Janet Yellen's testimony today was a bit painful at times, but perhaps it will improve as she becomes more familiar with dancing in the lions' den. Her answer about raising the minimum wage shows her to be a tried and true economic General Pétain, well versed in failure and capitulation to the forces of neo-liberalism.

Trickle down stimulus is going to most likely stretch the social fabric to the point of tearing. But its failure is going to have to be demonstrated quite forcefully it seems. Keep an eye on the UK and parts of Europe for early warning signs.

It was interesting to see gold move higher with stocks, with silver moving higher as well, but somewhat sluggishly.  I have a suspicion that this is about gold's February delivery issues and the general shortage of physical gold bullion which is developing.  But only time will tell.

About 26,858 ounces of gold bullion came out of Scotia yesterday, in both categories of storage.  We have yet to see the kinds of deliveries tacked up that the standing and stopped orders suggests, but it looks like there will be no close shaves this month. 

I have marked the key overhead resistance levels for gold in red lines on this chart.  And you will notice that gold is still 'channel bound.'  

Have a pleasant evening.