WASHINGTON, August 24, 2012 – Another short entry today. We’ll put more meat on the bones in our other column, The Prudent Man, over the next couple of days, highlighting a pair of interesting fracking plays along with a second quarter review of Carbonite’s fateful decision to drop their advertising and publicly flame Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.
Today, markets opened mildly negative, still having a hissy fit over St. Louis Fed president James Bullard’s remarks yesterday hinting that Fed Chair Ben Bernanke’s latest QE3 suggestion was not really a done deal. Bulls hated that and so did the algos and HFTs, subsequently causing this thinly traded market to tank.
“All that glisters is not gold.”* Except when it’s in the vault at Ft. Knox. Or maybe in your portfolio via an ETF.
At least as of 1 p.m. EDT, however, soothing words from the Bernank have apparently revived the bulls’ animal spirits. With the Bernanke put alive and well, markets are up nicely at the moment, over 70 Dow points as of this writing. We’ll see if the averages can stay up before short sellers and HFTs hit them sometime this afternoon.
Gold and silver did quite well yesterday and we added a bit to our ETF positions in these metals (IAD and SLV). There are various tuggings and pullings going on in this market. But for whatever reason—and there are as many suppositions as there are pundits—gold and silver have at last broken out of their doldrums, at least for now and allegedly are trying to tell us something about our future. Tea leaves, anyone?
Ft. Knox bullion depository, located near Louisville, KY. We mistakenly located it in Knoxville, TN in a previous piece, earning the wrath of commentators who didn’t read the rest of the article. As for ourselves, one wonders: Do Aging Mavens Dream of Electric Sheep?
Gold bugs, at least, are certainly up to something. More volatile silver seems to be tagging along. We will probably have to wait for the next thrilling episode in this revived investing thesis. But we hope the reason for the precious metal’s latest round of goosing doesn’t come from Iran. Or the Romney campaign for that matter.
Have a good weekend.
*Note to trivia trolls. “Glisters” is the way it’s spelled by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice. “Glitters” is the modern spelling. Both words mean the same thing. So there.
Disclaimer: The author is adding to a small position in IAU as the opportunity warrants and has also established a small position in SLV.
The author of this column maintains several active trading and investment portfolios and owns residential and investment real estate.
Positions mentioned above describe this author’s own investment decisions and should not be construed as either buy or sell recommendations. The current market is highly treacherous and all investors travel at their own risk, so caution should be exercised at all times.
Illustrations, charts, commentary, and analysis are only the author’s view of current or historical market activity and don’t constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any security or contract. Views, indications, and analysis aren’t necessarily predictive of any future market or government action. Rather they indicate the author’s opinion as to a range of possibilities that may occur going forward.
References to other reporters, analysts, pundits, or commentators are illustrative only and do not necessarily represent an endorsement of such individuals’ points of view. If specific investment vehicles are mentioned in any article under this column heading, the author will always fully disclose any active or contemplated investments in said vehicles.
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