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Gold has traded between $1,290 and $1,300 so far today…as of 8:30 am Pacific, bullion is up $4 an ounce at $1,298…Silver is up 16 cents to $20.52…Copper is down 2 pennies at $3.23…Crude Oil is unchanged at $102.07 while the U.S. Dollar Index has gained nearly one-fifth of a point to 81.03…

Gold hit $1,287 on an intra-day basis yesterday, its lowest price since June 19, as U.S. equities reached hit new record highs and after data showed jobless claims fell and global manufacturing increased…

Gold premiums in India nearly halved in the latest week as higher supplies and sluggish domestic demand in a seasonally slack period weighed on the market there…demand is generally low during the monsoon period with Festivals re-starting in September and continuing until November…India is estimated to have imported 100 tonnes of Gold in June, a significant pick-up in demand after private agencies were allowed to import the metal…estimates are that imports will slip to about 40-50 tonnes this month before ramping up considerably by September…

Meanwhile, after a slow start in June, India’s monsoon season is expected to continue its wet revival phase next week, and that’s good news for Gold…India’s farm sector accounts for around 14% of the economy but two-thirds of the country’s 1.2 billion people depend on farming for their livelihood, and more than half of its arable land needs monsoon rains…India’s rural farming areas account for about 60% of the country’s Gold purchases…

U.S. defense and diplomatic officials said yesterday that Russia is firing artillery over its border into Ukraine, the first time American officials have publicly alleged direct participation in fighting on behalf of separatists.  “If true, this represents a serious escalation on Putin’s part,” said Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia and White House adviser. “Instead of using last week’s tragedy as a pretext for ending this war, he seems to be doing the opposite, doubling down.”  The latest finding, based on U.S. intelligence that officials would not detail, comes as European Union diplomats appeared yesterday to be overcoming some of the political divides that have tempered their response so far to the Ukrainian crisis, moving to place sanctions on Russian access to European capital markets, energy technology and sensitive military goods…

The International Monetary Fund trimmed its global growth forecasts again yesterday…the IMF cut its forecast down to 3.4% this year from April’s forecast for 3.7% growth due to geopolitical risks over Ukraine and Iraq, as well as lowered expectations for key emerging markets…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

China’s Shanghai Composite surged to a fresh three-month overnight, jumping 22 points to close at 2127…meanwhile, Japanese shares finished at a six-month peak, rebounding from Thursday’s modest losses after June consumer price inflation rose 3.3% on year, in line with estimates…

Europe

European markets were under pressure today with some indices falling by more than 1%…German business confidence fell short of expectations, weighing on German stocks as the report underscored worries that growth in Europe’s largest economy is losing steam…widely watched figures from the Ifo Institute showed its business climate survey fell to 108.0 in July, marking a third straight monthly decline and missing expectations for 109.4…the reading for June was 109.7…Germany’s business climate has recently been pressured, in part by concerns about local companies with ties to Russia…earlier today, however, the GfK institute said German consumer sentiment reached its highest level since December 2006…

North America

The Dow is headed for its third consecutive daily loss…it’s down 147 points at 16937 as of 8:30 am Pacific…

Below is a 6-year monthly Dow chart…all indications are that the Dow will keep hitting fresh all-time highs during this summer as it’s currently in “Wave 3” of a 5-Wave Motive Phase…a level to watch for over the near/short-term is 17150 which is the target for the current wave…note how the RSI(14) has been climbing an uptrend line since the third quarter of last year…before any major correction sets in, extreme overbought conditions could emerge and persist for at least a short period but the Dow is not at that stage yet…

What’s interesting and somewhat perplexing is that despite the big move in the Dow since mid-2011, volume has been gradually declining…a lot of money could still be sitting on the sidelines…if and when the public gets seriously engaged in this market (usually the late stage in a bull phase), the Dow could easily over-shoot on the upside by a wide margin…a “melt-up” scenario in the markets, therefore, certainly can’t be ruled out…

The TSX is up 50 points as of 8:30 am Pacific while the Venture has added a point to 1013…diamond explorer North Arrow Minerals (NAR, TSX-V) continues to look strong (see yesterday’s chart) and is up a penny at 80 cents through the first two hours of trading…

Terrax Minerals Inc. (TXR, TSX-V) Update 

TXR climbed 5.5 cents yesterday to close at 45 cents after releasing very encouraging high-grade sampling results (Gold values up to 547 g/t) from its Yellowknife City Gold Project…the project lies on the prolific Yellowknife greenstone belt, and covers 15 km of strike length on the northern extension of the shear system that hosts the high-grade Con and Giant Gold mines…drilling and prospecting continue, and TXR expects to announce more results in the coming weeks…

We’ve mentioned TXR on several previous occasions, and below is an updated 13-month weekly chart that paints an interesting picture of the current technical situation…TXR has shown strong support around the 40-cent level (Nov./Dec. last year, June/July this year) which corresponds well with Fib. analysis…

A downtrend line has been in place since March, and what’s critical to watch for in the near future is whether or not TXR stages a confirmed breakout above this downtrend line…RSI(14) appears to have found support and is now rising at 46%…a bullish DI/-DI crossover also seems to be taking shape, so the sharp correction from the mid-March 90-cent high could be just that – a healthy pullback to the still-rising 300-day moving average (SMA) – not shown on this chart – and very strong overall support around 40 cents…as always, perform your own due diligence…

TXR is unchanged at 45 cents as of 8:30 am Pacific…

Pine Cliff Energy Ltd. (PNE, TSX-V) Update 

Further to John’s chart earlier this week, Pine Cliff Energy (PNE, TSX-V) has staged a confirmed breakout above the Fib. $1.73 level and is now trading at the top of a long-term upsloping channel (another breakout looming?)…interest in PNE has climbed rapidly since the company announced a week ago that it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire certain shallow natural gas assets in Alberta and Southern Saskatchewan from a senior oil and gas producer for cash consideration of $100-million…

PNE is up 2 cents at $1.90 as of 8:30 am Pacific…

West Point Resources Inc. (BLO, CSE) Update

We’re more excited than ever regarding the potential of West Point Resources (BLO, CSE) and its marijuana breathalyzer technology…the initial version of the Cannabix breathalyzer is under development with BLO having selected a highly experienced prototype manufacturer out of Vancouver…BMR eAlert subscribers will be receiving a special report on BLO in the very near future…

Technically, John likes what he sees in how BLO has traded since its debut June 26 on the CSE…BLO climbed as high as 32 cents July 7 before correcting to a low of 18 cents earlier this week (it closed yesterday at 21 cents), but that pullback should be viewed in the context of a normal Fib. retracement which we’ll explain in more detail in our coming eAlert…

The normal charts we use aren’t yet available for CSE listings but below is a chart that tracks the price-volume movement in BLO over its first 20 trading sessions…note the strong support around the 20-cent level and the drop-off in volume on the pullback…with a market cap of only $6.4 million, BLO holds incredible potential upside given that it’s at the forefront of marijuana breathalyzer technology with law enforcement in desperate need of a device that can effectively test drug-impaired drivers…

Note:  John and Jon both hold share positions in BLO.