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Gold has broken out of the narrow trading range that it was in most of the night and early morning (between $1,237 and $1,246)…as of 8:20 am Pacific, bullion is up $10 an ounce at $1,253…offsetting bullish and bearish factors have been influencing Gold in recent days but a close today above $1,250 may allow bullion to gain some traction and take a run at resistance around $1,275…Silver is up 29 cents at $20.38…Copper is up a penny at $3.35…Crude Oil is 29 cents higher at $94.25 while the U.S. Dollar Index is up more than one-tenth of a point at 81.07…

U.S. Dollar Index Updated Chart

The Dollar Index, despite this morning’s modest strength, is being pressured by a declining 200-day moving average (SMA) for the first time since late 2011, which is clearly to the benefit of Gold (and the Venture Exchange) as they often move in opposite directions of the greenback…the behavior of the Dollar Index over the coming weeks will be critical to watch…a confirmed breach of the 80.28 Fib. level would suggest the Index may re-test critical support at 79…resistance band between 81 and 83…

Today’s Markets

Asia

Asian markets finished mostly lower overnight…investors largely shrugged off news that Japan’s government raised its economic assessment for the first time in 4 months as the Nikkei slipped 13 points to close at 15734, down more than 1% for the week…China’s Shanghai Composite lost 19 points, finishing at more than a 5-month low at 2005…on Monday, China will report 4th quarter GDP data…many economists are predicting that China’s GDP slowed in the final 3 months of last year to 7.6% from 7.8% in the previous quarter…that would put the full-year growth rate at 7.7%, the weakest level since 1999…

Europe

European shares were moderately higher today…British shopping figures came in way above expectations for December, official data showed this morning, with strong growth at smaller stores resulting in the largest annual rise since 2004…retail sales volumes rose by 2.6% on the month, according to figures released by the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics – the largest increase in nearly 4 years…

North America

The Dow is up 65 points as of 8:20 am Pacific…interestingly, the latest sentiment survey from the American Association of Individual Investors shows an 8.5% jump in neutral sentiment to 39.5% – a 12-year high and well above the historical average of 30.5%…bullish sentiment has fallen 4.6% to 39% while bearish sentiment is down 3.5% to 21.5%…

The TSX is 62 points higher as of 8:20 am Pacific while the Venture is up 2 points at 977 and within shouting distance of an important technical breakout…

Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) Update

Breaking News:  Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) halted just before the open, pending news – we suspect it’s regarding drill results from their Hat Property in the Sheslay Valley, contiguous to Garibaldi’s Grizzly Property and Prosper Gold’s Sheslay Project.

Very encouraging news out of Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) after yesterday’s close…drilling continues at the company’s La Patilla Gold Property in Sinaloa State, Mexico, where each of the holes so far (#5 is in progress) has cut “significant intervals of quartz veining similar to that” which yielded impressive Gold values from recent channel sampling…La Patilla, where artisanal miners have been active for many years, is being diamond drilled for the first time ever to test the mineralization potential of a breccia and a vein/stockwork system (contiguous to each other) open in all directions based on extensive surface and underground sampling…initial assay results from the shallow drill program are pending…this is a highly interesting property, and Garibaldi has already cut a long-term deal with the local community to allow for any potential future metal extraction on La Patilla by the company…so the locals are on board and that’s important…

Channel sample results (true width) included 28.4 g/t Au over 1.3 metres, 7.5 g/t Au over 6.4 m, 6.2 g/t Au over 3.3 m, and 5.8 g/t Au over 7.9 m at the Murcielago breccia, and 13.5 g/t Au over 1.3 m at the La Patilla vein system, so the chance for some joy from drilling has to be considered very good…

What also has us confident are some of the drill core photos posted on the GGI web site last night that show the rocks at La Patilla have been cooked up nicely which enhances the mineralization possibilities…below is a great example of some very well-brecciated core with rock clasts (andesite or rhyolite) likely replaced with quartz-intense silicification, according to BMR’s consulting geologist…

As we’ve pointed out, Garibaldi has several potential catalysts in its favor at the moment (Mexico and B.C., with GGI of course the largest landholder among juniors in the Sheslay Valley with its Grizzly Property) which should make the first quarter of this year, not to mention the rest of 2014, very exciting…there was also a reference in last night’s GGI news to the discovery of a graphite zone (assays pending) east of the Locust target at the Tonichi Project in Sonora State where the company is also generating royalty income from a pilot coal program…more details on the graphite situation are expected shortly…we’ll have much more on GGI by Monday, especially with potential developments concerning the Sheslay Valley…this is a company with all the critical pillars one should always look for in a junior exploration deal, especially in today’s environment – a strong and stable management and geological team, a healthy balance sheet, a basket of properties with excellent discovery potential, active work programs, an attractive share structure (no dilution in 5 years in this case), and the drive and determination to build shareholder value…as an investor, it’s hard to miss with these factors in your favour…with an improved Venture market, the potential upside with GGI is particularly significant given the company’s current modest market cap…GGI is up 2 cents at 13 cents as of 8:20 am Pacific…as always, perform your own due diligence…

Barisan Gold (BG, TSX-V) Chart Update

Barisan Gold Corp. (BG, TSX-V) staged a significant intra-day reversal yesterday, trading as low as 19 cents before bouncing back to finish up 6.5 cents at 25 cents on total volume (all exchanges) of 500,000 shares…the company is continuing to drill its Tengkering Project in Indonesia, and the recent sell-on-news weakness had the positive effect of unwinding the RSI(14) overbought situation as shown in this 2+ year weekly chart from John…this remains a very strong geological story going forward given the world-class Cu-Au porphyry intersections so far…BG is unchanged at 25 cents as of 8:20 am Pacific…

True Gold Mining Inc. (TGM, TSX-V)

True Gold Mining Inc. (TGM, TSX-V) is higher again this morning, following news yesterday that the company has signed an engagement letter with Barclays and Societe Generale for a $90 million debt financing package to fund the low-capex Karma project in Burkina Faso…below is a 2.5-year weekly chart update from John showing a confirmed breakout above the 40-cent level…

Adventure Gold Inc. (AGE, TSX-V)

Adventure Gold Inc. (AGE, TSX-V) has been one of our long-time favorites given the quality of its management group, a solid property portfolio and an always healthy balance sheet, which is why we were saying it was such a good bottom-fishing opportunity while it was basing just above the 10-cent level in recent months…significantly, AGE has broken above a downtrend line in place since late 2012…worth following closely in the months ahead…

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