Gold and Silver prices pushed hard with Gold up 1.75% in the past 5 days at $6403CAD. Silver is up 13% from last week to $126.50CAD. Silver is currently up 188% Year over Year. US Dollar index DXY is flat this week at 99.32. SP500 Volatility Index VIX rose 1%.. SP 500 ES futures are now trading 7003 having pierced 7000 this past week
Crude WTI futures are flat at $59.12 and down 22% YOY. Crude futures fell on Wednesday when a US attack on Iran failed to materialize. Polymarket odds were briefly above 50% that the USA would strike Iran by Jan 15th.
ICE protests continue in the wake of the shooting of 37 yr old Renee Good, a Minneapolis mother of three who was stopped on a residential road and fled detention by masked ICE agents. In response, US President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to allow active-duty military personnel to be deployed for law enforcement duties inside the US, blaming "professional agitators and insurrectionists" for the civil unrest.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said an officer opened fire on Wednesday after he was attacked by three illegal Venezuelan immigrants with a shovel and broom handle.
In other news, Maria Machado the leader of the Venezuelan opposition party who has a ~90% disapproval rating - has presented the POTUS with her Nobel Peace prize. This comes only one week after he attacked her country and expressed doubt of Machado’s ability to unify Venezuela. Following the presentation and gift of Machado’s non-transferable Nobel, the President said it was “Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”
Ai powered Government Contractor Palantir is flat - PLTR currently trades at $177.07, and up 175% YOY. Palantir jumped 4.5% on the morning of Jan 5th after news of the successful US Military operation in Venezuela. NVDA is up 1% in the past 5 days and up 5% this past month at $187.05.
Crypto rose again with BTC up 5.5% this week to $95,500 after a November low of $80,500 USD. ETH is up 7% at $3303 this past week. The crypto crash started on Oct. 10 when Trump threatened to impose an extra 100% tariff on Chinese imports — on top of the 30% already in place.
S&P AeroSpace and Defense ETF XAR jumped 6.5% in the past 5 days to $289.49. XAR is up 76% in the past 12 months. XAR rose 4% on the Monday following Maduro's weekend capture, and has risen 22% in January alone.
Weekly Jobless Claims fell 9,000 to 198,000 for the period ending Jan 10th. The Gold/Silver ratio fell 10% at 50.62 after falling steadily since late October and down 53% from its March high of 107. Longer 20 yr and 30 yr US government bonds are down 7 bps to 4.75 and 4.80% respectively.
The Polymarket quoted probability of a total 100 bps in cuts coming in 2026 is currently 18%, 75 bps in cuts in 2026 stands at 27% and the probability of 50 bps is 22%. Short term rates are up 8bps in the 2yr at 3.56.
US Comex Copper Futures HG, a leading indicator of economic growth, fell 0.5% to $5.87 usd/lb after hitting a new all time high on Wednesday of $6.15 usd/lb.