The late Thursday afternoon rally in gold on the Comex didn’t have much follow-through during Far East trading on Friday. However, activity picked up once London opened for business, and…with the exception of three attempted selloffs that failed…it was a solid up day through London, Comex floor trading, and the Globex electronic trading that followed. Silver’s price pattern was the same as gold’s. As I said yesterday, it was critical that both metals held support above their respective 50-day moving averages…and it’s obvious that they did. Volume yesterday was around 112,000 contracts, net of switches.

Risk Takers return…  Bank of America gets more cash!  30-year mortgages below 5%!  Looking for direction… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

These are uncertain and confusing times for investors, says Adam Lass. For those willing to hold for the long-term, Adam says the surviving financials and automakers could one day return huge gains for today’s investors. In the near future, Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) could make investors 75% by the summer as shares soar on the stimulus plan.

In the currency market, the dollar slipped again vs. the euro. Late Thursday, the euro was trading at $1.371 vs. $1.3618 on Wednesday.

“Alcoa to cut 13,500 jobs”…another recession headline confirms unemployment will continue to get worse for a while yet. Outright cuts make the big news. But some companies hitting rough times have taken a gentler approach. Their workers have kept their jobs…

But their paychecks are shrinking.

More and more Americans have become involuntary part timers. Some of these half-fortunate workers looked for full time work, but were only able to find part-time employment. Most of them are still in the same job but working less. Goodbye to the rich time-and-a-half overtime work. These involuntary part-timers are even losing straight-time hours.

An involuntary part-timer, also known as an “underemployed” person in the statistics, is someone who wanted a full-time job but works 35 or…

Gold was under pressure right from the open of Globex trading in the Far East on Wednesday morning. It bottomed in Hong Kong and clawed its way back to unchanged by the time the Comex opened…but there was always someone there to make sure that the price didn’t get over $965 all through London trading. Every time it tried, it got shoved down. Its attempt to break through that price shortly after the Comex opened, met with a wall of selling that dropped the price by $25 in less than 90 minutes…and all of Tuesday’s gain of the same amount, disappeared. A rally attempt at the London close ran into big resistance at precisely 1:00 p.m. New York time yesterday.…

In the currency market, the dollar slipped against the euro. Late Wednesday, the euro was trading at $1.3618 vs. $1.3529 on Tuesday.

CBO forecasts $1.2 Trillion Budget deficit!  And we can expect more!  ADP shows job losses mounting big time!  Brazil’s real reverses course… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

The U.S. economy shed 693,000 jobs in December, a showing that was far worse than economists had expected and that may even have been the biggest monthly loss of jobs in more than 30 years, analysts said of a closely watched survey of business employment released yesterday (Tuesday).

Just like Friday morning, gold blasted out of the starting gate as soon as Globex trading began in the Far East on Monday morning. And just like Friday morning, this price spike ran into a wall of selling that went on for about four hours. Then there was a respite until 3:00 a.m. New York time when another wave of selling commenced that lasted right through London…and until the Comex open. Then the dealers (mostly JPMorgan, I would think) pulled their bids for the third and last time…and the price of gold cratered another $10…for the third and last time. Silver really got it in the neck on the Comex open. There was nothing free market about this…this was the…