BullMarketRun.com

1. Gold has traded between $1,310 and $1,323 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is down $12 an ounce at $1,310…Silver has slipped 28 cents to $16.18…Copper, Nickel and Zinc are steady at $3.07, $6.27 and $1.42, respectively…Crude Oil is 46 cents lower at $67.64 while the U.S. Dollar Index has jumped one-third of a point to 91.87…a strong band of resistance exists between 92 and 92.74…signs of stronger U.S. economic growth and inflation are becoming a central focus of financial markets, helping lift the dollar to its highest level since January…yields on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note last week crossed above 3% for the first time since 2014, evidence that part of the economy is returning to more normal conditions after a long stretch when bonds yields had hovered near historic lows…the 10-year yield is relatively unchanged this morning at 2.96%…

2. There’s a lot on the market’s plate this week…more than one-fifth of S&P 500 companies report earnings including bellwether Apple tomorrow (key for tech sector as industry has been worried about Apple’s phone sales)…meanwhile, the Fed meets tomorrow and Wednesday…no interest rate is likely but traders will be looking for any hints on how the Fed views inflation and the economy (rate hike expected in June)…a gusher of economic reports will be released this week including U.S. April employment numbers on Friday…trade issues will also be in the headlines with high-ranking U.S. officials in China, while NAFTA talks intensify…in some economic news just out, U.S. consumer prices accelerated in the year to March, in line with expectations, as a measure of underlying inflation reached the Federal Reserve’s 2% target…consumer prices as measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index jumped 2% year-on-year in March, in line with expectations as weak readings from last year dropped out of the calculation…that was the biggest gain since February 2017 and followed a 1.7% rise in February…

3. Oil prices eased off today after a rising rig count in the U.S. suggested the boom in shale output is showing no signs of slowing…however, prices are near their highest in over 3 years and were set for a 2nd straight month of gains…U.S. drillers added 5 Oil rigs in the week to April 27, bringing the total count to 825, the highest level since March 2015, according to data released Friday by Baker Hughes…Crude production in the U.S. has grown by more than 25% since mid-2016 to a record 10.59 million barrels per day (bpd)…only Russia currently produces more, at around 11 million bpd…what’s Canada doing?…apologizing for its Oil (3rd largest Reserves in the world)…

4. Shock at the pump for some Metro Vancouver drivers as gas prices broke a North American all-time record over the weekend…imagine what would happen if Alberta Premier Rachel Notley had the courage to give climate change fanatics in British Columbia a glimpse of what a carbon-free future might look like by turning off the Oil taps to counter the Green Monster’s illegal, unconstitutional efforts to block the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion?…the latest jump in prices in B.C. is the result of temporary refinery closures and the shutdown of the Olympic pipeline in Washington state, as well as a general increase in the price of Oil…the Trans Mountain pipeline fiasco is certainly not helping the situation…Dan McTeague with Gasbuddy.com predicts that the upward pressure on gas prices in B.C. could be just a sign of things to come if the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion continues to stall.  “We need that pipeline built,” he said.  “The sooner it can be built, the more it can bring gasoline in.  The 1.619 represents the single largest price point ever paid at any gas station, or any regional gas station across North America in the history of fuel.  That beats the all-time record that was established in Los Angeles back in 2008.  So now Vancouver has stolen that title and it looks like these high prices are here to stay.” 

5. The Dow has added 163 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…Dow component McDonald’s is up strongly after reporting better-than-expected earnings and revenue…stocks also got a boost from several deals being announced…T-Mobile says it’s buying Sprint for $26 billion while Marathon Petroleum is acquiring Oil refiner Andeavor for $23 billion..in Toronto, the TSX has gained 17 points while the Venture is up slightly at 784.5…A.I.S. Resources (AIS, TSX-V) has added a 2nd drill rig at its Chiron Project in Salta, Argentina…Chiron appears to be the preferred area in the Pocitos Salar for brine saturated sequences based on geophysics data…“Our modelling suggests there is a significant aquifer at depth,” stated Chief Operating Officer and Exploration Director Phil Thomas…Good Life Networks (GOOD, TSX-V) is adding to Friday’s gains after the company announced record net revenue and record net income…Finteck Select (FTEC, TSX-V) reported this morning that it made a net profit of $435,000 for 2017…volume is picking up again in Pascal Biosciences (PAS, TSX-V) which started the morning with a couple of Haywood crosses…PAS is up 2 pennies at 50 cents through the first 30 minutes of trading…started almost anywhere you live in Alberta, someone wants to open a pot shop…the renamed Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission has received about 450 applications since opening its process March 6 for setting up marijuana retail stores once recreational use of the drug becomes legal in Canada this summer…

6. Cobalt Power Group (CPO, TSX-V) announced this morning that it’s acquiring Western Cobalt Corp., a privately held exploration company that holds 9 strategically located mineral claims in the eastern Athabasca basin of Saskatchewan…CPO, never afraid of dilution, will issue 12.2 million shares to complete the deal…the Western Cobalt properties comprise approximately 80 sq. km of prospective geology contiguous with UEX Corp.’s (UEX, TSX) West Bear Cobalt-Nickel Project…UEX recently announced 2% Cobalt and 1.25% Nickel over 10.5 m in drill hole WBC-001, and 0.73% Co and 0.36% Ni over 20.5 m in drill hole WBC-005 (unfortunately, UEX also has 350 million shares outstanding)…the geological setting of the Western Cobalt properties exhibits the critical features for both Cobalt-Nickel and Uranium mineralization found in the region, including proximity to the eastern margin of the Athabasca sandstone…

7. The ability of Canadian consumers and governments to shoulder an ever increasing mountain of debt is about to be tested…the country’s biggest banks began raising key borrowing rates last week…Frances Donald, senior economist at Manulife Asset Management, stated, “the economy has never been as levered as it currently is, and the economy is far more interest sensitive than it has been in the past, to a degree that we don’t have certainty over how each interest rate hike is going to affect Canadian consumers.  All we know is it’s going to be painful, but how painful isn’t quite clear.”  The heavy debt burden is one of the reasons the central bank has been reluctant to raise borrowing costs further, after hiking interest rates 3 times between July and January…given the nation’s debt load – as of February, households had a record $2.1 trillion of mortgage and non-mortgage debt – Bank of Canada Governor Poloz estimates the economy is 50% more sensitive to rate hikes than in the past…

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