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The Venture’s early 2018 pattern suggests something dramatic is on the way…
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1.Gold has traded between $1,321 and $1,329 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is down $2 an ounce at $1,323…Silver is flat at $16.25…base metals have strengthened…Copper has added 5 cents to $3.05…Nickel has jumped 11 cents to $6.02 while Zinc has added 2 pennies to $1.51…Cobalt is steady at $42.75…Crude Oil is up 15 cents at 61.53…this week marked the launch of the Shanghai Crude Oil futures contract which has lost about 10% since it first opened on Monday…however, it’s the first onshore Chinese commodity contract that allows direct trading by foreign investors and is denominated in RMB (yuan), indirectly promoting the use of the Chinese currency…the U.S. Dollar Index is off one-tenth of a point at 89.97…
2.Barrick Gold’s (ABX, TSX) visionary founder Peter Munk passed away yesterday at the age of 90…Munk, whose amazing career in the resource sector began humbly with a small underground mine in Ontario, racked up an impressive series of accomplishments in everything from custom stereos to tropical resorts but he’ll always be most known for Barrick Gold which he founded in 1983…Barrick’s biggest break came in 1986 when Munk bought an under-performing mine in Nevada called Goldstrike, which was then producing 40,000 ounces of Gold a year…before long, the mine was producing more than 2 million ounces a year and remains one of the company’s core mines…by 2006Barrick would establish itself as the world’s biggest Gold producers after gobbling up Placer Dome for $10.4 billion (U.S.)…
3. The S&P 500 is headed for its first quarterly loss since 2015 after investor worries about rising rates, trade tensions and the health of the technology sector ended an extended period of calm…entering the final trading session of March, the S&P 500 is currently down 2.6% for the first 3 months of the year which means a 9-quarter winning streak is likely about to be snapped…meanwhile, Q1 earnings per share for the S&P 500 are projected to rise 16.6%, according to CFRA Research, and 2018 earnings estimates for the tech sector, a current focus of market worry, have continued to move higher in the past month, according to FactSet…the S&P 500 now trades at 16.3 times forward earnings, cheaper than where it started the year…elsewhere in the equity markets for Q1, the Dow is off 4%, the TSX has slid 6.4% while the Venture has retreated 7.9%…overseas, Stoxx Europe 600 is on track to end 4.8% lower, Japan’s Nikkei has fallen 7.1% while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 is off 8.2%…
4. In its continued bid to bring innovation to the precious metals sector, one of the world’s biggest Gold miners has embraced a new blockchain-based digital exchange…Goldcorp (G, TSX; GG, NYSE) announced today that it has placed 3,000 ounces of Gold, valued at $4 million, in Tradewind Inc.’s newly launched digital market, VaultChain…Tradewind described the investment as the “genesis block”, the first block in a blockchain, representing a tremendous milestone for the technology and the sector. “Goldcorp will be able to sell Gold directly to dealers and banks using the Tradewind platform, expanding access to a new market structure and a highly efficient, electronic pricing and liquidity venue,” the company said in a news release…David Garofola, President and CEO of Goldcorp, stated: “We are excited to be an investor in Tradewind and participate in the launch of VaultChain, a cutting-edge technology that integrates physical Gold into a blockchain. We believe physical Gold stored on a blockchain will increase the utility of the commodity and, ultimately, drive value in the price of Gold. We are thrilled to be an early adopter of this 21st century platform and deposit its first bar of Gold.” Garofalo added that blockchain technology and the new VaultChain exchange has the potential to revolutionize the Gold market in the same way exchange-traded products did more than 10 years ago…
