Check back later today for Daniel’s Den, and visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information!
1. Gold has traded between $1,196 and $1,206 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $1 an ounce at $1,201âŚa support band stretches from $1,204 to $1,194…Silver is flat at $14.00…Copper is up 2 pennies at $2.77 while Nickel and Zinc are unchanged at $5.14 and $1.16, respectively…hurting Nickel is the fact that Shanghai rebar steel prices have tumbled to their lowest since late July, pressured by worries over slowing demand in top consumer China over the seasonally weak winter period…Crude Oil is down for the 12th straight session as a record breaking losing streak continues…OPEC has cut its forecast for Oil demand growth in 2019 for the 4th consecutive month…the producer group said increased supply from non-OPEC countries would outpace growth in demand, “leading to widening excess supply in the market”…President Trump chimed in, âHopefully, Saudi Arabia and OPEC will not be cutting Oil production.  Oil prices should be much lower based on supply!â…the Dollar Index, meanwhile, continues to push above 97…the strong U.S. economyâs continued success in the coming years will depend largely on infrastructure, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said today…âCorporate earnings certainly have been very, very strong, thereâs no question about that.  And itâs also no question that marketâs job is to look ahead,â Ross said…âI think a lot will have to do with whether infrastructure gets the kind of treatment that it really deserves”…
2. Kudlow slams Navarro:  President Trumpâs top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, has disavowed comments from White House trade adviser Peter Navarro who last week lambasted Wall Street influence in U.S.-China trade negotiations in comments that helped weaken equity markets…âHe was not speaking for the President, nor was he speaking for the administration,â Kudlow told CNBC this morning.  âHis remarks were way off base.  They were not authorized by anybody.  I actually think he did the President a great disservice”…Navarro, known for his hawkish economic views toward China, has encouraged President Trumpâs tough talk with Beijing as trade tensions have escalated between the two countries…he doubled down on his aggressive tone last week, saying any agreement between the U.S. and China will be on Trumpâs terms and not subject to Wall Street intervention…
3. Gold could face further pressure if the metal falls below the $1,190 level, according to TD Securities…âMessy European politics, along with a Fed which is set to remain on its tightening trajectory, have kept the Dollar Index above 97, which continues to add to downside pressure on Gold, as we expected,â TDS says. âWhile CTAs (Commodity Trading Advisers) have now pared back much of their record-setting shorts, we suspect that a break below $1,190/oz would prompt the algos to once again increase their short positioning as downside momentum firms”…meanwhile, the Gold/Silver ratio has risen to its highest level in roughly a quarter century, with Silver suffering from both weakness in precious metals lately but also dragged down by pessimism about base metals…âThe Silver price has been very weak in recent days – in both absolute and relative terms….the Gold/Silver ratio has risen to 86, its highest level in 25 years,â said a research note from analysts at Commerzbank…
4. Even as local production cuts help alleviate pipeline bottlenecks, Canadian heavy Crude prices plunged below $18 (U.S.) a barrel yesterday for the first time in nearly 3 years – dragged down by global Oil prices…Oilsands producers including Canadian Natural Resource, Devon Energy, Cenovus Energy and Athabasca Oil have announced curtailments that may total 140,000 barrels a day or more, after a localized glut sent heavy Western Canadian Select Crude plunging to a $50 (U.S.) discount to West Texas Intermediate futures, the widest in Bloomberg data going back a decade…since then, WCSâs discount has narrowed to about $42 (U.S.) a barrel, but the absolute price has plunged along with world Crude benchmarks amid concerns of oversupply…the U.S. has granted 8 nations waivers to continue buying Iranian Oil, OPEC and Russia have boosted production while U.S. shale production also continues to ramp up…in the midst of all of this, President Trump has made clear his desire for low Oil prices to keep overall economic growth on track…
5. Why aren’t Canada’s national political leaders standing up for Canada as this country’s economy loses at least $50 million a day due to a lack of Oil pipeline capacity?…production gains at Western Canada’s Oil companies have not been matched, of course, by export pipeline capacity gains, and the cost to the Canadian economy is staggering…Oil producers have filled storage facilities to bursting while they wait for a solution to appear (they’ll have to keep waiting)…the price discounts or “differentials” that had mainly affected heavy Oil have now spread to light Oil and upgraded synthetic Oilsands Crude as pipeline space tightens…estimates on the cost to the economy vary wildly, but the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers officially estimates the impact as at least $13 billion in the first 10 months of 2018…it estimates the cost at about $50 million per day in October, though some economists are saying that figure is much higher…CAPP boss Tim McMillan says, “The differential has blown out to such an extreme level for two reasons, the lack of access to markets and the fact we really have only one customer, the United States”…the Trudeau Liberals, who are obviously much more interested in getting pot to market than Oil to market, overturned the approval for the Northern Gateway Pipeline in 2016 which would have greatly improved Canada’s access to Asia…recently, of course, they bungled the TransMountain Pipeline regulatory process so badly the government now actually owns the pipeline because the private sector wanted out…this is no way to run a country…
6. The Dow, after a drubbing yesterday, is off slightly through the first 30 minutes of trading…the Dow got a boost pre-market after Home Depot reported earnings that handily topped expectations…sentiment was also lifted after The Wall Street Journal reported Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He had resumed trade talks…the report comes ahead of a meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping…Goldman Sachs estimates Apple will produce 6% fewer iPhones next year than expected after key supplier Lumentum reduced its shipment outlook…“We are concerned that end demand for new iPhone models is deteriorating,” Goldman said in the note.  “We note this could easily right itself given the bulk of demand comes in late December but we feel more prudent sell through forecasts are warranted due to the timing and magnitude of this warning”…in Toronto, the TSX is up 45 points while the Venture is flat at 638…Benchmark Metals (BNCH, TSX-V) continues to show strength, up 1.5 cents at 27 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…late last week the company reported results of new and historical surface samples that provided geological evidence for widespread Gold and Silver mineralization across much of its 100 sq. km Lawyers Project in NW B.C.’s Golden Triangle, 45 km northwest of the past producing Kemess South open-pit Copper-Gold mine…exploration at Lawyers began in the late 1960’s and peaked in the 1980’s, identifying numerous showings, prospects and deposits culminating in the development of the Lawyers Gold-Silver mine that operated from 1989–1992 and produced 171,000 ounces of Gold and 3.6 million ounces of Silver over the 4-year period…5 underground developments remain in place, in addition to historic resources and new targets…approximately 90% of the land package has not been systematically explored…Benchmark launched diamond drilling and RC drilling in September with initial results pending…
7.  It takes 3 times as much energy to produce 1 dollarâs worth of bitcoin than 1 dollarâs worth of Gold, according to a new research study (“Quantification Of Energy And Carbon Costs For Mining Cryptocurrencies”)…more specifically, it requires 17 megajoules of energy to digitally mine 1 dollar’s worth of bitcoin versus 5 megajoules needed to physically mine the same value in Gold…other cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, Litecoin, and Monero, also require higher amount of energy than real Gold…the timeframe for the study was between January 2016 and June 2017…
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