Gold

Gold felt and acted directionless today as deep summer calm fell upon the market.

Indeed, while gold is down a small bit in afternoon trading, its loss is completely attributable to dollar strength.

There was little to support gold as a haven play. World hot spots seemed to simmer down.

My fellow traders

Respectable follow-through buying due to short covering and a newfound enthusiasm for haven plays buoyed gold today. Gold is off its early highs for the day, however. Silver was not as lucky. It is off by more than 0.5%.

How quickly sentiment changes!

Early in the day, U.S. economic data drove stocks higher and gold lower. At 5 o'clock EDT, gold is now slightly better than even on the day.

If you're inclined to be a nervous investor in gold and silver, this is a perfect time for you to get your ya-ya's out. There are apparently many among precious metals traders who are still betting on a sooner-than-anticipated rise in interest rates from the Fed.

It's always amusing to watch a fundamentals overreaction corrected by an equal and opposite overreaction. It leaves you wondering where the truth is in trading impulses.

Our thought is that traders do not understand the synergy between "jobs created," "the unemployment rate," and "potential Federal reserve actions."

It's always amusing to watch a fundamentals overreaction corrected by an equal and opposite overreaction. It leaves you wondering where the truth is in trading impulses.

Our thought is that traders do not understand the synergy between "jobs created," "the unemployment rate," and "potential Federal reserve actions."

You can celebrate if you’re so inclined: today is Milton Friedman’s birthday (1912 – 2006).

Today we witnessed the equities markets in a virtual meltdown. Equities have now given back the gains of 2014. What predicated this dramatic selloff? Also a perplexing question is why we did not see any flight into the precious metals in unison with today’s dramatic decline in equities.

News of a vigorous rebound in second quarter growth in the U.S. mildly deterred gold prices today, while silver prices slightly regained upward momentum. Usually, 4% growth in a quarter would indicate that an economy is not just on the launch pad, but headed well into orbit.