April Jobs Come in at 266,000, Missing Expectation of 1 Million; Futures Down, Gold, Silver Surge

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high on Thrusday with the S&P 500 falling just 10 points shy of its own record (4,211.47, April 29) and the NASDAQ finally back with a positive close after losing 500 points over the past four sessions.

The NYSE Composite also closed at a record level, surpassing its previous high of 16,376.00 from April 29.

New all-time highs have become rather routine over the past three, five, ten years. Stocks just seem to have a magical levitational ability that sets them apart from other asset classes, except maybe some cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the newest darling, Dogecoin. Bitcoin has been the best-performing asset over the past 10 years, easily beating everything else.

Meanwhile, precious metals have languished. While gold made a fresh all-time high back in August, it has since fallen from over $2000 an ounce to under $1700, but recently has bounced off those levels and on Thursday headed back above $1800. Silver never even got to $30 an ounce, not even close to its record price of $48.70 from 2011, the anniversary of the all-time high having just passed last week (April 30, 2011).

On Thursday, silver managed to close in New York above $27 an ounce for the first time since January. Speculators, dealers, miners, stackers and just about anybody who keeps tabs on silver appreciated the move. Silver is undeniably the most undervalued asset on the planet. Everything else is going up, up, up, like lumber, food, used cars, except for silver, which, truth be told, is actual money even though it also has industrial uses.

It's well known that central bankers and bullion banks have to keep a lid on gold and they've done well with that. They've exceeded all expectations in their efforts to keep silver prices depressed. It's been said in previous notes of Money Daily that central bankers hate (and fear) silver more than gold. That's not going to change. But their grip on the price seems to be slipping, little by little, as more and more individuals appreciate its fineness, durability, and, eventually, its use as a measurement of exchange, i.e., money.

Whether the price of gold's kissing cousin ever does rise to levels compatible with the runaway inflation in everything else remains to be seen. It's not like the bullion banks, central banks, LBMA, and futures riggers are going to abandon their pricing scheme any time soon. Market forces, however, are putting pressure on the retail end of things. Supply shortages at retail have occurred twice in the past year. First, in the initial stage of the virus scare back in March of 2010, dealers ran dry of supply, forcing higher premiums and shipping delays. The reddit-inspired silver squeeze in January of this year caused supplies to dry up again and they have persisted. Premiums are still high, though supply seems to be in a sweet spot for dealers. Most, if not all, online dealers are capable of delivering in timely manners.

Though the price of silver hasn't really moved much of late, it may not be a bad idea to pick some up at the current relatively bargain prices. If anything, the price is stable, which is more than can be said about any other asset, all of which seem to be going up these days. There are biases among goldbugs and crypto adherents, but, having a diverse mix of alternative assets is usually a good idea and silver should be included, keeping in mind that the alternatives are not supposed to be investment vehicles, per se, but rather, stores of value.

Moving on, futures for Friday were higher in anticipation of the April non-farm payroll report, which was supposed to deliver blockbuster results of more than a million new jobs created over the course of the month.

The number came out moments ago at 266,000, missing expectations by a country mile and a half. March's non-farm payroll gain was also revised sharply lower, showing a gain of 770,000 versus the 916,000 previously reported.

Maybe all the stimulus and enhanced unemployment benefits are keeping people from returning to work? Dow futures fell from +95 to -50 on the jobs announcement. Gold and silver moved sharply higher. Keep an eye out today on 10 and 30-year treasury yields. Yields below 1.50% and 2.20%, respectively, could be in the cards.

Stocks look to close out the week with a bang of some kind, though possibly not the kind expected.

Happy trading. Look for Money Daily's regular WEEKEND WRAP around 10:00 am ET, Sunday morning. Weather permitting (j/k).

At the Close, Thursday, May 6, 2021:
Dow: 34,548.53, +318.19 (+0.93%)
NASDAQ: 13,632.84, +50.42 (+0.37%)
S&P 500: 4,201.62, +34.03 (+0.82%)
NYSE: 16,459.60, +111.19 (+0.68%)