- currencies rally a bit VS the dollar on Monday & Tuesday!
- Why does the media poo-poo Gold?
Good Day… And a Wonderful Wednesday! Well, I could have actually written to you yesterday, as my appt got moved to a later date, but by the time I learned of this move, it was already too late to write, so I went back to sleep! And Sleep is all I seem to do with this cold… In fact, I plan to go back to sleep after hitting send this morning! Humble Pie greets me this morning with their song: I Don’t Need No Doctor!
Actually, I think I do, but we’ll have to see about that! Well, Monday was interesting, in that the dollar got sold, by 2 index points in the BBDXY, and Gold gained $10, while Silver gained 38-cents… There doesn’t seem to be a limit to the appetites of Central Banks’ for Gold these days… And remember when I featured a story about the Gold Beads that the Chinese citizens were buying? Well, they continue to gobble them up!
And as I reported previously, it’s not just the Chinese and Central Banks buying physical Gold these days. Reuters reported that “Costco selling as much as $200M in gold bars per month, Wells Fargo estimates; Costco began selling gold bars in August, reporting $100M in sales in its first quarter. ”
The dollar got sold by 2 index points yesterday, and Gold gained $10, while Silver shot past $28 on the day! Gold closed yesterday $2,353, and Silver $28.21… I have something for you in the FWIW section today regarding Gold, so keep your remote at hand, and stay tuned same bat time, same bat channel!
On Tuesday, the price of Oil remained trading with an $86 handle… And the 10-year has seen some buying from someone/ some institution, and the yield dropped to 4.37%..
In the overnight markets last night… The dollar got sold some more, this time losing just 1 index point overnight in the BBDXY… The Reserve Bank of New Zealand met and decided to keep their Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 5.50%, and that gave kiwi a small boost. Gold is down in the early trading today by $6, and Silver is down 10-cents, looks a lot like profit taking… Most times when the short paper traders begin their engineered takedowns, the selling starts slow, like profit taking, but then it doesn’t end, and the takedown takes place. From the way Silver has been trending upward lately, it kind of gives you the feeling that the short Silver Paper traders have thrown in the towel… Boy wouldn’t that be a treat?
The price of Oil slipped a buck overnight, and trades this morning with an $85 handle, and bonds saw a smidgen of buying bringing the yield on the 10-year to 4.36%
Futures traders have reduced bets on how much the Federal Reserve will cut rates this year to the lowest level since October. Investors are growing increasingly doubtful that policymakers will be able to lower borrowing costs without sparking an inflationary rebound in a strong economy. You know, if they had just read the Pfennig, they would have already known that, and wouldn’t have made losing bets on bonds, and interest cuts! My dad used to say, Chuck, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make the horse drink it… That’s how I feel most of the time, when I say something that should be repeated world wide, and it falls on deaf ears… Oh, well… I’ll just keep shouting, and maybe someone will hear me eventually!
The Bank of Canada meets this morning, and well I’ll let Bloomberg.com tell you what’s on traders’ minds going into the meeting: “Traders are the most bearish on the Canadian dollar in a year on expectations that Bank of Canada policymakers will telegraph interest-rate cuts when they announce their decision on Wednesday, or possibly even deliver a surprise easing.”
I can’t help but think “oh no, here we go again”… What if the Bank of Canada (BOC) decides to leave rates unchanged? These guys didn’t make the right call with the Fed Heads, and now they’ve gone to the BOC and, I can’t help but to think that they will get their rears handed to them again… I’m just saying…
The European Central Bank (ECB ) have been quiet lately, and not spouting off about how they defeated inflation, and that rate cuts were coming… If they just watch what’s going on in the U.S. with inflation not going away, not being defeated, and now rate cuts are a just a fading memory…
And the Bank of England is in the same boat as the ECB.. so the same goes for them! Can’t they see that rate cuts are not what the inflation doctor has ordered? I’m just saying
Speaking of inflation… not that we get any hints from the STUPID CPI, with all of its hedonic adjustments, but the markets think there’s something there… So, the U.S. Data Cupboard has the March STUPID CPI this morning, and knowing that this IS an election year, and data will be adjusted, coooked, massaged to the Administrations’ desires, I’m not putting out any good thoughts that the STUPID CPI will show that inflation is still a problem.. But I guess we’ll have to wait-n-see!
