- currencies and metals rally late last week and overnight
- Inflation keeps rates high…
Good Day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! Well, my beloved Mizzou Tigers went the whole conference season without winning a game… That’s a sad state of affairs if you ask me! I’ve come to the conclusion that my beloved Cardinals can’t hit… Which would make this upcoming season a very long one… I hope that changes! We said goodbye to our friends, the Schuettes and Sextons on Saturday night… My lovely daughter, Dawn and her family arrive here on Thursday night, it will be a steady stream of visitors from then till the end of the month. The Who greets me this morning with their song: Behind Blue Eyes…
Well, the dollar is slip-sliding away… Slip-sliding away You know the nearer your destination…The more you’re slip sliding away… (ahh Paul Simon to get us going today)… The BBDXY has lost 18 points since last Tuesday morning… The euro is climbing in the 1.09 handle, and all the currencies, including rubles and yen are looking much healthier. I have to throw out this warning though… Whenever we’ve been at this fork in the road in the past, with the dollar edging nearer to the cliff, the PPT steps in and blasts all the long dollar trades, with intervention, that’s funded by their treasure chest of funds… So, be careful out there…
Gold & Silver have really reacted favorably to the dollar’s woes… When I left you last Thursday, Gold was trading at $2,131… And by the time Friday’s close came around, Gold had moved up to $2,178… Silver too has come along nicely, as it was trading around $23.83 on Thursday morning and then closed on Friday at $24.26…
The short positions are getting killed right now, and I couldn’t be happier about that! But will the short paper traders come back and attempt to get these medals lower again with an engineered takedown, like we’ve seen so many times previously? I guess, we’ll have to wait-n-see, eh?
The price of Oil is range-bound these days, trading around $77-78… I still like Oil to move higher, but, don’t tell everyone I said that, because then I will have jinxed the move! And Powell’s little foray into the land of make believe last week, still has the bond boys all lathered up and calling their other halves to put on the their red dresses cause they are going out on the town… The 10-year’s yield on Friday, had dropped to 4.08%, from 4.19% on Tuesday last week… And on 2/22, the 10-year’s yield was 4.31%… So, this is getting out of hand, now…
In the overnight market last night… The dollar appears to be in real trouble, folks, because even the overnight markets continued to sell the dollar, with the BBDXY losing another 1.38 index points to start our day/ week. Gold & Sliver are seeing some “real” profit taking, and are starting the day/ week down small amounts… no biggie, here, they are on a roll, and won’t be stopped by some profit taking… from goofy people that think these metals of nothing more than a commodity that is traded like stocks…
As I’ve explained many times in the past, that in the East, they get it… They look at Gold as a store of wealth, that’s passed down from family to family, it’s how they measure one’s wealth, not by flimsy no backing currency… In the West, (like here) that frame of mind still is lacking but is catching on, but will take some time for it to really control how Gold is looked at in this country by investors…
The price of Oil remains range trading, ($77-$78) and bonds continue to get bought by the basketful… The 10-years’s yield this morning is 4.08%…
Well, is the U.S. consumer tapped out? Or, have they ordered up a new set of credit cards and begun to spend again? That was the question I had when I saw the Consumer Credit (read debt) for January. Consumer borrowing was up 4.7% in Jan, VS just .2% in December… And… Revolving credit, like credit cards, accelerated at a 7.7% rate in January after a 2.4% gain in December. So, now you know what I am talking about above, right? I mean it had to be a case of obtaining new credit cards! Just had to be!
And that leads me to talk about inflation… or better yet, rising costs, which just happen to be the real problem for households… with things like college costs rising 185%, Medical care rising 133%, New cars rising 25%, and all other costs rising 83%, the economy is in real danger here folks… And just because a TV now costs 98% less, it doesn’t help! These rises are based on the year 2000… So, in 24 years, this is what we’ve got… And those prices are never going to come back down, mark my words on that!
The Federal Reserve’s “Financial Accounts of the United States” is always something to read, even it’s 190 pages! It doesn’t contain any Wall Street spin, or words from the spin doctors…. And in it it’s explained that the U.S. Gov’t had to finance $2.026 Trillion in 2023… OUCH! And it was just last week that it was announced that the U.S. was adding more than $1 Trillion in debt every 3 months! Who’s going to buy / finance all that debt?
In a time when more and more countries are shying away from willy-nilly buying U.S. Gov’t debt, this has got to be scary for the debt hungry congress-people… I’m just saying… They had better get their debt cutting pants on or else they will bring this country to its knees…
I’m full of seashells and balloons this morning, eh?
The U.S. Data Cupboard contained a lot of lies, last week… just like the state of the Union address on Thursday night last week… Here’s one that I caught: The current administration claims the gross domestic product is booming, but much of it comes from government spending and employment. The government share of gross domestic product in the United States today is 42%, including federal, state and local spending.
And here’s a caveat of that spending… the 42% share of GDP is equal to what it was in the Soviet Union before their collapse… I’m just saying…
And here’s more lies for you… The BLS said that 275,000 jobs were created in February… That sounds like a lot of jobs doesn’t it? Kind of like too good to be true? Well, when you consider that 151,000 jobs were added by the BLS to the surveys after they received them, then 275,000 jobs is just that, too good to be true! Take out TCP, I mean, take out the 151,000 from 275,000 and you get a paltry 124,00 jobs actually created in February…
Lies and more lies, and the more the Gov’t tells us these lies, the more they begin to sound true, and that’s what the Gov’t is hoping will happen folks… It’s up to you and me to tell it like it is, and point out the lies…
The U.S. Data Cupboard today is empty… But tomorrow we’ll see the STUPID CPI, for Feb… Oh boy, may I have another? Well, I guess we’ll have to suffer through another print of the STUPID CPI, and see what the markets think after the Gov’t tells us what they want us to hear, not know…
To recap… Well, since last Tuesday, when Chuck came back from vacation, the dollar has lost a lot of ground. In the BBDXY it has lost 18 index points as of last Friday’s close… The euro is pushing higher again, and the rest of the currencies all look healthier. Gold & Silver are pushing the envelope with regards to gains VS the dollar, or vice versa… Depends on how you look at it… And somebody or some institution is buying bonds again… Could it be? …. Nah, couldn’t be them, they said they were out of the bond buying business, and they wouldn’t lie to us would they? See above for an explanation on their lies…
For What It’s Worth… This came to me from longtime reader, Bob… (Thanks!) and it’s about how we’re adding $1 Trillion of debt every 100 days, and it can be found here: Why They Are Creating $1 Trillion of Debt Every 100 Days – LewRockwell
Or, here’s your snippet: “From 2000 through 2007, while waging two wars in the Middle East, the U.S. ANNUAL Federal deficit averaged $220 billion PER YEAR. And many fiscal conservatives thought that was outrageously out of control. Well, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden, the despicable scum in Congress, and the rest of the Deep State calling the shots in this military empire of delusion and debt said, HOLD MY BEER.
Just as the wheels were starting to come off in late 2019, the convenient arrival of the Covid plandemic provided the cover for these purveyors of propaganda and panic to run $3 trillion deficits and establish a new baseline of $1 trillion per year. The house of cards, built upon a crumbling foundation of debt comes crashing down when deficits are allowed to drop below $1 trillion. Running in place gets more expensive by the day.
Now it requires $1 trillion of new debt every 100 days to achieve nothing but remaining static economically. The regime media pundits and the cabal on Wall Street tell us the economy is doing great. No recession in sight. All is well. The dumbed down and distracted ignorant masses don’t realize all the reported “economic growth” is “created” by the government, enabled by The Fed, spending billions on their wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, funneling the money into the Military Industrial Complex corporations; paying for the transportation, feeding, and housing of the illegal invading hordes; hiring more government drones to harass the citizenry, and desperately trying to prop up a corrupt tottering empire in its final death throes.
Anyone with even the slightest mathematical acumen knows increasing the national debt at a rate of $1 trillion every 100 days is a death wish. Why would those pulling the strings behind the scenes of this acceleration towards the cliff of national suicide be doing so at this point in time? It’s almost as if the November elections are a deadline for them to complete their exit strategy plan.”
Chuck again… I told you last week that I’m reading the book: The Great Taking, by David Rogers Webb, and it that book he describes how causing a great collapse of the economy, will bring about the Gov’t taking our land, our bank accounts, our homes, etc. I know it’s dark, and jaded, but it sure makes a lot of sense as to why these folks are running up the debt like this… I’m just saying…
Market Prices 3/11/2024: American Style: A$.6615, kiwi .6179, C$ .7420, euro 1.0941, sterling 1.2847, Swiss $1.1412, European Style: rand 18.7134, krone 10.4436, SEK 10.2210, forint 360.82, zloty 3.9150, koruna 23.0794, RUB 90.59, yen 146.69, sing 1.3297, HKD 7.8195, INR 82.76, China 7.1856, peso 16.80, BRL 4.9638, BBDXY 1,228.01, Dollar Index 102.70, Oil $77.72, 10-year 4.08%, Silver $24.35, Platinum $926.00, Palladium $1,038.00, Copper $3.93, and Gold… $2,178.58
That’s it for today… The Oscars were last night, wait! don’t tell me who won, because I just don’t care! I watched a PBS special Saturday night, it was Elvis’s 1968 Comeback Concert… Man, he was great when he wanted to be! Back to the ballyard again today… I love Roger Dean Stadium… And I still have 7 more games this spring! YAHOO! The weather has been consistently good, and that’s a plus… I received my global entry card in the mail, so now I’m good to go on my trip to Ireland this summer! Tommy Tutone takes us to the finish line today with his one hit wonder song: 867-5309 (Jenny)… I hope you have a Marvelous Monday today, and please remember to Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler