Via Energy and Gold.com: A large institutional trader decided today was a good time to put on a large and slightly complex options trade in the XLE (Energy Select Sector ETF ). This options trade which is called a risk reversal involved buying 30,000 June $61.50 strike XLE call options for a debit of roughly… Continue Reading

Several Athabasca Basin uranium plays announced their winter exploration plans this morning, including Fission Uranium, CanAlaska Uranium, Purepoint Uranium and ALX Uranium Corp. For CanAlaska’s (CVV-V) plans, check out Tommy’s article. It’s an interesting time in the Basin, with leading explorers Fission Uranium and NexGen Energy very active on the financing and resource fronts. Fission… Continue Reading

Via Energy & Gold.com: The Federal Reserve finds itself in a tricky situation heading into Wednesday’s FOMC announcement. There has been a considerable build-up over the past several weeks (primarily from strong employment reports) which has led to the market anticipating a 25 basis point hike the Fed Funds Rate. However, the shakeout in the… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: With all the messiness that’s occurring in Syria it’s surprising that something worse (from a geopolitical standpoint) than this morning’s shootdown of a Russian fighter jet by Turkey hasn’t already happened. Here’s a cute graphic from Citi that hopes to explain what is a very murky situation in Syria:   Crude… Continue Reading

Newsletter writer Keith Schaefer of the acclaimed Oil and Gas Investments Bulletin stopped by this morning at CEO Chat, the investment conference in your pocket. And the questions – and Keith’s answers – came fast and furious: upstream, downstream and everything in between. Keith is offering CEO.CA subscribers a one-month test drive of his solid newsletter… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Noted market technician and fund manager J.C. Parets is a long time friend of CEO.CA and EnergyandGold.com. We had the pleasure of sitting down with J.C. and picking his chart filled brain as to what he’s seeing right now across global markets and asset classes. As is his style, J.C. did… Continue Reading

Fission Uranium CEO Dev Randhawa says he’s determined to fight through both negative market sentiment and the opposition of some retail shareholders who want him to step down after the failed merger with Denison Mines. Randhawa said in a phone interview late this morning that it’s business as usual as he advances and markets Fission’s… Continue Reading

Michael Berry of Disruptive Discoveries Journal is out with a good slide deck on macro and metals themes that he presented earlier this month for the Quebec Mineral Exploration Association. Mining investors know the story well – excess supply and insufficient demand have hit commodity prices hard, as well as the energy-reliant Canadian economy. Meanwhile, debt… Continue Reading

Almost exactly 2 years ago, CEO.CA correspondent Jamie Keech interviewed Liberal natural resources critic Geoff Regan about the party’s ideas on natural resources development, the environment, First Nations and more. The Liberal party won a majority of seats in Monday’s federal election and while Prime Minister-elect Justin Trudeau will not name a cabinet until Nov.… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: The Federal Reserve did not hike interest rates today – here are 5 key takeaways from the announcement: The following excerpt from the first paragraph of the Fed statement is a clear signal that China is very much on the Fed’s radar and likely played a significant factor in the decision… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: An insightful graphic from Goldman Sachs Investment Research which highlights the recent evolution of the global crude oil supply-demand balance and where it’s projected to go over the next 15 months:   The market is currently oversupplied by nearly 2 million barrels per day, however, this oversupply is projected to turn… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Two charts that excellently illustrate the commodities bear market which has accelerated to record depths during the last few years:   Love them or hate them, precious metals exchange-traded products (ETFs, ETNs, etc.) soared to record levels in late 2012 following the ECB and Federal Reserve’s plunge into open-ended quantitative easing. More than… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Remember this chart that was passed around quite a bit earlier in the year?   This chart has become important again as crude oil prices flirt with the $40/barrel level. Cash costs (variable operating costs) are distinct from the overall cost of an oil project because they are the costs associated… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: If the Saudis intention is to damage US shale oil production as they maintain record crude oil outputs despite a more than 50% drop in the price of oil in the last year, the following two charts illustrate that they are achieving their goal:   Since March there has been a… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Weekly chart wrap for the week ending 6/5/2015 – we saw some seismic moves in interest rates as equities began to show some chinks in their armor. The current trends are as follows: Oil: Oscillating within a range Precious metals: Lower Bond yields: Higher Equities: Oscillating within a range   WTI… Continue Reading