'Twas not a good week for stocks or gold or anything else much. Almost as exciting as a market in August, but even a market going nowhere tells us something. Stocks soldiered away this week trying to burst through that May 2011 high but in the end couldn't beat 12,900 -- it beat them. And the closing (or near closing) of the Greek Debt Deal did not, as stock salesmen & assorted well-paid touts have been promising, usher in Fat City For Stocks. Rather, it brought only weight loss, disappointment, and the search for another chimerical rationale. Dow today fell 89.23 (0.69%) and barely held on above 12,800 at 12,801.23. Odd, odd, passing odd: the S&P500 lost EXACTLY the same percentage, 0.69%, as the Dow, settling at 1,342.64 (lower by 9.31). Let's nail the lid down on this coffin tight. Dow today fell lower than the five-day low (12,780), to 12,743, and traded below 12,800 all day long, until some Nice Government Angel came in during the last minutes and drove the Dow over the psychologically critical round number, 12,800. A market that behaves this way will move lower and that right soon. But y'all don't believe me. I'm just a natural born fool from Tennessee, not one of them pointy-toe shoe wearing smart fellers from Wall Street. US dollar index traced out a rounding bottom on its chart this week, with a low around 79.40. Today it spent most of its time above the morale- building 79.00 level, and gained a note-worthy 46.8 basis points (0.6%) to close 79.034. This week may well have marked an end to the dollar's decline. If so, early next week it will climb above its 20 day moving average (now 79.61). Don't know what caused the delay, but the euro gapped down today instead of yesterday. Fell 0.65% to 1.3198. 'Tis perched on its critical 62 day moving average (1.3149). Euro will enjoy a painful week next week. Yen bounced 0.1% today to close at 128.87c/Y100 (Y77.60/US$1). Sitting just above support at 128.50c, yen could plunge deeply. Someone sent me a headline today that claimed gold had fallen off today because the euro fell. Media market commentaries are daily filled with this same logical fallacy, post hoc, ergo propter hoc. This happened after that, so that caused this. This is as well grounded as inviting your brother-in-law to wreck your car again because the day he wrecked it last time your lottery ticket won. Without demonstrating some causative chain, these headlines demonstrate the near perfect vacuum in the heads of those writing. Today wasn't a banner day for silver & gold, either. Gold dropped $15.70 to $1,723.30 & silver lost 30.8c, ending at 3357.6c. Both silver & gold continue to dig in their heels & give little ground. Gold dropped as low as $1,705.2 today, but plainly many idlers sat at $1,705 waiting to buy gold, & did, so it shot right back up & ended the day clinging to $1,725 support -- a little over the edge, but clinging still. From here $1,725 will become resistance, not support. Silver's low today came at 3318, and it has given back almost all the week's gains & again faces 3300c. Expect more weakness next week from both metals. When/if silver breaks 3300c, as it likely will, it will drop faster than gold, taking the gold/silver ratio higher. I would buy silver (or gold) whenever that ratio reaches 57.50. Gold is not likely to drop lower than $1,680 - $1,650, nor silver below 3000c. The market is handing you a last chance buying opportunity. Don't let it pass you by. On 10 February 2000 passed from this world the great Southern actor and comic Jim Varney, a.k.a. Ernest P. Whorl. He was priceless -- Knowhadda mean, Vern? On 10 February British queen Victoria, descendant of the Hanoverian/German kings, married her cousin Albert von Saxe-Coburg, a German prince. That last name became embarrassing when King George Saxe-Coburg's England was fighting the German empire run by his first cousin, Wilhelm II, so George changed his last name to Windsor. Better PR. On 10 February 1763 the Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years War and transferred Canada from France to England. On 10 February 1535 twelve nude Anabaptists ran through the streets of Amsterdam. Some sort of religious statement? SPECIAL OFFER DUCATS! These nearly pure gold ducats have been minted in about the same weight (0.1106) and fineness (23-2/3 karat or 98.6% pure) since Roger II of Sicily began minting them in A.D. 1140. Venice minted them as ducato, then zecchino, and Florence minted them as florins, all to the same standard, 3.5 grams of 23-2/3 karat gold. Yes, this is the same size coin you read about in Shakespeare's plays. Today the Austrian mint strikes four-ducat and one-ducat coins, and the Dutch strike one-ducats. The Austrian four-ducat contains 0.4438 troy ounce fine gold, the Austrian one-ducats 0.1107 oz. & the Dutch 0.1106 oz. I have priced all these as if they all contained 0.1106 troy ounce per ducat, at a Three percent (3%) premium over spot gold. Here's the deal: you can buy any combination equalling Twenty (20) one ducats for $196.75 per ducat (that's $787.80 for a four ducat), $3,939.00 plus $25 shipping per lot for a total of $3,964.00 per lot. Please note that I will try but NOT guarantee you get any certain mix. If you order one four-ducat and sixteen one-ducats, you might get three four-ducats and eight one-ducats, but each lot will equal 20 one-ducats in gold content. Sorry, no re-orders at these prices. Offer ends when my supply runs out. Special Conditions: First come, first served, and no re-orders at these prices. I will enter orders based on the time I receive your e-mail. We will not take orders for less than the minimums shown above. All sales on a strict "no-nag" basis. We will ship as soon as your check clears, but we allow Two weeks (14 days) for your check to clear. Calls looking for your order two days after we receive your check will be politely and patiently rebuffed. If you want faster shipping, please send a wire. Spot gold basis for all prices above is $1,723.30. ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS: 1. You may order by e-mail only to franklin@the-moneychanger.com. No phone orders, please. Your email must include your complete name, address, & phone number. We cannot ship to you without your address. Sorry, we cannot ship outside the United States or to Tennessee. Repeat, your email must include your complete name, address, and phone number. Our clairvoyant quit without warning last week and I stumbled & dropped my crystal ball, smashing it to pieces, so we can no longer read your mind. 2. Orders are on a first-come, first-served basis until supply is exhausted. 3. "First come, first-served" means that we will enter the orders in the order that we receive them by e-mail. 4. If your order is filled, we will e-mail you a confirmation. If you do not receive a confirmation, your order was not filled. 5. You will need to send payment by personal check or bank wire (either one is fine) within 48 hours. It just needs to be in the mail, not in our hands, in 48 hours. 6. We allow fourteen (14) days for personal checks to clear before we ship. If your hurry is greater than that, you can send a bank wire. Once we ship, the post office takes four to fourteen days to get the registered mail package to you. All in all, you'll see your order in about one month if you send a check. Y'all enjoy your weekend!
Argentum et aurum comparanda sunt —
Silver and gold must be bought.
— Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger
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