Twitter

For those who want to get a sense of who the leading candidate in Italy is, at least based on concurrent mentions on Twitter, here is an application that tracks candidate references in real-time. Needless to say, Grillo and Berlusconi are head and shoulders above the rest.

Silver closed Friday`s trading session at $28.46 an ounce, capping off what has been an auspicious start to 2013.

Depending upon the time frame natural gas is either in a distinct downtrend channel or a parallel trading range. 

It has now been two years since the self-immolation of the Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, provided the spark that set the Arab world aflame. A wave of protests spread throughout the region in quick succession and led to the overthrow of long ruling autocrats in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, and possibly Syria. The collapse of regimes like Hosni Mubarak’s in Egypt, which many considered "an exemplar of... durable authoritarianism" was a salient reminder to many that such revolutions are "inherently unpredictable." Before long some began to speculate that the protest movements might spread to authoritarian states outside the Arab world, including China. Although sharing many of the same problems as Arab societies, the Arab Spring never arrived in Beijing. Why?

Whether it is the price of a car, a new house, the price of gasoline, a movie ticket, or a good stock there is going to be more money created each year chasing these assets in the system. 

Plus an important announcement concerning Visual Combat Art Prints...

That`s all I heard for two straight months, “Gee everyone is waiting for a pullback to get in on the rally”.

Gold has come under pressure from heavy liquidation by hedge funds and banks on the COMEX this week. The unusual and often 'not for profit' nature of the selling, at the same time every day this week, has again led to suspicions of market manipulation.

Gold’s ‘plunge’ is now headline news which is bullish from a contrarian perspective. As is the fact that many of the same people who have been claiming gold is a bubble since it was $1,000/oz have again been covering gold after periods of silence.

Well Gold hasn`t had a particularly good start to the year, in fact, a good pairs trade would be going long the S&P 500 and short the Gold market for a nice 12% return in two months.

Hence the cost basis of their investments is much higher with each artificial liquidity injection. This is great for current retirees, but at the expense of future retirees who now have inflated assets that will deflate once the Fed takes away the proverbial punch bowl. 

• Office Depot Agrees to Buy Officemax for $13.50/Shr in Stock
• Bulgarian Government Resigns Amid Protests (WSJ)
• Rome will burn, regardless of Italian election result (Reuters)
• Abe Says No Need for Foreign Bond Buys Under New BOJ Chief (BBG)
• Rhetoric Turns Harsh as Budget Cuts Loom (WSJ)
• Muddy Waters Secret China Weapon Is on SEC Website (BBG)
• Business Loans Flood the Market (WSJ)
• Staples May Be Winner in Office Depot-OfficeMax Merger (BBG)
• Fortescue Won't Pay Dividend, Profit Falls (WSJ)
• Key Euribor rate on hold after rate cut talk tempered (Reuters)
• FBI Probes Trading in Heinz Options  (WSJ)
• Spain Said to Impose Yield Ceiling on Bond Sales by Regions (BBG)
• BOK’s Kim Signals No Rate Cut Needed Now as Outlook Improves (BBG)

But if we examine the history of lumber prices relative to the strength of the housing sector, lumber prices may be getting slightly ahead of themselves from a valuation standpoint. 

There are just too many variables, too much information, and even unknown variables that play into market dynamics.