Gold has traded between $1,258 and $1,276 so far today…as of 8:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $16 an ounce at $1,274 after yesterday’s tumble…Silver is up 19 cents at $17.11…Copper is flat at $2.49…Crude Oil has added $1 a barrel to $45.52 while the U.S. Dollar Index has climbed one-quarter of a point to 94.86…
Respected Scotiabank economist Pat Mohr has raised her Gold price forecast for this year, and made these comments regarding bullion in her latest edition of the Scotiabank Commodity Price Index published yesterday:
“In contrast to many commodities, Gold prices have strengthened in recent months – a welcome development for the Toronto Stock Exchange & the TSX Venture – the home of more than 60% of the world’s publicly graded Gold prices,” Mohr observed. “Uncertainty over global growth and the pressure on some Oil-related currencies (the Russian ruble) has given Gold a renewed bid as a safe haven.
“The recent rise in Gold has occurred alongside a strong U.S. dollar, with investors possibly doubting whether the Fed will actually tighten monetary policy near-term,” said Mohr. “However, assuming the Fed lifts the federal funds rate in 2015:Q2 (possibly in June), Gold prices would be checked. Nevertheless, we have upwardly revised the revised price forecast for Gold to an average U.S. $1,250–1,275 for 2015-16.
“The outlook for the physical Gold market appears to be fairly strong, with record or near-record bullion imports into India in 2014:H2” as the Reserve Bank of India remove the 80:20 rule on Gold bullion imports on November 28, 2014,” she observed. “Interestingly, world Gold mine production could actually decline in 2017, given the deferral of new mine development in recent years.”
Mohr sees commodity prices bottoming during the first half of this year, and that’s what John’s latest CRB chart posted yesterday also suggests…if history is any guide, the Venture should start trending higher prior to when commodity prices actually bottom…
J.P. Morgan Warns About Oil Collapse Impact In Canada
“There will be blood” – 4 words of warning from a major U.S. bank regarding Canada and the impact of the collapse in Oil prices…J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. states in a new report, “Last week’s brief (Bank of Canada) statement mentioned ‘Oil’ 10 times and the insurance cut demonstrated the BoC’s focus on mitigating downside risks from the Oil patch slump, especially given that we have so far only witnessed the tip of the iceberg in terms of direct damage (especially regarding energy-sector capex and employment,” they said in a section of the report titled “There will be blood,” referring to capital expenditures and jobs.
“Further, the Jan. 21 statement introduced ‘financial stability risks,’ which are particularly worrisome given stretched household debt levels and frothy housing markets.”
Today’s Equity Markets
Asia
China’s Shanghai Composite fell 51 points or 1.5% overnight with insurance firms leading the sell-off…Japan’s Nikkei average, meanwhile, posted a slight gain overnight…
Europe
European markets are modestly lower in late trading overseas…deflationary concerns continue to grow in the euro zone…prices fell by 0.6% year-on-year in January, below the 0.5% slide forecast by analysts polled by Reuters, and worse than December’s 0.2% price fall…
Reuters reported this morning that Greece’s finance minister has confirmed that the government will not cooperate with the EU and IMF mission bankrolling the country and will not seek an extension to the bailout program…Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the euro zone finance ministers’ group who is in Athens for talks with the new government, said the 2 sides would decide what would happen next before the program ends February 28…
North America
The Dow is down 101 points as of 8:00 am Pacific…the Commerce Department reported this morning that Q4 GDP expanded at a 2.6% annual rate after the 3rd quarter’s 5% blistering pace…
Falling Oil prices, a soaring dollar and concern about weaker global demand have increasingly pessimistic analysts predicting S&P’s 500 companies will see no earnings growth at all in the first quarter of 2015…
The TSX is getting some support from higher Gold prices this morning and is down just 43 points as of 8:00 am Pacific…the Venture is unchanged at 667…
TSX Gold Index Updated Chart
Yesterday’s action in the TSX Gold Index was encouraging given the $25-$30 pullback in the Gold price…the Index held up well, falling by just over a point, and is 4 points higher at 191 as of 8:00…the action in Gold stocks yesterday suggested investors viewed the weakness in bullion as merely a healthy pullback within the context of a continuing uptrend…
This 6-month daily chart shows the Gold Index overcoming 4 Fib. resistance levels this month, from 147 through to 175, with the next resistance at 203…given the current technical posture, there’s every reason to believe we’ll see the Gold Index push higher over the near-term and test that next resistance – therefore, Gold itself should head higher after finding strong support in the $1,250’s…
Venture Updated Chart
The Venture has come under some mild pressure this week as last Saturday’s chart suggested it might, but important support is still holding…there are 2 Fib. levels of note, 664 and 654…a drop below 654 would increase the likelihood of a test of the December low…key resistance at the moment is 680…the last half of January has seen buy pressure transition into weak sell pressure…
February historically has been a favorable month for the Venture, so it’s quite possible we could see a breakout through 680 next month but support in the low 650’s will have to hold…
Castle Mountain Mining Company Ltd. (CMM, TSX-V) Update
We alerted our readers to Castle Mining Mining (CMM, TSX-V) on the morning of January 19 when the company reported some impressive high-grade drill results from its Castle Mountain Project in southern California…CMM took off from the upper 30’s and climbed as high as 55 cents – the 200-day moving average (SMA) – before consolidating at slightly lower levels…
