Is There a Loonie Aussie in Your Future?

Morning Miners!

It is 7:05 am and no, the ole Colonel didn't oversleep! I've just been climbing a mountain of morning data to track a few more positive signs for mining. Grab a cup and put on your thinking caps!

You're on the ground (or below) and know your business better than anyone. The Report gives you a view of the world at 30,000 feet so you can see what global trends might put a little light in a recently dark mineshaft. Well, pardner, there are a few rays of sunshine this morning.

We've talked a lot about copper and yup, it got another nice pop this morning. Another encouraging sign is the recent rally of commodity-sensitive currencies. The Canadian dollar (Loonie) is higher this morning despite some weak Canadian jobs data for March and benefits from a small shovel of renewed risk taking in global financial markets. The Australian dollar (Aussie) is also having a very good week. The ole Colonel will keep his eye on this Loonie Aussie! Oil has also jumped nearly $3 on the open and I know this sounds bad for your wallet but checkout my 4/1 blog to understand why this might be a good sign for mining (as long as it ain't too high).

Another chunk of good news: "Wells Fargo projected first-quarter net income well above analysts' expectations, becoming the latest banking giant to express positive sentiments (WSJ, 4/9/09)" Bank stocks were on fire in early trading with the XLF (an ETF basket of bank stocks) up over 8%. I know you hate these guys but markets won't get better without the buggers.

Enough talk, let's walk the walk:

Oil cranked up $2.20 to $54.27; the dollar ("Dixie" or .DXY) is flat at 85.248 and the commodity index (.CRB) is up a healthy 3.99%...Yee-ha!!

Gold is down $5.1 to $880.8 (June contract); Silver is down $0.120 to $12.220; Copper smashes the 2-buck again at $2.06; Molybdenum remains steady at $8.20.

The DOW is up 200 points to 8037.18; the S&P 500, up 23.39 points to 848.55. Miners are fair to middling:

Barrick (ABX) $28.75 down 0.11%
Newmont (NEM) $42.16 up 0.26%
General Moly (GMO) $1.2601 up 0.07%
Quadra (QUA.T) C$5.93 up 6.85%
Freeport McMoran (FCX) $43.22 up 2.60% (a bellwether mining stock spanning gold, copper & molybdenum)

Cheers,

Colonel Possum