Author: admin

• short paper traders make an oaf out of Chuck
• Dollar bugs have the light bulb over their heads turned on!

Good Day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Well, another day, another walk, this time with just my cane, not the walker, I was plum worn out when I arrived back the condo, but… Didn’t have to stop to rest during the walk, so, as I said yesterday, that’s progress, just as slow as a snail! I’m wondering how long this is going to take, no, wait, I shouldn’t be thinking that, only that I continue to do what the doctors told me what to do to get better! I’m retired, I have all day, every day, to work on getting better!   Steely Dan greets me this morning with their jazzy song: Time Out Of Mind… 

Well, the dollar didn’t fare as well yesterday, and lost 2 index points in the BBDXY, to close at 1,273… Today is what is being billed as “Liberation Day”, as the POTUS will announce his new round of global tariffs… I had a long conversation on the phone yesterday, with good friend, Dennis Miller of www.milleronthemoney.com and expressed my thought that these tariff announcements are a negotiating tool that the POTUS will use, to get better trade deals with the countries that have been ripping us off for decades…  And according to Bill Bonner, who was privy to a meeting of the minds, that took place in the White House, (Bill listened on the phone) The POTUS said if any country tried to retaliate with tariffs, he would bomb the hell of them…   Again, another negotiating tool, I believe, we don’t need any wars or better yet, any more wars than we are already involved with.  At least, that’s what I’m wishing in my heart of hearts…

I shouldn’t have said what I said yesterday, about nothing stopping Gold’s rise, it was if I had forgotten that the wolf is always at the door (short paper traders), for the short paper traders had a field day with both Gold & Silver, after capping their gains on Monday, the short paper traders when to work to get the metals back to where they were a few days ago…  I have something for you in the FWIW section today, that I think you’ll enjoy the writer and what he had today about what happened on Monday in the metals… Don’t skip ahead, stay right here, for it won’t take long to get there by normal reading, as I don’t have much to talk about today, except “Liberation Day”.

Gold lost a good bit of ground yesterday… $14 in price to close at $3,119, and Silver lost 40-cents to close at $33.65…  Gold is attempting to come back this morning, but the damage was done yesterday, and I just keep getting notes about how the short paper traders are about to go out of business, but still they remain, an underlying factor in the rise of the metals… 

The price of Oil remained trading with a $71 handle yesterday, although it did see some slippage in the $71 handle… And the 10=-year Treasury saw some more yield control by the Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel as the yield on the bond fell to 4.14%… 

IN the overnight markets, the dollar lost 2 more index points in the BBDXY, it was the light bulb over the heads of the dollar bugs, finally lit up and they said, “what the heck are we doing buying dollars in the face of what the POTUS will announce on Wednesday?”  The euro, however, has fallen back below the 1.08 figure, as inflation in the Eurozone fell lower again, thus bringing about thoughts of a European Central Bank (ECB ) rate cut coming, to debase the currency. Even though a high ranking official of the ECB came out and said that this was not the time to cut rates… And he was right, as the next round of tariffs are bound to set off a global trade war, that will see inflation come back… 

There has been some interesting times in Japan, folks… The Bank of Japan hiked rates while I was away, and the yen rallied a bit, but since then the selling of yen has recurred, and it looks as if the yen bears are still out looking for a side of flesh from the yen…  I’ve said this before at least a dozen or more times, that Japan is a mess… Their demographics are bad, their financial situation is bad, and their leadership in not only bad, but not worthy of leading a country out of this mess…  

The Russian ruble is back on the rally tracks as the small rise in the price of Oil has helped, but most importantly, the Red Sea route for Oil tankers has seen some calm, and that helps with the delivery of Oil and eliminates the need to add cost to the Oil price for longer deliveries…  And once again, I will tell you that I own rubles, so we got that out of the way, and I own them just for a play in Oil… It’s not a political thing, or who’s right and who’s wrong, simply a play with Oil… 

OK… Enough of that! Time to go to the FWIW, and see what Ed Steer has to say about what happened on Monday with the metals.

The U.S. Data Cupboard today has the ISM (manufacturing index) for March, and it’s supposed to be below the line in the sand, of 50….  We’ll also see the auto sales for March… I would imagine that with the depths of the personal disposable income and the banks charging high interest rates on car loans, and the whole debacle with Tesla, that this data will be skewed downward… 

To recap… The wolf is always at the door, as I was reminded of yesterday, as Gold & Silver got short paper traded downward… The dollar bugs realized that their buying of dollars was ridiculous… And Chuck talks to us about the yen, and ruble… 

For What it’s Worth… Well, the much-anticipated Ed Steer quote is here!   You can always find Ed at www.edsteergoldsilver.com. I don’t like to quote a lot of people while writing the Pfennig, but yesterday’s Ed Steer’s column caught my eye, and it was something I had talked about in yesterday’s Pfennig…  You can find Ed at www.edsteergoldsilver.com   And with no further ado…. And here’s what he had to say about the short traders of Silver: 

“It was obvious from the saw-tooth price action in gold everywhere on Planet Earth on Monday that it would have been off to the races once more if those collusive commercial traders of whatever stripe hadn’t been out an about the whole time.

Even their attempt to blow it lower into the afternoon gold fix in London at 10 a.m. in New York, was followed by a sharp rally that would have never ended if they hadn’t appeared fifteen minutes after the 11 a.m. EDT London close.

There was lots of rejoicing that gold was now above $3,100 the ounce…but if ‘da boyz’ hadn’t intervened 24/7…it’s a given that gold would have closed at a price several multiples of that.

Of course the most egregious price suppression was in silver and, like for gold, if these commercial not-for-profit sellers hadn’t appeared in it after its engineered low tick in COMEX trading in New York, it would have closed at heaven-only-knows what price as well.

It was allow to trade a penny or so back in positive territory minutes before 4 p.m. in after-hours trading, but obviously wasn’t allowed to close there.

Gold is now back into overbought territory by a decent amount on its RSI trace — and of course silver has not been allowed even a sniff of its.” – Ed Steer…

Chuck again, I love to read Ed Steer’s letter each morning, before I write each morning… And you should too, so go to his website and sign up!

Market Prices 4/2/2025: American style: A$ .6301, kiwi .5739, C$ .6979, euro 1.0794, sterling 1.2937, Swiss $1.1309, European Style: rand 18.6831, krone 10.4486, SEK 9.9782, forint 371.54, zloty 3.8724, koruna 23.1336, RUB 84.92, yen 149.28, sing 1.3455, HKD 7.7819, INR 85.50, China 7.2708, peso 20.36, BRL 5.6823, BBDXY 1,271, Dollar Index 104.11, Oil $70.75, 10-year 4.14%, Silver $34.10, Platinum $981.00, Palladium $ 987.00, Copper $5.05, and Gold… $3,118.75

That’s it for today…  I’m kind of getting back into the swing of getting up, reading and writing… After 3 weeks of not doing that, it’s been a real tough row to hoe for me, but I’ll get with it soon… The days here have been beautiful, warm but not too hot, April and May weather here is wonderful. I got outside on the balcony to read a bit yesterday, you know, when you don’t get outside to breathe the fresh air, you don’t know what you’re missing until you get back outside, and that was wonderful to sit outside again… I have portable air tanks to take with me outside, but they are not airplane approved. I had to secure an airplane approved oxygen generator for my trip back to St. Louis this Saturday… What a pain to have to jump through all these hoops just to fly home… But I guess it’s worth it, as I’ll get to see all my kids, and grandkids again, just not in spurts down here… The new airplane approved model will arrive here today, hopefully… At least that’s what the guy on the phone told me!  The great Al Stewart takes us to the finish line today with his song: Song On The Radio… I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday today, and please above all else take care of your health and Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• the dollar rallies, in the face of rising inflation
• Nothing is stopping Gold these days

Good Day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you… I’m back for a second day in row, but still having problems breathing when I walk… I did take a 40 yard walk yesterday, and didn’t have to stop and rest, so… There’s progress for me! My beloved Cardinals started the game off looking good, but in the end, they lost to the Angels in extra innings… UGH! The original version of the band Santana greets me this morning with their song Everybody’s Everything…  Don’t know that one? Just YOUTUBE the title, I think you’ll like it…

Well, the dollar didn’t fall apart yesterday, instead it rallied by 2 index points in the BBDXY… That’s the dollar index I use, as it’s not weighed down with euros, like the old Dollar Index… There was no rhyme or reason for the dollar to rally yesterday, probably just some cleaning or squaring for the dollar’s sake… 

I told you yesterday morning that you would like what Gold had done in the early trading, and then later reported that Gold was up $32… Well, it didn’t stop there, and Gold gained $37 on the day to close at $3,122… Silver wasn’t allowed by the short traders, to participate in a rally yesterday, and ended up the day flat as a pancake (Head East)  and closed at $31.17… 

The price of Oil rallied yesterday by $2 and ended the day trading with a $71 handle, while the Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel must have been asleep at the wheel yesterday, because the 10-year Treasury’s yield went higher to 4.26% from 4.19% yesterday… 

In the overnight markets last night….the dollar continued to rally and sits this morning at 1,275 in the BBDXY Index, up 4 index points from yesterday morning. I really don’t get why the dollar is rallying, with the threat of a global trade war happening, and taking place tomorrow, when the POTUS announces his new round of tariffs in the rose garden at the White House… I have something for you in the FWIW section today regarding the dollar’s fate going forward, so don’t change the bat channel, stay right here! Those pop tarts can wait! 

Nothing seems to get in the way of Gold rising these days, as it is up another $10 in the early trading this morning…Silver is getting sold short again and is down 22-cents to start our day. I wish horrible things on the short paper traders, and I mean it! I’m not a mean person, per se, but these guys and gals have really gotten under my skin, and made me be mean… And I don’t like that! I like being the fun guy, that doesn’t let things get to me!

The price of Oil remained in the $71 handle overnight… Oil is a commodity, that I refer to when I say that inflation is going to rise with the tariffs, and that will be good for the commodities… And the Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel must have been awakened and realized they were asleep on the job yesterday, when the 10-year rallied, because they (the Feds) came back with their usual yield controls, and pushed the yield of the 10-year Treasury down to 4.16%… UGH! Manipulation in everything is the thing these days, and it really gets me that we can’t have true price discovery in every asset… 

You know what I was thinking about with the Gold price soaring these days, that it’s probably not cost worthy, to get a Gold replacement tooth any longer… See? My mind is still wandering from all the drugs I’m taking right now!

Well, there’s talk all over the street these days about how the short paper traders are about to go out of business… I the tone of words by the Church Lady (Dana Carvey) Now, wouldn’t that be nice? For instance, the good folks at Gata sent me this notice: “Maybe the final print of today’s CME Group gold report for trading on March 28 will be revised. The final report shows that the open interest on the April gold contract increased by 45,420 from the preliminary report to 106,662 contracts. March 28 was the last report before first notice, so that is a doubling of metal set for physical delivery… ”  

Chuck again, it will be very interesting to see if those that are short stand for delivery, or will they be told to rollover the contracts for the next month?  I think they’ll be told to roll them over, because the COMEX doesn’t have that much physical Gold to make good on delivery…    If this is all mumbo jumbo for you, please accept my apologies, as I know of no other way than to describe it like the Gold Traders do… 

I found something down here that will do me no good going forward, but I can’t resist it… There’s a place down here that delivers cinnamon rolls to your door! I’m a sucker and a half for cinnamon rolls, and so I had 3 of them delivered yesterday… As I sat here eating one of them, I thought… This can’t be good for me, but that didn’t stop me from devouring it! I still check my sugar/ glucose, all the time… Remember when the chemo I was on, caused my blood sugar to rise to diabetic coma range?  At that time, I had to take diabetic medicine to get it under control, and I said to everyone in this letter that I didn’t want to be a diabetic, and I couldn’t wait to be off that chemo and onto something else… I should have been more careful about what I wished for, because now the pharma industry is out of new chemo for me, and now I’m part of a trial that involves infusions of drugs… I would have preferred taking the diabetic medicine to receiving infusions of drugs… 

There’s not much going on this morning, all the newswires are full of are thoughts on tomorrow’s tariffs announcement by the POTUS…  So, this letter will be shorter than usual, because we’ve been through the tariffs talk previously, and beaten it down… Drove it like a rental, and put away wet… 

For What It’s Worth… I saw this article on Boomberg.com and said this is FWIW worthy… It’s about the dollar and how it’s losing ground, after a long rally it had previously, and it can be found here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-28/trump-is-rattling-the-market-s-faith-that-the-dollar-is-a-haven

Or, here’s your snippet: “As US stock prices tumbled this month, John Sidawi, a fund manager at Federated Hermes, noticed something strange.

The dollar, long a go-to hiding place during market selloffs, wasn’t rallying this time as investors rushed for safety. It was sinking, too, and fast as hot money poured into gold, the yen, European stocks — almost anywhere but the US.

“It’s unusual and very telling,” said Sidawi, who helps oversee bond investments at the firm. “The dollar, in an environment where it should be acting like a safe haven, is not.”

That, as with so much of the volatility that has whipsawed global markets recently, has a singular explanation: President Donald Trump.

Just two months into his second term, his escalating tariffs and bid to roll back decades of globalization is shaking confidence in the US currency — which has had a privileged place at the heart of the world financial system for eight decades.

The dollar has dropped against all but a handful of the 31 major currencies over the last three months, sending Bloomberg’s dollar index down nearly 3%, its worst start to a year since 2017. The price of gold — a rival haven — has surged to a record high of over $3,000 an ounce. By mid-March, speculative traders started betting against the dollar for the first time since Trump’s election amid fear his policy shifts could drive the world’s largest economy into a recession.

“As opposed to being the usual bastion of stability and first choice haven for foreign-exchange market operators, the greenback instead now stands as quite the opposite,” said Michael Brown, a senior research strategist in London for Pepperstone, one of the largest currency brokerages. He said an increasing number of clients are asking “where should I be looking at as opposed to just switching on the autopilot and hiding in the dollar?”

The recent drop hasn’t significantly eroded the strength of the dollar, given how much it had previously risen on the back of the nation’s strong economy and elevated interest rates, and it could bounce back if worries about a global slowdown cause overseas investors to pile into US Treasuries. It also remains solidly entrenched as the world’s key currency, used for the majority of central bank reserves and for the purchase of commodities like oil, in large part because no significant alternative has emerged.

“The rise and fall of currencies is not something that occurs because you get a wildcard president that is doing his best to kill globalization,” said Carmen Reinhart, a Harvard University professor and former World Bank chief economist. “The dollar did not overtake the British pound as a reserve currency overnight.”

Chuck again, yes, I know a little longish this morning with the FWIW article… But, there’s more to the article if you care to read it, just click on the link above… 

Market Prices 4/1/2025: American Style: A$.6251, kiwi .5676, C$ 6946, euro 1.0778, sterling 1.2896, Swiss 1.1332, European Style: rand 18.8275, krone 10.4919, SEK 10.0270, forint 373.57, zloty 3.8804, koruna 23.1359, RUB 84.56, yen 149.20, sing 1.3320, HKD 7.7811, INR 85.47, China 7.2709, peso 20.51, BRL 5.7186, BBDXY 1,275.51, Dollar Index 104.21, Oil $71.36, 10-year 4.16%, Silver $33.94, Platinum $997.00, Palladium $1,008.00, Copper $5.05, and Gold $3,151.98… 

That’s it for today, April Fool’s Day, 4/1/2025… I remember when I was younger, I would always pull an April Fool’s gag on Kathy, but as the years went by, she didn’t care for them, and I ran out of ideas, so now it’s just another day in our lives… Boy, did we have some loud thunderstorms here last night… At first, I couldn’t hear them, because of the oxygen generator that’s always running making its usual noise, but then I saw the lightening out on the ocean, and the rain began to beat a little stronger… Hey, as long as it rains late at night, and not during the daylight hours… Yesterday, I stretched my oxygen hose, all the way to the balcony, and sat in the hot sun for about an hour, and read a book, it sure did feel good to have the sun on my body once again, it had been too long without out it! I can’t wait until I’m healed and can go outside without oxygen and sit in the sun and read! It’ll come sooner or later, probably later, as this has been a slow slog, but better late than never! Thank you to all of you dear readers who sent me get well wishes after my good friend, Frank Trotter wrote to you and told you I was in the hospital… Thank you, thank you, thank you, (in my best Gomer Pyle voice) I go home to my little river town this weekend… I will really miss the Florida sun, and ocean view, and everything else about my winter home… But, there’s no place like home, and we’ll see what happens then…  The band, Chicago, takes us to the finish line today, with their hit song: I’m a Man… I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and please remember to Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• Gold shines above all else!
• Law Breakers When Will This Stop?

Good Day… And a Marvelous Monday to you… Yes, it’s been over two weeks since I last wrote to you, but I have a doctor’s note excusing me… You see, on Saturday 3/15, the day after my kids came to see us for a week, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t breath, and my blood / oxygen level had dropped to dangerous levels… My wife rushed me to the hospital, where they immediately took me in, and started trying to figure out what was wrong with me… No fever, no chills, no Covid. 

They quickly diagnosed me as having pneumonia, a bad case of it… But there was something else and they knew it…  After two days of pumping me with antibiotics that should have knocked the stuffing out the pneumonia, the cultures that they grew had diagnosed that not only did I have pneumonia but has E.coli in my lungs along with it…  

We questioned the doctor, and the Infectious Disease doctor said that it was rare, but, immediately I came to the conclusion that it was me… Of course I caught something very rare…  The I.D. Doctor then explained that was the reason the antibiotics weren’t working, that she needed to change them to fight not only the pneumonia but also eradicate the E. Coli… And they did… 

But the damage to my lungs were not healed, not yet… Every time I stand to take a few steps, my blood/ oxygen level drops to dangerous levels, and my heart rate soars… So, baby steps for me until they are healed, and I feel strong again.  In the hospital I calculated how many of my 9 lives I had used so far… I counted to 6… Boy, my nickname on the trade desk was “lucky Chuck”…  I think that is apropos, eh?

So… While I was gone, I didn’t really check the markets, as I had other things to worry about… But while I was gone, Gold has risen from $2,947, to $3,086 at the close last Friday, a $139 gain… And in the early trading, longtime Gold holders will be smiling when they see what the shiny metal has done….  Silver was just as impressive with its move since I last wrote to you, it has gone from $33.14 to $34.34 a gain of $1.20… And Silver is trading alongside Gold this morning too…. 

And did you hear the latest from Lola, aka Goldman Sachs? The have forecast that Gold will reach a price of $3,300 by year end… So, if you think it’s too late to buy Gold at current prices, you might want to re-think that thought, because, as history shows us, What Lola wants, Lola gets…. 

The dollar has seen better times, while I was away…. The BBDXY traded at1,268 the last day I wrote to you, and while I was away the BBDXY had fallen to 1,268, and ended the week, last, the BBDXY was at 1,268…. And was at 1,271 when I last wrote to you…  So, not a tremendous drop, but some wobbling here and there…  The euro has risen to 1.0835, and at one-point last week it touched 1.09….  Not too shabby for all those that said it was going to parity with the dollar a month ago…  And the rest of the currencies have followed the lead of the euro, and all have gotten out of their respective sick beds… 

In the overnight markets last night…. The dollar gained a bit overnight, and the BBDXY sits at 1,271 as I write this morning. The euro is still trading above 1.08, and that’s a good thing… Gold, as I mentioned above, is up $32 in the early trading today and has hit a level above $3,100 for the first time ever! Silver has lost some ground overnight, as the short paper traders have been having a field day with shorting Silver lately, but Silver is up 4-cents to start the day today… 

The price of Oil has wandered around during the last 3 weeks.. But trades this morning with a $69 handle… And there’s been quite a bit of “yield control” administered by the Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel is the last 3 weeks, and the 10-year treasury’s yield has fallen to 4.19%…  that’s a losing deal as far as I’m concerned, with inflation rising, the real yield in Treasuries is negative… Bill Bonner calls buying Treasuries the “dumbest investment in the world”… And unless you stay short, like less than 3 years to maturity, I couldn’t agree more! 

I wanted to mention that Copper is really kicking some tail and taking names later recently… The red metal is trading over $5 and isn’t looking back… Here’s Bloomberg.com and their mention of Copper: “US prices of copper have been on a tear this year due to the fear that tariffs will be imposed on imports of the red metal. Futures prices have hit record highs on New York’s Comex, leading to a premium over the international benchmark in London — similar to the disconnect seen in the gold market.”

There has been so many stories regarding “independence day”, which supposedly will be April 2, when a new list of global tariffs will be announced by the POTUS… These rumors have really knocked the snot out of stocks, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about, stocks, right? But the price of commodities should be taking all this inflation pressure as a sign to rally…  So, I would watch for that to happen soon… 

These tariffs if implemented as rumored, will cause inflation to rise, folks…  John Williams at www.shadowstats.com calculates current inflation at around 13%…  That’s BEFORE the new round of tariffs begin to cause inflation to rise even further…  Funny, not funny HA-HA, the STUPID CPI showed consumer inflation at 2.8%… Now there’s a difference that should be looked at by someone that has far more gray matter than the folks at the BLS, otherwise known as the B.S., to figure out, eh?

But the Gov’t doesn’t care about the effects to the middle-class regarding consumer inflation… As I’ve explained many times in the past, Inflation is the last chance saloon to deal with the enormous debt the country is facing, even with the folks at DOGE finding waste and fraud everywhere… Finding it is one thing, but doing something about it, is another, and so far, all I’m seeing, for the most part is the finding of the waste and fraud, not correcting it, as it will take Congress to get involved there… Turning $20 to $5 helps with the debt…  The only other thing the Gov’t can do is default… And as I’ve told you previously, I don’t doubt that we wont see a default in our lifetime… 

Circling the wagons back to Gold…  here are a couple of snippets of articles regarding law breakers as far as Gold goes….  here’s the first one:

After signing a bill that eliminates sales tax from Gold & Silver sales… “Three Kentucky taxpayers and one of America’s largest precious metals dealers today filed a class-action lawsuit against Governor Andrew Beshear, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and the Kentucky Department of Revenue for their illegal sales tax collections in connection with retail purchases of physical gold and silver.”

And this one is about a former Fed Reserve employee that was convicted of lying on his disclosures of holding “Fed D” form….  he had done 69 trades and hid them, so sad….  “A former official for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond was sentenced on Tuesday to 24 months imprisonment for misappropriating internal Fed information to engage in insider trading.

The defendant, Robert Brian Thompson, 43, of Moseley, worked as a bank examiner and senior manager with supervisory duties for the Federal Reserve—giving him access to confidential information about financial institutions under the Fed’s supervision, including confidential supervisory information.”

I’ve gotten a little off track this morning, my mind is wandering, and I believe it has to do with all the medicine I’m taking. Besides the bathroom sink full of medicine bottles that I take each day; the hospital sent me home with 4 new ones…  So, please excuse my wandering… 

While I’m at it… Ed Steer highlighted a quote from Abraham Lincoln last week that I think every one needs to not only hear but memorize here we go: “

The U.S. Data Cupboard this week will have the Jobs Jamboree on Friday this week, the ADP employment Report on Wednesday, and some varied economic reports the rest of the week,, starting tomorrow with the ISM manufacturing Index for March, and after recovering to the line drawn in the sand of 50 in February, I expect that the this piece of data will revert back to a level of less than 50  in March… 

To recap… Chuck gives us his doctor’s note as to why he hasn’t written in over two weeks…  Shoot Rudy, I had to spend my 70^th birthday in the hospital!  Chuck also gives us a recap of prices in Gold, Silver and the dollar while he was away, and then he goes and gets all philosophical on us, and starts pointing out lawbreakers, and then ends it with a quote from good old Abe Lincoln…

For What It’s Worth… This article came to me from Money Metals.com and it’s about the Fed’s losses from their bond holdings. Remember them? When the Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel decided to buy the poison bonds from dealers to help them out of a sticky situation? Well, they’ve come back to haunt the boys and girls at the Central Bank and you can find it here: The Fed Posted Another Big Operating Loss in 2024 and It’s Ultimately Your Problem

Or, here’s your snippet: “While most people view the central bank as an extension of the government, at its core, it is a business, and it is set up to make money.  

Right now, it isn’t.

The Fed’s losses are a direct result of its rate hikes, and its financial condition offers a glimpse behind the curtain into the unseen consequences of its war on price inflation.

After insisting that price inflation was “transitory” for months, the Fed was forced to take action and begin raising interest rates in March 2022. This is the root cause of its current operating losses.

In simplest terms, as it hiked rates, the bank had to pay commercial banks more for the money they parked at the Fed. Meanwhile, its interest income remained static as the Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities on its balance sheet continued to yield lower interest income. From there, it’s a simple math problem. The bank has paid more interest to banks than it has collected on its asset portfolio.

The root of this problem goes back to the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession when the Fed purchased trillions in low-yielding securities during multiple rounds of quantitative easing (QE), followed by an even bigger round of bond-buying during the pandemic years. The Fed purchased these Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities during a time when interest rates were pushed artificially low by its own monetary policy.

Today, after having driven interest rates much higher over the last two years, it is paying interest at a much higher rate, however, it is still collecting lower rates of interest on the paper on its balance sheet.”

Chuck again… The article goes on to talk about how this will all end up being our problem going forward… 

Market Prices 3/31/2025: American Style: A$ .6254, kiwi .5690, C$ .6968, euro 1.0824, sterling 1.2953, Swiss $1.1350, European Style: rand 18.3650, krone 10.5438, SEK 10.0209, forint 3.7106, zloty 3.8666, koruna 23.0735, RIUB 84.77, yen 149.28, sing 1.3415, HKD 7.7790, INR 86.47, China 7.2536, peso 20.36, BRL 5.7612, BBDXY 1,271, Dollar Index 103.83, Oil $69.56, 10-year 4.19%, Silver $34.17, Platinum $993.00, Palladium $981.00, Copper $5.09, and Gold… $3,117.89

That’s it for today… Sorry to ramble on about non-market stuff, but I thought it best to know what’s going on… Before I went to the hospital, I had a week of vacation with my Spring Training Buddies, we had a blast, that was very low-key compared to when we were younger… Thank you to Rick and Kevin for making my vacation fun! We saw 4 baseball games in 5 days!  I hope it’s obvious that these fellows are as big of Baseball Fan that I am! And yes, I turned 70 while in the hospital, not the idea I had for the day, for my youngest son and his new bride, were on their way here to celebrate my birthday with me… Alex and Grace did bring me my favorite pizza down here, to the hospital for a birthday celebration dinner so I did get to have a little fun! I looked in the mirror the other day, and was shocked, I’m beginning to look just like my grandfather!  I did age some while in the hospital, but my God, what the hell has happened to me? I no longer look like that picture that accompanies the web site: www.dailypfennig.com…. Good thing I had my 50^th H.S. Reunion 2 years ago! Blood Sweat and Tears take us to the finish line today with their song: You’ve Made Me So Very Happy…  Which is how I feel this morning, as I write for the first time in 3 weeks… I hope you have a Marvelous Monday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• the currencies were pretty much flat on Wednesday.
• Gold & Silver took liberties and gained!

Good Day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to one and all… Well, my test results came back yesterday, and I was immediately put on antibiotics to combat my latest setback…And I still didn’t get a good night’s sleep last night, but I know, I know, patience is a virtue.. And I sure have a lot more of that than when I was a young man…. My beloved Cardinals got shut out yesterday by the pond scum (Mets) That’s a playful phrase that originated in the 80’s… The Outfield greet us today with their 80’s song; Your Love… 

The dollar started the day yesterday, on a down note, with the BBDXY down 2 index points, but as the day wore on, the BBDXY gained back 1 of those lost points to end the day at 1,266… No real data was printed, and nothing earthshattering happened… 

Gold fought through the gauntlet that the paper traders had set up for it and found a way to rally $19 on the day to close at $2,935. Silver had the same set up waiting for it, but it fought its way to gain 29-cents, and close at $33.29..

The STUPID CPI for Feb. Printed yesterday, and didn’t show any increase in their inflation calc. I don’t believe an item of their calculation, and neither should you! I do believe that John William at shadowstats.com has CPI (consumer inflation) around 8%… Well, that may be, but around here in S. Forida, I would say that inflation is more around 10%… 

And I found this on MarketWatch.com: “The slower pace of U.S. inflation in February is in line with the moderation seen over the past couple of years, yet it remains above the Federal Reserve’s target, as many areas of the consumer-price index have been sticky, according to BlackRock’s Rick Rieder.

The gain in the rate of inflation “has come down greatly from its pandemic-era, supply chain disruption highs, but still there are many areas of the consumption basket that have held at stickier levels,” said Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income and head of the firm’s global allocation investment team, in emailed comments on Wednesday’s CPI report.”

I told you in my abbreviated Pfennig on Tuesday that U.S. Money Supply is growing quickly, and that’s a bad omen for consumer inflation… It’s nice to see someone else use the term “sticky” when talking about inflation! 

The price of Oil remained trading with a $66 handle yesterday, and the 10-year Treasury remained trading with a 4.30% yield.

In the overnight markets last night…. The dollar gained back the 2 index points again, with the BBDXY at 1,268 to start our day today. A fire has been lit under Gold’s price, as it is on the rally tracks this morning, gaining $19 to start the day. Silver is also on the rally tracks gaining 29-cents to start the day… The price of Oil bumped higher by a buck overnight and trades this morning with a $67 handle… And the 10-year Treasury’s yield gained a bit more overnight and starts our day with a 4.33% yield… 

Well, Congress has come up with a “Continuing Resolution”… In other words, another Deficit Spending Bill to avoid the shutdown of Govt. That will happen if nothing was done… These dramas continue to come up every 6 months or so… I call it Kabuki Theater (lots of dancing and good times) . The new “CR” will add an additional $2 Trillion in debt each year, and that’s on top of where we are already, which is probably running over $2 Tillion for this year already… We need a hero… I’m holding out for a hero until the end of the night… (Bonnie Taylor) yes, we need for our POTUS to say “no mas” on additional deficit spending, and stomp his foot down and say the “deficit spending stops here and now!”

