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Gold has traded between $1,093 and $1,107 so far today…as of 9:30 am Pacific, bullion is down $8 an ounce at $1,101…a close above $1,100 today would be very encouraging going into next week, but the breakout through $1,080 was an important first victory for the bulls…Silver is off 30 cents at $14.00…Copper has slipped a penny to $2.04…Crude Oil is up 17 cents to $33.44 while the U.S. Dollar Index has jumped nearly half a point to 98.70…

Global stock markets have endured a rough start to 2016, though Gold and Gold stocks have moved in the opposite direction…the S&P Global Broad Market Index, which tracks global stock performance, lost $2.2 trillion in market value through the first 4 trading sessions this year…that total trumps the estimated U.S. student loan debt of more than $1 trillion and would represent roughly 12% of U.S. government debt…

The U.S. economy closed out 2015 with a strong round of job creation…non-farm payrolls exceeded expectations in December as 292,000 positions (vs. the consensus estimate of 200,000) were added during the month, according to the Labor Department’s report this morning…the unemployment rate was 5%…a separate, more encompassing measure that accounts for those who did not look for work in the past month or were working part-time for economic reasons – the under-employed – held steady as well at 9.9%…

Top 50 Opportunities Update

Just over a month ago, on December 6, we released our “Top 50 Opportunities” List (not including the double-long HGU ETF)) which was heavily weighted (50%) in Gold producers, near-term Gold producers or companies with advanced Gold resources, and Gold explorers (some Silver exposure was mixed in among those categories)…of those 26 companies, 21 are up in value over the last month (21 trading sessions), 4 are down and 1 is unchanged for an overall return of 9.2%…the top 10 performers among those companies (through yesterday) have been:

Walker River Resources (up 40%, WRR, TSX-V)

Gold Standard Resources (up 30.1%, GSV, TSX-V)

Richmont Mines (up 22.9%, RIC, TSX)

OceanaGold (up 19.7%, OGC, TSX)

Cordoba Minerals (up 19.2%, CDB, TSX-V)

Claude Resources (up 18.8%, CRJ, TSX)

GoldQuest Mining (up 18.5%, GQC, TSX-V)

Kaminak Gold (up 15%, KAM, TSX-V)

Detour Gold (up 12.2%, DGC, TSX)

True Gold Mining (up 10.2%, TGM, TSX-V)

Meanwhile, the double-long HGU ETF has jumped 11% over the past month and 29% since our first recommendation in November…

Among the 50 companies, the Producer category (all Gold) is up 11.9%, Near-Term Producers/Advanced Resources category is up 10.8%, the Exploration category has gained 4.2% (led by 2 Lithium companies), while the Non-Resource category has been under-performing with a decline of 8.8%…overall, the gain is 4% vs. declines of 7.5% for the Dow, 6.8% for the TSX and one-half of a percent for the Venture (interestingly, the best of the 3)…again, those numbers are all through trading yesterday…

In today’s Morning Musings, we’ll review a few of the above situations and explain why we remain bullish on the Gold sector during this 1st quarter…on Monday, we’ll review and highlight some of the most exciting Gold exploration/discovery opportunities among Venture juniors, and why British Columbia’s #1 greenfield district is about to become more interesting than ever…

Increasing Global Conflict – Major Theme For 2016

Low commodity prices, with Crude Oil being the biggest concern, could exacerbate tensions and conflict in the Middle East, increase public protest in Latin America, and worsen industrial action in Africa’s resource-rich countries, according to global political risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft in a 2016 outlook report published today…

“Verisk Maplecroft highlights low commodity prices as one of the primary drivers of political risk for investors in major producing countries across Africa and Latin America, while the increasing international threat posed by the Islamic State and rising tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, are flagged among the foremost geopolitical risk multipliers,” the consultancy said…

Verisk Maplecroft added that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei might pursue a more confrontational foreign policy in 2016 in a bid to appease hardline elements in Iran’s theocratic regime…

Huge Oil Company IPO On The Way?

Saudi Arabia is considering (for sometime this year) listing its state-owned Oil producer, Saudi Aramco, The Economist reports, citing the kingdom’s deputy crown prince Muhammad bin Salman…Aramco is the world’s largest Crude Oil producer and if the initial public offer goes through, Saudi Aramco would rank as one of the most highly valued listed companies in the entire world…the listing of the Oil giant, if it occurs, would also help bolster the Saudi government’s finances after the ongoing rout in Oil prices contributed to a record 367 billion Saudi riyals ($98 billion U.S.) budget deficit in 2015…

Photo of the Day

This curious snowy owl looks straight at Transport Quebec’s traffic camera along Highway 40 at Sources Boulevard (Transport Quebec)

