| Index | Close | % Change |
|---|
| Dow | 33508.85 | -0.47 |
| Dow Transports | 14969.08 | -0.11 |
| Dow Utilities | 816.54 | 0.12 |
| S&P 500 | 4288.24 | -0.27 |
| Nasdaq | 13219.32 | 0.14 |
| Nasdaq 100 | 14715.24 | 0.08 |
| Russel 2000 | 1783.93 | -0.58 |
| VIX Index | 17.71 | 2.13 |
| 10 Year Gov't Yield | 4.58 | 0.1 |
| Spot Gold | 1848.21 | -0.89 |
| Spot Silver | 22.18 | -1.96 |
| GDX-Gold Miners | 26.89 | -0.59 |
| Crude Oil | 90.9 | -0.87 |
| Dollar Index | 106.16 | -0.06 |
| Euro Spot | 1.06 | 0.05 |
| Japanese 10 Year | 0.76 | 2.41 |
| Shanghai SE | 3110.48 | 0.1 |
| Long Bond 20-year | 113.78 | 0.25 |
|
Schizophrenic Silver
09-29-2023There was a slug of macro data today, but none of it was different enough from expectations to warrant any comment. The stock market, however, was quite firm early on, led by the Nasdaq, which gained 1% through midday and beneath the surface various and sundry popular stocks were chased higher for no obvious reason (other than it's the end-of-the-quarter markup). In the afternoon, the indices slid into the red but bounced to close mixed with small changes.
Away from stocks, fixed income was up slightly (with oil a little lower) and green paper was a nonevent while the metals traded in a bizarre fashion. Silver at one point was up 3% before reversing to lose 2%, and gold was up 0.75%, then reversed to lose 1%. Meanwhile, the miners traded on both sides of unchanged early on before closing with modest losses.
"Who's the Head Bull Goose Loony Around Here?"
I have absolutely no idea why the metals traded as they did today. I'm used to extreme volatility in silver, but today's volatility was extra insane, even for silver, so I called my silver buddy who said there has been an avalanche of GSCI selling, due to rebalancing, in the last two days. (He used to prop trade the GSCI components at GS itself.)
Those sellers don't really care about price, they just want to reduce their allocations by the amount the index appreciated in the quarter, in this case by roughly 15%. Thus, that selling impacted the entire GSCI complex, with thinner markets hit the worst.