22 April 2016 — Friday
YESTERDAY in GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM and PALLADIUM
The gold price was up 6 bucks by 11 a.m. HKT on their Thursday morning—and then didn’t do much until 1:30 p.m. local time. Then it tacked on another 11 dollars by the London open–and ‘da boyz’ stepped in at that point. From that point it traded flat until 1 p.m. BST in London, which was twenty minutes before the COMEX open. The rally that began at that point ran into resistance immediately—and the high tick of the day was printed a minute or so after 9 a.m. in New York. At 9:15 a.m. the not-for-profit sellers showed up again—and by the London p.m. gold fix, they had peeled 20-odd bucks off the price. The gold price didn’t do a lot after that.
The high and low ticks were reported as $1,272.40 and $1,244.40 in the June contract.
Gold was closed in New York yesterday afternoon at $1,248.0 spot, up $3.70 from Wednesday. Net volume was over the moon at 251,000 contracts.
And here’s the 5-minute tick chart for gold. There was certainly decent volume during the Far East session, but volume exploded at 1 p.m. BST/8 a.m. EDT—which is 6:00 a.m. Denver time on the chart below. The volume really didn’t drop off much until late in the after-hours market. The vertical gray line is midnight in New York, noon the following day in Hong Kong—and don’t forget to add two hours for EDT.
The ‘click to enlarge‘ feature still doesn’t work with Internet Explorer, but a right mouse click with Google Chrome or the Firefox browsers should allow you to view this chart full-screen size.
And as in your face as JPMorgan et al were in gold, it didn’t hold a candle to what they did to the silver price. The price action was mostly similar to what happened in gold, so I’ll spare you the play-by-play. The low tick of the day came at the London p.m. gold fix—and from there it rallied back above the $17 spot mark, before getting rolled over shortly before noon in New York. Once it was sold back below $17—it wasn’t allowed to do much after that.
The high and lows ticks in this precious metal were recorded by the CME Group as $17.72 and $16.755 in the May contract—an intraday move of 96.5 cents, or just under 6 percent.
Silver finished the Thursday session at $16.97 spot, up 3 whole cents from Wednesday. Gross volume was an unbelievable 200,673 contracts—and even with the considerable roll-over volume subtracted out, net volume was a fantastic 79,000+ contracts!
You should note that the closing prices for silver over the last three trading days have been within pennies of each other just below the $17 spot price—and you just know that this wasn’t accidental.
And here’s the New York Spot Silver [Bid] chart on its own, so you can see just how blatant the take-down was—around 80 cents in forty-five minutes.
The price pattern in platinum was similar. It made it as high $1,043 spot before the seller of last resort appeared at 9:15 a.m. EDT. Platinum was closed at 1,024 spot, up only 7 dollars from Wednesday.
Ditto for palladium, as it left the $600 spot mark in the dust—and its 9:15 a.m. New York high, it boasted a $616 spot price. But by the time the HFT boyz and their algos and spoofing were done with it, palladium finished the Thursday session at $605 spot, up 12 dollars from its close on Wednesday.
This is price management in its most brazen form—and I’ll certainly have more to say about this in The Wrap.
The dollar index closed late on Wednesday afternoon at 94.53—and after a bit of dancing around, set its London high at precisely 9:00 a.m. BST. It began to head south from there—and was finally rescued by the usual ‘gentle hands’ shortly after the COMEX open. The low tick at that point was 93.92. Then about 9:10 a.m. the HFT boyz spun their algorithms—and away went the dollar index to the upside, with most of the gains in by the London p.m. gold fix. It chopped quietly higher from there, finishing the Thursday trading session at 94.65—up 12 basis points from Wednesday’s close.
I can’t be sure of the timing, but it would be my guess that the grand poobah of the ECB, “Super” Mario Draghi spoke—and JPMorgan et al did what they had to do, not only to the dollar index, but the precious metals as well.
Here’s the 6-month U.S. dollar index showing today’s ‘save’ by the powers-that-be.
The gold stocks gapped up a bit over 2 percent at the open—and chopped sideways for the entire New York session—closing where they opened, up 2.58 percent.
The silver equities soared over 4 percent at the open, but crashed back to unchanged by the London p.m. gold fix. They rallied a bit from there, before chopping sideways like their golden brethren. Nick Laird’s Intraday Silver Sentiment Index closed up only 1.95 percent, which is infinitely better than the alternative, of course.
The CME Daily Delivery Report showed that 61 gold and zero silver contracts were posted for delivery within the COMEX-approved depositories on Monday. The two largest short/issuers were HSBC USA from its own account with 48—and International F.C. Stone with 11 contracts from their client account. It was “all the usual suspects” as long/stoppers—JPMorgan with 20 contracts for its own account and 18 for its clients—and Canada’s Scotiabank and International F.C. Stone in second and third spots with 13 and 8 contracts respectively. The link to yesterday’s Issuers and Stoppers Report is here.
The CME Preliminary Report for the Thursday trading session showed that gold open interest in April dropped by 209 contracts, leaving 1,494 still open. Based on Wednesday’s Daily Delivery Report, there were 171 gold contracts slated for delivery today, so JPMorgan let another 209-171=38 short/issuers off the hook because they had no physical gold backing their short position. For the third day in a row, silver o.i. in April remained unchanged at 6 contracts left.
There were no reported changes in GLD yesterday—and as of 5:17 p.m. EDT yesterday afternoon, there were no reported changes in SLV, either.
There was a sales report from the U.S. Mint yesterday. They sold another 17,500 troy ounces of gold eagles, 1,000 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes—and another 157,500 silver eagles.
The mint only has to sell 87,500 more silver eagles to fill their weekly allotment of one million.
There wasn’t much activity in gold over at the COMEX-approved depositories on Wednesday. There were 12,442 troy ounces reported received—and only 201 shipped out. The link to that activity is here.
And for the second time in less than a week, there was no in/out activity in silver at all.
Over at the COMEX-approved gold kilobar depositories in Hong Kong on their Wednesday, they reported receiving 708 kilobars—and shipped out 3,430 of them. With the exception of 7 kilobars received at Loomis, all of the rest of the in/out activity was at Brink’s, Inc. The link to that action, in troy ounces, is here.
Here’s a chart that Nick Laird passed around just minutes after I’d filed Thursday’s column on the website—and I was just too tired to include it, so here it is now. No explanation is necessary, as the title at the top explains everything.
Once again it was a pretty slow news day and, as always, it makes your final edit all that much easier.
CRITICAL READS
Wall Street pay has crashed, and now things are getting worse
Wall Street pay already isn’t what it once was.
Revenues are plummeting, banks are cutting swathes of staff, and now regulators are taking steps that could mean that bank executives have to wait even longer to get their bonus.
Federal regulators on Thursday proposed new rules that would allow companies up to seven years to claw back executive bonuses. Clawback provisions allow firms to retract bonuses if executives are found to have hurt the company.
The rules would also allow firms to hold back more than half of executives’ pay for four years, rather than the typical three.
This news item put in an appearance on the businessinsider.com Internet site around noon EDT on Thursday. It was originally headlined “Executive compensation on Wall Street falling”—and I thank Roy Stephens for sharing it with us. Another link to this story is here.
Hedge Funds Suffer Worst Outflows Since Financial Crisis Era
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-20/hedge-funds-endure-biggest-outflows-since-2009-in-first-quarter
Hedge funds suffered the worst withdrawals last quarter since the tail-end of the financial crisis as wild swings in stocks and commodities caused losses at some of the best-known firms.
Investors pulled a net $15 billion between January and March, reducing assets under management to $2.86 trillion from $2.9 trillion, Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc. said Wednesday. The last time outflows were higher was in the second quarter of 2009, when $43 billion was redeemed.
Clients are redeeming after many hedge funds failed to protect them during market turmoil in the second half of last year and again at the start of 2016. Managers including John Paulson, Chase Coleman, Andreas Halvorsen, Ray Dalio and Bill Ackman posted losses in some of their funds last quarter, even as global stocks edged out a small gain with dividends reinvested.
This Bloomberg news item showed up on their website at 11:36 a.m. MDT on Wednesday morning—and it’s the first of two articles that I plucked from yesterday’s edition of the King Report. Another link to this story is here.
America Is Losing Out to Russia in the Wheat Wars
Paul Penner’s winter wheat is poking through as the weather warms in Kansas, a state where the grain is part of the mythology. He grows about 300 acres of it and says profits depend on global markets. About two-fifths of the U.S. crop goes abroad, according to the Department of Agriculture.
