Investors spent Monday walking on eggshells. Do they perhaps think that by acting so meekly they'll be able to avoid confronting all of the important economic data due out this week? We'll be better able to judge for ourselves this morning, when figures for existing home sales in January are released. The consensus expects a very mild rise of 0.3%, which is likely to cheer no one. But who knows? Perhaps if the number is awful enough it will stimulate the endorphins of the many who, one surmises, have been praying for Fed stimulus? Whatever the case, prayerful investors had better be careful not to allow themselves to get over-stimulated, since any bad-new-is-good-news tidings could be reversed on Wednesday, when data for new home sales in January are scheduled to be released. What could be more confusing to investors than a bad-news-is-good-news kinda day followed immediately by a bad-news-is-bad-news kinda day, or even more vexatious, a good-news-is-bad-news kinda day. Gold Consensus However Wall Street receives the latest statistical nostrums, we can be reasonably certain it will not cause a panic in the Rick's Picks chat room. In fact, it sometimes seems as though the room temperature varies inversely with the Street's, and that, the duller things are on the stock exchanges, the more interesting the chat-room discussion. Concerning Gold, the consensus as of yesterday seemed reasonably confident that higher prices are coming. My own minimum target for the April Comex contract over the near-term is above $700, so check out the Chat page (or Tuesday's Touts) if you're interested in further details, since the day's discussion will remain posted until the next commences. The chat room continues to evolve in ways I could not have predicted, but one thing is apparent: Hidden Pivot expertise in the room has reached a
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