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 $1,200 and $1,209 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is flat at $1,201 an ounce…Silver is up 2 pennies at $14.16…Copper, Nickel and Zinc are all down slightly at $2.68, $5.68 and $1.06, respectively, while Cobalt has jumped 45 cents to $28.46…Crude Oil is unchanged at $68.60 while the U.S. Dollar Index has slid one-tenth of a point to 94.45…technically, it’s a bearish sign that the Index wasn’t able to crack key resistance at 95.50 this week…Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said today he expects the U.S. central bank to press forward with rate increases amid a bright economic outlook…“The U.S. economy is firing on all cylinders, with strong growth, low unemployment, and inflation approaching our 2% symmetric target on a sustained basis,” Evans said in the text of speech prepared for delivery in Fort Wayne, Indiana…“I expect this good performance to continue over the next few years”…
2. The GFMS team at Thomson Reuters believes current risks in the Gold market are skewed to the upside: “The … bear market in 2018 has largely reflected the continued strength in the dollar, driven in part by trade wars and latterly by the crises in Turkey and Venezuela, with the contagion into other emerging markets’ currencies. Whether any of the central banks of those struggling nations have been sellers of Gold, has had less effect on the market’s sentiment than the belief, well-founded or otherwise that they might be sellers. Finance fears have re-surfaced, and we believe that ultimately they will prove to be supportive for Gold. The net short on COMEX was at record levels at end-August since the CFTC introduced its ‘managed money’ classification, at 244 tonnes. With outright shorts standing at 593 tonnes. Some short covering has ensued; we expect more and a sharp short covering rally is not out of the question”…
3. Apple, Volkswagen and other global manufacturers that vowed to make sure children and miners were not working under dangerous conditions digging up minerals used for batteries have largely failed in their efforts, according to a just-released Wall Street Journal report from Scott Patterson and Alexandra Wexler…many firms said they would audit their suppliers and send teams to Congo to fix the problem after Amnesty International reported 2 years ago that the Cobalt in some of their batteries was dug up by Congolese miners and children in inhumane job sites…still, at an important Cobalt mine named Mutoshi in Kolwezi, freelance Congolese workers known as creuseurs – French for miners – are seen descending underground without helmets, shoes or safety equipment…the mine’s owner is part of the global Cobalt supply chain for companies including Apple and VW…miners there were using picks, shovels and bare hands to unearth rocks rich with the metal…water sometimes rushes into holes and drowns miners, and an earth mover buried a miner alive last year, according to local creuseurs and mine officials…
4. A preliminary look at U.S. consumer sentiment in September easily topped expectations this morning…the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers said sentiment hit 100.8 in September, up from 96.2 in August, which is the 2nd strongest in 14 years…the jump in consumer sentiment is “largely due to more favorable prospects for jobs and incomes,” according to Richard Curtin, chief economist for the Surveys of Consumers. “Consumers anticipated continued growth in the economy that would produce more jobs and an even lower unemployment rate during the year ahead”…
5. U.S. retail sales recorded their smallest gain in 6 months in August as consumers cut back on purchases of motor vehicles and clothing, but upward revisions to July data likely keep intact expectations of strong economic growth in the 3rd quarter…the Commerce Department reported this morning that retail sales edged up just 0.1% last month, the smallest rise since February…data for July was revised higher to show sales rising 0.7% instead of the previously announced 0.5% gain…in other economic news this morning, U.S. industrial output rose for the 3rd month in a row in August, slightly exceeding expectations due to strong utility and motor-vehicle production…
6. The Dow is up 23 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…in Toronto, the TSX has gained 17 points…Canopy Growth (WEED, TSX) gapped down at the open toward very strong support just above $50 before bouncing back…the Venture is off from its opening lows but still down 3 points at 711 as of 7:30 am Pacific…key resistance is 730 while a strong support band starts at 710 and should hold on another test again today…Martello Technologies Group (MTLO, TSX-V), which made its debut on the Venture Wednesday with an opening price of 50 cents, surged as high as $1.67 in early trading this morning…speculators like the fact that Bruce Linton, co-founder of Canopy Growth, shares the chairmanship of Martello with Terry Matthews, who has founded or funded dozens of tech companies including Mitel Networks…Linton has known Matthews for about 30 years…BMR has learned that privately-held Battery Minerals, a company with Australian roots that’s aiming to go public, has suddenly started drilling with 2 rigs on its claims contiguous to Canada Cobalt’s (CCW, TSX-V) Castle mine…CCW also has 2 rigs active, 1 underground and the other testing targets from surface approximately 1.5 km to the east of the #3 Shaft…CCW has become the first company in Canada during this battery arms race to produce a Cobalt sulphate product for the battery sector…
7. Canadians who work in the marijuana industry, and those who invest in the booming pot sector, will face significant risks when crossing the U.S. border even after the drug becomes legal in Canada next month, according to detailed comments by a senior official overseeing U.S border operations…a lifetime ban on entering the U.S. will apply to travellers who admit to using marijuana, employees in the marijuana industry, and investors in the marijuana sector, according to the official. “We don’t recognize that as a legal business,” Todd Owen, executive assistant commissioner for the Office of Field Operations at CBP, told POLITICO Pro Canada, a new subscription news service and daily newsletter focused on Canada-U.S. relations…Owen said U.S. Customs and Border Protection will apply existing laws against admitting drug users and drug traffickers into the United States…among the details he laid out: 1) Canadians caught crossing the border with marijuana in their car, even into states that have legalized pot, will face prosecution or a fine of $5,000 U.S.; 2) CBP has not specified a minimum investment threshold in marijuana businesses that would trigger the lifetime ban; 3) Not every traveller will be asked whether they use marijuana, but Owen also outlined several signs of pot use that officials will not ignore…
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