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1. Gold has traded in a tight range between $1,280 and $1,285 so far today, ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day long weekend…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is off $1 an ounce at $1,282…Silver is 4 cents lower at $14.51…Nickel is on fire this morning, up 22 cents or about 4% to $5.60, as Chinese traders are apparently covering short positions…Zinc is up a penny at $1.23 while Copper is flat at $2.69…Cobalt remains relatively unchanged at $15.65…Crude Oil has rebounded modestly today but prices are down sharply for the week…WTI is up 32 cents a barrel to $58.23…the U.S. Dollar Index has backed off from the 98+ level, down one-tenth of a point to 97.76…U.S. orders for long-lasting factory goods dropped 2.1% in April, slightly more than expected following an upwardly revised drop of 1.7% in March, the Commerce Department announced this morning…British Prime Minister Theresa May is resigning…in an emotional speech outside 10 Downing Street, May says she has “done everything” she could to persuade MPs to back the withdrawal agreement she negotiated with the European Union…but, she says it was with “deep regret” that she had ultimately failed to reach a consensus among lawmakers…she is stepping down as Conservative Party leader on June 7…
2. The Trump administration is proposing punitive duties on countries that artificially lower their currencies – a sweeping trade policy tool that could be used against U.S. allies as well as adversaries such as China…last night, the Department of Commerce issued a notice of “proposed rulemaking” that would allow the government to slap penalties on countries that “act to undervalue their currency relative to the dollar, resulting in a subsidy to their exports”…previous U.S. administrations have been wary of mixing trade and currencies but political pressure from Congress to include foreign exchange as a factor in trade discussions has been growing…“Foreign nations would no longer be able to use currency policies to the disadvantage of American workers and businesses,” said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross…“This proposed rulemaking is a step toward implementing President Trump’s campaign promise to address unfair currency practices by our trading partners”…over the years U.S. lawmakers have accused China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam of artificially lowering their currencies – but broad new rules could entangle other countries…
3. A British Columbia court is set to rule today whether the province can restrict shipments of diluted bitumen through its borders, in what will be a crucial decision for the future of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion…the province filed a reference question to the B.C. Court of Appeal that asked whether it had the constitutional authority to create a permitting regime for companies that want to increase their flow of Oil sands Crude…B.C. argued the law is aimed at protecting its lands, rivers and lakes from hazardous substances, but Alberta and the federal government have said the goal is to delay or block the pipeline expansion…“It’s a little bit strange to argue that diluted bitumen is such a dangerous product that it needs to be regulated, but it’s only an entity that wants to increase its flow that falls under this particular scheme,” said Eric Adams, a University of Alberta law professor…“Guess what that entity is? It’s the Trans Mountain pipeline”…
4. Canadians should be proud of their Oil and gas sector – it helped build the country and remains the biggest contributor to our GDP – but the radical left has been successful in turning Oil into a dirty word in parts of Canada (started with Obama who consistently demonized the Oil sands)…the Quebec Oil and Gas Association, the trade lobby promoting the sector, is now changing its name to Quebec Energy Corp. (Association de l’Energie du Quebec) as it tries to reboot after failing to establish a provincial hydrocarbon industry over the past decade (funny how many Quebecers hate Alberta Oil but seem to have no problem with the idea of importing Oil from the Middle East)…the rebranding reflects a new industry strategy to reposition itself as more responsive to environmental and other concerns, president Michael Binnion said in a statement…Quebec’s unpredictable regulatory system has made it tough to raise money, with investors raising doubts about the ability of projects to reach commercialization…the uncertainty has, in turn, led to consolidation…Quebec Oil and gas junior Petrolia became Pieridae Energy in 2017 in a reverse takeover after its bet to develop Oil and gas on Quebec’s Anticosti Island was thwarted by the province…Junex, another junior, merged with Calgary’s Cuda Energy to bolster its finances and lower its exposure to Quebec…Questerre is seeking a court injunction to invalidate Quebec’s fracking ban, calling it a “disguised appropriation” of companies with exploration permits…
