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• Currencies and metals rally overnight VS the dollar
• Gold & Silver are getting ready to take off!

Good Day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Well, I went yesterday mid-morning to get my iron infusion… And when I returned home, half expecting to feel stronger, I sat down and fell asleep the rest of the afternoon… UGH! I’m sure my blood level isn’t anywhere near where it’s supposed to be, at this point… I’m getting frustrated for sure! This getting old isn’t for sissies… But it beats the alternative!  Player greets me this morning with their song: Baby Come Back…

Well, the dollar saw a rocky road, and not the ice cream, yesterday… As I left you yesterday, the BBDXY was trading in the same clothes as it wore the day before… But all that changed, suddenly, the dollar was getting sold, and the BBDXY lost 4 index points on the day… The euro got to within spittin’ distance of 1.10… Of course, the euro has been here before only to be knocked back down by the PPT’s buying of dollars…  It will be interesting to see if the PPT enters the markets again after today’s STUPID CPI prints… 

You might recall me saying that I thought that the STUPID CPI would show a greater gain in the month of July than forecast… Well, that was before PPI printed yesterday showing no further gains in wholesale inflation, and that means Consumer inflation could very well come in with just a .2% gain on the month, as forecast…  Of course that’s not what the Fed Heads are looking for, as they get all geared up to cut rates in a couple of weeks when they meet… 

The price of Gold didn’t get bought yesterday, and with PPI printing where it did, I would have expected the rate cut bugs to come crawling out of the baseboards, and that would help Gold move higher… But noooooo, Gold lost $8 yesterday, and closed at $2,464.20, and Silver lost 3-cents on the day to close at $27.93…   

The price of Oil remained trading with a $79 handle… The news articles telling us about the fire power the U.S. is moving to the Middle East, has been enough to keep Oil trading at a this higher price… 

And the 10 year Treasury’s yield remained at 3.90% yesterday… 

In the overnight markets last night… The dollar continued to get sold… The BBDXY is down 2 index points to start the day today at 1,240… And the euro has finally popped above 1.10 as we trade this morning… I guess the dollar bugs got tired of waiting for the STUPID CPI to print, and got to the business of selling the dollar based on the rate cut thoughts…. All of the currencies are looking healthier this morning, and one thing I want to point out is that the Eurowannabes, forints, zloty, and koruna are all on the rally tracks VS the dollar, which indicates the dollar is in trouble folks… So, when does the PPT step in to save the dollar once again?  Or… Has the Exchange Stabilization Fund, run low on cash, and the PPT has run out of arrows in their quiver? I guess we’ll see going forward, eh? 

Gold is up $10 to start the day today, and Silver is flat at this moment… Here is another case of the metals trades going out on a limb and going with the forecast of a weakening STUPID CPI… 

The price of Oil slipped a buck overnight and trades this morning with a $78 handle… And talk about folks that have gone out on limb to be the first person on their block to have believed the forecasts for a weak STUPID CPI, and have gone about getting bonds sold, and the 10-year’s yield has dropped to 3.83%….

Well, the news last night from New Zealand wasn’t what I hoped it would be… The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RNBZ) decided that inflation has gotten close enough to their inflation target and decided to cut their OCR 25 Basis points to 5.25%… The OCR is the Official Cash Rate, so their internal rate, like our Fed Funds rate that only the high and mighty get to use…  The New Zealand dollar / kiwi got sold on the rate cut news, and last night lost about ½ of a cent… UGH!  

And keeping with rate cuts.. Bloomerg.com is reporting this morning  central bank is set to keep borrowing costs on hold on Thursday and reiterate plans for a more aggressive policy than most other rich-world peers as the krone’s recent weakening risks hampering its fight with inflation.

Chuck again… Norway’s Norges Bank (central bank) is known to be very prudent with its decisions regarding interest rates, and for that I applaud them… If inflation isn’t at the Central Bank’s target rate, then why go ahead and cut rates like they will do in U.S.?  If you’re not going to be beholden to the target rate, then why have on in the first place?  Any answers? 

Well, are you waiting for the answer to this question, of what are you going to do about the Debt, and deficit spending? Coming from either candidate for President?  I’m not going political here this morning, I’m just pointing out that either one of them has given us any details about what they intend to do about This Sword of Damocles that hangs over our futures… That’s shameful… But, what do we expect? The elites, oligarchs, dark side, whatever you want to call them are calling the shots, and these candidates that we will vote for, are nothing but figure heads for the elites, oligarchs, dark side. 

That means that the deficit spending will continue, and our national Debt will continue to soar higher, until it breaks, and when that happens, you had better have gotten hold of your physical Gold…  Got Gold? 

Look folks… This is all simple Simon, easy greasy, a layup…  If the STUPID CPI comes in weaker in July, then all hell will break loose, the dollar will get sold, Gold will soar, and bonds will be bought… And one would think that I would be all for that scenario… But I’m not…  We, as a country, need a recession! It’s been a long time coming, and it’ll be a long time gone (CSNY)  if we don’t get one… At that point, we’ll know what the Fed Heads have chosen as the thing that will kill the economy, and that’s inflation…  Inflate or die…  either way you die… Inflation just takes longer to get to financial collapsing party…  Sort of like the old saying about dying by a thousand cuts…   

Circling back to talk about Gold again… Reuters is reporting that the Perth Mint saw sales of Gold in July rise 50%, and sales of Silver rise 13%, both from the previous month… The Perth Mint in Australia, is one of the largest depositories and sales agents in the world, so when they report that sales of physical Gold & Silver are rising, its a good sign for the metals… I’m just saying… 

And before we head to the Big Finish today, I wanted to make note of the rally the Japanese yen is back to afer a brief bump in the road when the Bank of Japan (BOJ) lifted rates, which should be good for yen, but wasn’t because observers thought the BOJ had squelched what little economic growth there was… But now, all the dust has settle on Japan, and Japanese investors are buying yen again…  Not that I think you as a currency investor should partkae in this yen reprisal, in my mind Japan is still a basket case…  I’m just saying… 

The U.S. Data Cupboard today is the day that the STUPID CPI prints for July…  I noticed that the forecasters have upped their forecast for annual STUPID CPI to 3.0%…  Do you think that maybe they read the Pfennig, and read where I said that I thought consumer inflation would be higher than expected, which was 2.5%…    Look, the dollar is need some real strong data to boost it out of these doldrums it’s in right now, and a stronger STUPID CPI would do the trick, for the markets would have to back off their calls for a rate cut!  

Speaking of rate cuts… I read on Ktico.om that there are some major banks saying that the Fed Heads will cut rates 175 Basis Points by mid 2025…  (175 Basis Points is equal to 1.75%)… So, if that’s to be taken with a gran of salt, that would mean the Fed Heads would be cutting rates at each of their meetings until next June…  That seems a bit far-fetched in my opinion… 

To Recap… The dollar finally succumbed to further selling yesterday, There was nothing to cause this selling to take place other than pent up frustration…   The euro traded within spittin’ distance of 1.10.. Chuck points out that we’ve seen this before…   The STUPID CPI prints today, so the markets and media will be happy campers again… And some major banks are calling for the Fed Heads to cut rates by 175 basis points by mid 2025!   That’s really choosing to inflate the economy, isn’t it?

For What I’ts Worth….Well, this is another entry from Russ and Pam Martens and this one is about how banks are teetering as many of them show HUGE losses, and it can be found here: These FDIC-Insured Banks Have Lost 69 to 40 Percent of their Market Value Year-to-Date (wallstreetonparade.com)

Or, here’s your snippet: “Here’s a look at three FDIC-insured banks that have lost 69 percent, 57 percent and 40 percent, respectively, of their share price year-to-date. The decline represents the change from their share price at the close on the last trading day of 2023 (Friday, December 29) and their close yesterday, (Monday, August 12, 2024).

New York Community Bancorp (Ticker NYCB): YTD Stock Performance, Down 69.33 Percent

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Flagstar Bank, N.A., headquartered in Hicksville, Long Island, New York with 420 branch offices in 12 states. As of March 31, 2024, Flagstar had $112.8 billion of assets, ranking it the 28th largest bank in the United States according to a listing compiled by the Federal Reserve.

For more on what’s going on at NYCB, see our report: Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s Treasury Secretary/Foreclosure Kingpin, Joins with Hedge Fund Guys to Grab a Teetering, Federally-Insured Bank for $2 a Share.

Adding insult to injury, effective after the market closed on July 11 of this year, the stock did a 1-for-3 reverse stock split, meaning that for every three shares of stock that you previously owned, you now owned just one.

Patriot National Bancorp (Ticker PNBK): YTD Stock Performance, Down 57 Percent

Patriot National Bancorp is the parent of Patriot Bank, N.A. with headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. As of March 31, it had just eight branch offices and a tiny $1 billion in assets. Its share price reflects ongoing losses being reported by the bank.

First Foundation (Ticker FFWM): YTD Stock Performance, Down 40 Percent

First Foundation is a small regional bank with 30 branches in five states. Like New York Community Bancorp, it has an over-concentration in loans on multifamily real estate. It reported $13.6 billion in assets as of March 31, 2024.

The share price took a particularly brutal beating in early July when it announced a $228 million equity infusion from a group led by Fortress, leading to serious dilution of existing shareholders. The deal came at a big cost, giving 49 percent ownership to the new investors, according to media reports.”

Chuck Again…  Ok, its obvious that this article is much longer than the snippet, so go ahead and click the line above to read the article in its entirety… I absolutely adore the articles that appears on www.wallstreetonparade.com

Market Prices 8/14/204: American Style: A$ 6625, kiwi .6019, C$ .7292, euro 1.1029, sterling 1.2865, Swiss $1.1594, European Style: rand 18.0564, krone 10.6655, SEK 10.4037, forint 357.78, zloty 3.8973, koruna 22.8565, RUB 88.16, yen 146.84, sing 1.3152, HKD 7.7891, China 7.1393, peso 18.95, BRL 5.4553, BBDXY 1,240.80, Dollar Index 102.46, Oil $78.23, 10-year 3.83%, Silver $27.92, Platinum $944.00, Palladium $950.00, Copper $4.10, and Gold… $2,474.30

That’s it for today… Man when I was a young man, I was strong as an ox… I told my good friend, Mike Karvas, the other day when I called him on his birthday, that “if someone tried to start a fight with me, I would just say, “you win”…  That’s not the person I used to be… But right now, I’m just so weak… And overweight again! This loss of blood, tricked my body into storing fats because it believes I’m in dire straits… I couldn’t believe the scale when I stepped on it Monday… Well, it’ll take time, the doctor tells me, for me to recover the loss of blood, and get my strength back…  So, I’m glad you’re here with me to go through this with me… The original Journey takes us to the finish line today with their song: Everybody’s Everthing… This is a classic rock song that was recorded before Steve Perry joined the group to sing… I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday and please Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• dollar waffles on Monday, no one wants to make a bet either way…
• Gold & Silver have good no interference days

Good Day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! Well, I didn’t hear the words that I was hoping  to hear yesterday… After a fuster ((&^%  of testing, and waiting, I was told that the operation was successful, but… They preferred that I remain on the blood thinners for 3 more months… UGH!  It ended up a 5-hour affair at the hospital… For a simple endoscope test… It took 4 different nurses to find a vein that they could put an IV needle in… They missed 5 times! OUCH!  So, I get to continue to have bleeding moments in my jaw that come whenever they feel like it, for 3 more months, aren’t I the lucky one?  Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes greet me this morning with their great song: If You Don’t Know Me By Now…

Well, Monday saw the dollar get bought a bit, with the BBDXY gaining 1 index point, and the euro remaining above 1.09… Gold found a bid and turned around that early morning loss into a $42 gain on the day, while Silver continued to add to its early morning gains and end the day up 53-cents… Gold closed at $2,472.90 and Silver Closed at $27.95… Both were unaffected by short trading in the metals… So, apparently the short paper traders were not motivated to go all hog heaven on the metals yesterday… 

I told you yesterday about the Silver situation, and how I believed that this came to fruition, that a short Silver Squeeze would take place and that could wipe out the short Silver paper traders…  Fingers crossed on that, eh? 

The price of Oil bumped higher by $2 yesterday, and at one point in the day touched $89, but settled in at the close trading with a $79 handle. Apparently, the Oil boys woke up and realized that the Middle East could be up in flames, and they panicked and marked up the price of Oil… 

And the 10-year’s yield saw some buying yesterday, and the yield dropped to a 3.90%… 

In the overnight markets last night… The dollar did some more waffling, and we start today with the BBDXY at the same level as yesterday, 1,246… Traders are waiting for tomorrow’s STUPID CPI to print before making any huge bets… Gold is down to star the day today -$6, and Silver is down 24-cents… Both of those levels can easily be turned around… I’m just saying… But if not, you’ve got an opportunity to by at a cheaper level this morning!  I don’t expect too much movement one way or the other today, and the markets and media are smitten with the STUPID CPI… So, we have that going for us… I think… 

Well, yesterday, I told you about how we’ll get quite a few real economic reports this week, and they begin today with July’s PPI (wholesale inflation) which is expected to come in with a .2% gain VS June… As you probably already know, PPI feeds into The STUPID CPI… So, a .2% gain isn’t going to set off fireworks… Tomorrow, the media and markets get their preferred inflation calculation the STUPID CPI…  here’s where the markets are not singing from the same song sheet, as some believe that July CPI will be weaker, while I’m pinning my colors on the flag of those that believe the STUPID CPI will come in above expectations, which are for a .2% gain… 

I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t see prices coming down, do you?  But, the thing we have to take into consideration is that this is the Gov’t’s accounting firm the BLS, and it is an election year… I’ll say no more, other than the BLS is known to allow the wind in its sails to shift easily…  I’m just saying…

I’m afraid that the BLS will get a memo from the White House that this month’s CPI print will be watched very closely, and could be a real market mover if it reveals one thing over the other… I just don’t think that we’ll get a real pulse of inflation from this report, either way… And as always, I’ll be checking with www.shadowstats.com  to see what John Williams has CPI doing…  I’ll let you know tomorrow… 

In some very scary news reported on Zerohedge.com, it appears that the share of consumers with a delinquent credit card has increased rapidly since 2021 and is now higher than in 2019. While consumers with delinquencies clearly show signs of struggling, news reports have taken the rising delinquency rate as a sign that financial distress is becoming more widespread, suggesting underlying weakness in the U.S. economy….   Uh-Oh!

Or58, could it be the mass issuance of credit cards by the banks, that are sexy in their terms and agreements, and the end user never reads them until its too late?  I’m sure that this scenario is part of the problem, but the overall weakness in the economy and the cost of things is more to blame… 

And Zerohedge.com also is reporting that July was another catastrophic month for U.S. fiscal viability: that’s because U.S. tax revenue of $330.4BN (down sharply from the $466.3BN in June, if higher than the $276.2BN a year ago), was far below the $573.1BN in government outlays (which was materially above the $537.2BN in June and also the $496.9BN last July)…resulting in a monthly deficit of $243.7BN, the second largest July budget deficit on record, surpassed only by the record post-covid print in July 2021.

There are two more months in the U.S.’s fiscal year, and so far we’ve booked $1.517 Trillion… So, it appears that we’ll have a $2 Trillion deficit this year… In a year that the U.S. is not fighting a war (outright, yes we have our proxy war in Ukraine), and no plandemic to fight, or other extraordinary spending item that bumps up your deficit spending… No, this deficit spending is all on gadgets, widgets, people that can’t work, and then the Big Elephant in the room is Medicare…  Remember when I used to point out to you that for the next 17 years, that 10,000 Baby Boomers would retire, and begin drawing on Medicare? 

I told you then that someone with some gray matter needed to come up with a different way that all the “entitlements” (I hate that word!) were paid out… Remember my plan?  I suggested that the ages were all screwed up had all the ages worked out as to what they got are could expect to get when they retired… The plan was genius, if you ask me!  Just another time that Chuck was way ahead of the Gov’t, markets, etc. with his thoughts on deficit spending…  Like when I suggested that we close all the military bases around the world in countries that don’t like us there anyway, and bring the soldiers home to defend our border… Think of the savings to the Country with all those bases closed… And I don’t mean tht we leave them like we did Afghanistan… That was shameful… 

I read yesterday that the U.S. is beefing up its presence in the Middle East… And that’s another thing I didn’t take into consideration yesterday, when I listed the things that should boost Gold’s price going forward, and that is Geopolitical problems… They’re everywhere we look, Europe, Ukraine, Middle East, South China Sea, and much like the Olympic rings that don’t consider Antartica a continent, Antartica seems to be the only peaceful place on earth! 

Gold has always been a go-to for investors when these Geopolitical problems arise… So, these days it shouldn’t be any different…. Got Gold?

Another thing that will help the price of Gold rise further, is the upcoming rate cut by the Fed Heads…  Yesterday, Reuters reported that; “If the US Federal Reserve does not start cutting interest rates relatively soon, US consumers could become dispirited, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said.” 

Chuck again… Why would that be, you may be asking? Well could it be that the Feds have, in most of our lifetimes, going back to Big Al Greenspan, been there to bail out the stock market, and the economy with easy money, an credit, and that’s the only thing most of can think to do to stem this recession, and stock sell-off…  Well GROW UP We, as a country don’t need no stinkin’ rate cut, what we need is a good old fashioned recession to wipe out the excesses and start over again…  I know that sounds harsh, but C’mon… Isn’t that they way it used to be done, before Big Al thought he was a rock star, and that the Fed Heads knew better? 

The U.S. Data Cupboard has the aforementioned PPI for July this morning… Not a market moving data print, unless there’s a blowout number printed, and I’m sure the Gov’t will have none of that! Tomorrow is the day the markets and media are all lathered up about… The STUPID CPI  for July… Which Chuck said he believes that the number would be higher than the .2% the so-called experts are forecasting for the print… I went into a long dissertation yesterday on The STUPID CPI, so you’ll have to go back in time, and read it if you forgot it already…

To recap… The dollar waffled most of the trading day yesterday, but in the end gained 1 index point in the BBDXY, while the euro remained above 1.09… Gold had a great day yesterday, and turned around its early morning loss, big time! Silver also had a good day… And both metals didn’t seem to be bothered by any short paper trading that I’m certain of… I’m not Imprint Certain, but Certain! HA!  The U.S. Deficit Spending continues to rack up large number each month, and it now appears that we’ll have a $2 Trillion Deficit this year… Shameful…   And the dollar’s position as the reserve currency took another hit with the percentage of dollar use around the world falling to 58% last year, BS 72% just two years ago… 

For What It’s Worth… Well, I talked about the BRIC’s yesterday, and today they are referenced as the cause of the dollar’s loss as a reserve currency, and that article can be found here: US dollar reserves drop 14% since 2002 as BRICS and gold challenge hegemony | Kitco News

Or, here’s your snippet: “The decline of the U.S. dollar (USD) as the world’s reserve currency has been a popular topic of conversation for years – especially in the wake of the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2007-2008 – and while talks of its impending demise may be overblown, data provided by the Atlantic Council shows that the world is indeed utilizing the USD significantly less than at the turn of the century.

 According to the Atlantic Council’s Dollar Dominance Monitor, the share of the USD in global reserves stood at 58% in 2024, a 14% decline from 2002 when it accounted for 72% of global reserves.

“The US dollar has served as the world’s leading reserve currency since World War II,” the report said. “Today, the dollar represents 58 percent of the value of foreign reserve holdings worldwide. The euro, the second-most-used currency, comprises only 20 percent of foreign reserve holdings.”

“But in recent years, and especially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Group of Seven (G7)’s subsequent escalation in the use of financial sanctions, some countries have been signaling their intention to diversify away from dollars,” researchers at the Atlantic Council said.

The pace of de-dollarization has picked up in recent years, and the researchers pointed to one development that has hastened this trend: the growth of BRICS.”

Chuck again… I just want to say neener, neener, neener, I told you so, I told you so, I told you so! To all that said I was barking up the wrong tree, years ago, when I pointed out that the BRICS would cause the dollar problems in the future… And it hasn’t taken the BRICS that long… For it was 2009, when they were founded, and I wrote about them…   Sure, to some people 2009 sounds like a long time ago, but in reality, it’s not… 

Market Prices 8/13/2024: American Style: A$.6596, kiwi .6043, C$ .7280, euro 1.0932, sterling 1.2791, Swiss $1.1532, European Style: rand 18.1703, krone 10.7930, SEK 10.5257, forint 360.00, zloty 3.9235, koruna 23.0526, RUB 91.49, yen 147.43, sing 1.3223, HKD 7.892, INR 83.97, China 7.1639, peso 18.95, BRL 5.4919, BBDXY 1,246.94, Dollar Index 103.14, Oil $79.49, 10-year 3.90%, Silver $27.77, Platinum $933.00, Palladium $924.00, Copper $4.07, and Gold… $2,466.20

That’s it for today… Playing to the level of their competition has always been a problem for my beloved Cardinals, and last night was no different, as they lost to the Reds 6-1… UGH! I go later today to get an Iron infusion; this is to help me because I’m so weak still… And my blood was in need of iron!  I tell ya, the only time I get out and about these days is when I go to the doctor! I guess it’s a good thing I have 5 doctors! And then it’s not such a good thing either! I came home yesterday from the hospital, ate lunch and fell asleep the rest of the day, and early evening… I was still able to go to sleep later last night…  Well, Little Evie, and brother Braden came to see me at the hospital yesterday… Braden is very interested in all at goes on in a hospital, while Little Evie is in her own world… Weezer takes us to the finish line today with their song: Isalnds In the Sun…. I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and will continue to Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• the dollar waffles but looks to be in BIG trouble
• Short-n-sweet this morning…

Good Day… And a Marvelous Monday to you!. This will be very short-n-sweet this morning, as I have an appt. To see the doctor that did my heart procedure, and they will scan it and see if there are any leaks, if no leaks, then maybe, just maybe I can get off the blood thinners…  I had forgotten to tell you last Thursday about today, so here I am in the middle of the night writing to keep you abreast of the markets… The O’Jays greet me this morning with their song: Love Train… 

Well, the dollar on Friday last week hemmed and hawed, but as the week came to a close, the BBDXY was down and ended the week at 1,246… I guess the dollar bugs haven’t gotten the memo that there’s a 100% chance of a Fed Heads rate cut in a few weeks…  All the talk last week about an emergency rate cut have abated, and so now we’re back to the Sept FOMC meeting to see a rate cut… 

I say that about the dollar bugs, because one would think that if a country’s Central Bank is going about debasing its currency with rate cuts, then you would think that the backers of the currency would be running for hills… And maybe they are waiting for the actual announcement of a rate cut, before that take off for the hills…   I’m just saying..

Gold found a bid on Thursday last week, and gained $40, while Silver gained 91-cents… Then on Friday last week, Gold gained another $3, and Silver lost 10-cents…  So, Gold ended the week at $2,430.70, and Silver at $27.444… 

I don’t know what the Gold bugs are waiting for with Gold taking off to higher ground, but one thing I’m sure is on their collective minds is that the short paper traders are always lurking in the dark alleys waiting to attack Gold & Silver…  And for that part, all the precious metals… Platinum, Palladium and while we’re talking about metals that get short papered we might as well throw in Copper too! 

The price of Oil ended the week trading with $76 handle, which is much stronger than it has been recently, when people were scared of the lack of demand and placing more importance on that than the fact that the Middle East is a tinder box, waiting for a spark…  Maybe, the Oil folks have changed their minds… maybe, cause you never know (Andujar)

The latest auction of Treasuries didn’t go so smoothly, and actually the auction was weak…  this is not a good thing, and is just another Jenga Block taken out of the dollar’s tower… Bad economic data, and bad auctions… And a Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel about to cut rates, and debase the currency even more…   Got Gold? 

In the overnight markets last night… The dollar, at first looked to be in trouble, with the BBDXY losing 2 index points, but as the night when along, the dollar recovered and starts the day/ week at 1.246… No change from Friday… When going through the currency screens, I noticed that some of the currencies are really beginning to show some strength VS the dollar… So I amend my previous statement!  Gold is off $6 to start the day/ week this morning, and Silver is up 88-cents… I suspect that there has been some profit taking in Gold, and that it will turn around that negative figure soon…  I just look at the surrounding facts, folks…  For Gold to move higher we need to see the Fed Heads cut rates, the foreign Central Banks to continue to buy physical Gold, and that the flows into the ETF Trusts, continue to turn around and be positive…  Check, Check, Check!  See what I mean with Gold’s price? 

And I read this past weekend that some observers believe that all of the physical Silver that’s available will be used up with industrial needs… That’s when the short paper traders will see a squeeze the size of a Everest! And that’s wen Silver finally gets the upward move it deserves…  I really, really, really, want the short paper traders to get caught in a short squeeze, so that they go away… They don’t have to go away mad, they just need to Go Away! 

The price of Oil this morning starts the day/ week with a $77 handle… And the 10-year’s yield starts today with 3.95% yield… 

And this is a continuing story, but one that we should take note of…  National banks continue to shut down branches at an alarming rate, with more than 30 locations being shuttered in just two weeks in July, the Daily Mail reports…  Like I’ve said before the Big Casino Banks won’t need branches when digital currency is introduced and implemented…   

This is going to be close to a datapalooza week…  As we get inundataed with real economic data, and some made up in the back roon data from the Gov’t…  For instance,  July PCE (personal Consumption Expenditures) will print tomorrow, and then on Wednesday, we’ll see the STUPID CPI for July… I doubt either one will show that inflation has gone away… Then later in the week we’ll see the latest Retail Sales, Industrial Capacity, and Capacity Utilization… These last three are REAL Economic data folks, so pay attention to them when they print… 

To recap… The dollar seems to be losing ground per the BBDXY, but we’re not seeing it play out in the currencies taking off… So, maybe it’s on a delayed basis… Chuck is strapped for time this morning, so other than that, he didn’t talk about much…

For What It’s Worth… This article came to me from longtime reader, Bob, of whom I thank for sending it along, because it’s something that I see all coming together, that I pointed out many years ago would eventually happen, and now it is…  and you can find the article here: De-dollarization the path to global financial freedom – Asia Times

Or, here’s your snippet: “Economic and financial sanctions often backfire. The most notable example is the weaponization of the dollar against Russia. The measure has sparked a global movement to de-dollarize, the opposite of the punitive move’s strategic intent.

The historic miscalculation didn’t stop US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida from introducing a bill in Congress to punish countries that de-dollarize. The bill seeks to ban financial institutions facilitating de-dollarization from the global dollar system.

Rubio’s bill, ominously called the Sanctions Evasion Prevention and Mitigation Act, would require US presidents to sanction financial institutions using China’s CIPS payment system, Russia’s financial messaging service SPFS and other alternatives to the dollar-centric SWIFT system.

US policymakers and pundits in the financial media were initially dismissive of de-dollarization. They argued the dollar is used in some 80% of all global financial transactions. No other currency even comes close.

But financial sanctions against Russia, imposed after Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine’s Donbas region in 2022, became a turning point. The trend to de-dollarize expanded rapidly and has now arguably become irreversible.

In May this year, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced plans to de-dollarize their cross-border trade and use local currencies instead. The announcement made few global headlines but ASEAN is a huge trading bloc comprised of ten countries with a combined population of 600 million people.

Other agreements to bypass the dollar system include barter deals. Iran and Thailand are trading food for oil while Pakistan has authorized barter trade with Iran, Afghanistan and Russia. China is building a state-of-the-art airport in Iran, to be paid for in oil.”

Chuck again… Yes… When the BRICs were first announced many years ago now, I pointed out that this would eventually take the dollar down… Boy did I hear it from pundits all over about how the BRICs were not a viable alternative to the dollar…  Well, I guess they were wrong, and I was right!  What else is new there? 

Market Prices 8/12/2024: American Style: A$ .6599, .6027, C$ .7288, euro 1.0925, sterling 1.2760, Swiss $1.1516, European Style: rand 18.2267, krone 10.7633, SEK 10.5311, forint 359.67, zloty 3.9411, koruna 23.0421, RUB 90.91, yen 147.60, sing 1.3246, HKD 7.77941, INR 83.97, China 7.178, peso 18.82, BRL 5.5084, BBDXY 1246.66, Dollar Index 103.13, Oil $77.72, 10-year 3.95%, Silver $27.95, Platinum $939.00, Palladium $936.00, Copper $4.04, and Gold… $2,443.16

That’s it for today… So, a BIG appt this morning for me, fingers are crossed! Well, my beloved Cardinals could only win 1 of the 4 games they had with cross-state rivals the Royals… And then had a very rare Sunday off date! They had to lick their wounds, and come home…  If I were the GM of the team, I would keep all the young guys, (non-pitchers) and trade all the old guys, and see how much pep the team has afterward… I’m just saying…  The weather here in the Midwest has been Chamber of Commerce like, for sure, no hot dog days of August, but still warm, and that’s how I like it! So, in keeping with this being short-n-sweet… Dire Straits take us to the finish line this morning with their song: The Sultans of Swing… I hope you have a Marvelous Monday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• The dollar continued to get bought on Tuesday
• Costco brings physical Gold to the masses…

Good Day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! The night started out not so great for my Beloved Cardinals last night, and the middle of the game worked out fine, but then the 9^th inning… Too much drama for my tastes! But, the Cardinals won the game 4-3… Despite them trying their darndest to give the game away!  Well, I want to let you know now that there won’t be a Pfennig tomorrow… I’ll be taking my beautiful bride to have  cataract surgery on one eye… Then in a couple of weeks the other eye… I have a cataract too, and I’m kind of chicken to have it removed, since I only have one eye… The eye doc said, “when it effects your seeing so much that you can’t stand it, you’ll want to have it removed”… So, I’m going with that! The Kinks greet me this morning with their song: Sunny Afternoon… 

Well, the heat here in the Midwest, broke yesterday, without any rain to bring the relief… So, that was strange… The markets are strange these days, the weather is strange these days, and Chuck is still feeling strange… 

The dollar continued to get bought yesterday, and is trying to recover its losses from late last week… The BBDXY gained 3 index points to rise to 1,249…  The dollar buying has been just strong enough to give it a boost to start the week… Remember what I thought on Monday this week, that there is little to no real economic data this week, and after last week’s awful showing in the Data Cupboard, and the dollar getting whacked, I suggested that the power that be could be holding back economic reports, this week to give the a breather…  I know, I know, that’s a real far fetched idea, but you never know, do you? 

I mean going into last weekend, the dollar was getting hung out to dry, and it appeared that the fears of a recession  had been the cause, and those fears were generated by awful real economic data…  So, I merely put 2 & 2 togehter, and came up with that Idea…  Because without any additional awful economic data prints this week, the dollar has rebounded…  I’m just saying… 

Gold never found a bid yesterday, and lost $19 on the day to close at $2,391.70, and Silver was in the same no bid boat as Gold and lost 13-cents to close at $27.07…   The price of Oil gained a bit yesterday and closed very close to a $73 handle at $72.99….. And if you can tell me what int he world the bond boys are doing these days, I’ll buy you beer! The 10-year’s yield rose again yesterday closing at 3.91%… 

In the overnight markets last night… The dollar continued to get bought, but this time at a much slower pace, with the BBDXY gaining 1 index point overnight. The bloom is off the rose, with the Swiss franc… Just a few days ago, the franc was getting bought like funnel cakes at a State Fair, and it reached 1.18… This morning, the franc has come back down from its lofty perch, and trades with a 1.16 handle… Still much better than a month ago when the franc was trading with a 1.11 handle!   

Gold is up $9 in the early trading today, and Silver is flat as a pancake (Head East) right now… Stocks rallied yesterday, so there was no Gold that had to be sold to pay for the margin calls, etc.  I read a note this morning, that Costco, who’s been selling Gold bars in recent months, has basically brought physical Gold to the masses… I love it, because the stock jockeys won’t even discuss Gold with you, much less sell it to you and hold it for you… This is the avenue that was needed to get the youngsters to buy Gold, for if Costco sells it, they’ve got to have it!  I recall my last trip to Las Vegas to speak in probably 2015, and I ran into a vending machine that sold Gold bars, I was surprised to see that then, but now? Par for the course… 

The price of Oil has bumped higher to trade with a $74 handle this morning… And the 10-year continues to add yield, and trades this morning with a 3.94% yield…   

The Japanese yen is getting whipsawed just about every day, since the Bank of Japan (BOJ) hike rates… Well, the BOJ isn’t helping things either, as they came out and said that they were not entertaining any further rate cuts, as long as the markets are unstable…   Those comments saw yen lose some ground and trades this morning with a 145 handle…  Well, since the 90’s I have called Japan, “a basket case”… And they still are… Demographics are awful, and the Central Bank is so wishy-washy that you can never get  a read on them…  I’m just saying… 

Well, I talked a lot yesterday about stocks, as a whole, not individual… And it was brought to my attention that the stocks in Japan have fared much worse than those in the U.S…. It was recently, not that long ago, that the Japanese stock market had finally gotten back to the level it was when the stock market crashed in 1990…  And now the bottom has fallen out of the Japanese stock market again…   

Wall Street economists are in utter denial of the idea that a recession is coming…  several economists and equity strategists believe that while the risks of recession have risen amid weakening economic data, the last few days of market action have been an overreaction…. Really? Have you not noticed that these bad economic prints have been building momentum?  Apparently, not! These guys are doing nothing but “talking their books”… They can’t come out and agree that the economy is heading to a recession and keep their jobs! 

In my humble country boy opinion, the risks have risen, leaning toward the Fed starting off with a more aggressive pace of rate cuts, and to me that just speeds things along, once the Fed Heads start cutting rates… I never said, that we were in a recession now… I said, that it appears that we’re heading to a recession… 

I came across this at www.yahoofinance.com All eyes may be on the stock market, which is seeing volatility it hasn’t experienced in two years. But Americans’ kitchen table finances are also in a precarious place, with credit card balances reaching a new high.

The news comes from the New York Federal Reserve’s Report on Household Debt and Credit for the second quarter of 2024, which finds that credit card balances rose 2.4% to a record-high $1.14 trillion—a 48% increase since the first quarter of 2021. Delinquency rates for credit card debt and auto loans stabilized in the second quarter, but have also been increasing.”

Chuck again… That old debt! Yes, a lot of people run up their credit card debt throughout the month, and then pay it off in full at month-end. But not $1.14 Trillion worth!  This report to me, is scary… Scary for the economy, because after a consumer has gone out and run up their credit card buying all the latest technical gear, what do they have left? They have a maxed-out credit card, and then something comes up that they need credit for… Uh-Oh! Then Banks that issue the credit cards have to write off the debt when it doesn’t get paid, and the economy has a whole goes to hell in a hand basket….  Got Gold? 

Speaking of Gold… I read last night that “Buy gold’ Google searches up 64% in one week as recession fears spike” That’s a good sign for Gold, folks… For all my dear readers, if you have questions regarding “buying Gold”, I suggest you don’t go to Google, but instead give my metals guru, Tim Smith a call at 1-800-926-4922…   Tim  knows all the ins and outs, the costs, the ways to hold Gold, etc. So, give him a call! 

Oh, and I don’t get a plug nickel from Tim’s company, for mentioning him… I do that out of the goodness of my heart! 

I also read that Gold’s safe haven status right now is higher than it was in 1971…  And it wasn’t until December 31, 1974 that consumers were able to buy physical Gold again…   Remember back then?  I was playing my guitar traveling the country at that time… So, basically I had no idea what was going on then, until years later I was working at Mark Twain Bank, and we sold Gold & Silver and safekept for clients in our vault… I studied the history of Gold at that time, and found out then… 

So, for 41 years it was illegal for consumers to own physical Gold… I would have found a way to get that done, if I had been around then…  Remember Gold certificates?  It was a way to get around not being able to buy physical Gold…   

This little history lesson has been brought to you by the good folks at www.battlebank.com  They are the folks that publish this letter each day… And I strongly recommend that if you’re tired of your current bank taking advantage of you, to click on that link and get on their waitlist…  Once they get the wink and nod from the FDIC to open, they will contact you and give you the steps needed to transfer your balances to them! 

Well… The euro has remained in the 1.09 handle with all this dollar buying the first two days of this week. I really thought that after Friday’s rally in the euro that,  it would be trading with a 1.10 handle this week…  And apparently the safe haven status buying of the currencies has taken a pause for the cause, as all these Wall Street Economists have pooh-poohed the threat of a recession… I can only imagine the egg on their faces in the coming months… So, the euro, yen and sterling have all backed off their highs from Friday last week. And obviously, Gold has backed off its high from last week.. Gold is the ultimate safe haven …  I’m just saying… 

Yesterday’s U.S. Data Cupboard had the June Trade Deficit, and while it was weaker than the previous month, it came in stronger than expected, thus printing at $73.1 Billion… Today’s Data Cupboard doesn’t have anything to speak of printing, so we’ll just move along here… For these are not the droids we’re looking for… 

To recap… The dollar selling ended Monday, and on Tuesday dollar buying was back on the table… That marked two consecutive days of dollar buying, after a massive selling of the dollar last week. Gold & Silver couldn’t find a bid all day yesterday, and therefore posted losses on the day. Consumer are racking up the credit card debt, and Chuck thinks that is scary… Gold is back to being the top pick for a safe haven… And “Buy Gold” searches on Google were up 64% last week…  no data again today… 

For What It’s Worth… I came across this article and found it to be quite interesting, and therefore FWIW wortthy… It’s Jamie Dimon talking about the loss of the American Dream, and it can be found here:Jamie Dimon says the American dream is disappearing—and half the public no longer believe in it (msn.com)

Or, here’s your snippet: “beacon of hope has long buoyed Uncle Sam’s workforce: The idea that, if a person works hard enough, they can achieve success no matter where they come from.

But the American dream is slowly slipping out of sight—in fact, nearly half the nation no longer believes it’s attainable at all.

In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, the 68-year-old laid out what he believes the policies of the next administration should be.

