Challenging Markets - Wonderful Lord

The Lord is giving us challenges in the markets these days. Perhaps, he is telling us to just hold tight, be patient, and spend more time with Him and His word. Maybe it is time to just wait for the market to reveal what it is going to do.

I have to get back to that wonderful joy of finishing my income tax returns. This is a challenge for me and I often procrastinate in this task. The Lord has lessened my procrastination, but it still hangs on to me.

Have a great day today! This is the day the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it. As Paul exhorts us, "Rejoice and again I say, 'Rejoice!'"

From Casey's Daily Resource Plus: "Now that we know that they're serious...it's my guess that JPMorgan and HSBC USA are still not done to the downside as far as the gold price is concerned. I don't know how long they will take to get to whatever price they need to, to cover their huge short positions. Will it be death by a thousand cuts, and it drags on for months...or a couple of swift thrusts, and it's over by the end of this week? Hopefully the latter...and we'll find out soon enough."

Well the boyz are still at it and we are yet to see how far they will go to get their way. I often wonder why our faithful regulators do not label these action illegal and go after them. Then, I regain my senses and know that it is against the interest of the paper currency monopoly to let gold and silver free. That would give citizens their rightful freedom. Perish the thought!

In line with the quote from Casey's, above, take a look at the blue traces on the graphs of gold and silver, below. The blue traces are very suspiciously similar for both metals. The action took place at the time of the smaller markets where trading is in very low volume. Any trading has a greater impact upon the prices.


Both silver and gold are off their lows. Gold is at 878.70 up 10 and silver is at 12.23 up 0.12. This should be a bit better day for the metals. The miners are doing a bit better, too. Here are our trading stocks: DROOY 7.15; HL 2.07; HMY 9.40, and VGZ 2.09. Both HL and VGZ have been holding fairly strongly on these bad price days. The DOW is off some 117 presently.

From Times On Line:

April 5, 2009
New gold rush sweeps across America

GOLD FEVER is gripping America again with record numbers of people taking to the hills and streams of California and other states hoping to strike it rich.

Membership of the Gold Prospectors of America Association has risen 20% in the past year, said general manager Ken Rucker. Read it HERE.

Wonder if this will expand "North to Alaska" as in the movie with John Wayne.

From Telegraph UK:

Swiss slide into deflation signals the next chapter of this global crisis

Watch Switzerland closely. It is tipping into deflation, the first Western country to succumb to Japan's disease.

Swiss consumer prices fell 0.4pc in March (year-on-year). Swiss CPI will be minus 1pc at least by July, nearing the level where spending psychology changes. By the time you have a self-feeding spiral, it is too late.

"This is something that we must prevent at all costs. The current situation is extraordinarily serious," said Philipp Hildebrand, a governor of the Swiss National Bank. Read it HERE.

The Swiss have been mostly above the average in holding firmly. This may be changing. The Swiss Franc has always in the past held a good deal of value relative to other paper currencies. This is a real sad day according to the article.

From Asia Times OnLine:

Geithner's dirty little secret
By F William Engdahl

US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, in unveiling his long-awaited plan to put the US banking system back in order, has refused to tell the dirty little secret of the present financial crisis. By refusing to do so, he is trying to save de facto bankrupt US banks that threaten to bring the entire global system down in a new more devastating phase of wealth destruction. Read it HERE.

We should often wonder what secrets are being held back from the people. If you have not, you should get and read the book, 1984. It is a tale about the "Big Brother" government which is all intrusive into the lives of citizens. It is a quick read, but amazing how much we are experiencing today. According to 1984, there is more to come.

From MineWeb.com:

How Mark-to-Market helped slow the economy

Why bank compliance with the latest accounting standards helped precipitate the global banking crisis which in turn led to the crash in markets and in most metals prices.

Author: Frank Holmes*
Posted: Tuesday , 07 Apr 2009

SAN ANTONIO -

There's been a lot of discussion of how the FAS 157 mark-to-market accounting rule may have contributed to the current deep recession.

The charts below from Citi Research (using Federal Reserve data) make a pretty compelling case for the unforeseen damage caused by the strict application of FAS 157. We are among those who applaud the Financial Accounting Standards Board for taking action this week to add flexibility in how the mark-to-market rule is used going forward. Read it HERE.

Is everything smoke and mirrors these days? There is most certainly a great deal of deception.

More from MineWeb.com:

Unwarranted post G20 euphoria drives gold downwards, but perhaps not for long

The plethora of misleading positive spin coming out of the G20 has misled the investment community into believing the worst may be over, but there could be some more mega shocks yet to come.

Author: Lawrence Williams
Posted: Tuesday , 07 Apr 2009

LONDON -

When one looks behind the G20 spin, there would seem to be little substance for the euphoria which appears to have pushed markets up with the hope that the bottom has been reached and that now the only way is up! This total change in perception by investors has reduced the safe haven appeal of the precious metals and both gold and silver have been marked down over the past few trading days - gold by around 6% or more and the more volatile silver by around 10%. Read it HERE.

This smoke and mirrors rhetoric was not the only cause of the ridiculous movement of gold and silver, but likely had some impact upon yesterday's market fiasco.

Need to get back to the taxes, so I'll close for today. Even though the prices of the miners are attractive, I am going to sit aside until the market gives us a better picture. Pray for the day of free markets which are certainly more predictable than the politically managed market of today. We do things God's way or face chaos.

Best to each, Doug