Check back later today for additional BMR posts and visit the comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.
1. Gold has traded between $1,286 and $1,302 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $10 an ounce at $1,298…just a matter of time before the yellow metal punches convincingly through $1,300…Gold has been aided by multiple factors this week including equity volatility, dovish comments from the ECB and the Fed as well as yesterday’s suspected Islamist terrorist attack in Span…Silver has jumped 11 cents to $17.13…base metals are mostly higher again today, led by Nickel and Zinc with gains of 1.3% and 1%, respectively…Nickel is trading at $4.89 while Zinc has topped the $1.40 level…Crude Oil is relatively flat at $47.02 while the U.S. dollar has slipped one-third of a point to 93.44…
2. Zinc is set to post its biggest weekly price increase since November as a sharp fall in stocks has put the metal near its highest in a decade…a rise in steel trading fees this week prompted Chinese traders to divert money to Zinc, fueling its momentum…meanwhile, Chinese Zinc production fell 6.3% year-on-year in July to 476,000 tonnes, raising supply concerns…Chinese home price growth slowed in July, but a construction spree is still supporting the economy and the International Monetary Fund this week upgraded its short-term growth forecasts…Aluminium and Copper are also near multi-year highs after a wave of speculative buying underpinned by expectations of continued strong demand in China…
3. U.S. consumer sentiment climbed in August to a 7-month high as a measure of the outlook for the American economy and personal finances registered the largest 1-month advance since the end of 2011, according to University of Michigan survey data released this morning…the sentiment index rose to 97.6, higher than expected, and up from 93.4 in July…meanwhile, the 8.5 point increase in consumer expectations is the biggest since December 2011…
4. Crude Oil prices will likely finish lower this week but there are signs of tightening supplies in the United States…despite a 13% jump in production since mid-2016 to 9.5 million barrels per day, the country’s commercial Crude inventories have fallen 13% from their March records to below 2016 levels…
5. U.S. equity markets are under slight pressure this morning after yesterday’ sell-off…the Dow and S&P are on track for their first 2-week losing streaks since May, while the NASDAQ is set to fall for the 4th straight week…the Dow has retreated 73 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…in Toronto, the TSX has fallen 79 points while the Venture is up 1 point at 769 on strength in precious metals and continued strong interest in exploration developments in northwest British Columbia…
6. Constantine Metal Resources (CEM, TSX-V) hit a new multi-year high of 30 cents this morning and is up 4 pennies at 28 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific on strong volume…yesterday, the company reported that it has intersected high-grade Zinc and Silver in follow-up drilling to discovery hole CMR17-89, 3 km from the known mineral resource at its Palmer JV Project in Alaska…to date, mineralization has been defined over an area measuring 180 m x 50 m, and over a vertical distance of approximately 200 m, and remains open in all directions…the drill program has been expanded to 10,000 m…highlights from the 3 holes released yesterday include 17.8 m in CMR17–92 grading 11.7% Zn and 6.3 g/t Ag; 24.6 m grading 260 g/t Ag and 1.4% Zn in CMR17–94; and 20.4 m grading 9.9% Zn and 14.4 g/t Ag in CMR-17–96…Garfield MacVeigh, President, commented, “The initial 4 holes released for the AG Zone discovery have defined a significant new zone of mineralization that is wide open to expansion. While it is very early days in our exploration of the AG Zone, the length, grade and broad area of the drill intersections in combination with the scale and intensity of hydrothermal alteration indicate excellent potential for a sizeable deposit. The discovery is a major new development for the Palmer Project and we look forward to the results of ongoing exploration drilling.”
7. Kirkland Lake Gold (KL, TSX), which made its NYSE trading debut this week, is enjoying its 9th straight winning session…the company recently reported an exceptional Q2 with record net earnings of $34.6 million or 17 cents per share (up 164% from Q1)…cash flow generated was $44.8 million (up from $37.2 million)…all-in production costs at Macassa were $482 per ounce (down from $729)…all-in costs at Fosterville were a remarkable $388 per ounce…the company paid down debt and repurchased 1.3 million shares of stock (over 2 million shares ytd)…combined with high-grade visible Gold intersections from Fosterville – 338 g/t Au over 33.6 m, drill results from Taylor (38 g/t Au over 3 m), NYSE listing, and insider buying from Eric Sprott (upping his stake to 10.3%), it’s not hard to understand why KL is one of the most attractive Gold producers on the planet right now…
The most popular recent BMR articles/videos…
Two Big Plays Emerge in B.C., Setting The Stage For A Summer To Remember
How To Bring A Junior Resource Market To Life!
Northern Ontario Cobalt Junior Attracts Interest From Metal Trading Companies
The Most Important Venture Development Since The New Bull Market Began
Does anyone have the same feeling that I do that we are not going to have that 30% rally in the venture?
Comment by Jeremy — August 18, 2017 @ 2:05 pm
The one thing that hurts the conversation here is that it’s not in real time… it’s moderated. I understand why they do it but it’s not good for the continual flow of thoughts and conversation. I follow CEO as well which is real time and has some pretty good posts… unlike SH that gets bogged down
Comment by Weatheritout80 — August 18, 2017 @ 4:05 pm
Jeremy, it’s a fascinating market at the moment. From a TA perspective, based on a wide range of charts produced by John, the Venture remains locked in a bull market. The first phase of this bull market of course occurred last year, fueled fundamentally by a resurgence in commodity prices – starting with Gold and then Crude Oil, and broadening out…
What the Venture has been saying in recent months, especially now because it’s not reacting much to the latest increase in commodity prices, is that the next (imminent/near-term) phase of the Venture bull market will be discovery-driven…
So that brings us to the question of which discovery or discoveries will those be, and where?…
The obvious first choice, given recent developments, has to be northwest British Columbia…the table has been set at places like Nickel Mountain, elsewhere in the Eskay Camp, GT’s Tatogga Property near Red Chris, and down to the Stewart Camp as highest priority areas for a major new discovery within the Golden Triangle…
Our call is that we’re going to see something spectacular, perhaps more than one event, that will drive the Venture up 30% or more in a discovery-driven second phase of the bull market…
Comment by Jon - BMR — August 19, 2017 @ 7:32 am
Well Jon.. I am a seasoned veteran when it comes to making the wrong decisions, and not really knowing what drives markets besides fear and greed…
Novo should have sparked something then??
I am really nervous about the fact that the miners have lagged and lagged everywhere… and they stay flat when commodities go up, and down when the markets go down..
I try to be a glass half full guy, but reality has taught me to me more pragmatic. dont know how some of the others feel here.. but with everything range bound looks and feels like it is being managed, especially with Dr Coppr busting out…
waiting impatiently for the greed cycle to begin!!!
Comment by Jeremy — August 19, 2017 @ 8:16 am
Jon
Weather out has a good point, I’ve felt the same way for a while especially with things heating up and more to discuss, anyway to take the controls off just in the subscriber section only and give us a trial period? Put out the rules and if anyone breaks them even one time they are banned from posting? Whatta you think? Give us a try…
Comment by GREGH — August 19, 2017 @ 9:10 pm