BullMarketRun.com

1. Gold has traded between $1,291 and $1,312 so far today, under pressure as the greenback strengthens…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion has retreated $17 an ounce to $1,292…Silver has slipped 22 cents to $15.04…Copper is steady at $2.89…Nickel is off modestly at $5.81 while Zinc is up slightly at $1.33…Crude Oil has lost 39 cents a barrel to $59.02 while the U.S. Dollar Index has jumped one-fifth of a point to 97.13…the U.S. economy is still a bright spot in the world, and that’s keeping a firm bid under the greenback…China has made unprecedented proposals in talks with the U.S. on a range of issues including forced technology transfer as the 2 sides work to overcome remaining obstacles to a deal to end their protracted trade battle, according to a report from Reuters…President Trump imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese imports last year in a move to force China to change the way it does business with the rest of the world and to pry open more of China’s economy to U.S. companies…that strategy will likely yield results…among Trump’s demands are for Beijing to end practices that Washington alleges result in the systematic theft of U.S. intellectual property and the forced transfer of American technology to Chinese companies…

2. Economic growth in the U.S. slowed to 2.2% in the final quarter of 2018, in line with expectations but down from the previous estimate of 2.6% and well below Q3 growth of 3.4%…however, by all measurements 2018 was the best year for the U.S. economy in many years and well above the 2.2% increase in 2017, President Trump’s first year in office…consumer spending as well as government expenditures at both the state and national levels, and non-residential fixed investment, all were revised down in Q4 and subtracted from GDP…imports also were revised lower amid continuing trade tensions between the U.S. and some of its global trading partners…corporate profits after tax, without inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments, fell 1.7% from the prior quarter, snapping 2018’s growth streak and marking the first quarter-over-quarter decline in profits since the final quarter of 2017…however, profits were up 11.1% in the 4th quarter from a year earlier, which was the largest year-over-year gain since the 1st quarter of 2017…per-share profits rose 16.9% year-over-year in Q4 for the biggest U.S. publicly traded companies, according to financial-data firm Refinitiv…that was the slowest growth rate of the year, but the 5th straight quarter of double-digit earnings growth for companies in the S&P 500…

3. The Dow is up 65 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…in Toronto, the TSX has added 16 points while the Venture has pulled back 7 points to 620 on weakness in marijuana stocks and Gold…however, one of the top movers on the Venture in early trading is Compass Gold (CVB, TSX-V) which has reported 3 discrete and impressive mineralized zones within an 18-m interval at its Sikasso Property in Mali – 4 m at 83.8 g/t Au, starting just 63 m downhole including 1 m @ 329.9 g/t, 4 m @ 7 g/t Au (from 74 m) and 3 m at 4.2 g/t Au (from 78 m)…true widths are estimated at 60% to 90%…mineralization correlates well with adjacent RC drill holes and a 1,600-m target structure identified through recent ground geophysics…more drilling is planned to start soon…the stock has responded well to the news with CVB up 13 cents to 24.5 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…only 30 million shares outstanding…Mali is not Nevada, Ontario or the Eskay Camp in terms of preferred jurisdictions, but this speculative play for traders could have some legs…at the other end of the spectrum, disappointing initial drill results from Miramont Resources (MONT, CSE) at its Cerro Hermosa Project in Peru have sent that stock plummeting (and deservedly so) this morning…although drilling has confirmed the basic geologic model that Miramont had developed for this district, significant mineralized drill intercepts from the first 9 holes are intermittent and discontinuous…drilling was planned to test 3 principal targets of the 5 targets currently identified…the existence of a deep-rooted hydrothermal system was determined, as was the presence of a buried intrusion as surmised from geophysical studies, but at the of the day it’s numbers that count and Miramont came up far short on this first round…

4. California Gold to California “hemp” – a sign of the times…California Gold Mining’s (CGM, CSE) board of directors has approved a high-CBD (cannabidiol) industrial hemp seed propagation project on a portion of its 100%-owned 3,351-acre Fremont Gold Property, located in Mariposa county…the company also announced receipt of confirmation from Mariposa County’s Planning Department that CGM will not be required to (1) seek re-zoning of the property; (2) obtain a Conditional Use Permit; or (3) complete a California Environmental Quality Act review in order to implement its proposed plan to launch the industrial hemp project operations at Fremont…with the recent passage of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, which removed federal prohibitions on the cultivation and sale of industrial hemp in the U.S., subject to compliance with applicable regulations, CGM’s management believes the timing of the County’s confirmation is a very positive development for shareholders…industry research organizations have been projecting substantial growth in the hemp-derived cannabinoid market over the next several years…one such organization, the Brightfield Group, published an article in September 2018 projecting the industrial hemp-derived CBD market could increase to over $22 billion (U.S.) by 2022…Vishal Gupta, CGM’s President and CEO stated, “Given the prolonged down-trend in the junior mining sector, and scarcity of public capital for exploration-stage mineral resource companies, the Company has been contemplating monetization of the Property with a view towards generating positive cash flow.  Our 100% ownership of the land, the availability of water and power, the highway connectivity, the close vicinity of skilled and unskilled labour, and our location within the most populated state in the U.S., makes Fremont an ideal launchpad for CGM’s high-CBD industrial hemp operations”…on the other hand, how can investors have confidence that a management team that has failed in the resource sector can suddenly find business success with a hemp operation?…maybe they’ll get lucky – perhaps, at the very least, they can turn this into a promo play for investors…

5. A First Nations-led group is putting together a bid to buy a 51% interest in Ottawa’s Trans Mountain Oil pipeline with the aim of kick-starting the expansion by giving indigenous communities a financial interest…all First Nations in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia are being invited to participate in the $6.8 billion plan, which values the project at more than $13 billion…the effort is led by Delbert Wapass, former chief of the Thunderchild First Nation in Saskatchewan and current Vice-Chairman of the Indian Resource Council…the group, called Project Reconciliation, hopes to build support for the massive Oil export project…the group is in talks with Canadian banks to lead a syndicated debt issue to finance the acquisition and its share of the expansion costs…the senior secured debt would be underpinned by the long-term shipping contracts that energy companies have signed with Trans Mountain, as well as guarantees that governments have offered to cover construction risks, the group says…that would eliminate any need for taxpayer subsidies or upfront payments by the indigenous communities…

6. A Minnesota regulator has confirmed its approval of Enbridge’s Line 3 Crude Oil pipeline replacement, allowing the $9 billion project that will ship more barrels out of western Canada to move forward, the company said yesterday…the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) initially approved Enbridge’s plan to rebuild the aging 1,031-mile (1,660-km) pipeline that runs from Alberta to Wisconsin in June, but that decision was challenged by Minnesota’s anti-Oil governor in February…on Tuesday, the PUC denied all petitions asking for its decision to be reconsidered, according to minutes of the meeting…Minnesota PUC spokesman Dan Wolf said a formal order will be issued soon.  “The PUC confirmed its decision to approve the conditions placed on L3R’s (Line 3 Replacement) Certificate of Need – conditions meant to protect Minnesotans – allowing this critical energy infrastructure modernization project to move forward,” Enbridge said in a statement…

7. Canada’s cannabis industry could see its first-mover advantage cut short if a piece of legislation that would open the U.S. banking sector to cannabis companies is eventually passed, some industry watchers say…the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, which would protect U.S. banks working with cannabis companies from criminal scrutiny by regulators, is due to face a markup in front of the House Financial Services Committee today…that process, in which a congressional committee debates and amends proposed legislation before voting on the version of the bill that will be submitted to the House, is one of the final steps in a years-long campaign by marijuana activists to allow cannabis companies to gain full access to financial services – everything from bank accounts, to lines of credit, to credit cards…if that happens, some argue that Canadian cannabis companies will face intense competition from their American counterparts, who would finally have access to major lines of financing, enabling them to grow quickly and fully leverage domestic demand for cannabis…

Most Popular Recent BMR Posts

Video: How This Innovative Junior Is Winning The “Battery Arms Race” In Northern Ontario

“The Enemies Of Progress, The Radical Environmentalists, Are Ramping Up For A War In The Woods”

Why Are These People Smiling? – Their Stock Has Tanked 80%!

Turbocharged Nickel

Commodity Check!

The Template For The Next 10% Stake In Garibaldi Resources

Thunder In The Corridor!

The Nickel Mountain Magma Highway

Two Big Plays Emerge in B.C., Setting The Stage For A Summer To Remember

How To Bring A Junior Resource Market To Life!

The Dramatic New Chase For A Nickel-Copper-Rich Massive Sulphide Deposit In The Heart Of A Famous Gold Camp

Northern Ontario Cobalt Junior Attracts Interest From Metal Trading Companies

The Most Important Venture Development Since The New Bull Market Began