Stabilization

It seems all markets took a breather today.

Those that were up were up only a little. Those that were down, only were down a touch.

Sooner or later the dollar had to run out of steam. The best move was in the euro, which gained about 0.37% on the day. The yen and G.B. pound were virtually unchanged.

Even the small dip in the dollar gave gold enough strength to show to the plus side today. In regular trading, gold, indeed would have been down.

The Scottish question is still hanging fire, but it appears that as the run up to the vote gets closer, the decision is tightening. We can't really say for sure, but if forced to, we'd say the Scots will vote for disunion. ("Independence" will not be quite the right word.)

One thing that Scotland does have to watch out for is the back of Britain's - and Europe's - hand. There is no guarantee that Scotland will keep trade or tariff privileges with G.B., Wales and Ulster, and there is no guarantee that the E.U. will allow it in, especially if it is too deeply in debt.

Regardless, it will take a number of years to hash out Scotland's liabilities and assets in relation to the rest of the U.K. We also wouldn't think for a moment that the rest of the U.K. will give up the North Sea oilfields without a big rhubarb.

Gold is off its lows in the 1246 range, a number that sounds pretty serious. But bargain hunters did step in and took advantage of the recovery from the bottom for today.

Sluggish equities helped a bit - at least in the negative sense that money wasn't flowing to stocks. All three American exchanges showed a loss for the day.

Part of the down sentiment can be attributed to Apple, which is in the midst of launching new products, some of which haven't pleased some analysts. But the boohoo-ers will have a strong but short impact and the rest of the street will take notice.

If there worry had been big enough, we would have seen a bigger jump in gold and a bit of a flight to bonds/treasuries.

We didn't. So we wait.

If you want the nut, crack it.
        - Scottish Proverb

As always, wishing you good trading,