5. Alberta Opposition Leader Jason Kenney has lashed out at Premier Notley, Prime Minister Trudeau and pipeline protestors: “This thing’s not over,” warned Kenney, despite a recent pro-pipeline court ruling. “I wish the premier would stop doing a victory lap every time there’s a small tactical win. She reminds me of George Bush standing on the aircraft carrier with the Mission Accomplished sign behind him. The enemies of progress, the radical environmentalists, are ramping up for a war in the woods. What they’re doing at the Kinder Morgan site in Burnaby is what they plan to do along the entire pipeline route. Where’s the strategy to deal with a war in the woods scenario? Where is the Prime Minister’s leadership, the guarantee the rule of law will be enforced? These radicals, they’re injuring police officers, they’ve got members of Parliament being arrested. This is before an inch of pipeline is in the ground.” (source: Calgary Sun).Trudeau, by the way, is in Vancouver next week for a $1,000-a-plate dinner…will he stand up for the pipeline or remain silent?????…meanwhile, B.C. Premier John Horgan is quietly encouraging protestors. “What I do know is that there is a crisis in British Columbia right now with respect to the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. This is not a threat by me. This is self-evident by the number of people who are collecting on Burnaby Mountain every day to express their disappointment over the federal government’s decision to proceed.” (source: Globe and Mail)…
6.The Dow is up 105 points as of 7:00 am Pacific…we’ll see if it can snap out of a recent pattern of starting the trading session strong, only to experience a sell-off in the final hour or two…in Toronto, the TSX has climbed 83 points while the Venture has rebounded 6 points to 791 after its first close below 800 since early December…the current board of directors of Colorado Resources (CXO, TSX-V) is panicking and grasping at straws ahead of a proxy vote next month that gives shareholders an opportunity to DRAIN THE SWAMP…newly-appointed President and CEO Robert Shaw stated in a news release yesterday, “Following the termination of the Damara transaction, the company under my leadership is contemplating expanding and significantly improving its property portfolio in northwestern British Columbia. The Damara deal is a missed opportunity and is no longer being considered.” The Damara deal was a missed opportunity for Larry Nagy’s Damara, not Colorado, and yesterday’s news from Shaw, Nagy & Company further supported the case for shareholders to vote the YELLOW proxy for Adam Travis with the comment that the current board is “contemplating expanding and significantly improving its property portfolio in northwest B.C.”…CXO already has a massive property package with exceptional potential that it must focus on and do better with…
7. Tesla shares are on pace for their worst-ever monthly performance as the electric car company faces a spate of recent issues…Tesla stock is down 24.9% in March, the worst month for the stock since the company went public in 2010 and the worst quarter since Q4 in 2014…recent declines have come on the back of a federal investigation into a fatal car crash involving a Tesla vehicle in California earlier this month…in response, Tesla has said it was assisting with investigations, although it has also defended its Autopilot technology…Moody’s recent downgrade of its corporate family rating on Tesla has also weighed on the stock…the agency downgraded the company’s credit ratings Tuesday and changed its outlook to negative from stable, citing “significant shortfall” in the Model 3 production rate and a tight financial situation…those concerns were echoed by Morgan Stanley which highlighted in a recent note that the company had to accelerate its Model 3 production if it wanted to raise funds at an attractive price…Telsa shares closed down nearly 8% yesterday, some 30% off a record high touched in September last year…
(Exclusive to BMR Subscribers – Not for Distribution or Posting on any Board!)
Venture Slips On An Oil Slick!
Whoa, what’s with the Venture dropping 32 points or 4% in just 2 days, leading to an unusual March on top of a freaky February?
Spring has sprung in most of Canada, but it certainly hasn’t been a pretty couple of days for the Venture which closed below 800 yesterday for the first time since early December.
Before we get into one reason WHY this is happening, let’s take a look at the Venture short-term chart for a look at the current behavior of the Index from a technical perspective.
There’s reason to believe that some immediate/near-term relief is on the way as RSI(2) and RSI(14) on the daily chart have hit low extremes not seen since the 2017 bottom in July when the Index landed at 748.84.
Nearest support is 780 which the Venture came within just 2 points of yesterday before finishing at 784.
