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Gold has traded between $1,304 and $1,317 so far today…as of 7:30 am Pacific, bullion is up $11 an ounce at $1,312…Silver (see updated charts at the bottom of today’s Morning Musings) is 11 cents higher at $19.57…Copper is up 4 pennies to $3.06…Crude Oil is down 22 cents at $99.54 while the U.S. Dollar Index is down slightly at 79.49…

Bullion is benefiting from heightened tensions in Ukraine where fighting grew more widespread over the weekend and continues to intensify…heavy fighting erupted today in the pro-Russian separatist stronghold of Sloyvansk in eastern Ukraine, with authorities reporting four Ukrainian soldiers dead and a rebel commander telling local media that more than 20 militants had possibly been killed…the confrontation marked the most sustained fighting since Kiev launched an operation to quell the insurgency in the region…Russia has warned Ukraine of “catastrophic consequences” unless it halts its military operation against pro-Russian rebels…

Heavy buying occurred in Chinese Gold trade overnight, according to MKS (Switzerland) SA…the market held right around the $1,300 level in early Asia-Pacific trading. “We had a bit of an unexpected surprise when China opened up with some heavy buying going through,” MKS stated. “The SGE (Shanghai Gold Exchange) traded up to a premium of around $3-5 over spot and more importantly, the Shanghai Futures Exchange traded higher than the SGE for the first time in weeks, suggesting that the Chinese general public – non-institutional – investors were in covering shorts.”

The confirmed death toll has risen to 12 persons buried by a rock fall at an illegal Gold mine near the city of Santander de Quilichao in Cauca department in western Colombia…an avalanche of mud, rock and earth fell into an open pit where workers were extracting Gold…Colombia has more than 14,000 mines, more than half of which operate without legal permits…the government has created a special military unit to try to close illegal mines in areas controlled by criminal gangs…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

Asian stocks ended mostly higher overnight despite weak Chinese manufacturing data but trading volumes were thin with Japanese and South Korean markets shut for holidays…HSBC’s final reading of manufacturing activity in China came in at 48.1 for April, below the bank’s preliminary reading of 48.3…the figure marked a fourth straight month of contraction, in contrast to the country’s official PMI reading of 50.4…China’s Shanghai Composite finished 1 point higher at 2027…

Europe

European markets are mixed in late trading overseas…

North America

The Dow is down 58 points through the first hour of trading…Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s two appearances before Congress this week will draw plenty of market attention…she testifies before the Joint Economic Committee on the economic outlook Wednesday and before the Senate Budget Committee Thursday…

U.S. Dollar Index Updated Chart

Is the U.S. Dollar Index about to go into a free-fall?…this 2.5-year weekly chart from John doesn’t paint a pretty picture for the beleaguered greenback…the Index is now testing a 2.5-year support line while being pressured by declining 50 and 200-day moving averages (SMA’s)…at 43%, there is certainly room for RSI(14) to plunge considerably lower…what’s also interesting is that the Dollar Index broke down against Gold in February after outperforming the metal on a relative basis throughout 2013…given what the Venture is also telling us, the Dollar Index is likely facing additional weakness – a bullish factor for Gold…

Canadian Markets

The TSX is down 63 points as of 7:30 am Pacific…the Gold Index is up 1 point at 187 while the Venture is off a point at 1013…

Venture 9-Month Updated Daily Chart

The Venture is encountering some resistance at its 50-day SMA, currently at 1014…however, RSI(14) continues to climb an uptrend while buy pressure remains solid…fresh momentum should come into the Venture on a close above 1020, but investor patience is critical…John’s analysis is that the Venture is now in a “Wave 5” pattern, meaning this slow-moving train should start to pick up speed in the near future with the next major stop around 1140 – about 12% above current levels…

Ashburton Ventures Inc. (ABR, TSX-V) – Poised For Action On Two Hot Fronts

Resting at support at just 4.5 cents, with only 36 million shares outstanding, a speculative but potentially hugely rewarding opportunity in the prolific Sheslay Valley is Ashburton Ventures (ABR, TSX-V) which recently more than doubled the size of its overall land package to 30+ sq. km with the acquisition of the “Grizzly West Extension Project”…this deal (between ABR and Victory Ventures) was approved Friday (May 2) by the Venture Exchange and the Extension covers a 6 km north-south stretch (underlain by Stuhini group, Upper Triassic rocks) contiguous to the western border of Garibaldi Resources’ (GGI, TSX-V) Grizzly Property…in basic geological terms, a potentially robust Cu-Au porphyry system appears to have been fueled by the Kaketsa pluton and is trending west-northwest directly toward ground now held by ABR…we’re sure to be hearing much more about this overall area (Sheslay West) in the coming weeks as exploration heats up from Pyrrhotite Creek (Prosper Gold, PGX, TSX-V) to GGI’s West Kaketsa and Grizzly West targets, to ABR’s new holdings and Alix Resources‘ (AIX, TSX-V) North Cap West…

Hackett Property Work Program Begins, Interesting Gold Showings Along Border With Hat Property 

It’s just under 10 sq. km in size, but ABR’s Hackett Property – as you can see on the map below – is highly strategic as mineralization is trending to the east-southeast with the southwestern border of the Hackett just 1,000 m east of Doubleview Capital’s (DBV, TSX-V) Hat Property discovery holes #8 and #11…DBV, as it announced April 30, is within just a few weeks of reporting results from its first round of 2014 drilling following the announcement in late January of a significant Cu-Au porphyry discovery from drilling late last year…another major “hit” (holes HAT-08 and HAT-11 sparked a staking rush in the area) would not only send Doubleview soaring, but could also have a profound impact on Ashburton…

What’s contiguous to the Hackett’s western border is highly intriguing, but not much is known about the Hackett itself – it has never been drilled, nor has any detailed prospecting ever been carried out until now…historical records do show a mag high on the southern portion of the claims and this could hold some significance…time will tell…

Ashburton President Kyler Hardy is excited as he prepares to investigate the Hackett immediately with his own boots on the ground.  “We couldn’t be in a better place at a better time.  That’s probably the best way to put it,” Hardy told BMR in a recent interview.  “Looking at the data, it’s publicly available, we’re very much on trend with Doubleview’s discovery…it’s really interesting.  In my opinion we’re into a very, very large regional play rather than simply an isolated deposit (the former Copper Creek Property, now the Star Project) which was looked at previously.” 

Much more is going to be known about the Hackett Property in the coming days as the ABR geological and prospecting team descends on the area for some extensive sampling and mapping, the first step prior to planned drilling…this should generate a wealth of new information…the company has already requested permitting for 18 km of line cutting to conduct IP and 2,000 m of diamond drilling from several set-ups…

BMR’s research, which included about one hour on the Hackett during our Sheslay area visit last month, has revealed very interesting Gold values, not only from the well-known Hoey showing just 300 m west of the Hacket boundary, but from other showings significantly further north and northeast of the Hoey on DBV ground along the border with the Hackett (sources: Assessment Report 14802, 1986, and the Hat Property 2012 Technical Report prepared by Erik Ostensoe)…

“The trend is your friend”. The very apparent NW/SE parallel trends in the Sheslay district bode very well for Ashburton’s Hackett Property and the Hat East claims adjoining them.

In the 1960’s, prospector Frank Hoey’s samples returned Gold values as high as 1 oz/ton (subsequent sampling by others returned grades as high as 8.1 g/t Au and 2.2% Cu)…the Hoey area has strongly sheared mafic-rich formations with pyrite, bornite, chalcopyrite, and traces of molybdenite…several areas proximal to the Hoey – including the “D” showing 1.5 km to the north – have assayed several g/t Au from sampling…

It’ll be fascinating to see sampling results for the first time from the Hackett…

Showings like this one, immediately adjacent to the western border of the Hackett on the Doubleview side, have been sampled going back at least half a century and have returned important concentrations of Gold in some cases (BMR photo).

Speculatively, the Hackett could certainly be an extension of a Cu-Au porphyry deposit (or cluster of deposits) on the Hat, and Garibaldi’s Hat East claims contiguous to the Hackett may figure into the equation as well…but one also cannot rule out the possibility of a stand-alone Gold deposit that might be hiding somewhere in this general area…

“It’s certainly theoretically possible,” stated Doubleview consulting geologist and geophysicist John Buckle, when asked about the potential for a Gold deposit on this part of the Sheslay mineralized corridor.  “Most Gold deposits are related to hydrothermal fluids.  And we know we have the heat source,” he stated.  “So you have the heat source, you have the metals.  If you have the fluids and the trap, yes, you can certainly have a Gold deposit of a different type.  Maybe a high sulphidation deposit, maybe a low sulphidation quartz vein system.  Possible.  They will be distal, or a distance, away from the centre of the volcanic intrusions – maybe two, maybe five kilometres.  Yes, definitely possible.  We have five top level targets that I picked in 2011.  We’ve only just started the first one.  These are porphyry targets.  One of them has excellent Gold in geochem…we’ll see how the jigsaw puzzle comes together.”

As far as Ashburton is concerned, the pieces of the Hackett puzzle may soon start to come together now that the snow is gone and the geological team can get a clear look at what they hope will be an abundance of clues at surface…

Precipitate Gold Corp. (PRG, TSX-V) Update

Last month, we mentioned that Precipitate Gold (PRG, TSX-V) was gearing up for another potential breakout, and that’s exactly what occurred to begin the month of May…PRG, focused on the Dominican Republic, recently announced that it had received government authorization for diamond drilling at its Ginger Ridge Zone within its Juan de Herrera concession…the host Tireo volcanic rocks are very prospective…multiple targets have been generated at Ginger Ridge through recent geochemical and geophysical programs…an IP survey indicated a strong correlation between a surface Gold-in-soil anomaly and subsurface chargeability and resistivity highs over a measured strike length exceeding 800 m…the geophysical chargeability anomaly remains open in both directions and at depth, and will be the primary target of upcoming drilling…the company, however, hasn’t yet specified when drilling will commence…

Below is an updated 2-year weekly chart for PRG which is quite encouraging…note how in March, the stock broke above a downsloping channel – then it pushed above the top of the “cup” which should now provide important support…PRG should also benefit from any positive news out of GoldQuest Mining Corp. (GQC, TSX-V), our favorite company in the area…there’s only a limited pool of companies to choose from that are operating in the DR, so the law of supply and demand is in the investor’s favor in the event of another discovery…PRG closed Friday at 22.5 cents…

Short-Term Silver Chart

Importantly, Silver found support again last week just below $19 at the top of a downtrend line…this is similar to the Venture pattern during the fourth quarter of last year when it, too, found support at the top of a downtrend line…RSI(2) on this 3-year weekly chart is at 14%, but buy pressure is increasing – a bullish sign…Silver’s support band ranges from $17.50 to $19.50 while the next major chart resistance is $22…

Long-Term Silver Chart

This 11-year monthly chart confirms that the metal has exceptional support just below $20…sell pressure has been dominant since early last year but is weak…if and when Silver breaks above the main downtrend line, watch out (there are two downtrend lines to take note of)…RSI(2) is climbing…

Note:  John and Jon both hold share positions in ABR.

TSX Venture Exchange and Gold

The Venture found support at the 1000 level, in the immediate vicinity of its rising 10 and 20-day moving averages (SMA’s), and closed relatively unchanged for the week at 1014 after rallying from an intra-day low of 995 Wednesday.  The underlying technicals continue to paint a very positive picture for the CDNX but investor patience is critical – this slow moving train is going in the right direction and at some point will pick up speed.  Fresh discoveries and/or a breakout in Gold would of course be key catalysts.  Gold pulled off an impressive intra-day reversal Friday but still has some work to do to bust out of its trading range.

