I reckon it's because I have no subtlety & am nothing but a natural born fool from Tennessee, but if there's one thing that raises my dander & makes me want to tap dance on somebody's head, it's bureaucratic circumlocution -- talking all around what you need to say to avoid really saying it but trying to say it at the same time.

For example, if you see somebody's head is on fire & he doesn't know it yet, how about shouting, "Your head's on fire!" This economical use of English conveys the needful information with a minimum waste of letters & words.

What would you think of a goof who instead said, "Excuse me, but I believe that the kindling temperature of your hair fibers has nearly been reached, raising the distinct but not yet certain probability that, should conditions not change and rain not fall from the sky, the temperature rise might result in the combustion of your entire cranial surface."

The man's head is SMOKING, goof ball! Talk plain.

Not those goofs at the Federal Reserve, who specialize in circumlocution, obfuscation, prolixity, pleonasm, wordiness, evasion, & beating around the bush.

Today the Fed released the minutes of the 1-2 November Federal Open Market Committee. Shucked down to the kernel, its was "maybe we might print up even more money, but then again, maybe not." Then -- Oh, fail me not, Blessed Patience -- they discussed options for improving their communications policies!

Y'all, the ship of state has been hijacked by clowns. Bozo & Clarabelle could do better than this, and they'd be lots more entertaining.

Markets didn't know what to make of this. Dow had dropped 53.59 (0.46%) by day's end to 11,493.72, working its way down to the targeted 11,250. S&P500 dropped 4.94 (0.41%) to 1,188.04.

Y'all think about this, too. Markets are as sensitive to uncertainty as Johnson Grass is to Round-up. You spray 'em with uncertainty & they wilt. Yet the Lords of the Fed vacillate like a dying gyroscope. Mercy, we've fallen into a lunatic asylum.

US DOLLAR INDEX went nowhere, down 3.6 basis points to 78.264. Euro closed 1.3511, up a sliver of 0.16%. Yen dropped to 129.93c/ Y100 (Y76.96/$1). Flatlining, but part of that might be investors laying low, anticipating the US Thanksgiving holiday.

Silver & gold took the FOMC announcement the other way, or, more likely, merely bounced from yesterday's steep falls.

GOLD climbed 23.90 to close at $1,702.20, which unhappily falls short of the $1,705 support/resistance. The breakdown at $1,712 has now become the new resistance, so unless & until gold can conquer that price, it will continue to fall. Underneath, first support stands at $1,670. High today reached only $1,705.13.

SILVER was stopped by 3300c. It's still possible that we are seeing a sort of double bottom for silver with lows at 3100c last Thursday and at 3063 yesterday. Today silver added a meaty 183.5c to close at 3294.8 on Comex. Yet without piercing 3300c, silver is fated to drop more.

Silver & gold are in a routine correction in a bull market. Keep on averaging down as they feel around for a bottom.

On 22 November 1718 the English pirate Blackbeard (Edward Teach) was killed in a battle off the Virginia coast. He had to be shot and stabbed 25 times to bring him down. He was mean clean through.

On 22 November 1938 the first coelacanth, a pre-historic fish assumed to be extinct, turned up off the South African coast, raising all sorts of questions uncomfortable to the reigning orthodoxy.

Argentum et aurum comparanda sunt —
Silver and gold must be bought.

— Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger

Copyright Notice

© 2015 Little Mountain Corporation, d.b.a. The Moneychanger. All rights reserved. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission.

Warnings and Disclaimers

To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary trend is up, targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stock's primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold or 16 ounces of silver. US$ and US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down.

Be advised and warned:

• Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short-term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.
• NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps.
• NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced.
• NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt.
• What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands. For additional information, please see our Ten Commandments for Buying Gold and Silver.
• One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose.

Explanation of Terms

The US DOLLAR INDEX is the average exchange rate for the US dollar against the Euro, Yen, Pound sterling, Canadian Dollar, Swiss Franc, and Swedish Krona, weighted for each country's trade with the US. It gives a general measure of the US dollar's performance against all other currencies.

The DOW IN GOLD DOLLARS measures the Dow Jones Industrial Average in gold dollars (0.048375 troy oz. by law). The DiG$ depicts the Primary (20 year) Trend of stocks against gold. When the DiG$ is dropping, gold is gaining value against stocks in a trend that should last 15-20 years. The DiG$'s chart is identical to the Dow in ounces of gold, but gives us one unvarying measure all the way back to 1896. Because it shows the primary trend ("tide") of gold against stocks, for investors it is the single most important financial chart in the world today. Since its August 1999 high at G$925.42 (44.8 ounces), the DiG$ has trended down, targeting a G$80-G$20 (4-1 oz. of gold will buy the whole Dow).

The DOW IN SILVER OUNCES shows how many ounces of silver are needed to buy the entire Dow. The DiSoz is trending down with a target of under 36 ounces.

The GOLD/SILVER RATIO is the gold price divided by the silver price, and shows how many ounces of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold. The Ratio shows us the Primary (20 year) Trend of gold's value against silver. When the Ratio's trend is dropping, silver is gaining value against gold. This trend targets a gold/silver ratio of 16 ounces of silver to one of gold within the next 5-10 years. That implies that silver will massively, vastly outperform gold before this bull market ends. When both metals are rallying, the ratio often (but not always) drops, confirming the rally.

Other Important Information

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