- Chuck oversleeps… UGH!
- all hell has broken loose… batten down the hatches!
Good Day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to one and all! Well, I sat in the misty rain for my beloved Cardinals game yesterday that they won 4-1 VS the Astros… They got 2 home runs from unlikely sources, but they got them nonetheless, so I only have two more Spring Training Games… I really don’t want Spring Training to stop! But if all the games were as miserable as the game was yesterday, then I’m good with it ending! Eric Burdon and the Animals greet me this morning with their song: We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place…
Well, the FOMC left rates unchanged yesterday, as I thought they would, and Powell had this to say;” There’s no rush to rescue the market” he made that statement perfectly clear and the stock jockeys felt the sting of his comment, with the Dow falling 800 points…
The dollar took off to the moon after Powell spoke, and didn’t look back… The BBDXY gained 4 index points and ended the day at 1,213… Just when the dollar traders had told themselves that the dollar needed to be sold, they turned on a dime…
We can’t blame Powell’s comments on Gold & Silver’s takedown yesterday… Gold lost $185 and Silver lost $2.57… The SPTs were out in force and they began selling short the two metals in the early morning, hours away from Powell talking to the media…
The SPTs engineered takedown was spectacular for them… Not for metals holders… I sure hope they are done with getting Gold below its 50-day moving avg. I think the SPTs used the cover of the Powell comments to take the metals even lower yesterday… If you have been procrastinating on buying Gold or Silver, this is your chance to buy at cheaper levels…. I wouldn’t wait too long, because I doubt if these bargain prices will stay around too long…
The price of Oil jumped more than $2 to end the day with a $98 handle… And the White House had issued a statement yesterday saying that the Economy was nearing turning a corner…. Well, the only corner I see the economy turning is the way down… And the price of Oil is going to be the cause of the downturn…
And the bond boys said, “well, if the FOMC isn’t going to cut rates, they will eventually have to hike rates” and then sold bonds… The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to end the day with a 4.26% yield… No Fed Head yield control going on yesterday…. And I have to wonder if we see any major Fed Head yield control going forward… or, at least I hope not…
In the overnight markets last night… And I thought last week that all hell had broken loose! Last night, we had that again and it’s UGLY! The dollar bugs are dancing in the street, and the Gold bugs are looking for protection from the short sellers… The SPTS have gone hog-wild and Gold is down $187 and Silver is down $5.62… Silver is actually trading with a $69 handle this morning…. What have they got against the metals? This is absolutely ridiculous…. Better batten down the hatches good… I’m just saying…
The price of Oil slipped to a $97 handle overnight, and the 10-year is watching its yield rise and this morning the yield is $4.29%… So, it’s not just the metals that getting sold… bonds are right behind them in line…
And circling the wagons on the Fed Heads.. I misspoke yesterday when I said that the next FOMC meeting was in May… That was wrong… See Kathy, I do admit when I say something wrong! There will be a FOMC meeting April 28-29…. I did want to mention that that the FOMC did say that they sill saw one more rate cut this year… I personally, don’t see it happening… Inflation is going to be the roadblock to lower interest rates, I’ll be the farm on that… that is if I was a betting man, and if I had a farm! HA
And here’s another commodity that is getting priced higher and higher…. this from Bloomberg.com “The price of US propane is climbing at almost twice the pace of the natural gas it’s made from, threatening even more pocketbook pain for consumers already coping with surging gasoline, diesel and power costs.”
And then there’s this regarding the economy and how is the consumer going to pay for the increases… From Bloomberg.com: “The price of US propane is climbing at almost twice the pace of the natural gas it’s made from, threatening even more pocketbook pain for consumers already coping with surging gasoline, diesel and power costs.”
Don’t look now but the Japanese yen is about to go to 160 VS the dollar…. the yen ended yesterday at 159.75… And the Japanese officials are jawboning yen as much as they can, but it doesn’t seem to be having much of an affect…. Japan’s finance minister said authorities are prepared to respond to movements in the currency market with bold steps if necessary as the yen weakens against the dollar.
Even warning traders about taking yen even lower, didn’t stop them from selling yen… You know, I’ve always contended that Japan is a basket case… Their demographics are horrible, their interest rates have been held down very low for far too long, and other sundried items that hold not only the economy but the yen down…
Enough dissing Japan and the yen… The Russian ruble continued to get smacked around like a red headed stepchild… and rightly so, but the Russian economy isn’t doing as bad as Japan, and their demographics are nowhere near as bad as Japan’s… Russia problem is invading Ukraine…. And the war mongers have made sure that the Americans see Russia as the problem… I’m not a rooter for Russia, just calling things the way I see them!