Below is an updated Venture 5-year weekly chart.  The purpose of this chart is to show the overall technical strength underpinning this market, and the primary trend which is clearly bullish.  The wall of support around 970, built over many months, is hugely impressive and includes Fib. support, a rising 200-day SMA and a 300-day SMA that (very importantly) appears poised to reverse to the upside by the end of June.  By every measure of TA, the downside risk in this market at current levels is extremely limited (less than 5%).  The upside potential, on the other hand, significantly exceeds the downside possibilities.

As an investor, it’s always critical to weigh risk-reward.  The risks were high in late 2010/early 2011 when RSI(14) on the chart below, for example, was in extreme overbought territory for an extended period but greed was the dominant market psychology and many investors simply kept buying.  Conversely, the risk was much lower in the spring of last year when the RSI(14) had reached extreme oversold levels.  Unfortunately, few investors were willing to jump in at that point because fear and disillusionment had become the dominant mindset.  Obviously, this is how critical market bottoms are formed.

What stage are we in now?  Gradually, this market has emerged out of the fear stage but many investors – which is actually a bullish sign – are trapped in what one could call the “unconvinced” stage.  They generally feel more comfortable about the junior resource sector than they were a year ago but they have lingering doubts and their weak faith is easily shaken.  Rather than looking ahead, they’re still staring in the rear-view mirror and they see a lot of wreckage and aren’t convinced yet that this market has really turned the corner.  They need to see more evidence, more signs – they are also “followers” who tend to go with the herd.  This group represents a huge source of potential new buying.  The Venture technicals tell us that this group will finally start to make its plunge into the market in the near future, and by that we mean at some point during this second quarter/early third quarter.  By September they’ll be buying everything in sight as they finally come to the conclusion (many months after the fact) that the bear market is actually over.

The Seeds Have Been Planted (And Continue To Be Planted) For The Next Big Run In Gold Stocks

There’s no better cure for low prices than low prices.  The great benefit of the collapse in Gold prices in 2013 is that it forced producers (at least most of them) to start to become much more lean in terms of their cost structures. Producers, big and small, have started to make hard decisions in terms of costs, projects, and rationalizing their their overall operations.  Exploration budgets among both producers and juniors have also been cut sharply.  In addition, government policies across much of the globe are making it more difficult (sometimes impossible) for mining companies to put Gold (or other) deposits into production, thanks to the ignorance of many politicians and the impact of radical and vocal environmentalists (technology has made it easier for groups opposing mining projects to organize and disseminate information, even in remote areas around the globe).   Ultimately, all of  these factors are going to create a supply problem – think about it, where are the next major Gold deposits going to come from? On top of that, grades have fallen significantly just over the past decade.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the next huge bull market in Gold stocks is just around the corner due to demand-supply dynamics, much leaner producers who will suddenly become earnings machines, and a junior market that will be healthier simply because a lot of the “lifestyle” companies sucking money out of investors will simply disappear or get taken over by individuals or groups who are actually competent and serious about building shareholder value.   A healthy “cleansing” in the market has been taking place.  As this continues, more and more seeds are being planted for an incredible future move in well-managed Gold producers and explorers that could make the dotcom bubble look like a tea party.  As for the juniors, focus on the small universe of companies that have the ability to execute both on the ground and in the market.  Companies that are strong financially, have superior exploration prospects, competent management and clean share structures.

Gold

For the second week in a row, Gold staged an impressive intra-day turnaround.  This time it was on Friday as bullion fell as low as $1,276 immediately following the release of a much better than expected U.S. jobs number, and rallied to finish the day at $1,301.  Escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia were supportive of Gold Friday, and will continue to be, while behind the seemingly highly positive headline jobs number (288,000) was a disturbing labor market participation rate, the lowest since 1978.

