Closing The Barn Door Too Late….

Rocktober 26, 2021

* Currencies & metals rally on Monday… 

* Ayn Rand contributes to the Pfennig today! 

Good Day.. And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! A very chilly, gray, and windy day here yesterday, was definitely not conducive to sitting outside and reading…  But having days like yesterday, make the sun filled days with warmth, even more enjoyable! It was a Blues hockey night last night…And Our Blues won again this time 3-0!  And I got caught up on all my reading during the day, which left me free to take in the hockey game!  I’m into wearing a sweatshirt/ hoodie around the house every day now… There’s still two more months before I head to my winter home in S. Florida… I’m sure I’ll get there, but, right now I don’t know how I’ll get there without whining and complaining about the cold weather! Aerosmith greets me this morning with their song: Dream On…

That’s what I was doing yesterday, dreaming on, about how it would be nice for the boys in the band to call in sick and leave Gold alone to gain throughout the day… And looky there! That’s what Gold did! There was some back and forth movements during the day, but at the end of the day Gold was up $15.40, and closed above the $1,800 level! Silver chimed in to and gained a shiny quarter (25-cents) on the day.  Gold closed the day at $1,808.40, and Silver closed the day at $24.65…

When I left you yesterday morning the dollar had been bought in the overnight markets, and looked like it was on one of those days, when it makes no sense to anyone with an ounce of brains why traders would buy dollars…  But as the day went along, the dollar slipped a bit, albeit still ending the day up from Friday’s close, but not has high as it was earlier in the day… The BBDXY started the day at 1,154.36, and ended the day at 1,155.76…  Earlier in the day the BBDXY was 1,156.16… So, the downward move wasn’t HUGE, but the dollar’s rise was stemmed… 

In the overnight markets…  The dollar got sold in the overnight markets, again not by a HUGE margin, but sold nonetheless… The BBDXY is trading this morning at 1,154.39, after closing yesterday at 1,155.72.. The Aussie dollar (A$) has climbed above 75-cents this morning, and with the price of Oil trading with a $84 handle, the Russian ruble has dropped below 70 for the first time in two months of Sundays! The ruble trades this morning with a 69 handle… The Norwegian krone appears to be well bid this morning, along with sterling, and kiwi… 

Gold is off on the wrong foot in the early trading today, and is down at this moment by $4.76, and Silver is down 19-cents… These are levels that could easily be erased and turned to gains today. We’ve seen these reversals go both ways so it could happen, especially if the dollar continues to get sold in the U.S. session today… We don’t have major data prints today, but the 2nd Tier data prints could push the dollar even lower today… 

I read this morning that the two big deficit spending bills that have been hemmed and hawed about in Congress for weeks now, are getting closer to becoming reality… and with that the U.S. ‘s debt will climb once again by leaps and bounds… I just don’t see how traders can live with themselves knowing all this debt is a really bad thing for the dollar, but still buy dollars… 

And I’ve got Egon Von Greyerz of Matterhorn Asset Management with his thoughts this morning on what’s going on… “Cargo ships are piling up on the US’ west coast, automakers are slashing production amid soaring prices for cars, and even food shortages are starting to rear their head, creating a real possibility of widespread and persistent social unrest in the near future. The world has changed, and it is never going back to normal.”

Chuck again… I agree with him 100%, here folks… Got Gold? 

Well.. it was bound to happen sooner or later… What I’m talking about is the Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel chairman, Powell, finally admitting that inflation is a problem and likely to continue to be… I took this quote from him off of Bloomberg.com “Global supply-chain constraints and shortages that have led to elevated inflation “are likely to last longer than previously expected, likely well into next year,” Powell said, while adding that “it is still the most likely case” that as those constraints ease.”

Sure, they’re likely to ease once you get off your duff and hike rates!  But we all know what will happen if you hike rates enough to combat inflation, don’t we?  Is Jerome Powell the new “Mr. Obvious”… Since we already knew that inflation was high and it was going to run into next year! If he had only listened to me, and not those other bozos at the Eccles Bldg. that called it “Transitory”…

In another item that was bound to happen sooner or later, we have the SEC proposing rules on cryptocurrencies… Let’s listen in on the Bloomberg.com article: “Wall Street’s top watchdog won concessions in a debate between U.S. regulators over how to police stablecoins, clearing a path for the Securities and Exchange Commission to crack down on the $131 billion market.

The Treasury Department and other agencies will specify in a highly-anticipated report — expected to be published this week — that the SEC has significant authority over tokens like Tether, said people familiar with the matter. The report will also urge Congress to pass legislation specifying coins should be regulated similarly to bank deposits, one of the people said, asking not to be named because discussions are private.”

Chuck again… Well, you can’t say that I didn’t warn you that this was coming down the pike…

OK, onward and upward… Remember Ayn Rand? The author of Atlas Shrugged, which was required reading in college… But back when I went to college (night school) the school was there to teach you to think, use your brain, and think outside the box… These days, schools are into teaching your kids that they don’t know anything, and that what they will be taught is the truth… (not really the truth, just how their cancel culture views things, like 2+2 = whatever you want it to equal!)  Ok, I digress…  I came across this quote from Ayn Rand from Atlas Shrugged, and thought that it applies now to us here in the U.S. than ever before… Read the words carefully.. “When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing—when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors—when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you—when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice—you may know that your society is doomed. 

Ayn Rand; Atlas Shrugged, 1957”

The U.S. Data Cupboard as I told you yesterday, was empty, but today, we’ll see the August print of the Case/ Shiller Home Price Index, and the stupid Consumer Confidence report for the current month… These are both 2nd Tier data prints that may or may not weigh on the dollar today… I expect the stupid Consumer Confidence number to drop this month… But that might not mean a hill of beans to traders, Or it could… so we’ll have to wait-n-see… 

To recap… The currencies reversed the dollar buying yesterday, not by much, but reversed it nonetheless. Gold was able to add to its early morning gain and end up $15.40 on the day, to close above the $1,800 level, which recently had been a line in the sand drawn by the price manipulators. The Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel has decided to announce that inflation is running high and it could keep running high into next year… And thank you Mr. Obvious!  And Ayn Rand visits us in today’s Pfennig with some very poignant thoughts… Gold is down in the early trading today, along with Silver, but the dollar got sold overnight, so Chuck thinks the selling of Gold this morning could very easily be reversed… We shall see, eh?

For What It’s Worth…  Well, a week or so ago, I told you about the scandal with the Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel members and their stock trading… In a case of closing the barn door after the cows are all out, it is now forbidden for these members to owning individual stocks… spoiler alert, they can still buy mutual funds, bonds, etc. just not individual stocks. This story can be found here: Federal Reserve Officials Banned From Owning Individual Stock After Scandal (truthout.org)

Or, here’s your snippet: “After revelations of several scandals involving potential insider trading within the Federal Reserve have emerged over the past weeks, the agency has banned its officials from trading individual stocks as it scrambles to mitigate a legitimacy crisis and distrust of the public.

Policymakers and senior staff within the Fed are now barred from buying individual securities and will have to adhere to shorter reporting guidelines, according to a press release by the agency. Senior Fed officials will only be allowed to trade diversified assets like mutual funds.

However, the kind of scandal that likely sparked the new rules would still be likely to take place. Last week, The American Prospect revealed that Fed Chair Jerome Powell sold between $1 million and $5 million from an index fund — a mutual fund that mirrors the performance of the market — just before a large market crash in October of last year. And with rules still allowing top officials to trade mutual funds, the type of trade that precipitated the rule change would still be legal.

Progressive lawmakers and economists have called for Powell to be ousted from the Fed, saying that he’s weak on climate issues and regulation of the financial sector. Economist Gerald Epstein wrote for Truthout that Powell’s financial regime and de-regulation moves have likely exacerbated financial inequality and weakened economic growth that would support the working class.”

Chuck again..  So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu, Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu. So long, farewell, au revoir, auf wiedersehen… forgiveness is needed here to the kids in the Sound of Music, but I wanted to send Jerome Powell off with a song…  Ahead of time, I know, but I wanted to be the first to day adios amigo, we hardly knew ya’!

Market prices 10/26/2021: American Style: A$ .7515,  kiwi .7188, C$ .8091, euro 1.1521, sterling 1.3820, Swiss $1.0882, European Style: rand 14.7165, krone 8.3380, SEK 8.5949,  forint 314.47,  zloty 3.9555,  koruna 22.1181, RUB 69.99, yen 113.91, sing 1.3456, HKD 7.7751, INR 74.93, China 6.3842, peso 20.14, BRL 5.6111,  BBDXY 1,154.33, Dollar Index 93.73,  Oil $84.02, 10-year 1.61%, Silver $24.38, Platinum $1,054.00, Palladium $2,041, Copper 4.51, and Gold… $1,802.97

That’s it for today… I have to wonder if Congress has the cajones to not reup Jerome Powell… There may be lots of talk about it, but, Congress has a way of not walking the walk… I guess, we’ll see, eh? I didn’t get the back to back games with the Kings that the Blues played Saturday and again last night, but it is what it is, eh?  And the Blues won the game with their backup goalie pitching a shutout! Things sure are going right for the Blues as they start their season 5-0…  My beloved Cardinals named their new manager yesterday, Oliver Marmol, will be the “yes man” for the GM Mozeliak… At least that’s how I see it happening… The Cardinals GM has gone power crazy, as if he’s a tsar, oligarch… I hope it all works out, but this all looks to me like a disaster waiting to happen… UGH!  Styx takes us to the finish line today, with Chris Gaffney’s fave song that isn’t disco, Come Sail Away… I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and pleae Be Good To Yourself!

Chuck Butler