Aussie

The latest ‘Global Precious Metal Roundtable’ was recorded Wednesday and featured Jordan Eliseo of ABC Bullion,  Bron Suchecki of the Perth Mint and Ron Stoeferle of Incrementum and Mark O’Byrne of GoldCore.

Non-bombastic look at the price action and speculative positioning, with the hope of anticipating next week's developments.

At the open, Europe looked in the abyss, and with no help coming from China, it did not like what it saw: And then the answer came from the Swiss National Bank, which stepped in to prevent the collapse just as Europe was opening. Because seemingly out of nowhere, a tremendous bid came in to life the EURCHF, buying Euros (against the CHF and the USD) and selling Europe's last left safety currency. We now know that it was the SNB, the same central bank which is the proud owner of well over $1 billion in Apple stock.

A look at the psycholgoy of traders as reflected in the price action ahead the new week which promises to be eventful.

Trying to make sense of the global capital markets.

"We have a problem with this, and that is central bank hubris. They now think that they are omnipotent, because, essentially the government has said we are going to pass over all control of the economy to the central banks, they say to everybody else including financial market participants that “you don’t know, you don’t understand, we have our models and they are right”. And that kind of hubristic approach is when you sow the seeds of your own destruction."

No follow through dollar buying against euro, yen and sterling after data showing US economyis recovering from weak Q1.  What is happening?  What is the outlook?

With The Philly Fed admitting QE has been the driver of inequality in the USA and the Kiwis slashing rates unexpectedly, the fact that Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens uttered the following is even more crucial. "I think it's a social problem," Stevens told the Economic Society of Australia, adding ominously, "I think some of what's happening is crazy," specifically pointing to Sydney property prices as an example. No matter where we look around the world, Central Bankers appear to be exercising their honesty glands about the impact of their policies. However Stevens can't help himself at the end, noting "we remain open to the possibility of further policy easing."

Grit your teeth if you have to.  Cry if you want to.  US labor market is improving and the dollar is strengthening.

The carnage in Europe and US bonds is echoing on around the world as Aussie 10Y yields jump 15bps at the open (to 3.04% - the highest in 6 months) and the biggest 2-day spike in 2 years.  JGBs are also jumping, breaking to new 6-month highs above 50bps once again raising the spectre of VAR-Shock-driven vicious cycles...

It looks like US dollar's two-month downside correction ended.  Is the bull market resuming?

Dollar downmove still seems corrective in nature.  Fed hike in September still seems most likely scenario.  Taalk of US recession is over the top when unemployment, broadly measured is falling and weekly initial jobless claims are at new cyclical lows.  

"To end our discussion of the forex markets, we think it is time to return to an old friend: long of the English speaking currencies/short of the Yen and we shall do so en masse this morning" - Gartman, May 12