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Gold has traded between $1,329 and $1,339 so far today…as of 9:30 am Pacific, bullion is up $2 an ounce at $1,337…Silver has gained 9 cents to $19.75…Copper has added a penny to $2.17…Crude Oil has jumped $1.20 a barrel to $43.00 while the U.S. Dollar Index has climbed more than one-tenth of a point to 96.42…

Citi Research pointed out today that since 2015, after all non-farm payroll Fridays on which Gold has declined, cumulative returns in the yellow metal 3 days out have averaged less than negative one-third of 1% (-0.3%)…based on that, it’s reasonable to expect Gold to regain its footing this week…

Spooky:  666 Rate Cuts

666 is the number of the “beast” (Revelation 13:1, 17-18), and according to Reuters it’s also the number of times central banks around the world have cut interest rates since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008…some 55 central banks have also eased policy since the beginning of last year, the latest being the Bank of England, which halved rates to a record low of 0.25% last Thursday and pledged to pump up to 170 billion pounds into the Brexit-hit UK economy…no BoE rate hike is priced in for 4 years and UK bond yields have slumped to record lows, depressing yields and flattening yield curves around the world…

Following the U.S. Q2 GDP shock, markets no longer expect the Fed to raise rates this year, despite the upbeat 255,000 payrolls jump in July as reported by the Labor Department on Friday (mind you, that report was really just a mirage as we explain further this morning)…

China Trims Back On Gold Purchases

China, the world’s biggest producer and consumer of Gold, cut bullion purchases in July as prices soared to the highest level since 2014 after the UK voted to leave the European Union…the People’s Bank of China increased holdings by 170,000 ounces to 58.79 million ounces, or about 1,829 metric tons, according to the central bank…that was the smallest addition since it began disclosing monthly purchases about a year ago, save for May when it bought nothing…China announced last year that its hoard had jumped 57% since 2009…

While China has the 5th-biggest stash by country, its holdings make up only 2.3% of total reserves, compared with 76% in the U.S. and 70%  in Germany, according to the World Gold Council…

Disappointing Chinese Trade Data (More “Stimulus” Coming!)

Chinese imports and exports once again fell more than expected in July, building a picture of slowing growth in the world’s No. 2 economy…exports were down 4.4% on the year, while dollar-denominated imports tumbled 12.5%, government customs figures showed…the figures compared with a Bloomberg forecast for contraction of 3.5% and 7%, respectively, and with declines of 4.8% for exports and 8.4% for imports in June, when the trade data had also undershot forecasts…

Crude Oil Update

OPEC will hold informal talks at an energy conference in September, the cartel’s President said today, as Oil-producing nations worry over a recent downturn in the Crude market…Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada, Qatar’s energy minister who is serving as OPEC’s President this year, sounded a positive note about the Crude Oil market, saying demand was expected to be strong in the 2nd half of 2016 while the global supply of petroleum would weaken…

China’s July fuel exports rose over 50% from a year earlier to a monthly record 4.57 million tonnes, official data showed today, as easing demand growth and a surplus in refined products pushed refiners to increase shipments overseas…

The number of Oil rigs drilling in the U.S. rose for the 6th consecutive week to 381…

Meanwhile, hedge funds last week cut their net longs on Brent Crude to their lowest since January while investors are holding their smallest bullish exposure to U.S. Crude Oil since February – good signs that an Oil price recovery may start to gain traction…

In Today’s Morning Musings…

1. Northern Shield (NRN, TSX-V) jumps on Labrador Trough results (CLE surrounds them, also pushing higher)…

2. Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX) continues to please as Q2 financials are released…

3. The funny story of the trading symbol that wasn’t…

4. Daniel’s Den – Obama’s jobs mirage…

Plus more…click here to read the rest of today’s Morning Musings, and all BMR exclusive content, or login with your username and password.