Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Not Bad For a Non-Farm Payrolls

"For thousands of years gold has been, in times of war and crisis, the ultimate store of value and medium of exchange. Gold is virtually indestructible, anonymous, mobile and almost universally acceptable.

In times of crisis and uncertainty the presence of a sizeable gold holding boosts confidence of creditors, not least because gold is the highest quality asset: unlike foreign currencies, it is not a claim on a debtor (bank or government) and therefore does not have the same risk of default in times of crisis."

Staff Report, Bank of England, 1988

The Jobs Report came in weakly, but not enough to deter the Fed which is staunchly in favor of breaking the ribbon on the first rate increase since they instituted an alphabet soup of programs culminating in QE and ZIRP to rescue the financial system and the very wealthy.  That must have been their motive, because that is about the only thing that they have accomplished.

The precious metals are being manipulated by a pool.  I am not entirely sure who all of the participants may be, but a few of them are hard to miss.

But no matter.   These things have happened before.  And we know what they look like, and what happens to them over time.

And this instance will be no different.   It will enrich some and cause significant damage to many, with the few giving their actions little thought, much less any shame.  Such are the works of the selfish and the self-important.  It is a phenomenon as old as Babylon and as evil as sin.

Have a pleasant weekend.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - The Great Debate - Panem et Circenses

“Our pundits and experts, at least those with prominent public platforms, are courtiers. We are captivated by the hollow stagecraft of political theater as we are ruthlessly stripped of power. It is smoke and mirrors, tricks and con games, and the purpose behind it is deception.”

Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion


“A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death - the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, and murders that we are not going to be judged.”

Czesław Miłosz

Like so many of our public moments and instruments, such as the financial markets and public figures, the First Republican Primary Debate last night can best be described as 'a spectacle.'  But that was clearly its design and intent, from start to finish.

There was never any mention of the risks in the financial markets and reform, except to repeat the hollow slogans of deregulation and the gods of the markets. There was posturing and personal gossip galore. There is less phony pandering to the crowd in a singles bar on a Friday night.

The closing chorus of the Pharisees was almost too much to bear.

I know this is 'politics.'  And there has always been exceptional bad behaviour among the rich and powerful.

But at least in my lifetime we are setting the bar lower and lower, in so many ways.  I remember Nixon and McCarthy.  While we may have feared them for a time, we always knew what they were, and so did they.

Last night was awkwardly boorish, self-consciously shallow, garishly hypocritical, and embarrassing.

Have a pleasant weekend.

David Cay Johnston: Is There a Pension Crisis?

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - The Decline and Fall of the Gold Trade on the Comex

Not at the Comex.  Look up the area code for Shanghai.

Bloomberg, the print news and not The View division, had an article this morning noting that the stiff decline in trading and volatility in gold shows a lack of interest in it.

The flaw in their reasoning is that they consider the Comex to be 'the gold market.'

I had a little fun with that with an intraday commentary which you may read here.

I know. Be kind and understanding. No one can expect a global news organization that generally reports all of the world's markets to bother to look at a simple chart of the Shanghai gold trading volume which continues to climb every month.

Or any of the other reports about the volume of bullion going into India, and the swelling river of bullion flowing through the refineries of Switzerland from West to East.

We are all aboard the gold negativity express here, doing our part for the cause. Of whom and for whom, let's allow time to answer that one conclusively as I am sure that it will.  Maybe.

As they like to say, 'who could have seen it coming?!'

JP Morgan's stick save 276,000 ounce supply of bullion yesterday took the paper to gold ratio down to 62 to 1 or thereabouts. I told you that expecting anything market-like from The Bucket Shop was probably a vain desire. LOL.

But it can be diverting, even a little fun, to watch.  But I would not trade it, not on a bet.  Anyone who looks at the intraday activity with volumes closely would not touch it unless they were fans of grifting.

Silver is a little different, because CNT is obviously using it to manage their wholesale deliveries to the US government.  But it is also waning in relevancy on the Comex.

This is nothing new.  I have said this for the past couple of years.  But since it has not blown up yet, why worry about tomorrow, right?  Keep on keeping on.  Winning....

And on the political front, you can almost hear, if you listen for it, the people sharpening their pitchforks and cleaning their torches.  The next scripted presidential election may be subject to a rewrite and some plot twists.

They never see it coming.   Because they don't care and aren't looking.

Speaking of not looking the Atlanta Fed is now projecting 3Q GDP at 1%.  And their president Lockhart just came out and said he will push for a September rate increase unless he sees 'significant deterioration.'

Non-Farm Payrolls tomorrow.  That could be another knee-slapper.

Have a pleasant evening.