it's 'stout time for cooler weather

Good morning and welcome to another Marvelous Monday. I hope your weekend was as good as mine. Mer and I drove to Charlotte to visit some friends and toured a number of micro-breweries. Okay, toured is the wrong word. We drank our way from Olde Mecklenburg Brewery to Wooden Robot Brewery, and finished at Primal Brewery. I’m a Stout and Porter fan so the weather was great for enjoying these hearty beverages. Next time, we’re going to Ass Clown Brewery! Neil Sedaka greets me this morning with their 1975 hit, “Bad Blood.”

The New York Spot Prices gained ground on Friday with Gold closing up $7.00 settling in at $1,273.20, Silver was up $0.07 to $16.84, and Platinum was even closing at $915. Folks, with all of the back forth we saw last week, it’s no wonder that gold lost $6.80 for the week and silver lost $0.16. I would say something like “let’s hope for better,” but I’m afraid this will be the norm through December. In overnight trading Gold lost $2.40, Silver lost $0.11, and Platinum has gained $1.00. Let’s see how things progress when the New York Market opens.

So, what can we expect from precious metals this week? I suspect, based on the news, more of the same. With that said, keep in mind that if something unforeseen occurs, all bets are off. To offer up an example, policy meetings of three major central banks are coming up, as well as an announcement on the appointment of the next U.S. Federal Reserve chair. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), Bank of Japan, and Bank of England all have meetings this week which could determine the strength or weakness of these currencies and have significant impact on gold and silver prices.

I understand that Trump is now leaning towards nominating Jerome Powell as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. Everyone that I’m reading says that he is more of the same. He has or is very dovish and similar to Janet Yellen in their manipulations of our economy. Yes, you read that correctly, “manipulating our economy!” It’s just that I’m always amazed that political lawyers believe they know what’s best for us. Enough of that! Let’s just wait and see. Obviously, if the current Fed plan continues, gold and silver prices will remain stagnant.

I was reading articles from Business Insider, USA Today, and Bloomberg this morning about home prices and how we are looking at eerily similar conditions to the historic run and collapse in 2009. The Case-Shiller National Home Price Index has climbed to 194.10. That is up 0.73% in October alone and beating the 2008 peak by 12 points. While these prices are great news for the private equity firms that bought up the foreclosed homes after the last crisis, they’re once again making it nearly impossible for the average American family to find affordable housing. And the rental market is equally as bad with rental prices for one and two bedroom apartments up over 4 percent this year.

Let’s hope we’ve learned something over the past twenty years. I sure don’t want a repeat of 2009 collapse. That literally left a whole lot of people out in the cold.

At the moment, with so many variables that are pulling on stock prices, currencies, and precious metals, any of these assets can move in either direction and a hundred strategists will have a hundred reasons why they moved. At least more than what can be looked at in a 500 word daily blog, so again, I believe owning some of each is a sound strategy.

Well, I’ll let that be it for today. Go out there and make a difference! See ya’ll later!

*Disclaimer: Precious Metal Musings™ is written for entertainment and news purposes only and should not be used in making purchases a

nd/or sales of precious metals.