- the dollar rebounds a bit on Tuesday
- What will the Fed Heads do… hike or cut?
Good Day and a Wonderful Wednesday to you! The U.S. baseball team lost their final pool game and now have to see if they get to move on to the knock-out round… I may have jumped the gun and become a Sooner with the report on the U.S. / Italy game, as it came on later than usual, and I went to bed with the U.S. losing… So, this morning, the first thing I checked was the final score, which was 8-6 Italy …. I guess the U.S. team was still celebrating their win VS Mexico the previous night to take Italy too seriously… and it cost them! Chicago greets me this morning with my favorite song from them: Hard Habit To Break…
Well, the dollar recovered almost all that it had lost the previous day, yesterday. The BBDXY ended the day at 1,200… No Biggie, and to remind you once again, the weak dollar trend is NOT a One-Way Street! So, whenever the dollar does get a bid, it’s time to do the rope-a-dope… Or, better-yet… go out and buy more currency or currencies… I’m just saying…
The metals had a good day, with Gold gaining $55 and Silver gaining $1.29… Gold closed the day at $5,196 and Silver at $88.44… The SPTs were still out there like the wolf that’s always at your door… But they just kept Gold & Silver in check, if you will…
Speaking of Gold… I read this yesterday on Motley Fool… The price of Gold just finished its 8th consecutive month of gains… The last time Gold did this was a precursor to the dot.com bust…. So, there’s that…
I also read a piece on Gold that talked about how the runup from $2,000 to $5,000 is just the first leg of its trend… So, now, you have that in the back of your mind all day, you’re welcome! HA!
The Potus’ words on Monday sure have carried some weight with the markets, but upon further review, I got to thinking… What if the war really isn’t nearly over like the POTUS stressed? Did he make those statements to get the price of oil back down quickly, and get stocks going again? I know, I’m being quite jaded here and very disrespected of the POTUS, as if that thought every crossed his mind is what oil traders and stock jockeys would be telling me….
I didn’t say he did say that to save Oil and stocks… I just asked the question… So settle down and quit throwing darts at my picture on the wall… Like I said when the war first broke out… I’m not a fan of war, but… I will support the troops…
In the overnight markets last night… The dollar reversed once again and got sold overnight… Not by much but sold nonetheless… The BBDXY starts today at 1,199… Gold & Silver are seeing some selling to start the day. Gold is down $4 and Silver is down $1.56… Those levels are prime for reversal today, and the STUPID CPI is the mechanism to get the job done…. That is, as long as the propeller heads print what’s true and not their usual bag-o-lies…
The price of Oil is trading with a $86 handle this morning… And the 10-year Treasury starts today with a 4.16% yield…
I really do believe that the Fed Heads are contemplating if they should be considering a rate hike instead of a rate cut… Therefore, I don’t think the Fed/Cabal/Cartel will move rates either way at their next meeting… And that would be appropriate in my view, for now… The Fed Heads are going to have to consider hike rates when the markets are thinking a rate cut eventually this year…
But being the “disappointers” The Fed Heads with their new leader, Warsh, will go ahead and cut rates, and that should be the next leg up for Gold.
I found this on Ed Steer’s letter this morning: Despite a price development recently perceived by many as disappointing, gold remains a magnet for investors, according to the World Gold Council. Although the precious metal has not been able to sustain a classic “safe-haven bid” recently, geopolitical tensions and changing macroeconomic conditions continue to generate sustained interest.
According to the World Gold Council, global physically backed gold ETFs recorded net inflows of $5.3 billion in February. This marks the ninth consecutive month of positive net inflows – and also the strongest start to the year since data collection began. Global holdings increased by 26 Tons to 4,171 Tons. In parallel, higher gold prices drove assets under management (AUM) to a new record of $701 billion.
