Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Do It To Me One More Time

Gold and silver had a nice upside pop today, running up to resistance on gold, and the miners finally showed some spirit.

Watching gold and bonds move higher in unison suggests that we were seeing either an asset reallocation out of equities, or more likely an old fashioned 'flight to safety.'

This precious metals market needs follow through more than ever, to break the downtrend which is an intermediate trend. We have some semblance of an inverse head and shoulders on the chart, little formations of them nested in larger formations, like fractals.

Let's see another up move like today's, and a few more times to confirm it.

There was no movement in the Comex gold warehouse, typical for the non-active month of January.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Wash and Rinse

China's economic growth numbers had the markets wobbly this morning, and stocks moved lower in what looked like a technical trade. Existing Housing was off a bit, but not enough for a sell off.

And they bought the dip. In days like this, it is not so much the initial reaction to news that matters, but rather the reaction of traders to the reaction, and this market is about as cynically bullish as they come.

So what next. Until the VIX gets some real upside legs and serious support is broken to the downside, shorting is for scalping. The Fed's float of liquidity has the markets pointed north, although there may not be a lot of substance underneath them.

It is a dangerous situation, but if anything the Fed and their friends have shown a propensity for rolling the dice-- with other peoples' money.

Have a pleasant evening.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Stasis

There was some intraday commentary that I will recommend for your reading:  Where We Are At in the Global Precious Metals Markets - A Framework.

It is a short summary of what I think is driving the precious metals market, particularly gold, but certainly including silver. It seeks to include quite a number of events over the past twenty years that may not make sense in isolation, but certainly can come together as an understandable whole in some framework such as the one which I propose. There are certainly others.

There was no movement in or out of the Comex gold warehouses yesterday.

I have to specially thank Grant Williams for the kind words which he had for Le Café in his newsletter, Things that Make You Go Hmmmm.

"Well, one of the most respected names in the bullion markets is that of Arthur Cutten, proprietor of Jesse's Café Américain (if you follow gold and silver but don't have that page bookmarked, I'd recommend you do so right now.) In a post he wrote in March 2010, Arthur asked a pertinent question [about AIG]"

It is nice to be recognized for something you care about from someone whom you respect.

I showed this to she-who-must-be-obeyed, and in response she recounted some of her favorite excerpts from His Mistakes and Shortcomings in six volumes which she has maintained over the past 41 years. 

Many of them are sins of omission,  according to her judgement, and 'stupid things all men say and do' for which I therefore am not personally responsible.  But alas, the rest are spot on.

So I can assure you such effusive compliments will not go to my head. 

But I may have a Manhattan tonight as a personal bonus for having done something right.  And besides, its my 62nd birthday, and it's the little things that make life worth living.

The Dude abides.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Smells Like Teen Spirit

“The tyrant is a child of Pride
Who drinks deep from his sickening cup
Of recklessness and vanity,
Until from his heights headlong
He plummets down into the dust of dreams.”

Sophocles, Oedipus Rex

I get the sense that the wiseguys would like to execute a strong 'wash and rinse,' but the Fed wishes to see a steadily rising market to bring that wonderful confidence in their policies to bear on the political landscape.

For now we are in a clear trading range for most of 2014, the usual sort of gentle 'wax on, wax off' that keeps the punters piling into hot stocks and nekkid ETFs, where they slowly die by a thousand cuts.

This is a light economic news week, but the earnings just keep on coming.

Icahn is running a gambit with Ebay and Paypal, and this provides some talking points for the financeTV pom-pom queens, since NFLX is running a bit tired, even with a gungho after hours pop of sorts on their 'good news.'

Have a pleasant evening.