Stocks Stall While Precious Metals Soar

Well, that week-long, pre-holiday buying rush seems to have come and gone now that the three-day weekend has passed, which really isn't surprising, considering how vaporous and baseless the entire five days rally was.

Low volume, as usual, was the telling factor in the melt-up last week and now it's gone, maybe for good. There are no more suckers in the market, or at least not as many as there were a few years ago. One look at today's volume numbers will stamp that as fact. Today might go down as the lowest volume trading day of the year, though there have been so many, it may not, and besides, nobody's keeping score.

One the other hand, precious metals did astonishingly well. There seems to be another shift to safety underway and nothing is safer than gold, and maybe silver, if the price manipulation would ever cease.

Other than the obvious, there was little to report from the exchanges. One wonders how the CNBC anchors manage to stay awake on days like this.

Dow 12,569.87, -12.90 (0.10%)
NASDAQ 2,825.77, +9.74 (0.35%)
S&P 500 1,337.88, -1.79 (0.13%)
NYSE Composite 8,404.63, -20.85 (0.25%)

Advancing issues had a slim advantage over decliners, 3278-3231. On the NASDAQ, there were 149 new highs and 27 new lows. The NYSE new highs beat new lows, 173-7. Combined new highs: 322-34. As mentioned, volume was dismal.

NASDAQ Volume 1,569,571,875.00
NYSE Volume 3,676,082,750

The real action was in commodities. Oil surged again, gaining $1.95, to close the day at $96.89. Gold was boosted $30.10, to $1,512.70, while silver gained an inordinate $1.70, to finish at $35.41.

The world still waits for the congress and president to decide on whether or not to raise the debt ceiling. Both houses remain in session, even though the week is usually reserved for yet another undeserved week-long vacation. With any luck, congress will allow the government to borrow to its heart's content before the NFL settles their issues.

Truthfully, more people are concerned about the NFL season than the debt limit. Obviously, one can live without a functioning currency, but Sundays without pro football is an unthinkabel reality that nobody seriously wants to consider.