5. Zambia’s Chamber of Mines has delivered further signs of a major global undersupply of Copper about to hit the market by announcing that the country’s output of the metal could be as much as 100,000 tonnes lower than last year…the industry lobby group attributed the expected drop in production to changes to mining taxes introduced in January, which is driving companies to cut output…“The new tax regime forced miners to do the unthinkable – cut production – because many cannot afford to continue producing as before,” it said in a statement…Zambia, Africa’s second largest Copper producer, churned out 861,946 tonnes of the metal last year…in the first 3 months of this year, the nation’s Copper output fell by 11.3% to 195,244 tonnes, compared to the previous quarter, the Bank of Zambia said earlier this week…the world’s main Copper producing nations have been showing output declines this year, according to the latest monthly bulletin from the International Copper Study Group (ICSG)…global production declined 2.4% in February 2019, when compared to the same month last year, with 1,515 kt (19,749 ktpa) of contained Copper produced globally…
6. Equity markets are bouncing back this morning after yesterday’s losses…the Dow up 137 points as of 7:00 am Pacific…in Toronto, the TSX is 58 points higher while the Venture has rebounded 4 points to 606…Adventus Zinc (ADZN, TSX-V) is closing in on a new all-time high, up 2 pennies at $1.08 as volume continues to pick up…2 days ago, Adventus closed its $12.1 million financing to further develop the El Domo VMS deposit in Ecuador, a project BMR visited last December, as part of its JV with Salazar Resources (SRL, TSX-V)…a subsidiary of Consorcio Nobis S.A., one of Ecuador’s largest private business conglomerates, was the largest participant in the offering, which also included Adventus’s existing strategic shareholders Altius Minerals, Greenstone Resources, Resource Capital Funds and Wheaton Precious Metals…Royal Road Minerals (RYR, TSX-V), focused on Central and South America, has completed an $8 million financing at 20 cents…Agnico Eagle (AEM, TSX) took a good chunk of it and now owns 19.9% of RYR…Flowr (FLWR, TSX-V) is showing strength in early trading after news that its shares have been approved for listing on the NASDAQ (symbol will be FLWR)…a trading date will be announced by the company upon its Form 40-F registration statement becoming effective with the Securities and Exchange Commission…
7. Gold continues to shine for billionaire investor Ray Dalio, who increased his fund’s holdings of the yellow metal during the first quarter of 2019…the latest SEC filings show that Dalio’s fund Bridgewater Associates bought 118,973 shares of SPDR Gold Shares (GLD, NYSE) in the first 3 months of the year, bringing his total position to 4.027 million shares, valued at nearly half a billion dollars…at the same time, the hedge fund also increased its holdings in iShares Gold Trust (IAU, NYSE) to 11.6 million, up from 11.3 million reported in the 4th quarter of 2018…the firm’s positon in IAU is valued at $142.7 million…while the firm sees growing potential for bullion, it reduced its exposure in Gold mining companies…the filings show that Bridgewater sold some of its shares in Agnico Eagle, B2Gold, Wheaton Precious Metals and Yamana Gold as prices rallied in Q1…the company also sold all of its shares of Eldorado Gold…
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Great news, Horgan and his goons get slapped in the face, now, get the bum outta here once and for all.
Comment by Laddy — May 24, 2019 @ 10:07 am
If Horgan takes this to the Supreme Court, then we’ll know he’s corrupt, bc taxpayers should revolt, it would be a waste of money and the only ones that will benefit is his buddy lawyers.
Comment by Laddy — May 24, 2019 @ 10:47 am
The Green Monster gets slapped down, which shows how it is acting unconstitutionally: Five-judge panel agrees unanimously that the amendments to B.C.’s Environmental Management Act were unconstitutional because they would interfere with the federal government’s exclusive jurisdiction over interprovincial pipelines.
Comment by Jon - BMR — May 24, 2019 @ 11:16 am