The price of Oil is really reacting to the retaliation news

• Currencies & metals rally on Wednesday after Powell speaks.

• The BoJ hikes rates and Yen rallies.

Good Day... And a Tub Thumpin' Thursday to one and all! And Welcome to August, traditionally the "dog days of summer" month... Well, the best laid plans of mice and men, was what I was thinking about yesterday, when we sat in the West Palm Beach Airport for near 2 hours waiting for a departure... Surely, we would miss our connection in Atlanta, due to the tardiness of our initial flight... But Our connection was delayed enough that we made the flight, and got home very late last night... So, I'm really draggin' the line (The Shondells) this morning... My beloved Cardinals came out swinging VS Texas the last two games, winning both by a wide margin! The Cardinals now go to Wrigley for a 4-game set VS the Cubs.

Well, 2 down 1 to go... The Big 3 Central Bank Meetings this week, saw the Bank of Japan (BOJ) hike rates 25 Basis Points (don't get all giddy about that yet), and the U.S. FOMC held rates steady Eddie... The Bank of England (BOE ) will be meeting right now while my fat fingers type away this morning...  It was the tale of two Central Banks yesterday, with the BOJ saying that they would entertain more rate hikes if inflation continued to rise, while Jerome Powell, chief el jefe, of the FOMC said that the Fed Heads would entertain a rate cut, if inflation goes down more.

So, he left the door open there folks, because given what he's already said about how the Fed Heads were ready to cut rates even if their 2% inflation target wasn't met, now he's wedging in another hint that they are ready to cut rates now, because if inflation drops by .1%, he can point to his previous statement about how they would cut rates if inflation goes down more.

Never mind that a .1% drop could be a rounding error... Powell, also said that if the time to cut rates arrived before the election, that "adjusting for Trump and Harris policies ‘a line we would never cross"... To that I say balderdash! Hogwash! Liar, liar pants on fire!  Powell has lied to us before, so why would this be any different?

So... Gold & Silver liked what Powell had to say... Bonds liked what Powell had to say... Stocks liked what Powell had to say, The price of Oil, oh you get the drift, and guess who didn't like to hear what Powell had to say? The dollar! Holy Cow, I head myself saying when I saw the move in the BBDXY yesterday and said to myself. "Are we finally going to get back to fundamentals?"

So, for those of you keeping score at home... Gold gained $ 37, to close at $2,447.70, and Silver59-cents, to close at $29.05... The price of Oil ended the day with a $78 handle, and the 10-year's yield fell to 4.06% (from 4.17% the previous day).. Remember, in bond pricing, as the yield goes down, the price of the bond goes up... . And vice versa.

The BBDXY lost 7 index points yesterday... But to me this has sell off has been building up steam, as the BBDXY was 1,269 just last week, before the small selling of the dollar began, in anticipation of a loose lips FOMC... During WWII, there was a saying that "loose lips, sink ships", and yesterday's loose lips sank the dollar.

In the overnight markets last night... Well, I guess the foreign markets all thought that the selling of the dollar was overdone, because they bought dollars and brought the BBDXY up 3 index points this morning... Gold is down $2 to start the day today, and Silver has given back 18-cents of its gains yesterday... I'm very scared here folks... And I'll tell you why... Any time in the past, when Gold & Silver start the day in the red, it gives the short paper traders an opportunity to sell the metals short under the cover of darkness... So, get ready for the takedown... Or, maybe, just maybe cause you never know, Gold & Silver will turnaround those early losses today!  There I like being optimistic better than being old gloom and doom, Chuck.

The price of Oil remained in the $78 handle overnight, and the 10-year saw its yield drop a bit more to 4.04%.

You know, it occurred to me yesterday, while waiting for over 2 hours for our plane to take to board... That if it weren't for the full of lies, inflation reports, the Fed Head wouldn't be able to talk about rate cuts... All these years that I've pointed out that the inflation reports are bogus, massaged, and cooked., I guess it never occurred to me that the Gov't's lies, would bring us to this point, where the Fed Heads are ready to cut rates, and inflation hasn't gone anywhere, it's still here, the prices that went up, have not come down have they? Your grocery bill is still outrageous, isn't it? And so on.

Well, the Japanese yen is really on the rally tracks this morning, after the BOJ's rate hike... And another currency that is firmly on the rally tracks this morning is the Swiss franc... The franc has always been a "safe haven currency", and the reports this morning are not good for World Peace, as there are reports that Iran is going to make a retaliatory strike against Israel... That whole mess over there in the Middle East, is like a box of tinder, and waiting for a spark to light it, and this strike by Iran could be the spark, I'm just saying.

And if they do retaliate, then back up the truck for the save haven currencies, of francs, euros, sterling, yen, and while you're backing up be sure to grab some Gold.

The price of Oil is really reacting to the retaliation news, and that has the Petrol Currencies looking a bit better this morning... The Norwegian krone, Russian ruble, Brazilian real, Canadian loon, British pound sterling, and Mexican peso to name a few Petrol Currencies are looking healthier for sure! 

The U.S. Data Cupboard yesterday had the ADP Employment Report for July... Again, I feel that the ADP Employment Report should be used as the nation's employment data/ report.

Instead of the hedonically adjusted BLS crock of dookie...  And yesterday's ADP report showed that the hiring in July slowed to just 122,000...  And circling the wagons back to Tuesday, I told you that the STUPID Consumer Confidence report would show the pulse of the stock market in July, and apparently, the goofuses that were polled thought stocks were strong, because the Confidence index rose from 97.8 to 100.2...  I swear, I would love to get one on one with someone that is that confident...  The other report that we talked about on Tuesday was the Case/ Shiller Home Price Index, and the HPI showed that house prices fell, in May... This report has showed that home prices have steadily dropped for some time now.

To recap... The BOJ hiked rates, and the FOMC said that they were ready to cut rates, and that sent the markets into a tizzy... Stocks, Bonds, Currencies, metals, Energy all rallied BIG TIME yesterday, with only the dollar getting punished for the FOMC's loose lips... There are reports this morning that Iran is preparing for a retaliation against Israel... Chuck thinks that if that happens the tinder box that is the Middle East will receive a spark and all hell will break loose... Got Gold?

Here's your snippet: "How does it feel to be living on the edge of a bubble just before it bursts? Ever since the days of the Great Recession, our leaders have been going to extremes that we have never seen before as they attempt to keep our failing economy propped up. The Federal Reserve has created trillions upon trillions of dollars out of thin air and pumped it into the financial system. Our politicians in Washington have been on the greatest debt binge in the history of the world, and as a result our national debt has soared to truly horrifying levels.

On Monday, our national debt reached 35 trillion dollars, and even the New York Times is admitting that it is growing “more quickly than many economists had predicted”.

America’s gross national debt topped $35 trillion for the first time on Monday, a reminder of the nation’s grim fiscal predicament as legislative fights over taxes and spending initiatives loom in Washington.

The Treasury Department noted the milestone in its daily report detailing the nation’s balance sheet. The red ink is mounting in the United States more quickly than many economists had predicted as the costs of federal programs enacted in recent years have exceeded initial projections.

To mark this milestone, the House Budget Committee released some numbers about how rapidly our debt has been growing over the last 12 months.

$196 billion in new debt per month.

$6.4 billion in new debt per day.

$268 million in new debt per hour.

$4.5 million in new debt per minute.

$74,401 in new debt per second.

The third number in that list really stands out to me.

268 million dollars is being stolen from future generations of Americans every single hour of every single day, and hardly anyone seems to care.

We are literally committing national suicide.

When a government borrows money which must be paid back later, prosperity in the future is being sacrificed for more prosperity in the present."

Chuck again... Well for 31 years now, I've warned anyone that wanted to pay attention to me that the growing debt was going to be a real problem for us, our financial system, and the dollar in the years to come... Maybe, just maybe, cause you never know, $35 Trillion isn't the figure that will be the straw that breaks the U.S.'s back, but, we're on our way there, and there's no turning back now... The time to turn back was during the Bush II years... I'm just saying... 

Market prices 8/1/2024: American Style: A$ .6545, kiwi .5953, C$ 7236, euro 1.0792, Sterling 1.2807, Swiss $1.1416, European Style: rand 18.1957, krone 10.8733, SEK 10.5544, forint 366.91, zloty 3.9912, koruna 23.5857, RUB 85.86, yen 150.80, sing 1.3376, HKD 7.8149, INR 83.72, China 7.2476, peso 18.56, BRL 5.6762, BBDXY 1,256.00, Dollar Index 104.36, Oil $78.24, 10-year 4.04%, Silver $28.88, Platinum $973.00, Palladium $929.00, Copper $4.13, and Gold... $2,445.40.

That's it for today, and this week... Cards and Cubs this weekend, this historically has been one of the best rivalries in baseball... I sure hope the Cardinals' found bats continue to hit this weekend... You know, in our "flood" last summer my writing desk was ruined, but all my pictures were saved, but packed away until I get a new writing desk... I have a makeshift desk now, not one that I enjoy writing at, etc. and no pictures... Darling Daughter Dawn, make me a collage of pictures with me and my grandkids on a poster board, and so that's what I have to look at now... There's one of me reading T'was The Night Before Christmas to little Evie, while the 3 other grandkids all are around me peeking over my shoulder... Love it! Faces take us to the finish line today with their great 70's song: Ooh La la.... C'mon you don't know that one? As soon as the song starts, you'll give yourself a V8 head slap and say, I know it now! I hope you have a Tub Thumpin' Thursday today, and please Be Good To Yourself.