The U.S. jobless rate declined to 6.3%, but this drop was driven by continued worker exodus from the labor force which contracted by 806,000 individuals.  This is reducing counts of the unemployed and artificially reducing the unemployment rate.  The labor force participation rate – the share of adults in the labor force – tumbled to 62.8% of the working age population, from 63.2%.  Bottom line:  Expect the Fed to continue to reduce its monthly bond purchases, as they did again this past week, but the Fed will likely keep interest rates at historically low levels for the foreseeable future.  This is maintaining pressure on the U.S. Dollar which in turn is giving bullion some help.

Gold was off $3 for the week but buy pressure is picking up as you can see on this updated 1-year daily chart.  The $1,325 to $1,350 area is key resistance.  If Gold can overcome that hurdle with a confirmed breakout above $1,350, then the next stop is $1,400.  Very strong support exists in the $1,270’s as demonstrated again Friday.  A solid case can be made for a big move in Gold to the upside over the summer (that’s what the Venture seems to be hinting at), and that would catch a lot of traders by surprise.

Gold has confounded the pundits by reversing higher today, despite the much stronger than expected U.S. April jobs report from the Labor Department which came in at 288,000, well above the consensus estimate of 210,000…as of 8:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $10 an ounce at $1,295 after dipping as low as $1,276 immediately following the jobs report…escalating tensions in the Ukraine are helping bullion today, but perhaps a segment of the market is also starting to sense a trend toward higher inflation…the vast majority of economic reports over the last several weeks is pointing to an upward shift in growth in the U.S., yet the Fed is committed to maintaining interest rates at historic lows…Silver is up 42 cents at $19.43…Copper is up 4 pennies at $3.07…Crude Oil has gained 36 cents a barrel to $99.78 while the U.S. Dollar Index is relatively unchanged at 79.56, reversing earlier gains…

Gold exchange-traded funds saw outflows of 641,000 ounces in April, according to UBS.  “This marks an altered course from the buying of 261,000 ounces and 462,000 ounces in February and March respectively and the first month of selling since January’s 901,000-ounce outflow,” the firm stated.  UBS says selling was “very prevalent” during the first three weeks of April.  Small inflows followed, but on Wednesday, 134,000 ounces were sold out of the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD). “This in fact was the largest daily liquidation volume in April and suggests that Gold is vulnerable to further outflows in May if the macro data isn’t supportive.” UBS adds that Silver ETFs saw outflows of 5.15 million ounces, its firstly month of selling since December.

U.S. Mint data show that Gold bullion coin sales in April totaled 56,000 ounces, up 70% from 33,000 in March but down 77% from 246,500 in for the same month last year, according to HSBC. “The pick-up in Gold coin sales in April from the previous month is a sign that retail investors remained upbeat on the yellow metal as prices fell to an average of $1,299/oz in April from an average of 1,335/oz in March,” the bank stated.

Gold Seasonality Chart

Below is a Gold seasonality chart…combined, May and June historically have been the worst back-to-back months of the year, followed by a sharp summer (third quarter) rebound…Gold’s start this month is highly encouraging…

