Member-only content. Please Login or get a free trial of Rick's Picks to view.
Member-only content. Please Login or get a free trial of Rick's Picks to view.
If I were short right now, wearing the pain on my sleeve, I’d have grown so despairing as to create near-certitude in the minds of contrarians that a very nasty swoon is at hand. We should therefore pay close attention to any signs of trouble — meaning, for one, pullbacks that exceed their ‘D’ targets. While we’re at it, and because no signs of trouble have developed yet, let’s try bottom-fishing at the midpoint shown in the chart. The trade will of course be viable only if the downtrend plays out in a fashion similar to what I have drawn. (It doesn’t have to be exact, though, and ‘C’ could be higher than the one shown). My instructions are non-verbal, but the method you are to use will be accessible to all who have taken the Hidden Pivot course. I would encourage you to share your tactics with those in the chat room who may be less experienced. _______ UPDATE: We had the right idea, although the pattern shown in the chart missed the actual low by two ticks. That low occurred at 1046.00, but our bid would have been at 1045.50. The fact that a retracement abc was unable to get to its midpoint telegraphed the strength that unfolded on Wednesday. As a practical matter, the buy was subsequently signaled on the first bullish impulse leg that occurred after 1045.50 was missed on the pullback. This occurred on the opening, on a 1058.00 high.
Looks like a minimum 1022.00 from here, enroute to a bigger-picture target at 1074.00 that I have more or less promised. I won’t try to split hairs with chat-roomers who have been monitoring gold’s every heartbeat, every microtrend, but I will pitch in with whatever camouflage entry opportunities may crop up (as one did yesterday morning). There’s another in progress at this very moment (albeit with a caveat), as you can see in the accompanying chart. Notice how Tuesday’s high fell between the two labeled peaks to the left.
Member-only content. Please Login or get a free trial of Rick's Picks to view.
Member-only content. Please Login or get a free trial of Rick's Picks to view.
Take any dozen good reasons for being bearish right now and they still don’t equal the bullishness of the chart shown. The undeniably compelling rally objective is 13085, a 4.8% move from current levels, and one can only surmise that the dusting the 12158 midpoint received on the last pullback (12/28) all but clinched a finishing stroke to the higher number. Moreover, it implies that bears shouldn’t get their hopes too high even if, in the next few days, the Dow plummets 324 points to retest the midpoint support. As of now, that would signal not weakness, but a screaming opportunity to get long. Hard to believe, really, but that’s what the charts say.
Let me reiterate that, with Goldman presumably bound for at least 192.91, any pullback that lines up with Hidden Pivots is a speculative buy. Yesterday, for instance, I’d flagged a major midpoint support at 175.05 where you might have considered doing so. However, the actual low of a nasty swoon on the opening was 175.46. Although, with Goldman in such a strong uptrend, we should expect pullbacks to fall shy of their targets, we can still catch the turns — and trade them — using camouflage. Our edge yesterday lay in “knowing” that the correction would reverse from within spitting distance of the midpoint pivot.
Click here for a fine rant from Roger Mason on the true state of the economy.
Here’s another sharp rebuke to all the yo-yos who think inflation is just around the corner. The essay amplifies Hummel’s thoughts – published here recently – on seigniorage, explaining why hyperinflations can occur only in currency-driven systems (such as Zimbabwe’s), and not in nations like the U.S., where money has effectively been replaced by credit. Click here to read the full essay. Here’s an excerpt:
“I agree with Pento on every point, except for one – a devastating bout of inflation is unlikely. In the United States, two camps of thought dominate the marketplace. The bullish camp believes that government interventions can be fine-tuned to hold inflation in-check, while allowing the economy to expand. The bearish camp believes that government interventions will eventually unleash uncontrollable inflation that will send the price of gold, oil, and other commodities soaring to sky-high levels – while sending the economy into a prolonged tailspin due to reduced purchasing power.
“But more than likely, both camps are wrong. And the hyperinflation expected by the bearish comp is even more unlikely than the bullish viewpoint. Why? Throughout the world’s financial history, there has never been a case of hyperinflation in a country using a monetary-system based on credit. Hyperinflations only occur in countries that use currency for money. That’s an important distinction that cannot be overlooked.
“A credit-based monetary system prevents severe inflation in two ways. (1) During times of rising inflation, investors avoid bonds in favor of hard assets. As a result, bond prices deflate, causing great losses for existing debt holders. (2) During times of financial stress, bonds backed by questionable assets deflate in value.”









Ben’s Pretty Sure Recession Is Over
by Rick Ackerman on September 16, 2009 12:05 am GMT · 4 comments
It’s almost official: the recession is maybe, probably, technically over. Helicopter Ben said so yesterday, and who are we to argue? You can hardly blame the guy for having his head in the clouds, considering how retail sales absolutely exploded in August. Sure, it was due almost entirely to a cash-for-clunkers program that taxpayers have yet to pay for. But the program will have been a bargain if it helps foster the impression Americans are in a spending mood again. And if that’s all it takes to get the economy rolling, then by all means, let’s extend clunker status to everything else in America that clunks, starting with Iron City’s peerless clunkmeisters, the Pittsburgh Pirates. We’ll personally chip in a TV set » Read the full article