Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Bracing Against the Wind

"...to the glory that was Greece,
And the grandeur that was Rome."

Edgar Allen Poe, To Helen

There are some very strong trends running now, and the COMEX crowd is bracing against them as best that they can.

If they falter, I would not be surprised to see a solid triple digit up day in gold. It really is that bad.

But for now they maintain control over paper prices and have scraped a little more bullion together for the poor COMEX warehouse inventories as show below.

You may recall that there were major price operations the last two Decembers to skin the ETFs and hold off on deliveries. I wonder what it will look like when this tired old scheme fails. I would imagine it will be noticeable.

But until they hit the wall its have another slug of Jack Daniels, and put the pedal to the metal. So try not to let the ugly people scare you too badly ahead of Halloween.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Edgy But On Light Volumes

Stocks trended lower today but on light volumes. So I would call it an 'edgy' trade but no panic.

The consensus of traders seems to be that the House Republicans will draw out the Continuing Resolution issue as far as they can, and then the deadlock will be averted ahead of the October 17th estimate of a problem with the debt ceiling that would stop payments.

Right now the rhetoric is thick, and posturing is the order of the day. If I were in the position of the government I would probably refuse to negotiate on this under these conditions, simply because if one rewards this behavior, which has gone too far in its demands, you will face it every three months. It is not unlike extortion.

That is not to say that there should not be negotiations, far from it. But to demand a major program that has been passed by both houses of Congress, signed, vetted by the Supreme Court, and then tested successfully in a national election is nuts. This was very badly played by the Cruz faction and the House Republicans politically. But Boehner is a major enabler of the impasse since he is in effect using his office as House Speaker to prevent a clean resolution from reaching the floor for a vote. I think his personal fear for his office is overcoming his better sense as a seasoned politician, but the times are what the are.

The problem is that this is a contest between slimy and slimier, since I do not see many progressive champions and statesmen on the Democratic side either. The Dems sold out to Wall Street under the Clintons and that is where they remain.

Life with go on, but in the short term it may be a bumpy ride. VIX is elevated and nearing a high for 'normal circumstances,' ie non default.

Jeffrey Sachs Interview at The Guardian About Economics and Ethics

I have started this interview after an introductory discussion, some words about the World Bank and its role in the world, and some innovative work that Sachs and others have been doing to improve the life of people in sub-Saharan Africa.

He begins to move now into a more general discussion now of economics and ethics after some explanatory comments on the Millenial Village movement in Africa.

If you wish to hear something more, here is a link to a talk which Jeff Sachs gave at the London School of Economics about the ideas in his book, The Price of Civilisation.

Owners Per Ounce of Silver and Gold at the Comex

For those who say they are influenced by COMEX statistics, there is a noticeable divergence between the availability of gold and silver for delivery there at these prices, especially when compared to historical trends and averages.

One of the non-COMEX factors that someone with the bigger picture view of things would note is that unlike gold, there is no great store of silver bullion in the hands of banks that can be leased out to backstop speculative shortages that might occur. So while the situation in silver may appear to be benign, in fact in many ways it is still a bit thin.

However, there is an obvious flight of inventory in gold going from the speculative West to the accumulating East. And there does not seem to be the same phenomenon underway in silver. I base this not on the COMEX, but on looking at most of the ETFs and exchanges that publish public data from around the world. Keep in mind that the COMEX is largely speculative, and not a major delivery mechanism for gold and silver.

People like to view things that support their biases. But the facts are what they are.

There is something very odd going on with regard to the inventory of gold bullion available for sale, that does not square with its sharp decline in price.