Visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information!
1. Spot Gold has traded between $1,722 and $1,690 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific the yellow metal is off $7 an ounce at $1,705…Gold is still on the verge of recording its best month in 4 years, up about 9%, as expectations of more monetary easing from central banks and persistent worries over a global recession continue to drive safe-haven demand…yesterday the Fed promised to expand emergency programs as needed to help the battered economy…meanwhile, the ECB has launched a fresh push to lend to banks at ultra-low rates after data published this morning showed that the euro zone’s economy shrank by the fastest rate on record in Q1…in a move to bolster the European banking system’s access to funds and to avoid a drying up of credit, the ECB said it would lend money at rates as low as minus 1% to banks…Silver has lost 16 cents to $15.11 after topping $15.50 overnight…Palladium has jumped $32 an ounce to $1,902…base metals are off slightly with Copper, Nickel and Zinc at $2.34, $5.49 and 87 cents, respectively…on the Crude Oil front, the June WTI contract has gained another $2.24 a barrel to $17.30…Royal Dutch Shell has cut its dividend for the first time since WWII – the drop in Oil prices triggered by the pandemic has cut the company’s quarterly earnings in half…Macy’s is planning to reopen 68 department stores Monday in states including South Carolina and Georgia where local governments are loosening lockdown restrictions…Macy’s expects to have all of its roughly 775 stores reopened in 6 weeks, should infection rates taper off and local governments allow retailers to proceed…Manitoba will begin to open some businesses and increase recreation opportunities starting next week, including non-essential healthcare and retail businesses, but they will need to operate under strict guidelines regarding physical distancing and cleaning practices…the province said its reopening plan, called “Restoring Safe Services: Manitoba’s Pandemic Recovery Roadmap”, consists of multiple phases…the timing of each phase is subject to change, based on the advice of medical experts…Canadians will get an update today on 2 of the costliest emergency aid programs the federal government has initiated to help them weather the COVID-19 crisis…the parliamentary budget officer is scheduled to post a costing note on the 75% wage subsidy – a program the government expects to cost $73 billion and which it has called the largest economic policy in Canada since WWII…Yves Giroux is also expected to post a costing note on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which is providing $2,000 a month for 4 months to Canadians forced out of work due to the pandemic…there are a myriad of problems with that expensive program, including the fact people can turn down work and “stay at home”, as Justin Trudeau encourages, and still receive their $2,000 a month payment – no incentive to return to the workforce this quarter…
2. First-time filings for unemployment insurance hit a modestly higher-than-expected 3.84 million in the U.S. last week as the wave of economic pain continues, though the worst appears to be in the past according to Labor Department figures this morning…jobless claims for the week ended April 25 came in at the lowest level since March 21 but bring the rolling 6-week total to 30.3 million as part of the worst employment crisis in U.S. history…claims hit a record 6.87 million for the week of March 28 and have declined each week since then…however, filings continue at a high pace as the government has expanded the list of those eligible for benefits and amid continued difficulties at state offices for claims filers…the Economic Policy Institute earlier this week estimated that the total current claims level probably undercounts by as much as 12 million those who are eligible for benefits but not getting them due to the inability to file or other roadblocks…
3. The United States is “neck-and-neck” with China in the race to develop an effective Wuhan COVID-19 virus vaccine, according to Johns Hopkins University health policy and management professor Dr. Marty Makary…“There are 70 vaccines in different stages of development,” said Makary, a Fox News contributor…“There are 7 that are being given in patients right now. We’re sort of neck-and-neck with China – we’ve got 3, they’ve got 3“…Makary added that the Chinese vaccines “are actually in further stages (of development). Their drugs are in Phase 2 or 3, and it’s a real race. The country that gets there first will have a significant advantage because they will control the supply for the rest of the world and the risk is if we aren’t there first, we could get locked out”…Makary concluded that the search for a vaccine was “moving along” but added that “it will probably take a year” before such a treatment becomes widely available…
4. Researchers released some good news about a possible treatment for the Wuhan COVID-19 virus yesterday – evidence that the experimental drug remdesivir might help patients recover more quickly from the infection…the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved any drugs for the treatment of the virus but it plans to announce an emergency-use authorization for remdesivir, according to media reports this morning…the authorization could come as soon as the middle of next week…the government-funded study found that patients who took remdesivir recovered faster than patients who did not…it’s not a home run, but federal officials are keen to provide any hope they can in a pandemic that has infected more than 1 million Americans and killed close to 60,000 of them…the FDA says it’s in talks with Gilead Sciences (GILD, NASDAQ) about making the drug available to patients…
5. The WGC said that ETF inflows in the 1st quarter were up more than 300% compared to inflows last year…in its Gold Demands Trends report issued this morning, the World Gold Council said that the dominant theme in the Gold market remains unprecedented investor demand for the yellow metal through exchange-traded funds…the report said that Gold-backed ETFs saw inflows of more than 298 tons in the first 3 months of the year, which pushed global holdings in these products to a record high of 3,185 tons…“The coronavirus outbreak, which swept the globe during the 1st quarter, was the single biggest factor influencing Gold demand. As the scale of the pandemic – and its potential economic impact – started to emerge, investors sought safe-haven assets”, the WGC stated...ETF demand, which hit its highest level in 4 years, helped drive prices to a nearly 8-year high…“Consequently, global Gold demand in value terms reached $55 billion (U.S.), the highest since Q2 2013,” the analysts said…a rush into ETFs is pretty much the 1 factor that drove Gold demand as key sectors saw significant declines…bullion investment in coins and bars in the 1st quarter, for example, fell to 241.6 tons, down 6% from the 1st quarter of 2019…however, it was a tale of 2 markets as Western demand for bullion coins hit a 3-year high of 76.9 tons, an increase of 36% from last year…while the Gold market continued to see demand growth, the market also saw a decline in supply…the WGC said that total Gold supply in the 1st quarter was 1,066.2 tons, down 4% compared to the same period last year…mine supply dropped 3% as many miners started shutting down production last month due to the pandemic…
6. The Dow is off 194 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…the index remains on target, though, for its best month since 1987 while the S&P 500 – if it rebounds into positive territory today – has a chance to post its best monthly performance since 1974…investors are looking beyond horrific economic data to the potential for a robust recovery during the 2nd half of the year…it was reported this morning that U.S. consumer spending, the economy’s key driver, fell 7.5% in March, the steepest monthly decline in records tracing back to 1959…in Toronto, the TSX is down nearly 200 points in early trading while the Venture has slipped 2 points to 475…Yamana Gold (YRI, TSX; AUY, NYSE) is up slightly after posting adjusted net earnings of $47.2 million (U.S.) or 5 cents per share (above the consensus estimate) compared to $24 million or 3 cents per share a year earlier…net free cash flow of $91.1 million exceeded the average of the past 4 quarters by 14%, following exceptional operational performances in Q1, despite the challenges stemming from the pandemic…the company is also increasing its dividend…Marathon Gold (MOZ, TSX), one of our favorite Gold stocks, is up a penny at $1.60, hitting its best level since January…1911 Gold (AUMB, TSX-V) has drilled 26.4 g/t Au over 2.03 m, including 51 g/t over 1.03 m, at the Tinney target at its 100%-owned Rice Lake Project…the zone consists of a shear vein with local visible Gold, hosted by intensely sheared tholeiitic basalt…another drill hole, located 290 m along strike to the west-northwest along the same structure, returned several widely spaced zones of Gold mineralization, highlighted by 43.27 g/t Au over 0.65 m (151.65 to 152.30 m downhole), from a shear vein containing visible Gold…significantly, this intercept is hosted by the Gunnar porphyry, indicating that the Tinney shear may intersect this intrusion at depth…results are pending from 1 additional drill hole that targeted the modelled line of intersection between the shear zone and porphyry…AUMB is up 3 pennies at 45 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…CloudMD (DOC, CSE) continues to roll along…the company announced this morning that Livecare has seen dramatic growth since January with almost 600 practitioners now using the stand-alone Telehealth platform…since March, CloudMD has onboarded over 200 new customers on the Livecare platform, averaging over 1,300 telemedicine visits a week and increasing…DOC is unchanged 74 cents as of 7:00 Pacific with our latest chart showing next resistance around the 90-cent level…with many in-person healthcare practices suspended due to COVID-19 restrictions, Livecare offers a turnkey solution for practitioners transitioning their businesses to provide instant virtual care to patients when they need it…
7. All the COVID-19 shutdowns have impacted Silver mining production the most, according to the GlobalData report…the latest report from GlobalData looked at different mining sectors and how they have been affected across the globe…Silver fared the worst, while Gold was hurt the least out of all the major mining sectors the report looked at…there were temporary shutdowns introduced by more than 1,600 mines across 32 countries as of April 3, the report stated…since then, total mine shutdowns have dropped in half…aside from temporary shutdowns, the mines that were working were functioning at reduced capacity, limiting the number of workers on site to minimize the spread of COVID-19…at the end of the day, Silver production was hit the most by temporary shutdowns…as of April 27 there was an equivalent of 65.8% of yearly global Silver production still on hold, GlobalData identified…companies that withdrew production guidance included First Majestic, Hochschild, Hecla and Endeavour Silver…by comparison, 32% of Uranium production, 23.8% of Zinc, 19.5% Platinum, 14.6% of Nickel, 14.4% of diamonds, 12.7% of Copper, 12% of Lead, 10% of Manganese, and 9% of Gold production was placed on hold, said GlobalData senior mining analyst Vinneth Bajaj…lockdowns remain in place in several key jurisdictions including Peru and Mexico…
Most Popular Recent BMR Posts
How This Pandemic Will Ultimately Help Copper
The Cost Of Doing Business With China (The CCP)
“Silver Lining”: Innovative Vancouver Company Provides Help During Crisis
Smithers Shakes Off Turmoil For A Major 3-Day Event Connecting Hockey And The Resource Sector
Jon what is your take on agn announcing a PP?
Comment by Don — April 30, 2020 @ 4:48 pm