Mark Campbell, President and CEO of our sponsor Aton Resources Inc. (TSX.V: AAN) made the jump from petroleum to gold mining. He wound up in Egypt pursuing the legendary lost mines of the ancients. One day they were sitting around looking at satellite imagery and discovered some trails heading up a mountain. They went up to the top and found an ancient mine that hadn't been touched by humans in over 1600 years. While it didn't have snake pits and booby traps, it became the site of an extremely promising Rodruin project that could see huge returns. The original hand carved mine was very productive. Now with the addition of modern drilling techniques and mining technology, it could be a major world class find. We'll be following Mark and keep you posted.
Dee Carter author of It's Now or Never: How to Enjoy Your Life and Not Let Your Investments Own You!, believes that the current oil price surge is short term and will remedy itself shortly. In the US WTI production keeps climbing but our capacity to ship and refine hasn't gone up. But there's new pipelines on the way, so fear not. I Europe the Iran sanctions are heating up and thats driving Brent Crude higher. Again it's likely that the situation will be remedied in the near future, one way or the other. After that it's smooth sailing ahead. So get ready.
When the government claims it's there to help you out or the middle class, grab your wallet and hold on for dear life. As John so eloquently states, it's going to be a rough ride. While GDP looks like happy days are here again, the fact is that there's more to an economy than purported GDP growth numbers. There's a little thing called debt that's been increasing geometrically. But don't worry because as everyone knows, the deficit doesn't matter, or does it? I guess we'll all find out one day when it really does matter.
Major US stock markets were up again with DJIA up 0.7%, S&P 0.4, NASDAQ down 0.8% and Russell 2000 off 2.5% both off last month's record levels. Emerging markets were down again 0.6%. TSX down 1.2% and TSX-V down 2.2% due to week gold prices. Bitcoin the always volatile digital currency was off 7% last month. Gold was down another 0.7% and Silver was up 1.1% but broke $14 during the month. Pt up 3.7% and Pd was up 9.7% to near record highs. Copper was up another 3.5%. Energy gained big for the month, with WTI up 5.2% and Brent up 6.8%. Natgas broke $3 with a 3.0% gain. Uranium continues its rebound with a 4.0% gain and is up 28% for the past six months. Currencies saw the Greenback rise .1% and the Euro up .1% for the month. Rate on the 10 year T Bond blew past 3% to a 3.05% yield. Till next month!