Visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.
1. Gold has traded between $1,273 and $1,282 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the metal has climbed $3 an ounce to $1,277…Silver is up slightly at $17.15…Copper has added a penny to $3.14 while Nickel is up another 3 cents to $5.71…Crude Oil is flat at $54.29 while the U.S. Dollar Index is also relatively unchanged at 94.73…the Bank of England raised interest rates for the first time in more than 10 years today and said it expects only “very gradual” further increases will be needed over the next 3 years…CME Group reports a big year-on-year jump in metals trading volume during October with an average of 565,000 contracts trading daily, up 46% from October of last year…Copper futures and options achieved 54% year-on-year growth to an average of 110,000 contracts per day…also, Copper options hit an open-interest record of 16,400 contracts on October 25…
2. Nickel is pushing higher again this morning after recording its biggest 2-day jump in more than 3 years…stainless steel raw material Nickel surged by more than $1,100 a tonne over Tuesday and Wednesday on expectations that demand would be boosted by a rise in electric car buying…manufacturers are increasingly trying to boost usage of Nickel in electric vehicle batteries in preference to expensive, hard-to-source Cobalt, though Cobalt’s strategic importance is not expected to diminish anytime soon…Cobalt prices are holding steady near decade highs at $27.44…
3. The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that the White House has notified Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell that President Trump intends to nominate him as the next chairman of the central bank, a move meant to combine continuity on interest rate policy with perhaps a lighter touch on financial regulation…if confirmed by the Senate, and no roadblocks are expected there, Powell would succeed Janet Yellen, the central bank’s first female leader whose 4-year term as Fed chief expires in early February…in his 5 years at the Fed, Powell has been a reliable ally of Yellen and would likely continue the Fed’s current cautious approach to reversing the central bank’s crisis-era stimulus policies as the economy expands…
4. The biggest transformation of the U.S. tax code since the Reagan era, if Republicans can push it through Congress, should prove to be a catalyst to reignite the U.S. economy and keep equity markets buoyant, though it’s also likely to at least temporarily increase federal deficits…according to the Wall Street Journal, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, set to be released today, would permanently chop the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%, compress the number of individual income tax brackets, and repeal the taxes paid by large estates starting in 2024…the bill collapses the current 7 individual tax brackets into 4 and is expected to reduce taxes significantly for most Americans…
5. Kirkland Lake Gold (KL, TSX), our favorite Gold producer, is up sharply on Q3 financial results this morning with the company reporting net earnings of $43.8 million (U.S.) or 21 cents per share vs. $18.9 million (U.S.) or 16 cents per share in Q3 2016…operating cash costs and AISC per ounce sold were $482 (U.S.) and $845 (U.S.) in Q3 2017 versus $540 (U.S.) and $970 (U.S.) in Q3 2016…production of 139,091 ounces in Q3 2017 brings the year-to-date total to 429,822 ounces, representing increases of 80% and 107% from comparable 2016 levels…Reserves more than doubled at Fosterville in Australia to 1.03 million ounces with an 83% increase in average Reserve grade to 17.9 g/t Au…improved full-year 2017 company guidance now targets consolidated production of 580,000 to 595,000 ounces as well as operating cash costs and AISC per ounce sold of $475 to $500 (U.S.) and $800 to $825 (U.S.), respectively…the company has also doubled its quarterly dividend to 2 cents per share CDN…
6. The Dow is off just 4 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…in Toronto, the TSX has added 5 points to 16,034 while the Venture is up another 3 points to 793…LeoNovus (LTV, TSX-V) has upsized its bought deal financing to $12 million at 50 cents per unit…Fintech Select (FTEC, TSX-V) is breaking out above its 50 and 100-day moving averages (SMA’s) on robust volume in early trading, adding 3 pennies to 24 cents…Hive Blockchain Technologies (HIVE, TSX-V), up strongly for the 5th straight session, has topped the $5 level for the first time…Wolfden Resources (WLF, TSX-V), which in early September announced a deal to acquire the historic high-grade Pickett Mountain VMS deposit, has hit a new multi-year high of 35 cents in early trading…Tinka Resources seems to be benefiting from its listing on the Lima Stock Exchange with the stock up another 7 cents in early trading to 72 cents…Alamos Gold (AGI, TSX, NYSE) has reported its strongest quarterly results since the merger with AuRico Gold in July 2015 with net earnings of $28.8 million or 10 cents per share in Q3…
7. Nemaska Lithium (NMX, TSX), retracing modestly after hitting a new 52-week high this week, announced this morning that it has produced an inventory of Lithium sulfate from spodumene concentrate coming from the Whabouchi mine in Quebec…the processing of this Lithium sulfate into battery grade Lithium hydroxide commenced last week at the Phase 1 Plant and the first tonne of this Lithium hydroxide is expected to be shipped to a customer this month…this milestone will mark the beginning of the qualification of Nemaska Lithium as a new supplier of Lithium salts for the Lithium ion battery market…
The Template For The Next 10% Move In Garibaldi Resources
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!
Northern Ontario Cobalt Junior Attracts Interest From Metal Trading Companies
The Most Important Venture Development Since The New Bull Market Began
