June 7, 2023
*currencies & metals rally in the overnight markets
* What up with the BOK?
Good Day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! I won’t be writing tomorrow, so you’re on your own to have a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday! People say I’m the life of a party, cause I tell a joke or two… (Smokey Robinson) I’m not really the life of a party, because, if you ask me a question, you’ll find out that I don’t pull any punches, and I don’t have a filter… So, normally, people steer clear of me, and when I walk into a room full of people, the room will quickly empty out… And it’s because…. Like I said, I don’t pull punches, and I don’t have a filter… For instance, the editor of the local alternative paper in town, Rob Rains, asked me a month ago what I thought the Cardinals needed… And he got an earful… Here’s my response to him “Chuck Butler agrees that a “shake up” could help the team.
“The Cardinals need a jolt,” he said. “They need to put Edman back to lead off and switch Goldy & Arenado in the batting order. I would put Goldy in the clean-up spot and leave him there the rest of the year.”
Here comes his idea for the jolt.
“They need to trade O’Neil and get a starter. If they believe that Waino is going to straighten out the problem with the starters well, that will turn out in tears.”
He likes that they brought Jordan Walker back up and hopes they “let him play and learn.”
“The starting pitchers sans Montgomery can’t pitch past five innings without giving up big innings so don’t pitch them past the fourth or fifth… then bring in another starter to finish the game. We need more starters on the roster, and only keep a few bullpen guys.
Butler has a lot of ideas to improve the team, but that doesn’t mean he has given up.
“I really thought this team was going to be quite good… they still can be… but changes need to be made.”
Rob’s letter on the Cardinals can be found here: www.stlsportspage.com
OK! How’s that for an intro to the letter today? And what the heck does that have to do with currencies, metals, economics, dolts, etc? Well, as the good Rev. Al Green sand, Nothing, absolutely Nothing! But I started writing and the next thing I knew, here we are!
Besides yesterday’s markets action was akin to watching paint dry! The dollar didn’t really move, actually losing less than 1 index point on the day, Gold only gained $1.90, and Silver only gained 1-cent! I believe traders in both the currencies and metals were plum worn out, after all the Kabuki Theater drama last week, and then the back and forth from the Fed Heads that either think the FOMC should pause, or they shouldn’t… The short paper traders were lurking in a dark alley, ready to pounce on any gains that would lead to a major rally in the metals, and the currencies couldn’t muster any thiing that even looked like a rally… So… that’s the reason for the long non market related intro today…
I’ve won baseball tickets from Rob Rains letter previously, when responding to questions he lays out… Apparently, my ideas are worth throwing at the wall to see what sticks! My mother always thought I would be a sports writer… I guess I missed my calling, eh?
In the overnight markets last night we did see some action, with the dollar getting sold a bit… The BBDXY has lost 3 index points overnight, and the euro has climbed back above 1.07… Haven’t seen much talking about why the selling took place, but there is something that could have had some effect on the dollar traders, and that is: the U.S. national debt spiked by $359 Billion in one single day, the first working day after the debt ceiling was suspended. Didn’t I tell you that this would happen once the debt esclator agreement was signed? And this is just the start folks… We’ll see several more days like this in the coming days…
Gold is down $5 in the early trading today, and Silver is down a plug nickel… Ted Butler (no relation) wrote an interesting letter yesterday regarding Silver manipulation, that the good folks at GATA sent me, and so I’ll highlight a bit of the letter, because, according to Ted Butler, the silver guru, maybe, just maybe, Silver manipulation is going away… Here’s Ted: “A set of readily-verifiable facts have combined to point to a stunning conclusion, namely, that thanks largely to enough people doing the right thing, that the federal commodities regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, may have also finally done the right thing when it comes to the decades-old COMEX silver price manipulation. If my assessment is correct, the most logical conclusion is that we may be at the end of the long-running manipulation and set to rocket higher in silver prices”
Chuck again… you can find his complete letter at www.silverseek.com
Did you hear about the Bank of Korea? (BOK)… The BOK announced that they are NOT interested in buying Gold, and prefer to stay with dollars as their reserve… Talk about someone living under a rock…. Just about every Central Bank in the World, sans the Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel, and apparently now the BOK, are buying physical Gold by the truck loads… Oh, well, we’ll have to wait-n-see how that turns out for the BOK… My thought is that it will end up in tears, but then my colors have always been pinned to the mast of Gold… I’m just saying…
In today’s Data Cupboard, we’ll see April prints for the Trade Deficit, and Consumer Credit (read debt)… I would think that the Trade Deficit print will be a blow-out report. The Consumer Credit report, I already talked about yesterday, but for those that skipped class yesterday, because it was such a nice late spring day outside, I said that I don’t think that Consumer debt will match March’s $26.5 Billion, but I do believe it will remain above $20 Billion… which is bad in itself, but the markets will just shrug it off, probably… So, move along now, these are not the droids we’re looking for…
To recap… There was little to no movement in the currencies and metals yesterday, and so Chuck entertains us with his submission to The STL Sportspage…. In the overnight markets the BBDXY lost 3 index points, but Gold is down $5, and Silver starts the day down 5-cents… The U.S. added $359 Billion in one single day after the debt escalator agreement was signed… Chuck tells us that this is not a one and done, either… And what’s up with the BOK?
