It's a FOMC day

Good Day... And a Wonderful Wednesday to one and all! A saying that I normally save for Tub Thumpin' Thursdays, but since after this, I'm finished for this week, I used it... My beloved Cardinals won again last night, this time 3-2 VS the Padres... The first two days of this week have been Chamber of Commerce days, and I hope they continue, but I know they won't... St. Louis weather.... Jo Jo Gunne greets me this morning with their song: Run Run Run... 

The dollar drifted yesterday and remained trading in the BBDXY at 1,205... It had sunk quickly, and probably too quickly for Traders, so they made the dollar take a pause for the cause... The dollar is in trouble, folks... And I'll say no more... Today that is... HA!  

Gold was going along just nicely yesterday at one point being up $10 But then the SPTs showed up and Gold only eked out a $2 gain on the day... Silver had a better day and gained $1.97... Gold closed at $4,333 and Silver closed at $70.15... 

The price of Oil continued to get sold and ended the day with a $76 handle, and the 10-year remained trading with a 4.44% yield.

The bond boys seem to be saying "let's wait until the FOMC meets on Wednesday before we decide which way we'll take bond yields"... And can you blame them? Not me, for the new Cabal/Cartel/ Central Bank Chairman, Kevin Warsh, tried like the dickens to explain how he will look at inflation differently, and that may lead to a rate cut, when the markets are tuned into a rate hike... So, there are questions going into the FOMC meeting... I'm just saying...

In the overnight markets last night... The dollar was bought by a small margin and the BBDXY starts today at 1,206... I don't get why the dollar traders would be buying the dollar ahead of the FOMC meeting, unless... They have a strong opinion on the FOMC hiking rates today... 

Gold is giving back some of its gain yesterday and is down $10 to start the day today... And Silver is also down. Silver is down 19-cents to start our day... Those are easily turned around folks... And that's what I'm expecting to happen today. But don't hold my feet to the fire because I'm expecting Gold & Silver to turn around... I'm just saying... 

The price of Oil remained trading with a $76 handle overnight... And the 10-year remained trading with a 4.44% yield... No movement in the 10-year tells me that the bond boys are not sure what will become of the FOMC today... 

With the price of Oil sinking along with the yields in bonds coming down a bit, that's really helping Gold in its rebound...  

The problem for Treasuries right now could become even greater and that would be a real bad thing for the U.S. The other day, the POTUS threatened to seize $24 billion of U.S. Treasuries owned by Iran. Now, I don't need to remind you that when the U.S. froze the Russian assets that Gold took for moon, because Countries said, "if the U.S. can do that to Russia, they could do that to us"...  And now The U.S. has brought that same thought back to their minds... Uh-Oh! 

What would you do if you were the Gov. Of a Foreign Central Bank? Would you halt the buying of Treasuries, and maybe sell some to reduce your exposure? Or would you simply ignore this and say, "They won't do that to us"?... I'm going to go with door # 1... Thank you very much! 

Oh, and regarding that Peace Announcement.... Israel decided that it didn't involve them and so they sent some missiles to Lebanon... I'm sure the POTUS was pulling his hair out when he hear that news... It had been reported that he called the Israel PM and told him to stop... Well, apparently that didn't happen or Israel just decided to have a go anyway.... 

The only reason I brought that up is that shipping in the Strait is still at a standstill, and the shippers are waiting for details of the Peace Agreement, and the fact that it's not signed yet and won't be until Friday, if then... That means that even if everything works out and unicorns begin to fly the skies, that shipping won't be back to normal for probably a couple of months! And that means that the shipping disruptions will continue along with shortages of items and higher prices... Oh, Good, can I have some more higher prices? UGH!

Yesterday, I was kind of difficult on the Beaver for waiting to buy Gold or Silver, but I was concentrating on Gold... And then yesterday, after I had sent out the Pfennig, I was thinking about Gold and its rebound, and then a thought crossed my mind... You see, historically speaking Gold normally sees downward pressure during the summer and it normally doesn't come out of it until the kids go back to school in August... And remembering this, I think we could see some additional losses in Gold during the summer months... If we don't, then GREAT! But if we do, then that would be the time to back up the truck to the Gold door.... I'm just saying... 

