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Gold has traded between $1,199 and $1,216 so far today…as of 8:15 am Pacific, bullion is up $14 an ounce at $1,213…Silver has risen 8 cents to $16.55…Copper (see updated chart below) is off 3 pennies at $2.92…Crude Oil has gained $1.16 a barrel to $68.04 while the U.S. Dollar Index has added another one-third of a point to 88.89…

The SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s top Gold-backed exchange-traded fund, actually saw inflows of 2.4 tonnes yesterday after holdings hit a 6-year low…

Gold trading on China’s largest physical bullion bourse has already exceeded last year’s record volume as the world’s biggest consumer seeks to exert more influence on the global market…the volume of all contracts on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, including those in the city’s free-trade zone, was 12,077 metric tons in the 10 months through October, compared with 11,614 tons during all of 2013, according to a report today from Bloomberg which cited data from the bourse’s website…this total is expected to climb to 17,000 tons by the end of the year…while China vies to extend its influence over the bullion market with new contracts aimed at luring international investors, trading volumes are still a fraction of those in London, where benchmark prices are determined…

Commerzbank expects Gold prices to average $1,200 an ounce in 2015…the German bank anticipates a weaker first half of the year for Gold ahead of potential interest rate hikes in the U.S. by the summer, but their view is that bullion should rebound during the second half of 2015 after bottoming out in the low $1,100‘s…Commerzbank expects average 2015 Silver prices of $17 an ounce, with the metal following Gold’s lead…

The euro slipped to a 2+year low today with the latest dose of drab economic data bolstering expectations of further easing ahead of tomorrow’s ECB monthly meeting…persistently low inflation and a sputtering economic recovery have ramped up the pressure on the central bank to expand its program of asset purchases…however, if the ECB doesn’t deliver more stimulus tomorrow (which some market participants are anticipating), a short-covering rally could occur in the euro which would also be bullish for Gold…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

Markets in China and Japan hit new multi-year highs overnight…the Shanghai Composite gained 16 points to close at 2780 as it continues its march to resistance at 3000…the Nikkei, meanwhile, added another 57 points to finish at a 7-year high of 17720…

Europe

European markets are mixed in late trading overseas…data today showed a sharper slowdown in euro zone private sector activity than first estimated…composite PMI in the currency bloc was revised down to 51.1 from 51.4 in November…

North America

A slew of U.S. economic data today…this morning’s ADP national employment report fell slightly short of market expectations…the figure showed a rise of 208,000 jobs in November, while the market was expecting something in the range of 230,000…the ISM services index beat expectations with a leap to a 3-month high of 59.3 for November…U.S. non-farm productivity grew a bit faster than initially thought in Q3, while sharp downward revisions to compensation pointed to muted wage inflation that should give the Fed room to keep interest rates low for a while yet…the Fed’s Beige Book report on the economy is due later this morning, and that could have an impact on the markets…

The Dow is up 3 points as of 8:15 am Pacific…the TSX has jumped 130 points while the Venture has added 3 points to 723…

GoGold Resources Inc. (GGD, TSX), an emerging Gold-Silver producer in Mexico, has announced the closing of a bought deal offering of 13,333,500 common shares at a price of $1.50 per share for gross proceeds to the company of just over $20 million…GGD is off 3 pennies at $1.45 as of 8:15 am Pacific…

Copper Updated Chart

Copper has been unable to overcome its downtrend line this year and is now testing support around $2.90 as you can see in John’s 2.5-year weekly chart…RSI(14) is currently bouncing off a support level that has given birth to previous rallies since the first half of 2013…

Money managers, who often end up on the wrong side of the trade, have been betting on declines in Copper for 10 straight weeks, the longest stretch since August 2013…Copper, dubbed by traders as the metal with an economics Ph.D., tumbled 6.6% in November, the most in 17 months…investors have been selling amid speculation that a slowdown is set to deepen in China, where economists are already forecasting the weakest expansion since 1990…

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP, NYSE), the world’s biggest miner, expects Chinese growth will be strong enough to underpin consumption…at a recent seminar in Sydney, Australia, the company emphasized that about 250 million more people are expected to move move from rural areas to cities in the Asian country by 2030, bolstering demand for products including metals and food…

Lower Copper prices will also limit supply expansion and help the metal rebound…capital expenditures for Copper producers tracked by Bloomberg Intelligence are set to decline 21% this year from 2013, and fall a further 10% in 2015…

Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX) Update

The most attractive Gold producer we see at the moment is Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX), the subject of a BMR eAlert prior to yesterday’s trading when RIC was still available for around $3.50…over the last few months we’ve been pointing out the huge turnaround in this company’s fortunes…old-old-fashioned earnings momentum is driving Richmont higher along with the fact the company has outlined a 1 million ounce high-grade resource beneath existing workings at its Island Gold Mine in northern Ontario…

Richmont, which experienced a more than 10-fold increase in its share price between late 2008 and the fall of 2011, slumped all the way back down to a bargain basement price of $1 per share late last year…it started to reverse course with a vengeance after 2 important events this year:  1) The release April 1 of an updated resource calculation for the Island Gold Mine, including the Island Deep extension; and 2) The company’s return to profitability in Q2 of this year as it reported record revenues and net earnings of $4.7 million (10 cents per share) for the April-May-June period…

Through the first 9 months of fiscal 2014, Richmont has recorded adjusted net earnings of 19 cents per share…this Rouyn-Noranda based company is also benefiting from a lower Canadian dollar and weak Oil prices…

Richmont expects to produce between 85,000 to 90,000 ounces of Gold in 2014…the company’s cash and short-term deposits increased to nearly $40 million at the end of September…so they’re well-positioned to “seize the moment” with development of the Island Gold deep discovery which has NI-43-101 indicated resources of 456,000 ounces grading 11.52 g/t Au and inferred resources of 3.2 million tonnes grading 9.29 g/t Au…the discovery remains open in all directions after 100,000 meters of underground drilling in 2013…mining of the first stopes of the lower resource is expected to commence by the end of this month or very early in the New Year…

Technically, Richmont has broken out above 2 key levels – $3 and $3.50…the next measured Fib. resistance is $5…Richmont has significantly outperformed both the TSX Gold Index and the price of Gold in 2014, so RIC could easily explode much higher over the near-term if Gold‘s current momentum accelerates into year-end and the beginning of 2015…

RIC is at a new multi-year high of $3.88, up 20 cents, as of 8:15 am Pacific…

The “December Effect” – A Look At Historical Venture Trading During December Since 2000

The table below features certain Venture trading statistics compiled by John for the month of December going back 14 years…due to tax-loss selling and other factors, the first couple weeks of the month has consistently proven to be an ideal time to carry out some bargain-hunting in advance of an uptrend that typically commences immediately prior to Christmas…

As we mentioned yesterday:

1.  In the last 14 years, the Venture’s December low has never occurred after December 21;

2.  In the last 14 years, the uptrend has never started before December 9…

Given Gold‘s extraordinary move Monday, and the encouraging follow-through we’re seeing today, it’s quite likely that this year’s December and yearly low will occur sooner rather than later…in other words, don’t procrastinate with your “shopping” for market bargains…

U.S. Dollar Index Updated Chart

The U.S. Dollar Index continues to surge higher which makes Gold‘s current strength all the more impressive…what’s interesting about the Dollar Index is that whenever it has shown traction above 88 recently, fresh buying has come into bullion…the Dollar Index has confirmed a breakout above Fib. resistance at 88 but significant band of chart resistance, due to previous highs in 2008, 2009 and 2010, exists up to the 90 area…the next Fib. measured resistance is 93…

There’s no question the Dollar is currently technically overbought – those conditions have existed since September – and is also up against stiff resistance, so Gold traders could be anticipating a near-term reversal in the greenback…as you can see on this 2.5-year weekly chart, the +DI indicator has peaked while an RSI(14) divergence with price is another sign that the Dollar Index is getting closer to the point where it will pause and consolidate the sharp gains it has made since the early summer…

Canadian Dollar Updated Chart

It’s possible the Canadian dollar could be gearing up for a rally which would be bullish for commodities and the Venture…the loonie has Fib. support at 88 cents which so far it’s holding onto…RSI(14) on this 20-year monthly chart is also at previous support…

If the 88 level doesn’t hold, then a rally may not begin until strong support at 85 is tested…

Kaminak Gold Corp. (KAM, TSX-V) and North Arrow Minerals (NAR, TSX-V) 

Given the Venture “December Effect”, watch for potential opportunities in the coming days in 2 quality juniors – Kaminak Gold Corp. (KAM, TSX-V) and North Arrow Minerals (NAR, TSX-V)…both companies of course are very active with strong balance sheets…as always, perform your own due diligence…KAM and NAR closed at 70 and 48 cents, respectively, yesterday…

Technically, KAM has exceptional support at 60 cents while NAR has a strong band of support between 40 and 50 cents…

KAM 2.-5 Year Weekly Chart

NAR Long-Term Monthly Chart

Note:  Jon holds a share position in RIC.