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Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12 months): -2.1%

When PNC Wealth Management released its 2010 Christmas Price Index this month (PNC), the cost of the five golden rings in the traditional "12 Days of Christmas" tune was pegged 30 percent higher than last year (don't ask how much those French hens cost now; you don't wanna know).

Overall, Christmas will cost 9.2 percent more this year, helped in large part by the bullishness in gold prices. Procrastinators—those who haven't yet done their holiday shopping—shouldn't despair, though. There may still be a bargain to be had for the bullion-minded. At least that's what the time-tested Relative Strength Index indicates.

The RSI is a widely

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Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12 months): -2.4%

You draw enough charts and eventually you start pondering about their revelations in the small hours of a morning. This morning, I marveled at the hamstringing of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board when I updated my Fed Operations Indicator chart.

Fed Operation Indicator




The indicator's downward momentum (the red line on the chart above) is worrisome. You can see it's dipped below the band scribed by the yellow dashed lines. That band essentially describes the Fed's usual maneuvering room. Smallish open market operations (buying and selling

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Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12 months): -2.2%

Crude oil's rally reversed yesterday despite an industry report forecasting a deeper-than-expected decline in U.S. oil inventories.

The American Petroleum Institute estimated that U.S. crude inventories fell by 7.3 million barrels last week, but definitive numbers released by the Energy Department this morning showed the drawdown was actually 3.8 million barrels. Analysts had expected a 1.3-million- to 1.4-million-barrel decline.

The API was closer to the mark with its gasoline estimate. The industry group saw motor fuel stocks rising by 4.8 million barrels, a more aggressive build than the 300,000- to 500,000-barrel increase expected by the Street.

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Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12 months): -2.0%

Domestic inflation, measured by the core Consumer Price Index, fell to a record low in October, according to the latest data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Year-over-year, the inflation metric, which represents changes in the value of a basket of goods and services, but excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose by 0.6 percent last month. A year before, core inflation was running at 1.7 percent.

Amid great volatility, gold prices tumbled for the week ending Thursday. When priced in the world's reserve currencies, bullion's biggest loss—outlined below—was registered in U.S. dollars. The yellow metal dipped 3.5 percent in pound sterling,

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Real-time Monetary Inflation (last 12 months): -1.4%

Last week, the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry's trade and research arm, estimated that domestic crude oil inventories fell by 7.4 million barrels. Definitive data from the U.S. Energy Department, however, showed a drawdown of only 3.3 million barrels.

This week, the API trotted out another call for a 7-million-barrel decrease and got it right. Late Tuesday, the institute's survey indicated that crude stocks tumbled by 7.7 million barrels. Energy Department data released this morning documented an actual decline of 7.3 million barrels.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories now stand at 357.6 million barrels.

Analysts'

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