- December 1, 2023
- Posted by: John Arcena
- Category: Uncategorized
Shopping, during what has become the five-day Black Friday long weekend, started as a win for retailers, with record numbers of shoppers spending in stores and online, according to the National Retail Federation. In-store traffic was high, and 95% of those shoppers made a purchase. Shopify and Amazon also reported record online sales for the holiday weekend and Cyber Monday. The final tally on the holiday season won’t be known until retailers report their fourth-quarter results early next year, but the early numbers have retailers encouraged. Shoppers remained cautious on spending and turnout seemed to be driven by looking for the best deals and discounts being offered by retailers.
Canada’s economy contracted in the third quarter according to data released by Statistics Canada on Thursday morning. Q3 GDP fell 1.1 percent annualized, which was worse than expected. However, Stats Canada found a way to avoid a technical recession because the Q2 growth rate was revised to an expansion of 1.4 percent from an initial reported decline of 0.2 percent. The Canadian economy has slowed under interest rate pressure, growth has flat-lined, and the job market is loosening. Expectations are that the Bank of Canada will begin cutting rates in the spring, with some observers opining that the BoC had overdone things.
In stock markets we see recent moves by some of the Large Caps suggesting that they are setting up to outperform in 2024.
Inflation in the Eurozone surprised to the downside this week at 2.4% in November, the lowest in more than two years, with the economy essentially stalled this year. “This is not the time to start declaring victory,” Christine Lagarde said Monday during a hearing in the European Parliament, as calls for rate cuts in the near term started to be heard. The next U.S. Fed meeting will be held on December 12-13, 2023. Many experts expect the Fed to hold rates steady at a target of 5.25%-5.50% at that time. Higher for longer is still the official position at the Fed and yet some Governors of the Fed’s have said that the 2% annual inflation target can be reached without extra hikes, suggesting that economy now is in the “sweet spot,” and will deliver a soft landing, with no recession and growth next year.
The weakened U.S. dollar is back to where it was as the year started, following a bad month. Questions about the state of the economy persist. Precious metals continued to be strong with gold well over the psychological barrier of $2,000/oz at $2,042/oz today, and silver at $25.34/oz. Prices of shares of gold companies, all the way down to line to junior explorers, have responded well. Could this be the long-awaited breakout?
Base metals continue to be unable to make any headway. Copper is at $3.80/lb., while up from the low point of last month, it is only back to the price at the start of the year. This is with production down by 4% in Chile and the apparent loss of a major producer in Panama taking any surplus out of the market.
Battery materials continue to slump with Lithium at $ 17.75/kg and Cobalt at $ 15.15/lb. EV sales seem to have hit a wall of affordability, especially when having to finance for seven or more years at current auto loan rates near 9% pa. China has cut prices on sales of Lithium Carbonate, which has drawn suspicions that they are attempting to keep other refiners out of the market with a low-price policy.
Oil at $76.15/bbl (WTI) today was down as expected production cuts from OPEC+ seemed to have been less than robust. Questions of where demand is actually going persist, maybe the production cuts are recognition of that reality.
It has certainly been an interesting and productive week for our clients, and we are pleased to present to you our round-up of their news released between November 27 – December 1, 2023.
Able View Global Inc. (“Able View,”), one of the largest comprehensive brand management partners of international beauty and personal care brands in China has joined the CHF line. Able View’s Class B ordinary shares and warrants trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbols “ABLV” and “ABLVW,” respectively. Look for their news in future postings.
Thank you to those who were able to participate in the recent Save Canadian Mining event, ‘Defend Your Investments: Black Friday Short Selling Emergency Session.’
If you arrived a little late to the event or could not attend the replay is available here. If you have any questions, feel free to email Terry Lynch at terrylynch@gmail.com.
Many of you asked how you can make a greater impact. By attending and sharing this event within your social circle, you would already be contributing significantly. You may wish to consider donating to Save Canadian Mining by clicking HERE.
On November 28, 2023, Electric Metals (USA) Limited (TSXV: EML) filed their Interim Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis for the 3 months ending September 30, 2023.
On November 28, 2023, Nuinsco Resources (CSE: NWI) filed their Interim Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis for the 3 months ending September 30, 2023.
On November 29, 2023, Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SIC) (OTCQB: SICNF) announced that it has received conditional approval from the TSX Venture Exchange for its flow-through private placement, for aggregate gross proceeds of up to CAD$3 million. The net proceeds will be used for exploration work on the Company’s properties that it controls that will qualify for Canadian Exploration Expenses under the Income Tax Act (Canada). The Company intends to spend approximately 25% of the gross proceeds on the Fleur de Lys Project, and the balance on its flagship Moosehead Project.
The Company has now closed the first tranche of the Private Placement and will issue 37,885,000 flow-through share units at a price of CAD$0.065 for aggregate gross proceeds of CAD$2,462,525.
Each FT Unit consists of one (1) common share of the Company and one half (1/2) of one common share purchase warrant with each full FT Warrant entitling the holder to purchase one non-flow-through common share of the Company at a price of CAD$0.13 for a period of 12 months from the date of issuance. All securities issued pursuant to this financing will be subject to a four-month plus one-day hold, expiring March 30, 2024.
On November 29, 2023, Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SIC) (OTCQB: SICNF) filed their Interim Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis for the 3 months ending September 30, 2023.
On November 28, 2023, Canadian Overseas Petroleum (CSE: XOP) (LSE: COPL) announced the issuance of 63,091,482 common shares pursuant to a conversion of Bonds.
63,091,482 common shares have been issued at a price of US$0.0317 per share pursuant to the conversion of $0.8 million principal of 2027 Bonds and $1.2 million principal of 2028 Bonds by a Bondholder. Following the issuance of common shares, the Company has a total of 954,064,955 common shares issued and outstanding.
Following these conversions, COPL’s outstanding bonds include:
- 2027 Bonds principal outstanding: $11.6 million (58 bonds), 4 Bondholders
- 2028 Bonds principal outstanding: $10.8 million (54 bonds), 3 Bondholders
In accordance with the usual practice, applications for the listing of these shares for trading, on the London Stock Exchange’s main market for listed securities, will be made within the next 12 months.
On November 29, 2023, Tenet Fintech Group Inc. (CSE: PKK) (OTC Pink: PKKFF) announced filing of its financial results for the three-month and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2023, and September 30, 2022, and provided operating highlights.
The impact of the disruption in the Company’s operations in both China and Canada during the second quarter of 2023 continued to take its toll on the Company’s revenue during the third quarter. Tenet reported total revenue of $9.2M for the quarter and a net loss of $43.0M. The net loss reported includes $36.4M of non-cash impairment charges attributed to delays in forecasted revenue from the Company’s Heartbeat platform in China and its Cubeler platform in Canada. The Company is hopeful that a significant porition of these impairment charges (excluding goodwill) may be reversed in future quarters as the platforms become significant revenue generators for the Company. All amounts expressed in this news release are in Canadian dollars.
Q3 Financial Highlights:
- Total Revenue of $9.2M
- Net Loss of $43.0M
- EBITDA* of ($40.8M)
- Adjusted EBITDA** ($3.8M)
Q3 Operating Highlights:
- Closing of $10.9M of the planned total of $20M private placement financing
- Strategic alliance with Certified Professional Bookkeepers of Canada
Interested parties are encouraged to read the Interim Financial Statements and the Management Discussion and Analysis together. View the recording of the Quarterly earnings call HERE.