For What It’s Worth… Well, I’ve talked about the W. Virginia rep Alex Mooney, previously, in his efforts to get Gold & Silver, first tax exempt, and then as legal currency… Now the representative from W. Virginia has introduced a bill that would prevent the digital dollar from becoming a thing and it can be found here: Rep. Alex Mooney Aims to Block Fed’s Digital Currency Scheme (moneymetals.com)
Or, here’s your snippet: “In recent days, sound money champion Congressman Alex Mooney (R-WV) introduced H.R. 3712, the Digital Dollar Pilot Prevention Act – legislation that would block the Fed from unilaterally pursuing any form of central bank digital currency (CBDC) scheme.
“Congress cannot give an inch when it comes to CBDCs. CBDCs would threaten the liberties of law-abiding Americans and are being used by authoritarian countries right now to crack down on dissent,” said Rep. Mooney.
H.R. 3712 is the latest in a growing backlash to central planners’ designs to further centralize government control of currencies, including creating a greater ability to track all financial transactions, disallowing certain types of purchases, and even outright “turning off” a targeted individual’s access to money.
Rep. Mooney’s bill defines “central bank digital currency” as “a form of digital money or monetary value, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the Federal Reserve.”
The bill continues, “Unless authorized by an Act of Congress enacted after the date of the enactment of this act, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks may not establish, carry out, or approve a program intended to test the practicability of issuing a central bank digital currency, including by partnering or coordinating with a private sector entity to carry out such a program.”
H.R. 3712 has already attracted support, with more than a dozen original cosponsors and several endorsements from pro-liberty groups.”
Chuck again… we can only hope that this bill has a chance, and it’s not too late…. because as Ed Steer always has at the end of his letter each day, from the Great Gandalf: ” Things are now in motion that cannot be undone”…
Market Prices 6/7/2023: American Style: .6698, kiwi 6080, C$ .7470, euro 1.0716, sterling 1.2469, Swiss $1.1040, European Style: rand 18.9915, krone 11.0038, SEK 10.8467, forint 343.92, zloty 4.1698, koruna 22.0440,
RUB 81.70, yen 139.28, sing 1.3462, HKD 7.8407, INR 82.50, China 7.1120, peso 17.35, BRL 4.9099, BBDXY 1,237.70, Dollar Index 103.88, Oil $72.53, 10-year 3.68%, Silver $23.62, Platinum $1,042.00, Palladium $1,415.00, Copper $3.76, and Gold… $1,962.57
That’s it for today and this week… Went to see my oncologist yesterday, and they found something in my blood work that was not good, but easily corrected, so it was worth it to have a needle stuck in me once a month! It amazes me the information that can be gotten from someone’s blood… They can probably tell if I’m not getting enough sleep! I’m heading back out-of-town tomorrow, this will be short trip, and I’ll be back in the saddle on Monday… Well, my beloved Cardinals lost again last night… They hit 3 home runs, and still lost! The Cardinals mantra for the last 25 years has been for the starting pitchers to pitch to contact… And then play excellent defense, but that mantra is passe now… You need blow the ball by the hitter pitchers, and we have none! UGH! Oh, well, there’s always next year! Little Feat takes us to the finish line today with their live version of their song: Dixie Chicken… You know… If you’ll be my Dixie Chicken, I’ll be your Tennessee lamb… that song… I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler