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Gold is under pressure today, falling as low as $1,176 after trading as high as $1,208 earlier this morning…Gold stocks are holding up well, however, and the Venture could even manage to eke out a small gain today…as of 9:15 am Pacific, bullion has retreated $25 an ounce to $1,180…Silver has lost 56 cents to $15.98…Copper has surged 8 cents to $2.87…Crude Oil has hit a 5-month high, adding another 54 cents to $59.12 while the U.S. Dollar Index has recovered from its lows of the morning and is now down just slightly at 95.16…

Following through on indications in March, the Federal Open Market Committee yesterday offered no changes to its zero interest rate policy, and interestingly removed all hints for what may lie ahead…calendar references were deleted completely from the post-meeting statement for the first time since 2009…at least the Fed is being consistent in its focus on being data dependent…the committee noted some progress in the economy, halting though it may be…the statement acknowledged that growth “slowed during the winter months,” though calling the factors leading to the slowdown “transitory”…we’ll find out soon enough if that’s true…many market participants believe the Fed is still on a tightening course beginning later this year, though the exact timing remains a question…the “tipping point” for the Fed is likely when (????) inflation finally starts to kick in…

Traders are now focused on the April jobs report Friday, May 8 – a key data point particularly after March’s stunningly low 126,000 non-farm payroll number…

Gold – Key Price Levels

From a near-term technical perspective, Gold’s critical 3 bullish steps as we outlined in yesterday’s chart would be 1) a move through a resistance band between $1,200 and $1,210; 2) overcoming Fib. resistance at $1,217; and 3) a breakout above the mid-$1,220’s, the March and April highs…if that is achieved, the path would be clear for a potentially strong advance, perhaps another challenge of the top of the downsloping flag (just below $1,300) that has been the dominant technical feature for more than 2 years…

Strong support for Gold exists at $1,180, $1,150 and at the bottom of the downsloping flag around $1,100…

Chinese Chasing Equities, Not Gold

Chinese investors, while still showing an appetite for Gold, are chasing returns in high-flying equity markets at the moment, a factor that is diverting at least some of their attention from the yellow metal according to analysts from UBS…

“Over the past 6 months, China’s Gold imports from Hong Kong and Switzerland have averaged around 100 tonnes. While this stability is in a sense reassuring, we do not think the volumes are large enough for the market to get excited.  Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index has reached record highs and the Shanghai Composite Index is around the highest levels since 2007. Equities appear to be diverting investors’ attention away from Gold, and we think this has been augmented by the latter’s lacklustre performance and the overall absence of a clear price trend in the past couple of years,” UBS stated in a published report.

U.S. Dollar Index Updated Chart

Despite this morning’s rebound from a low just above 94 (a minimum target level in yesterday’s short-term chart given the right shoulder breakdown below the neckline of an H&S formation), the Dollar Index remains vulnerable to further consolidation given the unprecedented overbought conditions (RSI-14, SS, +DI) that exist on this 20-year monthly chart…

The mid-March high of 100.71 was clearly an important top for at least the short or medium term…a cluster of Fib. support ranges from 88 to 92 with the rising 200-day moving average (SMA) currently at 90…it’s also reasonable to expect the RSI(14) to retrace to the top of the downtrend line it broke above last year…

A period of technical weakness for the dollar is very supportive for the Venture given the exceptionally strong inverse relationship between the two…the trend in the greenback is a more important indicator for the Venture than Gold…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

Asian markets took a hit overnight, thanks to a mixed bag of corporate earnings and concerns over U.S. growth…Japan’s Nikkei average tumbled more than 500 points (2.7%) to close at 19520 while China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 34 points to 4442…

The Bank of Japan was forced to lower its price projections and push back the date for achieving its long-term inflation goal today, dealing the central bank a new setback in its fight to eradicate the deflationary pressures weighing on the world’s 3rd largest economy…the BOJ said in its semi-annual outlook for growth and prices that its 2% inflation target will likely be achieved in a period “around the first half of fiscal 2016″ – about 6 months later than its previous forecast for hitting the target, and the bank also shaved 0.2% from its inflation projections for both the current and next fiscal year…

Europe

European markets finished slightly higher today…euro zone consumer prices stopped falling in April, further easing fears that a slide into deflation could derail the currency area’s fragile economic recovery…

North America

The Dow is off 79 points as of 9:15 am Pacific…U.S. consumer spending rose moderately in March, rebounding after a sluggish winter but suggesting Americans remain somewhat cautious despite months of cheaper gasoline and rising confidence…

In Toronto, the TSX has declined 53 points as of 9:15 am Pacific while the Venture has slipped 2 points to 695…

Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) Update

Further to John’s chart Monday, an important technical breakout has been confirmed in Doubleview Capital (DBV, TSX-V) above a downsloping flag in place since last year…what’s even more significant about this breakout is that the top of the flag coincides with Fib. resistance at 15 cents and the 200-day SMA which is now beginning to reverse higher (always a positive sign)…

This change in technical posture is not surprising as it matches with some critical advances on the ground at DBV’s Hat Project in the Sheslay district, findings that suggest grades are going to continue to improve and that the Lisle Zone is merely the southeastern edge of a much larger Gold-rich Copper porphyry system that was originally believed…

More assay results from HAT-23 are imminent along with a fresh round of drilling that has an excellent chance of extending the Lisle Zone well to the north and northwest…

DBV is unchanged at 17 cents as of 9:15 am Pacific…

Kootenay Silver Inc. (KTN, TSX-V) Update

Kootenay Silver (KTN, TSX-V) released more solid results this morning from its Phase 2 drill program at its Promontorio La Negra Silver discovery in Sonora State including 68 g/t Ag over 146 meters from surface in LN-32-15…La Negra is showing great potential as an open-pit deposit approximately 6.5 km north of the company’s flagship Promontorio Silver resource…

Technically, the breakout recently above the ascending triangle was very significant as John pointed out, with strong support at 50 cents…KTN could continue to gain momentum and challenge higher Fib. resistance levels…

GoldQuest Mining Corp. (GQC, TSX-V) Update

Investors responded well to yesterday’s news of a revised and improved Preliminary Economic Assessment for GoldQuest Mining’s (GQC, TSX-V) Romero Gold-Copper Project in the Dominican Republic…

GoldQuest has a history of powerful moves over short periods, typically from a spectacular drill hole in the DR…the company, of course, has a large and highly prospective land package that makes additional discoveries beyond Romero quite possible…

Technically, keep an eye on the downtrend line from the 2012 high of $2.03…that’s where GQC found resistance yesterday…strong new support at this morning’s low of 14 cents…

Cannabix Technologies Inc. (BLO, CSE, BLOZF, OTC)

Surprisingly, Cannabix Technologies (BLO, CSE) broke down from its pennant formation in recent days and technical-related selling has taken BLO down to Fib. support at 30 cents…keep in mind, this can be a volatile play but the primary trend is still bullish and company is progressing exceptionally with its business model…

RSI(2) finished at an extreme oversold level yesterday of less than 1% (0.22%)…that’s certainly not a time to be pushing the panic button – quite the opposite, in fact…

The pennant has evolved into a downsloping flag which we’ll be watching closely in the days ahead…strong support is at the bottom of that flag, around 30 cents which coincides with last year’s resistance and the Fib. retracement level mentioned above…

Note:  John and Jon both hold share positions in DBV and BLO.