- The dollar gets old on the Peace announcement
- ECB hikes rates…
Good Day… And a Tom Teriffic Tuesday to you! What a diffence in weather these days… Last week we were experiencing +100 heat index days, and since Saturday it’s been much more temperate… The high yesterday was 75… Now, that’s quite a difference! My trip to see the pace maker keeper yesterday went fine… she said that my battery has about 6 months remaining… So, I now see a trip to the hospital in my future… Del Shannon greets me this morning with his great song: Runaway…
Well, it does appear that we have a Peace Agreement in place, or do we? The U.S. and Iran will meet this Friday in Switzerland to sign the deal, or will they? There’s still a lot to be ironed out, but the markets believe the POTUS when he says the Strait of Hormuz will reopen… They didn’t question him as to when? But who needs that important piece of information before going all-in with the markets? Apparently, no one…
The dollar has seen nothing but selling since the Peace deal was announced and so it closed yesterday at 1,206… It was a bit lower at times yesterday, but settled in at 1,206 in the BBDXY… So, the dollar traders bought some of what the POTUS said, but not all of it, as the dollar is still above 1,200…
Gold & Silver, however, did buy into the Peace announcement, and Gold recovered a big chunk of ground and closed yesterday at 4,310… Last week we were wondering if Gold was going to fall below $4,000… So, that’s in our rear view mirror now, and moving in the right direction… Silver was also bought late last week, and yesterday closing yesterday at $70.13…
The price of Oil has been sold like funnel cakes at a State Fair and closed yesterday, trading with an $89 handle… I would think that the Oil traders would keep the pressure on the Oil price until we actually see the Strait of Hormuz open up freely… That may take some time, in my opinion, and that means the Oil price will be lowered…
And the bond boys are still thinking that the FOMC will hike rates tomorrow, but the bond boys did buy back some of the 10-year to bring its yield to 4.48%….
In the overnight markets last night… There was more slippage in the dollar and the BBDXY starts today at 1,205, not much selling but selling nonetheless… There should be more selling to offset the buying that went on the past couple of months… But it is what it is…. The price of Gold sees more buying in the early trading today, and starts today up $30, while Silver is up 31-cents to start the day…
The price of Oil has really been on the slippery slope and starts today trading with a $78 handle… And the 10-year starts the day at 4.44% yield… I still think the bond boys will want to see what the FOMC does tomorrow, before taking bond yields either way…
Well, for the last 3 months all the news and talk have been about Iran and the Strait of Hormuz… The dollar was the beneficiary of the war, but now that it appears to be over, the dollar is seeing that benefit to be short-lived… And Gold got sold and shorted so much that it appeared to be oversold in the RSI… But now, Gold/ Silver is back on the rally tracks, and all those that missed the bus (the lower prices in the metals) you’ll either need to get on the next bus at a higher price, or wait for the next bus… Eventually, you’ll need to get downtown! HA!”
Well, there was a HUGE IPO on Wall Street last week, and I was not impressed, as Bill Bonner said in his letter yesterday: “There is no plausible road to profit for SpaceX — at any rate, no profit that could justify this morning’s price. Our own guess is that the price will adjust — downward — long before any profitable business model is unearthed.” – Bill Bonner Private Research
This AI stuff is pretty interesting, in that, one side says that it’ll turn out as profitable as the internet, and the other side says that it will be the savior for the U.S. economy… I would imagine that somewhere in the middle there is where it will all settle in…
OK, back to regular programming… The economy seems to be teetering on the edge of the cliff these days… And the lawmakers continue to spend money that they don’t have but will eventually be needed to finance the whole shootin’ match. The problem here is that world is tired of financing the U.S.’s deficit spending habit.. And when no one but the primaries show up for an auction, or at the very least, only a few show up for an auction of our debt, it’ll be an eye opener for the lawmakers, for they thought that they had kicked the can down the road far enough that this problem wouldn’t happen under their watch…
Well, the European Central Bank (ECB) did hike rates last week, as I had expected them to, and they probably aren’t finished hiking rates and they see inflation in the Eurozone continuing to be a real problem…
The U.S. Data Cupboard today has just some housing data for us, but yesterday, we saw the color of May’s Industrial Production, and it only gained .1% in the month VS .9% in April… And Capacity Utilization remained at 76.2% with no growth!!!
Tomorrow, we get Retail Sales for May… The BHI tells me that this will be a better than the average bear month for Retail Sales… But the BIG KAHUNA tomorrow is the FOMC rate decision… What will the FOMC do? Hike rates or cut rates, or leave them unchanged? I know what I would vote for if I were on the FOMC and that would be a rate hike… but not for the reasons most think, and that is to combat rising inflation… No, I would hike rates simply because rates are too low right now, and need to be higher, much higher… But I’m not on the FOMC Committee and not one of those chuckleheads think like I do!
To Recap… There’ll be no ticker tape parade, but the war seems to be over between the U.S. and Iran, although Israel is doing its best to draw the U.S. back into the fray… But while there seems to be peace, the dollar gets sold, and Gold/Silver get bought…
For What Its’ Worth… this isn’t really a good FWIW, but it is an OK one, as it talks about how a bank actually bought Gold! And it can be found here: National Bank of Georgia buys $100 million in physical gold | Kitco News
Or, here’s your snippet: “Central bank demand has provided key support for gold throughout its unprecedented rally, and while official purchases have slowed in recent months as nations contend with growing inflationary pressures and a global energy crisis, demand has not disappeared.
Not only are some central banks, such as China’s, tactically buying gold as prices have corrected since March, but new players continue to enter the market.
On Wednesday, the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) announced that it had purchased $100 million worth of physical gold.
“Following this acquisition, the share of monetary gold in the NBG’s international reserves will reach 15.5%. The upward trend of the international reserves is particularly noteworthy; as a result, total reserves have reached a historical high of USD 7.0 billion, with their volume amounting to 114.8% of the International Monetary Fund’s Assessing Reserve Adequacy (ARA) metric,” the central bank said in a statement.
According to data from the World Gold Council, this is the first time Georgia has increased its gold reserves since March and April 2024, when it purchased 4.7 and 2.5 tonnes, respectively.
The NBG said that these gold purchases are part of its long-term international reserve management strategy. The central bank added that it is diversifying its official reserves to hedge against geopolitical and inflationary risks.”
Chuck again… Well, at least one Central Bank is still stepping up to the plate for a serving of physical Gold… and they stated the correct reasons for reserving Gold… And… According to the latest report from the World Gold Council, official-sector demand is expected to remain robust for the foreseeable future.
The WGC 2026 Central Bank Gold Reserves Survey, published Tuesday, showed that 89% of reserve managers expect global central bank gold holdings to increase over the next 12 months. So, Georgia was just a sooner…
Market Prices 6/16/2026: American Style: A$ .7071, kiwi .5829, C$ .7142, euro 1.1604, sterling 1.3420, Swiss $1.2583, European Style: rand 16.7111, krone 9.5306, SEK 9.6414, forint 301.02, zloty 3.6567, koruna 20.8015, RUB 72.28, yen 160.38, sing 1.2817, HKD 7.8332, INR 94.56, China 6.7581, peso 17.19, BRL 5.0632, BBDXY 1205, Dollar Index 99.58, Oil $78.35, 10-year 4.44%, Silver $70.35, Platinum $1,804.00, Palladium $1,338.00, Copper $6.52, and Gold… $4,340
That’s it for today… Nice win last night for my beloved Cardinals, beating the Padres 3-0… The Cardinals’ pitcher, May, tossed a 1-hitter complete game… So, Close to a no-hitter, but it wasn’t to be… UGH! I told you about the sack of fluid that is around by heart the call this an Pericardial effusion… Well, on Thursday this week I’ll be having an echo-cardiogram done that’ll show if the sack has gotten any bigger or not… If it has, then there’s another discussion that will be between my heart doctor and me… Los Bravos take us to the finish line today with their great 60’s song: Black is Black I hope have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today and please Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler