Editor's Note: While trying to reclaim a little bit of sanity as my post, "It's my Birthday, So you Better Read This" was maliciously shadow-banned by the usual platforms (probably just a little too honest), some details concerning the mysterious 10-hour CME shutdown Thanksgiving evening into Black Friday were emerging from a variety of sources. Nothing you read below has been verified, since the principal parties aren't about to spill the beans on what actually happened, but, speculation points toward a major event that has been tucked away for safe keeping by the financial deep state. - Fearless Rick
The 10-hour shutdown of the CME, the world's major derivatives platform, late on the night of Thanksgiving and extending into Black Friday morning in the U.S., continues to raise eyebrows, though it is almost universally accepted that the cause was not "cooling issues" as the official story wants the world to believe.
The most likely cause was a large purchase of physical silver, the buyer (or buyers) standing for delivery and the contract seller (ostensibly a short seller) failing to deliver
At about the 5:15 mark of the video below, Mario Innecco begins to talk about 34 million ounces of silver (6,800 contracts) being bought by supposed Mideast Sovereign Wealth Funds or cental banks. That's about $1,972 billion worth of silver that the customer was standing for delivery on and maybe did or did not receive, but that's just the tip of the silver iceberg that is threatening the Western economies and confidence in the institutions of the CME, COMEX, Globex, the LBMA, indeed, the pillars of derivative trading, the the main suppressors of gold and silver prices for the past 50 years.
Vince Lanci's analysis via the Wednesday, Decemebr 3, Arcadia Economics' Money Morning Report "SHOCKING SILVER NEWS: JP Morgan Transfers 13.4 Million Ounces To Eligible During CME Shutdown" provides further analysis and speculation to what happened on Thanksgiving evening and Black Friday morning at the CME. Lanci's reporting also verifies JP Morgan moving 13.4 million ounces from registered (available for delivery) to eligible (customer owned, not available for delivery).
Taking the gist of the two video postings together, a story begins to emerge. Of course, nothing is verified. It is still speculation, but, perhaps, just prior to the shutdown, the buyer of 6,800 silver contracts (5,000 ounces each) stood for delivery. Frantic, panicked, whoever wrote the contracts (could be one entity, or many) informed the CME that they didn't have the silver to satisfy delivery or didn't want to part with the metal.
It would appear that the writer of the contracts in question was most likely one bullion bank, possible the COMEX London vaults, a large broker-dealer or a combination of such. In an event that would shatter confidence - failing to deliver on nearly $2 billion in silver - CME officials decided to shut down the entire exchange, effectively covering the tracks of the silver trade (or non-trade).
During the shutdown, as Lanci assiduously points out, negotiations likely took place, an agreement was reached, and that would partially explain JP Morgan's action, essentially, covering part of the purchase by reclassifying 13.4 million ounces. For illustration purposes, suppose JP Morgan was made part of the deal, instructed to cover part of the purchase via accounting. In essence, the 13.4 million ounces that were available prior to the shutdown became the property of the buyer, for delivery at some agreed-upon date. (BOLO for planes laden with 1,000-ounce silver bars leaving New York and headed for Dubai)
Digging a little deeper, the lie of the "cooling issue" story and the truth about what really happened begins to crystallize. About a week before Thanksgiving, President Trump welcomed Saudi Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to the White House for extensive meetings attempting to repair the badly frayed U.S.-Saudi relationship. Desperate to make amends, Trump, who, as everybody knows, is the most fabulous, greatest-ever deal-maker in the history of the known universe, gave bin Salman just about anything and everything he wanted, including the purchase of F-35 fighter jets wihtout the caveat of normalization of relations between the Kingdom of Saud and Israel.
The Saudis, being not the least misinformed concerning geopolitics and money, might have decided that silver at $57 to $58 per ounce might offer an opportunity to trip up the United States and cripple the corrupt Western derivative markets, while at the same time grabbing hold of a valuable asset that is likely going to triple in value over the next 12-18 months.
After all, at the Bank of Bullion in Dubai, on their FAQs page, the answer to the question:
What is the minimum Quantity of gold and other precious metals I can buy from Bank of Bullion?
is 1 Oz of Gold, Platinum or Palladium. 10 Oz of Silver
For reference, one ounce of gold is roughly $4,250. 10 ounces of silver is only about $570.00. Why not 75, 80, or 100 ounces of silver, which would be roughly equivalent to the minimum capital limit on gold?
This aligns with India's recent directive to allow citizens and businesses to borrow against their gold and silver, their minimums being 1 Kilogram of gold or 10 Kilograms of silver.
The world order is being turned upside-down and it may take just one big trade to completely flip the scales.
Markets are open for Friday's trading.
Good luck.
At the Close, Thursday, November 4, 2025:
Dow: 47,850.94, -31.96 (-0.07%)
NASDAQ: 23,505.14, +51.04 (+0.22%)
S&P 500: 6,857.12, +7.40 (+0.11%)
NYSE Composite: 21,835.79, +30.39 (+0.14%)
Hey, today's my birthday, so I might go off the rails a bit here.
One of the biggest problems in the world today is that of political and economic leadership failing to acknowledge their own failures.
Manifested in various schemes and sub-routines, like sending a real estate developer and your son-in-law to negotiate peace with Russia over Ukraine, or claiming covid vaccines are safe and effective while people collapse right after receiving the "jab", the willful blindness of people in leadership positions is stunning.
One activity that constantly comes into perspective is the decades-long suppression of gold and silver by minions in the COMEX-LBMA-ESF cartel. These delusional folks actually believe they are doing some good with their naked shorts, spoofing, and assorted market manipulations by sending the price of silver a buck or two lower, or holding the price of gold right at some pre-determined level, satisfying their need for control and influence.
All they're actually doing is delaying the inevitable collapse of fiat currencies and the return of honest money devoid of counter-party risk.
Europeans are particularly adept at self-deception and delusion. Many heads of state within the EU - at least the important ones, France and Germany - must have to wake up every morning and convince themselves that Russia is about to invade Europe and that Ukraine is effectively holding them back. Macron in France and Merz in Germany are primary exemplars of delusional behavior. The U.S. has developed its own brand of pseudo-realism, thanks in part to the fall of journalistic standards, large swaths of heavily-controlled and coerced populations, and just plain stupidity.
It began with Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, in a manner that was equally hilarious and disturbing at the same time. Biden's famous wide-eyes whispered threats and Pelosi's aimless ranting became standard fare to feed to the masses. Mostly, their incoherent ramblings were shucked off as just drivel, but they kept at it until it worked on the whole psyche of America. Russia was evil. Trump was a criminal. Climate change. The green new deal. Open borders. All good on the suface while America was rotting at its core.
Then along came Trump 2.0 who promised to release the Epstein files and bring the pedophiles and human traffickers to justice, to end the Ukraine conflict in 24 hours, to deport 20, no 40 million illegals, to bring down grocery prices, to stop the endless wars and declare peace, and, boldly Make America Great Again (MAGA). Now, after being duly elected and in office for almost a year, Mr. Trump, presumably the most braggadocios president ever to grace the Oval Office with his magnificent presence, has, in his mind, ended 8, 9, or 12 wars, raised "trillions" in tariffs, and made deals with every country on the planet, each one favorable to U.S. interests.
Meanwhile, right before the president's eyes, we're bombing fishing boats in the Caribbean, running what looks like a $2 trillion deficit for fiscal 2026, sending more money and arms to Ukraine, and the American dream has become unattainable to all but maybe the top 10% of earners in the United States, and even some of them are struggling to make ends meet.
Trump has redefined the limits of self-delusion. He may be outdone only by the EU's Ursula von der Leyen, but probably not. Credit is due for the president shutting down the border crossings, fighting against all the LGBTQ+ ideology, and a good number of other efforts, but, walking back from DOGE was an epic fail. Ukraine is also a loser. The economy stinks for most people, but the president keeps telling us the stock market is at all-time highs, as if that makes the people who own stocks marginally or not at all happy.
Trump's tariffs are bringing in extra revenue, setting a record for October, at $31.4 billion. But, thanks to Trump and the congress, the Big Beautiful Bill passed back in July has so far produced a $284 billion deficit and that's when the government was supposedly shut down. And, that's just the first month of the fiscal year. Can't wait to see how this all goes once Trump has his own guy or gal in at the Fed and pushes him or her to cut the federal funds rate to two percent, or one, or lower. $7 bananas and $85,000 cars aren't exactly what one might classify as "great."
Tariff revenue barely makes a dent in the $7 trillion the government plans to spend. It might come close to paying some of the interest on the ever-expanding debt, but at what cost? A middle class that can't afford a mortgage, a new car or dinner at a restaurant? Foreign nations aren't buying U.S. debt anymore, or, at least not as much as they used to. Seriously, the U.S. government issues far too much debt and then they overspend anyway, so what's the point? Maybe Trump can boast about how much money the U.S. tariffs are brining in, but how does that help regular folks? More SNAP, Section 8 housing, and $2,000 stimulus checks? No thank you.
Just about everybody in Washington is either delusional, crooked, or both.
Trump's Wall Street buddies are happy.
I suppose stockholders are happy.
But, those people at the supermarkets, they don't look very happy.
So, we're still awaiting Trump's promised "golden age" while many of the MAGA supporters have left the club, this writer included. It appears that in Trump's America, Wall Street does fine, billionaires buy more yatchs and condos, but for the regular Joes and Janes, meh. Just, meh. We just don't get it.
I may have strayed a bit from what I originally intended to say, but my bottom line is this: when you get upset that the crooks in the COMEX sent the price of silver down another buck-and-a-half overnight (when you know it should be going up), or when you gasp at two strip steaks for $34, or experience some other lunacy that is the product of the age of delusion, it's OK to blurt out, "God, I really hate these people!”
Really, it is. God may or may not be listening, but somebody within earshot might be, and you might hear, "Yeah, me too."
Happy Birthday to ME.
-- Fearless Rick
At The Close, Wednesday, December 3, 2025:
Dow: 47,882.90, +408.44 (+0.86%)
NASDAQ: 23,454.09, +40.42 (+0.17%)
S&P 500: 6,849.72, +20.35 (+0.30%)
NYSE Composite: 21,805.41, +154.92 (+0.72%)
With the holiday season in full swing, Wall Street made up for lost ground on Tuesday, sending all the indices higher on promises for no peace and ill will toward other countries, which kind of goes against the biblical rendering, "peace on earth, good will toward men."
Most of the world is at Defcon 1 or 2 by now, getting ready for World War III, which Europe, the UK, and the United States appear to be intent on starting.
Meanwhile, Steve Witcoff and President Trump's son in-law, Jared Kushner, have traveled to Moscow, negotiating terms of their 18-28 point peace plan with Russian president Putin. Word has it that negotiations went deep into the evening, past midnight, and that the talks were "constructive", which is a media dog whistle for "we got nothing." This is the same messaging that was issued over the weekend from the meetings in Miami with officials from Ukraine. The whole "peace deal" is just plain bunk, made for media spin. The war in Ukraine will end when Russia completely wipes out the Ukraine's armed forces, which is happening on a continuous basis. Figure by June or sooner, Russia will own all of Ukraine east of the Dnieper River.
In the meantime, NATO and friends have been targeting oil tankers which are supposedly carrying Russian oil, a big no-no from an American perspective but also not something of which Mr. Putin is very fond. Russian pipelines and energy facilities have been under heavy assault the past few months. This is apparently how the West negotiates. With explosions and targeting Russia's energy infrastructure. That should work out just fine for the comedy team of Witkoff and Kushner.
Also, sooner or later, the U.S. is going to invade Venezuela, for their oil, not because they traffic drugs, as we've been told. These people are insane.
So, stocks should go up because, um, America, yeah!
Elsewhere, whether you believe last Friday's CME outage was real or a devious ploy to hide severe stress in the silver market, the usual suspects were back at work, sending the price of silver on the globex down from $59 to $57.53 in a matter of an hour right around midnight ET. Silver is gaining as the sun rises over Wall Street, trading just above $58.
Around the same time, gold received similar treatment. At around 7:30 am ET, gold was trading just above $4,200 per ounce.
The continuing suppression effort by the LBMA, CME, COMEX underlings, Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF), and/or anybody else, has become something of a running joke to serious investors. Everybody knows what they're doing, and everybody also knows that the jig is just about up. The rising price of gold and silver at various rates of change in different countries is not that gold and silver are becoming more valuable, it's that the currencies used to purchase them are losing value. Yen, yuan, euros, dollars, pounds are basically becoming toilet paper.
Gold and silver endure. Get some soon, because today's prices - even at or near all-time highs - are going to look ridiculously cheap in the not-so-distant future as the entire facade of Western prosperity and productivity meets the reality of the emerging BRICS nations. Western economies are deeply in debt and unable to escape the clutches of inflation and boom-bust cycles. The stock market cannot go up indefinitely, though it appears that the money behind the gains of the last five years, at least, aren't yet satisfied.
There's money to be made in stocks. That's for certain. How much is a matter of investing acumen, timing, and capital willing to be employed. With the Fed all but certain to cut the federal funds target rate by 0.25% next Wednesday, stocks should see solid gains between now and then and probably beyond. There just isn't any kind of anchor in the system. Nothing seems to shake the confidence level of the confidence men or the back room antics of the string-pullers.
Nobody with a functioning brain dares short this market, so the upward slope is practically guaranteed. What might it take for the markets to correct? Who knows? Wall Street manages to spin every bit of news - good or bad - into a positive for stock ownership.
So, why worry?
Maybe because the narrative doesn't quite match reality. AI hasn't produced any significant scientific breakthroughs, any significant increase in knowledge or productivity, or any other tangible result beyond writing pretty good high school and college term papers and enhanced porn. Big tech companies are investing hundreds of billions of dollars on a technology that is unlikely to ever produce positive ROI.
Then, there's bitcoin and the crypto con. Since November 22, bitcoin has gained from a low of $84,000 to over $93,000 this morning. That's all well and good and the crypto bros are once again touting "new highs, soon, real soon," and other rubbish. Bitcoin and most of the other popular copies are still 25-30% down from recent all-time highs. For all intents and purposes, crypto remains in a bear market.
What's even more concerning about bitcoin and crypto in general is that it serves no useful purpose other than providing a means to soak up excess liquidity and fund illegal activities. It's not a store of value or a viable means of exchange. Bitcoin and all the other "coins" are just speculations. Eventually, like fiat currencies, they will be worth little if anything.
Not that it matters much, but, this morning, the November ADP employment report registered a loss of 32,000 jobs in the month, missing expectations of +40,000 by a mile and well below the +47,000 upwardly-revised from October.
According to Dr. Nela Richardson, Chief Economist, ADP:
Hiring has been choppy of late as employers weather cautious consumers and an uncertain macroeconomic environment. And while November's slowdown was broad-based, it was led by a pullback among small businesses.
Thank you, Captain Obvious.
Normally, the ADP report presages the BLS Non-farm Payroll report issued the first Friday of each month, but, according to the ever-efficient federal government bureaucrats, the November report has been delayed until December 16 and will include partial data from October. Well, isn't that special? After the FOMC meeting (December 9-10).
Moving on, Money Daily did a little investigating on Trump Accounts after Michael Dell and his wife pledged to put $250 into 25 million Trump Accounts, for a total contribution of $6.25 billion. Americans have about 3.6 million births a year, so over four years time, that amounts to 14.4 million. In order for the Dells to reach the $6.25 billion target, the US birth rate would have to pretty much double, and nearly every parent of a child born during the eligibility period would have to open a Trump Account.
As usual, the hype overshadows the reality.
Q: Should you open a Trump Account if you have a baby born on or after Jan. 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2028?
A: Not until you read the 44-page notice the IRS has prepared. Nobody can open a Trump account until sometime next year. Contributions to Trump Accounts cannot be made before July 4, 2026. The IRS is still in the process of creating Form 4547, which has to be filed when opening a Trump Account.
The federal government will supposedly make a contribution to eligible Trump Accounts in the amount of $1000. It's free money, but the beneficiary of the account - your kid - can't touch it until they're 18. The money has to go into a bank or other non-bank custodian trustee acount and be invested in either mutual funds or ETFs. The contribution limits are $5,000 a year. After the beneficiary turns 18, any distributions are taxed as ordinary income.
Here's a thought: How about, instead of dealing with the government, banks, taxes, and the stock market, you buy $1000 worth of gold, silver, baseball cards, and comic books, store them in a safe place (like an actual "safe") and don't tell anybody? Then, you can add to it whenever you please, spend it whenever you like, do whatever you want with it. If that sounds easier and more desirable, it's because it is.
Some people may have a problem with this latest vote-buying-stock-market-pumping scheme. The $1,000 that will be donated by the government to each account is taxpayer money, or, rather, about 60% taxpayer money and about 40% borrowed from the Federal Reserve. Did anybody ask American taxpayers if they wanted their money spent this way? No.
Beyond that, the money, including any contributions made by parents, grandparents, or anybody else, goes into the system, is tracked, then eventually taxed. As usual, the government has plenty of hooks into the whole thing and is tied to Wall Street investment banks who will be getting a nice boost from these accounts which can't be touched for 18 years. Talk about building a floor under the stock market!
Here's a prediction. No more than 5 million Trump Accounts will be created, and the money invested in them will vanish, just like in the famous South Park episode.
Stock futures are pointing to a positive open. Go get 'em.
At the Close, Tuesday, December 2, 2025:
Dow: 47,474.46, +185.13 (+0.39%)
NASDAQ: 23,413.67, +137.75 (+0.59%)
S&P 500: 6,829.37, +16.74 (+0.25%)
NYSE Composite: 21,650.48, -15.98 (-0.07%)
As stocks entered the home stretch, they began to fade with the finish line in sight... story to be continued.
There are just 20 trading days left in 2025, and all indications suggest that it will go down as a solid, though unspectacular, year for equities. The Dow is up 11%; S&P up 16% and the NASDAQ ahead by 20% as of Monday's close. Those are pretty good returns, if they hold, which is why many fund managers have already closed their books and will resume buying or switching out in January. Life is good spending December in the Bahamas or Caymans.
The Dow took the worst of Monday's selloff, losing nearly one percent. As usual, it could have been worse... or better. The major indices erased most of the steep, early losses by midday, but all faded into the close. This is the kind of volatility that can be expected in an uncertain environment. Thank the government for that, at least partially, by delaying the usual economic reports - NFP and GDP in particular - and blaming their own shutdown for the lack of data.
Silver, after Friday's big run, cooled off a bit on Monday, especially after Arcadia Economics' Chris Marcus posted a note about it hitting 59 (and keeping going) in the futures market. Silver lost a bit of its mojo, but that's probably to be expected from an asset that's up 99% year-to-date. Silver won't stop rising, though there may be a few pullbacks, stutters, and surprises on its way to triple digits, where it belongs. Considering that the price of an ounce of silver would be $128 if the gold:silver ratio were a realistic 25:1 and even higher by historical standards of anywhere from 8:1 to 16:1.
Silver will be triple digits within 24 months, possibly within six.
Meanwhile, be on the lookout for the Santa Claus Rally, which usually occurs in the week between Christmas and New Year. Considering current valuations and the levels of naked greed and avarice on Wall Street, it may kick off sooner. Then again, December remains a great time to lock in gains and impress your friends.
Keep your stop losses close.
At the Close, Monday, December 1, 2025:
Dow: 47,289.33, -427.09 (-0.90%)
NASDAQ: 23,275.92, -89.76 (-0.38%)
S&P 500: 6,812.63, -36.46 (-0.53%)
NYSE Composite: 21,666.47, -158.21 (-0.72%)
Without a doubt, though the mainstream media won't readily admit it, the biggest story of the week was the shutdown of the CME and COMEX late on Thanksgiving night (Thursday) and into Friday morning.
With that in mind, the usual sections in this week's WEEKEND WRAP will be shortened versions, focusing on the big story in gold and silver. Detail can be found in the Precious Metals section below.
Stocks
Stocks had one of the best weeks of the year, as the major averages advanced every day of the holiday-shortened week. Adding in the Friday prior, the majors have finished on the upside five consecutive sessions.
Treasury Yield Curve Rates
Date
1 Mo
1.5 mo
2 Mo
3 Mo
4 Mo
6 Mo
1 Yr
10/24/2025
4.11
4.06
4.02
3.93
3.89
3.76
3.58
10/31/2025
4.06
4.02
4.04
3.89
3.87
3.79
3.70
11/07/2025
4.01
3.96
3.98
3.92
3.83
3.76
3.63
11/14/2025
4.04
4.02
4.01
3.95
3.88
3.80
3.70
11/21/2025
4.03
4.01
4.00
3.90
3.84
3.75
3.62
11/28/2025
4.05
3.97
3.99
3.88
3.86
3.74
3.61
Date
2 Yr
3 Yr
5 Yr
7 Yr
10 Yr
20 Yr
30 Yr
10/24/2025
3.48
3.49
3.61
3.79
4.02
4.56
4.59
10/31/2025
3.60
3.60
3.71
3.89
4.11
4.65
4.67
11/07/2025
3.55
3.57
3.67
3.87
4.11
4.68
4.70
11/14/2025
3.62
3.61
3.74
3.92
4.14
4.73
4.74
11/21/2025
3.51
3.50
3.62
3.82
4.06
4.67
4.71
11/28/2025
3.47
3.49
3.59
3.78
4.02
4.62
4.67
Spreads remain wide. Fed speakers are in "quiet mode" prior to the next FOMC meeting, so there will be no Fed speakers in the week ahead. Otherwise, the treasury market is functioning, though there is crowding out due to excessive issuance by the U.S. Treasury, with more than $1 trillion in refunding ongoing.
WTI crude closed out the week at $58.48, which was very close to the high of the week on Friday, though numbers were skewed everywhere due to the "cooling" issue with the CME's computer banks. WTI hit a low of $57.23 on the Tuesday, November 25th, and continues to manifest weakness due to dwindling demand and a glut on world markets, the laughable sanctions against Russia's largest crude producers, Lukoil and Rosneft, not withstanding.
The U.S. national average for gas at the pump fell to $2.98, the lowest price in nearly five years, according to Gasbuddy.com. Gas prices should continue to decline over the near term and through winter.
California remains the highest in the lower 48 states, at $4.55 per gallon, down 11 cents over the past two weeks, followed by Washington ($4.15), the two constituting the $4+ club. Oregon ($3.75), was down two cents. The lowest prices remain in the Southeast, with Oklahoma checking in near the lowest price in about a year, $2.45. Louisiana ($2.50) and Mississippi ($2.51) were next. Texas ($2.52) and Arkansas ($2.54) follow. The remaining Southeast states are all below $2.80 with the exception of Florida ($3.01) down 10 cents from last week.
In the Northeast, prices remained elevated. Only New Hampshire ($2.94), Delaware ($2.98) and Maryland ($2.99) posted under $3.00, with Pennsylvania ($3.22) easily the highest. Vermont ($3.11) and New York ($3.12) were the next.
In the midwest region, where the price relief was felt the most, Illinois ($3.13) was the only state above $3.00. At the low end were Colorado ($2.49) and Kentucky ($2.61).
Sub-$3.00 gas was reported in 31 states, a gain of three from last week and five over the past two weeks.
Bitcoin
This week: $91,709.19
Last week: $87,373.34
2 weeks ago: $95,387.89
6 months ago: $104,494.50
One year ago: $96,490.37
Five years ago: $19,156.46
Bitcoin has recovered from a low of around $81,000 on November 22. It remains 26% below its all-time high of October 7 ($124.310.60).
What happened late-night on Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 27) was nothing less than pure panic in international markets. While the official story of the nearly 12-hour "dark" period of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), which includes COMEX trading, halted all futures and options trading due to a cooling failure at the CyrusOne CHI1 data center in Chicago. The technical issue forced the CME to shut down its Globex electronic trading platform, crucial for price discovery in commodities such as wheat, corn, oil, gold, silver, and U.S. equity futures.
The outage affected trading in global markets, leading to volatility and disruptions in pricing. Traders faced challenges as they reverted to traditional methods of contacting brokers due to the lack of live trading. Following the shutdown, there was a notable surge in silver prices, which increased by more than $3.00.
CyrusOne's engineering teams were actively working to restore full cooling capacity at the affected data center throughout the night and early morning. CME officials indicated that they were working to stabilize the data center and provided updates on the resumption of trading. Finally, at 8:00 am ET, CME announced that trading on its platform would resume at 8:30 am ET, in time for stock futures to price before the cash market open.
That was the official story from market operators, which almost nobody believes. The reason for the CME "pulling the plug" on its entire network run the gamut from wild conspiracy theories to more mundane explanations, such as the sheer volume of paper contracts - which are usually magnitudes higher than actual commodities available for delivery, especially gold and silver - overwhelmed the system.
1) The failure was technical. CMEs software or hardware malfunctioned. Lanci points out that the last two CME outages - in 2014 and 2019 - were at a time when they had no competition, but notes that the global condition has changed and the Shanghai Futures Exchange and the Shanghai Gold Exchange now compete with the CME "to define the price the world references." The outage exposes CME vulnerability.
2) Lanci observed the speculation of some traders and analysts, that at the time of the outage, silver was at an all-time high, platinum was surging and China had, on that day, launched its platinum contract. The concerns of traders put on display the erosion of confidence in Western systems as opposed to the emergence of China's platforms.
3) Lanci then looked at actual silver and gold trading during the outage, which included spiking prices at highs just as the platform shut down, then, in the "darkness" a drop in both prices, due to a lack of corresponding prices, or, counterparty affirmation. The fragmentation in these markets points up the need for comparison pricing platforms to be in continuous operation, lest price discovery becomes a one-sided affair, which does not work for global pricing.
Lanci also pointed out that the Thanksgiving event should not have happened, relating that CME has built data centers with multiple levels of redundancy and fail-safes.
Elijah K. Johnson at Miles Franklin's Liberty and Finance interviewed analyst Mario Innecco, who pointed out various efforts in Dubai, India, South Korea and elsewhere to bring silver into the global monetary universe. Central banks have begun buying silver alongside gold. Innecco cites examples from November 1979 to January 1980 when silver tripled, and 2004-05 when silver experienced $5 gains in single sessions.
Innecco called the shutdown "suspicious," and thought that CME not having backups was "far-fetched", especially on a relatively quiet post-holiday trading session. He believes premiums will go higher on Monday and thereafter, advising small investors to focus on pre-1965 "junk" silver and American Silver Eagles (ASE). He also believes silver will provide more liquidity than gold in day-to-day transactions. He called the recent moves in silver "historic", citing the bimetallic period in the U.S. prior to 1873 and the fact that silver was used as money as lately as the 1960s.
Morgan cited Nobody Special Finance and Bob Coleman as sources backing the rumor that none other than Paul Tudor Jones made multiple market moves in silver just prior to the CME shutdown and may have been instrumental in the events of Thanksgiving evening and Friday morning.
Morgan said the story is that "paper price discovery broke" and that silver is entering what he has long-called the "recognition phase, when the world finally realizes that the metal is industrial, indispensable, and monetarily irreplaceable." Nearing the end of his report, Morgan pointed out, "above all, understand, this is not a spike but a signal. You're watching the early stages of a historic transition, the slow, grinding collapse of paper promises and the rise of real assets that cannot be printed, erased or defaulted upon. Silver just sent its warning shot. Now the real game begins."
Mike Maloney of goldsilver.com does not believe that the shutdown was necessarily tied to silver in particular, but he doesn't rule it out, saying such speculation is reasonable considering the market conditions. In his video presentation, Maloney offers examples of posts on the social platform X, which point up what othe analysts have expressed, that regardless of the cause, the system broke.
William Middlekoop, who notably has signaled a global monetary reset is imminent, posted: "'A cooling issue' Translation: We need to cool off the silver market, reposition, to avoid silver exploding higher. Markets will re-open (gold and silver) when we know we can hammer prices lower..."
The X personality known as "Ben Rickert" (played by Brad Pitt in the film, "The Big Short") (@Ben_Rickert) was highlighted in Maloney's piece. Rickert's post included the ominous message: "Money is unraveling. Confidence is eroding. Price signals are returning. And silver - the underestimated monetary metal - is leading the revolt. The bull run didn't pause. The exchange did. And that tells you everything you need to know about where this cycle is going."
Due to temporal limitations - it's now 2:30 on Sunday afternoon - it would be impossible to cite all the experts, so Money Daily will hopefully be featuring opinions from the likes of Luke Gromen, Ronald Stoeferle, Andy Schectman, Andrew Maguire, Craig Hemke, and others as events unfold beginning Monday December 1.
Money Daily's take on the issue remains the same as when first reported Friday morning. The CME shutdown is part of a larger pattern that's been developing over decades. Ordinary Americans are relentlessly cheated, conned, swindled, hustled, and lied-to by the government and its vassals in the mainstream media because, in their simple minds, "they" know what's good for "us." Lately, the con game has gone deeper, with technology strings attached, from the LGBTQ gaslighting and Covid mandates from the Biden administration to Trump's campaign promises of the tariff golden age, ending the Ukraine conflict in 24 hours, and releasing the Epstein files to the U.S. being the "hottest" country in the world, according to Trump.
Now, it's been ramped up to shutting down the government for 42 days, "losing" all the data for the October Non-farm payrolls and CPI, and delaying the release of 3rd quarter GDP figures until just before Christmas, so, it shouldn't surprise anybody when the CME goes dark, a story, by the way, that didn't even receive a headline on the Sunday talk shows. Not important, apparently.
The CME shutdown, whatever the cause, did show just how broken and untrustworthy the system has become. It's somewhat of a miracle that mail keeps being delivered. The government is bankrupt, $38 trillion in debt, China and Russia are running circles around Europe and America militarily, politically, economically, and socially. Anybody giving the government anything more than a casual shrug in anything they do or say is simply not reading the tea leaves correctly. The US government is nothing more than a massive skimming operation and the American citizens are the marks.
In specific terms as pertains to silver, the pricing on the evening of November 27 suggests that it was about to do with nickel did back in March, 2022. The March 2022 nickel spike was one of the most dramatic market events in modern commodity trading. Prices briefly soared above $100,000 per ton, forcing the London Metal Exchange (LME) to suspend trading and cancel billions of dollars’ worth of contracts. Between March 4–8, 2022, nickel prices on the LME nearly quadrupled in three trading days, rising from around $25,000/ton to over $100,000/ton, the proximate cause a short squeeze.
This could tie into the massive positions in options rumored to be the work of Paul Tudor Jones. Silver, which has been massively suppressed by the COMEX, LBMA, CME, and others, could have been spooked by huge contracts and options being placed, putting all the shorts and bullion banks at severe risk. It would explain the panic in terms of shutting down the market if silver was about to go parabolic. Consider that if silver merely tripled in price to $150 an ounce, the gold:silver ratio would still be 28, roughly double the historic level.
Back when gold first broke out in 1979-1980, above $800, silver pushed near $50 before the exchanges put the kibosh on both, by changing the rules, limiting silver trades to "sell only", which trapped the Hunt Brothers in their leveraged positions and made them the scapegoat for the collapse in gold and silver prices. Back then, between November, 1979 and February, 1980, the gold:silver ratio was in the teens, as in 15-19, closer to historic levels. If something like that, triggered by aggressive traders - not necessarily Paul Tudor Jones, but, traders in Singapore, Dubai, Shanghai, Moscow perhaps, was about to unfold, the CME, Globex, and COMEX would be sure to hit the panic button.
China and Russia have been well ahead of this trend. They've been stockpiling silver for years. Russia made it official policy in 2023.
The analysts are correct when they say the system broke down. When the truth is revealed - and it always is, eventually - it is likely that silver was about to spike to $100 an ounce all at once, wiping out the short, the specs, and maybe a couple of bullion banks with one swat. We will keep watching... and stacking.
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:
56.00
71.00
61.75
61.28
1 oz silver bar:
59.00
76.00
64.61
64.10
1 oz gold coin:
4,357.90
4,656.48
4,462.34
4,447.83
1 oz gold bar:
4,245.00
4,511.05
4,425.12
4,429.47
The Single Ounce Silver Market Price Benchmark (SOSMPB) showed an incredible gain for the week, to $62.94, up $4.89 cents from the November 23 price of $58.05 per troy ounce. The small-denomination, physical market continues to add high premia over spot and derivative market pricing.
WEEKEND WRAP
The markets are quiet, for now. Silver on Kitko is quoted at 56.33, +3.09 (+5.80%). That's a pretty big move. Monday will either be a day of reckoning for the CME and COMEX (which would be a liberating day for silver stackers), or more of what everybody's become used to over the past 40 years, more suppression in price. But, ebay prices tell a different story, as do dealers, who have one-ounce coins and bars priced from $58-$65 depending on quantity and payment method.
The silver breakout is real. The story behind the CME "blackout" is probably not.
At the Close, Friday, November 28, 2025:
Dow: 47,716.42, +289.30 (+0.61%)
NASDAQ: 23,365.69, +151.00 (+0.65%)
S&P 500: 6,849.09, +36.48 (+0.54%)
NYSE Composite: 21,824.67, +111.54 (+0.51%)
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 2025, Downtown Magazine Inc., all rights reserved.
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