friday wrap, september 26

market vibes

“Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that’s no reason not to give it.” Agatha Christie

It was a spectacular week for metals investors. From Friday to Friday, silver rallied $5.00 an ounce. And from Friday to Friday, platinum rallied $200.00 per oz and made new life-of-contract highs on Thursday and Friday. Although gold had an explosive rally last Sunday night and fizzled for the rest of the week, gold owes us no apologies. The relic has carried the sector solo for 2 years. Copper rallied $0.20 on Wednesday on a Freeport force majeure, gave half of it back on Thursday, and closed at a respectable $4.77 on the COMEX.

Stocks were less than spectacular, but like gold, stocks owe little to the critics. Dec S&Ps posted a new all-time high on Monday, the 8th consecutive ATH in the previous 9 sessions, so there is that. The one market with a consensus bearish narrative, petroleum futures, went up low to high every day, 5 days in a row. There’s a whale buying oil in London, and like stocks, when he stops, oil stops. Some think it’s China.

October Bitcoin had an awful week, but it could have been worse. It could have fallen $19,000 instead of $9,500. The dollar went up and threatened to rally, but methinks the invisible hand said no.

POTUS had a typically noisy week. He designated ANTIFA a terrorist organization on Monday, went to the UN to B-slap Putin and Europe on Tuesday. On Wednesday, so strange, an erstwhile Syrian warlord and notorious head chopper delivered an official state speech to the UN General Assembly to enthusiastic laudations.

On Thursday, a collection of surprisingly robust official data rallied the dollar and stabilized a sinking stock market despite global equity markets falling the most in 3 weeks. A federal grand jury indicted former FBI Director James Comey in Virginia. Erdoğan spent a day at the White House and left with a lot to think about.

Let’s take a closer look at the markets