BullMarketRun.com

After sliding $30 an ounce yesterday to its lowest level since late June, Gold is up $7 an ounce at $1,195 as of 4:00 am Pacific…Silver is up a dime at $19.35…Copper has added 2 pennies to $3.29…Crude Oil is down slightly at $98.72 while the U.S. Dollar Index is essentially unchanged at 80.67…

Now is certainly not the time to be pushing the panic button regarding Gold, even though it could still plunge a little lower in the days ahead…there are simply too many investors in the bearish camp right now, just the opposite of what occurred in the bullion market in the summer of 2011…so some Christmas gifts we’re looking forward to are a selection of quality Gold stocks at bargain prices…one scenario that could play out in the near-term is a breach of the June low of $1,179, a sudden spike downward that would shake some more loose apples out of the tree…this would likely be the precursor to a powerful rally…given the time of the year, additional volatility is very possible with squaring of positions going into 2014…another scenario, of course, is that support at the June low will hold…either way, Gold in our view has limited downside from current levels (limited meaning it’s trading within about 10% of a potential ultimate bottom which would keep bullion above $1,000 an ounce)…2014 will be a much better year…

Below is a 10-year monthly Gold chart from John…excellent support exists at the Fibonacci 38.2% level which is $1,155…the 10-year monthly will be a valuable chart to review frequently in 2014…what we’ll be looking for is a break above the RSI(14) trendline…keep in mind that all-in sustaining costs (AISC) for most producers range from approximately $1,000 to $1,200 an ounce (for some it’s even higher than $1,200), so the best cure for low prices is low prices…China, meanwhile, continues to absorb much of the western selling which is driven by the “herd mentality” of many North American investors…

10-Year Monthly Gold Chart

Money Managers were the most bullish on Gold when it hit an all-time high in September, 2011…they are now the least bullish they have been since 2007 when bullion was trading at $700 an ounce…that’s a classic contrarian indictator and tells us that Gold has to be very close to an important low, if it hasn’t made one already…

Bitcoin

Overstock plans to become the first big U.S. online retailer to accept Bitcoin, as Patrick Byrne, the company’s libertarian chief executive, warms to the virtual currency as a refuge from government control…Byrne told the Financial Times that Overstock plans to start accepting Bitcoin next year, possibly by the end of the second quarter, a decision that he said was driven mainly by his own political philosophy…“I think a healthy monetary system at the end of the day isn’t an upside down pyramid based on the whim of a government official, but is based on something that they can’t control,” Byrne stated.

Today’s Markets

Asia

China’s Shanghai Composite closed at its lowest levels since late August today due to concerns of tight liquidity…the Shanghai fell 43 points overnight to finish the week at 2085…Chinese money market rates rose for a third straight session with the benchmark seven-day bond repurchase agreement hitting its highest level since June 24…the move came even after the People’s Bank of China’s took emergency steps yesterday to inject liquidity into selected banks…

Japan’s Nikkei reversed earlier losses to close up slightly after the yen hit a new five-year low against the greenback following the Bank of Japan’s decision to leave monetary policy unchanged at the conclusion of its two-day meeting…

Europe

European stocks are up slightly but off their highs in late trading overseas…

North America

Stock index futures in New York as of 4:00 am Pacific are pointing toward a mildly positive open on Wall Street…the Dow tallied its 46th record close of the year yesterday, gaining 11 points to finish at 16179…

The TSX has surged more than 300 points since landing on important support just over a week ago…it closed up 57 points yesterday, despite weakness in commodities, to finish at 13392…the Venture fell 4 points to 887 and is off 5.1% for the month due to tax-loss selling pressures and lower Gold prices…a significant reversal over the final few trading days of the year is quite possibly in the cards given current and historical trading patterns…

Christmas Stocking Stuffers

If the Venture is going to stage an end-of-year, Q1 2014 turnaround, as we believe it will, look first at the leaders of 2013 as they have the greatest likelihood of starting 2014 with a bang…below are just five situations we’ve been tracking that look very healthy fundamentally and technically…as always, perform your own due diligence…we’ll have more on some of these plays and others in an expanded Week In Review And A Look Ahead on Sunday…

Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V)

More positive voices are lining up behind Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) which has significantly outperformed the Venture since the summer of this year due to positive developments on the ground, a clean share structure, and a healthy financial position that even features royalty income from a pilot coal program in Mexico…that’s a good situation for any junior to be in…Investor’s Digest of Canada has just come out with a very positive piece on GGI for its subscribers…“The company has already scored some impressive successes, while husbanding the potential to morph into a much more compelling story,” states writer Mike Kachanovsky…“For speculative investors who want some action in the junior mining sector, Garibaldi is one name that deserves a look.”

GGI has several potential catalysts on the horizon including the intriguing La Patilla Gold Property where current drilling is following up on high-grade channel samples…we’ll explore La Patilla in more detail Sunday and why this property was such a savvy acquisition for the company…GGI has other interesting scenarios brewing in Mexico, and it has much to offer investors in terms of its opportunities in British Columbia…we expect GGI to be more active than ever in B.C. in 2014 with news likely just around the corner concerning its flagship Grizzly Property…the Sheslay region will heat up, and GGI has identified targets including a pipe-like structure along a 15-km corridor from Grizzly West to Grizzly Central…

Technically, GGI is well-positioned for a potential major breakout in 2014 which may come sooner rather than later given the dynamics of this 6-month daily chart from John…moving averages are in powerful alignment, a bullish flag has formed on the long-term chart as John has pointed out, and an immediate breakout above an ascending triangle is also possible…what the technicals suggest is that there are some important fundamental forces developing that could take GGI to a new level as a company in 2014…

Madalena Energy Inc. (MVN, TSX-V)

Madalena Energy (MVN, TSX-V) has performed exceedingly well in recent months and also just raised an additional $12 million, mostly through a bought-deal financing at 47 cents…Madalena is very active with a large land base of over 150 net sections (100,000+ net acres) in the Paddle River area of west-central Alberta with increasing production and reserves on three horizontal plays…the company also has very attractive assets in Argentina where it’s focused on the multi-billion barrel potential of three large blocks within the “sweet spot” of Argentina’s prolific Neuquen basin…

MVN’s 2.5-year weekly chart shows impressive accumulation throughout the year, setting the stage for what could be a very strong first quarter of 2014 in particular…

Azincourt Uranium Inc. (AAZ, TSX-V)

We like the uranium sector, and one of several interesting juniors in that space at the moment is Azincourt Uranium (AAZ, TSX-V) which will be drilling its Patterson Lake North Property (50-50 JV with Fission Uranium) this winter…Azincourt also recently acquired the advanced-stage Macusani Property in southeastern Peru along with some nearby early-stage opportunities comprising 9,600 hectares…

Since April, AAZ has been trading in a horizontal channel between 20 cents and the mid-30’s…it closed yesterday at 25 cents…despite the recent pullback, the overall trend remains very bullish as shown in this 15-month weekly chart…

Reservoir Minerals Inc. (RMC, TSX-V)

Legitimate discovery plays will perform well, no matter what the Gold price is doing…Reservoir Minerals (RMC, TSX-V), in its JV with Freeport McMorRan Corp., continues to intersect spectacular grades from drilling at its Timok Project in Serbia…RMC also has 100%-owned opportunities in that prolific region…RMC closed at $5.53 yesterday but has just 42 million shares outstanding and a strong cash position…this is a solid play that hasn’t received the attention it deserves given the current state of the junior resource market…

Wanted Technologies Corp. (WAN, TSX-V)

A recent pullback in Wanted Technologies (WAN, TSX-V) was a buying opportunity as John’s charts were saying, and indeed WAN has taken off to a new all-time high…Wanted is headquartered in Quebec City with subsidiary offices in New York…it provides real-time business intelligence for the talent marketplace…it’s also the exclusive data provider for the Conference Board’s Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series™, the monthly economic indicator of hiring demand in the United States…only 24 million shares outstanding, and the company is making money…who know how much higher it can go, but WAN clearly has momentum on its side…this kind of technical situation will usually test at least the $2 level…

Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI.