29 December 2017

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Thankfulness


"Since God has accepted you to be among the holy people that He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.   Make allowances for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.  Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must also forgive others. 

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which brings us all together in harmony. And let the peace of the Lord rule in your hearts.  For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful."

Col 3:12-15

There was a little more action in the markets today than I might have otherwise expected, especially in the afternoon session.

Stocks were weak, being led lower by the big cap techs. And the SP 500 got into the act, selling off rather handily in the closing hour.

We will have to keep a close eye on the performance of stocks in the first week of January, and then January as a whole. I am of the school that tends to try and make some conclusions about the rest of the year from the first month, where appropriate.

And gold and silver delivered a nice little rally, with gold sticking a close firmly above 1300 and silver grabbing the 17 handle by a couple cents.

While 1300 was 'psychological' the real resistance for gold is just overhead. How it does for the next few weeks will be key, and silver as well.

There are quite a few event risks to markets coming up around the US budgets and other political decisions as we roll over to the new year.

At some point in 2018 I do think we are going to see the start, at least, to a genuine change in trends. How it plays out may require some flexibility on our parts.

I wish you and your families a happy New Year. Life may be like a box of chocolates, but families are like fudge— mostly sweet, but with a few nuts.

Have a very pleasant and safe holiday weekend.