The cheap no more?

2:45 am (Hawaii) Job numbers are out. A grand total of 54,000 new jobs, somewhere around 200k fewer than expected. FAZ exploded from around 46.15 to around 47.45 in a few minutes. I didn't bother. Even with the severity of the miss, some of this (or most) was baked in.

The oddity was in silver's reaction. Silver should be rising along with gold. It is not. Instead of moving up in a straight line, AGQ went from 174 to 179, then sold off in HUGE volume down to 172. Another push higher took it to 174, and then more selling. Meanwhile, Spot Gold bounced from 1526 to 1537, and is holding ground at 1535. That's right, somebody be screwing silver! Shocking.

It's seemingly a coordinated response to keep the price buried at a time when AGQ could easily have run back to 200 within minutes. I'm not long "of it" so I'm not spewing any bias here. But the puppet masters are in full unison here this morning. A real battle of their billions (trillions?) against regular peons.

My metals list is 16% green, possibly an all-time low, and 53% red and 31% neutral. ZSL (19.04) is at the top (+4.9%), though that makes no sense, just like AGQ being at the bottom of the list along with tons of silver plays close by.

SCO is up 3.9% (45.87), and FAZ is at 47.23 (+3.1%). TWM (ultra short Russell) is up 3% (44.31). Slim pickins ... the rest of the green players are gold ETFs that have traded lightly so far.

WSJ: Unemployment rises as hiring slows (June 3 2011)

Update 3:11 am (Hawaii) AGQ finally moving up again, now 178, while ZSL pulls back. It appears the puppet masters have moved off stage. Now it's EXK that's the bottom feeder of the Metals list. I don't think that will last long, but a lot of silver traders have probably been scared off by this morning's action, yesterday's action, all the puppet mastery by the CME Mafia.

It is a bit sad that I gave up on FAZ yesterday so quickly (for a small loss). It's holding its gain (47.32, +3.3%).

Update 3:22 am (Hawaii) AGQ was at right about 175 flat when the jobs report was announced, and it seems to be holding that line through this morning's fluctuations above and below. If it bounces here off 177 on the 1-minute slow stochastics, 175 might be history. Until the puppet show resumes.

Regular watch list is 28% green, 63% red. The greens are mostly bear ETFs/ETNs from TVIX to EDZ to QID.

Zero Hedge: Unemployment rate 9.1% (June 3 2011)

Le Fly: Drawing a line (June 3 2011)

Natural gas overcoming crap open

Interesting and pleasing. I got up at 2 am Hawaii time, turned the alarm off and went right back to sleep. I deserved a good whack in the head for that, but until I get more than 3 hours of sleep, my body will not cooperate.

Fortunately, by the time I jumped out of bed, it was 3:20 am, just 10 minutes before the opening bell. Though premarket turned into a shambles thanks to a hapless jobs report (2:30 am Hawaii), my little position in UNG was down just a fraction to 7.97, 4¢ below my entry point late yesterday. That was good enough to let go, but when the bell arrived, UNG inched higher and is now at 8.06 despite a bloody red open.

The nat gas sector as a whole opened lower, but has reached higher. Some, like UPL and CHK, are just below yesterday's closing prices, but UNG remains an exception, at least for now.

President Obama is speaking now. Biden at his side. How the two of them could talk up the jobs report on Wednesday, who knows? It's turned out to be nothing more than (temporary) census additions, really. It's more neutral than a blowout.

AAPL opened at 258.21, sold down to 257.10 and is back up to 260 now, zooming up quickly.

To think or not to think, that is the question

It's happening again. I'm waking up (Hawaii time 9 a.m.) to find the market absolutely off the charts. Pinball machine gone beserko. Abacus laced with steroids. No complaints, just smiles.

I actually hit the sack at around 4:30 a.m., one hour into the market, well after the jobs report came out. Who knew among us laypersons that 110,000 jobs would ever mean so much. Even in premarket, I saw my shares of RIMM launch into outer space. All my fretting yesterday at the close, and in afterhours, over a buy of more RIMM at 100 even ... unnecessary. The shorts are taking it on the chin today as RIMM went to 107 in premarket. Currently at 113 with an hour left in the session. After seeing RIMM soar last quarter without me, I did my homework, found it to be an A grade Co with stupdendous growth and a product with no real peer. It's good to be on the winning side.

But with the rest of the market deep in the green, there really was nothing I felt comfortable buying this morning, so I let it go and went to sleep. I hoped CNOOC (CEO) would taper down from 160; it was 154 yesterday. The jobs report results means, possibily, a stronger dollar and lower crude prices, right? Well, CEO just inched over 164 a minute ago. I hoped Las Vegas Sands would lose some grains later in the day after hitting 130. Right now, it's still at 130. I hoped Garmin would trickle down a bit from its earlier place at 104. Currently, still at 104.

Or maybe I would add more of my other favorite A or A- stocks. Howard Lindzon wrote the other day that this market is great. You don't need to think to make money. Thinking actually hurts you in this market. He's right, of course, as usual. If I were to not think, I'd finally get a decent (if small) position in Baidu. CNOOC. Yingli Green Energy (YGE). That would give me proper exposure to China, looming correction or not.

Wait. I'm thinking again. Doh.