In today’s Morning Musings…

1.  TSX Gold Index approaches “decision” time – fascinating long-term chart…

2.  Update on the HGU and two prolific Canadian Gold producers who are showing the “big boys” how to make money…

3.  Another good week for Pure Energy Minerals (PE, TSX-V)

Plus more…to view the rest of today’s Morning Musings, login with your username and password, or click here to gain full access to this and other exclusive BMR content and features…

Gold has traded between $1,092 and $1,110 so far today…as of 10:15 am Pacific, bullion is up $14 an ounce at $1,108 following yesterday’s push through key resistance at $1,080…Silver is 33 cents higher at $14.32…Copper has dropped 6 cents to $2.03…Crude Oil is 12 cents lower at $33.71 while the U.S. Dollar Index is off two-thirds of a point to 98.62…

Not surprisingly, China has had to backtrack on the ridiculous circuit breaker system it introduced for the beginning of this year after trading was halted overnight for the remainder of the day for the second time in 4 sessions to start 2016…Chinese regulators have used the halts and other measures in an attempt to control downward pressure amid volatility…however, the circuit breaker system that was designed had the opposite effect of what authorities had intended (they should have known better) and actually increased investor jitters about the health of the Chinese market (and how authorities there are handling the big-picture economic situation)…this in turn has impacted markets on a global basis…

Effective Monday, a 5% rise or fall on the CSI 300 Index, which tracks stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen, triggered a 15-minute trading halt…a move of 7% at any time, or 5% in the 15 minutes before markets close, stopped trading for the rest of the day (this merely creates uncertainty/panic, and investors don’t like not having liquidity)…the U.S. has circuit breakers but it takes a level “3” decline of 20% to stop trading for the day…after just 4 days of this poorly thought-out new system, Chinese authorities have finally figured out that it wasn’t such a smart idea…unfortunately, it’s like closing the barn door after some horses have already fled but it’s better to fix this problem now than wait any longer…

The resurgence of Chinese stock market turmoil has investors increasingly betting that Federal Reserve officials will lose some of their resolve and delay future interest rate hikes…traders see only a 43% chance that policy makers in Washington will lift the benchmark rate by their April meeting, down from 52% as recently as Tuesday, according to a report this morning from Bloomberg…

The World Bank has cut its forecast for global growth this year given weakness in the developing world…the aid agency said yesterday that it expects the world economy to expand 2.9% in 2016, down from the forecast of 3.3% it made in June…the global economy grew 2.4% in 2015…several big developing economies – including Brazil and China – are slowing or shrinking…their troubles have disproportionately hurt their smaller trading partners, which have also been squeezed by depressed commodity prices…the World Bank expects developing countries to collectively grow 4.8%, up from a 6-year low of 4.3% in 2015…China, the world’s second-biggest economy, is expected to register 6.7% growth, down from 6.9% percent in 2015 and the slowest pace since 1990…meanwhile, the World Bank expects the U.S. economy to grow 2.7% this year, up from 2.5% 2015 and the fastest pace since 2006…it’ll be interesting to see if that forecast holds up…we doubt it…

In today’s Morning Musings…

1.  Updated chart for Gold (the most reliable one on the planet) as bullion rips through resistance at $1,080…

2.  Kaminak Gold (KAM, TSX-V) delivers a robust feasibility study for its Coffee Gold Project…

3.  The opportunity in Kootenay Silver (KTN, TSX-V)…

Plus more…to view the rest of today’s Morning Musings, login with your username and password, or click here to gain full access to this and other exclusive BMR content and features…

Gold has traded between $1,078 and $1,094 so far today…as of 9:20 am Pacific, bullion is up $13 an ounce at $1,090 as it attempts to overcome stiff resistance at $1,080…Silver is flat at $13.96…Copper is down a penny at $2.10…Crude Oil has dropped more than $1.50 barrel to $34.33 while the U.S. Dollar Index is relatively unchanged at 99.38…

Gold is up for a 3rd straight day to begin 2016 as North Korea’s apparent first nuclear test in almost 3 years spurred demand for haven assets amid concerns that China’s slowdown is deepening…this 3-day rally is the longest run of gains since October 14…North Korea claims it has tested its first hydrogen bomb which would be the 4th time it has detonated a nuclear device, a move that reignites tensions with neighbors…

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said today that North Korea’s claim to have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb has increased uncertainty in the markets…he added, however, that he’s unsure of the long-term impact, while concerns about a slowdown in China’s economy are perhaps more significant…

Crude Oil Update

Crude Oil prices have hit their lowest in over 11 years this morning as fresh tensions between arch-rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran make any cooperation between major exporters to cut output even more unlikely…in addition, part of the Saudi Oil strategy since last year has been to weaken the Iranian regime with lower prices…meanwhile, more evidence of slowing economic growth in China and India has fueled fears that even strong demand elsewhere may not be enough to mop up the excess Crude that has resulted from near-record production over the last year…

WTIC 2-Year Weekly Chart

As we’ve been maintaining, Crude Oil still has further to go on the downside and $30 appears to be a certain target (quite possibly lower) with the pending likely breach of another important support level at $35…the long-term downtrend line (dotted blue cutting through the $45 area at the moment) will have to be overcome in order for a major shift in sentiment to occur, and that’s not likely to happen anytime soon with such strong resistance…from a fundamental standpoint, prices have to drop to a level where supply and demand are in balance – ultimately that could take Crude into the $20’s…

In today’s Morning Musings…

1.  Seasonality chart for Gold suggests this current move may have some “legs”…

2.  A very interesting trend change in how the Venture is performing relative to the Canadian dollar…

3.  Chart updates on SCY, NXE, and CXV…

Plus more…to view the rest of today’s Morning Musings, login with your username and password, or click here to gain full access to this and other exclusive BMR content and features…

Gold has traded between $1,075 and $1,083 so far today…as of 10:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $4 an ounce at $1,078 – still fighting resistance at $1,080…Silver is 12 cents higher at $13.97…Copper has rebounded 2 pennies to $2.11…Crude Oil has fallen nearly $1 a barrel to $35.94 while the U.S. Dollar Index has gained another half point to 99.39…

Fund manager Adrian Day says Gold stocks are undervalued and may present a rare buying opportunity. “Relative to bullion, the Gold miners are selling at 70-year lows, while on most valuations metrics – price to ounces in the ground, price to cash flow, and so on – they are selling at 5, 10 and even 20-year lows,” says the President and CEO of Adrian Day Asset Management as reported by Kitco.   “And in terms of price, global Gold miners have made a complete round trip, selling at levels last seen prior to the onset of the bull market in 2001. Given that the price today remains a multiple of what it was then, this is nothing short of astonishing, and offers a once-in-a-decade buying opportunity.”

There have been five times over the last 30 years when the XAU index of major Gold and silver stocks has fallen more than 50%, Day says, adding that and on each occasion it was followed by a rally of at least 100% and sometimes 200% to 300%…

In today’s Morning Musings…

1.  Updated chart for Nemaska Lithium (NMX, TSX-V) as it touches a new 52-week high…

2.  A rising star among intermediate Gold producers with a high-grade deposit on the fast-track to production…

3.  A Saskatchewan-based Gold producer that should shine in 2016 with earnings and price momentum…

Plus more…to view the rest of today’s Morning Musings, login with your username and password, or click here to gain full access to this and other exclusive BMR content and features…

Gold has traded between $1,064 and $1,085 on this first day of 2016 trading…as of 8:30 am Pacific, bullion is up $15 an ounce at $1,076…Silver is off its highs of the day, up just 4 cents at $13.87…Copper has retreated 4 pennies to $2.08…Crude Oil, up earlier in the session, is now off 38 cents a barrel to $36.66 while the U.S. Dollar Index has reversed higher by nearly half a point to 99.14…

What a start to 2016 – nothing like a dust-up between Middle East rivals to give Gold a much-needed kick…we’ll get to the Saudi-Arabia-Iran feud, and the Trudeau government’s embarrassing reaction to it, shortly…

2015 marked the 3rd straight year with net outflows for Gold exchange-traded funds, but this should reverse in 2016, according to Commerzbank…analysts cite data compiled by Bloomberg showing that Gold ETFs were reduced in 2015 by around 133 tonnes, or 8.3%, which weighed heavily on Gold prices, particularly in the 2nd half of the year, the bank says. “We expect investors to return during the course of the year, which should lend support to the price,” Commerzbank says…Silver ETF holdings in 2015 fell by 494 tonnes or 2.6%…

Equity Markets – A Learning Curve For China

The Chinese government’s handling of its stock market (not to mention its economy) is truly bizarre at times…the halt on trading after the Shanghai Composite shed 7% or 243 points overnight was the product of questionable new regulations introduced last month by Chinese authorities that backfired on the very first day they were in effect, removing liquidity and creating a sense of panic that in turn has impacted other markets around the world…the halt was China’s first-ever use of circuit breakers on main exchanges…starting today, a 5% rise or fall on the CSI 300 Index, which tracks stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen, triggers a 15-minute trading halt…a move of 7% at any time, or 5% in the 15 minutes before markets close, stops trading for the rest of the day…the U.S. has circuit breakers but it takes a level “3” decline of 20% to stop trading for the day…

Individual investors in China, who drive more than 80% of trading, may have rushed to sell after the first circuit breaker took effect to avoid getting stuck in positions by the 7% suspension…it took just 7 minutes for the second halt to come into play as shares tumbled after the first suspension ended, according to data compiled by Bloomberg…