For weeks we’ve been pointing out key resistance in the low 830’s. A market will take the path of least resistance, so after not being able to push through the 830’s the Index decided to test important support instead.
The EMA(8) and EMA(20) are the critical short-term moving averages – they are at 811 and 822, respectively, and in decline. Both EMAs need to be conquered and both must reverse to the upside for confirmation of the start of a fresh uptrend.
Canadian Resource Sector Hindered By A Negative Political Backdrop
One significant factor that’s impacting Canadian markets, especially resource stocks, is political in nature: It’s not a partisan comment to say that incompetent left-leaning governments at the provincial and federal levels (Trudeau, Wynne, Notley, Horgan-Weaver) have implemented policies and taken positions that are hurting the resource sector, in particular the Oil and gas industry, and the general economy as a whole. Canada is now trailing the United States, for example, in almost every economic category and the gap is widening (but we’ll “save the planet”, right?).
One recent bank report indicated the Canadian economy is losing $50million a day ($16 billion a year) due to a lack of pipeline capacity. Politicians possessed by gender and “climate change” ideologies (imagine, putting a resource project to a “gender” test!) are destroying investment and jobs right across the country while also putting Canada at a competitive disadvantage vs. our largest trading partner.
Justin Trudeau has brought in a National Energy Program that’s just as bad as the one his father introduced more than 3 decades ago, while an ill-conceived federal revamping of the resource project approval process has added new regulatory hurdles for companies. In B.C., the Green Monster is doing everything it can to block the critical Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion while one half of the two-headed Green Monster (Andrew “Wacky” Weaver) has actually come out against the largest proposed investment ($40 billion) for an industrial project in the province’s history – an LNG facility in the northwest part of the province that would generate 10,000 jobs. What sane politician would oppose such a project? Wacky Weaver’s reason is that it would produce 8 to 10 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and the NDP has no “climate plan” to address that. He’s prepared to defeat the NDP on the issue later this year if it doesn’t produce a satisfactory “climate plan” (hopefully he will and B.C. can rid itself of this cancerous Green-NDP coalition).
For the first time ever, extremist David Suzuki put his support behind a political party – the Greens in B.C. led by Andrew “Wacky” Weaver.
Now the Good News – change is in the air as an election in Ontario in just over 2 months (June 7) is expected to finally put the horrendous Kathleen Wynne government out of its misery and usher in a new period of fiscal sanity and pro-business, pro-resource sector policies. That change, led by populist conservative Doug Ford, should dramatically alter the national discourse and encourage investors in the process.
Individual Stock Updates
Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V)
If there’s one company exploring in Canada with an opportunity to breathe new life into the entire junior resource market with the discovery of a generation, it’s Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) which will soon be taking aim at a bull’s eye massive sulphide target within the HC-1 conductor on a significant step-out from EL-17–14 – a world class 40.4-m intersection.
It’s not just the impressive geophysical signatures that are pointing to massive sulphides in ALL directions from the Discovery zone that was confirmed through drilling late last year, but Dr. Peter Lightfoot has collected an overwhelming amount of geological evidence that supports the case for a robust Nickel-Copper-rich system and a new mine in the heart of a prolific high-grade Gold and Copper-Gold porphyry Camp.
One of our favorite clips from Jon’s recent interview with Dr. Lightfoot is the one below when Jon quizzed him about the immediate area to the NORTH and why it wasn’t drilled last year (if this isn’t the definition of “blue sky”, what is?):
The HC-2 conductor, meanwhile, is a pleasant surprise and could lead to exciting new possibilities southwest of last year’s drilling. Based on news late last year, we already know that at least 2 km of prospective ground exists to the east-southeast of the Discovery zone while a northeast trend of geophysical anomalies and surface mineralization continues for a minimum of 6 km.
Hang on to every GGI you’ve got because we expect crews will be mobilizing in April for a dramatic restart to drilling that could quickly carry the stock back to last year’s highs.