The self-proclaimed “full-throated, red-blooded, patriotic, unwoke, capitalist CEO” said he wanted to see the next president focus on “smarter policies that provide protection, progress and prosperity to all.”

Dimon, who has led the 240,000-strong workforce at America’s biggest bank since 2006, explained: “The American dream is disappearing for many because opportunity is not shared equally. Many inner-city and rural schools do not teach students the skills they need to get good jobs. Some of these problems aren’t necessarily intractable.

“For example, we can easily reform our mortgage policies to make homeownership more affordable for lower-income Americans.”

Whether or not the American dream is still an option—let alone attainable—depends on who you ask.

Last month Pew Research asked 8,709 Americans if they believe the dream is still achievable: Only 53% believe it’s still possible.

Of the remaining respondents, 41% believe the American dream was once possible and 6% believed it was never possible at all.”

Chuck again… Well, you can always depend on Jamie Dimon to come out and talk about stuff that he knows is never going to happen… But at least he sees the problem in housing right now, and it was about time he said something about it… I’m just saying…

Market Prices 8/7/2024: American Style: A$ .6563, kiwi .6022, C$ .7276, euro 1.0915, sterling 1.2724.00, Swiss $16.18, European Style: rand 18.3508, krone 10.7911, SEK 10.4641, forint 365.01, zloty 3.9598, koruna 23.1557, RUB 86.06, yen 145.60, sing 1.3273, HKD 7.7971, INR 83.95, China 7.1793, peso 19..26, BRL 5.5386, BBDXY 1,250.11, Dollar Index 103.19, Oil $74.96, 10-year 3.94%, Silver $27.05, Platinum $929.00, Palladium $897;00 Copper $3.98, and Gold…. $2,400.93

That’s it for today and this week, sorry about tomorrow, but family duties called, and I answered!  My beloved Cardinals really needed a win last night, so it was good that they got one… My City SC team has really gone through some changes… They were having a bad season, and so they decided to change the players, and they began trading away my team! I’m glad I didn’t buy a team jersey with a player’s name on it! My next game is Sept 1st… Maybe by then I’ll be able to walk from the parking garage to the stadium without pain, weakness, and fatigue! Fingers crossed! The band, Yes, takes us to the finish line today with their song: Long Distance Run Around…  I’ve always contended that to properly enjoy Yes music you need to listen to it with headphones on!  OK… I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday today, and please Be Good To Yourself! 

Chuck Butler

• the dollar selling ends on Monday and Monday night
• Emergency rate cut? no way, Jose!

Good Day.. And a Tom Teriffic Tuesday to you! My poor beloved Cardinals… They can’t stand prosperity, and they continue to choose which games they will hit the ball, and last night was not one of those nights, as they lost to the pond scum 6-0! I didn’t have to subject myself watching the game, as we, as a family all went out to dinner to celebrate, Delaney’s Birthday, Grace’s birthday, and Dawn’s birthday, which will come in  couple of weeks… Happy Birthday to all… The Guess Who greet me this morning with their great 70’s song: No Sugar Tonight/ New Mother Nature… 

Well, I was really impressed with how Gold & Silver fought back yesterday… When I left you yesterday morning, Gold was down $75, and Silver was down $1.95… But, as the day went along, the two metals fought off the short paper traders, and didn’t get back to even for the day, but took a BIG chunk out of the losses that they have been inflicted with…  Gold closed yesterday down -$33, but closed above $2,400 at $2,410.60… And Silver closed yesterday down $1.32 with a price of $27.23…  This raid by the short paper traders was egregious once again, and shows they have no mrecy… It’s a real shame that Gold & Silver are not allowed to trade without interference… Just imagine if you will, how high the price of these two metals would be if it weren’t for the short paper traders…  I’m just saying… 

The dollar found a bid yesterday, and the BBBDXY gained 1-index point… The selling of the dollar had gone fast and furious, and probably too much, at one time, and so a breather was in store…  Stocks saw a nasty day yesterday with the Dow losing 1,000 points…  And here’s where I need to put out a public service announcement regarding Gold & Silver going forward… 

If stocks continue to sell, and I don’t see any reason why they would stop, Gold & Silver will be subjected to all this stock selling, in that, there two will get sold to offset the losses that the stock jockeys are taking… The margin calls, and other devilish things that investors have been investing in that are now taking on losses…  But here’s the thing to look for…  When Gold & Silver get sold to offset the stock and other stupid investment losses, it will be time to back up the truck, because after the selling is through, I see Gold & Silver taking off for higher ground… 

So, there’s your playbook…   are you with me on this? 

The price of Oil gained a bit yesterday, and ended the day with a $74 handle… Maybe the selling was a bit overdone? It sure appears to be the case… And the 10-year’s yield saw it’s downward trajectory reverse, and the yield gained from 3.67% yesterday morning to end the day at 3.84%… 

You don’t think that the bond boys read the Pfennig yesterday, and thought that I made sense, and that they have overbought the bond?  Nah, as if, right?  

In the overnight markets last night…The dollar buying continued last night, and the BBDXY gained 3 index points… The currencies have all backed off their highs from a couple of days ago, and the dollar, once again has skirted its destination with the Wiley Coyote cliff… It will get there eventually, folks… All the bad data reports are telling us story, and right now the dollar bugs are refusing to listen to it… 

Gold is down $6 to start the day today, and Silver is down 33-cents… I’m afraid for the short term levels for these two metals, as they will get used to offset the stock jockeys’ losses…  UGH!  Beep, Beep, Beep, the sound of the truck backing up will be in full force when the dust is clear… 

The price of Oil  lost $2 overnight, and is right back to where it was yesterday morning, trading with a $72 handle… There’s been no fresh news with regards to the energy market, and so I suspect we’ll see Oil trade in a very tight range until there is fresh news… 

The 10-year’ yield trades this morning at 3.84%… I guess the talk of an emergency rate cut hasn’t swayed the bond boys any… Hmmm….

I talked yesterday about the safe haven buying of the “safe haven” currencies, which include; euros, sterling, Swiss, and yen.. It’s all bout what’s called “the majors”…  For years, these were the only currencies that got bought or sold daily ( the euro took the place of the deutsche mark ) I remember when I first began to trade foreign bonds, and I liked the New Zealand dollar, and one of the mainstays of the foreign desk, told me that the currency was not liquid, and it was too small of a country to make a difference… 

I persisted, and we finally began to sell New Zealand Gov’t Bonds… The currency, by the way, doubled in price during the last weak dollar trend… Not that I’m slapping myself on the back here, but I didn’t notice this currency and country long before anyone else did!   I’m just saying…

Currency traders are fickle people… I was once at a conference in Arizona, and the speaker before me went all off on traders talking about how they were fickle and that they weren’t the kind of people you would have to your house for dinner…   i then got up on the stage an ad=libbed a bit, and said, “Well, I’m a trader, and people like me, and I think you would be lucky to have me over for dinner”…  

I said all that to tell you that the Swiss franc saw some profit taking yesterday, and saw its 1.18 handle reduces to a 1.17 handle…   Most times, things go too far one way, and have to be brought back to reality… And the franc fits that description perfectly! 

Well, why is everyone all keen to the threat of a recession now, but all along when the yield curve was inverted, and the economic data kept showing cracks, no one noticed?  The Sahm Rule that I explained to you about yesterday, is probably one of the reasons… And the economic data can’t be ignored any longer…  When you have an economy that’s on tinter hooks, you get reports like this one: Red Lobster, Pizza Hut, Boston Market, TGI Fridays, Popeyes, Tijuana Flats, Cracker Barrel and Applebee’s have all shuttered locations due to financial issues… And there are a tone of local restaurants in areas around the country that have closed their doors forever… But, hey! Listen to the wonks that are running for office anywhere in the country and they’ll tell you how great the economy is!  Lies, lies, and more lies… 

Yesterday was very eerily akin to what is called “Black Monday” , which took place on Rocktober 19th, 1987… And saw the first time that the Fed, Cabel, Cartel, under Big Al Greenspan, came in to intervene and attempt to save the stock jockey from further losses… I was glad that the Fed, Cabal, Carel, under Jerome Powell, didn’t make the same mistake that Big All did all those years ago… I remember that day like it happened last month!  The Friday preceeding Black Monday, was a ominous sign, in that it sold off a huge chunk…  So, didn’t the same things happen this time around?   I recall my sister, Barbara, calling me on the phone that weekend, and asking me if she should sell her stocks in her IRA, and I told her ” well, are you able to tap your IRA yet? And if you can’t, how long until you can? She told me it was quite a few years, so I told her to hang tough that they would be back before she needed to sell them…”   

Of course, today is a different story… I doubt I would be alive to see the next stock recovery that recovered all these losses… And the losses that will come when we are really in a recession, and not one that people are just talking about right now… 

I know, I shouldn’t be wasting my time talking about the stocks… But yesterday was so eerily familiar with that fateful data in Rocktober 1987… 

And now, the markets are calling on the Fed, Cabal, Cartel, to do an “emergency rate cut” before they meet in Sept. Here’s the skinny from CBSnews.com “Given the dim economic data, some analysts and investors said they believe the Fed should undertake an emergency cut before their next rate decision, scheduled for September 18.

“Some analysts are even suggesting an intra-meeting emergency cut is warranted,” noted Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, in an email. “

To that, I say “hogwash”! There’s nothing in the Fed, Cabal, Cartel’s mandate that says they need to adjust interest rates in order to make stocks comfortable! This is NOT Big Al Greenspan’s Fed, Cabal, Cartel, folks… We all know that Big Al had an affection for having the markets adore him… Jerome Powell, is NOT Al Greenspan, and therefore, I would say that there will not be an “emergency rate cut” before the Sept. Meeting of the FOMC… Of course, if there is an “emergency rate cut”, then the markets and their bothers will all know that it was done to save stocks, an that wont’ be a good thing… I’m just saying… 

And one more thing.. .I told you the other day that the Aussie dollar (A$) was getting clobbered, and with a little research I found out that it was a result of the “Carry Trade” being reversed… With yen’s rally going on, that makes abundant sense to me… The “Carry Trade” was made by those seeking to gain interest rate spread, and as long as the currency (yen) that gold sold stayed steady Eddie, then everything was hunky dorey…   So, when the trade is unwound, the currency that got bought (A$), now gets sold, and the currency that was sold short, (yen) now gets bought…  A farewll to the Carry Trade… Bye, bye… You worked well for a very long time! 

The U.S. Data Cupboard today has the June Trade Deficit… In May the Trade Deficit was $75 Billion, and since May the dollar has gotten a bit weaker, so I expect the June Trade Deficit to come in much less than $75 Billion… But that’s about it for today on data prints, as I told you yesterday, the Data Cupboard doesn’t have much for us this week… 

To recap… The selling of the dollar took a pause for the cause yesterday, and the BBDXY gained back 1 index point, after losing more than 20 index points in the last month… The euro stopped moving higher in the 1.09 handle, and the rest of the currencies backed off their gains from last week. Chuck talks too much about stocks today, not individual ones, of course, but the stock market as a whole… This reminds me of a saying that i use the time… Ahhh, said the Blind man as he spit into the wind, it’s all coming back to me now…  I’m just saying… 

For What It’s Worth… Good friend, Dennis Miller, sent this to me yesterday, and i immediately thought it to be FWIW worthy.. So, here you go, this is an article that talks about the same thing I was talking about above, but with more pizazz.. And you can find it here: And Suddenly Things Change – The Burning Platform

Or, here’s your snippet: “That two-by-four upside our country’s head you’ve been waiting to get whomped with? Looks like it’s landing now. We got a banger in 2008, but it didn’t make as much of an impression. Maybe you don’t even remember these people, but then Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed Chair Ben Bernanke came in like a code blue squad and hooked up the banks to an IV-drip speedball of cocaine and heroin, i.e., “money” that didn’t actually exist (a.k.a. “liquidity,” hallucinated capital), and that crew kept it coming for years.

And then Janet Yellen and her posse kept it coming with never-ending zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) until the national debt canceled America’s future. And that left Jerome Powell pretending there was a way out of this doom-loop. Then came the repo market spasm in September 2019 that freaked out the blob so badly they shut down the whole world with Covid and locked-down economies. And everything since then has been waiting game. The financial world was in hospice.

The wait is over. Everything that can break is breaking: stock markets, bond markets, the galaxy of derivatives — bets on this and that, which will never be honored. Banks are next. Gold and silver are hanging in there for dear life just now, because they’re actually worth something. (And because they are worth something, they‘ll eventually sell off some too, to cover margin calls on other stuff hemorrhaging value. But they will not go to zero like a lot of other stuff, and they’ll come back stronger.)

You understand this can’t play out like it did in 2008-9. The authorities are out of tricks and out of fake money. They can try the emergency interest rate cut, but it won’t change what is actually happening: the epic revaluation of everything humans make and own — with much of it losing value and quite a bit losing all value because it never really had any. The spooky catch is that there will be an attempt in this wild and terrifying process, for certain devious, unprincipled parties to take possession of many things shaking loose — what remains of collateral. . . real things. . . commodities. . . facilities. . . properties. . . chattels. . . artworks. . . and, of course, whatever securities still have a relationship to realities of production.”

Chuck again… Well, sometimes it’s nice to hear someone echo what you’ve been saying…  

Market Prices 8/6/2024: American Style: A$ .6483, kiwi .5923, C$ .7228, euro 1.0912, sterling 1.2680, Swiss $1.1710, European Style: rand 18.4737, krone 10.9990, SEK 10.5899, forint 364.32, zloty 3.9507, koruna 23.1922, RUB 85.85, yen 145.80, sing 1.3770, HKD 7.7920, INR 83.96, China 7.1525, peso 19.26, BRL 5.6746, BBDXY 1,249.70, Dollar Index 103.15, Oil $72.79, 10-year 3.84%, Silver $26.93, Platinum $914.00, Palladium $857.00, Copper $3.99, and Gold… $2,404.06

That’s it for today… Well, my blood levels haven’t recovered, and in fact they were lower yesterday than when I left the hospital two weeks ago… My doctor told me that it could take 8 weeks before they returned to normal… I told her I didn’t think I could deal with feeling this weak for 6 more weeks… I can’t climb the stairs from our basement to the main floor, without sounding like a ran a marathon, and feeling like I had too!  Oh well, it beats the alternative, pushing Daisys.. So, quit your complaining Chuck! Suck it up buttercup! Quit your sitting on the sofa eating chocolate bon-bons! Ok, Ok, I get it! I go to the heart doctor that performed the operation on my heart in June, next week, to see if everything worked out perfectly, for if it did, then I can get off blood thinners… So, fingers crossed… Jr. Walker and the All-Stars take us to the finish line today with one of my all-time fave songs: What Does It Take?   I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• Currencies rally on Friday, and in the overnight markets last night…
• Heard of the Sahm Rule? Well, you will now!

Good Day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! Well, the temps backed off from their searing high levels this past weekend here in the MidWest…  I had told my water hole buddies that it had been hotter here, than in S. Florida…  Things sure were hot in Chicago this past weekend for the Cardinals’ rival Cubs, as they took 3 of 4 games from the Cardinals, and quite frankly should have swept, my beloved team… I’m still not 100% recovered from my episode in the ER two weeks ago… They had to give me 3 units (bags) of blood, and even still my blood level was just barely above the minimum level… I get so darn tired so easily… But, I am getting stronger every day, so there’s that! Steely Dan greets me this morning with their song: Don’t Take Me Alive… 

Well, the BIG NEWS from last Friday, was the Jobs Jamboree… Which actually fell in line with the ADP Employment Report, which you may recall printed at 122,000 jobs created in July… The BLS came in with a print of 114,000 jobs created in July, and for once in a Blue Moon, the two reports lined up.  But here’s the BIG Difference… The BLS had to add 246,000 jobs out of thin air to get to 114,000…  So, the way Chuck looks at jobs in the U.S., July had a negative 360,000 jobs for the month… The Unemployment Rate rose to 4.3%, and had economists all running for the hills, as they now claim that the U.S. economy is heading to a recession…  Well, in my opinion, bring it on! It’s about time we had a cleaning out of the excesses!  

So, the dollar got taken to the woodshed on Friday…  First of all, on Wednesday last week we saw a weakening of the dollar, as it lost 9 index point in the BBDXY,  but then on Thursday, the dollar rebounded a bit, gaining 4 index points… But after the Jobs Report printed, the dollar got sent directly to the woodshed, and was not a allowed to pass Go or collect $200… The BBDXY showed a loss of 9 index points on Friday, as it ended the week at 1,249… 

I’ll point this out again, because it’s important to remember the beginnings of a trend…  The BBDXY on July 2nd, just a month ago, was 1,271…   So, that’s 21 index points during the last 30 days…  Time for the PPT to come out with both guns blazing, and buy dollars, don’t you think? I say that because every darn time the dollar has been perched on the edge of the cliff, the PPT comes in and buys dollars, and all the momentum that was in the currencies and metals favor is washed away… I’ve always contended that the PPT’s (Exchange Stabilization Fund) didn’t have a bottomless pit, and that the funds would dry up sooner or later… Maybe, just maybe, cause you never know, this is the time that the ESF has dried up…   

Gold & Sliver had and interesting day on Friday…  Here’s Ed Steer with his view on what happened with Gold & Siver on Friday: “It was more than obvious that the collusive commercial shorts knew what the non-farm payroll number was in advance — and they were on the precious metals in Globex trading overseas even before the number came out at 8:30 a.m. in New York.

It was full-on battle stations for them once that number hit the street — and even then, with the DXY in the dumpster, they were having problems. But, regardless of that, they really put the hammer down at 10:25 a.m. — and through sheer brute force [as the volumes indicated] did whatever it took to prevent those running from all things paper, into all things precious metal.

But both gold and silver came roaring back after their engineered 11:15 a.m. EDT low ticks were in — and it was patently obvious that ‘da boyz’ had to step in on more than one occasion after that to prevent both from running away to the upside once again.”

Chuck again… Ed always has his finger on the pulse of who he calls “da boyz”…  and their antics… You can find Ed here: www.edsteergoldsilver.com

You know me, I don’t like starting the letter with a data print, but Friday’s Jobs Jamboree had such an affect on the markets, that I had no other choice today… Stocks got taken to the woodshed too, and that was strange given that the jobs report just about sealed the idea that the Fed Heads will cut rates at their next meeting in Sept. The idea behind the selloff in stocks was the U.S. economy is heading to a recession… And historically, stocks do not perform well in a recession…   

The price of Oil had a rotten two-day performance… When I left you on Thursday morning, the price of Oil had a $78 handle…  Well, apparently, the lack of demand for Oil, is weighing heavily on Texas Tea, Black Gold… On Thursday Oil lost $2 and on Friday it lost $3, to end the week trading with a $73 handle…  The war risks are being outweighed right now with the lack of demand… I find that to be quite interesting… 

And the 10-year’s yield is still being marked downward, with all the buying of the 10-year, in anticipation of a rate cut, the yield on the 10-year ended the week at 3.79%…   It wasn’t that long ago that the 10-year’s yield was around 4.60%… So, that’s quite a drop in the yield, and rise in the price of the bond.

In the overnight markets last night… Well, the short paper traders came out the wallboard where they reside, and scattered around the kitchen floor, with their arms full of short paper trades already this morning, and gold has lost $75 to start the day / week today… Silver is down $1.95 to start the day/ week, and the dollar is getting trampled on otherwise Gold’s loss would be around $91 this morning… The Dollar Index has fallen to 102 handle, and the BBDXY is down big this morning… The euro, the offset to the dollar, continues to climb in the 1.09 handle, and the Swiss franc is kicking tail and taking names later, as a flight to save havens is soaring… I couldn’t believe my eye, this morning when I wrote down the franc price (1.18), and then the Japanese yen (142), thus confirming my suspicion that safe haven buying is going on…  The trap door has been sprung on the Aussie dollar (A$), and my friend, Bob, that lives down under, tells me that traders have gone sour on the A$… And it shows! 

The poor Norwegian krone, getting yanked one direction and then another… Early last week the krone was receiving the double whammy, with no jokers, from the rising euro and the stronger price of Oil… The krone had rallied from above 11 to a 10 handle… But then the price of Oil fell out of bed, and there went one of the props for the krone, and it’s back to above 11 this morning… 

And what’s going on with the honker and renminbi? These two currencies showed that they rallied BIG TIME overnight, and I can’t find anything on the reason… So, more on these two tomorrow!

Speaking of Oil… The price of Oil remained trading with a $72 handle last night… And the 10-year’s yield continued to drop as it trades this morning with a 3 .67% yield…  I get it, the Fed Heads have a 1005 change of cutting rates at their next meeting, and so bond buyers are just getting out ahead of the Fed heads… But by this much?  What happens if, like I described previously, if the Fed Heads cut rates and inflation comes back with a vengeance, like it did to Fed Chairman, Volcker back in the early 80’s… Yes, after hiking rates to 20%, and inflation started to abate, Volcker cut rates too soon, and when inflation proved it was sticky, and came back strong, he had to reverse is rate cut and hike rates again…  The bonds were whipsawed, and early buyers of bonds got their rear ends handed to them… I’m just saying… What if?

Well, last week there were 3 Central Bank meetings, and 2 of them were done by Thursday… And then on Thursday, the Bank of England met, and decided to cut rates 25 Basis Points (1/4%) to 5.00%…  The Pound sterling got taken to the woodshed on Thursday following the rate announcement, but fought back on Friday to end the week at 1.28… Of course, just about every currency on the market rallied on Friday, with the dollar getting taken to the woodshed…   I mean, just look at the Japanese yen… The yen ended the week trading 146.50, you’ve come a long way baby, from where you were a month ago! 

The euro is back above 1.09, and the Eurozone received some inflation news last week that will most likely keep rates unchanged here… Inflation was 2.6% higher than the previous month, and once again it proves my point that inflation is sticky…  

Circling back to the BOE’s rate cut…  In my mind, that about seals the deal on the Fed Heads cutting rates in Sept, because the two Central Banks like to work in harmony… I’m just saying… 

So, what we have now is recession fears greater than ever, a forthcoming rate cut, and Gold ready to take advantage of both… Got Gold? 

And have you heard about the Sahm Rule?  Well, the U.S. economy triggered the Sahm Rule that predicts a recession…  here’s the skinny on the Sahm Rule: the Sahm rule signals a recession when the three-month moving average of the national unemployment rate rises by 0.5 percentage points or more, relative to its low during the previous 12 months. The Sahm rule is not a forecast, nor does it trigger before there’s a recession.  The with the Unemployment rates rising, and that triggered a move in the current rate of the Sahm Rule… The current Sahm Rule reading is 0.53%, according to Fed data, having surged from 0.43%…  And that .53% is the Sahm Rue going into its recession warning mode…   

The U.S. Data Cupboard last week didn’t leave anyone feeling warm and fuzzy… U.S. Factory Orders plunged 3.3% MoM in June (the biggest MoM drop since COVID lock-downs), dragging orders down 3.6% YoY (also the worst since COVID lock-downs)… And…The final durable goods orders print was worse than the initial – down a shocking 6.7% MoM…   longtime readers know that I only really look at “real economic data prints”… And these two qualify under that heading for sure!  The economy is quaking folks… There’s no two ways to look at it… So, what will you do to offset the coming recession…  Again, I ask, Got Gold?

Speaking of Gold…  here’s the latest from Gold.org… “The World Gold Council’s Q2 2024 Gold Demand Trends report reveals that total global gold demand increased 4% year-on-year to 1,258t, marking the strongest Q2 in our data series1. Total demand was supported by healthy over-the-counter (OTC2) transactions, up a notable 53% year-on-year at 329t.

Increased OTC demand, continued buying from central banks, and a slowdown in ETF outflows drove record-high gold prices in Q2. The gold price averaged US$2,338/oz, 18% higher year-on-year, reaching a record of US$2,427/oz during the quarter.”

Chuck again… The U.S. Data Cupboard doesn’t have much for us to look at this week… Really, there’s not much, and one has to wonder if the powers that be, have it that way, to put some time and space between last week’s bad data prints, and what’s coming?  I wouldn’t put it past them to pull something like that off…  I’m just saying… 

To recap… The Jobs Jamboree last Friday, was awful, and if all was counted correctly, it would have been really awful! The dollar got taken to the woodshed on Friday after the Jobs print, and now economists are calling for a recession in the U.S. economy… Of course, Chuck says, bring it on!  Gold & Silver were subjected to short paper trading on Friday,  and Chuck wonders if the PPT’s ESF has run dry?

For What It’s Worth… Well, I came across this article last week, and then lost it! I had to search and search to find it again. I did so, because this is a famed economist claiming the Fed manipulates Treasuries, and it can be found here: Veteran economist accuses Treasury of manipulating bond market (yahoo.com)

Or, here’s your snippet: “Some Republican politicians see a conspiracy in the Treasury’s recent handling of auctions, a conspiracy to keep long-term rates low and thus stimulate the economy.

And they accuse the Treasury of keeping short-term rates high to put money into consumers’ pockets.

Famed economist Nouriel Roubini (known as Dr. Doom for his dire economic forecasts) and Stephen Miran, a Treasury official under President Donald Trump, have now accused the Treasury of improperly manipulating debt auctions in a recent commentary published by money manager Hudson Bay Capital, where both have positions.

Related: With Fed set to cut rates, this money move may pay off

“By adjusting the maturity profile of its debt issuance, Treasury is dynamically managing financial conditions and through them, the economy,” the duo wrote.

That is “usurping core functions of the Federal Reserve,” they said. “We dub this novel tool activist Treasury issuance (ATI). By manipulating the amount of interest rate-risk owned by investors, ATI works through the same channels as the Fed’s quantitative easing programs.”

Chuck again… Of course there’s a lot more to this article, so to read more, click the link above. But remember when I used to say that the Fed Heads manipulated Treasuries? Well, it’s come full circle now… 

Market Pirces 8/5/2024: American Style: A$.6437, kiwi .5934, C$ .7227, euro 1.0968, sterling 1.2752, Swiss $1.1830, European Style: rand 18.6229, krone 11.0537, SEK 10.5224, forint 363.37, zloty 3.9347, koruna 23.0632, RUB 85.00, yen 142.50, sing 1.3299, HKD 7.7779, INR 83.34, China 7.1177, peso 19.07, BRL 5.8056, BBDXY , Dollar Index 102.39, Oil $72.40, 10-year 3.67%, Silver $26,60, Platinum $931.00, Palladium $836.00, Copper $3.94, and Gold… $2,267.97

That’s it for today, except to say GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY that was yesterday, to my darling granddaughter, Delaney Grace… Can you believe this one… She turned 17! When she was a very young girl, I was in Vancouver, and had just received pictures that her mom had taken of her, and of course I was the proud Grandfather, and showed them to anyone that visited our booth! Delaney Grace, has grown into a beautiful young lady, and I’m sure her dad has to keep the boys at bay… The only sad thing about this is that every year I’m reminded of when I was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer… 17 years ago!  Little Evie has taken Delaney’s place as the “little girl” of the family, but Delaney will always be MY Little d! I have to finish up here and get ready to go see my oncologist today at noon… I have a lot to talk about with her at this appt. Micael Franti & Spearhead take us to the finish line today with his one=hit song: Say Hey ! (I Love You)  I saw this band open up for Carlos Santana a few years ago, when Michael’s song was a hit… I hope you have a Marvelous Monday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• Currencies & metals rally on Wednesday after Powell speaks…
• The BOJ hikes rates and yen rallies

Good Day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to one and all! And Welcome to August! The traditional “dog days of summer” month… Well, the best laid plans of mice and men, was what I was thinking about yesterday, when we sat in the West Palm Beach Airport for near 2 hours waiting for a departure… Surely, we would miss our connection in Atlanta, due to the tardiness of our initial flight… But  Our connection was delayed enough that we made the flight, and got home very late last night… So, I’m really draggin’ the line (The Shondells) this morning… My beloved Cardinals came out swinging VS Texas the last two games, winning both by a wide margin! The Cardinals now go to Wrigley for a 4-game set VS the Cubs…   

Well, 2 down 1 to go… The Big 3 Central Bank Meetings this week, saw the Bank of Japan (BOJ) hike rates 25 Basis Points (don’t get all giddy about that yet), and the U.S. FOMC held rates steady Eddie… The Bank of England (BOE ) will be meeting right now while my fat fingers type away this morning…   It was the tale of two Central Banks yesterday, with the BOJ saying that they would entertain more rate hikes if inflation continues to rise, while Jerome Powell, chief el jefe, of the FOMC said that the Fed Heads would entertain a rate cut, if inflation goes down more… So, he left the door open there folks, because given what he’s already said about how the Fed Heads were ready to cut rates even if their 2% inflation target wasn’t met, now he’s wedging in another hint that they are ready to cut rates now, because if inflation drops by .1%, he can point to his previous statement about how they would cut rates if inflation goes down more… 

Never mind that a .1% drop could be a rounding error… Powell, also said that if the time to cut rates arrived before the election, that “adjusting for Trump and Harris policies ‘a line we would never cross”… To that I say balderdash! Hogwash! Liar, liar pants on fire!   Powell has lied to us before, so why would this be any different?

So… Gold & Silver liked what Powell had to say… Bonds liked what Powell had to say… Stocks liked what Powell had to say, The price of Oil, oh you get the drift, and guess who didn’t like to hear what Powell had to say?  The dollar!  Holy Cow, I head myself saying when I saw the move in the BBDXY yesterday and said to myself. “Are we finally going to get back to fundamentals?”

So, for those of you keeping score at home… Gold gained $ 37, to close at $2,447.70, and Silver59-cents,  to close at $29.05… The price of Oil ended the day with a $78 handle, and the 10-year’s yield fell to 4.06% (from 4.17% the previous day)..  Remember, in bond pricing, as the yield goes down, the price of the bond goes up… . And vice versa… 

The BBDXY lost 7 index points yesterday… But to me this has sell off has been building up steam, as the BBDXY was 1,269 just last week, before the small selling of the dollar began, in anticipation of a loose lips FOMC… During WWII, there was a saying that “loose lips, sink ships”, and yesterday’s loose lips sank the dollar… 

In the overnight markets last night… Well, I guess the foreign markets all thought that the selling of the dollar was overdone, because they bought dollars and brought the BBDXY up 3 index points this morning… Gold is down $2 to start the day today, and Silver has given back 18-cents of its gains yesterday…  I’m very scared here folks… And I’ll tell you why… Any time in the past, when Gold & Silver start the day in the red, it gives the short paper traders an opportunity to sell the metals short under the cover of darkness…  So, get ready for the takedown… Or, maybe, just maybe cause you never know, Gold & Silver will turnaround those early losses today!   There I like being optimistic better than being old gloom and doom, Chuck… 

The price of Oil remained in the $78 handle overnight, and the 10-year saw its yield drop a bit more to 4.04%… 

You know, it occurred to me yesterday, while waiting for over 2 hours for our plane to take to board… That if it weren’t for the full of lies, inflation reports, the Fed Head wouldn’t be able to talk about rate cuts…  All these years that I’ve pointed out that the inflation reports are bogus, massaged, and cooked., I guess it never occurred to me that the Gov’t’s lies, would bring us to this point, where the Fed Heads are ready to cut rates, and inflation hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s still here, the prices that went up, have not come down have they?  Your grocery bill is still outrageous, isn’t it? And so on… 

Well, the Japanese yen is really on the rally tracks this morning, after the BOJ’s rate hike… And another currency that is firmly on the rally tracks this morning is the Swiss franc… The franc has always been a “safe haven currency”, and the reports this morning are not good for World Peace, as there are reports that Iran is going to make a retaliatory strike against Israel… That whole mess over there in the Middle East, is like a box of tinder, and waiting for a spark to light it, and this strike by Iran could be the spark, I’m just saying… 

And if they do retaliate, then back up the truck for the save haven currencies, of francs, euros, sterling, yen, and while you’re backing up be sure to grab some Gold… 

The price of Oil is really reacting to the retaliation news, and that has the Petrol Currencies looking a bit better this morning… The Norwegian krone, Russian ruble, Brazilian real, Canadian loon, British pound sterling, and Mexican peso to name a few Petrol Currencies are looking healthier for sure! 

The U.S. Data Cupboard yesterday had the ADP Employment Report for July…  Again, I feel that the ADP Employment Report should be used as the nation’s employment data/ report… Instead of the hedonically adjusted BLS crock of dookie…   And yesterday’s ADP report showed that the hiring in July slowed to just 122,000…   And circling the wagons back to Tuesday, I told you that the STUPID Consumer Confidence report would show the pulse of the stock market in July, and apparently, the goofuses that were polled thought stocks were strong, because the Confidence index rose from 97.8 to 100.2…   I swear, I would love to get one on one with someone that is that confident…    The other report that we talked about on Tuesday was the Case/ Shiller Home Price Index, and the HPI showed that house prices fell, in May… This report has showed that home prices have steadily dropped for some time now… 

To recap… The BOJ hiked rates, and the FOMC said that they were ready to cut rates, and that sent the markets into a tizzy… Stocks, Bonds, Currencies, metals, Energy all rallied BIG TIME yesterday, with only the dollar getting punished for the FOMC’s loose lips… There are reports this morning that Iran is preparing for a retaliation against Israel… Chuck thinks that if that happens the tinder box that is the Middle East will receive a spark and all hell will break loose… Got Gold?

For What It’s Worth… Well, we made it here, so far… $35 Trillion in current debt… Whooopeee! (not!) This article talks about this and how it effects our future, and it can be found here: This Is What The Final Stages Of A Bubble Economy Look Like Just Before A Collapse Happens | ZeroHedge

Or, here’s your snippet: “How does it feel to be living on the edge of a bubble just before it bursts?  Ever since the days of the Great Recession, our leaders have been going to extremes that we have never seen before as they attempt to keep our failing economy propped up.  The Federal Reserve has created trillions upon trillions of dollars out of thin air and pumped it into the financial system.  Our politicians in Washington have been on the greatest debt binge in the history of the world, and as a result our national debt has soared to truly horrifying levels.

On Monday, our national debt reached 35 trillion dollars, and even the New York Times is admitting that it is growing “more quickly than many economists had predicted”…

America’s gross national debt topped $35 trillion for the first time on Monday, a reminder of the nation’s grim fiscal predicament as legislative fights over taxes and spending initiatives loom in Washington.

The Treasury Department noted the milestone in its daily report detailing the nation’s balance sheet. The red ink is mounting in the United States more quickly than many economists had predicted as the costs of federal programs enacted in recent years have exceeded initial projections.

To mark this milestone, the House Budget Committee released some numbers about how rapidly our debt has been growing over the last 12 months…

$196 billion in new debt per month

$6.4 billion in new debt per day

$268 million in new debt per hour

$4.5 million in new debt per minute

$74,401 in new debt per second

The third number in that list really stands out to me.

268 million dollars is being stolen from future generations of Americans every single hour of every single day, and hardly anyone seems to care.

We are literally committing national suicide.

When a government borrows money which must be paid back later, prosperity in the future is being sacrificed for more prosperity in the present.”

Chuck again… Well for 31 years now, I’ve warned anyone that wanted to pay attention to me that the growing debt was going to be a real problem for us, our financial system,  and the dollar in the years to come…  Maybe, just maybe, cause you never know, $35 Trillion isn’t the figure that will be the straw that breaks the U.S.’s back, but, we’re on our way there, and there’s no turning back now… The time to turn back was during the Bush II years…  I’m just saying… 

Market prices 8/1/2024: American Style: A$ .6545, kiwi .5953, C$ 7236, euro 1.0792, Sterling 1.2807, Swiss $1.1416, European Style: rand 18.1957, krone 10.8733, SEK 10.5544,  forint 366.91, zloty 3.9912, koruna 23.5857, RUB 85.86, yen 150.80, sing 1.3376, HKD 7.8149, INR 83.72, China 7.2476, peso 18.56, BRL 5.6762, BBDXY 1,256.00, Dollar Index 104.36, Oil $78.24, 10-year 4.04%, Silver $28.88, Platinum $973.00, Palladium $929.00, Copper $4.13, and Gold… $2,445.40

That’s it for today, and this week… Cards and Cubs this weekend, this historically has been one of the best rivalries in baseball… I sure hope the Cardinals’ found bats continue to hit this weekend… You know, in our “flood” last summer my writing desk was ruined, but all my pictures were saved, but packed away until I get a new writing desk… I have a makeshift desk now, not one that I enjoy writing at, etc. and no pictures… Darling Daughter Dawn, make me a collage of pictures with me and my grandkids on a poster board, and so that’s what I have to look at now… There’s one of me reading T’was The Night Before Christmas to little Evie, while the 3 other grand kids all are around me peeking over my shoulder… Love it!  Faces take us to the finish line today with their great 70’s song: Ooh La la…. C’mon you don’t know that one? As soon as the song starts, you’ll give yourself a V8 head slap and say, I know it now!  I hope you have a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday today, and please Be Good To Yourself…

Chuck Butler

• Gold & Silver get taken down once again on Monday
• What did LBJ say in 1965?

Good Day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! Well, let me get this out front and center this morning, so I don’t forget to mention it… No Pfennig tomorrow… It’s a travel day for yours truly, as I head back to my home in my little river town… My beloved Cardinals traded away a fan favorite yesterday, Tommy Edman… Maybe the GM, Mo, read the Pfennig yesterday! HA! As If! And… The Cardinals lost their game with Texas last night… Home field advantage isn’t what it used to be in baseball, that’s for sure! I continue to feel better each day, and after visiting the GI doctor’s office yesterday, they reminded me hat I was so low on blood, that it would take me some time to recover my strength… The band, Spirit, greets me this morning with their song, that I take personally, as it relates to me and my cancer discovery: It’s Nature’s Way… 

The dollar continued to gain yesterday, after Friday’s brief drop that looked to be at the time a deeper selloff than it proved to be, the dollar hasn’t looked back… The BBDXY gained 3 index points total yesterday, and thus pushed the currencies deeper into a funk… Like I said the other day, it’s time to batten down the hatches, until there’s a break in the dollar buying, and then and only then should you look to buy more currencies at cheaper prices…  I’ve been reading articles, that I’m sure you’ve probably have at least seen the headlines to, that talk about how a Trump presidency would bring about a weaker dollar, and stronger Gold price… The point to his economic policies… Now, I’m not one to get into politics in this letter, so I’ll leave that as it may… I only brought it up because of the dollar implications… 

The price of Gold, which started the week up $4 yesterday morning saw that gain fade and then go into the red even deeper on the day… .in the end, Gold lost $7.10 on the day to close at 2,384.70… Silver had also started the week on a positive note, only to see that gain be wiped out and Silver ended the day in the red by 8-cents to close at $27.92…   I came across an article about Silver manipulation that I took a snippet from… Here you go…

“The roots of silver market manipulation may go deeper than JPMorgan Chase. The U.S. government has been implicated in controlling silver prices since 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Coinage Act, removing silver from U.S. coinage. Johnson explicitly warned against hoarding silver, asserting the Treasury would maintain control over its price. Despite this, silver coins were hoarded, and their value soared with inflation.

“If anybody has any idea of hoarding our silver coins, let me say this. Treasury has a lot of silver on hand, and it can be, and it will be used to keep the price of silver in line with its value in our present silver coin. There will be no profit in holding them out of circulation for the value of their silver content.” 

President Lyndon Johnson, 23rd July, 1965.

Chuck again… Recall, if you will, in the past, when I named the U.S. Gov’t behind the manipulation of Silver and Gold… Well, if this little comment by President Johnson in 1965 doesn’t seal the fate of that accusation then I don’t know what does…  I’m just saying… 

The price of Oil fell another buck yesterday and closed the day trading with a $75 handle… And the 10-year’s yield, closed the day yesterday with 4.18% yield, up 2 basis points from Friday’s close… 

In the overnight markets last night… There was little to no movement in the dollar, so the BBDXY start the day today at $1,260… And elevated level for the dollar, given the winds of change (Scorpions) that the dollar faces every day…  Gold is up $7 to start the day today, but what good is that with the short paper traders showing that they are not finished with their takedown of the metals… Silver is up a nickel to start the day…

The price of Oil is still trading with a $75 handle this morning, and the 10-year’s yield is steady at 4.17%…

What I saw in the markets yesterday, and last night, and so far this morning, is “tentativeness”… And with theses unknowns of what the 3 Big Central Banks will do this week, traders are tentative in their trading right now… Oil can’t find a bid, the 10-year’s yield is range bound, Gold & Silver can’t get past the short paper traders, and so forth… I hope we can get through this week without chaos in the markets… But it’s there, and all pent up, and ready to be released… I’m just saying

The Bank of Japan begins their two-day meeting today… I have to think that they are just like their brothers here in the FOMC, in that in these two-day meetings they get so bored that they have to get the board games out and play to pass the time…   Since Japan is so far ahead of us in time of day, we’ll know what the BOJ did tomorrow morning, but since I won’t be writing tomorrow, you’ll have to come back on our Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to read what I have to say about everything so far, because the FOMC meets tomorrow, so their result will also be known… Crazy (Patsy Cline) eh?

I received some good health news yesterday, while visiting the GI doc that tended to me while I was in the hospital last week… He told me that the samples of the Ulcer in my stomach were void of any virus, or cancer or any other dastardly thing that could cause me a lifetime of problems… So, there’s that… Just wanted to share that with you… 

The U.S. Data Cupboard yesterday was bare, and today’s cupboard has just the Case/Shiller Home Price Index (HPI) for May (I know this data is always so stale) and I expect the HPI to show a drop in home prices… And to me that’s a good thing for the economy, as long as the drops are not HUGE!   The other piece of data today is the STUPID Consumer Confidence for this month…  This report is nothing more than a taking of the pulse of the stock market, and since stocks haven’t had their best month of the year in July, we should see some weakness in the report… 

Since I won’t be writing tomorrow, let’s go through the Data Cupboard’s items for tomorrow… First there will the ADP Employment Report for July…  If I’ve said this once, I’ve said it at least 25 times, and that is I believe the ADP should be the real employment report that the markets use instead of the hedonically adjusted BLS report… We will also the first quarter Employment Cost Index… A little late, but still an interesting data print… Have wages increased? I guess we’ll see…  And then the FOMC meeting will take place and their rate decision will be announced, along with a press conference with Head Fed Head, Jerome Powell… 

To recap… The dollar continues to push higher, and thus pushing the currencies down… There are two currencies that continue to fight the dollar, and they are the Russian ruble, and British pound sterling… The rest of the currencies just succumb to the dollar’s pressure…  3 of the 4 Big Central Banks will meet this week to discuss rates… the BOJ is the questionable Central Bank in Chuck’s mind…  And Chuck shows us something from 1965, that proves the Gov’t is behind the manipulation of the metals…  What? You missed that? you had better go back and reread today’s letter! HA!

For What It’s Worth… Well, longtime readers will recognize the article’s author, as someone that I’ve quoted for years now… He once went under a different name, Koos Jansen… But now goes as: Jan Nieuwenhuijs, and you can find his article about Central Bank Gold buying here: Chinese Central Bank (PBoC) Did Not Stop Buying Gold in May (gainesvillecoins.com)

Or, here’s your snippet: “This article is an analysis of how the Chinese central bank (PBoC) buys gold in London from Western bullion banks. Because the bullion banks take care of the gold transport for the PBoC, the shipments from London to Beijing are disclosed in UK customs data. The customs data reveals that the PBoC continued to buy gold in May—when it communicated to the market it discontinued buying—at a rate of 53 tonnes. The PBoC stated it stopped buying to dampen the gold price so it could acquire more gold.

Several months ago, I discovered that supply in the Chinese gold market was outstripping demand. During my investigation of this anomaly, I found circumstantial evidence that led me to conclude the surplus is imported in 400-ounce bars from the United Kingdom, and surreptitiously procured by the PBoC.

Let’s go through some of the mechanics of the global gold market before we can stitch it all together.

PBoC Gold Buying Hidden in Plain Sight

In global customs data—officially called International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS)—all gold disclosed is “non-monetary,” meaning not owned by a monetary authority such as a central bank. In the United Nations IMTS rulebook it reads that customs data excludes monetary gold:

Since monetary gold is treated as a financial asset rather than a good, transactions pertaining to it should be excluded from international merchandise trade statistics.

Though, someone familiar with the matter but who prefers to stay anonymous, shared with me that gold import and export data can relate to monetary gold. Commonly, central banks will buy gold from Western bullion banks that arrange transportation and insurance of the metal. The moment these banks ship the gold from the UK it is thus non-monetary bullion, but when it arrives in China it is monetized (changes ownership) and brought to vaults of the central bank, supposedly in Beijing.”

Chuck again… This is a very long article, so if you want to know more, click on the link above…  Before I head to the Big Finish today, I wanted to point out something regarding Central Bank Gold buying…  I’ve said this before, and that is that if Central Banks are lining up to buy physical Gold, what does that tell you about how nervous they are about the future?   I’m just saying…

Market Prices 7/30/2024: American Style: A$.6542, kiwi .5893, C$.7222, euro 1.0834, sterling 1.2858, 

Swiss $1.1290, European Style: rand 18.3145, krone 10.9620, SEK 10.7962, forint 364.62, zloty 3.9523, koruna 23.4575, RUB 86.49, yen 154.77, sing 1.3439, HKD 7.8115, INR 83.72, China 7.2510, peso 18.62, BRL 5.660, BBDXY 1,260.67, Dollar Index 104.54, Oil $75.73, 10-year 4.17%, Silver $27.91, Platinum $957.00, Palladium $908.00, Copper $4.05, and Gold…. $2,391.95

That’s it for today… And tomorrow, but I’ll be back in the saddle on Thursday morning, as long as the Creek don’t rise… And in this case, I do mean the creek, and not the Indians… The creek behind my property and near to my house, rises very quickly when we get lots of rain… And with the reports I’ve received from home about rainy days lately, I’m suspecting the creek to be at a high level upon my return… That’s not a Big Deal to me, as long as it stays in its bed, and doesn’t flood… We’ve had such beautiful days down here this trip… And the ocean has been quite calm, which is always a delight to the swimmers… I still have a lump in my elbow area where an IV was inserted almost two weeks ago… And the lump is quite sensitive to touch… UGH!  At least all the bruising around the area has abated… The Stylistics take us to the finish line today with their one hit wonder song: Betcha By Golly Wow… A real slow dancing song… I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and a Wonderful Wednesday tomorrow, and will continue to Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler

• Gold & Silver rally on Friday to end the week
• Isn’t life Strange?

Good Day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! Well, after 10 days, oldest son Andrew, and his lovely family went back home yesterday… Our place here on the beach, will be quite quiet, now that little Miss Evie is no longer here… She’s so darn cute, you wouldn’t believe how well she converses with everyone, at 4 years old…  I’m still not 100% recovered from last weekend’s trip to the ER, but I’m feeling stronger ever day (Chicago)… Kathy and me, switched places at the hospital, and that’s all I have to say about that…  My beloved Cardinals need a change in their locker room, do you hear me Mr. Mo?  The Ozark Mountain Daredevils greet me this morning with their song: Jackie Blue

Well, Friday was the day that the markets had been waiting for all week, as the June PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) printed… And the markets got disappointed, because the PCE didn’t show that inflation had budged one iota, and therefore, lessening the chances of a Rate Cut this week, when the FOMC Meets… The PCE for those of you keeping score at home, was 2.5%… Core PCE was 2.6%… So… As I keep telling you , inflation is sticky, and not going away just yet… 

The dollar saw some selling on Friday, and then suddenly it was back to where it started the day… The BBDXY started the day, Friday, at 1.257.48, and fell to 1.254 around noon, and then suddenly it was back to 1,257.08 to end the day and week…  The euro remained below 1.09, but with the European Central Bank’s (ECB ) last meeting not producing a rate cut as most observers thought they would see from them, the euro is free to move about the country and I wouldn’t be surprised if it climbed back to 1.09 soon… 

The Japanese yen has seen a crazy rally VS the dollar in recent trading days… I talked about this last week, and said that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) was going to meet this week, and the currency guys and gals all think that the BOJ will hike rates… But as I said last week, all that could be thrown to the wolves if the BOJ disappoints and keeps their powder dry… I’m of the thought that historically, the BOJ is known to disappoint, so there’s that… 

Gold, after getting whacked on Thursday by the short paper traders, saw a rebound on Friday, and gained $23.70, to end the week at $2,387.10…  Silver also went through the gauntlet on Thursday, but rallied a bit, on Friday, gaining 8-cents, to end the week at $28.00…  Imagine (John Lennon) if you will where these two metals would be in price, if it weren’t for the short paper traders…  I’m just saying…

The price of Oil lost a buck on Friday, and ended the week trading with a $77 handle…  It was the worst performance week for the price of Oil since May…  And the 10-year’s yield saw it rise to 4.25% early last week, and then saw it lose all its gains in the week, to end the week at 4.20%…  I’ve said this before, I’ve lost all understanding of what the bond boys are thinking these days…  

In the overnight markets last night…The dollar got bought again with the BBDXY gaining more than 1 index point to start the week at 1,258.40… The currencies all look like they need a rescue plan… With the dollar soaring once again, and here’s where I just don’t get what happened on Friday, with the dollar losing ground, until it wasn’t… What happened to cause this turnaround? Or was it simply the PPT spending some of their Exchange Stabilization Funds to buy dollars and protect it once again from a steep slide? So, with the dollar soaring again, you have to step back, go down the chute and batten the hatches, because this could last a while… 

Gold is up to start the week $4 worth… And Silver is up 12-cents to start the week… The price of Oil fell another buck overnight and trades with a $76 handle this morning, while the 10-year continues to lose yield, from all the buying and it sits at 4.16% this morning… 

If the markets are so sold on the Fed Heads cutting interest rates, then why is the dollar soaring? When you cut interest rates, you debase the currency, it’s that simple… But, we live in a world of opposites… Bad economic data causes the dollar to rally..  interest rate cuts don’t damage the currency…  It’s all backwards to how I was taught the markets worked… When did this start? Well it started coming into play around 10 years ago… That’s from my recollection, that is… I get why stocks rally with interest rate cuts, as they don’t have to compete with high yielding deposit accounts, but the dollar?  Isn’t life strange (Moody Blues) a touch of a turn of a page…  

Well, the FOMC meets this week, on Wednesday… I doubt they will cut rates this week, but they could… They’ve already gone on record as saying that “they will entertain rate cuts even if their target inflation rate is still above 2%” So, there’s that!

