Trader Dan on King World News Markets and Metals Wrap

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Gold continues its bounce

Gold continues to bounce higher in today's session as it moves further away from the bottom of the BROAD 8 MONTH TRADING RANGE shown on the chart below. The metal actually seems to be reverting to its safe haven function as it is holding its gain in spite of continued weakness in the broader US equity markets.

It does seem to have hit a band of resistance, as might be expected, near the psychological round number of $1600. For gold to get a handle of "16" in front of the price, we are going to need to see more hedge funds willing to go long this market even as their algorithms are increasingly playing a large number of the commodity markets in general from the short side. A clue that this might be happening is to watch for an increase in open interest which will mark an end to the wave of long liquidation that has dropped the price of gold so sharply over the past 2 weeks. We actually did see that increase in yesterday's open interest so I am especially interested in seeing Monday morning's data about today's session.

It should be noted that the rally has now taken the price back above the 10 day moving average. That is oftentimes a level that funds who are short will begin covering at. If the market has enough strength to make it to the 20 day moving average near $1617, you will see more of that short covering plus new buying from this camp. We will have to see whether or not that transpires early next week. I get the distinct impression from watching the price action in this market, as well as a host of other markets, that traders are extremely nervous, if not downright fearful about what might happen over the weekend in regards to the Euro zone and many did not want to risk being on the short side of the gold market heading into a weekend.

As stated in previous columns, the bounce from the bottom of this extended range is constructive as it further cements this level down near $1530 as extremely solid support. A sea change would therefore have to occur globally for those buyers whom have been active down there, to sit on their hands were prices to head back lower and revisit that level. I personally will feel a bit more comfortable that will not occur IF we can climb back over $1600 and keep that handle on the price. That will tell prospective buyers that the metal is not going to get any cheaper and if they were holding off waiting for better prices, they had better get in while the gettin's good. That means next week's price action will be very telling as to what we can expect for gold moving forward.

The reason I say this  is because the first time that gold dipped down towards $1530 back in September 2011, it did not GET BACK DOWN THERE AGAIN for another three months. Then it rebounded immediately in December 2011 and has only now come back down to that level again. This time it was a period of 5 months. If prospective buyers see this thing will not back down below the $1600 level, they will commit to larger purchases as the odds favor it being another rather long period before they can hope to buy it this cheaply once again.

It looks to me like we have resistance pegged in a band between $1615 - $1625 on the upside. That will have to be taken out for gold to move back to $1650. There is some light support on the downside near $1565; after that additional support can be seen near $1550.

The HUI has not been able to REMAIN ABOVE the 400 level. If it can pull that off before the end of trading today, it will be a sign that this sector might have finally been sold out. If it closes back below the 390 level, it is going to move lower and retest the bottom made this week near 372. It did form a POTENTIAL spike bottom this week but as stated, it needs to confirm this by closing a week above the 420 level. Aggressive traders/investors can try nibbling on the long side of QUALITY MINERS only, with good chart patterns, PROVIDED they employ sound money management techniques. That means if the price moves through this week's low, get out - no questions asked. You can always try again; i.e. unless you foolishly turn a small trading loss into a large trading loss and end up looking like road kill on the trading floor.

Do not try arguing with a market and attempting to tell it why it is not behaving properly (that means going in the direction you THINK it should be going). Guess what? the market doesn't give a rat's ass what you or I or anyone else for that matter, thinks it should be doing. It will do what it wants to do, when it wants to do and the sooner you recognize that and give it the respect it deserves, the sooner you will be on your way to becoming a successful trader or investor. Show me a stubborn fool who refuses to admit that he or she is wrong for the time being and I will show you yet one more casualty whose carcass lies dead in the trading arena. The inscription that you will see on their trading tombstone is as follows:

"Here lies Mr. or Ms. Wannabe TRADER - he was right to the bitter end".

Silver has managed to hold the $26 level once again, although this time around it did not get down as close to 26 even as it has done on two previous occasions, once in September of last year and then again in December of last year as well. I am still skeptical of this market however as it is too closely associated with the risk trades. If Copper could ever stop falling out of bed, I will feel more comfortable about silver. The best thing that can be said about it right now is that at least it stop going down for a change. If we get any sort of news over the weekend detailing a worsening of conditions in Europe, silver is going to turn right back around and go lower. You just have too many funds selling the metal who need something to shift the sentiment towards inflation to bring them back into this market in a very big way. That means we will need more statements from Federal Reserve officials leaning towards QE sooner rather than later.