Ontario In A Mess

Both situations are bad but which addiction is worse? –  Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s substance abuse problem, or a provincial government addicted to spending money it doesn’t have?…the left-wing media gets great pleasure out of reporting on the Ford circus and every sin committed by the beleaguered mayor, who has wisely decided to take a leave of absence, but the sins of the Ontario government – from the Hydro scandal to its red-ink budget yesterday – are conveniently brushed aside…after yesterday’s unbelievable budget, the province’s net debt (at $289-billion, already nearly double what it was when the Liberals took power) is projected to grow by another 18% – $48-billion – over the next three years…debt service costs, even at today’s historically low interest rates, are projected to climb by a third…the debt-to-GDP ratio will hit 42% this year, up from 28% a decade ago…the Liberal government is ramping up the province’s deficit with a big-spending budget which outlines a sweeping Obama-style agenda including a new provincial pension plan, billions of dollars’ worth of new infrastructure and piles of money for social services…the blown budget deficit could quite possibly trigger a downgrade of Ontario’s credit rating, but that’s not important, is it?…both Ontario and Quebec are becoming like the Greece of Canada…not surprisingly, yesterday’s Ontario budget got a major endorsement from Ontario Federation of Labor President Sid Ryan…“I like it – I think it’s an NDP budget, basically.”  A continuation of these policies, in our view, cannot be beneficial for the mining sector as they will hurt business in general…and history has often demonstrated that when governments are run poorly and are broke, they often scramble to raise revenue by increasing taxes and royalties – making the situation even worse…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

Japan’s Nikkei slipped 28 points overnight in quiet trade as some Asian markets, including China, remained closed for a public holiday…

Europe

European shares were mixed today…

North America

The Dow is down 15 points as of 8:00 am Pacific…the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to a surprising 6.3%, from 6.7%, and the number of non-farm payrolls was well above the 210,000 expected as jobs were broadly added in retail, construction, restaurants, and professional and business services…March payrolls were also revised higher to 203,000…however, today’s jobs report also sent mixed signals as a disturbing number of Americans dropped out of the labor force…

The TSX is up 53 points while the Gold Index is also doing well today…Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM, TSX) has jumped $2.45 to $34.87 as of 8:00 am Pacific…AEM reported late yesterday that Q1 net income rose on the back of higher Gold production and lower production expenses, with net income at $108.9 million, or 63 cents per share…AEM achieved record quarterly Gold production of 366,421 ounces at a cash cost of $537 per ounce, with record quarterly Gold output at its Meadowbank mine in Nunavit of 156,444 ounces at a cash cost of $434 per ounce…

The Venture Exchange has added 6 points to 1013…check out the interesting article by Chris Parry at Stockhouse yesterday on the medical marijuana industry as he interviewed Dev Randhawa, CEO and Chairman of Fission Uranium Corp. (FCU, TSX-V) who also heads up Papuan Precious Metals Corp. (PAU, TSX-V)…click on the link to the article below…PAU is up 3 cents at 13 cents as of 8:00 am Pacific…

http://www.stockhouse.com/news/newswire/2014/05/01/fission-uranium-v-fcu-ceo-looks-to-starbucks-up-weed-dispensary-business

Venture Seasonality Chart

Historically, May has proven to be marginally better than March and April for the Venture, so that’s additional evidence that the current uptrend could accelerate…

Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) Update

The rich get richer in these markets, so to speak…fortunes are born during the bottom of a market cycle…this applies not only to astute individual investors, but well-run companies as well who have strong balance sheets and CEO’s with the vision and the boldness to act and take advantage of unique opportunities that open up at fire-sale prices…this is how Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) acquired the La Patilla Gold Property in the spring of last year…President and CEO Steve Regoci had his eye on this gem for quite some time, then smartly pulled the trigger as soon as Gold hit bottom last spring and many people panicked…Regoci is calm, cool and collected and understands market cycles…he also sees how investor interest in northwest B.C. is going to ramp up in a very serious way for a variety of reasons, in part due to the Sheslay Valley and how that rapidly evolving district could very conceivably emerge as a new world class mining camp…it’s in that context that we view yesterday’s announcement from GGI that the company has acquired two additional properties in the Stikine Arch (Red Lion and MSM) as a “strategic leveraged opportunity for the future while we focus immediately and vigorously on unlocking the value of the Grizzly.”  GGI has a bright future in northwest B.C., and of course Mexico as well where drilling is currently in progress…

Below is an updated GGI chart (10-year monthly) from John…technically, GGI is acting in textbook fashion…RSI(14) continues to climb an uptrend but still has plenty of room to move higher…there are several bullish aspects to this long-term chart as you can see below…short-term, the 10 and 20-day moving averages (SMA’s) – not shown on this chart – have reversed to the upside this week, suggesting May is shaping up to be a strong month…

Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) Update

As investors await assay results from recent drilling at the Hat Property, Doubleview Capital (DBV, TSX-V) continues to inch higher – a positive sign…it, too, has seen a positive reversal with regard to short-term technicals…the next major Fib. resistance levels are 34 cents and 53 cents, respectively (those aren’t price targets, just measured resistance based on Fib. and analysis)…DBV is up a penny at 26.5 cents as of 8:00 am Pacific…

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

Keep an eye on GoldQuest Mining (GQC, TSX-V) which has a couple of potential near-term triggers – the start of 2014 drilling in the DR, and a PEA on the Romero deposit…GQC is unchanged at 30 cents as of 8:00 am Pacific…

Adventure Gold Inc. (AGE, TSX-V) Update

Exploration is starting to heat up in Quebec and one of our favorite companies there over the last few years has been Adventure Gold (AGE, TSX-V), a well-managed junior with some excellent prospects…yesterday the company announced that it has commenced a 3,000-m drill program at its Val-d’Or East-Pascalis Property with the goal of increasing resources to over 1 million ounces…we’ve been on this property which is adjacent to Richmont Mines‘ (RIC, TSX-V) Beaufor mine…AGE’s project also encompasses the past producing Beliveau mine, a very profitable low-cost operation in the early 1990’s…

Technically, AGE overcame a long-term downtrend line earlier this year and climbed as high as 25 cents before retracing to support at 16 cents (it closed yesterday at 18 cents)…this is a favorable chart and we see good things in store for AGE as the year progresses…

Note:  John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI and DBV.

Gold has traded between $1,277 and $1,292 so far today on this first day of May…as of 7:45 am Pacific, the yellow metal is down $11 an ounce at $1,280…Silver is off 25 cents at $18.90…Copper is flat at $3.03…Crude Oil is off 58 cents to $98.16 while the U.S. Dollar Index is unchanged at 79.52…Mexico’s government outlined a raft of relatively market-friendly proposals yesterday to implement its drive to open up the country’s oil and gas industry to competition…the proposed laws were closely watched by the oil industry as a sign of how far the country might be willing to go to attract private investment, and The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that the bills appeared to be aimed at drawing a large amount of investment quickly…

The 86 year-old Peter Munk officially retired from Barrick Gold (ABX, TSX) at the company’s AGM yesterday.  “You can take, maybe, Munk out of Barrick. You can’t take Barrick out of Munk,” he said as he remains as candid as ever…last week, he told the Financial Post how Barrick found its flagship Gold mine: “[Newmont] were Mr. Nevada and we were this absolute penny stock upstart from Toronto. And we discovered Goldstrike on a property they rejected as not being useful because their geologists were so incompetent and so risk-averse.”   As Munk departed from the Barrick board, he predicted yesterday that his greatest investment for the company over the past 32 years will be new Chairman of the Board John Thornton…the market remains to be convinced of that…

The Gold market is awaiting what is perhaps the most important economic report of the month – the April U.S. employment numbers tomorrow from the Labor Department…the government is expected to report that non-farm payrolls increased by 210,000 last month after rising by 192,000 in March, according to a Reuters survey of economists…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

Several Asian markets shut for the ‘May 1′ public holiday, including China, South Korea and Hong Kong…focus was on China’s official PMI which rose to 50.4 in April…the reading was slightly better than March’s official figure of 50.3 and HSBC’s preliminary April reading of 48.3…still, it missed analysts’ estimates for a 50.5 reading…

Japan’s Nikkei surged 181 points on positive earnings reports…for the month of April, the Nikkei posted a 2.7% loss in part due to strength in the yen…

Europe

European markets are mixed in late trading overseas…

North America

The Dow is down 13 points through the first 75 minutes of trading this morning…U.S. consumer spending rose in March at its fastest pace in nearly five years, providing fresh evidence that the economy gained strength with the arrival of spring…personal consumption – spending on everything from electricity to sliced bread – surged a seasonally adjusted 0.9% from February, the Commerce Department said this morning…this was its largest gain since August 2009…economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted a 0.6% rise in consumer spending…spending on physical goods rose 1.4% in March, including a 2.6% rise in spending on durable goods…spending on services grew by 0.7%..

First-time weekly jobless claims in the U.S. climbed by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 344,000 during the week to Saturday, the Labor Department said this morning…the tally was above the range of consensus expectations compiled by various news organizations that was for new claims of somewhere between 310,000 and 330,000…meanwhile, the U.S. manufacturing sector continued to improve in April, according to the latest data from the Institute for Supply Management…the ISM said its PMI showed a reading of 54.9% in April, up from March’s reading of 53.7%…

The TSX is down 2 points while the Venture is up a point at 1002 as of 7:45 am Pacific…

Updated Venture Chart

This short-term (3-month) daily chart shows how an overbought RSI(14) condition on the Venture that had built up in February and March had to unwind in April which it did, resulting in an April 15 intra-day monthly low on the Index of 979…RSI(14), which found support just above 30, has since rebounded and now sits within the bullish range of 40% to 80%…buy pressure has replaced sell pressure which was evident for most of April…minor Fib. resistance at 1008 on this 3-month daily while the 50-day SMA, currently at 1014, also provides some resistance…the longer-term charts remain very bullish, so we could see some more “churning” for a short period but this market’s overall technical posture is such that a major acceleration to the upside appears to be in the works starting sometime this quarter and really kicking into gear over the summer…the rising 200-day SMA at 958 confirms the primary bullish trend while an important reversal to the upside in the 300-day SMA could develop as early as next month…

Venture-Gold Comparative Chart

Interesting chart showing how the Venture has outperformed Gold over the last 12 months…the Venture has proven to be a very reliable leading indicator over the years, so such a pattern tells us that some of the dire predictions of bullion tumbling to $1,000 an ounce simply don’t make sense…

Fission Uranium Corp. (FCU, TSX-V) Updated Chart

Fission Uranium (FCU, TSX-V) came within a whisker of John’s measured Fib. resistance of $1.82 and has since retraced to a strong support band between $1.15 and $1.25…interestingly, overbought RSI(14) conditions in February and March have been replaced by oversold RSI(14) conditions…the support zone appears to be a safe area for bargain-hunters to step in…as of 7:45 am Pacific, FCU is up 4 pennies at $1.25…

North American Nickel (NAN, TSX-V) Update

Nickel prices have been performing extremely well, and that’s just one reason why we like North American Nickel (NAN, TSX-V)…another important reason, of course, is the obvious discovery potential of the company’s Maniitsoq Nickel-Copper-Cobalt-PGM Project located on the southwest coast of Greenland…geophysical work commenced over the Imiak Hill conduit complex last month in preparation for upcoming drilling which will follow up on some significant drill intersections last year including 24.75 m of near massive to massive sulphide grading 3.19% Ni, 1.14% Cu and 0.11% Co…NAN’s financials yesterday showed $6 million in the treasury at the end of December, so they’re in good financial shape…

Technically, NAN has been performing in textbook fashion with outstanding support at the 50-day SMA throughout all of 2014 so far…below is a 2.5-year weekly chart from John…sell pressure has been in decline recently…it would be shocking not to see NAN heat up significantly over the summer, so accumulation around current levels now makes sense as opposed to chasing this at higher prices down the road (as many probably will)…keep in mind that VMS Ventures Inc. (VMS, TSX-V) owns 23.9% of NAN…as of 7:45 am Pacific, NAN is off a penny at 34 cents…

Note:  John, Jon and Terry do not hold share positions in FCU or NAN.