While exports are important to U.S. farmers, U.S. grain has become less important to the world. A stronger dollar is making American wheat less competitive, and the U.S. may fall to third place among wheat exporters this year, behind Russia and Canada. In 2014, the U.S. was the No. 1 exporter. Wheat-sown acreage in the U.S. has fallen steadily for decades. Over time, U.S. wheat will have less sway over global markets. The result is a changed landscape for farmers like Penner—an ex-president of the National Association of Wheat Growers who this year plans to plant as much corn as wheat. “People are voting with their pocketbooks,” says Penner, whose 660 acres are about 50 miles north of Wichita. In the 1970s, 90 percent of what he planted was wheat. “Our product remains very high-quality, but technology has improved for corn and soybeans. When you look at where you can make money, wheat is a less attractive choice.”
U.S. wheat exports are projected to drop 9.3 percent this year, to 21.1 million metric tons, in the season ending May 31. That’s the lowest since 1972, government data show. Stored domestic wheat, at a five-year high, discourages planting. Acreage for winter wheat fell to the second-lowest since 1913, according to the Agriculture Department.
Being a farm boy in my youth, I couldn’t resist this Bloomberg story—but was saving it for Saturday for content reasons. However, I thought I’d stick it in today’s missive since it’s such a slow news day. It was posted on their website at 5:00 p.m. Denver time on Wednesday afternoon—and it’s the second offering in a row of the day from Roy. Another link to this article is here—and it’s certainly worth reading if you have the interest.
Sweden’s Riksbank Unexpectedly Boosts QE to Weaken Currency; Krona Jumps
In a surprise move, earlier today Sweden’s Riksbank announced that it would expand the country’s QE program by another 45 billion kroner – consensus was for no increase – while keeping its rate at the already record negative -0.50%. “With continued expansionary monetary policy abroad, there is a risk that the krona will appreciate earlier and faster than in the forecast,” the Riksbank said.
Even more surprising was the currency reaction: instead of weakening the SEK, the currency strengthened and initially traded as much as 0.8 percent higher against the euro, but gains were pared to 0.3 percent as of 11:26 a.m. in Stockholm. The move was another indication of just how inverted cause and effect relationships have become in a world in which traders try to front and in this case back-run central bank announcements.
The extra purchases will add to an existing 200 billion-krona QE program targeting about one-third of Sweden’s nominal government bonds by the end of June. Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves has resorted to unprecedented stimulus as the bank has failed to reach its 2 percent inflation target for about half a decade. But policy makers are torn over how best to deploy their toolbox as the property market overheats.
This Zero Hedge article appeared on their Internet site at 7:15 a.m. on Thursday morning EDT—and it’s courtesy of Richard Saler. Another link to this news item is here.
We DO meddle too much, says EU boss: Juncker finally tells the truth on bloated Brussels and admits many laws should have been left to national governments
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3547897/EU-lost-attractiveness-interferes-people-s-lives-admits-Brussels-chief.html
The European Union has lost its attractiveness because it meddles too much in people’s lives, the most senior bureaucrat in Brussels admitted today.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said the E.U. had passed too many laws that should have been left for national governments to decide.
In a stark assessment, the former prime minister of Luxembourg conceded the bloc is ‘losing economic clout’, but he said this meant countries needed to work together more rather than less.
At the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Mr Juncker was questioned by British MPs on the E.U.’s future.
Asked by Tory MP Nigel Evans whether the E.U. recognised there was a problem as Euroscepticism grows throughout the continent, Mr Juncker replied: ‘We are not blind.’
No surprises here, dear reader, as the E.U. as an organization is long past its ‘best before’ date—if it ever had one, that is. This worthwhile article showed up on the dailymail.co.uk Internet site on Tuesday afternoon BST—and was subsequently updated on Wednesday evening BST. I thank P.T. Holland for pointing it out. Another link to this story is here.
ECB’s Draghi holds on interest rate; lashes out at German critics
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi launched a vigorous attack on the German politicians who have threatened to compromise the bank’s cherished independence as he revealed that the ECB is ready to intensify its fight against deflation if the euro zone economy falters.
“We have a mandate to pursue price stability for the whole euro zone, not only for Germany,” Mr. Draghi said at the ECB’s press conference after leaving the central bank’s three main interest rates intact at record low levels.“
In recent weeks, several prominent German politicians have accused the ECB and its ultra-cheap money policies – which include the bank’s negative deposit rate and the mass purchase of bonds through its quantitative-easing program – of stoking the rise of right-wing populist parties and damaging the savings plans of millions of Germans.
This news story appeared on theglobeandmail.com Internet site at 5:36 a.m. EDT yesterday morning, but was subsequently updated at 6:21 p.m. EDT last night. I thank Scott Linn for bringing it to our attention—and another link to this news item is here. Roy Stephens sent along a marketwatch.com article on this same issue headlined “Draghi plays defense as ECB faces political assault“.
Why Mario’s Got a Bee In His Bonnet — David Stockman
Mario had a bee in his bonnet this morning. Apparently, the chorus of German voices pointing to the obvious—- that his policies are killing savers, insurance companies, pension funds and banks—-got his dander up:
“We have a mandate to preserve price stability for the whole of the euro zone, not only for Germany,” he said. “We obey the law, not the politicians, because we are independent.”
There you have in brief the whole rationalization for the monetary madness that Draghi and his kindred central bankers have unleashed on the world. They claim that their rubbery statutory mandates to pursue the equivalent of economic apple pie, such as ‘price stability’, leads in a straight, unbreakable line of logic and monetary science to the lunacy of negative 0.4% money market rates and $90 billion per month of bond-buying.
No it doesn’t. There is no scientific linkage whatsoever—–just an ideological leap based on a Keynesian demand model that conveniently delegates all power to the central bankers’ soviets.
Mentioning Mario’s name around David Stockman is like saying “sic ’em” to a dog. David’s somewhat longish take on Draghi’s speech appeared on his website yesterday sometime—and it’s the third contribution of the day from Roy Stephens. Another link to this commentary is here.
“Kindly send us names and quotes insulting our president“: Ankara’s Consulate asks Dutch citizens
Turkey’s General Consulate in Rotterdam has called on Turkish nationals in the Netherlands to report on Ankara’s and President Erdogan’s critics, Dutch media reported.
Ankara’s office has reportedly emailed a number of Turkish organizations in the European country, urging their employees to warn the consulate of any “insulting” messages received via personal online accounts.
According to the letter shared on Twitter, it said: “To whom it may concern: If you or the employees working in your NGO or their relatives or the people around you received messages from people who are insulting our president, the Turkish nation or Turkey in general in to your mailboxes or social media accounts, we would kindly ask you to send the names and the quotes that they put to the mail address of our Rotterdam Consulate General.”
The campaign is “aimed against everything that’s being shared on Twitter, Facebook and even in private emails,” Dutch freelance journalist and author Frederike Geerdink told Russia Today, adding that Ankara’s move has “immediately caused big discussion in Holland.”
Roy Stephens sent me this Russia Today article that appeared on their Internet site at 7:54 p.m. Thursday evening Moscow time, which was 11:54 a.m. EDT in Washington. His comment—“Here’s one you couldn’t make up Ed!” He would be right about that. Another link to this news story is here.
The Phony War in Syria — Eric Margolis
The great, long-awaited counterattack against ISIS has finally begun. The offensive that spans Syria and western Iraq is targeting the ISIS-held cities of Raqqa and Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city.
For a variety of reasons, the much ballyhooed “final offensive” against ISIS is moving with all the speed of a medieval army of drunken foot soldiers and all the audacity of a lady’s garden party.
As a former soldier and war correspondent, I find the spectacle both pathetic and weird. Back in my army days, our tough sergeants used to call such behavior “lilly-dipping.” There’s no risk that this pathetic campaign will go down in the annals of military history.
In fact, the whole business smells to high heaven.
This commentary showed up on the informationclearinghouse.com Internet site on Monday—and it’s certainly worth reading if you’re a serious student of the New Great Game. I thank Larry Galearis for sending it along—and another link to this article is here.
Fear and Loathing in the Arabian Nights — Pepe Escobar
The Doha summit this past weekend that was supposed to enshrine a cut in oil production by OPEC, in tandem with Russia – it was practically a done deal – ended up literally in the dust.
The City of London – via the Financial Times – wants to convey the impression to global public opinion that it all boiled down to a dispute between Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the conductor of the illegal war on Yemen — and Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi. The son of — ailing — King Salman has been dubbed “the unpredictable new voice of the kingdom’s energy policy.”
A famous 3 a.m. call did take place in Doha on Sunday. The young Salman called the Saudi delegation and told them the deal was off. Every other energy market player was stunned by the reversion.
This very interesting commentary by Pepe put in an appearance on the sputniknews.com Internet site at 6:54 p.m. Moscow time on their Wednesday evening, which was 10:45 a.m. in Washington—EDT plus 8 hours. I thank U.K. reader Tariq Khan for finding it for us—and another link to this article is here.
China Default Chain Reaction Looms Amid 192 Day Cash Turnaround
Chinese companies have never had to wait so long to get paid, as stockpiles build and customers delay sending funds.
Firms now take a record 192 days to collect payment for their goods or services from when they pay for the inputs, according to data compiled by Bloomberg on non-financial corporations traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen. The cash conversion ratio is up from 125 days five years ago. Liquidity is tightening in China after company profits declined for the first time in three years and as debtors face their hardest time ever paying interest.
“The longer the cash conversion cycle, the higher the risk of corporates not having enough cash to repay their debts,” said Iris Pang, senior economist for greater China at Natixis SA in Hong Kong. “That creates a chain reaction.”
The weakest economy in a quarter century has prompted at least seven firms to miss local bond payments this year, already reaching the tally for the whole of last year. Among those to default was Baoding Tianwei Group Co., whose listed unit saw its cash conversion cycle spike to 321 days in 2015. Among companies facing the worst delays is Sichuan Renzhi Oilfield Technology Services Co. at 678 days, as the nation’s oil projects were disrupted by corruption probes and plunging crude prices.
Wow! How long can economy survive if bills aren’t getting paid in a timely manner. It shows just how tenuous the current business cycle is in China. This Bloomberg article was posted on their Internet site 10 a.m. MDT on Tuesday evening—and it’s something I found in yesterday’s edition of the King Report. Another link to this news item is here.
Precious Metals Puke – ‘Someone’ Dumps $2 Billion of [Paper] Gold Into Futures Markets
What goes up… must not be allowed to…
Someone just decided this was the perfect time to dump over $2 billion worth of notional paper gold onto the markets…
Over 16,000 gold contracts (and 7,500 silver) were dumped in a 5/10 minutes segment.
It appears Draghi did not like the impression of his impotence that precious metals were suggesting.
This brief 2-chart Zero Hedge piece sums up my thoughts exactly—and yours too, I’m sure. It appeared on their Internet site at 10:37 a.m. EDT on Thursday morning—and it’s definitely worth your time. I thank Richard Saler for passing it along. Another link to this short ZH article is here.
Pimco Economist Has a Stunning Proposal to Save the Economy: The Fed Should Buy Gold
Back in December 2014, just before the ECB officially launched its initial phase of Q.E. in which it would monetize government bonds, Mario Draghi was asked a very direct question: what types of assets could the ECB buy as part of its quantitative easing program. He responded, “we discussed all assets but gold.“
The reason for his tongue in cheek response was because over the prior few weeks speculation had arisen that gold could be part of the central bank’s asset purchases after Yves Mersch, a member of the ECB executive board and former Governor of the Central Bank of Luxembourg, said on November 17 that “theoretically the ECB could purchase other assets such as gold, shares, ETFs to fulfill its promise of adopting further unconventional measures to counter a longer period of low inflation.”
Mario Draghi promptly shot down that idea.
But according to a provocative paper released by none other than Pimco’s strategist Harley Bassman, Yves Mersch’s inadvertent peek into what central bankers are thinking, may have been on to something.
In “Rumpelstiltskin at the Fed“, Bassman goes down the well-trodden path of proposing Fed asset purchases as the last ditch panacea for the U.S. economy, however instead of buying bonds, or stocks, or crude oil, Bassman has a truly original idea: “the Fed should unleash a massive Fed gold purchase program that could echo a Depression-era effort that effectively boosted the U.S. economy.“
This very long Zero Hedge commentary is datelined 5:59 p.m. on Thursday afternoon EDT—and has obviously been revised, as I received it from Richard Saler at 1:55 p.m. EDT. I must admit that I haven’t had the time to read it, or Bassman’s comments—but would think that they’re worth your while. Another link to this article is here.
Jim Rickards: A Scramble for Gold Has Begun by the World’s Central Banks
For a century, elites have worked to eliminate monetary gold, both physically and ideologically.
Yet, like Banquo’s ghost, gold insists on its seat at the monetary table. The U.S. holds 8,133 tons of gold. The members of the eurozone and ECB hold 10,788 tons. China reports holdings of 1,788 tons, but actual holdings are closer to 4,000 tons, based on reliable data from Hong Kong exports and Chinese mining.
Russia has 1,447 tons, and has been acquiring over 200 tons per year. Mexico, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam, among other nations, have added to their gold reserves recently. (Pity the UK, which sold more than half its gold at rock-bottom prices between 1999 and 2002.)
After decades as net sellers of gold, central banks became net buyers in 2010. A scramble for gold has begun…
I get the impression that I’ve posted a piece by Jim about this very recently, but since I don’t have much in the way of gold-related stories, here it is again. It was posted in the clear on the dailycrux.com Internet site yesterday—and it’s courtesy of Brad Robertson. Another link to this commentary is here.
The PHOTOS and the FUNNIES
This magnificent male common goldeneye duck was the ‘odd man out’ in a love triangle, as the only female of his species on the pond was already spoken for—and the other male would fly a considerable distance to drive him further away. These two shots were the only ones I got. He, along with the other pair, were just stopping to ‘gas up’ before heading much further north. I took both these photos on Sunday just past.
The WRAP
It’s been a while since we’ve seen such an egregious intervention in the precious metal markets—and it’s a reminder that JPMorgan et al are still very much in control of their respective prices. They can do whatever they want, whenever they want—and there’s no one to raise a finger or a quivering voice in opposition.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s missive, you would be right to question why the World Gold Council and The Silver Institute aren’t breathing down the necks of the CFTC and CME Group after yesterday’s engineered price declines. The reason for that is that they are bought and paid for by ‘da boyz’. The reason the current WGC and Silver Institute exist, as GATA’s Chris Powell said, is to ensure that a real WGC or Silver Institute never comes to be.
Two organizations, empowered by their members—and working in the best interests of their industry, their membership—and their respective shareholders, would be a complete anathema for JPMorgan et al, so they have to be controlled from within. So, without exception, every president/CEO of either of these organizations—past or current—are bought and paid for by the powers-that-be, or they would never be allowed to assume those positions.
Here are the 6-month charts for all four precious metals—and the charts would have looked entirely different if the not-for-profit sellers hadn’t show up on several occasions during trading on Thursday.
And as I type this paragraph, the London open is less than ten minutes away—and I note that gold chopped around unchanged in morning trading in the Far East on their Friday, but developed a negative bias around noon in Hong Kong. At the moment it’s down about 3 dollars an ounce. Silver managed to rally back above $17 spot in mid-morning trading in Hong Kong—and remains above that price mark, albeit barely. Platinum had a 5 dollar down/up move in Far East trading—and has rallied a bit since noon HKT—and is up 4 bucks an ounce currently. Palladium traded mostly flat, but it’s also in the plus column—and up 2 dollars.
Net HFT gold volume is just under 30,000 contracts, which is a pretty big number considering the price activity. In silver, that number is a hair under 9,000 contracts, which is pretty high. About 20 percent of gross volume is roll-overs out of the May silver contract, which is now coming up hard, as First Day Notice for delivery is next Friday. The dollar index dipped down to the 94.48 mark around 10:25 a.m. HKT, but has been in rally mode ever since—and it’s currently up 7 basis points as London opens.
Today we get the latest Commitment of Traders Report for positions held at the close of COMEX trading on Tuesday. Ted wasn’t about to venture a guess as to what today’s numbers will reveal. But he’s still open to the idea that there may be strange happenings hidden within the huge volumes that both gold and silver had during the reporting week—and it’s just too bad that Wednesday’s and Thursday’s data won’t be in it.
Just looking a the above charts, I’d guess about no change in gold, but a large deterioration in silver. However, I’m hoping that Ted will find what he’s looking for—and that I will be proven spectacularly wrong. But whatever the numbers, I’ll have them for you—warts and all—in Saturday’s column.
And as I post today’s effort on the website at 4:05 a.m. EDT, I see that the gold price continues to crawl lower during the last hour, but has popped a bit in the last few minutes—and is down less than 2 dollars an ounce. Silver is still hanging in there above $17 spot, platinum is up 3 bucks—and palladium is back to unchanged. There’s not much happening at the moment, but I don’t expect that to last.
Net HFT gold volume is now up to a bit over 36,000 contracts—and that number in silver is a hair over 10,000 contracts, so there hasn’t been much change in silver’s volume since I reported on it an hour ago. The dollar index continues to power higher—and is now up 23 basis points.
As to what might transpire during the remainder of the day, I haven’t a clue. But I doubt very much that it will remain this quiet, especially when the noon silver ‘fix’ in London is over with. And since today is Friday as well, I’ll be ready for any eventuality when I check the charts later this morning.
Enjoy your weekend—and I’ll see you here tomorrow.
Ed
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