Selling shovels?

Good Day... And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Kathy and I were at a conference in Bermuda quite a few years ago, when a young man asked me, "Why do you start the day, so upbeat? I told him, because the day hadn't beaten me up yet... And so, it is, with my beginnings... J.J. Jackson greets me this morning with his song, and one we used to play in my first band: But It's Alright... 

Ahhh, my first band, The Soul Wonders Revue... I was the main singer, mostly because the other band mates were scared to sing in public....  We had Gold shirts, and Gold lame pants and did dance steps with the music... My mom used to sit in the basement while we practiced and tell us how good we were! 

I'm beating around the bush today, because... The war with Iran seems to be back on, as Iran bombed two ships yesterday, and the U.S. will, at some time retaliate... UGH

So, that means, the dollar got bought and Gold & Silver were sold.... So, I'm not a happy camper this morning after reading that news... 

Gold lost $58 yesterday, and Silver lost $2.09.... Gold closed the day at $4,107 and Silver closed at $60.09... I had really thought that Gold /Silver had crossed the bridge to better times, but a return to the start took place yesterday... 

The price of Oil jumped $3 to a $72 handle because of the renewed tensions in the Gulf... And the 10-year Treasury really saw its yield rise to 4.55%... No Fed Head intervention here, yesterday... 

In The overnight markets last night... The war trade dug deeper into the minds of traders as the dollar wondered through the night, which puts the BBDXY at 1,220 to start our day today...

 The boys 7 girls of the STPs saw the opportunity with the war heating up to whack Gold & Silver more! Gold is down $39 and Silver is down $1.14 to start our Wednesday... Silver has lost more than $3 in the last two trading sessions, and has a $58 handle attached to it this morning... UGH!  The dollar and the price of Oil love this War tensions thing... And the stock jockeys? They shrug off everything and buy stocks...  

Well, the price of Oil has rebounded to trade with a $73 handle this morning... And just about the time that the pundits were writing off the price of Oil and calling for a less than $40 price for the black gold, Texas tea... I'm glad I didn't fall into that way of thinking, I'm a jaded person here and I thought the Peace Agreement was a farce, which it has proven to be, and that the price of Oil was mispriced to begin with! 

The 10-year Treasury this morning has seen some yield control buying and its yield sits at 4.56% to start our day... 

I read this past weekend that 41 Tons of Gold was bought by Central Banks around the world in May... They buy it and don't get all caught up in the fact that Gold lost 11% in June... China is the leader of the Central Bank buying, and I'm sure they really enjoy the dips as an extra incentive to buy more!

When the Central Banks started buy boat loads of physical Gold a couple of years ago, I said then that my dad taught me to follow the money, because money talks and B.S walks... And because of that teaching I said that we as consumer, investors, etc. needed to follow the money which was going into Gold.... Because Gold is real money.... and not pieces of paper that say that it is backed by the Gov't that printed it... like dollars that used to fill up the reserves of Central Banks...

Ok, enough of that! You know, as longtime readers that at times I go off on tangents, and it takes me a while before I come back.... I apologize, but I've always written what was on mind, and my minds seems to switch topics often! 

The short sellers continue to remain relevant, but something is awry with their numbers... The number of days of production that would be needed to produce the number of ounces of Gold/Silver sold short.... 

I remember when I used to tell you that Silver was up to 185 days of production to equal the ounces sold short, and Gold was up to over 80 days... But these days, Silver is down to 103 days needed to cover, and Gold is down to 42 days needed to cover... So, at least these numbers are moving in the right direction.... Wouldn't it be nice to live together, in a kind of world we belong? No, Wait! No Beach Boys are needed here! But it would be nice to have zero days of production to cover the shorts? That would be seashells and balloons in incredible amounts!

There are no Central Bank interest rate meetings this week, so the currencies have to fight off dollar strength because of the War... 

Yesterday we saw the latest Trade Balance for May and without tariffs, the Balance returned to a Deficit (like it used to be all the time) Here's the WSJ: "The U.S. trade deficit ballooned in May to its widest since March 2025 as the country imported more products like pharmaceuticals, vehicles and semiconductors for the artificial-intelligence boom, while American-made exports declined."

A lot of the AI purchases were front loaded which means that the companies that did the purchasing did so on Credit... And that's something I'm wondering about here... Last week I told you that most of the AI companies were not making profits, and then they go deeper into debt buying AI stuff? It doesn't add up for me...  

And the other side of this report was an export number that was awful! So, we're back to normal operations, buying more than we sell... For a country that can make or produce just about anything, I find this to be not a good thing... I'm just saying...

The U.S. Data Cupboard today has the meeting minutes of the last FOMC meeting where it was Kevin Warsh's first as chairman... And we'll also see the color of the latest Consumer Credit (Read debt) of which is forecast to have fallen in May from April... 

To recap... The war was back on yesterday, and that meant that the dollar received some love, and Gold/Silver got sent to woodshed... Chuck goes the whole 9 yards on Gold/Silver this morning... so if you skipped through the Pfennig you might want to go back and see what you missed!

Here's your snippet: "More than a century after prospectors helped establish Mariposa during California's Gold Rush, mining companies are once again turning their attention to the area in search of valuable minerals.

Mariposa, located within California's historic Mother Lode gold belt, was founded during the Gold Rush era. Today, new mining projects are drawing attention from residents, investors, and industry observers as companies seek to develop sites with significant mineral deposits.

"We are the gold mining capital of all California; here was the biggest hit across the entire state. In fact, it's coming back a little," Jennifer Kiser, Mariposa County Supervisor said.

Two companies are leading the renewed interest in mining activity in the area.

Lode Gold is pursuing a high-grade development project at the historic Fremont Mine. Preliminary assessments estimate the site contains about $8 billion in gold.

"They did a lot of core testing and magnetic residence, all kinds of fancy stuff to prove yes there's enough gold here," said Randy Bolt, Mariposa Gem and Mineral Club"

Chuck Again... YAHOO! There's Gold in them Hills! Let's hope that this ends well and that we don't see that the only people making money here are the ones selling shovels!

Market Prices 7/7/2026: American Style: A$ .6918, kiwi .5691, C$ .7048, euro 1.1400, sterling 1.3340, Swiss $1.2362, European Style: rand 16.4056, krone 9.7735, SEK 9.7049, forint 313.97, zloty 3.7809, koruna 21.2760, RUB 76.41, yen 162.53, sing 1.2946, HKD 7.8385, INR 95.56, China 6.8007, peso 17.59, BRL 5.1738, BBDXY 1,220, Dollar Index 101.21, Oil $73.96, 10-year 4.56%, Silver $58.95, Platinum $1,557.00, Palladium $1,239.00, Copper $6.09, and Gold... $4,068.

That's it for today... Another loss by my beloved Cardinals last night made them 0 for 2 as a double header was played yesterday... UGH! We just can't beat the Brewers! Any other team we take 2of 3 or whatever from but not the Brewers! And that's bad because they lead our division! I got dehydrated yesterday and had to go inside and rest and drink water... I don't know how this happened, but I knew it was dehydration right away because I've been dehydrated before... The Rascals take us to the finish line today with their song: It's A Beautiful Morning... I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday today and please remember to Be Good To Yourself!