The latest economic data came out this morning, and it indicates that, in spite of the Fed’s best efforts, inflation just is not kicking in. CPI fell for the fourth month in a row, and the US dollar has continued doing what it’s been doing the entirety of 2017, which is sink.
In turn, precious metals are getting a hearty bid (which will probably blow me right out of my Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X Shares (NYSE:DUST) position at the opening bell). For gold bulls to reclaim power, they’ll need to close the gap I’ve pointed out below and push above it. Otherwise, this is just going to be another opportunity for the bears to take advantage of precious metals weakness, more or less in place for the past six years and counting.
As for equities in general, as I’m typing this, it’s a snooze-fest. The ES is up 0.75 points (that’s three hundreds of a single percentage point, kids). The NQ is a little stronger, but in this instance, the bulls are going to need to push it past the second tinted high I’ve illustrated below in order to break the series of lower highs.
I still feel “stuck in the rut” with respect to my portfolio, and perhaps nothing is going to shake things up until earnings start tumbling in next week.