Tom Bruce, Macro Investment Strategist at Tanglewood Total Wealth Management, said that he is relatively neutral on gold in the near term, but the longer-term outlook for the precious metal remains constructive."

Chuck again... In other words,... Gold is in a holding pattern right now but the fundamentals for it to rise are still there... I would agree with him on that, for now... but I'm not neutral on Gold... 

And this just in... The Bank of Japan hiked interest rates to near 1% This is the first time in 31 years that rates have been in this area... I would say that this should help the yen to get off its duff and trade stronger than 160, but at first glance, traders are having a "meh" moment.. And shrugging off the rate hike... Hmmmm...

The U.S. Data Cupboard today has the Retail Sales for May.. I told you on Monday that the BHI indicated to me that this data will be better than the average bear... So, I guess we'll see, eh?

The other thing going on today is the FOMC Meeting to discuss interest rates, and then Warsh will hold his first press conference after the rate announcement, an he'll probably tell us that we're all dumb as a box of rocks and calculate inflation all wrong... OOOH, I can't wait! NOT!

To recap... The dollar is drifting ahead of the FOMC meeting as there are still questions about which way the Fed Heads will go with rates... Gold / Silver seem to be rebounding right now, but we're heading into the summer months that historically see Gold/Silver have difficulties as everyone is out on the beach and not trading... 

For What It's Worth... this report was sent by the good folks at GATA and they got it from the Financial Times, who has a paywall... So, you'll have to settle for the snippet... sorry...

Here's your snippet: "Global central banks are removing gold from vaults in London and New York as they become more skittish about storing bullion outside their own borders, according to a new survey.

The central banks of India and France are among those that have relocated huge volumes of gold out of the U.S. and U.K. in the past year to store more domestically -- part of a trend of the institutions bringing bullion home and diversifying the storage location of their reserves.

For years central banks have been increasing their holdings of gold, which recently surpassed U.S. Treasuries to become the world's top reserve asset, as many seek alternatives to the U.S. dollar, the de-facto reserve currency.

However, increasing geopolitical conflict, sanctions regimes, and a decline in trust have put strains on a gold trading system that relies heavily on London -- where huge vaults at the Bank of England store more than $700 billion of the yellow metal -- and on New York, the largest gold futures market.

According to an annual survey published on Tuesday by the World Gold Council -- an industry body that represents gold miners and administers a bullion-backed exchange traded fund -- fewer central banks say they are storing the yellow metal in London and in New York than said so a year earlier."

Chuck Again... I think that this shows how insecure Global Central Banks are right now, they want what they own in their own possession, and they don't trust anyone else... 

Market Prices 6/17/2026: American Style: A$ .7060, kiwi .5810, C$ .7137, euro 1.1492, sterling 1.3407, Swiss $1.2610, European Style: rand 16.2220, krone 9.4933, SEK 9.3959, forint 301.65, zloty 3.6556, koruna 20.5313, RUB 72.77, yen 160.31, sing 1.2834, HKD 7.8355, INR 94.53, China 6.7593, peso 17.21, BRL 5.0896, BBDXY 1,206, Dollar Index 99.66, Oil $76.62, 10-year 4.44%, Silver $69.96, Platinum $1,791.00, Palladium $1,367.00, Copper $6.58, and Gold... $4,323.

That's it for today and this week... Tomorrow I go for an echocardiogram... no biggie... Today I'm going to be having lunch with some classmates... I love these lunches because I get to see my longtime friends... Every day, darling daughter Dawn, teaches swim lessons to little tykes in our pool... I sit outside and watch, some kids get it right away, and some still cry when water hits their face... It's fun watching them... Bill Withers and Grover Washington, Jr. take us to the finish line today with their song: Just The Two Of Us... I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday today, and Please Be Good To Yourself!