The index of leading economic indicators in the U.S. climbed in April, continuing a strong weather-related gain in the month prior…the index rose 0.4% last month, according to the Conference Board, after an upwardly revised 1% reading in March…economists surveyed by Reuters expected a gain of 0.3% in April. “The LEI rose for the third consecutive month, driven largely by improving housing and financial market conditions,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, economist at the Conference Board. “This latest report suggests the economy will continue to expand, and may even pick up steam through the second half of the year.”
Gold is pushing modestly higher today…as of 8:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $6 an ounce at $1,298 after climbing as high as $1,305…Silver has added 17 cents to $19.56…Copper is a penny higher at $3.14…Crude Oil is unchanged at $104.07 while the U.S. Dollar Index has gained more than one-tenth of a point to 80.23, putting it just slightly below its declining 200-day moving average (SMA)…
Internationally, pro-Russian separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine mounted four simultaneous attacks against government forces last night and today, according to officials in Kiev…the violence comes just days before presidential elections that separatists have vowed to block…the attacks resulted in some of the highest number of casualties since the conflict began…meanwhile, Thailand’s powerful military launched its 12th coup of the modern era, plunging Asia’s second-largest economy into a fresh phase of its crippling crisis and raising the prospect of international sanctions…
Gold may begin to trade more like a commodity that is dependent on factors like supply, demand and cost dynamics, rather than the monetary and macro forces that drove bullion in previous years, according to Deutsche Bank…when Gold prices traded at a significant premium to its marginal cost, as it did a few years, ago, bullion was treated like a currency, said Xiao Fu, strategist at Deutsche Bank, in a research report…that may no longer be the case as the premium now is much narrower…when measured using the cash cost curve, known as C1 costs, it appears that Gold prices are at a 30% premium to marginal costs, about $1,000 an ounce, Fu said…however, using a global Gold all-in sustaining cost curve, Fu said Gold prices in the 90th percentile are trading at a much smaller premium to marginal costs, which they peg at $1,200 an ounce using sustaining cost curve analysis…
Today’s Equity Markets
Asia
Asian markets ended mostly higher overnight, following upbeat Chinese factory activity data and the Federal Reserve’s reassurance that interest rates will not rise anytime soon…HSBC’s May flash PMI for China rose to a 5-month high of 49.7, above the bank’s final April reading of 48.1, and the government’s April official figure of 50.4…
China’s Shanghai Composite declined four points while Japan’s Nikkei gained 296 points…
Europe
European markets were slightly positive today…
North America
The Dow is up 25 points as of 8:00 am Pacific…the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week but stayed close to a 7-year low and pointed to ongoing healing in the labor market…initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 28,000 to 326,000 for the week ended May 17, the Labor Department said today…the prior week saw the lowest reading since May 2007 and brought claims back to a level last seen before the deep 2007-09 recession…
The TSX is 71 points higher while the Venture has added 5 points to 979 as of 8:00 am Pacific…
Balmoral Resources Ltd. (BAR, TSX) Update
Balmoral Resources (BAR, TSX) is yet another example of how important it is to follow Fib. resistance and support levels, especially if you’re an active trader…after a recent breakout above Fib. resistance at 91 cents, BAR then gathered momentum and hit the next Fib. measured resistance level at $1.29 (it got as high as $1.30) Tuesday on strong volume before pulling back to $1.15 yesterday…if you look at the 1-year weekly chart below, you’ll note that BAR not only met resistance at the new Fib. level but RSI(14) is now showing technically overbought conditions that likely need to unwind, so some consolidation can be expected…BAR has been delivering some excellent exploration results recently and the primary trend in the stock remains very bullish…over the near-term, though, expected some consolidation based on technical factors…
BAR has retreated 4 pennies to $1.11 through the first 90 minutes of trading…
Corvus Gold Inc. (KOR, TSX)
Nice drill hole result from Corvus Gold (KOR, TSX) this morning – NB-14-391, the first hole drilled in 2014 on the Northern extension of the main Josh Vein at the North Bullfrog Project in Nevada, returned 17.5 m of 12.77 g/t Au and 62 g/t Ag…this hole is a 30 m step-out to the north from the farthest northern holes drilled in 2013 and returned the best intersection drilled to date…the results from hole NB-391 represent only the main vein interval, and assays from the surrounding stockwork and disseminated zones are still pending..KOR has jumped 11 cents to $1.25 as of 8:00 am Pacific…
Contact Exploration Inc. (CEX, TSX-V)
