Precious Metals Update: Gold And Silver Takeoffff...Uh, No...
Mark Mead Baillie | Dec 20, 2021 12:29AM ET
'Twas a week of hope for the precious metals, Gold therein rising low-to-high from 1753 to 1816 (+3.6%) and Silver per same from 21.41 to 22.69 (+6.0%). But given Gold is never really supposed to stray too far from the 1780s, let alone Silver be allowed to do anything material but decline, both precious metals eked out immaterial weekly gains. Gold settled on Friday at 1799, +0.7% net for the week, and Silver at 22.36, +0.7% net.
Indeed a net snoozer of a week:
■ Even as the Swiss franc saw its linear regression trend (21-day basis) rotate further to positive...
■ Even as the Bond's price moved to a two-week high...
■ Even as the S&P's MoneyFlow for the week values the Index 120 points lower than 'tis...
■ Even (more broadly) as the U.S. money supply since March 2020 has averaged an increase of $1 trillion every 93 trading days...
■ Even as the Federal Reserve again alerted the world that it is preparing to raise rates; (they can't be outdone by the Bank of England having just done so, even as the European Central Bank remains hand-wringing): we're actually thinking the Fed terminates the tapering and pulls the trigger in its 26 January Policy Statement... "Sorry folks, but we had to do it, else your stick of butter is gonna cost ten bucks." BOOM!
And with respect to the latter, as you regular readers well know, the increasing of FedFunds rates was very precious metals-positive during 2004-to-2006 and on balance Gold-positive from 2015-to-2018.
Yes even as we've all these historically very Gold-positive events in play, 'tis low that the precious metals continue to lay.
"Well mmb, the dollar refuses to die..."
Duly noted there, Squire. As we've been saying, market dislocations are the "in thing" these days. Fundamentals have been flushed down the loo, but at least we've quantitative and technical analysis to see us through. For again we quip—even as goofball-wacko as market correlations have become—prices are never wrong, their ebbing and flowing still in play, which for the trader we hope leads the correct way: "Don't dare think, else you'll sink!" (That of course courtesy of "The Trend is Your Friend Dept.").
Either way, these are extraordinarily challenging trading days! Did you know that the EDTR ("expected daily trading range") of the S&P 500 right now is 67 points? The average annual trading range of the S&P from 1993-1995 was 47 points per year with an average annual percentage tracing of 11%: this year the S&P is tracing a range that averages better than 5% per month! Again analogous to a snake in its death throes.
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And yet the precious metals remain a disappointment, (save to "The M Word" crowd). Recall "Gold Forecast High Goes Bye-Bye" penned back on 02 October per nixing our 2401 price forecast high for this year: "...The more likely scenario shall well be Gold just sloshing around into year-end, trading during Q4 between 1668-1849..." We'd hoped to have been wrong about that, but with just two weeks to run in 2021, 'tis exactly what's happened.
Indeed you can see it "happening" (or better stated "not happening") here across Gold's weekly bars from a year ago-to-date. A snoozer indeed, be it this past week or past year, the current parabolic Long trend (blue dots) completely bereft of price actually rising:
And as an added holiday treat (hardly), here is our like (rarely posted) graphic for Silver, unable to maintain her short-lived parabolic Long trend, indeed now Short (red dots). Rather, a truly tarnished treat, one has to say, her appearing none too festive:
But as crooned Neil Young back in '70 "Don't let it bring you down..." as we've a ray of technical hope for Gold into year-end; ('course, fundamental hope for Gold springs eternal). The following chart displays Gold by the day from mid-year-to-date.
In the graphic's lower panel is a favored technical study of the trading community, the mouthful MACD ("moving average convergence divergence"). Of interest is the MACD having just confirmed a crossing to positive. And whilst hindsight isn't perfect, it is a useful predictor in forming a reasonable near-term target for Gold, as follows.
