Gold, Silver Rise and Fall Monday the World of the Usual Suspects and Not Important Long Term; Precious Metals, Stocks Should Continue to Rally

Stocks gained again on Monday - no big surprise there.

Gold and silver roared to record highs during the day, only to have them completely wiped out by the obviosly-still-functional price suppressors at the COMEX.

Gold traded as high as $5,102 on the spot market, before the afternoon raid by COMEX operators brought the price down to as low as $5,001. It does not take much analysis to understand that most gold investors did not all decide to sell in the same six hour window. The same applied to silver, which had reached incredible heights of $117 before getting whacked down to $103.

Whether the sudden collapses in gold and silver at the same time were about naked shorting or simply injecting fear into the marketplace matters little. The fact that the COMEX can still exert so much influence in spot pricing over such a short time frame is significant. However, the power of the COMEX has lost a great deal of its firepower, due to exchanges - physical and derivative - in Shanghai, Mumbai, Dubai, and elsewhere maintaining price controls that are unaffected by COMEX hijinks.

This can be seen in the quick rebound overnight into January 27 trading. Gold and silver have already regained much of the loss from the 26th. Gold and silver, just after 8:30 am ET, are trading at $5076 and $111, respectively. It may be advisable to simply ignore the daily noise. There are sure to be similar price smackdowns as the COMEX and U.S. authorities lose control of not just the price of gold and silver, but of their own economies and the entire fiat paper debt-based global system.

Unless your investment horizon is less than six months out, daily fluctuations and COMEX-induced scary declines should be almost completely ignored. Those events are the final grasping at straws of a drowning financial system, at which the U.S. is the center, though the heaviest impacts are first being felt in Japan, and next in the EU. Fiat debasement is real and ongoing, but it is very difficult to time. All one needs to know in this environment is that debasement is at the root of all trades, has not ceased, and is unlikely to cease. Gold, silver, stocks, real estate will all continue to appreciate until fiscal policy becomes more responsible, which, considering the current crop of politicians endlessly raiding the treasury, would equate to approximately never.

The debasement trade has been underway for the last fifty years, though it hasn't been as manifest as it is today except in the late 1970s, and during the boom-bust cycles of 2000, 2008, and 2020, the most prominent being the 2008 GFC for precious metals and the 2020 Covid crisis for extreme dollar creation.

As currency debasements go, this one seems to be in the latter stages, and appears to be heading for a climactic endgame within the next three to five years. It could all blow up tomorrow or it could take until 2030 for the wheels to fall off completely. One thing is certain. The system will reset. Inflation, be it the three percent the government continues ot peddle or the seven to 12% that consumers realize on every shopping trip, will be the death-blow.

There are loads of moving parts, from BRICS de-dollarization to Minnesota anti-ICE rebellion and everything in between. What's good for investors at this point is that all assets will appreciate. The trick is to make gains in excess of inflation. Gold and silver kicked inflation to the curb in 2025 and are doing the same in 2026. Stocks were well behind, but still won out over currency debasement. So, keep stacking, and keep trading is about the only investment strategy one needs to stay liquid and prosperous. It's unlikely to remain this blissfully easy for much longer, but probably at least until the US midterms in November or until something breaks badly.

Taking profits at this time would depend largely on one's own investment horizons, but the big question is what to do with the depreciating currency - which Matthew Peipenberg describes as holding "a melting ice cube" - after the sale. Big item purchases with lasting value appear to be the most sensible choice, which would explain why durable goods orders have been on the rise for the past nine months. New or used cars, big ticket home repairs and renovations, large appliances, or re-allocating from one asset class to another are all reasonable choices.

Futures are mixed with the Dow diving as the opening bell approaches. The likely reason for the drop on the Dow is the market's reading on some of these earnings reports: UPS (UPS), General Motors (GM), Synchrony Financial (SYF), American Airlines (AAL), Northrop-Grumman (NOC), Kimberly-Clark (KMB, Boeing (BA), United Health (UNH).

