The KE Report

In this Daily Editorial, I sit down with Darrell Fletcher, Managing Director of Commodities at Bannockburn Capital Markets, to provide a comprehensive, trading-desk perspective on the recent broad-based correction across the commodity complex. As the markets reach the half-year mark, Darrell breaks down the technical and fundamental forces driving recent sell-offs and what investors should watch heading into the second half of the year.

Key Discussion Points:

Broad-Based Market Correction: An overview of the recent sell-off across energy and metals, examining whether this indicates the end of the long-term commodity bull market or a healthy, constructive pause.

The Energy Complex & WTI Crude: A look at the bearish and bullish factors impacting oil as it tests key moving averages, alongside the market's reaction to regional conflicts and global supply disruptions.

Natural Gas Trends & Seasonality: Analysis of the current range-bound natural gas market, record temperatures in Europe, shifting US weather patterns, and the latest storage data.

Precious Metals & Gold's Psychological Floor: A deep dive into gold and silver's sharp corrections, the influence of a hawkish Federal Reserve, and how the $4,000 level is acting as a major technical support zone.

Base Metals Resilience & Copper Tariffs: An exploration of why copper remains the strongest major commodity despite broader base metal sell-offs, and what the upcoming tariff decisions mean for the market.

 

Click here to learn more about Bannockburn Capital Markets  - https://www.bannockburnglobal.com/

 

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Investment Disclaimer:

This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security or investment product. Investing in equities, commodities, really everything involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Guests and hosts may own shares in companies mentioned.

In this Daily Editorial, Craig Hemke, Founder and Publisher of the TF Metals Report, joins me to analyze the peak hawkishness in the precious metals market since last week.  We dive into the macroeconomic backdrop as it relates to interest rates and Fed policy and the fallout after Kevin Warsh chaired his first FED meeting 2 weeks ago and addressed the markets focused on price stability.

 

Craig wrote an article last week titled: “Peak Hawk” outlining some of the topics we dove into during this discussion, and there is a link to that here:

 

https://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/13750/peak-hawk

 

 

Technical Levels to Watch:

 

Craig comments on the break-down in gold, silver, and PM ETF breaking below the 200-day moving average, and 50-week moving averages as just a ‘piling on’ effect from this peak hawkishness in the markets. 

He believes most of the corrective move has happened at this point, and is anticipating 2026 to end somewhere around flat on the year; which he notes wouldn’t be too bad after the outsized gains in gold and silver in 2024 and 2025 on a percentage basis. 

He points out we may need that last capitulation move this summer to wash out any remaining weak hands, and to then base and bring in the new buyers that cause shorts to cover and begin a new upleg.

Craig also points to the flattening yield curve, and where the 2-year and 10-year treasury yields have been trending as a factor worth paying attention to.

 

Kevin Warsh Will Be Speaking In Europe this Wednesday:

 

Kevin Warsh is participating in a policy panel at the European Central Bank Forum on Central Banking. Craig will be watching to see if he emphasizes the hawkish hold or dials it back a little at this meeting.

The Fed funds futures are now anticipating 1-2 rate hikes this year versus the initially market anticipated rate cuts, coming into this year.  We discuss the likelihood of the market has now swung so hawkish, that it may be excessive and misplaced.

Even if we see an initial hawkish rate hike, Craigs sees that as posturing, and doesn’t anticipate that we’d have long to wait after that before the economic data on inflation softens with lower energy prices now, and that monetary policy will adjusts course in the opposite direction, in a more dovish playbook… like it has over and over again historically.

 

We’ll Get The Jobs Data on Thursday This Week:

 

The June BLS jobs report will be released on July 2, 2026, which is expected to show the creation of 172,000 new jobs.  We are getting this data on Thursday, due to the observance of Independence Day on Friday.

Additionally, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) will also be reported this week.

 

The Macroeconomic Fundamentals Haven’t Changed:

 

Sovereign debt remains at record levels and most nations can not endure interest rates that go up to drastically.  Craig highlights that “The Math is the math.”

Throughout history, central banks have opted for printing more money and driving interest rates meaningfully lower, to inflate their way out of economic challenges, and to pay off higher interest debt with lower-rate debt. 

Overall, central banks continue to add gold to their balance sheets versus adding more US or foreign treasuries.

 

Click here to visit Craig’s website – TF Metals Report – https://www.tfmetalsreport.com/

 

For more market commentary & interview summaries, subscribe to our Substacks:

 

The KE Report: https://kereport.substack.com/

Shad’s resource market commentary: https://excelsiorprosperity.substack.com/

 

 

Investment disclaimer:

This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Investing in equities and commodities involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Guests and hosts may own shares in companies mentioned.

Graham Richardson, CFO of Faraday Copper (TSX:FDY – OTCQX:CPPKF), joins me to provide a big picture overview of the key exploration and development objectives and shifting workstreams now that Faraday has entered into a non-binding letter of intent for the proposed acquisition of BHP's San Manuel Property, adjacent to their Copper Creek Project in Arizona.

 

This is truly a transformational transaction, which once closed, consolidates two adjacent and complementary assets in the heart of the Arizona copper corridor, at a time when sourcing of critical minerals within the USA is essential. We discuss how combining the historic open pit San Manuel Mine and robust Kalamazoo underground assets with Copper Creek Project’s at-surface open pit breccias and underground porphyry assets at American Eagle and Keel creates a multi-asset copper district in the USA; and one of the largest undeveloped copper projects in North America.

 

Strategic Rationale

Significant resource potential: The combined project would have the potential to become a multi-generational copper district delivering made-in-America copper.

Accelerates pathway to production: Opportunity to leverage the private land position of San Manuel to facilitate the potential for expedited copper cathode production from the combined projects.

Flexibility through private land and infrastructure: Additional ~27,000 acres of private land for site facilities and access to existing regional infrastructure, including road, rail, gas and power.

Centralizes infrastructure and reduces environmental footprint: The proximity of Copper Creek and San Manuel allows for the potential to leverage existing infrastructure and for future facilities to be shared between the projects, reducing the overall environmental footprint while enhancing capital efficiency.

The combined assets offer potential for project staging: Prioritization of copper cathode production, followed by open pit sulphides before development of underground operations.

BHP to become a strategic shareholder: BHP to join the Lundin Group as a strategic shareholder of Faraday to deliver USA copper supply through a consolidated district.

 

Phase 4 drilling at Copper Creek will be factored into an updated copper Resource Estimate, which will be paired with upcoming confirmation drilling of the San Manuel historic resource.   This will set up a wrapping economics around the Phase 1 open pit development at both projects into a combined approach, and will be combined with other data-collection and metallurgical studies.  The Phase 1 open pits will then fund the eventual development into the underground resources at Kalamazoo, and eventually American Eagle and Keel.

 

The Company is well-funded to deliver on its key milestones and benefits from a growing management team and board of directors with senior mining company experience and expertise to deliver on the pathway from development into production.

 

If you have any questions for Graham regarding Faraday Copper, then please email them to me at Shad@kereport.com.

 

In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of Faraday Copper at the time of this recording, and may choose to buy or sell shares at any time.

 

Click here to view the latest news from Faraday Copper

 

For more market commentary & interview summaries, subscribe to our Substacks:

 

The KE Report: https://kereport.substack.com/

Shad’s resource market commentary: https://excelsiorprosperity.substack.com/

 

 

Investment disclaimer:

This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Investing in equities and commodities involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Guests and hosts may own shares in companies mentioned.

In this Company Update, Tara Christie, President and CEO of Banyan Gold (TSXV: BYN / OTCQB: BYAGF), joins the show to discuss the latest exploration and development milestones across the company's Yukon gold properties. Tara breaks down recent high-grade drill results at AurMac, the commencement of the regional drilling program at Nitra, and how the newly filed technical report sets a strong foundation for the upcoming Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA).

Key discussion points include:

AurMac Project Drill Results: Insights into the recent high-grade intercepts from the Powerline deposit, including standout numbers over 5.5 g/t gold, and what these results mean for expanding the known high-grade core.

Nitro Project Exploration: An update on the newly initiated 7,500-meter diamond drilling program targeting regional targets to unlock district-scale potential.

Predictive Geological Modeling: How Banyan’s refined lithological model is successfully predicting higher-grade zones and bringing increased credibility to the resource.

Upcoming PEA and Valuation: A look ahead at the upcoming PEA catalysts in the second half of the year and the company's current valuation relative to its peers.

 

If you have any follow up questions for Tara please email me at Fleck@kereport.com. 

 

Click here to visit the Banyan Gold website - https://banyangold.com/

 

For more market commentary & interview summaries, subscribe to our Substacks: 

The KE Report: https://kereport.substack.com/ 

Shad’s resource market commentary: https://excelsiorprosperity.substack.com/

Investment disclaimer: This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security or investment product. Investing in equities, commodities, really everything involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Guests and hosts may own shares in companies mentioned.

In this Company Update, I sit down with Mike Burke, Director and Vice President of Corporate Development at Sitka Gold Corp. (TSX.V: SIG | OTCQB: SITKF | FSE: 1RF), to break down the latest high-grade drill results from the Blackjack deposit at their flagship RC Gold Project in the Yukon.

Mike discusses the strategic balance between infill and expansion drilling, explains how structural controls are guiding their deep exploration, and compares their current asset scale to Tier-1 gold systems in the region.

Key Discussion Points:

Recent High-Grade Drill Results: A look into the high-grade intercepts from the June 23rd release and what these mean for the asset.

Infill vs. Expansion Drilling: How the company is prioritizing shallow, near-surface ounces while simultaneously testing the boundaries of the deposit.

Deep Mining Trade-Off Studies: The ultimate goals for their deep drilling program and how it will shape future open-pit versus underground development decisions.

Understanding Visible Gold: The real-time exploration value of frequent visible gold observations in the core and its correlation with higher-grade pockets.

Corporate Scale and Target Size: Comparing Sitka's growing resource base to multi-million-ounce intrusion-related gold systems like Fort Knox and Eagle.

 

If you have any follow up questions for the team at Sitka Gold please email me at Fleck@kereport.com. 

 

Click here visit the Sitka Gold website to learn more about the Company - https://sitkagoldcorp.com/

 

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For more market commentary & interview summaries, subscribe to our Substacks: 

The KE Report: https://kereport.substack.com/ 

Shad’s resource market commentary: https://excelsiorprosperity.substack.com/

 

Investment Disclaimer: This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security or investment product. Investing in equities, commodities, really everything involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Guests and hosts may own shares in companies mentioned.