The euro and the pound sterling got sold as the dollar rallied yesterday… The euro fell back below the 1.15 handle and the sterling saw it sold as their Central Bank will meet today to discuss rates…. The Bank of England (BOE) is expected to leave rates unchanged, but there is a chance that they could opt to cut rates and that has sterling on the selling blocks..
The U.S. Data Cupboard yesterday saw PPI (wholesale inflation) rise .7% in Feb and 3.4% year-on-year, so as I look at PPI, it’s what we have to look forward to in CPI (consumer inflation)… Factory Orders for January were only up .1%…. So, no great shakes there… And finally the FOMC meeting decision that saw rates remain unchanged… Powell, thus kicked the can down the road…
To recap… The dollar rallied on Powell’s comments, bonds got sold, currencies got sold, and metals got sold, Oil rallied, and the day finally ended! The price of Oil is nearing $100 again… and Chuck disses Japan and its economy and currency…
I woke up this morning at the crack of dawn and said to myself, “I dont’ have to get up this morning, it’s Friday”… And that’s the reason for the tardiness of the letter this morning…
For What It’s Worth…. Well, I said the other day that the Oil price was going to hurt consumers in the wallet, but other than it won’t bring products that use oil to a stop… But in the world, they will suffer, and this article goes through that and it can be found here: Iran war fallout lands hardest on Europe’s most gas‑dependent nations | Reuters
Or, here’s your snippet: “Electricity prices in Eastern Europe and Italy have climbed faster than other parts of the continent so far in 2026, suggesting that Europe’s most gas-dependent economies have been among the hardest hit so far from the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Average wholesale electricity prices in Hungary, Italy and Romania so far in 2026 have all climbed by at least 12% from last year’s average levels, data from energy data portal electricitymaps shows.
The Week in Breakingviews newsletter offers insights and ideas from Reuters’ global financial commentary team.
Electricity prices in Hungary, Poland & Italy have climbed by more than those in Spain, France & Germany so far in 2026
A key driver of the rising electricity costs is the high dependence on natural gas for power generation in Italy and several Eastern European nations, which rank among the most gas-intensive energy systems in the continent.
Europe’s benchmark natural gas price has climbed by around 65% from a month ago following the start of the Iran war, which has resulted in the closure of vital oil and gas shipping lanes in the Middle East.
With Qatar’s main LNG export facilities closed and Iran’s largest natural gas production field struck by Israeli missiles, gas supplies from the Middle East look set to remain stunted.
That in turn could trigger even tighter gas supplies for major import-dependent gas consumers, at least for the near term, and could further lift electricity prices.
GAS-HEAVY
Italy is Europe’s most gas-reliant economy, according to the Energy Institute, with around 38% of total energy supplies sourced from gas.”
Chuck again… yes, this is all going to hell in a hand basket, and the U.S. is in middle of this, causing these problems…
Market Prices 3/19/2026: American Style: A$ .7043, kiwi .5815, C$ .7280, euro 1.1479, sterling 1.3291, Swiss $1.2581, European Style: rand 16.8481, krone 9.5708, SEK 9.3981, forint 341.49, zloty 3.7280, koruna 21.3366, RUB 86.03, yen 159.07, sing 1.2833, HKD 7.8326, INR 92.63, China 6.8975, peso 17.83, BRL 5.2666, BBDXY 1,212, Dollar Index 100.82, Oil $97.82, 10-year 4.29%, Silver $69.84, Platinum $1,931.00, Palladium $1,455.00, Copper $5.45, and Gold… $4,635
That’s it for today…. Kathy has a friend come to spend some time with us, and that friend has another friend that came late last night… SERENITY NOW! I’m here with 3 women! Good thing there’s a baseball game today! Then on Saturday, Spring Training games end for me… And then on Sunday, it’ll be my birthday…. Last year I was in the hospital for my 70th Birthday… My son Alex and his bride Grace, brought me my favorite pizza to my room! But it just wasn’t the same… So, this year, I’m going to make up for last year! I return home on April 1st… no April Fool’s joke…. So, my time down here is coming to an end for now… So, I’m warning you now, so you can listen to me later, they’ll be no Pfennig on April 1…. a-ha takes us to the finish line today with their great 70’s song: Take On Me… I still am amazed every time I hear the singer for a-ha go to that high octave… I hope you have a Tub Tumpin’ Thursday today and Please Be Good To Yourself….
Chuck Butler