Gold and Silver prices continued climbing with Gold up 1.5% in the past 5 days at $5886 CAD. Silver is up 8.5% from last week to $87.68 CAD and crossed well above the $60 USD technical level for the first time. Silver is currently up 114% YTD in USD terms. US Dollar index DXY is down 0.5% this week at 98.38. SP500 Volatility Index VIX fell 4.75%. SP 500 ES futures are now trading 6909.5 up 0.5% this past week and in spitting distance of the key 7000 level. Markets were moved primarily by Wednesday's ¼ pt rate cut from the Federal Reserve with indications of another likely to come in 2026. Crude WTI futures have drifted -3.5% to $58.04, despite escalating US/Venezuela tensions. The US seized a tanker on Wednesday with the President elaborating "We've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, large tanker, very large, largest one ever, actually, and other things are happening,"
Oracle fell 15% on Thursday morning on news of higher than expected expenses. Oracle reported $12 billion in capital expenditures for the quarter, vs $8.4 billion analysts expected. Expenses might continue to grow as Ai expansion hits unexpectedly.
Toms hardware reported last month that Dram ddr5 prices had risen 171% year over year. As of this writing the best selling desktop memory product at Newegg is CORSAIR Vengeance RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6400 (PC5 51200) Desktop Memory Model prices at $406.99 USD.
Ai powered Government Contractor Palantir is up 5.25% - PLTR currently trades at $187.54, down 1.5% this past month. NVDA is down 1.5% in the past 5 days and down 7.25% this past month at $180.93.
Crypto’s fall has paused BTC up 3.5% this week to $92,300 from a recent low of $80,500 USD. ETH is up 7.5% to $3245 this past week and now only down 5% this past month.
On Wednesday the annual defense bill passed setting a $900 billion budget for military spending. The bill includes $400 million in aid to Ukraine, a 3.8% raise for all service members and codifies a dozen executive orders including authorising the deployment of troops along the Mexico border and building a “Golden Dome” to protect against missiles and other aerial attacks. The bill also required that the Pentagon submit a report detailing what it has learned from war in Ukraine.
S&P AeroSpace and Defense ETF XAR rose 3% in the past 5 days to $239.28
Weekly Jobless Claims rose 44,000 to 236,000 for the period ending Dec 6th. This was the biggest weekly rise since March 2020. The Gold/Silver ratio is down 6.5% at 67.25, its lowest level since June 2021 though still over twice the 31.71 low of March 2011. Longer 20 yr and 30 yr US government bonds are up 5 bps to 4.77 and 4.81% respectively.
With a total of three rate cuts now in since the Sept 17th FOMC meeting; the probability of a total 25 bps in cuts coming next year is currently 14%, 50 bps in cuts in 2026 stands at 22% and the probability of 75 bps is 21%. Short term rates are up 1 bp in the 2yr at 3.53. US Comex Copper Futures HG, a leading indicator of economic growth, rose 0.25% to $5.47 usd/lb.