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Check back later today for Daniel’s Den and visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.

1. Gold has traded between $1,270 and $1,278 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, Gold is off $5 an ounce at $1,275…investors piled into Gold-backed exchange-traded funds at the end of last week, buying large quantities of the metal on Friday…Gold ETFs tracked by Bloomberg recorded inflows of 12.6 tonnes, the highest in 3 months…Silver is down 13 cents at $16.29…Copper is flat at $3.08 while Nickel has added 2 pennies to $5.13 as Chinese steel futures touched 3-month highs overnight…Crude Oil has retreated 64 cents a barrel to $57.72 while the U.S. Dollar Index is up one-tenth of a point at 93.28…South Korea and the United States launched their largest-ever joint aerial drills today, a week after North Korea said it had tested its most advanced missile as part of a weapons program that has further heightened global tensions…

2. Big news in the health care sector today…CVS Health (CVS, NYSE) is buying Aetna (AET, NYSE) for nearly $70 billion (U.S.), creating a health care giant that will have a hand in everything from insurance to the corner drugstore…CVS will play $207 (U.S.) a share for Aetna, with $145 a share in cash and the rest in stock, the companies reported yesterday…that’s a 29% premium to Aetna’s share price on October 25, the day before the companies were reported to be in talks…the deal is among the biggest health care mergers of the past decade, combining the largest U.S. drugstore chain with the 3rd-largest health insurer…it also comes as insurers are under pressure to lower medical costs, and retailers are under attack from new competitors including an increasingly powerful Amazon which threatens to enter the drug industry…the retail juggernaut has held preliminary talks with makers of generic drugs about its potential entry into the pharmacy space…

3. Continuing with the health care theme, Teladoc (TDOC, NYSE) – the world’s largest and most trusted provider of virtual care delivery services, and a BMR favorite since mid-2016 – has announced record growth of greater than 100% in the hospital and health system market…the company now supports more than 200 hospitals, more than doubling its total in 2017…with the industry’s only fully configurable solution backed by comprehensive operational support, Teladoc is successfully partnering with facilities across the United States to address diverse needs including increased financial pressure, requirements to improve care outcomes and changing consumer expectations.  “Hospitals and health systems are under tremendous operating pressures, particularly as the industry shifts more toward value-based care and they seek to meet the care needs of new populations,” explained Alan Roga, M.D., President, health system market, Teladoc. “A significant strength and advantage of the Teladoc solution is that it is tailored specifically to support health systems as they expand and innovate their approach to care delivery.”

4. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is looking to the world of digital currency to circumvent U.S.-led financial sanctions, announcing the launch of the “petro” backed by Oil reserves to shore up a collapsed socialist economy…in an address over the weekend, the leftist leader offered few specifics about the currency launch or how the struggling OPEC member would pull off such a feat, but he declared to cheers that “the 21st century has arrived!”…he said “Venezuela will create a cryptocurrency” backed by Oil, gas, Gold and diamond reserves…the petro, he said, would help the country “advance in issues of monetary sovereignty, to make financial transactions and overcome the financial blockade”…

5. Cboe Global Markets is leaping ahead of CME in an effort to become the first to launch bitcoin futures…Cboe announced this morning that it’s launching futures trading in the cryptocurrency beginning Sunday, Dec. 10, making the Chicago-based exchange the first to give investors a new way to wager on, and against, the booming new market.  “Given the unprecedented interest in bitcoin, it’s vital we provide clients the trading tools to help them express their views and hedge their exposure,” stated Ed Tilly, Chairman and CEO of Cboe Global Markets…

6. U.S. stocks opened sharply higher this morning as investors cheered the Senate’s passing of a major tax bill over the weekend…in Toronto, the TSX is up just 25 points while the Venture has climbed 4 points to 793…Radient Technologies (RTI, TSX-V) is one of this morning’s early volume and price gain leaders after it was announced that Aurora Cannabis (ACB, TSX) will make a further investment of $12 million into the company…Calyx Bio-Ventures (CYX, TSX-V) has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Canada Blockchain Hosting, is immediately expanding its newly-acquired cryptocurrency mining and blockchain data validation operation in Kamloops…CYX is also changing its name to “Calyx Ventures” to better reflect its new focus…Castle Silver Resources (CSR, TSX-V) surged to a new multi-year high Friday, breaking above key resistance, after reporting exceptional Cobalt assays ranging from 1.04% Co to 3.1% Co from an underground mini-bulk sample at its Castle mine near Gowganda, Ontario…more results are pending…CSR is up another penny-and-a-half at 31.5 cents through the first 30 minutes of trading…Cobalt prices are at new decade highs, slightly above $30 a pound…

7. Nemaska Lithium (NMX, TSX) has produced 1.5 tonnes of battery-grade Lithium hydroxide, made from Whabouchi spodumene concentrate, the company reported this morning…independent laboratory analyses confirm that the Lithium hydroxide produced from its Phase 1 Plant in Shawinigan, Quebec, meets the specifications of global cathode manufacturers globally…the Lithium hydroxide was derived from a 6.3% Li2O spodumene concentrate that was produced from a bulk sample taken from the Whabouchi mine earlier this year…approximately 1,100 tonnes of concentrate were produced…this concentrate will be converted during the coming months into Lithium hydroxide samples for customers globally to begin qualifying Nemaska Lithium’s products.  “This is the first time a new entrant to the market has produced battery grade lithium hydroxide from ore to final product,” commented Guy Bourassa, President and CEO of Nemaska Lithium. “We are very pleased with the purity level of the Lithium hydroxide produced to date, and have verified that our product is at least of the same quality as lithium hydroxide currently sold to cathode manufacturers around the world. This is a major step forward for Nemaska Lithium as it confirms the quality of its product as well as the robustness of its electrochemical process.”

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