Two days ago, the company announced that it has initiated a 9-hole follow-up drill program with 6 holes targeting the mineralization identified in CMM-060…that hole intersected 74 m of 9.1 g/t Au, including 35 m of 18.97 g/t, beginning at depths of approximately 280 m…this mineralization is deeper, higher grade over thicker widths than previous high-grade sections and bottomed in 2+ gram material…the company intends to test the extent of this mineralization laterally and at depth…
Technically, CMM’s RSI(14) is showing strong up momentum, buy pressure is increasing (CMF), and a bullish +DI/-DI crossover has also occurred…good possibilities here…as always, perform your own due diligence…
CMM is unchanged at 50 cents as of 8:00 am Pacific…
Gold Bullion Development Corp. (GBB, TSX-V) Update
What’s significant about the 6-month daily GBB chart below is the confirmed breakout above the downtrend line from the late summer, and the reversal to the upside in the 50-day SMA in December…volume has picked up noticeably, which is also a key development, and a bullish “W” has formed in the RSI(14) as the month draws to a close…
Gold Bullion is a classic fit in our theme of Gold producers and near-producers benefiting handsomely this year from a very weak Canadian dollar and cheap Oil prices…the dynamics of Gold Bullion’s 3-year high-grade rolling production start for Granada have changed dramatically from when the company issued its Preliminary Feasibility Study in the spring of last year…combined with the still very strong upside exploration potential within the LONG Bars Zone, 80% of which has yet to be drill-tested, GBB has clearly started an aggressive comeback in our view…
GBB is unchanged at 4.5 cents through the first 90 minutes of trading today…
Canada Carbon Inc. (CCB, TSX-V) Update
Canada Carbon (CCB, TSX) has caught John’s attention again with bullish signs flashing in this 3-year weekly chart…key Fib. resistance is 24 cents with CCB up half a penny in early trading today at 23.5 cents…the company continues to advance its Miller Graphite Project as reported in a news release January 13…
Graphene 3D Lab Inc. (GGG, TSX-V) Update
Also on the graphite (or graphene) front, Grapahene 3D Lab (GGG, TSX-V) is on the rebound after retracing to new support at the top of its downtrend line after breaking out above that downtrend line in late December…
GGG is up 11 cents at $1.07 as of 8:00 am Pacific…
Note: John, Terry and Jon hold share positions in GBB.
Great volume last few weeks on GBB and a news release today regarding Native involvement with Frank’s project …SP now seems to be a good oportuity ….
Comment by franky — January 30, 2015 @ 9:00 am
A deal with the natives is huge and means it’s game on at Granada, Franky…the issuance of that final permit is drawing very close IMHO.
Comment by Jon - BMR — January 30, 2015 @ 9:16 am
VGD, had a good week. stock price is looking good. heading to new highs
Comment by doublejay — January 30, 2015 @ 12:10 pm
Jon, why the secrecy on the site visit? You said when you can and when you’re ready. You must be ready, but can you? Come on throw us a bone? Give us a hint?
Thanks
Comment by Dan — January 30, 2015 @ 1:43 pm
Because we are freeloaders here, i assume Jon is not obliged to tell
us anything, but his field trip was advertised with much excitement
& because we have been stock struggling followers for years, it
would be a boost to us, if anything positive happened, that he at
least give us a hint, a clue or a coded response, in some manner.
May i also add, if the trip was a waste, i feel certain everyone
will understand that success is not always guaranteed.
Now that i have that off my mind, keep this in mind Jon, if you don’t
tell us, we will form a union & go on strike.
Comment by Bert — January 30, 2015 @ 4:16 pm
I don’t know what the big deal is about a sight visit. They visited RBW and look how that turned out.
Comment by Michael — January 30, 2015 @ 7:17 pm
Nice close by the venture yesterday!!
Comment by tony t — January 31, 2015 @ 2:02 am
Volume has also picked up. If the Venture can break past 680 next week, February could turn out to be a very positive month.
Comment by Jon - BMR — January 31, 2015 @ 6:13 am
Re; site visit
It doesn’t matter to me one way or another, because one can’t
always judge a site by it’s visit anyway & it’s not necessarily
the site that matters, it’s what lies beneath the site. There are
some board members who would like to know & why not end their
uncertainty, which would be the prudent thing to do. But who
am i to offer advice ? which reminds me of a Boss, who was upset
with an employee & told him he was nothing, to which the employee
replied, then who are you ? i am your boss. The employee was
quick to reply, then you are the boss of nothing..
Comment by Bert — January 31, 2015 @ 7:12 am
Oh please! Rbw was a complete different animal,we all got took, including the fine gents at bmr, not their fault and no one twisted our arms to invest in rbw. The only person that made money with that one was the guy who painted that plain rock silver, what’s done is done, let’s look foward, not back please.ggi and the entire sheslay valley will very soon make us all forget the past, and make us happy going foward.
Comment by Tombc — January 31, 2015 @ 8:09 am
Should be a good listen, cknw, listen live, Michael Campbell at the world outlook conference, check it out.
Comment by Tombc — January 31, 2015 @ 8:45 am
Jon and John. Looking at the ventures weekly Mac d histogram, seems like its poised to turn positive/bullish ( imo, a very reliable tool). Also, the weekly rsi seems to be on the verge of finally breaking out of oversold conditions.
Comment by tony t — January 31, 2015 @ 4:14 pm
mentioned VGD.v here last week and another solid week for the name +15% against a flattish week on the tsxv…readers may want to take a quick look at the accumulation going on in FLX.v (owner of 800,000 shares of VGD.v) which shares similar management…where theres smoke…fyi…cheers…z
Comment by zippy — February 1, 2015 @ 7:00 am