The U.S. Data Cupboard didn’t have anything worth a hill of beans to look at on Monday and Tuesday, so this is the first report that the markets look at today… Too bad it’s the STUPID CPI
To recap… The dollar has been seeing small moves downward, so far this week… I told you Monday that the dollar lost 5 index points last week in the BBDXY… So far this week it’s 3 index points… Gold climbed above $2,300 on Monday and Silver climbed above $28 yesterday… Chuck is worried about the short paper traders… he hopes he doesn’t have to explain another engineered takedown! RBNZ left rates unchanged last night, the BOC meets today… Chuck has warning for both the BOC and BOE..
For What It’s Worth… OK, this is a long read, so I can only give you a snippet of it, but it’s about why the media poo-poos Gold, and you can read it in its entirety here: Why Is the Mainstream Always Poo-Pooing Gold? (moneymetals.com)
Or, here’s your snippet: “According to the mainstream, it’s always time to sell gold.
Maybe listening to mainstream talking heads isn’t the best strategy.
On March 8, CNBC Fast Money featured TD Securities senior commodity strategist Daniel Ghali arguing that it was time to take profits on gold.
That didn’t age well.
Gold closed around $2,162 that day. Since then, the yellow metal has gone up over 8 percent.
It’s not so much that Ghali made the wrong call. Anybody trying to predict market movements is going to make the wrong call from time to time. The issue is the mainstream constantly poo-poos gold, whether it’s going up, down, or sideways.
A few years ago, CNBC commentator Jim Lebenthal went as far as to say he has no interest in gold because it has “no uses as a metal.”
This is a ridiculous take. Gold has all kinds of uses from jewelry to electronics. The tech sector used nearly 300 tons of gold in 2023.
Meanwhile, the mainstream financial media constantly fawn over Bitcoin. Talk about something with no use in the real world.
A Bloomberg article recently noted that when gold hit a record high a few weeks ago, “no one besides a few gold bugs seemed to care.” But when Bitcoin set records, “everybody cared.”
These ‘investment professionals’ prefer to turn over account holdings every year or two because they make commissions every time they do. But when people buy physical precious metals, they tend to hold them very long term, often passing them on to heirs. Few transactions mean few commissions.”
A second reason the mainstream tends to poo-poo precious metals is more fundamental.
Most mainstream financial planners and pundits simply don’t understand macroeconomics. They are steeped in Keynesian nonsense including the notion that a little inflation is a good thing, money printing and government stimulus can “rescue” a shaky economy with no consequences down the road, and a strong economy creates inflation.”
Chuck again… a little longer snippet today, because I tried to get the main points in… But what this guy has to say is bang on folks… and leads me to this once again… Got Gold?
Market Prices 4/10/2024: American Style: A$ .6620, kiwi .6077, C$ .7374, euro 1.0864, sterling 1.2598, Swiss $ 1.1068, European Style: rand 18.5085, krone 10.6623, SEK 10.5378, forint 358.29, zloty 3.0167, RUB 93.26, yen 151.35, sing 1.3446, HKD 7.8327, INR 83.19, China 7.2327, peso 16.31, BRL 5.0091, BBDXY 1,239.56, Dollar Index 104.04, Oil $85.72, 10-year 4.36%, Silver $28.11, Platinum $990.00, Palladium $1,118.00, Copper $4.32, and Gold… $2,3047.70
That’s it for today… Well, did you get to experience the Great American Eclipse? I sat out back with Kathy, with our eclipse glasses on, and watched it… It didn’t turn completely dark like it did in 2017, but it was eerie, for sure! Well, the Cardinals number 1 addition to their team, who was hurt to start the season, finally pitched last night, and looked great! The Cardinals beat the Phillies 3-0… I read this morning that the Womens Championship Basketball game had more viewers than the Men’s game! Even I was caught up in the Caitlin Clark phenomenon! I think that starting today, we’re scheduled to have 19 of the next 24 hours with rain… The creek behind my house will most certainly be flooding, if that forecast holds true… Stevie Wonder takes us to the finish line today with his great song: Superstition… I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday to day, and will Be Good To Yourself! now back to sleep for me!
Chuck Butler