Top Stories This Week: Gold Bumps Down on Fed Minutes, Experts Give Copper Stock Picks

May 27 V2youtu.be

Gold has moved in a fairly wide range this week, touching a low of just over US$1,840 per ounce on Thursday (May 26) and a high of nearly US$1,870 on Tuesday (May 24).

At the time of this recording on Friday (May 27) afternoon it was at the US$1,850 level.

In focus this week was the Wednesday (May 25) release of the US Federal Reserve's latest meeting minutes. Notably, the central bank indicated it is prepared to enact 50 basis point rate hikes at its June and July meetings.

The Fed also showcased a need to move to a "more neutral" stance on monetary policy — this could progress to a restrictive strategy depending on the economic outlook moving forward.

"At present, participants judged that it was important to move expeditiously to a more neutral monetary policy stance. They also noted that a restrictive stance of policy may well become appropriate depending on the evolving economic outlook and the risks to the outlook" — Federal Open Market Committee statement, May 3 to 4 meeting

While gold is always a key area of focus for resource investors, copper is another market that continues to get attention. In fact, at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC) last week, Joe Mazumdar of Exploration Insights said the red metal is his choice for commodity of the decade.

He said he's been pushing the Exploration Insights portfolio more toward copper, and returned not long ago from visiting a number of copper-centric companies. Those include Ero Copper (TSX:ERO,NYSE:ERO) in Brazil, which he likes partially because it isn't facing power and water constraints, and Pan Global Resources (TSXV:PGZ).

Mazumdar's next stop will be Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (TSX:ASCU,OTCQX:ASCUF).

Andrew O'Donnell of Market Mindset is also a believer in the copper story, and at VRIC shared Faraday Copper (CSE:FDY,OTC Pink:CPPKF) as a pick in that space.

"What we want to do is find some of those real diamonds in the rough — so really strong stocks with management teams that will excel even in troubling times. That's why I think it's a stock picker's market" — Andrew O'Donnell, Market Mindset

With Joe's commodity of the decade choice in mind, we asked our Twitter followers this week what their selection would be — gold, copper, uranium or something else. By the time the poll closed, uranium was the top choice; the "other" option took 16 percent of the vote, with written-in answers including wheat and nickel.

We'll be asking another question on Twitter next week, so make sure to follow us @INN_Resource and follow me @Charlotte_McL to share your thoughts!

Before we wrap up, I want to briefly hone in on the cannabis sector. INN's Bryan Mc Govern recently attended the Lift & Co. Expo in Toronto, where he had the chance to speak with industry leaders about key themes in the space.

I really enjoyed the article he put together on whether tobacco and alcohol companies are still interested in cannabis — while some large consumer packaged goods players have entered the space, including Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) and Altria (NYSE:MO), there hasn't been as much movement as the market initially expected.

Bryan spoke with Shane MacGuill of Euromonitor International, who explained tobacco and alcohol firms do think the cannabis industry has potential, but are wary of the lackluster results seen so far by their peers, and often don't make it a priority. Shane thinks this will change in the future — but he said the cannabis sector should be prepared for tobacco and alcohol companies to want to set their own terms of engagement.

"There's potential there, but it's around wanting to set the terms of engagement as much as they can themselves before they kind of commit" — Shane MacGuill, Euromonitor International

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Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: Pan Global Resources is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.

The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.