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Gold has traded between $1,275 and $1,282 so far today…as of 8:30 am Pacific, bullion is off $5 an ounce at $1,275…Silver is down 4 cents at $19.36…Copper is up a penny at $3.21…Crude Oil is down 18 cents at $93.47 while the U.S. Dollar Index is stronger at 82.51…

China’s net Gold imports in July from main conduit Hong Kong tumbled to their lowest since June 2011…July net Gold flows into China from Hong Kong dropped to 22.107 tonnes versus 40.543 tonnes in June, according to data obtained by Reuters from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department…it’s important to keep in mind, however, that China has started to allow Gold imports through its capital Beijing, in a move that helps keep purchases by the world’s top bullion buyer more discreet…the opening of a third import point after Shenzhen and Shanghai could also threaten Hong Kong’s pole position in China’s Gold trade, as the mainland can get more of the metal it wants directly rather than through a route (Hong Kong) that discloses how much it is buying…less emphasis may have to be put on Hong Kong net Gold exports to China…

Fed Watch

At a Friday meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen reiterated comments made in July, saying the Fed could raise rates sooner than expected if the job market continues to improve or consumer prices rise toward the central bank’s 2% goal, but will keep rates low if progress stalls…many Gold traders worry that the strengthening U.S. recovery will push the Fed to raise rates before the mid-2015 timeline many had expected, a move that could be bearish for Gold, which costs money to store and struggles to compete with Treasury bonds and other interest-bearing investments when rates climb…those fears were reinforced Wednesday when minutes from the Fed’s July policy-setting meeting showed officials debated the possibility of raising rates sooner, but opted to wait for further evidence of economic health…

Geopolitical Tensions

Global “hot spots” continue to help keep a floor underneath the Gold price, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon…in what should prove to be an interesting get-together, Russian president Vladimir Putin is due to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Minsk tomorrow in what will be the leaders’ first meeting in more than two months…

The extremist group Islamic State captured a major air base in the northeastern province of Raqqa over the weekend, driving out regime forces and gaining full control of an entire Syrian province for the first time in the civil war…

An ISIS attack against the West is a question of timing — “not of inevitably, not of intent,” according to the former head of the CIA, retired Gen. Michael Hayden…Speaking on CNN, Hayden said he expects ISIS to attempt an attack on targets in the United States or Europe…“ISIS is a very powerful local organization, and probably a reasonably powerful regional terrorist organization,” Hayden said. “But it’s one that has global ambitions – and it has the tools.”

Intelligence reports indicate that more than 2,000 Islamic State fighters carry Western passports that could give them easy access to Europe and North America…

Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., is calling on President Obama to show greater leadership in the international fight to eliminate Islamic State and to present a more comprehensive plan to destroy such terror groups in the Middle East.  “The president has to articulate the challenge and what we need to do to meet it,” McCain told ‘Fox News Sunday’.  “That’s what has to be explained to the American people. And I think they will follow.”  McCain also said he and South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, a fellow member of the Armed Services Committee, will propose a plan when Congress returns from August break to repeal so-called sequestration, which has put tight limits on the defense budget…

Cyber Wars

A global watchdog has sounded the alarm about the growing danger of cyber attacks on financial markets, warning that firms and regulators around the world need to address the “uneven” response to the threat of online assaults…Greg Medcraft, chairman of the board of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (Iosco), predicted that the next major financial shock – or “black swan event” – will come from cyber space, following a succession of attacks on financial players…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

China’s Shanghai Composite fell 12 points overnight to close at 2229…Japan’s Nikkei average climbed 74 points, boosted by Bank of Japan governor Kuroda’s comments from Jackson Hole as he stated the BOJ may have to pursue an aggressive easing policy for some time…

Europe

European markets were mostly sharply higher today on hopes that the ECB may deliver more stimulus in the near future…

North America

The Dow has jumped 121 points as of 8:30 am Pacific while the S&P 500 has topped 2000 for the first time…U.S. economic activity expanded at a rate above its historical trend, according to a closely watched gauge issued by the Chicago Federal Reserve this morning…the Chicago Fed’s National Activity Index rose to 0.39 in July, up from 0.21% in the previous month…any figure above zero indicates the economy is expanding faster than its traditional rate of growth…

The TSX is 60 points higher while the Venture has added 5 points to 1010 through the first two hours of trading…

Venture 3-Year Weekly Chart

Further to John’s charts yesterday, a confirmed Venture breakout has occurred after a mini-pullback that started in early July…this has all the classic signatures of a strong bullish reversal that could lead to a dramatic push to the upside through the remainder of this third quarter…

As you can see on this 3-year weekly Venture chart, RSI(14) has once again found support at its trend line with plenty of room to climb higher in the coming weeks…SS also shows a bullish reversal pattern similar to what was seen in late December…

Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) Update 

When a junior exploration company has a proven discovery track record, and the likes of Craig Gibson, Peter Megaw and Charlie Greig contributing their vast geological knowledge and experience, they have reached a certain level of credibility that only a fraction of their peers can lay claim to…that’s why we’ve been so excited by the potential of Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) which we introduced to our readers just over a year ago at only 6 cents…

