August 20, 2020
July 14, 2020
7 @ 7:00
Visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.
1. Spot Gold has traded between $1,789 and $1,807 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific the yellow metal is off $1 an ounce at $1,801…Silver, on track to soon top $20, is up a nickel at $19.06…Silver is looking at more gains going forward, says TD Securities, citing the metal’s safe-haven appeal as well as its industrial component…“Silver could continue to outperform – benefiting from both the positive precious metals environment and its industrial characteristics, at a time when its supply may remain constrained. In fact, we expect the Silver market to operate at full or even above full utilization as recent volatility in the EFP has created a disincentive for market participants to rid themselves of physical Silver,” TD Securities commodity strategists write…as prices head higher, continued CTA buying could lead to even more gains…“We see a fat right tail in Silver,” the strategists added…base metals, which have enjoyed a nice run recently, are under mild pressure in early trading with Copper, Nickel and Zinc at $2.93, $6.01 and 98 cents, respectively…Crude Oil has slipped 35 cents to $39.75 while the struggling U.S. Dollar Index has fallen another one-tenth of a point to 96.35…Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered Huawei equipment to be purged completely from Britain’s 5G network by 2027, risking the ire of China by signalling that the world’s biggest telecoms equipment maker is no longer welcome in the West…today’s decision is a significant blow to Huawei, which had been ramping up its investment into the U.K. with a new research and development center in Cambridge, and a push for developers at the start of the year to help it build an alternative to Google’s Play App Store…Huawei was cut off from licensed Google software last year due to U.S. trade measures…
2. JPMorgan Chase (JPM, NYSE) has reported 2nd-quarter profit that beat analysts’ expectations on record trading revenue bolstered by surging volatility and the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented actions to prop up credit markets…the bank posted earnings of $4.69 billion, or $1.38 a share, exceeding the $1.04 per share estimate of analysts surveyed by Refinitiv…revenue of $33 billion exceeded the $30.3 billion estimate…“Despite some recent positive macroeconomic data and significant, decisive government action, we still face much uncertainty regarding the future path of the economy,” CEO Jamie Dimon stated…“However, we are prepared for all eventualities as our fortress balance sheet allows us to remain a port in the storm”…Q2 was a disappointment for Wells Fargo (WFC, NYSE) which posted its first quarterly loss since the financial crisis as the bank set aside $8.4 billion in loan loss reserves tied to the pandemic…the bank had a net loss of $2.4 billion in the 2nd quarter, or a loss of 66 cents a share, worse than the 20 cents a share loss expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv…revenue of $17.8 billion was also weaker than analysts’ $18.4 billion estimate…“We are extremely disappointed in both our 2nd quarter results and our intent to reduce our dividend,” CEO Charlie Scharf stated…“Our view of the length and severity of the economic downturn has deteriorated considerably from the assumptions used last quarter, which drove the $8.4 billion addition to our credit loss reserve in Q2“…
3. Wuhan COVID-19 cases in the U.S. continued to surge yesterday, with some states instituting new measures to stem transmission, while some countries where the virus once appeared to be contained imposed new restrictions to combat fresh outbreaks…more than 135,600 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S., according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and more than 3.36 million have been infected…world-wide, more than 573,000 have died and more than 13.1 million have been infected, according to Johns Hopkins data…California has imposed new restrictions including an immediate halt to indoor activities in restaurants, bars, museums, zoos and movie theaters…liberal Governor Gavin Newsom has set up “multi-agency strike teams” to make sure businesses across the state are adhering to his orders to close shop as cases of COVID-19 surge…the strike teams, which will consist of members from the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Highway Patrol and other departments, will target “non-compliant workplaces”…Big Brother is certainly on the march…the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s 2nd-largest after New York, said yesterday that it would start the school year online…Oregon has banned most indoor social gatherings of more than 10 people with the Democrat-run state requiring people to wear masks outside when they can’t properly social distance…Florida, which saw daily new infections jump over the weekend, joined Arizona, Texas and Michigan in recently putting restrictions on bars…Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who said last week that he had no doubt schools could operate safely, said yesterday that parents should have the option of virtual schooling…Florida this morning reported a 3.3% increase in COVID-19 cases, below a 7-day average of 4.6%…
2. 
