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This is a somewhat abbreviated version of Morning Musings due to travel commitments…Gold has traded between $1,630 and $1,678 so far today…as of 9:05 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $32 an ounce at $1,660…Silver has jumped $1.34 to $32.09…Copper has climbed 14 cents to $3.44, Crude Oil is $3.36 higher at $83.60 while the U.S. Dollar Index is off half a point at 77.61…markets are buoyant today with the CDNX rallying out of deep oversold conditions…the Venture is currently up 54 points at 1581 but faces a stiff band of resistance beginning at 1600…

Despite Gold’s sharp move off its early Monday lows near its 200-day moving average (SMA), it remains in a consolidation phase as demonstrated by John’s chart last night…he has been extremely accurate on this consolidation phase and called for it when Gold was trading around $1,900, so it’s wise to stick with his call…Gold has strong resistance just above $1,700, a critical area that must be overcome before the next major up-leg can kick in (as we expect it will at some point during the fourth quarter)…that will require patience on the part of Gold bugs…a re-test of Monday’s lows can’t be ruled out so traders/investors have to be careful here…Gold is prone to another sell-off in the event of any widespread additional liquidation of assets across the board should the economic situation in Europe or the United States deteriorate…we are distrustful of most major political leaders in the world right now, President Obama among them, and their collective ability to do what needs to be done in order to effectively address debt issues and create the necessary environment for private sector economies to generate economic growth and wealth…

American consumers’ confidence in the economy remained weak in September after dropping to a post-recession low during the month before amid continued concerns about high unemployment and low wages…the Conference Board, a private research group, said today that its Consumer Confidence Index was at 45.4, up slightly from a revised 45.2 in August…economists surveyed by FactSet had expected a reading of 46…the August reading, which was the lowest since April 2009, was almost 15 points below July’s reading of 59.2…a reading above 90 indicates the economy is on solid footing…economists watch the number closely because consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity…

As mentioned, the CDNX is enjoying a strong day…Trade Winds Ventures (TWD, TSX-V), which got a takeover offer from Detour Gold (DGC, TSX) yesterday, and Canaco Resources (CAN, TSX-V) are the two most active Venture stocks today…Visible Gold Mines (VGD, TSX-V) is rebounding nicely after falling as low as 26 cents during the CDNX plunge…VGD announced yesterday that drilling is ready to commence at Wasa East…in addition, a second drill rig has been added at the Joutel Project which is interesting…a Phase 2 program at Wasa Creek will start following receipt of all remaining Phase 1 assay results and the completion of an induced polarization survey and downhole geophysics…VGD is currently up 2 pennies at 31 cents…Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX), which fell as low as $10.15 yesterday, has jumped $1.11 to $11.98…

Spanish Mountain Gold (SPA, TSX-V), which has been one of the best-performing stocks on the Venture this year, dropped as low as 66 cents (its rising 100-day SMA) during yesterday’s continued weakness on the CDNX…it’s currently up 9 cents at 78 cents…Spanish Mountain has a very attractive low-grade but high-tonnage advanced Gold project in central British Columbia that it’s hoping to bring into production within the next few years…B.C. Premier Christy Clark, in a speech last week to the Vancouver Board of Trade, embraced the importance of the mining industry in that province…she said she expects eight new mines to open in B.C. by 2015, along with the expansion of nine existing mining operations, generating $1.6 billion in annual revenue, sustaining 5,000 jobs and creating 1,800 new jobs…”If government can get out of the way, these goals will be realistic,” she said…it’s refreshing to hear a politician say that…

We’ve had some inquiries regarding Adventure Gold (AGE, TSX-V)…we’re currently preparing an article on AGE’s Pascalis Colombiere Gold Property near Val-d’Or which is showing excellent potential…AGE is up 3 pennies this morning to 47 cents and John updates the chart below…