Chuck Butler’s A Pfennig For Your Thoughts
December 8, 2017
* Dollar continues to be a bully…
* A two week extension is in place
* To keep the government from a shut down!
Good Day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! Looky here! 5 consecutive days writing the Pfennig! YAHOO! I was seriously considering the other day of retiring because I’ve been so hit and miss as I recover from my surgery, and the ongoing fight with an infectious disease. But then I realized that I had received no complaints, so if we continue on like this for awhile, and it’s Ok with you, then I put those retirement plans on hold… Besides, what would I do if I didn’t have this platform to give my opinion! I have a T-shirt that says, “Everyone is entitled to hear my opinion” HA! The great Al Stewart greets me this morning with his song: Song On The Radio…
The dollar continues to push the currency appreciation envelope, and its move is not just concentrated against the currencies. Gold & Silver are getting sold VS dollars too. Suddenly, traders and market participants are using the pending rate hike by the Fed, and the passage of the Senate version of the Tax Reform Bill as the reason for all this dollar buying…
We’ve become Comfortably Numb with the noise from N. Korea, the general public doesn’t know about the U.S. pushing the envelope with ventures into China’s territorial waters, or the military exercises that usually precede a war, that are going on in S. Korea… To the general public it’s all seashells and balloons right now, the stock market is still strong, Bitcoin is $16,000, and they believe the Fed when they say that everything is hunky dory!
But, I’m not the general public, and neither are you, since you read this letter, and know about these things and others that are weighing on the general outlook of our society / economy/ dollar.
Speaking of Bitcoin, I really stirred up the hornet’s nest the other day when I reminded everyone of who uses Bitcoin… I have to admit the rise in the digital currency is quite impressive, but what’s behind it? Just investors getting into it and driving the price higher by the minute, sort of like the Dot Com bust, of years ago… At least when the Dot Com collapsed, holders of the stocks that had soared on nothing behind them, still had their stocks, they weren’t worth a damn, but they had them nonetheless… I’m just saying…
A lot of longtime readers are thinking that maybe I do need to retire, because I’ve never thrown myself in front of a bus like I have with Bitcoin… No worries, I’m not really in front of the bus, I’m just on the sidewalk throwing mud at the passing bus…
Alrighty then, let’s see… Gold has never been worthless, and you don’t need electricity to own Gold.. I’m just saying… But what you do need right now is the intestinal fortitude to buy Gold… I don’t believe it’s a falling knife, but it has suffered through its worst trading week since last May, and it hasn’t been this cheap since July…
I told you, I told you, I double, double told you! Late yesterday afternoon it was announced that lawmakers had agreed to extend the deadline for a budget 2 more weeks. I laughed when I heard the news as if these chuckleheads could iron out a budget in the next two weeks when they previously had 6 months to do it! And it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going to happen here, because when a country bumpkin like me can see it coming, then it’s not that difficult!
So, we had two Central Bank meetings this week (in Canada and Australia) and both disappointed the markets with not only their leaving rates unchanged but their comments about not hiking rates that came afterward. I was really disappointed in both of these Central Banks, and the selling of their currencies since the respective meetings has been warranted, given what was said…
That leads us to next week when the Fed will meet… It will be Janet Yellen’s last meeting (I think) as Chair person of the Fed, and while I’m still saying there will be no rate hike, especially now since we’ll have not budget in place and a government shutdown is still a possibility, the markets are all in for a rate hike next week.
The European Union (EU) and the U.K. seems to have broken through on the hang ups with the divorce proceedings, and that news has the pound performing as the best currency move overnight… there are still talks going on about who gets the kids, and the lake house, but at this point the talks are going much smoother than previously.
Well, I almost made it through the letter without talking about the Jobs Jamboree which will take place today… I told you yesterday that the ADP Employment report showed that 190,000 jobs were created in November, and the so-called experts have forecast the BLS report today will show 200,000 jobs created… I still can’t believe last month’s 260,000 number the BLS threw at us… But the markets did, and that’s all that matters, right?
Oh, don’t get me started talking about right and wrong when it comes to the BLS and their hedonic adjustments! I’ll just move along here rather than get myself all worked up and then Kathy will have to deal with me, and she’s had it with me right now anyway… OOPS I’m not supposed to talk about her in the Pfennig, per her demands, so those of you who are friends of hers please don’t mention this!
To recap… The dollar continues to push the currency appreciation envelope and its all about the Fed and its rate hikes, and the possibility of a Tax Reform passage before year-end.. There are no qualms or concerns about the possibility of a Gov’t shutdown, so everyone is all-in on buying dollars today… And it’s not just the dollar rallying VS the currencies, Gold & Silver are getting whacked again too!
For What It’s Worth… This is important news folks, so please stay with me on this one… This is an article about the CFPB (Customer Financial Protection Board) or as I call them The thieves from Washington D.C. And this article spells out just how crooked they are, and it can be found here: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-06/cfpb-reportedly-funneled-billions-secret-democrat-slush-fund-consultant-claims
Or, here’s your snippet: “A consultant who worked with the highly politicized Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) claims the organization funneled a large portion of over $5 billion in collected penalties to “community organizers aligned with Democrats” as part of a giant slush fund, the Post reports.
[The CFPB] Funneled a large portion of the more than $5 billion in penalties collected from defendants to community organizers aligned with Democrats — “a slush fund by another name,” said a consultant who worked with CFPB on its Civil Penalty Fund and requested anonymity.”
Chuck again… And there’s more… One of these days I’m going to tell you what they did to us at my former place of business, it was akin to highway robbery… It’s probably good to put some time between then and when I write about it, so stay tuned for that…
Currencies today 12/8/17… American Style: A$ .7511, kiwi .6843, C$ .7782, euro 1.1736, sterling 1.3448, Swiss $1.0027, … European Style: rand 13.6180, krone 8.3217, SEK 8.50, forint 267.91, zloty 3.58, koruna 21.7625, RUB 59.17, yen 113.52, sing 1.3534, HKD 7.8068, INR 64.40, China 6.6153, peso 18.92, BRL 3.2631, Dollar Index 94.02, Oil $57.43, 10yr 2.39%, Silver $15.82, Platinum $892.76, Palladium $1,016.00, and Gold… $1,248.20
That’s it for today… As I look out the window to the wooded area behind our house, I see nothing but bare trees, and that depresses me… I’ve got one month before I head south for the winter, and it’s a good thing that Christmas and all the fun around it is coming, otherwise this cold weather and bare trees would have me down in the dumps! And we can’t have that, now can we? HA! The Army/ Navy football game is all that’s on tomorrow, UGH! Our Blues were in funk, but seems to have come out of it with a shutout of the Dallas Stars last night, following up on their victory in Montreal earlier this week, so Let’s Go Blues! It’s Friday, and I miss my Friday visits to my local watering hole, to be with friends… UGH! But, I’ve got to get stronger before that can happen again! Paul McCartney, and Wings take us to the finish line today with their song: Let ‘EM In… So, I can’t do anything to get us to a Fantastico Friday, but you can, so go do it! And Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck