Full Article: SWOT Analysis: Gold Traders Bullish for 11th Straight WeekBY: Frank HolmesStrengthsIn what has been a rather rare occurrence, silver was the best performing metal this week, up 2.64 percent despite a steady trickle of silver out of the physical metal ETFs on a near daily basis. Gold traders are bullish for an 11th straight week, as surveyed by Bloomberg, on the heels of a declining...Read More
Silver peaked just shy of $50 during April of 2011. The price has been correcting ever since, falling below $14 per ounce in 2016 and again late last year. But there is a silver lining to such a deep and protracted price correction.With silver prices under $20 per ounce for so long, a significant number of mines are unable turn a profit. And even the ones that can, are not generating enough cash f...Read More
Has the Great North American Silver Stacker woke up from its 2-year hibernation? Here's Steve St. Angelo with an update on the physical silver market...by Steve St. Angelo of SRSrocco ReportAs the demand for precious metals shows some life once again, sales of the U.S. Mint Silver Eagles jumped in January. Not only have Gold, and Silver Eagle sales increased, so have the precious metals prices....Read More
Is the Aussie Dollar signaling that a major commodity low is being established this month? Possible!The Aussie Dollar and commodities have been highly correlated for a couple of decades. The AU$ has spent the majority of the past couple of decades inside of rising channel (1). It hit the top of this channel in 2011 and a long-term decline was underway. As the AU$ has declined over the past 8-years...Read More
Polished trading sluggish with Far East dealers onholiday for Chinese New Year. Reduced expectations for Chinese Year of the Pigafter 4Q slowdown. US buyers cautious as Conference Board consumer confidence indexfalls 5% to 18-month low, due to volatile stock market and government shutdown.High-end luxury doing well. LVMH 4Q jewelry and watch revenue +8% to $1.3B. Roughpremiums decline, with contin...Read More
Dealers and cutters cautious as US restocking isslower than expected. Low volume of new goods coming to the market, withsignificant slowdown in diamond manufacturing. Inventory levels high and suppliersoffering old stock at deeper discounts. Steady demand for SI-I1 clarity goods.Concerns about tight profit margins and reduced bank credit. Rough tradingrelatively slow following De Beers sight. Ro...Read More
RAPAPORT... Retail sales of jewelry and other luxury items dropped in HongKong in December, amid the continued impact of global economic uncertainties onconsumer demand. Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuablegifts fell 4.9% year on year to HKD 8.27 billion ($1.05 billion), themunicipality's Census and Statistics Department reported Thursday. Sales in allretail categories wer...Read More
RAPAPORT... Reuven Kaufman, president of New York's Diamond DealersClub (DDC), spoke with Rapaport senior news reporter Joshua Freedman at therecent International Diamond Week in Israel.Retailers had a good holiday season, but have been wary about taking on too muchinventory due to global economic factors affecting sentiment, Kaufmanexplained. He also outlined how changes in Chinese buying habits...Read More
RAPAPORT... Alrosa has stopped supplying rough diamonds to Lev Leviev'sLLD Diamonds through its contract-sales arrangement, as part of a reshuffle of the miner's long-term client list.The tycoon's Israel-based firm is one of "several" former customersthat have dropped off the 2019 supply roster, known as the Alrosa Allianceprogram, the Russian company said. "Last year, there was a decision to...Read More
RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will offer $2million in scholarship funds to aspiring students in 2019, it said Wednesday. Students interestedin its gemology and jewelry-manufacturing arts programs, distance-educationcourse and lab classes can apply for funding. "Scholarships are a very important part of ourmission-driven education programs, helping hundreds of student...Read More
(IDEX Online) - Tach?(C) company and Samir Gems jointly announce the purchase of the 29.59-carat fancy pink diamond, "The Rose of Kao" (Lesotho). The diamond was purchased at an undisclosed price by a partnership between Tach?(C) and Samir Gems, Tach?(C) said in a statement. Under the deal, Namakwa Diamonds will retain an ownership percentage in the diamond, thus participating in th...Read More
"Tshisekedi would be a relatively positive figure for mining investment"SPONSOREDverisk maplecroftGolden Mile positioned for successSPONSOREDgolden mile resourcesCardinal advances at pace in Ghana SPONSOREDcardinal resourcesRevised Leonora PFS is next for KinSPONSOREDkin miningThe drill hole included multiple 1m intersections with grades above 20% copper and Ivanhoe said DD1450 was the t...Read More
A dovish US Federal Reserve stance, a weaker dollar and a firmer Chinese yuan, which may indicate confidence in US-China trade talks, are all helping to underpin the three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange this morning, Thursday January 31. Lead and zinc prices led on the upside with gains of 0.6% and 0.5% respectively, followed by rises of 0.4% in tin, 0.3% in aluminium,...Read More
Fastmarkets MB Research has a very good track record of producing accurate price forecasts for the base metals. In Fastmarkets’ Apex survey, which ranks the forecasting accuracy of more than 20 commodity bank analysts and trading desks, we regularly feature in the top-five leader boards. Bronze for Fastmarkets In the latest results, published last week, we took the number three...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were mixed this morning. S&P 500 futures were unchanged in pre-opening trade. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of weekly Initial Jobless Claims at 8:30 AM EST. Consensus was 211,000 versus 200,000 last week. Actual was 253,000. The Canadian Dollar was virtually unchanged following release of November Canadian real GDP. Consensus was a year-over...Read More
I can’t believe I’m saying this...But even with a $630 billion valuation, the market still doesn’t love Alphabet (GOOG) nearly enough.The market is missing something huge about Alphabet. Investors are completely ignoring a “hidden asset” that Alphabet owns which alone is worth more than most publicly traded companies.I believe that factoring in the value of this ̶...Read More
Lumina Gold (TSXV: LUM; US-OTC: LMGDF) has announced new drill results from the Gran Bestia zone at its Cagrejos gold project in Ecuador that, along with drilling by the property's previous owner, confirm a second deposit that could substantially increase the project's scale."It's early days here right now, but we're pretty optimistic about what we're seeing so far mineralization-wise," Lumina pre...Read More
Potential liabilities from the collapse of a tailings dam at Vale's Feijao iron ore mine in Brazil that has left at least 99 people dead and another 250 people missing has resulted in Moody's Investors Service placing the company's senior unsecured ratings on review for downgrade, along with the ratings on debt issues of Vale Overseas Ltd. and the senior unsecured ratings of Vale Canada Ltd."Altho...Read More
"Tshisekedi would be a relatively positive figure for mining investment"SPONSOREDverisk maplecroftGolden Mile positioned for successSPONSOREDgolden mile resourcesCardinal advances at pace in Ghana SPONSOREDcardinal resourcesRevised Leonora PFS is next for KinSPONSOREDkin miningIn a recent clearout of long-hoarded papers, I came across a 1982 article penned by economist Walter Adams criti...Read More
RCR called in administrators in November last year after its lenders refused the company more money to service contracts. It collapsed owing creditors more than $500 million.NRW doubled its revenue in FY18 to more than $750 million, and posted a net profit of $42 million (up nearly 50% year-on-year), on the back of its successful acquisition of Queensland mining and civil contractor Golding in Sep...Read More