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1. Spot Gold has traded between $1,969 and $1,982 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, Gold is off $1 an ounce at $1,977…just a matter of time before Gold cracks the $2,000 barrier…trading behavior is changing in the Gold space with investors preferring physical versus paper (bullish) while at the same time investing more in ETFs than futures…“According to traders, 102 tons of Gold were delivered to the holders of expiring Gold future contracts on the Comex last Thursday – this also fits the picture of changed investor behavior,” stated Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch…“Physical deliveries on the Comex have been rising for months: they totalled just 26 tons in February, 98 tons in April and as much as 171 tons in June”…another shift in the trading pattern has been investors’ preference for Gold ETFs versus future contracts…“Clearly there has been a shift in investor preferences: rather than investing in futures contracts, they are opting to put their money in Gold ETFs,” said Fritsch…massive inflows are the proof with 155 tons being reported in July alone, half of global monthly mine production, according to Bloomberg data…physical demand for Gold remains weak in India – the country’s Gold imports in July fell 24% from a year earlier as a rally in local prices to a record high curtailed retail purchases amid lockdowns in many areas to curb the spread of COVID-19…the world’s 2nd-biggest consumer of the precious metal imported about 30 tonnes of Gold in July, down from 40 tonnes a year ago…Silver is up 5 cents at $24.38…next measured Fib. resistance on the short-term chart is $26.33…base metals are unchanged with Copper, Nickel and Zinc at $2.91, $6.25 and $1.04, respectively…Crude Oil has slipped 33 cents to $40.68 while the U.S. Dollar Index has rebounded nearly half a point to 93.76…the U.S. economy got some good news yesterday, ignored of course by the Trump-hating mainstream media, as manufacturing activity accelerated to its highest level in nearly 1.5 years in July…orders increased despite a resurgence in new COVID-19 infections, according to data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM)…the reading was 54.2%, beating market expectations of 53.6% and better than June’s figure of 52.6%…meanwhile, manufacturing activity across the euro zone expanded for the first time since early 2019 last month as demand rebounded after more easing of the restrictions imposed to quell the spread of the new coronavirus, a survey showed yesterday…this morning, fresh data showed that euro zone producer prices rose in June on a monthly basis more than expected, ending their falling trend from February when the bloc experienced its first COVID-19 outbreaks…Canadian-born Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz is aiming to highlight the role Antifa and like-minded groups are playing in riots across some major cities (Democrat controlled) in the United States, convening a Senate hearing today on the issue while alleging that radical left-wing groups are engaging in “organized terror attacks” designed to tear down government institutions…“Across the country, we’re seeing horrific violence, we’re seeing our country torn apart. Violent anarchists and Marxists are exploiting protests to transform them into riots and direct assaults on the lives and safety of their fellow Americans,” Cruz told Fox News in an interview…there’s also ample evidence that Antifa and its sympathizers are behind an increasing number of online attacks of retail businesses in both the United States and Canada…

2. No surprise – Chinese state media has labeled the U.S. a “rogue country” and dubbed the potential sale of social media firm TikTok to Microsoft (MSFT, NASDAQ) as “theft”, adding that Beijing could retaliate if a deal is sealed…Microsoft announced plans on Sunday to acquire TikTok’s business in certain markets – the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand…commenting on the matter, President Trump said that buying only part of the app will be “complicated” – but he still gave Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella the go-ahead…Trump added that some “key money” would have to be paid to the U.S. Treasury Department for making the deal possible…Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during an interview on Fox News‘ Sunday Morning Futures that Chinese apps like TikTok are an issue for U.S. national security and the privacy of Americans…“Here’s what I hope that the American people will come to recognize – these Chinese software companies doing business the United States, whether it’s TikTok or WeChat, there are countless more…are feeding data directly to the Chinese Communist Party, their national security apparatus – could be their facial recognition pattern, it could be information about their residence, their phone numbers, their friends, who they’re connected to”…India showed the way when it banned dozens of Chinese mobile apps including TikTok and Tencent’s WeChat, while Australia and Japan are reportedly looking at similar options…at issue, obviously, is who controls the data – everything from private details like locations and emails to sophisticated mined information such as personal profiles and online behavior…like India, Washington worries that TikTok could be funneling that trove to Beijing, potentially undermining national security by building databases on its citizens…

3. The U.S. reported more than 47,000 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, the smallest daily increase in almost 4 weeks, despite signs of an uptick in new infections in some Northeast and Midwest states…total cases world-wide surpassed 18 million yesterday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, with the U.S. accounting for more than one-quarter of the tally…the U.S. death toll was approaching 155,000…Australia’s Victoria state, which has imposed tighter lockdown restrictions including curfews, said it will deploy around 500 military personnel this week to help ensure that people who contracted COVID-19 comply with their isolation orders…Reuters said the tougher measures were announced after officials found that nearly one-third of the people infected with COVID-19 were not at home isolating…a Norwegian cruise ship line halted all trips and apologized yesterday for procedural errors after a coronavirus outbreak on one ship infected at least 5 passengers and 36 crew members…health authorities fear the ship also could have spread the virus to dozens of towns and villages along Norway’s western coast…the confirmed virus cases from the MS Roald Amundsen raise new questions about safety on all cruise ships during a pandemic even as the devastated cruise ship industry is pressing to resume sailings after chaotically shutting down in March…the Hurtigruten cruise line was one of the first companies to resume sailing during the pandemic, starting cruises to Norway out of northern Germany in June with a single ship, then adding cruises in July to the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard…

4. More high-grade Gold results this morning from Great Bear Resources (GBR, TSX-V) including 81.2 g/t Au over a core length of 10.5 m (true width unknown at this time), starting at bedrock surface, from its continuing program at its Dixie Creek Project in the Red Lake District…2 new drill sections were completed within a previously un-drilled 140 m long segment of the LP Fault…repeated intersections of high-grade Gold mineralization during 2020 LP Fault drilling has led to a new geological model being prepared by the company featuring an “Upper Vein Zone” and a “High Strain Zone”…Chris Taylor, President and CEO of Great Bear, noted “excellent continuity of mineralization once again observed across adjacent drill sections and to depth on the same drill section. Over the past months we have regularly intersected predictable high-grade Gold intervals at the LP Fault within the broad bulk-tonnage style Gold system. This positive development is underscored by both styles of mineralization extending from bedrock surface to the limits of current drilling at depth. We are currently building an updated geological model to account for the majority of this high-grade mineralization”…the company has completed 126 of approximately 300 planned drill holes into the LP Fault target, as part of its 5-km-long x 500-m-deep grid drill program…GBR has gained 63 cents to $17.61 as of 7:00 am Pacific…

5. The Dow has eased off 20 points through the first 30 minutes of trading while the tech-heavy NASDAQ is showing a small gain, hitting new highs…the NASDAQ closed at a new record high yesterday while the S&P 500 rallied to its best level since February 21, ending the session less than 3% below its intraday record set on February 19…seasonality factors are such that August could prove to be more of a challenge for the index…over the last 25 years, the S&P 500 on average has fallen in price by about 1% in August…only utilities and technology have been able to eke out advances…stocks that benefit from the pandemic continue to lead the market…“Stop saying the market makes no sense,” Cramer said on Mad Money yesterday…“When the pandemic’s out of control, you better believe the Cramer COVID-19 Index will us higher. And yes, these companies are absolutely big enough to drag the averages with them and, amazingly, go much higher”…in Toronto, the TSX has jumped 164 points while the Venture has added another 15 points to 736…Skeena Resources (SKE, TSX-V) announced this morning that it has signed a definitive agreement with Barrick Gold (ABX, TSX; GOLD, NYSE), pursuant to which Skeena will acquire 100% of the Eskay Creek Gold-Silver Project…this will make Barrick a significant shareholder in SKE…Skeena CEO Walter Coles Jr. commented: “We were encouraged by the positive market reaction to the announcement of the binding term sheet in respect to the Eskay Creek transaction with Barrick and are delighted to now announce the signing of the Definitive Agreement. On closing, Skeena will gain 100% ownership and operatorship of Eskay Creek, which we hope to revitalize as an open-pit Gold-Silver mine. Skeena is honoured to have Barrick as an important shareholder in the company going forward”…tragedy in the Eskay Camp…a Pretium Resources‘ (PVG, TSX) employee died yesterday from injuries suffered Friday at the Brucejack mine…the incident occurred during maintenance at a support facility on surface…the employee was treated immediately by the site emergency response team and then transported to hospital in Terrace where he passed away yesterday…operations at Brucejack were suspended on Friday and have since resumed…1911 Gold (AUMB, TSX-V) has hit a new high of 80 cents in early trading…Hive Blockchain (HIVE, TSX-V) is trading at its best levels in more than a year, up. 3.5 cents at 52 cents, as Bitcoin attempts to gain traction above $11,000 (U.S.)…open interest, or open positions, in Bitcoin futures listed on major exchanges reached a new lifetime high of $5.6 billion on Saturday, surpassing the previous record of $5.36 billion in February, according to data source Skew…as of this morning, aggregate open interest was $5 billion, up 66% from the July low of $3 billion…

6. The U.S. economy could “benefit” if the nation were to “lock down really hard” for 4 to 6 weeks, a top Federal Reserve official said on Sunday, adding that Congress can well afford large sums for coronavirus relief efforts…The economy, which in the 2nd quarter suffered its biggest blow since the Great Depression, would be able to mount a robust recovery, but only if the virus were brought under control, Neel Kashkari, President of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, told CBS’ Face the Nation…“If we don’t do that and we just have this raging virus spreading throughout the country with flare-ups and local lockdowns for the next year or two, which is entirely possible, we’re going to see many, many more business bankruptcies,” Kashkari said…“That’s going to be a much slower recovery for all of us”…President Trump strongly opposes such a strategy…he insisted yesterday that shutting down the United States in an attempt to curb the coronavirus would cause more harm than good, doubling down on previous comments that he would not call for a nationwide lockdown…“It’s important for all Americans to recognize that a permanent lockdown is not a viable path forward producing the result that you want or certainly not a viable path forward and would ultimately inflict more harm than it would prevent,” Trump said during a White House briefing on the virus…he said the U.S. only initially shut down to prevent the overflow of hospitals and to allow U.S. health officials and scientists to learn more about the new virus, including developing effective treatments to fight it…

7. President Trump says the U.S. may have a coronavirus vaccine available to the public ahead of the administration’s goal of the end of the year or early 2021…“We’re balancing speed and safety and we’re on pace to have a vaccine available this year, maybe far in advance of the end of the year,” Trump said during a White House press briefing yesterday…“And we’re mass-producing the most promising candidates in advance so that we’re ready upon approval. We have our military lined up. It’s logistics, it’s all about logistics”…though scientists expect to have an effective vaccine widely available by the middle of next year, there is never a guarantee…while drugmakers are racing to make millions of doses of vaccines, there’s a chance the vaccine will require 2 doses rather than 1, potentially further limiting the number of people who can get vaccinated once it becomes available, experts say…additionally, scientists say that questions remain about how the human body responds once it’s been infected with the virus…the answers, they say, may have important implications for vaccine development, including how quickly it can be rolled out to the public…

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