Some Gold Thoughts

12/29/11
I have been asked a number of times recently where gold is going to trade over the course of 2012. I am not a seer, obviously. But I can make a few observations and guesses based on some emerging micro and macro trends.

I’m in the camp that feels that gold will get to $2,000 an ounce in 2012. ,,,, read more at
http://www.certifiedassets.com/inv/news/some-gold-thoughts/

A Flick of the Financial Switch; Jeers for Sears; $GLD is a Mining Share Dampener; Coin Dealer TV Advice

12/27/11
We’re in the no man’s land between Christmas and the New Year. The usual survey of news flow comes up light, but this is still the same dangerous world in general and from a financial sense. Somewhat odd that the seemingly unstoppable lava flow of financial bad news from Europe, with the U.S. and Japan waiting in the wings, takes a break for a week? Who knew that on going chaos and catastrophe could simply sign off for the holidays? So maybe, since the world is supposed to end in less than a year....

Please read more... http://www.certifiedassets.com/inv/news/a-flick-of-the-financial-switch-jeers-for-sears-gld-is-a-mining-share-dampener-coin-dealer-tv-advice/

Temporary Bear De-Clawing; Economic Jumble…. Merry Christmas!

12/23 Market Comment
Stock futures show an upward tilt once again as seasonal factors favor the bulls. The more than 600 billion-euro 3 year bank loan program, for now, has de-clawed the bears. But Sorry... read on here... http://www.certifiedassets.com/inv/news/temporary-bear-de-clawing-economic-jumble-merry-christmas/

$$ Understanding Why Our Budgetary Process is So Broken

.... and the mere token solutions in terms of cuts that our politicians are only capable of. Ask yourself, can this go on forever??

Of course it can't. I am not in the doom and gloom prediction business of when the end will come, but you and I both know in our heart of hearts that the debt trap this country is in, is eventually going to blow. This will be the Mt Tambora explosion on mankind in terms of the financial destruction that will ravage pretty much everyone. This can't go on forever. The delusionists will say, says who? I say it's all in the math as plain as day. We are finite, so is our ability to 'print' our way out.

A reader sent this to me....

• U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
• Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
• New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
• Recent budget cuts: $ 38,500,000,000

"Let's now remove seven zeros and pretend it's a household budget…

• Annual family income: $210,700
• Money the family spent: $380,200
• New debt on the credit card: $160,500
• Outstanding balance on the credit card: $1,427,100
• Total budget cuts: $3,850" – Anonymous

$$ OT: Cultural Commentary about the Holidays

and a word to my son's elementary school in southeastern, NY and all schools like it (which is most schools in NYS). Thanks for completely denuding yourselves of the holidays. Yes, the pusillanimous Christmas/holiday haters have won hands down. At my 2nd grade son's school, I did not see one holiday symbol, not Santa, not even a Menorah, not even something about Kwanza -- nothing. Not that I was expecting a Nativity scene with a baby Jesus and the story explained, but it is as if the Grinch came in and vacuumed away the holidays and left just a grey and dull school entrance.

Back in the early 70's I remember the little Christmas tree in the cafeteria and how one of the students accidentally knocked it over and quietly walked off amid the confusion (lol). I remember my second grade teacher Mrs. Resnick playing us Hannukkah music and teaching us about the tradition's she celebrated. And you know what? I survived! We all survived! So i ignore the arguments that school is not the place for holiday traditions. Not so long ago it was and we were all the better for it. It was part of learning about our CULTURE and its roots. School has become a place run by heartless and pc administrators. To those in contral and allow this to happen, you all &**&! Merry Christmas!

$$ Market Cheer/Denial; Super Low Mortgage Rates; Gold Fever in Greece? A Dear Jamie Letter

As noted yesterday, seasonal factors tilt the odds in favor firmer prices, for now. Yesterday, the Dow clawed its way from the minus signs to etch out a 3 point gain. The techs were hammered on Oracle's tepid numbers. This morning stock futures are firm. Nothing has blown up in Europe over the last 15 hours. The markets are still digesting news of the over 600 bln in three year loans that will go to euro banks to stabilize them. Of course, these,,, please read more here: http://www.certifiedassets.com/inv/news/market-cheerdenial-super-low-mortgage-rates-gold-fever-in-greece-a-dear-jamie-letter/

The NAR and its "Revisions" $$

How many here bought a house between 2007 and 2010 based partially on whatever positive spin your real estate agent may have used from the National Association of Realtors data? You participated in being fooled, at being an easy mark. You may have been told how there was activity, act now, etc. There was far less activity than previously claimed.

The NAR has released revised home sales figures. The National Association of Realtors revised existing home sales from 2007 to 2010 down by 14%. 2010 revised downwardly by 15%. This is confirmation of what everyone without rose colored glasses observed for themselves. Residential RE was undergoing a complete and utter pole axing during those years. The NAR calls these huge changes, “benchmark revisions”. Right. There was once a time when revisions meant perhaps a 2 or 3% adjustment. This isn’t a revision. This is a complete re-do of previous false data.

A side diatribe
Face it, realtors for the most part are simply salespeople on steroids (because of the value of the transactions). Yes, they have to pass courses and get a license, but this merely elevates the skills of any old car salesman to that of being a so called "professional" (in many cases, this is true of your stock broker). Now, I say 'for the most part', because my wife happens to be a realtor. She tells it like it is to potential customers. That means she looses out on a lot of potential sale opportunities. She doesn't want to play the game of going along with the home seller and listing a property at an excessive price that will only sit, which is still a problem, at least here in the lower Hudson valley. There are some good realtors (more shilling for my wife, but she deserves a good word, after all she donated a kidney to me and saved my life!), but they are in the minority. Most will do anything to get a listing and will say anything to get someone to buy. Watch out for them... the 3 to 6% commission makes it too tempting for most of them to be really above board. They are seduced by going to the closing table and getting that big commission check.
Rant Over

I would love to hear how the cadre of realtors are explaining this stuff away. lol.

Bottom Line: There is nothing good from these revisions. Deeper and as yet to be reported repercussions are likely in the new homes market. It is not out of the realm of possibility that starts of new construction may have had a basis in some form of over optimism about existing homes data. Oh, the possibilities.  Time will tell.

12/21/11 Jump, or Dump day on Hump day?

Morning Market Comment

After a 300 point Dow surge yesterday, stock futures are unchanged to a bit lower. No surprise there. Will the bulls be able to pull off more follow through. My guess is that thinner volume could make it easier to juice things up as we move toward the end of the year. Please read more at... http://www.certifiedassets.com/inv/news/122111-jump-or-dump-day-on-hump-day/

Futures Traders, the Joke is On You!

Remember from a year ago? $CME head Duffy said that the CME is the guarantor of trades on its exchanges. Go ask a customer of $MF Glocal how that worked out. LOL, but really not a lol. Some serious, outright theft has happened related to MF and I can't and won't let this go until the money of thousands of customers is returned in some form.

This is about more than just the losses that an individual customer can suffer speculating in these markets. This is about the realization from the commodities reform of 2000 that Derivatives traders like JP Morgan have SENIOR status over everyone (buried, of course, in the fine print). Individual customers be damned, the derivatives players MUST remain whole.

When Johnny "the Don" Corzine was loosing big money, $JPM. as the lender to MF, had advanced warning that the MF house of cards was a about to fall, and with just a few key strokes hundreds of thousands of segregated MF accounts were frozen and then emptied -- cyber space can be handy with this sort of thing. As trends forecaster and burned Lind Waldock account holder, Gerald Celente has stated, "the gang is in control".

Read more here: Bloomberg: JPMorgan Actions as MF Global Lender Likely to Be Probed
Related: Barron's: The Silver Rush at MF Global


You can hear the lie below from the CME group head at 2 minutes and 22 seconds into the video.

