Email of the day on gold and David's health
Was that not a key-day reversal by London spot gold on July 3? Wonderful service. News about David would be welcome.
David Fuller and Eoin Treacy's Comment of the Day
Category - Precious Metals / Commodities
With Tariff Deadline at Hand, Businesses Brace for the Fallout
This article from the Wall Street Journal may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
And China has been shifting soybean purchases to Brazil, from which it bought nearly 30% more beans in May than it had a year earlier, according to research firm CEIC. Chinese importers have mostly stopped buying U.S. soybeans, said Paul Burke of the U.S. Soybean Export Council, and agricultural giant Cargill Inc. worries about a longer-term shift to other suppliers.
By value, soybeans are the top item targeted by Beijing’s proposed tariffs; China imported around $14 billion in U.S. soybeans last year, according to Wind Information
In all, China’s tariffs would cover 545 categories of U.S. products, while the U.S. tariffs would cover 818 categories of products from China.
Copper May Need a Very Hot Chile to Save it From a Cool China
This note by Benjamin Dow for Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here it is in full:
Looking at LME copper's current price levels, ie near a 10-month low, it seems it would take more than the risk of labor conflict in Chile to keep the red metal from slipping further to $6,000 per tonne -- especially considering the state of the Chinese economic path, which is currently searching for answers.
Verbal intervention in the tumbling yuan and the do-or- don't nature of the deleveraging debate don't give copper longs much of a handle to grasp. In addition, there's the tense wait for the global trade-war boot to drop, and the fact that copper has risen for seven of the past ten quarters. Chilean mine strikes may have to be acrimonious and long to save Dr. Copper.
Email of the day on volume at major peaks and troughs
I hope this email finds you and yours in fine spirits, especially ahead of your holiday in China. In August 1982 it was pointed out to me that the Dow Jones had undergone its largest volume in transactions ever. The argument was that people had held on and held on in the hope that something would change, remembering that the Dow had traded sideways, basically between 1000 and 500 for 16 years, since the 1966 peak. That those who sold had given up the ghost and those who bought were a whole new generation of optimists. Obviously, the new generation where proved correct, as apart from a minor hiccup in 1987 the market went on a secular bull market until the year 2000.
Since that time, I have always used market volume indicators, both for stock markets and individual share prices as short and medium-term indicators of sentiment and any change therein. During today’s check through my favourite charts I noticed that 3 weeks ago the Russel 2000 and the DJ Wilshire 5000 float had their largest volume spikes in at least 5 years.
I was using your weekly charts. Do you think we might be entering a similar change in sentiment which seems to be encapsulating the majority of global stock markets at the moment? FYI global stock market trading peaks gave me the confidence to increase my equity exposure in 2003 and 2009. Personally, I do not think that volume spikes at a low or a high are coincidence, but indicate a change of investor sentiment in this ever-intriguing global market
Mexico's young democracy is facing its sternest test yet
This article by Ana Campoy for Quartz may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
The most troubling and tragic threat to Mexico’s democracy is violence. Since campaigning began in September 2017, 132 politicians (jpg), including 48 official and aspiring candidates, have been killed, according to Ellekt, a consulting firm.
The most recent murder happened on June 25 in the southern state of Oaxaca. Emigdio López Avendaño, a candidate for local representative from AMLO’s party, MORENA, was gunned down along with four of his supporters.
The level of violence represents a huge spike from the run-up to last presidential election, in 2012, when less than a dozen politicians were killed, according to Ellekt. The firm’s director, Rubén Salazar, attributes the increase to state governors’ waning control over municipalities. Thanks to free elections, voters have been kicking out incumbents from governor’s offices around the country—a step forward for democracy. But at the municipal level, it’s had the perverse result of clearing the way for local strongmen to hijack the election process, sometimes at gunpoint.
“These changes have happened faster than the transformation of the political and democratic culture at the local level ,” he said in an interview in Artistegui Noticias (link in Spanish).
Long-term themes review May 16th 2018
Email of the day on UK listed gold shares:
Fresnillo and Hochschild, both on LSE, have had a waterfall downdraft of about 10 pc this month, whereas many gold/silver miners on the HUI or in Sydney are going sideways or upwards, and even Randgold seems to be bottoming. Would you care to comment on why this is happening? Yours anon
Email of the day on Total Known Holdings of Gold:
On Total Known ETF holdings of Gold. The charts are telling us that after a long period of ranging Gold and the precious metals are poised to break to the upside. I was rather alarmed therefore on the one- day plunge by about 7% of the above chart. Should I be, or is this some explainable aberration?
WPM acquires cobalt stream
Thanks to a subscriber for this report from Credit Suisse which may be of interest. Here is a section:
Gold Investing Goes AWOL As Google Searches To 'Buy Gold' Hit 11-Year Low
Thanks to a subscriber for this article by Adrian Ash which may be of interest. Here is a section:
The giant SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE Arca: GLD) shrank 4% across May, erasing the previous two months of share issuance growth with the heaviest 1-month outflow since August last year.
The US Mint meantime reports selling 24,000 ounces of American Eagle gold coins, up sharply from April's 10-year low as dealers re-stocked inventory but still barely half the last 5 years' average for May.
Here at BullionVault, last month saw the lowest number of new precious-metal investors since May 2014. Down 27.7% from the previous 12-month average, the number of people using our online gold, silver and platinum market for the first time totalled just 57.2% of the last 5 years' average monthly count of new customers.
Overall, the number of people starting or increasing their gold holdings rose 12.1% from April's 27-month low, but the number of gold sellers on BullionVault rose 22.8% to a 4-month high.