July 11, 2023
* Gold rallies on BRICS announcement..
* Petrol Currencies wake up!
Good Day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! Well, my first day at home by myself was no biggie, I even made myself some yummy pasta with Italian sausage meatballs for dinner last night! See? I’m not totally dependent on the Pizza Man Pizza! HA! I had to go to the grocery store yesterday, as my wife left me with an empty refrigerator, and pantry… And that’s ok with me, as I prefer to eat the lunch meat direct from the store, rather than having sit in our fridge for a day… The Home Run Derby took place last night, and my guys that i thought were dark horses, didn’t get far… Congrats to: Vlad Guerreo of the Toronto Blue Jays as he was the winner of the Derby… The All-Star Game is tonight, all I can say is Go… National League! I totally forgot to mention yesterday that our StL. City SC soccer team won on the road last Saturday night in Tornoto… And the U.S. Men’s soccer team won in penalty kicks VS Canada… Have I ever told you that I abhor it when a game is decided by penalty kicks? Christopher Cross greets me this morning with his song: Never Be The Same…
Well… All that dollar selling last Friday, failed to see any follow through on Monday. Recall that I had told you that in the overnight markets the dollar selling had stopped… Well, as the day went on yesterday, the dollar drifted lower, and ended the day down 1 index point in the BBDXY. The euro finally traded through the 1.10 level yesterday, which I find to be quite impressive, given the depths the euro was trading in just months ago! The BBDXY is now down more than 4% for the year, which means the dollar is down YTD, although at times it sure doesn’t feel like it is!
Gold fought back, just like I thought it would yesterday, but only ended up 70-cents on the day, and Silver found a way to gain 5-cents… Gold closed at $1,926.10, and Silver closed at $23.21… You know historically, the summer months are slow months for the metals… So, now that we are in the summer months, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Gold & Silver drift each day… But then, just because that’s what’s gone on in the past, doesn’t mean it will hold true in the currency year… And I, for one, would welcome Gold & Silver to buck the trend and rally in the summer months!
The price of Oil remained trading with a $73 handle yesterday through the night, and the 10-year saw some buying after reaching 4.065%, and the yield on the bond dropped back below 4.0%, at 3.97%,,,
In the overnight markets last night… A funny thing happened on the way to the forum last night… The BBDXY lost two more index points, but the euro fell back below 1.10… OK, I guess that’s not THAT funny! It is a strange occurrence, when the index that charts the dollar’s movement sees components drop in price, but the index shows a drop too… No biggie, just stranger than fiction! A couple of currencies are really inching up the rally board these days… pound sterling, and Swiss francs… And the Petrol Currencies have been getting some love too recently with the bump up of the price of Oil… that means the likes of rubles, krone, real, loonies, etc. have gained VS the dollar too…
In the FWIW article today, I highlight an article that talks about how the BRICS will use a Gold backed single unit currency, and that news really lit a fire under the Gold Bugs overnight, with Gold gaining $10 to start the day today… Now one would think that this news from the BRICS would be bullish for Gold, but isn’t this all just a bit putting the cart before the horse? Not that I’m not happy about the attention Gold is getting… Silver is flat as a pancake (Head East) this morning… The price of Oil remains trading with a $73 handle, and Oil traders seem to have an itchy trigger finger, so we’ll see where the price of Oil goes from here… If you think like me, heaven help you, but if you do, you would say that the price of Oil is going higher…
You know, I’ve tried to steer clear of the goings on with JPMorgan and the Jeffery Epstein drama… I still find it absolutely unbelievable that JPM CEO Jamie Dimon still hasn’t be sent packing by the board of directors of the bank… The bank has been brought to court on felony charges, RICO charges, and have settled on all, not admitting any wrong doing, although, the settlement piece pretty much tells you who’s to blame, right?
I just shake my head in disgust at what goes on in the Financial Markets these days… so, yesterday, there were a ton of articles out there talking about how the Fed / Cabal/ cartel will go back to the rate hike table again this year… I thought that the markets had all agreed that the slow jobs growth, as reported by the BLS last week, was the key to the Fed Heads not raising rates again? C’mon, pick a lane, any lane, but stick with it!
Well, in a feel good story.. Did you hear about the farmer in Kentucky that unearthed some Gold coins? Here’s the good folks at GATA to tell you about it: “A man in Kentucky has harvested a fortune in gold from his cornfield, after stumbling across a cache of more than 700 gold coins dating back to the U.S. Civil War era.
The man, whose name and location have not been revealed, can be heard on a short video breathlessly exclaiming “this is the most insane thing ever” while digging the coins out of the dirt.”
That reminded me of when I was a kid… Ok, let me set this up for you… I was from a poor-side middle class family of 7 kids, we didn’t have much, but that never stopped me from dreaming about finding a lost treasure map that would point to Gold… I would find things that resembled a lost map, and I would get all excited and get ready to start digging… But never in our own back yard! That was forbidden! My treasure maps would normally take me to the nearby Tower Grove Park… So… how was this guy so lucky to find Gold, and not me all those years?
I recall my the first Gold coin I ever held in my hand… It was a S. African Kruggerand 1-ounce coin, and I thought I was on top of the world! Gold has always had me wanting to own it… I still get goosebumps when a delivery of Gold coins some to me… Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weisberg sang a song about the: Power of Gold”… They sang, “Are you, under… The Power of Gold?” of which I would have to say yes, yes I am!
Ok… onto to something else… So, did you see the news, Probably not, since it’s not something the on the leash cable companies want their news staff to report… Pawn Shop owners are seeing tons of items coming into their stores from consumers that need cash… I guess that now that Consumers have blown through their savings, then the credit card maxs, they turn to pawning their possessions… things are gett tough for consuers out there folks, and shen they run out of money… Well, I had better stop this discussion right there… But I can bet you know where I was going to go with that though, right?
Well, the POTUS said yesterday, that Ukraine isn’t ready for NATO… So, what’s all the fighting about then?
I have something for you here that would normally fall under the FWIW section purview… But since I already have a FWIW article spooled up for you today this will have to be just a news items… It comes to us from Signs of Cracks in the Lucky Country (ainsliebullion.com.au) And it’s about how the Australian economy is showing cracks… Here’s your snippet: “Ever since the COVID-19 crisis began to stir up the Australian economic milieu back in 2020, we have been on a rollercoaster ride of unexpected turns. Powered by over half a trillion dollars in combined state and federal government stimulus and pandemic-induced demand, our economy has showcased a remarkable capacity to rebound.
However, the recent rapid surge in mortgage rates – the most significant in Australian history – has cast shadows over our economic prosperity. We’re witnessing an economy contracting in per capita terms and a retail sector where the actual volume of goods sold is dwindling, despite substantial population growth.
Alarmingly, consumer confidence echoes the despair we last experienced during the 1990-1991 recession. Yet, amidst these looming threats, a silver lining has emerged for our workforce.
Around this time last year, anxiety loomed over the potential deterioration of the labour market and the fear that increasing interest rates could culminate in substantial job losses. But against the odds, the Australian job market has shown tenacity. According to the ABS’s recent reports, May saw the creation of 39,800 jobs, while the unemployed ranks fell by 14,500 – a remarkable performance considering the overarching economic backdrop and the low consumer confidence.”
Chuck again… so there’s that, but one has to wonder if the strength in the Aussie dollar (A$) is glossing over the cracks right now?
The U.S. Data Cupboard today is lacking once again, and so don’t look for any strength to come to dollar from data reports today… Tomorrow is the stupid CPI, of which we talked about yesterday…
To recap… The dollar selling stopped on Monday, but there was no buying either, as the dollar drifted asea yesterday… The euro finally climbed above 1.10 on the day, and Gold gained 70-cents on the day… Chuck is beside himself this morning regarding the POTUS saying that Ukraine isn’t ready for NATO… OK, so we’re fighting a war there because?
For What It’s Worth… there’s been quite a bit of talk about what kind of single unit currency the BRICKS would issue, and yesterday it was confirmed that the BRICS will introduce a new currency that is backed by Gold.. Talk about making a BIG splash when entering room! That story can be found here: Russia confirms BRICS will create a gold-backed currency | Kitco News
Or, here’s your snippet: “The gold market could see new bullish momentum as the world could see a new type of gold standard.
Friday, according to state-run RT, the Russian government has confirmed that Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, also known as BRICS nations, will introduce a new trading currency backed by gold. The official announcement is expected to be made during the BRICS summit in August in South Africa.
The latest news is adding new momentum to the ongoing de-dollarization trend unfolding in the global economy. Since mid-2022, central banks worldwide have been buying gold at a historic pace in part to diversify their reserve away from the U.S. dollar.
For many analysts, a gold-backed currency is the next evolution in this process. Many analysts have seen China’s recent gold purchases as an attempt to bring international credibility to the yuan.
At the same time, the U.S. government’s weaponization of the U.S. dollar against Russia for invading Ukraine has created some geopolitical uncertainty among some nations allied with Russia.
While the prospect of a gold-backed BRICS currency will provide significant support to gold, some analysts expect that it will take time before the impact is felt in the market.”
Chuck again…. again… Well, of course these are just words… The real McCoy will come when the BRICS meet in August to iron out the devil in the details… I guess we have to wait until then… But apparently the Gold traders are all over this news…
Market Prices 7/11/2023: American Style: A$ .6663, kiwi .6180, C$ .7531, euro 1.0984, sterling 1.2916, Swiss $1.1337, European Style: rand 18.6681, krone 10.4202, SEK 10.7117, forint 345.50, zloty 4.0570, koruna 21.7083, RUB 90.25, yen 140.40, sing 1.3422, HKD 7.8282, INR 82.36, China 7.2014, peso 17.06, BRL 4.8870, BBDXY 1221.69, Dollar Index 101.87, Oil $73.47, 10-year 3.97%, Silver $23.16, Platinum $949.00, Palladium $1,245.00, Copper $3.77, and Gold… $1,935.98
That’s it for today…Today is 7/11, and for some reason I have an itch to drink a big Gulp soda! HA! Chuck is by himself this week, until next Tuesday, when he leaves for vacation… I asked each of my kids yesterday who could pick me up at the car shop on Thursday morning, and only darling daughter Dawn volunteered… Apparently, the boys have to work! Silly me, forgetting that important piece! I forget that not everyone is retired like me! I took Kathy to the airport yesterday morning, then came home wrote the Pfennig, and then fell back asleep… Only to take another late afternoon nap! UGH! I’ve told you this before, but here goes again, I’m a true believer that your body tells you how much you need to sleep… You’ve got to listen to your body, to know… Crowded House takes us to the finish line today with thier song: Don’t Dream It’s Over… I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and won’t you please Be Good To Yourself?
Chuck Butler