If you ever wanted to save a chart for posterity, here is one for you. A perfect, three-stage Cartel raid of the gold Comex.
With nearly infinite, Fed-supplied, taxpayer cash at their disposal, The Cartel can simply overwhelm the public bid whenever they desire. They can't and don't do this everyday as blatant, daily manipulation would draw too much heat and leave them with too sizable of a short position. However, when an operation is needed to clip price or paint a chart, you can bet that The Wicked Witch will spring the monkeys from their cages and send them forth to inflict pain and suffering.

So, what did today's mission accomplish? Take a look at this 4-hour chart:
All that work over the past week suppressing price under 1550 has painted a nearly perfect, head-and-shoulders top on this chart. After waffling a bit yesterday, it is quite clear to me now that gold will be contained by the EE through the summer, in a range from roughly 1460-1550.

Silver still has the potential to break free of its current shackles and run to 42 or 43 by the end of the month but time is, unfortunately, running out. It is still within its pennant formation and may present a buying opportunity around 36 but anyone buying there must have a pretty tight stop. While a break of the pennant to the UPside would indicate a run to 39, 39.50 and even 42, a break to the downside could take it all of the way down to 33. Yikes.

Keep checking back today as we are in the final stages of preparing the new site and I hope to have it ready later on. It's a great new playground for us. Not the fanciest thing ever created but it will widen our conversations and provide some fun, new wrinkles, too.

Hang in there today. TF

10:55 EDT UPDATE:
I figured some of you might be looking for a crude update.

File these two away for posterity, too.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/german-rating-agency-feri-downgrades-us-government-bonds-aaa-aa
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/china-ratings-house-says-us-defaulting-report-054309883.html