25 June 2014

NAV Premiums of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds - Silver Holds Its Level


There is little question that a major short interest position in silver that had built up in the first part of this year was taken out and pummeled by the power players in the market.  Gold was also oversold on paper, but not to the extent of silver.

Today is a quiet options expiration so far, probably because of this.  The urge to sell silver by going short has been tempered by the beating administered to those who went a bit too far in their antics. 

There is some chance that a gut check will be delivered to the longs at some point before the end of the month, just to keep them orderly.   But the real question is if the trend followers and momentum players will take to the long side now, having run out the clock on the big short.

The irony here is that while funds and specs play their paper reindeer games with each other, the Comex is largely ignoring the physical bullion market.  A little more leverage here, some strategic papering over there, and the band plays on.

These self-absorbed games, and the hubris of the banking cartel, are setting up a monumental dislocation in the global markets.   Try not to exhaust your funds by chasing short term returns and risks through all this nonsense, until the fundamentals becoming overpowering and bend the paper trade to the inevitable reckoning. 

These are dangerous markets, badly regulated, and overlaid with traps and tricks.  Spend your money on more useful endeavors.  Get out of debt, and take your money as far away from Wall Street as is possible.  The oligarchy is not only audacious, but is increasingly rapacious, which for the public is an unfortunate combination, and a terrible burden on the real economy.

As Peter Bernstein said about trading, 'The trick is to survive.'   Until they do not.  And then they go on television. 



24 June 2014

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Silver Option Expiration Tomorrow - Fear Indicator


Cap, cap, cap. The metals are up against some key technical resistance.

They'll never learn. Their pretty charts and paper markets are not the real deal.

Comex will have the July option expirations for the precious metals tomorrow. This is more of an issue for silver than for gold.

There was a little actual movement of gold bullion in the Comex warehouses yesterday. These jokers could supply a decent sized retail coin shop, maybe.

Amazing markets, considering that the Credit Suisse Fear Indicator has just hit an all time high.

Have a pleasant evening.









SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Pop n' Flop


Stocks were rallying this morning on the 'better than expected' news about housing and consumer confidence.

As the day wore on, the punters apparently looked behind those numbers and did not like what they saw, and stocks ended up selling off on the day.

VIX has climbed back up a bit to a more 'normal' level of risk.

I had played an advantageous short position from last night, and cleared it out near the close.

The Dubai stock market crashed yesterday. Add that to the list, along with Argentina.

There is risk in these markets. It is just a question of what the trigger event might be, and of course when.

Have a pleasant evening.





23 June 2014

The Recovery™ In One Graph


"Gentlemen! I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country.

When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank.

You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin!

You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, (bringing his fist down on the table) I will rout you out!"



"...supply-side economics was merely a cover for the trickle-down approach to economic policy — what an older and less elegant generation called the horse-and-sparrow theory: If you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows."

John Kenneth Galbraith

Recovery.  For some.

I am not sure what is trickling down in this recovery.  It is not oats, or wealth.

But I am fairly sure that I know why the recovery is so disjointed and selective.  

It is one of the oldest stories.  It is about the abuse of privilege, of foolish people led in herds shouting slogans crafted by the clever and the unscrupulous, of the treacherous and self-destructive fury of unbridled greed.

It is about the lust for power, the deceptiveness of hubris, the blindness of pride, and the lessons from history that have been carefully and intentionally unlearned.  It is about the madness that brings the fire, in hearts and minds of men.
 
 
h/t Anthony Sanders, Confounded Interest