I would think the weakness in the juniors is related to the weakness in the markets overall, plus the fact that a few juniors have had pretty strong runs in the last few days and need to consolidate gains. But I do agree some kind of smackdown is coming for the metals too, because we know the Cartel does not like to let things get too bullish. Also, the trading algorithms favour a higher dollar when the market is red and that is what we are getting today, which puts a headwind into the trading for the metals.

I think the usual volatility aside we can still look to a rising trend for the next couple of weeks. The traders are pretty much out of the story for gold and silver now, so there is little to gain by going short here. In fact, I would suspect the bias in open interest is with small spec shorts, who are about to get hosed and that will fuel the next up move.

I am usually wrong on the short term anyway, but longer term things look very good for a fall bull market.

cheers!

mike