pebblewriter

Tag: gold

  • Update on Gold: Mar 9, 2021

    Gold reached our primary downside target yesterday. As I posted at the time, this is incredibly important support for GC.continued for members… (more…)

  • The Bond Market Finally Woke Up

    For months we’ve been warning about the coming inflation problem, wondering when the bond market would notice and/or care.  The immediate problem in a nutshell:

    One of the most highly correlated components of CPI with the headline rate is the price of energy, and gasoline in particular.  If prices were to remain where they are now, the base effect will result in a 40% increase YoY in April.  Historically, this has produced headline CPI in excess of 2.5%.The Fed points out this base effect bump will be transitory and should be ignored, but the recent rise in interest rates tells us that the bond market is not ignoring it. In fact, recent beats in economic data and sharp price increases across the commodity complex underscore the notion that the rise in inflation will not be transitory. The pop we could see in April would be only the beginning.

    As we approach $30 trillion in debt with more stimulus on the way, markets have to wonder what to make of CPI of 2.5-3.0% or higher. In our opinion, the US has no choice but to follow in the BoJ’s and ECB’s footsteps and repudiate higher rates until the end of time.

    10Y note futures reached a level at which we have felt would represent critical support. A drop below this level, we reasoned, would sound loud alarm bells. As we wrote yesterday: “This is quite possibly the Fed’s last chance to avoid a real mess in the bond market.”

    Bottom line, don’t be fooled by the Fed’s ability to repeatedly bail out equities at the last minute.

    The algos have learned well to respond to moves in VIX, currencies and oil/gas when they are so instructed. It’s no surprise that yesterday’s plunge was arrested at our previous SMA downside target.

    The problem is bigger and more difficult to cope with than most – including, apparently, the Fed – can imagine.

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  • Inflation: A Growing Chorus

    After feeling like the lone inflation alarmist for the past few months, I find myself in the midst of a growing chorus which now recognizes the Fed’s conundrum. Building inflationary pressures are now obvious to all.

    What isn’t clear is whether the Fed’s nonchalance re rising rates is real or feigned. And, if feigned, at what point will they throw in the towel on the sales pitch that rising rates are great?

    Futures are back below yesterday’s lows and small H&S patterns have formed on both ES and VIX.

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  • Update on Energy Markets: Feb 16, 2021

    Texas, the energy capital of the US, is running short of energy. The cold snap is breaking records throughout the state, with temperatures so low that many wind and water turbines are frozen and not able to produce energy. Refineries are shut down. As of last night, over 3.5 million Texans are without power.

    Not surprisingly, oil, gasoline and especially natural gas prices have shot higher.

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  • 500 Miles High

    Thinking of the late great Chick Corea this morning as I survey the sky-high equities market…  Futures have regained about half their overnight losses, spurred by a timely dip in VIX and pop in 10Y yields (testing Monday’s highs.)

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  • Charts I’m Watching: Feb 9, 2021

    Futures are off modestly as the algos have backed off their assorted breakouts and breakdowns now that the bearish H&S Pattern has been busted.continued for members… (more…)

  • Mission Accomplished

    In another obvious show of how easily this market can be manipulated, ES’ final bearish Head & Shoulders Pattern was busted in the final five minutes of trading yesterday. This morning, SPX’s H&S Pattern will also be busted with a burst higher in the wake of another disappointing jobs report.

    And all it took was for the “Bad News is Good News” algo to pin futures to their ramp job highs until 9:31. The BN=GN algo, of course, has nothing to do with additional stimulus.

    We already know $1.9 trillion is on the way to some who desperately need it and countless more who don’t. It also has nothing to do with additional QE. That’s an ongoing $120 billion per month, rain or shine.

    No, it is about the usual tricks employed by central banks and their proxies: shorting VIX… …shorting bond futures……ramping WTI futures……and shorting the yen. They have all been employed over the past week just to make sure that any lingering bearish patterns were undeniably busted. Just another day in the “markets.”

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  • VIX: Just a Flesh Wound?

    In Friday’s post VIX: Back From the Dead we noted that VIX had recovered from the breakdown below trend dating back to Nov 27. This morning, it’s testing overhead resistance from Jan 4 and, if it’s able to break through, will likely take on resistance from Dec 21 or even Oct 29. Bears might want to hold off on the champagne just a bit longer, though. One of VIX’s favorite tricks is to race up to resistance in the pre-market so it has someplace to reverse lower from.

    The FOMC will issue its latest pearls of wisdom on Wednesday. And, as ES’s chart aptly illustrates, they are loathe to allow a significant decline in the lead-up to these exercises in obfuscation.

    Here’s the chart we posted Friday evening. continued for members… (more…)

  • Moment of Truth for Bonds

    ZN broke down from its rising red channel back on the 6th. Since then, it has found support in a falling channel – from which it is now threatening to break down.This is a moment of truth for bonds and the many correlated assets such as GC, shown above.  Stocks might not be amused.

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  • Collateral Damage

    Maybe Warren Buffett can get through to Congress. In a CNBC interview aired this morning:

    “It’s so important that small businesses, which have become collateral damage in a war that our country needed to fight, but we, in effect, voluntarily had an induced shut down of parts of the economy, and it hit many types of small businesses very, very hard… We made some provision for that in March in terms of the CARES Act, but then nobody really knew how long this self-inflicted recession would last with this particular effect on small businesses, so we need another injection to complete the job.”

    Congress, the Treasury and the Fed have done a terrific job of “saving” corporations that already had access to plenty of cheap capital and whose stock prices could then vouch for the strong recovery from the pandemic.  The rest of the economy?  Not so much.

    For all the independent restaurants, mom and pop stores, non-big box retailers, things are dismal. And, to all the unemployed folks barely hanging on to their house or their apartment, it will get much worse if Congress doesn’t act in the next few days to prevent them from being evicted during the depths of winter in the midst of a pandemic.

    Naturally, futures are up 25 points.According to VIX, it probably won’t last.

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