Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Goodbye to February, Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday

And so we close the door on the leap year-lengthened month of February, which was a particularly good month for gold.

And as always with the end of one month and the beginning of another, there will be a Non-Farm Payrolls report at the end of this week.

Gold is clearly in a symmetrical triangle, trying to decide which way to break, up or down, from this potential 'cup and handle' formation.  And remember right now it is all potential, not having set a firm handle and broken up and out from that retest.

I included some material from a few years ago that shows the formation when it works in both a textbook and a 'real life' example.  You may read about it here.

I have included the box scores from The Bucket Shop, both for the end of February and the piddling deliveries seen so far on the March contracts.

If you are looking for the web site Confounded Interest and are puzzled why it is missing in action, be advised that dissenting from the Federal Reserve and the established economics hierarchy of thought is not tolerated well amongst the very serious people, and those who do not pay their respects to the established orthodoxy can find themselves dispossessed of platforms.

Especially if they say things that draw the ire of those for whom free speech and thought is merely a theoretical concept, for themselves mostly.  No, we are in the age of political and economic power, the rawer the better.   And we could get quite an object lesson in this from either the Donald or the Hillary.  Could there be two better symbols for what is going wrong with us?

No wonder they 'never see it coming.'  They have their eyes closed, or just firmly on themselves and their possessions.  And they would like you to close yours too.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Twenty Lords a-Leaping

The US economic news this morning was not particularly good.

Stocks attempted to continue their rally, but fell back on global jitters and concerns about the overhang of risky debt.  They went out in the red, near to the lows of the day.

There will be a Non-Farm Payrolls report later this week.

Have a pleasant evening.

Gold Cup and Handle From the Prior Leg of the Bull Market

As a reminder, here is what a 'successeful' activation and execution of a cup and handle formation looks like.

And as another reminder perhaps, this particular bull rally was later ruthlessly crushed by an avalanche of synthetic gold derivative selling that over time significantly depleted the 'gold float' of physical bullion available to the Asian markets.

Wall Street and The Clintons

The Clintons turned the Democrats into the Republicans, while the Republicans were turning into a mob.

Do not be a partisan for either party. Be a partisan for justice. Be committed to fairness, transparency, liberty, and the truth.

The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustainable recovery.

The Clintons and Wall Street: 24 Years of Enriching Each Other
by Richard W. Behan
February 26, 2016

For twenty four years the Clintons have orchestrated a conjugal relationship with Wall Street, to the immense financial benefit of both parties. They have accepted from the New York banks $68.72 million in campaign contributions for their six political races, and $8.85 million more in speaking fees. The banks have earned hundreds of billions of dollars in practices that were once prohibited—until the Clinton Administration legalized them.

The extraordinary ambition displayed in the careers of Bill and Hillary Clinton defies description. They have spent much of their adult lives soliciting money from others for their own benefit...

Hillary Clinton’s net worth is forty five million dollars; Bill Clinton’s is eighty million. Measured by family wealth, this puts the couple in the top 1% of American households by a factor of 16.  (and they claim to have left the White House 'broke')

The Clintons’ ambition is reinforced by arrogance. Their behavior in the Monica Lewinsky affair is only the most glaring example. Sexual frivolities while holding office are scarcely unusual, having spiced the lives of public figures for centuries, but if the dalliance is exposed, the scarlet official typically resigns in shame and scuttles into obscurity...

That performance pales, however, compared to the Clintons’ self-serving transformation of the Democratic Party, from the champion of working people to the lapdog of Wall Street—and of corporate America in general. Cleverly the Clintons still pander to the traditional constituency, but in serving its new clientele the transformed party abandoned the less fortunate strata of American society, especially the communities of color...

Read the entire article at Counterpunch here.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts -

The economic news this morning was 'better than expected,' showing an upward revision in 4Q GDP and stronger consumer spending.

And the dollar rallied, the Fed hawks like Cleveland's Mester were out talking the likelihood of rate increases, and stocks rallied, but then flopped badly into the close.

And so we say goodby to February, as we leap over Monday of next week, and toddle bravely into the great unknown, often wrong but rarely in doubt.  This is the way things are when you are living on credibility in the age of the long con.

Speaking of cons, Chris Christie endorsed Donald Trump this afternoon.   Birds of a feather, like grackles and starlings.

It was a reasonably strong month for gold, at least on paper.

There are some interesting things going on in silver, which the usual suspects will firmly deny are of any such interest. I direct your attention to the intraday commentary about that here.

I think silver might be a little more interesting going forward than it has been.

Nothing has changed. Not one thing. And that, alas, is the pity of it.

Have a pleasant weekend.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - The Violence of the Scams

"This nation is getting remarkably adept at turning its less affluent citizens upside down and shaking them, until literally every single cent falls out of their pockets. And then it induces them to take on debt so they can be shaken down some more."

Malcom McMichael

The 'better than expected' economic data this morning sparked a rally, that was then sold off, leaving the major indices red into the close.

How amazing that the backward looking data from this morning shows that Americans are spending more, near a record, and that spending is on recreation!

No wonder there is such job growth in the services, like bartenders and waitstaff.

Does this mean that the more than half of our citizens who are subsisting in poverty and food stamps are having a secret good time of it?   Or that the government statistics and the economic models are a bunch of self-serving, cockeyed nonsense.   No question mark on purpose, the question is rhetorical.

Let us bear in mind that for the privileged and the shameless, nothing is too low, or too ridiculous when faced with the alternative of surrendering their greatly undeserved advantages.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Silver Potential Claims Per Ounce of Comex Deliverable Climb To New High

"When running a Ponzi scheme, how does one avoid enormous, unexpected withdrawals, runs on the bank, so to speak, that would pull back the curtain and reveal a little man blowing smoke? One way would be to attract a core of investors who could be counted on to never withdraw more than a small percentage of principal each year."

Mitchell Zuckoff

As you know if you have been following the running commentary here, February has been a deadly dull month for silver on the Comex.

And yet the action in the warehouses, bullion coming and going, has been quite active as you again have heard here many times.

Much of this has to do with the fact that CNT is using their own licensed facility as a means of managing the flows of bullion for their wholesale silver supply business, notably to the US Mint.

As you can see from the chart below, the amount of 'registered silver' has been declining steadily, while the open interest, or number of contracts for this silver sold on the Comex exchange, has been climbing.

And so we have another interesting thing to watch, and which I assume we will be told not to look at, that it means nothing.

The potential claims per ounce of deliverable silver on the Comex Exchange has climbed to a new high. And this in a particularly inactive month.

If you look carefully at the charts below you will see that there is plenty of silver in the warehouses. It is that for some reason not so much of it is in the registered category, which is something 'new.'

Another thing you may notice is the huge hoard of silver in the JPM warehouse, and the declining stocks in the active wholesaler's warehouse, CNT.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Risk On, Gold and Silver Off

Gold rallied this morning on the risk trade, but as confidence crept back into the computer algos and stocks rallied gold gave up much of its gains, and silver slumped back towards the fifteen handle.

Those holders of March futures contracts after the option expiration are getting the usual gut check. It is never easy to hold any position short term in a market like this. And this is why I strongly recommend against the use of leverage, options, and oversized positions.

Things are unfolding as expected.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Risk On, Have No Fears

VIX down, dollar down, stocks up.

It was a good day for Wall Street and the sponsors of the paper chase.

APPL is right on this particular case with the US, and deserve popular support. The government is making a case for the development and general deployment of a 'backdoor' to all Apple phones sold all over the world, and not just the examination of one phone implicated in a tragic terror event.

That Bill Gates sided so heartily with the government speaks volumes about Microsoft and its Windows.

Have a pleasant evening.

But If Not...

"But if not, I will not bow, and God grant that we will never bow before the gods of evil."

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Standing Firm

"One of the primary characteristics of narcissists is their exaggerated sense of entitlement. It's hardly surprising then that so many politicians somehow think they 'deserve' to game the system. After all, from their self-interested perspective, isn't that what the system is for?

In their heavily self-biased opinion, if they want something, by rights it should be their's. So, nothing if not opportunistic, they take from public and private coffers alike whatever they think they can get away with. And given their grandiose sense of self, they're inclined to believe they can get away with most anything.

Exploiting their privileged position in such a manner hardly leaves them plagued with guilt. In general, guilt isn't an emotion they're prone to. How could they be if they feel entitled to the objects of their desire? In their minds their very ability to attain something must certainly mean it was merited."

Leon F. Seltzer

As I have remarked previously, we live in a time of the narcissists, both in our political and financial centers. And as always, they seem to attract those without a defined moral character who, in seeking substance for themselves, merely follow the most brazen and ostentatious figures that they can find, in the hope of obtaining some sense of identity and power for themselves.

This is what is at the core of 'identity politics.'  This is exactly what Hannah Arendt meant by 'the banality of evil.'

Gold was soaring this morning on global fears and worse than expected US economic news, after showing some earlier strength in the London trade. Stocks were slumping badly.

However the tide was turned and the trading algorithms reversed gears and paper was driven higher, with gold coming well off of its breakout attempt having run up to a little over 1250. It finished out the day with only a modest gain to around 1230.

As befits a day driven by the fear of risk, gold was outpacing silver.

Nothing has changed, the fundamentals remain as poor as they have been.  We have merely been treated to a 'wash and rinse' day, which is the hallmark of a market that has diverged badly from its proper place as a source of fruitful investment, and productive resource allocation.

As for gold and silver, since things continue to unfold, almost surprisingly in some matters, as one might have expected, I do not have many qualms about their ultimate performance as expected, although many things can happen depending on how arbitrary things may become.

A few people sent me a notice of a new scheme for placing one's precious metals with a firm that will pay you interest for them. And if you read what they have to say, it is obvious they will be lending that metal out to other uses, and will return it 'in kind' at some point in the future.

Has all that I have said amounted to nothing? How can anyone possibly ask me if that is an arrangement which I would endorse for myself?  I would have nothing to do with any of the bullion banks, and will shun all schemes with unallocated assets and the pooling of risks no matter how 'reputable' that organization may present itself.

Do you remember when Harvey Organ's son reportedly went to the vaults of Scotia bullion bank to see their own precious metal holdings, and found the vaults almost shockingly empty of all bullion, not just their own?  It was a minor scandal at the time, dismissed by some as an understandable 'overreach for profits' and a 'lapse in management.'   And we are sure this could not happen again elsewhere?  Do we not recall the great abuses of trust still unpunished, such as MF Global?

As the reckoning approaches, what some have also called 'the Big Reset,' one must be prepared to cling firmly to those things that we value, both in the material and probably more importantly in the spiritual or ethical world.

And to diverge briefly to the secular world, one cannot serve goodness with violence, and derision, and hardness of words and acts, and expect to receive His merciful judgement.  I ask you sincerely to remember these things, even if it becomes confusing and difficult.  Don't worry too much about what others are doing, but rather look first to yourself and your own heart and conscience.

Have a pleasant evening.