So when President & CEO Steve Regoci states, “This in fact is a new mineral camp,” in reference to the company’s discovery at the Rodadero North Project in central Sonora State, those are words to be taken very seriously…both Gibson and Megaw, who each built great careers out of discoveries in Mexico, are extremely excited about how Rodadero may unfold – how large this system appears to be – as Regoci confirmed to us in our recent interview…

Click on the link below for our special report today on GGI which focuses on Rodadero, including Friday’s news, and the Grizzly…as of 8:30 am Pacific, GGI is off 1.5 cents at 26.5 cents…

GGI Special Report

Ascot Resources Corp. (AOT, TSX-V) Update

We brought Ascot Resources (AOT, TSX-V) to our readers’ attention early last week when we once again focused on northwest B.C.’s prolific geological potential…Ascot continues to drill and explore its Premier Property which covers more than 100 sq. km near Stewart and includes the old Premier mine, a past high-grade producer of more than 2 million ounces of Gold and 45 million ounces of Silver…

Ascot will spend the remainder of the 2014 season drill testing, with up to four rigs, the southern two-thirds of a large system (strongly altered, well-mineralized) outside of the company’s current resource areas (Big Missouri, Martha Ellen and Dillworth)…

Drill results released this morning from a previously untested area of Big Missouri included 7.91 g/t Au (uncut) and 7.1 g/t Ag over 18.91 m in P14-619…

AOT has broken above Fib. resistance at $1.90 and is up 22 cents at $2.07 as of 8:30 am Pacific…

Teuton Resources Corp. (TUO, TSX-V) Update

Teuton Resources Corp. (TUO, TSX-V) has more than doubled since last Tuesday when we pointed out the promising news that morning regarding the discovery of the “Tuck zone”, a new Gold-bearing area (extensive zone of alteration and mineralization) a few km south of Pretium Resources‘ (PVG, TSX-V) Brucejack Property and on strike with the Valley of the Kings and Bridge Gold deposits…

This part of northwest B.C., of course, hosts some incredible grades and deposits – Brucejack is the largest undeveloped high-grade Gold deposit on the planet…will there be new discoveries?…it’s only a matter of when, not if, thanks in part to “climate change” – the Tuck zone has been exposed by ablation of an icefield that had previously obscured the mineralization…the zone is now exposed over a minimum 200-m width and for 300 m along strike before disappearing under snow and ice…further sampling is continuing, and drilling is anticipated this season after definition of targets…

Below is a 3-year weekly chart from John…note how TUO broke above a long-term downtrend line last week which added fuel to the fire…TUO is up 2 cents at 16 cents as of 8:30 am Pacific…

Terrax Minerals Inc. (TXR, TSX-V) Update

Terrax Minerals (TXR, TSX-V) is up on positive drill results this morning…TXR reported assay results from the first five of 14 holes drilled over the summer at its promising Yellowknife City Gold Project (YCGP)…these five holes (1,172 m) were drilled at the Barney Shear target, up dip of mineralized zones intersected in historical drill programs (1995-96)…two wedged off holes returned strong values – NB95-16W1 intersected 22.4 m grading 6.35 g/t Au (327.6 m to 350 m, includes 5.16 m @ 18.4 g/t), while NB96-16W3 cut 45.7 m grading 1.56 g/t Au (299.3 m to 345 m, includes 15.73 m @ 3.73 g/t)…TXR is up 8 cents at 56 cents as of 8:30 am Pacific…

Critical Elements Corp. (CRE, TSX-V) Update 

We’ve been closely tracking Critical Elements Corp. (CRE, TSX-V) since early June when it was trading below 20 cents…last week, it surged to a new multi-year high of 40 cents…as John’s charts have shown, the recent confirmed breakout above measured Fib. resistance at 30 cents should now serve as new support…

On August 14 the company announced that its low iron lithium concentrate has been successfully tested by ceramic and glass manufacturers…samples sent to multiple end-users for testing in May all tested positively…Critical Elements will now proceed with plans to diversify its material output featuring at least three different products – tantalum concentrate, low-iron lithium concentrate, and battery-grade lithium carbonate…

Below is an updated 2.5-year weekly CRE chart from John…CRE is off 1 cent at 37 cents as of 8:30 am Pacific…

Silver Short-Term Chart Update 

This 6-month daily chart shows how extreme RSI(2) conditions in Silver persisted for most of June with a necessary and healthy unwinding of that overbought situation in recent weeks…Silver has fallen almost 10% from its July 10 peak just above $21.50 an ounce…RSI(2) slipped below 10% recently and is now at 18%…a strong Fib. support band exists between $19.50 and $20.00 – Silver closed slightly below $19.50 Friday but it would be premature to suggest that support area has failed…this week will provide some answers…

Silver Long-Term Chart Update

Silver broke out above one important downtrend line in the second quarter which continues to provide strong support…RSI(2) closed last week at 29% – note the higher lows in this indicator over the past year…

Also note how the SS is moving up from a low bullish “W” while the ADX indicator shows the growing potential for a bullish +DI/-DI crossover this quarter…bottom line – Silver looks highly attractive around the $20 level…

Note:  John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI.