This was a very constructive week for the gold mining sector – a few things stand out: The GDX rose 3.84% and the GDXJ rose 6.44% even as gold itself fell .65% on the week GDX made a higher low and a higher high vs. last week and also posted a higher low for the 2nd… Continue Reading

I bought a trading position in gold this morning at $1184.30/oz (February 2015 futures). The final day of 2014 gold dump offered what I consider to be a highly attractive risk vs. reward swing trading entry point in the precious metal: Gold has just gotten through one of its worst periods of the year seasonally and is now… Continue Reading

It’s a bit of a tradition among market commentators to come up with a list of ‘surprises’ for the new year. Some of us like to combine both macro/geopolitical events with market events. I have decided to limit my 6 surprises to market events as that is my area of expertise and the primary focus of… Continue Reading

Gold posted an impressive one day gain on Friday and is once again closely gravitating to the $1200/oz level: The $1200 level holds significance for a number of reasons as we enter the final 3 trading sessions of 2014: The 2013 closing price for gold was $1204.80 – whenever a market is ending near the… Continue Reading

Looking over several investor presentations from some of the senior gold producers I came across two interesting slides which both relate to the idea of peak global gold production. The first slide, from Newmont Mining, shows global gold mine supply at a key turning point with supply falling in 2015: This slide shows a roughly… Continue Reading

Over the weekend we pointed out this would be a crucial week for markets. This week’s volatility hasn’t really cleared anything up although there are some notable observations to be made after today’s trading session: Equities found support at an area of previous resistance and a key Fibonacci level Today’s large rally in interest rates is… Continue Reading

A few weeks after rumours began swirling that the largest US silver producer, Coeur Mining, was in talks to acquire Canadian-listed Paramount Gold and Silver (PZG.TSX), the two companies announced this morning that the merger is real. Coeur announced it will absorb Paramount in an all-stock transaction that values Paramount at $0.90 per share or $146 million (based… Continue Reading

The big news across financial markets this morning is the huge sell-off in the Russian ruble overnight. The Ruble was trading below 60 vs. the US dollar early Monday morning and surged to over 80 rubles to the dollar overnight – there are even reports of currency brokers asking 100 rubles for a greenback on the streets… Continue Reading

The 5-year break-even inflation rate fell below 1.2% for the first time since the summer of 2010: This level of inflation expectations is certainly testing the lower bound of the FED’s comfort zone. In fact the last time that the 5-year break-even fell below 1.2% the FED began floating the idea of QE2 and former… Continue Reading

The massive decline in the price of crude oil turns out to be a significant net positive for multinational miners. Not only are the lower oil costs are a huge positive on the costs side, but the resulting currency moves (big drops in AUD/USD and CAD/USD) also turn out to benefit miners whose revenue comes… Continue Reading

“Anybody who says that the super-cycle is over is an idiot, it’s just been deferred for a little bit”, mining tycoon Robert Friedland told a packed audience in London last week. I was there for the 12th annual Mines and Money show. And if you’re in the mining business and haven’t been to London lately, the Mines… Continue Reading

What would you say if I told you that gold is up on the year?  Yes that’s right, despite all the doom & gloom surrounding gold and the seemingly incessant bearish media coverage the yellow metal is actually up on the year – gold ended 2013 at $1204.80/oz and is now trading a little more than… Continue Reading

To a packed crowd in Vancouver yesterday, veteran junior resource analyst John Kaiser gave a presentation hosted by AME BC entitled, Confronting the Potential Extinction of a Canadian Institution. Here is a link to the 59 slide PDF presentation, courtesy John Kaiser. Mr. Kaiser has been closely involved with Canada’s venture capital markets for over thirty… Continue Reading

From Stock Trader’s Almanac: “Copper has a tendency to make a major seasonal bottom in December and then a tendency to post major seasonal peaks in April or May.” This is one of the strongest seasonal patterns in any market and it’s all the more interesting this year given that copper made a low of… Continue Reading

Renowned portfolio manager Jeffrey Gundlach of DoubleLine Funds gave his latest presentation on the state of the market this afternoon. Here are the key takeaways: Economist forecasts are always too optimistic with regard to growth and inflation Oil could continue falling in yet another sign that global economic growth is weak Bond yields have more risk… Continue Reading