Gold, Silver, PM's and Markets

BBC report and eye witness interview. Looks more authentic than other reports.  Link may not last?
https://twitter.com/i/status/1812284572241220012

Does anyone use Interactive Brokers? Any opinions on it?

I used IB (US account) for over 10 years, and if you want to trade stock options they are by far the best. OK for ordinary stock trading as well but with option and futures trading they really shine. Also great for trading other markets and currency exchange ($2 flat commission on any size and you get access to the professional prices with any trade over $25k)
Their software is functionally powerful but it takes some learning to really get all the tricks and shortcuts which are inbuilt but not very intuitive. They pay decent interest on cash balances and you have the option of allowing your stocks to be loaned out for a small return or not loaned at all.
Exercising options is free which is something most brokerages won't do and it makes option trading a lot easier to profit from.
IB in other countries is not quite the same in all respects so check this out if you need an account in anything other than the US.
I did very well trading options (almost all by selling puts) with IB and at times had well over 100 open positions using IB exclusively. Too old for those plays now!
Not recomended for learners. Their support is OK but they expect their account holders to be experienced and they don't hold your hand!

Golden clouds taken at sunset looking East with an almost full moon (from my living room door).

Chinese ETFs not in line with the stocks they hold.

https://www.bullionvault.com/gold-news/gold-price-news/gold-record-run-china-speculative-trading-040920241

""Gold prices are high and trading is hot," says China's Securities Times, reporting how the AMC Gold Mining Equity ETF today fell 'limit down' for the 2nd day running after the promoter warned investors to beware the trust's large premium over the value of the gold-company stocks it holds, last week reaching almost 1/3rd after its own shares jumped 47.3% in 5 sessions. "

This could be a problem with other ETFs as well if the demand for the ETF pushes its price and market cap above the total value of the lagging price of the underlying stocks. Obviously the promoters and authorised participants are supposed to buy individual stocks to balance the ETF market cap; but what will happen if the don't or can't.

Seems that the MSM forgot to report this little change..

"Core PCE price index, the inflation index that the Fed is focused on and refers to all the time, was revised up today for January to an annualized month-to-month growth rate of 5.6% (up from the original 5.1%) on a big up-revision of the index for core services to an annualized rate of 7.9% (up from the original 7.1%)."

https://wolfstreet.com/2024/03/29/feds-wait-and-see-about-rate-cuts-supported-by-highest-since-july-six-month-core-pce-core-services-pce-inflation/

WOLF STREET has a pretty good explanation of the process.

Silicon Valley Bank’s Uninsured Depositors Bailed Out. Crypto Signature Bank Shut Down, All Depositors Bailed Out. Senior Execs Fired. All Shareholders, Some Bondholders Bailed In
https://wolfstreet.com/2023/03/12/silicon-valley-banks-uninsured-depositors-bailed-out-crypto-signature-bank-shut-down-all-depositors-bailed-out-senior-execs-fired-all-shareholders-some-bondholders-bailed-in/

Perth Mint sold diluted gold to China, got caught, and tried to cover it up
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-06/perth-mint-gold-doping-china-cover-up-four-corners/102048622

Canadian news. The federal government unveiled what it described as a historic first on Sunday as it announced a five-year, $100-million plan to support 2SLGBT communities across the country.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/federal-action-plan-lgbtq-1.6564977

Hey, I often feel like a woman... where do I get MY share of the $100 mil??

Bank of Canada surprises with massive 100 basis point hike.
The Bank of Canada raised its benchmark rate by 100 basis points on Wednesday, a surprise move that exceeded economist expectations, as the bank attempts to set a firehose against scorching inflation.

The unexpected and supersized increase comes after two consecutive 50 basis point hikes, bringing the policy interest rate to 2.5 per cent. It is the largest increase since 1998

Sold GFI June puts $10 strike for $0.70. Negative commission on the max discount order through IB, so I either own GFI in under 3 weeks for $9.30 or just keep the $70 a contract. I'm happy either way.

Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index Hits Reverse
This morning, the Fear & Greed Index slid from 23/100 to 18/100. The decline saw the Index fall deeper into the “Extreme Fear” zone.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-btc-goes-sub-35-025930247.html

Putin's POG @ 5,000 RUB per gm is working out for him.

Price Of Gold in Russia
Gold Price per Ounce:   149,485.4   -6893.00
Gold Price per Gram:   4,806.06   -221.62
Gold Price per Kilo:   4,806,063.63   -221614.93
Apr 22nd 2022, 05:10:05 pm NY time
https://goldprice.org/gold-price-russia.html

Self-driving car pulled over by San Francisco police, but there was nobody inside.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-12/self-driving-car-police-pull-over-san-francisco/100985792

https://twitter.com/i/status/1512960943805841410

Don't worry about playing gold... Just buy the Aussie dollar!
3 month chart AUD/USD  hit 76.5 earlier.

PANORAMIC RESOURCES LIMITED (PAN.AX & PANRF)
PAN just reopened its Australian Nickel mine and have started shipping Ni Cu concentrate. Everything looks fine and cash flow is established but the share price hasn't responded to the current metal prices. Looks to be decent value around 30 cents AUD (24 cents USD). I am long.
Plenty of liquidity on the ASX - not sure about the OTC listing.
https://panoramicresources.com/
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/panrf

Norwester your comment " the threat of EVs becoming the choice of the masses kinda puts a kibosh on PGMs?"
PGMs are essential for many processes and functions in the hydrogen economy. EVs won't be the sole source of energy storage.

Sarah was in the fertilized egg business.  She had several hundred young pullets and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs.

She kept records and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced.
 This took a lot of time, so she bought some tiny bells and attached them to her roosters.
 Each bell had a different tone, so she could tell from a distance which rooster was performing.
 Now, she could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report by just listening to the bells.
 Sarah's favorite rooster, old Butch, was a very fine specimen but, this morning she noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all!
 
When she went to investigate, she saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover.
 To Sarah's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring.
 He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job, and walk on to the next one.
 Sarah was so proud of old Butch, she entered him in a Show and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.
 
The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the "No Bell Peace Prize" they also awarded him the"Pulletsurprise" as well.
 Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making.
 
Who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the unsuspecting populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention?
 
Vote carefully in the next election. You can't always hear the bells.
 

GSR for spot is 77.3
GSR for the futures is 75.9
Futures sludge is trading way above spot but the gold difference is pretty much normal.
Possibly a little pressure building in the paper market for silver?

Pretty good live coverage from https://www.aljazeera.com/

walavka's link (below) made a lot of sense in regard to the Ukraine situation. Follow the money more often than not leads to the truth... Longish read but worthwhile.
https://geopolitics.co/2022/02/17/us-wants-war-in-ukraine-ultimately-for-usd-hegemony/

FNV up over $7 - over 5%. Always a good sign that the big buyers are interested.....

OK, fess up. Who has the sludge?
NSW Police believe 'insider knowledge' could have helped thieves who stole $1m of silver off truck.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-21/nsw-police-probe-silver-bullion-heist/100716380

Apollo "Majors are vastly outperforming the Juniors". That's a good indicator of buying interest by the heavy hitters from the big end of town. They first buy majors and avoid juniors because of liquidity constraints.

SPPP Sprott's physical Platinum/Palladium ETF is trading almost 6% below its NAV. I'm trying a small buy here to overcome the boredom...

Australian Coal fired power station destined for closure by the climate change lobby.
This photo is prophetic. Those birds in the foreground are black swans.
https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/1170c9a25096ba019f9da342f035ccf5?impolicy=wcms_crop_resize&cropH=1989&cropW=2648&xPos=0&yPos=8&width=862&height=647

GDX and GDXJ both pay significant annual dividends in December.  This affects short sellers and option traders and causes a disparity between December and January quotes for any in the money or close to the money options.

FSM - if it takes out 4.10
...look for 4.03, then 3.94-3.96

San Jose ...only had a 3 year mine life? 

FSM is destined to be a gold producer rather then a Silver producer...over reaction?

I think it is an over reaction Frus. They still have good cash flow and legal issues usually get sorted out when local jobs are at risk. I sold a few FSM Jan $5 strike puts just to throw my hat in the ring. They were quickly snapped up so not everyone agrees that the bottom is in..

Chalice is off and running again. 15 minutes into the ASX trading day it's traded half the daily average volume and is up 20 cents, 2.2%. Lots of choppy trading however. Will it make $10 today?

Nice island reversal on NEM. Skipped the down gap with an up gap.


[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Deleted my old account and created a new one. Testing for function. Thanks Frus and Tom for their help yesterday.
Even Modify works for me now!

I see that nobody has mentioned Chalice Mining (CHN.ax) which has hit the headlines in Australia. Stock went from $6.77 to $9.13 on heavy volume in two days on this release.
Tier-1 scale maiden Mineral Resource for Gonneville – 10Moz Pd+Pt+Au (3E), 530kt Ni, 330kt Cu and 53kt Co

Largest nickel sulphide discovery in over 20 years and largest PGE discovery in
Australian history establishes foundation for world-class ‘green metals’ project

https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-02449300-6A1061655?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4