The Bank of Japan meets this week, along with the Bank of England (BOE) and the Fed Heads… So, this could be a very interesting week, or it could turn out to be a dud…  I expect the BOJ to hike rates, and for the BOE And Fed Heads to keep their powder dry… I guess we’ll see… eh?

This will be short-n-sweet this morning, as I’ve got to get out the door to the doctor’s office who treated me when I was in the hospital last week, it’s just a follow up, but still, I made the appt, and I’ll keep it! 

The U.S. Data Cupboard has quite a bit for us to chew on this week… But today, the cupboard is bare…  Like I said above, the FOMC meets this Wednesday, and the Jobs Jamboree for July prints on Friday this week… Two big events data-wise for this week, that’s about all I can handle these days! 

To recap…  The dollar was down for the count on Friday, until it wasn’t… Strange happenings in the dollar for sure… But overnight the dollar moved higher, and continues to push the currencies down… Gold & Silver rallied on Friday, and are up in the early trading today… Chuck talks about how opposites rule these days, with no fundamentals in play, except with the price of Oil…  Strange happenings for sure… 

For What It’s Worth… This article comes from the great writer: Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, of whom I’ve quoted and used here plenty of times in the past… It’s about China’s new direction with their economy, and it can be found here: China’s trade policy is almost a declaration of economic war (theage.com.au)

Or, here’s your snippet: “The first China Shock in the 1990s and early 2000s flooded the world with cheap goods and redrew the contours of the global economy.

It let multinationals exploit labour arbitrage, playing off Chinese wages against the wages of blue-collar workers in America and Europe. It lifted both the profit share of GDP and the Gini coefficient of inequality to the highest levels since the Second World War.

Eternal optimists had hoped for a change of course at last week’s third plenum, an event held every five years that has set economic strategy ever since Deng Xiaoping embraced capitalist roadsters at the third plenum of 1978. Instead, they got another kick in the stomach.

The communiqué exhorts the Chinese people to “persist” 17 times. This means “persisting” with policies that divert a big chunk of the national pie towards state bodies and companies, which are then pushed into chronic overinvestment by warped incentives that defy market price signals but enhance party control.

This structure leaves households with the leftovers, just 37 per cent of GDP, compared to 51 per cent in Germany, 60 per cent in Italy, 62 per cent in the UK, and 68 per cent in the US. It crushes consumption and is the root cause of the Chinese export tsunami.

The imbalance is getting worse, not better. China is reverting to the worst pathologies of its catch-up growth phase a generation ago. It was tolerated back then. It will not be tolerated now.

It rewarded capital, while the West’s bottom half was left behind, poisoning our democracies. It compounded the brain vs brawn chasm caused by digital tech. It weakened our defences against the mischief of social media.”

Chuck again… Well, this sure puts a different light on what I had thought the meeting was all about… 

Market prices 7/29/2024: American Style: A$ .6552, kiwi .5883, C$ .7228, euro 1.0837, sterling 1.2845,           Swiss $1.305, European Style: rand 18.3616, krone 10.9883, SEK 10.5056, forint 361.42, zloty 3.9564, Koruna 23.4126, RUB 86.73, yen 153.89, sing 1.3435, HKD 7.8109, INR 83.79, China 7.2578, peso 18.43, BRL 5.6563, BBDXY 1,258.40, Dollar Index 104.45, Oil $76.79, 10-year 4.16%, Silver $28.12, Platinum $946.00, Palladium $908.00, Copper $4.10, and Gold…. $2,392.12

That’s it for today…  Well, we decided that since both of us have been through hell and high water in recent days, that we would head back to St. Louis a week earlier than planned… My beloved Cardinals found a way to win at least 1 game of the 3 games series with the Nationals.. UGH!  I don’t recall if I’ve ever told you how much I love it down here, in S. Florida… I could see myself living here, if I were all alone… But I’m sure Kathy will outlive me, so I don’t have to worry about that! People back home say, “But it’s so hot there”… Oh, and it’s not hot in St. Louis! Oh well, I’ll be back here sometime in the fall… I’ve got an oldie but goodie for you here: Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass take us to the finish line today with their song: This Guy’s In Love With You….  For all you youngster out there that don’t know that song, You-Tube it… I hope you have a Marvelous Monday today, and Please be Good To Yourself! 

Chuck Butler

• the dollar weakens a bit…
• Gold & Silver get whacked again!

Good Day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to one and all! Well, as in life, baseball seems to return to the mean…  Yesterday, my beloved Cardinals got 6 hits, and 9 walks, and couldn’t score a run… Much like their start of the season… Well, they come home to St. Louis for a game Friday night, let’s hope they rediscover their bats!   I failed miserably at my test yesterday, so I can only hope that today is better! The Marshall Tucker Bank greets me this morning with their great song: 24 Hours At A Time… 

Well, the dollar’s ascent to higher ground hit a roadblock yesterday, and it stalled out with the BBDXY trading all day around 1,256…   That’s down from yesterday morning’s start, but not enough of a downward move to call it a change… So, the dollar is still kicking tail and taking names later, with most of the currencies. 

Gold started the day up $4 but the short paper traders couldn’t let Gold or Silver have a two day rally, so they stepped in with their arms full of short paper trades, and Gold ended up down -$19, and Silver ended up down 28-cents… Gold closed at $2,397.70, and Silver Closed at $28.91… This latest bear raid on Gold & Sliver has been quite damaging, but has it scared investors away from buying the metals in physical form?  The answer is a hard NO!  And if that’s the case, then the memo should be sent to the short paper traders to give it up! 

Oil’s downward plummet finally stopped yesterday, with the price of oil finishing the day with a $77 handle. And the 10-year’s yield rose another inch to 4.26% yesterday… 

In the overnight markets last night… The dollar lost another index point in the BBDXY, thus marking two days of losses, albeit small ones… I read this morning that Bill Dudley, former Fed Head, is calling for a rate cut, and that the U.S. economy is in dire need of one…  That probably has a lot to do with the weaker dollar this morning… 

Gold is getting whacked again this morning, the short paper traders are out in force… And the Dudley comments probably spurred them into action, because a rate cut should propel Gold higher, so they decided to nip that rally in the bud… Gold is down $20 this morning, and  Silver is down more than $1 this is getting ugly folks… Time to back up the truck and load it up with metals that are cheap… I’m just saying… 

The price of Oil has slipped to a $76 handle this morning, and the 10-year’s yield has dropped, thus stopping its recent upward move… Again Dudley’s comments probably had a lot to do with this move… 

I found this brief snippet in Bill Bonner’s letter yesterday that can be found : www.bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com     Here’s Bill: “We are exploring US foreign policy. Not for its own sake… foreign policy is not our beat. But how will America’s confrontational, scaremongering attitudes affect our financial future? In preview, the age-old combination of war and debt are likely to be fatal to the empire… and to US asset values.  

The problems in themselves are easy to understand and solve. Javier Milei in Argentina turned a deep deficit into a surplus in a matter of months. In America, it should be easier. The ‘empire budget’ could be cut in half… or more… just by eliminating the ‘empire’ part. On the other hand, without substantial cuts to the military, there is little chance of preventing a financial catastrophe. Too bad, the firepower industry controls Congress!”

Chuck again… I put that in today’s letter because it was revealed yesterday that 76% of total income tax receipts. Three quarters of every dollar you paid in income tax went to pay interest on the debt in June. I ask this question again… Got Gold?

There was news the past couple of days that India has announced that they were dropping the income tax, on Gold sales… India is one of the largest buyers of physical gold each year, so this could mean that they import even more Gold in the future… 

So, in the past few days, we’ve talked about how the new generation of youngsters are taking to owning physical Gold, and how India is dropping their income tax of Gold… You would think that these two items alone, not even taking into consideration that the World is a tinder box, just waiting for a spark, would be enough to scare off the short paper traders… But these guys are like a bad rash that won’t go away… I’m just saying… 

And one more thing regarding Gold & Silver, yesterday’s ending price was for Gold was $25 off its high on the day, when the short paper traders showed up at the COMEX with arms full of short paper trades…  again, these dastardly dudes got under my skin… 

The Japanese yen rallied VS the dollar overnight, and all eyes on the BOJ for next week’s meeting that I talked about yesterday, and the Russian ruble is still on the rally tracks… I find it very interesting that the price of Oil is so much weaker, but the ruble keeps truckin’ VS the dollar… And the Swiss franc is also on the rally tracks this morning, so that makes abundant sense to me, given the world is in a tinder box right now, waiting for a spark… 

The U.S. Data Cupboard yesterday didn’t have much for us to look at, but there was a New Homes Sales report for June that printed and it showed New Home Sales fell in June from May… No biggie here, yet, that is…  Today’s Cupboard has another revision of 2^nd QTR GDP, the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, and June’s Durable Goods Orders…  Tomorrow’s Cupboard has the long and highly anticipated June PCE… I talked about this earlier this week, so I won’t go through it again here… 

To recap… The dollar didn’t budge much all day yesterday, some slippage had occurred, but nothing to write home about… Gold got whacked again, along with Silver, as the short paper traders wouldn’t allow the two metals to own 2 day rallies…  Oil’s downward plummet came to a stop yesterday, but after several whole figures were lost in Oil’s price… And in the overnight markets last night… The dollar slipped a bit more, but Gold & Silver are getting whacked this morning… UGH! 

For What It’s Worth… This is an article from Egon von Greyerz of whom I’ve quoted many times in the past, and it talks about debt, banana republics, and Gold, and can be found here: AVOID THE COMING DEBACLE WITH YOUR PERSONAL GOLD BANK – VON GREYERZ AG

Or, here’s your snippet: “The failure of Western financial structures, including the currency system, is in its final stages.  

Sadly, no one takes any notice – YET!

Global debt has already tripled this century, with the dollar and most currencies having lost 98.5% of their purchasing power since 1971.

Screenshot 2024-07-22 at 08.09.46.png

Experts say the US can never default as they have a printing press. Whatever lies the US and European governments come up with, a 98.5% fall in the value of a nation’s currency is an absolute default. All other explanations are just noise.

With global debt at around $350 trillion and global GDP $100 trillion, the Global Debt to GDP is 350%.

Over 100% Debt to GDP is unsustainable and cannot be financed over the longer term.

And 350% Debt to GDP is bankruptcy – Banca Rotta.

With financial markets distorted and leveraged to the hilt, global risk today is greater than ever.

There is an obvious path that small and big investors can take to minimise this risk.

The best solution is to create your own Gold Bank that will almost entirely eliminate financial risk and provide instant liquidity. In addition, compared to virtually all other asset classes, it will enhance your wealth substantially in the coming years.

US & EUROPE – TERMINAL ILLNESS

We are not just talking about terminal illness for the US, European and probably Japanese, which are all fatally wounded by debt, deficits and decadence with no chance of recovering in the next few hundred years.

We are also talking about China and many emerging markets with debts, as well as demographic and structural problems, which, even though not incurable, will slow down their economies for many years. And yet, not to the same extent as in the West.

So, are the US and Europe now Banana Republics?

Banana Republic can be described as:

A highly stratified, politically unstable socioeconomic structure, with a small ruling class that controls access to wealth and resources.

That definition certainly fits the US and Europe, with a small elite of 1% owning 1/3 of the total wealth in the US. “

Chuck again… Quite a few years ago now, yours truly, and his big boss Frank Trotter were on stage together giving a presentation, and Frank mentioned that the U.S. was now a Banana Republic…   I always knew Frank was the smartest person in any room, but to hear him say that I was shocked… Only to find out he was a head of his time! 

Market Prices 7/25/2024: American Style: A$ .6563, kiwi .5903, C$ .7223, euro 1.0849, sterling 1.2884, Swiss $1.1388, European Style: rand 18.4227, krone 11.1131, SEK 10.8370, forint 362.18, zloty 3.9992, Koruna 23.4050, RUB 84.57, yen 152.46, sing 1.3423, HKD 7.8091, INR 83.70, China 7.2165, peso 18.53BRL 5.6546, BBDXY 1,255.77, Dollar Index 104.18, Oil $76.20, 10-year 4.22%, Silver $27.91, Platinum $936.00, Palladium $910.00, Copper $4.07, and Gold… $2,371.31

That’s it for today… And this week… It’s been a tough row to hoe for me this week, I’ve been very lethargic during the day, and not ready to wake up in the morning… Hopefully, things will get better… The week with oldest son, Andrew his wife, Rachel, and Evie and Braden is coming to a close this weekend… It’s been a blast for me to have them here… Yesterday, I taught little Evie how to play “go fish”, and she beat me in her first game! I then tried to teach her to play “War”, and she grew very short with her patience in that game…  We’re going to go to the Miami Hammerheads game tonight, with the Palm Beach Cardinals out of town, we’re stuck going to a hammerheads game, but… It’s baseball, and to me that’s all that counts! Sugar Ray takes us to the finish line today with their song: Every Morning…  I hope you have a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler