Check out Daniel’s Den later today and visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.
1. Markets are quiet ahead of today’s Fed decision…as of 7:00 am Pacific, Gold is unchanged at $1,304 after trading as high as $1,312…Silver is up 18 cents at $16.32…Copper has added 2 pennies to $3.07…Nickel has jumped 13 cents to $6.32 while Zinc is a penny higher at $1.40…Cobalt is unchanged at $40.26…Crude Oil is off slightly at $67.18…banks have raised their forecasts for Oil prices for the 7th month in a row on the back of heightened geopolitical risks and OPEC-led production cuts…Iran’s Oil exports hit 2.6 million barrels per day in April, a record since the lifting of sanctions in 2016, with China and India buying more than half of Iran’s Oil…the Dollar Index has pulled back one-fifth of a point to 92.30…a band of strong resistance stretches from 92 to 93…in economic news, private sector U.S. jobs growth was in line with expectations in April as payrolls processor ADP said this morning that 204,000 jobs were created during the month…the Labor Department reports non-farm payrolls on Friday…
2. Exchange-traded-product investors took advantage of the dip in Gold last week to increase their exposure to the metal by 9 tonnes, according to Standard Chartered…however, investors reduced their exposure to other precious metals…Silver outflows reached 343 tonnes over the past week, Platinum net redemptions came to 10,400 ounces and those for Palladium totaled 12,500 ounces…Standard Chartered added that China’s Palladium imports are still down for 2018, though they rose 2% year-on-year in March. “Despite lingering concerns around auto sales and new energy vehicles, underlying trends in China suggest Palladium demand is likely to be supported, at least this year,” the firm concluded…
3. The Dow has fallen 77 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…most of Wall Street got it wrong – Apple (AAPL, NASDAQ) reported fiscal Q2 earnings above expectations after the close yesterday, despite a slight miss in its iPhone unit sales number versus estimates…investors are also relieved due to the company’s much better than feared June quarter sales guidance range…with a mountain of overseas cash suddenly freed up by the U.S. tax overhaul, Apple bought back $23.5 billion of its own stock in the March quarter, a record amount for any U.S. company, and yesterday it added $100 billion to its target for future repurchases…it also doled out another $3.2 billion in dividends and will boost them by 16% going forward…in Toronto, the TSX has added 40 points…the TSX continues to show increasing technical strength which bodes well for the month of May…the Venture, searching for a catalyst, is 2 points lower in light trading at 774…Datametrex (DM, TSX-V) reported this morning that it’s a step closer to publicly listing its subsidiary, Graph Blockchain, on the CSE…a date of record will be set in the near future…
4. The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (TGOD, TSX) has successfully completed an initial public offering of 31.51 million units of the company at a price of $3.65 per unit for total gross proceeds of $115 million…the common shares as well as the common share purchase warrants it issued commenced trading this morning under the symbols “TGOD” and “TGOD.WT” on the TSX…TGOD is trading at $3.79 as of 7:00 am Pacific…Aurora Cannabis took 17.5% of the IPO issue for a total investment of $23 million, increasing its stake in the company to 39.7 million shares…TGOD is currently completing a 14,000 kg per year facility in Ancaster, as well as is constructing an 820,000 sq. ft., 104,000 kg per annum, high-technology cannabis facility in Valleyfield, Quebec…Aurora and TGOD have also entered into a supply contract, providing Aurora with the right to purchase 20% of TGOD’s annual production of organic cannabis from TGOD’s Ancaster and Valleyfield facilities…consequently, Aurora anticipates being able to procure in excess of 23,000 kg per annum of premium organic products once TGOD’s Valleyfield and Ancaster facilities are completed and at full capacity…
5. Strong Q1 results for Kirkland Lake Gold (KL, TSX)…net earnings increased year-over-year to $53.8 million U.S. ($0.25/share) compared to $13.1 million ($0.06/share) in Q1 2017 and $41.0 million ($0.20/share) in Q4 2017…the company also posted record quarterly EBITDA of $105.9 million versus $66.9 million in Q1 2017 and $103.9 million in Q4 2017…solid cash flow from operating activities totaled $89.6 million vs. $67.9 million in Q1 2017 and a quarterly record of $103.4 million in Q4 2017…cash increased $43.7 million or 19% to $275.3 million at March 31, 2018 from $231.6 million at the end of 2017….production jumped to 147,644 ounces from 130,425 ounces in Q1 2017 and compared to record quarterly production of 165,579 ounces in Q4 2017…All-In-Sustaining-Costs (AISC) averaged $833 versus $873 in Q1 2017 and $816 in Q4 2017…Tony Makuch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kirkland Lake Gold, commented: “Our Q1 2018 results surpassed target levels for the quarter in most key areas and, as a result, we entered the second quarter tracking very well against our consolidated 2018 guidance. Looking ahead, we expect higher levels of production as the year progresses, which will contribute to further improvements in unit costs. Our capital expenditures will increase from Q1 2018 levels over the balance of the year as we ramp up the Macassa shaft project and key growth projects at Fosterville. At Macassa, work on the shaft project in Q1 2018 was focused on permitting and engineering, with surface construction commencing in the second quarter. At Fosterville, a number of permits were received in April, which will lead to an acceleration of work going forward.”
6. Alamos Gold (AGI, TSX), up in early trading, has recorded its 4th consecutive quarter of record production, though net earnings for Q1 came in at just $600,000…the Island Gold mine, acquired through last year’s buyout of Richmont Mines, achieved record quarterly Gold production of 28,100 ounces in its first full quarter as part of Alamos…mine-site AISC of $633 per ounce was well below guidance…production guidance at Island Gold has been increased to between 95,000 and 105,000 ounces for 2018…notably, there has been a 400% increase in Reserves and a 60% increase in the Reserve grade at Island Gold since 2014…this operation should help drive profitably for AGI in the years ahead…reflecting the strong start to the year, Alamos has increased company-wide 2018 production guidance to a range of 490,000 to 530,000 ounces, representing a 19% increase over 2017 with AISC expected to average $950 per ounce…
7. A new poll conducted by IPSOS Reid shows that a strong majority of Canadians support the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, so why are politicians so afraid of the vocal minority?…56% of respondents say they support the expansion of the pipeline from Alberta to B.C.’s coast, while 24% respondents oppose it…20% of Canadians aren’t sure whether or not they should support it…while most of the opposition to the pipeline expansion has come from B.C., the poll found that 55% of British Columbian respondents support it, while only 37% are against it…opposition is concentrated mostly in Metro Vancouver and in densely populated areas of Vancouver Island, where the NDP and Greens draw most of their support. Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Pubic Affairs, told Global News, “The people who are opposed, it doesn’t have to be a big group to flood a town hall. I think the volume of sound is much louder than the level of public opinion they represent.”
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