Gold has traded between $1,282 and $1,290 so far today after hitting a nine-week low yesterday…as of 6:45 am Pacific, bullion is unchanged at $1,284…Silver is up 6 cents at $19.45…Copper is off a penny at $3.01…Crude Oil is up slightly at $101.85 while the U.S. Dollar Index has retreated one-tenth of a point to 79.81…
Interesting – Gold remains the investment of choice for lower-income Americans, according to Gallup’s Economy and Personal Finance poll conducted over a four-day period early this month…although real estate was the top option as a long-term investment, Gold made the top of the list (31%) for the subcategory of Americans whose annual household income is less than $30,000…in contrast, only 18% of high-income earners favor Gold as an investment…overall, 30% of total respondents said that real estate was the best long-term investment, up from 25% in 2013…Gold tied for second place overall with stocks and/or mutual funds…prior to 2011, Gold was not an option in the investment survey (it held top spot among all respondents in 2011)…bonds have been Americans’ least favored investment option for as long as Gallup has been asking the question, the report stated…
China’s March imports of Platinum group metals and Silver improved in March, according to Barclays. “The March numbers confirm the strength we saw in February with both Platinum and Palladium imports rising month-on-month,” the bank stated…Platinum imports were down 8% year-on-year, but were stronger than in both January and February at some 236,000 ounces…Palladium imports were up on both a monthly and yearly basis to 77,000 ounces, their highest since November, which in turn was the highest since December 2011. “This strength in imports aligns with auto production in China, which continues to grow. Auto sales grew in January and February, with the latest data for March showing a 9% year-on-year rise in passenger vehicle sales.”
Today’s Equity Markets
Asia
HSBC’s flash PMI for China came in at 48.3 in April, higher than the bank’s final March reading of 48, but still in contraction territory for a fourth straight month…the People’s Bank of China said that it will reduce the reserve requirement ratio for rural commercial banks by 2 percentage points starting Friday in a bid to boost growth in those regions…the Shanghai Composite fell 5 points overnight while Japan’s Nikkei average climbed 158 points…
Europe
European shares are down slightly on profit taking in late trading overseas after a significant run-up yesterday…business activity across the euro area accelerated at its fastest pace in almost three years in April…the survey data from Markit Economics showed that the composite output index rose unexpectedly to 54.0 in April from 53.1 in March…the latest reading was the highest since May 2011…economists had forecast the score to fall marginally to 53…the PMI has now been above the 50.0 level for 10 consecutive months, signaling a continuous expansion of business activity since last July…the crisis in the Ukraine and the strength of the euro are threatening to undermine growth, while deflation is still a major concern…Markit’s survey showed that companies cut prices for a 25th straight month…the appreciating euro (the currency has gained 6.5% against the dollar in the past 12 months) is curbing the price of imported goods, undermining the fight against low inflation…
North America
The Dow is down 10 points through the first 15 minutes of trading today…the Nasdaq is off modestly and will need to rally in order to post its seventh straight daily advance…
Nasdaq 3-Year Weekly Chart
What’s interesting about the Nasdaq is that the sell-off in March/early April was a much needed and very normal pullback, very similar to the one that occurred in late 2012 and again during the second quarter of last year…this is why technical analysis is so important – it takes emotion out of the equation and puts volatility into context…of course it also shows where a market should find strong support, like we’ve seen recently with the Venture…
Interestingly, the Nasdaq reversed higher after testing the bottom of an upsloping channel in place for more than a year, as well as its rising 200-day SMA…RSI(14) was in overbought territory for several months, needed to unwind and found support just below 50…there’s also a long-term up support trendline coinciding with Fib. support around 3600, so this is a healthy market showing no signs that it’s about to collapse…pullbacks, therefore, have to be considered buying opportunities until the technicals change dramatically…
Venture Updated Chart
The TSX is up 8 points as of 6:45 am Pacific while the Venture has added 3 more points to 1008…the Venture has impressively held support despite weakness in Gold, and its 10-day SMA has reversed to the upside with the 20-day now threatening to do the same…so a strong finish to the week could be in store for the CDNX…let’s take a look at an updated chart…
The Venture is performing according to script, correcting very modestly to strong support around 980…buy pressure has replaced sell pressure on this 9-month daily chart with sell pressure peaking early this month…RSI(14) has broken above a down trendline…there is some resistance at 1007 – that’s an area to watch at the moment as a confirmed breakout on a closing basis above 1007 would certainly be bullish…
Overall, the “Big Picture” for the Venture remains extremely positive (still a selective, early-stage bull phase) with superb technical support in the mid-900’s…what’s also interesting is the Venture’s 300-day SMA (currently at 973) which forms part of this market’s support…the 300-day is beginning to flatten out and one can make the projection that it should begin to reverse to the upside at some point in June…history shows that this would be a hugely bullish development which adds credence to our view that the Venture is in for a rip-roaring summer, led in part by fresh discoveries including the Sheslay Valley in northwest British Columbia…
Prosper Gold Corp. (PGX, TSX-V) Update
Speaking of the Sheslay district, we had a fascinating look from the air at Prosper Gold Corp.’s (PGX, TSX-V) Star Project during our recent area visit…we’ll be posting some pictures next week and reviewing some key points…regular readers know where we stand with regard to this project – it is first-rate and led by a superb team headed by Pete Bernier and Dirk Tempelman-Kluit…given all the geological, geochemical and geophysical evidence, there’s every reason to believe that Prosper has a high probability of success in terms of being able to connect the advanced Star target with the Star North and Star East targets, within about a kilometer, which have never been drilled…Prosper starts attacking the Star Project with step-out drilling during the first half of next month, so get ready for a show…meanwhile, Pyrrhotite Creek, about 4.5 km southwest of the Star, is a distinct multiple-target area that has tremendous potential to emerge as a major discovery by itself in the next few months…it has all the classic signatures of a Cu-Au porphyry system, and we’ll detail all the reasons why next week…
In the meantime, below is an updated 3-year weekly PGX chart…an ascending triangle has formed, which is potentially quite bullish, while RSI(14) is climbing an uptrend…a very strong support band exists between 45 and 50 cents…technically, the key event to watch for is a breakout above the horizontal channel…
Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) – Part 2 Of Video Interview With John Buckle
During our recent Sheslay Valley and Hat Property visit, we had the opportunity to meet Doubleview Capital (DBV, TSX-V) consulting geologist and geophysicist John Buckle who has played a critical role in selecting drill targets at the Hat…through our hundreds of hours of Sheslay Valley research, one thing is certainly clear – geophysics has been and is going to continue to be instrumental in drill target selection for all companies throughout this district…the dots are connecting, so to speak, with regard to certain signatures…
Below is the second excerpt of our interview with Buckle which took place inside one of the camp units, hence some occasional background noise and movements…Buckle started his career in 1972 with Teck…former president of the Canadian Geophysical Society, and also former president of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario, Buckle has worked in 10 countries and has several discoveries under his belt…he specializes in porphyry Copper, Gold, Nickel, kimberlite and polymetallic exploration…
Pilot Gold Inc. (PLG, TSX) Update
More very solid results this morning from Pilot Gold’s (PLG, TSX) Kinsley Mountain Western Flank target in Nevada as the company reported the remaining five holes from a 12-hole, 3500-m winter drilling program…these included infill hole PK137C grading 21.3 g/t Au over 29 m, and step-out holes PK133C and PK134C (10.6 g/t Au over 30 m and 2.84 g/t Au over 18.9 m, respectively)…the zone of high-grade mineralization remains open in all directions with drilling set to resume early next month (one core drill and two RC drills)…PLG is up 9 cents at $1.44 as of 6:45 am Pacific…
Technically, a turning point for PLG came early this year when the stock broke above a downtrend line as you can see on this 1.5-year weekly chart…after climbing to a new 52-week high of $1.75 on Kinsley results March 12, and then announcing on that same day a $20 million bought deal financing at $1.53, PLG gradually retraced to the Fib. 38.2% level…support has held, and PLG may now be set to challenge resistance in the $1.50’s…this could certainly be an exciting play in 2014…
Note: Jon holds a share position in PGX. Jon and John both hold share positions in DBV.
