May 16, 2023
* currencies and metals get whacked in the overnight markets
* Work less, get paid the same… The new mantra… UGH!
Good Day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! What in Tar Nation happened to the Cardinals bat last night, it was as if they came alive all at once, and scored 18 runs! And for once in a Blue Moon, the Cardinals starting pitching didn’t stink! Well, that was quite a display of baseball, as it should be”, or at least what I was expecting after watching them in 14 games in Spring Training! After their slow start, it’ll be a long haul back into the pennant race, but maybe, just maybe, cause you never know, the Cardinals have turned the season around… We shall see, eh?
The day was strange yesterday, with rain all around us… I sat outside as much as I could, and in the 6th inning last night I called it a night outside… 10cc greets me this morning with their song: I’m Not In Love…
The dollar saw some selling yesterday, with the BBDXY losing 4 index points along the way… The euro, sterling, Swiss all saw some selling too, which was stranger than fiction in my book… Gold gained $5.10 on the day to close at $2,017.20, and Silver actually found a bid at gained 13-cents on the day to regain the $24 handle, and close the day at $24.18… Picking up the pieces of all the broken parts from last week’s engineered takedown by the short paper traders of these two metals… The short paper traders didn’t confine their selling short to just Gold & Silver, last week, as Copper got dragged across the hot coals… China announces that they are shutting down a Mongolian Copper mine, temporarily, and Copper loses value… So, tell me again, Mr. Economics Professor, how that supply and demand equal price?
The price of Oil gained $1.50 yesterday after it was announce that, well, I’ll let Bloomberg.com tell you what was announced: “The US is soliciting bids for up to 3 million barrels of sour crude oil to refill its depleted Strategic Petroleum Reserve. “
Chuck again… Hmmm… now why would you as a Gov’t need to buy 3 Million barrels of Oil now? Oh, that’s right, you released millions of barrels of Oil in a political move previously, now didn’t you? And what did that get you in the way of votes? I’m curious… C’Mon, you can tell me, I won’t tell anyone else.. What? you are accusing me of having my fat fingers crossed behind my back? Ok, you’ve got me on that, because if you would tell me I would indeed tell the world what you admitted to doing!
In the overnight markets last night… The dollar was sold a little more, with the BBDXY showing a 1 index point loss, but we’re not seeing the weakness in the BBDXY showing up in strength of the major currencies… The only currency to not suffer some lost ground in the past 24 hours is the Mexican peso… So, knowing that alone should tell you how screwed up the currencies are this morning! And I don’t know what’s going on yet this morning, with Gold & Silver… Gold is down $12, and Silver is down 30-cents to start the day today, and that looks to me to be a bit overdone, so we’ll see if there is any rally in these two today. There was a minor slippage in the price of Oil overnight, and the same in the yield of the 10-year Treasury…
I just don’t get why this is happening… the dollar is weaker, but so are the currencies that offset the dollar, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen something like this in my over 30 years of observing currencies… So, there you go!
Yesterday, I talked a lot about how the dollar is seeing a flight from it, and that flight is increasing in speed, every day… And now we get all the dramatics from the theater located in the Beltway, as McCarthy and the Potus finally meet again to argue over the wording of the agreement that will come in the 11th hour to save the economy, and then they’ll want/ demand that We the People, all treat them as the heros that they they, in their respective feeble minds, believe they so richly deserve…
The Conservative leaders have proposed a budget that would require spending cuts, but that has been rejected by the liberals… Here’s the skinny on the spending cuts… They were to be taken in future years…. And who’s to say that anyone will remember that fact, when those years come along?
The publisher at the Dollar Collapse.com site, Bob Rosenthal, had this to say about the meeting:
“Biden and McCarthy are set to resume “Debt Ceiling” talks.
It’s all Kabuki theater, because whatever they “agree” on…
Out-of-control money printing and insane spending will continue.
And the destruction of the US dollar will continue.
Most of us now are feeling the pain of a declining standard of living.
And it’s clear the worst financial disaster in history is upon us.”
Chuck again… I think he nailed it Governor! The only thing missing is a question: Got Gold?
And you know how I’ve told you about how Productivity in the U.S. has been falling… of course the Plandemic didn’t help things, but beside that productivity was falling before that “debacle” and has continued to fall after. And now I read this on Reuters this morning: “Could your company increase productivity by cutting staff hours but maintaining their pay? Welcome to the four-day week movement.” Isn’t that the wrong way to go about this? But who am I to question the propeller heads in the Gov’t? HA! The 4-day work week was invented by me… And it’s mine, not to share! How dare they infringe on my 4-day work week! Darn youngsters… They see someone like me going around free as a bird on Fridays, and think that’s what they want too… I just think that, if you want to make the economy work better, you need to put your head down, and go to work, and not quit until the job is finished, and then start another job… Work hard, play hard… That was always my motto…
The U.S. Data Cupboard yesterday had the Empire Region Manufacturing Index and it printed a negative -31.8 for May… Uh Oh… The second quarter sure isn’t getting off on the right foot, now is is? Today’s Data Cupboard has the April print of Retail Sales… I already told you yesterday that the BHI indicated that April would be a strong month for sales, given it was also the Easter Holiday spending month… We’ll also see Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization both for April.. .And if the Empire report tells us anything, these two reports will be struggling at best to print a positive number for the month…
To recap… The dollar got sold yesterday, but the euro, sterling and Swiss all saw selling too… Chuck says that’s stranger than fiction… The Debt talks resume today, now doesn’t that news just make you want to stop and know each detail that comes from the meeting? Oh, I guess not… I know I sure wouldn’t want to be stuck in those meetings! Dollar Collapse calls it all Kabuki Theater… Gold was up yesterday, and Silver finally found a bid! Something strange is going on with Copper… Hmmm….
For What It’s Worth… Well, you know the U.S. Credit Balance (read debt) was up Big Time in the last reading, ($177 Trillion in QTR 1) and now those debts are becoming a problem, as delinquencies rise on payments on the debt… And that’s what this article is all about and can be found here: US Households Show Signs of Stress as New Loan Delinquencies Rise – Bloomberg
Or, here’s your snippet: “US households showed signs of increasing financial stress in the first quarter, with credit card balances not declining in the way they typically do at the start of the year and delinquencies rising for most types of consumer loans.
Households added $148 billion in overall debt, bringing the total to $17.05 trillion, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday. Balances are now $2.9 trillion higher than just before the pandemic.
Consumers typically build up more credit-card debt at the end of the year, during the holiday season, and then reduce those balances at the start of the following year, sometimes with the help of tax refunds. But for the first time in 20 years, that wasn’t the case this year, suggesting some households are under strain from higher prices and may be relying on credit cards to maintain their spending.”
Chuck again… I don’t think for one minute that consumers not paying off their credit cards in January “suggested” that households are under stress… I believe that it TELLS us that U.S. households are under stress!
Market Prices 5/16/2023: American Style: A$ .6687, kiwi .6247, C$ .7426, euro 1.0887, sterling 1.2523, Swiss $1.1188, European Style: rand 19.06, krone 10.6626, SEK 10.3535, forint 339.09, zloty 4.1232, koruna 21.7608, RUB 79.96, yen 135.85, sing 1.3366, HKD 7.8384, INR 82.21, China 6.9666, peso 17.45, BRL 4.8935, BBDXY 1,226.53, Dollar Index 102.36, Oil $70.97, 10-year 3.48%, Silver $23.78, Platinum $1,063.00, Palladium $1,513.00, Copper $3.70, and Gold… $2,005.92
That’s it for today… I’m ready for summer… This spring has been a normal spring, with some warm days, followed by chilly days, a little rain, and when the sun goes down, it’s downright chilly outside… Now, it’s time for the weather to change to warm all the time, and I’m ready for that! We opened our pool last week, and the grandkids all had fun in the pool on Sunday… To see them there more often this summer brings a smile to my face! ! One week on the new chemo, I’m more tired than previously, but so far no stomach problems… In June it will be 16 years that I have lived with cancer… When I slipped on the hill in the back yard, 16 years ago, and the pain wouldn’t go away, was nature’s way of telling me something was wrong, and for sure cancer had spread from my kidney to my right femur… The Band Spririt, sings the song Nature’s Way, and it always get me emotional.. The Beatles take us to the finish line today with their love song: And I Love her… I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and please Be Good To Yourself! Oh! I almost forgot!.. no Pfennig tomorrow, I have to go to the hospital and see my oncologist regarding the new chemo… So, I’ll see you again in space, on Thursday!
Chuck Butler