July from 50.4 in June…the Caixin reading comes after China’s official manufacturing PMI, a competing government gauge, slipped to 51.4 in July from 51.7 in June, dragged down by slower production and weaker demand, according to National Bureau of Statistics data released yesterday…metal prices aren’t reflecting this but many economists expect China’s economy to slow in the 2nd half of the year as government measures to rein in a hot property market and rising corporate debt start to weigh more on business sentiment and economic activity…

3. U.S. consumer spending barely rose in June as income failed to increase for the first time in 7 months, pointing to a moderate pace of growth in consumption in the 3rd quarter…the Commerce Department reported this morning that consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, edged up 0.1% in June after an upwardly revised 0.2% gain in May…the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, excluding food and energy, rose 0.1% in June after a similar gain in May…in the 12 months through June, the so-called core PCE price index increased 1.5%…the core PCE is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure but it stubbornly remains below the central bank’s 2% target…

4. Investors will be looking ahead to the U.S. non-farm payrolls data later this week and how that may impact the dollar, positively or negatively…there is strong technical support on the Dollar Index, at least temporarily, at 93…the greenback turned red midday yesterday following news that President Trump’s communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, would leave the administration after less than 2 weeks on the job, but news of Scaramucci’s ouster actually should have propelled the dollar higher…he was arguably President Trump’s worst hire but new Chief of Staff John Kelly is unquestionably one of the President’s best…Kelly, a highly respected four-star-general who excelled during his brief tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security, will bring military-style discipline to the White House and a more effective strategy in dealing with an obstructionist Congress…also, at a time of heightened global tensions, especially the situation in North Korea, there’s no one better than Kelly as Chief of Staff…the fact he canned Scaramucci, and had him escorted out the door, shows that Trump has given the general the full authority he needs to succeed in his position (hopefully that continues)…Democrats, the mainstream media and other anti-Trumpers have been quick to point out that the last four-star-general who was appointed Chief of Staff was Alexander Haig in 1973 during the embattled Nixon Presidency…

5. The 3 major U.S. indexes notched multiple record highs last month and have started August in the same fashion as Wall Street continues to react positively to strong quarterly earnings reports…the Dow is up 58 points through the first 30 minutes of trading and came within just 2 points of 22,000…three-quarters of the S&P 500 companies that had reported as of Friday had exceeded estimates on both the top and bottom lines, according to data from FactSet…interesting article headlining the Financial Post this morning – “In Search of the Motherlode: Why Yukon is Experiencing a 21st Century Gold Rush“…soon they’ll be writing about a big Nickel-Copper find in the middle of a high-grade Gold Camp at Eskay Creek…the Venture is off 2 points at 769 as of 7:00 am Pacific as the Index continues to deal with a band of resistance between 770 and 778 – once that is cleared, the next key area is the high 780’s…

6. Osisko Mining (OSK, TSX) reported significant new assays this morning from 35 intercepts in 22 drill holes focused on infill and expansion drilling in the Underdog, Caribou and Zone 27 corridors at its Windfall Lake Project in Quebec where a 400,000-m program continues…OSK-OBM-16–609 intersected 63.2 g/t Au over 7.7 m (23.7 g/t Au over 7.7 m cut) including 18.9 g/t Au over 2.0 m and 222 g/t Au over 2.0 m…mineralization in that hole consisted of several bands with 20% pyrite with traces of chalcopyrite and sphalerite…Windfall Lake is currently one of the highest grade resource-stage Gold projects in Canada…the bulk of the mineralization occurs in the Main Zone, a southwest/northeast trending zone of stacked mineralized lenses, measuring approximately 600 m wide and at least 1,400 m long…the deposit is well defined from surface to a depth of 500 m, and remains open along strike and at depth…mineralization has been identified only 30 m from surface in some areas and as deep as 870 m in others, with significant potential to extend mineralization up and down-plunge and at depth…

7.  A 25,000-m drill program is now in progress at Orca Gold’s (ORG, TSX-V) Block 14 Gold Project in the Republic of the Sudan…drilling is aimed at expanding the current resource below the optimized pits set out in the recently revised PEA and will update the model to be used in the feasibility study that is scheduled for completion by the end of Q1 2018…the updated PEA is based on a mill throughput of 3.4 million tonnes per year, using a Gold price of $1,100 (U.S.) per ounce for mine design and $1,200 per ounce for economic analysis…in-pit mineral resources comprise 41 million tonnes grading 1.46 g/t for 1.9 million ounces in the Indicated category and 3.4 million tonnes grading 1.56 g/t for 173,000 ounces in the Inferred category…the project shows strong economics with an after-tax NPV (discounted at 7%) of $227.7-million (U.S.) and an IRR of 23.1%…ORG is unchanged at 41 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

The most popular recent BMR articles/videos…

Two Big Plays Emerge in B.C., Setting The Stage For A Summer To Remember

How To Bring A Junior Resource Market To Life!

The Dramatic New Chase For A Nickel-Copper-Rich Massive Sulphide Deposit In The Heart Of A Famous Gold Camp

Northern Ontario Cobalt Junior Attracts Interest From Metal Trading Companies

The Most Important Venture Development Since The New Bull Market Began

CSR Builds Momentum At Castle Mine