BullMarketRun.ca

Gold has surged above $1,700 this morning…as of 6:15 am Pacific, the yellow metal is off its highs but still up $10 an ounce at $1,703…Silver is 42 cents higher at $32.69 after briefly touching $33…Copper is off 4 pennies at $3.47…Crude Oil has climbed 77 cents to $96.13 while the U.S. Dollar Index is up slightly at 81.27…

Investment demand for Gold continues to rise…Gold holdings in exchange-traded funds rose 2.1 million ounces during the month of August and added a further 253,000 ounces since Friday’s close to record new all-time high levels of holdings interest, according to TD Securities…ETF holdings reached a record of 2,467.822 metric tons which is supporting the yellow metal…

ECB Rolls Out “MOT”  Bond Buying Program

European Central Bank Chief Mario Draghi said the “euro is irreversible” as he announced a new bond-buying program at a still ongoing press conference in Frankfurt this morning after the central bank decided to keep its benchmark interest rate on hold…the program, called “Monetary Outright Transactions” or MOT, would focus on the secondary sovereign bond market and Draghi said it was necessary to deal with “severe distortions” in the bond markets…bond yields have risen in recent months for Spain and Italy, sparking worries the debt crisis was spreading…Draghi confirmed reports that the ECB would only buy bonds with maturities of up to three years and would not have seniority over private creditors…

U.S. Private Sector Job Creation Exceeds Expectations In August

Private businesses created 201,000 jobs in August, well above expectations, according to a closely watched report released within the last hour from ADP and Macroeconomic Advisors, a number that sets the stage for a pivotal non-farm employment report…the level of weekly jobless claims also dropped, falling 12,000 to 365,000 last week, though the previous week’s number was revised higher from 374,000 to 377,000…tomorrow’s jobs report is expected to be a critical factor in determining the precise timing and nature of more stimulus from the Federal Reserve which meets next week (Sept. 12-13)…the median forecast expects 125,000 new non-farm jobs created last month…

Today’s Markets

Asian markets were up slightly overnight with China’s Shanghai Composite Index showing the strongest gains, climbing 14 points to 2052…European shares are up significantly this morning while stock index futures in New York as of 6:15 am Pacific are pointing toward higher opening prices on Wall Street…the Venture Exchange, with a rising 50-day moving average (SMA) now at its back, is looking to bust through important resistance around 1250 today or tomorrow…the Index gained 4 more points yesterday to close at 1247…

OECD Growth Forecasts

A Paris-based think tank predicts economies of the Group of Seven countries will grow at an average annualized rate of just 0.3% in the third quarter…at the same time, the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) expects Canada’s economy to grow by 1.3% and 1.9% in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, while projected numbers for the United States for the same period are 2% and 2.4%…the OECD says the world economy is slowing with key European countries entering a recession that’s having a global impact…the assessment warns that the euro zone crisis is dampening confidence, weakening trade and employment and slowing economic growth for both OECD and non-OECD countries…the OECD projects that the euro zone’s largest economies – Germany, France and Italy – will shrink 1% on average in the third quarter and 0.7% in the fourth…Japan’s economy is projected to contract by 2.3% during the third quarter and hover around a zero growth rate in the fourth…

China Approves 25 Subway Projects

China has recently approved 25 subway projects by local governments, data from the country’s top economic planning agency show, as part of the central government’s efforts to boost sluggish growth in the world’s second-largest economy…the National Development and Reform Commission has approved a total of 710.8 billion yuan ($112.1 billion) worth of investments by 18 local governments to build city subways, according to statements posted on its website yesterday…most of the approvals came between June and August, according to the NDRC…the projects are expected to have an average construction time of 4.6 years, with local governments providing 40% of the funding…Beijing has significantly accelerated approvals for new infrastructure projects by local governments as it seeks a range of avenues to jump-start growth, which slowed to a more-than-three-year-low of 7.6% in the second quarter…recently-released key economic data from the manufacturing, trade and industrial sectors added to the gloom…Nomura economist Zhang Zhiwei said the recent number of city subways approved was comparable with the 23 approved in early 2009, when the government unleashed a 4 trillion yuan stimulus package…

China’s Most Important Political Meeting In A Decade Slated For Mid-October

The Financial Times reported last night (confirming Beijing’s worst-kept secret) that Chinese government advisers say they have been told to expect the party’s 18th National Congress in mid-October…in contrast to other countries such as the U.S., where political conventions are transparent affairs announced months if not years in advance, China’s ruling party and government rarely say in advance when they will hold meetings…there is much intrigue surrounding the leadership that will emerge at the party congress, although the two most important personnel changes are clear…Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang are expected to succeed, respectively, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao as president and premier… 

Will Obama Release Oil From SPR?

It would be viewed by many as a purely political and desperate act, but President Obama may authorize the Department of Energy to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a preemptive move to head of $100 prices, according to a report from Citi Research that made the rounds on trading floors  yesterday…a confluence of forces including tensions in Syria and Iran, hurricanes and the possibility of additional stimulus from the Federal Reserve all point to higher oil prices, giving Obama the justification he thinks to release some crude from the SPR and coordinate with Saudi Arabia to draw down its stocks as well, stated the report….“In recent weeks, the probability of a coordinated release of strategic stocks has risen significantly,” wrote Eric Lee, commodities analyst at Citi, in the note…

47% Of Canadians Live Payday To Payday

The Globe and Mail reports this morning that a new survey suggests fewer Canadians are living from paycheque to paycheque, and more are putting money aside for a rainy day or retirement…however, there are still a large number that would face difficulties after one week of not receiving their cheques, and savings rates remain low, the results show…the survey by the Canadian Payroll Association found 47%  saying they would be in financial dire straits if their pay was delayed as little as a week…that is a worrying number, said the group, but significantly lower than the 57% that reported such a thin margin of financial security last year….also, 66% of the 3,500 employees from across Canada that participated in the survey said they are trying to save more, up from 40% in last year’s results…CPA chairman Caroline Bernard said this year’s results are encouraging, but Canadians still face considerable financial challenges…

Levon Resources (LVN, TSX) Chart Update

As John mentioned Tuesday, Levon Resources (LVN, TSX) has broken out of its basing channel with the next major resistance at 60 cents…LVN was unchanged yesterday at 48 cents after climbing 6.5 cents Tuesday…we’re seeing a lot of individual charts that are breaking out in similar fashion which reinforces our bullish view of the junior resource sector through the balance of the year…

Adventure Gold (AGE, TSX-V)

Adventure Gold (AGE, TSX-V), one of our old favorites, is another excellent example of how the market for junior exploration stocks has turned the corner…AGE exploded higher yesterday on its best volume since 2010, gaining 4.5 cents on 1.7 million shares (all exchanges)…AGE has strong support in the low 30’s, so any minor pullback should be viewed as an opportunity given this important breakout on heavy volume…

Critical Elements (CRE, TSX-V)

One of our astute readers pointed this one out this morning – Critical Elements (CRE, TSX-V) which is certainly worthy of our readers’ due diligence given a volume increase over the last couple of weeks as well as reversals in the 100 and 200-day SMA’s…with CRE, it must overcome a critical resistance band between 17.5 and 20 cents as shown in John’s chart below…CRE has some promise – we’ll keep an eye on it…

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold positions in LVN, AGE or CRE.