Looking at the chart of Gold after this morning’s dip near the European open looks like the price equivalent of watching a tractor pull at a strongman competition.  Every 15 minute bar on the December contract is just another small step forward as bulls refused to be beaten back but bears refused to give much ground.  So, gold would inch higher each bar by 10 or 20 cents and then be beaten back near the low of the previous bar at which point the grind would start all over again.

It’s a chart that can best be described as a prevent defense in football.  Give up incremental gains and hope to run out the clock before something significant happens.  No breakouts, no broken-field running, just 20 cents and a cloud of quote stuffing and moving the chains.

The net result was Gold regaining $1680 per ounce, an important technical achievement pre-election.  It does not negate the possibility of a further drop to the $1640-50 area, only a weekly close above $1731 will do that at this point, but it does show how much the bulls have dug in and said, “No Mas!” in the face of a very weak Euro and Yen and strong capital flows into the U.S. treasuries today.

Worries over Greece and the possibility of a Grexit rearing its head again, because, as we know, nothing was actually fixed back in March, has the markets spooked again as the fear trade begins to intensify again.