Turnaround Tuesday? Housing, Europe, The Banks

A hodge podge of various events are stewing together to bring some ‘hope’ back to the market. Futures are bid higher and are indicative only of what is going to happen at the open – not for what will happen for the entire day. Bringing hope, a surprise rise in German business confidence, a drop...

http://www.certifiedassets.com/inv/news/turnaround-tuesday-housing-europe-the-banks/

12/19 Morning Market Comments: Six Things Already Bugging Me This Week

This is the week leading into Christmas and it's supposed to be quiet. That's the usual pre Christmas routine. But this may not be a routine week. Some key items come to mind:
1. S&P has warned that it could downgrade a number of Euro-zone countries in the week ahead. This could add extra volatility to what would normally be a wind down week into Christmas and then the new year.... Please read on here: http://www.certifiedassets.com/inv/news/6-things-are-already-bugging-me-this-week/?preview=true

Thanks Founding Father's, But Your Dream is Just About Dead

I am going to wait and not make my endorsement in the Republican race known until the New Year. Certainly, Neither Mitt, nor Gnewt are getting my support -- that is unless I decide doing the same old thing and hoping for the best is the right way to go. And, of course, that is completely the wrong way to go. We might as well re elect Obama to hasten the collapse of the country.

$$ A Quote

This statement from Alan Greenspan was made more than 20 years before he became chairman of the Fed.

"In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holding illegal, as was done in the case of gold. If everyone decided, for example, to convert all his bank deposits to silver or copper or any other good, and thereafter declined to accept checks as payment for goods, bank deposits would lose their purchasing power and government-created bank credit would be worthless as a claim on goods. The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves.
This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard."

--Alan Greenspan, Gold & Economic Freedom (1966)

Non Event Inflation News is Actually Big Wake Up Call News

On Friday the government reported November Consumer Price Index (CPI) data that showed NO change in prices last month with a core CPI (factoring out useless things like food and energy due to their volatility) up a teeny weeny .2%. 

In other words, the government wants you to believe that the anecdotal price increases that you have observed (eg. everything getting seemingly more expensive from food to having your lawn mowed) is a just a figment of your imagination.

On an annual basis the government reports a peachy keen gain of only 3.2% in the overall CPI.  By this estimation alone, the government is implying that it would take over 20 years for the CPI to double, which of course is laughable - really - belly laughable, or so laughable that it would hurt.

The famed Shadow stats site, with its honest data vs the pablum the government regurgitates,  estimates that CPI is really running at around 7%.


But let's take Uncle Sam at his word. CPI thus far this year is up a tame 3.2%.

At the surface, this seems like good news. But it is actually a bad news scenario when the universe of money rates is considered. Here's a screen grab from CNBC of US rates. As seen here, the entire curve from 3 month bills to 30 year bonds is BELOW the seemingly tame 3.2% government inflation stat (Click to see larger and clearer image).

If the Shadow Stat CPI inflation figure of 7% is taken into account, negative rates are then running close to an almost unimaginable 10%. http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

One could argue that with the core PCE price index, as of November, running at 1.7%, the negative yield umph is taken out of the benchmark 10 year, to which I say, 'whatevahhh'. Regardless of which inflaton number one uses, there is still a substantial chunk of the rate universe running in negative territory. I strive to shun the arcane and pseudo sophisticated economists' talk and stick to reality. So pick any inflation gauge. It doesn't really matter. That is to say that no one is getting rich from treasury yields in their present state when inflation is factored in. They are getting poorer.

Negative yields mean a loss of dollar purchasing power which makes us all the poorer. It begs the question, which is worse hyper inflation, or a loss of purchasing power? They are both bad and the loss of purchasing power is actually worse since it is an insidious and more abstract concept for the masses to follow. The November CPI figure is big reminder of the collapsing debt bubble we are in the midst of! This is money at its worst. IF you don't realize this, let me shout it out. This is ongoing FINANCIAL REPRESSION.

Put another way, the negative rate problem means millions of grannies and conservative investors, who have their dollar wealth tied up in CDs and other money market type instruments are losing wealth with each passing day as inflation (even at a modest 3.2%) quietly over time eats away at their wealth which is not only not producing income, but is contracting wealth due to a negative rate of return when inflation is factored in.

If knuckle sandwiching seniors and other conservative investors with negative rates isn't bad enough , consider this on the scale of central banks and governments which hold the lion's share of treasuries both in their own government's debt and their holdings of US debt.

Negative real interest rates plague not only the US, but all of the other biggies including China, Germany, Japan, Canada, etc.

Wow, it's no wonder that central banks have been busy buying gold in 2011. Take my word since I have already looked at all of this stuff, or investigate for yourself here: http://www.gold.org/investment/statistics/investment_statistics/

Quick conclusion. The CPI release may have been a yawner on Friday, but it was still yet another jarring reminder of the predicament that fiat money is in: up a stinky creek with no paddle.

