July 12, 2023
* Currencies & metals rally on Tuesday & overnight!
* China seems to be in trouble with their economy…
Good Day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! The All Star Game last night was very interesting.. Congrats to the National League who won the game for the fist time in 10 years… I know I said this before, but when I was a young man the Ntional League rarly lost to the American League… As it should be! Can you tell I’m a National League fan? HA! I love baseball, I was brought up to love baseball, and to this day, I can think of no better way to spend a day than at the ballpark! I think I have raised my kids to also love baseball… I know that most of you won’t believe the group that greets me this morning… So here goes.. The Cowsills greet me this morning with their song; The Rain, the Park and other things…
I have everything from Frank Sinatra to AC/DC on my iPod… So, there will be times when a fan favorite of mine comes up that no one remembers, but me!
Well, the dollar saw some weakness yesterday, with the BBDXY losing 2 more index points… I like the way the traders and investors are trading the dollar these days, with small movements downward, that way they don’t get the PPT all riled up with their treasure trove of Excange Stabilization Funds… I’ve been witness to many a times in the past couple of years, that looked like the dollar was on the cliff, and ready to enter a long-term weak trend, only to be pulled from the fire, by the PPT and their ESF… So, let’s fly under the radar as long as we can without getting the PPT all riled up… Because once the selling of the dollar is in place, the PPT will have to take a back seat to trading, because it would be suicide to enter the markets at that point! I’m just saying…
Gold finished the day yesterday up $7.10 and Silver gained 4-cents, and again, I like their small moves higher each day, as to not get the short paper traders, who seem to be there whether these two medals are rallying or not, on the sidelines… Gold finished the day at $1,933.20, and Silver at $23.25…
The price of Oil bumped higher by a buck yesterday, and ended the day trading with a $74 handle.. Like I said the other day that it appears that the Oil traders have finally realized that the production cuts that our friends (NOT!) at OPEC have announced are actually taking place reducing supply… And the 10-year’s yield remained below 4%, at 3.97%…
In the overnight markets last night…. There was some additional dollar selling, with the BBDXY down 3 index points this morning. The euro moved higher in the 1.10 handle, and the Petrol Currencies are really seeing some love come their way from Traders… And the reason for that is the steady climb that the price of Oil has seen in recent days. The price of Oil is up a buck in the last 24 hours, and trades this morning with a $75 handle… Gold is up a buck in the early trading, while Silver is down 8-cents… Both of those prices can and most likely will be moved when the stupid CPI prints this morning… Come to think of it, the 10-year will see some movement too, on the stupid CPI’s print…
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) met last night, and (today for them) and decided to keep their Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 5.5%… This kinds of disspoints me, because I really thought the RBNZ was ready to go the full 9 yards with interes rates… But it appears they took a cue from not only the Reserve Bank of Australia, but also the Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel, by keeping rates Steady Eddie this month… Don’t think for a minute that the RBNZ wasn’t influenced by the RBA and Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel… Kiwi, which had recently traded as high at .6210, has backed off becuse of the RBNZ’s decision…
I truly believe that inflation all around the world is sticky, and will come back with a vengeance in the coming months… I’m just saying…
Ok, I read the other day that Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen had traveled to China to smooth the feathers that the POTUS recently ruffled… OK, maybe that’s me being cynical, so here’s the official reason she went there: The interview came as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled to Beijing to meet with China’s Premier Li Qiang, who has recently been tasked to revive China’s COVID lock-down-battered economy by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) head Xi Jinping.
And why would the Chinese listen to the queen of zero interest rates and Quantitative Easing? Well, if you ask me that, I would say that desperate times call for desperate measures, and I would say that meeing with Yellen qualifies for a desperate measure… In other words, China’s economy is in trouble, they had the initial surge after they lifted their COVID rules, but after that surge, there’s been no follow up, and now, as I’ve told you previously, China is thinking of stimulus and other measures to whip up the economy… My suggestion to the Chinese, don’t listen to a think that Yellen tells them is a good idea… I’m just saying…
I also read a note from the good folks at GATA, that talked about how Countries all over the Globe are repatriating their physical Gold that’s held elsewhere… Uh-Oh! let’s play along with this… Ring, Ring, Hello? Yes, this the Bank of England Gold Custody, how may I help you? This is Venezuela, and we want our Gold shipped to us… BOE responds, “I’m dreadfully sorry but we are unable to facilitate this request for you at this time”… And then the Venezuelan goes ballistic on the phone, threatening physical harm to this gentleman at the BOE…
But the question here is not when can you facilitate delivery? The question would be: Why is this? Don’t you just have my physical Gold in accordance to our safekeeping agreement? Ever heard of Swaps? The Bank or Custodian of Physical Gold, see that lending it to others, would help offset the costs of holding the metal. So, the Bank or Custodian swaps Gold for an IOU to some institution or country… This is why there should be a complete audit of Fort Knox, and the Bank of New York’s Gold holdings… What would happen if they auditors walked in and found nothing but IOU’s in the vaults?
Anyway, I went down this rabbit hole, with the idea that repatriation will be good for the price of Gold, as these custodians will have to go out and buy the physical Gold to repatriate…
This is another fine mess you’ve got us in Ollie!
The U.S. Data Cupboard this morning has the Stupid CPI for June… The markets still go ga-ga over this report, because they don’t know what we know about how the BLS can cook the books to have it say whatever they want it to be, and not be anything worthy of following… So, get ready for stupid trading today on a stupid report…
To recap… The dollar is getting sold in small amounts each day and overnight session, but that could all change today with the Stupid CPI report due to print. The RBNZ left rates unchanged last night… And Chuck is so disappointed with the RBNZ for following the RBA and Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel… Chuck talks about China’s probems, and repatriating Gold this morning… All Good stuff! HA!
For What It’s Worth… Well, first it was Wells Fargo Bank that got caught and fined for opening fake bank accounts, and now guess who’s had the blame finger point at it? My former colleague, Aaron Stevenson, always would say that BofA was evil… So, now you know who is joining the list of Banks that people don’t trust! This article can be found here: BofA Ordered To Pay $250 Million For Opening Fake Accounts, Charging Illegal Fees | ZeroHedge
Or, here’s your snippet: “Bank of America has pulled a Wells Fargo – and has agreed to pay $150 million in fines and $100 million to customers for opening unauthorized credit card accounts, improperly charging extra fees, and withholding rewards, according to U.S. regulators.
The bank was fined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for “systematically double-dipping on fees imposed on customers with insufficient funds in their account.”
BofA also failed to pay advertised credit card reward bonuses, and enrolled customers in new cards without their authorization or knowledge, the CFPB said in a statement.
The $150 million is broken down into a $90 million penalty to the CFPB, and $60 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The bank did not admit to or deny the allegations as part of the settlement, Bloomberg reports.
“Bank of America wrongfully withheld credit-card rewards, double-dipped on fees and opened accounts without consent,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra in a Tuesday statement, adding “These practices are illegal and undermine customer trust.”
Chuck again.. no wonder that people’s trust in banks is going south… Pam And Russ Martens of www.wallstreetonparade.com wrote the other day about how in 1970 a Gallup Poll had people’s trust in banks at 70%… Today? Well, today, people’s trust in banks has fallen to 29%… And if the people of the country all knew what you dear reader knows about all the felony charges that JPMorgan has addmitted to, I would have to think that people’s trust in Banks would be even lower… I’m just saying.. .
Market Prices 7/12/2023: American Style: A$ .6690, kiwi .6190, C$ .7564, euro 1.1018, sterling 1.2970,
Swiss $1.1263, European Style: rand 18.4683, krone 10.2926, SEK 10.6065, forint 341.90, zloty 4.0377,
koruna 21.6228, RUB 90.61, yen 139.52, sing 1.3385, HKD 7.8271, INR 82.24, China 7.1926, peso 16.92,
BRL 4.8070, BBDXY 1,217.81, Dollar Index 101.46, Oil $75.12, 10-year 3.94%, Silver $23.17, Platium $942.00, Palladium $1,265.00, Copper $3.79, and Gold… $1,934.40
That’s it for today… The countdown has begun to my annual summer vacation! I’m getting excited! Thanks to good friend Mike Kettler, who invited me to his house to watch the All-Star Game last night on his gigantic 85 inch TV! Usually, we sit outside in my back yard to watch the games, but… last night was very sticky hot… and besides, my TV out back isn’t 85 inches in size! These are not third world problems, but presented us a problem in deciding! HA! I just remembered that I didn’t tell you about my visit to the doc that was monitoring my blood sugar… My A1C had fallen to 4.9, and he decided that since I’m no longer on the chemo that caused my blood sugar to soar (3 years ago) that I could go off the diabetes medicine… YAHOO! Longtime readers will recall me ranting about how I was not going to be a diabetic 3 years ao… It took me 3 years, but… Gordon Lightfoot takes us to the finish line today with his song: If You Could Read My Mind… I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday today, and will remember to Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler