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1. Gold has traded between $1,272 and $1,285 so far today, moving higher in tandem with the greenback as equities come under renewed pressure on U.S.-China trade concerns…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $10 an ounce at $1,283…yields on 10-year U.S. government bonds, which fall as prices rise, hit a fresh 52-week low of 2.33% this morning…meanwhile, weaker-than-expected sentiment data from the U.S. manufacturing and service sectors has just been released, perhaps allowing Gold to built on its gains…Silver has added 11 cents to $14.52…Copper, Nickel and Zinc are all off slightly again at $2.67, $5.38 and $1.21, respectively…Cobalt remains steady at $15.76…WTI, on pace for its worst week in nearly 4 months, has tumbled $2.55 a barrel to $58.87…U.S. Crude Oil inventories have hit their highest levels since July 2017, the Energy Information Administration reported yesterday…disappointing economic data out of the euro zone today – a measure of business sentiment in Germany dropped sharply while surveys of purchasing managers pointed to weaker demand for euro zone exports and a struggling manufacturing sector…the yield on 10-year German government bonds fell further into negative territory and were last at –0.104%…Canadian household debt reached a record high at the end of last year even as mortgage activity slowed, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said in a report yesterday…the debt to income ratio of Canadians hit a record high of 178.5% in the 4th quarter last year as mortgage holders continued to take on non- mortgage debt…the ratio increased as average monthly required payments rose 4.5% compared with a year earlier, while disposable income rose only 2.5%, the agency said…debt levels rose as average balances for credit cards and lines of credit grew at a faster pace than in 2017, especially in Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto…
2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s pro-business conservative leader who has dominated the political debate in the world’s largest democracy for the past 5 years, will return to power with a strong mandate, setting the stage for him to pursue more ambitious policies both at home and abroad…with almost all of the votes counted, local television estimates and the official government count showed the ruling BJP and its allies set to win more than 340 seats – enough to reach a majority in India’s lower house of Parliament, which has 543 elected seats…the leading opposition Congress Party and its allies were set to win fewer than 100 seats…the election – the largest in the history of democracy, with close to 600 million people voting – was fought as a referendum on Modi and his policies aimed at promoting development as well as national pride, particularly for the Hindu majority…Modi needs to ride his momentum to roll out the tough economic changes that India needs to put it on the path to even stronger economic growth and provide millions of jobs a year to its young populace…India is the fastest-expanding large economy in the world and an increasingly important engine for global growth, particularly as China’s growth slows…if Modi can use his mandate to improve how the economy is managed and break down some bureaucratic barriers to growth, such as restrictions on land purchases as well as hiring and firing rules, it could help India accelerate its expansion, and achieve closer to 10% growth a year, up from about 7.5% now…
3. First Nations leaders have been front and centre at the Canada Gas and LNG Conference and Exhibition in Vancouver this week as Indigenous People made it clear what LNG development means to their communities as well as all of British Columbia…“LNG offers us an opportunity to move from managing poverty to managing prosperity,” said Karen Ogen-Toews, CEO, First Nations LNG Alliance and former chief of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation…“There are opportunities for everyone”…Ogen-Toews was one of many First Nations leaders at the conference that brought together 75 speakers, 200 exhibitors, over 300 delegates and 5,000+ visitors to Canada’s only dedicated event for the gas and LNG industries…packed panel audiences heard from many leaders like Ogen-Toews that projects like LNG Canada mean the difference between hope and despair, poverty and prosperity, in Indigenous communities…Crystal Smith, Chief Councillor, Haisla First Nation, grew emotional when she described the change the decision to move forward with the massive LNG Project has made in her community…“The vibe in Kitamat is absolutely amazing – to have one of the single biggest business investment decisions made in Haisla Territory is amazing,” Smith told the delegates and guests…“You can see the change in the attitude of our high school students. They’re more optimistic, they feel they have more opportunities. You can see the change in the mindset of the younger generation because now they know they have opportunities available for them and that’s just with one project”…meanwhile, delegates yesterday were greeted by about 2 dozen teens, dressed in black, and holding a Canadian flag drenched in what appeared to be Oil outside the Vancouver Convention Centre…desecrating the flag doesn’t seem to bother them…the group, called Sustainabiliteens, were objecting to anything involving fossil fuels – even a project that has the potential to actually lower greenhouse gas emissions…the radical loony left has done a great job of brainwashing young people…the new $40 billion LNG Canada Project – the largest private sector investment in Canadian history – is now under construction…$500 million in contracts have already been awarded in B.C. and an estimated 600 workers are currently employed on the LNG Canada Project…
