Gold, silver pressured amid big drop in crude oil prices

Gold, silver pressured amid big drop in crude oil prices

Gold and silver prices are lower in midday U.S. trading Tuesday, due in part to a drop of over $5.00 in Nymex crude oil futures prices (as of this writing). Bearish near-term technicals are also weighing on the precious metals. October gold futures were last down $12.10 at $1,728.40. September Comex silver futures were last down $0.36 at $18.31 an ounce.

Global stock markets were mostly higher overnight. U.S. stock indexes are lower at midday. Traders and investors are still concerned about Covid lockdowns in China that are crimping the world’s second-largest economy. Last week’s hawkish speech on U.S. monetary policy by Fed Chairman Powell is also hanging over and depressing the marketplace.

The U.S. data point of the week on this unofficial last week of summer is the August U.S. employment situation report from the Labor Department on Friday. The key non-farm payrolls growth number is forecast to come it up 325,000 in August versus the July report showing a gain of 528,000 non-farm jobs.The key outside markets today see Nymex crude oil prices sharply lower and trading around $91.70 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index is a bit lower in midday U.S. trading, on a corrective pullback after hitting a 20-year high on Monday. Meantime, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note is fetching 3.08

Technically, October gold futures prices were poised to close at hit a four-week low close today. The gold futures bears have the firm overall near-term technical advantage. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $1,800.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at the July low of $1,686.30. First resistance is seen at today’s high of $1,743.10 and then at $1,750.00. First support is seen at this week’s low of $1,722.50 and then at $1,715.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 2.5.

December silver futures prices hit a six-week low today. The silver bears have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $20.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $17.50. First resistance is seen at this week’s high of $18.70 and then at $19.00. Next support is seen at the July low of $18.175 and then at $18.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 2.0.

December N.Y. copper closed down 580 points at 355.25 cents today. Prices closed nearer the session low today and hit a three-week low. The copper bulls have lost the slight overall near-term technical advantage. A six-week-old uptrend on the daily bar chart has been negated. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at 390.00 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at 335.00 cents. First resistance is seen at today’s high of 363.55 cents and then at this week’s high of 370.10 cents. First support is seen at today’s low of 354.45 cents and then at 350.00 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.0.

By Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

 

David

Does OFAC Really Know What They’re Doing? A War On Crypto And Privacy

Does OFAC Really Know What They’re Doing? A War On Crypto And Privacy

This month, we witnessed one of the most significant attacks on crypto privacy in the form of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioning Tornado Cash. This led to protocols blocking addresses, funds being seized, and one of the Tornado Cash developers being arrested. The action was unprecedented, given that it was the first time we have effectively had sanctions placed on a piece of open-source software – essentially, restrictions on lines of code. 

For those unfamiliar with Tornado Cash, it has long been one of the most well-known mixing protocols on Ethereum. What it would essentially do is obfuscate or camouflage transaction history. This means it would anonymize transactions and remove all traces of where funds originated. Thousands of people used this privacy tool in the Defi space.

Unfortunately, it was also used for laundering the proceeds of cybercrime, which is the use case the Treasury focused on, stating that Tornado was a favorite tool of North Korean hackers and had been used to launder more than $7 billion. 

The moment Tornado was sanctioned, its website was taken down, and the code disappeared from GitHub. Not only that, but one of the contributors had his GitHub account banned. Circle blacklisted any USDC in the affected wallets, and RPC providers such as Infuror and Alchemy started blocking requests to Tornado Cash Smart contracts. 

Additionally, some decentralized applications also began to restrict access to their front ends for wallets that had interacted with the Tornado Cash Smart contract. For example, both Aave and dYdx reported blocking access from wallets that had interacted with Tornado Cash and even those that had received funds from it. Regarding dYdx, users who had insignificant amounts but were associated with Tornado Cash in the past were also blocked.

Dusting Celebrity Wallets Gag

Things were further complicated because someone in the community started dusting several public ETH addresses of celebrities in the space. In other words, they sent many small transactions to hundreds of known wallets associated with ETH addresses and their .ens official addresses. 

The likes of Brian Armstrong, Jimmy Fallon, and Steve Aoki were potentially committing sanctions violations by appearing to be doing business with a sanctioned protocol. What's even crazier than that is that some of those users who were subjected to the dusting found that they could not interact with Aave’s front end. These included the likes of Anthony Cesano and Justin Sun. 

The gag effectively points out the absurdity of such sanctions for users receiving funds from blacklisted addresses that they have no power to decline. The open nature of crypto is designed to cut out intermediaries, unlike the traditional financial sector that would use banks and other financial institutions to act as gatekeepers against such transactions.


Image source: eff.org

Is Code Fundamentally Free Speech? 

