BullMarketRun.com

1. Gold has traded between $1,462 and $1,469 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $4 an ounce at $1,468…Silver is 4 cents higher at $16.67…Palladium, on a 13-session winning streak, is up $13 an ounce at $1,892…it zoomed past $1,900 for the first time ever yesterday as a power crisis halted production at mines in major producer South Africa, exacerbating concerns over supply and extending the autocatalyst’s record run…South Africa produces 40% of the world’s Palladium…Copper, looking much better these days, has added 2 pennies to $2.76…Nickel has rebounded 13 cents to $6.13…a strong band of technical support stretches from $6 to $5.50 as the metal bottoms in its 4th correction since 2016…Zinc and Cobalt are quiet at $1.01 and $15.65, respectively…Crude Oil has backed off 9 cents to $59.15 while the Dollar Index is relatively unchanged at 97.45…the Federal Reserve is expected to conclude its December meeting this afternoon by signaling it’s in no hurry to do anything to change its neutral stand on interest rates…the Fed releases its post-meeting statement at 11:00 am Pacific…no significant changes are expected from the previous statement but the Fed will release its interest rate forecast and latest economic projections at the same time, and it could show some improvement particularly after November’s increase in payrolls of 266,000…inflation remains muted…it was reported this morning that the U.S. Consumer Price Index rose 0.3% in November after a 0.4% rise in October…stripping out volatile food and energy prices, core inflation rose by 0.2%, in line with expectations…will there be an “eleventh hour” announcement about a U.S.-China trade deal on Saturday night?…more tariffs – 15% on about $160 billion in Chinese exports to the U.S. – are set to kick in on Sunday as both economies remain locked in negotations for a Phase 1 agreement…the Wall Street Journal has reported that both countries are taking steps to delay those tariffs…the European Central Bank will hold its first monetary policy meeting and news conference with Christine Lagarde as President tomorrow…polling shows that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is on track to win a solid majority in tomorrow’s election…the main opposition Labour Party promises a new referendum on Brexit as well as renationalization of utilities and railroads in its most left-wing platform in decades…America’s liberal mainstream media strikes again – 16 year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg has become the youngest individual ever to be named TIME’s Person of the Year…TIME concluded, “She has succeeded in creating a global attitudinal shift, transforming millions of vague, middle-of-the-night anxieties into a worldwide movement calling for urgent change.  She has offered a moral clarion call to those who are willing to act, and hurled shame on those who are not”…

2. Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest IPO, surged past expectations as it debuted on the country’s stock exchange this morning…shares of the state-owned Oil company rose to 35.2 Saudi riyals ($9.38) from 32 riyals in early deals in Riyadh, up 10% and hitting their daily limit…the price gives it a valuation of $1.88 trillion and makes it the largest listed company in the world, comfortably ahead of Microsoft and Apple…Aramco’s public debut, which listed 1.5% of its shares locally on the Saudi Tadawul, is the biggest on record – topping the $25 billion Alibaba raised when it went public in September 2014…the long-awaited IPO of world’s most profitable company forms the centerpiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 program aimed at transforming the Saudi economy…the crown prince first floated the idea in 2016, stunning market observers by suggesting a head-spinning valuation of $2 trillion…that figure was brought down by financial advisors and banks earlier this year to a range of between $1.5 trillion and $1.7 trillion…

3. Chevron (CVX, NYSE) is writing down the value of its assets by more than $10 billion, a concession that in an age of abundant Oil and gas some of its holdings won’t be profitable anytime soon…in the largest write-down by an energy producer in years, Chevron said yesterday that it was cutting the value of a number of properties, notably its U.S. shale holdings in Appalachia, by a combined $10 billion to $11 billion…the company is also restructuring its operations to focus on fewer prospects in the face of persistently low natural gas prices, and will explore sales of some assets including its interest in the Kitimat LNG Project in northwest British Columbia…Chevron said it will keep its 2020 capital budget at $20 billion (U.S.), the 3rd consecutive year it hasn’t boosted spending…U.S. natural gas futures prices have slumped this year amid a supply glut, and are now averaging about $2.54 per million British thermal units…this could turn out to be the lowest average price for natural gas in any year since 1999…

4. Gold should benefit from continued “ultra-loose” monetary policy in 2020, rising to an average price of $1,550 an ounce in the 4th quarter of the New Year, Commerzbank says…Silver and Platinum are likely to ride the coattails of Gold higher, analysts said…however, the bank looks for high-flying Palladium to finally run into an “overdue correction” and push lower…Gold has backed down from its early-September high just shy of $1,560 an ounce, but still remains 14% stronger for the year, Commerzbank pointed out…this would be the best annual gain since 2010…“We envisage an increase to $1,550 per troy ounce by the end of 2020.  The high optimism among speculative financial investors and the subdued demand in Asia will initially preclude any higher prices, so we expect to see the lion’s share of the upswing in the 2nd half of the year.  Monetary policy pursued by the major central banks will remain ultra-loose.  Admittedly, the U.S. Fed ruled out any further rate cuts.  All the same, they are not entirely off the table, and are still more likely than rate hikes”…

5. The Dow is up slightly through the first 30 minutes of trading…companies are on track to raise more money through initial public offerings on NASDAQ this year than on the New York Stock Exchange, the first time that has happened since 2012’s bungled Facebook (FB, NASDAQ) offering…in Toronto, the TSX is up 51 points as Gold stocks push higher…the Gold Index is up 3 points at 248 – just a matter of time before there’s a breakout above the key 250 level…the Venture is a point higher at 538 as it continues to prepare for a breakout through 540…Barrick Gold (ABX, TSX; GOLD, NYSE) is well on its way to achieving its goal of raising $1.5 billion in cash as it sells its stake in another non-core asset…Barrick announced yesterday that it’s selling its 90% stake in the Massawa project in Senegal to Teranga Gold (TGZ, TSX) for $430 million…the stock-and-cash deal consists of $300 million in cash with $80 million worth of Teranga shares…Massawa is one of the highest-grade undeveloped open-pit Gold reserves in Africa…Teranga has also arranged a $140 million financing at $5.10 per share…investors have reacted positively to the deal…Teranga has eased off 17 cents to $6.02 in early trading after surging 56 cents yesterday on high volume…

6. This BEE keeps buzzing:  Bee Vectoring Technologies (BEE, TSX-V) announced this morning that it has filed an international patent application for the latest version of its honeybee hive dispenser system that the company has tested and is bringing to market…“The agricultural industry is in the midst of a new green revolution, and the company’s more cost effective and highly targeted delivery systems will assist with the increased adoption of new biological compounds currently being developed to replace more chemicals,” stated CEO Ashish Mailk…this application strengthens the patent protection for the honeybee system by building on the previously filed application…the system is computer-controlled, enabling metered and uniform delivery of plant protection products to crops using commercial honeybees…this is the latest product addition to BVT’s natural precision agriculture system…patents are one of BVT’s key strategies to ensure legal protection as the company continues its post-EPA approval commercial expansion…“The cost to growers will be reduced as only minimal amounts of natural product is required, less than 1% of the amount used in conventional spraying, since bee vectoring enables the delivery of product to where it will do the most good, the blooms,” Mailk added…the new honeybee system is part of BVT’s growth strategy to increase its addressable market fully to include the entire estimated 2.5 million commercial bee hives in the U.S. and 91 million worldwide…leveraging both honeybee and bumblebee systems extends the company’s market reach of crops in all markets, which means the company can address 100% of the bee vectoring market for flowering crops…this includes high volume crops such as almonds, sunflowers and apples and high value crops such as blueberries, melons, strawberries and raspberries…BEE is up 2 cents at 43 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

7. Pan American Silver (PAAS, TSX, NYSE), which has been a superb market performer this year, has released an initial mineral resource estimate for the large polymetallic deposit discovered last year at the company’s La Colorada mine in Zacatecas, Mexico…the Inferred mineral resource totals 72.5 million tonnes, averaging 44 g/t Silver, 0.17% Copper, 2.02% Lead and 4.40% Zinc, assuming a cut-off value of $60 (U.S.) per tonne after accounting for transportation, smelting and refining costs…the deposit remains open in nearly all directions for resource expansion…“The initial inferred mineral resource estimate containing 102 million ounces of Silver and a large volume of base metals indicates the significance of this new discovery,” stated Christopher Emerson, Pan American’s VP for Business Development and Geology…“In just over a year since we first announced the discovery, we have completed 54,000 m of drilling into the deposit and developed the geological model for this initial resource estimate.  An aggressive drilling program is planned for 2020 to further explore the deposit’s potential”…

Most Popular Recent BMR Posts

Video: How This Innovative Junior Is Winning The “Battery Arms Race” In Northern Ontario

“The Enemies Of Progress, The Radical Environmentalists, Are Ramping Up For A War In The Woods”

Why Are These People Smiling? – Their Stock Has Tanked 80%!

Turbocharged Nickel

Commodity Check!

The Template For The Next 10% Stake In Garibaldi Resources

Thunder In The Corridor!

The Nickel Mountain Magma Highway

Two Big Plays Emerge in B.C., Setting The Stage For A Summer To Remember

How To Bring A Junior Resource Market To Life!

The Dramatic New Chase For A Nickel-Copper-Rich Massive Sulphide Deposit In The Heart Of A Famous Gold Camp

Northern Ontario Cobalt Junior Attracts Interest From Metal Trading Companies

The Most Important Venture Development Since The New Bull Market Began