T. FERGUSON: GOLD TO BREAK 100 DAY MOVING AVERAGE NEXT WEEK, TARGET $1500 IN 2014!

• Blythe Masters joins the CFTC for 12 hours to advise on Swaps regulation- TF lets loose on the audacity of the criminal banksters
• Price trends in precious metals and fundamental underpinnings going forward
• The Doc’s retail market report- big money is buying physical with both hands
• Turd Ferguson on the “end game” of the “Great Keynesian Experiment”- TF calls for gold to break its 100 DMA to the upside next week, gold & silver to challenge $1525 and $26 in 2014.

Don’t you just love it when the powers that be rub corruption in our face? How on earth could anyone within the bureaucracies and power structure of Washington, D.C. not know there would be a backlash against having the most notorious wench of the derivatives market serve as a consultant to the CFTC? Some have speculated that Masters’ nomination could even be an overt message that the powers that be wish to send: a hearty “fukk you,” as ZeroHedge speculated. It’s more likely hubris. These handmaidens to plutocratic “special interests” simply don’t think like you and the average person on the street. Law? Ethics? That’s for the little people. There’s screwing of the middle class to be done. Sit down. Shut-up.

Well, the corruption across the political divide is so pronounced at this decrepit stage that people are speaking up. Let’s hope (and make happen) that accelerates this election year. The Blythe saga is indicative of an issue of right and wrong, not ideological perspectives of right and left. The United States was founded on the “rule of law,” and crony capitalism can not be permitted to destroy what makes this nation great. Seeing the wench of derivatives slither away given public protest is a tiny victory for sanity and the rule of law. That’s the take-home message precious metals investors should ponder this weekend.

We briefly discussed how corruption is pervasive across the entire government. If you think this weeks’ CFTC move was bad, click here and check out Catherine Engelbrecht’s 7 minute testimony about the IRS, FBI, ATF and OSHA. Her experience is not an isolated incident. It’s happening to hundreds of people and organizations across America.

Back to the markets. . .

We’ve had numerous indications that the economy was starting to roll over at least as early as November, and now it’s showing up in back-to-back employment report disappointments. The orgy of buying in the equities market closing out 2013 in hindsight looks more like a speculative blow-off as the days and weeks of 2014 pass. But it’s still likely that we’ll see another wave of general US equity market purchases lasting for many weeks before all markets deal with the reality of tapering. I still view the March through end of June window as a high probability time-frame for a sizable correction in equities. I expect ten year bond rates to move consistently higher — well past 3%. Eventually, that will freak-out Janet Yellen and her Fed pals and we’ll see more accommodation from the Fed this summer. Some of the pump priming will likely be fiscal stimulus, such as a partial debt forgiveness proposal applied to the student loan bubble, which is now well over the trillion dollar mark. The Fed will probably do one or two more $10 billion taper moves, with an increasing emphasis on tapering of MBS junk versus Treasury purchases. The Fed can’t taper too much when it comes to Treasury purchases because there is simply insufficient organic demand for US long-term debt.

Despite clearly visible cartel footprints this week, gold and silver continue to see sufficient buying interest on short-term dips. That suggests higher prices are likely in the not too distant future. As Turd discusses, it’s highly probable that gold’s 100 day moving average will decline in the near-term, with gold crossing the average and moving higher still over the course of this month. The cartel has not been able to make any meaningful push to the downside, while continued aggressive accumulation of physical points to higher precious metals prices.

Now that the master Olympic torch is lit, perhaps it’s time to catch an Olympics competition or two and forget about the markets for a while. Enjoy the weekend! — Eric Dubin