Perhaps the most chilling development, at least so far, was the arrest by Dutch police of one of Tornado Cash’s developers. Alexey Pertsev was picked up by the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) two days after Tornado Cash was sanctioned. The Dutch police have yet to clarify which exact rules Pertsev broke, but if it's just because he wrote some code, this is a dangerous precedent for several reasons. Furthermore, he is still detained and forbidden from communicating with his wife.  

The first thing we need to ask ourselves, however, is whether these actions by the treasury were legal. It is the first time that the treasury has effectively sanctioned a tool, a piece of Open Source Code that exists on the Ethereum Blockchain and which can be used by anyone for any purpose, albeit good or bad. Given that it is open source, that means it is akin to the likes of a public good. 

So that could be comparable to a road or a park; it would be as if OFAC were to sanction the use of an interstate highway because drug dealers drive on it. Or a more relevant example would be the treasury sanctioning the TCP IP protocol because hackers use the internet for hacking: It's impractical.

Moreover, just because a tool is sanctioned does not mean that the criminals will not use it. That's because criminals, by definition, have zero consideration for the law; they're likely to continue using the Smart contract as they see fit. Then there is the fundamental question of whether sanctioning a piece of code violates the First Amendment. 

To put it in perspective, thanks to a 1996 case Bernstein versus the DOJ, it's been established that code should be considered as speech, and if it is indeed speech, then it should be protected by the First Amendment. By sanctioning this tool, the treasury effectively says that speech itself is illegal. 

Now there is a real possibility that should someone want to challenge these sanctions, they could have a strong case in court. The Coin Center lobbying group is doing just that and believes the Treasury has overstepped its legal authority. The group wants to engage with OFAC to share their thoughts and will be exploring with counsel a court challenge. Additionally, they have had inquiries from members of Congress about the situation and are keeping the interested parties briefed on the matter. 

Furthermore, if, indeed, the only thing the developer did was write code, then that could also be seen as a violation of free speech. But if any legal challenges are mounted, they will take a long time to settle. Until then, the sanctions will have to be enforced, which means that specific Defi projects and protocols will continue blacklisting the Smart contract for fear of arrest. 

 

What Are The Practical Issues? 

Apart from the legal aspect, there is a practical consideration for how this will be enforced.  Remember, criminals will be criminals, and they will continue to use it. The code is open source and free to fork. Should that happen, the treasury will ultimately be playing whack-a-mole with a bunch of newly deployed Smart contracts. 

Not only that but those other crypto projects and protocols will also have to monitor not only the funds coming from the original Tornado Cash Smart contract but also from all the forked ones. This could quickly become a logistical impossibility, and projects will always have to worry whether any ETH they handle has gone through a forked version of the original Tornado Cash.

And speaking of which, there's also the broader question around who could technically find themselves violating OFAC rules due to these sanctions. 

If someone sends ETH from the Tornado contract to you, does that mean you are in violation? I mean, it's not like you can refuse to receive it. As we saw with those dusting attacks, protocols themselves have started blocking some of these dusted addresses. Could the Feds start going after any of those wallets that have received Tornado-tainted ETH? Could we soon see Jimmy Fallon dragged away in handcuffs? 

It's not even about addresses that have received funds. What about liquidity providers on a DEX? What happens if they unknowingly convert ETH that has been through Tornado Cash into some other cryptocurrency? Are they thus engaging with sanctioned entities? 

What about Ethereum miners? What liability did they have if they were to propagate a block that included a Tornado Cash transaction? Does that mean that they could also be flirting with illegality? Or how about that ETH that is sent to the ETH2.0 staking contract? What would that mean for Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake? 

What happens once the transition to proof of stake is complete? Will validators have to decide to censor certain transactions that their jurisdiction deems illegal? Could they get censored? So you can see how quickly this grows out of control. The crypto space has just seen a massive can of worms open up right in front of it. 

Now, of course, there will be some who claim that these actions are justified. Swiped funds from some of the most high-profile crypto hacks of the past two years have gone through Tornado. This was seen in the wake of the $100 million Harmony hack a few weeks ago. 

Why Do We Want Privacy?

Many people have been asking whether there are any legitimate use cases for Tornado Cash, a tool designed specifically for privacy. Essentially this all comes down to the broader question of why someone would want to have financial privacy in the first place. As the old saying goes, “why do you worry if you have nothing to hide?” 

Well, for plenty of reasons; firstly, because blockchains are public and transparent, everyone can see exactly what your wallets are doing and what you could be buying or investing. This is not the case with traditional finance, where your bank account balances and spending habits aren't public. The moment they are public, and someone can attach them to your IRL identity, it opens you up to potential physical harm if criminals ever want access to your crypto. 

Or perhaps you wanted to donate crypto to a cause that may get you into serious trouble in your country. For example, what happens if you were a citizen of Iran or Venezuela who wanted to donate to a journalist or newspaper that the government didn't like? Blockchain is immutable; you’d live in constant fear of being placed on a list of some kind. 

Or how about if you were a Russian who wanted to donate to Ukraine, not something you would like the FSB to know about? On the flip side, you could be a Ukrainian refugee wishing to hide where you are getting your donations from. This is something that Vitalik Buterin himself highlighted earlier this year when he donated to the country. 

Beyond such high stakes implications, it could also just be a situation where you don't want people you interact with on-chain to know what you do with your money. For example, let's assume that you get paid in crypto. That means your employer can see exactly what you do with that money and what you're buying. 

Or perhaps you're buying something from an online Merchant, and you don't want them to know what else you've been spending the money on or how much you have; just imagine the targeted advertising coming your way. Ironically this would be much easier to achieve when paying with a wholly open and permissionless form of money. 

These are reasons why someone would want to anonymize their transaction history. Some might say you could just use a centralized exchange; however, the whole point of the decentralized and censorship-resistant currency is that you don't have to rely on a centralized gatekeeper. Moreover, some people are just not comfortable having others holding their private keys, and can you blame them? 

OFAC’s False Press Release

In its press release, it was also pretty disingenuous for the Treasury to claim that $7 billion was laundered through Tornado Cash. That was the total volume of transactions, many of which would have been for such perfectly legitimate reasons. 

In fact, according to stats from Chain Analysis, only about 17% of the funds that flow through the protocol were tied to sanctioned activity. The vast majority, 50%, was related to DefI activities. That means that these users were thrown into the laundering bucket by the Treasury when all they were really doing was trying to anonymize their funds. 


Image Source: Chain Analysis

First Crypto War Had Net Positive Result

So this raises the question of what all this means for crypto privacy and also privacy in general. It's pretty clear that privacy is under attack, albeit this move by the treasury was prompted by concerns around the North Korean hacking. Still, this radical approach by the Treasury is so nonspecific for what it's trying to achieve that you have to wonder whether the folks at OFAC gave any thought to collateral damage. 

Many have drawn parallels with the early Crypto Wars, for example. For unfamiliar people, this was when the US government arrested Phil Zimmerman, a developer who distributed PGP cryptography online. They accused him of “munitions export, without a license.” 

They contended that his PGP encryption system was a weapon that adversaries could use. Really? It would seem they don’t consider that any citizen wants and has a right to privacy. Only criminals and enemy governments would want to encrypt their communications. 

Well, it turned out that there were many practical uses for encryption online, and various encryption standards have helped power the multibillion-dollar e-commerce revolution we've experienced over the last 20 years. What was initially considered a way to hide state secrets has allowed legal commerce to thrive. 

Many have also wondered why Tornado Cash got hit and not other well-known crypto projects, like Monero. Virtual mixers seem to be viewed with much more suspicion than privacy-by-default currencies. People could see on-chain how the Lazarus group was laundering its funds through the tool. This isn't something that you can easily observe with Monero. 

Moreover, the sheer volume of funds running through Tornado Cash made it a prime target, but this doesn't mean Monero isn't being studied and tracked. There may well be a robust state-backed effort to crack the ring signature technology for which Monero is famous. This is perhaps one of the reasons why the Monero developers pushed through some new upgrades to the protocol only recently. 

Crypto And Congress Take A Stand

There has been a genuine outcry from the crypto industry arguing that the Treasury Department’s actions to shut the Tornado Cash could be “unconstitutional” as people have a right to privacy. 

Abraham Piha, co-founder, and CEO of Web3-focused firm Tomi, told Cointelegraph

“Tornado existed only because most blockchains were not private enough. If successive updates of Ethereum or Bitcoin include protocol integrations like Mimblewimble, will the next step be to block them as well? This act is yet another reason to push for Web3, a free web, controlled by users and not by some big brother governments.”

Kenny Li, co-founder and core developer for Manta Network, a privacy-preservation protocol, said that the Treasury’s decision to sanction Tornado Cash is far-fetched and extreme, even though, in the past, specific individual crypto wallet addresses have been subject to the same treatment. But in most cases, he said, there was a clear case of fraud, hacks, or a Ponzi scheme:

“In this case, smart contract addresses are being blacklisted. Smart contracts aren’t people. Not only that, but people forget that Tornado Cash is a protocol, not a person or an entity, which means it will continue to run regardless of the sanctions. It is time that we realize privacy and anonymity aren’t the same, and Web3 is all about privacy.”

Additionally, some Congress members are standing up, demanding an explanation from OFAC. Specifically, United States Congressman Tom Emmer sent a four-page letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regarding the unprecedented sanctioning of Tornado Cash. 

He posed a series of questions that sought to clarify the position of the Treasury Department’s OFAC. They were practical questions noting that Tornado Cash is a collection of several Ethereum Smart contract addresses that are not controlled by an individual or entity. 

Emmer asked what persons could be associated with those addresses and:

“Given that the Tornado Cash back-end will operate unchanged […] as long as the Ethereum network continues to operate, who or what entity did OFAC believe was reasonably responsible for imposing controls on the Tornado Cash blockchain contracts?”

Emmer posted the full letter on Twitter, stating that the growing adoption of decentralized technology would certainly raise new challenges for OFAC. Nonetheless, technology is neutral, and the expectation of privacy is normal.

Closing Thoughts

Firstly, I dare say we can all agree that those who engage in criminality should be brought down. The laundering of ill-gotten gains, be it through a bank account or a Defi protocol, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. 

Those wallets linked to criminal activity should also be sanctioned and flagged. This is precisely what the treasury did before the Tornado Cash sanctions were imposed. And it's not as though this approach wasn't enjoying some success. Thanks to some pretty advanced tools and tracking services, law enforcement can catch such miscreants more effectively than they could in the past. 

They also have the power of subpoenas and search warrants. They simply didn't need to take this action against Tornado Cash. The collateral damage resulted in a loss of privacy for some and a massive disruption for all in the Defi space. 

As for those North Korean hackers, they'll switch to one of the other 100 or so laundering techniques they were using long before Tornado started operating. Moreover, given that tornado cash is nothing but code, it'll be hard to outlaw permanently; it'll be a game of whack-a-mole. It won't have the desired effect. And the collateral damage is already permeating the crypto industry. 

These actions also raise legal questions. Is this a breach of the First Amendment, and what happens to any citizens who have used it in the past? Or anyone that interacts with it? It's a legal quandary, to say the least. 

With legal challenges brewing, this could turn into a new crypto war. One, with a positive long-term impact, as we saw with the first crypto war. Or maybe the large centralized institutions will conform, and we’ll have a more amenable but less free crypto space. It does demonstrate how some developers will continue to embrace decentralization, and many of us as individuals will fight for our right to freedom and privacy. 

Reference:
Coin Bureau
Cointelegraph

 

 

 

Editor and Chief Markethive: Deb Williams. (Australia) I thrive on progress and champion freedom of speech. I embrace "Change" with a passion, and my purpose in life is to enlighten people to accept and move forward with enthusiasm. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

 

 

 

 

 

Also published @ BeforeIt’sNews.com; Steemit.com

 

David

Modest gains for gold on short covering, mild safe-haven demand

Modest gains for gold on short covering, mild safe-haven demand

Gold prices are slightly up at midday Monday, on some short covering in the futures market and some tepid safe-haven demand in cash and futures, after hitting a four-week low overnight. However, bearish elements that include negative charts, a strong U.S. dollar, rising U.S. Treasury bond yields and a hawkish Federal Reserve still have the bears firmly controlling the precious metals markets. October gold futures were last up $3.20 at $1,743.70. September Comex silver futures were last down $0.07 at $18.755 an ounce.

U.S. stock indexes are lower at midday, on follow-through selling pressure after Friday’s big losses. Risk aversion is keener early this week, in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated Jackson Hole annual symposium that ended late last week. Fed Chairman Powell in a speech at the confab on Friday kept on script for an aggressively hawkish U.S. monetary policy, which ended some previous market talk of a more dovish “Fed pivot.” The CME’s FedWatch tool shows there is a 70% chance the Fed raises its Fed funds rate by 0.75% at its Sept. 20-21 FOMC meeting.

The U.S. data point of the week on this unofficial last week of summer is the August U.S. employment situation report from the Labor Department on Friday. The key non-farm payrolls growth number is forecast to come it up 325,000 in August versus the July report showing a gain of 528,000 non-farm jobs.

The key outside markets today see Nymex crude oil prices solidly higher and trading around $95.80 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index is a bit weaker in midday U.S. trading. Meantime, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note is fetching 3.121%. The 2-year U.S. T-Note is yielding 3.47%, keeping the yield curve inverted and hinting of an impending U.S. and or global economic recession.

Technically, October gold futures prices hit a four-week low early on today. The gold futures bears still have the firm overall near-term technical advantage. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $1,800.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at the July low of $1,686.30. First resistance is seen at $1,750.00 and then at last Friday’s high of 1,762.30. First support is seen at $1,730.00 and then at today’s low of $1,722.50. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 2.5.

December silver futures bears have the firm overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the August high of $21.02. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the July low of $18.175. First resistance is seen at $19.00 and then at last week’s high of $19.385. Next support is seen at today’s low of $18.40 and then at $18.175. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 2.0.

December N.Y. copper closed down 800 points at 361.80 cents today. Prices closed nearer the session low today. The copper bulls have the slight overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a six-week-old uptrend on the daily bar chart but now just barely. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at 400.00 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at 335.00 cents. First resistance is seen at today’s high of 370.10 cents and then at the August high of 378.35 cents. First support is seen at today’s low of 356.30 cents and then at 350.00 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.5.

By Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

 

David

Gold price tumbles after Powell, $1,600 a riskbuyers step in to buy the dip, according to analysts.

Gold price tumbles after Powell, $1,600 a riskbuyers step in to buy the dip, according to analysts.

Gold is ending the week down 0.8%, with December Comex gold futures last trading at $1,748, down 1.32% on the day.

A pivot from the Federal Reserve is not coming, and interest rates will remain elevated for longer than markets expect, said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium.

"Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time," Powell said Friday. "The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy."

Powell also did not rule out another 75-basis-point hike at the upcoming September meeting, reiterating that a lot will depend on the macro data released in the next three weeks.

"Another unusually large increase could be appropriate at our next meeting," Powell said. "Our decision at the September meeting will depend on the totality of the incoming data and the evolving outlook."

The Fed chair wants to avoid the mistakes of the 1970s, which is why he plans to act aggressively now. "The successful Volcker disinflation in the early 1980s followed multiple failed attempts to lower inflation over the previous 15 years. A lengthy period of very restrictive monetary policy was ultimately needed to stem the high inflation," Powell noted. "Our aim is to avoid that outcome by acting with resolve now."

There was weakness across the precious metals sector because of Powell's wording, RJO Futures senior markets strategist Peter Mooses told Kitco News Friday. "Gold was down after Powell said the Fed will continue to do what it can. It seems they will do what's necessary to fight inflation," Mooses said.

Powell's priorities are clear going into the September meeting — proceed with aggressive moves to avoid the mistakes of the past, said TD Securities global head of commodity strategy Bart Melek.

"The Fed is looking at history and at what happened in the 1970s and early 1980s. Looks like they want to get restrictive and keep rates higher for longer. They don't want a situation where they le inflation get entrenched," Melek told Kitco News. "Many people thought that the Fed would relent as the economy slowed down a bit. Now it looks like it won't."

And gold responded to the promise of higher real interest rates, particularly on the front end of the curve. "The 2-year Treasuries spiked after Powell's speech, and inflationary expectations dropped slightly. When you combine high nominal rates with lower inflation expectations, real rates should move higher. Traditionally, that is quite negative for gold and propels prices lower," Melek said.

However, Powell's message is getting repetitive, which could end up helping gold, added Mooses.

"I have concerns about U.S. growth in the fourth quarter. It will be telling how the Fed adjusts," he said. "We see a lot of the same talk and patterns. Gold could straighten out in a day or two. But if equities gain strength, gold could weaken. Longer term, I'm still bullish on gold."

 

Gold price levels to watch

It is very likely to see gold sub-$1,700 an ounce next week, according to Melek. "There is no big price pivot to the upside for gold until we are sure the Fed will reverse course. And that's unlikely until later in 2023," he said.

There is strong support at around $1,690-$1,700. But if that is breached, "a drop to $1,600 won't be a surprise," Melek added.

Mooses is also watching the $1,690 an ounce level, expecting buyers to come in around that level. "The $1,880 level is a realistic price to go back to for gold in the next few weeks," he said.

Next week's data

With the Fed so focused on macro data, the upcoming inflation and employment reports from August will be the key market drivers to watch before the September meeting, Melek added.

"Right now, market projections for payrolls are still pretty decent for August, with the unemployment rate projected to remain at 3.5% and the economy adding nearly 300,000 payrolls," he said.

Tuesday: U.S. CB consumer confidence

Wednesday: U.S. ADP nonfarm employment change

Thursday: U.S. jobless claims, ISM manufacturing PMI

Friday: U.S. nonfarm payrolls
 

By Anna Golubova

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

David

Gold/Silver – Next week’s probable ranges

Gold/Silver – Next week's probable ranges

The day we have been waiting for has finally arrived and passed as markets put significant weight on each of Jerome Powell's words. He hit on all the "hawkish" bullet points and even discredited the softer July PCE data. The message was a blow to investors, triggering a rise in the U.S. Dollar and Treasury yields which weighed in on Precious Metals. As you can see from our correlation matrix below how it is crucial to monitor rolling correlations as the 10-day Gold/Dollar correlation was -58%, and now the 5-day correlation is -97%, meaning "if the Dollar goes up, Gold is heading lower.

Rolling Correlation Matrix

Daily Gold Chart

Given the rally from the July lows, we suspected some pullback would happen before determining the next trending direction. Gold must regain $1800 and Silver $20 to keep the bullish momentum alive for the remainder of the year. The first level of support comes at $1750, $1700, and $1685. While Gold and Silver ETF holdings continue to decline, the market is less impacted by supply and demand and more focused on the U.S. Dollar, Treasury yields, economic data, and speculation on the duration of Fed rate hikes. Unfortunately for the bull camp today, Jerome Powell could not field questions after the Jackson Hole symposium. In the past three hawkish meetings, he has used the Q&A platform to help support the market by hinting that a possible "Dovish pivot" could occur depending on the data. Therefore, we believe the path of least resistance is lower for the time being for Precious Metals. If the trend flips back to bullish, we will inform our clients through our daily Tactical Insights report.

To help you identify different technical analysis formations, I went back through 20 years of my trading strategies to create a Free New "5-Step Technical Analysis Guide to Gold but can easily apply to Silver." The guide will provide you with all the Technical analysis steps to create an actionable plan used as a foundation for entering and exiting the market. You can request yours here: 5-Step Technical Analysis Guide to Gold.

Next week's probable ranges

Looking ahead into next week, we will continue to see inflationary pressures build. We believe that rising energy costs and agricultural prices will keep inflation elevated well into the September CPI report leaving the Fed with no choice but to raise another 75 bps at the next meeting. Without a Fed pivot, remain defensive. If you need additional info or want to see our daily Buy/Sell levels for all your favorite commodities, please register for a free two-week trial of our daily Tactical Insights report by clicking here. Get Tactical Insights

By Phillip Streible

Contributing to kitco.com

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

 

David

Gold prices back near session lows as Powell strikes hawkish tone, saying the central bank will maintain restrictive policy stance for some time

Gold prices back near session lows as Powell strikes hawkish tone, saying the central bank will maintain restrictive policy stance for some time

Gold prices have fallen to session lows as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell strikes an expected hawkish tone in his much-anticipated speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

In his speech, Powell reiterated that inflation remains the biggest threat to the economy and the central bank is committed to bringing consumer prices back down to its target of 2%.

"Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time. The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy," he said in his remarks during the central bank symposium.

The gold market continues to hold support above $1,750 an ounce; however, it is struggling to attract new bullish momentum as markets expect to see further rate hikes.

Powell noted that rising interest rates continue to slow growth; he added that those risks are outweighed by inflation.

"While higher interest rates, slower growth, and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, they will also bring some pain to households and businesses. These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation. But a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain," he said. "Without price stability, the economy does not work for anyone."

Although the U.S. economy is starting to feel the effects of rising interest rates, Powell said he continues to see pockets of strength.

"While the latest economic data have been mixed, in my view, our economy continues to show strong underlying momentum. The labor market is particularly strong, but it is clearly out of balance," he said.

Powell also recognized that while the central bank's monetary policy is slowing the economy, it is also bringing down inflation; but he added that more work needs to be done.

Although Powell has signed that the central bank will maintain its current aggressive tightening path, some analysts have said that his comments haven't provided much forward guidance for markets.

The CME FedWatch Tool shows markets are still evenly split over whether the central bank will raise the Fed Funds rate by 50 or 75 basis points next month.

Adam Button, chief currency strategist at Forexlive.com, said that Powell was not as hawkish as he expected.

"I don't see the hawkish bent. It's what I was looking for, no signal on September and a warning that the Fed won't U-turn next year. That's exactly what other Fed officials have been saying. The talk about pain and whatnot is a bit frightening, but there's a lot of nuance there," he said.

Avery Shenfeld, senior economist at CIBC, also said that Powell's speech didn't reveal anything new.

"The speech was extremely short, with nothing really new from our perspective," he said.

By Neils Christensen

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

 

David

The highly anticipated Jackson Hole Economic Symposium commences today

The highly anticipated Jackson Hole Economic Symposium commences today

Each year the Kansas City Federal Reserve hosts one of the most important economic symposiums in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This major event is attended by the top central bankers in the United States and globally. This year’s event, the 2022 Economic Policy Symposium, "Reassessing Constraints on the Economy and Policy," will be held August 25-27.

While the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City is attended by dozens of central bankers, policymakers, academics, and economists from around the world, it will be Friday’s keynote speech by Chairman Jerome Powell that will garner the most attention.

This year’s symposium occurs at a critical time as the Federal Reserve began an aggressive tightening of its monetary policy. Beginning in March of this year the Federal Reserve raised its Fed funds rate for the first time since 2018. More so, they have raised rates at each of the last four FOMC meetings. They raised rates by 25 basis points in March, 50 basis points in May, and 75 basis points at both the June and July FOMC meetings.

The Federal Reserve also announced that it would begin to taper or reduce its asset balance sheet. However, based on information from the Statista Research Department as of July 26, 2022, the Federal Reserve had $8.89 trillion in assets. Considering that in 2007 their assets were roughly at $0.9 trillion the Federal Reserve has been extremely challenged in reducing its assets. The only noticeable reduction occurred in September 2019 when the Federal Reserve reduced its $4.5 trillion balance sheet to $3.77 trillion.

Economists and analysts are divided as to the content of Friday’s keynote speech by Chairman Powell. Some analysts suggest that market participants are bracing themselves for an extremely hawkish speech by Powell, while others are anticipating that Powell might have a more dovish demeanor suggesting that the Federal Reserve will begin to lessen its aggressive rate hikes based on recent economic reports indicating an economic contraction in multiple sectors such as new-home sales and a disappointing U.S. manufacturing sector index report.

My current assessment is that Powell will first offer assurances to the American public that they are doing everything within their power to reduce inflation. Then chairman Powell will likely use his go-to playbook and state that all decisions are data-dependent and thereby deflect any specific timelines when they will begin to reduce the amount and frequency of each rate hike.

The Federal Reserve will hold its next FOMC meeting on September 20 – 21, a week after the release of the CPI inflation index for August.

Although there is much debate and uncertainty as to the tone and demeanor of Powell’s keynote speech, Chairman Powell will continue to walk an extremely thin tightrope between the current economic contraction and the current level of inflation. The likelihood that the Federal Reserve can pull off a “soft landing” will be difficult at best and impossible at worst.

These facts have been highly supportive of gold prices over the last few weeks. Gold has risen from its low of $1678 on July 21 to its current value of $1771.80 today. Today’s gains were a combination of a softer dollar, fractional declines in U.S. Treasuries yields, and market participants actively buying the precious yellow metal.

By Gary Wagner

Contributing to kitco.com

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

 

David

Gold sees modest short covering, bargain buying

Gold sees modest short covering, bargain buying

Gold prices are firmer in midday U.S. trading Wednesday, on a routine upside price correction from recent selling pressure. Short covering in the futures market and some perceived bargain buying in the cash market are featured. The U.S. dollar index is trading slightly down and near its daily low, which also gave the metals market bulls a bit of encouragement. However, rising U.S. Treasury bond yields at mid-week has limited buying interest in the metals. October gold futures were last up $4.90 at $1,756.30. September Comex silver futures were last down $0.021 at $19.005 an ounce.

U.S. stock indexes are higher at midday. The marketplace is awaiting the late-week Jackson Hole, Wyoming Federal Reserve annual symposium that begins Thursday and includes a speech from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell Friday morning. Past Jackson Hole Fed meetings have significantly moved markets. Markets are expecting Powell to lean hawkish on U.S. monetary policy and on the Fed’s fight against inflation.

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The key outside markets today see Nymex crude oil prices lower and trading around $93.00 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index is slightly lower at midday, after hitting a 20-year high on Tuesday. Meantime, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note is fetching 3.109%. Bond yields have been on the rise recently.

Technically, October gold futures bears still have the firm overall near-term technical advantage. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $1,800.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at the July low of $1,686.30. First resistance is seen at today’s high of $1,759.70 and then at 1,775.00. First support is seen at today’s low of $1,745.50 and then at this week’s low of $1,730.40. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 2.5.

September silver futures bears have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the August high of $20.87. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the July low of $18.01. First resistance is seen at this week’s high of $19.155 and then at $19.50. Next support is seen at this week’s low of $18.605 and then at $18.35. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 2.0.

September N.Y. copper closed down 460 points at 364.95 cents today. Prices closed nearer the session low today. The copper bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a five-week-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at 400.00 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at 335.00 cents. First resistance is seen at this week’s high of 373.15 cents and then at 380.00 cents. First support is seen at this week’s low of 360.40 cents and then at last week’s low of 354.20 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.0.

By Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

David

Gold, silver rebound as USDX backs off, crude oil rallies

Gold, silver rebound as USDX backs off, crude oil rallies

Gold and silver prices are higher in midday U.S. trading Tuesday, on short covering in the futures markets and bargain hunting in the cash markets, following recent selling pressure. The key "outside markets" are also in a bullish daily posture for the metals today, as the U.S. dollar index backed off a bit and crude oil prices were solidly higher. October gold futures were last up $13.80 at $1,752.40. September Comex silver were last up $0.147 at $19.03 an ounce.

U.S. stock indexes are weaker at midday. Traders and investors early this week are concerned about a still-aggressive Federal Reserve that is fighting problematic price inflation by raising U.S. interest rates at a rapid pace–even if it causes a U.S. economic recession. A Wall Street Journal news headline read: "Wall Street swings from greed to fear as the Fed's message sinks in." The marketplace is awaiting the late-week Jackson Hole, Wyoming Federal Reserve annual symposium, including a speech from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell Friday morning. Past Jackson Hole Fed meetings have significantly moved markets.

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The key outside markets today see Nymex crude oil prices solidly higher and trading around $93.25 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index is weaker on a corrective pullback after hitting a nearly 20-year high in early U.S. trading. The surging greenback is denting bullish enthusiasm in many raw commodity markets, as they are priced in U.S. dollars on the world market. The appreciating greenback is making those commodities more expensive to purchase in non-U.S. currency. Meantime, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note is fetching 3.0%.

Technically, October gold futures bears still have the firm overall near-term technical advantage. Bulls' next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $1,800.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at the July low of $1,686.30. First resistance is seen at today's high of $1,757.60 and then at 1,775.00. First support is seen at today's low of $1,733.80 and then at this week's low of $1,730.40. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 2.5.

September silver futures bears have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the August high of $20.87. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the July low of $18.01. First resistance is seen at last Friday's high of $19.48 and then at $20.00. Next support is seen at this week's low of $18.605 and then at $18.35. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 2.0.

September N.Y. copper closed up 380 points at 368.95 cents today. Prices closed nearer the session high and hit a seven-week high today. The copper bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a five-week-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at 400.00 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at 335.00 cents. First resistance is seen at today's high of 373.15 cents and then at 380.00 cents. First support is seen at this week's low of 360.40 cents and then at last week's low of 354.20 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.0.

By Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

 

David

Commerzbank lowers gold price target to $1,800 and sees potential for higher prices by 2023

Commerzbank lowers gold price target to $1,800 and sees potential for higher prices by 2023

The third quarter has been disappointing for many gold investors as the precious metal has been in a sharp downtrend and recently has been unable to hold any gains above $1,800 an ounce.

Although gold has struggled in the face of rising interest rates and surging momentum in the U.S. dollar, Carsten Fritsch, precious metals analyst at Commerzbank, said in a report Monday that the price action is doing a lot better than one would expect given the current environment.

Although gold prices have dropped, prices have held initial support at around $1,700 an ounce as the Federal Reserve embarked on an extraordinary tightening cycle. So far this year, the U.S. central bank has raised interest rates by 2.25%, driving real yields higher and boosting the U.S. dollar to a 20-year high.

"Despite all the complaining about the disappointing gold price development in recent months from an investor's point of view, it should not be forgotten that gold is still the best performer this year compared to other asset classes," Fritsch said in the report.

"Gold is currently trading 4.5% below the level at the beginning of the year. In the case of U.S. bonds, the corresponding loss amounts to 9.5% due to the sharp rise in yields, if the T-Note future is used as a reference. The equity markets have lost around 14% since the beginning of the year as measured by the MSCI World, the bitcoin price even more than 50%," Fritsch added.

While the German bank sees some resilient strength in the gold market, they are still downgrading their gold price forecast for the rest of the year. In the report, Commerzbank said that it sees gold prices ending the year at around $1,800 an ounce, down from the previous forecast of $2,000.

"In the short term, gold could come under pressure again because the U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates further until the end of the year," Fritsch said.

However, Commerzbank isn't completely giving up on gold. The bank said that it is a little too early to look for a recovery, but they see the potential for higher prices by the start of 2023.

"As soon as it becomes apparent that the rate hike cycle is coming to an end, the gold price should start to rise. This is likely to be the case in the fourth quarter," Fritsch said. "Like the market, we expect the Fed to cut rates again next year as the U.S. economy slides into recession."

Commerzbank sees gold prices ending 2023 at $1,900 an ounce, down from the previous estimate at $2,000 an ounce.

The German bank is also lowering its silver price target to $20.50 an ounce, down from the previous forecast of $24 an ounce. For 2023, Fritsch said that prices could rise to $25 an ounce, down from the prior estimate of $27 an ounce.

Fritsch noted that the silver market has been hit with significant bearish sentiment as investors flee the market.

"Since the beginning of the year, the holdings of silver ETFs tracked by Bloomberg have fallen by more than 3,000 tons. This corresponds to 1.5 months of global mine production that is additionally available as supply. Since the beginning of July, the outflows amount to more than 1,900 tons," he said.

However, Fritsch added that by 2023 silver should see more demand due to the global push for green alternative energy.

Finally, Commerzbank is also lowering its year-end price target for platinum to $1,000 an ounce, down from $1,050 an ounce.

"Since the beginning of the year, these have now totalled more than 400 thousand ounces. The platinum market could therefore be more oversupplied this year than previously expected," Fritsch said.

Credit Suisse downgrades its average gold price forecast to $1,725

By Neils Christensen

For Kitco News

Time to buy Gold and Silver on the dips

 

David