4. Pascal Biosciences (PAS, TSX-V) announced this morning that it has discovered certain cannabinoids that block replication of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19…in a cell-based assay, the best cannabinoid had potency similar to remdesivir, a recently approved drug from Gilead (GILD, NASDAQ) that improves recovery time for COVID-19 patients…this suggests a Pascal-identified cannabinoid may have the potential to limit the severity and progression of the disease, according to the company…there are many efforts throughout the world to create a vaccine or therapeutic drug for COVID-19…most experts estimate it will take a year or more to produce, test, and manufacture sufficient quantities of an effective vaccine…the path to identifying COVID-19 therapeutics has been faster, leading to emergency authorization of remdesivir in the U.S. and approval in the UK for dexamethasone..both of these drugs have improved outcomes for hospitalized COVID-19 patients…typically, multiple drugs are required to provide effective antiviral therapy…other viral diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C, for example, require 2 or 3 drugs for effective treatment…Pascal believes that based on its novel discovery, a cannabinoid may well become an essential component of an effective drug cocktail for the treatment of COVID-19…PAS has jumped 8 cents to 33 cents through the first 30 minutes of trading…PAS‘ 200-day SMA is reversing higher, ending a long decline…
5. Aux Resources (AUX, TSX-V), formerly Auramex Resource, has mobilized its geological field crew to its flagship high-grade Gold Georgia Project, including the past-producing Georgia River mine, located on tidewater 16 km south of the town of Stewart in the prolific Golden Triangle…the 2020 field program will be centred around drill testing the Georgia Project…fieldwork over the past few years has indicated the presence of a large mineralizing system, of which the past-producing Georgia River mine is situated just at the periphery…to test the system, more than 3,500 m of diamond drilling are planned, focusing on mineralization around the past-producing mine as well as targets within the adjacent Hume Creek Deformation Zone…“Fully funded, we are eager to drill test Dr. Metcalfe’s compelling geological model for the mineralization around the Georgia River mine”, stated CEO Ian Slater…“This is excellent timing to advance and expand an under-explored high-grade Gold system in the Golden Triangle”…in addition to drilling, the 2020 summer exploration program will include detailed geological mapping, geochemical sampling, and geophysics of key exploration targets on the Georgia Project, as well as other AUX claim blocks…11,750 m of drill core from previous operators of the Georgia River mine was only sampled for narrow high-grade intercepts, with the majority of the core not being sampled…this core is currently being relogged and sampled in its entirety…shoulder sampling between high-grade intervals has the potential to define broad intervals of economic mineralization that were previously undocumented…this additional data provides a cost-effective method to leverage the additional 3,500 m of drilling in 2020, rapidly advancing the project relative to the exploration expenditure…
6. The Dow has climbed 84 points in early trading…Bespoke Investment Group pointed out that yesterday marked only the 3rd time since 1985 that the NASDAQ hit an intra-day record before ending a session down more than 1%…in Toronto, the TSX is up 13 points as of 7:00 am Pacific…the Gold Index, looking very strong, has rebounded 3 points to 350 after yesterday’s pullback…in a note to analysts yesterday, Haywood Securities said B2Gold (BTO, TSX, NYSE) trades below its peers and believes the company has further to run…“We reiterate our positive thesis on BTO, and continue to highlight the name as a top pick within the senior Gold production equity sector, given our constructive view on projected FCF growth (FY21 FCF yield of ~11%), growing dividend yield, improving net debt position, execution history across a diverse asset base, and near-to mid-term organic growth catalysts”…the company said more cash is expected…based on current assumptions, including a Gold price of $1,700 per ounce for the balance of 2020, the company expects to generate cashflows from operating activities of approximately $850 million in 2020…the Venture reversed intra-day yesterday, ending an 11-session winning streak…however, the 7.8% drop from yesterday’s high of 703 to this morning’s low of 648 and the supporting EMA-8 was merely healthy profit taking and prepares the market for significantly higher levels…this is a bull market on steroids…
7. The loony left should love this: Burger King has apparently found a way to help “save the planet” by helping cows fart less…“According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization,” Burger King (Restaurant Brands Interntional) stated in a new release this morning, “livestock is responsible for approximately 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cows release methane, a greenhouse gas that traps the sun’s heat and warms the planet, as a byproduct of their digestion. To help tackle this environmental issue, Restaurant Brands International Inc.’s Burger King brand partnered with top scientists to develop and test a new diet for cows, which according to initial study results, reduces up to 33% per day, on average, of cows’ daily methane emissions during the last 3 to 4 months of their lives. The formula for this new diet is open source and fairly simple to implement. Preliminary tests suggest that adding 100 grams of lemongrass leaves to the cows’ daily veterinary prescribed diet during their last 4 months, helps them release less methane as they digest their food. This initiative is part of our Restaurant Brands for Good framework. At Burger King trademark, we believe that delicious, affordable, and convenient meals can also be sustainable,” stated Fernando Machado, Global Chief Marketing Officer for Restaurant Brands International…“We are making all our findings public,” Fernando added…“This an open source approach to a real problem. If the whole industry, from farmers, meat suppliers, and other brands join us, we can increase scale and collectively help reduce methane emissions that affect climate change”…
How This Pandemic Will Ultimately Help Copper
The Cost Of Doing Business With China (The CCP)
“Silver Lining”: Innovative Vancouver Company Provides Help During Crisis
Smithers Shakes Off Turmoil For A Major 3-Day Event Connecting Hockey And The Resource Sector
June 12, 2020
7 @ 7:00
Visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information!
