Hey, I don’t like what I see on the Lowry’s statistics. Buying Power (demands) has been slipping, and Selling Pressure (supply) has been creeping higher. The negative spread between the two has widened from a recent 130 to yesterday’s 145. In the meantime my PTI, after forming a double top, has failed to go to a new high. Yesterday my PTI was 5 bullish by a mere 5 points.
Verdict — be OUT of all stocks and be very patient. I don’t like the undertone of this market one bit; I think the stock market is under subtle and quiet distribution. Holding any stocks over time will be a loser — so it’s simple — don’t hold them; stay in cash and gold coins until I think of something better. I also like the Permanent Portfolio PRPFX, which is a reasonable place to park your assets.
The market has been quiet for a while. I think something big is coming up, and I don’t think it will be good. Caution is the watchword now. This is the quiet before the storm. I note that the VIX (the “fear index”) has been quietly and slowly rising to where it is 19.55 today. The chart below of the VIX shows the VIX climbing above its 50-day moving average. MACD is giving a “buy” signal.
Yesterday I went to Costco for the first time — to buy a pair of eye glasses. The place is amazing. It’s built like an aircraft hanger or dome, severe, lots of room, high ceilings, no frills at all. At each long aisle there was some one handing out free food samples. I ended up eating a full free dinner, and it was good at that. I bought three pairs of eye glasses with frames for $375, about one third of what it would cost me at a La Jolla oculist.
Costco had just about every thing you can think of for modern living — at bargain prices — vacation trips, vacuum cleaners, pots and pans, deck furniture, awnings, flowers. I wondered whether this is the real trend of the future. Membership to Costco is fifty bucks a year for two people. Why would a person shop any place else? The only problem is quantity. Everything for sale from razor blades to Ensure to T-shirts to frozen burgers comes in quantities — you can’t get out of the place for less than three hundred bucks. Take a trip to Costco and you’ll get an idea of how much sheer “stuff” is being manufactured in the world today. Who the hell is going to use it all? Hopefully 1.3 billion Chinese will use it.
Gold continues to be a maddening mystery. Yesterday, to the consternation of gold shorts, Dec. gold closed below 1600 (it did it again today). I’m increasingly convinced that the only safe way to own gold is in bullion coin form. In that way, you’ve got your gold and you’re not tempted to trade it. You hold onto it, and you take it to your grave — or give it to your kids or your sweetie.
In that way, you own a position in gold (the size of which is up to you) and you forget about it. It’s like a house that you like and that you own free and clear. You don’t call your real estate agent every week to ask what your house is worth. You bought it, you like it, it’s a source of pleasure, and you don’t stay awake nights worrying about it.
Lately, I hear a lot of gold-naysayers boasting that “I own gold for insurance purposes only, although I’m certainly NOT a gold-bug.” Of course, the same people feel happy as a lark when their gold goes up in price.
I have subscribers who loaded up on bullion ten and even 25 years ago. They write to tell me that those purchases have changed their lives, although they never would have believed it when they were buying their gold at rock-bottom prices.
“Buy your gold and look away. Your buys will look brilliant some other day.”
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