BullMarketRun.com

Gold has traded between $1,660 and $1,683 so far today…as of 7:30 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $6 an ounce at $1,670…Silver is 31 cents higher at $31.78…Copper is up 2 pennies to $3.72…Crude Oil is off slightly at $97.36 (WTI is headed for its eighth straight weekly advance, its longest weekly winning streak since 2004) while the U.S. Dollar Index dipped briefly below critical support at 79 but is now up slightly at 79.14..

Today’s Markets

The Dow briefly cracked the 14,000 barrier this morning…as of 7:30 am Pacific, the Dow is up 119 points at 13980…the TSX has climbed 74 points to 12759 while the Venture Exchange has added 6 points to 1228…European shares are strong today while Asian markets were mixed, though China’s Shanghai Composite gained another 34 points to 2419…China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) eased to 50.4 in January, the National Bureau of Statistics said today, missing market expectations for a rise and underscoring the fragility of the recovery from the economy’s weakest year since 1999…however,  a separate private survey showed that growth in China’s giant manufacturing sector hit a two-year high in January as domestic demand strengthened…

Retail Investment Demand For Silver Strong

Kitco reports that retail investment demand for Silver has been strong, according to Deutsche Bank…analysts say some price support is due to lower production growth after some project cancellations and deferrals…“Nevertheless, what is striking is the apparent demand on the retail level for physical Silver, whether it is direct via coin orders from domestic mints or indirect via physically backed silver ETF’S…this demand has remained strong despite the apparent rotation by many investment managers from risk-aversion or safe-haven assets into risky assets over the past year or so”…analysts point out that the U.S. Mint reported its highest monthly sales ever in January…the Mint’s web site currently lists them at 7.498 million ounces…“Furthermore, we note that total holdings of Silver by ETF’s have reached another high,” the bank stated….“We expect that the constructive bias by private (and largely U.S.) investors towards Silver may reflect a longer-term concern with respect to the domestic economy, its perceived fragility and the considerable financial imbalances (rising debt) which threaten it longer term”…

U.S. Dollar Index Chart Update

The Dollar Index is critical to watch at the moment – there are obvious potential implications for both Gold and the Venture Exchange – given the increasing likelihood that the Dollar in the near future is about to break below key support…the Index has formed a classic head and shoulders top and now faces the prospect of crashing through the neckline as shown in John’s 2.5-year weekly chart below…down momentum is increasing and RSI(14) has plenty of room to move lower…

Updated Euro Chart

Another reason for a further decline in the Dollar Index is continued strength in the euro which has broken above resistance at $1.35…John first called a bottom in the euro last summer and a further move higher after a breakout above a classic cup-with-handle pattern…next major resistance for the euro is at $1.40…

U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls Increase 157,000

U.S. employment grew again in January but not at a pace to be able to lower the jobless rate, which gave Gold an initial lift today…non-farm payrolls rose 157,000 for the first month of 2013 while the unemployment rate edged higher to 7.9%, news that keep the printing presses running overtime at the Federal Reserve…economists were looking for 160,000 net new jobs created with the unemployment rate holding steady at 7.8%…the ho-hum jobs numbers for January were accompanied, however, by substantial revisions higher for previous months, according to the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics…November’s numbers rose from the originally reported 161,000 to a robust 247,000, while December was pushed upward to 196,000 from 155,000…

U.S. Consumer Sentiment Improves

U.S. consumer sentiment unexpectedly improved in January as Americans felt Washington’s deal to avert the “fiscal cliff” at the beginning of the year boded well for the economy, a survey released this morning Friday showed…the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s final reading on the overall index of consumer sentiment rose to 73.8 from 72.9 in December, topping economists’ forecasts for 71.5…

Madalena Ventures (MVN, TSX-V)

Recently, we introduced an interesting oil and gas play – Madalena Ventures (MVN, TSX-V) – which has performed quite well and has now broken out above a cup-wth-handle pattern…below is a 2.5-year weekly chart from John…MVN recently completed the acquisition of Online Energy Inc. (ONL, TSX-V), adding an important revenue stream to the company…as always, perform your own due diligence…MVN is unchanged in early trading today…

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold share positions in MVN.