7 @ 7:00 « BullMarketRun.ca

August 27, 2018

7 @ 7:00

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 $1,202 and $1,213 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $2 an ounce at $1,207…Silver is 4 cents higher at $14.80…Gold prices could be back on their way up and so could Silver due to a heightened Gold/Silver ratio (historically bullish)…the Gold price is currently 81.5 times higher than Silver right now, which is a level that’s only been reached on 4 occasions since the mid-1990’s, according to Bloomberg…hedge funds and money managers increased their net short position in COMEX Gold contracts to another record in the week ending August 21, adding 1,306 contracts to bring it to 78,579, the largest since data became publicly available in 2006…that’s another bullish contrarian indicator for bullion…Copper is up 2 pennies at $2.73…Nickel is ahead slightly at $6.03…Zinc and Cobalt are steady at $1.14 and $29.26, respectively…Crude Oil has added 18 cents to $68.90 while the U.S. Dollar Index has gained one-quarter of a point to 95.29…in Asia, China’s central bank has reintroduced a policy adjustment aimed at supporting the yuan…the move sent the Shanghai Composite up by nearly 2% today…

2. Markets will like this, though it doesn’t quite fit the mainstream media’s “trade wars” narrative – the U.S. and Mexico have struck a trade deal this morning that paves the way to replace NAFTA, the current agreement between the two nations and Canada…President Trump says the deal would be called The United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, replacing the NAFTA name…significant breakthroughs between Mexico and the U.S. came during the past several days on automobiles and energy…the U.S. and Mexico pushed hard for an agreement this month that would give the countries time to sign the pact before socialist Lopez Obrador takes office in December…now Trudeau will have to deal separately with Trump, so that should be fun to watch…

3. U.S. companies have been scaling back borrowing while posting improved earnings, marking some tentative signs of progress amid continuing concerns about their elevated debt levels…the year-over-year growth of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization – a measure of cash flow known as Ebitda – generated by U.S. corporations has now roughly matched or exceeded debt growth for 6 straight quarters, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch data, following 21 quarters (during the Obama era) in which the opposite was true…the decline shows that the U.S. corporate-earnings surge of 2018, fueled by a strong economy and a large late-2017 tax cut, is helping to bring companies’ balance sheets back into healthier balance…that development, if extended, could help drive future expansion and reduce risks to the economy whenever the next recession hits…

4. Cannabix Technologies (BLO, CSE) is up in early trading after reporting further progress in the development of its marijuana breathalyzer…the company says that characterization work has demonstrated the ability to isolate delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and suppress background substrates effectively…BLO is developing an innovative FAIMS (field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry) based instrument for accurate detection of THC…using the Gold standard of mass spectrometry in tandem with the Cannabix FAIMS prototype device, BLO has demonstrated the capability of the FAIMS device to isolate and detect THC from complex background matrix…

5. South Korean steelmaker POSCO said that it has signed a deal to buy Lithium mining rights in Argentina from Australia’s Galaxy Resources (GXY, ASX) for $280 million…POSCO said in a statement that it would also build a Lithium plant in Argentina, planning to produce 25,000 tonnes of the commodity per year for 20 years starting from 2021…POSCO said the move would secure stable Lithium supplies for its battery material manufacturing affiliate…

6. The Dow has jumped 212 points through the first 30 minutes of trading while the NASDAQ has crossed the 8,000 level for the first time ever…in Toronto, the TSX is up 87 points…Canopy Growth (WEED, TSX) has hit a new all-time high of $62.80…the Venture, benefiting from renewed interest in marijuana plays as well as some very positive developments on the resource front, continues to gain steam as a potential major new uptrend takes shape…the Venture has added another 2 points to 713 as of 7:00 am Pacific…a key resistance band extends from 710 to 720 while strong new support exists at 696…Organigram Holdings (OGI, TSX-V) has crossed the $6 level this morning for the first time…

7. The lesson here is, do not invest in Guatemala!…12 Tahoe Resources‘ (THO, TSX) unarmed mining security contract workers were attacked and kidnapped late Friday evening…after several hours of being abducted, injured and held at gun point, the contractors were eventually released and escorted by the Guatemalan Civil National Police (PNC) back to Jalapa where they were treated for their injuries and trauma…the abductors, who are really environmental terrorists, identified themselves as the “Peaceful Resistance Group of Mataquescuintla”…they are hardly peaceful…earlier in the week, this group of thugs installed an illegal blockade on a public road at the entrance of the municipality of Mataquescuintla in the department of Jalapa, which is about 5 km away from the Escobal mine…despite being a public road, this blockade was stopping all vehicles on the route to be inspected and is impacting neighbors and communities in the area…Jim Voorhees, President and CEO of Tahoe, commented: “On behalf of everyone at Tahoe and Minera San Rafael, I would like to express our sincere sympathies and concerns to the families of the 12 contractors who were abducted and injured on Friday night. Tahoe condemns violence of any kind in the strongest possible terms. We are treating these developments with the utmost seriousness and are taking appropriate measures to ensure the safety and security of all of our employees and contractors, their families, and local community members. We have been working diligently to engage government and community leaders to resolve the roadblocks in a peaceful manner for more than a year, and we will continue to pursue these efforts in good faith”…during more than 300 days that have passed without the Guatemalan Constitutional Court issuing a final decision in the case of the Escobal mining license, which was stripped away from Tahoe, an increasing number of violent actions have been carried out, not only against Minera San Rafael workers and contractors, but also against residents and community members…