Gold has traded between $1,264 and $1,275 so far today…as of 10:30 am Pacific, bullion is down $2 an ounce at $1,267…Silver has slid 13 cents to $17.52…Copper is off a penny to $2.10…Crude Oil has retreated $1.10 a barrel to $50.50 after hitting a 15-month high while the U.S. Dollar Index has jumped one-third of a point to 98.20…
Industry officials say that India’s overseas purchases of Gold likely hit a 9-month high in October as a flip in domestic prices to a premium prompted banks and refiners to resume imports ahead of the festival season…
Meanwhile, Swiss Gold exports to China hit their highest since January last month, Swiss customs data showed today, though a sharp drop in shipments to Hong Kong meant exports to the two combined were sharply lower than a year earlier. “Significantly more Gold was shipped directly to China,” Commerzbank said in a note. “What is more, Swiss Gold exports to India climbed to their highest level since January, which points to demand recovering there.”
As expected, the European Central Bank left interest ranges unchanged today and maintained the parameters of its 1.74 trillion euro ($1.95 trillion) asset buying scheme…despite question after question from reporters in a Q&A session following the announcement, ECB President Mario Draghi continued to affirm there had been “no discussion” regarding the question of when the bank’s bond-buying program would be extended or even wound down (it was set up to continue to March 2017)…
BHP Billiton Talks About “Gender” Targets
BHP Billiton (BHP, NYSE) wants women to account for half of its workforce by 2025 as the world’s top miner seeks to change the gender balance in an industry dominated by men…
The company isn’t “as inclusive or diverse as we could be,” CEO Andrew Mackenzie said in a statement today…BHP has a workforce of about 65,000, including contractors, of which 18% are female…based on these numbers, its target would mean an additional 21,000 women employed by the middle of the next decade including both its own staff and contractors, according to Bloomberg calculations…
Debates Over, Election Less Than 3 Weeks Away
Chris Wallace of Fox News put in a star performance as last night’s debate moderator, keeping Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump focused on the substantive issues of the November 8th election, though it boggles the mind that the very last question of the 3 debates was on the U.S. national debt…few people seem to care anymore if governments rack up debt (rising interest rates over time would change the national conversation dramatically), and we also have great examples of that in Canada…
Trump, the consummate anti-politician, generally handled himself well against the tightly scripted and very polished Hillary Clinton last night but nonetheless failed to expand his base…strangely, he also opened a can of worms and gave the mainstream media the headline for the evening when he refused to commit to accepting the outcome of the election – then he actually doubled down on that mistake morning…a win for Clinton is now clearly predicted by the polls and her many allies in the media, and it’s hard to imagine even what the unpredictable Trump can do to alter the dynamics over the next 19 days…elections are like stocks and commodities, and Trump’s momentum has eroded since the first debate when he had his best chance to make a powerful impression with the voters…
If Clinton wins big, which seems increasingly likely, it’s possible she may also take the Senate and the House with her – a scenario that would likely be very Gold-bullish as it was when Obama completed a sweep in 2008 (and Jimmy Carter previously in 1976)…
In the midst of a disgusting campaign, pulled into the gutter by much of the liberal media aiming to distract the voters from the real issues facing America, it’s time for a lighthearted moment (and perhaps a Scotties’ tissue)…
Below is a billboard ad we saw yesterday in Vancouver…
Gold Short-Term Chart
For momentum purposes, the first key area Gold needs to push into is the $1,270’s which would put the metal above both Fib. resistance ($1,268) and its 200-day moving average (SMA) at $1,265…RSI(14) has emerged out of oversold conditions after strong support held at $1,242…
It’s obvious that physical buying has picked up to support prices, and it seems to us that the physical market would prevent Gold from dropping below $1,200 should that key level be tested…there’s also no evidence in the Venture’s behavior that Gold is in any danger of falling through the $1,200 floor, let alone the low $1,240’s support…
That makes this an attractive time to be “picking away” at high quality beaten-down Gold and Silver stocks…
In Today’s Morning Musings…
1. The ebb and flow of BLO…
2. Three opportunities under a nickel – plant the seeds!…
3. The coming Cobalt rush…
Plus more…click here to read the rest of today’s Morning Musings and all BMR exclusive content, through a risk-free Pro, Gold or Basic package, or login with your username and password…