One last thing - I do find it very noteworthy, that in spite of the fact that the US equity markets are sinking today and nervousness remains in the minds of many traders, the US Dollar cannot seem to find a bid. It reached as high as 81.93 before swooning once again. That tells me that 82 in the USDX is a FORMIDABLE RESISTANCE LEVEL that is going to take some sort of terrible economic news to get enough "safe haven" bids coming into the DOllar to absorb all of the offers from willing sellers at that level.

Bonds singing "Anticipation"!

While one day's worth of price action does not a trend make, it is interesting to me watching the combination of price action in both the gold market and in the Treasury market.

In the long bond, the market has broken into a new all time high. That is significant as it shows that traders there are anticipating an upcoming round of bond purchases attached to a new Federal Reserve round of Quantitative Easing. It seems as if the catalyst for today's surge higher was the Philadelphia Fed business index drop to an unexpected -5.8. Business conditions in that corner of the realm are worsening rather quickly.

Note also that the yield on the Ten Year Note has now fallen solidly BELOW that critical 1.80% level. This is what has traders moving towards action by the Fed. That line is technically signficant, as has been stated before, seeing that we have never had a WEEKLY CLOSE below this level and it is now Thursday!  If this yield were to further break below that spike low at 1.696% and the Fed were to NOT ACT, Bernanke would get his place in history all right, but it would not be in the light that he no doubt is hoping for!

All of this appears to be the driver in the nice pop higher in the gold market this morning, continuing the rally that began in Asian trading last evening. A push past $1580 would certainly startle the bears and induce further short covering that has the potential to take the price back to the key $1600 level.

Let's see where the dust settles at the end of the trading session today. For now, it appears that traders are regarding any dose of rotten economic news as increasing the odds of QE sooner rather than later.

If, and this is the big question, IF gold becomes CONVINCED that the Fed is going to act, it will immediately bottom. That is all one needs to know about the gold market. Nothing else will matter at that point.

We are back to picking the petals from Daisy flowers - She loves me; she loves me not. The Fed loves me; the Fed loves me not. Will it do the QE or will it not???

Gold Bouncing from Support in Asian Trade

After what seems like a nearly vertical fall in the gold price over the last 7 or 8 days, gold is finally getting a bit of a reprieve this evening as it enters Asian trade. The interesting thing about this most recent selloff is that reports of physical offtake have indicated good buying of the metal down here at these levels. This has been swamped by hedge fund liquidation and some fresh short selling as some in this category are moving onto the short side.

As you can see on the chart, gold fell nearly right to the very bottom of this 8 month long trading range before bouncing higher. It is not unexpected to see this sort of thing as those who instituted some fresh short positions a couple of weeks ago have made a very healthy profit and it never hurts being prudent and taking a bit of money off of the table after these kinds of gains.

We also probably have some bargain hunting and some bottom pickers coming in after a fall of this magnitude. Whether this is just what we traders call a "dead cat bounce" (if you drop a dead cat from a high enough altitude, even it will bounce when it hits the ground) before gold drops through the bottom of this range or whether this is indeed marks the end of this round of liquidation is unclear. I would not be rash enough to venture any guesses at this point as traders remain extremely nervous and very fearful of being caught flatfooted on the wrong side of these damned hedge funds.

I would not feel at all comfortable that the selling is finished until gold were to climb back above the $1600 level but barring any further negative developments out of Europe, it looks like it might want to consolidate a bit here. Again, that is unclear and will require a full trading session in New York tomorrow to get a better feel of things.

Regardless of the current technical washout, the interest rate environment continues to be one of low or negative "Real Yields" and is conducive to holding gold. I suspect a fairly large amount of the gold that is entering the system to be sold is coming from European banks selling off liquid assets in an attempt to raise cash in the attempt to help their pathetic balance sheets. After all, what can they sell that has much of any value at this point besides gold?

The Dollar is still having trouble with the 82 level on the USDX but the week is still not over. A weekly close ABOVE this level would be noteworthy.

Why the Delay from the Fed in Announcing Additional Stimulus Measures

With all the turmoil and commotion occurring in Europe, with slowing growth in China and with mixed signals coming out of the US, and now, especially with global stock markets reeling and talk of "US fiscal cliffs" abounding, one would expect the doves on the Fed to begin making noises and talking nicely to the investment community about future plans for additional QE measures. Some have even suggested that one of the things that the Fed also might do is to further push back their date for any rate hike until "late in 2014". For now however we are getting an eerie silence. Even today's minutes of the recent FOMC meeting are rather vague, pretty much just stating what everyone already knows - the Fed will act if they think conditions warrant them so doing. What gives?

Take a look at the following chart of unleaded gasoline which might possibly provide a clue. It seems to me that gasoline prices have become a sort of marker as this commodity is perhaps one that has the greatest impact on the general public at large since it is so obvious as price boards for it are stationed practically everywhere one looks.  Notice how gasoline prices have formed a double top on the chart above the $3.40 (these are wholesale prices with no federal or state taxes added) and have begun to come down having fallen some 55 cents or so over the last few weeks.

However, they still remain quite expensive by historical standards and are more than 16% expensive than last fall. My guess is that the policy makers understand full well that any certainty in regards to the advent of a new round of bond purchases by the Fed would turn this chart to the upside faster than one can say "Whoa Nellie".

It is very difficult to deny that while the Fed attempts to stimulate or to provide stimulus to the economy, if gasoline prices rise too highly as a result, it tends to short circuit the impact from such stimulus as higher gasoline/energy prices in general have a depressing or slowing impact on overall economic growth. I suspect that the Fed is hoping and waiting for speculative selling to push gasoline prices even lower yet so that the next round of stimulus will have gasoline prices back closer to levels seen late last year.

The problem for these Central Planners however remains the same, how do they herd speculative money OUT of the COMMODITY MARKETS and particular the ENERGY MARKETS and yet at the same time keep them from abandoning the EQUITY MARKETS? Remember, the more that people talk up the "SLOWING GLOBAL GROWTH" theme to push commodity markets lower the harder it is to justify stock prices at current levels. AFter all, what is good for the goose is also good for the gander and if the prices of basic commodities are plunging due to slowing growth concerns, then it is extremely difficult if not downright impossible to talk up the stock markets. Rising stocks need an economy that is growing and strongly rising stock prices need an economy that is growing strongly. You cannot have rising stock prices and falling commodity prices simultaneously as it is a logical aberration.

While the ESF and other entities would like to see this aberration - notwithstanding the impossibility of it occurring, if push comes to shove and they have to choose between falling equity prices or rising commodity prices, they will opt for the latter every time, particularly in an election year.

Risk Aversion Money Flows Drop the HUI

The mining sector was weak to start the session even as some larger entities were attempting to force the S&P futures above the 1350 level. The problem was that gold could not move into the plus column, the Dollar was not buying the concerted push nor were the bond and note markets which refused to go negative on the day even with stocks initially rallying.

Once the S&P dropped back below the unchanged level, that was it for the mining sector shares which are now getting what looks to me like the BEGINNING of a final washout in this sector.

Note that the critical 50% Fibonacci retracement level could not stem the bleeding as the index has not yet even registered a mere bounce higher. One can almost sense the disgust and dismay that pervades this sector at the time being. While the economic world is being rocked, the proverbial safe haven of gold is being shunned in favor of.... Yep - US Treasuries here and German Bunds over in Europe. Apparently promises to pay by overstrained governments are more valuable than the ancient metal of kings in this Brave New World.

I am sending up a monthly chart once again to provide a long term view of this sector with some key technical regions noted. If we base our analysis PURELY on Technical factors, there does not seem to be anything in the way of downside support until one nears the 340 level which is the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level of the entire rally from the low hit in 2008. if that cannot stop this rout, then the upsloping trend line (in blue) drawn off the pitchfork is the next target - that is currently near the 300 level.

An extreme and unlikely target can be calculated by looking at the 2008 drop which took 70% off the value of the index in the matter of a few months time. If, and this is a WORST CASE SCENARIO, the monetary authorities sit on their hands and do absolutely nothing to reverse the course of the broader US (and global) equity markets, a similar erosion in value would drop the index to near the 185 level. Let's hope it does not come to that extreme. Again, I do not think this is at all likely - I only mention it as the bottom of last resort. For this to occur, the S&P 500 would have to literally implode and the notion that the Bernanke-led Fed would sit on its hands and do nothing while this occurs, sending the terrified citizenry flushing their stock holdings down the toilet is inconceivable to me.

The last chart is the US Dollar Index which is bumping up against a key overhead resistance level near 82. It has not been able to mount a WEEKLY CLOSE above this level since August of 2010.

HUI Fails to Confirm the Upside Reversal Day of Last Week

Today's selling downdraft in the broader US equity markets, when combined with more of the risk off trades, derailed the tentative Upside Reversal Day posted last week in the HUI. You might recall that I mentioned it might be prudent to get some additional upside price action before becoming too convinced that we had a sure bottom in the mining sector shares.

The reason for this is that far too many of both these upside reversal patterns and downside reversal patterns are being generated by the nature of computer algorithmic trading. In times past we would see these patterns form ONLY AFTER A PROLONGED UPTREND OR DOWNTREND when prices had reached extreme levels of valuation.

Commercial traders, whose business deals with the actual physical commodity and who understand "VALUE" better than most traders, would be moving in to cover existing shorts in large size/instituting fresh longs or liquidating long positions/instituting fresh shorts in large size when they spotted these extreme valuation levels. Their buying or selling would be of such magnitude that the market would then reverse course.

Today's BRAINLESS HEDGE FUNDS have no such understanding of VALUE nor do they even make any attempts to discover what value might be. How can they when you have a collection of mindless machines doing the thinking for this lazy group of traders? To decipher value one must have a thorough FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE of the market that they trade. Such knowledge takes many years to formulate particularly during which the traders gets to witness firsthand changes in supply/demand structures affecting the market(s) that they choose to trade.

What we get nowadays a result of these runamok algorithms, is every single machine on the planet buying or selling merely because the last trade price happened to either go up or down. There is no understanding of WHY there is buying or selling. All anyone knows is that a "bunch of other machines" are buying or selling so just go with them.

The result is what we saw last week in the HUI. Apparently there was enough profit taking in the ratio spread trade that it forced the shares higher. Once a technical level was taken out on the upside, additional algorithm trading then took over to take the HUI through the previous day's high closing a chart gap on the Daily in the process.

However, and this is the key - there was little to no SERIOUS Followthrough buying that occurred to thereby validate the signal. The result was that the buying present last week evaporated in the face of fresh selling.

The close today was not at all constructive with the index not only taking out the previous LOW of that reversal day but also CLOSING below that level. This gives the bears fresh fodder at this point so we will now have to wait to see subsequent price action to get a hint or sign that a serious bottom is at hand. If the market can quickly reverse to the upside and take out today's high, we might have had another one of these all-too-frequent head fakes.

Let's see what we get moving forward this week.

Gold Probing the $1550 Level

Gold has continued to see further selling in today's session with traders once again exiting "RISK" trades in favor of the "Growth Off" or RISK AVERSION trades. Long commodity positions, along with long equities, are getting liquidated with money flows heading towards US Treasuries in general. This can be seen in the CCI, the Continuous Commodity Index, which is moving lower while bonds move higher, taking interest rates down even further as the yield on the Ten Year is now down below the 1.80% level. Remember, there has not been a week yet during which this yield ENDED BELOW that critical level.

Gold's move down towards $1550 has in the past attracted very substantial Central Bank gold buying. Hopefully this will remain the case as the market is now pushing towards the lower band of an eight month long trading range. If speculative selling of the metal is not absorbed down here and the market were to break below $1520 and fall to recover quickly, it will more than likely drop below $1500.

My own thinking on this is that the markets are moving so quickly away from risk and out of basically everything except Treasuries or cash, that the Fed is going to have a major problem on their hands if they do not soon give some sort of signal that they are preparing to act to stem the deflationary decline. JP Morgan's $2 Billion credit derivatives-based loss has spooked the banking sector and that is the one sector that the monetary officials do not want to see going from bad to worse. Keep in mind that back in 2008, once Lehman went under with Bear Stearns following, it was the woes of the financial sector that pulled the rug out from under the entire US economy and the US equity markets. The Fed is well aware of this and I suspect will not want to wait too long before beginning to make some noise to keep the markets from becoming too roiled.

The bank shares might be the first thing to watch for some signs of further monetary accomodation as one can be assured that there are lots of phone calls and discussions underway even now. If they were to show some signs of bottoming, it might be a hint of things to come.

Meanwhile gold will need to get at least back above $1600 to give the bulls some breathing room. With the Commitment of Traders report showing the NET LONG position of the big hedge funds at a 42 month low, there remains plenty of room for them to come back into this market and juice it higher but they need some sort of signal to tell them to do so. Right now they are not getting it; if anything, some hedge funds are now moving to the short side of gold along as well as a host of various other commodity markets.


Incidentally, China is lowering their bank reserve ratio requirements, a sign that they are responding to slowing growth there as their export markets are impacted by the woes in the Eurozone and the anemic growth in the US. This is one of the signals that copper has been sending for a while now as it descends in price. Were copper to finally show some signs of a bottom, that would be constructive for silver which is testing chart support down near the $28 level once again.