Bill Moyers With Matt Taibbi and Yves Smith on the Banks - The Psychopathy of Wall Street

"Too many people hold the idea that psychopaths are essentially killers or convicts.

The general public hasn't been educated to see beyond the social stereotypes to understand that psychopaths can be entrepreneurs, politicians, CEOs and other successful individuals who may never see the inside of a prison."

Dr. Robert Hare

Source

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Ending a Week of Shenanigans

Well, we can say goodby to this week, and good riddance to what proved to be a rough week for the metals bulls and miner mavens, except for the good news that Harvey Organ's illness was not life threatening and he will be fine it appears.

As you may recall, I warned about a 'hit' on the metals for FOMC meeting Tues-Wed. But I expected there to be a rebound and then another hit next week for the end of quarter and silver's July option expiration. That turned out not to be the case, as the metals were hammered lower. Interestingly enough, Silver OI increased.

Intraday commentary on this here.

So what next? Chart formations are really not so much help here except to track levels of support and resistance. I think the reason for this is the free-wheeling nature of these paper markets, only lightly traded, dominated by pros, disconnected from the real economy, and swinging around technicals and exogenous events.

Let's see how next week goes. There should be more data by then to be able to say something more substantial.

Chris Powell's interview on CNBC Asia is below the charts.

Have a pleasant weekend.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Russell Rebalancing Today - End of Quarter Next Week

This was a rough week for trading as Benny did not please, but only tease.

The bank downgrades spooked shares but that may have been overblown. I think we saw selling this week tied into some technicals, including the Russell rebalancing, and the clearing of the decks for the end of quarter tape painting exercise next week, if nothing more blows up in Europe.

Next Tuesday 26 June Is Silver July Options Expiration - Shenanigans Reminder

Perhaps the reminder is a bit late, and the shenanigans have already occurred.

Although both gold and silver were hit hard around the FOMC meeting announcement, silver has been hit a bit harder.

Most curiously in yesterday's big down day the overall open interest EXPANDED by about 6,000 contract, mostly in the outer months of Sept - Dec. My friend Dave brought this to our attention this morning as Bill and some of the guys were discussing it.

Comex silver o/i went up +6034 contracts yesterday. Sept silver was up +4617, Dec silver up +976. July actually increased +147. This would be unusual for a day like yesterday but also very unusual given the July "contract roll" period is starting.

We did not see a similar expansion in gold open interest.

I cannot help but think that this is related to the July silver option expiration on the Comex next Tuesday and the end of trading.

I also have it in the back of my mind, subject to more data, that there has been an effort to depress the price of silver around the end of quarter as a few certain big shorts seek to make the losses on their silver short positions look a little better. But for now that is speculative.

So, unless the exchange report was incorrect, it is very odd for a large expansion in silver to occur on a huge down day, unless there was something like manipulative shorting.

As always, one must assume the lampreys are riding the momentum trade with the sharks. A hit on metals at the FOMC meeting is a traders' commonplace.

June 26 Comex July silver options expiry
June 26 Comex July copper options expiry
June 26 Comex July silver futures last trading day
June 27 Comex June gold futures last trading day
June 27 Comex June copper futures last trading day
June 27 Comex July miNY silver futures last trading day
June 29 Comex July silver futures first notice day
June 29 Comex July copper futures first notice day
July 26 Comex August gold options expiry
July 26 Comex August copper options expiry
July 27 Comex August miNY gold futures last trading day
July 27 Comex July gold futures last trading day
July 27 Comex July silver futures last trading day
July 27 Comex July copper futures last trading day
July 27 Comex August miNY gold futures last trading day
July 27 Comex August E-mini copper futures last trading day
July 31 Comex August gold futures first notice day
July 31 Comex August copper futures first notice day