Throughout most of the session day, gold was consolidating its recent gains. There was some chatter that some physical market demand, notably out of China, had eased off and that had some short-term oriented longs booking profits after realizing some nice gains. That selling, combined with some fresh short selling was serving to hold the metal in check throughout most of the session. Late in the day however, as the mining stocks caught another gust of wind higher, the metal surged upward breaking the 50 day moving average.
In the process, it also pushed past a band of overhead horizontal chart resistance. You can see that on the chart below.
This is getting interesting. We have both of the shorter term moving averages (10 day and 20 day) now moving higher in sync. The 10 day has not yet completed a bullish crossover of the downtrending 50 day moving average but barring a collapse in the price, looks to soon do that. That has not occurred since last July, which was the last time we witnessed an UPSIDE CROSSOVER of the 10 day above the 50 day. Stay tuned on this one as it could possibly happen this week. That would trigger some further fund buying.
Just like they led the metal to the downside, the mining shares are currently leading the metal to the upside. Gains have been very strong the past few days in the sector as shorts are being forced out and new buyers are coming back in.
That breach of the gap region noted on the chart sent the bears scurrying for cover yesterday and to further compound their misery, bulls pushed them up some more. The result has been a new gap above a previous gap which was a heavy resistance level. That is a bullish sign.
for the sector to begin a trending move to the upside of some duration, it will necessitate further gains but particularly a push past 290 where pretty good selling pressure can be expected. For the short term however, the bulls are back in control while bears are regrouping looking for a fresh spot at which to try selling again.
As long as the US Dollar is the whipping boy of the Forex markets, as it has been of late, bears will have their work cut out for them. We might very well be seeing the market shift back to focusing on the budget battle once again in the US. The government will be up against its borrowing limit soon and that means more of the usual crap that comes out of Washington. You know what I mean:
"we cannot cut anything because it will slow down the economy or put people back on the streets without any food or shelter, blah, blah, blah and more blah".
Meanwhile, my kids and yours will be the ones paying for all this profligacy and vote buying. As a matter of fact, my grandkids and yours will be paying for seeing that it is the size that it is.
At least those who own the mining shares can breathe a bit of relief that their net worth has stopped declining and has actually reversed somewhat.
The grains were whalloped today, as they should have been. The bulls in there have been killing the crop every damned day with too much rain, not enough rain, too cold, too hot,. etc,... meanwhile the crop looks to be improving with the return of milder weather and more moisture during the key pollination stage. Soybeans in particular were whacked pretty hard today which might have put a bit of pressure on silver. Still, the grey metal managed to keep its footing above the $20 level meaning that we should see some nervous shorts the next few days. For silver to get something more positive going, it will take a closing push through $22.50 at a bare minimum. At least it has stopped going down. Now if we could just get rid of the damned annoying radio commercials about how the price is going to double and skyrocket before you can blink....