At the Close, Monday, January 26, 2026:
Dow: 49,412.40, +313.69 (+0.64%)
NASDAQ: 23,601.36, +100.11 (+0.43%)
S&P 500: 6,950.23, +34.62 (+0.50%)
NYSE Composite: 22,829.14, +71.97 (+0.32%)

WEEKEND WRAP: Davos Wraps Up with More Uncertainty than Before; Gold, Silver Power to Record Heights; U.S. Belligerence Beginning to Wear on Allies

Davos and the World Economic Forum (WEF) took center stage this week, with President Trump delivering noxious overtures to the world order. Whether the order is new or old doesn't matter, the assemblage at Davos was lambasted by the president and his entourage for policies and practices that had failed in some manner. At least that was the overarching message.

The entire Greenland debacle remained unresolved, despite Trump - as he usually does - claiming victory despite there being no agreement on anything other than an outline for negotiations. The repeated bullying and boasting by Mr. Trump is beginning to wear thin on leaders of other countries. At Davos, Canada's Carney delivered a singular rebuke of the U.S. tone, calling the force a "rupture" in the world politic.

Relations between nations are being strained by the United States, which refuses to play by any rules. That seems to be the plan, at least, to sow chaos with an oversized, imperial footprint.

Stocks

The bluster from Davos took precedence over some early earnings announcements, though Intel's miss late in the week impacted the Dow Jones Industrials in a large negative manner. The majors were down across the board, though only to a slight degree. None were lower by more than 0.58%.

The coming week may be equally as dull as the one just past. A severe winter storm will chill out much of Washington, D.C. and Wall Street. The Fed's FOMC meeting is likely to contribute much of nothing. Keeping rates on hold when they announce policy on Wednesday afternoon won't move any needles, though Chairman Powell's press conference may offer some clues to future developments. It's all speculative at this point.

The House passed a series of funding bills and has sent them on to the Senate, which should be in agreement on most, though the DHS bill is being used as a wedge issue by Senate Democrats who seem to want something in the way of reforms of ICE tactics in order to move forward. There is a slim, though growing, chance that the government may shut down again come January 31. After the last one back in October, there doesn't seem to be any rationale to do it again. The government is a total mess in any case. The spending continues without an end in sight.

That leaves earnings as the remaining catalyst for stocks. Wednesday figures to be the most active session, with the FOMC decision and some big names reporting both before the open and after the close.

Here are some of the more important companies reporting fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings in the week ahead:

Monday: (before open) Baker Hughes (BKR), Ryanair (RYAAY), Steel Dynamics (STLD); (after close) Nucor (NUE), Sanmina (SANM), Crane (CR)

Tuesday: (before open) UPS (UPS), General Motors (GM), Synchrony Financial (SYF), American Airlines (AAL), Northrop-Grumman (NOC), Kimberly-Clark (KMB, Boeing (BA), United Health (UNH); (after close) PPG (PPG), Enova (ENVA), Texas Istruments (TXN), Logitech (LOGI), Seagate (STX)

Wednesday: (before open) AT&T (T), Corning (GLW), General Dynamics (GD), Progressive Insurance (PGR), Starbucks (SBUX), ADP (ADP), ASML (ASML(, GE Verona (GEV); (after close) Lam Research (LRCX), Tesla (TSLA), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), IBM (IBM), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Levi;s (LEVI), LendingClub (LC)

Thursday: (before open) Caterpillar (CT), Royal Caribbean (RCL), Altria (MO), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Southwest Airlines (LUV), Mastercard (MA), Nokia (NOK) Blacksone Group (BX), Nasdaq (NDAQ); (after close) Visa (V), SAP (SAP), Apple (AAPL), Deckers (DECK), Western Digital (WDC)

Friday: (before open) American Express (AXP), Verizon (VZ), Chevron (CVX), ExxonMobile (XOM), Colgate Palmolive (CL), Charter Communications (CHTR), SoFi (SOFI)

Treasury Yield Curve Rates

Date	1 Mo	1.5 mo	2 Mo	3 Mo	4 Mo	6 Mo	1 Yr
12/19/2025	3.71	3.71	3.72	3.62	3.64	3.60	3.51
12/26/2025	3.70	3.69	3.72	3.64	3.66	3.58	3.49
01/02/2026	3.72	3.71	3.66	3.65	3.62	3.58	3.47
01/09/2026	3.70	3.68	3.63	3.62	3.62	3.57	3.52
01/16/2026	3.75	3.72	3.68	3.67	3.66	3.60	3.55
01/23/2026	3.78	3.71	3.72	3.70	3.67	3.61	3.53

Date	2 Yr	3 Yr	5 Yr	7 Yr	10 Yr	20 Yr	30 Yr
12/19/2025	3.48	3.53	3.70	3.91	4.16	4.77	4.82
12/26/2025	3.46	3.54	3.68	3.89	4.14	4.76	4.81
01/02/2026	3.47	3.55	3.74	3.95	4.19	4.81	4.86
01/09/2026	3.54	3.59	3.75	3.95	4.18	4.76	4.82
01/16/2026	3.59	3.67	3.82	4.02	4.24	4.79	4.83
01/23/2026	3.60	3.67	3.84	4.03	4.24	4.78	4.82

With most of the active fixed income specialists focused on Japan's interest rates, U.S. rates barely budged and probably won't move much in the week ahead because the FOMC is probably going to be sitting on its hands Wednesday.

According to the CME’s Fedwatch tool, there’s a 95% consensus that the FOMC will keep the federal funds target rate stable, at 3.50-3.75% at its this week's meeting, January 27-28.

Spreads remained in elevated territory and seem committed ot remain there until something breaks, like Japan or possibly a U.S. assault on Iran. Treasury Secretary was gloating over trashing Iran's economy at Davos. He is a devious sort, genuinely unfit to have a hand in world finance. His policies bode ill for most of the West and he's frustrated elsewhere, especially concerning China, India and Russia.

Spreads:

2s-10s
2025
1/3: +32
1/10: +37
1/17: +34
1/24: +36
1/31: +36
2/7: +20
2/14: +21
2/21: +23
2/28: +25
3/7: +33
3/14: +29
3/21: +31
3/28: +38
4/4: +33
4/11: +52
4/17: +53
4/25: +55
5/2: +50
5/9: +49
5/16: +45
5/23: +51
5/30: +52
6/6: +48
6/13: +45
6/20: +48
6/27: +56
7/3: +47
7/11: +53
7/18: +56
7/25: +49
8/1: +54
8/8: +51
8/15: +58
8/22: +58
8/29: +64
9/5: +59
9/12: +50
9/19: +57
9/26: +57
10/3: +45
10/10: +53
10/17: +56
10/24: +54
10/31: +51
11/7: +56
11/14: +52
11/21: +55
11/28: +55
12/5: +58
12/12: +67
12/19: +68
12/26: +68
2026
1/2: +72
1/9: +64
1/16: +65
1/23: +64

Full Spectrum (30-days - 30-years)
2025
1/3: +38
1/10: +54
1/17: +41
1/24: +40
1/31: +36
2/7: +32
2/14: +32
2/21: +31
2/28: +13
3/7: +24
3/14: +25
3/21: +23
3/28: +26
4/4: +5
4/11: +38
4/17: +44
4/25: +40
5/2: +41
5/9: +46
5/16: +52
5/23: +68
5/30: +59
6/6: +69
6/13: +67
6/20: +69
6/27: +66
7/3: +51
7/11: +59
7/18: +65
7/25: +55
8/1: +32
8/8: +37
8/15: +44
8/22: +41
8/29: +51
9/5: +49
9/12: +40
9/19: +54
9/26: +55
10/3: +47
10/10: +43
10/17: +42
10/24: +48
10/31: +61
11/7: +69
11/14: +70
11/21: +68
11/28: +62
12/5: +97
12/12: +109
12/19: +111
12/26: +111
2026
1/2: +114
1/9: +112
1/16: +108
1/23: +104

Oil/Gas

WTI crude closed out the week at $61.28, up sharply from last week's close of $59.22, the product of tension over U.S. threats against Iran. Unless the U.S. commits to another military assault against the country, prices should ease, though there's more than enough uncertainty everywhere for something to set off markets. On the other hand, there's still loads of oil everywhere, keeping a lid on prices, for now.

The U.S. national average for gas at the pump made an abrupt move higher this week, to $2.87, probably due to the major winter storm that's passing through the eastern part of the U.S. It's a tough sell, given that road travel will be severely limited across much of the country, though the speculators are likely looking at supply disruptions as the final arbiter.

California was just two cents higher this week, at $4.21 per gallon, the highest in the nation, though that figure hardly instructive. Washington ($3.82) was a nickel higher, but still leaving the Golden State alone in the $4+ club. Oregon ($3.32), was up four cents. Arizona checked in at $2.96, remaining under $3.00 for the second straight week. The lowest prices remain in the Southeast, though Oklahoma, the low-price leader, was up another 10 cents to $2.39, followed by Louisiana and Mississippi at $2.40, and Texas and Arkansas at $2.41. The remaining Southeast states, from North Carolina west to New Mexico, are all below $2.74, except Florida ($2.85).

In the Northeast, prices were steady and consistent. Only Pennsylvania ($3.01) was above $3.00. New York dropped to $2.94, while Vermont fell to $2.96.

In the midwest region, where the price relief has been significant, Illinois regained the high ground, at $2.95, after Michigan was the highest for only a week and is now at $2.85. Kansas was the lowest ($2.46).

Sub-$3.00 gas was reported in 43 of the lower 48 states, leaving only Califronia, Washington, Nevada, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, at $3.00 or above.

Bitcoin

This week: $88,556.82
Last week: $95,065.81
2 weeks ago: $90,633.20
6 months ago: $117.570.60
One year ago: $105,193.90
Five years ago: $34,293.02

Clown money. Anybody who bought bitcoin - or a host of the other thousands of alt-coins available - in the past year is losing money. Easier gains could have been made in just about any other asset class, expecially stocks and commodities, gold and silver in particular, which have had spectacular gains.

Once bitcoin breaks below $80,000, there's some support in a range from $50-65,000, but, once that is eviscerated, the bottom is either $30,000 or $10,000, or at the very least, a number that would bankrupt Michael Saylor's Strategy (MSTR). Bitcoin fails on most of the important facets of sound money. While it is portable, easily divisible and transferable, transfers are facilitated by exchanges, which other forms of money - cash, gold, silver - do not need.

Beyond that, bitcoin is not a quality store of value, nor a reliable means of exchange. Most people don't save money in bitcoin and very few merchants accept it as payment. As its nominal value continues to descend, fewer and fewer people will see it as either a reasonable investment or replacement currency. Its death is likely to be slow and painful.

Precious Metals

Gold:Silver Ratio: 48.46; last week: 51.09

Futures, per COMEX continuous contracts:

Gold price 12/28: $4,562.00
Gold price 1/2: $4,341,90
Gold price 1/9: $4,518.40
Gold price 1/16: $4,601.10
Gold price 1/23: $4,983.10

Silver price 12/28: $79.68
Silver price 1/2: $72.26
Silver price 1/9: $79.79
Silver price 1/16: $89.94
Silver price 1/23: $103.26

SPOT:
(stockcharts.com)
Gold 12/26: $4,533.00
Gold 1/2: $4,331.09
Gold 1/9: $4,508.08
Gold 1/16: $4,595.42
Gold 1/23: $4,989.23

Silver 12/26: $79.27
Silver 1/2: $72.25
Silver 1/9: $79.34
Silver 1/16: $89.94
Silver 1/23: $102.95

Th gains in precious metals are not likely to stop any time soon. There's enormous speculation that both gold and silver are residing in "overbought" conditions, though the people expressing that opinion are the same ones who said absolutely nothing over the past 56 years about the "oversold" conditions of the very same objects of their attention.

The primary reason that gold and silver will continue to rise against any and all fiat currencies is the absolute, 100% mathematical certainty that said fiat currencies will fail and redound to their intrinsic value of near-ZERO, or, roughly the cost of paper and ink on which the debt notes are printed. Silver has its own catalyst in the manner of a severe supply shortage in which mining has not kept pace with demand for five years running.

While the possibility of a pullback remains, given current conditions globally, any drop in price should be considered temporary and shallow. Central banks still want more gold and without saying so, BRICS and related countries are hell-bent on creating problems for the fiat debt system. Silver's supply imbalance isn't likely to be corrected for at least three to five years, if even by then.

Here are the most recent prices for common one ounce gold and silver items sold on eBay (free shipping included, numismatics excluded):

Item/Price	Low	High	Average	Median
1 oz silver coin:	105.00	130.17	117.01	116.96
1 oz silver bar:	110.00	126.88	117.54	116.48
1 oz gold coin:	5,129.20	5,339.54	5,242.46	5,270.24
1 oz gold bar:	5,149.75	5,268.51	5,204.69	5,201.25

The Single Ounce Silver Market Price Benchmark (SOSMPB) continued its meteoric ascent through the past week, to $117.00, an outsized gain of $16.05 from the January 18 price of $100.95 per troy ounce. The weekly movement reflects wider volatility in world markets and growing retail investment demand in smaller, finished products, from grams to 1/2-ounce, 1-ounce, 5-ounce, and 10-ounce coins and bars.

WEEKEND WRAP

The world is getting closer and closer to a breaking point, which will manifest itself in the usual ways, either in trade wars (already well underway) or shooting wars (also on the radar in Ukraine and the Middle East). All asset classes appear vulnerable, though precious metals remain stalwart and are more likely to improve in price as conditions remain convulsed or worsen. This is a very tough investing environment, which may soon devolve from seeking gains to holding onto them. One cannot rule out the potential for a quick correction, or worse.

That said, markets have become heavily politicized and the money beind most stocks are likely to be desirous of smooth sailing into the 2026 midterm elections. That's still a good nine months off, so there's plenty of time for anything to happen in the interim.

At the Close, Friday, January 23, 2026:
Dow: 49,098.71, -285.30 (-0.58%)
NASDAQ: 23,501.24, +65.22 (+0.28%)
S&P 500: 6,915.61, +2.26 (+0.03%)
NYSE Composite: 22,757.16, -40.00 (-0.18%)

For the Week:
Dow: -260.62 (-0.53%)
NASDAQ: -14.15 (-0.06%)
S&P 500: -24.40 (-0.35%)
NYSE Composite: -49.90 (-0.22%)
Dow Transports: -46.79 (-0.25%)

Disclaimer: Information disseminated on this site should not be construed as investment advice. Downtown Magazine Inc., Money Daily and it's owners, affiliates and/or employees are not investment advisors and do not offer specific investment advice. All investments have risk. You should consult a professional investment advisor or stock broker or use your individual judgement when making investment decisions. By viewing this site, you hold harmless Downtown Magazine Inc., Money Daily, its owners, affiliates and employees against any and all liability. Copyright 2026, Downtown Magazine Inc., all rights reserved.

Stocks Zig-Zag on Greenland Expectations, May Close Out Week in Red; Gold Approaching $5,000, Silver, $100 per Ounce

Despite being only four days long due to the MLK holiday Monday, the current week has been another volatile one, and, heading into Friday, there's a good chance the major stock indices will close well below where they ended the week prior.

Through Thursday's closing bell, the Dow is up a meager 24.68 points, the NASDAQ is down 79.37, and the S&P is off 26.66.

Futures are pointing to a red open while the main catalyst that moved stocks in both directions - Greenland and all that's related to it - remains shrouded in mystery. President Trump declared victory on Wednesday, saying something along the lines of an agreement on a framework had been reached. Stock algorithms reacted in a positive manner, sending prices across markets higher, but, as details began to emerge, Thursday's trading was a bit less enthusiastic.

What Trump referred to was a negotiated agreement between his administration and NATO on securing the rights to have bases on the world's largest island. There was no consultation or involvement with either the government of Greenland or Denmark or the inhabitants on the island itself. The U.S. already has a base on Greenland, Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base that has been operational since 1951 under a NATO framework. It's being assumed that the same kind of agreement - or one similar to Britain's bases on Cyprus, in which the bases are sovereign soil of Great Britain - is going to be worked out in coming days, weeks or months.

The opportunity to operate and/or expand military bases on Greenland was never a part of Trump's quest. He claimed to have wanted the whole island to become U.S. property. Simple negotiations with Denmark probably could have secured the deal that's currently being formulated, but that would not have generated the kind of headlines and swashbuckling image that President Trump and his insider traders preferred. As Trump returned to U.S. soil from his forays at the WEF, the world, Greenland, and stocks are back about where they started.

Stock futures are expressing a bit of regret an hour prior to the open. Dow futures are down 156; NASDAQ futures are off 57 points, and S&P futures are lower by about 10 points.

Reporting fourth quarter results after the close Thursday, Intel (INTC) posted a net loss of $600 million, or 12 cents per diluted share. In the year-ago period, Intel reported a net loss of $100 million, or 3 cents per share. The company also issued soft guidance for rhe first quarter of 2026, sending shares down by as much as 17%.

Capital One (COF) announced earnings per share (EPS) of $3.86, short of the $4.12 expected on Wall Street. Revenue in the quarter totaled $15.58 billion, which exceeded the $15.37 billion consensus forecast of analysts. Shares were down about two percent Friday morning prior to the open.

For its full fiscal year, Capital One reported a profit of $2.45 billion, or $4.03 per share on revenue of $53.43 billion. The company recently completed its $35.30 billion all-stock purchase of former rival Discover Financial Services.

Capital One also announced its acquisition of startup Brex for $5.15 billion, in a 50% cash and 50% stock transaction. Brex is an AI-powered financial technology platform that provides corporate credit cards, expense management, and business accounts for other startups.

While stocks may start out lower on Friday, they may get a boost via rumors or headlines during the day, though it appears the markets are running on fumes presently with the majors close to all-time highs but in need of a catalyst. There aren't any big names reporting earnings on Friday, though next week will be loaded. That's also no guarantee. Stocks that have reported this week and demonstrated solid earnings, like 3M (MMM), DR Horton (DHI), Netflix (NFLX), Ally (ALLY), have sold off.

Among the bright spots were Travelers (TRV), which helped boost the Dow higher, Charles Schwab (SCHW), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and Proctor Gamble (PG). Stock pickers are becoming more discerning on earnings reports with stocks already juiced.

The big story - and one that still isn't getting the amount of coverage it deserves - is in precious metals. Spot silver, as of a half hour before the stock market open, is 50 cents short of $100/ounce. Gold has had another remarkable week, currently sitting at $4938, though it was as high as $4968 earlier Friday morning. Year-to-date - and mind you, this is less than three full weeks in - gold is up 13%, silver, +40%. If those were stocks, there would be open-to-close coverage of them on CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg, but, since they're considered either pet rocks or barbarous relics on Wall Street, crickets.

Keep stacking.

Editor's Note: Since Money Daily HQ is located in the path of the ice storm Mother Nature has planned for the weekend, there's a high expectation that a power outage will occur and could last days. So, in case Sunday's WEEKEND WRAP doesn't appear before 1:00 pm ET, that would be the likely expectations. Stay safe, everybody!

At the Close, Thursday, January 22, 2026:
Dow: 49,384.01, +306.78 (+0.63%)
NASDAQ: 23,436.02, +211.20 (+0.91%)
S&P 500: 6,913.35, +37.73 (+0.55%)
NYSE Composite: 22,797.17, +70.67 (+0.31%)

Markets Buoyed By Trump Davos Drama; Greenland Supposedly Secured by "forever" Deal

There are times when one's interests might best be served by just sitting back and enjoying the show the elites, oligarchs, world leaders at the WEF and the mainstream media are presenting. This may be one of those times.

Just before noon on Wednesday, MarketWatch, that CBS scion of financial wisdom, offered the following headline:

Dow heads for best day in roughly two weeks after Trump's Davos speech

Hilariously, by the time the story became available - because MarketWatch is mostly subscribers only - the NASDAQ was heading toward negative territory and the Dow had given back a third of its gains and was headed even lower. U.S. president Trump's messaging to the assemblage at Davos was all pomp, pump, but little in the way of thump, so U.S. stock traders said, "dump." And that's what they did.

The whole issue over Greenland is a sideshow, somewhat like the Vulcan mind-meld operated by the kids in the class with the lowest math grades, a complete circus. Why Trump seems so intent on securing that immense island of mostly mile-thick ice for the United States may be little more than a parlor trick, designed to twist Europe further into a pretzel-knot from which there is no escape. It might be a masterstroke of Trump's 5D chess, but more likely it is a contorted method to feed Europe more nearly-American dollars in a swap for some equally worthless land and send the mission from Euroland back to home base wiht more money to buy U.S. weapons and give them to Ukraine to fight those nasty Russians.

The Greenland gambit isn't about setting up anti-missile defenses or rare earth elements or even securing shipping lanes. It's about money laundering to the lowest of the low, Europe, to be funneled back to U.S. arms manufacturers. In that regard, it's a rip-roaring success. From Wall Street's perspective, it means almost nothing. Anybody able to take away from Trump's meandering mind-numbing message at Davos anything at all must be hallucinating on very powerful drugs because there was no message other than USA, USA, USA, the usual chest-beating by the world's greatest ape in the jungle of politics.

It's all so tiring, though sometimes, it pays to sit back and enjoy the humor of people taking themselves very seriously. If one is able to just ignore the politicians, the bankers, the noisy mainstream media talking heads, and the stock market - an ambitious task, understand - life becomes much more pleasant and appealing. The biggest decisions might be what to have for lunch or what to do over the weekend.

World politics aside, where they should be, normal, actual thinking people don't really care what the greatest assembly of self-absorbed narcissists in the world really thinks about anything. The WEF has been holding these back-slapping parties for some 50-odd years and well, here we are. It's always the same talk about forming relationships, better understanding, dealing with issues. In the end, little changes, and so it will be with this confab. Lots of huff and puff, but no real stuff. Ya gets what ya pays for, as they say in Brooklyn.

Grinning from broadside ear-to-ear, around 1:00 pm ET, the Wall Street Journal posted the headline:

Stock Market Today: Dow Pares Gains After Trump Speech; Gold Extends Rally

along with a chart showing the three major indices down between 1.5% and 2.5% the past three sessions, up-to-the-minute on Tuesday.

Take that, you MarketWatch smarties.

In the end, though, MarketWatch got the last laugh when stocks jumped just before 2:30 pm ET after Trump announced the "concept of a deal" over Greenland, taking tariffs off the table, live on CNBC, telling Joe Kernan the deal is "forever", as in fairy tales, with Kernan sucking it right up. One can easily imagine that Howard Lutnik and all of Trump's pals made good money up and down all day. International geopolitics has become Peak Clown World. It's even better than the NFL.

Back in the marginal reality that is Wall Street, a bunch of companies reported fourth quarter results.

After the bell Wednesday, Pinnacle Financial (PNFP) missed revenue and EPS estimates and is trading lower by about two percent.

Kinder Morgan (KMI) beat, issued soft guidance and is down less than one percent pre-market. Thursday morning, Proctor & Gamble (PG) reported stronger EPS, but lower gross reveunes, citing soft consumer demand (mind you, in the world's "hottest" country). The stock is trending lower pre-market by one percent. P&G's core gross margin fell for the fifth quarter ‍in a row, partly due to tariffs and investments in different pack sizes to appeal to consumers looking to save money. P&G is trading down from a March 2025 high of 176, at 146/share.

GE Aerospace (GE) is two percent lower after a good quarter, but with slowing revenue growth.

Abbott Labs (ABT) is being slammed in the pre-market, down more than six percent. The company reported earnings in line with expectations, but investors aren't buying its forecasts.

Miner Freeport McMoRan (FCX) is trending flat to lower in the pre-market. The stock is up more than 30% since late November on prospects for gold, silver and other ores. Thursday's move looks like profit-taking.

