This fits nicely with the observations that have been made regarding shorter duration of the raids lately. We saw the PM stocks get hammered yesterday, which most of us now understand is a shorting scam ahead of a bear raid. Today, we get the severe raid, which amounts to a healthy pressure release valve preventing the market from becoming overheated, and a tidy (and illegal) profit for the manipualators. Into the close today we see the PM stocks begin outperforming the metals, which means the shorts put on yesterday are now being covered at another tidy profit. And then tomorrow the metals shorts will be closed out and the rebound will begin.

All of this must be painfully obvious to the regulatory agencies. They squirm to find new excuses not to see it or respond to it by punishing the offenders. But nothing is going to be done.

At the end of the day, when the schoolyard monitors are not doing their job, it comes down to the kids that are bullied to fight back and put a stop to it. Investors are going to have to deal with the fact that our markets are not fair, nor free. The only way to end a crooked casino is not to play. How many times do clueless specs have to be hit on the head by a futures scam before they stop playing on the rigged COMEX? How much money must be skimmed from hedge funds before they understand they need to own real metal and take possession if they want leverage to bullion?

Until the actions of the many begin to respond to this scam, it will continue. And again, my point of view is that it is healthy. All this talk of bubbles, as long as we have these serious and nasty corrections periodically, we do not have to fear a bubble. And the crooks are far less of a factor these days than they were 5 years ago, partly due to more and more people wising up, and partly due to the shortage of metals in inventory to game the system.

I do not expect much more than a day or two of weakness and then its back to the races for the metals and the stocks.

cheers!

mike