Happy or Terrible?

Let's hope for a "Happy Tuesday".

Just a few items for you to review. First, this great article from Alisdair Macleod which covers some of the same territory that Trader Dan plowed over the weekend. http://alasdairmacleod.blogspot.com/2012/07/managed-money-positions-on-us-futures.html

Speaking of Trader Dan, he was talking about the grains today: http://www.traderdannorcini.blogspot.com/2012/07/grain-index-approaching-2008-peak.html. And so was ZeroHedge: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/putting-corn-harvest-drought-and-flood-context

Santa's pal Eric has written an interesting piece where he discusses several of the CoT trends that we've been covering ad nauseam here. http://edegrootinsights.blogspot.ca/2012/07/this-major-fed-move-is-about-to-create.html

And the LIEbor scandal continues to grow. HEEHEEHAHA! Just for fun, here are two articles which mention two of the primary forces behind The Evil Empire, JPM and HBSC. 

Lastly, one final bit of fun from FreedomFest. While I was strolling the floor on Thursday, I ran into Kerry Lutz of the Financial Survival Network. He asked if I could spare a few minutes and I gladly obliged. Here's the link to the 5-6 minute interview. http://financialsurvivalnetwork.com/2012/07/turd-ferguson-everyone-should-be-buying-precious-metals/

That's it for now. Regardless of paper price shenanigans, I hope you personally have a Happy Tuesday!

TF

Comments

Pegasus's picture

@ CPN said there is a right and wrong...

So I guess you and your fellow right winger's have a monopoly on what is right and wrong? Thought so! BTW: Associating progressives with Stalinist Soviet style government and the 'worker's paradise' as enforced by crazed North Korean dictators certainly enhances the empiricism of your argument. I mean, because these madmen and governments ruthlessly ruled their people, it therefore stands to emperical deduction that progressives are not only wrong about everything, but also to blame for all of your problems.

DaddyO's picture

@Pining...

Could it be that the swap dealers are no different than anybody else in the market, they just move with the trend?

In your last paragraph, you suppose that the Swap Dealers are the smart money.

When the Swap Dealers went long would determine whether they were really squeezed or just decided to lock some profits on the way back down.

I would suppose that the swap dealers are just trying to body surf the particular wave that has been created by the PTB (That little minx, BM).

Any thoughts?

DaddyO

Xty's picture

well then

um?

I must say the use of expletives is as convincing as ever.

eyeswideopen's picture

If some of you were as enlightened as you claim to be....

you would not even be debating this rubbish. What do any of you do to actually encourage, improve, or solve when you waste energy promoting an agenda which has been used against you for your entire life? This is exactly why change or progress has been, and will continue to be nearly non existent. Go ahead and blame others instead of looking within.

The individuals we elect based on these ideologies continue to collect paychecks, receive quality healthcare,  skirt the laws, and line their pockets while we attempt to keep water out of our lungs and protect our tribes.

Those who waste their time (and ours) preaching division have obviously missed the entire mission of this site.

The largest issue we have in the US is not being able to find middle ground.  When you participate in these divisional rivalries you condone what our elected representatives do daily...play effing politics at the expense of us all.

I frequent this community to search for and offer solutions...not to prove I'm on the correct side of a political arguement or ideology. 

sprite's picture

HUI

To me, HUI is not about to tank, its trending downwards in a long term channel, but it made a higher low with a rejection tail on Jul 12, ok its sitting below 7 day MA, but it just seems like a continuation of an existing slowing and consolidation pattern to me.  I have not received today's candle from my data provider yet.  Am I missing something obvious?

I haven't been on this site terribly long but I must say I now have an extensive ignore list and its helped a lot with winnowing wheat from chaff. 

Its also much quicker getting through 400 odd posts per thread.

peckerwood's picture

anyone that does not agree

with everything i say and do is worthless.  i know everything.  there is nothing more i can learn from you.  the world would be absolutely fantastic if only it were populated by 6 billion peckerwood clones.  you all know that i am right. now go and fuck off. 

i probably shouldn't hit save.  oops.

cpnscarlet's picture

@Pegasus - Yes, a family of

@Pegasus - Yes, a family of crazed dictators and a so-called "man of steel" are indicative of progressive systems specifically because the benchmark of progressives and collectivists always comes down to "the state is all, the individual, nothing". So the formation of an elite that has no problem putting a boot (or ax) to the neck is a "natural" development of collectivists of all types. Again, empiricism.

As to who has the monopoly of RIGHT AND WRONG? In my world, that's God, and compared to him we're all wrong. But in practical matters, if "right wingers" by your definition includes people of a certain spiritual bent, then I think you're getting close to the way I see things, like it or not. No one has a perfect sense of right and wrong, but some do have a Lion's share. What direction does your moral compass point to?

Now if you can keep the adolescent name calling (versus my rapier thrust at you) at zero like in your last post, I will change my mind about the IU button.

California Lawyer's picture

Municipality BK's - Some Thoughts

Folks, this is the cutting edge, right now.  So goes Cali, so goes the country.  Remember, bankruptcy is FEDERAL, so every city in the USA can look to the other municipality bankruptcy cases for precedent.  That means, as soon as ONE of these cases ends up with a public union taking a meaningful shave on current or future benefits, the writing is on the wall and look out.

Here is an excellent email I received from a source; edits are mine for context and brevity.  (Links have been added). 

Soon to Be Pending Muni BK’s - California Cities:
 
“Eight California cities have officially notified the municipal bond market this year that they are facing significant financial hardship — a step Stockton took on its path to bankruptcy. Going a step further, Fairfield has declared a fiscal emergency.  The eight cities are: Fairfield, Arvin (Kern County), El Monte (Los Angeles County), Grover Beach (San Luis Obispo County), Lancaster (Los Angeles County), Monrovia (Los Angeles County), Riverbank (Stanislaus County) and Tehachapi (Kern County).”  From: Bankruptcy death watch - By Michael Fitzgerald July 16, 2012 http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/stockton-metro-columnist/2012/07/16/bankruptcy-death-watch/
 
The Purported Statement of the Problem (Cue the Somber Music):
 
“With three California cities opting to file for bankruptcy protection within the past month, many are worrying this could open the floodgates to more municipal bankruptcies.  But Citi strategists say the bankruptcy option still brings enough stigma and costs to deter other troubled cities.  [Lookey there, seems the author sourced the information from Citi; what a surprise?]
 
Citi notes that the cases of Stockton, San Bernardino and Mammoth Lakes are more or less outliers, with typical municipal issuers tending to be much more financially disciplined.  [LIke whom?  Los Angeles, for a city of size, that is also insolvent, or Bell, a city rife with corruption, or other "outliers" like the rest of the cities with public employees and skyrocketing pension costs?  Outliers?  Says who?  Where is the empirical data?] (Oh, here is the downplay quote, I see:) But other California issuers [like whom, and says who?] share similar problems, such as weak revenues from property, sales, and personal income tax, as well as high employee salary and pension fixed costs.  [So, where is the analysis of the scale and comparison of the "similar" problems?  Why was that not done?  Why was no one from one of the affected cities asked to comment?] Citi says California's Proposition 13, which caps property taxes, has also hamstrung the state.
 
“As this week's Barron's wrote, some market observers [like whom, for instance?  No one asked me my opinion] worry that there's suddenly less stigma associated with filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, the muni equivalent of Chapter 11, which could encourage its use by other cities facing revenue shortfalls and heavy debt loads, or as a tool to renegotiate collective bargaining agreements.  Not so fast, argue Citi strategists George Friedlander, Mikhail Foux and Vikram Rai:
 
But From Whose Viewpoint?  Where is the Statement of the Problem and Analysis from the Viewpoint of Normal, Regular Folks?
 
“We strongly disagree with this view and caution against this option as the cost of a chapter 9 filing remains harsh [to whom, the taxpayers who no longer have to pay bloated pensions and excessive salaries?] with a near-certain lockout from access to capital markets [why is that a bad thing to have to live within one's means anyway?  Why is not the "access to capital markets" a sign of desperation and waste, in the form of having to borrow to pay for spending, and waste in the form of INTEREST payments to banksters?], high litigation costs [Nice, some lawyers get to eat at the trough, but remember, the lawyer fees are paid by the city, so that leaves LESS for the banksters who lose interest payments and get to EAT a ton of debt, ha ha!!], and an uncertain outlook for governments and governmental employees once the Bankruptcy judge takes over ["Uncertain?"  Bullshi-.  It is CERTAIN that the trough eaters will lose big time.  Boo hoo for them.  Hooray for all the rest of us who get relief from stifling taxes, loss of services, and piss-poor attitudes from public workers.]  Access to capital markets to fund cash flow shortfalls (via BANs/RANs/TRANs) [why are there cash flow shortfalls?  Why is there no reserve fund?  What about that concept, huh?] remains critical for maintaining key government functions and continuation of essential services [if they are so "key" then why was there not money set aside for that?  What essential services cannot be paid for as they are needed?  Sales tax occurs on every transaction.  Fees are paid immediately. What is this nonsense?]. 
 
Citi says the spotlight has now shifted to Fresno, Calif., which it says also suffers from a high fixed costs and limited financial flexibility, as well as "excessive exposure" to a fragile economy. While the city has a well-funded pension plan, Citi says its revenue options are limited, forcing an over-reliance on spending cuts at a time when most services are already reduced. Moreover, Citi says long-term labor contracts with the police union have locked in compensation costs "at a level that no longer appears sustainable" amid weak revenue performance [lookey there, the banksters blame the corrupt public unions for the budget mess.  How insightful].
 
"Despite all this, Citi notes that yields on California state general obligation bonds have yet to show any impact [freed FED money, ZZIRP to infinity, no problem].  Citi adds that fears of contagion remain limited and any market impact should remain isolated to weaker credits with specific budget shortfalls. More from Citi: 
 
Still the Banksters Look to Squeeze and Fleece the Sheeple:
 
"We believe that contagion on overlapping credits such as counties, school districts revenue bonds backed by "special revenues" resulting from the association with the problem credits could create some attractive values.  Both market psychology and rating agency actions on these associated credits could cause trading levels to weaken in a number of cases, despite the likelihood that these credits will generally maintain their capacity to pay debt service.”  [So, look for insider deals, where hedge funds scoop up sketchy bonds, and free money flows to the cities in a massive FED giveaway, kind of like all those Euro bonds which have created the playbook]. 
 
 
Conclusion:
 
Start paying attention to these stories, the playbook is being written now, for these test cases.  Watch too the discussion of eminent domain, as it is all interrelated.
 
More later.  I am watching this closely.
Dagney Taggart's picture

@eyeswideopen

Well said, even though there is some gray area. For instance, you will never get we, the living and productive, to join with those who choose welfare as a lifestyle choice off our backs. To be honest, this goes against everything that sound money, wealth preservation, and ultimately, precious metals stand for.

Bollocks's picture

@peckerwood

LOL!

question's picture

Xty

Yep; the more words you can use of the ones that mommie told you not to say the bigger the boy (girl) you are and you're always right.sad

children need to learn their place

Like W C Fields said when asked how he liked children........

well doneyes

cpnscarlet's picture

@eyeswideopen - Real problem

@eyeswideopen - Real problem with this:

If you had a solution to offer and didn't think it was "good", "right", or "correct" why would you offer it? I think you just started chasing your tail logically.

bam's picture

@Sisyphus

Miners are in a nice technical test of a possible bottom in May.  If it holds, that bodes very good things for the sector imo.  Now, if it doesn't hold, bring on another down leg and some serious pain.  There are plenty of graphs out there that depict this action (too lazy to search now).

As far as factors go, you have:

1) for a good number, yes.  Plenty of good Companies out there though

2) not in the second quarter, as input costs should have fallen with the rest of the commods.

3) Yes, some of that.

