Gold is caught between the QEIII announcement and the actual start of it. Regardless of what the Federal Reserve said they would do, since September 13th’s announced open-ended, without conditionality, QE to infinity the Fed has done nothing except contract the monetary base.   This is in direct conflict with what they said they would do, the complete opposite of what quantitative easing is: the Fed takes onto its balance sheet a whole bunch of toxic, worthless paper and exchanges it for newly-printed digital dollars.

So, when exactly are Ben and the boys going to get busy with the ctrl-P action?  I’m thinking at this point it will happen in earnest right after the Presidential election.  The Fed has no choice but to ease but by announcing the program created an opportunity to levitate the markets higher for the two months until the election before beginning what will be the most inflationary period in the U.S.’s history outside of The Civil War.

The body-blocking action in the COMEX pits finally got some longs to capitulate and sell positions and wait for the momentum to return.  Gold sold off this morning on a mixture of apathy and the headlines proclaiming that somehow a Mitt Romney presidency would not be bullish for Gold.  Even if he makes good on his promise to replace Bernanke as the head of the FOMC, do you really think he’s going to put Ron Paul in charge of it?  Anything less at this point would be bullish for Gold prices.