SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Bad News Is Good News, At Least Today

The economic news this week has been generally 'awful.'

At least I do not think awful is too extreme of an adjective, especially in light of the Non-Farm Payrolls report this morning which was much worse than anyone had expected, from top to bottom.

Less people are working less hours at less interesting jobs for less wages.

There is no sustainable recovery.  There can be none without meaningful reform.

This too shall pass.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Perth Mint Silver Coin Sales Record

"I am amazed at how blatant a price manipulation algo is in gold futures this morning. Really affecting prices."

Eric Hunsader, Nanex

Surprised?  Not so much.  They do it almost every day.

Speaking of another day, there is another fine for JPM of $1.86 billion for rigging the swaps market.

I think those fines are also tax deductible.  Sweet.

Let's file this one under 'moral hazard' and 'global financial crimes syndicate.'


There was very little activity in the delivery report from The Bucket Shop.

The slow bleed of bullion out of the warehouses of the West continues.

Sales of silver coins from the Perth Mint have hit a record.

Pet rocks.

Non-Farm Payrolls tomorrow.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Icarus Ascending

"In vain I had at heart to find
The center and the end of space.
Beneath some burning, unknown gaze
I feel my very wings unpinned...

And give my name to the abyss
Which waits to claim me as its own.”

Charles Baudelaire, Lament of an Icarus

Stocks were wide ranging, and once again found some footing late day into the close.

The economic news continues to come in jaggedly, unevenly parsed by vain hopes, dire results, and arrogant indifference.

Non-farm payrolls tomorrow. The expectations are remarkably low.

The Atlanta Fed's forecast for the third quarter barely holds a pulse at 0.9%.

Have a pleasant evening.

Silver Coin Premiums Climb As Shortages Build - Mints Shooting Blanks

"The U.S. Mint began setting weekly sales quotas for its flagship American Eagle silver coins in July because it can't meet demand, and the Canadian mint followed suit after record monthly sales in July. In Australia, the Perth Mint sold a record of more than 2.5 million ounces of silver this month, nearly four times more than in August, and has begun rationing supply of a new line of coins this month, a mint official said.

'Silver [coin] demand is absolutely through the roof,' said Neil Vance, wholesale manager at the Perth Mint. 'There seems to be a bit of frenzy as people think there is a shortage of silver. But in fact it is a (crunch in) manufacturing capacity.'

While demand has risen in response to the slump in spot prices to $14.33 an ounce in late July and its subsequent drop to fresh six-year lows below $14 an ounce in August, mint officials also said they were caught out by the sudden interest in coins. In July, the U.S. mint halted sales for almost three weeks after running out of 'blanks', which are used to make coins."

Some investors like to own physical metal to protect from volatility in other assets, particularly currencies and stocks, and to hedge against geopolitical and economic upheaval. The CBOE Volatility index, or VIX, of U.S. stocks - popularly known as the "fear index" - briefly jumped to its highest since January 2009 earlier this year.

At the U.S. Mint in West Point, New York, where the American Eagle is made, the plant is operating three shifts and paying staff overtime, a spokesman said.

The Austrian Mint, which has begun allocating sales of its Philharmonic silver coins, has increased production of silver blanks after higher-than-expected demand in July and August, a spokeswoman said.

In his 35 years of dealing precious metals, Roy Friedman, vice president of sales and trading at Manfra, Tordella & Brookes, one of the biggest U.S. wholesale coin dealers, said he could not recall seeing a squeeze in supplies of North American silver coins spilling over to coins made in Austria and the U.K. to the degree seen this year.

Dealers and mints trace the supply squeeze to a burst of buying by mom-and-pop investors in the United States, who scrambled to scoop up coins they considered to be at bargain levels after spot silver prices in early July sank to six-year lows."

BMarcy Nicholson, A. Ananthalakshmi and Jan Harvey, Silver-coin shortage shows bright side of 'precious metal collapse'

I would be careful about paying too high a premium for some of these coins.  They seem to be driven by a coin shortage moreso than a silver bullion shortage.

The difference between the American Silver Eagle and the European Silver Philharmonic/Canadian Maple Leaf is a strong indication that the pricing is not entirely rational.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - End of Quarter, Miners Catch a Bid

The miners outperformed the metals today for the end of the third quarter.  I am getting much more interested in the miners at these prices, and my interest will become stronger if the metals can manage to sustain a rally out of this bear market trend.

If the metals rally, I would expect the mining sector to outperform given its beaten down condition and its higher beta to the metal prices.  But that is a big 'if.'

Non-Farm payrolls on Friday.

The active month has flipped over to gold for October and it was reflected in the delivery report from yesterday.

The slow bleed of metal out of the warehouses continues.

Have a pleasant evening.