This is Gold's 13th positive MACD crossover since 26 March 2020. The "average maximum" price follow-through of the prior 12 positive crossovers is +87 points within an average signal duration of 27 trading days, (essentially within five weeks). Thus from the confirmation price of 1799, an average 87-point rise would put Gold at 1886; (more conservatively, the "median maximum" price follow-through across those 12 prior occurrences is +57 points, which if met on this run would find Gold at 1856). So with no formidably recent structural overhead resistance—plus Gold's penchant to have put in positive Decembers in four of the past five years—a run up to test the denoted 16 November high of 1880 makes some sense, prudent cash management, as always, taking precedence:
'Course, the biggest "positive" (if you will) of the week was the aforementioned Old Lady of Threadneedle Street raising her benchmark interest rate by 150% from 0.10% to 0.25%. (Dare the 1st Earl of Halifax—one Charles Montagu, who in 1694 devised establishing William Paterson's 1691 proposal for creating the BOE— flip his wig). Meanwhile across the channel, the ECB looks to curtail its "emergency" asset purchases, but nonetheless is assessing other stimulus measures. No rate hike there. Certainly neither in China as economic consumption and the property market continue to weaken. "Got Dollars?"
For indeed as you already well know lest you've been in a hole, the StateSide FedFolks look to bring their Bank's Funds rate up into the 0.75%-to-1.00% target range by the end of next year. And as noted, we think they'll initially move on 26 January, barring an excessive bout of "Oh my! Omicron!"
Oh, and from the "Oh By The Way Dept." President "Jumpin' Joe" Biden just signed the $2.5 Trillion Dollar Debasement Declaration so that TreaSec Janet "Old Yeller" Yellen can keep paying the nation's debt obligations and bills through most of next year. For some perspective: the U.S. money supply from 02 January 1998 to 09 September 2005 grew by $2.5 trillion, (a pace of $1 trillion per 802 trading days) during which time the price of Gold increased by 55%. Today (as previously noted), the money supply is increasing at a an average rate of $1 trillion per just 93 trading days, but terrifically under-owned Gold basically "ain't done squat" (technical term). Just in case yer scorin' at home.
Speaking of scoring, the Economic Barometer's strength through November has run out of puff thus far in December as we see here:
Notable Baro improvements from last week's set of 15 incoming metrics include November's Capacity Utilization and Building Permits amongst other higher housing measures; but the month's growth in Industrial Production slowed significantly, as did Retail Sales. And whilst December's New York State Empire Index marginally gained ground, the Philly Fed Index more than halved what November's had found. And oh yes, there was also wholesale inflation for November, the Producer Price Index recording an annualized pace of +9.6%: which makes the old riddle about "How many zeros can fit on a Zimbabwean Dollar?" not as funny as once 'twas. But 'tis not to worry, the FOMC having just stated that "...Progress on vaccinations and an easing of supply constraints are expected to support continued gains in economic activity and employment as well as a reduction in inflation..."
As to how many rising Baby Blue dots does a consistent trend make, let's turn to our two-panel graphic for Gold's daily bars from three months ago-to-date on the left and those for Silver on the right. The respective rightmost up turns from the -80% axes are generally harbingers of higher prices, (and to wit the MACD study for Gold earlier shown). But Friday's rejective price action does initially breed some cause for concern: "The M Word" crowd? The quadruple-witch? Both? We display, you assay:
Next we've the 10-day Market Profiles for Gold (below left) and Silver (below right). To be sure, by this view Gold's infinite 1780s appear supportive, whereas poor ole Sister Silver's array is a congested display:
Let's close with three mentions of inflation:
■ Dow Jones Newswires "reported" this past week that a factor in determining the duration of inflation is how we feel about it, which in turn shall guide the Fed's interest rate decisions; (folks are well-paid to write this stuff). Here's what we feel: be it cost-push or demand-pull or both, when the money supply increases 33% in less than two years, 'tis game over;
■ From the same creative bunch also came the notion that because increasing inflation effectively makes for negative real rates of interest, the FOMC in not (yet) voting to raise rates is therefore actually stimulating the economy. Yeah, we get that, but such rationale may be the biggest infatuative policy-wonk hot-air crush ever;
■ Speaking of which, here's an inflation-induced blast: we read that the rather wealthy Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives is not supportive of a proposed ban on Congressional members from owning individual equities, her stating that "We’re a free-market economy": how's that for a 180° turn? (Maggie Thatcher, you don't know what you're missing).
But don't you miss out in getting some Gold and Silver on the cheap before inevitably they leap. True, they had a rather feeble takeoff attempt this past week. But once they really get airborne, that'll be our kind of inflation, right there!
Cheers!
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