Check back later today for Daniel’s Den and visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.
1. Gold is once again responding bullishly post-Fed meeting as the greenback retreats while investors find comfort in bullion amid trade tensions between the U.S. and China…China is well known for its economic espionage, which works against American (and Canadian) interests, so the fact an American President who understands business is finally standing up to the communist country is actually a positive development…if there’s a “trade war”, it was started by China long before Donald Trump became President…he’ll finish it…Gold continues to gain momentum as it approaches key resistance around $1,350…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $16 an ounce at $1,345…Silver has jumped 20 cents to $16.44…Copper, Nickel and Zinc are all down slightly to $3.00, $5.89 and $1.45 respectively, but Cobalt is a big winner – it’s up more than $2 a pound to a new decade high of $43.32…Crude Oil, which has enjoyed a strong week, has climbed another 73 cents to $65.03 while the U.S. Dollar Index has slipped one-tenth of a point to 89.58…China intervened to support its stock market today, news reports say, after fears of a trade war with the U.S. sparked the steepest intra-day sell-off in 6 weeks…
2. The U.S. Senate passed a $1.3 trillion spending bill early this morning, virtually assuring a trillion dollar U.S. budget deficit for this fiscal year which is music to Gold bugs’ ears…Congress acted to avert a government shutdown with less than 24 hours to spare, bringing to a close a messy negotiating process over the sprawling measure (2,200 pages, how many members of Congress actually read all of it?)…the bill gives the Obama-depleted military its biggest funding boost since World War II but came at the expense of accepting Democrats’ demands for increased domestic program spending…President Trump was expected to quickly sign the bill into law, and almost certainly will, but this morning he pushed out this message in a seemingly strategic tweet, “I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded.”
3. Fresh U.S. economic data point to a continued robust economy…new orders for key U.S.-made capital goods rebounded much more than expected in February after 2 straight monthly declines and shipments surged, pointing to strong growth in business spending on equipment during Q1…February orders for durable goods rose by 3.1% to $247.7 billion, led by a sharp jump in orders for transportation equipment…the rise in orders reversed a 3.5% decrease in January…
4. Saudi talk continues to underpin Oil prices…Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih says OPEC will need to keep coordinating supply cuts with non-member countries including Russia into 2019 to further reduce global inventories…Morgan Stanley also cited an expected pick-up in seasonal demand in the coming months. “We are only 3–4 weeks away from peak refinery maintenance, after which Crude and product demand should accelerate…global inventories are already at the bottom end of the 5-year range,” the U.S. bank said, adding, “There are sufficient reasons to expect Oil prices to strengthen further from here.” It’s great that WTI and Brent prices are pushing higher but Western Canadian Select is still trading at a huge discount thanks to Canada’s self-inflicted wounds that have created a serious problem with respect to pipeline capacity (this is costing Canada at least $1.5 billion per month, according to a recent report, but our reward is we’ll save the planet!)…
5. Cracks are starting to appear in the NDP-Green alliance in British Columbia after the NDP announced yesterday a new framework to support a liquified natural gas industry in the province…tax breaks include relief from PST (in line with others in the manufacturing sector), the elimination of the LNG income tax and capping carbon at $30 per tonne if the LNG facility can show it’s the cleanest in the world…at stake is a potential $40 billion investment by LNG Canada and 10,000 jobs…a decision is expected within the coming weeks or months…if built, it would be the single largest investment in an industrial project in B.C. history…however, at a news conference yesterday, Wacky Weaver The Professor said the NDP’s plans for LNG break the confidence and supply agreement between the Greens and NDP, but that he won’t be taking the government down right now on the issue. “If you are going to add 8 to 10 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and you are going to meet our targets, then all other aspects of the economy must make up the difference,” said Wacky Weaver. “What that means is by 2030 all other aspects of our economy, other than LNG Canada, would have to cut emissions by 50%.” Wacky Weaver, of course, is a globalist who participates in foreign-funded, foreign-orchestrated smear campaigns against Canadian jobs…he’s a climate change extremist who of course cites David Suzuki as his hero, and he has no respect for democracy or the rule of law as he’s knowingly opposing the Canadian Constitution in doing everything he can to block the already approved Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion…Wacky Weaver won’t be totally at peace until British Columbia “saves the planet” and becomes a fossil fuel free zone…by that time, he will have accomplished another one of his goals which is to bring “affordable housing” to the province…nothing slows down a booming real estate market faster than a flood of jobs and investment leaving the province to other jurisdictions, which has occurred previously in B.C. history when economic lunatics grabbed the reigns of power…the fact that Wacky Weaver and two of his Green compatriots are holding the B.C. government and the B.C. economy hostage is not only absurd but dangerous…
6. North American equity markets are rebounding after nervous nellies threw a tariff tantrum yesterday...the Dow is up 86 points at 24,044 as of 7:00 am Pacific…in Toronto, the TSX has added 28 points to 15,428 thanks to strength in Gold and Oil stocks…the Venture is 8 points higher at 825…one of the top performers on the Venture this week has been Pascal Biosciences (PAS, TSX-V) which has traded nearly 8 million shares…it’s up another half penny at 48 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…Cornerstone Metals (CCC, TSX-V), which has also enjoyed a strong week, has completed its $3 million private placement at 30 cents per unit…more drill results are pending from the company’s Carlin Vanadium Project in Nevada…Colorado Resources‘ (CXO, TSX-V) April 17 AGM may more resemble a Jerry Springer episode as two internal factions battle for control…CXO issued another news release this morning with the headline, “Colorado Resources‘ Disgruntled Ex-CEO Travis Continues To Demonstrate Ignorance Of Corporate Governance”…shareholders have until April 13 to vote the “blue” proxy or the “yellow” proxy…”none of the above” is not an option, though some shareholders may wish it were…
7. TMX Group is launching a cryptocurrency platform which will bring the 166-year-old marketplace into the brave new world for Bitcoin and other digital currencies…TMX subsidiary Shorcan Brokers Ltd. said yesterday that it’s building the first exchange-owned brokerage platform for cryptocurrency investors, and plans services that compile data on digital currencies and publish performance benchmarks such as indexes. “We’re looking at a global market that is in its infancy, and as the digital-currency network grows and traditional financial institutions want access, we are building a bridge between those two worlds,” Shorcan President Peter Conroy said…the new platform is called Shorcan Digital Currency Network (Shorcan DCN) and is expected to debut in the 2nd quarter of this year…it will initially focus on trading and data in the two most common cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ether…Bank of Montreal is backstopping the business by providing payment and settlement services…TMX acquired Shorcan, a fixed-income trading business, in 2006…
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Will you be advising us on the CXO vote?
Comment by DavidW — March 23, 2018 @ 9:10 am
david if your a shareholder, you should already know who to vote for!! you dont need to be told, Adam is who you vote for if your a true shareholder!
Comment by Gregory — March 23, 2018 @ 9:36 am
I would concur with you on that, Gregory…we’ll get into this issue a little more next week.
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 23, 2018 @ 9:54 am
JOn .. why do you say that Adam is the one to vote for?? curious:)
Comment by Jeremy — March 23, 2018 @ 10:19 am
And this is how lawmakers do things huh? “Members of the House of Representatives had 1,000 minutes—overnight—to read a 2,232-page bill that spends $1.3 trillion.” I’ve seen a similar timeframe before on other extensions…..wow. I could sneak something in there for myself…
Comment by flyinthruu — March 23, 2018 @ 10:37 am
jeremy call adam and talk to him 250 878 7554
Comment by Gregory — March 23, 2018 @ 10:38 am
Because I find this whole issue with Damara and the Kinaskan-Castle Project to be repelling, Jeremy, in terms of what Larry Nagy & Co. were attempting to do…classic case of insiders at the trough with big positions in a cheap play (Damara), trying to pull off a sweet related party transaction and not acting in the best interests of CXO shareholders…that’s really at the heart of this dispute…they couldn’t pull it off and then out of vengeance they went after Travis…having said that, Adam Travis didn’t exactly have a good year on the exploration front – that might be a valid reason for firing him – and that’s a concern of mine, too, though he did have the savvy to acquire Kinaskan-Castle on highly favorable terms at a strategic time…
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 23, 2018 @ 10:39 am
Jon, I do not own shares of CXO. This whole situation has raised my eyebrows. If Travis is at the helm and they can prove some good targets at Castle, I’m in.
