FOMC Minutes leave a lot of questions unanswered

• The Dollar continues to rack up the gains.

• FOMC Minutes leave a lot of questions unanswered.

Good Day... And a Tub Thumpin' Thursday to one and all! Well, the weather here didn't get back to normal yesterday, but... I did get outside to read and soak in some Vitamin D, for awhile.... I had to have on my quarter-zip, but other than that it was delightful... I saw the NFL wildcard games slated for this weekend.... I couldn't believe The Steelers had to play the Ravens again! But that's the draw.... The Semi's for the College Football Playoffs begin tonight, with the Orange Bowl and Penn State VS Notre Dame.... Eric Burdon & the Animals greet me this morning with their hit song: House of the Rising Sun...

Well, it's back.... The strong dollar is kicking tail and taking names later again.... Yesterday, the BBDXY rose 7 index points, the euro held onto the 1.03 handle, but the rest of the currencies didn't hold their ground. It was an ugly day for them... The Fed's FOMC Meeting Minutes revealed that the Fed Heads emphasized that policy is not on a preset path and will need to evolve in response to the data and enacted policies of the administration. So, in other words, The Fed heads aren't certain where interest rates will head, inflation and Trump are their Concerns.... 

The dollar bugs took that as they may not even be one more rate cut and took to buying dollars like funnel cakes at a State Fair! But.... Gold wasn't fazed by the dollar's rally, and Gold gained $16 on the day to close at $2,664.10, and Silver gained 4-cents to close at $30.20.... And have I got something good for you on Silver in the FWIW section today.... But wait, there's more here before we get there! 

The prices of Gold & Silver were manipulated again yesterday with the goal of the short paper traders to keep the two metals from taking off for the moon!  Here's Ed Steer with his thoughts on yesterday: "It was another day where there was obvious price management in the precious metals. As I pointed out further up, there is now little if any correlation between precious metal prices and what's happening with the dollar index.

They all want to rally, despite the rise in the DXY -- and it's more than obvious that the collusive commercial traders of whatever stripe are there to keep a lid on their prices in order to prevent a run from paper assets to precious metals, or the commodity complex in general." - Ed Steer from www.edsteergoldsilver.com

The price of Oil fell to a $72 handle yesterday.... Profit taking probably.... And the 10-year saw its yield drop to 4.68% yesterday.... As there was some buying.... I wonder who? Maybe the Fed/ Cabal/ Cartel? Nah... They're out of the bond buying business, right? Yeah, and my first wife was a young Elizabeth Taylor, yeah, that's the ticket! 

In the overnight markets last night.... The dollar was bought some more with the BBDXY up 1 index point this morning.... The euro is holding 1.03 at the moment... As the rate cuts that the ECB has made are being seen now as the cause of a rise in the inflation rate that was seen for the Eurozone earlier this week. The rest of the currencies are all sick bed stricken and will remain there as long as the dollar bugs keep buying dollars.... The price of Gold is up $12 to start our day today, and Silver is up 15-cents.... These two have been keeping the short paper traders on the edges of their respective seats, so good for them! But as Ed points out this morning above, the two metals would be much higher prices without the short paper traders keeping them in check... 

The price of Oil bumped back up to a $73 handle overnight, and the 10-year saw some more buying overnight, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond at 4.66% this morning... 

This from the good folks at GATA: "Our friend Paul Fitzgerald of Groton, Massachusetts, has just proven that even individuals can get the attention of the entities and organizations that purportedly supervise our rigged markets, even if the truth can't always be extracted from them.

Fitzgerald recently filed a formal complaint with CME Group, operator of the major futures exchanges in the United States, alleging longstanding manipulation of the gold and silver markets operated by CME Group. While CME Group, in response, claimed to be unable to find evidence of substantial manipulation, Fitzgerald's complaint prompted CME Group's lead investigator to make himself ridiculous."

Chuck again...I could have told him to not waste his time, as the CME never sees any manipulation of Gold & Silver prices.... If you look up the CME you'll find the monkey with his hand over his eyes.... I'm just saying.... 

And here's Bill Bonner with his take on the politicos.... "The division of the US between ‘left’ and ‘right’ is no longer very helpful. The leftists (democrats) are supposed to represent progress, the working classes, and the downtrodden. The rightists (republicans) are supposed to favor more traditional, upper class conservative values.

But today, the elites of both parties represent the same group — themselves. They squabble over cultural issues. But on matters of real importance, the two things that will ruin us... war and money, they both want the same thing: more.

Since the 1980s no major figure in either party opposed the empire agenda... with its deficits... money-printing... and more than 800 US bases around the world housing US garrisons."

Chuck again... And that's why we have a ever growing, unsustainable, $36 Trillion national debt! Oh, and you can find Bill here: www.bonnerprivateresearch.com

I thought I would give you some different opinions on things other than mine this morning.... I hope you're up for it.... 

And this final article could be a FWIW entry, but.... I have it here: get a load of this: "New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy passed a law to remove the requirement to pass the Praxis Core Test, a basic skills test for reading, writing, and math, for people seeking an instructional certificate."

What has this country's education come to?

The U.S. Data Cupboard yesterday, had the ADP Employment Report for Dec. And it showed that only 122,000 jobs were created in Dec. You may recall me telling you that 136,000 were expected.... And the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims fell to 201,000... So, two different scenarios here... But remember, last week was a short week for filing claims.... And that's probably the reason it was so low.... We already discussed the FOMC'S Meeting Minutes above.... What a mess! 

To recap.... The dollar is back in the driver's seat.... Oooh, ooh, ooh, Driver's Seat yeah.... (Sniff-n-the-Tears) It was an ugly day for the currencies, but not for Gold, which gained $16 on the day, and Silver gained 4-cents... We had visits from GATA, and Bill Bonner this morning.... And the ADP report was very disappointing

For What It's Worth.... This is a great article about Silver, it's lack of supply, an explanation of the term "stock-out", and what it means for Silver going forward.... 

Here's your snippet: " Gold will rally in the second half of the year as the Fed resumes its rate cuts, but the real story right now is the massive impact that President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats are having on global silver stocks, according to TD Securities’ Senior Commodity Strategist Daniel Ghali.

In a Jan. 7 interview, Ghali said that investors need to take notice of an unprecedented situation that’s unfolding in the silver market right now.

“It's hard to see it in flat prices, but over the last month there's been a huge disruption in precious metals markets where the threat of universal tariffs on metals is leading traders around the world to bring metal in from London and other global venues into the U.S., only to hedge against the risk that tariffs will be implemented on precious metals,” he said. “Historically they haven't – precious metals have been considered money in effect – but if they were to be subject to tariffs, then traders holding short positions against metal that they actually hold somewhere else in the world would be subject to substantial losses.”

“In order to hedge against that risk, they're bringing metal into the U.S.”

Ghali clarified that he’s not talking about contracts or other financial instruments, but actual, physical metal that is being brought en masse into the United States, and the implications are profound.

“This could inadvertently lead to a stock-out in the world's largest metal vaulting system for silver in London,” he said.

“This is the biggest story in commodity markets right now. Silver markets seem to be just completely sleepwalking into a potential stock-out.”

“A stock-out is a moment in time where the inventories of the metal cross a critical threshold below which the [market] structure is challenged,” Ghali explained. “If you think about how the world trades physical precious metals, the global venue for that is sitting in London but most people actually use U.S.-based contracts to hedge price risks. So the challenge here is that the threat of universal tariffs is leading metal to go from the world's largest venue into the U.S., depleting that inventory buffer that traders use for over-the-counter transactions every day.”

“And mind you, we are now in a fourth consecutive year of very substantial deficits in silver,” he added. “This trend of depleting inventories was already set up, and this is simply something that's accelerating that process.”

Galley agreed that this scenario could only be very price-positive for silver. "

Chuck again... And what did I tell you yesterday to do about Silver? Yes, that was back up the truck! But again, that's my opinion, and I could be wrong.... Although I doubt it! 

Market Prices 1/9/2025: American Style: A$ .6196, kiwi .5693, C$ .6948, euro 1.0301, sterling 1.2282, Swiss 1.0966, European Style: rand 18.8935, krone 11.4015, SEK 11.1687, forint 404.70, zloty 4.1453, koruna 24.2499, RUB 102.26, yen 157.71, sing 1.3667, HKD 7.7808, INR 85.86, China 7.3322, peso 20.43, BRL 6.1137, BBDXY 1,312, Dollar Index 109.14, Oil $73.57, 10-year 4.66%, Silver $30.35, Platinum $958.00, Palladium $929.00, Copper $4.30, and Gold.... $2,672.39

That's it for today.... Well, the SLU Billikens played last night, and although the game was not aired down here, I was able to follow it with my iPhone, and The Billikens won the game!... It'll be footballpalooza starting tonight, and tomorrow night, and then Sat & Sun in the NFL.... On Saturday, it's supposed to rain here, so it won't be bad to stay inside and veg out watching football! I was protesting against the NFL when all the kneeling for the National Anthem was going on, but since that has stopped, I'm back! My cold is gone! YAHOO! And I didn't need a nap yesterday, so.... I'm coming around to normal a week before my next infusion.... UGH! Then it starts all over again! 

So, remember, no Pfennig next Wednesday or Thursday.... Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes take us to the finish line today with their great song: If You Don't Know Me By Now.... I hope you have a Tub Thumpin' Thursday today, and please Be Good To Yourself!