4. Copper bullish: Codelco’s giant Chuquicamata mine is set for a 40% drop in production over the next 2 years, an internal forecast seen by Reuters shows, pointing to the sharp challenge facing the world’s top Copper miner as it scrambles to maintain output…the giant open-pit mine, set to be the Chilean state-run miner’s biggest by output this year, is undergoing a complex $5 billion+ transformation into an underground shaft mine in a bid to extend the century-old prospect’s lifespan…Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera is expected to formally cut the ribbon on the revamped Copper mine, often referred to as ‘Chuqui’, in coming months…this year, ores from the new project will be added to the existing open-pit operations, giving Chuqui overall production of 459,000 tonnes – its highest since 2010 – the previously unreported 2019 forecast shows…but as Codelco scales down and ultimately shutters open-pit extraction next year, while the underground project still ramps up, output will drop sharply, the figures show – down 182,000 tonnes by 2021 versus 2019…that will drive overall Codelco production down by 40% to 277,000 tonnes by 2021, according to the long-term business development plan…Codelco declined to comment on the forecast data, saying the numbers were confidential…
5. Aben Resources (ABN, TSX-V) announced this morning that it plans to extend its drilling season by 1 month by initiating a 2,000-m program at its Justin Gold Project in the Yukon in early June, followed by the start of a 1st phase 5,000-m program at its flagship Forrest Kerr Project in the Eskay Camp…early drilling at Forrest Kerr will test the potential for a northward extension of the high-grade mineralized core at the North Boundary Zone…early drilling will also test for the potential connectivity of the North Boundary Zone with the 1991 high-grade Noranda hole approximately 200 m to the south…drilling will also further test the polymetalic occurance at the South Boundary Zone where broad intercepts of Gold-Silver-Copper-Zinc were encountered in 2018…an airborne mag survey will be conducted over entire Boundary Zone before drilling commences…new pad locations will allow Aben to test many new targets and further test with greater certainty and confidence targets that may have been drilled last year but were constrained by limited angles…2019 exploration at Forrest Kerr will comprise drilling, surface sampling and prospecting across the 23,000-hectare land package…over 12,000 m of drilling were completed in 2017 & 2018…
6. The Dow is under pressure in early trading, down more than 350 points as of 7:00 am Pacific…in Toronto, strength in Gold stocks is helping offset losses in the TSX which is 141 points lower…the Venture’s 5-session winning streak was snapped yesterday with the Index retreating another 5 points in early trading today to 606…cannabis plays aren’t helping with the Canadian Marijuana Index shedding 16 points to 598…Amex Exploration (AMX, TSX-V) started trading this morning on the OTCQX under the symbol “AMXEF“…Victor Cantore, Amex President and CEO, stated, “Trading on the OTCQX Market is an important milestone as it provides U.S. investors with a pathway to invest and participate in the Amex Exploration story. Our project is located just 1 hour north of Rouyn, a major mining camp and is year-round accessible. Exploration drilling is expected to continue throughout the year providing for ample news flow on this important new Gold discovery”…AMX is bucking the trend this morning, up 7 cents at 95 cents through the first 30 minutes of trading…
7. Tesla (TSLA, NASDAQ) is bouncing back in early trading after 6 straight losing sessions, despite more Wall Street analysts joining the growing list of brokerages concerned with the company’s financial health…the latest downward revision came from Loup Ventures co-founder Gene Munster, who wrote that Tesla will likely fall short of delivery expectations this year as the trade dispute between the U.S. and China worsens…Munster lowered his 2019 delivery estimates by about 10% to 310,000 vehicles versus guidance in a range between 360,000 and 400,000…“First, we are now factoring in that Tesla deliveries will be impacted by tariffs entering China,” Munster wrote…“Second, non-tariff factors that will impact China demand include Chinese consumers boycotting Tesla and Chinese officials adding complexity to the delivery process”…
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