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Gold is getting smacked again following a headline U.S. jobs number that was better than expected…bullion is down $37 an ounce at $1,215 as of 6:50 am Pacific…it opened weaker overnight and accelerated to the downside after the release of the jobs report…Silver is off 91 cents at $18.81…Copper has dipped 8 cents to $3.06…Crude Oil is 38 cents higher at $101.62, and one would think the current strength in WTIC (+$100 a barrel) would lend some support to Gold…the U.S. Dollar Index has surged half a point to 84.38…

China’s net Gold imports from Hong Kong increased 40% in May from a month earlier as the metal’s slump continued to attract bargain hunters to bullion shops…mainland buyers purchased 106 metric tons during the month, after deducting flows from China into Hong Kong, compared with 76 tons a month earlier, according to calculations by Bloomberg based on data from the Hong Kong government today…inbound shipments including scrap were 127 tons, from 75.6 tons a year earlier and 126.1 tons in April…

There are signs, however, that interest has slowed in other countries…Gold sales from Australia’s Perth Mint, which refines nearly all of the bullion mined in the country, declined for a 2nd month in June as the falling prices deterred buyers…the U.S. Mint sold 57,000 ounces of American Eagle Gold coins in June from 70,000 ounces in May and 209,500 ounces in April, according to data on its web site…in India, the largest user last year, imports may drop 52% in the 3rd quarter after government curbs, according to the All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation…

U.S. Jobs Report:  Better-Than-Expected Job Growth But Unemployment Rate Remains At 7.6%

U.S. job growth accelerated in June, though probably not at a pace fast enough to give a lot of encouragement to the Federal Reserve…non-farm payrolls grew by 195,000, but the unemployment rate held at 7.6%…economists were expecting 165,000 more jobs and a decline in the unemployment rate to 7.5%…also, the quality of job gains was weak – the bulk of the gains (75,000) came in the hospitality industry of bartending and waiters…the percentage of discouraged and underemployed in the U.S. increased last month to 14.3 from 13.8, so the headline jobs number that traders focus on doesn’t reveal the true picture…the Labor Department, however, revised upward (by a total of 70,000) the non-farm payroll numbers for April and May…the U.S. economy is indeed strengthening but certainly not at a robust pace at this point, and many global headwinds exist including China…

Today’s Markets

The Dow is up 96 points through the first 20 minutes of trading…2nd quarter earnings season in the U.S. kicks off with numbers from Dow component Alcoa on Monday…the TSX is flat at 12167 while the Venture is down 2 points at 884, 6 points above its still-declining 10-day moving average (SMA) though it’s beginning to flatten out…

Asian markets were mostly strong overnight with Japan’s Nikkei average gaining 291 points to close the week at 14310…China’s Shanghai Composite, however, posted just a 1-point gain to finish at 2007…European shares are mostly moderately lower in late trading overseas…Goldman Sachs predicts that both the ECB and the Bank of England (BoE) could launch fresh monetary easing measures within months…”More unconventional easing is likely in the U.K…in addition, the ECB is more likely than not to ease further from here,” said Goldman Sachs analysts in a global outlook piece published yesterday…Goldman Sachs said neither central bank was likely to raise rates before mid-2015, and added that the ECB could instigate a deposit rate cut and/or credit easing if the euro zone economy weakened further…”We are…more open to potential opportunities in Europe than for some time…although the growth picture there remains weak, our forecast is for some improvement (albeit from a low base), including in the periphery, as fiscal drag fades there too…and the prospect of fresh easing – in the U.K. and in continental Europe – is higher than in many other places,” wrote Goldman Sachs…

U.S. Dollar Index Chart Update

The general consensus seems to be that the outlook for the greenback is very bullish, if for no other reason than the fact it just happens to be the best of a very bad bunch…recently, we warned of a potential imminent reversal to the upside in the Dollar Index (and a potential corresponding drop in Gold) when it appeared to have found support at the 80.50 level as shown in John’;s 6-month daily chart below…since then, it has raced back up to important resistance near the May high of 84.60…a move above that level would give the bulls fresh wind in their sails…the Dollar Index, with this V-shaped move, will be interesting to watch in the coming days…

Fission Uranium (FCU, TSX-V) Update

A $7 million summer drill program is set to begin at the Patterson Lake South (PLS) Property in Saskatchewan as Fission Uranium (FCU, TSX-V) and joint-venture partner Alpha Minerals (AMW, TSX-V) have received all the necessary permits…2 diamond drill rigs and an RC rig will be used as the companies follow up on a successful winter program that discovered high-grade uranium in 3 separate zones along strike of an EM conductor…a total of 44 holes (11,000 metres) are planned for this summer, most of which will attempt to expand the existing 3 zones…a few holes will test other targets along trend to the northeast and southwest…

Below is a 10-month weekly chart update for Fission, accounting for the changes after the Dennison buy-out in April and the spin-out of the uranium assets into FCU…a strong upsloping channel remains intact…

Comstock Metals (CSL, TSX-V) Update

Very incomplete news shared by Comstock Metals (CSL, TSX-V) this morning which reported it has completed a Phase 1 exploration program at its QV Property in the Yukon which included diamond drilling, IP, mag and surface geochemical surveys…results of this program are still being received, compiled, and reviewed by field staff…they did not, however, indicate how many holes or metres were drilled, nor did they provide any details regarding what the”Phase 2″ program entails…Phase 1 drilling, CSL reported, “focused on down-dip and along strike extension of the VG Zone…the target has been drill tested to about 350m down dip and 900m along strike…the company has intersected favorable ‘structure’, alteration and host rock in a 620 m step-out drill hole along strike of the VG Zone“…our interpretation is that this first round of results could be disappointing, and the way this morning’s news was communicated just doesn’t give us a warm-and-fuzzy feeling…CSL also announced it will conduct a non-brokered financing for gross proceeds up to $408,000 through the issuance of 2.4 million flow-through shares at a price of 17 cents per share…

Mart Resources (MMT, TSX-V) Updated Chart

Below is an updated 2.5-year weekly chart from John for Mart Resources (MMT, TSX-V)…the technical picture continues to look favorable…important support held at $1.40…the share price has broken above the EMA(20), and a bullish +DI/-DI crossover appears to be in the works…as always, perform your own due diligence…this is meant to be a guide to assist our readers in that effort…

Note: John, Terry and Jon do not hold share positions in FCU, CSL or MMT.