Gold is taking a pounding this morning as a new week begins and in the wake of the Brussels summit…as of 7:30 am Pacific, the yellow metal is off $52 an ounce at $1,659…it’s currently below an important technical support zone from $1,665 to $1,680…a breach of that support on a closing basis could take Gold down to the $1,600-$1,625 range…a strengthening U.S. Dollar is a major factor in Gold’s softness this morning and that has everything to do with liquidity issues in the euro zone…funding and money market stresses and the need for cash are putting a squeeze on Gold, though this could be just temporary…it seems traders and investors want the euro zone debt crisis to proceed in a “QE”-rich direction and the European Central Bank isn’t cooperating, at least not yet…eventually, the “big bazooka” will have to be brought to bear on the euro zone problem and that could happen sooner rather than later…there’s a high stakes game going on and traders are likely to test the resolve of the ECB’s new chairman, Mario Draghi, who so far is resisting calls to step up ECB bond purchases…
The goal of the Brussels summit was to create a more fiscally integrated euro zone and the steps that were taken should move the EU in that direction, although how it’s going to work in a practical sense remains to be seen…this could sow the seeds of social unrest in some parts of the EU as each country’s sovereignty is eroded…austerity measures across the EU – German-style fiscal discipline – will surely meet with some resistance, and what the EU leaders have not properly addressed is the growth deficit…the EU has a large collective fiscal deficit but it also has a major growth deficit at the moment, and a worse-than-expected recession could make everything begin to unravel…so risks remain huge in the euro zone and nothing was really “resolved” at the end of last week – there was perhaps some progress but the debt crisis is complicated and expecting coordinated action from a couple of dozen countries is like trying to convince Obama that the Keystone Pipeline Project makes sense and needs to proceed as quickly as possible…
Yes, Europe has its problems but the United States is stuck with a President who has nothing else to run on than class warfare and his incredible and reckless socialist theory that the “rich”, the “big banks” and “big oil” are all to blame for the economic woes in America…that line of thinking helped give energy to the Occupy Wall St. Movement…you never hear from Obama about the importance of “creating wealth” – only the need to re-distribute it in some way or another…no less than three-quarters of Americans believe their country is on the “wrong track”, so Obama will continue to do his best to distract the populace in the months ahead with a class warfare agenda…
Anti-Wall Street protesters up and down the West Coast, most of whom ought to be thrown in jail, are joining an effort to blockade some of North America’s busiest ports from Anchorage to Vancouver to San Diego…the protests being billed as action against “Wall Street on the waterfront” are perhaps the Occupy movement’s most dramatic gesture since police raids sent most remaining camps scattering last month…”Taking on and blocking the 1% at the port is also taking on the global issue of exploitation by capitalism,” said Occupy Oakland blockade organizer Barucha Peller…where did these people come from?…
Enough ranting for today…the CDNX has been showing signs recently of a year-end rally and it’ll be interesting to see how the Index responds this week…support has been holding nicely at 1500 and a rally approaching the November 8 high of 1675 certainly appears plausible…John’s latest CDNX chart shows the trading range we’re in – 1500 to 1700…overall, this continues to be a bear market until we have confirmation otherwise, but bear markets can produce significant and profitable rallies just like bull markets can have nasty corrections…
The above chart was completed Friday morning, prior to that day’s 30-point jump that took the CDNX to 1547…there is a wall of resistance between 1575 and the 1675 November high…various technical indicators are now looking positive including a now-rising 50-day moving average (SMA)…as long as 1500 holds, this market should finish the year higher than it is now…
As of 7:30 am Pacific, the CDNX is down 31 points at 1516 while the Dow and TSX are each off more than 170 points…Silver is down $1.31 at $30.92, Copper has slid 11 cents to $3.46, Crude Oil is $1.50 weaker at $97.91 while the U.S. Dollar Index has gained three-quarters of a point to 79.39…
Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX) gapped up on unusual volume this morning, highly interesting given the drop in the Gold price and the weakness in the TSX Gold Index…the RIC chart is showing a lot of strength, however, and the company is expected to release an updated 43-101 resource estimate this week on the Wasamac Property which could easily show a 50% or more increase in total resources, plus an upgrading of resources, given impressive drill results this year…RIC ran as high as $12.66 before pulling back…it’s currently off 66 cents at $11.68…
Events in the U.S. will force their way up market watchers’ agenda during the next few days and challenge the recent dominance of the euro zone drama…the highlight will be tomorrow’s policy meeting of the Federal Reserve but in a busy week for U.S. data, retail sales and inflation figures will also be released, together with manufacturing surveys from New York and Philadelphia…there is also an OPEC meeting this week…
BMR – United States is stuck with a President who has nothing else to run on than class warfare and his incredible and reckless socialist theory that the “rich”, the “big banks” and “big oil” are all to blame for the economic woes in America…
Bert – May i ask who else is to blame, the taxi drivers, the Walmart workers,
the call Centre Workers. I could go on & on, but i must not forget the homeless.
