Gold has been bouncing around today, thanks in part to a rather strange U.S. jobs report…as of 7:55 am Pacific, bullion is down $5 an ounce at $1,786…it traded as high as $1,796 overnight and as low as $1,772 following release of the jobs report…Silver is 11 cents lower at $34.86…Copper is up a penny at $3.78…Crude Oil is off $1.43 to $90.28 while the U.S. Dollar Index has fallen nearly one-fifth of a point to 79.21…
U.S. Unemployment Rate Falls To Lowest level Since 2009
The U.S. unemployment rate fell dramatically from 8.1 to 7.8%, rather magically some cynics would say just a month before the elections, in a jobs report that may blunt any momentum Mitt Romney gained from a strong presidential debate Wednesday night…some of the details of the report were contradictory, but overall, it pointed to a stronger U.S. labor market…non-farm payrolls – based on a survey of businesses and normally the most reliable part of the monthly jobs figures – rose by a mediocre 114,000 (the August number, however, was revised upward by 40,000 to 181,000)…the September report was broadly in line with expectations and points to a still sluggish economy…this is based on hard data – the number of checks employers deliver…but the separate government survey of households found a surge in total employment of 873,000, the highest one-month jump in 29 years…the total of unemployed people tumbled by 456,000…the household survey is used to calculate the unemployment rate and caused it to plunge…the sampling error on the business establishment survey is plus or minus 100,000 jobs…the sampling error on the household survey is plus or minus 280,000 jobs…the labor force participation rate, which reflects those working as well as looking for work, edged higher to 63.6% but remained around 30-year lows…
ECB Planning Heavy Bond Buying For Up To Two Months
The European Central Bank envisions buying large volumes of sovereign bonds for a period of one to two months once its “OMT” program is launched, but would then suspend purchases during an assessment period, senior central bank sources told Reuters…until now, the details of how the ECB plans to conduct the bond-buying program, unveiled last month by President Mario Draghi, have been murky…economists have questioned what the bank’s exit strategy might be, or in other words how it would put a stop to “Outright Monetary Transactions” once it had begun to buy the sovereign debt of struggling euro zone countries…the answer appears to be that the ECB would suspend its purchases on a regular basis for a period that could last up to a month or more…during that time, inspectors from the EU or “troika” — the ECB, European Commission and International Monetary Fund – would assess whether a country is meeting the conditions of its aid program…
Many U.S. Retail Investors Still On Sidelines
The stock market is reaching toward new highs on the fourth anniversary of the financial crisis, but many people refuse to be lured back…even as stock indexes have doubled in value since the market low in March, 2009, investors have yanked a net $138 billion from mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that invest in U.S. stocks, according to the Investment Company Institute, a mutual-fund trade group…investors over the same period put $1 trillion into bond funds, a traditionally lower yielding but safer investment…it marks the first time since 1981 that investors have pulled money from U.S.-stock funds for more than a year at a time…
Someone’s Getting Fired – Trading Error Causes 15% “Crash” On India’s National Stock Exchange
Trading was halted for a brief period on India’s National Stock Exchange today after erroneous orders worth 6.50 billion rupees ($125.7 million) by a broker sent its main index crashing….the 50-stock Nifty index dropped as much as 15.5% to 4,880.20 in early trading as shares of companies such as State Bank of India and Axis Bank fell sharply…when the market reopened after the 15-minute halt, the index recouped most of its loss, and it was down 0.6% at 5,752.15 points in late afternoon trading…the problem occurred after brokerage firm Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd. placed 59 wrong orders on behalf of an institutional client, the exchange said…the abnormal trades triggered the circuit filter – a trading band that, if breached, causes an automatic halt in trading – leading to the closure of the cash market, the exchange said in a statement…it said all stock positions from the wrong trades have been settled smoothly and that Emkay has been “disabled” from trading…
Today’s Markets
Asian markets were higher overnight (China’s Shanghai Index resumes trading Monday after this week’s holiday) while European and North American shares are also strong today…as of 7:55 am Pacific, the the Dow is up 78 points while the Venture Exchange is 3 points higher at 1344…the Venture will certainly gain fresh momentum as soon as it plows through the resistance band between 1350 and 1365 (however soon that is)…
U.S. Dollar Index – Horribly Bearish
There’s really no end in sight to the downtrend in the greenback, and that’s hugely bullish for both Gold and Silver…of course there will be “relief” rallies in the dollar but as we indicated before, a lot of astute traders will be building short positions on any of those rallies…as John’s 6-month daily chart shows, the Dollar Index has repeatedly been encountering resistance at the EMA-20 (inversely, that’s where the Venture is finding support) and that trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future…
Hana Mining (HMG, TSX-V)
Hana Mining (HMG, TSX-V), which we’ve highlighted here before, was among the most active stocks on the Venture yesterday as it jumped 4.5 cents to 46 cents on 3.8 million shares (most recent news was drill results near the end of September)…Hana is working on its promising Ghanzi Copper-Silver Project in Botswana…below is an updated chart for HMG (1-year weekly) that shows a double bottom and a bullish ascending triangle…one of many stocks that has a much better-looking chart these days…
Mineral Mountain Resources (MMV, TSX-V) Update
Mineral Mountain (MMV, TSX-V) has been a very strong performer ever since we started tracking it in the mid-20’s over the summer…we suggest readers take a good look at this one as MMV has assembled a very attractive land package consisting of former producers along the Homestake Gold belt in South Dakota…MMV closed at 38 cents yesterday and is up another half a penny in early trading today…there is strong short-term resistance at 45 cents, as indicated in John’s chart below, so keep that in mind…the rising 20-day moving average (SMA), currently at 30 cents, provides strong support…over the short-term at least, MMV is likely to trade between the low 30’s and the 45-cent resistance area…
Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold positions in HMG or MMV.
rbw email from pierre lots of news on all fronts next week
Comment by BRIAN — October 5, 2012 @ 7:16 am
BMR – The U.S. unemployment rate fell dramatically from 8.1 to 7.8%, rather
magically some cynics would say just a month before the elections,
Bert – There will always be cynics, would you believe, there are some who
still say Elvis is alive. My feelings of life is, we have to put
our faith in someone. Can you imagine if we all of a sudden, we
started to believe that you folks at BMR, are not who you claim to
be, how sad. R !
Comment by Bert — October 5, 2012 @ 7:19 am
I wounder if this is gonna be game changing stock price increasing news or just the usual yawn provoker
Comment by Rick — October 5, 2012 @ 7:29 am
RBW- I thougght something was up with the intense buying pressure this week!{insert sarcasm here}
Comment by db — October 5, 2012 @ 7:54 am
Guys, make sure to grab all the RBW shares you can, with this type of volume, something must be up! LOL
Next week we’re going to see the bmr site permanently down after rbw comes up with nothing lol kidding…
Jon, how confident are you that the numbers turn out to be excellent?
Comment by Bileeg — October 5, 2012 @ 8:19 am
Based on the guidance RBW has given, I think next week is too early for International assays but an update is obviously coming plus there are a lot of other things going on – Gold Viking, Nevada, etc. RBW has delivered good news all year. I can’t imagine why that would change next week, so I’m as bullish as ever. I’ve also picked up a little more the last 2 days. Bert made a good point a while back regarding the decreasing volume – that’s actually a positive sign, I think, as a lot of selling has clearly dried up below 25 cents. All RBW needs is a catalyst to take it through .25 and then it’s clear sailing from there. My gut tells me that catalyst, in some form or another, is finally coming next week. We’ve all been patient on this (most of us anyway). It’s time for that patience to be rewarded, I would say.
Comment by Jon - BMR — October 5, 2012 @ 8:32 am
More selling from Anon at RBW. Huge wall on the sell again.
Comment by Dan — October 5, 2012 @ 8:55 am
That’s hardly a “huge” wall but more importantly it’s often the kind of set-up you see prior to a breakout. At a certain point, the buyers step in, take out the asks or the “wall”, and off it goes. So the fact there’s more on the offer side at this particular point actually supports the bullish argument.
Comment by Jon - BMR — October 5, 2012 @ 8:59 am
rbw wheres the beef rbw has gone nowhere in the last month but other stocks I own have had a great run ws azx mgp come on rbw show us the beef
Comment by gil — October 5, 2012 @ 9:09 am
and spm
Comment by gil — October 5, 2012 @ 9:16 am
Jon – That’s hardly a “huge” wall but more importantly it’s often
the kind of set-up you see prior to a breakout
Bert – Why do i do it ? do what Bert ? challenge what some folks
write…. To see 234K show up on the offer at just o.22, i have to
agree with Dan, it is indeed a wall, especially since the total
volume for the day is only 42K, which when compared to the wall, i
have to consider a dab of cement… For someone to make the above
noted statement, may indicate that they do indeed know why this wall
is there, or maybe Donald Trump should fire the writer (joking) R !
Comment by Bert — October 5, 2012 @ 9:25 am
could u guys take a boo at NHK.V something is a brewing…
Comment by db — October 5, 2012 @ 9:25 am
I think you completely missed my point, and that “wall” just didn’t show up today – it has been there for several days, but whatever.
Comment by Jon - BMR — October 5, 2012 @ 9:35 am
venture exchange is dead,till a company announces a discovery hole i don’t see things changing
no buyers until a company releases good drlll hole or holes
every spike a junior gets the selling pressure is still there
Comment by robert — October 5, 2012 @ 11:04 am
We’re in the very early stages of what could turn out to be a spectacular new bull market, yet most investors, looking through their rear view mirrors, don’t realize it yet – good sign. I remember about 30 years ago, one of the major U.S. news magazines ran a headline – The Death of Equities. Of course that was exactly the time to be loading up as a rip-roaring bull market immediately followed. Those who think the Venture is “dead” are going to be in for quite a surprise in the months ahead.
Comment by Jon - BMR — October 5, 2012 @ 2:11 pm
I agree with you Jon, I have said this before, back in 2000 the office I work in with about 50 sales people, were not talking about the business we were in, it was every morning, “did you see what Qualcomm did today, can you believe how high Cisco is trading today”, everyone was talking about their internet stocks, it was unbelievable, I hear no one in my office talking about gold and silver, let alone any gold and silver mining stocks, when I do, that is when I hope to be selling. I think as soon as Gold breaks 2000 dollars an ounce the regular/retail public will wake up, they are always late to the party just like back in 2000 with the internet boom.. only this time I will hopefully be one of the early birds..
thanks for your site and your coverage of these jr mining stocks…
GO RBW AND NES!!!
Comment by greg — October 5, 2012 @ 8:11 pm
200+ on the ask is not a wall – Oh ok. Oh Jon, now really.
Comment by dave — October 7, 2012 @ 6:02 am
I never said it wasn’t a wall, Dave – don’t misquote people. I wrote, “That’s hardly a ‘huge’ wall”. Of course it’s a wall. But not a big one and it can be taken out in a flash. My whole point in that discussion was that this is the type of set-up that often precedes a breakout. Suddenly the asks get taken out, and the dynamics change completely. The offer may scare a few retail investors but did you consider that that might be the intent?
Comment by Jon - BMR — October 7, 2012 @ 9:09 am