Comment by flyinthruu — March 23, 2018 @ 10:56 am
Thx Jon … I had a call from the blue proxy peeps… they were talking about Travis using the company as his piggy bank… so Gregory – if I call him he will deny and defend… thus the 3rd party opinion…
Have been involved in both sides in other company’s issues.. the CEO needs to have the support of the board and vice versa…
I will vote yellow now:)
Comment by Jeremy — March 23, 2018 @ 11:00 am
BMR, CIBC and Credential +215k or so so far for AIS. I know this is just day-to-day stuff. Just curious if you have any new opinions on AIS? National did a stupid dump at the end of day earlier this week pushing it down.
Comment by flyinthruu — March 23, 2018 @ 11:15 am
If Travis was using CXO as his “piggy bank”, as 3 members of the board claim, Jeremy, why only now has this become an issue?…why was the board silent earlier?…I was on a CXO KSP site visit in 2016, which included members of the CXO board and Travis, and they were all one big happy family and Larry couldn’t speak highly enough of Adam (and vice versa)…things went sour only because of the Kinaskan-Castle deal last year – trying to option that to Damara after the GT Gold discovery was simply WRONG and it was Larry who was pushing that (personal greed) given his position in Damara…
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 23, 2018 @ 11:19 am
understood Jon…. thank you… opportunity will always be taken by greedy people
Comment by Jeremy — March 23, 2018 @ 11:37 am
Thanks for the CXO discussion. As I do not know the players and BMR does. As Jeremy wrote ‘ the 3rd party opinion ‘.
Comment by DavidW — March 23, 2018 @ 11:47 am
First Nations shuts down another project…
Mr. James Pettit of
ABEN RESOURCES OPERATOR EAGLE PLAINS SUSPENDS DRILLING PROGRAM AT THE CHICO GOLD PROJECT, SASKATCHEWAN
Aben Resources Ltd.’s planned and permitted Chico drill program in Saskatchewan has been suspended as a result of a request by the citizens of the community of Pelican Narrows and members of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. Details of the intended program were previously announced in a news release dated March 1, 2018.
Eagle Plains Resources Ltd., as optionor and project operator, informed Aben of this request after a March 21, 2018, community meeting was convened in Pelican Narrows, attended by local stakeholders and Eagle Plains management. Following the meeting a decision was made by Aben and Eagle Plains to suspend the program. Aben may revisit plans to explore the property in the future, following meaningful consultation with the community and PBCN members. Government permits to undertake the proposed drilling program were issued on Feb. 28, 2018, by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy.
Aben holds the exclusive right to earn an undivided 80-per-cent interest in the property by completing $3.5-million in exploration expenditures, issuing 2.5 million shares and making $150,000 in cash payments to Eagle Plains by 2020. Aben recently made a cash payment of $25,000 and issued 250,000 common shares to Eagle Plains, pursuant to the terms of the current option agreement.
Aben Resources looks forward to the upcoming exploration season at the Forrest Kerr gold project in British Columbia’s golden triangle after a successful drilling program there last year.
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 23, 2018 @ 12:32 pm
There’s another ” train wreck ” …….. along with CXO and the others that might make it back for another round this year in the Triangle. I’m quite happy thank you very much holding and adding GGI and MTS …. it’s all you really need to Invest in the Triangle ( imho) ….. maybe a little esk to go on a side order ! Farmer T
Comment by farmer — March 23, 2018 @ 12:38 pm
ABN is quite predictable in terms of its moves and financings each year, farmer, and therefore an easy stock to make money on as a trade if you buy low and sell into 3rd quarter strength (as we suggested last summer)…the same should happen this year…with Chico, was this just a sudden change of heart by the First Nations, were they not bribed enough (yes, sometimes that’s what it takes), or did ABN not do enough DD?…just goes to show, sometimes government permits aren’t worth the paper they’re written on…
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 23, 2018 @ 1:09 pm
Points well taken .. will be looking in around a dime …. Cheers
Comment by farmer — March 23, 2018 @ 1:22 pm
What’s the scoop with CLM selling off. 3 sideways days and I’m starting to wonder where support is
Comment by Danny7 — March 23, 2018 @ 2:15 pm
That’s a little strange, yet it isn’t, Danny7…just another in a string of pullbacks we’ve seen over the last number of months in CLM, with each one followed by a sharp move back up…this time it occurs just as drilling starts…bizarre…nervous nellies?…reminds me of the sharp corrections we saw in GGI last summer, even during drilling…of course this was the worst week in the markets since early Feb., so that didn’t help, but some joy from that first hole and/or geophysics next week would send CLM roaring back up to new highs…excellent project with a great opportunity for a new Nickel sulphide discovery…share structure is tight, so this stock can run from 80 cents to a dollar in a flash…
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 23, 2018 @ 2:29 pm
Regarding CXO.. AGM..Anyone from here planning on attending? This one will be “entertaining”.I have not made up my mind, as of yet!, tho I’ve already gone with Travis….
