Gold

Crude oil analysts have to make you laugh. But it’s a dark joke filled with dishonesty.

As oil enters its third straight day of losses, headlines are suddenly again reading along these lines: “Oversupply Worries Traders”; “Seasonal Demand for Crude Dips as Summer Gasoline Blend Transition Tapers”; “OPEC Production Up”; “Sluggish World Economy Stifles Oil Prices.”

Gold and silver pulled back today in spite of dollar weakness, which took some of the sting out of an unexpected round of profit taking in regular trading.

Most of us don’t ask many questions when our investments catapult upward, but it behooves us to do so today because the down ticking in equities is fast becoming a route.

In fact, stocks may be on the verge of a correction and that will generate more good news in precious metals. Here is the good news for those who are invested in gold and silver right now.

Today we experienced classic risk-off market movements.

Gold and the rest of the precious metals complex led the parade out of equities. At 3PM in New York, gold is up nearly $18 or 1.45%. Silver performed even more strongly, rising 1.70%. Platinum and palladium were the best percentage performers, up 2.00% and 1.8% respectively.

True to our expectations, the Fed held rates and sounded a few caution notes about the U.S. economy for the short term. It’s painting of the middle term prospects are rosier but there is evidently no call to dance around your hat and shoot your six guns in the air.

Amidst anticipation of a dovish statement by the Federal Reserve after tomorrow’s FOMC meeting, the dollar slipped against major currencies.

The dollar’s fall helped gold and silver continue to stay strong. It helped crude oil prices reassert themselves, as well.

On a day that seems tailor made for safe-haven investment, silver fizzled and gold is up modestly, mostly on the back of a lower U.S. dollar.

Where are those seeking shelter from the storm? Waiting for the central banks to speak.

Since the middle of March, everyone has been lazily floating along, opening an eye occasionally to take a peek at the news generated by comments from various presidents of regional Federal Reserve banks.

Even if they sound slightly off key when they sing…

Oil headed down early in the day in Europe but then reversed course and started throttling upward.

That reversal came on the wings of a rumor that, since talks in Doha failed this past Sunday, OPEC and non-OPEC producers would try again in May – in Moscow – to arrive at an agreement to freeze production. Iraq was the source of the rumor. Russia said there was no agreement to meet.