Pascal Biosciences Inc. (PAS, TSX-V)
A non-resource stock that’s ideally positioned to zoom to the upside is Pascal Biosciences (PAS, TSX-V) which we’ve been recommending as an astute buy anywhere in the 40’s.
With Pascal at current levels (it closed unchanged yesterday at 42 cents), investors have tremendous leverage and limited downside based on the following:
The story is highly compelling – Pascal is the first company to identify a mechanism in which cannabinoids may provide a direct benefit in immunotherapy
The $5.2 million financing at 40 cents is a game-changer for the company in terms of advancing its business plan and driving news flow
The full warrant at 60 cents is good for just 12 months and could easily pad the company’s coffers by an additional $8 million
The 40-cent financing provides additional price support within an already exceptional band of technical support between 44 cents and 35 cents
Technical set-up is very bullish (primary uptrend) including reversals to the upside in the 200, 300, 500 and 1,000-day EMA’s
Given the above, potential downside from current levels (closed at 47 cents Friday) is extremely limited
Blue sky upside
Liquidity and interest in the stock is outstanding
Current market cap is only $21 million (only 50 million shares outstanding following the $5.2 million raise)
Very capable management team
PAS 6-Year Monthly Chart
You’ll see few charts on the Venture that are as encouraging as this one.
PAS broke out forcefully above a downsloping channel last month on record volume with 35 cents being the critical breakout point, coinciding with new Fib. support and the current EMA(50).
Our analysis is that this stock is going to enjoy an explosive 2018 with next measured Fib. resistance in the $1.20’s – accumulate and hold!
Canada Cobalt Works Inc. (CCW, TSX-V)
No company – we repeat, no company – in the northern Ontario Cobalt Camp is better positioned to produce a Cobalt resource and get product to market than Canada Cobalt (CCW, TSX-V) given its underground access at the Castle mine. President and CEO Frank Basa just needs to hurry up the process to commence underground drilling – Jon just had a meeting with him and we’re confident he’ll execute on that plan.
Last year, CCW ran from pennies to a high of 30 cents before losing half its value and briefly trading in the mid-teens where it was an incredible buy. It then more than tripled in just over 2 months to a January high of 55 cents before starting another correction, similar in percentage terms to the one last year.
Note the following in John’s fresh CCW chart:
RSI(2) is at a low extreme, barely above zero
Price is at the bottom of a downlsoping channel
Strong support zone in the high 20’s
From a fundamental standpoint, CCW remains well below where it should be in relation to its peers. Basa does have to move his feet a little faster – that’s what the market is saying and we believe he understands that message.
iMetal Resources Inc. (IMR, TSX-V)
There will come a point when Gold will suddenly explode to $1,400+ and discovery plays like iMetal Resources (IMR, TSX-V) will rise by orders of magnitude.
The election of Doug Ford, a strong proponent of northern Ontario’s resource sector, is also expected to positively impact companies in that region.
And here’s something else – iMetal Resources has the full support of both First Nations groups in its area (the Gowganda West Project).
The above, combined with an exciting grassroots discovery of high-grade Gold over a broad area of outcrop on a property contiguous to a 4-million ounce Gold deposit, gives us great encouragement that IMR can turn into a multi-bagger win for investors in 2018.
Technically, IMR has dropped on low volume toward tremendous new support at the top of the bullish ascending triangle that formed over a 2-year period.
GT Gold Corp. (GTT, TSX-V)
GT Gold (GTT, TSX-V) bucked the trend and was up sharply yesterday, closing with a 7-point gain at 64 cents. Subscribers should be accumulating on any weakness with an eye toward holding for the next 4 to 6 months for a minimum move to measured Fib. resistance in the $1.20’s.
Just over a week ago the company announced the closing of a $6.5 million private placement above the market at 72 cents per share (no warrants). That’s certainly a vote of confidence in the company’s Tatogga Property in northwest B.C. where an exciting high-grade Gold discovery was made early last summer, propelling the stock to a high of $2.76 where we advised locking in profits.
