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Gold has firmed up overnight (this is an early and abbreviated edition of Morning Musings due to travel commitments) and as of 2:05 am Pacific the yellow metal is ahead $21 an ounce at $1,592…a lot of fear has come into the Gold market in recent days and that’s always a good sign from a contrarian point of view…while Gold has certainly suffered some chart damage this week, and as a result could ultimately drop another $100, $200 or even $300 an ounce, what hasn’t changed is its long-term technical and fundamental bullish posture and we’ll get more into that in our Week In Review over the weekend…

As of 2:05 am Pacific, Silver is up 31 cents to $29.59…Copper is a nickel higher at $3.30…Crude Oil has gained 31 cents to $94.18 while the U.S. Dollar Index is off slightly at 80.17…Dow futures are pointing to a positive open with overnight strength in Asia and some upward movement in Europe…

The TSX Gold Index is off 9.7% for the week while the CDNX has declined 9.2%…at 364, the Gold Index is trading at its August and October lows where it should find support (at least for now)…the HGD reverse ETF is in a technically overbought condition based on RSI (14) and Stochastics (14) while the opposite is the case for the HGU which hit its June low yesterday…the right side of the trade at this particular point is the opposite direction of the crowd in recent days…while it may be hard for some investors with beaten-down portfolios to appreciate this, some high quality Gold stocks have been marked down at fire sale prices just in time for Christmas…just one example is Gold Canyon Resources (GCU, TSX-V) which will be releasing what’s expected to be a very positive 43-101 updated resource estimate next month for its Springpole Project (5+ million ounces?) in Ontario…the technicals show a very oversold condition with the stock trading well below its still-rising 300-day moving average (SMA)…GCU closed yesterday at $1.83…

Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX), one of our favorite small producers, fell briefly below its rising 100-day SMA the other day which also occurred in early August and again in early October – two previous overall market bottoms…so if the action in Richmont tells us anything, the last couple of days have presented a Golden buying opportunity…yesterday, Richmont gained 16 cents to $11.12 following an outstanding 43-101 Wasamac resource update (2.7 million all-category ounces at a cut-off grade of 1.5 g/t Au)…Richmont is currently trading at support within a symmetrical triangle as John’s chart shows below…from a fundamental standpoint it’s just downright cheap given projected 2011 earnings, growing resources at Wasamac, and a 30% or more jump in production in 2012 to about 100,000 ounces…Richmont has enjoyed a great year and should continue to be a star performer…

John’s other chart this morning is on Cap-Ex Ventures (CEV, TSX-V) which broke an 8-session losing skid yesterday by gaining 3 pennies to close at 85 cents…watch Cap-Ex carefully today for the potential of a confirmed reversal as CEV could turn around quickly and enjoy a strong finish to the year with the 85-cent financing possibly closing next week…the fundamentals are strong…notice how it found support yesterday near its 200-day SMA…

Disappointing drill results from Currie Rose Resources (CUI, TSX-V) yesterday sent the stock tumbling to just 2 pennies, seemingly an over-reaction given the fact this company has been around for so long and will undoubtedly recover…that’s the nature of the exploration business which is why it’s so risky…the drill rig is the truth machine and unfortunately the truth hurt for CUI…now begins the rebuilding process for Currie Rose but it’s encouraging to see they’re looking at picking up a new project in a different jurisdiction…President and CEO Harold Smith is a class act who has always hung on to his shares and no one is more devastated than him over the lack of positive results at Mabale Hills and Sekenke…with $1.1 million left in the treasury, CUI at least has something to work with to get back on track…

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund has warned that the global economy faces the prospect of “economic retraction, rising protectionism, isolation and “what happened in the 30’s [Depression]”, as European tensions again flared over suggestions in Paris that the UK’s credit rating should be downgraded before France’s…Christine Legarde was speaking after the governor of France’s central bank, in an attack on the “incomprehensible and irrational nature” of credit rating agencies, also angered London officials by suggesting the agencies should target the UK’s rating rather than France’s…“There is no economy in the world, whether low-income countries, emerging markets, middle-income countries or super-advanced economies that will be immune to the crisis that we see not only unfolding but escalating,” Lagarde said in a speech at the U.S. State Department as reported by the Financial Times last night…“It is not a crisis that will be resolved by one group of countries taking action…it is going to be hopefully resolved by all countries, all regions, all categories of countries actually taking action”…

On a more positive note, the chief economist at the Standard Chartered Bank, Gerard Lyons, made these interesting comments as reported by Reuters yesterday…”By the second half, stronger growth across China and other emerging economies should pull up worldwide activity,” he stated…”It will be a recovery made in the East and felt in the West…if ever one needed evidence of a shift in the balance of power, this is it,” he wrote in the bank’s preview of 2012…as if to underscore the point, Fitch yesterday became the first ratings agency to raise its measures of Indonesia’s sovereign creditworthiness to investment grade – just as financial markets are waiting for rival Standard and Poor’s to downgrade most of the 17 members of the euro zone…”The upgrades reflect the country’s strong and resilient economic growth, low and declining public debt ratios, strengthened external liquidity and a prudent overall macro policy framework,” said Philip McNicholas, a Fitch director…

Moody’s Investors Services has turned its wary eye from the basket cases of Europe to Ontario, revising its outlook to “negative” from “stable” and issuing a stern warning on the province’s hefty debt burden that has been racked up by lefty Dalton McGuinty and his tax-and-spend-and-regulate Liberal government…the decision, Moody’s said in a statement, reflects the risks surrounding the province’s ability to meet its medium-term fiscal targets…it noted the recent slowing of economic growth…”The negative outlook on the province reflects the softening economic outlook, Ontario’s growing debt burden, and the extended time frame to achieving a balanced budget,” Moody’s analyst Jennifer Wong stated…