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Wile E. Coyote Gravity Lessons

Summary:
See the introduction and the video for the terms gold basis, co-basis, backwardation and contango. Reassertion of Gravity Another week without much major price action, gold + and silver +%excerpt%.12. At least if you look at the closing prices. However on Monday after New York market hours, there was quite a spike in silver. The close was .46. The price was up 10 cents by midnight in New York. By the morning before the open on Wednesday, the price was up another 20 cents, to .77. We’re pretty sure that it had nothing to do with leaked emails from Hillary Clinton. However, it might have had something to do with the housing starts data release. Whatever the cause of this speculative wave, it was over by late Thursday. The weak fundamentals reasserted themselves on silver, like gravity always does to Wile E Coyote when he runs off a cliff into thin air. Are those fundamentals changing? A famous brief moment of seeming weightlessness combined with a terrible flash of premonition that it won’t last… Cartoon by Chuck Jones - Click to enlarge Fundamental Developments Read on for the only true picture of the fundamentals of the monetary metals. But first, here’s the graph of the metals’ prices.

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See the introduction and the video for the terms gold basis, co-basis, backwardation and contango.

Reassertion of Gravity

Another week without much major price action, gold +$16 and silver +$0.12. At least if you look at the closing prices. However on Monday after New York market hours, there was quite a spike in silver.

The close was $17.46. The price was up 10 cents by midnight in New York. By the morning before the open on Wednesday, the price was up another 20 cents, to $17.77.

We’re pretty sure that it had nothing to do with leaked emails from Hillary Clinton. However, it might have had something to do with the housing starts data release. Whatever the cause of this speculative wave, it was over by late Thursday.

The weak fundamentals reasserted themselves on silver, like gravity always does to Wile E Coyote when he runs off a cliff into thin air. Are those fundamentals changing?

Wile E. Coyote Gravity Lessons

A famous brief moment of seeming weightlessness combined with a terrible flash of premonition that it won’t last… Cartoon by Chuck Jones - Click to enlarge

Fundamental Developments

Read on for the only true picture of the fundamentals of the monetary metals. But first, here’s the graph of the metals’ prices.

Silver and Gold Price

(see more posts on gold price, silver price, )
Wile E. Coyote Gravity Lessons

The prices of gold and silver - Click to enlarge

Gold: Silver Price Ratio

Next, this is a graph of the gold price measured in silver, otherwise known as the gold to silver ratio. It rose this week.

Gold: Silver Price Ratio

(see more posts on gold silver ratio, )
Wile E. Coyote Gravity Lessons

Gold-silver ratio - Click to enlarge

For each metal, we will look at a graph of the basis and co-basis overlaid with the price of the dollar in terms of the respective metal. It will make it easier to provide brief commentary. The dollar will be represented in green, the basis in blue and co-basis in red.

Gold Basis and Co-basis and the Dollar Price

Here is the gold graph.

Gold’s scarcity (i.e. red line, co-basis) is up this week, while the price of the dollar (i.e. green line, the inverse of the price of gold) is down.

Not a lot, but a small sign of buying of metal as opposed to futures that has been the pattern for a while.

Further divergence, with a falling dollar and rising gold co-basis would be bearish for the dollar (which most people equate to bullish for gold).

Gold Basis and Co-basis and the Dollar Price

(see more posts on dollar price, gold basis, Gold co-basis, )
Wile E. Coyote Gravity Lessons

Gold basis and co-basis and the dollar price - Click to enlarge

Silver Basis and Co-basis and the Dollar Price

Now let’s look at silver.

Look at that. A big rise in the co-basis, while dollar falls slightly. Also, note the crossover of the basis and co-basis on Friday. Part of this is the approach of expiration.

Both gold and silver contracts tend to move towards backwardation as they approach expiry (proof that it’s the longs, not the shorts, who are naked and must cover before First Notice Day). And silver does it more than gold, due to its inferior liquidity.

Still, this is something different than we’ve seen recently, as is readily apparent on the chart above. Premature to try to trade it, and the fundamental price of silver is still well below the market price (though if you’re short silver against gold, you might close the position and take profits as we did on Friday at a gold-silver ratio of 72.4).

Our calculated fundamental prices: gold=$1247, silver=$15.69, ratio=79.5.

Silver Basis and Co-basis and the Dollar Price

(see more posts on dollar price, silver basis, Silver co-basis, )
Wile E. Coyote Gravity Lessons

Silver basis and co-basis and the dollar price - Click to enlarge

The big question this week: does the buying of metal remain strong, or is this just another flash in the pan?
Wile E. Coyote Gravity Lessons

Has Wile finally gotten his ACME Batman suit? Cartoon by Chuck Jones - Click to enlarge

Cartoon captions by PT

Charts by: Monetary Metals

Keith Weiner
Keith Weiner is president of the Gold Standard Institute USA in Phoenix, Arizona, and CEO of the precious metals fund manager Monetary Metals. He created DiamondWare, a technology company that he sold to Nortel Networks in 2008. He writes about money, credit and gold. In March 2015 he moved his column from Forbes to SNBCHF.com

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