Stocks pulled off a strong push higher into the close yesterday, taking back much of the losses they had been showing during the daily trade. It is reported that we are in the 13th week of the selling of US equities by the 'smart money.' Notice how nicely and neatly this ramp higher has been moving in the SP 500 futures just below. I suspect that this is an operation designed to hand off equities to the 'non-smart money' ahead of another sharp decline in equity prices. But only time will tell. The big tickle tonight will be APPL reporting its numbers after the bell. It is hard to handicap these markets with the lax regulatory oversight, the generally poor quality of the numbers not only from the trading feeds but also the corporate earnings reports. So let's try and lean a little harder on the charts. As for gold and silver, the FOMC will be meeting this week, and I doubt very much if they will raise rates. But gold especially is the target of those financial engineers who seek to manage perceptions in the face of their serial failures, as well as traders who have lost their way in understanding the role that they play in interacting with reality. And this is a dangerous divergence that is yet to be resolved. This morning's economic news continues to reinforce the weakness in the broader economy despite the remarkable monetary and other support that the Fed has been extending to the largely unreformed financial sector that continues to distort capital allocation and act as a drag on the real economy. I will try to update at the end of the day but I may not be in a position to do so. So for now I will post the charts and information as they are as of 10:45 AM today.
