Hunker in the Bunker

Canucks Took this German Bunker, Back in the Day
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Yeah, so it increasingly looks like we got head faked on Monday, and the dollar (DXY) is going to make another try at that $80.20 level we talked about last week.  The dollar is up 35 cents as I type this to $79.73, after dropping briefly below $79 earlier this week.  Que sera, sera. 

I will continue adding to [[AGQ]] , as I want to get at least another 600 shares for my “full compliment.”  I will likely add opportunistically to other positions as wel, as I still have a little under 20% of dry powder left to deploy.    The gold stocks seem to be hanging in a little better than my bastard-children silvers, but that’s to be expected.  I am extremely pleased at the results of Royal Gold, Inc. [[RGLD]] today — beating revenue estimates by almost 30% and earnings estimates by over 20%.    That should bode well for my portfolio going forward, even if we do take a bit of a “dollar bite” today.

Again, not so sound like a broken record, but I think it’s very important to concentrate on these key names at these important inflection points — which is where I still firmly believe we have arrived.   On the gold’s, Allied Nevada Gold Corp. [[ANV]] has shown nice strength, as has Northgate Minerals Corporation (USA) [[NXG]] , Exeter Resource Corp. [[XRA]] and Yamana Gold Inc. (USA) [[AUY]] should all be holding in here.   If you can get Royal Gold, Inc. [[RGLD]] in the red today, it is a gift, imho.    All silvers should be bought opportunistically, of course, and I continue to love Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) [[SLW]] , [[EXK]] and [[PAAS]] here.  Also, you may want to keep an eye on [[PAL]] and [[PTM]] for platinum exposure.

So wear your burlap today for fashion’s sake, and maybe even add a cap fashioned out of old tuna cans for “extra penitant” effect, but be sure to sew extra pockets within your sack so you can sidle into your local gem & coin dealer and slip some cadged Morgan dollars and Canuckistanian Maple Leafs  into them as your youngest son fakes an epileptic seizure in the lobby.

Best to you all, my bunkermates.

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In fact, it may only be around temporarily this morning, but silver has dropped about 1% this morning in early trading (due to a slight uptick in the dollar) while gold has held pretty much flat. That puts our new Gold/Silver ration at a hair over 67.2x , and I So I’m going to take this opportunity to load up on some more select names in bullion [[AGQ]] — and in miners, with [[EXK]] , [[SVM]] , [[CDE]] , [[PAAS]] and yes, even Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) [[SLW]] again.

I will not be pulling the trigger all at once, as I would like to see if we get more dollar strength in the day, but given the strength of gold in this downdraft, I don’t believe this divergence will hold for very long. Either gold will drop down to a low 60’s POG/POS ratio, or silver will rise. In either case, I think our safer bet will be silver again.

Also, I may dabble in some more [[PTM]] here, which has shown very good relative strength through this whole dollar strenghthening period, as has the platinum/palladium miner [[PAL]] .

Best to you all.

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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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You’ll be Fortunate if You Can Keep Your Moustache Clean
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Just get in the manhole and try not to mind the company of the rats.  That is, unless you get hungry over the next couple of days. 

I think we are going to hit that dollar high in the next few days, probably by Wednesday, as this Greek PIIG drama doesn’t seem to want to go away.  That means we will probably see one final washout in the market as well, before a recovery.   

The good news is that the precious metals — gold, silver, and even more so platinum and palladium, are hanging in there and remaining rather unfazed by this most recent 50+cent appreciation in the DXY.   This is encouraging and may signal that the metals themselves will be turning before even the market.  

That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one final reach down as the dollar heads to our target in the $80.20 range.   For gold, that might mean a test of the $1,030-40 area after all, and for silver, likely a break of the $16.00 mark.   I will be poised for that event — and on any rapid shakedown to these levels I will be adding egregiously to my [[AGQ]] and Royal Gold, Inc. [[RGLD]] for certain, and quite possibly I may add a touch more Allied Nevada Gold Corp. [[ANV]] , Eldorado Gold Corporation (USA) [[EGO]] and [[EXK]] as well.   I am holding out for one last purchase on the June $11 Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) [[SLW]] calls too — hopefully in the low $3.00 range this time. 

We had quite a beard-curling day on Friday and I wouldn’t be surprised if we opened strong on Monday, only to give it all back in a nervous, feckless cowardly bout of trading that meanders thoughtlessly even unto Wednesday.

I say to you, now, do this:  Grab some cigars and some cheap bourbon and call five of your favourite (sic) comrades for a poker game below the city streets, under the comforting aegis of a two inch thick Neenah Wisconsin-forged steel manhole cover.    There, among the hollow echoes of  the moist, steam-filled tunnels and amidst the occassional squabble with the rats over the Cheez-it bowl, you will remain relatively unscathed — and perhaps more important, distracted — in the days ahead.  

Later, this week, we will comb out our moustaches and re-take our rightul places on the street-side of the manholes, where we shall kick various bears and their entourages down aforesaid (still) open cataracts, where they shall each reside again in bitterness, without the aid of kerosene lantern, cozy parka, or thrilling paperback romance novel.  

Off to price expensive cigars and cheap, but bracing bourbon.  Bless you, my friends.

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(For more information on Cup O’ Joe for a Joe click here.)
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The relationship of gold to the dollar is integral to my Jacksonian thesis, and I think to this overall market as well.  So I think it dispositive with regards to arguments that portray this market reflating on real earnings or anything of any tangible weurth (sic) to take a step back and look at a longer term picture of the gold dollar ratio. 

I bring you that view here with the following weekly chart illustrating the price of gold divided by the weurth (sic) of the U.S. fiat dollar in the form of “$USD.”

Maybe not exactly a textbook “CANSLIM” Whitman-style cup & handle, but given the proximity of the 34-week EMA here, I think we are setting up for a blastoff.

Here’s my other confirmation-biased bias chart that tells me the dollar is about to meet it’s comeuppance.   This is a longer term chart of the dollar alone ($USD again, and as of yesterday’s close) .   Note on this weekly how we are fast approaching two very significant fibonacci lines (50% retrace of the upmove and 38.2% retrace of the down-move) which I think will serve as a hard brake on this dollar exhuberance.

Note again that this is an “end of day” look (thanks to Stockcharts chintziness,  I cannot get you DXY intraday), and that we are already 40% of the way to filling the rest of that circled gap to the combination fib lines.  

Ben has been re-appointed ladies and gentlemen, and there’s a reason for that.   He certainly is not going to let down those 70 or so Senators who backed him in an election year.   The dollar will weaken again, believe it.

Trade accordingly.  I will be sniping for select names in the woods, as per usual.

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Stepped up the buying today, in the teeth of the downdraft.  I see these fat white bloated English bodies piled high, but stand firm in my resolution that we are approaching an oversold bounce in the precious market.   [[GDX]] gives me more than a ray of hope with it’s action today:

Note the 61.8% retrace hit on this weekly chart.   That’s a very significant level, which will usually put up a ton of support from the underside (as well as resistance on top).   Now we may get another tap of this level tomorrow, but I think this is the place we should all be accumulating our PM’s of choice.

You know I have.

Today, I added another 2k of Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) [[SLW]] at $14.03, and yet another 40 June 11’s of the same name, this time at $3.90.   Don’t ask me why I keep buying 40 contracts at a time, there’s probably some internal fibonacci mechanism at work here.  I also added 2k more of Allied Nevada Gold Corp. [[ANV]] below $13 and another 4k of [[EXK]] at $3.32.  Last I put on 1k more CDE at below $15-.   I think that’s it for me in that name.

I also added significantly to my [[AGQ]] net weurth (sic), with another 800 shs at $51.52, give or take.   I now have 2k shares total.   I will add, but cautiously, to this bucking bronco.   I think that the dollar — [[DXY]] may scoop to $80 here, which could some additional pressure on the PM’s.

It will all be temporary, I aver.  

On the hedging side, I dumped another 50 of my [[SPY]] puts at a nice profit, which generally means that there will be a waterfall decline tomorrow morning.

You think I’m kidding.   I’m not.   I have 100 SPY puts left, and am still “full up” with 14k [[BGZ]] and 10k [[QID]] .   This has cushioned some of my long losses these last few days, but I can tell you verily that I look forward to blowing out of these positions.

I think we approach that time.   Keep in mind silver is trading right now at one sixty seventh the price of gold.  That’s nuts, and could presage a gold drop to $1,030-ish.    Even there the POG is still well over 60x the price of silver.  

Short summary — silver is already sold.   I don’t feel it has a whole lot farther to go.  Trade accordingly.

Best to you all.

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