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It was 'risk off' today as domestic economic news was weak and Euro-optimism was subdued.
There was intraday commentary on today's somewhat unusual rally in gold and silver here.
The economy in the US continues to weaken, and the political leadership seems preoccupied with doing more trickle down favors for their wealthy contributors.
There was an interesting divergence as gold and silver were up sharply as stocks were lower. That's a change of pace.
Tomorrow is the November option expiration on the Comex. I discussed this intra-day here.
Markets took a pause today on less optimism on Europe and domestic US recovery.
Keep an eye on the sovereign debt situation in Europe because that is a primary short term driver of this market.
Amazon missed and lowered after the bell, and so is getting hammered a bit in the late trade.
The US economy is not recovering and the plans being put forward for change are not likely to help anyone but those who are already fortunate, which does little for the economy but is a great source of personal income for the pigmen and their support system.
Keep an eye out for the next two Comex option expirations in the metals, both tomorrow 26 October but in particular the December expiry on 22 November. Perhaps not so much tomorrow but the days after. And of course December is a key month. I see resistance at 1720 that may prove to be important.
And never forget how the metals markets were ruthlessly slammed down into the October expiration on Sept 27, when the shills and apologists for the banks and hedge funds tell you how sound and fair the markets are, and denounce any evidence to the contrary.
Sometimes it seems that, as Chris Powell so astutely observed, "there are no markets anymore, just interventions."
This is what Markopolos faced when attempting to expose the great Madoff fraud, and it repeats almost endlessly in times of sanctioned corruption. Evidence is gathered by outsiders, presentations are made and ignored, the testimony of whistleblowers is ridiculed and even assaulted, the fraudulent scheme falls in a collapse, the public is tasked to absorb the losses and insiders keep their gains, and the many enablers move on as the public is distracted and forgets.
Nothing will change while crime pays. And even as things change, reform is taken away from the hands of the people, and carefully managed in back rooms and private deals.
"The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform."
Alexis de Tocqueville
Those in positions of authority and beneficiaries of the status quo understand this well. That is the credibility trap that is the impediment to recovery. Reform is an impulse to be carefully managed and directed by the insiders, and those who are implicated in corruption and sometimes even great crimes. The benefits of genuine reform are secondary to the appearance that 'something is being done.'
And if the charade goes on long enough, the people begin to take to the public squares and the streets, because they are otherwise being ignored, betrayed and abused.
The moment is most dangerous when the decision is made whether to answer the people with change, or stifle their just complaints with repression. Then the die is cast, and the great moment of history truly begins.
It is good to see gold open interest on the Comex at relatively low levels here, as the commercials continue to cover ahead of the enactment of position limits, projected to occur in the first month of 2012.
