24 March 2011

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Blythe Strikes Back, La Reine de la Nuit



On Tuesday I wrote:
"Since option expiry is on Monday the 28th, I would expect Blythe to throw some cards on the table and at least take a run at this rally. If it comes it will be in thin trading and likely into the weekend."

Yesterday in an intraday commentary I said:
"Gold is right up against the big inverse head and shoulders neckline around 1440. I am struggling to see a breakout here, but it is possible. The last big neckline breakout took place around a failed option expiration gambit... I take profits, holding bullion but trading paper, and retire to the kitchen for the evening trade."

So gold and silver ran higher today, and then suffered a savage bear raid in the late trade in New York, before Asia wakens, and while the European are eating their dinners.  The CME announced they would be raising margin requirements again on Friday.

Let's see if Blythe can follow through with this tomorrow. I was a little surprised that they made their move today, especially with the news from Portugal, and especially so blatant an intervention. But the financial and political communities in the US are riding high, in the euphoria that comes with self-serving schemes going well, just before their downfall.

"I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,
And falls on th'other. . . ."

Macbeth Act 1, scene 7. 25–28

It seems to be this way, doesn't it, this pride just before a fall? One has to wonder if it is merely bravado, or if supposedly educated people can be that willfully arrogant and ignorant of the consequences of their actions. And then faced with failure, pride takes the next step, madness is unleashed, and tragedy begins.

"We can never be gods, after all. But we can become something less than human with frightening ease."

N.K. Jemisin

I did come back into the market near the end of the US trading day, buying gold and silver and shorting broad equities in a paired trade, but lightly for now. I want to see what Blythe has left for Act II of this opera buffa.



Blythe Calls Forth Hell's Fire and Vengance on the Silver Bulls



Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen,
Tod und Verzweiflung flammet um mich her!
fühlt nicht durch dich Sarastro Todesschmerzen,
so bist du meine Tochter nimmermehr.

Verstoßen sei auf ewig,
verlassen sei auf ewig,
zertrümmert sei'n auf ewig
alle Bande der Natur
wenn nicht durch dich Sarastro wird erblassen!
Hört, Rachegötter, hört der Mutter Schwur!

W.A. Mozart, Die Zauberflöte

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts


When the Wall Street liquidity addicts get their daily fix from Bernanke, they can ignore the news from Portugal on sovereign debt default, and the other ominous warning signs in the financial and political systems.

It's a cynical game, in the vein of the financial fraud that has replaced an efficient capital allocation system in the US.

You will not hear economists talk about this problem, just as they did not discuss the pervasive fraud in the mortgage backed securities market before it caused a financial collapse. It is safer to explain what just happened after it is completely obvious to everyone, over and done. And yet they still call for the same old remedies, of either stimulus or tax cuts for trickle down effects, both pointless options when the system is broken.

The Fed and the Treasury think they can support the economy by keeping the stock market up.   The wiseguys on Wall Street will continue to encourage and take advantage this policy error, transferring the wealth generated by debasing the public money into their own pockets, while the regulators are paid to look the other way. It is very remniscent of the failing Soviet empire and the rise of the oligarchs.

That is what is happening now.  This is why gold and silver continue to rise despite the best efforts of the financial engineers to halt this 'alarm system.'

There is a day coming in the not too distant future when many will realize the situation as it really is, and then there will be a panic.