(Kitco News) - Gold is expected to see a sustained rally on the back of a weakening dollar, overvalued stock markets, and heightening geo-political tensions, according to a report from Sucden Financial.In the near term, analysts at the international brokerage firm said they see a modest retracement in the yellow metal to $1,320 an ounce before climbing higher to test resistance at $1,400 an ounce,...Read More

* GRAPHIC-2018 asset returns: * LME/ShFE arb: (Updates with closing prices)By Eric OnstadLONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Lead prices hit 6-1/2 year highs on Friday on worries about shortages after key Chinese mines shut for the winter. Lead pared gains and other industrial metals sunk into the red under pressure from a rebound in the dollar following strong U.S. jobs data.Benchmark lead on the London Me...Read More

Stocks are in a downward spiral, after this morning's nonfarm payrolls report strengthened the case for a March rate hike -- and sent the 10-year Treasury yield spiking to a four-year high. Looking closer, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is staring at a more than 300-point loss, with blue-chip energy names Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) applying the most pressure after earnings. If th...Read More

Earnings season is here, ladies and gentlemen, and with it comes heightened volatility for many stocks as investors anticipate, and react to, quarterly reports. What can savvy traders do to capitalize on volatility spikes? Today, we will break down the long strangle options strategy, and how it can help investors profit from surging volatility without committing to a bullish or bearish bias.A long...Read More

Global miner Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) is said to be once again chasing a $5bn stake in Chile's Chemical and Mining Society (SQM), the world's largest lithium producer, following the resolution of a long-dragged dispute between the company and the country's government over royalties in Salar de Atacama.The deal between SQM and Chile's development agency Corfo, reached last month, freed the lit...Read More

Global miner Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) is said to be once again chasing a $5bn stake in Chile's Chemical and Mining Society (SQM), the world's largest lithium producer, following the resolution of a long-dragged dispute between the company and the country's government over royalties in Salar de Atacama.The deal between SQM and Chile's development agency Corfo, reached last month, freed the lit...Read More

* Strong U.S. wage growth boosts inflation expectations* Euro zone yields follow U.S. Treasury yields higher* German Bund yields highest since Sep 2015 (Updates prices, adds Viceroy)By Fanny PotkinFeb 2 (Reuters) - Euro zone bond yields extended their rise on Friday after U.S. payroll data indicated that annual wage growth in the world's biggest economy was the strongest since 2009. U.S. job growt...Read More

OTTAWA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Canadian job growth in 2017 was revised slightly higher, data from Statistics Canada showed on Friday, confirming a stellar year for the country's labor market, though economists expect the rampant pace of employment will soon start to moderate.From December 2016 to December 2017, the economy created 427,300 jobs on a seasonally-adjusted basis, the annual revision showed....Read More

JANUARY 26, 2018Dear Katusa Research reader,Vancouver is still buzzing from the 2018 Vancouver Resource Investment conference.The event was an incredible success, with over 8,000 registered attendees, packed workshops, and lots of great investment ideas. Many presentations weren’t just “standing room only,” but also had people peeking through curtains from the outside. If you did...Read More

(Updates with further ARDAL comment)BRATISLAVA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Slovakia will offer its new 30-year bond, the longest-dated paper it has, for the first time in a domestic auction in February, looking to lock in low yields before they are gone.Euro zone member Slovakia has enjoyed a comfortable borrowing position with a strong-growing economy helping state finances and leading to lower than expe...Read More

DUBLIN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Ireland collected 4.9 percent more tax in January than a year ago, driven by strong growth in value-added tax receipts submitted for the busiest shopping months of November and December, the finance ministry said on Friday.Ireland's economy has been the best performing in the European Union since 2014, swelling the tax take to a record level last year even as the governme...Read More

MOSCOW, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Russian government bonds, known as OFZs, rallied on Friday following a U.S. Treasury report cited by Bloomberg that warned about the implications of sanctions on holding Russian debt.Investors in OFZ bonds, popular among foreign market players thanks to their lucrative yields, have been on alert about new possible sanctions recently, buying into Russian debt pre-emptively...Read More

ACCRA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The Bank of Ghana said the yield on its weekly 91-day bill eased to 13.32 percent at an auction on Friday from 13.35 percent at the last such sale, on Jan 26.The bank said it had accepted all 157.8 million cedis ($35.16 million) worth of bids tendered for the bills, which will be issued on Monday.Ghana's treasury bill yields have fallen to around 13 percent in the past six...Read More

TBILISI, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Consumer prices in Georgia rose 0.6 percent in January in month-on-month terms after rising 0.8 percent in December, the State Statistics Service said on Friday.Annual inflation in January stood at 4.3 percent, down from 6.7 percent in the preceding month, data from the agency showed. CONSUMER PRICE INDEXJan 18Dec 17 Jan 17Month/month pct change+0.6+0.8+2.9Year/year pct...Read More

(Updates with final IPO price)MADRID, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Spanish property developer Metrovacesa on Friday set the final price for its stock market listing at 16.5 euros per share, the bottom end of its indicative range, valuing the company at 2.5 billion euros ($3.11 billion), down from a previous estimate of up to 2.95 billion euros. The pricing at the bottom end of the range and a one day delay...Read More

(Kitco News) - Forthe first time this year, there is a sharp divergence between Wall Street andMain Street in the weekly Kitco News gold survey. Wall Street Bullish Bearish Neutral VSMain Street Bullish Bearish Neutral Themajority of traders and analysts who make up the Wall Street poll look for theyellow metal to remain on the defensive next week, while Kitco readers who tak...Read More

(Kitco News) - For the first time this year, there is a sharp divergence between Wall Street and Main Street in the weekly Kitco News gold survey. Wall Street Bullish Bearish Neutral VS Main Street Bullish Bearish Neutral The majority of traders and analysts who make up the Wall Street poll look for the yellow metal to remain on the defensive next week, while Kitc...Read More

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will join the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, on Monday after stepping down from the U.S. central bank."I'm delighted to be joining," Yellen said, according to a statement announcing her position that was issued on Friday by the think tank. Yellen spearheaded the Fed's gradual move away from the near-zero in...Read More

It's been a rough ride for junk bonds since the European Central Bank (ECB) announced in late October its intent to taper bond purchases. That pain is evident in a daily chart of the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:HYG), which sliced cleanly through formerly solid support at its 200-day moving average in November.We see a potentially significant bearish tell from the action...Read More

Subscribers to our Weekly Options Countdown services just doubled their money on weekly 2/2 Alcoa Corp (NYSE:AA) 55.50-strike puts. We recommended these positions just this past Friday, meaning options traders realized a profit of 100% in just a matter of days. Let's look back at what attracted us to AA in the first place, and how the short trade unfolded.In our recommendation on Friday, we noted...Read More