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Welcome to your dead cat bounce, dollar bulls! Thanks to manic Japanese Central Bankers, the dollar index is soaring this evening. Don’t underestimate these deadly serious Nipponese, they know where their bread is buttered. It’s on the export toast of their choosing, hopefully in the form of Sonys, Toyotas and Nintendo Wiis for your flabby American children. And for that reason they will try to cheapen the Yen as much as physically possible against the gossamer U.S. buck, which is being issued like so much Greek toilet paper to the free world, in the off chance that it might absorb some of the debt poison that’s infected the globe.
Quite a trick for the Japanese, no? Their problem is that, although a debtor nation,like their profligate friends in America, their debt is largely held “in house” by a large group of Japanese washerwomen who wouldn’t think of selling their .01% returning Japanese postal bonds, lest the Emperor be shamed and have to silence the lot of them, bushido-style.
As an aside, this reminds me of when I was getting my MBA in New England in the 90’s. We had about 20 Japanese (bankers, mostly) students who were being paid to attend my school. At the time, the Yen was trading at 88 to the dollar. Geezus did those fuckers live high on the hog! In between swilling copious amounts of bourbon (you trying to land a Japanese client? Bring mucho Makers Mark), they would go on egregious trips to Egypt and Malaysia, and wherever fuck all they wanted to go — usually with their wives (they were almost all married). Meanwhile, poor American dopes like myself spent the rest of our bonuses on tuition and textbooks, usually racking up some serious debt along the way. Sure a couple of us were lucky enough to get our tuition’s paid for as well, but no one got paid like these Japanese dudes.
Meanwhile, today the Yen is trading at about 75 to the dollar (79 as of tonight’s intervention). Gives you some pause doesn’t it? Screw “Occupy Wall Street” — those fuckers are losing their jobs. Howabout “Occupy the Dartmouth Green/Harvard Square/U Penn Quad?” Let’s get some back from these Japanese MBA blighters who can now afford to take at least a dozen hippies out for sushi a night.
That is, if they haven’t left for Cairo on Fall Break already…
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Listen up, something’s going on. I had — no joke — one of the most prolific weeks of my life last week. I’ve been working all weekend. When I get done with this, I’ve a book to mark up. I may get a sliver of sleep tonight — Dangerous Monsieur le Docteur-style.
What caused everyone and his uncle to decide to pull the trigger last week? Was it some sort of manic Golden Ratio confluence ? I don’t know, but I am right now busier than a Jehovah’s Witness at an atheistic pimping conference. I will try to attend to you, I promise, and please, forward as many questions as you can through the comments section. One warning — I will be out of the country starting Thursday and through about Tuesday of the following week. I will try to log on and give you updates as best I can. No promises, however.
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Here’s the deal. The dollar is bouncing and I guess we should expect that. Do we drive back above $76.20 or so, and thereby violate the breakdown of last week? I really don’t think so, but we should be prepared for volatility here. I think it’s important to get back into the PM’s here, even if we are in drawback mode. From a monetary standpoint the world is getting nervous, and that leads me to believe in the commodities, especially silver and gold.
And you know I love miners, and I’ve noted a few. Can I leave you with a high risk but potentially high reward junior that I’ve liked for some time? BAA has been percolating for some time, and I thank my Democrat friend Teahouse for the recommendation of its monthly chart… If there’s one thing a longer term chart will give you, it’s perspective.
Here’s what I think is the play on BAA, but feel free to choose any of your favorite under-$5 juniors (AAU for example) for similar analyses:
My best to you all this week.
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