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Man,  I hate days like this.  Even when I hedge my portfolio and sell down to my core holdings, I hate to see my beautiful PM’s get whacked like a homicidal Joe Pesci character in a typical Scorsese mafia flick.

But this is the world we live in when we choose to invest in the biggest bull in the last ten years.  All we can do is strap ourselves to the mast, make sure our cargo is well stowed (in hideous questionably weurthy (sic) cash), and ride out the 60-foot waves.  Right now, the beauty of beauties — SLW — is getting cranked like a Model A Ford with battery troubles.  Did you sell down to your core?  Do you have hedges in place? 

Still hurts, doesn’t it?  Well, going forth all guns and vinegar butter hurts even more.  So get hedged, now.

Today, I actually got some short ETF’s.   I purchased QID, SDD, and SDS — half positions in each.  I expect I will add more.  I also picked up several thousand shares of ZSL.   

I’m off from the West Coast… will patch back in tonight.

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Krull Leaves the Poker Game for a Quick Smoke Break
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Up 3% yesterday, even with all my hedges still in place, I must bow to the volcanic power of the precious metal rebound we experienced yesterday.

That doesn’t mean I’m abandoning my post on the 12th slippery rung of the main municipal sewer — the cosy seat next to the extrusion pipe but before the extrusion weld.   No, I’m still expecting a pullback today from yesterday’s Ode to Joy/Bunny Rabbit Massacre, unbounded. 

But the dollar (seen on the intraday as [[UUP]] or DXY) still continues to fall off here, and I’m wondering if we will ever get back up to that $80.10 or so pivot (on DXY)  I’d talked about as a trigger for another downturn last week.    I won’t be surprised, however, if we get another exogenous shock out of Davos, the PIIG’s or even President Obama’s recently unveiled near $4 trillion FrankenBudget. 

For now, I’m liking what works on the rebound, and thus far, it’s the fast movers of the junior golds like Allied Nevada Gold Corp. [[ANV]] , Eldorado Gold Corporation (USA) [[EGO]] and “the X-factor” — Exeter Resource Corp. [[XRA]] .   I also like IAMGOLD Corporation (USA) [[IAG]] and Royal Gold, Inc. [[RGLD]] of course, and Lindsay made a nice rec yesterday on the nicely pivoting Taseko Mines Limited (USA) [[TGB]] .

Of course silver is my true Tsar Bomba play in 2010, as it has been lagging the 2009 move in gold, along with platinum [[PTM]] , Stillwater Mining Company [[SWC]] and palladium [[PAL]] .   Right now, in this first updraft, I like the double silver play [[AGQ]] a whole lot, and of course my core group of miners — in order — Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) [[SLW]] , [[EXK]] , [[PAAS]] , [[CDE]] , [[SVM]] , Silver Standard Resources Inc. (USA) [[SSRI]] and the lowly Hecla Mining Company [[HL]] .

All of these should be gnawed at opportunistically, as one would a bread wheel from the boulangerie, deep under the steam pipes of Manhattan.

I am still not taking down my hedges (in  [[SPY]] puts and [[QID]] and [[BZG]] ), and will happily bleed money on them here, as that insurance policy has served me well these last weeks.   Nothing could please me more than taking them down at lower balances, however, as that would mean all of my other plays are working well, as they did yesterday.

Don’t forget about the banks, here, as they’ve never really suffered much of a pullback, even in last week’s deluge.  Today, they seem to be leading the red dogs, which may turn out to be an opportunity for you.   Again, I like BB&T Corporation [[BBT]] for the longer term hold, Fifth Third Bancorp [[FITB]] and Huntington Bancshares Incorporated [[HBAN]] for the Ohio pop, and Pacific Capital Bancorp [[PCBC]] for the lotto play (stay small and remember, it’s only a game).

Best to you all, First Amendment scholars.

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Busy, Busy, Busy.   Yeah, you got nothing today, but I threw some calls down in The PPT, because theys mah peoples, and theys payin’ the bills.  So sorry.

I bot some  more Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) [[SLW]] calls — 40 more June $11’s at $4.30.   That brings my tote up to 160 in that class.   Yeah, there might be some more pain in this name, and in my other precious plays, but you know what?

I’m not going to get overly concerned. 

 I’m shrugging off this “Volker scare.”

I say here for you — it’s bullshit.   Rhetoric.  Albumen.

   I knew we’d have some sell-off and the PM’s were way ahead of the rest of the market in this cycle decline, which means that they will likely be done before the rest is too.

I’ve been adding tons here on Friday and today, and as I mentioned I was actually up at Friday’s close.    Not so much today, but that’s only because my hedges “gave back” some of Friday’s wins.    Those are the kind of losses I can accept.  I consider that the equivalent of paying off Sal & Tony for “protection.”    If we go bull green from here, I’ll be happier than Harpo at the Thai Masseuse convention, and I’ll sell those hedges at a loss, if necessary.

But now, they stay, even as a I load up on 4k more [[EXK]] at $3.45.    2k more IAMGOLD Corporation (USA) [[IAG]] at an unfortunate $14.31 (again, I’m not worried), and 400 more Royal Gold, Inc. [[RGLD]] at $44.52.

Between today and Friday, I’ve been loading up on PM’s and banks.   I didn’t add any banks today, but I think I may take a third swipe at Pacific Capital Bancorp [[PCBC]] and BB&T Corporation BB&T Corporation [[BBT]] .   One other playah that I bot last week is Fifth Third Bancorp [[FITB]] .  I may add this one as well tomorrow.

I may  look at coming out of my final [[GDX]] and [[SPY]] hedges tomorrow as well, as they are option hedges.   My only other remaining hedges besides those are [[QID]] and [[BGZ]] , which I will likely hold until I’m sure we’ve turned back to the green.

Make no mistake, I’m extremely bullish on the continuing inflation trade here.  Bernanke will remain, and so too will the continuing flog of the dollar.   Play that game by buying select equities and precious metal bangers.

Bless you all, and I mean that.

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