Check back later this morning for today’s Morning Musings.
1. Gold prices rose to their highest levels in 2 weeks today, touching $1,151, on year-end “window dressing” and a minor pullback in the U.S. Dollar Index…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $3 an ounce at $1,145…in China, the world’s biggest physical bullion exchange said yesterday that it will curb the amount of Gold investors can trade at one time, a move analysts said would limit institutional investors’ influence on prices…
2. Despite Gold’s sell-off since the November 8 U.S. elections, the metal is still 8% higher than it was at the start of the year and is about to post its first annual increase after 3 years of declines…
3. Crude Oil prices are holding steady around $54 a barrel with inventory data due today from the U.S. Department of Energy…yesterday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a surprising 4.2 million barrel increase in U.S. Crude stocks in the week to December 23, so traders will be watching if that figure is confirmed by the government’s update…meanwhile, it was revealed today that a committee of OPEC and non-OPEC producers will meet in Vienna January 21-22 to discuss compliance with the recent production agreement…Crude will be positively impacted by the OPEC and non-OPEC cuts should the agreed reductions be largely adhered to over the next 6 months…
4. The Venture has pushed slightly above its 50-day moving average for the first time since falling below that SMA in late September…the Index posted one of its biggest gains of the year yesterday, climbing 18 points, and is up another 4 points to 750 as of 7:00 am Pacific…that’s a 5.5% jump from the December 20 intra-day low of 711…the broader markets are also positive in early trading with the TSX up 56 points and the Dow ahead by 13 points…
5. Money keeps pouring into the marijuana sector…CanniMed Therapeutics (CMED, TSX) has successfully completed its IPO, issuing 5 million common shares at a price of $12 per share for total gross proceeds of $60 million…CMED begin trading this morning on the TSX…the stock opened at $13.11 but has fallen back to $10.80 as of 7:00 am Pacific…the Canadian-based company company has 15 years of pharmaceutical cannabis cultivation experience, a state-of-the-art GMP-compliant plant production process, and world-class research and development platforms with a wide range of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis products…
6. Lico Energy Metals (LIC, TSX-V) got halted by “error” pre-market this morning, which is unusual, and the stock resumed trading at 7:00 am Pacific at 13.5 cents…the company is focused on the Cobalt and Lithium sectors, and an initial work program started earlier this month at Lico’s recently optioned Teledyne Property near Cobalt, Ontario…Teledyne adjoins the south and west boundaries of claims that hosted the past producing Agaunico mine…from 1905 through to 1961, Agaunico produced a total of 4.35 million pounds of Cobalt and 980,000 ounces of Silver…a significant portion of the Cobalt that was produced at Agaunico mine was located along structures that extended southward onto LIC’s Teledyne…
7. Callinex Mines (CNX, TSX-V) has completed another drill hole at its Pine Bay VMS Project near Flin Flon with assay results expected by about mid-January…that hole tested the adjacent Pine Bay VMS horizon located northwest of the Cabin zone that hosts the new discovery…2 holes have been partially completed to test the downdip extension of the new discovery and drilling will resume after the holidays…meanwhile, the company has raised an additional $2.4 million from the exercise of warrants to boost its cash position to $10 million…CNX is off a penny at 50 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…