The drop in the Shanghai came amid the flare-up between Saudi Arabia and Iran (China is a major player in the Iranian Oil sector), while the Caixin Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) came in weaker than expected, spurring fresh fears over China’s economic growth…the manufacturing PMI fell to 48.2 in December, from 48.6 in November, contracting for a 10th straight month and coming in below a Reuters poll forecast for 49.0…the Caixin PMI is a closely-watched gauge of nationwide manufacturing activity, which focuses on smaller and medium-sized companies, filling a niche that isn’t covered by the official data…

“What we need to see (from China) in 2016 is further easing, more aggressive easing on both monetary and fiscal policy to really provide a substantial boost to lift the economy away from this low growth or contractionary, deflationary state that we’re in,” John Zhu, a greater China economist at HSBC, told CNBC…

Middle East Erupts Over Geopolitics, Power & Influence

Saudi Arabia (Sunni) and Iran (Shiite) have long been at odds, which in part helps explain why the Saudis have been pushing Oil prices down for more than a year, but Saudi Arabia’s execution of Shiite clerc Nimir al-Nimr over the weekend kicked off a new round of sparring between the two countries that could mark a dangerous shift in an already volatile region (the two nations are on opposite sides of conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain and Lebanon – the worst is probably yet to come)…the Saudis have cut diplomatic ties with Iran, the Kingdom’s foreign minister announced yesterday, deciding “enough is enough” with the Islamic Republic…a Saudi source told Reuters, “Again and again Tehran has thumbed their nose at the West.  They continue to sponsor terrorism and launch ballistic missiles and no one is doing anything about it.  The Saudis really don’t care if they anger the White House.”

Saudi authorities carried out the largest mass execution in the country since 1980 on Saturday, putting 47 men to death, including the Shiite clerc al-Nimr…according to the Saudi state news agency, all of the men were convicted on terrorism charges, and most were members of Al Qaeda…the mass execution to begin 2016 follows a 20-year high of 158 executions in 2015…however, that number pales in comparison to the executions carried out by Iran last year, a point that Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion decided to ignore (along with Iran’s violation of the recent nuclear accord, its state-sponsored terrorism, its destabilization of the Middle East, the fact it did not properly protect the Saudi embassy that was attacked by Tehran protesters over the weekend, the list goes on) when he condemned the Saudi executions in a statement issued yesterday…Dion said Canada is calling on the Saudi Arabian government to “protect human rights, respect peaceful expressions of dissent and ensure fairness in judicial proceedings,” adding that he is particularly concerned that the country’s execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr could “further inflame” sectarian tensions in the region…the question is, why is Dion lecturing the Saudis while saying nothing about the average of 4 executions per day being carried out by a despicable Iranian regime, more executions per capita than any other country in the world?…

International human rights groups believe that Iran executed over 1,000 people last year including preachers and activists from the Islamic Republic’s Sunni minority…

“Iran’s staggering execution toll for the first half of this year paints a sinister picture of the machinery of the state carrying out premeditated, judicially-sanctioned killings on a mass scale,” said Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program, in a report issued last summer…Iranian authorities put to death more than 753 people in just the first half of 2015, according to the London-based rights group…it added that Iranian authorities only reveal a certain number of judicial executions, while the real number of those executed far exceeds the official count…

Another Example Of How Alberta Has Lost Its Way

Yet more bizarre comments from Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips in a recent interview with The Canadian Press…is there any wonder why investment and human capital are both beginning to flee this once-thriving province?…

“We are entering a world that is going to be constrained with respect to (carbon),” Phillips declared.  “Alberta must be carbon-competitive with respect to our energy. It is also not something that this government created. It is a fact. Just as the science of climate change is a fact.

“We have a low price of Oil, a scientific consensus on the way the global economy is going. Within that, one must make careful and deliberate decisions on how we move forward. The way to do that is not to engage in angry navel-gazing.”

Can you imagine such utter nonsense ever coming out of the mouth of Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall or, of course, former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein?…

God help Alberta, blessed with incredible Oil resources and now trapped in a downward spiral by an Oil-hating regime run by socialists, yoga instructors and climate change fanatics bowing to the goals and the twisted ideology of the United Nations…it may very well take a Donald Trump or a Ted Cruz to really shake things up and set things straight, not only in the U.S. but in parts of Canada and elsewhere around this messed-up world…

In today’s Morning Musings…

1.  Gold stocks act on cue and begin 2016 on a strong note…

2.  A high-quality emerging Nickel producer on sale under 20 cents…

3.  A look at a company aiming to become the first primary producer of Scandium…

4.  Strong prospects in 2016 for a company aggressively marketing B.C. Nephrite Jade…

Plus more…to view the rest of today’s Morning Musings, login with your username and password, or click here to gain full access to this and other exclusive BMR content and features…