- Currencies & metals get sold on Wednesday
- Short paper traders rule the roost!
Good Day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to one and all! Man what a beautiful day yesterday down here in S. Florida! Warm, plenty of sunshine, and a beautiful ocean with multi colors coming to shore! As I said the other day, the college basketball season has begun, but the early games are for the blood donors… That’s what they used to call the teams that play the big boys, and know they can’t win, but they do it for the revenue they received… So, that means very uninteresting games to watch, at this point… The free agent and trading players is open for business in baseball… C’Mon Cardinals what are you waiting for? The late, great, George Harrison greets me this morning with his song: What Is Life?
Well… the last two days, the dollar got sold during the day, and bought back at night in the overnight session… Yesterday, the dollar got sold again this time with the BBDXY giving up 2 index points… The euro climbed back above the 1.07 handle, and the rest of the currencies all fell in line behind the Big Dog, euro… Gold got whacked again yesterday, by the short Gold paper traders, and it lost $18.90 on the day to close at $1,950.80… And Silver, had a nice rally at the end of the day, but couldn’t climb out of the hole it had dug by the short paper traders… Silver lost 9-cents yesterday to close at $22.60.91
Bonds are really getting a lot of love these days, after people shunning them since the Plandemic… The 10-year’s yield fell more yesterday and closed trading with a 4.49% yield… And on the opposite side of the spectrum, the price of Oil fell another buck yesterday to trade with a $75 handle… There’s no love coming Oil’s way these days, but… if you listen to James Rickards, you would be sitting here waiting for the shoe to drop, and Oil to turn things around quickly… I read yesterday, in Dave Gonigam’s 5 Bullet Points (formerly known as the 5-minute forecast), that Rickards believes that Oil flowing through the strait of Hormuz will get shut down by the Iranians, and even Saudi Oil won’t get through, and that will lead to Oil rising quickly back to $100 and beyond… I see his point, and like I said yesterday, I truly believe that these are excellent buying prices for Oil…
In the overnight markets last night… Well the recent pattern played out once again, with the dollar getting bought in the overnight markets to the tune of seeing the BBDXY gain 3 index points… When will the short paper traders take a rest? They were at it again yesterday, and that has spilled over to the early trading this morning. Gold is down $2 to start the day, and Silver is down 5-cents… These are small amounts and could very well be turned around easily today, so what do you say? Get going Gold! Oil remains in the $75 handle, and the 10-year’s yield is 4.52% this morning…
Well, the markets were all waiting for Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel Chairman, Jerome Powell, to speak yesterday, and give the markets some fodder on Interest Rates and so on… But Powell stuck to his script, and only talked about how the Fed Heads need to be willing to think beyond the complex mathematical simulations it traditionally uses to forecast the economy… OK, that’s Fed speak for “put away the abacus and your Texas Instrument calculator, and get up to date with the changing economy”….
Well, those nasty sanctions on Russia, have seem to run out of steam… Reuters reported last night that :” Russian banks could make record profits of 2.9 to 3 trillion roubles this year, Deputy Central Bank Governor Olga Polyakova said on Wednesday.
Polyakova said the central bank expects banks to add to their reserves in the fourth quarter.
On Tuesday Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank (SBER.MM) said it expected to make record profits this year, bouncing back after a 75% drop last year when Western sanctions hammered the financial sector.”
Chuck again… Just like the trade war with China that I told you when it was announced that it wouldn’t do anything to help the trade balance of the U.S., which incidentally printed the other day at $61 Billion in Rocktober… That’s up from the previous month… The sanctions on Russia, are proving to be a non-event… I’m just saying…
Okbee… Let’s see what else is in the news this morning… Well, if you want news on the war, elections, or Taylor Swift, you won’t find it here! And that’s about all that’s in the news headlines this morning… No data, to talk about, and no commentaries… There’s a void in market news today, so I’ll just zip this up and head out for the weekend!
The U.S. Data Cupboard has been a non-event all week, and will continue to be today, with only the weekly Initial Jobless Claims to report… This data surprised observers last week coming in higher than the forecast… I suspect this week will be the same…
To recap… The dollar gets sold during the day, and bought overnight… Interesting pattern that I hope goes away soon! Jerome Powell, left his audience “wanting” yesterday, refusing to talk about interest rates and the economy, other than it was time to put away the abacusses and Texas Instrument calculators and get into the new math of changing economies… You all probably know that at one time in my young life I was a musician… and played in a band that toured the country! I was told by a representative at the Dick Clark studios that there was one thing I needed to learn in show business, and that is “leave the crowd wanting”…. So, back then that was a good thing, for Jerome Powell, not so much…
Do you feel that there’s something wrong with today’s finances/ economy, but you just can’t put your finger on it? I’m feeling that way, as there are so many things out there that could cause the economy to collapse, but they aren’t imminent… Which means they could happen at any time, and Whoosh! One person that I follow, Stephanie Pomboy, had this to day recently on Twitter: “Stephanie Pomboy: “We Are on the Brink of a 2008-Style Financial Crisis — And I’m Not Trying to Be Hyperbolic” Well, I’m glad that there are people out there that explain this stuff to the masses…
Before we head to the Big Finish today, I wanted to note that tomorrow is Veteran’s Day… This is a big day as far as I’m concerned… Our fathers and grandfathers fought in wars, and that alone deserves a salute on Veteran’s Day… As I’ve explained before, my dad was a veteran of WWII… He was the biggest patriot I’ve ever known… he loved this country, and would have fought again in Vietnam, but he was too old… So, if you know a Vet, tell them you appreciate their service, or at least give them a salute!
For What It’s Worth… Ok, long ago in another time warp, I wrote a Sunday Pfennig, that was titled: Chuck’s Debt Solutions… It was hailed as THE write up to end all write ups on the debt! Of course, nobody of importance, in the gov’t read it, and so here we are years later, with $33.5 Trillion in debt, and the world famous Doug Casey, now talking about his Debt Solutions, so let’s listen in, and this can be found here; International Man – How to Open an Offshore Bank Account, Get a Second Passport & How to Save Tax
Or, here’s your snippet: “1. Allow the collapse of all bankrupt entities. No bailouts, subsidies, or guarantees for banks, insurers, corporations, or anything.
There will be plenty in the coming years. Bailout money is always wasted. Most of the real wealth now owned by the bankrupt entities will still exist.
It will simply change ownership. But that’s not nearly enough. At this point, it would be a half-measure, a 3-foot rope over a 12-foot gap. If you allow the collapse of unprofitable enterprises without changing the conditions that created the problem, recovery is going to be even harder. So…
2. Deregulate. Contrary to what almost everyone thinks, the main purpose of regulation is not to protect consumers but to entrench the current order. Regulation prevents new institutions from arising quickly and cheaply.
Does the Department of Agriculture really need 100,000 employees to regulate fewer than two million farms in the US? Abolish it.
Has the Department of Energy, created in 1977 to somehow solve a temporary crisis, done anything of value with its 110,000 employees and contractors and $32 billion annual budget? Abolish it.
How about the terminally corrupt Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has outlived whatever usefulness it might have had by 100 years. Abolish it.
The FTC, SEC, FCC, FAA, DOT, HHS, HUD, Labor, Commerce, and many more, serve little or no useful public purpose. Eliminate them, and the entire economy would blossom – except for the parasitical lobbying and legal trades. There are hundreds of agencies like these. Most aren’t just useless. They’re actively destructive.
3. Abolish the Fed. This is the actual engine of inflation. Money is just a medium of exchange and a store of value; you don’t need a central bank to have money. In fact, central banks are always destructive. They benefit only the cronies who get their money first..
4. Cut taxes by 50%… to start. The economy would boom. The money won’t be needed with all the agencies gone. Certainly not if the next two points are followed.
5. Default on the national debt. I realize this is a shocker unless you recall that the debt will never be paid anyway. Why should the next several generations have to pay for the stupidity of their parents?
A default sounds dishonorable—and it is in civil society. But government is different. It hasn’t been “We the People” for a long time; it’s now a self-dealing behemoth run by cronies. It’s like a building with a rotten foundation—better to bring it down with a controlled demolition than wait for it fall unpredictably.
Governments default all the time, though most defaults are subtle, through inflation. In an outright default, however, the only people who get hurt are those who lent money to an institution that can only repay them by stealing money from others. They should be punished.
6. Disentangle and disengage. The entanglements the US needs to escape prominently include the UN and NATO. Spending could easily be cut 50%. The US combat troops now in over 100 foreign countries can come home. They’re not “defending” anything but local collaborators while picking up bad habits and antagonizing the locals. Spending on the military and its sport wars significantly adds to the economy’s problems.”
Chuck again… I know, if you recall my Sunday Pfennig, you may be saying to yourself, those all sound familiar, where did I hear them before? Oh! That’s right, they sound eerily like Chuck’s Debt Solutions! only in a different way of saying them…
Market Prices 11/9/2023: American Style: A$.6398, kiwi .5927, C$ .7250, euro 1.0689, sterling 1.2261,
Swiss $1.1107, European Style: rand 18.6187, krone 11.1707, SEK 10.8738, forint 354.85, zloty 4.1643,
koruna 22.9810, RUB 92.16, yen 151.50, sing 1.3582, HKD 7.8078, INR 83.28, China 7.2856, peso 17.59,
BRL 4.9099, BBDXY 1,263.62, Dollar Index 105.70, Oil $75.81, 10-year 4.52%, Silver $22.57, Platinum $867.00, Palladium $1,039.00, Copper $3.65, and Gold… $1,948.58
That’s it for today… Well, today, seems like it has been a very long week for yours truly… And maybe it has! Kathy arrived in S. Florida last night, so I’m not all by myself any longer! I’m worried about my Mizzou Tigers game this weekend, VS Tenneessee… They need to win this game… so Go Tigers! I wore my black and gold on the airplane coming down here last Saturday, and one of the flight attendants, said, MIZ! And I returned a ZOU! And then she began to tell me how she graduated from Mizzou! She asked me when did I graduate from Mizzou… I said, I wish! I would have given my left arm to be able to play for the Tigers! I was brought up a Tigers fan, taught my kids to be Tigers fans, and anyone else that’s around me during football season! The Easybeats takes us to the finish line today with their 60’s song: Friday On My Mind…. I hope you have a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday today, and Fantastico Friday tomorrow, and I’ll talk to you again next week! Don’t forget that tomorrow is Veteran’s Day! Please…. Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler