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The armpit-sniffing monkeys who believe themselves to be in control of the markets seem to have forgotten what kicked off this too-steep rally. It was the uncannily well-timed announcement by AAPL of a $110 billion stock buyback a week earlier. Ironically, although AAPL appears to have stalled out with a relatively modest 6% gain on news they'd ginned up themselves to cover a faltering outlook, the S&Ps were as revved-up as ever last week, looking like they want to vault the previous all-time high at 5333.50 recorded on April Fool's Day. They made such dramatic progress toward that goal last week that I am not going to insist that the old high will endure. Even so, I will be on Defcon One alert to the possibility Mr. Market will set the hook for bulls and bears alike via an irresistible feint to marginal new highs. Buying power would be supplied mainly by short-covering, so look for signs that bears are getting shredded, defenestrated, mauled, tortured and impaled by oscillations near 5333.50.

Silver stalled Friday precisely at the 29.00 midpoint of the bullish pattern shown. My gut feeling is that it will finish the week above this Hidden Pivot resistance, presumably bound for at least p2=30.37, and thence D=31.75.  These are relatively modest targets in comparison to longer-term charts that show upside potential to 36.03 and higher, but we'll take them one at a time, the better to keep risk under tight control as we augment and hedge positions on the way up.  If you're keen on trading this vehicle, please be vocal about it in the chat room.

Bertie has seemed too feisty lately to be prepping for a capitulation down to the 54,131 target shown. However, the pattern has been working perfectly in all respects, and the effortless downside penetration of p=60,692 on first contact strongly implies that 54,131 will eventually be achieved. The pattern also telegraphed a 'mechanical' short from x=63,973 that delivered a straightforward, anxiety-free gain of about $3,300 in just four trading days. All things considered, we'll use p2=57,411 as a minimum downside objective for the time being.

Although there is no publicly traded company called Pirate's Treasure, the impressive price history displayed in the chart above is real enough. The Canadian company holds royalties to five gold mines that could conceivably rank among the largest in the world someday, according to 'Spartacus', a Rick's Picks regular known for his street savvy, his encyclopedic knowledge of the mining world, and his insightful posts in the chat room. The stock is a classic 'be right, sit tight' winner, he says, and enviable profits will be made by investors patient enough to play the waiting game. If you want to find out the real name of 'Pirate's Treasure', and of similarly promising stocks that are routinely discussed in the chat room, click here. This will give you free access to all the features and amenities of Rick's Picks, including provocative commentary and actionable 'touts' for such popular vehicles as the E-Mini S&Ps, crude oil, gold and silver futures, the Dollar Index, TLT, bitcoin, Microsoft and Apple. Put and call options are a specialty, with occasional 'Friday jackpot bets' intended to at least double or quadruple one's stake in an hour or less. (Certain caveats apply, as noted in the disclaimer below.)  There are also two chat rooms that draw some of the best traders in the blogosphere. One of them is devoted mainly to timely trading ideas; the other, a 'coffee house', to more freewheeling discussion. Fahrenheit 430.58 Technical forecasts in the touts section are often precise-to-the-penny, but also intuitive.  There is MSFT, for instance, which has served lately as our #1 bellwether for the bull market. We predicted in a headline last year that a 430.58 high in the stock could signal the end of the grandaddy of all bull markets. This forecast is still viable and could prove

ES will become a juicy 'mechanical' shorting opportunity when it hits the green line (x=5194.50), probably on Monday or Tuesday. Entry risk is $7000 per contract, so the trade is suggested only to subscribers who know how to set up a risk-averse, 'camouflage' trigger. I posted an equally appealing trade on Friday, based on a pattern that was gnarly perfection. Unfortunately, I neglected to consider that AAPL's earnings were due out after the close. Ordinarily, I would say the pattern should have 'known' that the company was going to announce a $110 billion buyback that would send the S&Ps, if not the stock itself, into a rabid, short-squeeze.  AAPL's reaction so far has been a relatively modest 7% gain, although it's possible DaBoyz will milk the news to produce yet more unearned 'wealth' when stocks start to trade Sunday night.  So how did AAPL trash a bet-the-farm trading pattern? I don't know, but the short from the green line that triggered on Friday was performing well until the news hit moments after the bell. If the stock had moved lower, I'd have bet the ranch bottom-fishing the 'D' target as well. The lesson here is that we should be very careful about taking positions ahead of the close, especially if one of the biggest-cap companies in the world is about to report earnings. You should take a close look at the pattern posted in the chat room nonetheless, since it is as fine a specimen of 'gnarly' as I could imagine -- one that should work for you most of the time.

The bullish reverse pattern shown implies that the rally that ended the week is bound for a minimum 421.63 -- still somewhat shy of a major Hidden Pivot resistance at 430.58 that has capped AAPL's bull market since mid-March. We'll wait to see how buyers handle the resistance before we infer that new record highs are coming. If so, let's be alert to the possibility that a marginal feint into record territory would fake out enough bulls and bears to set up a hellacious dive similar to one in IBM that I featured here a while back.

June Gold ended the week in a dither about what comes next. Three marginal penetrations last week of the p midpoint support implied that sellers lack the conviction to push the futures down to D=2235.70.  We'll be better able to judge their mood and capabilities after we've seen how the markets open Sunday evening. In any event, it would take a decisive push above C=2364.40 to suggest bulls have the wattage to take out mid-April's record peak at 2448.80.

Some of you may remember Gary Liebowitz, a troll that I 86'd from the site years ago. He still harangues me now and then, and I am saddened to report that his rage has only worsened, especially where Trump is concerned. Here's a pungent note from Gary that just plopped into my email box. I am reprinting it here because it casts him in a role he was born to play: useful idiot. Your deflationary theory has already been proven wrong as the current market is careening towards a TOP as it and YOU ignore the real signs of a 40-year INFLATIONARY Cycle that has started. As predicted by Warren Buffet himself when discussing cycles. He acknowledged this pattern.  The dollar is moving UP (WITH) rising Inflation.  10-year note will oblige.  In an election year the FED will be FORCED to sit on its hand even if clear signs of inflation are seen. Your refusal to accept the current reality matches you love of a fascist.  From Rape, extortion, sedition, and treason there is no act Trump can commit that will allow you to change your mind.  Rigid fanatical cult-like thinking is always a prescription for disaster. But since 50% of this nation believe as you, I can only conclude the recent fascist Hitler with his 12 year reign is more common and repetitive than anyone thought possible. Millennials' Burden Gary hasn't gotten everything wrong. I'd have to concede, for one, that I did not foresee the current round of inflation. However, I still believe that a catastrophic deleveraging -- aka deflation -- is the only mechanism through which public debts that long ago ceased to be repayable can be discharged. The inevitable bear market in stocks, postponed by fiscal and credit stimulus of almost unimaginable proportions for far longer

Although the downtrend's stall at 40.24 suggests the midpoint support might hold, my bias is bearish due to a silver chart that suggests bullion's correction has further to go. That implies sellers will breach p, headed to at least p2=38.00, or possibly to d=35.77.  That is as bad as I could see, as the chart suggests, although it is not theoretically the worst case, which would be 31.27 (on the daily chart, use reverse a=43.89 on 4/13/23). The good news is that the associated p at 37.99 would offer another potential turnaround spot where we could attempt to bottom-fish aggressively with risk under very tight control. There is also the possibility that p=40,24 will hold and the GDXJ, along with gold and silver futures, will break out to new highs. For that to happen after so fleeting a shallow a correction would be very bullish.