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Gold sold off slightly as soon as this morning’s U.S. jobs report came in mildly better than expected at 203,000 (vs. an estimated 180,000), but bullion quickly reversed to the upside…as of 7:15 am Pacific, Gold is up $10 an ounce at $1,235…Silver is up 20 cents at $19.63…Copper had added 3 pennies to $3.22…Crude Oil (WTIC), which has enjoyed its best rally in three-and-a-half months this week, is flat at $97.34 while the U.S. Dollar Index is up slightly but off its highs at 80.35…

Euro Pacific Capital CEO Peter Schiff, a well-known Gold bull, dollar bear and an investor probably best known for correctly predicting several years ago that a housing market crash would overwhelm the financial system, remains concerned about the outlook for the U.S. economy…“I think investors are really underestimating the severity of the problems that underlie the structure of the U.S. economy and the degree at which the Fed is masking and actually exacerbating those problems with QE,” Schiff told CNBC in an interview earlier this week…Schiff actually doesn’t expect a Fed taper at all in 2014 as Vice Chair Janet Yellen steps in to succeed Chairman Ben Bernanke at the end of January…but the Fed’s unprecedented stimulus program will all but destroy the value of the dollar, he contends…he recommends that investors buy Gold and get exposure to foreign markets in the New Year…

Gold and commodities in general are clearly out of favor with hedge funds (and others) at the moment, and that’s being interpreted as a bullish sign by some contrarians…of 912 hedge funds, money managers and proprietary and corporate trading desks surveyed by Barclays, only 6% said commodities will generate the best returns in the next three months, while a majority picked equities…Citigroup estimates a record $36 billion has flowed out of passive commodities strategies so far this year, compared with net inflows of $27.5 billion in 2012…this year, 15 of the 24 commodities in the S&P GSCI commodity index have fallen, compared with five last year…

CRB Index Chart

So let’s took a look at a 1-year weekly Reuters/Jeffries CRB Index chart from John…interestingly, it has been edging higher over the past month and is actually looking quite bullish entering the final weeks of 2013 – threatening to push above a downtrend line in place since September…RSI(14) is showing up momentum after bottoming in late October/early November…a bullish Slow Stochastics crossover has also occurred…this correlates well with the positive signals we’ve been seeing from the Venture, supporting the case for a Venture breakout through the 970’s by month-end…the CRB Index is up three-quarters of a point at 278.35 as of 7:15 am Pacific…

U.S. Dollar Index In Trouble?

Schiff’s comments regarding the greenback can’t be taken lightly…John has shown how the U.S. Dollar Index broke below an important long-term uptrend in September with severe resistance between 81 and the 200-day moving average (SMA) at 82…that resistance has held firm so far…the Index continues to look vulnerable as 2013 draws to a close…the 200-day has flattened out and is now threatening to reverse to the downside…if the Dollar were to break critical support at 79, such an event would be good news for both Gold and the Venture Exchange – though a lot of dollar bulls would be caught with their pants down…below is a 2.5-year weekly U.S. Dollar Index chart…the trend continues to be bearish…

U.S. Unemployment Rate Falls To Five-Year Low

The U.S. November jobs report showed steady employment growth as 2013 draws to a close…payrolls rose by 203,000 last month and the unemployment rate dropped to 7%, the lowest level in five years as more people joined the workforce and fewer people lost their jobs…employment growth was best in the sectors of transportation and warehousing (31,000 new jobs), health care (28,000) and manufacturing (27,000)…will this be enough to convince the Fed to start scaling back its bond buying program beginning later this month?…not likely, in our view…a few more upbeat reports like this one and October’s may do the trick, so the earliest we expect to see any “tapering” is March or April…

Today’s Markets

Asian markets were mixed overnight…Japan’s Nikkei average jumped 122 points to finish the week at 15300…China’s Shanghai Composite, meanwhile, fell 10 points to 2237…

European shares are up significantly in late trading…

In North America, the Dow has surged 131 points higher through the first 45 minutes of trading and should snap a five-session losing skid today…U.S. consumer sentiment surged in December as Americans’ outlook on the economy and job prospects improved, a survey just released showed…the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s preliminary reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment jumped to 82.5 for December, up from a final reading of 75.1 in November…this was the highest reading for the index since July, and topped analyst forecasts for a reading of 76…

The TSX is up 84 points while the Venture has gained 3 points to 918 as of 7:15 am Pacific…

LX Ventures (LXV, TSX-V) Updated Chart

As regular readers know, we’ve been tracking volatile social media darling LX Ventures (LXV, TSX-V) recently from a technical perspective as John’s Fib. analysis has proven to be a very useful trading guide…below is an updated 2.5-year weekly chart…expect more bouncing around and consolidation as the RSI(14) continues to unwind…there is strong support in the upper 40’s, as demonstrated earlier this week, while the rising 20-day (SMA), currently at 61 cents, provides additional support…LXV is up a penny at 66 cents through the first 45 minutes of trading…

Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) Updated Chart

There’s nothing like drilling that can provide a spark to ignite a junior exploration stock, and Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) has been showing encouraging signs this week with increasing volume and a sudden intra-day reversal yesterday that allowed it to close at a daily high of 9.5 cents…Garibaldi has several potential catalysts going for it entering 2014, not the least of which is current drilling in Mexico, of course, plus a healthy financial position that has allowed it to prevent any significant stock dilution since 2009…the Grizzly story should also heat up during the upcoming first quarter, and there’s no question now that the Sheslay Valley area has overtaken North ROK as the #1 exploration play in that part of northwestern British Columbia…

Technically, GGI is supported and powered by rising long-term moving averages including the 200-day SMA at 9 cents…what’s fascinating about this 3-year weekly chart from John is how GGI broke out of a long-term downtrend in early July, and the bullish “flag” that has formed since then…in recent days, buy pressure has increased and RSI(14) has formed a bullish “W”…technically, what appears to be in the works is a potential major breakout from the flag formation…exact timing of course is uncertain, but the coming days and the final few weeks of the year should prove very interesting with GGI (and the Venture as a whole)…

Barisan Gold Corp. (BG, TSX-V)

Barisan Gold Corp. (BG, TSX-V) has been very volatile since announcing an impressive drill hole result from its Upper Tengkereng prospect in Indonesia November 5…904 metres grading 0.41 g.t Au and 0.25% Cu, including 262 metres of 0.81 g/t Au and 0.49% Cu, deserves some serious attention – even if it’s in Indonesia…drilling continues as the company attempts to intersect the potassic core where even higher grades could exist…more results are expected early in the New Year, so speculation will keep this play active…strong technical support exists in the low 20’s…this one is not for the timid or the faint of heart, but certainly has the potential to produce some stellar returns if additional results are even better…as always, perform your own due diligence…the pullback from the recent high of 44.5 cents should be viewed in the context of a normal, healthy pullback…as of 7:15 am Pacific, BG is up 3 pennies at 27 cents…will be an interesting story to keep an eye on…

Mason Graphite (LLG, TSX-V)

Speaking of volatility, check that word in the dictionary and you’ll see the Mason Graphite stock symbol (LLG, TSX-V)…the company yesterday reported a big increase in NI-43-101 mineral resources at its Lac Gueret graphite project in northeastern Quebec…refer to the company’s news for the numbers but they’re strong, and the mineral envelope remains open in all directions…LLG gapped up to 52 cents at the open yesterday but closed just above the low of the day at 46.5 cents…the question now is whether it can start gaining traction above 50 cents which is the still-declining 200-day SMA…that’s its immediate challenge…a positive recent development is that LLG broke above a downsloping channel…

Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI.  John also holds a share position in BG.