- the dollar buying stops on a dime
- the selling of bonds, metals and stocks stops too…
Good Day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! Well, that was some undertaking to get things turned around yesterday… Not completely, but at least turned… I watched my beloved Cardinals play their double AA team that are also called the Cardinals, last night… It was interesting because I had just watched most of the AA players in Spring Training! Bob Marley and the Wailers greet me this morning with their great song: 3 Little Birds…
Well, the dollar buying stopped yesterday, and the selling of the currencies, bonds, and stocks all ended… This was apparently because the POUTUS said that he and the Iranians were having productive talks…. What, Wait! Didn’t he tell us two weeks ago that the war was nearly complete? And we’re still fighting… And now this… BTW… the Iranians deny having any such talks with the U.S…. So once again, words by the PUTUS saved the stock jockeys and stopped the rise of the Treasury bond yields… And stopped the price of Oil from going over $100…
And to think of it, it also stopped the rise of the dollar, that the PUTUS himself has been said to say that he wants a weaker dollar…. Well, it was weaker at the end of the day for sure….
The dollar lost ground yesterday, and the BBDXY ended the day down 4 index points to 1,209… Or maybe, just maybe because you never know (Andujar) some dollar traders read the Pfennig yesterday and agreed with me, that to call the dollar a “safe haven” is just not right…
Gold & Silver attempted a comeback if you will… As Gold. Which was down $232 in the morning, ended up down $100 to close at $4,405… And Silver actually gained on the day after being down $7 early ended up on the day… wonders never cease! I’m telling you now so maybe you’ll listen to me later, but the thing with the metals are really shedding the weak hands that held Gold & Silver, and when the day is done and the selling is over for good, only the strong hands will benefit from Gold & Silver’s rally…. So, what are you? A weak hand or a strong hand?
The price of Oil after all the gyrations ended the day with a $91 handle… At one point in the day, Oil’s price was down to $88… But calmer heads saw through the 2 words that stopped everything from its currency trend… What two words am I talking about… “Productive Conversations”… keep those in the back of your mind for I believe that this will all pass….
The 10-year’s yield rise was halted yesterday, and it ended the day with a 4.38% yield…
In the overnight markets last night… the dollar fought back and gained 2 index points in the BBDXY, but the dollar isn’t as lofty in its price as it was previously… So, without any real economic data this week, to give the dollar some direction, we could be looking at a week where the dollar just drifts about…
The price of Gold is down $4 to start our day today… Not that a negative price move is a good thing, but a $4 drop is far better than what we’ve been seeing daily here… Silver is up 72-cents to start our day, so I doubt Gold will remain in the red as the day move along… Silver is so close to the 70-cent figure that it could spit in 70’s back yard!
The price of Oil has slipped another buck to trade this morning with a $90 handle… I doubt that it will stay cheaper like this for too long, once Oil traders figure out that the POTUS’s two words don’t hold any water..
And the 10-year also saw its yield drop further overnight to trade this morning with a 4.37% yield… The bond boys aren’t ready to throw in the towel on their inflation fears…
Well, all this selling of Gold & Silver in the last week has brought about some different ideas as to why it has been so strong…. The one I like the most is the one I told you about yesterday, and that is liquidating Gold to pay/ cover margin calls… But there’s also this: There have reports that some smaller countries sold Gold reserves to pay for Oil… To me this is a weak hand… and Gold is flushing them down the bowl….
There was an article on Kitco.com that talked about the reasons that Gold is getting sold are wrong… Well, I liked that part, but then I came to the end and not one mention of the short sellers affect on the Gold & Silver Price… They would have to write a different article to include the short sellers… The fundamentals as to why Gold has taken off to higher ground remain in place…. Look the U.S., Eurozone, U.K. And Japan all left rates unchanged at their most recent meetings… The debt of countries hasn’t seen any deficit spending cuts, and the geopolitical problems in the world are worse… So, it has to be the short sellers making mincemeat out of the metals’ prices…
Well, we were bound to get there… and new data from the Treasury Department released on Wednesday showed that the gross national debt reached $39,016,762,910,245.14 as of March 17.
The $39 trillion milestone comes about five months after the national debt reached $38 trillion for the first time in late October 2025, which closely followed the $37 trillion milestone being surpassed just two months earlier in mid-August. The interest expense or bond servicing on the debt is going to lead us down the road to ruin… But then that was a known a long time ago, but now it’s a reality… I’m just saying….
We’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of the President’s Liberation Day… How’s that working out a year later? Are we going to have to rebate the tariffs we charged? The best made plans of mice and men…. I’m just saying…
The currencies have gotten up out of their sick beds, with the Big Dog euro, leading the pack… The euro is back to trading above the 1.15 handle, the Chinese renminbi is back to daily appreciations, and the Russian ruble is coming back from the dead… The Petrol Currencies are lively, and all in currency land look better this morning..
Today’s U.S. Data Cupboard only has one print that the markets will even notice and that is the Productivity report for the 4th QTR last year, talk about stale! This report is really a non-market moving print, as all it really does is tell how hard we as Americans are work…. it doesn’t get into what the hard work was for, so what good is it?
To recap… The major selling of stocks, bonds, and the metals came to stop yesterday,,, Now we’ll have to see if that continues today or not… The POTUS spoke yesterday and said that he and the Iranians were having “productive conversations” and that stirred the pot to stop the selling for now..
For What It’s Worth… Well, I was wondering when the Chinese stepped in to the fray of the metals’ selloff… Well, this article answers that question, and it can be found here: Gold’s biggest weekly drop since 1983 fuels Shenzhen buying spree
Or, here’s your snippet:” A dramatic plunge in gold prices, marking the largest single‑week drop since 1983, has triggered a buying frenzy in Shenzhen, south China.
At Shuibei market, the city’s gold jewelry manufacturing and trading hub often seen as a barometer for China’s bullion retail sector, consumers crowded counters to seize bargains amid the steep decline.
Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday dropped by over 3 percent to below 4,500 U.S. dollars per ounce, while silver futures plummeted nearly 7 percent to below 68 dollars per ounce.
Market analysts said that although geopolitical risks should have been beneficial to precious metals, rising oil prices reignited expectations of accelerated inflation. Additionally, cooling expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut caused precious metal prices to fall against intuition.
The gold price slump in 1983 stemmed from oil-producing countries selling gold to obtain foreign exchange amid falling oil prices. That episode shocked investors by showing how macroeconomic forces could override gold’s safe-haven appeal, a dynamic echoed in today’s market.
In Shenzhen, the impact has been immediate. Local jewelers reported that prices fell by about 200 yuan per gram since the start of March, including a 100‑yuan drop this week alone.
“From the beginning of March to March 20, the price dropped by about 200 yuan per gram. This week alone, it has dropped by about 100 yuan per gram. The decline this week has been relatively significant,” said Ma Shiying, the manager of a jewelry store.
After a week of consecutive price drops, consumer enthusiasm has surged. Managers at several gold shops reported that foot traffic this weekend increased by about 30 percent compared to the previous week.
Many buyers traveled specifically to the market to take advantage of the lower prices, with some consumers, who are planning to get married during the May Day holiday, purchasing traditional “three gold” or “five gold” wedding sets ahead of schedule due to the price drop.”
Chuck again…Question answered… now, who else is going to step up the auction window and buy some real amounts of Gold?
Market Prices 3/24/2026: American Style: A$ .6979, kiwi .5837, C$ .7281, euro 1.1589, sterling 1.3399, Swiss $1.2693, European Style: rand 16.9946, krone 9.6945, SEK 9.3289, forint 336.32, zloty 3.6871, koruna 21.1302, RUB 80.50, yen 158.68, sing 1.2788, HKD 7.8283, INR 93.87, China 6.8915, peso 17.83, BRL 5.2352, BBDXY 1,207, Dollar Index 99.34, Oil $90.43, 10-year 4.37%, Silver $69.99, Platinum $1,913.00, Palladium $1,442.00, Copper $5.41, and Gold… $4.401
That’s it for today… Well, my time down here is coming to an end for this winter… Spring is here now, and it’s time for me to pack up and go home… It’ll be good to get back home and my regular routine… But I’ll miss my mornings here, as I look out at the ocean while I write… And watch the sunrise… Last week when it was rainy for Tues & Wed, the sunrise couldn’t be seen… UGH! Glad that’s over! 3 months have gone by real fast for me…I am coming back in May for a week, so I will have to keep that thought in my head when I’m back home… Van Morrison takes us to the finish line today with his great song: Into The Mystic… I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and Please Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler