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Gold has traded between $1,211 and $1,226 so far today…as of 8:45 am Pacific, bullion is up $2 an ounce at $1,223 after hitting a 3-month high yesterday on signs that U.S. inflation remains muted, bolstering the case for the Fed to delay raising interest rates…Silver has added a nickel to $17.49…Copper is unchanged at $2.90…Crude Oil has slipped 47 cents to $59.41 while the U.S. Dollar Index has slid to 93.26…

The World Gold Council (WGC) continues to see some bright spots in the Gold market, despite an overall decline in demand in the first 3 months of the year…according to the latest WGC report, looking at Q1 Gold trends, world Gold demand fell 1% in the first quarter to 1,079 tonnes, compared to the same period in 2014…

A bright spot in Q1 was demand from India which increased 15% compared to the first quarter of 2014…the jump in Indian demand came after the government removed import restrictions at the end of the year…meanwhile, globally, investment demand saw an increase of 4% in the first quarter of 2015 while Gold-backed exchange traded funds had positive net inflows of 26 tonnes, the first positive quarter since the fourth quarter of 2012…

“Anecdotally, I can tell you that I have seen a shift in investor sentiment. People haven’t necessarily turned bullish again, but they are certainly not as bearish as they were,” said Juan Carlos Artigas, director of investment research with the WGC, in an interview with Kitco news (www.Kitco.com)…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

China’s Shanghai Composite closed down 1.6% overnight, despite attempts by the country’s securities regulator to calm market jitters regarding new share listings..Japan’s Nikkei gained nearly 1%, meanwhile, to finish the week at 19733…

Europe

European markets finished lower today, though there were signs that stability is returning to bond markets after a recent rout…

North America

The Dow is down 15 points as of 8:45 am Pacific…U.S. industrial production fell for a 5th straight month in April, weighed down by declines in mining and utilities output, pointing to a lack of momentum in the economy at the start of the 2nd quarter (the Fed is running out of weather excuses)…industrial output slipped 0.3% after a revised 0.3% in March, the Federal Reserve stated this morning…economists polled by Reuters had forecast industrial production edging up 0.1% higher last month after a previously reported 0.6% fall in March, which was the biggest drop since August 2012…

Meanwhile, economists cut their forecasts for U.S. economic growth in the 2nd quarter and full year, and trimmed expectations for labor market gains….economists see the economy growing at an annual rate of 2.5% in the current quarter, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s quarterly survey of 44 forecasters, released this morning…in last quarter’s survey, released in February, growth for this quarter was forecast at 3%…

Dow 6-Month Daily Chart

The Dow has broken above the 18205 Fib. level…RSI(14) has been following an uptrend line since March on this 6-month daily chart, and appears poised to push above resistance…next measured Fib. resistance is 18900, so it appears equity markets could remain robust while the threat of a Fed rate hike anytime soon has diminished considerably…

In Toronto, the TSX is up 6 points while the Venture is flat at 692…

GoldQuest Mining Corp. (GQC, TSX-V) Update

We continue to keep a very close eye on GoldQuest Mining Corp. (GQC, TSX-V) which is threatening to break above a long-term downtrend line…nearly 3 weeks ago, the company released a revised and more robust PEA for its Romero and Romero South Gold-Copper deposits in the Dominican Republic…GQC’s exploration upside in the DR remains huge – more discoveries are very possible despite a string of disappointing results the last couple of years…by itself, this is a company that in the past has boosted overall market sentiment with some spectacular drill holes…can they do it again?…

As expected, on a recent pullback following a powerful run from 8.5 cents to 20 cents in just 5 trading days, GQC found support at its 200-day SMA which has flattened out at 13.5 cents…what to watch for with GQC is this – a potential decisive move above the downtrend line shown below…

GQC is up half a penny at 18 cents as of 8:45 am Pacific…

International Montoro Resources (IMT, TSX-V) Update

Montoro Resources (IMT, TSX-V) is in the early stages of what could prove to be an important Nickel-Cu-PGE find – the first-ever – in the Elliot Lake area of northern Ontario, west of Sudbury (Elliot Lake is known for its Uranium and Rare Earth deposits, but not Nickel-Cu-PGE)…

So far, theories based on abundant geophysical and geochemical evidence are holding up as drilling in the first 2 holes at the Pecors anomaly has hit the favorable host rock geologists were hoping to see below the Huronian sediments…significantly, there is strong evidence that a remobilization process has occurred in this magmatic system…Pecors is on the radar screens of not only investors but many curious geologists, including those at the OGS (Ontario Geological Survey), and various companies as well…

Technically, IMT has found strong support at the Fib. 7-cent level while RSI(14) has turned higher again, a bullish sign…IMT’s 2nd hole has gone deeper than the first – and there must be good reasons why…

IMT is unchanged at 7.5 cents as of 8:45 am Pacific…

North Arrow Minerals (NAR, TSX-V) Update

North Arrow Minerals‘ (NAR, TSX-V) bought deal flow-through financing at 95 cents for gross proceeds of $4 million is expected to close by the end of this month…the company is in the process of completing a formal diamond valuation of the Q1–4 kimberlite at its promising Qilalugaq Diamond Project in Nunavut…

NAR has backed off from a 3+ year high of $1.34 April 22, but that’s merely a healthy retrace to a strong zone of support within the context of a bullish overall trend…since the beginning of January, NAR has held support at its rising 50-day moving average (SMA) which is currently 92 cents…

This 8-year monthly chart demonstrates the significance of the breakout above the horizontal channel around 80 cents in mid-April…

NAR is off 3 pennies at $1.05 as of 8:45 am Pacific…

Reservoir Minerals Inc. (RMC, TSX-V) Update

Another high-quality situation that should be on everyone’s radar screens – Reservoir Minerals (RMC, TSX-V)…

Reservoir, which had $35 million in working capital as of the end of February, is in a JV with Freeport-McMorRan (FCX, NYSE) at its Timok Project in Serbia…the major is the operator (assuming all expenses) and an $18.7 million U.S. budget has been approved to advance this project in 2015…

Reservoir climbed as high as $7.43 last year before falling by more than half as the overall market tanked in Q4…very oversold conditions (September to early November) mirrored the overbought conditions that emerged in February/March 2014 when it was a good time to take profits…

RMC has regained its footing and appears to be gearing up for a solid balance of 2015 that could include a test of last year’s high or, potentially, even a breakout to a new all-time high…

Sell pressure has been declining steadily, and the stock is now breaking above a downtrend line and its 200-day SMA…

RMC is unchanged at $4.60 as of 8:45 am Pacific…

Note:  Jon holds a share position in IMT.