Check back later this morning for today’s BMR Morning Market Musings.
1. Gold dipped as low as $1,194 overnight before rebounding as bargain hunters stepped in following the release of the U.S. jobs report for February which was a “sell on news” event for the greenback…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is flat at $1,200 while Silver is also relatively unchanged at $16.91…ETF selling has been the key factor in Gold’s recent weakness, just like ETF buying was the catalyst for the push higher between late December and late February…holdings of the world’s largest Gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares, fell 2.7 tons yesterday, bringing the total outflow for the week so far to 6.5 tons…
2. U.S. non-farm payrolls increased by 235,000 in February, topping expectations, and the unemployment rate was 4.7% in the first full month of President Trump’s term, the Labor Department reported this morning…significantly, average hourly earnings increased by a healthy 2.8%…this morning’s numbers set the stage for next week’s Fed meeting at which the FOMC is widely expected to approve a quarter-point hike in its target rate to 0.75% to 1%…there are clearly heightened expectations for economic growth as the new Preisdent and the Republican-controlled Congress push an agenda of tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks…the greenback sold off on the news this morning and is down more than one-third of a point at 101.61 as of 7:00 am Pacific…
3. Crude Oil prices recovered modestly earlier this morning but have since pulled back to even on the day after dropping to their lowest levels in 3 months yesterday, pressured by continued oversupply despite OPEC-led production cuts…in today’s Morning Musings we’ll have an updated chart for Crude which puts the current weakness into perspective…market confidence failed after news on Wednesday of another big rise in U.S. Crude inventories, which swelled by 8.2 million barrels last week to a record 528.4 million barrels…meanwhile, U.S. Oil and Gas drilling has also picked up with producers planning to expand Crude production in North Dakota, Oklahoma and other shale regions, while output has jumped in the Permian, America’s largest Oilfield…
4. North American markets including the Venture are in the green in the early going as the Index has added 4 points to 793 as of 7:00 am Pacific…the Venture has retreated to a strong area of support after declining in 8 out of the past 10 sessions, losing 5.6% during that time…getting an interest rate hike out of the way next week should prove helpful for both the Venture and the overall commodities space…the TSX and Dow are up 74 and 75 points, respectively, through the first 30 minutes of trading…
5. Internationally renowned Nickel expert Dr. Peter Lightfoot has joined the Garibaldi Resources‘ (GGI, TSX-V) Advisory Board following release of the company’s geologic model for the E&L deposit in the Eskay Heart of Gold Camp, the first magmatic Ni-Cu-rich massive sulphide system in northwest British Columbia’s Golden Triangle…Lightfoot enjoyed a distinguished 20-year career with Inco and Vale and was the chief geologist responsible for technical aspects of exploration programs at Voisey’s Bay, Sudbury and Thompson…last year, he published the first comprehensive textbook on the ore deposits of the Sudbury Igneous Complex. “The opportunity at E&L comprises mineralization with unusually high Nickel tenor of the sulphide and value-added Copper in a mafic intrusion that has seen minimal previous exploration,” Lightfoot stated…
6. Pretium Resources (PVG, TSX) remains tight-lipped about exploration results outside of its Brucejack resource, though the company confirmed in a news release this morning that its 2016 grassroots exploration program, which concluded in October, was conducted to evaluate the broader regional exploration potential of the Brucejack Property outside the area of known mineralization…the Bowser regional project area, approximately 20 km southeast of the Valley of the Kings deposit, comprises approximately 800 sq. km…the 2015 program included airborne magnetic, radiometric and electromagnetic surveys over two-thirds of the project…the 2016 program covered the remaining areas with airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys, as well as a hyperspectral survey, regional ground MT surveys, property-scale mapping and prospecting over the entire area…a limited drill program was also completed to enhance geological interpretation…the significance of that extensive work will no doubt come to light in due course…
7. Cobalt Power Group (CPO, TSX-V) has completed the final tranche of a $1.5 million financing to further advance its Smith Cobalt Property in northern Ontario’s Greater Cobalt Camp…the company expects results from its recently completed IP survey shortly and will use the data to help finalize targets for a spring drill program at Smith which is contiguous to the past producing Deer Horn mine…CPO is up half a penny at 12.5 cents through the first 30 minutes of trading…
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