The Bank of Canada cut rates another 25 Basis points yesterday, and they are foolishly thinking that they have defeated inflation…  This comes after Trump backed off some of his 25% tariffs…  Well, if and when he gets around to implementing all his proposed tariffs, then the Bank of Canada will rue the day they decided to cut rates… 

The euro saw some profit taking yesterday, and dropped back below the 1.09 handle, but still, this has been quite the impressive run for the euro…  I read where traders are hesitant to move the euro higher in the face of a potential Trade War between the U.S. and Europe, after the POTUS implemented huge tariffs on all sorts of things that Europe exports to us…  This tariff talk is really becoming a problem for not only trading of goods, but also the U.S. Treasury… 

How’s that work Chuck? Well, grasshopper, I’ll tell you, but first we’ll hear the words of the great investment guru, Ray Dalio who said, “Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio on Wednesday warned that a significant supply-demand problem regarding U.S. debt could have a profoundly disruptive impact on the global economy.

It is the latest in a series of stark warnings about America’s mounting debt from the U.S. hedge fund billionaire, with the country’s national debt currently standing at more than $36.2 trillion.

“The first thing is the debt issue, we have a very severe supply-demand problem,” Dalio told CNBC’s Sara Eisen at CONVERGE LIVE in Singapore. ”[The U.S. has] to sell a quantity of debt that the world is not going to want to buy.”

He said this was imminent and of “paramount importance.”

Chuck again… I trust and admire Ray Dalio’s thoughts, folks… It will become interesting if the U.S. can’t find buyers for all their debt…  Can you say QE?

The U.S. Data Cupboard doesn’t have much for us today… The Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, and the PPI (wholesale inflation)  I’ve been seeing the PPI prints rising in the last few reports, which is not a good thing for Consumer Inflation…  And tomorrow’s Data Cupboard will have the Consumer Sentiment, which is nothing more than the pulse of the stock market, and with the stock jockeys running for cover these days, I would suspect this print to be much lower…

To recap… Wednesday was a real yawner for me…  The dollar wallowed around in the mud, God & Silver had to fight to get through the short paper gauntlet, The Bank of Canada cut rates again… Chuck wonders what the heck they are thinking?  And a Continuing Resolution for keeping the Gov’t running until Sept, was passed by Congress, and as usual Chuck takes his shots at the lawmakers who can’t seem to not deficit spend!

For What It’s Worth… Well, I’ve written about all the physical Gold leaving the London Bullion Market and head to the U.S., and this article talks about “What Comes Next for the LBMA, and it can be found here: LBMA: WHAT COMES NEXT – Charts and Parts

Or, here’s your snippet: “INTRO

The paper gold system is breaking. The fuse was lit long ago — now we’re at the keg.

2,000 tons of gold imported into the US. Who has that kind of pull? Not a hedge fund. Not a foreign buyer.

If it were anyone but the U.S. government, they’d have a knock at their door.

Silence = Sanctioned.

THE CRACKS IN THE SYSTEM

Physical gold demand is off the charts — LBMA stress, BOE delays, and COMEX deliveries. Metals are moving in the shadows.

Paper gold is the illusion. Too many claims, and not enough metal. The unwind has begun.

This isn’t just about gold, it’s about confidence. Once confidence collapses, the rush for real assets begins (Crack-up Boom).

Containment Mode: Authorities attempt to control gold prices through paper manipulation, coordinated central bank interventions, and liquidity injections. Short-term stability is prioritized, but underlying risks keep growing. If trust in financial markets holds, they buy time. If it falters, the next phase begins.

Paper Market Breakdown: Physical gold supply dries up, forcing bullion banks to scramble for metal at higher prices or settle contracts in cash. Spot prices decouple from futures as gold market credibility erodes. Does trust contagion spread beyond gold? A breakdown could shake confidence in broader financial markets.

The Endgame: A transition is coming — whether by force or by design. The question isn’t if, but how fast it unfolds and who dictates the terms.”

Chuck again… Now that’s all pretty scary to me, but good scary… 

Market Prices 3/13/2025: American Style: A$.6287, kiwi .5697, C$ .6947, euro 1.0845, sterlig 1.2932, Swiss $1.1337. European Style: rand 18.4027, krone 10.7963, SEK 10.2073, forint 369.55, zloty 3.8735, koruna 23.1415, RUB 86.75, yen 147.88, sing 1.3359, HKD 7.7716, INR 87.00, China 7.2472, peso 20.16, BRL 5.8130, BBDXY 1,268.02 Dollar Index 103.82, Oil $67.25, 10-year 4.33%, Silver $33.29, Platinum $975.00, Palladium $943.00, Copper $4.87, and Gold… $2,947.19

That’s it for today and this week… I started the week with a short one, and ended the week with a long one… I hope to back to what is normal for me by Monday… My darling daughter and family will be arriving down here on Saturday, and then when they leave next Friday, my son, Alex and his bride, Grace will come down to celebrate my 70^th Birthday… There I said it so now everyone knows… I may be 70 in human years, but I feel 85 in cancer filled years…  And what better way for me to celebrate my birthday than at the ballpark! My appetite is beginning to come back so that’s a good thing for the weight was dropping off me like flies… Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes take us to he finish line today with their song: If You Don’t Know Be By Now…. I love this version of the song much better than the was redid in the 80’s… I hope you have a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• currencies and metals rally on Tuesday
• It’s a STUPID CPI Day, folks…

Good Day… And a Woderful Wednesday to you… Once again, I couldn’t sleep for the life of me last night, so once again, I’m draggin’ the line (Tommy James) after going back to sleep yesterday morning, I talked to my doctor back home, and she advised me to go a lab and have some tests done… So, I did what I was told to do, and then went to the ballgame, of which I wish I hadn’t! U guess I’ll hear today just what is up with me… The good news that hit me yesterday, was that a large piece of the tumor in my jaw, fell out, so at least the infusions are working…. Bob Marley and the Wailers greet me this morning with their song 3 Little Birds… 

Well, I came back to write again yesterday, and the dollar continued to get sold… The BBDXY lost 2 Index Points as the fear of a global Trade War continues to weight on the dollar.  The euro has risen to a 1.09 handle this morning… That’s a long way from parity to the dollar now, isn’t it?  The dollar has been leading the stock jockeys down the trail of tears lately, as the fear of a Global depression hangs over the U.S. like the Sword of Damocles… And when there is fear in stocks, Gold seems, historically, to do good… And yesterday Gold gained $3, and Silver gained 39 cents. To climb up to $33… 

Now we al know that the last time silver reached $33 and all the prognosticators were out singing Silver’s forecast, the short paper trades stepped in and took Silver down BIG TIME…. So, boys… Let’s just keep our traps shut about Silver’s rise this time, eh?

The Price of Oil continues to be beaten down , and it ended the day yesterday trading with a $66 handle… A cheaper price for gas will certainly help the summer driving season that will be upon us soon…  The 10-year Treasury’s yield continues to fall ending yesterday with a 4.27% yield…  I think the markets are thinking that the Fed heads might be thinking about cutting rates again… The last time the bond boys called the Fed Head’s bluff… But it appears that no such calling out is being done this time. 

In the overnight markets last night… Well, I take that back… The 10-year’s yield rose 3 basis points in the overnight markets and trades this morning with s 4.30% yield… Maybe the bon boys were just waiting for the right moment to lash out at the Treasury… I guess we’ll have to wait-n-see, eh?

The dollar rallied overnight and gained back those 2 index points it lost in yesterday’s U.S. session. It seems that the POTUS is taking back his threats on Canadian tariffs… C’Mon pick a lane will you Mr. President… 

The Price of Gold starts today flat as a pancake (Head East) but Silver is up 11-cents to start our day today…  And I’m really liking the strong move that Silver has made in the past week, after the last engineered takedown…  And Copper is back to moving toward $5… 

Well, if you weren’t paying attention.. The POTUS has stopped payments to Ukraine… I can’t say that I blame him, in that there’s been no true accounting as to where the Billions of dollars that we’ve previously have given to them has been spent…

Today is the STUPID CPI print day for Feb. The experts have the STUPID CPI rising .3% in the month and remaining at 3.3% for the year… The markets await this data print like Christmas morning, and they are wrong to do so, but I’ve been through that many times previously, so I won’t bore you here again… 

There’s nothing else on the docket in the Data Cupboard today, so it’s the STUPID CPI and nothing else, so the print will dominate the news wires.. Get ready, set, Go! 

I’m still not even close to being good this morning, so, this Pfennig will be short-n-sweet too… Sorry, but I can’t help it… 

To recap… The dollar continued to get sold yesterday but rallied back in the overnight markets last night.  Gold & Silver had decent days yesterday, with Silver breaching $33 once again.  The POTUS is walking back the tariff threats to Canada… Chuck just wants the POTUS to pick a lane and stay there, all this back and forth is giving him a rash!  

For What It’s Worth… Welll the BLS will never see these layoffs because the work with blinders on, but you and me here they are and they are not pretty… This is a list of the 100 companies in the U.S that are announcing workers layoffs and it can be found here:  Full List of Companies Laying Off Employees in March – Newsweek

Or, here’s your snippet: “Many companies have announced they will be laying off employees in March.

Companies are required to send out a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notice before implementing mass layoffs. More than 90 employers are planning to let workers go in March, according to WARNTracker.com.

As companies deal with inflation and shifting consumer demand, many have faced financial strife in the years following the pandemic.

While tech layoffs have been some of the most commonly discussed in the news, workers are being let go industry-wide in efforts by companies to boost profits.

Many companies have announced they will be laying off employees in March.

As companies deal with inflation and shifting consumer demand, many have faced financial strife in the years following the pandemic.

While tech layoffs have been some of the most commonly discussed in the news, workers are being let go industry-wide in efforts by companies to boost profits.