4) The miners are manipulated along with Gold and Silver.   I know that is not a palatable answer, but you can watch the action in some of the shares and see it plain as day.    For a recent example, Goldcorp recently downgraded production estimates and was immediately SAVAGED, along with many of the seniors.   That level of reaction was totally uncalled for.   From jsmineset.com:

For skeptics, doubters, and deniers, consider this ˜indicator’ by following the wise guys/smart money: JPM (one of the Cartel’s main warhorses) has been THE biggest buyer of Canadian gold miner Goldcorp today, with NO sells. (Despite Goldcorp’s just-lowered guidance and a subsequent ~10% drop in share price).

Pining 4 the Fjords's picture

And now for something completely different: Pm's!

Saw this on the chart today and thought I'd throw it out there-  This is the Euro/USD 15m chart (red/blue candlesticks) overlain by the Gold chart (line) for the last day and a half-  three things jump out:

1.  Check out the nearly perfect correlation from 2:00pm yesterday until 2:00 today...  nearly tick for tick perfect.  So far, so good.

2. But check out the left side of the chart-  from 11:00 to 2:00 yesterday (the 16th) the Dollar was weakening, yet Gold was held in place.  A correlation like the one I mentioned above from 2:00-2:00 would have left gold 10$ higher... eeerrr, but that would mean a probable close above 1600 and we can't have that, can we?  Certainly not.  Subtract 10$ from the price of gold.

3.  This is where it gets interesting... after nearly perfect correlation for 24 straight hours, the Dollar continues to weaken against the euro, but around 2:00 today Gold strangely and inexplicably dropped at the same time the dollar is showing this continuing and increasing weakness  It does so right into the close. Subtract another 10$ from the price of Gold.

If Gold had stayed tick for tick as it had been, it would have closed around 1593 (and without #2 above knocking another 10 bucks off, our close today would have been around 1603)...  but we cannot have gold making a higher high on a day the bearded one speaks, can we?  So Gold defies the laws of physics (eerrr, economics) just long enough to ensure a lower close than yesterday.  Stick save for the forces of darkness.

Sisyphus's picture

@murphy @sprite - thanks

for feedback.

@sprite - no, nothing specific has happened today. It's just like most days - down. That's the problem!

I guess I'm just getting peeved at the constant,  um, consolidation....

Physical_only's picture

@ rckymtn

I hear ya..............my FULL support goes out to you, sincerely. No-one except the decisions I have made makes it happen. I was a start-up 25 years ago. I give plenty of credit to my employees "who I chose" to make my business plan successful; I am thankful I made some right decisions character wise as far as employee choices, they actually understand the process & have learned right along with me. AND I am lucky to have them. They really care. Consider myself blessed & I know it's ultimately my ass that answers the bottom line.

Wish you the BEST

Big Buffalo's picture

Pining

nice work!

Sisyphus's picture

and @bam - thx

.

cpnscarlet's picture

@Pining - Agreed - "something

@Pining - Agreed - "something completely different" in the short-term. But gold defying the laws of physics - "same ol'" manipulation garbage from what I can see. Or is something else going on? Maybe. And will we ever be able to find out what? Unlikely.

And that's why philosophical/ideological discussions here at TFMetals have the appearance of being more productive. 

Pegasus's picture

Community doesn' mean Communism

My idea of Progressivism and Collectivism is built around a sense of Community, not an immoral jack booted state. One does not necessarily lead to the other. One definition of Community is:

A community usually refers to a social unit larger than a household that shares common values and has social cohesion. The term can also refer to the national community or international community, and, 2) in biology, a community is a group of interacting living organisms sharing a populated environment. A community is a group or society, helping each other.

Particularly, the last sentence above: A community is a group or society, helping each other. That's all. What is so different about what we do here from that? Does that make us communist? Socialist? Progressives, because we help each other? Where does the boundry between our community and 'others' begin? Our neighborhood, our town, our state, our national government? Where does it end?

Also, my apologies for the un-deleted expletives in my previous post. My anger got the better of me (as it does). Sometimes it feels like those of us with non-conforming ideas here are being bullied, and I had had enough.

Pining 4 the Fjords's picture

Yo Daddy O

Your question is a good one, and from my understanding (admittedly limited) this is how I would answer: 

Yes, the Swap Dealers are traders who have not been caught with their pants down during our long hard slog in gold for the last year- they have been consistently adding longs / reducing shorts on weakness.  In general, appears to be smart money. But...

