Why a lousy jobs report could be a turning point for precious metals

Today's labor report showing deeper than expected job losses in January will support stronger stimulus measures, which could be bullish for gold, said Kitco editor Neils Christensen.

On Friday Christensen recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast with mining audiences manager Michael McCrae, correspondent Paul Harris and ValOre Metals CEO Jim Paterson.

The U.S. Labor Department released its jobs report today indicating that the number of new jobs gained in January came in at 49,000, and the unemployment rate fell from 6.7% to 6.3%, wrote contributor Gary Wagner. Although there was a down-tick in the unemployment rate, last week Jerome Powell said that the “real” unemployment rate is most likely higher and is probably closer to 10%.

Christensen noted that real economic damage to the economy is putting steam behind the Democrats' larger stimulus plan.

"There's still a lot of heavy lifting to do in the U.S. economy to improve the labor market. And I think that's going to be good for gold and silver," said Christensen.

Reuters reported that President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies in Congress forged ahead with their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package on Friday as lawmakers approved a budget outline that will allow them to muscle Biden’s plan through in the coming weeks without Republican support.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted the final COVID-19 relief legislation could pass Congress before March 15, when special unemployment benefits that were added during the pandemic expire. Republicans have floated a $600 billion aid package, less than a third the size of the Democratic plan.

Paterson's ValOre is advancing a PGE+Au project in northeastern Brazil. The Pedra Branca PGE Project comprises 38 exploration licenses covering a total area of 38,940 hectares (96,223 acres). At Pedra Branca, five distinct PGE+Au deposit areas host, in aggregate, a current Inferred Resource of 1,067,000 ounces 2PGE+Au contained in 27.2 million tonnes grading 1.22 g/t 2PGE+Au. The company says that all the currently known Pedra Branca inferred PGE resources are potentially open pittable.

ValOre is under the Discovery Group umbrella, an alliance of nine public companies that include Great Bear Resources and Fireweed Zinc.

The podcast also reprised David Lin's conversation with Kendra Johnston President & CEO, AME. She outlined the metals to watch for as the as the economy shifts to renewables.