One of the choice words in our vernacular for actually feeling one's angst when said is "annoying". Have a look at the above panel: yes, Gold has returned to rising a bit of late, closing out the week yesterday (Friday) at 1267, some 54 points (+4.5%) above where 'twas at this time a year ago (1212) prior to its then embarking on the power drive up to last year's high at Base Camp 1377.

But look up as well at that "Gold Value" level of 2691, which you regular readers know has been running about double Gold's market price seemingly forever. Now here's the annoying bit: what instead is actually near that level? Bitcoin. Which at this writing is 2346/bit. To quote the late, great Joan Rivahhs: "Kin we tawk??"

When a headline this past week opened with "Bitcoin jumps $200 in single day..." the single word that came to our mind is "Illiquid!" But then as the headline concluded with "...and has nearly doubled in May on surging global demand", surely we all must've questioned "Whaaaat??"

Bitcoin is basically traded across ten different exchanges, (including one call "Other"), roughly averaging 'round 20,000 daily units per exchange, or some 200,000 total units per day. So this past week, the average daily volume leapt to 'round 300,000 daily units, which at the current price of 2346/bit is a daily traded capitalization value of about $700 million. By comparison, Gold's average daily volume this past week (per the COMEX/GLOBEX "front month" June contract) was 230,000, which at the current price of 1267 by the same measure comes to a comparatively wee $292 million. 'Course Gold is further traded 'cross other platforms and exchanges; but at the primary exchange level to find Gold running at less than half the monetary value 'round which bitcoin is being bandied is beyond belief. "Whaaaat??" indeed! Moreover: dealing with those who Short Gold is annoying enough, right? But what happens if there's an electrical short in yer otherwise non-physical bitcoin? "ZzzzzzzzzAP! ... Game Over!!!" Go with Gold.

And of late, Gold's been on the go as the weekly bars show, now coming up into what ought play out as a dramatic area, lest price succumb toward summer doldrums: presently at 1267, Gold is but 13 points away from the top of the purple-bounded 1240-1280 resistance zone, from which for the ensuing week, the red dot at 1288 is the price to flip the parabolic trend from Short back to Long. It could all happen in a heartbeat given Gold's "expected daily trading range" is running at 13 points, and for which the weekly range is 31 points. Again as noted at the outset, 'twas from this time a year ago that, (for you seasonality freaks), Gold went on a streak of six consecutive up weeks:

More broadly as measured by the day since Gold's All-Time Closing High of 1900 back in August 2011, the smooth downward sweep of the venerable 300-day moving average returned upward since just about this time a year ago. Yes, we remain mindful that from 1975 through 2016, Gold's yearly low has never come on "day one" (as it did last year) for two consecutive years, the low thus far this year (1147) also having come on "day one". (That said, we've seen a roulette ball land in a red slot nine times in-a-row, the odds for which are once in 833 stints of nine spins ... and land in a black slot 12 times in-a-row: that's once in 7,837 12-spin stints. It happens). And with Gold as far behind the valuation 8-ball as we could ever so conceive it to be, damn the odds: for 'tis price's further climbing we'd like to see:

'Course beating all odds is the stock market. Q1 Earnings Season concluded a week ago, and by our collection of 2,475 reports, 58% improved their bottom lines from the prior year's Q1, (meaning that 42% did not). That is reflected in our "live" price/earnings ratio for the S&P 500 still being at a "doubly-high" 34.9x, the Index wandering up into record territory beyond 2400 whilst the Economic Barometer turns south. And don't forget that "imminent" 14 June rate hike vote from the Federal Open Market Committee. Here's the Baro, with which its divergence from the S&P brings to mind the 1977 hit by Fleetwood Mac 

"Go Your Own Way"

:

Still, from across the pond comes that "feel-good" soft data touch produced by the Ifo Institute for Economic Research of Germany's business morale reaching since 1991 its highest level, as lifted by France's Macron -- that's what they said. 

But wait, there's more

: Germany and France also are assessing the notion of corporate tax harmonization within the EuroZone towards it being economically-strengthened. So much for the concern in recent years over the Euro's possible bifurcation, let alone its demise. Rather, let's cue up the 1961 Hayley Mills hit 

"Let's get together, yeah yeah yeah, Why don't you and I combine?"

Speaking of being combined, we saw something in the analytics this past week which, based on what's left of our waning memory rather than running the data, we've doubtless never before seen. Now across the entire spectrum of the BEGOS Markets, not only is each one's grey diagonal 21-day linear regression trendline ascending, but in each panel as well, the more sensitive baby blue dots of trend consistency also are all rising. Obviously we don't need to see a chart of the Dollar which surely must be getting the heave-ho. Here are the daily bars for each market from a month ago-to-date; note therein for Gold and Silver (in the column just right of center) that their Baby Blues are only just now crossing above the 0% horizontal axis, suggesting there's room for price to move higher still:

So in turn moving to their respective 10-day Market Profiles, here they are for Gold on the left and Silver on the right. As you've come to know, the greater the length of a bar, the more contract volume traded at that price. Thus for Gold, the 1250s appear supportive as does the 17-handle for Sister Silver:

And therefore let's wrap it with the state of the stack:

The Gold Stack
Gold's Value per Dollar Debasement, (from our opening "Scoreboard"): 2691
Gold’s All-Time High: 1923 (06 September 2011) 
The Gateway to 2000: 1900+
Gold’s All-Time Closing High: 1900 (22 August 2011)
The Final Frontier: 1800-1900 
The Northern Front: 1750-1800
On Maneuvers: 1579-1750
The Floor: 1466-1579
Le Sous-sol: Sub-1466
Base Camp: 1377
2017's High: 1297 (17 April)
Neverland: The Whiny 1290s
The Weekly Parabolic Price to flip Long: 1288
10-Session directional range: up to 1269 (from 1227) = +42 points or +3%
Trading Resistance: none, by the Market Profile
Gold Currently: 1267, (expected daily trading range ["EDTR"]: 13 points)
The 300-Day Moving Average: 1259, but fairly flat in recent days
Trading Support: 1257 / 1253 / 1243 / 1234
10-Session “volume-weighted” average price magnet: 1252
Resistance(Support?) Zone: 1240-1280
2017's Low: 1147 (03 January)

'Tis a shortened trading week ahead StateSide as well as in London and Shanghai. But certainly not short of incoming data, for we'll have 20 metrics hitting the Econ Baro as the week unfolds. Can Gold break above its 1280 fold? In next week's five-months-to-date missive all shall be told! And best to avoid magnets if 'tis bitcoin you hold. Go with the hard stuff and get some Gold.

A thoughtful Memorial Day to everyone.