The number of employees laid off per company varies from between one and 10 to up to 500.

While Walgreens is potentially laying off hundreds of employees across California, other companies like fabric and crafts retailer Joann face total store shutdowns, eliminating their workforce from distribution and fulfillment centers.

Companies are required to send out a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notice before implementing mass layoffs. More than 90 employers are planning to let workers go in March, according to WARNTracker.com.”

Chuck again… Well, you know that I don’t have to space and time to list all 100 companies, but if you click the link above you can see them in all their glory… 

Market Prices 3/12/2025: American Style: A$ .6289, kiwi .5708, C$ .6936, euro 1.0904, sterling 1.2949, Swiss $1.1332, European Style: rand 18.3382, krone 10.6677, SEK 10.0938, forint 367.34, zloty 3.8467, koruna 22.9357, RUB 86.69, yen 148.70, sing 1.3337, HKD 7.7693, INR 87.20, China 7.2422, peso 20.25, BRL 5.8105, BBDXY 1,267, Dollar Index 103.57, Oil $66.89, 10-year 4.30%, Silver $33.11, Platinum $992.00, Palladium $974.00, Copper $4.87, and Gold… $2,916.57

That’s it for today… I can’t believe I got through this, sort of, that is… The sunrise this morning was at its best, with no marine layer to hide its entry from out of the ocean… It’ll be a warm day at the ballpark today, that is if I can muster up and get there! My beloved Cardinals can’t hit when it counts in the games I’ve watched, I sure that doesn’t follow them north… I think the starting pitching has been decent, but all the young guys they keep trotting out there to relieve just haven’t cut the mustard… UGH!  Steely Dan takes us to the finish line today with their great song: Deacon Blues… I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck

• the dollar is really getting sold these days
• Gold & Silver are on the rally tracks today

Good day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to one and all… Well, this won’t be a normal Pfennig this morning, as I am whacked! I haven’t been able to sleep much for the last two nights… I feel like death warmed over, and I’ sure it’s the infusions doing the trick on me… I’ve been up all night again, and need to sleep, so back to sleep I’ll go as soon as I get a few points across…

I truly don’t feel lie writing today, and hopefully I’ll recover by tomorrow.

All I have to say is that While Chuck was away, the currencies played! The dollar has lost a ton of ground, with the BBDXY ending Feb. At 1,290, and ending yesterday at 1,269… The euro has bulked up to trade with a 1.07 handle, and the rest of the currencies are following the BIG DOG off the porch to chase the dollar down the street. 

One would think that Gold would be on the rally tracks, and while it is lately, it had ended February down several days, and on Feb 28th, Gold ended the month at $1,258…  and Gold ended the day yesterday at $2.889… Silver suffered the same treatment and ended February at $31.21, and then ended yesterday at $32.18…  These aren’t bad outcomes, but they should be a whole lot better, if you ask me! 

One thing that I do want to point out this morning is that there was a report the other day that said, that “money supply in the U.S. is growing”…  Now for all of you who follow Chuck’s definition of inflation… Money Supply is inflation… So, we all have that to look forward to… 

In the overnight markets last night, the dollar continued to get sold, with the BBDXY losing 2 more index points, and Gold is on the rally tracks this morning, up $24 to start the day, and Silver is joining in and is up 44-cents to start the day… 

I’m feeling a little low right ow, so I’m going to cut this off and get it out.. 

Market Prices 3/11.2025: American Style: A$ .6263, kiwi .5699, C$ .6770, euro 1.0897, sterling 1.2934, Swiss $1.1335, European Style: rand 18.2552, krone 10.6706, SEK 10.0691, forint 376.64, zloty 3.8483, koruna 22.9106, RUB 85.62, yen 147.05, sing 1.2323, HKD 7.7694, INR 87.22, China 7.2348, peso 20.34, BRL 5.8563, BBDXY 1,267, Dollar Index 103..54, Oil $66.69, 10-year 4.24%, Silver $32.61, Platinum $987.00, Palladium $982.00, Copper $487. And Gold… $2,913.84

That’s it for today, sorry for the abbreviated version especially after me being gong for so long… Yesterday was my good friend, Rick B. Celebrating his birthday… We went to lunch to celebrate it, and then he got on a plane and went home, after spending the last week with me, and my whining, and bellyaching, and needed help… Thank you Rick and Kevin!  I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• Currencies and metals rally on Monday
• But get sole in the overnight markets… UGH!

Good Day, and a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! This is the last Pfennig until I return on March 11… I know, that seems like a long time, but, time will fly for me, I’m sure! My beloved Cardinals finally got a win yesterday, and the lineup featured mostly starters for at least 6 innings… We hemmed and hawed about going to the game, since the forecast was for rain, but in the end, we went, and left before the rain began in the 7th… I came home and collapsed in my recliner and didn’t wake up until it was dark outside. UGH! I experienced another stomach problem yesterday, and those usually knock me out.. The Atlanta Rhythm Section greets me this morning with their song: Imaginary Lover

The dollar range traded yesterday, going up a buck and back down by a buck throughout the day, but in the end the BBDXY gained 1 index point on the day. Gold experienced another record setting day, climbing $18 to $2,954, and Silver was flat on the day, ending the day at $32.42… Gold has been being bought most recently as a safe haven, and if that continues, it means that Gold will be well-bid this week. Market sentiment, as we have seen, can be quite fickle and quirky, with an itchy trigger finger, so that’s why said, “if it continues”… 

The price of Oil, which also happens to be range trading these days, bumped higher to end the day trading with a $71 handle, and the 10-year Treasury keeps seeing it being bought, and with that buying the yield on the bond has slipped downward… The 10-year Treasury’s yield ended the day yesterday at 4.38%… Treasuries too, have been being bought on a safe haven basis… Although I would argue that going further out on the yield curve in Treasuries is a risk, to me, that is… 3-year max is my rule… 

In the overnight markets last night… It’s a game of give and take; the dollar lost the 1 index point it had gained in the overnight trading last night… Our debt problems are not viewed as a “problem” here in the U.S, while overseas they see the writing on the wall…  A cat has been thrown among the pigeons in the early trading for Gold & Silver today… The short paper traders have watched Gold reach another all-time record price yesterday, and said, “Whoa There Pardner” The short paper traders have unleashed a fury of paper trades this morning, and Gold is down $27 to start the day, while Silver has given back 57-cents! And fallen back below the $32 handle… I tell you this and you’ve heard it a million times before… I have total disdain for the short paper traders, they could all be on a rocket ship that’s projected nowhere, and it wouldn’t be enough to undue all the evils they have unleashed on the metals… 

And speaking of give and take: The price of Oil gave back the $1 it gained yesterday in the overnight trading last night… And trades this morning with a $70 handle…  The 10-year Treasury is watching all the hard work that they had put in to getting the yield to rise, erode… UGH! Oh, well… Que sera sera… 

Well, the audit of Ft. Knox is going to happen… But let me be clear here, it’s not just counting bars of Gold or looking them over to see if they are real… The auditors will have to look under the hood, and seek out the Gold lease agreements… And ensure that the serial numbers on the bars are the same as the invoice or shipping manifest… This whole scenario is becoming a great story line for a movie… For what IF, there are discrepancies? Uh-Oh… 

The other news story that cam across last night was that finally there has been a surge in buying the Gold ETF… While in a way around the bases, there’s a buying of physical Gold there, it’s not the kind of investor physical Gold buying that I was talking about yesterday… 

But, as long as it surrounds buying Gold, that’s the thing I want to see from all investors, for it’s the way I see as an end to the short paper traders… 

Don’t know if you follow the currency roundup each day, but it you do, you will have noticed a change in the direction of the Japanese yen… Yes, the yen traded below the 150 level for two consecutive days, and that means the yen is getting bought… Right now, mostly by Pension funds, hedge funds, and whatever fund. Their inventory managers are thinking that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is going to follow up their rate hike earlier this month, with another rate hike soon…  I hate to be the guy that pulls away the punch bowl at a party, but… I doubt the BOJ will be that aggressive with their rate decisions… I’m not saying that an eventual rate hike from the BOJ isn’t coming, but instead, I’m offering a delay in those rate hikes… 

The euro is nearing 1.05 again, and each time it has done that, it gets beaten back down… But maybe a 3^rd time is a charm and the euro can maintain the figure for more than a day… And once again, this euro strength is coming as a result of it being the offset currency to the dollar… The dollar has been weaker, the euro has been stronger… The euro did get a mini burst in price from the election results last Sunday, that we talked about yesterday.  A Conservative Coalition Gov’t is what the people in Germany wanted, and with Germany being the largest economy in the Eurozone, the northern Eurozone countries will also like it… As for the Club Med currencies in the South don’t have a clue…. 

The U.S. Data Cupboard today just has the stupid consumer Confidence for this month… This is nothing more than a pulse of the stock market, and since stocks have found that they are no longer on a ONE-WAY street, I expect the Confidence number to have fallen this month… 

To recap… The dollar range traded yesterday before ending the day up 1 index point in the BBDXY. Gold rallied, then got sold, then rallied again to end the day up $18… And Silver was flat…  The Ft. Knox audit is ON! And Chuck reminds the auditors to look under the hood…  And the Japanese yen is in rally mode… I know, it sounds strange o say that! 

For What It’s Worth… . I talked about the DOGE group attempting to get our financial situation sorted out a bit. Well, his partner in the Ft. Knox audit will be Ron Paul, who has been a shining light for us that think we should question everything the Gov’t implements, comes up with etc.  Well, Ron Paul wrote an article in Daily Reckoning about cutting the defense budget, and I like his thoughts!  And it can be found here: Can We Really Cut Half of The Military Budget? You Bet! – The Daily Reckoning

Or, here’s your snippet: “The wailing sound you heard last Thursday was the chorus of the Beltway warmongers shrieking in despair at President Trump’s suggestion that there was no reason for the United States to be spending one trillion dollars on “defense.”

“…One of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia, and I want to say let’s cut our military budget in half. And we can do that, and I think we’ll be able to do that,” the President told reporters.

