After the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, Nero took a large swath of the destroyed city for himself to build the Domus Aurea (the Golden House). Spanning nearly 100 acres across the Palatine, Esquiline, and Oppian Hills, the complex was famous for its revolving dining rooms, ceilings that showered guests with flower petals, and walls covered in gold leaf. To decorate the entrance he commissioned a massive 115 foot tall bronze figure of himself, modeled after the Colossus of Rhodes.
There was surprisingly little note about a dollar body slam that was laid out on silver over the weekend in the quiet hours of trading.
Gold was hit a bit, but recovered quite a bit more of it to finish almost unchanged at 1339.
Fingers were pointing to Stanley Fischer, who looked at the economy and sees employment nearly full and inflation growing to his targets.
Maybe Stanley is trying to tee up Janet for Jackson Hole, and perhaps a Fed 25 bp rate increase in September.
After all, its all perceptions now, right? Since debt doesn't matter and money can be printed at will and without consequences?
Talk about the jawbone of an ass.
There was intraday commentary about the money velocity indicator and the state of the economy here.
There will be a precious metals option expiration on the Comex this week. It is for the September contract which is no big thing for gold, but is definitely of more interest for silver.
So I am now turning my eye towards silver, which is becoming more attractive as the short sellers and bears talk up its downside, with some calling for prices down to the mid 17's.
There is a lot of small spec money lined up on the long side, and it must be an almost irresistible attraction for the wiseguys.
I remember vividly how the market slugs managed to 'gin up a raid on Silver Wheaton down to nearly $10 in January of this year, using the old boogeyman of the Canadian revenuers against it amongst other things, just before it went steadily up to 30.
And so we might see that sort of thing repeated before the precious metals begin their breakouts. Or not. This could just be an option expiry gambit, and a nice time to try and harvest some specs and pick up some decent mining positions. Or not.
Let's watch the markets closely now.
Have a pleasant evening.
“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. But only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.”
Let us pray for those whose hearts have grown cold, and become hardened against His grace by greed, fear, and the seductive illusions of pride.
We ask to receive the three great gifts of our Lord's suffering and triumph: repentance, forgiveness, and thankfulness—so that we may obtain abundant life, and the peace that surpasses all understanding.
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