And a word to the wise deflationists. Yes, the negative rates are a deflatonary sign, but again, loss of dollar buying power is as bad if not worse than faster and hyperinflation.

Hope You Can’t On; Everything is OK; Gold Bounce; Ongoing RIM Wreck; $ZNGA

One of the more intriguing wire service reports that crossed during the session yesterday (and largely missed, or ignored by the markets) were a few comments by the IMF.... Read more here:  http://www.certifiedassets.com/inv/news/hope-you-cant-on-everyting-is-ok-gold-bounce-ongoing-rim-wreck/

The Gold Bull Market Takes a Breather; Spain Auction Makes it Thru; A $100 mln Penny

12/15/11 Market Comment

First a statment, or three about gold:
The bull market in gold remains intact. Looking at the decade long bull market in gold on a monthly basis, the 18 month moving average is at $1489/oz, or about $100 above present levels. Notice, that the only time the 1-1/2 year moving average was pierced was during the first leg of the financial crisis in 2008. Eventually the gold market righted itself and the secular rally resumed with force.... read more here: http://bit.ly/tHQUyK

A Simple little chart: Gold vs $SPY

This may not warm the hearts of the stock bulls -- many of whom either ignore gold, or just hate gold. The chart below shows gold and SPY. Gold is signified by the candles, SPY is the solid black lines. Clearly it is not a good thing for SPY when gold falls. Gold is actually somewhat of leading indicator as to what may may be next for stocks.

One other notable feature of this chart is the very low RSI on gold as of yesterday (since real time stockcharts.com doesn't display real time gold for some reason). That must come with the more expensive plan that also includes the salad bar. lol.

Gold could bounce a bit, it has today bounced off the lows at this point on extreme oversold conditions. But selling off of any near term bounce could resume in the absence of massive QE. I see vulnerability for the stock market (since it is not nearly as oversold as gold based on RSI) in the near term. This sure is very contrary to the seasonal Santa rally and then the upcoming January effect. But then again. it's not everyday that the market gets to deal with near implosion conditions in the EU.

My Time at Walmart: Why We Need Serious Welfare Reform

December 13, 2011 By crousselle
During the 2010 and 2011 summers, I was a cashier at Wal-Mart #1788 in Scarborough, Maine. I spent hours upon hours toiling away at a register, scanning, bagging, and dealing with questionable clientele. These were all expected parts of the job, and I was okay with it. What I didn’t expect to be part of my job at Wal-Mart was to witness massive amounts of welfare fraud and abuse.

I understand that sometimes, people are destitute. They need help, and they accept help from the state in order to feed their families. This is fine. It happens. I’m not against temporary aid helping those who truly need it. What I saw at Wal-Mart, however, was not temporary aid. I witnessed generations of families all relying on the state to buy food and other items. I literally witnessed small children asking their mothers if they could borrow their EBT cards.... Read more here:

http://thecollegeconservative.com/2011/12/13/my-time-at-walmart-why-we-need-serious-welfare-reform/

The European Liquidation, Gold Under Attack; Realty Games; Sell Yahoo!

12/14/11 Market comment
It appears that there is no joy in Mudville, at least at the present time. The markets remain in a bind over the European situation. While German interest rates are in the region of ZERO, the Italian bond yields have gone where no man has gone before (at a record high already at over ,,,, Please read more here:  http://bit.ly/txLOUf

A Brief Thought on the Stock Market and Markets in General

Which way the markets, everyone is asking. There is a lot of bearishness out there after the failure of the 100+ Tuesday morning Dow joyride.

I would like to remind everyone that the market's don't need to crash. Systemic seizure could easily and simply close the markets for trading for an extended period while they sort things out. Now, tell me, what chart is reflecting that sort of outcome? And yes, such closure would likely result in massive losses when markets are reopened.

Is seizure likely to happen soon? My guess is that there is 10% chance. Seizure would not sit well for a Obama campaign.

Be prepared for the unexpected. Super rally on more QE? That could happen, though we sure didn't get any fresh QE news. Collapsing economies that spark global seizure? The Fed is prepped to do everything possible to stop it, but always expect the unexpected.

In the short term, the Italian bond auction is a matter of hours away. Expect indications of ECB buying, or buying from somewhere to save the day. This could spark a traditional oversold SPX rally. If the Italian bond auction results are poor, or the auction fails -- well you know what will happen.

Just sayin'.

More Farce Confirmation: The National Assoc. of Realtors

From CNN:

Far fewer homes have been sold over the past five years than previously estimated, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.

NAR said it plans to downwardly revise sales of previously-owned homes going back to 2007 during the release of its next existing home sales report on Dec. 21.

This blog has often stated that the NAR is simply talking its own book and its numbers flawed. It is amazing that this group is even admitting its sales numbers have been way off.

Music Reflects The Defects of our Culture

I was listening to this great hit by the Eagles. It makes you wonder where all the great music has gone. Today's music if often bombastic in nature and downright violent in its lyrics. It's a commentary on the decay of society in general. And certainly, it's no surprise that our fiat debt system is close to collapsing. What will they do to keep it going?



 

New Blog Look

Sick and tired of that red background. Red is illuminati and we don't want that! lol.

I wanted to try something that's not bright white, but pleasant and relaxing since all of the news is horrible.

12/13/11 The Fed; MF Global; Gold; HR 1540; Cooking Up Stuff at Wal Mart and more...

12/13/11 Market comment
Today is Fed Tuesday. Since It's Christmas time (channeling Band Aid from 1984), I am not expecting much to be announced at 2:15ish ET. Could Bernanke pull one out of the hat and announce further easing (as in gotta keep BofA above 5)? Who knows what schemes lurk in the heart of the Bernank. Also for you know whats and giggles: The Fed doesn't have to announce a thing. Their dollar swaps and digi dollars are always on standby. They are after all (in their eyes), the masters... please read more here: http://www.certifiedassets.com/inv/news/121311-13rd-a-blog-post/

Very cool: The World's Most Valuable Gold Coiin

Check this video out -- Blanchard Sells Brasher Doubloon Gold Coin for Record $7.4 Million http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sltaQXSr2kk&feature=share via @youtube

Euro Melt Back on (already); Blue Monday for Stocks

12/12 Market comment

As shared over the weekend, the grand Friday EU Summit certainly did not yield any lasting solutions. Already in Europe today, BTPs Yielding 1% More In Two Days Since LCH Margin Cut http://www.zerohedge.com/node/441594. UBS is warning AAA-Rated Euro-Area Downgrade ‘Inevitable’. Add to that, Moody’s is warning of a Euro wide review of sovereign debt. The Italian 10 year is already back to 6.71% and closing in on a 7-handle. Greek CDS and yields... Please read more here: http://bit.ly/s1qQWX Thanks!

France's AAA to be cut this week?

There has been speculation to that effect. Bring it on, this has been too long in the making. That France remains pegged at AAA is ridiculous to begin with and betrays the completely unrealistic realm in which these ratings agencies operate. These countries should all be in the C range, not anywhere near even a single-A!

Sell the rumor, buy the news.

The Euro Non Solution

0

Ummm.. tell me, the big Euro summit has accomplished exactly what? Promises to be good little boys and girls and adhere to “strict:” budget targets? That should have been done long, long ago. The elephant in the room that remains is this issue of sovereign indebtedness and sovereign solvency. Words on nice parchment treaty paper are not going to fix anything. These European problems threaten to drag on for months more, as they now have until MARCH to write a new treaty. God help them if any country decides it needs to referendum the matter and see what its people decide. I suspect something will blow up before March, or there will be some moment of near blowing up that will require some sort of coordinated rescue. The Central Banks see the short term result of their recent intervention and they surely must like playing god (notice the small-case g).
As meatloaf sang, 23 Out of 27 Ain’t Bad, and that’s what we have here. Britain is going its own way and wants nothing to do with this bull ___ (fill in the stinky blank). Britain will ultimately have to face its own fiscal ills and it will do it by itself, or with a little help from a friend (channeling the Beatles): The US Fed, Japan (if they can etc). It is taking the isolationist route. At total debt of nearly 1000% of GDP, it is destined to fail. Light out eventually, good night bub, and without the help of mainland Europe.

