Check back later today for Daniel’s Den and visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.i
1. Gold has plunged to a 6-month low this morning, dipping to $1,283 after climbing as high as $1,310 intra-day yesterday following Wednesday’s Fed decision…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is off $18 an ounce at $1,284…global trade concerns, combined with a higher U.S. dollar, have put the yellow metal under pressure…Gold showed some strength yesterday, hitting a 4-week high, but again failed to close above key near-term resistance at $1,305…Silver has retreated 40 cents to $16.73…base metals are holding up better but are off slightly…Copper, Nickel and Zinc are at $3.21, $6.87 and $1.43, respectively…Cobalt is in the green, rebounding 23 cents to $36.97…Crude Oil has slipped nearly $1 a barrel ahead of next week’s OPEC meeting in Vienna…two of the world’s biggest producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia, have indicated they’re prepared to increase output to offset lower supplies out of Iran, Venezuela and Libya…recent attacks on 2 eastern Libyan ports have temporarily shut down a quarter of the country’s output, a drop in production of around 240,000 barrels a day…the U.S. Dollar Index briefly topped the key 95 level this morning, hitting an 11-month high, though it has since backed off to 94.73…stiff resistance exists at 95…the Bank of Japan has decided to stick to its ultra-easy monetary policy, bucking the global trend largely because inflation in Japan isn’t getting close to the central bank’s 2% target…
2. President Trump continues to play tough on trade as he aims to negotiate better deals…Trump has slapped a 25% tariff on $50 billion in Chinese goods related to intellectual property and technology, though it’s not clear when those tariffs would go into effect…Beijing says it will impose new tariffs on the U.S. in response…the conservative Tax Foundation calculated that the tariffs on Chinese imports, coming on top of U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum exports, would lower U.S. “long-run” GDP and wages by 0.06%, reduce employment by 45,000 positions and make American taxes less progressive – a small price, the trade hawks argue, for working out a better overall trade relationship with China…
3. The U.S. economy in the 2nd quarter is tracking close to 4% growth, a level President Trump raved about last December just before the sweeping tax bill was approved…strong data this week have have made it clear that the 2nd-longest economic expansion in U.S. history is actually now accelerating, not slowing down…record low unemployment, strong consumer spending and modest inflation are likely to keep the economy on a solid footing throughout 2018…meanwhile, Canada is moving in the opposite direction because of policy choices made at the federal and various provincial levels…as an example, Stats Canada found in its annual survey that firms plan to trim investment outlays this year by another 1%, their 4th straight annual decline…in contrast, a semi-annual survey of investment intentions in the U.S. has found that firms have revised up their plans to increase investment spending from a 2.7% hike just 6 months ago, all the way up to a 10% increase in the latest survey…the forecast of an upturn in business investment in the U.S. is already reflected in actual spending as business investment in Q1 shot up 6.8% in volume from a year earlier, nearly double the increase in the previous year…
4. The Dow is has fallen 136 points through the first 30 minutes of trading with U.S.-China trade concerns weighing on the minds of investors…just yesterday, the NASDAQ hit another new all-time high…market reactions to previous flareups in U.S.-China trade relations have proven to be ideal accumulation opportunities…in Toronto, the TSX has slid just 35 points despite Gold and Oil both being under pressure…Canada Goose (GOOS, TSX) reported this morning that net income for fiscal 2018, ending March 31, soared to $96.1-million or 86 cents per diluted share, compared with net income of $21.6 million, or 21 cents per diluted share…total revenue jumped by 46.4% to $591.2 million from $403.8-million…the company is continuing with its next phase of global retail expansion, opening 3 stores this fall in New Jersey, Montreal and Vancouver…GOOS has responded well to the news, up nearly $12 a share to $71.90…the Venture has fallen 3 points to 758…this morning’s early volume leader on the Venture is Aldershot Resources (ALZ, TSX-V) which is now taking a shot at the cannabis sector, raising $25 million at 5 cents per share and brining in a new management team and board…
5. iMetal Resources (IMR, TSX-V) has appointed highly respected Northern Ontario geologist Gary Grabowski to its Advisory Board…Grabowski held the post of district geologist for the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines for more than 3 decades, and is currently a director of both the Northern Prospectors Association and the Ontario Prospectors Association…he has visited virtually every mine in the province…“After several visits to iMetal’s Gowganda West Property, I am very excited to represent the company,” stated Grabowski…“I believe they have assembled a highly prospective land package with excellent mineral potential, particularly in the Zone 3 area which is characterized by high-grade Gold and Copper assays at surface in association with a minimum 2.4-km-long structural zone. I am anxious to assist iMetal in all aspects of its exploration program which is in full swing”…
6. Interesting article in this morning’s Financial Post by Mark Rendell on the dominance of certain hedge funds in many large financings in the marijuana sector…“Over the past 4 years,” Rendell writes, “MMCap (a Cayman Island-domiciled “opportunistic multi-strategy fund”) has been the leading player in what numerous industry insiders say has been the biggest untold story of the cannabis sector’s emergence: How a handful of hedge funds have used a sophisticated financial playbook to essentially recycle capital through multiple companies and deals, funding wide swathes of the sector in the process…hedge funds have provided much-needed cash to companies with little to no revenue, but the extent of their activity and the often short-term nature of many of their investments raise important questions about the sector and the protection of retail investors as legalization nears”…
7. Microsoft is working on technology that would eliminate cashiers and checkout lines from stores, in a nascent challenge to Amazon.com’s automated grocery shop, according to a Reuters‘ report…the Redmond, Washington-based software giant is developing systems that track what shoppers add to their carts…Microsoft has shown sample technology to retailers from around the world and has apparently had talks with Walmart about a potential collaboration…Microsoft’s technology aims to help retailers keep pace with Amazon Go, a highly automated store that opened to the public in Seattle in January…Amazon customers scan their smartphones at a turnstile to enter…cameras and sensors identify what they remove from the shelves…when customers are finished shopping, they simply leave the store and Amazon bills their credit cards on file…
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