From Ed Steer:

To accurately describe Tuesday's trading activity in gold, would have been a toss-up between watching grass grow...or paint dry. It was boring...although the usual N.Y. commentator mentioned that..."Predictably, gold met strong resistance in NY...estimated volume by 10 a.m. was a heavy 65,113 lots." Silver was a little more interesting, as it was obvious right from the London open that the silver price got stepped on every time it showed serious signs of heading for 13 bucks. It's noon on Wednesday in Hong Kong [11:00 p.m. Tuesday night in New York] as I write these words...and I note that silver is once again knocking on the $13 door.

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Monday's big surprise spike in both gold and silver produced some rather interesting changes in open interest. Gold o.i. only rose 1,106 contracts to 169,221...on monstrous volume of 127,829 contracts. Silver's o.i. actually went in the opposite direction, down 380 contracts to 99,934...on volume of 21,539 contracts. Tuesday's open interest changes...such as they will be, considering the price activity...will be posted by noon today, and should be included in Friday's Commitment of Traders report.

In yesterday's Comex Delivery Report...36 gold contracts and 266 silver contracts were delivered. In the SLV, another 1,352,776 ounces were reported to have been added to their alleged stocks...and over at GLD, they reduced their stash by 490,848 ounces...about 15.2 tonnes. The U.S. Mint must be running those stamping machines red hot, because they updated their eagle numbers again yesterday. They added another 8,000 one-ounce gold eagles...plus 50,000 silver eagles as well. This brings their July totals up to 38,500 and 1,125,000 respectively. That's a lot! And over at the Comex-approved warehouses, silver inventories slid another 252,509 ounces.

The usual New York commentary had the following of note yesterday..."Last week's ECB [European Central Bank] statement of condition disclosed a fall in 'gold and gold receivables' of a derisory €2.0 million -- 0.09 of a tonne. One CB was reported to have sold. Such a small amount implies an involuntary transaction...perhaps an option being called. Last week the sale was 0.23 tonnes."

"With less than three months left of the final WAG2 year, it is plain to see that the ECB squadron of central banks has effectively withdrawn from the market. The Bears badly need the promised IMF sale...at least for documentation purposes."

"The Gartman Letter, which had been looking for a further fall in gold [but not, to the disappointment of gold's friends, actually shorting], suggested today that the $925-8 resistance level will 'prove formidable'. Given this source's connections, this is probably an informed judgment. [And] unless the rupee resumes weakening, the effort required may be more than the Bears bargained for."

And to give you a further idea of how quiet things were yesterday...here is a comment posted by A.S. over at Bill Murphy's letmetropolecafe.com yesterday..."Talk about apathy...nearly two hours elapsed midday without posts to gold-eagle.com's Forum. Things are dead."

"For some perspective on the all-important US real estate market, today's chart illustrates the 2004 to 2009 trend of the Dow Jones Equity REIT Index. As today's chart illustrates, the unwinding of the real estate/credit bubble initially (early 2007 to mid-2008) occurred at a fairly moderate pace. That pace accelerated (mid-2008 to early 2009) as major financial institutions began to collapse. When all was said and done, the peak to trough decline of the Dow Jones Equity REIT Index ended up being 75.8%. Since the trough of early 2009, REITs have rallied and are currently up 38% (though remain 66% below the 2007 peak). As today's chart illustrates, the Dow Jones Equity REIT Index remains within the confines of a moderate downward sloping trend channel and currently trades near resistance." I thank P.S. for sending this along. Info and chart courtesy of www.chartoftheday.com.

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Today's first story is from The Telegraph in London. It is, of course, by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard. I stole this piece from Bill Murphy's MIDAS commentary over at lemetropolecafe.com yesterday afternoon. The headline reads "Europe digs its economic grave while the ECB answers to no one"..."The European Central Bank preens as the last guardian of virtues in a sinful world, yet its actions are devastating the public finances of almost every country under its care." The story is definitely worth the read...and the link is here.

Yesterday I mentioned that the U.S. Mint was cutting back on gold bullion products just so it could meet the demand for the one-ounce gold eagles. Writer Dorothy Kosich over at mineweb.com has a few things to say about it in this piece entitled "U.S. Mint gold, silver coin sales 'temporarily suspended' - again: Brother, can you spare an American buffalo?" The link is here.

I love this next story...and you'll soon find out why. "Greenlight Capital Inc., the $5 billion hedge-fund firm run by David Einhorn, told investors it switched all of its holdings in a gold exchange-traded fund into bullion during the second quarter." I think a little birdie must have whispered in their ear about GLD's ugly little secret, as I don't buy for one second the reason given for the switch. The Bloomberg story is entitled "Einhorn's Greenlight Hedge Fund Switches Gold ETF to Bullion"...and the link is here.

And lastly today is silver analyst Ted Butler's latest commentary...and it's an absolute must read from one end to the other. In a GATA release yesterday, secretary treasurer, Chris Powell, had these words...."Butler writes that the new interest shown by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in position limits for traders, and particularly position limits for traders in gold and silver, could be "the game changer"...the end of the suppression of prices...particularly the price of silver. The refusal of the CFTC to enforce position limits in silver trading has been Butler's foremost complaint for at least two decades, so the new comments from the commission may herald his vindication. Let's hope that the CFTC calls Butler as a primary witness in the hearings it has promised to hold in the near future. Butler's commentary is headlined "The Game Changer"...and the link is here.

Where all think alike, no one thinks very much. - Walter Lippmann

Well...have we seen 'the bottom' for this move down? The 200-day moving averages are intact, the gold open interest is still sky-high...and then Dennis Gartman came out with his comment yesterday that the $925-8 resistance level will 'prove formidable'. Did he mean to the upside...or downside? From the way it was reported by the usual New York commentator, one would have to think that the current price is 'the bottom'. As I said in so many words yesterday..."this time it [may be] different." I have the gain on my B.S. meter cranked all the way up to maximum...and for the moment, I'll just sit on the fence, although I may not be there for very long.

And this just in from the usual N.Y. commentator in the wee hours of Wednesday morning before I fired this off to my editor. He had this additional comment..."ScotiaMocatta notes the 100-day moving average [gold] is around $924. So far it appears The Gartman Letter is correct in anticipating much resistance in the $925-8 area."

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Well, as you can see in the graph above, we've been below the 100-day moving average for a week, and under $910 several times. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough if this is 'the bottom' or not.

I hope your Wednesday goes well...and I'll see you here tomorrow.

Casey Research correspondent-at-large Ed Steer is a keen observer of the financial scene and a board member of GATA.org.