1. Spot Gold has traded between $1,725 and $1,736 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific the yellow metal is up $6 an ounce at $1,743…fears regarding the resurgence of coronavirus infections and a rather grim 2020 economic outlook by the Federal Reserve has boosted demand for bullion this week, leading the metal towards its biggest weekly gain in 2 months…Silver is 8 cents higher at $17.71…base metals have rebounded after some softness yesterday with Copper, Nickel and Zinc at $2.63, $5.75 and 90 cents, respectively…Crude Oil has added 45 cents a barrel to $36.49 while the U.S. Dollar Index is relatively flat at 96.70…U.S. import prices increased by the most in more than a year in May, driven by higher costs for petroleum products and food, which could further diminish fears of deflation as the economy battles a recession…the Labor Department said this morning that import prices rose 1.0% last month, the largest gain since February 2019, after falling 2.6% in April…wow – as reported by The Globe and Mail, Canada’s most senior diplomat – Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne – owes China $1.2 million (2 mortgages since 2015 with an outstanding balance of $1.2 million with the state-owned Bank of China)…does this help explain some of Champagne’s comments about China, including in 2017 when he actually told 1 of its state-backed TV stations that the communist country is “a beacon of stability, predictability a rules-based system, a very inclusive society”?…one has to wonder, sometimes, whose side the Trudeau government is really on…
2. Air Canada (AC, TSX) CEO Calvin Rovinescu says the Trudeau government should loosen travel restrictions because they are excessive and “stifling” the recovery of both the airline sector and the broader economy…the measures undertaken by Canada to limit the movement of people in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic are too sweeping and represent “the most challenging impediment” to getting planes flying again and stoking growth, Rovinescu said yesterday in a webcast organized by trade publication Aviation Week…“It strikes me as being a combination of disproportionate steps, things that are really stifling the return to a more normalized aviation environment. And quite frankly, stifling an economic recovery”, Rovinescu added…
3. Restaurants Canada is now projecting that the industry’s revenues will drop by as much half this year, with a “worst-case scenario” of $47.8 billion, down from a pre-pandemic forecast of almost $100 billion…the “best-case” revenue scenario is $70 billion…in its latest membership survey, the association found that 6 out of 10 restaurants are operating at a loss…roughly a quarter of all restaurants have returned to sit-down service, either on patios or in dining rooms as some provinces advance into the later stages of their reopening plans, the survey found…but 47% of independents that have reopened and 39% of owners with multiple locations said reopening made things worse financially…“You have to invest so much to restock and you have to have the staff start coming in again,” said Restaurants Canada spokesman James Rilett…“If your sales aren’t high enough to pay for the stock and the staff, then you’re losing money”…Restaurants Canada surveyed 940 restaurateurs, who operate a total of 14,129 locations, between June 1 and June 7…
4. The Guyana Goldfields’ (GUY, TSX) bidding war is over: China’s Zijin Mining Group is acquiring Guyana for $323 million in cash at $1.85 per share…Alan Pangbourne, President and CEO of Guyana, stated: “The all-cash offer from Zijin represents a significant premium to the amended Silvercorp offer price and is an excellent outcome for Guyana Goldfield’s shareholders. Zijin is a highly regarded mining company with an impressive track record of successful international acquisitions and operations. We look forward to working with Zijin over the coming weeks to close this transaction and transition to the new team”…Chen Jinghe, chairman of Zijin, commentedd: “Guyana Goldfields‘ management team has dedicated tremendous effort and made significant contributions in progressing the Aurora Gold mine and we look forward to advancing and developing the next phase of the mine. We believe that the Aurora mine is a high-quality Gold asset with significant upside potential, which we believe will be highly complementary to Zijin’s existing mining asset portfolio”…
5. PyroGenesis Canada (PYR, TSX-V) has signed a second multiphase torch-modelling contract, aimed at evaluating the performance of the company’s proprietary torches in an existing iron ore industrial furnace with the goal of replacing existing fossil fuel burners with PyroGenesis’s plasma torches…the first phase is expected to be completed in approximately 8 to 10 weeks…PYR says this contract is with another multi-billion-dollar producer of iron ore pellets whose name will remain confidential for competitive reasons…”ClientB” has over 100 burners in its existing facilities…“This is the second press release announcing that a significant player in the iron ore pelletization industry has entered into a modeling contract with us, in the past few months,” said Peter Pascali, CEO and President of PyroGenesis…”This just underscores the tremendous impact our proprietary torch is having on the industry and, as we said in the past, this interest is spilling over into other industries as well (such as mining, metallurgy and cement industries). We continue to find that the proposition of reducing greenhouse gases emissions, and avoiding carbon taxes, with a simple bolt-on replacement of their current environmentally damaging fossil fuel burners, is too compelling to resist. That, combined with the environmental pressure these industries are currently under (only recently a new trend has emerged where financial institutions are tying credit facilities and debt issuances to carbon reduction targets for multi-national industrial and mining conglomerates), has contributed significantly to this wave of interest and proposals”…PYR is hitting new highs, up as dime at $1.95 in early trading…
6. The Dow is up 732 points through the first 30 minutes of trading following yesterday’s slide, the biggest route in 12 weeks…dip-buyers emerged this morning for companies, led by the commodity, industrial and financial sectors, that bore the brunt of yesterday’s sell-off… putting the index on pace for its first 3-day losing streak in a month and for its biggest 1-day drop since April 1…in Toronto, the TSX has gained 326 points while the Venture has rebounded 12 points to 556 after touching its 20-day moving average (SMA) yesterday…Else Nutrition (BABY, TSX-V), which has received approval to list on Frankfurt, is up another 30 cents at $1.90…Artemis Gold (ARTG, TSX-V) has arranged a $155 million financing at $2.70 per share to complete its purchase of New Gold’s (NGD, TSX) Blackwater deposit…Blockchain Holdings (BCX, CSE), a strong performer this week and since March, is changing its name to TraceSafe…the company will continue to focus on data and analytics, and growing TraceSafe’s wearable safety technology business…in addition, TraceSafe is actively implementing additional safety technology solutions for enterprise and large-scale venues…Wayne Lloyd, President and CEO, remarked: “So far, the feedback on the TraceSafe’s safety tech lineup has been stronger than anticipated, with governments implementing the TraceSafe technology as part of official programs and pilot programs. We are very excited to unveil ongoing product expansions into enterprise and venues”…a nearly $1 million Gold heist: A robbery occurred at Soma Gold’s (SOMA, TSX-V) wholly owned La Ye mine in El Bagre, Colombia, on Wednesday…an armed group of individuals entered the mine site after a Gold pour but before the dore was transported by helicopter to the refinery in Medellin…no employee was injured during the theft but the thieves were able to steal a dore bar of 475 equivalent Gold ounces…the police and Colombian military have been to site and an active investigation is under way…the Gold was insured and the company expects a full recovery…Javier Cordova, SOMA’s CEO, said: “The thieves took advantage of a change in the protocols during the transition as a result of the recent acquisition of Operadora by Soma. New protocols and a full security review have been instituted”…
7. The top 40 miners have performed “remarkably” during the COVID-19 disruptions and the companies, tracked in PwC’s index, will take only a modest revenue hit…the consultancy released its Mine 2020 Resilient and Resourceful report today…PwC suggested the top 40 miners should also have no difficulty paying dividends…“Our forecast for 2020 suggests the Top 40 miners will take a modest hit to EBITDA of approximately 6%. Capital expenditure will also slow, freeing up cash flows, and giving miners the capacity to pay dividends should they choose to do so”…
How This Pandemic Will Ultimately Help Copper
The Cost Of Doing Business With China (The CCP)
“Silver Lining”: Innovative Vancouver Company Provides Help During Crisis
Smithers Shakes Off Turmoil For A Major 3-Day Event Connecting Hockey And The Resource Sector
May 16, 2020
The Week In Review And A Look Ahead!
The Venture is up nearly 50% from its “Corona Crash” low – why more robust gains are on the way…
Learn more in today’s Week In Review And A Look Ahead!
BMR subscribers have enjoyed market-trouncing returns through our boots-on-the-ground research and unbeatable technical and fundamental analysis of speculative niche sectors, with Sona Nanotech (SONA, CSE) being the latest example.
If you’re a non-BMR subscriber at the moment, and would like a free eAlert highlighting one of our top opportunities, email us at: info@bullmarketrun.com (must include first name).