With this statement, President Trump blew up one of the biggest myths of our time, particularly among Republicans, that spending more on the military is essential to keeping us safe.

There is a vast and well-funded network of political and industrial interests that depend on maintaining that myth, from the weapons manufacturers to the mainstream media to the think tanks and beyond. Why? Because most of what is called “defense spending” has little to do with defending this country and a lot to do with enriching the politically well-connected.

We also need a change in policy. Americans are beginning to understand the economic costs of maintaining a global military empire. US taxpayers are forced to cover more than half of the entire NATO budget while European countries rattle sabers at Russia and threaten war.

If Europe feels so threatened by Russia, why don’t they cover the costs of their own defense? Why do poor Americans have to pay for the defense of rich Europeans? Haven’t we had enough of this?

I very much hope that President Trump follows through with his plan to drastically reduce our bloated military budget. We can start by closing the hundreds of military bases overseas, bringing back our troops from foreign countries, and eliminating our massive commitments to NATO and other international organizations.

We will be richer, safer, and happier.”

Chuck again…  Some of you may recall that Chuck’s debt solutions were a call to close all military bases around the world, especially in countries that don’t like us there to begin with, and bring the soldiers home to defend our border… So, it’s nice… That old saying has an iota of truth to it here, that great minds think alike! HA!

Market prices 2/25/2025: American Style: A$ .6343, kiwi .5722, C$ .7011, euro 1.0496, sterling 1.2667, Swiss $1.1203, European Style: rand 18.3744, krone 11.1203, SEK 10.6106, forint 382.25, zloty 3.9442, koruna 23.7781, RUB 86.60, yen 149.52, sing 1.3384, HKD 7.7742, INR 87.20, China 7.2605, peso 20.50, BRL 5.8096, BBDXY 1,286, Dollar index 106.41, Oil $70.44, 10-year 4.32%, Silver $31.86, Platinum $967.00, Palladium $937.00, Copper $4.57, and Gold… $2,927.56

That’s it for today… No sappy story for you today, sorry about being that open about my sorrow… Tomorrow I head home for my 4^th infusion, and this time I get 6 weeks between them. I return on Monday, with my Spring Training buddies… On the same plane! No worries, it’s a very early flight, so I doubt we’ll be much trouble… And then my annual spring vacation begins… YAHOO! Well, I proved myself to be up to the task… My wife doubted that I would be able to walk from the parking garage to the stadium, up the stairs and to my seat without taking a break… But for two consecutive days, I nailed it Gov.! It wasn’t a walk in the park, but wasn’t too bad… It’s the little victories that I enjoy at this stage of my life and health… The Wonderful Dusty Springfield takes us to the finish line today with her song: Son of a Preacher Man… It’ll be March when we next talk, so I hope you have plenty of days of seashells and balloons, and that you’ll especially have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today and will Be Good To Yourself! 

Chuck Butler

• currencies and metals end week, last, on better footing…
• Trump’s tariffs already taking effect…

Good Day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! Well, my beloved Cardinals didn’t start out their spring Training session on the right foot, as they lost both of their first two games… I was disgusted by the relief pitching in both games, and when we left the game yesterday, Kathy said “I can’t believe you get so upset by spring training games”. Of which, I replied, “All these pitchers are trying out to see if they belong in the majors… This doesn’t bode well for the relief corps this year” I know, I know, it’s only two games… It’s supposed to be a real rain soaker today, so I doubt I’ll be going to the game today… Procol Harum greets me this morning with their song, and the song that I’ve said before, I like better than their hit song: Conquistador… 

Last Thursday, the markets took a chunk out of the dollar’s armor, as the BBDXY lost 8 index points… All because of a weak stronger than expected Initial Weekly Jobless Claims report… In addition, the leading Indicator for Jan, printed a negative -.3%, so questions were abound about just how “resilient” , and one Fed head described the U.S. economy last week.  That 8-point loss in the BBDXY was HUGE, and one that I feared would bring about the PPT to do some dollar buying to stem the loss.  But on Friday, there was no sign of the PPT, but the fear that they are lurking in a dark alley somewhere, was enough to keep the dollar from falling more On Friday, as it did gain back 4 index point, on Friday, but that was it… 

Gold had a good day, last Thursday, as it gained $14, and Silver gained 24-cents… So, the previous Thursday was Gold’s day to get the stuffing knocked out it, and this last Thursday was the day the dollar got the stuffing knocked out of it… Thursdays are not good days, because that’s the day I infusions!  On Friday, the Gold Bugs tried like hell to keep the short paper traders from ruling the day, but at the end of day, the dirty, rotten Ba$#%#s won, because Gold dropped $2 to end the week at $2,935, and Silver, really go the snot kicked out of it, and lost 46-cents to end the week $32.43… 

All I can say about the short paper trading is that, to date, the physical buying of Gold & Silver has helped keep the pressure on the short paper traders… But it’s still not enough… We need to get American investors turned around to see that Gold has outperformed stocks… Not the S&P, but the DOW…  And get these investors looking to allocating a portion of their investment portfolio to Gold & Silver. That’s when the short paper traders will throw in the towel, and not before, because there will be nobody going to jail, thus scaring the traders out of their wits… 

The price of Oil slipped late last week and ended the week trading with a $70 handle, and the 10-year Treasury’s yield really saw some downward movement late last week, and ended the week with a 4.43% yield… 

In the overnight markets last night… The dollar saw a little slippage, losing 1 index point overnight. Gold is up $11 to start the day/ week and Silver is down 4-cents to start the day/ week this morning. Silver’s 4-cent loss is easily turned around., so what are waiting for? A laced-lined invitation to buy? Well, you aren’t going to get one from me! Just a swift kick in the rear to get you off your duff and buy! HAHAHA! 

There was not movement in the price of Oil or the yield in the 10-year overnight… So we start our week with an Oil price of $70 and a 10-year yield of 4.43%

I read this morning that Trump’s 25% tariffs on imports from the Eurozone, have already been effective, even though they don’t officially take place until March 12… Nothing like ticking off your allies, eh? Hey, the POTUS didn’t write the book on how to Win Friends and Influence People!  That got my mind wandering off here folks… Long ago, when I was a young man, I’ve told you that I was such a different person, very short-tempered and dominating… One time I was at my desk eating lunch and reading a book on “how to dominate people”, and my boss walked by and laughed, and said, “I would have thought that you wrote that book!”  That woke me up, for sure… And an eventual change took place in me… 

I like the commercial on TV where JJ Watt, the former defensive player of the year in the NFL, says “It’s not about how many people you can knock down, but how many you can lift up”… 

OK, onto something else… Germany, the Eurozone’s largest economy, has their general election yesterday, and talk about people that take their voting seriously…. 83% of registered voters showed up to vote! That blows our numbers out of the water, and we’re supposed to be the beacon for democracy… It appears that new coalition Gov’t will take over in Germany, and maybe they can get the country out of its malaise… 

The U.S. Data Cupboard today has a “closed” sign hanging from its door, as there are no data prints scheduled for today… And the Cupboard will repeat this empty feeling until Thursday (there’s that day again!) and Friday, when the data will ramp up to a crescendo… And then, it will be March!

To recap… The dollar got whacked on Thursday last week, and since dollar trades are somewhat leery about taking the dollar lower, with the PPT lurking in a dark alley, somewhere… Gold saw a good ending to last week, and starts today up $11… Trump’s tariffs on steel don’t begin until March 12, but their effects on trades with the Eurozone are already feeling some pressure… 

For What It’s Worth… Well, I was so amped up about the first spring training game this past weekend that I usually use to scour the earth in search of a FWIW article, that I failed to do just that… But I did find this on zerohedge.com and it’s about Commercial Real Estate… Something that we’ve talked about previously but has been on the back burned now for some time. Well, not any more, and you can find the article here: Subprime Redux: Commercial Real Estate Bond Distress Hits Another Record High | ZeroHedge

Or, here’s your snippet: “At the end of Q4 2024, commercial real estate continued to exhibit severe weakness, with commercial real estate bonds hitting record distress levels, surpassing the previous records reached in Q3 2024. Commercial real estate bonds are just commercial real estate loans packaged into securities and sold to investors. One category of bonds, commercial mortgage-backed securities (“CMBS”), saw their distress rate increase to 10.6 percent, a fourth consecutive monthly record.

Most notably, in the CMBS category—which comprises approximately $625 billion in outstanding commercial real estate debt—loans on office properties now exhibit a distress rate above 17 percent while apartment loan distress accelerated to 12.5 percent. While loans underlying CMBS bonds—which are generally longer-term and fixed-rate—appear woefully insolvent, another group of bonds comprising short-term floating-rate commercial real estate loans are even worse.

These bridge loans—which are packaged up into CRE-CLO (commercial real estate-collateralized loan obligation) bonds—represent roughly $75 billion of outstanding commercial real estate debt today. At year-end, they were sporting a 13.8 percent distress rate, eclipsing the prior record of 13.1 percent set at the end of Q3 2024.

As bad as the above stats may seem, they do not convey the true extent of malinvestment in commercial real estate, and the consequences thereof. For starters, the analysis leaves out the market for bank lending in commercial real estate—the largest source and the hardest for which to find data—comprising roughly $3 trillion in outstanding loans.

Simple distress rates also fail to recognize the potential for distress in nominally healthy loans, only identifying those that have explicitly been deemed distressed. In this case, distressed means 30 days or more delinquent on a payment, past the maturity date, currently in special servicing (a condition where property performance puts the health of a loan in jeopardy or specific loan agreement clauses have been violated), or a combination thereof.”

Chuck Again… Well, out of sight, out of mind, has been he CRE problem for me, but not any longer.. Just simply another sign that the U.S. economy is NOT resilient.  I’m just saying… 

Market Prices 2/24/2025: American Style: A$ .6367, kiwi .5746, C$ .7021, euro 1.0470, sterling 1.2635, Swiss $1.1117, European Style: rand 18.3452, krone 11.0119, SEK 10.6430, forint 383.93, zloty 3.9646, koruna 23.9465, RUB 87.45, yen 149.67, sing 1.3378, HKD 7.7736, INR 86.70, China 7.2604, peso 20.41, BRL 5.7094, BBDXY 1,385., Dollar Index 106.63, Oil $70.51, 10-year 4.43%, Silver $32.47, Platinum $968.00, Palladium $961.00, Copper $4.58, and Gold… $2,947.29

That’s it for today… I don’t want to have missed this tomorrow after I hit send, so I’ll mention it today… This Friday, the 28th, would be my closest sister’s birthday.. Barbara, or Barbie doll, as I always called her, died in 2018, from ALS… (Lou Gehrig’s disease) Barie doll and me were only 1 year apart in school, so she would help with stuff that she already suffered through, and we became so close… I remember when she was getting very bad with ALS, and asked me to help her with retirement paperwork… I remember sitting in my car after our visit and crying my eyes out at bad she had the disease… It wasn’t that much longer that she passed. Miss you Barbie doll! Dire Straits take us to the finish line today with their song: Sultans of Swing… I hope you have a Marvelous Monday, and that didn’t ruin your day with my sad story, and please Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• The dollar gains 3 index points on Wed. but gets sold overnigh
• Gold & Silver are moving higher this morning…

Good Day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to one and all! What a first half of basketball from my Mizzou Tigers last night VS #4 Alabama… The Tigers jumped out to a 12-0 lead from the starter’s gun, and never looked back… The second half of the game got close on a couple of occasions, but my Tigers held on and won the game!  Another shot of winter came down to S. Florida last night, and for the next few days, we’ll be in the 70’s, but yesterday was nice and warm, with the sun peeking in and out of the clouds. I sat outside to reread a book that I last read last year, but it was the only book in the library here that appealed to me, and quite frankly, I don’t recall a lot of it, so to me, it’s a new book! Weezer greets me this morning with their song: Island In the Sun… 

The dollar broke out of its malaise yesterday, and gained 3 index points in the BBDXY… For those you who are new to class, The BBDXY stands for the Bloomberg Dollar Index…  The BBDXY is a vital benchmark that meticulously gauges the strength of the U.S. dollar against a basket of key world currencies. Our Trading partners… As in the old Dollar Index was so overweighted with euros, that it skewed what was really going on with the dollar. I switched to the BBDXY a few years ago, and so there you are! 

The price of Gold saw some selling yesterday and ended the day down $9 to close at $2,934. This week, Gold recovered fro the loss on Friday and, until yesterday’s $9 loss…   Silver saw the short paper traders take it down a notch.  Silver lost 22-cents yesterday, and ended the day at $32.75… 

Yesterday, Silver was within spittin’ distance of reaching $33… But the short paper traders were making the buyers of physical silver work for it… 

The price of Oil remained in the $72 handle yesterday, while the 10-year Treasury’s yield dropped back to 4.52%… 

In the overnight markets last night… The dollar gave 2 of those 3 index points it gained yesterday, and starts the day at 1,290 in the BBDXY… But the euro has been getting sold, not harshly, but sold these days, as it went too high too fast, I believe… Gold has gained back its lost ground yesterday, in the early trading today, and opens with a $17 gain, and Silver has breached the $33 handle overnight and starts today up $52!… Hi Yo Silver!  I don’t know about you, but as a kid I really liked the Lone Ranger, Zorro, and Batman were my faves… 

The price of Oil remained in the $72 handle overnight, and the 10-year gained 1 basis point overnight and starts today trading with a 4.53% yield… 

Well, the question that I’ve had for the U.S. Treasury for some time now, and each time I ask all I hear is crickets… The question is this: Countries around the world, including you’re two biggest Treasury buyers, China and Japan, start to back away from the auction window, So, who do you think will take their places to buy your Debt/ Treasuries? 

And in regard to that question… China reported that their holdings of U.S. Treasuries had sank to a level not seen since 2009!  Again, the question comes as:  Where in the world is the U.S. going to find homes for their debt going forward?

I can’t emphasize that question enough folks… If the deficit spending continues, which means that more Treasuries will need to be issued to fund that deficit spending, and now, the U.S. has either ticked off countries that usually buy our debt/ Treasuries, or we’ve scared them to death of owning Treasuries, because our debt is astronomical… 

Borrowing a line from Jr. Walker and the All-Stars: What does it take to win your love for me?  But I want to change it bit to say: What does it take to get our Treasuries sold in these conditions..   

1 we could raise the yields on bonds to make them ultra-attractive

2. We could coerce smaller countries and tell them we won’t invade them if they buy our debt…

3 we could stop deficit spending! 

The only thing I see that could work, is to raise the yields… But that would be death knell for the stock jockeys… You can have your cake, but you can’t eat it too! 

OK, onto something else..  Yesterday, I told you that the Aussies had cut rates, and failed to mention that usually when a Central Bank cuts rates, or debases the currency as I like to say, the home currency suffers at least for a few days… But the A$ never saw any selling and remained trading with a 63-cent handle and gained on that yesterday… So, something is different here, folks… And it will take someone with far more gray matter than I to explain that to me! But good for the A$… Oh, and kiwi didn’t see any wear or tear on its tires since they cut rates either… 

There are times that warrant a currency rise after a rate cut, but this is not one of those times… I’m just saying…

Here in the U.S. the POTUS’s announcement regarding 25% tariffs on Autos, Drug and Chip Imports are still being mulled over by the markets… There are still those that believe the tariffs will be good for the economy, and then there are those of us, including me, that believe that while they will even the playing field, that the reciprocal tariffs and devaluing of currencies will deliver a Global trade War… And that won’t be good for the economy… 

I mentioned Japan above… Well, the two most beaten and deprived currencies the ruble and yen are opening some eyes these days… I want to talk about Japan and the yen, which gained more ground VS the dollar last night on rumors that are growing like a ground swell, that the Bank of Japan will raise rates at their next meeting. But then, when that doesn’t happen, what does happen to the yen?  It gets sent back to the woodshed.  And what have I always pointed out with regard to the BOJ? That they have no problem whatsoever with disappointing the markets… But for now, it’s all seashells and balloons for the yen… But be careful out there! 

And the more Russia talks about peace with Ukraine, the more investors are getting into rubles, what with their 20% deposit rate, why not? 

Before I head to the Big Finish today, I wanted to point your attention to my good friend, Dennis Miller’s weekly letter… It can be found here: www.milleronthemoney.com. I’ve highlighted stuff that Dennis has written about previously, but in today’s letter he outdid himself! Dennis recently had a lengthy discussion with John Williams of www.shadowstats.com about Gold and inflation, and John had just created a new graph that he allowed Dennis to use… This graph charts back in time to present, how Gold kept up with inflation, and we’re talking about John’s inflation numbers not the BLS’s! So, if you have already heeded my call to get Dennis’s free letter, good for you, look for it today in your email box… But if you haven’t, go to the link above and see what I’m talking about, as MarketWatch has dubbed Dennis “the retirementor” And sign up! So, the next time I mention something Dennis has said, you can simply go to your email box and read it!

The U.S. Data Cupboard yesterday had the FOMC Meeting Minutes of which, didn’t contain any jarring differences in what was said in the press conference after the meeting. Today, we’ll see the usual for a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday, the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims. In addition, we’ll also see the leading Indicators for Jan, and I expect that it will remain in negative territory. 

To recap.. The dollar finally broke out of its malaise yesterday, gaining 3 index points on the day… Gold and Silver ran into some short paper traders and lost ground yesterday.  Chuck brings up a question asking who will buy our Treasuries/ Debt with China and Japan backing away from the auction window.  And the A$ and kiwi have Chuck scratching is bald head… 

For What It’s Worth… Well, I talked about the Gold leases yesterday, and today I saw an article by Paul Craig Roberts that questioned, whose Gold is at Fort Knox, and it can be found here: Whose Gold, if anyone’s, Is in Ft. Knox |

Or, here’s your snippet: “f there is gold in Ft. Knox, whose is it?

Many bullion dealers believe that any gold in Ft. Knox is not ours.  Over the decades the gold was “leased” to bullion dealers who sold it into the gold market, thereby protecting the value of the dollar by holding down the gold price.

“Leasing” the gold means that the US can still claim to own the gold.  A sale has to be recorded or reported, but not a “lease.”  

Gold might also have disappeared through rehypothecation, which is the use by one party of another party’s asset to back their own financial or borrowing practices. The gold of other countries is also in Ft. Knox. Earlier this century, Germany requested its gold from Ft. Knox, and was told that the gold would be returned in seven years.  This indicates that the gold was used by Washington for some other purpose and was unavailable to be returned to Germany.

For years Rep. Ron Paul and Sen. Rand Paul have tried to get a gold audit.   Neither of these legislators were even permitted to enter Ft. Knox to see if any gold was there.

Now that Elon Musk has announced a gold audit, holders of gold contracts have suddenly started to demand settlement in gold delivery rather than in cash and pocketing the profits.  The amount of gold delivery being demanded from Comex, the US gold futures market, and its London equivalent is enormous, putting the ability to deliver under enormous strain.  The only institutions capable of purchasing tons of gold at $2,900 per ounce are the Federal Reserve and US Treasury by creating the money with which to pay for the gold.  The rise in the price of gold reflects the increase in physical purchases.  It seems clear enough that the Fed or Treasury is desperate to put gold back into Ft. Knox in advance of the audit.

