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Check back later this morning for today’s Morning Musings.

1. Gold is up $3 an ounce at $1,131 as of 7:00 am Pacific, though the metal is still headed for its 6th straight weekly drop following Wednesday’s Fed meeting and a forecast of 3 rate hikes in 2017 (1 less than the incorrect 2016 forecast, of course, of 4 rate hikes)…after briefly rising above $1,375 an ounce in early July, Gold has given back nearly all of its gains on the year…at $1,131, bullion is just $70 away from wiping out all its gains on the year…if the metal were to finish 2016 in the red, it would mark the 4th straight year in which it has has logged a loss…the last time it experienced such a streak was 1988 to 1992, a slump that was followed by a powerful wave higher…

2. Producers in the Middle East are beginning to inform customers of upcoming supply cuts as part of a coordinated effort to drain a global Crude Oil glut…prices are up marginally this morning above $51 a barrel, restrained slightly by potential near-term production increases in Libya (not part of the OPEC deal) where operations have restarted at 2 key Oil fields…Libyan Oil production has returned to levels not seen since July 2015 after having dropped steeply since 2011…

3. More problems in China – this needs to be watched closely…the central bank extended hundreds of billions of yuan in emergency loans to financial firms today and ordered some of the country’s biggest lenders to extend credit as well, as it moved to ease a liquidity crunch and continuing debt sell-off…Chinese policymakers have been scrambling to curb capital outflows and spending foreign exchange reserves to support the yuan, now at an 8+ year low, after the Fed raised rates and the dollar hit 14-year highs this week…China’s foreign exchange reserves fell more than expected to a 6-year low of $3.05 trillion in November…the central bank continues to sell U.S. Treasury bonds in order to prop up its currency…that has led to Japan becoming the new #1 holder of U.S. debt…

4. The Venture this week has traded between its still-declining 50-day moving average (SMA), currently in the mid-750’s, and its rising 200-day SMA at 730…support below 730 is at the November 14 intra-day low of 717 followed by 708, the top of a major support band that stretches into the 660’s…the Index is flat at 731 as of 7:00 am Pacific while the Dow and TSX are both moderately higher…

5. Clean Commodities (CLE, TSX-V) and Skyharbour Resources (SYH, TSX-V) have signed a binding term sheet with an unnamed Uranium company that would provide the new partner with an option to acquire up to a 70% working interest in 52 sq. km of the 121 sq. km Preston Project adjacent to NexGen Energy’s (NXE, TSX) world class Arrow deposit…the partner would be required to spend up to $8 million consisting of cash payments ($700,000) to the companies and accelerating work programs ($7.3 million) over 6 years…

6.  Argonaut Gold (AR, TSX) under pressure in early trading after announcing that the Mexican Environmental Authority has denied the Environmental Impact Assessment for the company’s San Antonio Project in Baja California Sur, Mexico…Argonaut is evaluating alternatives including legal options, the possible resubmittal of a revised MIA and continuing dialogue…the stock is off 18 cents at $1.83 as of 7:00 am Pacific…

7. Macarthur Minerals (MMS, TSX-V) announced this morning that the company has received renewed corporate interest in its two advanced Iron ore projects in Western Australia with recovery of the Iron ore price from its historic lows of $38 (U.S.) to $82 (U.S.) a tonne…MMS is unchanged at 6.5 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…