Easy Come Easy Go

Monday evening was a great time to see what happened in the markets.  Nearly everything was up.  On tickerspy.com, there must have been at least eight Fiat Fantasy holdings reaching new 52 week highs.  Ah, but then March roared in like a lion and hammered the DOW down 168 points.  Looking at the past two days as a whole, the precious metals and USCI (commodities) were nearly alone in managing to post a gain.

As I write, Asia is continuing the slide this evening.  The technicians are out in force with comments about today breaking a string of positive first of the month days.  Even I can spot a few engulfing candles and failed bounces in the charts.  Along with technical weakness, rising oil prices, an insider trading scandal tarnishing Wall Street's image (ha ha), and a Middle East rife with uncertainty couldn't have pumped up trader's morale.  Oh, and Bernanke went before Congress and you know everytime Bernanke opens his mouth the markets get a rap on the knuckles. 

Another explanation for what is see in the markets is mentioned occasionally in the media but generally given short schrift Schiff.  In the video, the CNBC Fast Money crew dismiss Schiff's viewpoint out of hand.  Their forte (giving them the benefit of doubt) is trading, while Schiff looks at the bigger picture.  It wouldn't be as scintillating, but how about airing a "Slow Money" show for investors with IRAs and 401Ks.  My view is that the strength in gold, silver and other commodities and the relative weakness in the markets is due to a growing number of investors recognizing the diminishing outlook for the US dollar.  Actually, the diminishing outlook for all paper currencies-- the only kind we have right now.   Here's a chart of the US dollar index, an important set of data to monitor.