[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgwJJ3pXvOw 450 300]

(Appropos of nothing, really)

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I don’t even know why I attempt to suggest other varietals.   Is it the desire to be au courant?  The obligation to entertain?  Devil-may-care hair in the wind type stuff?

I don’t know, but really… it’s just plain silly.  There’s a single bull market at play here, and this is what we are about.   I had a bunch of positions take egregious losses today, most notably those in the “hot but not” LED space, like CREE and (worse) VECO.    POWR hung tight, but I can’t imagine that nasty Friday WSJ article will leave it be, either. 

I even took a small bit of VECO off today, in the mid-33’s, because I figured it would be a while until I saw that position back in the drivers seat.    No matter, as I bought more AGQ with the proceeds and promptly saw it rise a buck and a half (to $60 a share).  Is there anything more exciting than having one’s steed cut down from underneath one in the midst of pitched battle, only to find a stronger charger at the ready?

That is why I was not down today, despite egregiousity in the above names and even some other hard metals like TC and TCK.  It was all due to the gorgeous strength of our gold and silver portfolio.    I speak primarily of the silver miners, including SLW, PAAS, EXK, SVM, MVG, CDE, SSRI and HL.   But the gold’s included prized champions like RGLD, ANV, EGO and IAG, who were stalwarts too.   

Note how the $HUI index held up today on the weekly:

Am I wearing cats’ pajamas or is that thing looking like it wants $520?   You tell me.

Then there’s one of my favourites, ANV.   She’s just been a trooper since we picked it up just under $6 last year, and is seeming to have no trouble moving on three times that size.  Note that strong weekly consolidation?

 

And the daily looks just as promising, after a decent pullback:

Another promising pick, and one I should leave alone and go macrame a duvet, or something “crafty” like that.  God knows I’m only dangerous going outside my “comfort zone” in the PM world, and He surely sent me a signal today.

May be time to re-assess and de-stress.   Real money is coming back into vogue once again.

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I had a reader inquire on the last posting about the state of some of my favoured (sic) silver-golden children. I speak particularly of [[SLW]] and [[IAG]], of whose Canadian charts, he was somewhat ill-taken. Point of fact, I think he was experiencing some painful reverse peristalsis, to cadge a term.

He mentioned also [[AUY]] but while I’ve spoken of them before as a decent buy and hold, they fall into my “aquiror” basket rather than potential “acquiree,” one and therefore I find them less appetizing.

But still nutritious with regard to a balanced portfolio of course!

Back to [[SLW]] which you all know holds a favoured place in my heart, much like one of my children, save not breathing or in need of sustencance, and quite weighty for it’s size and youth.   Whenever I need some perpsective on these names (or any names, s’truth) I repair to the weekly charts for a more holistic gander.  In this regard, SLW shows us a pattern in good standing:

As you will note, we are consilidating after breaking to multi-year and yes, “all time” highs.  If anything, we’re forming a bit of a handle whilst using the 13-week EMA as support.   Not exactly cause for alarm given the 13-week’s reliability over the last 15 months or so. 

Next let’s look at the weekly for the Gold Man Sacks, otherwise known as [[IAG]]:

IAG may need some time before it  breaks back above that $20 mark that defined its recent high back in November of ’09, but this consolidation pattern is by no means a sickly one.  The 13-wk EMA serves as the stalwart in this case as well, and should be watched as IAG grinds higher.

[[AUY]] is the least pretty, and frankly, its last quarterly earnings report denote some work that needs to be done before it can recapture it’s place of “honour.”  Note the Limbo in which it currently finds itself:

 While I believe this is a decent “buy and hold,” I think AUY likely has at least a quarter or two more to go before it can attempt to break to new highs.  It, too, should hold abover the 13 week EMA, but in this case, the real test will be a break of $13.

Good luck and do not fear, as I believe the dollar will be our friend going forward, in ascendency or demise.

Best to you all.

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One last thing:

Happy Memorial Day to all, and especially to our veterans here and departed, without whom we would never have the pleasure of these inter-tube conversations. Thank you for your sacrifice.

And a special treat — the inimitable Renaissance Man and combat veteran Mark Helprin has a special Memorial Day essay that is “must” reading for all sensible citizens of this great land.

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I’ll be quick tonight with two illustrations which should show why I’m in (mostly) miners rather than physical gold or its paper substitute, the [[GLD]] ETF. 

First, I think we can agree we’ve been in, and we remain in, a secular bull for the precious metals, as this monthly chart on the price of gold illustrates:

Note the four times price appreciation over the eight plus years?   Not bad, huh?  Well, let’s look at the miners over that same period.  Remember, they benefit from what we call “operation leverage,” which means that in a rising price environment, they can leverage their fixed costs and really ramp profitability quickly.

Note the effect in our [[$HUI]] monthly chart:

Note the shorter time period and the far steeper gains?  Note also that the miners have yet to catch up to the recent new highs in gold.   I believe that time is coming soon, and may even be upon us as the dollar approaches a crucial double top area.  

More on that as it develops.   My best to you and your own personal operating levers.

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From Your Biggest Fan!
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Bon soir, mon ami, et Bon Anniversaire! I hope this evening finds you croque’d to the gills on your favourite Bordeaux or Gamay Beaujolais, if you will.

For my part, I intend to eat multiple sandwiches tomorrow in your honour (sic), as it seems like we may have to withstand another drawdown if this afternoon’s last minute plummet and tonight’s weak futures review hold course.

On the good news front, [[GLD]] and [[SLV]] hung on and look to be bouncing with more relative strength than the rest of the market. Some previously beaten down junior minors looked like heroe as well, including [[XRA]], [[GSS]], [[NGD]], [[FRG]] and my favourite, [[ANV]].   Note how ANV kept that uptrend intact on the weekly:

THe daily is less pretty, but still hanging in there:

Keep your eye on the quality, and on that weekly chart.  If we break that line, we will likely see further consolidation.  Right now, both gold and silver are higher even as stock futures look weak.   At some point we will likely see complete separation in trading behaviour.

Best to you all, mes amis.

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I think some of the calls for gold’s downfall I’ve been seeing coming out of the Deflationista Community may be a mite premature.   As a matter of fact, I don’t think we’re seeing anything here more than a sharp pullback from an extended four week move.   Given that the move was a breakout, however, I think we’re headed for continued gains after it’s been consolidated.  

First, the weekly gold chart shows where we we’ve come since the breakout from the larger consolidation in October of 2009:

What we’ve been seeing for the majority of 2010 has been a consolidation of that late 2009 breakout… until we just recently (over the last four weeks) began to break out of that consolidation as well.   This last week was merely pullback from that break as well.  Note the daily:

Now we are oversold even from that brief pullback.  This is not to say there won’t be additional consolidation, but only that we should not confuse the ill health of the overall cyclical stock market bull with the far better condition of the continuing secular bull in gold.

Enjoy the day, I shall be about, but busy.

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V.King Relative?

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Some people asked me about some stuff to buy on a pullback, and well, I still love Allied Nevada Gold Corp. [[ANV]] despite their pulling off the egregious “bought deal” $250mm + dilution yesterday night.

I think the buy is pretty obvious on the weekly:

If you can buy off that trend line in the high $17’s, low $18’s, you should be sitting in clover like a greedy leprechaun and his keg o’ gold.  Lookee here (sic) at the daily:

As you can see from the chart, I had an order in to buy in the lower $20’s region, which hit after I was out of the office today, and I’m perfectly fine with it.   That said, this thing could go to the 20-day EMA ($18.41) very easily an even a bit below that.   So I’m keeping powder dry.

I’m not going to post these charts, but I will also be looking to add silver on any weakeness.  I really like Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) [[SLW]] as you know, but also [[PAAS]]   is showing great relative strength, as is [[EXK]] and [[CDE]] .   I might add to my Smaug’s horde on a pullback here.

Hecla Mining Company [[HL]] and [[MVG]] are the second string, but sometimes HL gets a real boost from the local alchy’s with a sentimental touch.  Watch them all, and think about Apex Silver Mines Limited [[SIL]] as a catch all in the realm of [[GDX]] , except for silvers.

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Best to you, Jake.

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