Previously, the Comex or futures market was used to hold down the price of gold by dumping huge amounts of short selling in the futures market all at once, often when there was no active trading, as Dave Kranzler and I have explained.  The gold futures market is unique in that it can be shorted without the contracts being covered, unlike shorting equities. “

Chuck again… A good article that should be read to get a better understanding of Gold leases, etc.  You know, an even better way of going about that is to get the book by Stuart Englert titled: Rigged… I read this book a few years ago, and it’s the source of many of my thoughts on the shorting of Gold… 

Market Prices 2/20/25: American Style: A$.6369, kiwi .5722, C$ .7034, euro 1.0404, sterling 1.2606, Swiss $1.1077, European Style: rand 18.4709, krone 11.1194, SEK 10.7003, forint 385.08, zloty 3.9632, koruna 24.1070, RUB 98.7, yen 150.28, sing 1.3434, HKD 7.777, INR 86.66, China 7.2631, peso 20.37, BRL 5.7220, BBDXY 1,290, Dollar Index 106.99, Oil $72.33, 10-year 4.53%, Silver $33.27, Platinum $987.00, Palladium $1,012.00, Copper $4.65, and Gold… $2,950.90

That’s it for today… I was up late last night to watch the end of the Basketball game… But it was worth it to see my Tigers whip #4 Alabama… So, I overslept this morning… Not really an excuse I would have accepted from my employees back in the day, but I rest my case!  So, two more Pfennigs next week, and then crickets from me for some time… But, I’ll return… Like Gen MacArthur… And when I do… To the moon, Alice!  My first home spring training game is this coming Sunday… I’m getting keyed up and can’t wait… But I guess I have no other choice! Chicago takes us to the finish line today, with their song, that’s my favorite Chicago song: Hard Habit To Break…  in case you’re wondering 2^nd place goes to the song: Beginnings…  I hope you have a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday today and Please Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• The dollar is inching higher…
• Gold & Silver have banner days on Tuesday!

Good Day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! It was a nice day yesterday, until it wasn’t.. Rain moved in, and that’s OK with me… For one day that is…  The weather people tell us that we need the rain, so I’ll go with that and move on to today. No one was outside yesterday, before the rain, I went outside to read, and it was akin to zombie zone… I saw no one on the beach, at the pool, or even walking in the hallway. So, I sat down and read until the rain was 6 minutes away… I’ve had two bad stomach days in a row and hope to end that today! Tommy James and The Shondells greet me this morning with their mega hit song: Crystal Blue Persuasion… 

Well, the dollar rocked a bit yesterday, and rolled a little more, but at the end of the day, the BBDXY was trading in the same clothes as it had on at the start of the day… 1,289 is the BBDXY that was stuck in the mud yesterday… But the euro fell further within the 1.04 handle, so my thought that the euro was ready to move past 1.05 proved that the thought was not ready for prime time…  But there was news in the land down under that we’ll get to shortly. 

But first, Gold & Sliver had banner days yesterday, with Gold gaining $37 on the day to end the day at $2,935, and Silver gained 69-cents to end the day at $32.92… Now, those were “banner days” if there ever were one in metals!

The price of Oil bumped higher to end day with a $72 handle, and the 10-year Treasury’s yield gained a bit to end the day with a 4.55% yield. 

In the overnight markets last night… The dollar gained 1 index point last night… Nothing like piling on, eh? What I’m saying is the last two nights the dollar was only able to garner 1 index point in the BBDXY, and sure seems to me, that the dollar is going nowhere right now, as the markets get ready to deal with more tariffs. President Trump announced 25% tariffs on U.S. Autos, drug, and Chip imports… This tariff stuff is really becoming the 200  lb gorilla in the room, and yet we, as a country continue to add to them… Geesh!  

The price of Gold is flat to down a penny or two to start our day today… I think at this point, as Gold nears $3,000, that the Gold Bugs will be cautious moving forward, because the short paper traders are like the wolves and they’re always at the door. Silver starts our day today, down 6-cents… Same for Silver as it nears $33…   The price of Oil remained trading in the $72 handle overnight and so starts today with that price. And the 10-year Treasury’s yield bumped higher by 2 basis points to 4.57%… 

Now, for the news from down under…. Australia’s central bank RBAZ) cut rates for the first time in more than four years but warned it was too early to declare victory over inflation and was cautious about the prospects of further easing. So, I would have liked to be in the room when the RBA made this announcement, and asked “If you’re being cautious about the prospects of further easing then why ease now? 

And not to be outdone by their kissin’ Cousins across the Tasman, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) announced that they had also, cut their Official Cash Rate (OCR) 25 Basis Points (1/4%). To look under the hood here would reveal that the RBNZ’s inflation target is between 1 and 3%… And in this case inflation has not fallen withing those parameters yet… But the RBNZ is sure of their outlook that inflation will get there by midpoint of the year… 

So, last week we had the ECB, CCB and BOE cut rates… And this week it’s the RBA and RBNZ, the list is beginning to add some heft, and leaves the U.S. as what would seem to be “The One Left Holding The Bag” as if they were being prudent, when in actuality they were ahead of themselves in cutting rates last year, and now are trying to not have everyone notice their gaff! 

And soon these other Central Banks that have decided that they have or will soon defeat inflation will realize that they cut rates too soon… A prime example of this printed in the U.K yesterday, when inflation printed at 3.0%, a 10-,month high, n January and is likely to rise further soon… The Bank of England (BOE) didn’t see that coming, much like all central banks, they have blinders on… But, they’ve made their beds with rate cuts, and soon they’ll have to lay down in their mess! 

So, how many of you dear readers remember a Sunday Pfennig written by me, titled “Chuck’s Debt Solutions”… This was written over 10 years ago, maybe even 15 years ago… I went through the items in the deficit spending list that I thought we should dump immediately, but like all things with regard to the Gov’t, there was never any attempt buy either side of the aisle in D.C. Do something about their deficit spending, because? Because cutting spending doesn’t get you reelected, but more deficit spending and waste will make you a star in your local state… 

But recently a couple of the departments of the Gov’t that I thought we should take out back and depose of, have been getting some talk about their existence, and that’s a start!  One such Dept is The Dept of Education… Did you know that instead of improving test scores for reading and mathematics were lower in 2024 than they were the Dept was formed in 1980?  Nice job! NOT! And they have managed to waste Trillions of dollars!   

In short, the Dept. of Education has spent Trillions, while the students test scores are lower, but tuition at Universities has soared!  Come on Elon, your DOGE can see this as low hanging fruit, right? 

Look as far as deficit spending goes, you have to start somewhere, and make a splash… The USAID cut was a start, but the real splash will come from what Musk and Ron Paul find or don’t find at Ft. Knox, and then the Dept of Education shouldn’t be too far down the road… 

I read last night that Gold’s banner day yesterday was fueled by the report that the NY Mfg. Index gained 5.7% in January, which was a HUGE move because this data has been negative for so long now… And the Gold bugs said that indicates that inflation is still around and coming back stronger! 

The U.S. Data Cupboard today just has some housing data, and the FOMC Meeting Minutes from their last meeting, of which the markets will go over with a fine-tooth comb to see if there are variations from his press conference after the last meeting… Hey! It gives these guys something to do that doesn’t involve other things…

To recap… The dollar fell asleep yesterday an at the end of the day wore the same clothes it had on at the start of the day… Gold & Silver had banner days yesterday, with Gold gaining $37 and Silver gaining 69-cents… The RBA and RBNZ both cut their internal interest rates 25 Basis Points yesterday, and Chuck questions their prudence. And Chuck revisits something he wrote 15 years ago in a Sunday Pfennig… 

For What it’s Worth…. Well, the pickings were slim this morning, but I did find this on Bloomberg.com, and it features Lola (Goldman Sachs) and their call for a higher Gold price and it can be found here: Goldman Hoists Gold Target to $3,100 on Central-Bank Appetite – Bloomberg

Or, here’s your snippet: “Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its year-end gold target to $3,100 an ounce on central-bank buying and inflows into bullion-backed exchange-traded funds, highlighting Wall Street’s enthusiasm for the metal.

Central-bank demand may average 50 tons a month, more than previously expected, analysts Lina Thomas and Daan Struyven said in a note. Should uncertainty over economic policy persist, including on tariffs, bullion could hit $3,300 an ounce on higher speculative positioning, they said. The latter figure implies an annual gain of 26%, according to Bloomberg calculations.

The precious metal has roared higher this year, setting successive records in a seven-week winning run that’s built on last year’s surge. The commodity’s sustained advance has been driven by increased purchases by central banks, a streak of rate cuts from the Fed and, more recently, mounting investor concern over US President Donald Trump’s disruptive tariff announcements.

“‘We reiterate our ‘Go for Gold’ trading recommendation,” Thomas and Struyven wrote. “We see significant hedging value in long gold positions because of a potential increase in trade tensions.”

In addition, inflation fears and fiscal risks “may push central banks — especially those holding large US Treasury reserves — to buy more gold,” they said.

The more bullish outlook — which came after Goldman pushed back a year-end $3,000 forecast last month — followed official-sector purchases estimated at 108 tons in December, according to the analysts. Elsewhere, there’ll be a “gradual boost” to ETF holdings on two expected Fed cuts, they said.

The revised forecast sits alongside a host of other bullish predictions from leading banks. Among them, Citigroup Inc. said earlier in February that it expects prices to hit $3,000 an ounce within three months, with geopolitical tensions and trade wars stoked by Trump boosting demand for haven assets.”

Chuck Again… Well, you know I always say… Whatever Lola wants, she gets”… 

Market Prices 2/19/2025: American Style: A$ .6350, kiwi .5712, C$ .7035, euro 1.0427, sterling 1.2581, Swiss $1.1056, European Style: rand 18.5079, krone 11.1524, SEK 10.7513, forint 385.90, zloty 4.0076, koruna 24.0889, RUB 89.76, yen 151.80, sing 1.3434, HKD 7.7770, INR 86.90, China 7.2855, peso 20.30, BRL 5.7183, BBDXY 1,290, Dollar Index 106.98, Oil $72.46, 10-year 4.57%, Silver $32.86, Platinum $977.00, Palladium $986.00, Copper $4.64, and Gold… $2,935.38

That’s it for today… Only 3 more Pfennigs before my annual spring vacation… Next Wednesday, I will be flying back to St. Louis for an infusion and a brief stay in Cold Missouri! I have to say that I believe the tumor in my jaw has shrunk just a little bit… But dang it, the medicine sure makes me sick and tired all the time… My beloved Mizzou Tigers take on #4 rated Alabama tonight in Columbia, Mo. The home court should be of help for my Tigers… And we’re one day closer to the home spring Training opener for my beloved Cardinals! I just hope I can get through the game without stomach problems… Which means I’ll probably skip the Dean Dog!  The Babys take us to the finish line today with their song: Every Time I Think Of You…  I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler