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Ah, alack and alas! The world is melting down again, and I think we can say we’ve entered into a bear phase, ovah heah, if not a full blow bear market.  I’m not going to show you the charts, as I haven’t annotated them, but we’ve got bear crosses on the major markets and the Transports — up to an including my beloved UPS are leading the way down.

Like in mid-2008, we are showing signs of a true Dow Theory bear episode, and who knows how long this one will take to exhaustion?  We’ll have to play it by careful ear as we did in 2008-09, when I was a painful two and one half weeks early in getting back in.

In the meantime, like a fine-toothed cyborg marinated in Gatorade, the price of gold (POG) continues to break to new highs despite everything else melting around it.  Silver, too, is being dragged along, if at a slower pace, which is driving our Gold:Silver ratio higher… to 45x at last count.  You may recall when silver got to 72x the POG during the last extremis… I don’t think gold will break that far away from silver again…. but if it does…

I am continuing to take this opportunity to either sell or hedge my miner positions here, as I think they are not eager to participate in what may be the last rally for gold for months.   This gives me pause, and it should you as well.

On the other hand, I continue to see setups (AUY, NGD) in the mining space, so I will endeavor to keep an open mind.  One thing I am assured of, however, is that I should be trimming my non-metal positions, no matter what happens in the PM sector.  The regular market has become a toxic swamp, and you are better off picking up limited short positions (like SKF that I bot today).

Stay alert, and I will try to do the same for you.

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It’s not like I don’t get little enough sleep as it is… No, Fly’s gotta start chucking cherry bombs over at his place, talking all kinds of pina colada-induced nonsense about voting for the Emperor again, despite his concerted attack on the American economic system and his attempt to “transform” us into Denmark in the middle of a mild recession that is getting less and less milder as we speak.

All because he thinks Rick Perry — 11 year governor of Texas and one-time Southern Democrat — is going to abolish the Fed?  Can he be serious?  No, I don’t think he is, either.

No, I’m blaming it on second-degree sunburn, and leaving off.  I don’t believe the Fly really wants to turn us into Europe… not with what’s going on over there right now, as their underfunded demographically-imploding welfare states dissolve into a puddle of ill-trained and ungrateful flash-mobs.   And really, what can you expect from a country whose National Health Service had 239 patients die from malnutrition last year?

Yes, you read that right… click on the article to read more about the glories of social democracy and state-based healthcare provision.   Obamacare, anyone?

It’s okay.  You made a mistake.  It hurts, and it’s embarrassing.  Hell, you’ve got to ditch all that blue and red block-printed poster-board and tee shirtage.  But don’t fret… there’s good news.

You’ll have a chance to right that wrong in 2012.  It’s not going to be the “perfect candidate.”  It never is.  Sometimes you have to choose the good over the perfect, and sometimes even the lesser of two evils.

In this case, the choice won’t be that difficult.  You’ve got a chance to undo some pretty significant damage.  I know you’ll do the right thing in the end.

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I remain stolid in my recent positions.  My hedges, such as they are, harden into calcified barnacles, neither sentient nor proud.  Their growth is de minimus, moving like the tides, if at all.

I’m not wholly convinced that the PM’s are quite dead or ready to roll over, so I guess I will wait for a sound.  In the meantime, I continue to winnow positions in other areas, moving to an almost wholly “cash and PM” portfolio, save for my ETF positions and the BWA, WNR and UPS I still own.

OpEx is a tough week.  Let us watch and wait for it to resolve itself. AUY continues to look fantastic, btw.

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Yes, I sold off or hedged quite a bit of my gold and silver exposure last week, though I still keep quite a few low-floaters for “venture capital” type opportunities.   Like as not I will trim down to the core this week.   My reasons for doing so are two-fold:

First, we saw gold hit a significant hurdle last week at $1820 or so without either silver or the miners really taking off.   We then saw gold drop more than $70 in scant days, taking it’s little sister silver along with it (far more precipitously, I might add).   Now both have stabilized, but I can’t help but think we’ve been riding this latest wave long enough and it’s time to step-off while there’s still some peanuts on the floor to take home to Mom.

Second, my gut is telling me the string is playing out, not only on our precious metal positions (albeit temporarily), but also on the market itself.

But not before a bit of a party.

As you may recall, I bot some ERX and some EDC last week and those have been doing fine.  I might add to some of those this week, depending on the reception we get tomorrow morning at around 11 am (my preferred “taste time.”)  I may even grab some TNA and QLD as well.

But be forewarned — I’m only grabbing ETF’s because they are easier to monitor with regard to swift moves  in the market, which I fully expect in these next few months.   Like as not, I will trim all extraneous non-ETF positions in the coming weeks, as the market continues to regain its health from the recent depredations.  That means even UPS and BWA will go — though they may go last.

Best to you all.

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I already gave you this idea a few weeks back, but I wanted to bring my favorite Japanese gold play (not really), Yamana Gold (AUY), back to your attention.  As I mentioned in my last feature, this is one of the longest saucer-consolidation patterns I’ve seen forming in the gold sector since the March 2009 Recovery, and I think we are finally done consolidating and getting ready to launch with vigour (sic). Look at the weekly one more time:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note that the real breakout is probably going to be somewhere above $14, and you might want to wait til you see that number.  I already own some, however, and may add on strength tomorrow.   As I would with any long term consolidation in a bull, I expect AUY to launch quite nicely once it breaks out of it’s saucer pattern here.

Today I cut back on some over-weighted positions, as announced in The PPT.  That includes AAU, RGLD, DGP, some more NUGT and even silver star AG. I still have tonnes left in each of those names, btw.

Today I took advantage of Crazy Eddie “low, low, low” prices to nab some more UPS and TCK as well.  UPS is perhaps one of the most solid companies in the world.  It was on sale today so I added.    I also opened a new position in Borg Warner (BWA) which I have been stalking from much higher numbers.  I really like the auto supplier space.  There’s tonnes of activity going on in the Private Equity market there as well.

Best to you all.  I will be on the road again tomorrow but checking in.

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

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We’re getting into the gambling season, boys and girls.  Not just the annual March Madness, which is pure nirvana for we college hoop fans, but we’re also starting to talk Derby Prep racing, and even some golf course skins.

What better time, then to start pushing “all in” while everyone else is scurrying under rocks and diving for cover?  Listen, I have friends in Japan, people I went to school with, so I don’t mean to disregard this great tragedy, or diminish it’s human impact.  But if you think the market is turning because of Japan, or becase of Wacky Quadaffi, or for any other exogenous reason, you need to start thinking about a good index fund, and maybe concentrating on your brackets.

Listen close, as this may be one of the last few times you’re blessed with the benefit of my counsel.   You have very little time left to get your portfolio right, and I’m a very busy, busy man.   You’ve been running around, like a man in a wifebeater tee shirt with an insane clown posse tatto on your right shoulder, and you’ve been buying “the hot thing,”  “the sexy thing,” and let’s face it, “the easy thing.”  This game is not meant to be easy.  It’s meant to be a bare nekkid, blind folded race through a maze full of knee-high bear traps snapping away at your bag.

It’s time to stop screwing around.  This market is very close to getting that last bit of string pushed out, and you are better off closing out all your positions and going to cash like Scottie than continuing to chase every fleeting fancy sparkler in these latter waning days.

Needless to say, I’m not going to cash, though I did raise some today.  How?  By selling out the remainder of my non-PM, non-core plays.   I made the exception by keeping a little bit of hedged MON and UPS, but everything else that does not glitter or end up in the tank of my car is now gone.   And even my earl plays are very minimal.  I’ve got a little bit of ERX and a little bit of PBR and a smidgeon remaining of OXY.   Everything else — gone.

I will likely take some of that cash and use it for some additional leverage, probably for in-the-money calls on GDX, GDXJ and SLW.   These are more liquid PM option plays, and I don’t plan to be in them very long, but I will know when to climb into them.  It will be when the hammer below breaks through the glass flooring that has become so brittle… so brittle:

Print this page out, tape it to the top of your moniter, and refer to it frequently whenever you get the urge to purchase something frivolously. 

My best to you all, really.

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For now, at least.    It looks the dollar has bottomed for now, and as a result, I will likely be dumping the rest of my AGQ tomorrow.  I will also continue to sell down my overweight positions in EXK, SLW and yes, GSS (which I am overweight for stupid reasons).  Some ANV will go, as well as some IAG and EGO too.  Not a tonne, but I will be raising cashe (sic) munny (sic).

I will also likely sell some other things tomorrow which look overbought despite their not being in the precious metal category.  I shall tell the good gentlepeople of The PPT about that before I make those moves known here in Pikerdome.

What won’t I be selling?   That I will let you know… lucky dogges.   I will not be selling any UPS.

I will not be selling any UL.

I will not be selling any MON.

And I will NOT be selling any TBT.    In fact, I may even add to the latter.

Best to you all, and Merry Kwaanza, Fonzies.

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