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1. Gold prices have climbed for the 8th time in the last 9 sessions, hitting a fresh 6-month high as the U.S. Dollar Index continues to weaken…bullion has traded between $1,275 and $1,283 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, it’s up $3 an ounce at $1,278…Gold prices have gained nearly 8% since early October when bets against the yellow metal hit a record high…Silver has added 14 cents to $15.33…Copper, on track to post its first weekly gain in 5 weeks, is up 2 pennies at $2.73…concerns over slowing economic growth in China have left Copper down 17% this year but the metal appears to have stabilized above very strong support…Nickel and Zinc are both down slightly at $4.81 and $1.14, respectively…Cobalt is up 23 cents at $25.17 ahead of Sunday’s scheduled elections in the DRC…Crude Oil is 54 cents higher at $45.54 while the U.S. Dollar Index has fallen nearly one-third of a point to 96.29…
2. Shoppers delivered the strongest holiday sales increase for U.S. retailers in 6 years, according to early data…total retail sales, excluding automobiles, rose 5.1% between November 1 and December 24 from a year earlier, according to MasterCard Spending Pulse, which tracks both online and in-store spending with all forms of payment…overall, U.S. consumers spent over $850 billion this holiday season, according to MasterCard…the figures suggest that a stock-market swoon, a partial government shutdown and more doom and gloom from the Trump-hating mainstream media haven’t curbed consumer confidence and spending…“Wall Street has been running around like a chicken with its head cut off, while Mr. and Mrs. Main Street are happy with their jobs, enjoying their best wage increases in a decade,” said Craig Johnson, President of Customer Growth Partners, a retail research and consulting firm…a recent drop in gas prices has helped last-minute spending, he said…
3. China has opened the door to imports of rice from the United States for the first time ever in what could signal a warming of relations between the world’s 2 biggest economies after a frosty year marked by tensions and tit-for-tat tariffs…the green light from Chinese customs, indicated in a statement posted on the customs authority’s website today, comes in the run-up to talks between the countries in January after President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a moratorium on higher tariffs that would affect trade worth hundred of billions of dollars…it’s not clear how much rice China might seek to buy from the United States…but the move, which comes after years of talks on the matter, follows pledges from China’s commerce ministry of further U.S. trade openings earlier this week…as of yesterday, imports of brown rice, polished rice and crushed rice from the U.S. are now permitted, as long as cargoes meet China’s inspection standards and are registered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture…
4. American cannabis retail company Green Growth Brands (GGB, CSE) says it intends to make a $2.8 billion hostile bid for Aphria (APHA, TSX), the major Canadian cannabis producer that has seen its stock plunge in the past month after an attack from short-sellers…Ohio-based GGB said it was planning to offer Aphria shareholders $11 per share in an all-stock deal, a 45% premium to Aphria’s closing price yesterday of $7.57…the market isn’t exactly enamoured with the offer as Aphria is trading just 87 cents higher at $8.44 as of 7:00 am Pacific…the $11 per share valuation is based on $7 per GGB share, a price nearly 40% above where that stock is currently trading…however, Green Growth says it expects to complete a concurrent brokered financing of $300 million at a price per share of $7, to both illustrate confidence in the value of the consideration under the offer and to finance the business growth of the combined entity….GGB’s management apparently presented the offer to Aphria yesterday and went public with its proposal less than 6 hours later after the market had closed…Aphria Chairman Irwin Simon stated, “While we appreciate GGB’s interest in the value we have created at Aphria and our significant growth prospects, their proposal falls short of rewarding our shareholders for participating in such a transaction. Further, the proposed offer is quite risky given GGB’s condition to complete a brokered financing at a price that is more than double the recent average of their share price, as a key term to the proposal. The board has determined that the GGB proposal, as it currently stands, significantly undervalues the company. Aphria has a tremendous market opportunity as a leader in the sector and a strategic vision to meet those opportunities. Our focus is to realize that value for the benefit of all our shareholders”…
5. Amid all the talk of a global economic slowdown, India is showing signs of overcoming tight money conditions with lending and business activity picking up in Asia’s 3rd-largest economy…an overall activity indicator measuring “animal spirits” moved two notches up in November from a month ago…the gauge, compiled by Bloomberg News, reflects strength in new orders boosting business activity, but more importantly a rebound in a liquidity indicator…consumer sentiment and demand remained subdued, but the government’s decision earlier this month to slash taxes on some goods and services may help stoke an economy that saw expansion slow in the 3 months through September…activity in the manufacturing and services’ sectors picked up in November, while inflows of new work expanded at the fastest pace in over 2 years, supporting further job creation and an uptick in business confidence…meanwhile, the Nikkei India Composite PMI Output Index rose to 54.5 in November from 53.0 in October, the fastest expansion in private sector activity since October 2016…the Nikkei India services gauge rose to the strongest since July, with firms highlighting greater client numbers, favorable market conditions and sales growth…
6. The Dow is up another 95 points as of 7:00 am Pacific…the index closed 260 points higher yesterday after falling as much as 611 points…that reversal marked the Dow’s biggest intraday turnaround in 8 years…the S&P 500 also posted solid gains after declining more than 2% while the NASDAQ erased a 3% loss…the TSX has jumped 129 points while the Venture has added 4 points to 542 through the first 30 minutes of trading today…the Venture is now above its 10-day moving average for the first time since early November as more signs of a recovery appear…Westhaven Ventures (WHN, TSX-V), with more assay results pending from a high-grade Gold discovery at its Shovelnose Property near Merritt, is off a penny at $1.26 after a sharp gain yesterday…technical bullishness suggests WHN should soon overcome measured Fib. resistance at $1.28 and proceed to a new high…
7. Protests continue in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s largest supplier of Cobalt, where Presidential elections have been postponed…police fired tear gas to disperse dozens of protesters who blocked roads and burned tires in Beni, one of 3 cities in opposition strongholds where elections have been delayed until March because of terrorism and an ongoing Ebola outbreak…the rest of the country is scheduled to vote on Sunday…however, opposition candidate Martin Fayulu told the Associated Press that up to 5 million of Congo’s 40 million voters might not be able to cast ballots on Sunday, claiming that voting machines have yet to be delivered to some areas…Fayulu’s coalition called for a nationwide “ghost town” strike today but urged people to remain calm…meanwhile, Congo President Joseph Kabila remains defiant in the face of international pressure…yesterday, Kabila’s foreign minister ordered the European Union ambassador to leave the country within 48 hours, citing EU sanctions on Kabila’s preferred successor…
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IMO, Ggb just telegraphed their near future share price target of 7.00 . Nice.
Comment by Donald — December 28, 2018 @ 9:27 am
Yes, Donald, I’d agree…looks like they’re playing this one smart…
Comment by Jon - BMR — December 28, 2018 @ 9:32 am
Wtf- Osk announces 25 million pp by the Caisse in October, an investment arm of the Quebec gov’t and after numerous funding and loans by osisko royalties , another entity that got funds from Quebec entities, and the Caisse , Osk now announces a huge buyback. Is this legit????.
Comment by Donald — December 28, 2018 @ 9:53 am