It was surely another disappointing day for metals investors as the big stars—sinking dollar and rising oil—once again lined up in their favor, suggesting a knockout day that never materialized.

Gold went on a very wild ride on Tuesday, falling as low as $912 just before London trading opened, then rising to $920, getting sold off during the first hour of the New York session, shooting higher and peaking above $924 at the noon hour, and finally pulling back sharply through the Access Market and finishing at $916.20, down 90 cents. Overnight, gold has edged lower.

Platinum noodled around between $1980 and $2000 until the second hour of New York trading, then pushed higher until noon, after which it leveled off to end at $2025/oz., up $13. Overnight, platinum is trending lower.

Silver wasn’t quite as volatile as gold, but it too rose sharply until noon, peaking above $17.80, before retreating to a close at $17.51, up 9 cents. Overnight, silver has been flat.
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It was surely another disappointing day for metals investors as the big stars—sinking dollar and rising oil—once again lined up in their favor, suggesting a knockout day that never materialized.

That the metals didn’t react more powerfully is puzzling, and adds some credence to the view that the market is being heavily manipulated in order to make the collapse of the dollar seem less awful than it really is.

Nick Ruggiero, a trader at Eagle Futures in New York, noted the support from oil and the buck, and said sarcastically that, “Possibly by the end of the year, we’ll see metal prices catch up.”

A bit more optimistic is Mark O’Byrne, executive director at Gold and Silver Investments Ltd., who wrote that, “Gold continues in a tight range between $910 and $930, but the path of least resistance looks to be to the upside. . .”

But Dennis Gartman, editor of the Gartman Letter, has had enough. Gartman wrote that “good bull markets” don’t fall in the way that gold fell on Friday.

Gold “has broken this well-defined bullish trend line and it failed miserably on Friday,” Gartman wrote. “It has bounced today [Monday], and we shall sell that bounce and exit entirely!”

Gartman contrarians will note that this is not the first time his patience has been tried, and are probably aware that even the strongest bull markets do indeed turn up and down sharply, sometimes on a dime. Those folks likely can’t wait for a dip below $900 to buy in.