Let it not be said that the powers that be are nothing if not consistent.  A rally to $1685 by Gold this morning was met with an avalanche of paper beginning just before equities opened this morning in New York.  One could almost get the sense that the bulls knew the raid was coming as volume dried up just before the waterfall-inducing selling began.  $1685 now makes a convenient short-term double top with which to continue painting the chart until such time as control is lost to the upside.

Buying occurred during the European session and nominally one could see the worst of the selling in gold coinciding with continued weakness in the long-dated U.S. Treasuries, even though copper and Brent Crude were both up on the day.   Gold was pushed down to $1667.50 before the bulls said, ‘No mas’ and stabilized the price, ending the day at $1673.95, which proved to be the capping level from around noon until the close on the Globex.  Expect strong buying in Asia on the news that China imported 114 tons in December when the price was driven to ludicrous levels.

When I watch blatantly obvious political hacks like Eric Holder — who himself should be in jail — look a reporter in the eye and say that filing suit against Standard and Poor’s for having the temerity to attempt to keep their reputation intact by downgrading the U.S.’s debt, I have to wonder just how out of touch with reality those supposedly running the country actually are.  The truth should scare you.  These same people are capping the price of gold to maintain the illusion of control.