The company’s cash position is now $9.5 million, meaning this summer’s planned program is now fully funded.
Technically, it’s safe to assume the stock bottomed out in the mid-40’s last month. Accumulate on any weakness. Next major resistance is 89 cents followed by $1.20’s.
It’s worth reviewing our piece on GT Gold during PDAC…
Why Are These People Smiling – Their Stock Has Tanked 80%!
Below is a picture of the GT Gold (GTT, TSX-V) crew at the PDAC “Core Shack” this afternoon.
Charlie Greig, one of our favorite geologists, is the second from the right in this picture, holding some highly mineralized drill core in each hand from the company’s Tatogga Property (Saddle South Discovery) in northwest B.C. near Iskut.
After surging as high as $2.76 last summer (BMR gave a sell recommendation at Fib. resistance at $2.65 after our original buy alert below 40 cents during the first half of the year), GT Gold has fallen 80% to just 55 cents (today’s close).
Ouch…but these folks are all smiles!
Charlie’s no market wizard (virtually no geologists are) but he does understand how to find Gold, and he has found lots of it at Saddle South – a high-grade epithermal Gold-Silver vein system that was never drilled until last year. GT Gold completed 28 RC holes last summer and 58 diamond drill holes for 16,000 m. Abundant juicy intercepts along 1,000 m of east-west strike to >500 m down-dip from surface were highlighted by 51.5 g/t Au over 6.95 m in hole #7.
Meanwhile, a potential Red Chris-style porphyry system has been drilled into at Saddle North.
GT Gold is fully financed for this year’s work (about 85 million shares outstanding after the 84-cent flow-through PP closes) and Charlie told Jon this afternoon that the company expects to drill as much as 30,000 m in 2018, starting in June.
So this is why Charlie & Co. are smiling – they know they’re onto something big and they’re confident about where things are headed once the drills start turning again.
We bring GT Gold to your attention tonight, not because you should buy it tomorrow morning but you should put it on your “watch list” as a strong candidate for at least a double or even a triple from the spring lows to this summer’s high.
Note: John, Jon and Dan hold share positions in GGI and CCW. John and Jon hold share positions in IMR. Jon also holds share positions in GTT and PAS.
Check back later today for Daniel’s Den and visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.
1.Gold has traded between $1,331 and $1,346 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is down $13 an ounce at $1,331…Silver has slipped 18 cents to $16.32…the Gold-Silver ratio, currently 81.5, has only traded above 80 four times during the past 20 years…in early 2016 it reached 83.8 due to worries about a Chinese economic slowdown…during the financial crisis in 2008 it climbed as high as 84.5…Copper is flat at $2.99…strikes that boosted the red metal last year haven’t materialized so far this year, but supply disruptions and stronger economic data are factors that could push Copper significantly higher later in the year…Nickel is up 5 cents at $5.91…Zinc is unchanged at $1.49…Cobalt is steady at $42.75…Crude Oil has retreated 57 cents to $64.58 while the U.S. Dollar Index has rallied more than one-tenth of a point to 89.46…on the international front, China said today that it won a pledge from North Korean leader Jim Jong Un to denuclearize the Korean peninsula during a meeting with President Xi Jinping, who pledged in return that China would uphold its friendship with its isolated neighbor…the trip to China was Little Rocket Man’s first known journey abroad since he assumed power in 2011 and served as preparation for upcoming summits with South Korea and President Trump…the President’s unorthodox style seems to have worked with North Korea, much to the astonishment of the liberal mainstream media…
2. The third and final reading of 4th quarter U.S. GDP released this morning exceeded expectations and was buoyed by the biggest gain in consumer spending in 3 years…the American economy expanded by 2.9%, up from the previous estimate of 2.5%…consensus forecasts were calling for growth of 2.7%…for the year, the U.S. economy grew 2.3% in 2017, up from 1.5% growth during the the last year of the Obama administration…
