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Gold has traded between $1,296 and $1,313 so far today…as of 8:00 am Pacific, bullion is down $5 an ounce at $1,298…Silver is flat at $20.55…Copper is off a penny at $3.23…Crude Oil is down 56 cents at $101.11 while the U.S. Dollar Index has climbed one-fifth of a point to 81.20, contributing to the reversal in bullion this morning…

Gold holdings in SPDR Gold Shares (GLD, NYSE), the world’s biggest Gold-backed ETF, continue to shows signs of stabilization despite last week’s drop, analysts say…the latest data shows that the ETF holds 801.84 metric tons of the yellow metal in trust, down from the July 18 level of 805.14 tons…Gold holdings in GLD are still positive for the month, however, and the year…holdings stood at 794.62 tons at the beginning of 2014…

The Fed kicks off a two-day meeting today with markets watching for clues as to when the U.S. central bank will begin increasing interest rates…the bank will make a statement tomorrow at the end of the meeting…

Pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine reportedly have suffered their biggest battlefield setbacks in months as numerous western countries prepare to ramp up pressure on Russian leader Vladimir Putin by imposing more sanctions against Moscow later this week…The Wall Street Journal reported that Ukraine army forces had made rapid gains near the site where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed July 17…officials on both sides of the fighting also told WSJ that the Ukraine army was attempting to cut off supply lines from Russia to the rebels…

Today’s Equity Markets

China’s Shanghai Composite gained another 5 points overnight to close at 2183…investors have turned increasingly optimistic on China over the last week on the back of improving economic data such as HSBC’s July factory activity report, sending the Shanghai Composite to a 7-month high…

China’s stock market is breaking out – a very positive sign, we believe, for commodities, the Venture, and global equity markets in general…below is a 2+ year weekly SSEC chart from John…note the inverted head and shoulders pattern in addition to the important move above the neckline resistance…RSI(14) is now rapidly gaining momentum after following an uptrend line throughout 2014…

The measured resistance level for a breakout from the neckline is 2500, about a 15% move from current levels…such a move could occur very quickly, as in the next couple of months, which coincides with a very bullish outlook for the remainder through the remainder of Q3…

Japan’s Nikkei average, bolstered by upbeat corporate earnings reports and a weaker currency, ended at its highest level in six months overnight…

Europe

European markets were up moderately today…

North America

The Dow has added 40 points as of 8:00 am Pacific…consumers were more confident about the economy in July than they have been in at least six years, data from The Conference Board showed this morning…the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index rose to 90.9, above the prior month’s showing of 86.4…that was the component’s highest since October 2007, and well above economists’ expectations of an 85.3 reading…

In its just-released July Fed survey, CNBC asked Wall Street pros how the Fed’s current policies will end and found market participants surprisingly divided…34% say the most likely outcome is that it “will end badly”, which is defined as either a recession, stock market crash, high inflation or some combination of the three…another 34%, however, think the Fed will “navigate a smooth transition to more normal policy”…25% of the 36 respondents, who include economists, analysts and fund managers, think the risks are evenly balanced…

Interesting statistic – an estimated 1 in 3 American adults with a credit history – or 77 million people – are so far behind on some of their debt payments that their account has been put “in collections”…that’s a key finding from a new Urban Institute Study…it examined non-mortgage debt, including credit card bills, car loans, medical bills, child support payments and even parking tickets…the debt in collections ranged from as little as $25 to a whopping $125,000…but the average amount owed was $5,200…

The TSX is up 41 points as of 8:00 am Pacific while the Venture is off 4 points at 1016…the Venture’s 10-day SMA has reversed to the upside as the month draws to a close…the rising 50-day SMA has provided excellent support this month to keep the Index above the 1000 level…

B2Gold Corp. (BTO, TSX) has increased its equity ownership in Calibre Mining Corp. (CXB, TSX-V) to approximately 15.2% by exercising common share purchase warrants for proceeds to Calibre of $500,000 (the warrants entitled B2Gold to purchase 10 million Calibre common shares at a price of five cents per share)…Calibre will use the proceeds to advance its 100%-owned Montes de Oro Gold project in Nicaragua, and for general working capital…

Balmoral Resources Ltd. (BAR, TSX) Update

Balmoral Resources (BAR, TSX) continues to hover around Fib. resistance while an overextended RSI(14) condition on the 1-year weekly chart has persisted since early May…the odds of a pullback to “cleanse” temporarily overbought conditions (within the context of a primary uptrend) have increased based on BAR’s current technical posture…

BAR is off 2 pennies at $1.65 as of 8:00 am Pacific…

Source Exploration (SOP, TSX-V) Update

Significantly, Source Exploration (SOP, TSX-V) has held important support around 10 cents the last couple of months, as expected, so the “firming up” on Friday and yesterday was no major surprise…late last month, Source commenced a follow-up 2,000 metre drill program at its Las Minas Project 270 km east of Mexico City after reporting some stellar results in April…the company has strength behind it with Chairman David Baker (he managed and grew Goldbrook Ventures until it was ultimately sold in 2012 to its Chinese joint venture partners for approximately $100 million) and a solid geological team…

This round of drilling at Las Minas is intended to expand the higher grade skarn mineralization outlined by winter drilling at the Santa Cruz area, in preparation for an initial resource calculation, and test a couple of other high priority targets…

A major band of resistance exists between 15 and 17 cents, but this is a stock in a primary uptrend – as demonstrated by the 3-year weekly chart below – so an eventual breakout above that area seems highly plausible…as always, perform your own due diligence…

SOP is unchanged at 13.5 cents as of 8:00 am Pacific…

Edge Resources Inc. (EDE, TSX-V) Update

After a strong move in May and June, junior Oil play Edge Resources (EDE, TSX-V) pulled back from a 52-week high of 28.5 cents to the upper teens where it has met exceptional support…you’ll note that RSI(14) on this 4-year weekly chart unwound to the 50% level and has now formed a bullish “W”…

Last Thursday, Edge announced that it has entered into a new revolving demand loan facility of up to $17-million with ATB Corporate Financial Services…this facility significantly reduces the company’s cost of capital and provides Edge with a much larger pool of funds to accelerate positive developments on the ground…the company has been consistently adding reserves at an exceptionally low cost…

EDE has yet to trade so far this morning…it gained 2.5 cents yesterday to close at 22 cents…

Platinum Chart Update

The Platinum price remains 8% higher year to date…while the end to the devastating strike in South Africa will see roughly 10,000 ounces of platinum find its way onto the market in coming months, sanctions against Russia over its intervention in Ukraine has kept prices on the boil…Russia and South Africa combined account for close to 70% of global supply of Platinum which, along with Palladium, is mainly used to clean emissions in automobiles…rising demand from China and other emerging markets is causing “a structural shift” in PGM demand as these countries tighten emissions controls…

This 20-year monthly chart from John shows the potential for Platinum to really soar if it can break above a downtrend line that formed after the sharp rise through mid-2011…the downtrend line also matches with Fib. resistance just above $1,500…

Note:  John holds a share position in EDE.