U.S. wages are up an annual rate of 7.6% in the second quarter, after a hefty 13% surge in the previous three months.
Bad news for liberal politicos who are currently painting the state of the U.S. economy in murky colors, delivered to you daily in television campaign ads. (On the other hand, when was the last time a politician ever based a TV spot on facts?)
But the news should be good for goldbugs: With enough cash sloshing around in the hands of the American consumer, increased demand for bling-bling may keep gold prices above $600 for the foreseeable future...
-- "Petroleum traders, worried that prices are too high to last, are selling their holdings," claims James R. Healey of USA Today. And apparently, they have discarded media-mongered fears that hurricanes won't disrupt oil production in the Gulf. Healey drew the connection between lack of speculative confidence and the fact that yesterday, crude oil ended New York trading at $69.71 a barrel -- the first time it has closed at less than $70 since early May.
Scattered analysts also have placed gasoline prices closer to $2 a gallon than to $3, with a 10 cents a gallon drop due to materialize by the end of next week.
I don't quite know about that. Yes, hurricane season thus far has been a bit of a dud. But it ain't over yet, and as we saw last Friday, even a lousy tropical depression can double as a speculative catalyst. And then there's the loony fringe in Iran, with its missile batteries pointed at the Strait of Hormuz, through which 80% of Middle Eastern oil exports have to pass.
There's still plenty of speculative conflagration points left. On the other hand, gold demand numbers illustrated very nicely that those clamoring most loudly about yet another imminent doubling and tripling of gold prices stopped buying as gold moved past $650 earlier this year... and haven't really gotten back into the game yet. |
