BullMarketRun.com

Gold has traded between $1,589 and $1,614 so far today…as of 7:05 am Pacific, bullion is down $13 an ounce at $1,596…Silver is off 3 cents at $28.73…Copper is down a penny at $3.44, about a nickel above critical technical support…hedge funds are making the biggest bet against Copper on record as global inventories expand to a nine-year high…Crude Oil has added $1.14 a barrel to $94.86 while the U.S. Dollar Index is up one-third of a point at 82.6…

Cyprus Secures Bailout But Lasting Damage Has Been Inflicted

Cyprus secured a bailout from its international creditors early today, ending more than a week of intense bargaining that threatened to see the small island nation become the first government to leave the euro zone…but lasting damage has likely been inflicted on the Cypriot economy, and the situation there remains very delicate…officials said they believe the country will now need strict controls on money transfers in and out of the economy in the coming weeks or possibly months, cutting off its citizens and companies from much of the rest of the euro zone’s financial system…and the bailout program aims to slash the size of Cypriot banks, perhaps forever ending the country’s status as an offshore tax haven and financial-services center…both junior and senior bondholders in the Laiki Bank will be wiped out, a first for a euro zone bailout country (in other bailouts, senior bondholders have not faced such losses)…the remaining smaller deposits at Laiki will be transferred to Bank of Cyprus, the nation’s largest lender, which in turn will be shrunk and completely restructured…deposits of more than 100,000 euros will be frozen and will see significant losses…the need for another bailout for Cyprus down the road can’t be ruled out, and the message from the EU that’s loud and clear in this bailout is that nothing is sacrosanct anymore – including banks and bank deposits…the Cyprus story is not going to go away anytime soon, so the market’s relief over the bailout deal might be short-lived…in the meantime, attention will also turn to Italy where political gridlock has the potential to unsettle investors…

Today’s Markets

Japan’s Nikkei average recovered most of Friday’s losses and rallied 1.7% overnight to close at 12546…China’s Shanghai Composite, meanwhile, fell 2 points to close at 2327…European shares are up approximately 1% today in late trading overseas…meanwhile, the Dow has climbed another 43 points to 14555 while the S&P 500 is threatening to close at a new all-time high today…the TSX is flat while the Venture Exchange has gained 5 points to 1111…Fission Energy Corp. (FIS, TSX-V) and Alpha Minerals Inc. (AMW, TSX-V) are both strong this morning after release of more drill results from their Patterson Lake South Property in Saskatchewan…they continue to intersect high-grade uranium within wide intersections at shallow depth…

China On Track To Overtake U.S. As World’s Largest Economy By 2016

China is on track for a fourth consecutive decade of rapid growth and will overtake the U.S. as the world’s biggest economy in 2016 after accounting for price differences, according to an updated report by the OECD which is in line with previous estimates…having slipped to 7.8% growth last year, its slowest in more than a decade, China’s economy will rebound to 8.5% growth this year and 8.9% in 2014, according to the OECD…it forecast that China would average 8% growth in per capita terms during the current decade, provided Beijing can implement a series of economic, financial and regulatory reforms, many of which are already in progress…“There is significant scope for further catch-up in China; China has a strong record with respect to several of the key factors for sustaining growth and is well positioned to emulate the record of earlier stellar Asian performers,” the OECD said in its survey of the world’s second-biggest economy…the OECD noted that growth would gradually ebb as China catches up to more advanced economies but its forecast is well ahead of Beijing’s official target of 7% average growth in the five years to the end of 2015…the Chinese economy is set to become as large as that of the U.S. by around 2016 when assessed in purchasing power parity terms which factors in price differences between countries…the OECD highlighted multiple risks to its outlook: a weak global economy, rising inflation, a rickety financial system, inequality and an ageing population…but it noted that China already had made strides in cutting its reliance on external demand and that domestic rebalancing was also underway, with consumption a bigger driver of growth than investment since 2011…among a broad range of recommended reforms, the OECD drew particular attention to China’s urbanization push, saying the government needed to focus on building larger, more productive cities…although Chinese cities have expanded quickly, the country’s urbanization rate of 52.6% is still below that of countries at similar levels of development…transportation problems have also become severe…average daily commuting times in Beijing, which boasts one of the country’s larger subway networks, are 79 minutes, roughly double the OECD average…Li Keqiang, China’s new premier, has vowed to make urbanization a centrepiece of his agenda…along with more investment in infrastructure, the OECD said Beijing should give migrants to cities better access to schooling and that fiscal reforms were needed to ensure lower levels of government can fund more social services…more controversially, the OECD also called for an overhaul of the Chinese land system…farmers lack the right to sell their land, and the supply of land for residential development near urban areas is tightly controlled…“Continued urbanization is hampered by the rigid central planning rules governing the conversion of designated cropland into construction land, which partly reflect misguided concerns about food security,” it said…

Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI, TSX) Updated Chart

Since the beginning of 2011, the TSX Gold Index has fallen about 40% while Yamana Gold (YRI, TSX) is actually up nearly 20% which speaks volumes about how this company is run…”I don’t think that growth should mean the increase in the number of ounces per share,” CEO Peter Marrone stated recently…”It has to be the increase in the number of quality ounces per share that best contribute to cash flow, and ultimately earnings growth as well”…YRI is off about 50 cents in early trading today to $15.43 with softness in Gold and Gold shares…John’s updated chart shows near-term resistance at $16 and a very strong support band between $13 and $14…

Updated Silver Charts

Long-Time Silver Chart

Silver’s “moment of decision” should occur by the end of the upcoming second quarter according to this updated 11-year monthly chart from John…

Short-Term Silver Chart

Huldra Silver (HDA, TSX-V) Updated Chart

Huldra Silver (HDA, TSX-V) continues to rebound from deeply oversold technical conditions in February when it fell as low as 62 cents during a broad sector sell-off…Huldra’s Treasure Mountain high-grade Silver property near Hope, B.C., is expected to be in full commercial production by month-end, and we’re looking forward to the release of updated revenue numbers from the company…an underground drill program was also slated to commence this month…HDA’s 20-day moving average (SMA) has reversed to the upside after being in decline since late January…overall, the chart is looking much healthier with nearly 5 months of selling pressure now behind it…below is a 6-month daily chart from John…HDA is off 2 cents at 85 cents in early trading today…

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold share positions in YRI.  Jon holds a share position in HDA.