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Check for a separate post later today and visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information. BMR Morning Market Musings returns tomorrow.

1. Gold has traded between $1,239 and $1,253 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is down $7 an ounce at $1,242 while Silver has eased off 17 cents to $16.61…base metals are stronger, led by Copper with a gain of 3 pennies to $2.68…Cobalt, meanwhile, has hit a new high of $26.99…the U.S. Dollar Index has slid another one-quarter of a point to 95.76…it was reported in a new study this morning that global debt levels have climbed $500 billion in the past year to a record $217 trillion (327% of world GDP), just as major central banks prepare to end years of super-cheap credit policies…how can that not be long-term bullish for Gold?…

2. The U.S. economy slowed less sharply in the 1st quarter than initially estimated due to unexpectedly higher consumer spending and a bigger jump in exports…GDP increased at a 1.4% annual rate instead of the 1.2% pace reported last month, the Commerce Department said in its final assessment today…however, it was still the slowest growth rate since the 2nd quarter of last year…since 2000, the U.S. economy has grown at an average 2% rate with last year’s growth of 1.6% the weakest in 5 years…

3. Oil prices are up for a 6th straight session, 25 cents higher at $44.99 after a mildly bullish weekly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) yesterday…production declined 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 9.3 million bpd – the biggest decline in weekly output since July 2016…meanwhile, Goldman Sachs has downgraded its forecast for Oil prices over the next quarter amid a sudden uptick in shale drilling and an unexpected surge in production from Libya and Nigeria…the investment bank now points to a 3-month average of $47.50 per barrel for WTI Crude, down from its previous estimate of $55 a barrel…

4. The British Columbia legislature will be a focus of attention later today as the Green Monster – a toxic, far left alliance of NDP and Green Party MLA’s – attempts to usurp power through a non-confidence vote against Premier Christy Clark’s pro-resource Liberal Party that has ruled the province effectively for the past 16 years…Clark’s free enterprise coalition of liberals and conservatives presides over Canada’s fastest growing economy featuring low taxes and budget surpluses…the NDP and Greens vow to hike taxes for the “rich” and corporations, vastly expand the role of government and kill any energy project that isn’t tinged with the right shade of green, including of course the already approved Trans Mountain Pipeline extension…if the NDP and Greens succeed in winning today’s scheduled non-confidence vote, Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon – a Harper appointee and rancher who resides in the interior of the province and recently completed a 2-year term as President of the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association – will have to decide to either call a new election or let NDP leader John Horgan attempt to form a government and maintain the confidence of the House…the Green Monster does not have a workable majority – 44 seats to 43 for the Liberals, or a 43–43 deadlock in the legislature if it’s an NDP Speaker – and nearly 90% of its members come from Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island, meaning the resource rich interior and north of B.C. would be grossly under-represented in government…the Liberals won the most number of seats, the popular vote and had the most consistent support through all regions of the province after the May 9 election, but the Green Monster is only interested in a power grab to carry out a radical agenda driven by socialist ideals and climate change fanaticism that would clearly threaten B.C.’s prosperity…the good news is, an NDP-Green government, if it were to materialize, would be so unstable that it would likely blow up within 6 months or less with the socialists then banished to the B.C. wilderness for another generation as occurred on 2 previous occasions…

5. The Venture is down 2 points at 768 as of 7:00 am Pacific as it continues to hover around its rising 300-day moving average (SMA)…the TSX has lost 112 points while the Dow is 11 points lower through the first 30 minutes of trading…bank stocks in the U.S. are stronger after the Fed gave 34 banks it reviewed during the second phase of its annual stress test the blessing to unleash buybacks and dividends…

6. Cornerstone Capital (CGP, TSX-V) has drilled 1,030 m grading 1.16% CuEq at its Cascabel Copper-Gold porphyry joint venture project in northern Ecuador…results included 216 m grading 3.08% CuEq (1.29% Cu, 2.84 g/t Au) from a depth of 970 m…mineralization occurs in a strongly veined quartz diorite intrusive phase, believed to represent the causative mineralized porphyry at Alpala…over 39,000 m of drilling have been completed to date along the greater Alpala trend…current drilling is focusing on defining the geometry of the growing deposit which is open in virtually all directions…CGP is up a penny at 46 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

7. A 3,000-m diamond drill program is under way at Kootenay Silver’s (KTN, TSX-V) 100%-owned Silver Fox Project, located in southeastern British Columbia…James McDonald, KTN President and CEO, stated, “Kootenay is pleased to have a strong and supportive partner, Antofagasta, conduct this initial drill program at Silver Fox.  We look forward to drill testing the first bona-fide sediment hosted Silver-Copper mineralized system to be found on the Proterozoic aged Creston Formation in Canada. This is the product of 3 years of commitment and persistence by our exploration team supported by Antofagasta and we are pleased to successfully bring Silver Fox to the drill stage.”

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