Money Daily

Sunday, August 30, 2026

WEEKEND WRAP: No Go Jackson Hole; Gold, Silver Slammed on COMEX, Retail Not Playing Along; Oil, Gas Prices Trending Lower; Credit Risky

(Editor's note: A power outage from roughly 10:00 am - 3:30 pm ET Sunday prevented the completion of the WEEKEND WRAP in a reasonable manner. This is the best for now. Apologies for any inconvenience.)

Jackson Hole has come and gone. Glad that’s over. From a Broadway production perspective, the keynote address by Fed Chair Keven Warsh at the Wyoming Symposium was a big flop. It didn’t come close to living up to the hype, which should have been expected. Warsh isn’t a blabbermouth. He’s not going to give Wall Street what it so dearly desires: an advance look at Fed policy with which to front run.

However, the Wall Street blurb machine has to have something upon which to hang its hat, and it’s usually noise, which is exactly what Jackson Hole is all about: sending messages only the rubes can hear, like an economic dog whistle. Most everybody with skin in the game ignores it. Real decisions are made behind closed doors, as they always have been. Warsh is returning the Federal Reserve to its secrecy roots.

At least congress is still out of session, and for that, everybody is relieved. Lindsay Graham is still dead and with his demise, some of the neocon rhetoric dies daily.

There’s plenty to be positive about, including the state of affairs in the Middle East, where oil shipments are beginning to pass through the straight of Hormuz at a higher rate, precluding what may have been a regional conflagration and global economic disaster.

The week ahead will be punctuated with the August Non-farm Payroll report from the BLS on Friday, likely to be overshadowed by the start of the NFL and college football seasons.

More noise, less signal, less sense.

Stocks

Stocks were higher through the week despite minor pullbacks, mostly contained within the NASDAQ tech complex. Most of August has been boring. The last week and the first few days of September, heading to the Labor Day weekend aren’t likely to be very dramatic.

It’s the week after that when things will be getting a bit more interesting. Congress has work to do (which they won’t), and the next two months will be filled with the cacophonous sounds of electioneering campaigns.

The Republican Party, in an effort to overturn history, seeks to hold its majority in the House and Senate. It’s a long shot, as most of the time the party in power loses seats, but they’ve got their chief carnival barker, President Trump, pulling out all the stops, such as he did last week with the announcement of the 100-year lease with Venezuela’s oil fields and the renaming of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

The President, full of cheap parlor tricks, is likely to do everything in his power to convince the American public that the world is just peachy keen, there’s nothing to worry about and stocks will continue to move higher and higher, at least until the first week of November.

That’s when investors may begin to get a little nervous about the bloated stock prices, the AI transformation, and the hidden, brewing, private credit collapse. America is undergoing a major transformation. There are broken promises and shadow lending companies on the ropes, leading to a larger meltdown at major banks, which have loads of bad loans warehoused on and off their dodgy books. The financial sector, which drives the economy, is a mirage. There are potholes and falling bridges galore, neatly hidden from view by crafty accountants, harkening back to inglorious days of Enron, the Dotcom crash and he sub-prime crisis.

Another crisis is already making its way through the pipeline. It may emerge as an October surprise, or it could be delayed until after the midterms. In the case that new highs aren’t made on the major indices before October, it’s almost an are bet that something big is on its way. As usual, the big question is timing. Before November 3rd, or after?

Either way, look for institutions to start building out protection schemes rather than shooting stocks higher. That would be the tip-off.

There will be a few more companies reporting second quarter results in the week ahead.

Monday: (before open) BiolineRX (BLRX)

Tuesday: (before open) Medtronic (MDT), Yext (YEXT); (after close) PaloAlto Networks (PANW), GitLab (GTLB), Dell (DELL), Sportsman’s Warehouse (SPWH)

Wednesday: (before open) Ollie’s (OLLI), Daktronics (DAKT); (after close) Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Five Below (FIVE), Broadcom (AVGO)

Thursday: (before open) Victoria’s Secret (VSXY), Toro (TTC), Land’s End (LE), Ciena (CIEN) ; (after close) Docusign (DOCU), Asana (ASAN), Lululemon (LULU), ZScaler (ZS)

Employment will be the focus of data drops in the week ahead, with the monthly JOLTS release on Tuesday, along with ISM manufacturing PMIs. Wednesday it's ADP's turn to jangle some nerves with its monthly jobs data. Thursday's initial and continuing jobless claims precede the big event Friday, the BLS August Non-Farm Payrolls report.

Relevant data releases can be found at Trading View.

Treasury Yield Curve Rates

Date	1 Mo	1.5 mo	2 Mo	3 Mo	4 Mo	6 Mo	1 Yr
07/24/2026	3.80	3.88	3.95	3.96	4.04	4.08	4.14
07/31/2026	3.78	3.80	3.85	3.83	3.92	3.98	4.08
08/07/2026	3.79	3.79	3.83	3.87	3.89	3.96	4.01
08/14/2026	3.79	3.80	3.81	3.86	3.88	3.95	3.98
08/21/2026	3.80	3.77	3.80	3.88	3.90	3.95	4.03
08/28/2026	3.84	3.83	3.86	3.90	3.94	4.02	4.15

Date	2 Yr	3 Yr	5 Yr	7 Yr	10 Yr	20 Yr	30 Yr
07/17/2026	4.18	4.21	4.28	4.40	4.55	5.07	5.06
07/24/2026	4.33	4.36	4.43	4.55	4.69	5.18	5.16
07/31/2026	4.28	4.34	4.45	4.59	4.75	5.28	5.27
08/07/2026	4.19	4.25	4.35	4.49	4.65	5.20	5.19
08/14/2026	4.17	4.24	4.36	4.51	4.68	5.25	5.25
08/21/2026	4.24	4.31	4.43	4.57	4.74	5.25	5.27
08/28/2026	4.34	4.41	4.48	4.59	4.73	5.21	5.22

Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh has been overshadowed - perhaps intentionally - by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has been on a month-long media tour touting his intervention on the Japanese yen, his version of operation twist, buying back government debt issuance, and declaring economic D-Day against those savages in Iran.

Bessent is nobody’s fool, but a fool knows himself. His short-term fixes to what are essentially long term problems are going to solve nothing in terms of the overcrowded treasury market or the massive debt and deficits of the uniparty in Washington. He’s applying salves and bandages to the credit markets on a piecemeal manner without any overriding long range plan and he knows it.

Warsh is likely all too happy to allow Bessent to do the heavy lifting, leaving the Fed off the hook for a change. The upcoming FOMC meeting in three weeks will be a nail-biter for some, with the Fed continuing to make noise about controlling inflation and possibly raising the federal funds target rate. It’s not likely to happen. If anything has been learned from Warsh’s short time as the head of the Fed, it’s that he’s not a boat-rocker. There’s also some consideration given to the fact that he was appointed by the current resident of the White House. Should he decide to raise rates, the howls from the Oval Office would be deafening.

A rate hike before the midterms seems like a long shot, and one afterwards would be an even greater complaint. The Fed is almost certain to stand pat on rates until 2027, though the late October and early December FOMC meetings.

Noticeably, 10-year and 30-year yields are back near where they were a month ago, despite Bessent's meddling. Spreads have compressed, with 2s-10s at +39 and full spectrum down nine basis points to +138. Should the 10-year continue to be controlled by Bessent's actions, an inversion may occur as more buyers seek shorter term maturities. Over the past two weeks, 2s have risen by 17 basis points, the 10-year by only five. Notably, one-month bills have risen to their highest yield since December 4, 2025. With many big bank analysts predicting a raise in rates at the September 15-16 FOMC meeting, maybe the worry - and it certainly is for the government - should be more focused on short term rates.

Spreads:

2s-10s
2026
1/2: +72
1/9: +64
1/16: +65
1/23: +64
1/30: +74
2/6: +72
2/13: +64
2/20: +60
2/27: +59
3/6: +59
3/13: +55
3/20: +51
3/27: +56
4/3: +51
4/10: +50
4/17: +55
4/24: +53
5/1: +51
5/8: +48
5/15: +50
5/22: +43
5/29: +47
6/5: +38
6/12: +37
6/18: +27
6/26: +31
7/2: +35
7/10: +35
7/17: +37
7/24: +36
7/31: +47
8/7: +46
8/14: +51
8/21: +50
8/28: +39

Full Spectrum (30-days - 30-years)
2026
1/2: +114
1/9: +112
1/16: +108
1/23: +104
1/30: +115
2/6: +113
2/13: +97
2/20: +100
2/27: +90
3/6: +102
3/13: +115
3/20: +123
3/27: +124
4/3: +120
4/10: +124
4/17: +119
4/24: +122
5/1: +126
5/8: +124
5/15: +141
5/22: +135
5/29: +127
6/5: +130
6/12: +128
6/18: +121
6/26: +117
7/2: +128
7/10: +135
7/17: +133
7/24: +136
7/31: +149
8/7: +140
8/14: +146
8/21: +147
8/28: +138

Oil/Gas

With the situation in the Middle East cooling, crude oil prices dropped over the course of the week to a closing price of $83.44 as of Friday. President Trump and his henchman, Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary, all but declared victory in the war with Iran. Maybe they did, but their truth is far removed from reality. The Iran war was a massive mistake and the U.S. is bowing out gracefully before it is forcibly removed by now-hostile forces in the region, including the Arab states that did not take kindly to America’s broken promise to protect them.

According to the White House, now that the U.S. has secured a deal with Venezuela for their oil, the county no longer needs the Persian Gulf supply. At least that’s what is going to be presented to the American public. Trump will quietly take the loss, call it a win, and move on to the midterms, which is all that really matters, anyway.

If there is resolution in the Middle East, no matter how it occurs, the result will be lower oil ands prices. Expect WTI crude to fall back into a range around $65-75 per barrel, maybe lower, prior to November. Gas at the pump should decline gradually, settling out around $3.25 per gallon, just in time for the elections.

Average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline in the U.S. was $4.06 last week and $4.03 this week, dropping from the highest Sunday price in five weeks. Peace prospects in the Middle East continue to be pursued, oil flows improving.

Gas prices in key states:

California (leader): $5.65 (+0.05)
Washington: $5.24 (0.00)
Indiana: $3.38 (lowest) (-0.13)
Oklahoma: $3.64 (-0.15)
Louisiana: $3.63 (-0.05)
Mississippi: $3.59 (-0.04)
Florida: $3.85 (+0.03)
Illinois: $4.24 (-0.13)
Pennsylvania: $4.21 (+0.05)
New York: $4.17 (+0.05)
Maryland: $3.91 (-0.08)
Michigan: $4.15 (-0.03)
Texas: $3.57 (-0.02)
Georgia: $3.73 (-0.05)

On Sunday, April 30th, there are twenty-three (23) states with average prices at or above $4.00, with twenty-five (25) below the $4 threshold, not including Hawaii ($5.40) and Alaska ($4.82), with two above $5 (California and Washington). The Southeast has maintained as the lowest region overall over the past 12 weeks as a gallon of unleaded regular is averaging below $4.00 ($3.57-3.74) in places like Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, and Mississippi, with the Midwest region second, prices ranging from $3.77 to $4.01. Exceptions include Florida in the Southeast and Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois in the Midwest. Prices in the Northeast rose slightly this week, with most states averaging above $4.00.

Bitcoin

This week: $78,862.44
Last week: $77,297.70
2 weeks ago: $63,223.08
6 months ago: $67,356.82
One year ago: $107,694.34
Five years ago: $49,938.51

Despite the dramatic rise in crypto overall the past few weeks, Bitcoin, even at $80,000, remains more than 30% below previous highs. It’s all speculation, largely based on the quaint notion that bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are private, anonymous, and about to replace the US$ as a medium of exchange.

Arguably, that is a laughable notion.

Precious Metals

Gold:Silver Ratio: 67.14; last week: 66.84

Futures, per COMEX continuous contracts:

Gold price 7/31: $4,098.60
Gold price 8/7: $4,401.30
Gold price 8/14: $4,432.00
Gold price 8/21: $4,661.60
Gold price 8/28: $4,504.10

Silver price 7/31: $57.78
Silver price 8/7: $63.80
Silver price 8/14: $64.82
Silver price 8/21: $69.01
Silver price 8/28: $67.09

SPOT: (stockcharts.com)
Gold 7/31: $4,042.00
Gold 8/7: $4,340.72
Gold 8/14: $4,375.15
Gold 8/21: $4,609.49
Gold 8/28: $4,454.08

Silver: 7/31: $57.55
Silver 8/7: $63.56
Silver 8/14: $64.68
Silver 8/21: $68.96
Silver 8/28: $66.34

Something odd happened in the precious metals markets this week. Despite the massive drop on Friday, caused by little more than naked shorting at the COMEX, retail prices actually stayed roughly the same for finished goods, in some cases - as seen in the weekly eBay survey below - actually rising.

The question is whether gold and silver buyers at the retail end, and the dealers that serve them, are ignoring fluctuations in the Western markets and relying more on instinct and even pricing in other regions, like China, India, Hong Kong, and Dubai. That appears to be the case presently, but it will take more than a few days or even weeks of price data to be sure that retail has been awakened to a new reality that is more dependent on physical pricing than derivative fiction.

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:	65.99	81.00	75.88	77.82
1 oz silver bar:	76.87	84.45	80.56	80.64
1 oz gold coin:	4500.00	4877.47	4690.02	4675.65
1 oz gold bar:	4632.31	4739.33	4676.62	4664.13

The Single Ounce Silver Market Price Benchmark (SOSMPB) continued its advance for a fifth straight week, closing out at $78.73, an upside move of $1.30 per troy ounce from the August 23 price of $77.43.

WEEKEND WRAP

At times, Money Daily has made reference to noise versus signal when it comes to investing and trading. The week just past was a near-perfect display of how much noise actually influences trading in stocks and even in the credit markets.

Kevin Warsh’s speech at Jackson Hole was purported to offer clues to the Fed’s direction concerning interest rates, and, with that, give some hints to stock traders. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Warsh’s speech offered nothing in the way of actionable insight, but rather an outline of the Fed’s approach to handling policy. There was no signal, other than the new paradigm at the Fed of being quiet and unobtrusive. That was the real takeaway from Jackson Hole, and most of the Wall Street noisemakers missed it.

Real signals are often difficult to discern, even in the best of times. In a period in which the truth is difficult, if not impossible, to define, due diligence should be preferred over sound-bites from TV clips or analysis by big bank shills.

One’s own gut feelings may provide better ideas. Take a look around. What do you see?

At the Close, Friday, August 28, 2026:
Dow: 53,559.99, -9.45 (-0.02%)
NASDAQ: 26,402.42, -138.93 (-0.52%)
S&P 500: 7,711.76, -19.23 (-0.25%)
NYSE Composite: 24,585.18, -63.85 (-0.26%)

For the Week:
Dow: +282.98 (+0.53%)
NASDAQ: +221.96 (+0.85%)
S&P 500: +37.39 (+0.49%)
NYSE Composite: +143.49 (+0.58%)
Dow Transports: -191.51 (-0.89%)

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.

Friday, August 28, 2026

Jackson Hole Post-Mortem: Warsh Remarks Inconsequential; Market Disappointment Seen in Late Sell-off; Gold, Silver Victimized

There was nothing even close to controversial or market-moving in Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh's keynote address at the Jackson Hole Symposium earlier today.

Thus, stocks initially rose in the 30 to 45 minutes after the speech but quickly sold off, leading to a flat finish for the Dow, and lower ends for the S&P 500 and NASDAQ.

With inflation concerns remaining a feature of the Warsh Fed, longer-dated maturities in the treasury market saw yields rise, the 30-year up to 5.20%, and the benchmark 10-year note hitting 4.72%.

The worst performance was seen in precious metals, though there wasn't exactly correlation or any overt relation to the Fed Chairman's speech. Gold fell $144, to $4.456, while silver was battered down from a high of $71.22 to support at $66.00, a drop of more than four percent on the day. While some traders may consider the losses in gold and silver due to higher interest rates, the relationship does't hold water when inflation is figured into the mix.

At the close of the week, it's still apparent that most of the trading operates on noise rather than signal and the LBMA/COMEX brotherhood of repression takes every opportunity to suppress prices for precious metals, regardless of market circumstances. Stocks finished the week with gains while precious metals, which had broken through resistance just earlier in the day, were beaten back to relative supports.

Most of the trading had little to nothing to do with Jackson Hole, the Fed, or Chairman Warsh's hush-hush style. There's more than ample noise in the markets with which to persuade nubes and rubes into wrong-footed positions.

See you Sunday for the WEEKEND WRAP.

World Readies for Warsh Address at Jackson Hole; Oil Flows Through Strait of Hormuz Improving; Silver Breaks Through Resistance, Heads Higher

With Fed Chair Kevin Warsh queued up for the Jackson Hole speech at 10:00 am ET today, some tidbits of information are worth consideration.

Perhaps most important are reports coming out of the Middle East (now known as West Asia) that oil transiting through theStrait of Hormuz has increased dramatically over the past few days. A Bloomberg article via Yahoo! Finance cites Goldman Sachs saying that oil is flowing through the Strait at 2/3rds of pre-war levels. Considering the source and the reporting outlets, the rosy assessment ought to be received with a dose of skepticism.

Whatever the case may be in the war-torn region, there appears to be improvement in the overall tone between the conflicted countries about oil supplies flowing through the region, a positive sign for President Trump and the Republican prospects for the upcoming midterms. WTI crude oil is quoted at just above $82/barrel in the futures market, though gas prices at the pump remain a drag on consumer spending. If oil, deisel, and gas prices experience some relief, the U.S. economy

On the earnings front, retailers Dollar General (DG), DollarTree (DLTR), Best Buy (BBY), Burlington (BURL), and Gap Inc. (GAP) all reported positive second quarter results over the past 24 hours. Gap shares are trading 18% higher in the pre-market. The company reported an EPS beat despite missing on the revenue side.

The second estimate for second quarter GDP came in at the same level as the initial estimate, with the U.S. economy growing at 1.5%. Durable goods orders increased by 1.1% in July, topping estimates.

Stock futures are hugging the flat line with Dow and S&P futures up marginally and NASDAQ futures down just 33 points a half hour before the opening bell.

Gold is hovering around $4,600, but silver broke through resistance overnight and has traded as high as $71.07 this morning on the spot market. Stocks, interest rates, and precious metals are likely to be affected by Warsh's speech, though the thrust of his pronouncements may be more noise rather than signal. The real signals are coming from Scott Bessent's Treasury Department, hell-bent on keeping long term interest rates (10s out to 30s) tamped down at least until the midterms. Also contributing are massive U.S. deficits, lower tax revenues, and an economy booming on the heels of the AI buildout.

Money Daily will return with a recap of the Warsh speech and market reaction later today.

At the Close, Thursday, August 27, 2026:
Dow: 53,569.44, +105.56 (+0.20%)
NASDAQ: 26,541.35, +411.15 (+1.57%)
S&P 500: 7,730.99, +55.29 (+0.72%)
NYSE Composite: 24,649.03, -93.05 (-0.38%)

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Nvidia Results Set Up Mini Tech Rally; Markets Remain in Doldrums Awaiting Warsh Speech at Jackson Hole Friday; Gold, Silver Lower After Hitting Resistance

While the world awaits Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh's keynote address at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday, Nvidia delivered another solid earnings report which appears to be fueling a tech rally as the opening bell approaches Thursday morning.

Investors have sent Nvidia (NVDA) shares 13% higher in pre-market trading, based on the company's reported second quarter results and strong forward guidance. The chip-maker reported beats on the top and bottom lines for the quarter and looks forward to a robust second half of 2026. Investors in the tech/AI rollout appear eager to put their money to work with Nvidia. Since hitting an all-time high of 235.74 on May 14th, the stock has languished, dropping as low as 190 in late July. It finished Wednesday's session at 209.66, and may appear to be a bargain to some, despite a PE ratio above 30.

The earnings report comes at a moment that is conflicted, with Warsh's speech on Friday and continuing geo-political issues clouding the horizon in the Middle East and Ukraine. Were it not for the timing, Nvidia may have been poised for a breakout to new highs, and that still could be the case, though not likely today.

Reported Wednesday morning, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index rose 3.3% in July on a "core" basis, which excludes volatile food and energy prices. That was in line with expectations and at the same level as June. Month over month, prices rose 0.2%, also in line with expectations and up from 0.1% in June.

The numbers comprising the PCE have the Fed somewhat on edge, with inflation still running fairly hot, though analysts have noted that the rate of change on inflation is slowing. If that proves to be a longer term trend and not just a one-off fluctuation, the Fed would have little reason to raise rates to slow the inflation monster that has plagued the U.S. economy since 2020.

Whatever the case, there's reason to believe that Warsh will reveal any inkling of the Fed's preferred direction on rates. He's been tight-lipped from the start of his chairmanship a few months ago and there appears to be no reason that he would stray from his established style.

The assembled economists, speculators, and financial players at Jackson Hole may come away with little more than party favors and souvenirs come Friday. Warsh isn't going to tip his hand, so the market will have to rely on good old momentum and FOMO for the time being.

There's not a lot to go on other than the continuation of the tech ~~bubble~~ rally, and that comes with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Approaching the open, stock futures are a mixed bag, with NASDAQ futures up 260; S&P futures up 25 points and Dow futures down 80.

Gold and silver continue to retreat from recent highs, silver finding resistance at $69/ounce and gold stopping out just above $4,600. For now, it appears that even the metals markets are on hold in front of the Warsh address.

Interest rates have mellowed since Scott Bessent's announcement that Treasury would buy back more of its issuance at a faster rate. Ten-year notes are yielding 4.66% and 30-year bond yields are holding around 5.19%.

So far, the week hasn't produced much excitement other than the Nvidia results, but, with August coming to a close and congress due back in session after Labor Day, there's sure to be more interest after the holiday, implying that next week might also be a little short on thrills.

At the Close, Wednesday, August 26, 2026:
Dow: 53,463.88, -113.52 (-0.21%)
NASDAQ: 26,130.20, -21.10 (-0.08%)
S&P 500: 7,675.70, -1.58 (-0.02%)
NYSE Composite: 24,742.07, -26.58 (-0.11%)

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

Markets Stalled in Anticipation of Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole Speech Friday; Nvidia Cues Up Earnings Report After the Bell; Gold, Silver Test Resistance

If it seems as if everything is on hold until Friday's Jackson Hole keynote address by Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh (10:00 am ET), it's probably because it is.

The Chairman's speech at the annual Symposium in Wyoming s normally a seminal event at which movers and shakers in the financial world hope to glean some tidbits of knowledge about the general economic condition of the world and the U.S. in particular and how the Federal Reserve plans to respond with policy.

While that may not be exactly the case with the tight-lipped Warsh, there is still great anticipation concerning his remarks, given the unstable conditions that exist around the world today. The Chairman is not likely to give away any secrets, but discerning participants believe what he has to say will have a large impact on shaping the policies of the Federal Reserve for the coming six to 18 months.

That's important because if he leans toward fighting inflation by tightening or towards keeping the economy running smoothly by keeping policy loose, makes all the difference in the world. More nuanced might be his opinions on energy resources, employment, AI, and a host of other issues, from geo-politics to domestic matters, and everything in between.

There's no doubt that Warsh's speech will be important, but maybe markets are overdoing it. The days of an almighty Fed, by which a mere utterance or small change in a policy statement might send markets reeling or soaring, are over. Warsh has made that clear in his first two press conferences. There will be no tipping off, no forward guidance, and no front-running based on his remarks. The best one can hope for is a little bit of insight into which way the Fed is leaning. Given that, investors may want to get on with their usual business and gauge markets for what they are.

In those terms, stocks are generally trading at nose-bleed levels, which has become standard practice since the GFC in 2008-09. The perception that the markets are undergirded by various entities ranging from the PPT (President's Working Group on Financial Markets, or, Plunge Protection Team), and more recently the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF), which does precisely what the name implies, intervenes in financial markets to keep everything nce and tidy, without one currency or another going ballistic or imploding. The ESF was a primary mover in the recent intervention on the Japanese yen. Funds were deloyed and a swap agreement devised to keep the yen from further devaluation without forcing the BoJ to sell U.S. treasuries.

The mechanisms and others allow for the markets to function without obvious guardrails and also subvert the true meaning of "free" or "open" markets. Today's stock and bond markets are highly orchestrated. Nobody wants a crash, a meltdown, or even a correction, though these same entities see nothing at all wrong with keeping stocks at extremes or lowering interest rates to nearly zero, as was the case through most of the 2010s and beyond.

Financial journalists have bought into the idea that Warsh's Jackson Hole speech is going to set the tone for markets. Good for them. That kind of propaganda is good for ratings and advertising rates, or so it would appear. Those with a more adult attitude (and maybe a little skeptical as well) about money, finance, and investing, will want to look beyond speeches and rhetoric and focus on actual facts, fundamentals, and due diligence. That's what makes markets.

Given the current landscape, markets are going to be influenced more by the politics of the midterm elections and the price of gas at the pump than any mouthing by Fed officials. Policies of the Federal Reserve may be more deterministic than generally understood. They are reactive rather than proactive. Action "on the ground", so to speak, has more to do with day-to-day swings in prices and attitudes than any bellowing from ivory towers.

Approaching Wednesday's opening bell, markets remain subdued and under the influence of the upcoming "big talk." Stock futures are hanging slightly lower; precious metals have slipped below resistance points, with gold just above $4,600 and silver steadying around $68 per troy ounce. WTI crude oil has dropped for $88 to around $80 per barrel over the last few days on more rumors, wishful thinking, and innuendo about a resolution between the U.S., it's Arab partners and Iran.

Today's waiting game involves not just Jackson Hole, but Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, which reports after the close.

Somewhere on a veranda in the clouds, Paul Volker, Adam Smith, and King Midas are having cigars, brandy, and a good laugh.

At the Close, Tuesday, August 25, 2026:
Dow: 53,577.40, +160.24 (+0.30%)
NASDAQ: 26,151.30, +171.11 (+0.66%)
S&P 500: 7,677.28, +24.42 (+0.32%)
NYSE Composite: 24,768.65, +42.01 (+0.17%)

Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Bessent Launches Economic D-Day; Markets Moan; Dick's Sporting Goods Falling to 2 1/2-Year Lows; Gold, Silver Lower; Crude Oil Remains Bid

OK, let's just destroy Iran economically, since the mighty United States military couldn't bomb those savage Persians into submission.

That is the clear message that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been sounding off about for the past few weeks and days, and on Monday, he announced it in public at a well-rehearsed press conference, telling U.S. allies and enemies alike that if they aid the Iranians in any way, there will be hell to pay in the form of sanctions and elimination from the U.S. banking system, SWIFT, and probably more pain to come, maybe forty lashes or something along the lines of pirating behavior.

The Iranians are not exactly quaking in their boots. In fact, a number of their leaders were openly defiant, claiming that if harm comes to their economic partners, there would be military retaliation against U.S. interests.

China made no bones about it, expressing their right to do business with whomever they please. Both President Trump and Secretary Bessent backed away from antagonizing the largest U.S. trading partner. Apparently, sanctions are only for countries that aren't already doing business with the U.S.

So, the drama continues. The Strait of Hormuz remans closed. Over at the COMEX, oil futures are being played like a concertina, and Wall Street didn't seem to like the idea very much, but, having the memory of a gnat, they'll be back to pushing equity prices higher, as Tuesday morning's stock futures are suggesting.

Approaching the opening bell, Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) isn't feeling very sporty after releasing second quarter results that oddly resembled WNBA attendance figures, missing on the top and bottom, sending out bad vibes with lowered guidance, and generally grieving about the state of the not-so-sporty Americans that find their prices just a little too high, even with back-to-school season in full swing.

With 30 minutes until the opening bell, Dick's stock is down some 18 percent. about to crash down to a level not seen since January, 2024.

The rest of the market seems to want to ignore the idea that consumers are tapped out and the price of gas at the pump is curtailing discretionary purchases in a big way. High inflation and high costs of just getting by can produce demand destruction, and Dick's, along with other retailers that have recently reported, such as Walmart, Target, an Lowe's, are feeling the pinch.

Heading toward the open, stock futures are higher, with Dow futures up 236, NASDAQ futures up 233, and S&P futures ahead by 29 points.

Gold and silver are taking a break from their relentless three-week-long rally. It was only a matter of time before the riggers and suppressors at the COMEX and LBMA would step in and short the metals. Apparently, their efforts are underway. Brent and WTI crude remain stubbornly at elevated levels. It's not so easy to keep a lid on prices when there's almost no crude flowing through the Persian Gulf.

Meanwhile, in Moscow and Beijing, precious metals carry a premium over Western quoted prices and they look forward to the United States kicking a few more countries off the SWIFT system. The BRICS countries welcome such developments.

At the Close, Monday, August 24, 2026:
Dow: 53,417.16, +140.16 (+0.26%)
NASDAQ: 25,980.19, -200.31 (-0.77%)
S&P 500: 7,652.86, -21.51 (-0.28%)
NYSE Composite: 24,726.64, -2.03 (-0.01%)

Monday, August 24, 2026

WEEKEND WRAP: The Week Scott Bessent Lost Control of Credit; Gold, Silver Respond with Massive Gains; Stocks Slump; Gas at the Pump Higher

The week just past may have been the most consequential of the year.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's Wednesday announcement that his department would commence repurchasing its own bonds in larger amounts with greater frequency - a decision made to help tamp down rising yields - set off a firestorm in the debt markets and sent precious metals soaring.

Coming just a day after total U.S. broke through $40 trillion, Bessent's maneuver and his yen swap line creation three weeks ago, set an unruly tone in treasuries and other major funding sources. With international appetite for treasuries waning and the AI infrastructure funding crowding out treasuries, yields on 10-year notes and 30-year bonds had reached crisis levels, the yield on the 30-year at a 19-year high, a far cry from the QE experiments of Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen, whose efforts toward ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) decimated the value of the dollar and eventually resulted in the highest inflation since the 1970s.

Bessent alone isn't going to be able to reverse an already unstable course for the treasury market. Rather than instill a feeling that he is helping to stabilize the bond market, his actions reek of fear and panic, a signal the markets are sure to take very seriously. By the end of the week, yield on 30-year bonds had fallen from a high of 5.34% to 5.27%, but the 10-year failed to get the memo, dropping on Wednesday's announcement only to head right back up, Friday's closeout figure standing at 4.74%.

In addition to Bessent's ham-handed attempt at easing an out-of-control situation, conditions in the ongoing Mideast conflict remained unresolved, with the United States on its back foot, still threatening economic or military destruction of Iran while the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz remained largely cut off. With the Yemeni Houthis wresting control of Red Sea transit, the balance of power in the region has shifted in favor of Iran and Oman, with Arab countries mulling prospects of decoupling with the United States.

Since the U.S. has failed to protect the Gulf states, the Saudis, Kuwaitis, and other countries like the UAE and Qatar are not exactly what one might call reliable allies in the region. These conditions sent Brent and WTI crude futures to their highest levels in nearly a month, with prospects for further gains now heavily dependent on resolution to the closing of international choke-points. The Strait of Hormuz being the most important passageway for oil and other important industrial commodities such as sulfur and helium.

These developments spilled over into markets ina very big way and are also threatening to have lasting effects on the lives of ordinary citizens in the U.S. and Europe especially.

The biggest laughs of the week came from Secretary Bessent and President Trump, both of who insisted that the U.S. could grow its way oout of debt.

Bessent, Thursday, on CNBC: “…There’s nothing magic about the $40 trillion number. And we can grow our way out of that. So, but what we do want to signal is, I think that there’s been a lot of misinformation in terms of what’s going on with the deficit, what’s going on with the deficit to GDP.”

Trump, Wednesday, at the White House: “We could have GDP of 10, 12, 15 times if they just leave us alone. Let interest rates go down. It’s a very unfair system. They should drop interest rates because it means we have a strong country and it’s all based on credit, meaning good credit, and we have the best credit and we’d pay off the debt very easily, very quickly.”

$40 trillion, the American public and the markets said, "hold my beer."

For more illuminating information on Bessent's gambit and the Trump "put", refer to the excellent weekly commentary by Doug Nolan at his Credit Bubble Bulletin. Hat tip to Nolan for coining the term, “Terminal Phase Excess”. Brilliant and poignant.

Stocks

It was a pretty busy, and scary, week for stocks, with all of the major indices losing ground. The NASDAQ was the big loser, falling more than two percent. The S&P and Dow were down 1.43% and 0.85% respectively. Stocks remain near all-time highs, with plenty of liquidity in the market, though there are ominous signs of interdiction through political means to keep the stock market cruising along until the midterms.

That line of thinking encourages profit-taking, but not everybody is convinced that the stock market will correct or take a deep dive. Stocks are vulnerable to a variety of shocks and September and October are traditionally not encouraging. Most investors are still of the passive variety, predisposed ot ride the wave in 401k accounts, IRAs or other long-term portfolios.

While the chances for a crash are roughly 40:60 in favor of stocks remaining buoyant, there's no tellin gwhat will come of the larger credit markets. Bankruptcies, foreclosures, and auto repossessions are all on the rise.

Earnings season is just about over, though a number of important, mostly retail names will be reporting in the week ahead.

Monday: (before open) Napco (NSSC); (after close) PicPay (PICS)

Tuesday: (before open) Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS), ScotiaBank (BNS), SelectQuote (SLQT); (after close) Intuit (INTU), Box (BOX), Electromed (ELMD), Zoom (ZM), Semtech (SMTC)

Wednesday: (before open) Bath & Body Works (BBWI), Williams-Sonoma (WSM), Kohl's (KSS), Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), J.M. Smucker (SJM); (after close) Nvidia (NVDA), Synopsis (SNPS), Crowdstrike (CRWD), SalesForce (CRM)

Thursday: (before open) Dollar General (DG), DollarTree (DLTR), Best Buy (BBY), Burlington (BURL), TD Bank (TD), CIBC (CM), Hormal Foods (HRL); (after close) Autodesk (ADSK), Workday (WDAY), Gap Inc. (GAP), Affirm (AFRM, Ulta Beauty (ULTA), Marvell (MRVL)

Looking ahead to the economic calendar, Tuesday brings forward the Case-Shiller monthly national home price index, New Home Sales for July and the Richmond Fed. Wednesday offers the PCE monthly and year-over-year index, durable goods orders and the second estimate of 2nd quarter GDP (initial estimate was 1.5%). Thursday reveals retail and wholesale inventories, and initial and continuing weekly jobless claims.

Relevant data releases can be found at Trading View.

Treasury Yield Curve Rates

Date	1 Mo	1.5 mo	2 Mo	3 Mo	4 Mo	6 Mo	1 Yr
07/17/2026	3.73	3.75	3.80	3.85	3.91	3.96	4.01
07/24/2026	3.80	3.88	3.95	3.96	4.04	4.08	4.14
07/31/2026	3.78	3.80	3.85	3.83	3.92	3.98	4.08
08/07/2026	3.79	3.79	3.83	3.87	3.89	3.96	4.01
08/14/2026	3.79	3.80	3.81	3.86	3.88	3.95	3.98
08/21/2026	3.80	3.77	3.80	3.88	3.90	3.95	4.03

Date	2 Yr	3 Yr	5 Yr	7 Yr	10 Yr	20 Yr	30 Yr
07/17/2026	4.18	4.21	4.28	4.40	4.55	5.07	5.06
07/24/2026	4.33	4.36	4.43	4.55	4.69	5.18	5.16
07/31/2026	4.28	4.34	4.45	4.59	4.75	5.28	5.27
08/07/2026	4.19	4.25	4.35	4.49	4.65	5.20	5.19
08/14/2026	4.17	4.24	4.36	4.51	4.68	5.25	5.25
08/21/2026	4.24	4.31	4.43	4.57	4.74	5.25	5.27

Bessent's parlay this week moved markets, though maybe not in ways he anticipated. While the 30-year yield was tempered, yield on the 10-year - which is ultimately the benchmark - dropped and quickly recovered, as if nothing had happened.

Bessent is facing a squeeze in high quality buyers for U.S. debt. With more and more money directed toward funding the AI buildout and foreign demand drooping, he resorted to somewhat of an emergency tactic, buying back the Treasury's own issuance. It reeks of desperation and can be compared to this twisted logic: buying back your car loan (maybe at a discount), receiving the flow of monthly payments to pay off the loan that still exists. It kind of buys time, but at the end of the day - or the funding period - you end up short of funds and needing to borrow even more. It's not a long-term strategy, but rather an election punt. The midterms are coming and there's little Republicans fear mroe than a Democrat-led Senate and/or House, making deal-marking Trump the lamest of lame ducks.

Bessent's maneuver isn't going to save the system from $40 trillion in debt and interest payments that will push north of $1.5 trillion in fiscal 2027 with an annual deficit estimated to be somewhere between $2 and $3 trillion, a wide range because nobody has a handle on spending.

Japanese 10-year yields traded Tuesday at the highest levels (2.95%) since 1996, so Bessent's swap lines for Japan aren't actually working out so well either. He may be thought to be one of the most innovative and bright Treasury chiefs of all time, but so far, his record has been abysmal. Big hat, no cattle, as they say in Texas.

The high spreads on 2s-10s and full spectrum remained at highs for the year, signaling that Bessent's monkey wrench has little to no grip. Blowing out these spreads risks general havoc in the world's largest funding market.

Having some sectors (AI infrastructure) growing at the expense of others (small business, consumer-facing industries, manufacturing), including the treasury complex, makes Bessent appear weak and possibly at odds with Federal Reserve Chairman Warsh. Until the elections in November, inflation be damned. More robust money flows are necessary to keep the stock market bubbling along as if the funding market is a derivate of it when the exact opposite is true.

Spreads:

Oil/Gas

The situation in the Middle East has heated up again with Houthis taking Red Sea shipping to a halt and Iran and Oman working out details on traffic patterns in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, without even a reach-around to U.S. interests. Increasingly sidelined in the Middle East, the U.S. failure in the Gulf region threatens to disrupt global supply chains to breaking points. Already, strategic petroleum reserves in most developed countries have been drained to emergency levels just to keep the price of crude from catapulting past $100/barrel. WTI crude closed out the week at a four week high, $88.15, with Brent nearby ($89.69).

Average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline in the U.S. was $4.04 last week and $4.06 this week, the highest Sunday price in a month. Peace prospects in the Middle East are nil, pushing higher gas prices, with the unstable situation at the Strait of Hormuz keeping prices elevated and consumers annoyed.

Gas prices in key states:

California (leader): $5.60 (+0.04)
Washington: $5.24 (+0.07)
Indiana: $3.51 (lowest) (-0.08)
Oklahoma: $3.79 (+0.11)
Louisiana: $3.68 (+0.16)
Mississippi: $3.63 (+0.05)
Florida: $3.82 (-0.01)
Illinois: $4.37 (+0.07)
Pennsylvania: $4.16 (+0.09)
New York: $4.12 (+0.02)
Maryland: $3.99 (+0.08)
Michigan: $4.18 (-0.08)
Texas: $3.59 (-0.04)
Georgia: $3.78 (+0.01)

On Sunday, April 23rd, there are twenty-five (25) states with average prices at or above $4.00, with twenty-three (23) below the $4 threshold, not including Hawaii ($5.44) and Alaska ($4.79), with two above $5 (California and Washington). The Southeast has maintained as the lowest region overall over the past 12 weeks as a gallon of unleaded regular is averaging below $4.00 ($3.59-3.79) in places like Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, and Mississippi, with the Midwest region second, prices ranging from $3.84 to $3.98. Exceptions include Florida in the Southeast and Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, and Illinois in the Midwest. Prices in the Northeast rose slightly thi week, with most states averaging above $4.00.

Rising gas prices are again becoming an issue for cash-strapped small businesses and consumers. High gas prices squeezes out everything else in terms of demand. With more states above $4.00 a gallon, the U.S. could very well see demand destruction and if demand isn't there, the only resolution is lowering prices. Food and energy remaining high strips out demand and could cause unwelcome circumstances in the U.S. market.

The concern among many experts in the field is refining capacity, especially diesel and jet fuel, as those prices have ramped up to record levels. Consumers use gasoline, but businesses rely on diesel, especially for long-haul commerce.

Bitcoin

This week: $77,297.70
Last week: $63,223.08
2 weeks ago: $65,185.72
6 months ago: $63,326.75
One year ago: $114,920.50
Five years ago: $48,915.17

Bitcoin and other cryptos got a wake up call, courtesy of Treasury Secretary Bessent's announcement of the treasury buying back more long-dated notes and bonds at a faster rate. There's a belief among crypto warriors that an imminent currency crash would automatically make bitcoin the big winner. Oddly enough, bitcoin is quoted in dollars. When bitcoin is quoted in bitcoins, maybe then it will deliver. Until that time, skeptics remain on the sidelines of the trade of the century.

Precious Metals

Gold:Silver Ratio: 66.84; last week: 67.64

Futures, per COMEX continuous contracts:

Gold price 7/24: $4,055.70
Gold price 7/31: $4,098.60
Gold price 8/7: $4,401.30
Gold price 8/14: $4,432.00
Gold price 7/17: $4,661.60

Silver price 7/24: $58.49
Silver price 7/31: $57.78
Silver price 8/7: $63.80
Silver price 8/14: $64.82
Silver price 8/21: $69.01

SPOT: (stockcharts.com)
Gold 7/24: $4,052.00
Gold 7/31: $4,042.00
Gold 8/7: $4,340.72
Gold 8/14: $4,375.15
Gold 8/21: $4,609.49

Silver 7/24: $58.19
Silver: 7/31: $57.55
Silver 8/7: $63.56
Silver 8/14: $64.68
Silver 8/21: $68.96

Gold and silver advanced for a fourth straight week, and the rally shows few signs of slowing, even in the face of high yields on long-dated treasuries. Sovereign wealth funds and central banks continue to pour into gold, now the #1 Tier-1 holding of central banks around the world, surpassing treasuries roughly a year ago, and that trend continues.

Keeping an eye on the gold:silver ratio (GSR) that continues to decline in silver's favor, the culmination of the long bull market in precious metals may send the ratio back to levels seen at the peaks for both metals, in the mid-40s, which means, if gold strikes a new high of $6,000 (a distinct possibility given current conditions) within the next 6-12 months, silver would ramp to its own all-time high of 133, or beyond.

Longer term, sending the GSR back to traditional levels of 20:1, 16:1, or even 12:1 (the U.S. standard in the constitutional era), silver's price would reflect its return as a monetary metal, a position it has claimed for thousands of years. It's only been since the mid-1900s that silver was no longer regarded as money. The United States did away with silver coinage in 1964, melted down most of the retired coins, but there still remains a robust market for "junk" 90% silver. The consideration of returning to a bi-metallic standard is no longer seen as impossible. India, Russia, and China both value silver with much more respect than their Western counterparts, and the Asian century is unfolding rapidly. These powerhouse countries are beginning to dominate trade in precious metals, the suppressive efforts of the LBMA and COMEX soon to be relegated to secondary positions as price takers, not price makers.

There's already a growing premium in Shanghai as compared to COMEX or spot pricing. Friday's reading for an ouce of silver at the SGE (Shanghai Gold Exchange) was $78.48. For an ounce of gold, the premium is smaller, about $10 higher than spot.

Over the past 30 days, gold is up 11.51%, with silver gaining a whopping 17.74% (goldprice.org). With the U.S. dollar losing value and purchasing power at an accelerating rate, many experts in the field are expecting new highs before the end of 2026.

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:	70.00	85.02	77.42	77.68
1 oz silver bar:	70.00	85.05	77.43	77.20
1 oz gold coin:	4778.90	4992.62	4865.71	4844.03
1 oz gold bar:	4780.18	4845.21	4814.14	4804.29

The Single Ounce Silver Market Price Benchmark (SOSMPB) continued its advance for a fourth straight week, closing out at $77.43, an upside move of $1.90 per troy ounce from the August 16 price of $75.53.

WEEKEND WRAP

Even with Friday's dead-cat bounce, stocks still finished the week deep in red ink. The treasury complex is going to become the biggest story of the year if rates continue to rise. Overshadowed by the energy crunch perhaps, because more people understand the implications of $4.00 gas than a 5.35% 30-year bond, buckling in credit markets threatens everything, everywhere, from government funding to credit cards to commercial and auto loans.

In case of a credit seizure, stock up on essentials, as in fuel, food, water, and protection.

At the Close, Friday, August 21, 2026:
Dow: 53,277.01, +517.80 (+0.98%)
NASDAQ: 26,180.46, +113.29 (+0.43%)
S&P 500: 7,674.37, +33.21 (+0.43%)
NYSE Composite: 24,728.67, +180.41 (+0.73%)

For the Week:
Dow: -455.40 (-0.85%)
NASDAQ: -548.71 (-2.05%)
S&P 500: -11.39 (-1.43%)
NYSE Composite: -93.01 (-0.37%)
Dow Transports: -222.13 (-1.02%)

Friday, August 21, 2026

Treasury Buyback Plan Has Rattled Markets; Gold, Silver Rallies Continue; Stocks Approaching Down Week as U.S. Debt Exceeds $40 Trillion

$40,047,425,768,420.22

That is the actual number posted by the U.S. government on Tuesday, August 18, 2026.

U.S. government debt hit $40 trillion on Tuesday, August 18, 2026. On Monday, the 17th, the government added some $53 billion and then lopped another $60 billion on top of that on Tuesday. $113 billion dollars in just two days!

Where did the money go? Who knows. The U.S. government is so vast, so poorly managed, and so free-spending with money it doesn't have that it might take a team of forensic economists a week to figure it out. Needless to say, it's been spent, it's gone, and it's likely never to be repaid. The government’s tally for interest costs so far for 2026 is $1.37 trillion - a 20% increase on the same period a year before.

Seriously, who in their right mind would lend any money to any entity that has a track record such as the U.S. government? They pay back their debts, for sure, but then borrow more to finance the money they just spent and plan on spending in the immediate future. At some point, lenders are going to call in their tickets and demand payment or simply stop lending. Already, many foreign governments have stopped buying U.S. debt. Many of them are selling it, some of it certainly at a loss. 30-year bonds bought during the ZIRP (sero interest rate policy) period have become nearly worthless in just 10-15 years. 30-year bonds between 2010 and 2020 were/are paying 2-4 percent when current rates are above five percent. Nobody will buy them at par, or even close. They don't keep pace with inflation. Those bonds are dead money. If you hold them, you lose to inflation. If you sell them, you lose money on the principal. Ouch!

The reckoning, long overdue, has commenced. Nobody wants to finance the U.S. government, and for good reason... many good reasons. The U.S. government starts wars and seldom finishes them. They U.S. government reneges on most of its treaty obligations. They steal from other countries, confiscate funds, sanction people and countries they don't like and are generally a pain in the ass to the rest of the world. Who needs them?

Well, retirees need them. Social Security recipients, government pensioners, disability survivors and many others all rely on regular payments from the U.S. government to maintain their lifestyle. Stop paying these people and the whole financial structure of the United States collapses.

Or does it?

If, all of a sudden, the U.S. government declared bankruptcy and stopped paying its millions of beneficiaries, stopped sending out SNAP payments (food stamps) and other welfare-related stipends, what really would happen? Would everybody, all of a sudden, be broke, unable to pay their mortgages, rent, utility bills, feed themselves and their families?

Probably not. There would be a reset. The value of the U.S. dollar wouold fall dramatically within weeks, if not days. The stock market would crash. The biggest winners would be those with savings in assets outside the U.S. financial system, like gold, silver, other tangible assets, like high quality stocks, certain real estate holdings, art. Naturally, real estate, stocks, and art would take a hit in U.S. dollar terms. Gold and silver, however, would skyrocket to unimaginable levels. An ounce of gold might be worth $30,000, and it wasn't the gold that appreciated in value, it was the dollar that collapsed causing gold to be much more valuable in dollar terms.

How would people respond?

Though it's highly unlikely that the U.S. government would just one day up and declare bankruptcy and cancel all of their obligations, the politics would generally trend towards austerity in terms of cutting benefits rather than completely curtailing them. People at the high income end of the Social Security spectrum would likely face the most severe cuts. High-income individuals might see SS benefits slashed by 25-40%, the reasoning being that these people are not dependent on their retirement benefits and have enough in personal assets to maintain their lifestyles. Mid-range beneficiaries might experience cuts of 10-15%. The bottom tier may see no cuts at all.

In the end, it becomes an argument of relativity. The rich would still be rich, though not as rich as they thought, the poor still poor, and the middle a little less fortunate than they thought. Life would go on, but in the business world, jobs would be cut, possibly drastically. Some businesses might disappear altogether. Unemployment would be very high and there would be a great deal of economic suffering, some of it due to bad personal choices, some due to government mismanagement, some due to business incompetence.

Life in America, in the face of a financial catastrophe, would experience extreme changes, mostly in groups defined as middle class. As it already stands, there are more than enough people on the fringes, or homeless, or about to be destitute. Many Americans are already at the edge of survival. An economic crisis would throw them over the edge.

Crime, mostly in the form of theft, fraud, and petty offenses, would rise. Crackpots and false prophets would emerge. Under the most extreme conditions, inner cities would experience riots, looting, and general choas from a poor population with nothing to live for and nothing to lose.

As it was during the Great Depression of the 1930s, not everybody would suffer. Many people, especially those with needed skills and positive attitudes, would do well, even prosper. The aim for most people would be to live within one's means and take necessary steps to preserve whatever lifestyle would be available, keep their families fed and safe, and try to carry on as well as possible.

Lots of people, meaning millions, would not be able to adjust. They would suffer not just economic pain, but health issues and possibly death. Suicide would become an option for planty of people.

Overall, it's not a pretty picture, but one which Americans should consider as possible, because all signs are now pointing to a breaking point, one in which the government is unable to sustain itself without even more excessive borrowing, and, without funding, it would lose control over the general public. Perhaps the best outcome from an economic collapse would be a reordering of priorities and a reshuffling of the political class. That may be about as far-fetched as one can imagine, seeing hordes of politicians afraid to be seen in public, vilified by what remains of an open, free press, and rejected as leaders by the public.

One can only hope. Americans are about to come face to face with the destiny designed by their runaway government.

Anticipating the open Friday, there has been the usual bounce in stock futures, though the prices being reflected for the final trading day of the week are simply noise, not signal, and are best disregarded. More and more, futures markets reflect hope rather than analysis.

In any case, an hour prior to the bell, Dow futures are up 290, NASDAQ futures are 182 ahead, and S&P futures are up 31 points. A more accurate understanding of what's happening globally is provided by gold and silver prices. They continue to rally higher and both precious metals have not stopped rallying. Silver has been kicking higher for a month now; gold's rally began in earnest about three weeks ago.

Overnight, silver touched $70 per ounce for the first time since mid-June. Spot gold was quoted as high as $4600, a level not seen since the middle of May.

Perhaps the most alarming market move is in bitcoin. It has moved from $64,000 to $77,000 in less than two days, a jump of more than 20 percent. Most of the other popular crypto issues have been rising along with it. The crypto market wants to tell the world that the U.S. dollar is unstable, unsafe for investment, and that electronic tokens are a better deal, the government unable to affect its price or dilute its value.

That may be a nice story, but the tangle of regulations and tax policies surrounding crypto investments says otherwise. The original premise of bitcoin being a safe, anonymous currency for peer-to-peer transactions has long ago been abandoned. Governments everywhere are involved in it, from ownership to regulation and for profit. Besides, China has banned it. El Salvador has abandoned it.

For the week, through Thursday's close, the Dow is down 973 points, the NASDAQ is off 263, and the S&P 500 has shed 144 points. While this week's decline has been notable, it is not in isolation. Stocks have been chopping around for months. The S&P made a new all-time high last week. Is this the end? Probably not.

Treasury Secretary Bessent has lit the fuse on the time bomb that is the U.S. treasury complex. The question on everybody's mind is, how far away from the blast zone do I want to be when it eventually blows up?

At the Close, Thursday, August 20, 2026:
Dow: 52,759.21, -703.84 (-1.32%)
NASDAQ: 26,067.17, -263.92 (-1.00%)
S&P 500: 7,641.16, -66.82 (-0.87%)
NYSE Composite: 24,548.26, -159.01 (-0.64%)

Thursday, August 20, 2026

Bessent's Buyback Bombshell Sends Gold and Silver Soaring; His Short-term Fix for a Long-term Problem Inadequate; Markets About to Reel

As much as the Trump administration and Wall Street's PR team of financial journalists would like everybody to believe, all is not well.

Wednesday's doubling down by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Treasury purchases of its own debt sent shock waves through the global financial system and is an all-too-obvious sign that the U.S. treasury market - the largest funding mechanism in the world - is creaking, cracking, wobbling, and headed for a spectacular crash.

It's been apparent for a long time that very few foreign investors are interested in buying U.S. long-term debt, but now, the market is realizing that even domestic interests are staying away from 10-year notes and 30-year bonds. It's a mass exodus and Secretary Bessent is panicked.

Just a week ago, the U.S. intervened against a collapsing yen, allowing the Bank of Japan to borrow against its treasury holdings rather than selling them outright in order to stabilize their currency. That, and Wednesday's announcement, are nothing more than accounting tricks, parlor games designed to stave off the inevitable, the collapse of the fiat lending scheme that has eroded the value of all currencies not backed by anything other than government credit and thin air.

Bessent's monetary maneuvers are short-term patches on a long-term problem. To illustrate, imagine a business, heavily in debt, purchasing some of their own debt with money they had previously borrowed. Now, they may have bought back their debt at a discount and will receive the proceeds as it winds down, arguably to pay off even more debt. The company would be caught in a vicious trap from which it could only escape with an infusion of capital via increased sales and profits. For the U.S. government, that would be more tax revenue, and raising taxes is not something either party is fond of doing.

Thus, Bessent has signaled that the government, beyond being bankrupt, $40 trillion in debt, and paying north of $1 trillion in annual interest payments, is unable to operate above baord and must resort to somewhat dodgy financial calculus. The federal government will continue to spend until nobody will lend to it except at fire sale rates of interest. Currently, the bogey number is five percent on 30-year bonds and 4.50% on 10-year notes, which have already been exceeded. What will Bessent do when investors - the few of them remaining - insist on six percent or seven on 30-year obligations?

The implications of Bessent's obvious panic are immense and potentially catastrophic. The walls of the structure underpinning the entire global financial system are buckling and nearing collapse.

Deal with that reality when making your next investment decision.

The immediate implications of Bessent's announcement to expand Treasury's "buy-back" program was to halt the rise in yields and send them into reverse, for now, but gold and silver investors smelled blood in the water and rallied extensively throughout the day. Gold shot right through resistance at $4,400 and rose straight through $4,500 before retreating overnight. Silver topped out ay $67.40 and is nestled in a range between $66.20 and $66.80.

Adding to the malaise is the price of oil. Brent crude is well beyond $90 per barrel with WTI crude futures topping $88 Thursday morning. President Trump's choices of action in the Middle East currently run the gamut from bad to disastrous. He can either take a loss and allow Iran and Oman control of the Strait of Hormuz, keep pressure on Iran and keep the strait closed, or escalate further and risk a global recession or worse.

Just minutes before Wall Street's opening bell, stock futures are down significantly. Dow futures are off 417; NASDAQ futures are down 172, and S&P futures are down 33 points.

Whether all of the attendant forces converge within a week, a month, or gradually over time through the midterm elections doesn't really matter other than to short-timers and day-traders. Those with a longer-term investment horizon (anybody with a brain) have to consider the longer implications of a systemic collapse, one which is racing ahead with all the ferocity of a runaway locomotive.

Best prepare.

At the Close, Wednesday, August 19, 2026:
Dow: 53,463.05, +119.65 (+0.22%)
NASDAQ: 26,331.09, +41.38 (+0.16%)
S&P 500: 7,707.98, +16.22 (+0.21%)
NYSE Composite: 24,707.27, +78.13 (+0.32%)

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Financial Media Desperate for Narrative News Stories; Bessent Doubles Down; Lowe's, Home Depot, Target Report; Gold, Silver Soaring

Two stories making the rounds this morning demonstrate just how desperate the media and government are for relevant news supporting their narrative.

First, it is being reported that the DOJ has issued an indictment against 17 Iranians (how convenient!) in a cyber theft ring. What the clever Persians are accused of stealing is not money, but information, from university professors. What makes the story unworthy of attention is that the original indictment dates back to February, 2018. So, essentially, this cyber heist has been operating for eight years without the government able to make any arrests. Nice going! Your tax dollars at work.

Fortune and Yahoo! Finance report that Bank of America's chief investment strategist, Michael Hartnet says investors should be wary of long maturity U.S. treasuries, expressing a belief that the government issues too much debt. His rationale is that with government borrowing at record levels and having to roll over maturing bills, notes, and bonds, a vicious cycle of more and more issuance occurs, driving yields higher.

U.S. national debt owed by the federal government stands at $39.942 trillion. The debt will hit $40 trillion within days, likely the middle or end of next week, and it will continue to grow. Eventually, the piper must be paid or the money spigot gets shut off. Guess which option the U.S. government will take.

On the more important side of things, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Treasury would be increasing its buybacks of long-term debt (10-20 years and 20-30 years) over the funding period beginning September 9 through November 4. The Secretary contends that this is a liquidity measure, and it very well may be, with demand for longer-dated issues lagging, sending yields higher. Bessent had little choice. Yields on 10s and 30s are about to go ballistic and still may, despite his last-ditch effort to control the market. He can't.

A quick breakdown of companies reporting second quarter earnings:
Tuesday:
Baidu (BIDU) - big miss, stock was sent 12% lower on Tuesday
Home Depot (HD) - top, bottom beat, stock flat on Tuesday.
Lazboy (LZB) - big miss top and bottom, shares down 16% pre-market
Toll Brothers (TOL) - earnings, revenue beat, shares up 1.5% pre-market

Wednesday: (before open)
Target (TGT) - massive 75% earnings beat y-o-y, shares
flat TJX (TJX) - reporting 11:00 am Wed., sha
res flat Lowe's (LOW) - EPS beat, revenue miss, shares
lower by 2% Estee Lauder (EL) - Huge miss, top and bottom, shares up 13%?

10-year treasuries are yielding 4.68%. The yield on a 30-year bond is 5.28%. Nobody, especially foreign holders, wants this debt because they correctly see demand for anything 10-years or longer as extremely risky. Eventually, this ends in a calamitous manner.

Heading toward the cash open, stock futures were flat until President Trump announced that a deal with Canada had been reached, defanging the threat of 50% tariffs over three days, starting Thursday. Players in the futures markets saw this as extremely positive. Dow futures: +283; NASDAQ: +124; S&P: +27.

It seems unlikely to hold over into the general session.

Overnight, gold and silver were smacked down, but are rallying strongly this morning. Spot gold is at $4,458. Spot silver: $65.00.

It's pretty slow out there. The media and government story pumpers are grasping at proverbial straws. Hedge accordingly.

At the Close, Tuesday, August 18, 2026:
Dow: 53,343.40, -116.38 (-0.22%)
NASDAQ: 26,289.71, -355.20 (-1.33%)
S&P 500: 7,691.76, -53.30 (-0.69%)
NYSE Composite: 24,629.14, -88.67 (-0.36%)

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

World Carnage Begins to Take Its Toll; U.S.-Iran Tensions Escalate; Oil Higher, Gas Prices Rising

President Trump thinks making the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory is a good idea. Concerning the idea that Oman might agree to a deal with Iran that the president doesn't like, he responds, "we'll bomb the sh-t out of them."

It is just this kind of Neanderthal, thuggish rhetoric that is fueling distrust and destruction around the world. In just a few short years, the United States has gone from being a beacon of freedom to the most belligerent beastly nation on the planet. Maybe it's always been that way, just now there are no pretenses.

U.S. militarism used to be cloaked in terms appealing to the public. "They hate us for our freedoms," was a rallying cry for invading Iraq, for instance. Now, the messaging is not necessary. When the U.S. struck Venezuela and kidnapped its president and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Nicolas Maduro, there wasn't any message other than, "we're taking their oil." With Iran, the public is supposed to believe that the country's leaders - most of whom have been assassinated - sponsored terrorism that killed thousands of Americans. It's mostly a lie. If the administration could tie them to something on the scale of 9-11, they surely would.

So it is that the United States has become a fire-breathing dragon that sees conquest and submission as its justifiable aims. The U.S. prefers aggression over diplomacy, and bombs over cooperation. The cabal currently operating in Washington, D.C. has no boundaries, plays by its own rules, and if you don't like it, the military industrial complex will come gunning for you and your family.

It's a shame that what was once a wonderful country committed to the rule of law is now under control of madmen and lunatics. You get what you pay for, and the wealthy political donors have paid handsomely for politicians without conscience, who think nothing of wiping out entire populations if it serves the will of their banking, military, and Big Pharma constituents.

The United States has put the world in a painful vice and there will eventually be a big price to pay. The bill goes to the American people.

Aside from the daily dose of grotesque posturing and threats, there isn't much happening on Wall Street. Monday was about as dull as session as there has been all this year, but, thanks to the boaster-in-chief and his entourage of useful idiots, some investors have awakened to the madness of megalomania and are about to unload scads of stocks upon which they have made outsized profits.

U.S. stock futures are pointing toward a negative open to the cash market. Dow futures are down 54 points, NASDAQ futures are lower by 388, and S&P futures are down 38 with the opening bell a half hour away. WTI crude oil is approaching $85/barrel. Gas prices aren't going down any time soon.

There will be a reckoning. It's likely already begun and Tuesday looks to extend the moribund trading from Monday.

At the Close, Monday, August 17, 2026:
Dow: 53,459.78, -272.63 (-0.51%)
NASDAQ: 26,644.91, -84.25 (-0.32%)
S&P 500: 7,745.06, -40.70 (-0.52%)
NYSE Composite: 24,717.81, -103.87 (-0.42%)

Sunday, August 16, 2026

WEEKEND WRAP: Stocks Slow During Summer Doldrums; Gold, Silver Extend Rallies; Mideast Remains Relatively Quiet; It's Summer, Hit the Beach

It's summer. Deal with it. Go shop for back to school stuff or hit the beach.

Stocks

It was a dull week for stocks, with the Dow taking a weekly loss and the NASDAQ and S&P posting marginal gains. As the dog days continue over the next three weeks up to Labor Day, there doesn't appear to be many catalysts pushing stocks one way or another, so three might be some sideways movement overall. Late August and September aren't exactly the best of times for stocks in general. Usually, any summer rally happens through June and July and that appears to have been the case this season.

Overall, second quarter earnings season has been a dud, with more than the usual share of companies meeting or beating targets only to see the stock price sell off upon announcement. It's a sign of an over-extended rally, and this way is well past its use-by date. However, Wall Street being the selling machine that it is and more than an adequate supply of easy money still afloat, there's nothing really stopping stocks from heading even higher. There aren't many obvious signs of slowing, so extra funds will likely find their way into stocks.

Earnings season continues winding down, the week ahead dominated by retailers, which may offer a glimpse into the health of the general economy. Keeping a close eye on the home improvement stores, Home Depot and Lowe's, as well as Walmart, Target, and Estee Lauder in consumer retail.

Monday: (before open) BitFuFu (FUFU); (after close) Fabrinet (FN), Flexsteel (FLXS)

Tuesday: (before open) Baidu (BIDU), Klarna (KLAR), Home Depot (HD); (after close) Lazboy (LZB), Toll Brothers (TOL)

Wednesday: (before open) Viking Cruise lines (VIK), Weibo (WB), Target (TGT), TJX (TJX), Lowe's (LOW), Estee Lauder (EL) Analog Devices (ADI; (after close) COTY (COTY), Nordson (NDSN)

Thursday: (before open) Alibaba (BABA), Walmart (WMT), Advance Auto Parts (AAP), John Deere (DE); (after close) Ross Stores (ROST)

Friday: (before open) BJ's Wholesale (BJ)

Data releases will be few and relatively unimportant in the week ahead. Monday has the NY Manufacturing Index. Tuesday, Capacity Utilization, Industrial Production, and Pening Home Sales. Thursday offers the weekly unemployment claims and the monthly report on economic activity from the Philly Fed. Not much to dive into there.

Relevant data releases can be found at Trading View.

Treasury Yield Curve Rates

Date	1 Mo	1.5 mo	2 Mo	3 Mo	4 Mo	6 Mo	1 Yr
07/10/2026	3.71	3.74	3.81	3.85	3.94	3.99	4.06
07/17/2026	3.73	3.75	3.80	3.85	3.91	3.96	4.01
07/24/2026	3.80	3.88	3.95	3.96	4.04	4.08	4.14
07/31/2026	3.78	3.80	3.85	3.83	3.92	3.98	4.08
08/07/2026	3.79	3.79	3.83	3.87	3.89	3.96	4.01
08/14/2026	3.79	3.80	3.81	3.86	3.88	3.95	3.98

Date	2 Yr	3 Yr	5 Yr	7 Yr	10 Yr	20 Yr	30 Yr
07/10/2026	4.21	4.22	4.30	4.42	4.56	5.08	5.06
07/17/2026	4.18	4.21	4.28	4.40	4.55	5.07	5.06
07/24/2026	4.33	4.36	4.43	4.55	4.69	5.18	5.16
07/31/2026	4.28	4.34	4.45	4.59	4.75	5.28	5.27
08/07/2026	4.19	4.25	4.35	4.49	4.65	5.20	5.19
08/14/2026	4.17	4.24	4.36	4.51	4.68	5.25	5.25

Yield on the 30-year bond bumped higher during the week, to 5.25%, and the 10-year note advanced three basis points to 4.68%, both near the high points of the recent range. The market appears to be scrambling toward short-term issues. The 2-year note dropped to 4.17%, but it can't get much lower, with the 30-day rate stuck at 3.79%. The danger is a preference for bills, with easy money to be made in maturities of two years or shorter, though the levels under four percent barely keep up with real inflation (around 4-6%).

The longer maturities, which should provide the basis for stable funding in the U.S., are being shunned internationally, setting up a scenario that actually favors cutting rates rather than raising them. The market is doing most of the heavy lifting for the Fed, which seems likely to keep the federal funds target rate on hold at least until the midterms, though the September and October FOMC meetings.

The high spreads on 2s-10s and full spectrum are sending warning signs that U.S. credit markets are in danger of being bi-furcated, which poses a big problem for sustained stability, the question being, wo wants to hold U.S. debt for 10 or 30 years at five or six percent when the government has shown no preference to reign in runaway spending?

Treasury has already stepped in to save the yen from further devaluation, mostly in hopes that Japan won't continue selling its U.S. holdings, the largest by one country in the world. While the financial world wants to know how the Fed is going to handle inflation, the real story may be hidden in long term rates. Inflation may seem like a walk in the park if disinflation and devaluation of the currency becomes even more of an issue than it already is. The Fed, holding its cards close, doesn't want to talk about lowering rates in a scenario which may soon become one in which it has no choice. The U.S. economy - unlike the overly-speculative stock market - is limping along at a GDP growth rate between one and two percent, numbers which could easily be construed as negative when factoring in inflation. The U.S. may be able to avoid recession though the end of the year, but by 2027 it may become obvious that there isn't enough breath in the economy across all industries.

Having some sectors (AI infrastructure) growing at the expense of others (small business, consumer-facing industries, manufacturing) is a recipe for failure.

Spreads:

Oil/Gas

The situation in the Middle East continues to cool, with Iran and Oman dictating terms in the Persian Gulf while Yemen continues to strike the Saudis, keeping the war flames burning in the region. To the north, Russia is being continually bombarded by Ukraine drone storms, the four-year-old war escalating into dangerous territory. Considering the carnage brought to oil producers and refiners, it's somewhat surprising that the price of oil and gas at the pump hasn't reached critical levels. WTI crude oil futures closed out the week at $82.40/barrel, which is closer to the low end of the price range since the Middle East conflict began more than six months ago.

Average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline in the U.S. was $3.96 last week and $4.04 this week. Peace prospects in the Middle East are easing fears of higher gas prices, but the threat of war and an unstable situation at the Strait of Hormuz is keeping prices somewhat elevated.

Gas prices in key states:

California (leader): $5.56 (-0.02)
Washington: $5.17 (+0.06)
Indiana: $3.59 (+0.10)
Oklahoma: $3.68 (+0.19)
Louisiana (lowest): $3.52 (-0.12)
Mississippi: $3.58 (+0.02)
Florida: $3.83 (-0.02)
Illinois: $4.30 (+0.08)
Pennsylvania: $4.07 (-0.03)
New York: $4.10 (-0.04)
Maryland: $3.91 (-0.09)
Michigan: $4.26 (+0.14)
Texas: $3.63 (+0.12)
Georgia: $3.77 (+0.06)

On Sunday, April 16th, there are seventeen (17) states with average prices at or above $4.00, with thirty-one (31) below the $4 threshold, not including Hawaii ($5.42) and Alaska ($4.81), with two above $5 (California and Washington). The Southeast has maintained as the lowest region overall over the past 11 weeks as a gallon of unleaded regular is averaging below $4.00 ($3.52-3.77) in places like Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, and Mississippi, with the Midwest region second, prices ranging from $3.80 to $3.98. Exceptions include Florida in the Southeast and Michigan and Illinois in the Midwest. Prices in the Northeast eased slightly over the past two weeks.

Bitcoin

This week: $63,223.08
Last week: $65,185.72
2 weeks ago: $63,049.68
6 months ago: $68,441.63
One year ago: $117,792.09
Five years ago: $48,880.96

Don't buy the hype. Crypto is dead money. Even if you bought some five years ago, you're up 30%, which averages out to six percent per year, just barely beating inflation. It's a poor investment no matter how one sees it.

Precious Metals

Gold:Silver Ratio: 67.64; last week: 68.29

Futures, per COMEX continuous contracts:

Gold price 7/17: $4,023.00
Gold price 7/24: $4,055.70
Gold price 7/31: $4,098.60
Gold price 8/7: $4,401.30
Gold price 8/14: $4,432.00

Silver price 7/17: $56.22
Silver price 7/24: $58.49
Silver price 7/31: $57.78
Silver price 8/7: $63.80
Silver price 8/14: $64.82

SPOT: (stockcharts.com)
Gold 7/17: $4,016.89
Gold 7/24: $4,052.00
Gold 7/31: $4,042.00
Gold 8/7: $4,340.72
Gold 8/14: $4,375.15

Silver 7/17: $55.91
Silver 7/24: $58.19
Silver: 7/31: $57.55
Silver 8/7: $63.56
Silver 8/14: $64.68

Gold and silver held onto gains from the piror week and actually added slightly on those price levels. It wasn't a big week for precious metals, but maybe an important one. With stocks lallygagging through the week and pressure to the downside on interest rates, metals actually emerged as winners in what turned out to be a dull week for traders.

With volatility squeezed out to some degree, there's open space ahead for gold and silver pricing. The present precedent has some of the characteristics of a turnaround in price and sentiment. Gold and silver holders, more than possibly anybody else in the trading universe, are realists who see the longer term trends for the dollar and U.S. economy as severely eroded and continuing to worsen. $40 trillion in federal debt, an annual interest payment of over a trillion dollars a year for as far as the eye can see and GDP operating in a range of one to three percent over decades and inflation higher than that is not what anybody with a realistic view of the situation would call healthy or sustainable.

Eventually, there will come a reckoning. Asset prices, at or near all-time highs will have to adjust to lower levels if the American economy is to survive. The middle class hollowed out into what is now a pay-as-you-go system with no leeway for savings or emergencies has no alternatives unless there is change. The warfare/welfare state has drained the public's wealth and will. Pressure from outside sources, in terms of de-dollarization and rejection of the current neo-capitalist fascist system of a government marriage with industry run by people with no intent other than to enrich themselves, will fail and the pain will be felt across society. Those who have prepared well enough or who already have sufficient assets to ride out the coming economic storm will survive. All others will suffer.

This is not a scenario for the next few months or years, but for decades ahead. America has reached a turning point, one at which the people are not well-served by their government, but rather, abused. That sets in motion an unsustainable level of civil disruption and institutional rot. People may not riot openly in the streets, but people will take measures to protect and enhance their own interests.

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:	68.63	80.89	74.66	75.00
1 oz silver bar:	71.00	80.56	76.48	75.98
1 oz gold coin:	4521.07	4726.07	4613.51	4593.19
1 oz gold bar:	4546.37	4663.84	4592.70	4583.57

The Single Ounce Silver Market Price Benchmark (SOSMPB) took a quantum leap forward, closing the week at $75.53, an upside move of $1.88 per troy ounce from the August 9 price of $73.65.

WEEKEND WRAP

Enjoy the remaining weeks of summer, even after Labor Day. It's really a quiet period, even for politicians, who are not likley to bother anybody until they come back into session around September 9. What a relief.

At the Close, Friday, August 14, 2026:
Dow: 53,732.41, -107.58 (-0.20%)
NASDAQ: 26,729.16, -73.86 (-0.28%)
S&P 500: 7,785.76, -13.23 (-0.17%)
NYSE Composite: 24,821.68, +12.03 (+0.05%)

For the Week:
Dow: -304.52 (-0.56%)
NASDAQ: +38.54 (+0.14%)
S&P 500: +28.12 (+0.36%)
NYSE Composite: +226.44 (+0.92%)
Dow Transports: +286.30 (+1.33%)

Money Daily

Sunday, August 30, 2026

WEEKEND WRAP: No Go Jackson Hole; Gold, Silver Slammed on COMEX, Retail Not Playing Along; Oil, Gas Prices Trending Lower; Credit Risky

Friday, August 28, 2026

Jackson Hole Post-Mortem: Warsh Remarks Inconsequential; Market Disappointment Seen in Late Sell-off; Gold, Silver Victimized

World Readies for Warsh Address at Jackson Hole; Oil Flows Through Strait of Hormuz Improving; Silver Breaks Through Resistance, Heads Higher

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Nvidia Results Set Up Mini Tech Rally; Markets Remain in Doldrums Awaiting Warsh Speech at Jackson Hole Friday; Gold, Silver Lower After Hitting Resistance

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

Markets Stalled in Anticipation of Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole Speech Friday; Nvidia Cues Up Earnings Report After the Bell; Gold, Silver Test Resistance

Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Bessent Launches Economic D-Day; Markets Moan; Dick's Sporting Goods Falling to 2 1/2-Year Lows; Gold, Silver Lower; Crude Oil Remains Bid

Monday, August 24, 2026

WEEKEND WRAP: The Week Scott Bessent Lost Control of Credit; Gold, Silver Respond with Massive Gains; Stocks Slump; Gas at the Pump Higher

Friday, August 21, 2026

Treasury Buyback Plan Has Rattled Markets; Gold, Silver Rallies Continue; Stocks Approaching Down Week as U.S. Debt Exceeds $40 Trillion

Thursday, August 20, 2026

Bessent's Buyback Bombshell Sends Gold and Silver Soaring; His Short-term Fix for a Long-term Problem Inadequate; Markets About to Reel

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Financial Media Desperate for Narrative News Stories; Bessent Doubles Down; Lowe's, Home Depot, Target Report; Gold, Silver Soaring

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

World Carnage Begins to Take Its Toll; U.S.-Iran Tensions Escalate; Oil Higher, Gas Prices Rising

Sunday, August 16, 2026

WEEKEND WRAP: Stocks Slow During Summer Doldrums; Gold, Silver Extend Rallies; Mideast Remains Relatively Quiet; It's Summer, Hit the Beach

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