Gold & Precious Metals

WHAT TURBULENT TIMES MEAN FOR GOLD

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends. I did!

But now, it’s back to work. It’s back to protecting and growing your wealth. As we come closer to 2014, that’s more important than ever.

The chief reason — and I’ll keep harping on this until I’m blue in the face — is the ramping up of the war cycles.

They are going to wreak havoc starting in 2014. They are going to increase in intensity each and every year for the next six years. They are going to alter everything you thought you knew about the economy, about the markets, about politicians … and more.

And if you are not careful and open-minded, they are going to destroy your wealth.

Let’s get something straight. I am not a pessimist. I am not an “end of the world” analyst. I am simply a historian, steeped in how governments and markets are cyclical in nature, and how those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

The war cycles are real. They are documented and scientifically proven and based on over 14,000 wars spanning 5,000 years of civilization. I have studied them in great detail. They are ramping up big time and they will have a profound impact on everything.

What is behind the war cycles? What drives society and the world to enter turbulent times?

There are two forces: The private economy and the public sector (government).

In the best of times, when the interests of the private and public sectors are aligned, you get as close a partnership as you can.

There’s good economic growth. There’s cooperation. There’s rising employment, little or no inflation, increased productivity.

But in the worst of times, when the underlying economy goes into a bust period, as it has been doing since the year 2000 — you get a divide between the public and the private sectors.

It may seem that their interests are still aligned. After all, both the government and the private sector want the economy to get back on track, employment to rise again and everything to be A-OK.

Screen Shot 2013-12-02 at 8.36.58 AMBut in bad economic times, the self-interest of government rises to the top. Seeing diminished revenues and unable to curtail spending, governments start to go broke. As they go broke, they turn against their citizens and seek more ways to soak money from them while at the same time cutting and even reneging on promises.

Meanwhile, central banks try to paper over the mess, printing money with reckless abandon.

As the tensions mount between the public and private sectors, protests erupt. There are tax revolts. Riots in the streets. Secession movements. Civil strife.

Between nations, governments battle their own self-interests, with currency wars, protectionism, trade barriers, capital controls and more.

Natural-resource wars intensify. Religious battles intensify. And if leaders don’t act appropriately — which they almost never do — all hell can break loose, leading to domestic and international conflict.

Front and center is none other than your wealth. The purchasing power of your money. The life of hard work you devoted to your family and its financial security. Your liberties. Your privacy.

For in the end, bankrupt governments want to grab your money to make themselves whole.

They engage in propaganda and desperate socialist moves to spread the wealth in some utopian vision of the world that is really nothing more than grabbing everyone’s wealth to feed a monster that is going belly up.

Think of the British and the American revolution. The original Tea Party and “no taxation without representation.” Think of the French Revolution. The fall of Rome and Byzantium.

In each and every one of those instances, and countless others, government crossed the line and invaded the private sector first, confiscating wealth to pay for its mistakes to desperately try and survive.

In times like those — the times we are now entering — the single best thing you can do is to think independently.

Question everything governments say and do. They will be acting entirely out of self-interest. They will deceive you, lie to you, all the while they are reaching into your back pocket to grab what they think is theirs.

Fortunately, today we have a slew of liquid markets where you can protect yourself and even grow your money. But, again, it all depends on your ability to think for yourself.

Case in point: Germany. Remember last January when Germany announced it was repatriating its gold from the New York Fed to take it back to Germany?

Back then, almost every analyst and gold investor on the planet said that was the most bullish news for gold they had heard in a while. That it would set gold on a trajectory to much higher prices.

Not me. I told everyone I could that it was a bearish sign. I told everyone Germany was taking its gold home to do an audit and to prepare to become a gold seller.

And I was right. Twice this year, Germany’s central bank dumped gold. Why? Because it needs the cash to help bail out the weaker European countries that are going bankrupt.

Another case in point: Obamacare. A noble effort to provide health care to every American.

But as we now know, it’s nothing more than another tax on your wealth. A tax that is coupled with 16,000 new IRS agents hired to monitor Obamacare. But, in reality, agents who will be able to eavesdrop and stick their nose into everything you do.

