One glance at the chart tells you that silver and gold and platinum and palladium all trod water this week. On the other hand, stocks rose this week, mostly today. US dollar index flatlined, and today silver and gold broke.

Lo and Behold! The Dow exceeded 12,850 today, and fact of the business is, nearly reached the May intraday high (12,876). Dow today gained a respectable 156.82 points (1.23%) to close at 12,862.23, nearly on the 12,869.95 high. S&P500 was even happier, rising 19.36 points (1.46%) to 1,344.90. What has everybody clambering all over each other to buy stocks?

Well, if you can believe it, government numbers. Personally, I don't put nearly as much stock in government numbers as I do in astrology, and I couldn't even tell you what my birth sign is -- the Possum, or the Turkey Buzzard, maybe.

Yet in this age of Reason, High Technology, and Right Big Government Lies, people still suck up those government numbers like they were single malt scotch at a free bar.

All this big news was that the government's unemployment rate dropped to 8.3%, nearly the low for the last three years. (On another note, if you believe unemployment is 8.3%, call me about some wooden Krugerrands I can sell you really cheap.)

Truth is, market was looking for some excuse to rise, that was the news today, so it took the bait.

Oh, and by the way, did I tell y'all that a Greek Debt Deal Is Near?

Y'all might wonder why I am so negative on stocks. Because they are in a primary down trend (bear market), and if I don't do much more than keep you out of stocks, five years from now you'll still think I was the brightest bulb in the box. Hide and watch.,

That US Dollar Index this week played Bait and Switch. Looked like it would break through 79.50 and fall off the face of the earth, but it stopped and rallied and even ended the week 7.6 basis points higher than last Friday.

Today the dollar index lost a tee-tiny 3.2 basis points (0.04%), leaving me wondering why the currency market has gone so quiet all of a sudden. It ended at 78.959, but climbed as high as 79.357. This currency thing isn't clear. Dollar may rally still and euro may sink to its intrinsic value -- zero -- before the dollar does.

The 1.3200 level seems to have blocked the euro this week. Closed 1.3155 today, up 0.06%. Also bumping up against its critical 62 day moving average, and can't punch through. Brace yourself for another stumble for the euro.,

Reason hath fled the yen market. Closed today down 0.50% at 130.56c/Y100 (76.59/US$1), giving back a third of its spectacular gains since 24 January. It gaps down, then bounces right back, gaps up, then waterfalls down. Why does that picture make me thing of Nice Government Men in their cubicles phoning their partners in manipulation on the market floor?

Well, I know election year has come because so many pious confessions are spontaneously erupting from politicians' lips. Yesterday it was Bernard O'Bama shaking out his Christianity before the National Prayer Breakfast, and even Newt Gingrich is claiming to have got religion. You may think I am harsh to say these things, but I say it's as sorry as gully dirt for politicians to trade on their faith. I never have thought much of them "talkin'" Christians, only the "walkin'" ones. They never need to tell you what they believe, because you already know from watching 'em.

All the This Day In History websites say that the 16th (income tax) amendment was ratified 3 February 1913, but that's a lie. Secretary of State Philander Knox fraudulently and knowingly certified it when it had never passed. The irregularities in the supposed state ratifications are too numerous to list, but you can read all about it in "The Law That Never Was" by Bill Benson and Red Beckman. Of course, if you don't pay the income tax, the government will try to jail or kill you.

Speaking of the IRS, tax time is fast approaching. My friend, Dan Pilla, Jr., at www.taxhelponline.com has over 25 years experience fighting with the IRS for taxpayers' rights. If you have bad tax problems, Dan's the man to call. One of the 11 books he has written is "How to Get Tax Amnesty." Check him out. I receive no remuneration whatever for recommending Dan.

Y'all enjoy your weekend!

Good thing about writing these commentaries is that every day that dawns brings a new chance to be wrong.

I was not, however, wrong to suspect silver and gold were about to jump, based on that one-slightly- down-other-slightly-up rule. But more below.

Okay, y'all, a Greek Debt Deal Is Near. Don't forget that. What kind of person would I be if I didn't remind y'all?

The US dollar, Laughingstock Of Fiat Currencies, only slightly less ridiculous than the euro and yen, shed 35.6 basis points (0.46%) today to land at 78.932. Yesterday's Big W resolved into a triple top, and obligingly fell lower than Friday's lows, to 78.623, relieving our minds of the worry that it might suddenly rally. Still, give the devil his due. Until the dollar clearly violates that 78.60 level, it's liable to do anything. Well, we all know that over time it can only do one thing -- slowly evaporate -- but I mean in the short run.

The scruffy and disgusting euro is flagging at the 62 day moving average, today 1.3209. Euro closed up 0.58% at 1.3158. Looks like it won't punch through, but will fall again for some sort of double bottom.

Did I mention that a Greek Debt Deal Is Near? Don't forget that. That will really help the euro by, uh, by, uh, well, I'm sure it will help Greece, at least. We won't talk about all the other bankrupt countries because one of them begins with an F.

On the other side of the globe pretty much nobody knows what they're doing, because they bid up the doomed yen 0.07% to 131.32c/Y100 (Y76.20/US$1). It's still rallying -- why is anybody's guess, given the fundamentals. Never mind, don't expect anything to make sense in a fiat money world.

Okay, stocks hung me on my own words, and sure's this world did manage to peck through 12,700. Dow rose 83.55 (0.66%) today and closed at 12,716.46. S&P500 rose through my strict 1,320 to 1,324.08, gaining 11.67 (0.89%).

As that notorious wit and indefatigable wag, Queen Victoria, used to quip, "We are not amused." Nor are we enthused. Stocks may simply be setting up for a little double top below 12,850, whence they will sink like your car keys when they were in your shirt pocket and you leaned over to get a better view of Hoover Dam. BICBW.

Anyway, who would want to own stocks and undergo all that fatigue of trying to pick the right one and do all that worrying when you can just buy gold or silver, stick it in the safe, and wait until Ben Bernancubus and the US Gov do what they do best: destroy the dollar.

Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought.

- Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger
The-MoneyChanger.com

© 2012, The Moneychanger. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission.

To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down.

WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. Be advised and warned:

Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.

NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps.

NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced.

NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt.

What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands.

One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose.

Musing back over the yen's performance yesterday, and recalling the current buzz among Those Who Must Talk Whether Mentating Or Not, Asian stocks also rose yesterday, "on Greek Debt Deal Talks" and Japanese industrial production grew faster than economists estimated. A statement so obtuse, so wanting in causal connection, stinks of the same Bimbo Financial Journalism that moved that Canadian TV commentatoress to say gold wasn't a good investment "because it wasn't backed by anything like the US dollar is."

Point is, tons of hot money slosheth around the world looking for a likely place to light, hungry for return, and stupidly harkening to the latest news and commentary, groundless though they be. Investment du jour (IdJ) today is US stocks, because there may be a Greek debt deal and Bernanke's indigestion is improving. Tomorrow the IdJ will be European stocks, because there may be a Greek debt deal and Ferkel and Sarcophagus are no longer miffed at each other. Besides, the planets are lining up and Pisces is ascendant in the Fishbowl. And the Japanese are switching to rice from wheat.

I'll be glad when the adults come back and take charge again.

Okay, I can't dodge it; let's look at today's markets.

Now I've heard of heads and shoulders, upside down and right side up, triangles, boxes, wedges, spikes, and double and triple tops, but I don't recall seeing many Big Ws before. Be that as it may, there 'tis on the US Dollar Index chart, a Big W. Breaks down and begins at 79.50, drops to 78.75, rises to 79.45, drops yet again to 78.75, then today rises to 79.50. Man, that's either a PERFECT double bottom, or it's the Nice Government Men painting the tape. What do y'all reckon?

Mattereth not. Implication is that a dollar close above 79.50 turns the dollar higher, a close below 78.75 pulls the plug.

Dollar index today rose 11.8 magnificent basis points (0.15%, for those of y'all with magnifying glasses) to 79.285. Could it turn and resume its rally from here? Might, but I think the NGM in Japan, Europe, and the US have the dollar on the run, and want to keep it there. After all, a Greek Debt Deal may be near.

