Stocks Up, Gold Down: Insanity Rules!

Yesterday, it was buy stocks, sell gold till your head caves in.  What a bizarre inversion of reality —  a gusher of pent-up stupidity! Next thing you know, there will be a huge stampede out of U.S. Treasurys. That would sound the “All clear!” right around the time nuclear-tipped inbounds start showing up on the Fed’s Erector-set radar. The exuberance that greeted yesterday’s 379-point surge in the Dow recalls the frolicking of Munchkins after Dorothy’s house dropped on the Wicked Witch of the East.  As you may recall, they celebrated for all of about ten minutes before the even Wickeder Witch of the West showed up.

april-gold-slippage-small

We give this short squeeze another day or two, ending just as CNBC’s benighted minions start piling into such oversold value plays as GM at $2 a share, Fannie Mae at 50 cents, and Goldman Sachs at $90. Investors will be loaded for bear at that point, only to find the forest inhabited by nothing larger than squirrels, skunks and rabbits.  Incidentally, the rally was not difficult to foresee, as indeed we did with this tout sent out to subscribers Monday night: “Monday’s chat room buzz had it that a strong rally could erupt at any moment.  Perhaps, but there’s no use cluttering our minds with such ugly speculation unless the futures pop through the three peaks show in the chart without drawing a breath.” As it happened, the futures popped through those three peaks, allowing us to  capture a fair piece of the rally with some timely trading guidance in the chat room 30 minutes into the session.

Comex Gold Target

Nor had the weakness in Gold been unanticipated. We’d forecast a $35 drop in Comex April Gold, to around $881-$885, and the futures got about 60% of the way there with Tuesday’s selloff. That’s about as bad as we can see for now, although we’d need to take another look if the selling takes the futures below 875.70 by week’s end.  At $881, though, Gold will  have fallen 12.5 percent from its recent high near $1007.  That’s the kind of selling we should like to see:  nervous nellies dumping gold into strong hands.  One day soon, when the latter make their move, you can bet they’ll thank the sellers with a vengeance.

  • Ray Newton March 12, 2009, 10:17 am

    Rick,

    There is plently of insanity among the world’s teeming humanity, that is for sure.

    Within the range of definitions of the malady is: -‘ being out of touch with reality’. There are so few today gifted with a sound reasoning mind that it is a human resource rarer than any precious metal.

    The inability to apply reason and logic inhibits the rejection of a good 99% of the around the clock, ubiquitous. force fed. mind food that is churned out by today’s all pervasive. and persuasive, media.

    We are not what we ‘eat’, unless it is mind food, we are what we ‘think’. The expert psychologists who direct our media content know this only too well.

    Change is reality, in fact life is one of constant change. The peculiarities of change is that it requires an alert, analytical mind to understand, and evaluate it at the time it is being personally experienced. It also comes at different speeds.

    Today, since the start of the Industrial Revolution, change is more rapid, and at times overwhelming, and it has been moving apace. We are now in an age of instant gratification. We want it ‘yesterday’. Consequently ‘speculation’ has taken over from ‘investment’.

    Participants in the markets are now ‘traders’, either , day. weekly, or monthly, but 12 months seems like an eternity to today’s eager beavers.

    The markets have, with technology, quickly adapted to this. One thing reacts upon another and so it grows. There is still a considerable amount of money sloshing around armed with trading data, and proliferation of’ advice looking for the next opportunity, the next ‘good thing’.

    Trades can be made while sat at home with a computer, and as quick as the finger can touch the send button. The computer also permits a quick switch from your Stock Market on line broker, to the Forex broker and the currencies.

    The Financial Markets today, irrespective of their founding principles, exist to redistribute money from the many, to the few. And they do a successful job. What is not understood is that an element of ‘the few’ have the information to know where the ‘bets’ are falling. They can then rig the system to their advantage. All aided by subtle media influence.

    So, when the ‘punters’ move to the precious metal, the opposing force moves to the Dow. When the money moves to the dollar, the opposing force moves to the Euro, or wherever.

    It all follows Newton’s first law of motion (not Sir Isaac’s but Ray Newton, ‘moi’) ‘A stock price will trend in one direction and continue that trend until acted upon by an equal, or unbalanced, force.

    Having said all this, and to bring this to a speedy close, the greatest
    illustration of the ‘insanity’ which abounds is the failure of the masses to
    understand the full meaning of the words of a man who headed the government of the most powerful nation in the world around a hundred and fifty years ago.

    He was Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister of Great Britiain when she had the most powerful navy that ever sailed the high seas, and controlled an Empire upon which the sun literally never set.

    His words were clear, and concise for he had an excellent command of English. He said:

    ‘This world is run by far different personages than is believed by those not on the ‘inside’.

    Understanding those few simple words removes all the confused and muddled
    thinking, and conjecture as to why those whom we elected under the guise of ‘democracy’. appear so often to behave in ways that are at variance to our nation’s interests. In fact it explains so many imponderables.

    The truth really does set one free – free from muddled thinking and doubt.

  • tompaine March 11, 2009, 7:29 pm

    It almost felt like a return to last fall, except for common stocks, which I’m mainly short, were going UP! Sheer madness! Like there could be serious stock market recovery without hyper inflation. I could see stocks up, gold up, oil up, in anticipation of hyper inflation. But gold down hard, oil down hard, stocks up big; that could only be in anticipation of return to 90’s la la land. We’re not going there.

    Stocks pausing today, gold back up. Now that makes more sense, but what is up with oil? Is a barrell of oil really only worth the same as eight or nine $5 foot longs?
    Rick seems to see it going to the $ twenties, but then were talking a barrell for five or six foot longs. Ain’t gonn happen, IMO, but the market seldom does what makes sense to me…except for gold going from $250 to $1,000, that made sense, though if I was starving I’d sure rather have 200 foot longs (and a freezer) than an ounce of gold.

  • Rich March 11, 2009, 6:44 pm

    Aloha All
    Imagine this memo last week from Jeffrey Immelt, GE CEO, to CNBC’s editorial desk:
    ‘I just got a nasty call from Neutron Jack and you guys have got to stop talking GE and the market down with your damn Tea Parties, Anti-Bailout Rants and Anti-Obama Nation. We run a global business, not a madrasah. Our business needs more confidence, not cheeky independent financial reporters questioning what’s good for America with negative consumer credit reports on banks and lending shadows like us, F and GM. Get rid of that Meredith Whitney Bank Beech! Starting this week Kudlow, get Doug Kass and others on the Buy side. Get some bullish news out on Citi and the other zombies. Monday, put permabull O Man Warren Buffett on. Remember he gave us $3 B to buy GE at 22.25. So that’s our target. We do not quit pushing good news until GE is back above our 22.25 options and the other Generals quadruple. That’s an order. Or you can join the ranks of the unemployed….’
    Regards*Rich