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Check back later today for Daniel’s Den and visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.

1. Gold is on track for its biggest weekly gain in nearly 2 years, snapping 2 straight weeks of losses that pulled it back from last month’s 1.5-year peak...as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is unchanged at $1,353…Silver is off slightly at $16.72…base metals have enjoyed a powerful week but are mixed this morning…Copper has edged up a penny to $3.22, Nickel has retreated 9 cents to $6.27 while Zinc is steady at $1.62…Cobalt prices have crossed the $37 barrier, up 23 cents to $37.19 and another new decade high…Crude Oil is off 19 cents at $61.15 while the U.S. Dollar Index has rallied one-third of a point to 88.94 after touching a 3-year low around 88.30 this morning…we’ll see next week if this morning’s action in the greenback turns out to be an important short-term reversal…

2. Keep in mind that stock markets in both the U.S. and Canada are closed Monday due to respective holidays (President’s Day in the U.S. and Family Day in Ontario and other parts of Canada)…global stocks continued to climb today, rebounding from an early February rout and putting many major benchmarks on track for their best weekly showing since early December 2011…the S&P 500, the Dow and the NASDAQ all had the best 5-day trading period since December 2011 through yesterday, recovering roughly 6%-7% from their trough last week…investors have largely brushed aside the inflation jitters and record bets on low volatility that triggered a sudden correction in many equity markets at the beginning of the month…this week’s gains have come despite a continued climb in government bond yields and a stronger than expected reading on consumer price inflation in the United States…yields on 10-year U.S. Treasurys rose to their highest since January 2014 this week and were as high as 2.91% this morning before easing off…equity markets seem to be getting more comfortable with higher yields, accepting the fact that there is slowly building inflation in the system…

3. U.S. consumer sentiment jumped much more than expected in February, exceeding the record-high average in 2017…the University of Michigan’s mid-month report on consumer attitudes climbed to 99.9 in February, its 2nd-highest level since 2004…Reuters‘ economists expected the reading to only reach 95.5…the 96.8 average for all of 2017 is the highest yearly average since 2000…the index measures 500 consumers’ attitudes on future economic prospects, in areas such as personal finances, inflation, unemployment, government policies and interest rates…

4. Economic problems in Venezuela – another great example of how socialism is such a disaster – have benefited OPEC’s goal of limiting production…potential U.S. sanctions against Caracas and its Oil industry may further hamper Venezuela’s output as the country continues to lose market share…a founding member of the Oil cartel, Venezuela pumped only 1.64 million barrels a day last month, well below its 1.97 million barrel a day allocation, according to estimates by S&P Global Platts…

5. U.S. equity markets are gunning for their 6th straight day of gains…the Dow is off 6 points through the first 30 minutes of trading...technology stocks on the S&P 500 have rebounded by 8.7% since February 8 (through yesterday), compared with a 4.3% rise in the utility sector, suggesting that investors are shifting away from safe-haven areas and back into comparatively risky plays…in Toronto, the TSX has gained 24 points while the Venture has slid 3 points to 831 in relatively quiet trading ahead of the long weekend for many Canadians…

6. The government of Manitoba has chosen National Access Cannabis (NAC, TSX-V) as one of 4 recipients of licenses to operate privately owned retail cannabis stores in the province, conditional upon several factors…it was a competitive process that saw more than 100 groups apply…under the terms of the retail organization agreement with the Manitoba government, NAC will be permitted to build, develop and operate in approved municipalities in the province…the number of locations remains subject to ongoing discussions with government officials…Mark Goliger, CEO of National Access, stated:  “With our history in successfully operating nationwide medical cannabis clinics, strong First Nations and Licensed Producer relationships, combined with our deep knowledge of safety, security and harm reduction, NAC is perfectly suited to exceed Manitoba’s current and future cannabis retail regulatory requirements.  With the province’s decision today, Manitobans will have responsible, secure access to recreational marijuana once legalization occurs.”  Unlike Quebec, which announced supply agreements totaling 62,000 kilograms earlier this week, the Manitoba government will not be directly involved in the wholesale of cannabis…instead, National Access and the other 3 licensed groups (Tokyo Smoke, B.O.B. Headquarters and an unnamed consortium) will manage supply within a controlled private retail system…NAC gapped up to $1.19 at the open and is is up 10 cents at $1.11 through the first 30 minutes of trading…

7.  Wise words regarding the state of the Canadian energy sector from former Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall in an interview with Postmedia:  “We have to decide, are we proud or ashamed to have a world-class energy resource?   It has paid a lot of bills in this country, transfer payments and a lot of jobs, because right now it looks like most of the country is ashamed of it.  It’s a source of shame for the federal government, for ministers of the federal government who will talk about the economy and environment living together, but every single policy decision and even a lack of action on Trans Mountain lately indicates they’d just prefer this industry not exist here.  We’re at a crossroads…if you look at the cumulative effect of everything the federal government has done, we’re in the middle of NEP 2.0.”

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