Comment by GregJ. — March 23, 2018 @ 4:39 pm
It would certainly make for great TV, Greg…hmmm…that reminds me, will need to go back on all our video/photo footage from last summer, maybe there’s something there there with Nagy and Travis…
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 23, 2018 @ 4:46 pm
That would be great Jon if you could bring the old video to the meeting , and say you’ve got something from the good old days……lol
I could actually imagine that
Comment by Gregory — March 23, 2018 @ 5:43 pm
At first blush one thinks kudos to the B.C. NDP for supporting a major LNG investment in the province. But where does this actually move the province forward economically? Don’t forget that by trying to prevent the already approved Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion from going ahead the NDP have taken the province a step back. So the NDP announce an LNG project that takes the province a step forward essentially taking us back to where we started. Wouldn’t it be so much better to proceed with the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion and take the province forward 2 steps economically instead of essentially going nowhere at all?
We have a growing population that needs more high quality jobs and an economy that needs the taxes generated from these jobs and resource projects to pay for our ever expanding social programs. I really wish I could be more positive about the NDP’s LNG announcement but when you throw the Kinder Morgan fiasco into the pot all you end up with is burnt soup.
Subscriber John
Comment by John — March 23, 2018 @ 10:12 pm
That’s exactly right, John – and I have my doubts they’ll be able to pull off the LNG deal…in fact, they’ve merely set themselves up for blowing the biggest proposed industrial project in B.C. history…$40 billion and 10,000 jobs…one cannot have any faith in their economic management and the Greens are certainly not a check on the NDP – they’re actually helping to draw out the NDP’s worst instincts on a range of issues including notably Kinder Morgan…
Hopefully this love affair between the NDP and Greens will blow up over LNG and we’ll have a new election…not holding my breath on that, though, as they’re both power hungry and one of their next steps is to completely revamp the electoral system and lower the voting age to 16 in order the block the majority free enterprise coalition from forming government for at least the next 20 years…there were already 2 referendums in B.C. on electoral reform and they were both rejected – this group of leftist bandits and Oil-hating climate change extremists in power now in B.C. only respects the democratic process if it furthers their radical agenda…
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 24, 2018 @ 5:25 am
Hi Jon,
Lower the B.C. voting age to 16! Children and young people are highly susceptible to left wing dogma and eco-fanaticism (I should know – I too was infected when I was younger). A lower voting age will give the NDP a lot more electoral support from young people who have never thought through the destructive economic consequences and democratic restrictions of socialism and eco-fascism.
Subscriber John
Comment by John — March 24, 2018 @ 5:52 pm
Exactly, John – Weaver and the NDP know they’ve got a natural constituency among high school students who of course are mostly being taught by left-wing teachers, authority figures (and members of public sector unions who openly campaign for the left) who have these kids under their daily influence. During the B.C. election last year, there was a mock vote at one Vancouver area high school and the NDP and Greens took at least three-quarters of the total vote. No surprise. There’s no way 16 and 17 year-olds should be given the right to vote – Tucker Carlson made a great argument on that a few nights ago. But watch Weaver and the NDP make it happen in B.C. They will do anything to keep the free enterprise coalition from regaining power.
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 24, 2018 @ 7:49 pm
Scrap universal suffrage. Voting limited to people over 25 who own property, and to people over 25 who own a registered business grossing $5k+ -no better stake in your country than entrepreneurship.
Democracy is doomed unless one has an educated populace. (Why do you think the State took control of education.)
Comment by DINGO — March 24, 2018 @ 8:05 pm