Does this mean their net long position is a harbinger of big things in PM's?  Not necessarily-  they are traders, and are trading many things other than PM's.  In other words, many of their metals positions are hedges for their primary trades in other markets, so their overall position right now may simply reflect their need for hedges in other, more significant markets and trades.  Thus it may not be particularly bullish for the metals (and it wasn't last October when the same thing happened).  HT to Rico for helping me understand this one- he noted that if the Swap Dealers were only net long 3 times during a raging 10 year bull market in gold, how good an indicator can they be?  damn good point.  However... (!)

Maybe it does portend good things for gold:  Here is the one thing I could think of that I have yet to find an answer in cyberspace for, and I think it is a darn good question:  why would traders use a long gold position as a hedge for other positions when we all know the 2% rule-  gold is not allowed to rise more than 2% in a single day!  Those guys know this.  And this is why I think a long gold position would truly suck as a hedge...  unlimited downside on any given day, but a 2% cap to the upside?  So if these aren't being used as hedges, then maybe...  possibly...  hopefully...  the smart money guys with the deep pockets are going long. No hedges, just straight long.  And if this is the case, then WHOOP!  But we'll see. 

This is my best shot to answer your question as fully as I could... hope this helps somewhat!

SaratogaPrepper's picture

Opticsguy

The private electric company that I have worked for for 30 years (one of the first in the country) did real well getting electricity to rural communities. That is until we were bought out by the disaster from England lovingly known as "Grid". I'm sure there are a few Turdites on here who are serviced by us and can give you a comparison. It's gotten so bad that I am almost embarrassed to admit working for them. The guys doing the work haven't changed, of course there are far fewer of us.

Mr. Fix's picture

Secrets of the 200 mile per gallon carburetor.

@Dagney Taggart and others:

I took great interest in reading your discussion on high mileage carburetors.

Shortly after I graduated high school in 1980 or 81, I purchased a manual that I found in the back of Popular Science Magazine.  It was entitled “The Secrets of the 200 Mile per Gallon Carburetor”.

I actually built several such units, one was a proof of principle made out of a paint can, tunafish can and some carburetor parts, and it worked.

The principal involved, is to heat the gas beyond its boiling point, turn it into a vapor, and then heat the vapor to dry

it out.

The basic idea is that a hot dry vapor it is far more explosive then the liquid gas that a standard carburetor or a modern fuel injection system pours into the engine.

I finally built a very elaborate system, into a 1969 Ford Mustang convertible with a 351 CI. engine,  and was able to achieve 75 miles a gallon through regular use.

The carburetor only seem to work up to about half throttle, and then it was starved for gas after that,

however half throttle on a 351 Mustang was more than enough to drive it.

I drove the car daily for about a year, and worked out most of the bugs.

A lot of people knew of my endeavor,

I was somewhat of a braggart in those days.

For no apparent reason,

the car burnt to the ground in my driveway one night.

Although I'll never know why, I have my suspicions.

Then roundabout 1991 or 92, I tried to duplicate my design on another car.

When I found then, was that the process of  vaporizing the fuel was leaving a black sludge, or a tar like substance that would not evaporate.

I can only conclude that the gas companies started adding something to their fuel that would defeat the possibility of using a vaporizer carburetor.

I for one am 100% certain that the technology has been around since the early 30s,

and that it has been kept off the market for the various reasons discussed by others above.

I have made several attempts to work my way around the sludge buildup problem,

but so far I have not had any good results.

Using the old-style Pogue carburetor system, just creates a  of black thick tar that clogs the system up.

I do not have any  expertise relating to these systems other than what I have read and what I have done.

But I am absolutely certain that the technology worked, and that it would be viable if the gas companies would simply remove whatever they added to the fuel to keep it from vaporizing without leaving a black sludge.

The powers that be are not going to make it easy, but then again nothing worthwhile ever is.

The plans for this carburetor are available online,

just Google the Pogue carburetor,

there are many good  sites that are dedicated to it,

there are also sites put up to discredit the technology and explain why it can't work.

They are bogus,

it does work, it's just been sabotaged  so it can't because of the sludge.

waxybilldupp's picture

@Xty - um?

Well stated ... succinct.  Bravo girl!

My head is still spinning regarding your waxing comment earlier today.

wax off

Katie Rose's picture

Pegasus

Thank you for apologizing. smiley

I did not like the swearing. It felt like an assault.

DaddyO's picture

Pining...Ponder this...

OK so we think they are smart money. Could we then surmise that rather than a true hedge which you clearly lay out as a "Maybe".

Could I posit that they may have a sizeable amount of capital available to put on a play that even if it is capped at 2%, would still yield a significant win to the upside even when weighed against their shorts.

Just thinking out loud trying to get my head around the significance of the long position at this juncture in the Great Keynesian Experiment and what it portends for us plebs with a prepper bent and a mind towards an eventual collapse.

I have asked on this blog and ZH if there were a means of quantifying certain markers to gauge the timeline of the coming collapse.

Was wondering if this may be the start of identifying markers of that order.

Any thoughts...

DaddyO

Big Buffalo's picture

Gut feeling

This is just my opinion.

Even with BB not officially announcing QE (no one thought this would happen), gold was only hit down to 1574ish. Then a nice bounce, then a beatdown. Either way, it didn't get beatdown to 1550, or even the very important 1525 range. I, for one, am very happy with this action. Not so happy that we couldn't close in the high 1590's, or even 1600. Oh well.

The range is closing and getting very narrow, it could go either way, however with BB and the FED ready to jump in if this gets worse, (which they will) metals should certainly be in a much better situation moving forward and into the 3rd and 4th quarter.

The US, China, BRICS, Europe: which one of these groups will not print and allow their economy to go into a great recession or depression if they can just print to avoid? Which politician will not take the opportunity to print more money so they can stay in office and continue to make a bunch of fiat?

In the US, we have the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling breach, the election, the ever problematic housing situation, the unemployment (i'm talking about the real unemployment number), the lower consumer spending, ending or continuing of the Bush tax cuts, increasing tension in the Gulf (lets just call it the beginning of the great Oil Wars). Anything else I missed?

Conclusion: The situation will get worse in very short order, the printer is being warmed up, and the FED will use at least one of the four tools (Ben's words) they have to help. This is not then end of the world, but it certainly means the likelihood of metals raising and helping us to persevere our wealth is imminent.

I have never felt better about buying metals then right now and will be ordering an American Gold Eagle or 50 Silver Eagles tonight. This is my problem. Which one should I order?

Pegasus's picture

Katie Rose

I guess you missed my apology. So, again, I do apologize for my poor language.

WhyMeLord's picture

The Beauty of Humanity

As I mark the 63rd year of presence on this planet, I find a growing love for it's inhabitants.

Here are just a few of  the best realiztions of this. I love you madly.

Thank you all for being there.

cpnscarlet's picture

Bix Weir, Really?

His latest email (exerpts) -

This is turning into a VERY tough month for the Federal Reserve.
 
Santelli On "The Smoking Gun"
 
This IS the end game and it continues to play out as designed.
 
Which brings me to the title of this email alert "All Eyes on Azkadellia".
 
For those of you who have been on my "Road to Roota" for a while you've probably seen this movie and understood it's meaning
 
SPECIAL REPORT: THE END OF OZ
 
Yes, it is all true and even though this movie was made in 2007...Take note of the line in the movie right before they invade the castle where the Tin Man says to DG..."You might not be able to save your sister."  DG's sister is Azkadellia that represents the Federal Reserve Bank. This line is a direct reference to what is about to happen to the Federal Reserve.
 
Sorry sis...we're gonna have to take you down!
 
PS - Yes. It is SILVER that ultimately melts the witch so hang on tight to your metal!
 
I would really like to think Bix is on to something, especially since I think "Tin Man" was such a good adaptation of "The Wizard of Oz". But it really seems that as we may be getting closer to a true upside event in PMs, the tension and/or thin air is getting to good 'ol Bix.
 
Thoughts?
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