From Ed Steer:

Both silver and gold were quiet in the Far East yesterday, but there was a small sell-off in both metals starting with the London open. That only lasted for about three hours before the prices bottomed and then slowly ground higher almost into the close of after hours trading on the Globex in New York...finishing virtually on their highs of the day.

But that didn't help the mining shares. For the second day in a row both metals closed higher but the shares got sold off. Makes no sense to me...especially after the share action on Thursday and Friday of last week. Silver has gained almost a dollar in the last two days (as I write this) and the silver shares have given back virtually all of their gains of July 1st. As most of you are aware, it's my opinion that someone is foolin' with the stock prices, as everything is so counterintuitive. Up is down...and down is up. Alice in Wonderland stuff. Where are my red pills?

We at GATA get highly suspicious of this sort of behaviour, because whenever this sort of thing has happened in the past, the gold and silver prices get pounded into the ground in the following days. Is this in the cards this time? Who knows. But there was obviously lots of opposition to yesterday's attempted rally in both metals...both in the share prices and in the metal itself.

For July 1st trading (Canada Day for me), the open interest in gold rose another 5,467 contracts. And in silver, we finally saw a big number, as the bullion banks (The Cartel) added 4,374 contracts to their short positions as the tech funds (and others) went long. As a NY gold analyst said yesterday..."In the last three days reported (e.g. to Tuesday’s close) Comex (gold) open interest has risen 25,652 lots (79.8 tonnes or 6.2%) and world gold had risen 3%. Gold’s feeble $2 rise today against an objectively highly favorable background suggests this disparity will have widened further." (when Wednesday's open interest numbers become available later this morning - Ed)

So far, this is a rally like any other we've ever had. The 20- and 50-day moving averages get broken to the upside, the tech funds and small traders go long...the boyz go short. When they have as many mice as they can get (or want) in the trap, they pull the lever (sell, then pull their bids) and ring the cash register all the way down through the tech fund stops. Guess what? We lose again! And neither the CFTC nor your mining companies will do diddly about it.

I see copper closed at an all-time high...as did soybeans. The dollar fell 33 basis points and oil tacked on another couple of bucks...$144 as of this writing. The CRB is now at a new record high...473.52...up another 5.95. But there is no inflation, because if there was, gold and silver prices would be soaring...right?

Now that the dust has settled on the Bear Stearns/JPMorgan/Fed ménage à trois, some of the real dirt is starting to show up. Here's a really interesting story that appeared in Vanity Fair's 'Politics & Power' section. It's entitled "Bringing Down Bear Stearns". It's an 8-page thriller, so pop the cap off a cool one. The link is here.

Here's another interesting story. This one appeared in The Times of London. The headline reads "Moscow prepared to force BP chiefs out of country". It seems that there are 'problems' getting 70 work permits renewed. The news article is linked here.

According to a story in USA Today, stealing manhole covers is becoming a high growth industry...and in an article in the LA Times, a bank run has started at Indymac, as rumours swirl of impending bankruptcy. With their share price closing at 74 cents yesterday, who can blame depositors for pulling their money out. Pretty soon it will spread to other banks, and all of Hank's and Ben's horses and (merry?) men won't be able to save them...or anything else that they're propping up...or holding down.

The next Casey's Daily Resource Plus will be published on Monday morning. Have a great July 4th long weekend. God Bless America!