3. Saudi Arabia and Russia are working on an historic long-term pact that could extend controls over world Crude supplies by major exporters for many years to come…Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Reuters that Riyadh and Moscow were considering a longer deal to extend a short-term alliance on Oil curbs that began in January 2017 after a crash in Crude prices. “We are working to shift from a year-to-year agreement to a 10–20 year agreement…we have agreement on the big picture, but not yet on the detail,” the crown prince told Reuters…news of the potential Oil alliance comes at a time when Riyadh and Moscow have worked to cement an economic relationship despite being at odds over the conflict in Syria, where they back opposing sides…the crown prince predicts that world Oil demand will not peak until 2040, despite advances in renewable energy technologies and the electric vehicle…
4. One would think that the radical local and provincial politicians in B.C. who are trying to stop the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion through expensive court challenges would have gotten the message by now, but apparently not…since 2014, the courts have ruled in Trans Mountain’s favor 14 out of 14 times in cases challenging the regulatory review process or decisions related to the project (more decisions are pending)…the latest victory came Friday, but yesterday the City of Burnaby announced that it’s now turning to Canada’s highest court in yet another effort to block the project (another waste of time and money, only the lawyers will benefit at taxpayers’ expense)…Mayor Derek Corrigan says the city plans to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to consider a lower court decision that denied Burnaby leave to appeal a ruling by the National Energy Board…that ruling allowed KinderMorgan to bypass local bylaws during construction of the pipeline expansion (inter-provincial pipelines fall under federal jurisdiction)…Corrigan says the city has asked its legal counsel to file the appeal application within 60 days…he says the Federal Court of Appeal did not consider arguments made by Burnaby and the provincial government. “The court system should be the body that decides whether or not this is fair and just, but they dismissed our application without reasons, ” Corrigan complained. “Very clearly, it’s something the court should have dealt with and given reasons why it’s not allowing the provincial government to exert its authority to protect the environmental interests of B.C. I think the National Energy Board has shown itself to be an agent of the Oil industry. I think most people across Canada who have been in opposition to the pipeline feel the process hasn’t been fair and that it is in the direction of the Oil companies.”
5. Jurisdictional risk reared its ugly head again this morning…GoldQuest Mining (GQC, TSX-V), which has been operating for a long time in the Dominican Republic, has been advised that the Penal Chamber of the First Instance Court of the Judicial District of San Juan de la Maguana has reached a decision in response to a constitutional injunction remedy filed by a group of individuals in the Dominican Republic against the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, GoldQuest Dominicana SRL…in a news release this morning, GoldQuest said the only information the company has at this time regarding the decision is a verbal summary of the decision that was delivered by a court clerk…the summary included a requirement that GoldQuest suspend its activities at its Romero Project until certain certificates and licenses are issued in favor of the company…the written decision of the court, including the reasons for the decision, has not yet been issued and is expected in approximately 1 week…GoldQuest says the summary of the decision is unclear in a number of respects, and the company is seeking to clarify the decision with the court…GQC is off 5.5 cents at 23.5 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…
6.The Dow is up 111 points as of 7:00 am Pacific but it was up early yesterday before closing down 344 points in another volatile session… Cisco and Intel are the only Dow stocks that have climbed in value since the index hit an all-time high January 26...Goldman Sachs has slashed its Apple iPhone sales estimates for the first 2 quarters of the year…“iPhone demand expectations for March and June are already weak but we believe that early CQ1(calendar 1st quarter) demand indications suggest even lower actual numbers than consensus is modeling,”the firm said in a note late yesterday…in Toronto, the TSX is down 9 points while the Venture has slipped another 11 points to 792…the RSI(2) reading on the Venture daily chart is at its most oversold level since the summer of last year…IAMGOLD (IMG, TSX) has released an initial resource estimate for the Monster Lake Gold Project in Quebec showing 1,109,700 tonnes of Inferred resources averaging 12.1 g/t Au, resulting in 433,000 ounces of Gold…IAMGOLD has a 50% interest, while TomaGold (LOT, TSX-V) has 45% and QuintoResources (QIT, TSX-V) has 5%…LOT is up a penny-and-a-half to 7.5 cents on heavy trading as of 7:00 am Pacific…
