Sprott Monthly Market Update with Rick Rule: Resource Opportunities in Uranium, Cobalt, and Gold

Sprott has seen broadly increasing client and institutional interest which has been lead by strong private placements. This interest is being driven by 2017 commodity performance, and now the equities show good value. 

Rick feels that some of the companies like Agnico-Eagle are likely to do quite well over the next couple of years. Increasingly they are being run as real businesses instead of leveraged call options on gold. Sprott is currently focusing on exploration and discovery plays. They are assessing prospect generators companies. They are also looking for companies with decent drilling results that the market has overlooked. 

Secondly companies with very competent teams of people who are serially successful. Lastly, they want companies that are already well enough funded to answer their unanswered questions. Rick feels that the exploration sector will wait until 2019 before it moves dramatically. They are getting better terms on private placements and can attract warrants that are tradeable and detachable. With trade-able warrants, they are often traded for more than their intrinsic value. 

The outlook for phosphates and Ag-minerals are extremely bleak, and there is significant oversupply. As a consequence of this bleak supply and demand outlook, there may be opportunities in buying essential commodities when they are below the cost of production. He discusses the potential demand picture for uranium, copper, nickel and why the world has plenty of lithium. 

Cobalt is the first commodity that Rick has seen where the industry is happy to pay more for the product so long as supply can be increased. However, cobalt, as an investment theme has issues with geography as most of it, comes from the Congo, Russia, and Cuba. These are not countries that investors particularly favor.

- Source, Palisade Radio

Jig Is Up For The Cryptos So If You Want Out Of The System YOU MUST Own Gold & Silver

“It’s kind of shocking when you think that we have all this issuance going on. We have people threatening not to buy the bonds (i.e. China, Russia, whatever). And people saying that there’s this great economy, and yet yields are going down. And as you point out it’s quite a dichotomy. 

Normally, bonds are telling you the economy sucks. And I’ve always been in the camp that the economy has been held together simply by low interest rates, and the minute they start going up, it’s over… It just spells doom and gloom for stocks, and profits and budget deficits.

- Source, Sprott Money

Eric Sprott: Look For That Rate Hike Next Week Because Gold Goes STRAIGHT UP Every Time

(Click the above image to play this audio file)

It’s a lively discussion this Friday, as yet another chaotic week wraps up. Eric Sprott has plenty to say on President Trump’s new chief economic advisor, the ineffectiveness of the tax cuts, and what all this chaos means for gold.

“We had this tax cut and we thought two things would happen: People would spend more money (NOT!) and companies would spend more money (NOT!). We had all this theory that everyone’s going to have more money to spend, and nothing happens! … It boils down to the basic facts that you and I have discussed: The average guy is experiencing sharp inflation and no wage increase.

We keep forgetting about the changes in health care premiums—which, of course, are consuming huge amounts of everyone’s income. And even real estate taxes, and insurance bills and, oh my God, the things that are going up all the time! The amount of money we have to spend on phones that we never spent on phones 15 years ago. Incredible expenses for families. They’re having a tough time… I’m not surprised we don’t have liftoff.”

- Source, Silver Doctors

Eric Sprott: The Perfect Situation for Silver to Move Higher is Forming

“By far, the majority of the jobs are part-time. Who knows what part-time means? Maybe it’s five hours or ten hours or whatever. The fact that the wage increase was only .1%, which by the way is 1.2% annualized, which is less than inflation, i.e. people are going backwards here. It should be worrisome to the average person. 

Of course, that’s what’s been happening for decades here, that the workers’ wages are going up slower than inflation, and everyone’s essentially moving backwards in terms of total net compensation. So, yes it looked like a good report on the surface, but it wasn’t particularly strong when you get into the guts of the matter.”

- Source, Sprott Money

Gold and Silver Are Going To Rise In Price As The Other Asset Classes Fall

“I saw an article on ZeroHedge where the U.S put a tariff on steel back in 2003 and the market went down 30%. And the tariff didn’t make it through the whole year… We have to wait and see what the repercussions are gonna be. 

There’s no doubt that the U.S. economy has suffered for a long time by the lack of anyone trying to protect industry in the country. I feel sorry for people who rely on factories and manufacturing things to survive, because there’s been absolutely no care for that area. Everything’s become financial… 

So you do need a little bit of strengthening of the trade policies. But what’s the effect on the stock market? It would be good for jobs to have tariffs, but the stock market? Totally different question. There will be outcomes in other countries in reaction to this… Nobody wins a trade war.”

- Source, Sprott Money

Eric Sprott: You Can’t Explain These Markets Anymore

“When you look at what Russia’s doing… The US dollar is very weak here. Wouldn’t you much rather have your money in gold? Why would you have it in US dollars when the dollar continues to weaken? And looks like it’s threatening to go much weaker? So, I can understand the logic of it. 

I can understand these other countries (China, Turkey) that are adding to their gold supplies. It seems to make sense in the foreign exchange world we live in. So, good for them, and I hope other countries come into the fold, because it seems like the logical thing to do.”

- Source, Sprott Money

Rick Rule Breaks Down What He Believes to be the Next Big Thing

Rick Rule, CEO of Sprott U.S. Holdings, and Amir Adnani, CEO of Uranium Energy Corp., discuss the role base metals play in the future of energy. 

Rule said that while cobalt is attracting media attention for its use in the “electrification of things,” investors need to be cautious of companies that are not legitimately mining cobalt. “You have to be in Congo, or you have to be in Russia,” Rule told Kitco News on the sidelines of the PDAC 2018. “Everybody wants to be in politically secure, politically correct cobalt. It’s as if they wanted a cobalt discovery in Kansas. 

But there isn’t any.” Adnani noted that while cobalt may play an important role in the battery theme, the often ignored phase of recharging those batteries is equally important, and this is where uranium comes into play.

“If everyone wants to drive an electric vehicle, and everyone needs to recharge these batteries around the clock at different points in time, the need for de-carbonizing the economy at the same time as making sure electricity is available around the clock can only be made available through nuclear power,” Adnani said.

- Source, Kitco News

When Stocks Go You Will Have Only One Bull Market Left And That Will Be In Gold & Silver

“Man, it smells like a bull market here. There are lots of reasons you could imagine people would want to come into this market, and we’ve talked about it before. It’s what I call the bear market in cryptocurrencies, the bear market in bonds, which is becoming exceedingly obvious. 

And, of course, the little correction in stocks, which is not in a bear market yet, but my God, if it turns into a bear market you only have one bull market! And of course, we’re seeing it not just in gold and silver, we’re seeing it even in the base metals and other physical products. So the market seems to be coming around to, ‘You know, I want to get my hands on something real, here.’ So it portends great things for gold and silver.”

- Source, Sprott Money

If The Fed Steps In To Save The Markets Then Gold & Silver Will Go Crazy To The Upside

It’s been a wild week in the markets, and Eric steps in to break it all down for us. In this wrap-up, you’ll learn what’s causing the volatility, why you should be watching the bond market, and what role the Fed could play in the coming year.

And, as always, he’ll let you know how precious metals are faring in all this.

“I could sit here as a guy with a big portfolio and say, ‘Well, thank God my gold is only down 2%, and my silver is only down 2%.’ Everything I own could be down eight. Or ten. So, I’m not hurting here… I think relatively, these things have done exactly what we would expect. They’ve probably been suppressed… The natural instinct should be to buy gold in this kind of environment. We’ll see what happens today. Lots of people in the world are going to be trying to find things to invest in that can hold their own, and I think we’re already seeing that gold and silver look like they’re filling that role.’”

- Source, Sprott Money

Sprott Money News Ask The Expert - February 2018 Rick Rule

Rick Rule, the president and CEO of Sprott US Holdings, joins us this month to answer questions from Sprott Money customers regarding gold, silver and the mining shares.

- Source, Sprott Money

Eric Sprott: The true state of the U.S and global economy

Only the Blind Can't See the Manipulation Going on in Precious Metals

The US jobs report is out, and the markets are already reacting. But Eric says all is not as it seems.

“A lot of people try to make very quick decisions on this without all the information. And all the information is: it was not a bullish jobs report.”

Join Eric for a deep dive into the numbers and learn what they mean for the average worker. Plus: at the five minute mark, Eric talks about why he thinks crypto is “kind of over,” and what the future holds for blockchain.

“I think all these things are very strong—they’re powerful changes in markets which could create a much, much bigger interest in not only precious metals, but other hard assets as well.”

Plus: Why Eric finally feels vindicated by the CFTC fining and charging major banks for manipulation of precious metals.

- Source, Sprott Money