Daily Pfennig : Euro

Silence Is Always Golden...

Chuck Butler — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:17:38 GMT

..But First, A Word From Our Sponsor..
Gain exposure to currencies of emerging BRIC countries-and don't lose a dime on market risk

Don't let market risk get in the way of potentially rewarding exposure to the BRIC currencies. Our 3-year MarketSafe® BRIC CD shields you from any market risk and provides 100% principal protection on deposits held until maturity.

* 4 BRIC currencies: Brazilian real, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, Chinese renminbi
* High upside potential
* No market risk to deposited principal
* Low $1,500 minimum deposit

Some experts believe these 4 countries may become economic powerhouses in coming years. Now could be the right time to add these currencies to your portfolio. And you can do so-safely-with the U.S. denominated MarketSafe BRIC CD.

Don't miss this unique opportunity. Deadline to buy the BRIC MarketSafe CD is Dec. 3rd, 2009. Apply today or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CertificatesMSBRIC.aspx?referId=11808
.

In This Issue..

* It's a Risk On day!
* Commodity Currencies have the "stuff"!
* Gold's one-day window slams shut!
* RBA to not wait 2 months to hike rates!

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

Silence Is Golden...

Good day... And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! We're stuck in the mud with the rain again, but according to the weather people it should end tomorrow... Geez Louise, I guess it could be snow, which would have crippled this city by now!

Well... The currencies gave back all that ground they gained the day before on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, yesterday... But, have turned around this morning in the European session as Eurozone stocks are up, and whenever equities trade with some zip in their step, it has been good for the Big Dog, euro...

Someone asked me yesterday a question about the euro... He said, "Chuck, I know you like the euro, but couldn't the Aussie dollar be a better choice going forward?" And I answered like this... The euro is the offset currency to the dollar... But that doesn't mean it is the best performer when the dollar moves down. The Aussie dollar (A$) has outperformed the euro since 2002, and will probably continue outperform the euro... But so has the Norwegian krone, and the New Zealand dollar, and the South African rand, and the Canadian dollar... Hmmm... Does that list ring a bell?

Why, yes, Chuck, it does! For these are all "Commodity Currencies"... You've Gotta Love 'Em!

Countries that have "stuff" to sell to other countries, that either don't have the "stuff" or are too lazy to deal with it!

Hey! Did you see my bit on Bernanke that I wrote yesterday made the "5-Minute Forecast"? WOW! My friend Ian Mathias, does such a great job on the "5", and I get a HUGE kick out of him putting stuff I write in his great letter! You should see the two of us standing side by side in Vancouver, where we meet up each year... The old kids song about fat and skinny went to bed, fat rolled over and skinny was dead... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

OK... Chuck, quit the back slapping of yourself, and get back to the task at hand!

Yesterday, my fat fingers made an appearance in the Pfennig, as I mis-typed the price of Gold, in the currency round-up... I had just talked about how those people waiting for a pull-back of Gold's price, might still be waiting when the cows come home... And then I type the price of Gold $100 cheaper than it was selling for! What a fat fingered dolt! Oh well, not many people pointed it out to me, as always letting me know that "Chuck made a mistake"...

Speaking of Gold... Well, you had a 1-day window to buy it cheaper, for the overnight sessions has the shiny metal hitting on all 8, and soaring once again to $1,148!!!!! Don't you just hate those 1-day windows? I mean, you wanted to pull the trigger and buy, but thought, what if Gold drops more today, that would mean I could buy it cheaper tomorrow... Don't be fooled! It's like this folks... If you want to buy something, buy it! Trying to time a purchase will leave you sitting the sidelines with a baseball cap turned backward on your head and holding a clipboard!

I used to tell people that if you're standing at the bus stop waiting for the bust to take you downtown, and the bus pulls up, but it's an old bus, and the rumor is going around that a brand spankin' new bus is on the way, you decide to not get on the old bus, but wait for the new bus... Then the new bus arrives, and there's a rumor that an even newer, updated bus is on the way, and you decide to wait for that one... If you never get on the freakin' bus, you'll never get downtown!

OK... So... Remember when I questioned the current administration's claims that instead of "creating jobs" they were "saving jobs"? I pointed out that claiming that jobs were saved, would be difficult to prove... Well, guess what? Proving that the jobs saved don't exist, has been pretty easy... And the people claiming that the stimulus "saved jobs" have egg all over their collective faces...

Speaking of Jobs... One of my fave economists, Nouriel Roubini, had this to say about jobs...

"Think the worst is over? Wrong. Conditions in the U.S. labor markets are awful and worsening. While the official unemployment rate is already 10.2% and another 200,000 jobs were lost in October, when you include discouraged workers and partially employed workers the figure is a whopping 17.5%.

While losing 200,000 jobs per month is better than the 700,000 jobs lost in January, current job losses still average more than the per month rate of 150,000 during the last recession.

Also, remember: The last recession ended in November 2001, but job losses continued for more than a year and half until June of 2003; ditto for the 1990-91 recession.

So we can expect that job losses will continue until the end of 2010 at the earliest. In other words, if you are unemployed and looking for work and just waiting for the economy to turn the corner, you had better hunker down. All the economic numbers suggest this will take a while. The jobs just are not coming back."

Chuck again... And you think the recession / depression is going to end with the unemployment problem in this country? Not when the consumer is needed to generate nearly 70% of the GDP...

And all that tells me that the cartel / Fed (Fartel!) is going to believe that they need to keep rates near zero for some time to come...

So... It's Risk On today! It was Risk Off yesterday! Don't ask me why... Tell me why, you cry, and no wait! Don't go singing songs, Chuck! This is serious stuff!

Yesterday's data cupboard was a mixed bag of economic data for the U.S. PPI wasn't as strong as forecast, Industrial Production slowed in October, but Capacity Utilization bumped higher, and the TIC Flows for September were $40.7 Billion, which was more than the $34.2 Billion in August. The report showed that Japan, China and the U.K. all increased their holdings of Treasuries. September's TIC Flows were probably the best report of the day, and the best report that this series has printed in a long, long time... Does this mean that the all-clear horn is blaring, telling us not to worry any more about whether we finance our deficit or not? Well... It might be, but I'm not listening to it!

Well... The President ended his visit to China, with a call for a more flexible Chinese currency (renminbi)... And... The Chinese said... Nothing! They met the President's words with silence... I used to date a girl that would say to me when I wasn't talking... "Silence is Golden, Chuck" and I would say... "Then shut up and we'll make a million!" HA!

Now, while it would nice if the Chinese played ball with us... I understand their dilemma... The IMF still believes that China's currency is about 25-40% undervalued... China could not deal with a floating currency that went up 40% overnight!

Did you know that America's trade deficit with China widened to a 10-month high in September? Well... It did, thus raising concern that the combination of a recovering U.S. economy and a fixed renminbi exchange rate against the dollar will worsen global imbalances. But... As I've said at least 100 times before this... The Chinese will do what they believe is best for their country, and that's not floating the renminbi at this time, no matter who the U.S. sends to visit them to persuade them to do so!

Moving further south in the Pacific, we land in Australia... I thought about this next Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) quite a bit the past couple of days... And have come to the conclusion that the Dec 1st meeting of the RBA will net another 25 BPS rate hike... The reason I think this, is the fact that there will be no meeting in January, thus leaving a 2-month gap, which in these economic times could be devastating... So... Look for another rate hike in Australia on December 1st... Which would be their 3rd consecutive meeting rate hike, and could be the harbinger to parity for the A$... Could be... I didn't say it "would be"!

I know that yesterday morning, I talked about how the RBA meeting minutes had been perceived as "dovish", and that spooked the markets into thinking that the RBA would NOT hike rates in December... But upon further review, the meeting minutes were really pretty vague, and while they didn't sound outright hawkish, they also didn't sound "dovish" either... After reading the minutes, I got the feeling that overall, the minutes support the idea of "steady rate hikes"... I don't think the RBA will stop until they reach an internal rate of 4.25% early next year...

I was giving an interview last week with a writer from Business Week... And he asked me when this dollar weakness all started... I told him that, "Over the past nine years congress and two administrations have instituted fiscal policies that have undermined the value of the U.S. dollar, and the deficit spending has gone from $350 Billion Budget Deficits to $2 Trillion (annualized) Budget Deficits in a wink of an eye... So... The dollar made brief comebacks in 2005 and in the financial meltdown of August 2008 through Feb 2009, but other than that, the dollar continues to decline, and I just don't see anything on the horizon that will stop this decline."

Well... As I look across the desk, where the light only comes from the computer screens, yes, I like it dark here while I'm writing, it keeps me focused! HA! Any way, as I look across the desk at the currency screens, I notice that every currency that supposed to lighting up green (going up) is doing so, and every currency that supposed to be lighting up red (going down, but that's what you want in a European style currency) is doing so... We've got it all going on today... One of these days, we'll quit this stupid game of street hockey, you know, Risk On, Risk Off... Or the Mr. Myagi, with the wax on, wax off, bit! But until then we have to deal with this stupid game of street hockey, or karate training!

OK... To recap... The currencies have gained back the ground they lost in yesterday's Risk Off trading sessions. Gold is back to soaring after a 1-day stall... Data yesterday in the U.S. was a mixed bag. Chuck expects the RBA to hike rates in December, and China responds to the U.S. President's request to allow greater flexibility in the renminbi, with... Silence...

Currencies today 11/18/09: American Style: A$ .9325, kiwi .7490, C$ .9550, euro 1.4960, sterling 1.6810, Swiss .99, European Style: rand 7.4290, krone 5.58, SEK 6.8275, forint 177.50, zloty 2.7370, koruna 17.0130, RUB 28.67, yen 89.10, sing 1.3830, HKD 7.75, INR 46.22, China 6.8270, pesos 12.99, BRL 1.7080, dollar index 74.97, Oil $80.03, 10-year 3.34%, Silver $18.75, and Gold... $1,148.30

That's it for today... Chris will have the conn on the Pfennig tomorrow morning, as I report to the retina institute at the Center for Advanced Medicine. God willing, I'll be back on Friday morning! My younger sister, Terri, was just diagnosed with breast cancer. I'm waiting to hear what the game plan is for her... I picked up my son Alex's electric guitar last night, and played it a little... I've played acoustic guitars for so long, that his electric guitar felt very strange.. I played a song, and little Delaney Grace, who had sat still listening to me play, cheered, and then got up and left... Cracked me up! Every day it's something with her! Time to get this out the door, folks... I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

We Won't Get Fooled Again!

Chuck Butler — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:26:36 GMT

..But First, A Word From Our Sponsor..
Gain exposure to currencies of emerging BRIC countries-and don't lose a dime on market risk

* 4 BRIC currencies: Brazilian real, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, Chinese renminbi
* High upside potential
* No market risk to deposited principal
* Low $1,500 minimum deposit

Don't miss this unique opportunity. Deadline to buy the BRIC MarketSafe CD is Dec. 3rd, 2009. Apply today or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CertificatesMSBRIC.aspx?referId=11808
.

In This Issue..

* Bernanke digs out some old words...
* Risk on, Risk off...
* Brazil to have a different meeting outcome?
* Winter Olympics are in Canada...

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

We Won't Get Fooled Again!

Good day... And a Terrific Tuesday to you! What a ride on Mr. Toad (Bernanke's) Wild Ride yesterday for the currencies! Gold? Well, at one point in the day, Gold had shot up $24 on the day! It topped out at $1,142... The shiny metal then gave some back on profit taking, but Whew! Gold holders have got to love it! Those that keep waiting for a pull-back... Well, they might be still waiting when the cows come home...

Yesterday, we had a couple of Fed Heads talking, but the Big Kahuna, stood out, and moved the markets with his statements... Here's the skinny...

Big Ben was giving a speech, and said that "The Fed will monitor closely the currencies, and that the Fed's policies will ensure that the dollar is strong." Now, when he first uttered those words, the dollar got bought and the non-dollar currencies were sold... But then, a few of us had this feeling... It was a feeling that we had heard all this before... And there... In the archives, circa June 2008... Bernanke said, "In collaboration with our colleagues at the Treasury, we continue to carefully monitor developments in foreign exchange markets." Wait! We won't get fooled again!

In June 2008, his statements spooked the markets into believing the Fed was really going to do something to bolster the dollar... But when nothing came along, the dollar REALLY got sold until the financial meltdown of August 2008... I mean... What has the Fed done in the past 1 1/2 years to "bolster the dollar"? Near zero interest rates that will remain in place for longer than they should... Quantitative easing... A Bloated balance sheet of toxic bonds...

You could see the V-8 moments on traders' faces when they realized, yesterday, that all this had been said before, and nothing came of it, so... Meet the new boss... Same as the old boss... We Won't Get Fooled Again! No No!

So, then traders reversed their buying of the dollar and sent the dollar to the woodshed... You should have seen the reversal... It was amazing... The Big Dog, euro, went from 1.4970 to 1.4860, and then turned around to rise to 1.50! ... Now, overnight, there has been some renewed selling of the non-dollar currencies, and the euro is back to 1.4910... Crazy... But not as crazy as Big Ben spouting off about "monitoring the currencies"... Yeah, right... And what are you going to do about them when they get out of line, Big Ben? Get the ruler out? I'll tell you what he'll do... Nothing... Absolutely nothing!

Memo to Big Ben... Ahem... Am I on? Ok, long time listener, first time caller... Big Ben... Just what policies are you talking about that will keep the dollar strong? In the future, you might want to list them, so that people like that Chuck Butler, doesn't rip your comments to shreds for their lack of truth, and facts...

Non-voting Fed Head, Fisher, had this to say yesterday... "Our job is to maintain the purchasing power of the dollar, while fostering the conditions that enable the economy to grow without fanning inflation." Hmmm I would say that he's got that right... But, apparently, somewhere along the way, the part about "maintaining the purchasing power of the dollar" got lost, eh? I mean, since the Fed / cartel was formed in 1913, the dollar has lost 95% of its purchasing power... YIKES! Most people that did their jobs that badly would be fired/ let go... These guys have had almost 100 years to figure this out, and have failed miserably... And hey! Before I get accused of something (I'm always accused of something, with everything I say), Fed Head Fisher was the one that described the Fed Heads' job, not me!

OK... While I'm on this subject of being accused... I have been beating on the U.S. administration for 9 years, folks... I know I've really stepped it up with the step up of deficit spending by this administration, but, I chastised the previous administration beginning with their protectionism measures in 2000, and never let up, with their deficit spending... Someone even said I never talked about Cheney and his "Deficits Don't Matter"... WHAT? I've even repeated the same joke several times about the Deficits don't Matter crowd, and that they remind me of a guy standing on the Empire State Building, he decides to jump off, and as he passes the 56th floor, he says... "So far, so good!"

Yes, so far, so good, because he hadn't hit the concrete to go splat yet... And neither had the deficits crowd... But they will, and in fact, they are getting awfully close to the concrete right now!

Well... Enough of that... I just get so ticked off sometimes... I write, and write, and people say I didn't say this or that... Don't know what else to say... So, I'll go on...

The U.S. economy got a boost yesterday when Retail Sales grew at a faster rate than forecast, growing 1.4% in October, above the 0.9% rise projected by Wall Street. The jump came on rebounding demand for cars, a sign the economy kept recovering despite climbing unemployment. Aside from automobiles in October, other sales rose just 0.2%.

But... Are these numbers suspicious? Well, when you look at the previous month's revision, you have to question these numbers as well... September Retail Sales, which were reported as -1.5%, actually fell -2.3%... I wonder what this number's revision next month has in store...

Today, the data cupboard is stocked to the brim with data prints... Producer Price Index (PPI) prints along with two of my faves, Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization... And then the Big Kahuna of the day... The TIC's data... For those of you new to class, The TIC's data stands for Treasury International Capital... Or... Easier to understand... It's the fancy, schmancy name for Net Security Purchases by Foreigners... This is how we track, how well we're doing as a county at financing our ever expanding deficit...

I made a mistake yesterday when talking about the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and saying that if they didn't hike rates in December, that they would most likely come back in January at hike them... A reader pointed out to me that the RBA doesn't meet in January... OK... So, I guess I should have said that the RBA would hike at their next scheduled meeting!

Speaking of the RBA... They issued their latest meeting minutes, in which they sounded less hawkish than one would expect, since they raised rates at the same meeting... But this less hawkish tone, set off a round of Risk Aversion once again in the currency markets overnight... Risk on, Risk off, is reminding me of a Wayne and Garth street hockey game...

For, it's Risk on, one day, and Risk off the next day... So, while I find that the RBA minutes did set off this round of Risk off for the currencies, I don't see it having lasting power... Look for this all to fade, especially if we get a rogue data print in the U.S. today...

Late last week, I came across a story on the dollar that I totally forgot to talk about yesterday... So, here you go... Oh, by the way, strap yourself in for this one, and keep your arms and legs inside during the ride...

The German government's 5-person council of economic advisers issued a report that said, "After the massive global increase in U.S. dollar reserves in the past years, an "uncontrolled exit", especially in emerging economies from the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency is a possible trigger of instability in currency markets." The went on to say...

"Countries holding "high" dollar reserves should consider committing to selling their dollar holdings in a coordinated way over a longer period of time."

The folks over at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) think that Bernanke's speech yesterday, basically gave the green light for a further, slow, gradual decline of the dollar... And, quite frankly, that's what traders would prefer to see too, given that they don't like getting whipsawed day in and day out by the Risk on, Risk off game... When assets go to fast one way or the other, it just causes strong corrections, and people get hurt by the movements... But a slow, gradual decline I would think would be the preference of the U.S. Gov't... That way, no one notices... It's not like a bubble that grows and everyone notices it...

Speaking of bubbles... And if you're like me, when I type, or say bubbles, I immediately think of Big Al Greenspan... Well, you'll love this Fed Head statement about bubbles... Here's Fed Head Kohn... "Asset price bubbles can be spotted when they become extreme, efforts to spot bubbles may result in seeing more than there is."

Now that statement plays well with Big Al Greenspan, who always claimed that bubbles could not be spotted before they got out of hand... Basically, what these two are saying in different ways is that the Fed could spot them, but probably wouldn't like it, and wouldn't have much at their disposal to do about it, so they just turn away...

And speaking of such... Fed Head Yellen said last night that the "U.S. stock market is not overvalued"... That's all I'll say about that!

OK... Hopefully, you are still with me here, and reading... And you will recall me going on and on about China and their FX currency swap agreements and how that was a baby step toward gaining a wider use of the renminbi... Well... Yesterday, there was a story, that I think Ty told me about, that talks about China preparing to float the renminbi, testing it in Hong Kong... The Chinese government has been moving to allow banks in Hong Kong to issue bonds, hold deposits, and settle trade with the mainland -- all in renminbi.

However, don't look for this conversion to a floating currency to happen soon... Financial analysts believe it will not happen before 2020... It may come sooner... But I wouldn't get all lathered up that it happens in the next year!

One of the best performing currencies VS the dollar this year, has been the Brazilian real, with a greater than 30% gain, so far... There's been a shakeup at the Brazilian Central Bank, and there will be a few new members, with voting power at the next meeting on December 9th... I still don't think the Brazilian real interest rate will be moved at this meeting, but with the new members, they might want to make a "statement" about how hawkish they are... And on December 10th, Brazil will print their 3rd QTR GDP, which I would think would be quite strong... You would have to think that the Central Bank will have privy to this report before they meet on the 9th... And with the new members possibly wanting to make a statement, there's a whole new outlook for the Central Bank meeting...

You know... As we draw closer to the end of the year, the closer we get to the winter Olympics which will be held in Vancouver, B.C. (and Whistler!) Going back to the early days of the World Markets Division at the old Mark Twain Bank, here in St. Louis, we tracked currencies from countries that were holding the Olympics, noticing that there was always a rise in the host country's currency... If that were to hold it would benefit the Canadian dollar / loonie... Will it hold true for the Vancouver Olympics? We'll have to wait-n-see, eh? But really... Wouldn't it be worth a flyer, a shekel or two to see if it did hold true?

And then there was this... Were you confused by the GM announcements yesterday? I was... First there was an announcement that GM would be paying back some of the bailout money to the Government... But then later it was announced that GM posted a $1.5 Billion loss... Kind of difficult to pay someone back, when you're booking losses, eh? Strange announcements for sure...

OK, to recap, which I forgot to do yesterday! UGH! The currencies were whipsawed yesterday by comments by Big Ben Bernanke, that we've heard before! The RBA issued a not-so-hawkish minutes report that spooked the markets and it's Risk off today... Brazil might have a different outlook for their next meeting in December, and the winter Olympics are ready for Vancouver, will that mean a boost for the loonie?

Currencies today 11/17/09: American style: A$ .9270, kiwi .7440, C$ .9450, euro 1.49, sterling 1.6775, Swiss .9840, European style: rand 7.4660, krone 5.62, SEK 6.8775, forint 179, zloty 2.76, koruna 17.1450, RUB 28.77, yen 89.30, sing 1.3870, HKD 7.75, INR 46.30, China 6.8266, pesos 13.01, BRL 1.7160, dollar index 75.38, Oil $78.24, 10-year 3.35%, Silver $18.16, and Gold... $1,030

That's it for today... Well, the college basketball season began last night... My beloved Missouri Tigers start tonight. The Tigers basketball team surprised quite a few people with their run last spring, hopefully they can repeat that! Our little Christine's husband is a high school basketball coach. Christine says that once the season starts, she rarely sees husband, Matt... She loves basketball season! HA! My little, adorable granddaughter, Delaney Grace, was at the house when I came home yesterday, and she ran out of the house to jump in my arms to hug me! WOW! Sure is great to have a little one around! OK... Late again today, UGH! Better get going... I hope your Tuesday is Terrific!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

Japan Posts a 4.8% GDP!

Chuck Butler — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:19:00 GMT

..But First, A Word From Our Sponsor..
Gain exposure to currencies of emerging BRIC countries-and don't lose a dime on market risk

* 4 BRIC currencies: Brazilian real, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, Chinese renminbi
* High upside potential
* No market risk to deposited principal
* Low $1,500 minimum deposit

Don't miss this unique opportunity. Deadline to buy the BRIC MarketSafe CD is Dec. 3rd, 2009. Apply today or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CertificatesMSBRIC.aspx?referId=11808
.

In This Issue..

* Risk Aversion goes away mad...
* China just says "no" to currency flexibility...
* Maybe a return to fundamentals?
* Gold continues to soar!

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

Japan Posts a 4.8% GDP!

Good day... And a Marvelous Monday to you! It's raining here, so it's one of those Rainy Days and Mondays... But I won't let it get me down, as opposed to the song! I got a chance to check out our new digs in the building next door to us here... Very nice! And... A long way from that small office I sat in on Olive St. a decade ago, when we started EverBank... To think back 10 years ago, and where we are today... Simply amazing!

OK... As I told you Friday, the President was in China this past weekend, trying his best to get the Chinese to agree to a greater flexibility for the renminbi... Well... There were a few stories this past weekend that hinted about the Chinese agreeing to do such... But I prefer to go with this story that appeared on Reuters last night... "The Chinese government has sought to distance itself from speculation surrounding a central bank statement earlier this week that was interpreted as a shift in currency policy towards a stronger yuan. However, a report on Saturday by Xinhua, the state-controlled Chinese news agency said that the government would not allow the currency to gain against the dollar in the short term."

Wang Qing, chief Asia economist for Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, said in a report to clients: "I consider this article an official effort by Chinese authorities to dismiss the renewed speculation of yuan appreciation in the near term."

So much for that visit to China, eh? Put that one down next to the visit to Copenhagen earlier this year... Ahem... 3 strikes and you're out in baseball... But, getting back to the trip to China... The Asia-Pacific members were pretty tough with their questions for the U.S. President, questioning his commitment to free trade... And then let him know that China is going to fight protectionism, and keep the renminbi on a leash...

On Friday, we had the currencies add a bit to their rally on Thursday, as the Risk Aversion campers were sent home without a ball... No need to go away mad... Just go away! There was a bit of interesting data reaction that happened on Friday, which only gave me some hope of returning to fundamentals... The U. of Michigan Consumer Confidence Index fell in October, which wasn't expected one iota... And... The dollar sold off! That's exactly what should happen when a country's economic data prints badly! So Hur-ray! YAHOO! But... Just like I always say... On swallow doesn't make a summer, and one reaction to a data print doesn't make for a shift in fundamentals... But could it be a start? Yes, it could... But we'll need to see more of this type of trading after data prints to indicate that the old "trading theme" has been put in our rear view mirrors, and that fundamentals have returned... But wouldn't that be a happy day? Oh happy day... Oh happy day...

I'm going to tell you this next bit, and you're not going to believe it at first... But stay with it... There was good news in Asia overnight, as the Japanese printed a 3rd QTR GDP report that showed an annualized rate of +4.8%! That was 2.9% higher than the "experts" forecast for Japan! So... Even Japan is joining the other Asian and pan-Asian countries (Australia) in posting strong economic growth!

The Asia-Pacific leaders pledged to keep stimulus measures in place until there's a "durable growth"... Hmmm... Here's hoping that the Asia-Pacific leaders let us know when that happens, for 4.8% annualized growth for Japan, sure seems like "durable growth" to me!

And... In keeping with our hopes that fundamentals return to currencies and commodities... The strong economic data for Japan, did not quash the yen! In fact, the yen has traded stronger VS the dollar overnight!

Speaking of trading stronger VS the dollar overnight... Have you seen the price of Gold? WOW! Gold has set, yet another, all-time record high overnight of $1,133! It has since given back some of that to trade at $1,127... But still... WOW!

You know... Just about 10 days ago, the dollar was looking as if it was going to make a comeback / correction... I even saw a cute little poem a trader wrote about it being the end of euro strength... But here we are 10 days later, and the dollar is looking quite weak again... The euro is back to pushing the envelope to 1.50 VS the dollar, and I just told you about Gold's run VS the dollar...

Of course this doesn't mean that a correction couldn't take place today, tomorrow, or the next day... I'm just pointing out something that I've told you all about for years now... And that is: short term forecasting for currencies is usually wrong! So, then, people ask me... Why then do you write a daily letter about currencies, Chuck? Ahhh, grasshopper, because, someone has to make sense of this daily noise, and... You never know when a "turn" might happen in the currencies...

The Aussie dollar (A$) spent the overnight sessions trying to get past .9350, but failed to do so, especially on the back of a note from a local bank analyst who went out on a limb and said the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would be on hold at their next meeting on Dec. 1st... Well, that may be... But I still believe the RBA will hike rates in December! But if they don't, then we could look for an even larger hike when they come back in January! So, this keeping the A$ below .9350 won't last long, in my humble opinion!

We could get some traction from the euro and other Euro-type currencies this week, as the Euro Finance Week in Frankfurt will take place with top leaders speaking on the financial crisis and lessons to be learned from it... German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who's always good for some interesting quotes, will speak, as will European Central Bank (ECB) President, Jean-Claude Trichet...

Speaking of Euro-type currencies... The Norwegian krone, continues to follow the Big Dog, euro... But when the Big Dog, euro gets going, the krone normally out performs the euro... So... The Big Dog, euro is the key here...

OK... For some time now, I've been trying to point out to you that monetary inflation is going to sneak up on us and rip apart our investments... My good friend, David Galland, had this to say in his Friday letter... Here's David!

"Just because it's not readily apparent doesn't mean it's not there. Of course, I'm referring to the government's monetary inflation, which, thanks to a combination of factors, still hasn't jumped out of the closet to scare bond markets into cardiac arrest."

David then goes on to show his readers a table that had useful details on the progression from normal to very much not normal, leading up to the German Hyperinflation of the early 1900's... David then says, "As you can see, the situation in Germany was not so bad - until it was."

If you would like to see the "table" David refers to... Or read his excellent letter... Click here... http://www.caseyresearch.com/quick-guide/free-publications/

OK... You know, the soaring Gold price has been mostly tied to the weak dollar... But, you would have to think that "smart investors" with an eye on this monetary inflation is having some push to the price of Gold too... I know that's why I own Gold... The weak dollar thing is just icing on Gold's value in my opinion... The inflation hedge... The Deflation hedge... Or... As I call it... The "uncertainty hedge"...

And then there was this... The other night I was discussing the Health Care stuff, and told the person I was talking to that the stimulus bill, you know the one that was pushed through so fast last winter because we as a country were "near total collapse"? Well, the stimulus bill had hidden in it, part one of the Obama Health Care Plan... Hmmm didn't know that? Well, yes, grasshopper... It's the "death panels" that Sarah Palin coined them... They are called the rationing and enforcement board. And... The President has already funded them with $20.6 Billion of our taxpayer dollars!

Now... I'm not going to get into a discussion of the Health Care here... My point was simply to show that when bills are passed, it is important that they are read aloud to the people, to keep from "hiding" things in the bills... $20.6 Billion of money that the Gov't did not have!

Ok... Enough of that... My good friend, Dr. Dave Janda, was the first to expose this "hidden gem" And he's been on the speaking circuit trying to get anyone that will listen to him, and they should, to understand what's going on...

Currencies today 11/16/09: American Style: A$ .9340, kiwi .7445, C$ .9555, euro 1.4970, Sterling 1.6720, Swiss .9920, European Style: rand 7.3910, krone 5.5730, SEK 6.8060, forint 178.90, zloty 2.7375, koruna 17.0530, RUB 28.68, yen 89.50, sing 1.3850, HKD 7.75, INR 46.22, China 6.8269, pesos 13.01, BRL 1.7125, dollar index 75.03, Oil $77.19, 10-year 3.40%, Silver $17.85, and Gold... $1,130.30

That's it for today... Our resident TV personality, Ty Keough, was announcing the Missouri Valley Conference Soccer match yesterday on Fox Sports Midwest... Ty had a great line during the match, referring to one shot by a player as being a "venomous shot!" I made a drive to the country yesterday to visit my graves of my parents and oldest sister... It had been a couple of years since I made that drive, my bad... The little country town that our family farm sat outside of, hasn't changed... It's still the same quiet little country town in mid-Missouri... Went to dinner with good friends, Lisa and Kevin on Saturday night, they used to be our neighbors, and now we rarely see them... UGH! OK... Mike's here, so that means it's time to hit "send"! I hope you have a Marvelous Monday!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

Germany & France Post 3rd QTR Growth...

Chuck Butler — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:31:01 GMT

..But First, A Word From Our Sponsor..
Gain exposure to currencies of emerging BRIC countries-and don't lose a dime on market risk

* 4 BRIC currencies: Brazilian real, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, Chinese renminbi
* High upside potential
* No market risk to deposited principal
* Low $1,500 minimum deposit

Don't miss this unique opportunity. Deadline to buy the BRIC MarketSafe CD is Dec. 3rd, 2009. Apply today or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CertificatesMSBRIC.aspx?referId=11808
.

In This Issue..

* Risk Aversion fuels dollar rally yesterday...
* Eurozone growth may stop the Risk Aversion...
* Budget Deficit is a record $176.4 Billion!
* Euro, Swiss, Aussie, Norway, all cheaper today!

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

Germany & France Post 3rd QTR Growth...

Good day... And a Happy Friday to one and all! Let's try to make this a Fantastico Friday as well! The Risk Aversion that was creeping into the currency markets yesterday really took hold in the U.S. trading session, which meant the dollar was being bought once more, along with Japanese yen...

It just makes me laugh out loud, when I write that the "safe haven currencies" during Risk Aversion trading are the dollar and yen... These two countries have debt up to their eyeballs, pay no interest on their deposits, and have a leadership deficiency... (ok, before every begins to think that I'm ripping the president again, I'm not... I'm talking about the Central Bank, and lawmakers of each country)

There was good news out of the Eurozone this morning... Both Germany and France followed their previous quarter's growth, with stronger growth in the 3rd QTR... The Eurozone's two largest economies continued to recover from recession in the 3rd QTR, as exports boosted both German and French gross domestic products. I say that, and I want to spit out a raspberry to all those that claim the European Union will collapse because of the strong euro! Neener, neener, neener... The largest economies of the Eurozone can grow, with strong exports even with a strong euro!

OK Chuck, no need to be childish here, let's get back to the growth... Germany's GDP rose 0.7% in the three months to Sept. 30. In France, GDP also grew for the second consecutive quarter, rising 0.3%.

So... Of course this data from the Eurozone put a floor under the euro's decline from yesterday... It will be interesting to see how the U.S. guys look at these growth numbers... The European guys liked them... The U.S. traders though can be very fickle...

And more than that though, I think this might be the thing to put the Risk Aversion to bed... Recent history tells me that whenever Risk Aversion has crept into the markets, any sign that Global growth is back on track, and will lead investors to higher yielding assets, the Risk Aversion ends abruptly... Let's hope that's the case today with these two growth reports from the Eurozone!

Yesterday's data in the U.S. showed that the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims remain above 500,000 per week, and that the Budget Deficit was even worse than the forecast $160 Billion! The Budget Deficit for October totaled $176.4 Billion, which annualized puts us over $2.1 TRILLION! OMG! That awful folks! And you should be writing, calling, or making your way to your representative's next meeting and demanding that they STOP SPENDING MONEY THEY DON'T HAVE!

You know that letter that I said I was going to write to my darling granddaughter, Delaney Grace, apologizing for the lack of freedom and tax burdens that were left to her generation to deal with? Well, I started writing it the other night... What this and the previous administration is doing has no morals, when it comes to leaving the debt to be dealt with by future generations...

OK, it's a Friday, I need to try to remain calm here, and be upbeat! Hmmm... Usually, that means that I pull out a story on Gold... But yesterday was not a good day for the shiny metal, after reaching a new all-time record level of $1,118, it fell more than $10 in the aftermath of the Risk Aversion... See how stupid the Risk Aversion people are? I mean, if you wanted to avert risk, wouldn't you buy Gold?

Any way, colleague, Don Ries, sent me a story that he came across regarding Gold that I thought was quite interesting... The Telegraph in the U.K. printed a story about how Barrick Gold believes we may have reached "peak" Gold already... And by that "peak" I'm talking about the mining of the shiny metal!

"Aaron Regent, president of the Canadian gold giant, said that global output has been falling by roughly 1m ounces a year since the start of the decade. Total mine supply has dropped by 10% as ore quality erodes, implying that the roaring bull market of the last eight years may have further to run. There is a strong case to be made that we are already at 'peak gold'," he told The Daily Telegraph at the RBC's annual gold conference in London."

WOW! Did you get the one line that was in there about how this lack of mining implies that the roaring bull market of the last eight years may have further to run? I think that's putting it conservatively for sure! "may have further to run?" I would say it stronger... But I can't... Or I'm not supposed to! ( our legal beagles read the Pfennig each day!)

OK... That put me back on track to be more upbeat for this Fantastico Friday! Today's data cupboard will yield the Monthly Trade Deficit data, and the U. of Michigan Consumer Confidence index... The Trade Deficit overhang continues to be a problem for the U.S., obviously not as bad as a problem as it was during the go-go days for the consumer...

Traders have become "comfortably numb" with the deficit figures in the U.S. which is a bad thing folks... Traders need to make a stand, and not allow this stuff to just slip under the door, thus allowing larger and larger deficits in the future!

I see the President is in China... I bet he thinks his presence will be the thing that will move the Chinese to allow greater currency flexibility... I just don't see the Chinese getting caught up in the "show" to give in and allow flexibility in their currency, just because the President of the U.S. showed up...

The currencies are rallying this morning VS the dollar. Since I came in and began writing, the euro has climbed higher, albeit a small move higher, it's still moving higher, and thus has stopped the bleeding, that began yesterday morning...

I'm surprised the Aussie dollar isn't really hitting on all 8 this morning, considering the growth numbers in the Eurozone... But I think we might have to wait for the U.S. traders to come in to see the rally in the A$ this morning... It is Saturday in Australia!

The Swiss franc got caught up in the Risk Aversion trading yesterday, and has backed off its ascent to parity... The franc is trading around .9855 this morning, which is more than 1-cent lower than yesterday morning... Wink, wink...

And a country / currency that I drop the ball on all the time, when it comes to talking about it in the Pfennig, is the Norwegian krone... Long time readers know that I truly like Norway, for their fiscal and monetary surplus prowess... And most recently, for their absence from the rolls of those countries that got involved in sub-prime and bad lending practices. Earlier this month, Norway's central bank, the Norges Bank, hiked rates 25 BPS, and is expected to raise them again in a month or two... So, now we have a country that has a strong fiscal and monetary position, no bad banks or loans, and a strong positive interest rate differential to the U.S.... Hmmm...

And then there was this... Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the $700 Billion TARP bailout said the program will "almost certainly result in a loss to taxpayers"... "We need to temper or be realistic about our expectations, a dollar-for-dollar return is just highly unrealistic." Barofsky also said that he's conducting 65 investigations of possible fraud...

OH MY! You're telling me that with the $700 Billion TARP funds that there could have been some fraud involved? I wouldn't have believed it! .... NOT! I bet you thought I had gone softy on you! The whole TARP was fraud to begin with! So, with all the corruption and scandals that have gone in before, the thought that there could be some fraud, should have been a belief that there "would be fraud for sure" when the TARP was issued!

Currencies today 11/13/09: American Style: A$ .9285, kiwi .7370, C$ .9495, euro 1.4890, sterling 1.6685, Swiss .9860, European Style: rand 7.4410, krone 5.62, SEK 6.8660, forint 180.80, zloty 2.76, koruna 17.10, RUB 28.83, yen 89.70, sing 1.3860, HKD 7.75, INR 46.34, China 6.8263, pesos 13.16, BRL 1.73, dollar index 75.39, Oil $77.45, 10-year 3.44%, Silver $17.36, and Gold... $1,109.30

That's it for today... Yes, today is a Friday the 13th... I don't get into that stuff, but if you do, be careful today! We're supposed to have another nice weekend here in St. Louis, weather wise, so we have that going for us! No football game this weekend though for my little buddy, Alex. I saw Chris Gaffney and his son Brendan on TV at the Blues game last night. The Blues lost the game though. UGH! Another week, and well be talking about Thanksgiving getting here so fast! The radio station that plays Christmas music every year, began broadcasting the Christmas music a couple of weeks ago! They used to at least wait until Thanksgiving came and went! Well... Let's get working on having a Fantastico Friday! And a Wonderful Weekend!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

German Business Confidence Slides...

Chuck Butler — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:18:01 GMT

..But First, A Word From Our Sponsor..
Gain exposure to currencies of emerging BRIC countries-and don't lose a dime on market risk

* 4 BRIC currencies: Brazilian real, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, Chinese renminbi
* High upside potential
* No market risk to deposited principal
* Low $1,500 minimum deposit

Don't miss this unique opportunity. Deadline to buy the BRIC MarketSafe CD is Dec. 3rd, 2009. Apply today or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CertificatesMSBRIC.aspx?referId=11808
.

In This Issue..

* Currencies trade in a tight range...
* $81 Billion in Treasury auctions this week!
* Fitch fans the flames of a fire in the U.K....
* Aussie Business Confidence rises...

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

German Business Confidence Slides...

Good day... And a Terrific Tuesday to you! I didn't start out this Tuesday on the right foot, and now I'm really running late! Oh well...

The non-dollar currencies didn't move much yesterday, the euro bumped up and down against the 1.50 figure, while the A$ did the same against 93-cents, and Swiss against parity... So the currencies are trading in the same clothes they went to bed in last night!

The Big Dog, euro, did attempt to move stronger into the 1.50 level, but that move was thwarted by a poor reading of German Investor Confidence this morning. German Investor Confidence as measured by the think tank ZEW, reported that their index had fallen to 51.1 this month VS the 56 in October. Most of those Germans surveyed said that they expect the economic recovery to be slow once the Gov't removes the stimulus in the economy. So... Previous euphoria is being replaced by realism... But that's OK... Better to have a reality grip on things than to go around thinking that everything is seashells and balloons...

But, the ZEW report hasn't dampened the euro's spirit too much, as the single unit has remained above 1.50 even after digesting the ZEW... But looks vulnerable...

The ZEW report gets all the ink... But on the back page we can find that German industrial production increased 2.7% in September compared with August, which saw a 1.8% rise.

Hey did you know that the U.S. is auctioning off another $81 Billion in Treasuries this week? Yes, this total is lower than the recent auctions the U.S. has held... But still... $81 Billion isn't anything to ignore! However, with the nutcases in the world, shooting off missiles, and ramping up nuclear capabilities, there's still some people that believe U.S. Treasuries are a "safe haven"... Of course I've proven that those that believed that and bought during the financial meltdown, lost tons of money... But don't let that get in they way of a "good story"... And so it will be, that this auction will not be the "one that fails"... But, in my opinion, we will experience that at some time in the next year, especially given the Gov't deficit spending!

And... If an auction of U.S. Treasuries fails... Well... Being long Treasuries isn't going to look too much like a "safe haven" position!

I was supposed to give a presentation last week in Los Cabos on the Treasury Bubble... Of course, we all know that I was not there, so I didn't give the presentation... UGH!

OK... There was all kinds of rumbling, stumbling, bumbling going on in the U.K. overnight, as the rumors were flying that the ratings agency, Fitch, said it would lower the U.K.'s AAA rating... Finally it was confirmed that this was stated in an interview with Reuters, and not an official communiqué' by Fitch... But, dear reader, when there's smoke like this, you can bet there's fire! The pound sterling has taken this news like a blow to the mid-section...

In Australia overnight... Australian Business Confidence rose to near 6 year highs for the index... October's index reading was 16, which was plus 2 from September's index reading. The businesses surveyed strongly believe that the Reserve Bank of Australia will once again raise rates in December... I loved this quote from the Australian Trade Minister, who said, "Despite the A$ going up, manufacturing has improved, and manufacturers just have to learn to accommodate this sort of thing going forward using hedging."

That's right! Tell 'em! Deal with this A$ strength and quite your whining! I love it!

The Canadian dollar / loonie continues to push higher VS the green/peachback dollar... This is all commodity related, as the data in Canada continues to be mixed, with the Bank of Canada (BOC) keeping rates in line with the U.S. thus, keeping the loonie from looking attractive... But, that's OK... With Gold inching higher and higher, Oil hovering around $80, and other commodities moving higher in price, the Loonie can get its lipstick from commodities to look attractive!

Speaking of Gold... I saw this quote and thought it hit the nail on the head... "It's not that gold has changed, but gold buyers have changed," said Suki Cooper, a precious-metals strategist for Barclays Capital. "It's a structural shift we're seeing on the investing side, from Asian central banks right down to individual investors buying ingots and coins."

That's right! Gold hasn't changed... It's still has to be mined out of the ground, it can't be made by any alchemist, it has to be mined... And the demand in Gold has skyrocketed in the past couple of years, thus pushing people to send in their gold bracelets, necklaces, and rings to cash in the Gold price surge... So... This group of people over here are selling any and all Gold they can get their hands on, and this group over there are buying it, for a rainy day...

Gold's recent rise has been spectacular to say the least, moving through the $1,000's to $1,100 very quickly... I think there are two things in play here... 1. the demand for Gold driving the price higher, and 2. the dollar's weakness. I heard a guy say the other day that "Gold hasn't gained... The dollar has gotten weaker"... What? Nothing about the demand?

We don't have any "real data" today to speak of in the U.S. but we've got a truckload of Fed Heads out on the speaking circuit... Lockhart, Yellen, Rosengren, Tarullo, and Fisher all will be speaking about something today... Shoot Rudy, even former Fed Chairman, Big Al Greenspan is going to speak today... No telling what he might say! Of course, if the subject comes up regarding the financial meltdown, he'll say that he had nothing to do with it! HOGWASH! And we all know it! So, it doesn't matter how many times he tries to absolve himself from any responsibility for the financial meltdown, we all know that at the root of it all... Sits Big Al Greenspan...

And then there was this... The folks over at Barclays say that they have recalculated the dollar's share of global currency reserves... The dollar, which once stood at 80% of global reserves, and right before the current weak dollar trend began in 2002, it stood at 73% of global reserves, has fallen to 62.8%... But... Says Barclays... This is almost entirely a result of weaker valuation rather than attempts by central banks to diversify holdings away from the dollar... Hmmmm... Now... I do agree that the euro's gains VS the dollar in the past 7 years would cause quite a bit of slippage in the dollar's value in terms of reserves held by central banks... But "almost entirely"? I doubt it... One could point at the Reserve Bank of India's purchase of Gold last week... They bought $6.7 Billion "worth" of Gold... You can't tell me that wasn't to diversify their reserves!

OK, to recap... Chuck's running late today... The non-dollar currencies are trading in the same clothes as yesterday. The ZEW German Business Confidence slipped this month, although Industrial Output rose. The U.S. is auctioning $81 Billion worth of Treasuries this week, and the demand for Gold is really pushing the envelope in terms of Gold's price!

Currencies today 11/10/09: American Style: A$ .9280, kiwi .7415, C$ .9455, euro 1.4990, sterling 1.6670, Swiss .9915, European Style: rand 7.44, krone 5.5960, SEK 6.8580, forint 181.50, zloty 2.81, koruna 17.0420, RUB 28.71, yen 90.10, sing 1.3880, HKD 7.75, INR 46.48, China 6.8267, pesos 13.30, BRL 1.71, dollar index 75.10, Oil $79.54, 10-year 3.36% (notice how, whenever the 10-year yield gets to 3.60%, it comes back down?) Silver $17.25, and Gold... $1,100

That' it for today... HEY! Tomorrow is a holiday! So, no Pfennig tomorrow! It's Veteran's Day tomorrow... My dad was a Veteran... And each year, I go back to a story that my darling daughter, Dawn told me... A few years ago, at Dawn's school, they had a Veteran's Day celebration, and had everyone bring in pictures of relatives in their military uniforms... When the picture of my dad, (Dawn's grandpa) came up on the screen, she was amazed, and sent me a note saying she had never seen how much I look like her grandpa (my dad)... So... Let's not just take the day off tomorrow... Let's stop to think about why the day is a holiday! And thank a Veteran... That's all... I hope you have a Terrific Tuesday, and I'll talk to you on Thursday!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

3rd QTR GDP Is Strong!

Chuck Butler — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:40:04 GMT

..But First, A Word From Our Sponsor..
Gain exposure to currencies of emerging BRIC countries-and don't lose a dime on market risk

* 4 BRIC currencies: Brazilian real, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, Chinese renminbi
* High upside potential
* No market risk to deposited principal
* Low $1,500 minimum deposit

Don't miss this unique opportunity. Deadline to buy the BRIC MarketSafe CD is Dec. 3rd, 2009. Apply today or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CertificatesMSBRIC.aspx?referId=11808
.

In This Issue..

* Dollar gets sold after GDP report
* High yielders get bought!
* German Retail Sales decline...
* Real has wild swings!

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

3rd QTR GDP Is Strong!

Good day... And a Happy Friday to one and all! I can't believe how hard it rained here yesterday... Unbelievable! And me, with my cane, and not able to run, was stuck in it going from the car... Absolutely soaked! If I were a kid, I would have thought that to be fun! But, I'm not... It's still raining this morning too! UGH! Let's hope it stops in time for the Trick-or-Treaters!

OK... Well the rain fell on the dollar's parade yesterday too! And, just like I thought it would do... The dollar got sold like funnel cakes at a state fair, once the U.S. 3rd QTR GDP report printed... The dollar rally was stopped in its tracks, which meant that the "trading theme" that rewards the dollar when things look bad in the U.S. and punishes it when things look good, which is completely opposite of what it should do fundamental wise, was still in place!

3rd QTR GDP was 3.5%!!! Let's Party! Get on your red dress sweetheart we're going out dancing, we're going to party like it's 1999! Seriously, the Gov't officials, including Summers and Geithner think it's all seashells and balloons from here on out! So, why shouldn't we think the same? I mean they've never led us to the wrong side of the tracks have they? HAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHA... And HAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA!

OK, don't get me wrong here, I'm glad the U.S. economy seems to be out of the recession/ depression... But, didn't we expect a bump in the economy? Didn't we think we would see growth by the end of the year, based on the stimulus and money supply extravaganza that went on the first part of this year? And... Based on the reports I saw, a large portion of the growth was actually a return of Consumer Spending in the quarter... Cash for Clunkers really helped the Consumer Spending along too!

But isn't it just like the people that win the lottery... Suddenly, they have all this cash... And they spend it until they have no cash and voila! They are back to having nothing to spend! That's how I think the U.S. economy will react once the stimulus and other monetary candy is withdrawn from the economy... I'm still pinning my colors to the mast of a double dip for the economy... We've got the first two parts... The negative growth, and now the positive growth... Where are we headed next? Only the Shadow knows!

We'll begin to see a glimpse of what's going to go on in the next couple of weeks, as the Fed's Quantitative Easing program has hit their ceiling of $300 Billion, and ended yesterday... The Fed's 7-month buying spree, remember they announced this plan while I was in Florida at spring training, seems to have put the lid on yields of Treasuries to allow the housing market some time to heal... But, as I told my publisher for the Currency Capitalist, Erika Nolan, when I met with her after the announcement... "the U.S. has just opened Pandora's Box of baaaaaaaaaddddddd things for the economy, for Japan has implemented this same program, but over 10 years ago, look how well that's turned out for them!"

Today's data brings us two of my faves... Personal Spending and Income... We'll see if the Consumer Spending continued in September or not...

There's a great headline to a story on the Bloomie this morning... The title reads: "Obama Bridge To Lasting Economic Expansion Risks Going Nowhere" A Bridge to nowhere... That sounds about right to me! It could be the Bridge Over Troubled Waters, or it could be the Bridge of Sighs... I still believe that the U.S. Gov't has spend Trillions taking us deeper into the abyss of a national debt, with little to show for it, except... The U.S. has ventured into the private sector deeper than any Gov't has before during this financial meltdown... Think they'll get out once it's over? HAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA! Not going to happen my friend!

OK, enough of that! It's a Friday for crying out loud, Chuck, can't you think of more pleasant things to talk about? Yes... Let's see... Oh yeah! I started telling you above about the non-dollar currency rally VS the dollar yesterday, so let's go back to that!

Well, there wasn't much to say other than the dollar got sold after the GDP report printed... It wasn't so much that the currencies rallied VS the dollar, as it was a sell off of the dollar, which led to a currency rally! The high yielding currencies of Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, and even Norway now that rate on the rise there, posted the best gains VS the dollar on the day. And that makes sense, right? I mean, haven't I been harping on the yield / interest rate differentials lately? And here's where they came out to play!

The data in the U.S. was good, which brought the risk takers out of the walls once again, and knowing that the U.S. interest rates are going to remain near zero for some time to come, they sold the dollar and those paltry yields that go with the dollar, and bought currencies that had a nice positive yield differential to the those paltry yields!

The Big dog, euro, as the offset currency to the dollar, obviously participated in this dollar sell off... The euro's gains were stopped this morning though, when German Retail Sales printed and unexpectedly declined in September. Remember, Germany's economy exited their recession in the 2nd QTR, albeit a nascent recovery at best... So, we'll have to keep an eye on Germany's nascent recovery to see if it "double dips" too!

Speaking of Brazil... Recently, the real has really shown its tendency to take a walk on the wild side when trading gets going... I'm talking about 3-5% swings good and bad! Whew! That's something to watch! The good news is... That even though the swings in the price of the real are wild, the overall trend continues to be good for real holders... I expect the real to react to rumors this morning that the Gov't will not throw out road blocks to impede the real's performance... That would be HUGE! And very welcomed by currency traders that trade the real always looking over their shoulders to see if the Gov't will throw out the road blocks... So, like I said, there are rumors this morning, that the Gov't will announce that they are not going to impede the real's rise at this time...

And then there was this... U.S. Treasury Sec. Tim Geithner, announced yesterday that he wants the power to not only tell a corporation that they are closed for business, but to also have the power to shrink Corporations that are not having problems! He will be the "death panel" that Barney Frank talked about a couple of months ago for non-financial institutions... Shake me, Wake me, when's it's over... Maybe I'm having a bad dream, folks...

To recap... The dollar's rally was stopped in its tracks by the U.S. 3rd QTR GDP which printed a 3.5% increase, and caused investors to seek higher yielding assets, thus selling dollars. German Retail Sales unexpectedly declined in September, thus stopping the euro from rallying further this morning. And the High Yielders get all the glory when investors realize that U.S. rates are going to remain near zero for some time to come... Aussie, Brazil, New Zealand lead the pack!

Currencies today 10/30/09: A$ .9155, kiwi .7310, C$ .9360, euro 1.4845, sterling 1.6540, Swiss .9840, rand 7.6750, krone 5.63, SEK 6.9875, forint 183.61, zloty 2.8525, koruna 17.83, RUB 29.02, yen 90.90, sing 1.3970, HKD 7.75, INR 47.03, China 6.8275, pesos 13.01, BRL 1.7325, dollar index 75.87, Oil $79.58, 10-year 3.62%, Silver $16.60, and Gold... $1,044.90

That's it for today... I'm writing from home this morning, as I have a doctor's appt. first thing before I go to work... The network was a little touchy this morning, and I wasn't sure I would get this out, but it has settled down now. Whew! Big Weekend for my beloved Missouri Tigers as they travel to Colorado. And my little buddy Alex, as his team travels to Webster Groves! HA! Good news in the local paper this morning, as the best player in baseball today, Albert Pujols announced that he wants to be a Cardinal for life! Our Blues just can't get on a roll, win one, lose one... UGH! So... Tomorrow is Halloween! I can't wait to see the little ones in their costumes! Our little Delaney Grace is Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, with ruby red shoes, a basket and Toto too! She is so darn cute! I'll leave you with the thought of a little Dorothy coming to your door! I hope it dries out here soon... And I hope you have a Fantastico Friday and Ghoulish Weekend! BOO!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

A Loss Of Confidence In the U.S.?

Chuck Butler — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:53:00 GMT

...But First, A Word From Our Sponsor...
Gain exposure to currencies of emerging BRIC countries-and don't lose a dime on market risk

* 4 BRIC currencies: Brazilian real, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, Chinese renminbi
* High upside potential
* No market risk to deposited principal
* Low $1,500 minimum deposit

Don't miss this unique opportunity. Deadline to buy the BRIC MarketSafe CD is Dec. 3rd, 2009. Apply today or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CertificatesMSBRIC.aspx?referId=11808

In This Issue..

* Non-dollar currencies rally...
* Euros and Aussie dollars lead the pack...
* $1.42 Trillion Deficit for 2009!
* TIC's data gets ignored again!

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

A Loss Of Confidence In the U.S.?

Good day... And a Marvelous Monday to you! Another "lost" weekend for our college and professional football teams! UGH! The sun finally came out this weekend. YAHOO! It felt so good to be in the sun again... The TICs data was something that needed to be dealt with on Friday, but once again the markets ignored it... I'm telling you, this smells like, walks like, and talks like a gag order... OK... Let's get going this Marvelous Monday!

The non-dollar currencies all drifted on Friday, with the dollar seeing a bit of buying... But that's all been thrown to the curb this morning, as the non-dollar currencies, for the most part, are in rally mode VS the dollar.

The Big Dog, euro, has really pushed the envelope this morning, rising from 1.4860 to 1.4945 as I write... The Aussie dollar (A$) is also working alongside the euro pushing the dollar down. I just put the finishing touches on both the Review & Focus monthly letter, and my "other letter", the Currency Capitalist, yesterday... I had some strong words for the Gov't now and in the past that has allowed this weakness in the dollar. And trust me, if the U.S. Gov't wanted a strong dollar, all they would have to do is say so with conviction, and not this wamby pamby stuff they try to get away with just to put a governor on the dollar's decline... Think about this for a minute... It's true, it's really true... Your Gov't doesn't care about the currency... The currency that we all use, and think it will always be there for us to spend...

WOW! I really got carried away there, eh? I don't need to get up on the soapbox already on a Monday morning! But... These are the things that need to be said, and I'll say them! Not like our wamby pamby media, that will talk about the weak dollar, but never what causes it!

The Gov't finally got around to printing their final Monthly Budget Statement that would end their fiscal year (Sept 30th)... The final total was $1.42 Trillion in the red... That's 10% of GDP! That's the highest level since World War II! And remember when I kept telling you that the expenditures for this administration in 2009 would come in at $3.5 Trillion dollars? Well, that's just about where they came in... And with revenues dropping 16.6% from 2008, we are left with this atrocious Deficit of $1.42 Trillion! And don't forget (here I go sounding like an infomercial again) that the next 10 years is forecast to add an additional $9 trillion to our national debt!

OK, so what's up with the TIC's data from Friday? Remember now... The TIC's data is an accounting of the net foreign purchases which are needed to finance that atrocious deficit... So how'd we do? Well... The big picture of all flows in and out for the last 12 months turned negative and is just shy of the worst level recorded, which was in 1982. OUCH! Central Banks seem to be buying about the same amount, which isn't a good thing when you consider the increase in Treasury issuance... But the real fall off has come from the Moms and pops... The private investors if you will... So... Is this just an aberration, or... It could very well be a loss of confidence of global investors in the U.S....

There was a hint of this loss of confidence on Friday in the China Daily newspaper... And it wasn't the fact that the story was in the paper, it was the fact that the story was front and center for everyone to read... It was a quote by Big Al Greenspan, our former Fed Chairman who said that he "fears the budget deficit of the U.S. more than the collapse of the dollar." Hmmm...

What the heck is Big Al talking about? He knows well and good that the Deficit is the cause of the dollar depreciation! And just the fact that the Chinese put it front and center on their daily newspaper tells me that they are making fun of Big Al, and at the same time telling their readers that they should avoid dollars... I don't know what it tells anyone else, but that's what it tells me!

Recently, I've talked about seeing signs of a return to fundamentals... I really do believe that we're headed in that direction once again, which would be like manna from heaven to your Pfennig writer! Fundamentals are much easier to understand that these crazy trading themes that go against normal logical thinking!

Well... The boys over at PIMCO, the world's largest bond fund, seem to believe that "Fundamental forces are set to put downward pressure on the dollar as the recovery gathers momentum. Those forces include massive budget deficits, bets the Federal Reserve will keep borrowing costs near zero for an extended period, and prospects for a double-dip recession in the U.S."

Sound about right to me! Given those fundamentals for the dollar, and take away the "flight to safety" trading theme, you've got a Betty Crocker award winning recipe for a dollar decline!

The Bank of Canada (BOC) meets tomorrow... I'm going out on a limb here, to say that I think the BOC will remove that statement they've repeated for a few months now that interest rates would remain at current levels near zero until the 2nd half of 2010... Why do I think that, when the BOC has been so adamant about this statement in previous meetings? Ahhh grasshopper... First of all Australia has already raised interest rates, and their central banker has already talked very hawkish about future rate hikes... The other "Commodity Countries" of Norway, New Zealand and Brazil, are also beginning to talk up rate hikes... So, in my mind, the BOC will begin to "feel the heat" of their Commodity Brothers raising rates, and the only way they'll be able to move then is to remove the statement about leaving rates unchanged... NOW!

Getting back to the euro for a minute... I find this move higher by the euro VS the dollar this morning to be quite impressive, given that the Financial Times (FT) had an article saying, "It was time for the ECB (European Central Bank) to get serious about an overvalued euro"... Funny, the timing of this article... The Eurozone Finance Ministers are meeting today... And in the face of all this... The euro rallies!

And as I mentioned earlier in the letter, the A$ is stronger this morning... It's my feeling right now that the negativity toward the U.S. dollar is really seen and magnified in the performance of the A$... And why not? You've got the country that was not affected by the financial meltdown, a country that was the first to raise interest rates, a country that is rich in the commodities that China demands, and on a sidebar, China is forecast to grow 9% in the 3rd QTR, and a country that has a Central Banker that has given the green light for appreciation of the A$ VS the U.S. dollar!

The data cupboard is full of 2nd tier data prints this week, so I really don't think the markets will get any direction from the likes of PPI, Housing Starts, etc. But maybe they will! You never know with these fickle dudes!

So... To recap... The TICs data last Friday indicated a loss of confidence in the U.S., the Budget Deficit for the U.S. was $1.42 Trillion for the fiscal year ending Sept 30th. The currencies, for the most part, are rallying this morning VS the dollar, and the data cupboard will fail to give the markets direction this week. Some Chuck speak on the soapbox on a Marvelous Monday too!

Currencies today 10/19/09: A$ .9225, kiwi .7475, C$ .9670, euro 1.4935, sterling 1.63, Swiss .9865, rand 7.35, krone 5.5910, SEK 6.9580, forint 178.50, zloty 2.8130, koruna 17.29, RUB 29.33, yen 90.80, sing 1.3915, HKD 7.75, INR 46.30, China 6.8268, pesos 13.07, BRL 1.7130, dollar index 75.50, Oil $78.13, 10-year 3.45%, Silver $17.52, and Gold... $1,055.40

That's it for today... Hey! I forgot to mention last week that I had the featured guest essay on the Daily Reckoning (www.dailyreckoning.com) last Wednesday! If you aren't a Daily Reckoning reader, you missed it... But, because of the technology available to us, you can click here to read it: http://dailyreckoning.com/bric-nations-the-fundamentals/ Congrats to my little buddy Alex and his 8th grade Flyers teammates for completing a weekend sweep! Two football games, two smashing victories! Well, it's that time of the year again... On Friday of this week, I'll be going through a ton of tests, scans, needles and other stuff to make sure I'm still on top of the cancer that took over my body 2 years ago. So, I'll be out on Friday... But you still have me for the next 3 days! We closed out our latest BRIC MarketSafe CD last week, and opened the door to another one! This issue has been so popular that we decided to extend the funding period! OK... Time to hit send... I hope your Monday is Marvelous indeed!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

RBA's Stevens Turns On The Green Light!

Chuck Butler — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:21:59 GMT

..But First, A Word From Our Sponsor...
Gain exposure to currencies of emerging BRIC countries-and don't lose a dime on market risk

* 4 BRIC currencies: Brazilian real, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, Chinese renminbi
* High upside potential
* No market risk to deposited principal
* Low $1,500 minimum deposit

Don't miss this unique opportunity. Deadline to buy the BRIC MarketSafe CD is Nov. 5, 2009. Apply today or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CertificatesMSBRIC.aspx?referId=11808

In This Issue..

* The dollar bounces back a bit...
* Euro retreats from highs...
* Is the economic recovery for real?
* Ignored data...

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

RBA's Stevens Turns On The Green Light!

Good day... And a Happy Friday to one and all! I believe it will be a Fantastico Friday as well, because when I go in my car this morning to come to work, the radio was playing, "It's a Beautiful Morning"... It had to be a sign, right? I certainly hope so any way!

Well, I'm back! I have to say that I've never been to the mountains of North Georgia before, and they are beautiful... Well, most of the parts of this great country are, when I come to think of it! Well, it was nice to walk in the door yesterday and sit down, close my eyes, and get work off my brain!

So... That lasted about 2 hours, and then it was back to the news wires to see what was going on with the currencies. So, now that we've got the housekeeping out of the way, we had better go Front and Center with the story o' the day... (Well, in my mind any way!)

So, Front and Center this morning, we've got the Aussie dollar (A$) rallying strongly, and a lot of that move is coming to us by way of an interview with Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Gov. Stevens...

Gov. Stevens when asked at a breakfast function in Perth whether the RBA had any tools to prevent speculators driving the A$ to US$ 1.10

Mr Stevens replied that, rather than speculators, there usually was a rational reason for big exchange rate movements... (Ok Mr Stevens I guess you are going to tell us what that rational reason is for the A$'s big move?)

"We've got one of the better-performing economies in the world. Even at very low interest rates, we still have a positive differential and we're a country where the people here are, I think, reasonably confident about the future and foreigners are fairly confident about our future, and it's not entirely surprising that they're a bit keen on the currency."

WOW! The RBA Gov. said that? That's amazing! Of course it's true, it's true, and I've told you that for months now, but to hear the RBA Gov. say it, now that's a horse of a different color, indeed!

OK... So... The RBA Gov. gave the green light to currency traders, investors, and whomever else to take the A$ to $1.10... Now, will it ever get there? Well, that's a different thing altogether! I remember last year, before the HUGE deleveraging that went on, and then the collapse of Lehman Brothers, that the A$ was marching toward parity to the U.S. dollar, and when the you know what hit the fan, the risk assets got the snot knocked out of them, including the A$... I had said that I thought the A$ could make it to parity, and when it got stopped at the border, and had only reached 98-cents, you should have seen the emails, accusing me of mis-leading people... Come on! 98-cents is so close to parity, it can taste it!

So, it is with a weariness in even reporting this story, that I will make this point... I DIDN'T SAY THE A$ WOULD GO TO $1.10!!!!! I JUST TOLD YOU WHAT THE RBA GOV. SAID WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE A$ GOING TO $1.10!

Well... The Big Dog, euro was really taking a shot at the dollar overnight, but has backed off in a bout of profit taking, I'm sure... The single unit went as high as 1.4970 overnight, but has backed off to 1.49 as I write... I got a kick out of a quote that I saw the other day by European Central Bank (ECB) President, Trichet, that..."The euro was not created as a reserve currency"... Oh! Come on Jean Claude! You know darn good and well that the euro was created to compete with the dollar! You guys in Euroland, were determined that a single unit covering several countries, could work... It was a precursor, if you will, to what we're hearing about more and more these days... A global currency... So... Call it what you want Jean Claude... I know, and now all of my readers know that the euro was created to be a reserve currency in waiting...

OK, maybe that wasn't really clear... I know, I hear you saying, yeah, Chuck, clear as mud! But, the point is simply that Trichet once again was trying to defend the dollar in a kind of back-handed way... By downplaying the euro's ability to be a reserve currency... The other stuff is just Chuck talking about his greatest fears... And we don't need to have him go any further there!

OK... I'm back, I was away for a minute, and I came back to consciousness and saw that two paragraphs had been typed... I had better go back to see what my alter-ego wrote, but, nah... We'll throw it out there anyway!

The news wires are filled with stories today about how the dollar is going to bounce here, because the selling has been too hot and heavy in recent days, and that the economic recovery is too strong to warrant a currency sell off like we've seen... Well, that's all good, as long as one truly believes that the economic recovery here in the U.S. is on the up and up...

Do you believe it to be? I don't! I wish I could... But I don't! Not when the unemployment is so bad, and the little pulse that we see in the economy is from the Gov't's efforts to pump life into the economy... But this unemployment thing is absolutely awful folks...

Alrighty then, let's go on to something else... The Canadian dollar / loonie has really been on a roll VS the green/peachback dollar... Canada will print their latest CPI (consumer inflation) this morning, and I think it will tell us a lot about loonie's ability to continue to move toward parity once again... The Bank of Canada (BOC) meets next week, and long time readers will recall that I've been pretty hard on the beaver (BOC) in recent months, as they kept saying that they would leave rates at current levels until the 2nd half of 2010... And they well should have been taken to the woodshed for those comments... Well, if Canadian CPI shows some inflation pressures, it will be down to the BOC's meeting next week, to see if they change their previous stance... I think they will, and thus the loonie will continue to move higher VS the dollar... But that's just my opinion, folks, I don't have a crystal ball, and I could very well be wrong! (That's for the legal beagles!)

Today's data cupboard here in the U.S. will be interesting in that the TIC's data will print, but for the most part, this VERY IMPORTANT PIECE OF DATA has been largely ignored by the markets... Why is that? Well, I don't really know, but if I were to put my conspiracy hat on, I would say something like that the markets have been directed by the Gov't NOT to make a big deal out of, to downplay the Gov't's inability to finance the deficit, for if that were to be the case, it would be curtains for the dollar!

We'll also see two of my faves... Industrial Production, and Capacity Utilization... For all the new readers to the Pfennig, I particularly like Capacity Utilization, and always have for that matter, because it's about the only "forward looking" piece of data (along with Leading Indicators)... So... Capacity Utilization is running around 69%... What does that tell us? It tells us the economy sucks! And don't believe those that keep telling you the coast is all clear!

And then since no one pays attention to those three pieces of data, the U of Michigan Consumer Confidence will print and THAT WILL catch everyone's attention! UGH! Even with a soaring stock market, I would have to think that Consumer Confidence would be taking a hit of sorts... It would be difficult at best to do a survey these days about Confidence and not run into quite a few negative thoughts from all the unemployed Americans!

And then there was this from the Wall Street Journal... "High unemployment in the U.S. has led to rising charge-offs and delinquencies at credit card companies. The firms are reacting by limiting credit, raising the bar on lending standards and cutting back on loan portfolios."

So... Again, this is just another reason why I don't believe the economic recovery campers!

And to add to that thought... Have you noticed the huge jump in the oil price? And have you been charting the rise in Treasury yields? Well... Either of these look good for the U.S. consumer... Oil has jumped to $77 a barrel, and the 10-year Treasury yield has really pushed higher to 3.47%! ( I guess it's time for the Fed to buy some more auctioned Treasuries to bring the yield back down, eh?) But... These two things are very good, when not manipulated by the Gov't at telling us about the future...

OK, to recap... The A$ is pushing higher toward parity with the dollar once again, and when asked about what the RBA can do to stop the A$ from going to $1.10, RBA Gov Stevens basically gave the all clear to traders to take it there! The euro had moved to 1.4970 overnight, but is seeing some profit taking this morning, and the data cupboard has some important data this morning, but for the most part the markets will ignore it...

Currencies today 10/16/09: A$ .9220, kiwi .7440, C$ .9685, euro 1.4915, sterling 1.63, Swiss .9830, rand 7.3420, krone 5.5915, SEK 6.95, forint 179.40, zloty 2.8220, koruna 17.2550, RUB 29.63, yen 91.10, sing 1.3940, HKD 7.75, INR 46.24, China 6.8267, pesos 13.05, BRL 1.70, dollar index 75.56, Oil $77.35, 10-year 3.47%, Silver $17.39, and Gold... $1,049.88

That's it for today... Well, I'm sure this come as a shock to the boys and girls here, but today is Boss's Day! I hear that it's been quite wild here since I left, that's a good thing! Hey! Our Ty Keough was named to the St. Louis University Billiken 50th year soccer team! Congrats Ty! The picture of you in college that the University posted is AWESOME! And then, I wanted to give my own congrats to our little Christine, for her performance in the Chicago marathon last weekend... Good show! Little Delaney Grace came over to try on her Dorothy dress for Halloween, and my beautiful bride made... She performed for us on the fireplace hearth, singing somewhere over the rainbow! What a CUTIE! And she's only 2! My little buddy, Alex, has two football games this weekend... So, I'll be doing a lot of sitting on bleachers this weekend! OK, I had better stop there, and get this out the door! I hope your Friday is Fantastico!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

The dollar drifts lower in thin trading..

Chuck Butler — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:39:00 GMT

.........But First, A Word From Our Sponsor..........
Countries poised to benefit from rising commodity prices: combined into one CD

That's the Global Power Shift Index CD from EverBank®. In one CD, get the currencies of 4 countries rich in natural resources-and whose economies may benefit from rising commodity prices. The CD equally combines the following currencies:

*Australian dollar
*Brazilian real
*Norwegian krone
*Canadian dollar

CD features: 3 and 6 month terms, no monthly account fees and $20K minimum to open. Apply or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CurrencyCDIndexGlobalPowerShift.aspx?referid=11808

EverBank is an Equal Housing Lender and member FDIC.
......................................................
In This Issue..

* US$ drifts lower in light trading...
* Euro/Yen benefit from reserve diversification...
* Pound sterling continues to drop...
* New Zealand retail sales pick up.....


And Now... Today's Pfennig!

The dollar drifts lower in thin trading...

Good day... and happy Tuesday morning to everyone. As Chuck told everyone yesterday, he is heading down south to a corporate meeting, so you will be stuck with me for the remainder of the week. Yesterday was an official 'bank holiday' but apparently most of the WorldMarkets customers were unaware, as our phones were surprisingly busy. Trading in the currency markets was substantially lighter than usual, and with no data releases in the US, the dollar drifted sideways throughout the day. The European currencies were slightly higher vs. the US$, the Asian currencies were lower vs. the US$, and the commodity based currencies were mixed.

European currencies were helped by good news over the weekend as Poland ratified the draft EU constitution (referred to as the Lisbon treaty). But one big hurdle still remains; Czech President Klaus is refusing to sign the treaty, even though the Czech government has approved it. The Czech President, who is against the EU, is hoping to stall until after the British election which must be held by June of next year. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has pledged to hold a referendum on the treaty if his party is elected. This would throw the EU constitution back into question, so EU leaders are putting major pressure on the Czech President. While the pursuit of this last signature makes for good drama, I believe the EU constitution will be ratified, and the European Union is no in any immediate danger of falling apart.

In fact, the euro has quickly become one of the preferred investments for central banks who are looking to diversify out of US dollars. As Chuck wrote in yesterday's Pfennig, the latest data shows central banks placed 63 percent of new reserves into euros and yen in April, May, and June. Foreign currency reserves were increased by $413 billion during the last quarter, the most since 2003. In the past, a majority of these reserves would have been invested into US$, but central banks are now shying away from the greenback.

Recently, the role of the dollar and the euro/yen has been reversed. Previously 63% of new reserves were placed into US$, but lately that number has fallen to just 37%. As Chuck and I have written in recent Pfennigs, the current administration has no interest in supporting the US$, and global central banks seem to be fearing this lack of support. According to the data reported by Bloomberg, the dollar will likely remain under selling pressure for some time to come. Despite last quarter's move away from the greenback, central banks still hold over 62% of their foreign currency reserves in US$, leaving plenty for future sales.

Some of the largest pools of reserves are being held by China, Japan, Russia, and India. Both China and Russia have repeatedly called for the creation of a 'new' reserve currency, so their moves out of US$ come as no surprise. China, which controls $2.1 trillion in foreign reserves is the largest holder of US debt with over $800 billion invested in US treasuries. Investors would be wise to take notice of where these countries are moving their reserves. Pulling reserves away from the dollar will continue to rally the alternative currencies of the euro and yen; and will also put upward pressure on the price of gold which is another attractive alternative for reserves.

As I mentioned above, leaders in the UK will be forced to call an election by June of next year. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been trailing Conservative leader David Cameron in opinion polls and the sagging British economy isn't helping his position. Mr. Cameron has been calling for an end to the 'quantitative easing' and a focus on the ballooning deficits. The Treasury expects its deficit to touch 175 billion pounds this year, about 12 percent of national income and the most in the Group of 20 nations. Brown wants to sell assets including the government's stake in the Channel Tunnel and increase taxes in order to halve the budget deficit in the next four years. I have to side with the conservatives and Mr. Cameron on this one. I just don't see how increasing taxes and selling off assets in order to continue to pump money back into the economy is a positive long term strategy.

What scares me is that Prime Minister Brown's plan has the stamp of approval by economists at Goldman Sachs. Readers know the influence the folks over at Goldman Sachs have on our administration. The US followed the Bank of England down the path of 'quantitative easing', and we will pay the price for these inflationary policies in the not to distant future. Why jeopardize the long term health of your economy for short term growth? But politics leads to some poor decisions, and Brown can't risk falling back into a 'double dip' with elections coming up around the corner. The same can be said of the US administration, with mid-term elections looming in 2010.

The pound sterling fell to its lowest level in several months vs. both the US$ and euro yesterday as speculation of an increase in the 'quantitative easing' programs ran through the markets. The UK inflation rate dropped in September by more than forecast, to the lowest level in five years. With inflation continuing to run below the radar, pressure will continue for the BOE to pump more newly created money into the markets through asset purchases.

Questions over Brown's economic policies and the uncertainty of the upcoming election will certainly keep up the selling pressure on the pound. I read a research report over the weekend which predicted the pound sterling would continue to drop, bottoming out as low as $1.45 if Brown's Labor party were able to hold on in the upcoming election. On the other hand, the report predicted the pound would rise to $1.85 by the end of 2010 under a Conservative Party win.

The Asian currencies were worst performers yesterday, selling off on speculation central banks would take advantage of the light markets to intervene. This is a perfect example of how 'jawboning' can work. Asian central banks have been expressing concern on the recent strength of their currencies as compared to both the US$ and Chinese Renminbi. Since the Chinese have decided to 'peg' their currency to the falling dollar, other Asian nations with free floating currencies have been put at a competitive disadvantage. With many traders in the US gone for the holiday, it was a perfect time for some verbal intervention by Asian central banks. The South Korean government said it would intervene to stop excessive volatility, and Taiwan said it would introduce measures to deter speculators. This verbal intervention had the desired effect, and temporarily reversed the ascent of the Asian currencies vs. the US$.

But overnight, these currencies surged back as the region continues to be the first to recover. Reports released show growth in Malaysia, South Korea, and Indonesia will be higher than previously predicted. Verbal intervention just can't compete with strong economic reports. The data doesn't lie, and it shows Asia will continue to take the lead in this global recovery.

The Indian rupee moved higher after a report was released which showed a big jump in industrial production in India. Output at factories, utilities, and mines jumped 10.4% in August from a year earlier; the largest jump in almost 2 years. The larger than expected move will increase pressure on India's central bank to begin to raise rates. Central bank Governor Subbarao said last week that India may need to act ahead of advanced economies due to the 'incipient' inflation pressures.

While most have predicted a move up during the first part of next year, some now believe we could see a 50 basis point hike as early as the Oct. 27 monetary policy meeting. India has been overshadowed by the growth story in China, but India's growth is expected to keep pace with it's larger neighbor. India also enjoys a more established economic system, a more educated workforce, and a higher standard of living than China. The central bank has reduced taxes on consumer products and imports, and cut interest rates to provide a stimulus worth more than 12% of India's GDP. If the Reserve Bank does boost rates later this month, the rupee could enjoy a continued rally vs. the US$.

One of the currencies with the biggest gains vs. the US$ overnight was the kiwi. Chuck noticed the currency rallying late last night and sent me this from home: New Zealand's retail sales rose in August at more than twice the pace expected by economists, adding to signs the economy's recovery from recession is gathering pace in the second half of this year. Sales increased 1.1 percent from July, seasonally adjusted, Statistics New Zealand said in Wellington today. Core retail sales, which exclude car yards, fuel outlets and workshops, rose 1.2 percent.

I think this just may move RBNZ Gov Bollard to move rates earlier than he had wanted to... but like I said last week in my rant and memo to Bollard, who is known as a central Banker that likes to talk down his currency.... "Don't want your currency to move higher VS the dollar? Then don't raise interest rates!... but, unfortunately for Mr. Bollard, he's trying to paddle against the current right now... So, unless he wants to face the music that comes from soaring inflation in the future, he'll have to raise rates, and... suffer through a rising kiwi!

I'll let Chuck have the last word and move on to the currency roundup:

Currencies today 10/14/09: A$ .9090, kiwi .7376, C$ .9706, euro 1.4825, sterling 1.5794, Swiss .9779, rand 7.3377, krone 5.6152, SEK 6.99, forint 181.16, zloty 2.85, koruna 17.458, RUB 29.56, yen 89.58, sing 1.3959, HKD 7.75, INR 46.495, China 6.8266, pesos 13.22, BRL 1.744, dollar index 75.96, Oil $74.05, 10-year 3.34%, Silver $17.98, and Gold... $1,067.13

That's it for today... Congratulations to all of the finishers of this years Chicago Marathon. Our own Christine Peplow ran a personal record as did John McLean who is married to our metals/currency trader Jennifer. It is an amazing accomplishment and I know both worked hard to make sure they were in great shape to make it all 26.2 miles. I think I'll get this out the door and head over to Starbucks to get the desk some latte's to celebrate Christine's return. Hope everyone has a Terrific Tuesday!!

Chris Gaffney, CFA
Vice President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

Gold Soars To An All-Time High!

Chuck Butler — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:46:17 GMT

...But First, A Word From Our Sponsor...
Gain exposure to currencies of emerging BRIC countries-and don't lose a dime on market risk

* 4 BRIC currencies: Brazilian real, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, Chinese renminbi
* High upside potential
* No market risk to deposited principal
* Low $1,500 minimum deposit

Don't miss this unique opportunity. Deadline to buy the BRIC MarketSafe CD is Oct. 13, 2009. Apply today or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CertificatesMSBRIC.aspx?referId=11808

In This Issue..

* It was all about Gold yesterday!
* Commodity Currencies take the lead today...
* The story behind the euro's non-move...
* Budget data prints today...

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

Gold Soars To An All-Time High!

Good day... And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! What a day for Gold yesterday! WOW! In case you were trapped in a cave and didn't hear the news... Gold, which I said yesterday morning looked like it was going to take out its all-time high, did take out its all-time high, and not just take it out! Gold pushed past the all-time high of $1,033.90, and didn't stop until it was trading $1,047 and change! WOW! No check that... Double WOW!

The Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) rate hike the previous night, opened the door to this run by Gold, as the Gold Bugs all came out and bought the preferred investment to counter soaring inflation... You see, if the RBA is raising rates, when most every other Central Bank is stuck in the mud with near zero rates, the RBA must see something, eh?

Well, I don't know about what they see, but I would guess it's inflation coming around the bend... I hear that inflation coming, it's rollin' around the bend, and I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when... Now... The RBA did say that they realized that they had reacted quickly last fall cutting rates too quickly and too low, and this rate hike would begin to reverse those panic cuts... The RBA did not say that they see inflation... But riddle me this Batman... Why would the RBA not just wait and hike rates 50 BPS in a couple of months if all they were doing was reversing their panic cuts?

So... Yesterday, was all about Gold! And why not? Gold has a few things going for it right now... 1. dollar weakness 2. inflation fears 3. rising oil prices and probably the biggest thing would be the momentum buying that takes place when mom and pops all see on the evening news that Gold has reached an all-time high, and they go out the next day and buy... Shoot Rudy, we couldn't get these people to buy when Gold was clawing its way to $900, couldn't get them to even notice Gold when it was $950, but now that its at the all-time high...

Today... I think we'll see things settle down a bit on the Gold front. I don't mean to take the move in Silver lightly... Silver pushed way past $17 once again, following Gold higher... Instead of Gold today, I think it will be more about the dollar...

Yesterday, I told you about the story in the U.K. Independent regarding the alleged secret meetings of countries to remove the dollar as the clearing mechanism for buying Oil. I did mention that the Saudis had denied these meetings had taken place. Now... Here's the big deal behind any removal of the dollar as the clearing mechanism for Oil... It's the perception, folks... The "KING DOLLAR" would no longer be needed to buy Oil...

As far as the affect on the dollar, the actual physical removal wouldn't kill the dollar per se, as most of these Oil producing countries, now take their dollars they receive for Oil and trade them right away for something else... So the net affect now on the dollar is zilch... The dollar is bought, the dollar is sold... But, the perception folks... This is the Big Kahuna here... And, think back to all the discussions we had a couple of months ago regarding the calls to remove the dollar as the reserve currency of the world... Wouldn't removing it from Oil trades, be just another step in that direction?

OK... Well today, the Commodity Currencies are the ones front and center in the assault on the dollar... Aussie, kiwi, loonies, real, rand, and krone are all lighting up "green" on my currency screen, which means they are UP VS the dollar! Doesn't it make sense that these Commodity Currencies would be the currencies to push the dollar around the schoolyard, especially after the RBA Opened Pandora's Box of interest rate hikes? I think so... Because, as I said yesterday, I think we'll begin to see more countries / Central Banks come to the rate hike table... And they are all on this list of Commodity Currencies! Which again points toward "seeing inflation pressures" in the future...

The euro? Well, even the best fall down sometime, even the stars refuse to shine sometime, eh? The official "offset currency to the dollar" participated in the currency rally yesterday moving as high as 1.4765, but overnight, it has retreated to 1.4715... Yes, even the Big Dog, has to take a back seat to the Commodity Currencies right now... But... That doesn't mean the euro is shaky... That the euro is weakening... That the euro has lost its place as the Big Dog... Not one iota! It simply means that sometimes other currencies take a flyer VS the dollar, while the euro bides its time... Taking my time, choosing my lines...

And I would bet you a dollar to a Krispy Kreme that the European Central Bank (ECB) is champing at the bit to join the RBA in a rate hike cycle! The ECB is a stickler for inflation fighting, a "hawk" if you will, and if the RBA is feeling some inflation heat, the ECB is sweating under the collar for sure! But, the Eurozone is hanging on to its nascent recovery by the skin of its teeth right now, and would not be able to continue if rates were hiked right now... So, here's the deal... The ECB "wants to"... But can't hike rates right now... But you can bet your sweet bippie that the ECB will hike as soon as they see the light at the end of the recession tunnel! I mean, they resisted cutting rates to the bone didn't they? That alone should give you an inkling of what' on their minds!

I think at this point it is important to note that even with the currencies moving strongly VS the dollar since March, they are still roughly 10% below their high levels that they had reached before the financial meltdown in August of 2008... So, some people wonder if they "missed the boat" because of the strong moves since March... I think this proves that they could potentially see the currencies move back to their previous highs...

Ty Keough, pointed something out to me yesterday when I was talking about this to the desk... Ty said, that this move probably has been more genuine, in that prior to the financial meltdown there was all that liquidity, and money flying around pushing risk assets higher and higher... Well, there certainly isn't any liquidity flying around this time! So, the moves by the currencies have been actually stronger, and with a stronger base...

Today... We'll see the Monthly Budget Statement for September. I laugh at the name of the data, given this has been nothing but a Deficit for a month of Sundays now... So, why not just change it to the Monthly Budget Deficit? I mean it couldn't even post a surplus in April or June when normally tax receipts outweigh the deficit spending! I know, I know, you're squirming in your seat thinking that I'm going to go on a tirade about deficit spending once again, when you've heard it from me over and over and over again for years now... Well, I have a treat for you... I'm not going to go there today! I mean, it certainly isn't important to our leaders... So why should I continue to make a big deal out of it?

HA! Gotcha! You know me, I can't just leave the deficit spending, and national debt alone! I can't let the leaders of our country win! I'm going to fight them to the bitter end, and you should too! Come on! Follow me! We can win this battle, if we have enough people to fight it!

And then there was this... I'm seeing more signs that the break of currencies and stocks is happening... And what a welcome thing that would be! These two have different pricing mechanisms and a low correlation to each other, which leads to both being in an investment portfolio for diversification... But, as chronicled many times in the past, since March of this year, the two have moved together... But last week, we saw a sign that fundamentals might be coming back into play... And then overnight, in Asia, we saw Asian stocks move significantly higher, and the dollar remain at current levels, not getting sold, as in the past 6 months... Hmmm... Maybe, this is just another teaser... But, I have to think that a return to fundamentals is coming... And none too soon either! For you all know what I think of future stock returns!

OK... To recap... Gold hits an all-time high and continues to move higher! Did the RBA smell the smoke of inflation burning? The Commodity Currencies are the story today as they are the leaders of the pack VS the dollar. Perception is the key to the dollar being removed as the clearing mechanism for oil... And, the Budget Deficit prints today...

Currencies today 10/7/09: A$ .8910, kiwi .7345, C$ .9455, euro 1.47, sterling 1.59, Swiss .9705, rand 7.4690, krone 5.6840, SEK 7.01, forint 182.40, zloty 2.8625, koruna 17.47, RUB 29.77, yen 88.90, sing 1.40, HKD 7.75, INR 46.67, China 6.8265, pesos 13.51, BRL 1.7590, dollar index 76.38, Oil $71.15, 10-year 3.24%, Silver $17.39, and Gold... $1,042.28

That's all for today... Well... That was SOME GAME last night in the tie breaker between Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins, with the Twins finally winning in the 12th inning! A BIG night for my beloved Cardinals, as they begin their playoff series with the Los Angeles Dodgers... The BIG question is will the Cardinals hit? If they do, watch out, World Series here we come! I did an interview with a writer for Business Week yesterday, I wonder what actually gets printed... If anything! Well... I've got my "blue" shirt on today, so it must be video taking day! I think we're doing two today, so I've got that going for me! OK, time to hit "send"... I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

The Euro Bounces...

Chuck Butler — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:19:00 GMT

...But First, A Word From Our Sponsor...
Gain exposure to currencies of emerging BRIC countries-and don't lose a dime on market risk

* 4 BRIC currencies: Brazilian real, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, Chinese renminbi
* High upside potential
* No market risk to deposited principal
* Low $1,500 minimum deposit

Don't miss this unique opportunity. Deadline to buy the BRIC MarketSafe CD is Oct. 13, 2009. Apply today or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CertificatesMSBRIC.aspx?referId=11808

In This Issue..

* Profit taking brings currencies back..
* A Love/ Hate relationship with kiwi...
* Stimulus isn't the same everywhere!
* AA drops a bomb on us in St. Louis!

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

The Euro Bounces...

Good day... Ahoy Mates! And a Happy Friday to one and all! Tomorrow is "Talk Like a Pirate Day" officially... But, since we all like Pirates (not today's so-called Pirates), we decided that we would celebrate it today! Get your eye patches out! We're that kind of fun group, eh? So... If you want to play along, you can go to this website and get your Pirate name! http://www.piratename.net/

OK... Well, it is Friday, and with that comes the end of a very long week for yours truly, and one that I hope ends early today, so I can go home and get my feet up! Until then though, you have me here to swab the decks, and hoist the sails!

On our Tub Thumpin' Thursday, we saw the non-dollar currencies gain more ground VS the dollar during the day, as the euro bounced off of 1.47, and went to 1.4755 at one point in the day. Overnight, the dollar rebounded and when I turned on the screens this morning, the euro had just dipped below 1.47 to 1.4688... But again, it looks like 1.47 is a bouncing point, as now the single unit has pushed to 1.4710... I know that sounds like it's pretty ridiculous to talk about such small moves, but I wanted to point out what seems to be resistance in the 1.47 region...

Yesterday, I told you that I was going to do some additional research into the TIC's data that showed a Net Total TICs at -$97 Billion for July! OUCH! The only thing I could really find was some stuff by a "Mr. Obvious", that said that foreigners sold Treasuries in July...

OK... But that's important, because... The Fed knowing this happened, long before we did, saw yields climbing and that's when they stepped in and bought that 7-year auction piece that I told you all about a month or so ago... The Fed Heads bought the piece of Treasuries from the Primary Dealers to support the market, and accomplish two things... 1. to make the auction look good, and 2. to keep rates artificially low... The made their goals... But at what cost? We all know what the cartel, I mean the Fed is up to, and it kind of takes the shine off of them, eh?

I was reading some stuff on the internet last night, when my beautiful bride came home, and asked me what I was reading... I told her that if I were a first time investor, I would be so confused... I showed her one story that said "euro ready for correction VS dollar", and then one two stories below it that said, "dollar set to slide further"... I mean, that's confusing, right? And then letting me know that after all these years of hearing me, but not listening to me, she surprised me, and said... "But that's good right? Not everyone is on the same side of the trade" WOW! I was smiling like a Cheshire Cat!

This morning, there's not much difference in the stories on the screens VS last night... One says "Euro may strengthen to Sept 2008 high on Technicals"... And another says "Euro may be set for correction, per Bank of Tokyo"... Basically, I agree with both! The important thing here is that the second story says "Euro MAY be set for correction"... It doesn't say it WILL! And that's what I've been talking about lately... The feeling that risk assets, led by stocks, have gone too far too fast, and a correction could be forthcoming which would take an adverse affect on the currencies and Commodities. But... We've seen these things go like this before, right? It's just like everything else in life... Something goes too far one way, it corrects and goes too far the other way! Never, right in the middle, where everyone would be happy...

I did see the text of an interview with Black Rock's CEO, Fink... He said that "the dollar is a better long-term store of wealth"... Ahem... Hold on a second, I'm choking... Store of wealth? Wait, we're talking about the dollar, right, not Gold? The dollar which has lost 95% of it's purchasing power since the cartel took over in 1913? That dollar? Ok, if you say so! But I'm not buying it!

You know, New Zealand dollars, or kiwi, as traders call it, gets put into the "high deficit crowd corner" by me all the time... I love kiwi, and always have, but kiwi is sort of like that kid that keeps getting into trouble... You love 'em... But they keep trying your love! That's how kiwi is for me... I've always said I can't bang on the U.S. for having high deficits, and not bang on New Zealand... But, here we are with kiwi set to complete its longest set of weekly gains since 1999! And is the leader of the pack, when it comes to currencies in the industrialized countries, with their performance this year...

Here's my thought on what's going on here... Right now, investors all over the world are looking for yield, and they are not going to find it in the U.S., U.K., Eurozone, Japan, and so on... They can find it in New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, and South Africa... So... You then look at these and say "Brazil and South Africa are of the speculative nature", and then between Kiwi and Aussie, kiwi has the better yield... And fundamentals like deficits are thrown out the window... And once again, you're standing there, and the kiwi bus is heading right for you... What are you going to do, just stand in front of this bus?

British pound sterling took a blow to the mid-section after the Wall Street Journal printed a story entitled, "A New Carry-Trade Currency?" And then went on to describe why pound sterling would be a good funding currency for a revival of the Carry Trade... Hmmmm... Personally, I think the U.S. dollar would be even better, given the fact that there are so many dollars floating around, that it wouldn't be difficult to find dollars to borrow, when you sell them short!

Gold is finding it to be a tough row to hoe, getting past $1,018... We need to keep an eye on this today... The IMF Executive Board is meeting to discuss selling 1/8th of their Gold. Doesn't sound like much, eh? Well, think again... With the IMF holding the number 3 position of official largest holders of Gold, 1/8th of their holding would be equal to about 13 million ounces of Gold!

Hello, China? Are you ready to buy? Speaking of which, Aaron was telling me yesterday of a story he was reading, that described the Chinese Gov't's efforts to get the Chinese public to buy Gold... One comment to the writer was from a Chinese citizen that said something about that the U.S. keeps telling their people to buy stocks, and my country keeps telling us to buy Gold... No question as to who has the best interests of the citizens in mind...

Speaking of China... I keep reading stories about China telling lies about their economic growth... Hmmm... I mean it's Government stimulus growth, but it's there! I've said this before, but as a Communist country they were able to direct where the stimulus went, and how it was to be used... And the other most important difference between China's stimulus and ours is the fact that China has a war chest of reserves to spend... The U.S. didn't!

So... Anyway... Chinese growth, no matter how they get it, is good for the global economies, so don't look gift horses in the mouth... I think that's how it goes!

The Indian rupee has really been on a positive run in the past month... The rupee has gone from 49 and change to 48.10... In percentage terms it's not much, just 1.5%, but the trend looks good... My friend and former colleague, Ashish Advani, is very bullish on rupees...

On the data front... Yesterday, we saw Housing Starts print a modest rise of 1.5% in August... And the Philly Fed Index (manufacturing) hit a high that it hasn't seen since June of 2007! But before we throw our hats in the air, let's remember that this is all Government stimulus... As witnessed by the 6-month forecast component of the report, which actually fell! The reason the 6-month forecast component would fall, is that is about the time table for removal of the Government stimulus...

And before you get all huffy, and start to pound the keyboard writing a reply to me, asking me how the Chinese stimulus is different from the U.S. stimulus... Go back up a few paragraphs and re-read...

Today's data cupboard is empty... Which means... That the currencies will get their direction from stocks... That's been the trading pattern for several months now, and one that I don't agree with, but, as I said above with kiwi... Am I going to stand in front of that bus? NO! Asian stocks were sold overnight, while European stocks are stronger this morning, so there's no real direction that can be found there. So, we'll just have to wait-n-see, eh?

Before I go to the recap and Big Finish, I want to vent... We received a notice from American Airlines yesterday, announcing a long list of destinations from St. Louis, that they are going to drop next year... (the Gap Band did a song that fits here... You dropped a bomb on me...) This list is long! And will really put a damper on my ability to travel places to speak! But that's not the only reason this upsets me... The other reason, goes back to when American Airlines (AA) was trying to buy the hub Airline here in St. Louis, TWA... AA talked about keeping St. Louis a hub, blah, blah, blah... And now this... Oh well, in our new building, we'll have the ability to do live video feeds from our studio, so... I'll be able to speak but on a video screen! HA!

OK... It's Friday, with no data to look at, and the currencies are weaker than they were yesterday afternoon, but the euro seems to bounce off 1.47, at least for now that is!

Currencies today 9/18/09: A$ .8690, kiwi .7105, C$ .9330, euro 1.4710, sterling 1.6360, Swiss .9710, rand 7.44, krone 5.88, SEK 6.8875, forint 184.50, zloty 2.8150, koruna 17.06, RUB 30.27, yen 91.30, sing 1.4150, HKD 7.75, INR 48.12, China 6.8278, pesos 13.26, BRL 1.8050, dollar index 76.41, Oil $71.69, 10-year 3.40%, Silver $17.17, and Gold... $1,013.87

That's it for today... So, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day! My Pirate name is: King Lyan Hambrick... It's good to be King! HA! It's a Card and Cubs weekend here in St. Louis... I had tickets to tomorrow's game, but found out that game was the same time as my little buddy's football game! UGH! So, I put the tickets in a hat for a drawing here on the desk, and our little Christine won them! So... You had better bring home a winner tomorrow, Christine! My beloved Missouri Tigers play tomorrow too about the same time! Double UGH! But I'll record that game and watch it later... That is as long as they win! OK... Time to tie this up and put a bow on it for today and this week... Gotta go get my ice pack, and start work... I hope you have a Fantastico Friday, Talk Like A Pirate Day, and Wonderful Weekend!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

Retail Sales Soar!

Chuck Butler — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:20:00 GMT

.........But First, A Word From Our Sponsor..........
Countries poised to benefit from rising commodity prices: combined into one CD

That's the Global Power Shift Index CD from EverBank®. In one CD, get the currencies of 4 countries rich in natural resources-and whose economies may benefit from rising commodity prices. The CD equally combines the following currencies:

*Australian dollar
*Brazilian real
*Norwegian krone
*Canadian dollar

CD features: 3 and 6 month terms, no monthly account fees and $20K minimum to open. Apply or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CurrencyCDIndexGlobalPowerShift.aspx?referid=11808

EverBank is an Equal Housing Lender and member FDIC.
......................................................

In This Issue..

* Currencies rally on Retail Sales!
* China likes investments in Canada...
* Big Ben the "inflation fighter"...
* Gold climbs to $1,018!

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

Retail Sales Soar!

Good day... And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Good news for me this morning, the pain in my left knee has subsided... Now, If I could just get that swelling to go down, I'd be in tall cotton! This has been quite the ordeal on the old Pfennig writer, and one that I will be glad to put in the rear view mirror!

Well... When I turned on the currency screens this morning, the euro was trading with a 1.47 handle! WOW! It just skipped to my Lou right through the 1.46 handle, eh? It began yesterday afternoon, the dollar was getting sold on the news of a strong Retail Sales figure, more on that in a minute, and the euro was edging up the 1.46 ladder... The move to get it past 1.47 came in the overnight markets... Now, having gotten you all lathered up about 1.47, I have to say that since I turned on the currency screens, the euro has lost ground back to 1.4688, but still... That's quite an impressive move from yesterday morning, eh?

OK... The issue with the Retail Sales figure causing dollar weakness is a time honored tradition... NOT! Well, it is if you only count the last 9 months... But traditionally, a figure like the one that printed yesterday, would have attracted buyers for the dollar, not the opposite that occurred... Here's the skinny, as I see it...

Retail Sales for August were quite strong, and showed signs that the move was more than the Cash for Clunkers program, and Back to School buying... There are quite a few people/ economists/ analysts out there now jumping on the President's bandwagon that the recession is over based on this report... For those of you at home keeping score, Retail Sales for August printed at +2.7%!

Does one Retail Sales report that's being trumped up with a Government Deficit Spending program, and Back to School buying really tell us that the recession is over? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? HA! (from Animal House, I know very well the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor)... You know, it kind of ruins the funny line when you have to make disclaimers... But... I've had people send me emails before telling me, that I should know better that the Germans didn't bomb Pearl Harbor!

OK, I went off on a tangent there, eh? Any way... I wonder if all those people wearing the President endorsed end of the recession rose colored glasses ever stopped to wonder if gas purchases might have helped trump up this figure? Well, I did, you knew I would! And I found that rising gasoline prices sent service station receipts up 5.1% in the month. If we had journalists like we used to have, they would have known to go look at the rising gas price component of the report, since just last week the Trade Deficit jumped by 16% in one month due to rising oil prices!

So... With Retail Sales shooting toward the moon, the dollar selling increased... Because, if the thought here (and not my thought!) is that if Retail Sales are jumping again, it must mean the U.S. Consumer is buying again, and that will help kick the global recession in the rear, and the risk takers come out of the walls, the U.S. Treasury "safe haven" buyers sell to get out of their losses, and they all go to better investments... It may be what they think, to be better... Stocks... But for the most part, these investors seek out higher yielding or better income potential investments... And you won't find those on the Big Board... You won't find them at the local bond house... You'll only find them abroad, in foreign deposit rates, and foreign bond yields...

Now... That everyone is all lathered up about this euphoria going on in the markets... I'm still keeping a light on for a HUGE stock market sell off, which would adversely affect the values of all these risk assets that risk takers have been going into... Commodities, currencies, stocks would all be affected...

However, if that HUGE sell off never comes... Who wants to stand in front of the bus that has Gold above $1,000 and the euro posting a nearly 17% gains since March 1st... But that's nothing folks! The New Zealand dollar (kiwi) has gained 44% since March 1st... The list of currency gains since March 1st is amazing... Simply amazing... Here's a sample... Aussie dollars +38%, Norway +23%, loonies +21%, and so on... So, now you see the bus that I'm talking about!

Big Ben Bernanke had this to say yesterday... "Even though from a technical perspective the recession is very likely over at this point, it's still going to feel like a very weak economy for some time." He also said that he "may have to accept a slow recovery and high unemployment as the price for defending my inflation fighting credentials."

Ok.. Excuse me for a minute, I have to go in the other room and either laugh my rear off or, throw up! Big Ben has "inflation fighting credentials"? Since when? And just where is he hiding these credentials? Or... Maybe his description of "inflation fighting credentials" is different from mine! Hmmm... I shake my head in disgust...

Speaking of the Fed and inflation... My good friend, David Galland, who writes an absolutely fabulous daily letter regarding the goings on in the world called "Casey's Daily Dispatch", and can be found here: http://www.caseyresearch.com/casey-services/free-publications/caseys-daily-dispatch/ , had this to say yesterday regarding this subject of the Fed and inflation...

"Reason Magazine is one of the few magazines I read with any regularity. In the current edition, they had a couple of items that I thought were especially interesting. Ironic, actually.

The first was about a comic book the Fed has published discussing inflation, as well as defending its autonomy. You can view it by following the link below. What you should find interesting is that they make several clear mistakes in describing inflation - for instance, by saying that if the price of oil goes up, that causes inflation. And on the very first page, they state that "The dictionary defines inflation as a substantial and continuing rise in the general price level."

But that is not what the dictionary says - every entry I checked always includes ". related to an increase in the volume of money," or words to that effect. Kind of scary, when the organization charged with fighting inflation doesn't actually know what it is.

You can read the comic yourself here, straight off the New York Fed's website. http://ia301540.us.archive.org/2/items/gov.frb.ny.comic.inflation/gov.frb.ny.comic.inflation.pdf

OK... I'm back now... I saw a report last night that showed the results of a survey that showed the Chinese are very interested in investing in Canada... It was reported that China sees energy, natural resources, agriculture and biotechnology as the most promising areas of Canada's economy... Hmmm... Isn't that the same things I've listed over the years? (well minus the biotechnology) Any way... The report also showed China having interest in the U.S. and Australia...

Money flow is a very important thing to watch in the investment world... And if money is going to be flowing into Canada and Australia from China, that will be good for those countries and their respective currencies. As far as the U.S. is concerned... Forgetaboutit! Remember when China wanted to buy that oil company in California a couple of years ago? I doubt that China will want to get dragged through a mile of broken glass and razor blades again!

Yesterday, I told you about the dollar denominated bonds being issued by Germany, and how I viewed it as a green light from Big Ben Bernanke for other countries to take over the destruction of the dollar, that the Fed has carried the flag for since 1913... I told you I had another frightening thing that I would bring to you this morning... So with no further delay...

The Chinese government has told Chinese companies they do not have to honor derivatives and commodity futures contracts made with Western financial institutions. Ruh-Roh...

This appears to be one of those things that passes in the night, and then one day smacks us right between the eyes, and we say, "Where did that come from?" Well... If came from the Chinese Gov't that told Chinese companies that they did not have to honor derivatives and commodity futures contracts made with Western financial institutions... That's where!

Ok, I can hear you saying, How can they do that, Chuck? Well... When you're a 200 pound gorilla, you can sit where you want, and you can do what you want! China is taking the stance that you come get us, if you think you were wronged!

What does this do to the institutions that wrote these contracts with China, Chuck? Well... That's the cheese that binds folks... It's going to hurt... And it's going to hurt bad... But, nobody really knows just how many or how much risk is out there... But, if one day you wake up and hear on the news that the financial markets here are melting down once again, you'll be able to say... Ahhh, it must be that Chinese announcement that Chuck talked about!

Big Al Greenspan was back in the news last night... First, I want to quiz you on something...
Who said, "In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value."

Well... You'll never guess who, so I might as well tell you, but when you hear it you'll bust a gut, given the whole low interest rate, high money supply environment he created at the Fed... It was..... Drum roll please... Alan Greenspan, from an article written in 1966 entitled "Gold and Economic Freedom"

Any way... Big Al was back in the news, and said that he's worried that lawmakers will hamper the Fed's efforts to rein in its monetary stimulus, and that inflation might "swamp" the bond market. See, how Big Al is sticking up for the Fed, and putting down the groundwork now, to blame lawmakers when inflation is soaring on the other side of the recession?

Big Al is dastardly... I wouldn't be surprised to see a Commie flag nailed to the wall of his garage! HA! Long time readers know my dislike for this guy as a Fed Head, and how he might now have paved the road to this mess we've been in, but he laid the foundation!

OK... The data cupboard will yield a boat load of data today, and it will interesting to see how the dollar reacts to it... Leading off for the data cupboard today is the stupid CPI data for August... Batting second is the Current Account Deficit, and in the all important third position in the batting order we have The Tic Flows, batting clean-up is Chuck's faves Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization... WOW! What a line-up! A Murderer's Row for data if you will!

Since no one but me and my friends over at the Daily Reckoning and 5-minute Forecast, seem to care about the Deficits, the markets will probably wax over the Current Account Deficit... And I don't care about CPI... So that brings us the TIC Flows for July, and I'm fearful that this data will be harmful to our future... And the experts are forecasting a bump up in Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization, which would indicate a stronger economy, and given what we saw yesterday with the stronger Retail Sales, one would think that a bump up in Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization would be bad for the dollar...

Finally... Someone with some brains! I was beginning to think that these guys were all kin to the scarecrow! Yesterday, I told you about how the new governing party in Japan is calling for increased currency intervention... Well, finally someone that understands! Japanese Finance Minister, Fujii, said that he is "against intervention if their moves are gradual, and that I don't think they are fluctuating rapidly now."

It looks like currency traders in the overnight markets were paying attention, and immediately began buying up Japanese yen... The yen is pushing the envelope once again to a sub 90 level... And that! Would be a very good thing for yen holders!

While I'm on "feel good stories"... I might as well mention that Gold has finally made a strong move above $1,000, moving to $1,018 as I write! Silver is kicking tail and taking names later too, with a strong move to $17.35! The Retail Sales data in the U.S. yesterday kicked off a new phase of "inflation protection buying"

OK... To recap today... Retail Sales in the U.S. were very strong, setting off a new wave of dollar selling, to currencies and precious metals. China likes Canada and Australia, and China tells their companies not to honor derivative contracts with Western institutions. And we have a boat load of data to get through today in the U.S.

Currencies today 9/16: A$ .8720, kiwi .7135, C$ .9365, euro 1.4680, sterling 1.6525, Swiss .9665, rand 7.3625, krone 5.8615, SEK 6.9070, forint 184, zloty 2.8240, koruna 17.27, RUB 30.61, yen 90.30, sing 1.4120, HKD 7.75, INR 48.24, China 6.8260, pesos 13.24, BRL 1.8030, dollar index 76.30, Oil $70.75, 10-year 3.40%, Silver $17.35, and Gold... $1,017.50

That's it for today... I just looked up and noticed I was running late with the Pfennig this morning. UGH! So, I guess it's good that I don't have a lot to talk about here... I was going to the day game today... But had to back out because of the problem with my knee... But now the pain is subsiding... I wonder if there's still a ticket... Nah... I gave it away! Go Cards! As a part of the hockey Blues web site, they have a picture of Chris Gaffney's son, Brendan! He's a star! Chris has taken Brendan to hockey games since he could barely see over the side boards. When the games were on TV, you could watch Brendan running back and forth in his space, as Chris has ticket along the glass! Ok... Enough... Time to roll, April Showers is here, and that means I'm late! I sure hope your Wednesday is Wonderful!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

Cautiously Positive?

Chuck Butler — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:12:04 GMT

...But First, A Word From Our Sponsor...
It was another solid period of financial growth for EverBank(R). Our superior strength and stability has been enhanced even more by these 2009 first half results:
*Net income grew to $26 million-a 41% increase over first half of 2008
*Strong earnings bolstered our bank equity position to over $580 million-a 45% increase over the year-ago
*Assets and deposits grew to $7.5 billion and $5.8 billion, respectively

Take advantage of our strength and stability. Visit http://www.EverBank.com.

EverBank is a Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender.
...

In This Issue..

* Euro & yen add to gains...
* RBNZ disappoints...
* Foreclosures continue to stack up!
* BOE & BOC meet today...

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

Cautiously Positive?

Good day... And a Thrillin' Thursday to you! Ahhh! A change! Just thought that with the thrilling victories my beloved Cardinals have been accumulating, that Thrillin' would be a nice change to our Thursday lineup!

Front and Center this morning... The currencies added to their gains this week yesterday, albeit small gains, but gains nonetheless. The Fed's Beige Book was "cautiously positive"... And... Overnight, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand met, and left rates unchanged as suspected... This and more as we begin our Thrillin' Thursday!

The Big Dog euro has been off the porch chasing the dollar down the street for a week now, one would think that a return to the porch for food and water might be in the cards... But, as I was telling someone yesterday... Even though all signs point to a major stock sell-off, it hasn't happened, so why stand in front of the stock and risk assets rally bus?

The euro climbed to very near 1.46 yesterday, before falling back to 1.4550 as the day ended... Overnight, the euro has traded within a narrow range. The Aussie dollar (A$) got slapped on the wrist by traders after it was reported that Australia lost 27,100 jobs in August (consensus was to lose 15,000)... The unemployment rate in Australia remained at 5.8%, but the weaker than expected data caused the A$ to slide from the 86-cent handle to .8550...

If the heat remains on the dollar the rest of this week, then I would expect the A$ to rebound from that sell-off last night. Much like the Brazilian real sell-off last week... You may recall me saying that it was overdone, and I expected the real to bounce back, which it did, and the bounce was like a Super Ball Bounce!

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) met last night, and kept rates unchanged as expected... But I really thought the RBNZ would opt to change the wording of their last statement following a rate announcement, in which they talked about leaving rates unchanged for some time to come... Well... They didn't change... And instead repeated the comment from the previous meeting... "We continue to expect to keep the OCR (official Cash Rate) at or below the current level through until the latter part of 2010".

Here we go again with a Central Bank making statements about rate policy months ahead to time! I don't see where they have the data to do something like that... But, they do it! I'll bet a dollar to a Krispy Kreme that the RBNZ has to move rates higher before "the latter part of 2010", and when they do, they'll be pushing rates up in 50 BPS clips!

Kiwi also took a slap across the wrist by traders after the RBNZ rate announcement and statement. I'm not so sure about this currency's ability to rebound, but if the A$ does rebound, kiwi normally hangs on the coat tails of the A$...

So... As I look across the screens this morning... I see that the euro and yen are the only currencies that are really stronger today than yesterday... So, my statement at the beginning that the currencies had added to their gains this week, needs to be tweaked, to say just euro and yen have added to their gains this week!

The Norwegian krone, was really on a run yesterday, trading below 5.90... But, couldn't hold those gains. I was reading a story last night about Norway's inflation rate falling, and how that might push back the Norges Bank (Central Bank) timetable for a rate hike from late this year to the 1st QTR of 2010... That thought process is responsible for the pull back in the krone yesterday, and overnight.

Do you see the mental giant (NOT!) thought process that goes through some of these traders? Sometimes it's all about yield differentials, and sometimes it's all about economic growth possibilities. Just like a baseball player wishes for consistency from the Umpire, I wish for consistency from the markets... UGH!

The Fed's Beige Book was "Cautiously Positive" yesterday... And of course, you know me, I want to know why the Fed is Positive at all! Let's see... The Beige Book said, that... Most districts characterized consumer spending as "soft" with a majority of reporting retail activity as "flat." And that the Cash for Clunkers was a positive... HEY! FED HEADS! Cash for Clunkers is over!

On the real estate component... Both residential and commercial real estate markets were described as "weak"... So... Do you see anything in here that spells "positive" for the Fed Heads? I sure don't!

I'll stop there... These guys at the Fed drive me up a wall, and cause me to go over to the walls and scream at them!

One thing the Beige Book didn't contain was the report yesterday that foreclosures in the U.S. jumped above 300,000 for the sixth consecutive month! RealtyTrac Inc. reported that a total of 358,471 properties received a default or auction notice or were seized last month, which is 18% higher than it was a year ago!

And then add in those details I gave you yesterday about the Option ARMs that will reset in the next three years, and this is getting ugly folks...

Doesn't it seem as though the "people in power" have turned their backs on this problem? I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't want the Government sticking their hands in everything, but they already started down this road, and then turned around and headed down a different road... That's the Gov't's way isn't it? As my football coach used to describe someone not giving everything to a play as doing it half-a_ _ ... That's what the Gov't does... I don't want you sticking your hands in the private sector! But! If you're going to do it, do it right and until it's fixed!

The Bank of England (BOE) and the Bank of Canada (BOC) both meet today... The BOE's meeting is going on as I write, while the BOC meeting will take place later today. I look for both Central Banks to remain steady at the wheel. The BOC will really tick me off later today when they repeat their earlier statement that interest rates will remain at near zero until June of 2010... The BOC also talked about the strong Canadian dollar / loonie in their last statement, as "significantly moderating growth"... As if a strong currency is a "bad thing", which it certainly is not! But here's an opportunity... If the BOC doesn't talk about the strong currency this time out, we could see a "relief rally" in the loonie...

Today, the U.S. data cupboard has July's Trade Balance, and since it's Thursday we'll see the latest Weekly Initial Jobless Claims. The Trade Balance is a misnomer as far as I'm concerned... It should read... The Trade Deficit! And while this Trade Deficit isn't as bad as it once was, due to the depression, it remains a bugaboo...

And talk about sticky! Those darn Weekly Jobless Claims! Last week they printed 570,000 new claims, and this week is expected to be 560,000 more! I wonder when these people will be counted as "unemployed" by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)! OK... You know me... The BLS is one letter too long, as the "L" should be removed!

And... Before I recap, is it just me? Or does anyone else see stock market bubbles all over the world? I've already talked till I'm blue in the face, which is normally red!, about the U.S. stock market being overbought... But there was news yesterday that Asian stock index hit a 1-year high... And that the FTSE, London's stock exchange, returned to the 5,000 level for the first time in a year! Bubbles Greenspan, should be in hog-heaven with all these bubbles floating around!

OK... Almost ready to go the Big Finish... Let's recap first though... Euro and yen have added to this week's gains, while other currencies have seen profit taking. Central Banks in the U.K. and Canada meet today, while New Zealand's Central Bank was a disappointment. U.S. Beige Book is "cautiously positive", and Foreclosures are greater than 300,000 for the 6th straight month!

Currencies today 9/10/09: A$ .8560, kiwi .6940, C$ .92, euro 1.4530, sterling 1.6560, Swiss .9585, rand 7.6150, krone 5.9650, SEK 7.0520, forint 188.10, zloty 2.8710, koruna 17.5725, RUB 30.93, yen 92.10, sing 1.4270, HKD 7.75, INR 48.65, China 6.8292, pesos 13.54, BRL 1.8330, dollar index 77.12, Oil $71.69, 10- year 3.46%, Silver $16.07, and Gold... $984.55

That's it for today... I got the opportunity to sit down and talk with the Big Boss, Frank Trotter, yesterday... That doesn't happen very often, as he is a busy man! Frank always has a way of calming me down, or bringing me back to square one, when I'm all ticked off or keyed up about something. Get the brooms out! Cardinals sweep the Brewers! I was one of the millions probably that got my hands on the new box set from the Beatles, with all their albums re-mastered... My friend and colleague, Ann Hopkins, went to buy one for her husband, and asked me, knowing what a fan of the Beatles I am, if I wanted her to get me one too! How Sweet! And Too Sweet! It was bonus day for me, as I also received in the mail yesterday, my 40th Anniversary Woodstock CD's and DVD! WOW! OK... Enough! Time to get this Thrillin' Thursday started... I sure hope your Thursday is Thrillin'!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

Currencies Hold Their Gains...

Chuck Butler — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:08:19 GMT

In This Issue..

* Consumer Borrowing Collapses...
* What's up with sterling?
* Option ARMs get ready to reset...
* Gold falls back to below $1,000...

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

Currencies Hold Their Gains...

Good day... And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Well... The currencies, for the most part, kept the heat on the dollar throughout the day and in the overnight markets. The euro, did rise to 1.45 and change yesterday, while it is hovering right at that figure this morning, so it did give a little bit back.

There were no big announcements last night like we saw on Monday, so the currencies didn't have anything to push them further. In fact, there may be a "letting the dust settle" period of time, with the Big Dog, euro, before we see any further advancement, given the euro's huge gains yesterday...

We did have "Mr. Yen" Sakakibara, tell a crowd of people that he believed the dollar would remain the world's reserve currency for 20 years... Hmmm... Apparently, the IMF and UN haven't let him in on the news that they desperately want to do something about the dollar! Not to mention the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, of whom, have already stated their case for a change!

Chinese stocks were up again last night, so that could lead the way to further gains by stocks here in the U.S., which would bring even more risk takers out of the walls... That is, of course as long as the trading pattern that has existed for 9 months remains in place!

I did read something last night about a complete collapse of Consumer Borrowing here in the U.S.... Hmmm... Well, on one hand, if that's true, that would mean that Consumer spending is down, and saving has replaced it, and that would be a good thing! On the other hand... Consumer Spending is like 70% of our economy... Or was 70% of our economy I guess I should say! And if we're going to see a further slowing of spending, then you can kiss the thought of a "V" shaped recession good-bye! Bye now... Don't go away mad... Just go away!

Gold was unable to hold $1,000 yesterday and last night... I was talking to my Publisher for the Currency Capitalist letter yesterday, and I was telling her, that while I'm a firm believer that this stock market rally is going to crash and burn, bringing all risk assets along to the fire, which would adversely affect the prices of currencies, and commodities, including Gold... There's no mistaking the appearance of a rush to Gold in the past week... And why did the rush occur? Well, to me, as I explained yesterday, it's simply an understanding that inflation is on the other side of what we are now experiencing, and if you can pick Gold up now at those levels that existed last week (sub $1,000), why not, before it takes off?

So... I was assigned to write a piece on Gold... See how that works in the Publishing biz? You mouth off with your thoughts, and the next thing you know, you're doing research for a piece that has to be done in 3 days or so! UGH! But... The thing I thought of was simply this... We may, and I'm not sure yet, but we may be getting to a new level, where I used to say I thought it was good to buy Gold when it dipped below $900... That might have to be changed to $1,000... That is, if we don't have the crash and burn...

Getting back to the crash and burn thing... I know, I know, I've been talking about this for a couple of months now... And no sign of crashing or burning... Yet! But, then maybe there won't be any crashing and burning as long as the markets are manipulated... I was doing some research the other day, and came across something that plays well with my manipulated theory... The stocks of Fannie, Freddie, AIG, and... Oh shoot! I've forgotten the 4th one... It's a Gov't owned company... SHOOT! Oh well, it doesn't matter, these 4 stocks were accounting for over 40% of the volume each day in the stock market... Usually these 4 account for about .3%... What's going on here folks? I've got a boat load of conspiracy theories about what's going on... But I'll leave that up to your imagination!

The Commodity currencies, that were so strong yesterday, have given some ground back VS the dollar overnight. The only thing that makes sense to me here, is that it is profit taking... For, these Commodity Currencies, (except Canadian loonies) have yield advantage over the dollar... Shoot Rudy, they have yield advantage over all the major currencies... Euro, yen, sterling and dollars! And for the most part, interest rates in these countries will be the first to rise beginning later this year... So, it had to be profit taking!

But, what do I always say, when there's profit taking? That's right! It gives us a chance to buy at cheaper levels!

One currency that continues to baffle me and probably many others with its rise from the ashes, is pound sterling... (cable, as currency traders call it) I've had quite a few readers send me notes asking me about sterling's strength, given the fact that the U.K. is probably in more dookie than the U.S.... There are two things I can think of that probably explain it... But even these don't do that good of a job explaining this rise in sterling...

1. the talk of using SDR's... SDR's currently consist of: euro, yen, sterling and dollars. So, if SDR's get wider use, then more sterling will have to be bought by the IMF (who issues the SDR's)
2. The crosses... Because most of the currencies are rallying and have been rallying against the dollar since March, sterling gets dragged higher in the crosses...

I've explained these crosses many times in the past, so I'll just touch on it here... Whenever you buy a currency, you have to sell a currency... So the two currencies that make up that trade are called a "pair"... These are also called "crosses"... Here in the U.S. we only think of dollar VS a currency... But all over the world, people are crossing euros for yen, and vice versa, Swiss francs for Aussie dollars, etc. A lot of those crosses, have sterling in them, and therefore, sterling gets dragged higher... Not a fundamental thing...

But we've seen this over the years, especially with yen... And the dollar of course!

Well... You might have missed this news yesterday... But the U.S. Senate is going to have to raise the federal debt limit beyond $12.1 Trillion by mid-October! Hmmm... Anyone have a guess as to who blocked the raising of the debt ceiling in 2006 and said... "Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren"? It's the same person that is now that same person is asking Congress to raise the debt ceiling to $13 Trillion...

But, the reality of this is that our Budget Deficit this year will be $1.6 Trillion, by Gov't accounting standards... By Chuck standards, it will be $2.5 Trillion when it's all said and done... And we just keep finding more ways to spend money we don't have, don't we? I'm going to stop here, because this all just ticks me off, and I don't want to say something that will fill my email box with name calling emails...

Did you see the story in the Washington Post regarding the resetting of ARM's? and I'm not talking about the arms that get broken on the playground and have to be reset... I'm talking about Adjustable Rate Mortgages... Here's the skinny from the Washington Post story...

"Between now and 2011, roughly 70% of option ARMs, with a total value of about $189 billion, will reset." The rating agency, Fitch, put together the numbers and did the research... And none of spells good times for home owners that are already stretched to make mortgage payments.

Here's how I believe they work... Option ARMs, also called pick-a-pay loans, allow borrowers to choose how much to pay each month. Nearly all the borrowers who took out this type of loan from 2004 to 2007 chose to pay less than the interest due. Sometimes they paid as little as 1 percent interest. But the loans eventually require the borrowers to start paying the principal and full interest rate, so the payments shoot up.

So... This mortgage meltdown will continue to remain in the news, eh? $134 Billion of these ARMs will reset in the next two years, and the monthly payments are expected to jump 63% on average, or $1,053 per month, for loans adjusting this year and next... Can you imagine getting that letter in the mail? Dear Homeowner, your next mortgage payment will be xxxxxx...

That's a really sad thing... Very sad...
But... Another reason why I say this is a depression and not a recession! It's going to carry on, and on, and on...

There was more Happy Days (NOT!) news in the Washington Post yesterday... "There is little chance U.S. taxpayers will recover all of the billion spent on rescuing Chrysler and General Motors, according to a report by the Congressional Oversight Panel."

Great! But in reality, we didn't expect to recover it did we? I know I didn't! The Gov't doesn't have a good track record of preventing losses much less recovering them.. And I'm not just talking about the current brand of Gov't... It goes back many years...

My friend, David Galland, gave a quick history lesson in his letter this past weekend... While this may be depressing, it does give what I said above, credence...

A Quick History Lesson

The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775. So they've had 234 years to make it work. It is broke.

Social Security was established in 1935. They've had 74 years to make it work. It is broke.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938. They've had 71 years to make it work. It is broke.

Freddie Mac was established in 1970. They've had 39 years to make it work. It is broke.

The War on Poverty started in 1964. They've had 45 years to make it work. About $1 trillion of taxpayer money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor." It hasn't worked.

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. They've had 44 years to make it work. They are both broke.

AMTRAK was established in 1970. They've had 39 years to make it work. Last year it had to be bailed out and today continues running at a loss.

$700 billion bailout of 2008. It has yet to create a single new private-sector job.
Cash for Clunkers in 2009 went broke after 80% of the cars purchased turned out to be produced by foreign companies.

Now that it's put like that in black and white, it sure doesn't look good does it?

I really got on a roll today regarding the goings on in the U.S. and didn't pay much attention to the currencies... But, that's because they are trading in yesterday's clothes this morning... With no data to talk about yesterday, and so on...

The data cupboard only yields the Fed's Beige Book for us this afternoon... For those of you who don't know what this entails... The Fed's Beige Book is a summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by each Federal Reserve District. It's printed 8 times per year, and usually about two weeks before a FOMC meeting. (Federal Open Market Committee) It was once believed that the Fed Heads would use the findings in the Beige Book to help them make their decisions on monetary and fiscal policies...

I say, "It was once believed" because... After reading Bill Fleckenstein's great book about Ignorance at the Fed Reserve, Greenspan's Bubbles, I was scratching my head asking, but I thought the Beige Book was used to help make those decisions that Big Al Greenspan made?

So... Again, no real data today... So the currencies will get their direction once again from stocks... And like I said above, the Chinese stock markets was good to go overnight...

OK... So... Before I go to the Big Finish, let me recap today... The currencies held onto gains, albeit giving back small amounts in what appears to be profit taking. The Senate needs to raise the $12.1 Trillion debt ceiling. $189 Billion in Option ARMs are coming due in the next three years, and no data today should leave currencies to be directed by stocks, that is if the trading pattern holds.

Currencies today 9/9/09: A$ .8615, kiwi .6969, C$ .9245, euro 1.45, sterling 1.6505, Swiss .9560, rand 7.5525, krone 5.9375, SEK 7.0575, forint 186.70, zloty 2.84, koruna 17.60, RUB 31.18, yen 92.40, sing 1.4260, HKD 7.75, INR 48.50, China 6.8285, pesos 13.35, BRL 1.8290, dollar index 77.29, Oil $70.90, 10-year 3.48%, Silver $16.36, and Gold... $996.35

That's it for today... So... It's 9-9-09... Pretty cool, eh? Speaking of pretty cool... I got up this morning, and watched the 9th inning of the Cardinals / Brewers game last night, as I can rarely stay up for an entire game during the week. The Brewers closer, a future Hall of Famer on the hill, and Matt Holiday hits a 2-run homer to win the game! WOW! I was clapping, and hootin' and hollerin' and it was 4 in the morning! Well... I had to back out of my trip to Williamsburg VA this weekend, to speak at the To The Point News Rendezvous. I was pretty excited about this opportunity. But the steroids they put in my knee have not worked, and the pain in my knee is too much for me to travel with. If you've never heard of To The Point News, it's put together by a man that used to be Ronald Reagan's right hand man, Dr. Jack Wheeler...

OK... I'm bummed about not getting to go to speak to these great people... But the knee is just too much... Time for Plan B... And time for me to get going on this Terrific Tuesday, how about you? Make it Terrific!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

Time To Remove Stimulus?

Chuck Butler — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:40:00 GMT

...But First, A Word From Our Sponsor...
Gain exposure to currencies of emerging BRIC countries-and don't lose a dime on market risk

* 4 BRIC currencies: Brazilian real, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, Chinese renminbi
* High upside potential
* No market risk to deposited principal
* Low $1,500 minimum deposit

Don't miss this unique opportunity. Deadline to buy the BRIC MarketSafe CD is Oct. 13, 2009. Apply today or learn more at http://www.everbank.com/001CertificatesMSBRIC.aspx?referId=11808

In This Issue..

* Chinese stocks rise 5%!
* Risk Assets follow!
* OECD forecasts faster global growth...
* Gold & Silver kicking sand again!

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

Time To Remove Stimulus?

Good day... And a Tub Thumpin' Thursday to you! Let's hope it remains a Tub Thumpin' Thursday later today, as I head downtown to watch my beloved Cardinals play a day game! For those of you who are baseball fans, you know what I mean when I carry on about how baseball should only be played during the day!

OK... Before I get to the currencies, economies and the dolts in the world, I wanted to briefly talk about the SEC, who made an announcement yesterday that they had done an investigation of the Madoff audits, and did not find any fraud... Just mistakes... Really? Mistakes? That's what they call them? Even Bernie Madoff himself says that he was "astonished" that the SEC failed to shut him down after interviewing him in 2006!

Well... The currencies, led by the euro, have scratched and clawed their way back to levels they traded at before Tuesday's sell off... The European Central Bank (ECB) is meeting this morning, and while the markets are not expecting rates to move here, they are holding out hope that ECB President, Trichet, will announce that the economic growth expectations have been raised. So... With these thoughts going through the markets, it's no wonder the euro is back to 1.43 this morning.

However, not knowing what Trichet might say, opens Pandora's Box of risks for the euro... For if Trichet does not talk glowingly about the economic growth expectations for the Eurozone, the euro will be hung out on a line. So... Let's hope, Mr. Trichet had a good breakfast, and is feeling spry today!

But for now, it's all skipping in the sun for the euro... The ECB rarely ever ends their meeting before I hit the "send" button on the Pfennig, so... I guess we'll take it all up tomorrow!

The euro isn't the only currency that has scratched and clawed back against the dollar... Yesterday, I told you how the Aussie dollar (A$) was rallying on the back of a stronger than expected 2nd QTR GDP report... Well, now that the euro has joined in, the A$ is really making tracks higher, trading right now, within spittin' distance of 84-cents...

And... Not to gloat or anything... But, let me go back to yesterday's Pfennig and quote something I said... This is from the Pfennig 9/2...

"Talk about getting "dumped" that's what happened to the Brazilian real yesterday... Yes, most of the currencies sold off... But real was really sold off! That makes some sense in that real had out performed most currencies this year, and therefore, the selling, or profit taking would be on a larger scale... I think this selling was overdone though, and I would look for the real to make an attempt to come back today..."

Well... Guess what happened yesterday? That's right! The real came back with a vengeance! Yesterday morning the real was trading 1.9140... This morning it's trading 1.8850! OK... It's not that I'm auditioning for some kind of "spot trading" position... Geez Louise, no! I like to sleep at night! I just wanted to show that sometimes even a blind squirrel can find an acorn! (with me being the blind squirrel, in case that was confusing!)

The real, and not Brazilian real, but real winner in terms of moves VS the dollar yesterday were the Precious Metals of Gold and Silver... Kicking sand in the face of the dollar, and laughing! Gold and Silver are both stronger again this morning too!

There's a great report going around by Frank Holmes, CEO and CIO of U.S. Global Investors. I had dinner with Frank Holmes in Las Vegas about 5 years ago, and run into him at conferences throughout the years... Any way... Frank Holmes put together a strong report on how September is the best month for Gold... "The gold price has risen in 16 of the 20 Septembers since 1989, by far the best success ratio of any month of the year." My good friend, David Galland, has the full story in his daily letter from yesterday... I think you can sign up for it here... http://www.caseyresearch.com/casey-services/free-publications/caseys-daily-dispatch/

OK... Chinese stocks rose 5% overnight, and that has the risk takers coming out the woodwork! That's quite a rebound for Chinese stocks. With all the talk going around about how it's time to get out of stocks before the BIG sell off, one has to wonder if this isn't akin to a star burning out... It's burns brightest just before going dark...

The Swedish krona got hit with a blow to the mid-section yesterday when the central Bank (Riksbank) announced that they were going to keep rates at historical lows until the 3rd QTR of 2010! What? How can they say that? I mean I know, they open their mouths and begin to use their voice box... But what I'm talking about is what backs up what they are saying? How do they know that? What a bunch of dolts! I used to think the Riksbank was a good Central Bank, but this blows it for them! (Not that they will be worried that the Pfennig no longer believes them to be a good Central Bank!) So... These are the cards that have been dealt to the krona... Too bad...

So... The Fed is tossing around the idea of removing pieces of the stimulus... Treasury Sec. Geithner, a.k.a. the cheater, and not the song by Bob Kuban and the In Men from the 60's! (if I recall correctly that was printed on the Pepsi label!) Any way, Geithner doesn't agree and has stated that he believes it to be "too early" to exit stimulus strategies... Geithner is getting ready for the G-20 meeting of finance ministers and Central Bankers beginning tomorrow in London, and had this to say... "We've come a very long way but I think we have to be realistic, we've got a long way to go still."

Well... That's the most intelligent thing I've heard him say so far!

Hey did you see that bond king, Bill Gross of PIMCO, chimed in on this... "To the extent that we have had a trillion dollars worth of stimulus, from the standpoint of deficits, and more, the government basically has to continue to do that and to add to that in order to keep the economy chugging along," he said. "To the extent that that's limited, to the extent that they pull back on some of those stimulus programs -- 'Cash for Clunkers' and those types of things -- then the double dip moves into the realm of possibility."

Yes... Double dipping... It's my call for this economy... And I've said that for a lonnnnnnngggggg time now!

The OECD... The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, issued a report yesterday that says the global economy is emerging from its worst slump since WWII, and much faster than the OECD forecast just 3 months ago!

That's nice...

You know... Whenever the currencies rally, the dollar and yen get sold, and vice versa... But... Sometimes, the yen rallies alongside its currency brothers, which is an indication of a real rout on the dollar. And that's what we've got going on this morning... The Japanese yen has joined the "dark side" and is rallying alongside its currency brothers...

Well, yesterday's data cupboard printed a stronger than expected Productivity number here in the U.S. So, doesn't that make you feel better, that you probably had to work longer hours at the same wage, because 1 in 5 American workers are out of jobs, and you have to take up the slack? That's the root of Productivity folks... Sure there are other things like technology, etc. but at the root... It's all about you...

That's why I don't like this report... So now I've given it more Pfennig space than it deserves! UGH!

Today, we'll see the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims as usual on a Tub Thumpin' Thursday, and we'll also see the color of the "services" piece of the ISM... Tomorrow is the Big Kahuna though, with the Jobs Jamboree for August...

Last week, I told you that the U.S. had to deal with another large amount of Treasuries to auction off... Last week it was $197 Billion... And no word of problems dealing with these... But, have you noticed that the 10-year yield, which just a few weeks ago was 3.80%, has fallen to 3.34%? Hmmm... I wonder how that happened? It means that the price of the 10-year has been rising, which would only happen if there was a truckload of buying... Hmmm... I had better go to the Big Finish here before I blow out a gasket!

Currencies today 9/3/09: A$ .8395, kiwi .6785, C$ .9090, euro 1.4310, sterling 1.6380, Swiss .9460, rand 7.7650, krone 6.0270, SEK 7.20, forint 192, zloty 2.8820, koruna 17.8720, RUB 31.67, yen 92.40, sing 1.44, HKD 7.7510, INR 48.91, China 6.8305, pesos 13.57, BRL 1.8850, dollar index 78.22, Oil $69.15, 10-year 3.34%, Silver $15.75, and Gold... $984.50

That's it for today... Yesterday, I talked about the number "6" and went into a silly saying... It was a local funny, in that it's a commercial on TV that does this rap about the number "6"... So, sorry if it confused everyone outside of the St. Louis area... So, I guess all the kids have gone back to school by now... When I was a kid, we didn't start school until after Labor Day... Now they start in the middle of August! My little buddy Alex, was sent home from school sick yesterday, but ate like a horse at dinner, so I expect him to be back at school today. The College Football season begins tonight! YAHOO! So.. Was this Tub Thumpin'? If not, what are you going to do to make it Tub Thumpin' today?

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837