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Gold has traded between $1,241 and $1,262 so far today…as of 9:00 am Pacific, bullion is down $7 an ounce at $1,243…Silver is off a nickel at $15.42…Copper is a penny lower at $2.25…Crude Oil has corrected $1.63 a barrel to $36.87 while the U.S. Dollar Index has rallied more than one-third of a point to 96.54…

Hedge funds and money managers increased their bullish position in COMEX Gold to the highest in 13 months in the week to March 8, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday, as safe-haven buying lifted prices to the highest since February 2015…this was the 8th increase in net long positions in the last 9 weeks, though some may interpret this as a sign of a looming correction…since the beginning of the year, the equivalent of 481 tons of Gold have been purchased via the futures market, according to Commerzbank…the aggregate open interest in Gold futures and options on the Comex is at its highest since July 2013…

Meanwhile, assets in global Gold exchange-traded products reached 1,735.9 metric tons as of Thursday, the latest data compiled by Bloomberg show…that’s the biggest hoard since July 2014…

Goldman analysts led by Jeffrey Currie reiterated in a report last week that they expect the metal to fall as the U.S. economy strengthens…signs of consumer growth would help to “dissolve market fears”, the analysts said in a March 7 note, citing a near-term target of $1,100…Currie’s bearish position in early 2013 proved correct…he may not be so lucky this time around, however…Gold’s technical posture has changed dramatically over the last 2 months, suggesting the current move is different than any of the previous (failed) rallies in Gold since 2012…bullion is on track for a strong 2016 with powerful new support at $1,200, limiting the metal’s current downside potential…investors have shown they will buy into any significant dips…

One Canadian financial executive quoted by Bloomberg this morning said it well regarding Gold’s current behavior:  “(It) has some legs, because I don’t think there’s any easy solution to this conundrum of slow growth,” said John Stephenson, the CEO of Stephenson & Co. Capital Management in Toronto, which oversees $55 million CDN.  “What’s driving it is really just this uncertainty surrounding central bank policy, negative interest rates, because they’re really at the heart of the whole issue right now that markets are struggling with. In that kind of environment, Gold looks pretty attractive.”

Fed Meeting Begins Tomorrow

The Federal Reserve’s 2-day policy meeting starts tomorrow…investors will be watching closely for clues on the future pace of U.S. rate increases after the central bank hiked rates for the first time in nearly a decade in December…the meeting will be followed by a summary of economic projections from individual Fed members (all eyes will be on the ‘dot plots’ for guidance on the Fed’s future policy outlook) as well as a news conference by Chair Janet Yellen…recent weakness in the U.S. dollar gives Yellen a little more wiggle room…keep in mind that if the Fed displays a hawkish tone, Gold isn’t necessarily going to fall through the floor..instead, a hawkish Fed could help shift traders’ attention toward inflation which historically has often occurred around the time when central bankers start to remove liquidity…

Crude Oil Update

The U.S. rig count continues to fall, dropping for a 12th week in a row on Friday to its lowest level in at least 67 years…weekly data by Baker Hughes showed the combined count of Oil and gas rigs in the U.S. dropped to a multi-decade record 480 rigs…a drop in rig counts doesn’t necessarily translate into a fall in production…U.S. producers have also become more efficient, which has helped keep output levels in the country above 9 million barrels a day…if prices continue to edge close to $40, the trend of U.S. shale producers taking rigs out of action may end as they look to an environment when prices rise again…this could harm the chances of a price recovery further down the line as supply levels are maintained…

Iran’s Oil exports are due to reach 2 million bpd in the Iranian month that ends on March 19, up from 1.75 million in the previous month, Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said over the weekend…in addition, Iran says it will only join the output freeze group once it has reached production of 4 million barrels a day…however, it also appears that Iran is struggling to find a market for all of its Oil….the International Energy Institute reported last week that around 72 million barrels of Iranian oil are being stored on water…

OPEC expects slightly lower Oil demand in 2016 than previously forecast…the cartel’s Crude demand forecast, released this morning, was revised down by 100,000 barrels per day for the full year to 31.5 million bpd…

In today’s Morning vMusings…

1.  ETF update…

2.  Reviewing a 200% gainer since the beginning of February…

3.  Bold Venture junior announces stock split…

4.  Silver update…

Plus more…to view the rest of today’s Morning Musings, login with your username and password, or click here to gain full access to this and other exclusive BMR content and features…