How soon we forget. I will bet you $10,000.00 shouted Mr. Romney. The aforementioned
class of workers, excluding the homeless, would have to work approximately 3 months
to earn that kind of money, less deductions that is. Back to the stock market.. R !
Comment by Bert — December 12, 2011 @ 8:10 am
BMR: where did these people come from?
Money equates with power in the USA, and now that it is so highly concentrated it has disenfranchised the large majority of the American people. The only answer the goofs running for the Republican nomination have, is to give more money and power to the elite.
In the past,the US did very well with much higher marginal rates on the very wealthy and it can again. They can start by returning capital gains taxes to the same standards as working Americans, (though it would take some money from the poor Paris Hiltons of the world) and creating a new higher tax bracket for the megarich.
We need more money in the hands of working people so that they can buy manufactured items that other working people create. Republican policies since Raygun’s time have favored the rich and the export of jobs to slave wage countries in order to boost corporate profits to their maximum. Its time for a change.
Thats part of where we people, the 99% come from.
You guys should stick to stock pickin. I don’t think history, economics or politics is your forte.
“An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.”
–Plutarch 85 A.D.
Comment by Carl — December 12, 2011 @ 9:43 am
Yes the BMR boys really show their new christian right leanings when they talk about the sitting president. Reckless Socialist theory? I guess someone living in Vancouver working a union job would have some strong opinions about the threat of Socialism. No you are right BMR the banks and corporate america had nothing at all to do with the current financial problems, nor is the gap between rich or poor growing. We just need a Republican in the White House, anti-gay, anti-immigration, anti-abortion, anti-science. More Bush Doctrine, more military, more Patriot Act, more jails how about some isolationism and protectionism while we are at it, and of course more war crimes. That’s what the world needs because none of this economic crisis ever could have happened with a republican in power.
Comment by mike — December 12, 2011 @ 9:49 am
Banks are 100% to blame and not until the money creation is taken out of the hands of the banks and into the hands of the people will there ever be a fair system. Obama is a Wall St apologist.
Comment by Hugh — December 12, 2011 @ 10:24 am
For one, Obama was handed this mess. This was decades in the making. To blame it on him is simply not right. Being black is not helping either
Comment by Seamus — December 12, 2011 @ 10:28 am
I don’t blame Obama, but he has failed to take any steps to fix the problem. In fact under his leadership the problem has worsened and employing half of Goldman Sachs is not helping neither.
Comment by Hugh — December 12, 2011 @ 11:18 am
BMR Do you say silly stuff like that to get a rise out of people, the big banks need to pay look at the bail out package they received which came from hard working peoples taxes (and the rich). Big oil is taking in record profits all off the backs of hard working people. The regular middle class joe is the one who is taking it the hardest, and of course the lower class
Please just stick to stock pickin because your ultra conservative right wing Christian fundamentalist ideals are tiresome. I shake my head when I think someone like Newt whose morals could not sink lower, a real snake oil salesman, could be the next president, and I find it funny that the christian right are turning a blind eye to his past indiscretions.
Comment by Dan — December 12, 2011 @ 11:25 am
Just look at a gold vs US dollar chart for the past 15 years. The dollar was strong and gold under $300/oz during the Clinton years. Just after Bush was inaugerated in 2001 he took trillions out of the economy to reward his wealthy cronies with tax cuts. The dollar began to decline immediately and gold in turn began its now eleven-year bull market. This began the downward spiral for the US economy that continues to this day. The facts speak for themselves.
I too find the constant anti-Obama, extreme right-wing pontificating by BMR nauseatingly distasteful.
Comment by Roger — December 12, 2011 @ 12:31 pm
anonye notice the 15 pt drop in the cdnx in less than 1 minute…???? WTF????????????????????
Comment by Jeremy — December 12, 2011 @ 12:49 pm
I watched it drop and we closed at 1490.92 – not looking pretty.
Comment by Andrew — December 12, 2011 @ 1:06 pm
Gold continuing to slide, now nearing 1650 and Asian markets down. Hopefully it changes by the morning.
Comment by Andrew — December 12, 2011 @ 7:45 pm
If CEV breaks below that .87 on level 2, then .77 is a real possibility and probably bottom.
CJC – upgraded again to very bullish – very bullish – bullish. TA and chart aligned for a strong run here next couple days.
assays might be trickling in.
Comment by dave — December 12, 2011 @ 8:48 pm
Andrew
Relax for now, with 21/2 hours left, if everything holds, we will be in good shape at the open. R !
Bert
Comment by Bert — December 13, 2011 @ 4:05 am