evening wrap

market vibes

March 12…)

“Man's most valuable trait is a sense of judicious doubt.” Euripides ca 450 BC

Schumer just said Dems in the senate will not vote for the House CR (5:05 PM EDT) Sixty votes are needed to clear a filibuster, and the Republicans have 53, so, it looks like the governement will definitely shut down at Midnight March 14.

This is an interesting political setup because it will be the Democrats who shut down the government if it does not pass the Senate, and it is they who have howled foul and lamented the suffering a “Republican shutdown” would have caused. If that happens, a lot of uncertainty comes to the fore, none of it good for stocks, probably bullish for gold depending how long it goes on. The longest in this century is 35 days.

In the markets

A generally quiet NY session marked the passing of another Wednesday in 2025 with a few small surprises in metals. Gold went up. Silver went up. Notable borrowing of silver in London tightened forward rates today, a pity that all the silver is in NY.

April gold in daily data below… indecisively $20 higher on declining volume.

Lots more juicy stuff to cover tonight including some “shutdown history” in the vibe… Here we go.