Check back later this morning for today’s BMR Morning Market Musings.
1. Gold is up $2 an ounce at $1,193 as of 7:00 am Pacific, despite some strength in the greenback this morning…speculators cut their net long positions in the Gold futures market after 2 straight weeks of increases, according to the latest COT data for the week ending January 24 which also showed they raised their Silver holdings to the highest since early November…Silver gained in price last week while Gold suffered its first weekly loss of 2017…
2. The World Gold Council and State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) have launched a new Gold-backed ETF today (GLDW, NYSE) that reduces the impact of the U.S. dollar on Gold investing…the goal of the new ETF is to give investors access to the Gold market while limiting the exposure and impact of the U.S. dollar…while being backed by physical Gold, the new ETF also has exposure to a basket of 6 non-U.S. currencies: the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc…
3. U.S. consumer spending rose solidly in December, though in line with expectations, as households bought motor vehicles and a range of services amid rising wages…the Commerce Department said this morning that consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, increased 0.5% after an unrevised 0.2% gain in November…consumer spending increased 3.8% in 2016 after rising 3.5% in 2015…
4. The Dow and TSX are both off more than 100 points as of 7:00 am Pacific after “U.S. history fundamentally changed” over the weekend, according to the propagandists at CNN, but media hysteria is often good for Gold prices…the Venture is steady and is gunning for its 6th straight weekly gain…
5. Colorado Resources (CXO, TSX-V) has hit a 4+ month high of 31.5 cents in early trading as chart strength continues to build…CXO has carried out extensive soil sampling at its newly-acquired Green Springs Gold Property in Nevada in order to prioritize drill targets for an upcoming program in advance of another major push in the Heart of Gold Camp with its KSP Property starting in Q2…
6. Kirkland Lake Gold (KL, TSX) has reported high-grade drill intersections approximately 300 m from the edge of known mineralization at its Taylor Gold mine WPZ deposit in northeastern Ontario…drilling from surface intersected 10.3 g/t Au over 3.2 m and 13.9 g/t Au over 1.5 m in 2 separate holes, west of WPZ…follow-up drilling is under way with 2 diamond drill rigs…surface drilling east of the shaft deposit also resulted in a newly discovered area of mineralization…Taylor became KL’s newest Gold mine last year, producing 43,000 ounces, and is clearly wide-open for expansion…KL is up 19 cents at $9.18 as of 7:00 am Pacific for a 31% gain this month…KL is also weighing its right of first refusal on a $12 million option deal announced Friday between Eskay Mining (ESK, TSX-V) and an unnamed senior mining company on ESK’s SIB Property contiguous to the past producing Eskay Creek mine…
7. Power Metals Corp. (PWM, TSX-V), which jumped 26% on news last week, hit a new 2+ year high of 47 cents in early trading this morning…last Thursday, the company announced that it has executed an agreement to acquire one of the largest Lithium brine permit portfolios in Alberta as measured by actual coverage over relevant formations, in this case the Leduc formation…Power Metals, which completed a $1 million private placement early this month at 7.5 cents per share, changed its name from Aldrin Resource in December…there was no consolidation of capital and 60 million shares are now outstanding…
