Families in China face flooding 'not seen in 2,000 years'

Floods = damaged crops = lower supply per static demand = higher food prices.

Flood-hit families across southern China are facing a catastrophe not seen in millennia as a month of heavy rain continues, warns Plan International. Ten provinces are caught up in the escalating crisis with hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed and huge swathes of farmland swamped.

Source: alertnet.org

Next Foreclosure Fight

Letting your home owner's association fee slide while fighting to keep your head above water? To the surprise of many, this decision to forgo paying several hundreds of dollars has forced many home owners into foreclosure not by their banks but rather home owner's association. These foreclosed homes can be purchased at steep discount often by the same association that forced the foreclosure.

Positive Divergence in Trend Energy in Junior Gold Miners Index

A positive divergence in trend energy in the Junior Gold Miners Index suggests quiet accumulation prior to the paper takedown. Quiet accumulation often precedes explosive jumps - better known as bandwagon rallies. Though, in the case of gold and gold stocks, I seriously doubt it will get much coverage.

Junior Gold Miners Index ETF (GDXJ):

US Stocks technical picture

S&P 500 ETF (SPY):


The S&P 500 jumped above October 2009 gap on 7/13. I will be watching if this gap is close on light volume. A pause on light volume would be a bullish setup and suggest another push higher.

There are lots of reasons to be bearish, thus, lots of bears out there. The minor cycle date was 6/30, and the market bottomed on 7/1. August will be an important time from for stocks. It’s likely that the direction of the trend will surprise many.

Higher education fund buys gold over economic worries

As little as a year ago, it would have been socially unacceptable for a public institution to acknowledge gold purchases. Clearly gold has advanced into the late stages of two or early three of a three phase secular bull market. Massive general public participant should characterize the end.

Fearing unstable international financial markets and the possibility of high inflation, Texas' higher education investment managers have bought more than $500 million in gold.

Sources: chron.com

Sprott has new silver trust

FYI

The document offers a number of reasons to invest in physical bullion: It's convenient, all the proceeds will be invested in physical silver; the silver will be stored at the mint and the trust will be able to secure lower transaction costs than investors doing it themselves. But the fund is geared to those who like their income in the form of capital gain; the trust does not intend to pay any dividends.

Source: financialpost.com

Dim retail sales hurt economy but offer bargains

No spin to refute here.

A second straight month of declining retail spending will likely keep unemployment high and help weaken the recovery.

Trend line breaks mark deceleration in "real" retail sales. This is important to economy in which consumption accounts for more than 70% of national income. Either the economy is accelerating or decelerating. Deceleration with extremely high debt burdens will be met with further stimulus.

Real or CPI-Adjusted Retail Sales (RRS) and YOY Change:


Gold-Adjusted Retail Sales (RSGLDR) and YOY Change:


Weakness in retail sales is confirmed by the ISM data.

ISM Prices Paid Index (PP) to National Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) Ratio:


Source: finance.yahoo.com