A day not like any other

Good Day... And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you... Well, to prove that all good plans of mice and men may often go awry... I made a major faux pas with buying a gift for my wife.. What a dolt I am! Hopefully all will be worked out today... My infusion 10 days ago, finally caught up with me yesterday and my stomach problems returned... UGH! I got some medicine for it last night, so hopefully, that takes care of it! We are hosting a New Year's Eve Party this year, our friends will be here, and I have a special surprise for them at Midnight... Simple Minds greet me this morning with their 80's song: Don't You (Forget about me)

Well... All the euphoria in the metals was taken away yesterday, much like the chaperone that takes away the spiked punch bowl... I wish it were that silly... The profit taking and the short sellers combined to send Gold & Silver back to where they were last week... Silver was down $7 and Gold was down $200... Yes, that's right Gold was down $200 yesterday... It was the opposite of the gains the metals made last Friday... So, we start over again at getting the metals moving in the right direction...

The dollar was bought a bit yesterday, as the BBDXY gained 1 index point on Monday. All the Armageddon that surrounded the markets on Friday, was knocked for a loop yesterday... It will be interesting to see how the metals react today...

The price of Oil bumped higher to trade with a $57 handle, and the 10-year Treasury's yield saw another BP taken from its price yesterday. The 10-year closed the day at 4.11% yield.

In the overnight markets last night... Well, Gold & Silver has fought back... Silver is up $3 to start the day, and Gold is up $38... There was more buying in the dollar, and the BBDXY picked up another index point to start the day at 1,202... I'm more confused about what's going on in Silver than I was yesterday... But then what else is new?

The price of Oil bumped higher again to trade this morning with a $58 handle... And the 10-year Treasury is floundering around 4.13% this morning... back and forth, C'mon bond boys, pick a lane and stay there!

I received an email from a reader yesterday that explained the run up in the price of Silver that doesn't have anything to do with the physical Silver shortage, or the crazy wild demand for physical Siver... It has to do with futures contracts that are traded like they are at a casino... It's a very long explanation, so I won't get into it here, but I will say that it involves the COMEX's change in Silver futures expirations from once a month to 3 per week...

This scares the bejeebers out of me... What happens when the casino players decide to walk away from Silver and play a new game? I'll tell you what... long ago in a galaxy far away, I was the "go-to" guy when the media wanted to know what's going on in the currencies and metals...

And I received a phone call from a writer for a major magazine, and she wanted to know about what was going on in Silver, as it had rallied big time and was approaching $50... I told her that Silver was the working man's Gold, as it was far cheaper to buy than Gold... And that I thought Silver would get to $59 and then who knows how high it would go?

And right after the magazine came out, the casino players walked away from Silver, and soon it dropped to $30, then $20... Where it remained for quite a few years... So, it has happened before, and it will happen again, just when, is anyone's guess... Maybe after Silver reaches $100 or before that, I just don't know. I never heard from that magazine writer again... I wonder if she lost her job, or just decided to treat me a persona non-gratis...

OK, let's move on, talking about all of this depresses me... UGH!

The Chinese renminbi, as I told you yesterday, had briefly slipped below the 7 figure but had closed back above it, did go below the 7 figure overnight and this time it stayed there. Remember the renminbi is a European Style currency, which means the lower the price VS the dollar is a good thing because it takes less of the currency to buy a dollar... So, falling below the 7 figure is good for renminbi holders, who have had to endure years of a weaker currency to the dollar.

Of course, a lot of the cause of the weakness has been the Chinese's preference of a weaker currency to aid their exports... This is what the POTUS is always carping about, how we need a weaker dollar... of course a weak currency invites inflation into your country, so there's that to think about... Which is why inflation was held back here in the U.S. as the dollar was stronger, but now the weak dollar trend has been triggered, and who knows what will be the outcome for inflation, here in the U.S. given the economy has to deal with 1. Expanded money supply, 2. Lower interest rates, and now 3. A weaker dollar...

And then finally today, regarding Silver... Ed Steer highlighted this comment in his letter this morning and I thought after all the doom and gloom I talked about in Silver above, that this would be good to finish with... "It is the most blatant act of financial warfare we have witnessed in quite some time. As you read this, the price of silver in New York is being smashed to ~$72, a manufactured, low-volume paper crash designed to steal your position. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the physical market in Shanghai is screaming, with silver trading at a staggering $83. This is not a spread; it is a divorce.

The paper market of the West and the physical market of the East have been torn apart, and the ~$11 gap between them is the fuse that is about to ignite the most violent price explosion in modern history.

What we are witnessing is a trap, a final, desperate shakeout by the Western banking cartel to steal our silver just days before the world changes forever. Do not fall for it!"

Chuck again... yes, it's a quite something to see Silver priced in the U.S. and in China being so different, but... I told you years ago, when the Shanghai Metals Exchange was first announced, that this would, in time, lead to the SPTs to become small players, that in China they would not allow the kind of manipulations that the COMEX and U.S. allow...

The U.S. Data Cupboard has the Case/ Shiller Home Price Index for Rocktober this morning... With the rate cuts already started in that time frame, I would expect that home prices to rise and end the trend of monthly drops in the data... I guess, we'll see, eh?

And I guess this falls under data... In line with taking away the penny... the Fed Heads announced that they were looking into ending paper checks... what will they think to end next?

To recap... The "fix was in" on the metals yesterday... It was an engineered shorting like we've never seen before and it took Silver down $7 and Gold down $200... We're back to last week's figures for these two... Chuck explains what happened, sort of, and how this has happened previously, back when Chuck was the "go-to" for currencies and metals for the media... Hey! We all get old, and become "has beens".... I'm just saying... There's a difference between the price of Silver in China and the in the U.S., and I'm not talking a couple of buck difference either!

For What It's Worth... I pulled this from the World Gold Council's web site because these guys don't usually get it right when they talk about Gold, but this time they did! The article is about how Central Banks are still buying physical Gold at a break neck pace and it can be found here: Central Bank Gold Statistics: Central banks ramp up gold buying in October | Post by Krishan Gopaul | Gold Focus blog | World Gold Council

Or, here's your snippet: "Central bank demand for gold remained robust in October, totaling 53t (+36% m/m) and continuing the strong trend seen throughout the year. Buying remained concentrated among a small number of central banks, led by the National Bank of Poland which became active again during the month.

Y-t-d reported net purchases through October totaled 254t, a slower pace when compared with the previous three years (Chart 2). This possibly reflects the impact of higher prices. Even so, sustained activity from emerging-market central banks – supported by the findings from our annual survey – strongly suggests that these purchases are strategic rather than opportunistic, reinforcing gold’s importance amid persistent macroeconomic uncertainty.

The buyer cohort in October was dominated by names we’ve seen throughout the year, with a handful of central banks accounting for the bulk of additions:

The National Bank of Poland re-entered the market in October, having paused its buying since May. After recently increasing its target gold allocation to 30%,1 the purchase of 16t in the month lifted its gold reserves to 531t, 26% of total reserves at end-October prices.

The Central Bank of Brazil bought gold for the second consecutive month, adding 16t in October following its 15t purchase in September. Its gold reserves now stand at 161t, accounting for 6% of total reserves.

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan (9t), Bank Indonesia (4t), Central Bank of Turkey (3t), Czech National Bank (2t), National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic (2t), Bank of Ghana (>1t), People’s Bank of China (>1t), National Bank of Kazakhstan (>1t) and the Central Bank of the Philippines (>1t) were also buyers in October.

At the time of writing, the Central Bank of Russia was the only bank to report a decline in gold reserves in the month – falling by 3t to 2,327t.

Year-to-date, the National Bank of Poland (83t) continues to be largest official-sector gold buyer, with double the purchases of the next largest buyer, Kazakhstan (41t) (Chart 3). While buying continues to be concentrated among emerging-market central banks, the list of buyers – old and new – remains broad."

Chuck again... this is important stuff folks... follow the money, and the money leads to Central Banks buying physical Gold... I'm just saying...

Market Prices 12/30/2025: American Style: A$ .6697, kiwi .5799, C$ .7300, euro 1.1758, sterling 1.3479, Swiss $1.2650, European Style: rand 16.6227, krone 10.0558, SEK 9.1956, forint 328.13, zloty 3.5925, koruna 20.6135, RUB 79.34, yen 156.27, sing 1.2844, HKD 7.7829, INR 89.78, China 6.9958, peso 17.95, BRL 5.4969, BBDXY 1,202, Dollar Index 98.13, Oil $58.46, 10-year 4.14%, Silver $75.45, Platinum $2,214.00, Palladium $1,687.00, Copper $5.72, and Gold... $4,371...

That's it for today, Sorry about how tardy the letter is today... The alarm went off and I ignored it... I slept most of yesterday, don't know why, but then had difficulty going to sleep last night, and then when I did finally nod off, I didn't want to wake up! Something is awry here... I guess I'll find out what it is eventually... Our Blues jumped out to a lead last night, but ended up losing, yet again on home ice... UGH! Home ice used to mean something in ice hockey... Oh well, having cash in your pocket used to mean something too... The temptations take us to the finish line today with their song: I Wish It Would Rain... a great song by the way... I hope you have a Tom Terrific Tuesday today, and Please Be Good To Yourself!