Chuck again… Well hose folks buying Gold ETF’s fail to read my thoughts on ETF’s a month or so ago? HA! As if! I’ve realized over the years, that I can alert my readers and the other outlet’s readers that reprint the Pfennig each day, to the problems with something that they should be aware of, but the masses still do what I’ve told them to be aware of… I can only reach the dear readers that have signed up and stayed with me through the years… But here’s the main problem with the ETF’s… If push comes to shove and the Gov’t needs to liquify accounts the first stop will be the ETF’s because, you don’t really own the Gold that’s on your statement… I could go on, but I won’t this morning…
I haven’t talked about China nor the renminbi very much recently, and today that’s going to stop…. On Wednesday, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) sets the USD/CNY central rate for the trading session ahead at 6.8917 compared to the previous day’s fix of 6.8982 … The PBoC has really taken a sharp knife as opposed to an axe, to the renminbi in recent times… the markets take over trading of the renminbi once the PBoC sets the trading rate for the day…
The People’s Bank of China, belongs to the “people” but not the people you would think of… They belong to the communist party’s people… And the PBoC’s main functions or to provide currency stability and to promote economic growth…. They are stringently watched by the Communist party… And therefore they wouldn’t make policy decisions without making sure they would not affect the economy in a bad way. So… now you know! At your next cocktail party you can start talking about the renminbi and the PBoC and sound like a genius!
The U.S. Data Cupboard has the STUPID CPI for Feb today… What will the propeller heads have in store for us today? Will they show inflation rising? Or have they received their marching orders to show that inflation is in check? If I were a betting man, I would put money on door #2… We’ll also see the color of the latest report on the Federal Budget for the month of Feb… Without tariffs, the Federal spending will be humongous… I’m just saying..
To recap… The dollar fought back yesterday but not by much… Gold & Silver had good days despite the SPTs’ attempt to bring them in check… Chuck throws out a question that he’s sure that ½ of the readers will understand that he’s just asking the question, and the other ½ won’t and be mad at him…. And Chuck goes through the Chinese People’s Bank and how the renminbi gets priced…
For What It’s Worth… Another day of FWIW articles lacking… But I did find this that goes well with my talk above about China…. China has found other avenues to send their exports and this report shows the numbers and can be found here: China exports sharply beat expectations as trade surplus in the first two months surges to highest on record
Or, here’s your snippet: ” China’s trade surplus rose to its highest on record in the combined January-February period, while exports massively beat expectations, underscoring the resilience of the world’s second-largest economy despite trade tensions with the U.S.
China typically combines January and February trade data to smooth distortions from the shifting Lunar New Year holiday.
The trade balance surged to $213.62 billion, compared with expectations of $179.6 billion.
Exports from China rose 21.8% year on year in the combined January-February period, beating the 7.1% growth expected by economists polled by Reuters.
Imports rose 19.8% in the first two months from a year earlier, against expectations of a 6.3% growth, customs data showed Wednesday.
Government data showed that while trade with the U.S. plunged 16.9% to 609.71 billion yuan ($88.22 billion) compared with the same period the year before, trade with the EU climbed 19.9% to 998.94 billion yuan.
Trade with ASEAN also rose 20.3% to reach 1.24 trillion yuan.”
Chuck Again… this report really shows that China has found other avenues for their exports and that while they might be able to get by without the U.S. buying their goods, they will not grow the way they used to…
Market Prices 3/11/2026: American Style: A$ .7158, kiwi .5929, C$ .7368, euro 1.1610, sterling 1.3443, Swiss $1.2898, European Style: rand 16.3493, krone 9.6332, SEK 9.1835, forint 332.45, zloty 3.6697, koruna 20.9881, RUB 79.30, yen 158.33, sing 1.2724, HKD 7.8264, INR 92.04, China 6.8682, peso 17.59, BRL 5.1590, BBDXY 1,199, Dollar Index 98.97, Oil $86.89, 10-year 4.16%, Silver $86.83, Platinum $2,189.00, Palladium $1,664.00, Copper $5.86, and Gold…. $5,188
That’s it for today… I sat out on the deck that overlooks the ocean yesterday and had my Bose speaker on loud playing songs and singing along… There wasn’t a home game for my beloved Cardinals, so, no ballpark for me! It was an absolutely beautiful day, a chamber of commerce day if you will! Oh, and I was all by myself… I wouldn’t be so rude to force that on anyone else! The U.S baseball team fell behind early last night… I’m sure they were thinking “who the heck are these guys?” Oh well, life goes on… Starting Thursday, I’ll have 3 games in 4 days, and I’m sure my wife will not be a happy camper by the time the 4th day comes and goes. There’s one of the cons (for her) of being married to me… Baseball games! Our Blues fell in OT last night… UGH! The Main Ingredient takes us to the finish line today with their great 70’s song: Everybody Plays The Fool…. I hope that you have a Wonderful Wednesday today, and Please Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler