By Frank Holmes, CEO & Chief Investment Officer, U.S. Global Investors

Strengths

• The best performing precious metal for the week was palladium, rising 2.24 percent. Palladium surged early in the week, doing just the opposite of gold, when polls indicated British voters were more likely to vote “remain” in the Brexit referendum, thus economic uncertainty would be maintained.
• However, the palladium price dropped on Friday as gold soared to a two-year high following the U.K.’s vote to exit the European Union, boosting haven demand. According to Bloomberg, U.K. voters backed leaving the EU by 52 percent to 48 percent, causing turmoil across markets and prompting Prime Minister David Cameron to resign.
• Gold dealers in London say they have never seen anything like it, describing the rush from consumers to sell gold, and many more to buy the precious metal following the U.K.’s vote to exit the EU. “We’re doing 10 times the business we normally do,” said Michael Cooper, commercial director of ATS Bullion Ltd. BullionVault saw its busiest day ever on Friday, reports Bloomberg.

 Weaknesses

• Despite the surge in gold prices on Friday following the U.K. vote, it was the worst performing precious metal for the week, although still up 1.43 percent. Gold backed ETFs have seen a surge in assets this year as investors have started to discount that political leaders at the central banks around the world have lost their mojo, as you can see in the chart below.

• Gold experienced weakness most of the week, falling for the first four days of the week as polls on the Brexit referendum showed uneven results. Gold tumbled by the most in almost a month as other polls on Monday showed voters tilting toward remaining in the EU.
• Kinross Gold Corp. temporarily halted mining at its Tasiast mine in Mauritania, reports Bloomberg, after the Ministry of Labor banned some of its expatriate workers from the site due to invalid work permits. The stoppage comes a week after a three-week strike by unionized workers ended at the mine, one Seeking Alpha article points out.

Opportunities

• According to the median of 12 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of analysts and traders from New York to Canada, gold prices could reach as high as $1,424 an ounce by year end, reports Bloomberg. “The Brexit referendum lowered the probability for an interest rate hike,” said commodity analyst Thorsten Proettel. Low rates are a boon to gold because it increases the metal’s appeal as a store of value, the article continues..
• Capital spending by gold producers has been decimated, writes Sean Gilmartin at Bloomberg, which will lead to a long-term decline in the mine supply of the metal. According to UBS, high quality gold equities still offer attractive leverage to gold price upside, and will outperform physical gold in a rising price environment. Other opportunities for the metal come in the mergers and acquisitions space, reports the Financial Review, particularly in the West African-focused gold space driven by strong acquirers out of North America. In an all-share deal, Teranga Gold made an offer to buy Gryphon Minerals, boosting its share price by 22 percent on the news.
• Hartley’s reports on Burey Gold Limited this week, noting the company’s release of significant drilling results from its maiden RC drilling program in the northern zone of its Giro project. Highlights include 2 meters at 196 grams per ton from 12 meters, and 15 meters at 255.6 grams per ton from 15 meters. Additional results include 33 meters at 6.1 grams per ton from surface and 12 meters at 21.2 grams per ton from 3 meters. Hartley’s writes “These results confirm our opinion that the Giro project has potential to define a company-making asset particularly given these significant high grade results.”

Threats

• Physical demand for gold out of both India and China was tepid during the first half of the year, reports Bloomberg. Demand was historically weak in India, with the discount averaging $25 an ounce in 1H versus $8 a year ago. Also contributing to the overall weakness was a poor farming year in India, continues the article, yielding less disposable income for Indians to buy gold.
• Although a vote for Brexit will benefit gold, reports SocGen, other commodities such as copper and oil could suffer. Mark Keenan, SocGen Asia head of commodities, points out that a rising U.S. dollar will depress metals such as copper, and risk aversion may hurt oil.
• In a note from Sovereign Man this week, the author reflects on how much has changed since the publication started seven years ago. He points out that U.S. government debt soared 70 percent, that the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet more than doubled, and that the U.S. government has been caught red-handed spying on everyone – all in seven years’ time. “We’ve seen an appalling rise in police violence and Civil Asset Forfeiture to the point that the U.S. government now steals more than every thief in America combined,” he continues. Perhaps Donald Trump is right in that Mexico will pay to build a wall on its northern border, which is to keep Americans from crossing illegally into Mexico.