Gold is struggling today but it’s off its lows…as of 8:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is down $10 an ounce at $1,534 after dropping as low as $1,525…Silver is weak, too, off 90 cents to $36.67…crude oil has slipped $2.78 a barrel to $99.15 as Saudi Arabia began offering more oil to Asian refiners, easing worries about supply following an inconclusive OPEC meeting…the U.S. Dollar Index has climbed to 74.74, a gain of more than half a point…China reported a smaller than expected trade surplus in May due to soaring imports and weaker global demand growth…China’s sales to the U.S. and Europe slipped to their weakest since late 2009, underscoring the view that the global economy has hit a soft patch…the Fed’s assumption is that the current slowdown is just temporary and that growth will re-accelerate during the second half of the year…it seems reasonable to conclude that a patient Bernanke will wait to see if that proves to be the case and if not, only then would there be the potential for a QE3 or some type of additional Fed support beyond the current monetary policy…Bernanke will also want to see what Congress does in terms of the debt ceiling and spending cutbacks…he is already warned about “excessive” cuts that would act as a fiscal drag on the U.S. economy…the Dow and TSX are each down over 140 points…the CDNX is off 20 points at 1939…the Venture may need to test its rising 300-day moving average (SMA) as it did in July of last year before it finds a true bottom…the 300-day is currently just below 1900…as investors, it’s almost always impossible to get in at the exact bottom of any stock or market so doing some fishing at current levels makes a lot of sense, especially for investors with a longer-term outlook…we continue to be in the midst of a long-term bull cycle for both the CDNX and commodities, and chances are the CDNX is in for a much better second half of 2011…the TSX Gold Index is trading near support at 360 this morning while the HUI is off 13 points at 505…John has prepared a chart on the HUI which offers encouragement though the Index could fall a little lower and test a support band between 490 and 500…
The relative strength of Currie Rose Resources (CUI, TSX-V), Gold Bullion Development (GBB, TSX-V) and Adventure Gold (AGE, TSX-V) demonstrates in our view that these three companies stand a very good chance of being strong performers over the summer and into the fall…all three have excellent properties with the potential of delivering the kind of news the market will like…they should be watched closely…all three have been holding up very well through this market weakness…over the last couple of days, AGE has looked particularly intriguing…it’s up another 2 pennies this morning to 57 cents…below is an updated AGE chart from John through yesterday….
We’ll be reviewing some interesting plays outside the BMR model portfolio by Monday morning that bottom fishers may wish to consider…in the non-resource area, we’re still very bullish on iSign Media Solutions (ISD, TSX-V) which is currently off 3 pennies at 59 cents…ISD is looking very strong…Intertainment Media (INT, TSX-V), which was down for eight out of nine sessions, may have hit bottom yesterday at 67 cents…brave traders who don’t mind swimming around sharks may wish to test the waters on this one…INT certainly became very oversold on the charts…it’s currently up a penny at 81 cents…