Another miner, NovaGold (NG), is down 1.5% prior to the opening bell. The company has reported a net loss six years running.

McCormick (MKC) is down more than six percent on EPS of $0.86 vs. analyst expectations of $0.88.

Despite all the red from companies reporting, stock futures are trending higher, supposedly goosed by President Trump announcing the framework of a forever concept deal on Greenland, or something like that. As usual, the headline fed to algos is a positive one, though devoid of detail.

Stock futures are all rising heading into the open. Dow futures: +229; NASDAQ futures, +250; S&P futures, +45.

At 8:30 am ET, the BEA released updated 3rd quarter U.S. GDP, showing the economy expanded at 4.4%. This second estimate follows the initial estimate of 4.3% growth.

The BEA will be releasing the latest PCE Index reading at 10:00 am ET. The last was from September, which showed the index at 2.8% annually. The newest figures will be for November and are expected to show a rise of 0.2% for the month and 2.8% on an annual basis. Inflation remains a threat, which will likely keep the federal funds rate level at next week's FOMC meeting.

Gold and silver got their required weekly beatings a bit earlier than normal (Wednesday instead of Friday), after both traded at fresh highs earlier. Gold traded as high as $4,875 on Wednesday and is currently leveling off around $4,825. Silver was as high as $95.71 and as low as $90.77, now having recovered to a range around $93-94 per ounce. Action in the spot market seems to be indicating shorts unwinding positions and solid fundamentals for both metals.

Looks like the markets are going to attempt to claw back the rest of what they lost on Tuesday.

At the Close, Wednesday, January 21, 2026:
Dow: 49,077.23, +588.64 (+1.21%)
NASDAQ: 23,224.82, +270.50 (+1.18%)
S&P 500: 6,875.62, +78.76 (+1.16%)
NYSE Composite: 22,726.50, +253.29 (+1.13%)

President Trump's Davos Speech Was Just More Blathering and Gaslighting; Japan's Bond Implosion, Gold and Silver Advances Are All That Matters

It's difficult to get a grasp on just who President Trump thought he was addressing in his keynote address at the World Economic Forum this morning in Davos, Switzerland, but he spent most of his time with the the usual gaslighting, boasting the U.S. economy and denigrating Europe, most of whose industrial and political leaders were in attendance.

Among the boasts, the platitudes the president poured upon himself, and the interspersed insults, a few were:

"No inflation, "extraordinarily high economic growth."

"In the last three months, core inflation was just 1.6%"

$18 trillion in investment commitments.

"hottest country anywhere in the world."

"places in Europe are unrecognizable."

"Removed 270,000 bureaucrats."

"slashed the deficit by 27%"

"reduced trade deficit by 77%"

"steel plants are being built all over the country."

"Venezuela will make more money in the next six months than they did in the last 20 years."

"All the major oil companies are going in with us."

"Leading the world in AI by a lot."

"We want Europe to be strong."

"On Greenland, I have tremendous respect for the people of Greenland and the people of Denmark."

"We need it for strategic international security, not for rare earth metals."

"It's the United States alone who can protect this giant peice of land."

"Seeking negotiations to acquire Greenland."

"All we want from Denmark is this land on which we will build the greatest golden dome ever built."

He also talked about battleships. (two may be built in the next five years)

For the most part, it was another campaign speech, even though Mr. Trump cannot run for election again, at least not for the presidency.

Getting back to things that actually matter, stocks took a beating on Tuesday, the worst since October. What stood out was that while stocks were getting what they so richly deserve, gold and silver were absolutely electric. Gold, over the course of January 20th, gained from $4,601 to $4,866, a gain of $265 in just one 24-hour period. Over the same time span, silver rose from $89.94 to $94.34.

Tuesday was a day that was a long time coming. It was a day in which stocks were down greatly and precious metals were up by a huge amount. Tuesday's market activity was an indication of what is happening and what is coming. It is repudiation of paper promises and acceptance of hard assets as the true investable collateral.

Despite all the blather coming out of Davos and President Trump, what really matters are Japan's bond market - which is imploding - gold, and silver.

That's all.