7.Cannex Capital Holdings (CNNX, CSE), a new issue on the CSE that made its debut March 14 and quickly ran as high as $1.93, announced this morning that its wholly-owned American subsidiary has developed and commercially launched a new edibles brand, Hi-Burst, to strong initial reviews and excellent retail demand…the new Hi-Burst brand is an infused fruit chew offered in a wide variety of flavors…the Hi-Burst recipe and brand has been licensed exclusively to its subsidiary’s long-term strategic tenant, Northwest Cannabis Solutions, which is the leading manufacturer of edibles and other derivative products in the Washington state…the retail market for edibles in that state is roughly $180 million (U.S.), and has continued to grow since the Washington recreational market came on-line in 2014…as of 2016, edible sales made up 10% of the United States’ recreational cannabis market, increasing to 13% in April 2017, according to BD Analytics…in the last year, sales of edibles in Washington increased by 121%…candy makes up the largest portion of the Washington edibles market with $10.8 million (U.S.) in sales in 2017, up 28% from the previous year…for users, edibles provide a discreet, accurately measured dose without requiring smoke or vaporization…
Visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.
1.Gold rallied to its highest level in 5 weeks yesterday but has backed off on profit taking today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is down $11 an ounce at $1,342…holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest Gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.38% to 847.30 tonnes yesterday from 850.54 tonnes on Friday…Silver has slipped 15 cents to $16.52…the record net short positioning and possible short-covering activity in Silver could make the metal a particularly strong performer during the next leg up in precious metals, according to TD Securities…base metals are up slightly…Copper and Nickel are each up 2 cents at $2.99 and $5.87, respectively, while Zinc has added a penny at $1.49…Cobalt has eased off 34 cents to $42.75…Crude Oil is down 14 cents at $65.41 while the U.S. Dollar Index is flat at 89.05…
2. U.S. consumer confidence declined moderately in March, slightly missing expectations, after reaching an 18-year high in February according to data released this morning by the Conference Board. “Consumers’ assessment of current conditions declined slightly, with business conditions the primary reason for the moderation. Consumers’ short-term expectations also declined, including their outlook for the stock market, but overall expectations remain quite favorable. Despite the modest retreat in confidence, index levels remain historically high and suggest further strong growth in the months ahead,” the Conference Board stated…
3. Crude Oil has climbed by more than 7% so far this month and by 5.3% in the first 3 months of the year, putting it on track for a 3rd consecutive quarterly gain, something the market has not witnessed since late 2010…strength in WTI and Brent is due to 3 factors: 1) A stable OPEC output level thanks to impressive compliance with an Oil supply-cutting deal; 2) Supply-side geopolitical developments in Venezuela, Libya and Iran, the most acute of which is Iran; and 3) Bullish chart dynamics…all of this is helping to offset a continued rise in U.S. Crude production which has grown by nearly 25% in under 2 years to above 10 million barrels per day…it’s important to note that Canada is lagging behind its competitors in the Oil sector as Western Canadian select prices are badly trailing WTIC and are in fact down sharply this year because of a lack of pipeline capacity, a serious problem that is costing the national economy at least $50 million a day…politicians don’t seem to care, however, as the international perception of Canada as an Oil leader erodes…even Canadian institutions are now skeptical about investing in the Oil and gas sector in Canada, thanks to the lack of export pipeline space, Canada’s failure to match U.S. reductions in corporate taxes, higher personal taxes north of the border, and numerous reviews and changes to regulatory systems that create uncertainty…ENOUGH IS ENOUGH…concerned Canadians can make a difference, and can start to take their country back, beginning with phone calls and letters of complaint to their local MP’s…
