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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 firmed up entering a Fed decision at 11:00 am Pacific…bullion has traded between $1,312 and $1,324 so far today and is up $9 an ounce at $1,320 as of 7:00 am Pacific…Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will hold his first news conference this afternoon following the rate decision…the Fed is widely expected to raise rates today but the tone of the statement, the “dot plot” and Powell’s comments will be crucial…Silver has jumped 21 cents to $16.38…Copper is off a penny at $3.05…Nickel is 3 cents lower at $6.08 while Zinc is up a penny at $1.47…Cobalt is steady at $40.14…Crude Oil has gained another 85 cents to $64.39 as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington raises the prospect of a more aggressive U.S. stance toward Iran…the replacement of Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State is expected to boost those in the Trump administration looking to confront Iran more forcefully…renewed sanctions against the Iranians could take more than 500,000 barrels of Oil a day off the market…the U.S. Dollar Index is down one-third of a point to 90.06…

2. The crown prince’s visit to the U.S. comes as Saudi Arabia is scaling back its ambitions for a public offering of the country’s state-owned Oil giant known as Aramco…the listing, which had been expected to raise as much as $100 billion this year for the sale of 5% of the company, has been shelved until 2019…one factor in the delay is that the kingdom is counting on being awarded emerging market status by index complier MSCI in June to help Saudi Aramco attract Western funds, in addition to cornerstone investors from China, Japan and South Korea.  “Without the pressure of the IPO, Saudi Arabia may have less incentive to continue restricting its Oil output by more than the required amount, as it has been doing so far,” analysts at Commerzbank wrote yesterday…OPEC and 10 producers outside the Oil cartel, including Russia, have been holding back output by 1.8 million barrels a day since the start of 2017, part of an effort to rein in a global supply glut and boost prices…

3. Western carmakers have yet to wake up to the limited supply of Cobalt and risk being left behind by their Chinese rivals, according to Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore, the world’s biggest producer of the battery metal.  “The motor car industry hasn’t woken up to the fact, I don’t think, how important Cobalt is and how ‘tight’ it is”, Glasenberg told the FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne (the event wraps up today)…worries over the availability of Cobalt have increased after Glencore signed an agreement with a Chinese battery materials maker this year to supply around one-third of its Cobalt production over the next 3 years.  “The Chinese will have most of the offtake of Cobalt,” explained Glasenberg.  “They’re not going to sell batteries to the world, more than likely they’ll produce batters in China and sell electric vehicles to the world.” 

4. The chief executives of America’s biggest companies are on track for another banner year of compensation, fueled by a soaring stock market and an improving economy…median pay for the chief executives of 133 of the largest U.S. companies reached an all-time high of $11.6 million in 2017, up from $11.2 million in 2016, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of proxy statement data…total pay, including salary, cash incentives, equity, perquisites and more, rose at least 9.9% for half of the executives, the fastest annual growth since 2014, while about a quarter of the executives received raises of 25% or more…most of the gains came from stock awards, as firms largely held the line on cash compensation and stock options…

5. The Dow is off slightly through the first 30 minutes of trading after a triple digit gain yesterday…Facebook (FB, NASDAQ) is down for the 3rd straight session, bringing its loss for the week to more than 10%…the social media giant faces an investor lawsuit after reports emerged alleging that Cambridge Analytica, an analytics company, had gathered data from 50 million Facebook profiles without the permission of its users…the TSX is 17 points higher while the Venture is flat at 831…Cornerstone Metals (CCC, TSX-V) climbed as high as 42 cents in early trading and is up 6 cents at 39 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…the company is in the process of closing a $3 million financing while more drill results are also pending from the company’s Vanadium Project in Nevada…Pascal Biosciences (PAS, TSX-V) has broken out above a bullish symmetrical triangle, up 2.5 cents at 48 cents…the company recently closed a $5 million financing at 40 cents after announcing that it’s the first to identify a mechanism in which cannabinoids may provide a direct benefit in immunotherapy…

6. Crystal Lake Mining (CLM, TSX-V) has commenced diamond drilling at its 100%-owned Nicobat Project, a promising 50 sq. km package of magmatic Nickel sulphide targets in the Rainy River district of northwest Ontario…initial drilling is undercutting the historic zone at the Nico1 Property to test the potential for a broad area of semi-massive or massive sulphides beneath the near-surface disseminated and breccia-style magmatic sulphide mineralization…borehole EM surveys will also be carried out through Lamontagne Geophysics…massive sulphides outcrop at surface at Nico1 while the high tenor of the sulphide (3% to 5%) speaks to the potential for an economic deposit in an area that has excellent road, rail and power access…Crystal Lake has also expanded its deep penetrating airborne electromagnetic survey by more than 50% to 850 line km…based on historic government data, the geological team led by Dr. Peter Lightfoot is confident that this new survey will identify electrically conductive signatures of sulphide mineralization associated with mafic intrusive bodies, in addition to  strong magnetic anomalies that may represent mafic-ultramafic intrusions under cover…Nico1 is approximately 35 km from the Rainy River Gold mine where Nickel massive sulphide mineralization has also been encountered…

7. Snipp Interactive (SPN, TSX-V) is active again this morning on news that WeedMD (WMD, TSX-V) has made a “strategic investment” in SPN, a global loyalty and promotions company focused on disruptive engagement platforms for consumers…SPN recently launched the Cannabis Resource Marketing Centre (CMRC) and WeedMD has appointed Snipp as its technology vendor of record to design and deploy custom marketing solutions for direct sales, retail sales, referral/sourcing programs, distributor programs and other programs.  “As we move into new markets, it’s important to provide informed and engaging online experiences to consumers. By utilizing Snipp’s proprietary solutions to develop and implement new marketing and sales programs, we plan to deepen our relationship with current and future customers,” stated Bruce Dawson-Scully, CEO of WeedMD. “We are excited to roll-out these campaigns to expand market awareness, enhance communication touch points and further engage our consumers.”  Yesterday, SPN stated that it has received broad interest from a variety of cannabis companies from across the spectrum of the industry including leaders like Aphria (APH, TSX), WeedMD and others…over 10 companies have signed up for the centre since the launch just last week…

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