Disappointing its partisans, the euro today was chipped and clipped for 0.46%, closing down at 1.3080. It's bouncing off its 62 day moving average, a significant moving average for the euro. Also backed through through the 50 DMA today (131.06). Nothing here suggests the euro is NOT headed higher.

As the mysterious schools of investment herring switch from east to west, the Yen rose again today by 0.17% to 131.19c/Y100 (Y76.22/US$1). I am so suspicious it's scary. Scares even me. I keep looking at the dollar selling at about 130 eurocents and about 130 yen, and I keep thinking, "Now isn't that just like Nice Government Men! They pick some silly target number that makes it obvious to a blind man what they're doing, forgetting that nature doesn't round." This looks like a target range ginned up in a meeting over rubber chicken in Basel at the BIS.

The smell of the sickroom hovereth yet over stocks. A few indices rose today, but the S&P500 and the Dow were not among them. Dow lost 21.04 points (0.17%) to settle at 12,632.68. S&P500 perched at 1,312.39, down 0.62 point or 0.05%.

Folks, y'all lay a ruler across the tops of Thursday, Friday, and on through today. I'll show you a failed breakout attempt today, but nothing else to fertilize respect or optimism. I'll give it this: if the Dow can better 12,700, and the S&P can better 1,320, stocks MIGHT have a chance to creep or crawl higher.

Creep or call, not found new inter-generational wealth transfers. But mostly, stocks want to drop.

Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought.

- Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger
The-MoneyChanger.com

© 2012, The Moneychanger. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission.

To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down.

WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. Be advised and warned:

Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.

NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps.

NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced.

NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt.

What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands.

One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose.

Scariest thing about writing a daily commentary is that buzzard that sits on your shoulder squawking, "What happens when you run out of things to say? Or on the day nothing happens?"

One of the advantages of being a natural born fool is that you never have enough sense to admit that you have nothing to say worth hearing, so that solves the first. But today was one of those days when not much happened. Oh, everybody showed up for work and went through the motions, but nothing much changed.

The US DOLLAR INDEX rallied a mite, up 13.1 basis points (0.17%) to 79.107. This changes nothing, however. Five day chart might have bottomed late Friday, but dollar will have to burst through 79.50 to prove that. 50 day moving average stands above the Dollar Index at 79.67, and other indicators point unanimously down. Not nearly enough enthusiasm to move much higher.

Greek debt talks are foundering -- come to think of it, they've been foundering since they began -- and the euro, having hit 132.34 Friday and its 62 DMA, backed off today to 1.3130, losing 0.68%. This doesn't near about turn the trend down. Look for higher euro still.

Something's going on with the yen, but I don't know what. It's the sorriest of the three big fiat currencies, worst debt, etc., but it's rising. Monday of last week it gapped down horribly in a move that screamed, Government Manipulation. Stayed down one day, traded back up through the 50 DMA, then Friday gapped UP above the 20 DMA and through internal resistance about 130.5c. This points to another trip back to the top of the trading range above 132c.

Against both the euro and the yen gold is breaking out toward the sky. Not quite confirmed yet in the euro, but clearly in an uptrend.

Against the other Loser Fiat Currencies, silver also offers a bright outlook. Silver in Euros has broken out of a down trend and traded up to its 200 DMA, standing above its 20 and 50 DMAs. The 20 has just crossed above the 50. Once silver crosses through 26 euros, it will be bye-bye earth. Silver in yen shows a similar set-up, but not quite as fully unfolded.

STOCKS had another sickly day. Dow only fell about 0.5% to 12,653.72, down 6.75 points, far less than the andSP500 that lost 3.32 points or 0.25%. Other indices lost more than the Dow, too, sending the smell of ripe mackerel into the air. A drop through 12,530 will push the Dow's head underwater. RSI and MACD are ripe to drop.

STOCKS -- they may be YOUR chance to buy a ticket on the Titanic this year.

Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought.

- Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger
The-MoneyChanger.com

© 2012, The Moneychanger. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission.

To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down.

WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. Be advised and warned:

Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.

NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps.

NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced.

NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt.

What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands.

One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose.