- Currencies drift and the short traders enter the markets
- Revisions equal lies…
Good Day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Well, I was wrong about my wife having her mom and sister in tow yesterday. Her sister doesn’t come until later this month… You know what I heard then right? “Don’t you ever listen to me?”… HA! It’s so nice to have my wife back! Seriously! I don’t know what I would do without all the criticism! OK.. enough of that! My beloved Cardinals finally hit a home run in Spring Training games yesterday… I had just mentioned to friend Pat that the Cardinals lack of home runs would end today, and then voila! A home run was hit! Maybe I should have booked a flight to Vegas after that? 10CC greets me this morning with their song: Dreadlock Holiday…
Well, Gold & Silver were on a run, until they weren’t yesterday… Gold began the day at $2,130, and at one point in the day it reached a price of $2,142.30, but after the short paper traders showed up, Gold ended the day at $2,125.70, thus down $5 on the day… Silver also saw a run that ended with short paper traders entered the market… Silver started the day $23.81, and traded as high as $24.27, before ending the day at $23.67, thus down 14-cents on the day… So, even though the short paper traders were anywhere to be seen on Friday and Monday, and led some to believe that they had thrown in the towel, they obviously hadn’t, and are still the wolf at the door…
The dollar started the day yesterday, down 2 index points in the BBDXY, and spent the rest of the day maintaining that level… (1,241)… The euro appeared to have not moved one iota, after a day of trading… And the rest of the currencies followed the Big Dog, euro all day… As I said yesterday, the Petrol Currencies just aren’t getting the love they should be getting while the price of Oil is high… And the the price of Oil remained in the $78 handle yesterday, even after the Saudis and OPEC confirmed that they would extend the production cuts that they announced a couple of months ago. And the 10-year saw its yield slide a bit and ended the day with a 4.18% yield.
In the overnight markets last night…Well, once again, in the foreign markets the dollar got sold, not by large amounts, but sold nonetheless. The BBDXY is down 1.75 index points this morning, and the euro finally woke up from its slumber and move higher in the 1.08 handle. The Mexican peso continues to be shining light for currencies VS the dollar.
Gold is up $6 in the early trading today, and Silver is up 20-cents, so another day of gains, that we have to worry about the short paper traders… The price of Oil remains in the $78 handle, and there was some additional slippage in the 10-year’s yield, as it sits at 4.16% this morning.
The ISM Services data that printed yesterday, and was weaker than the previous month (52% VS 53%), and brought back some thought that inflation is easing… And that got the bonds bought for some crazy notion that inflation is easing… I told you yesterday that consumer inflation is probably higher than 8% according to Forbes, and that they called out the phony baloney CPI reports…
Well, in the U.K. they are observing the 25th anniversary of the biggest blunder in Central Bank history made the Bank of England… Here’s the skinny from the Telegraph: “It has been considered one of the worst financial blunders the Government ever made. On May 7, 1999, the UK Treasury announced it would be selling over half of the nation’s gold reserves.
The move, made by then chancellor Gordon Brown, was done in a bid to diversify and strengthen Britain’s reserves by reducing the proportion held in gold. Yet the sale came at what turned out to be the very bottom of the gold market, ultimately costing the Exchequer billions of pounds in lost profits.
As the 25th anniversary of Mr Brown’s now infamous decision approaches, the price of gold on Monday hit a record high.”
Chuck again… This is something that every Gold holder should keep in mind… Gold is a store of wealth… and should not be traded nilly willy… I’m just saying…
Well… remember when I told you that eventually, the U.S. will choke on its debt? The debt is being added to by $1 Trillion every couple of months now, and building momentum… Here’s Bill Bonner’s take on it: “It took the US 190 years to accumulate its first $1 trillion of debt. But now the ‘ground rush’ begins; time speeds up. The US adds $1 trillion in debt every few months. The latest projections show national debt at $60 trillion by 2034. That would put the interest expense around $3 trillion. You reach for the rip cord. But it’s not there. The insiders benefit from federal spending…and they control Congress. No parachute is available.
One way or another, the past will get what’s coming to it.
Patience.”
Chuck again… that was in Bill’s newsletter from yesterday that can be found at Bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com
I keep telling my kids about how they need to save as much as they can, each month when they are paid, but I know what they think when I begin to harp at them, “here he goes again, talking about debt”… But one, day, they will see the debt for what it is and the harm that it causes, and they will turn to their children and begin to sound like me… But by then, who knows what will be going on in the world, with all this debt?
on a sidebar, I’m now reading a book that I will let everyone know when I finish it, if it should be read by all… I’m thinking it will need to be read, but first, I’m going to get to reading it, it’s a book by: David Rogers Webb, titled: The Great Taking… the book is in line with my thinking that all this debt has been a plan by the dark side, to impoverish all of us… And end up taking everything we own…
Now, I know that’s really dark and jaded, and I’m not that kind of guy per se… But, I’m also a logic kind of guy, and everything I say about debt, the digital currency, and plans by the Gov’t are logic… plain and simple…
Yesterday’s Data Cupboard had Jan Factory Orders, and just as I said they would be, they printed negative -3.6%… And the previous month’s number was revised downward… This is something that I’ve talked about in previous Pfennigs… And that is how the Propeller Heads in the Gov’t agencies that produce these reports, just throw out numbers, and the markets react to them… But then the downward revision hits the next month, and the markets don’t pay attention to it! For the record, this data In the last 21 months, U.S. factory orders have been downwardly revised 16 times… That’s a shame isn’t it?
Today’s Data Cupboard has the ADP Employment Report for February… You know that I truly believe that the ADP report should be what the markets use for Jobs data… But they don’t, and so we have to put up with all the shenanigans from the BLS…
To recap… The dollar drifted throughout the U.S. session yesterday, and that showed in euro’s trading, which showed basically no movement from the previous day. Gold & Sliver had their rallies shut down yesterday… Short paper trading ruled the day. And Chuck has some other things up his sleeve this morning…
For What It’s Worth… Slim pickens on the FWIW this morning, but I did find this on Reuters this morning… it’s about the Commercial Real Estate (CRE) problem that the country is facing and it can be found here: US banks far more exposed than Europeans to property crunch, says Morgan Stanley | Reuters
Or, here’s your snippet: “Major European banks have been cutting their lending to commercial property and have half the exposure of their U.S. peers, making U.S. lenders more vulnerable as office prices plunge further, Morgan Stanley said on Tuesday.
Commercial real estate (CRE) markets are in the grip of the biggest downturn since the 2008-9 financial crisis as higher borrowing costs and a spike in vacancy rates driven by more people working from home hit demand for office space.
Morgan Stanley analysts said in a research note that regional U.S. banks looked most exposed, alongside German regional lenders – which unlike bigger European banks had been increasing their exposure.
“Overall, we think CRE-related issues will not translate into a systemic event, but rather a manageable earnings impact localized to a small set of banks,” the analysts wrote.
In a ‘stress scenario’, in which property price falls force banks to recognise losses and borrowers’ credit quality worsens, European banks would face a 3% hit to earnings over three years, which the analysts called “manageable”.”
Chuck again… What no systemic event? Are you kidding me? This is what the problem in the country is, folks… Telling lies…
Market Prices 3/6/2024: American Style: A$ .6524, kiwi .6102, C$ .7367, euro 1.0867, sterling 1.2722, Swiss $1.1300, European Style: rand 18.8622, krone 10.5305, SEK 10.3641, forint 361.09, zloty 3.9587, koruna 23.2915, RUB 90.60, yen 149.70, sing 1.3412, HKD 7.8238, INR 82.83, China 7.1992, peso 16.89, BRL 4.9583, BBDXY 1,239.16, Dollar Index 103.64, Oil $78.93, 10-year 4.16%, Silver $23.83, Platinum $887.00, Palladium $984.00, Copper $3.85, and Gold… $2,131.70
That’s it for today… My beloved Mizzou Tigers are finishing up the regular season and don’t have one win in conference play…UGH! no SEC Tournament for them, and its time to think about next year… The weather down here has finally become “Florida-like”, and that led to multiple days of great weather last week, while my buddies were here… So, now I can get back to soaking up Vitamin D! Triumph takes us to the finish line today with their song: Magic Power… I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday today, and will continue to Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler