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As noted in a previous
post, HUI has sneakily diverged bullishly from gold on its last 3 tests
of 320. Here is another look at it after a few more bullish days of trading.

At the same time, the gold miners product is declining vs. their costs. Something
has got to give. As long as gold doesn't make new lows vs. the likes of crude
oil & industrial metals, we grind forward in the oncoming contraction (of
whatever magnitude) camp.

A weekly chart of the S&P 500 shows no break downs whatsoever and in fact
looks like a bullish consolidation. With techs leading and short interest high
because everybody KNOWS the market is coming down, it may be quite a grind
getting this piggy under control. This is the miracle of funny munny, there
is enough of it in play that walls of worry have been constructed the world
over. Too bad they are all built on a sand foundation (debt).

With short interest high and a holdout public still generally not in acknowledgment
of the bull market, it is not a stretch to imagine a blow off to impressive
new highs as shorts give up and cover and the public, seeing this, finally
jumps in. Henry To covers this subject quite well in High
Short Interest the Achilles' Heel of Bears. I have been watching the semi's
- a leader of late - with great interest. The SOX is still 'big picture' bearish
but a blow off up to stiff resistance will feel like bullish nirvana as techs
continue to lead. We of course keep in mind how this scenario ended the last
time technology accelerated to the upside. What is needed of course are some
good 'stories'; updated versions of '.com', 'XML', 'DWDM', 'e-anything', etc.
What is also needed is for the financial media to dutifully get on board the
bullishness and give the public permission to buy in - if the public is not
yet tapped out and if there are no major leveraged financial accidents along
the way.

Meanwhile, crude oil continues to be strong. I was incorrect in not respecting
this rebound as I thought 70 and below offered solid resistance. If gold is
firm and the miners are strong because of the "inflationary" effects of crude
oil, then that is a tragic circumstance for gold bugs because as Bob Hoye and
Steve Saville point out again and again, gold is counter-cyclical. Also, rising
oil is not inflationary. The only thing that can be inflationary is rising
money supply.

Here we have dear old Uncle Buck. The only thing not bullish about the world's
reserve currency to bottom feeders and contrarians is the small fact that this
note denominates a nation that thinks it can live indefinitely on credit. CONfidence
has been bred into the average American that our money is highly desired the
world over. And that may be the case, but this is temporary in that developing
nations are funding our outright hoggish consumption habits while we fund their
development. We are a tool. Our currency is a tool.

Speaking of foreigners' willingness to finance our operation, here is a chart
you are probably tired of seeing me post, the TNX (10 year yield). Our target
for a retrace has been "4.9% to 5%" (top end of target has been hit) since
the TNX did as we expected and made a strong move up to, and failed at the
5.25% resistance noted. To this point I have been looking for a healthy retrace
from the impulsive run up and then a blast to new highs. That is still the
favored scenario but on this chart we note what could be some sort of a rough
inverted head & shoulders pattern which has already expressed itself to
target. Just an FYI as we must consider all possibilities and it is possible
that rates do not have much higher to go. Again, I don't favor this view -
especially with the Dollar still stuck in Mudville, but there it is anyway.

Have fun putting all of the above into a blender along with all the other
analysis out there. These are certainly interesting times and frankly, I have
rarely enjoyed market watching and participation more than now. As slavishly
noted over and over again, our accounts are in defensive mode although I hold
no shorts on anything. One potential oncoming no-brainer short is the Chinese
stock market. But it has not yet blown off to target. The prospect is exciting
however and I look forward to putting a chart up at some point that shows why.
Good luck and be safe.
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