NSA spying on all Americans? How many times have you heard that it’s designed to protect you? Nothing could be further from the truth. A government that protects its citizens never eavesdrops on them, except those it suspects have terrorist ties.

Or look at Angela Merkel’s recent move ? outlawing all referendums in Germany under the guise of a better, more productive government, when in reality, it’s nothing more than a dictatorial power grab.

Or Sen. Harry Reid’s action last week to strike down nearly 225 years of filibuster precedent, handing Obama a similar power grab.

Nothing is ever as it seems in the halls of government. That’s true even in the best of times.

In the weeks, months and years ahead — reading between the lines of what governments are doing and saying on both sides of the Atlantic will be far more important than deciphering economic statistics or central bank monetary policy.

Keep your eye on gold. It is now heading into a January low. Once it bottoms, take that as your sign that the war cycles will be ramping up big time.

Best wishes, and stay safe and well,

Larry

 

Also on SwingTrader: 

Too Much Oil: U.S. Storage Set to Pass the 400 Million Threshold 

Triple-Digit Gains Are on Tap for This Investment, History Shows 

Weekend Report…A look at Some Currencies through the Chartology Lens

It’s been several months since we took an indepth look at some of the more important currencies in the world. In this Weekend Report I would like to show you some important developments that have taken place that could be signalling a stronger US dollar maybe in the cards. Most of the currencies have been in a prolonged topping or consolidation pattern which some broke down awhile ago and some are still consolidating.

Lets start with the CAD, Canadian Dollar that has been showing a beautiful H&S top formation that broke down in May and has been in backtest mode ever since. The backtest took on the formation of a small red bear flag that finally broke through the bottom rail this past week. The last time I posted this chart I said it was a mirror image of the HUI weekly H&S top, complete with the neckline symmetry rail, that showed us the height for the right shoulder. Like the HUI this is a very large topping pattern that is going to be in play for sometime to come.

Ed Note: Michael Campbell Campbell also had John Johnston on this weekend forecasting a 70 cent Cdn Dollar in the next 10 years: http://moneytalks.net/mikes-content/10854-the-bear-mkt-in-jobs-a-the-great-deleveraging.html

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The XAD, Australian dollar, formed a very nice five point triangle reversal pattern that broke out to the downside in May of this year. Our first big clue that the XAD would break down was the completion of the red 7 point rectangle that formed out toward the apex of the 5 point triangle reversal pattern. As you can see on the chart below, even though you have a nice clean breakout, the backtesting process can take some valuable time to complete. This can be frustrating to live through but it doesn’t change the outcome of what that very large triangle reversal pattern represents. Which is a big top.

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Before we move on lets look at the daily chart for the XAD that shows the beautiful 7 point rectangle reversal pattern. Also note the little H&S that broke out this week signalling the little counter trend rally is now reversing course.

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The XBP, British Pound, looks like it’s morphing into a bigger triangle. The blue dashed trendlines shows the original triangle that had a nice clean breakout through the bottom rail and then the backtest at 158. Once the price action traded back above the bottom blue dashed rail that negated the breakout. As you can see the price action has been chopping very tightly within the apex of the original blue dashed triangle, and then broke out to the topside. The red circles shows you where I would expect the top blue solid rail to be place if this triangle is morphing into a bigger triangle. I showed you this in regards to the Yen awhile back.

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While we’re on the subject of morphing triangles let look at the Yen’s morphing triangle and see how it turned out. First, the original triangle on the daily chart. Note the big breakout gap and the two backtests to the bottom rail that looked perfect.

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This next chart for the Yen shows how I used the red circles to expand the original blue dashed triangle. It’s not a perfect science but normally when you readjust the bottom rail many times the top rail will need to be adjusted by the same amount. It’s a symmetry thing. As you can see the top solid rail only morphed about half of the red circle for its high and then the price action reversed back down breaking through the new solid blue rail signalling the triangle was complete. Note the last two long bars that formed at the apex of the new solid blue triangle. That was the final gasp before the triangle finally broke down.

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Lets look at a few more charts for the Yen as gold seems to be following the Yen closer than the euro. The Yen made a beautiful H&S top before it broke down that led to a near vertical move lower. Our morphing triangle on the daily chart above shows you why that triangle is so important to the overall big picture. Note the near vertical move down from the breakout of the H&S top into the Blue Triangle. Many times how a move takes place going into a consolidation pattern, a similar move will occur when the price action exits the consolidation pattern. As you can see the Yen has now completed its third week in breakout mode in a near vertical move. I’m viewing the blue triangle as a halfway pattern until something tells me differently. This just maybe a coincidence but silver has now traded three weeks below its Diamond consolidation pattern.

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Below is a comparison chart where I’ve overlaid gold on top of the Yen. As you can see we are getting a better correlation then if you overlaid gold on top of the euro.

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On the chart below I’ve overlaid gold on top of the euro that shows a very strong negative correlation starting in September of this year. Up until that point they moved fairly close together.

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The NZD, New Zealand Dollar, rallied up to the top blue rail of a now possible 5 point triangle reversal pattern. The pattern won’t be complete until the price action touches the bottom rail again. So the pieces of the puzzle are still being put in place that will eventually confirm to us what kind of triangle it will be.

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The Swiss Franc was one of the first currencies to top out and in a big way. It went parabolic into its ultimate peak before it reversed symmetry all the way back down to the black dashed support and resistance rail at 100. Since hitting the big support and resistance rail at 100 the Swiss Franc has been building out what looks like a huge blue bear flag. It still has alot of work to do but as long as the price action stays below the top rail it is what it is.

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Lets now look at the euro that has been one of the stronger currencies out there. This daily chart shows how the euro broke down below the bottom rail of a bearish rising wedge. It’s not uncommon, with a wedge pattern, that the price action can rally for a prolonged period of time just below the bottom rail of the rising wedge. As you can see it has been testing the underside of the bottom blue rail for close to a month now. A close back inside the rising wedge will negate this pattern. So far the bottom blue rail has held resistance.

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This two year daily chart for the euro shows a possible 6 point bearish expanding rising wedge that is still a work in progress. This pattern seems the most logical one to me but until it’s complete I have to remain neutral on the euro.

 

13The long term monthly chart for the euro shows a possible red bearish rising wedge forming within the much bigger blue falling wedge.

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The last chart I would like to show you is the long term monthly chart for the US dollar that is showing it trading between two converging rails. The month of October showed the US dollar cracking below the thin support and resistance rail for just a short period of time, before it managed to climb back above it, putting the US dollar back to neutral. There are a lot of short term charts for the US dollar I could show you but for me this is the most important chart to focus on as there is less noise to contend with.

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As a whole the currencies seem to be topping out in the big picture. Some have already completed their breakouts and backtests while others are still trading within their topping patterns. The US dollar seems to marking time just chopping around not doing much of anything at the moment. At some point the trend will reassert itself and there will be little doubt as to which way the US dollar is headed. In the mean time we just need to have some patience and wait for some further developments in the other currencies to help guide us along. All the best…Rambus

http://rambus1.com/

 

 

 

Warning: An Amazing Phone Call

RIP The American Dream – by Zero Hedge

Prepare yourself before listening to this… calling on her self-admitted Obamaphone, Texas welfare recipient Lucy, 32, explains why “taxpayers are the fools”…

“…To all you workers out there preaching morality about those of us who live on welfare… can you really blame us? I get to sit around all day, visit my friends, smoke weed.. and we are still gonna get paid, on time every month…”

She intends to stay on welfare her entire life, if possible, just like her parents (and expects her kids to do the same). As we vociferously concluded previously, the tragedy of America’s welfare state is that work is punished.

 

WHEN WORK IS PUNISHED: THE TRADGEDY OF THE AMERICA’S WELFARE STATE

Exactly two years ago, some of the more politically biased progressive media outlets (who are quite adept at creating and taking down their own strawmen arguments, if not quite as adept at using an abacus, let alone a calculator) took offense at our article “In Entitlement America, The Head Of A Household Of Four Making Minimum Wage Has More Disposable Income Than A Family Making $60,000 A Year.” In it we merely explained what has become the painful reality in America: for increasingly more it is now more lucrative – in the form of actual disposable income – to sit, do nothing, and collect various welfare entitlements, than to work. This is graphically, and very painfully confirmed, in the below chart from Gary Alexander, Secretary of Public Welfare, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (a state best known for its broke capital Harrisburg). As quantitied, and explained by Alexander, “the single mom is better off earnings gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income & benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income and benefits of $57,045.”

welfare cliff

 

Ed Note: Much more in this article “WHEN WORK IS PUNISHED: THE TRADGEDY OF THE AMERICA’S WELFARE STATEincluding this terrifying statistic: 

  • For every 1.25 employed persons in the private sector, 1 person receives welfare assistance or works for the government.

 

 

(Reuters) – Asia’s manufacturing-sector expansion held around multi-month highs in November, factory surveys showed, with China maintaining its momentum but growth in other key exporters such as JapanSouth Korea and Taiwan picking up speed.

Activity in India expanded after three months of contraction as new orders grew for the first time since May, supporting government figures on Friday that suggested an economic slump may have bottomed out.

Purchasing managers’ indexes released on Monday showed the factory sector in Taiwan grew at its fastest pace in 20 months in November and at its fastest in six months in South Korea.

Japan’s PMI, released on Friday, showed manufacturing activity expanding at its quickest pace in more than seven years as new export orders reached their highest level in over three years.

The Asia data suggests the global economy is showing signs of a more solid recovery as 2013 draws to a close. PMI reports from the euro zone and the United States later on Monday are expected to show both regions maintained factory-sector growth in November.

The HSBC/Markit China PMI on Monday edged back to 50.8 in November from a seven-month high of 50.9 in October, although HSBC economist Qu Hongbin said the survey also pointed to spots of weakness.

“The renewed contraction of employment and the slower pace of restocking activities call for a continuation of accommodative policy,” he said.

However, China’s official PMI released at the weekend, which focuses more on bigger firms compared with smaller ones in the HSBC survey, held at 51.4 in November, unchanged from the 18-month high hit in October.

A reading of 50 separates contraction from expansion compared with a month earlier.

While the HSBC survey showed China’s new export orders growth dipped to a three-month low, the official reading showed the pace picking up.

Still, the combination of PMIs on China suggested resilience that augurs well for the country’s plans to gear the economy more towards domestic consumption and away from investment-led growth. Beijing has said it will accept lower economic growth to achieve the shift.

Japan’s strong reading showed domestic demand and exports are recovering strongly from a dip in the middle of the year, which means the economy could be building up enough momentum to weather an increase in the sales tax rate in April, which could dampen domestic consumption.

The Markit/JMMA Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 55.1 in November from 54.2 in October, its highest level since July 2006.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has overseen massive monetary and fiscal stimulus this year to revive the economy, which has now grown in the past four quarters.

The HSBC/Markit PMI of South Korea’s manufacturing sector rose to a seasonally adjusted 50.4 in November from 50.2 in October, marking the highest reading since May.

Taiwan’s PMI showed manufacturing activity expanding for a third straight month as the overall index, and sub-indexes for output and new orders hit their highest levels in 20 months.

(Additional reporting by Rahul Karunakar in Bangalore, Aileen Wang and Jonathan Standing in Beijing, Rieka Rahadiana in Jakarta, Faith Hung in Taipei and Yoo Choonsikin Seoul; Writing by Subhadip Sircar; Editing by Neil Fullick)

….what I would call a feast for the Fed in terms of the amount of data,” said Kristina Hooper, a U.S. investment strategist for Allianz Global Investors.

After the stock market’s strong gains in November, investors will focus next week on the government’s jobs report and early reads on holiday shopping.

The Labor Department’s report on November nonfarm payrolls will cap a data-heavy week on Friday. It’s the last such report before the Federal Reserve’s Dec. 17-18 policy-setting meeting. If the employment data are much stronger than expected, the Fed might decide at that meeting to scale back its $85 billion-a-month in bond buying that has boosted equities, according to Hooper.

“I would say it’s very unlikely, but this is our last big piece of data,” she told MarketWatch

Ed Note: To read more on the Data go to:

Jobs report headlines big data week ahead – Conflicting economic signals from ISM, jobs, GDP likely to sow more confusion.