*Currencies & metals get taken to the woodshed on Tuesday…
* Ray Dalio joins us this morning…
Good Day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Yesterday was fabulous here, and that made me quite happy! I helped an elderly lady bring some bags up to her condo yesterday, the previous day I had to open a bottle that she couldn’t get the lid off of… She said, “are you going to be around every time I need help?” I laughed and said, “only if you’re around me when you need help!” I don’t think you’ll want to read what happened yesterday in the markets, but, I’m going to write it, so, you have no choice! HA! Eddie Floyd, greets me this morning with his song: Knock On Wood…
Well, the dollar bugs sure had their day yesterday… The dollar was bought like funnel cakes at a State Fair! All the articles out there describing the dollar rally said about the same thing… That this rally was a result of higher yields, and a come to heart thought that interest rates are NOT going to be cut early this year if at all… So, the BBDXY gained over 10 index points yesterday, bringing the dollar to pre mini-selloff highs….
Here’s Ed Steer’s thoughts on yesterday’s metals price action from his letter this morning: “This was pure price management from the 6:00 p.m. Globex open in New York…until they were all done late in after-hours trading in New York on Tuesday afternoon. This Zero Hedge story from 11:25 a.m. EST on Tuesday morning headlined “Stocks & Bonds Tumble After Fed’s Waller Sends Rate-Cut Odds Reeling” was also part of the reason given…which is pure bulls hit. That news came out a very long time after the engineered price declines were progress. It was all paper trading once again.
The simple fact of the matter is the the Plunge Protection Team didn’t want either gold or silver to be seen as a safe harbor yesterday…so the money from the stock market went into dollars or treasuries instead. It worked like a charm.”
Chuck again…. And Gold? YIKES! Gold was persona non gratis all day, and ended up losing more than $27 on the day… $27! Silver lost 34-cents on the day… And of course the short paper traders were in, piling on to Gold & Silver’s problems…
I’m not about to say that all this selling of the metals was from higher yields, nor was it all from short paper trading, but put them together, and you have this awful day for the metals… That’s my Pfennig worth…
The price of Oil slipped yesterday, but remained in Oil’s current range, and ended the day with a $71 handle. So, if higher yields were a problem for the metals, then I guess they are talking about the 10-years 4.05% yield… You know it was just 3 months ago that the 10-year’s yield was over 5%… So… I guess those that hold the reins decided that 4.05% was a “higher yield”… Higher than it was the day before, but to say it was a “high yield” is really stretching the meaning of “high yield”…
In the overnight markets last night…. The dollar got bought some more, with the BBDXY up 2 index points this morning… This dollar buying has gotten out of control, and pretty soon it will show overbought, but until then we get to watch the currencies get taken to the woodshed, over and over again. The euro has dropped to 1.0874 this morning, and all the other currencies are taking on water… The price of Gold is up a buck or two in the early trading today, and Silver is done a nickel… The damage that has been inflicted on the metals is quite evident this morning, with the only saving grace in Gold is that it remains above $2,000…
The price of Oil has slipped even more, down to a $70 handle this morning. I read this morning that ships are still daring to travel through the gauntlet that is the Red Sea.. I question their daring… This would be where I personally would put my valor in the closet… But then that ‘s just me, always being the safe one… Speaking of being safe, Got Gold? Bonds continue to get sold, and the 10-year’s yield has bumped higher to 4.08% this morning…
You know, I’ve been thinking about the issuance of Treasuries for 2024… Apparently the total issuance will be $2 Trillion worth! That’s crazy, eh? Well, that got me thinking bout how the U.S. will find buyers for all those bonds, especially if the yields are falling because the Fed / Cabal/ Cartel are talking about rate cuts… Who’s going to buy them? Oh my! But wait! Wait just a minute here, We have the White Knight on a steed riding in to save the bond market, and the financial system… None other than the Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel! They could very easily scrap their Quantitative Easing program, and start buying bonds again… Ok, this is what got us into a Big problem with inflation, but as Bill Bonner always repeats: Inflate or Die…. The Fed Heads would be signaling that they choose inflation… Now that’s really heartwarming to know, eh? NOT!
What the Fed Heads will be doing is simply prolonging the end of the financial system and in doing so, causing pain and suffering to those subjected to rising inflation… Oooh, boy, sign me up for some of that! NOT!
After printing the article I printed on Monday, from the former Fed Head who told us not to worry about the Country’s Debt, and I asked what planet she was from or where she got her degree…. I came across this that makes much more sense: Ray Dalio is one of the world’s most successful hedge fund managers.
His success is due to his consistent ability to get the Big Picture right.
He recently said this:
“We are at a point in which we are borrowing money to pay debt service.
When you keep having debt growth faster than income growth, that means you have debt service encroaching on your spending, and you want to keep spending at the same time.
As that happens, there is a need to get more and more into debt. It accelerates.
We are at the point of that acceleration. We are near that inflection point.”
Dalio is warning about the explosive nature of the US government’s compounding debt situation.”
That was taken from Doug Casey’s International Man newsletter…
A long-time reader sent me this last night, and while I haven’t had the chance to actually view it yet, I will today, and since Billy strongly suggested that I read it, I will! I’m talking about David Rogers Webb and his book The Great Taking.. Now I’m suggesting you read it too… Thanks Billy!
For What It’s Worth… Well, look who’s at it again? What am I talking about? I’m talking bout JPMorgan and they are in trouble again, this time with the SEC, for bribing clients to not file complaints… I can’t make this stuff up folks, it can be found here: Largest Bank in the World Just Caught Bribing its Clients | Ainslie Bullion
Or, here’s your snippet: “he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced this morning that they had settled charges with JP Morgan for preventing hundreds of advisory and brokerage clients from reporting potential securities law violations to the SEC. Of course, no guilt was officially admitted.
A week after the SEC’s horrific handling of the Bitcoin ETF ‘Twitter hack’ debacle, they have somewhat redeemed themselves by exposing the extremely questionable practices at the one bank that is arguably the most important for the systematic financial stability of the US.
According to an SEC press release, JP Morgan regularly requested retail clients, from March 2020 to July 2023, to sign confidential release agreements if they received a credit or settlement exceeding $1,000 from the firm. These agreements compelled clients to maintain confidentiality regarding the settlement, its underlying facts, and information related to the concerned account. While clients were allowed to respond to SEC inquiries, they were prohibited from voluntarily contacting the SEC.
It was reported that 362 clients signed such release, with the amounts ranging from $1000 to $165,000
JP Morgan paid an $18 million fine to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) without admitting or denying charges. Obviously, $18 million is pennies for JP Morgan, barely a slap on the wrist considering their standardised risk-weighted assets hit $1.7 trillion this year.
The SEC’s Director of Enforcement, Gurbir S. Grewal, emphasised the illegality of including provisions preventing individuals from reporting wrongdoing to the SEC. He stated, “Whether it’s in your employment contracts, settlement agreements or elsewhere, you simply cannot include provisions that prevent individuals from contacting the SEC with evidence of wrongdoing.”
Chuck again… And that reminds me that the U.S. Gov’t just put the CEO of JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon, as head of something, I can’t recall what that was… The only redeeming quality that I’ve found from Dimon is that he blasted Bitcoin last December…
Market Prices 1/17/2024: American Style: A$.6557, kiwi .6118, C$ .7395, euro 1.0874, sterling 1.2678, Swiss $1.1570, European Style: rand 19.0527, krone 10.5020, SEK 10.4880, forint 350.27, zloty 4.0437, koruna 22.7061, RUB 88.51, yen 147.75, sing 1.3459, HKD 7.8249, INR 83.13, China 7.1955, peso 17.29, BRL 4.9299, BBDXY 1,239.08, Dollar Index 103.40, Oil $70.93, 10-year 4.08%, Silver $22.93, Platinum $903.00, Palladium $962.00, Copper $3.77, and Gold… $2,029.00
That’s it for today… Not a good night for my teams, last night, as both the Mizzou Tigers and the SLU Billikens lost their respective basketball games… I got to watch both of them too! UGH! What a beautiful day here in S. Florida yesterday, I sat outside reading until I thought I had gotten enough sun… So, 2 days of the 14 we’ve been here for have been normal S. Florida weather… just 2 days, but then back home they had to deal with cold and snow yesterday… So stop complaining Chuck! just 28 days till pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training… I noticed the other night that my season tickets for Spring Training games had finally been put into my MLB account, and suddenly I got the urge to go down to the stadium… Soon enough Chuck, hold your horses! The great George Harrison takes us to the finish line today with his song: What Is Life? I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday and will Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler