BullMarketRun.com

Visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information!

1. Spot Gold has traded between $1,705 and $1,695 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific the yellow metal is off $7 an ounce at $1,705 ahead of today’s Fed decision and Jerome Powell news conference…Wall Street expects calming words from the Fed…equity markets pushed aggressively higher at the open this morning, aided significantly by renewed hopes for a drug to fight the Wuhan COVID-19 pandemic…this helped investors shrug off data showing the biggest U.S. economic contraction since 2008 in the 1st quarter…upbeat earnings reports from Boeing and Google-parent Alphabet added to the bullish sentiment…the Fed is not expected to announce any new policy initiatives when its meeting ends later this morning, but it could provide more details on the unprecedented moves it made to help the economy and financial markets over the past 6 weeks…Silver has gained 8 cents to $15.23…Copper has added 3 pennies to $2.37 while Nickel and Zinc are both relatively flat at $5.55 and 87 cents, respectively…on the Crude Oil front, the June WTI contract has jumped by more than 25%, up $3.30 a barrel to $15.64, while the U.S. Dollar Index is off one-quarter of a point at 99.60…6 U.S. Oil firms are expected to shut 300,000 barrels per day of production in May and June…Oklahoma-based Continental Resources is taking the most drastic action thus far, Rystad reported, forecasting a cut of 69,000 bpd from Continental in April and nearly 150,000 bpd in May and June…in March, American producers were still pumping at record highs, even as prices plunged due to the loss of demand from the pandemic…government data showed production at 12.2 million bpd in the 3rd week of April, a stunning 900,000 bpd less than its record peak of 13.1 million bpd just a month prior…the European Central Bank is expected to scale up its giant bond-buying program, possibly as soon as tomorrow, as it seeks even more firepower to help support eurozone governments blunt the economic damage wrought by the pandemic and government actions to combat it…Elon Musk hit out against the lockdowns that have kept businesses throughout the U.S. closed for more than a month in a series of tweets late yesterday…“Give people their freedom back!”, the Tesla CEO said as he promoted a Wall Street Journal analysis that suggested closures don’t save many lives…

2. Commerzbank looks for Gold to remain underpinned by efforts of central banks, including the Federal Reserve, to expand liquidity…while easing slightly so far this week, the metal remains around the $1,700 level that it reclaimed this spring for the first time in 7 years…“We do not expect any new decisions to be taken at the meeting given that the Fed in March and April already set in motion far-reaching measures to combat the crisis caused by the lockdown,” said respected Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch…“As a result, the Fed’s balance sheet already soared by a good $2 trillion to $6.4 trillion in the space of 5 weeks. The ongoing bond purchases and various credit facilities could even see the balance sheet rise to $10 trillion in the next few months, which would equate to nearly half of U.S. GDP. This unprecedented expansion of liquidity should continue to boost Gold, as Gold cannot be reproduced at will in the same way”...

3. The U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter by its fastest rate since the 2008 financial crisis, ending the longest expansion on record as lockdowns aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic choked off economic activity…GDP, the value of all goods and services produced by the economy, shrank at a 4.8% cent annualized rate in the first 3 months of the year, according to the preliminary estimate released this morning by the Commerce Department…Q1 marked the first quarterly contraction in 6 years and compared with economists’ forecasts for a 4% decline in output…this 2nd quarter will be horrendous – the worst ever in U.S. history – but equity markets are looking beyond that to a potential robust recovery during the 2nd half of the year…much of the mainstream media, though, actually seems to be rooting for more misery in their hope that the pandemic and a bad economy will allow Joe Biden to upend Trump in November…

4. Canada’s economic recovery can be expected to be slower than it should be, in part due to the the Trudeau government’s CERB program which is fundamentally flawed…CERB recipients are not required to actively seek work or even be “ready and willing” to…already there are stories about people on CERB refusing to return to work or accept new employment opportunities when they have arisen…there’s simply no incentive for them to return to the workforce the next few months…between April 6 and 23, the government received 7.12 million unique CERB applications and paid $22.4 billion in benefits…the longer the CERB lasts, and the more familiar its rules become both to potential users and to employees who must choose whether they work and how much they earn, the more the program’s distortions of Canada’s labour market begin to matter…that’s Economics 101…the current federal government simply doesn’t have the economic management skills to drive Canada vigorously and successfully out of this severe downturn…

5. This should prove interesting: Quebec, refreshingly, is going in the opposite direction of Ontario (and just about every other province in Canada) in terms of how it’s dealing with the reopening of its economy…Quebec has seen the most COVID-19 cases and deaths than any other province (the epidemic has been mostly centred in Montreal, and long-term care homes have been hit especially hard) but it also plans to reopen businesses and schools faster than anywhere else…the province’s schedule stands in sharp contrast to Ford’s Ontario and other provinces who are moving much more slowly – even provinces where new cases have effectively disappeared…New Brunswick, for example, is only infected by a virus of fear – it has reported zero new cases for 10 days in a row, but ridiculously is still taking more gradual steps than Quebec, which reported 775 new cases and 83 new deaths yesterday alone…Quebec Premier François Legault announced that most retail stores will be able to reopen on May 4, except in Montreal, which will be a week later…the construction and the manufacturing sectors will be allowed to start reopening May 11…this follows yesterday’s announcement that elementary schools and daycares will start reopening on May 11…“Our challenge is to gradually re-start the economy without re-starting the pandemic,” Legault said, adding that announcements for more sectors to reopen will come over the next few weeks (mining and exploration has already been declared an essential service)…“The idea is to gradually add workers and analyze the effect on the contagion. But one thing is clear: If we want our plan to work, we need to continue our efforts of physical distancing, and we need to continue to protect the most vulnerable”…Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s public health director, said the virus will continue to circulate and needs to be carefully managed, but said it’s also important to balance other health objectives such as mental health that are affected by shuttering the economy…about 1.2 million Quebecers have lost their jobs since lockdown measures were implemented and the new measures target bringing about 450,000 of them back by the end of May…Canada is closing in on 50,000 known cases of the Wuhan virus, of which more than 2,700 have been fatal…deaths in senior and long-term care facilities make up 79% of COVID-19 fatalities, according to government data – particularly in Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia…

6. The Dow is up 456 points through the first 30 minutes of trading as it approaches the key 25,000 level…the market was encouraged by the results of a study of Gilead’s (GILD, NASDAQ) remdesivir drug conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases…the study met its primary endpoint, the drugmaker said this morning, lifting expectations for a potential coronavirus treatment…the clinical trial involved 397 patients with severe cases of COVID-19 (remember last week’s Fake News negative report from China regarding remdesivir, “accidentally” leaked by their enablers at the WHO?)…DarioHealth (DRIO, NASDAQ), a recent BMR recommendation and a pioneer in global digital therapeutics (DTx), announced this morning a new partnership with value-based telemedicine provider MediOrbis to expand Dario’s existing service offering with a full suite of telemedicine capabilities for its 50,000 active users…the decision to expand Dario’s remote care services is driven by the increased risk for COVID-19 complications faced by Dario’s 50,000 users who depend on Dario’s digital platform to manage chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension and obesity…in Toronto, the TSX has shot up 286 points while the Venture is 3 points higher at 474…VSBLTY Groupie Technologies (VSBY, CSE) broke out above a 1-year down channel on its weekly chart on record volume yesterday…it’s off a penny at 27 cents in early trading but the trend is your friend – the technical pattern is highly reliable and another robust move to the upside can be expected after yesterday’s 5-cent gain…Probe Metals (PRB, TSX-V) is up for the 6th consecutive session following very encouraging drill results from the company’s Monique Property, next to a 3+ million ounce resource, while PRB has also gained 100% ownership of a large land package along the Detour Trend, hugging Kirkland Lake Gold (KL, TSX, NYSE) after buying out SOQUEM’s 25% interest in the 2 companies’ JV…

7. Papua New Guinea’s reputation as a relatively “safe” mining jurisdiction is coming into question…the government has threatened to take control of a Gold mine operated by Barrick (ABX, TSX; GOLD, NYSE) after the company’s local unit suspended operations on the weekend following news the mine’s lease would not be renewed…Barrick had applied for a 20-year lease renewal with its joint-venture partner, China’s Zijin Mining Group, of the Porgera mine that Papua New Guinea rejected last Friday…Barrick had run into opposition from some Papua New Guinea landowners and residents…critics say the Porgera mine has polluted the water supply and created other environmental and social problems, with minimal economic returns for locals…Barrick says the lack of renewal is tantamount to nationalization…its local unit, Barrick (Niugini) Ltd., suspended operations on Saturday because the government had not indicated that it would renew the lease…Barrick and Zijin each own 47.5%of the mine, with the remaining 5% by a local landowner group…PNG Prime Minister James Marape warned Barrick in a social-media post late Monday that the government would be forced to take control of the mine if it were to be closed…K92 Mining (KNT, TSX-V), which operates the Kainantu Gold mine in Papua New Guinea, has lost 15% of its value since last Thursday due to Barrick’s troubles in that country…

Most Popular Recent BMR Posts

Rapid Response!

How This Pandemic Will Ultimately Help Copper

Wuhan COVID-19 Virus Update

The Cost Of Doing Business With China (The CCP)

“Silver Lining”: Innovative Vancouver Company Provides Help During Crisis

COVID-19 Update

Smithers Shakes Off Turmoil For A Major 3-Day Event Connecting Hockey And The Resource Sector

Turbocharged Nickel

Commodity Check!

The Nickel Mountain Magma Highway

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