It's always amusing to watch a fundamentals overreaction corrected by an equal and opposite overreaction. It leaves you wondering where the truth is in trading impulses.

Our thought is that traders do not understand the synergy between "jobs created," "the unemployment rate," and "potential Federal reserve actions."

It's always amusing to watch a fundamentals overreaction corrected by an equal and opposite overreaction. It leaves you wondering where the truth is in trading impulses.

Our thought is that traders do not understand the synergy between "jobs created," "the unemployment rate," and "potential Federal reserve actions."

You can celebrate if you’re so inclined: today is Milton Friedman’s birthday (1912 – 2006).

Today we witnessed the equities markets in a virtual meltdown. Equities have now given back the gains of 2014. What predicated this dramatic selloff? Also a perplexing question is why we did not see any flight into the precious metals in unison with today’s dramatic decline in equities.

News of a vigorous rebound in second quarter growth in the U.S. mildly deterred gold prices today, while silver prices slightly regained upward momentum. Usually, 4% growth in a quarter would indicate that an economy is not just on the launch pad, but headed well into orbit.

We are reasonably certain that the Fed will stay the course after the FOMC meetings tomorrow and Thursday. It would be a big, big surprise if tapering weren't cut another $10 billion in bond buying per month and a semi-surprise if interest rates were to be raised.

We will be crossing and recrossing the rivers of Ukraine, Russia, Gaza and Israel. To some extent we are at the mercy of the actions that happen on the ground and in the air.

Apparently Tsar Putin is doubling down on his bet in eastern Ukraine; he's on the verge of sending in heavy weapons (artillery) to aid the barbarians who have desecrated the murdered of Malaysia Flight 17 and its mechanical wreckage.

The fighting, too, in Gaza rages on.

Equities took center stage today as the Dow and NASDAQ fell on earnings reports while the benchmark S&P 500 hit a record high for a third straight day. The S&P reacted most positively of the American exchanges to data showing initial jobless claims in the world's largest economy dropped to their lowest in more than eight years.

While certainly selling was limited by world tensions, nonetheless the precious metals are troubled by a number of other issues that are not of a short-term nature.

The first is that physical demand in China is drastically down - 19% below last year's buying levels. There are two ways to read this.

The crucial parts remains from the downed Malaysian Airlines flight have been sent on to more respectable homes for analysis, sorting and, sadly, for burial.