Gold has traded between $1,316 and $1,326 so far today…as of 10:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $2 an ounce at $1,323…Silver has added 7 cents to $18.72…Copper is unchanged at $2.09…Crude Oil is 80 cents lower at $46.84 while the U.S. Dollar Index has added one-fifth of a point to 95.70…
Large speculators upped their collective bullish positioning in Gold futures but trimmed their net length in Silver in the week to August 23, according to the most recent weekly report released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission…it’ll be interesting to see what Gold specs do this week following the Fed’s Symposium at Jackson Hole that wrapped up on Saturday…
Fed’s Preferred Inflation Target Remains Subdued
U.S. consumer spending increased for a 4th straight month in July amid strong demand for automobiles…the Commerce Department said this morning that consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, rose 0.3% last month – in line with expectations – after an upwardly revised 0.5% gain in June…
Fed Chair Janet Yellen told a gathering of global central bankers at Jackson Hole on Friday that she believed the case for raising interest rates had been strengthened in recent months by the “solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation.”
Last month, however, there was little sign of inflation pressures even as consumer spending firmed…the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, excluding the volatile food and energy components, edged up 0.1% (as reported this morning) after a similar gain in June…in the 12 months through July the core PCE increased 1.6%…it has risen by the same margin every month since March…the core PCE is the Fed’s preferred inflation measure and is running below its 2% target…
Alberta Oil Haters Disrupt First Day Of NEB Hearings On Energy East In Montreal
No surprise – the National Energy Board has cancelled the first day of Energy East hearings in Montreal this morning after protesters broke into the downtown venue and started screaming and chanting…Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, who has helped energize the anti-pipeline lobby in his province, was the first scheduled speaker but instead walked out a few minutes after a screaming man rushed toward the commissioners…he was grabbed by security but overpowered them and was joined by several other protesters who chanted, held hands and prevented proceedings from getting going…
Many Quebec activists and politicians, including Coderre, have opposed the TransCanada project which is slated to transport Crude Oil from Alberta to New Brunswick…isn’t it strange that Coderre and his radical allies seem to have no problem with this country importing Oil from hideous regimes in the Middle East who are breeding Islamic terrorists to kill us, but they don’t want to be part of Energy East to more effectively transport ethical Oil from Alberta?…meanwhile, to help pay for their generous welfare schemes the last few decades, Quebecers have been more than happy to take many billions of dollars in the form of “equalization payments” thanks to the West’s Oil riches…
Copper Update
While other metals have shined in 2016, Copper has struggled to gain traction and last week erased its gains for the year…demand in China, the world’s biggest user, appears to be slowing just as Goldman Sachs Group predicts a “supply storm” will hit the market and drag prices even lower (is Goldman on the buy side?)…stockpiles of the metal are increasing significantly with inventories monitored by the London Metal Exchange jumping to a 10-month high…supplies are likely moving out of China and into warehouses tracked by the LME, Commerzbank said in a report August 24…
Not everyone is bearish, however…Citigroup said the gain in mine production during the 1st half was mostly driven by a 52% jump in Peruvian output, and growth from those projects will likely “fall off” in the 2nd half…the 1 million metric tons of additional supply expected by 2020 won’t be able to meet the growth of 1.6 million tons in demand, analysts including David Wilson wrote in a report a couple of weeks ago…and while consumption is slowing in China, there are pockets of optimism elsewhere…in the U.S., the #2 Copper user, both Presidential candidates have pledged to ramp up spending on infrastructure if elected…in Japan, Prime Minister Abe’s government will spend 6.2 trillion yen ($61 billion) on infrastructure…
Meanwhile, if the outlook for Copper is so poor according to Goldman Sachs, why has the Venture performed the way it has this year and why are good Copper projects around the world, including British Columbia, being looked at closely as potential acquisitions?…
Ivanhoe Mines (IVN, TSX) Jumps On Friedland’s News
Canadian Copper miner Ivanhoe Mines (IVN, TSX) said this morning that companies from Asia, Europe, Africa and elsewhere had expressed interest in the company and its projects in recent months…IVN said it would hire an investment bank to seek advice on the unsolicited interest and to advise its board on all available alternatives…
Never one to pass up an opportunity to promote, Executive Chairman Robert Friedland stated: “The mining industry has taken notice of our company. Our remarkable Kakula discovery on the Central African Copperbelt certainly is helping to generate attention. We have received a number of unsolicited inquiries from significant mining industry participants in Asia, Europe, Africa and elsewhere. In response, our board has taken the prudent decision to seek strategic advice.”
IVN has climbed more than 50% over the last month, trading this morning as high as $1.93…
In Today’s Morning Musings…
1. The long-term Gold chart that will make your head spin!…
2. 94.35 g/t Au over 17.40 m – nice!…TSX stock nearly doubles…
3. Get ready for the next run in Silver…
4. Lion One Metals (LIO, TSX-V) arranges $41 million financing for high-grade Fiji mine…
5. Daniel’s Den – Orca Gold (ORG, TSX-V) reassembles Red Back’s “A” team…
Plus more…click here to read the rest of today’s Morning Musings and all BMR exclusive content, through a risk-free Pro, Gold or Basic package, or login with your username and password…
6 Comments
GGI – no action, no news, and bid at 7.5 cents. I guess that chat you had with regocci didn’t work. I say this all the time but hopefully things change next month.
I don’t know what to do with my dead money and potential losses in GGI
DVR – Jon do you expect DVR to start a PR campaign soon or just hum drum their way along now that they have Canada Transport approval to expand the drone industry to 3 other provinces besides Ontario? Yes it was difficult to get large chunks of DVR stock back 3 or 4 weeks ago but at least their were bids. The volume has literally dried up since then. Wonder when will there be announcements of farmers signing agreements for their drone services? Seems the meetings in St. Louis didn’t go so well, or it didn’t provide the exposure DVR was anticipating.
Dan1, I spoke with Dave MacMillan at length Friday and they insist they have much in store for September. So let’s see what they roll out. They’ve made significant headway on the business front and that should be more clear soon – would like to see them get the promo machine fired up, but they say behind the scenes they’re making progress there (it’s definitely behind the scenes to this point!). Given the very small public float, wouldn’t take much to take this higher in a hurry.
Thanks Jon for the DVR update. As you said lets hope for some September news!
KSK – First Quantum minerals been drilling Copper Joe target since July 18th. I know it’s a deep target 650m but the drill bit must have reached the target by now and gone through the center of the conductivity low anomaly. The final target depth I believe was 800 meters. Not sure if the drill is capable of drilling beyond 800 meters. You would think that an announcement would be made upon completion of drilling and an estimated timeline for results. Hopefully this will be a game changing hole for KSK.