April 18, 2023
Pfennig tradition calls for this recognition of Tax Day…
Let me tell you how it will be
There’s one for you, nineteen for me
‘Cause I’m the taxman
Yeah, I’m the taxman
Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don’t take it all
‘Cause I’m the taxman
Yeah, I’m the taxman
those lyrics come from the Beatles…
* Currencies & metals rally in the overnight markets
* A Patriot Act 2?
Good Day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! My poor beloved Cardinals, they seem to be so overmatched early this year… I remember grandson, Everett, telling me after spring Training that the Cardinals had won the Grapefruit League, with the best spring training record… He said, “That should be good for this year, right? ” I told him to not get too attached to their Spring Training record, as it doesn’t mean anything… After the next two games at home, the Cardinals go on a very long West Coast trip… That will either make or break them this year, in my humble country boy opinion! I have an oldie but goodie today, the Drifters greet me this morning with their great song: Under The Boardwalk…
Well, it was another day of wackiness in the markets yesterday… The dollar got bought once again, this time though, at a watered down pace, and Gold got sold again, brining it back below $2,000… So… I think the paper traders (manipulators) did that just to show me how wrong I was… In case you don’t recall, I had made a point of saying that once Gold closed firmly over $2,000, that it would not be looking back any longer…But I was wrong, oh so wrong, I got caught in the rush hour, fellows started to shower you with love an affection, No wait! C’Mon Chuck, no time to be singing songs from the 60’s… I was wrong, and I apologize for that… I really was under the thought that once Gold started going higher, there was nothing that would stop it for some time to come… The price manipulators made sure that I was proven wrong!
So, Gold lost $9.20 yesterday and Gold closed at $1,995.80, and Silver lost 32-cents to close at $25.10… The BBDXY gained 4 index points on the day… You know that just last Thursday the BBDXY had fallen to 1,216… And yesterday ti closed at 1,226… On Thusday last week the euro was trading 1.1050, and yesterday it ended the day at 1.0931,,, So, the PPT’s protection of the dollar, worked, for at least a day or two… We’ll see just how far that goes, eh?
The price of Oil lost a buck yesterday, and closed the day wtih an $81 handle, while the 10-year continued to get sold, and watch its yield rise to 3.59% yesterday…
In the overnight markets last night… Well, we returned to the dollar selling after all the dust had settled on the brazen price manipulation last Friday… The BBDXY lost 3 index points overnight… The usual suspects of currency gains were in play, with the euro leading them through… Gold is up $9 in the early trading today, bringing Gold back above $2,000, and Silver is flat as a pancake (Head East)… If the markets turn completely around from Friday, and begin to move in the direction they were moving before Friday, then the price manipulators will be exposed once again for their fraud…
The price of Oil slid another buck last night and right now is barely hanging onto to an $80 handle… Demand or better, lack of demand still weighs on the price of Oil… But remember, the summer driving season is quickly coming toward us… I’m just saying… I said something yesterday, that I thought would get more of a reaction… I said that the 10 year & 30 year Treasury Bonds would see their yields rise if the the Fed Heads do decide to pause, and let inflation sit at 5%, instead of 2%, (they said they would get it down to 2%) … Apparently, the Fed Heads are thinking that the people of the U.S. will be OK with inflation here, and interest rates here too… I’m not one of those that they called, were you? No, I didn’t think so… I won’t be happy with inflation here, and the costs of everything higher, but then I see things for what they truly are… And this is in the vocabulary of the 70’s… A Cop Out… And I for one wouldn’t be proud of my country’s Central Bank for Copping Out…
I have to give credit to a reporter that reported the facts of the documents thing… He talked about how… well, I’ll let him tell you:” I can’t think of an incident, Tucker, that reveals more vividly the real function of our nation’s largest media corporations than what just happened here. If you’re a real journalist, somebody who’s devoted to transparency, shining a light on the most powerful government actors when they lie to the American people and informing the public, you would be celebrating this person who stepped forward and risked his security to show his fellow citizens that the government was lying about this incredibly important war with a nuclear-armed power, that we have actual troops deployed on the ground in Ukraine, there’s going to be no diplomatic resolution through at least 2023, that Zelensky is planning on using our weapons to strike deep into Russia — which we were told would never happen — risking escalation.”
No, it’s not right to steal documents, and then put them online… but, I do believe that most people would give him a pass for exposing the truth… Don’t you? Edward Snowden, Wikileaks, etc.
So… it’s been reported by the number crunchers with the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the government is borrowing roughly $6 billion a day. Let’s see… 6 x 365 = 2,190… Trillion! Now that’s some spending, eh? And since we don’t know what the tax receipts will be yet, this is all deficit spending… So, put that in your pipe and light it up!
I found this on www.blacklistednewscom “It’s estimated that the amount this country owes is now 130% greater than its gross domestic product (all the products and services produced in one year by labor and property supplied by the citizens).
According to the Committee for a Reasonable Federal Budget, the interest we’ve paid on this borrowed money is “nearly twice what the federal government will spend on transportation infrastructure, over four times as much as it will spend on K-12 education, almost four times what it will spend on housing, and over eight times what it will spend on science, space, and technology.”
In ten years, those interest payments will exceed our entire military budget.”
Chuck again… And to think that I began pointing out our growing debt back in 2002!… Twenty two years later, we as a country continue to rack up debt that will not ever be paid back… The burdens on our kids and grandkids will be enormous… mark my words on that!
Oh, but just one question that should follow that piece, and it is: Got Gold?
The reason I keep saying that “Got Gold?” is I want to make certain that everyone I talk to is aware of the fact that our debt is unsustainable, and the future of our financial system is in question, and that owning Gold wil protect your investment portfolio from a meltdown… I’m just saying… And besides that… Gold is s store of wealth… nothing more needs to be said…
OK… how about some real strange news? Something to test our bite on… Dave Gonigam who is the editor of the 5 Minute Forecast, had this to say about the RESTRICT ACT that’s beeing bandied about in Congress right now, Take it away Dave! “Ostensibly, the legislation would give the president the authority to ban the TikTok app. In reality, it grants the executive branch the authority to “enforce any mitigation measure to address any risk” to national security, broadly defined. Indeed the language is so broad that U.S. citizens could be designated as “foreign individuals” who pose a national security threat.”
Chuck again… So, basically we’re giving away more freedoms… no wonder Dave called it Patriot Act 2…
The U.S. Data Cupboard yesterday had some housing data, and in it was the Home Builders Confidence report, which last month’s report showed Confidence had fallen below 50, at 44… And this month’s report showed it came in at 45… So both are very negative outlooks for Home Builders… Hmmmm….
Today’s Cupboard just has some more housing data, and a couple of Fed Heads out speaking… No biggie…
To recap… the dollar continued to get bought yesterday, not on the same pace as Friday, but bought nonethelesss… Gold lost $9 on the day and fell back below $2,000, which made Chuck do a mea culpa, and Silver lost 32-cents yesterday… Chuck goes to bat for the Truth! The U.S. is reported to be spending $6 Billion per day… Oh My! And now we have to deal with an ACT that may get passed in congress that would ban Tik Tok, and any web site that has damaging information about the Gov’t… A Patriot Act 2!
For What It’s Worth… OK… longtime readers know that I truly admire James Grant… His newsletter, Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, is one of THE best letter out there… And any time I can get a free sniipet from his letter, I jump at the chance, and so it is that way today… This is about Gold, and it can be found here: Gold can protect investors from the Fed’s monetary mayhem – Grant’s Interest Rate Observer | Kitco News
Or, here’s your snippet:” Despite gold’s failed attempt to break to new all-times, the precious metal still has room to move higher, according to one market strategist.
In an interview with Kitco News, James Robertson, an analyst at Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, said that the potential for the Federal Reserve to end its most aggressive tightening cycle is creating a lot of volatility in financial markets and gold remains an attractive hedge against monetary policy mayhem.
He added that last month’s banking crisis with the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank along with the collapse of Credit Suisse, one of Europe’s largest banks, shows that pressure in the global economy is starting to build and the “rivets are starting to pop.”
“The monetary disorder that we have seen is far from over, and right now, we are just waiting to see how it will spread,” he said. “This will continue to support gold prices.”
Robertson’s bullish outlook on gold comes as the precious metal is holding support just above $2,000 Friday after falling from a 13-month high posted Thursday. Heading into the weekend, June gold futures last traded at $2,019 an ounce, down 1.77% on the day.
Robertson said that gold has room to move higher as Western retail investors are just starting to jump back into the gold market. Speculative positioning in gold remains below the August 2022 highs, even as bullish momentum has increased in recent weeks.
According to monthly data from the World Gold Council, March was the first time the gold market saw net monthly inflows into global gold-backed exchange-traded products ending ten months of consecutive outflows.
Chuck again… Ok, so that wasn’t James Grant himself speaking, but his right hand man is good as far as I’m concerned…
Market Prices 4/18/2023: American Style: A$ .6742, kiwi .6220, C$ .7474, euro 1.0973, sterling 1.2438, Swiss $1.1159, European Style: rand 18.1446, krone 10.4438, SEK 10.2934, forint 338.76, zloty 4.2092,
koruna 21.2981, RUB 81.58, yen 133.88, sing 1.3319, HKD 7.8499, INR 82.04, China 6.8765, peso 17.98, BRL 4.9433, BBDXY 1,223.19, Dollar Index 101.69, Oil $80.69, 10-year 3.57%, Silver $25.11, Platinum $1,075.00, Palladium $1,611.00, Copper $4.08, and Gold… $2,004.30
That’s it for today… Hopefully my beloved Cardinals can find a way back in the win column tonight! I fired up my Big Green Egg yesterday, and got all the junk out of it, and then smoked some Pork steaks, (they are popular in St.Louis only) and when I was finished the meat was falling off the bone… Yum Yum! This Saturday, I will cook for my oldest son’s water polo tournament… Chicken breasts and bratwurst… So sandwiches can be made and easily dealt with by the referees and coaches at the tournament… I’ll have the Big Green Egg working as a gril, and my Weber kettle both going at the same time… I’ve done this for a number of years now, so It’s old hat for me! Today, I had my heart doctor make my appt for later in the day, so it wouldn’t interfere with writing! Aren’t you glad? HA! Well, The Climax Blues Bank take us to the finish line wih their song: Couldn’t Get It Right… I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!
Chuck Butler