Crazy Friday

Geez how crazy was that Friday?? Enough to drive me to drink - not that I need an excuse of course.

The short platinum and copper trades took a while to get going but eventually they joined the tumble in metals prices and there was a bit of profit for Friday. The job numbers came in bad and NFP reflected the real problems the US is facing - you can massage what you like things aren't great...

The commodities and underlying equity markets took off like a bat outta hell and then suddenly started losing ground with Gold falling to US$955.

I entered a long pozzie on Gold just under US$960 anticipating something of a bounce as some "normality" returned to the market. Gold gyrated around a bit like a stripper at the Lollipop Lounge and just like the pros - promised a lot and delivered bugger all.

Personal feeling - commodities still look toppish and with the job numbers still showing no sign of a turnaround they seem to be looking like we could be about to start a second down-leg (particularly in the base metals and platinum). Gold and Oil still seem to be trading as something of a "risk" proxy.

There is some talk of the dollar starting to strengthen on the back of some prospects of rising interest rates in the US. The problem with interest rates going up is that its going to deaden any of these so called "green-shoots"...

No real conviction for direction tomorrow beyond expecting a bit of a rebound in gold.