4. The fact that Wacky Weaver’s Green Party in British Columbia opposes the development of a robust LNG industry in the province (in addition, of course, to the critically needed expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline) defies all logic…more evidence of that today as the Financial Post’s Claudia Cattaneo wrote this morning that a new report has found that First Nations in B.C. support the establishment of a liquefied natural gas sector, further discrediting the green movement’s false narrative that Canada’s Indigenous communities are opposed to fossil fuel projects…according to a joint report co-authored by the B.C. government and the First Nations LNG Alliance, the nascent sector enjoys such high Indigenous support that many are in fact upset that projects haven’t been built yet. “There have been many positive impacts to First Nations communities related to LNG development, prior to any construction,” according to the report, made public yesterday. “Much capacity has been created due to these projects. However, expectations have also been raised. Now, First Nations leaders are trying to deal with their constituents’ frustration because of the delays or cancellation of these projects.” If Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is the most dangerous woman in Canada, as best-selling Canadian author Jordan Peterson rightly claims, then Andrew (Wacky) Weaver is the most dangerous man…his actions are almost treasonous as he has consistently participated in foreign-funded, foreign-orchestrated smear campaigns against Canadian jobs related to the resource sector…he’s also against the largest proposed industrial project in B.C. history, a possible $40 billion investment by LNG Canada, for fear it will “add 8 to 10 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions”…
5. The Philippines’ mining council has again pushed back the deadline for completion of a review of 26 mines ordered shut or suspended last year…former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, a favorite among climate change activists in Canada, ordered the closures as part of a mining crackdown led by President Rodrigo Duterte…the new delay means the review likely won’t be completed until August or September, according to a Department of Finance statement today, after an initial pledge to finish it by the end of last year…the miners have appealed the shutdowns and are still operational, so Nickel from those mines is still making its way into the market…the Philippines is the world’s 2nd-largest exporter of Nickel behind Indonesia…
6.The Dowenjoyed its biggest point gain in a decade yesterday while the NASDAQ recorded its best point gain in 17 years…in percentage terms, it was the best advance in the U.S. equity markets in nearly 3 years as the Dowsurged 669 points while the NASDAQ climbed 228 points…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the Dow is up 54 points while the NASDAQ has edged slightly higher…in Toronto, the TSX is down 34 points while the Venture has slipped 3 points to 813…Cobalt 27 (KBLT, TSX-V), closing in on its $14 high from last November, has launched a Mandarin Chinese website…KBLT Chairman Anthony Milewski commented, “As our business continues to expand, many of the automakers, OEMs, battery manufacturers and investors who are expressing interest in Cobalt 27, are located in China and the broader Southeast Asia Region. With the launch of our Chinese language website, we hope to further broaden the reach of our audience within the region and globally. We believe our company is becoming of strategic interest to a large group of investors and industry players.”
7.Datametrex AI (DM, TSX-V) has firmed up on news that the company is in the final stages of negotiations with its partner, ABC Solutions, to implement an AI and blockchain solution for the real estate development and infrastructure division for Hyundai Corporation, the second largest conglomerate in South Korea…this opportunity is across Hyundai’s vast worldwide real estate holdings…the Nexalogy AI product, Nexa Intelligence, will be used to analyze the large amount of data gathered across various real estate sites, with a focus on security and Smart City initiatives…the utility and billing information will be collected in a private blockchain platform developed by DM’s subsidiary, Graph Blockchain, giving it greater authentication and verification. Jeff Stevens, Datametrex President and CEO, stated: “Hyundai Corporation is a great platform to showcase our AI and blockchain solutions. The opportunity to penetrate many divisions with our partner, ABC Solutions, within Hyundai, will position Datametrex well in the AI and blockchain sector.”
