Slouching Toward Normal Trading

The holidays are slouching toward an end and the dollar almighty is ruling the road. The euro was down about 1% against the U.S. currency and, accordingly, oil fell – but even more than that, around 1.3%.

Buyers looking for a bargain helped gold achieve a small gain today, but they were smacked upside the head by the continuing robustness of the dollar.

The Dow continued on its merry way, although they were facing some head winds as data makes it clearer and clearer that Europe, Japan and China are frittering away precious time in turning their economies around. Agree or disagree with the way the fiscal crisis has been handled by the Fed, it is certain that at least the American central bank was decisive and, while the solutions may not have been perfect, markets like stability and sureness of purpose. The S&P and NASDAQ fell slightly.

European equities were down across the board today on namby-pamby statements about the possibility – the mere possibility – of a euro zone-wide stimulus. We’ve been checking in on Mario Draghi and friends of the ECB for a year now expecting the news to turn into action. We’re not very hopeful it will, even at this point.

Japan is becalmed and doesn’t seem to know what to do. China is saddled with bad debt,, perhaps on a level almost as great as the U.S. was back in 2008, which seems like ancient history now. China’s woes are the most formidable. You read it here first.

However, the real news governing precious metals trading is the last gasp of the western world’s holiday season.

As will be touched upon in Market Forecast, we hope to find more readable directions come Monday and the rest of next week

Wishing you as always, good trading,