Rocktober 17, 2023
* currencies & metals rally on Monday
* Why does the mass media fail to mention bankruptcies?
Good Day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! Well, the construction guy told me yesterday that they were in the home stretch, which means I’ll have my basement back to where I want it! There’s still a lot of crafty wood work to do, painting and laying carpet upstairs, but as soon as my basement is finished, I’ll be happy! I won’t care how long it takes them to fix the rest of the house! Well, actually I do, but, you know what I’m saying… I’ve been much better since last Thrusday regarding bleeding, so I have that going for me! The bad part now, is how the chemo is affecting my stomach… YUCK! I go for a blood draw this morning after I hit send, to make sure the chemo isn’t affecting some other organ! The Greg Kihn band greets me this morning with their song: Remember…
Well, the dollar turned around yesterday, and got sold again to start the week… The BBDXY was down 4 index points on the day, and the euro added a bit more to its 1.05 handle. The Petrol Currencies got on the stick yesterday, and finally began to move upward alongside the price of Oil… Gold & Silver saw selling all day yesterday, and ended the day with a $1,920.70 price in Gold, and $22.70 in Silver…
On kitco.com last night they had this recap for Gold & Silver: ” Gold and silver prices are a bit weaker in midday U.S. trading Monday, on normal downside corrections and profit taking from the shorter-term futures traders following last week’s solid gains. Rising U.S. Treasury yields to start the trading week were also a bearish daily outside market element for the precious metals markets.”
Chuck again… speaking of rising Treasury yields… The 10-year’s yield rose to 4.73% yesterday, and is back on the selling block… I told you yesterday, that I’ve been watching the recent Treasury auctions, and they have been quite ugly, with little to no interest being paid to the issues at current levels… And that means that the yields will have go higher to attract buyers… It’s simple Simon, folks…
And if you want proof that the Fed Heads were in buying Treasuries when the 10-year’s yield fell from 4.76 to 4.61%, well look no further than where the 10-year’s yield has gone since then… Yes, right back to 4.76%, which to me is proof enough that intervention was done, on one day, and then went away…
The price of Oil is stuck in the mud with an $86 handle as of last night…
In the overnight markets last night…. There was little to no movement in the dollar, with the dollar inching higher, but the move is insignificant. Silver is flat as a pancake (Head East) this morning, while Gold is up $4 in the early trading today…
Well, I’ve read some articles 1. from Kitco, and 2. from CNBC, who both are calling for Gold to soar in the 4th QTR of this year… That’s not that far away folks… Did you back up the truck? There’s still time, even though Gold was up $64 on Friday last week… $64 will be a drop in the bucket compared to the levels that these two research teams laid out… And then we had this: “Billionaire bond king Jeffrey Gundlach says: “Gold is going to go a lot higher.”
Now, I know I’ve warned you before about being careful when companies talked about something glowingly, and that is that they probably are long the “something” and need people to buy so the price goes up… But this may be different this time, in that Gold is due for a breakout price upward movement… And, it was written that 97.6% of the wealthy own Gold… Hmmm… wanna play a rich man? Got Gold?
The Swiss franc has rebounded from its selloff after the SNB left rates earlier this month. A flight to safety with all the geopolitical mess going on in the world these days, certainly gets the franc pushed to front and center, on trading lists…
And in a sign of the times, giant pharmacy, Rite Aide, has file for bankruptcy… There have been a very large number of companies that have gone under this year, I’m surprised that the mass media hasn’t reported on that… But then that doesn’t sell the story of a strong and resilient economy, now does it? No, it doesn’t!
The good folks at www.wallstreetonparade.com has this to say about JPMorgan this morning: “JPMorgan Chase suffered outflows of deposits in every quarter of 2022. It got a brief respite from inflows of deposits in the first quarter of 2023, as a result of the March banking panic that impacted smaller banks, then outflows took hold again. Excluding the deposits from First Republic Bank, JPMorgan Chase has lost $248.38 billion in deposits over the span of the last seven quarters. One doesn’t expect that at a bank that continues to trumpet its “fortress balance sheet.”
Chuck again, I have to think that if this is happening at the Big Kahuna, then it’s happening all over to the rest of the banks… Scary, isn’t it? You don’t think that this has anything to do with the shoving digital currencies down our throats do you? I mean, I see this as a way for people to have cash on hand, just in case, and when I say “in hand”, that’s exactly the point…
The U.S. Data Cupboard doesn’t have much for us this morning, once again, but tomorrows Data Cupboard has 3 real economic reports, so the Gov’t is saving all their bullets for one shot! There are more Fed Head speakers today… Shoot Rudy, I remember when you never heard from these knuckleheads, and these days, hardly a day goes by without one of them speaking their minds…
To recap… There was more slippage in the dollar yesterday, and Gold & Silver saw “corrections” of their blast upward pricing last Friday. There’s just not that much going on in the markets to start the day today, the dollar is flat, Silver is flat, and Gold is up $4 to start the day today… There’s no data worth the paper it’s printed on, and the pharmacy giant Rite Aide is filing for bankruptcy… And Chuck reports on a mass exit of deposits at the Big Kahuna Bank JPMorgan Chase…
And I wanted to talk about something here before we head to the Big Finish today… The Olympic Committee approved Squash and Flag Football as Olympic Sports… But failed to include Baseball and softball… What, no baseball? You’ve got to be kidding me! Squash? Flag Football? But no baseball? Jiminy Crickets, what the heck is going on in the world these days?
For What It’s Worth… well, I never knew that all you had to do to steal large sums of Gold and Cash was to show up with a phony waybill… But that’s what this article explains to us regarding the great Canadian Airport Gold heist last year, and it can be read here: New details about $20M Toronto airport gold heist revealed in lawsuit | National Post
Or, here’s your snippet: “After months of silence, the lawsuit paints the clearest picture yet of how April’s Pearson Airport gold heist was allegedly pulled off.
The shock Toronto airport heist of $20 million in gold bars — weighing 400.19 kilograms — along with US$2 million in cash was as easy as walking into Air Canada’s cargo facility, showing a false waybill, and leaving with the enormous haul, according to a lawsuit filed in court.
It was gone 42 minutes after it was unloaded from a plane arriving from Switzerland and transferred to a supposedly secure warehouse on the periphery of Toronto’s Pearson airport, according to the statement of claim.
New details about $20M Toronto airport gold heist revealed in Brink’s suit against Air Canada.
Air Canada’s cargo holding facility at Toronto’s Pearson airport.
The theft, one of the largest in Canadian history, remains unsolved by police. Brink’s, a secure transport company, is now suing Air Canada over the lost loads.”
Chuck again, yes, Brinks is suing the airport facility for lack of security, saying their security was woeful… And I would agree with them! So somewhere someone has a large sum of money to spend, which reminds me of the lyrics to a Steely Dan song: Bad sneakers and a piña colada, my friend
Stomping on the avenue by Radio City with a Transistor and a large sum of money to spend….
Market Prices 10/17/2023: American Style: A$ .6364, kiwi .5901, C$ .7337, euro 1.0577, sterling 1.2189, Swiss $1.1113, European Style: rand 18.8114, krone 10.9376, SEK 10.8962, forint 364.05, zloty 4.1901. koruna 23.2431, RUB 97.31, yen 149.40, sing 1.3683, HKD 7.8228, INR 83.26, China 7.3128, peso 17.93, BRL 5.0401, BBDXY 1,270.40, Dollar Index 106.12, Oil $86.99, 10-year 4.76%, Silver $22.70, Platinum $898.00, Palladium $1,345.00, Copper $3.57, and Gold… $1,924.04
That’s it for today… A bad morning for me, as I couldn’t shake the sleep out of me… I was sleepwalking through the first part of the letter today… UGH! Then I could smell the coffee that Kathy was brewing, and it woke me up! And now I’m full of you know what and vinegar to start the day! The baseball playoffs continue with The Championship Series in each league, to determine who goes to the World Series… The Phillies look unbeatable in the NL, and the surprising Rangers are up 2-0 to the Astros… Two teams that mash the baseball, now that would be a good World Series, I think… Our Blues don’t get back on the ice until Thursday night, so it’s baseball playoffs for me… The Main Ingredient takes us to the finish line today with their 70’s song: Everybody Plays the Fool… I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and please remember to Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler