Gold and Silver prices corrected this week with gold falling 8% top to bottom on Tuesday... Spot gold is down almost 4% in the past 5 days and still up 10% in the past month to $5765CAD. Silver is down 6.5% % to $67.85CAD. US Dollar index DXY is up 0.5% at 99.01. SP500 Volatility Index VIX fell 39%. SP 500 ES futures rose 1% this past week now approaching the all time high of 6812, currently trading 6783. Crude WTI futures have bounced back, up 7% to $61.35.
The US Government Shutdown continues. The Guardian reported Thursday evening that Trump has said that his unnamed friend sent him a check for $130m to pay for the military. He explained that he does not plan on going to congress to declare war on Venezuela - instead “We’re just gonna kill people.” The total US Debt has now surpassed $38 trillion. On Thursday, President Trump posted we will delay sending the military to San Francisco “The Federal Government was preparing to "surge" San Francisco, California, on Saturday, but friends of mine who live in the area called last night to ask me not to go forward with the surge” Mayor Daniel Lurie confirmed his conversation with the POTUS “ “We have work to do, and we would welcome continued partnerships with the FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Attorney to get drugs and drug dealers off our streets, but having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery,”
Crypto is up 4% this week to $110,900 USD after last week’s selloff. ETH is down 2% to $3895. The selloff was triggered by yet another threat of heavy tariffs from the President that has since been retracted. Buying the dip on such events has been coined a TACO trade - an acronym for Trump Always Chickens Out. 19 yr old Baron Trump has reportedly amassed a $150m crypto fortune to date.
S&P AeroSpace and Defense ETF XAR rose 4.5% in the past 5 days to $246.24. Weekly Jobless Claims reporting is suspended due to the government shutdown. The Gold/Silver ratio is up 3% to 84.55. Longer 20 yr and 30 yr US government bonds are down nearly flat at 4.55 and 4.58% respectively. Ai powered Government Contractor Palantir PLTR rose 1.5% this week, currently $180.48. With the first rate cut now in since the Sept 17th FOMC meeting; the probability of 50 bps in cuts fell 9pts to 12% and the probability of 75 bps in cuts rose 6pts to 80% and the probability of a full 100bps in cuts currently stands at 6%. Short term rates are up 11bps in the 2yr at 3.49. US Comex Copper Futures HG, a leading indicator of economic growth, is up 16 cents to $5.09 usd/lb.