Energy stocks remain hot – in fact, the top six volume leaders on the Venture yesterday were energy plays…one of our favorites in this space continues to be Contact Exploration (CEX, TSX-V) which gave a progress update yesterday…total company reserves (net proved and probable) increased by 43% in the year ended March 31 to 10,643 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (mboe) while total company net present value (net proved and probable reserves discounted at 10%) increased by 69% to $174.4-million…
Contact continues to accelerate its key Kakwa Montney play, and is poised for further increases in production as East Kakwa pushes westward…below is an updated 2.5-year weekly chart from John…38 cents is a key resistance level…note how CEX has been slowly but steadily climbing an upsloping channel since the summer of last year…CEX is up half a penny at 36.5 cents as of 8:00 am Pacific…
Niogold Mining Corp. (NOX, TSX-V)
NioGold Mining Corp. (NOX, TSX-V) has commenced a 1,400-metre drill program on its recently acquired H zone, now consolidated as part of the company’s Malartic Block Property along the Cadillac Trend…the Marban Block already has three deposits (Marban, Kierens and Norlartic) which collectively host estimated measured and indicated resources of 1.5 million ounces of Gold (32,127,000 tonnes grading 1.48 g/t Au) plus inferred resources of 600,000 ounces (16,478,000 tonnes grading 1.13 g/t Au)…NOX closed at 23 cents yesterday…
North American Nickel Inc. (NAN, TSX-V)
North American Nickel (NAN, TSX-V) has to be considered a go-to play for this summer…the company was well-funded even before recently announcing a $9.4 million financing at 33 cents, and it’ll be aggressively drilling its 100%-owned Maniitsoq Nickel sulphide project in southwestern Greenland after highly encouraging results last year…
John’s 2.5-year weekly chart suggests there is strong upside potential in NAN over the coming months…NAN is unchanged at 39 cents through the first 90 minutes of trading…
Updated Copper Chart
Keep a close eye on Copper because it continues to show strength as it recovers from its March low of just under $2.90 a pound…the next key resistance is $3.20…
Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold share positions in BAR, KOR, CEX, NOX or NAN.
Pick up good quantity of proper gold this morning @ 46 and 48.
Comment by Martin — May 22, 2014 @ 7:48 am
New out on VGN. Volume has picked up in the last few weeks :
GREENCASTLE OIL ACQUISITION AND UPDATE
Greencastle Resources Ltd. has acquired a 47.5-per-cent working interest, subject to a 3-per-cent gross overriding royalty, in a suspended Cardium oil and gas well in the Ferrier area of Alberta, which the company feels can be recompleted. Management hopes to expand the play and find a partner to undertake the recompletion while Greencastle retains a royalty.
Meanwhile, the unusually cold winter has delayed production testing on the company’s 2.5-per-cent GORR interest in the first well on its acreage in the northwest Alberta Spirit River/Charlie Lake oil field. Drilling has been completed and the operator indicates that production testing will start this summer.
Comment by Chris — May 22, 2014 @ 10:36 am
GGI -Insider selling yesterday and again today. More shares were sold yesterday than today. Gotta wonder why?
Company Name : Garibaldi Resources Corp.
Last Updated: May 22, 2014
Date
Symbol
Insider
Buys
Volume
Insider
Sells
Volume
Insider
Buys
Value $
Insider
Sells
Value $
Insider
Buys
Transaction
Insider
Sells
Transaction
Currency
05/22/2014
GGI
0
13,000
0.00
3,380.00
0
2
CAD
Comment by Dan — May 22, 2014 @ 3:53 pm
Dan
13k shares, probably needs some money to pay bills….???
Comment by Greg — May 22, 2014 @ 5:27 pm
Keep an eye on Nulegacy Gold. Drilling the Cortez Trend on strike and trend with 3 multimillion ounce deposits. In fact over 50 million ounces between all three approximately 7 km apart. Barrick shared info with Nulegacy this spring on their Goldrush deposit and the stratigraphy very similar to Nulegacy’s (see slide 8). Nulegacy already has a sea of oxide gold between .5 and 1g/t. They are all cashed up to drill between 40-50 holes targeting the higher grade gold in the Webnan 5 unit. This is where Barrick found the high grade gold in the Gold Rush Deposit approximately 7 kilometers from where Nulegacy is now drilling. Anyone interested see link to presentation below. As always, do your own dd.
http://nulegacygold.com/i/pdf/2014-05-07_NUGP_Wt8eSMw.pdf
Significant Shareholdings:
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Management, Principals & Directors 22.5%
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Mining Entrepreneurs & Investment Bankers 22.5%
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Friends, Family & Business associates 22.5%
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Institutions 17.5%
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Public 15.0%
Comment by Dan — May 22, 2014 @ 5:37 pm
Thanks Dan, NUG Is a sponser of KE Report. Al K. frequently does audio updates with the CEO, forgot his name at the moment.. Cheers!!
Comment by Greg J. — May 22, 2014 @ 6:49 pm
James Anderson – CEO
Comment by Dan — May 23, 2014 @ 8:45 am