G10-Debt-distribution

This sobering chart has been making its way around the net. Yikes!

As for the stock market and gold, the BAD news is going to be GOOD news for the near term. There will be a fairly bullish bias to stocks until the recession in Europe starts to take victims in the U.S. Santa will try to stick around and then take a bow to the so called January effect. Eventually, the IMF is going to attempt to put a fire out, or the Fed will do so leading to more 'hopes' and the speculation that leads to volatility. Remember: The secret to their interventionist sauce, which is really not so secret, is that they are using monetary gasoline to put these fires out. That can only be good for gold in the long run. Long run for stocks? Perhaps not so good as the system crumbles under the weight of tremendous debt. As I’ve previously stated, 10s of trillions in funny money has already been magically produced to save only the banks, and no not by way of dead president notes, but through digital monetary creation of banking reserves which has kept things flowing. There cannot be seizure anywhere and the PTB will see it through for as long as it can.

When you think about it, if UK total debt to GDP is at about 1000%, Japan at somewhere in the 700% range; and both can have functioning societies, then how much time is left for the Fed with U.S. total debt at a “mere” 300% of GDP? This could be a drawn out problem, or am I giving too much credit to the Banksters who are keeping the ball rolling, as evidenced by the latest Wall Street rally? The doomers who are looking for it to all apart very soon, think that I give too much credence to the cleverness of banks who own the Fed in keeping our “system” alive, but hey — this has been an going theme for years. And yes, I am aware that past performance does not mean the same outcome in the future.

I am not saying that doom to the system won’t happen espescially when these excessive debt levels are taken in to consideration. When the paper fiat ponzi fails (since adding new debt to pay old debt is not a solution and will be laughed at by the future generations who will look back at this time), paper will go to its fair value of zero as the punishment for an abusive the system that puts the banking interests before all others in society. This end to fiat money has happened numerous times before. Google “currency death” just for fun.

Gold’s dollar valuation will get jostled as the dollar and other curerncies fall apart, but when all is said and done, gold will remain. It will still have value. That’s the long term key for anyone who is purchasing gold: long term VALUE vs the nothingness of paper when there's too much of it disguided as money (again, this has happened before). Sure, life will manage to go on, but the transition will surely be rotten; the desperation to keep things as they are now will get ugly. A workout of debt that exceeds GDP of many nations is not going to be pleasant. How could it be?

The big question now is timing. You may need to hold your gold wealth patiently for longer than expected and weather the storms. “They” will keep this fiat regime going for as long as possible, and that potentially could mean several years more of miserable extend and pretend. Not rocket science, not fear mongering, it’s a proposition of ridding oneself of the demons of denial and looking at reality. Whether 1000% of GDP in the UK, or 300% of GDP here in the U.S. -- now that's a reality that is not going to go away anytime soon by itself.  The transition out of this debt conundrum will be gut wrenching in the years to come.

Thursday 12/8/11 A Rough Day for Stocks, Gold Falls as Well

When the Dow makes a move of about 200 points (about 2%), or if gold moves by about 2%, I will provide extra market updates when possible. Today the Dow lost 198 points to 11,997 — to finish below the psychological 12k mark.

Gold took a $32 hit to $1712, or a decline of about 2%.

What went wrong for the bulls? In a word, Germany. It is maintaining the stiff upper lip, trying to take the high road on fiscal matters. As I have explained, Germany in particular, is not happy with the southern European part of the EU that is looking for massive bailout handouts. Germany today has shown this resentment .... please read more at: http://www.certifiedassets.com/inv/news/thursday-12811-a-rough-day-for-stocks-gold-falls-as-well/

$MF, the European Non Vacation, Charting Gold $GLD $GC_F

Jon Corzine of $MF infamy is going before the House Ag committee today. Aside from pre-written testimony expect the usual ‘I take the 5th’ dog and pony show. $1.2 bln remains missing at last check.

A late day rumor lifted the Dow to a gain 46 points in the final half hour surrounding talk of a $600 bln lnternational Monetary Fund loan. Those rumors are dead this morning and stocks are set to open lower. Gold is also headed south, as the dollar is up vs the euro on Draghi’s measures (see more below). Markets do not like the 3 yr loan scheme.  Read more here... http://bit.ly/rL1mLm

Long Term Gold Performance Pulverizes Stocks

Over the past 11 years, it's been a nice ride for GOLD while it has not been much fun in stock land. Read more here about the performace of the SPX and Gold. Nothing complicated, just bare bones performance comparing the two. A picture tells a thousand words: http://bit.ly/slroOM $SPX $GLD $GC_F 3gold

Austerity Toilet Paper? SPX Gap Vs Santa; Gold in a Holding Pattern; European Banks Belly Up to the Bar

Let’s start with a product that is near and dear to all of us, but that we don’t talk about very often in normal conversation: Toilet Paper. We take it for granted. There are many choices available at the store for our different comfort levels. You can buy it in large quantities on a Costco run. Perhaps this is an extreme example of ‘austerity,’ but this is the sort of kooky stuff that you will be reading more.... Please continue here.... http://www.certifiedassets.com/inv/news/austerity-toilet-paper-real-money-gold-in-a-holding-pattern-european-banks-belly-up-to-the-bar/

Less Hope Tuesday; Geithner to the Rescue?; S&P and its Flawed Ratings

12/6/11 Market Comment

The Broad Outlook
This is looking like a softer to mixed, maybe higher, maybe lower (who knows) Tuesday for Wall Street. CNBC is headlining Treasury Secretary Geithner and his trip to Europe. Timmy who? I had wondered where this master of funny money ceremonies had disappeared to. Says CNBC, “U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithne.... read more here: http://www.certifiedassets.com/inv/news/less-hope-tuesday-geithner-to-the-rescue-sp-and-its-flawed-ratings/. Thanks!

12/5 More Rally, Gold drifts, Outlook remains Bullish

It was a wild week for the markets last week and stock markets are off to a strong start today. It is obvious that from an annualized perspective the strong returns for stocks during the past week cannot be maintained forever. There is probably a some more to go in this rally and then pause or even another decline before we see another big burst higher from some other sort of intervention. But think about it, to get a 7% weekly jump out of the Dow required a goosing of the market by the Federal Reserve due to some very dubious circumstances.

Please read more here: http://bit.ly/vpqFBk

$$ Commentary on World Currency Talk $GC_F $SPY $UUP $EURUSD

My opinions on this matter could change depending on future events.

There is a lot of talk about a "world currency". whaaa? Wake up call!! There has been a world currency since the end of WWII. It's called the dollar!

Now, over 60 years later, the dollar is revealing itself as the paper fiat scheme that it became when Nixon ended the partial gold backing the dollar had until 1971. So the "world currency" talk is coming back to the fore. Please click the link to read more, for free. No strings. http://bit.ly/u4TUQC

It's a game, but the stakes are going higher, and its becoming a dangerous game.

Nothing like Fudge!! 12/2 market report

Nothing Like the Smell of Fudge! 12/2/11 Market Comment/Blog $$ $SPY #employment $RIMM

So why am I talking about fudge this morning? As a middle aged man,
fudge is really the last thing I should be consuming. Yet, every month I
receive a generous allowance of fudge courtesy of the Labor
Department’s whimsical monthly employment data. This ‘fudge’ arrives on
the first Friday of each month at 0830 ET. Yes, I am talking about the.... READ MORE....

http://stks.co/1MMy

12/1/11 Market Comment

Morning blog market comment, My Take on the Fed, markets including gold and $SPX $GC_F $GLD $LULU $COST #bernanke

In the not too distant past, I discussed the special money creating app that came with Fed chairman Bernanke’s latest iPhone. It turns out, that he exported the app to various central banker chums around the world. On their conference call on Tuesday, sources tell me, they all called in at the same time to create a sort of app energy force (think Ghost Busters), where they were careful to not cross the streams. This energy force, which promises coordinated Central Bank intervention to prop up credit markets with liquidity did the trick and saved the day. The Central Banks have stolen a line from singer Carole King: “Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall, all ya have to do is call, and I’ll be there, Yes I will. You’ve got a friend.” They will be there for all of their large banking friends and family. In all seriousness, it’s the potentecy, or efficacy of these injections going forward that has me wondering.

Read more here:

http://stks.co/1LCP