The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is down about 6 percent from its June high at 123.50/52, and down about 2 percent from its violation of key near-term support.

There's a reason economics is called the dismal science, and weeks like this just give it further meaning. In economics, there is what you see and what you don't. This week we are going to examine the headline data we all see and then take a look for what most observers do not see.

The key reason so many people have such fatalistic attitude towards trading is because it is an inherently unstable business.

When the government borrows money to fund its bailouts and boondoggles, for example, it is taking losses away from the people who deserve them and sticking them on the taxpayer.

The only two things going up?

When interest rates were falling from 15% to 3% it was hard to go broke. Almost no matter how much debt you had, you could refinance at lower rates. Which gave the rest of the world the wrong idea. It seemed like you could borrow forever.

The E-mini S&P 500 this morning staged a recovery bounce in the aftermath of its plunge off of the June 21 rally high.

Stabilize public debts by 2016? By then, the US and other major economies will have more government debt than GDP. It is bound to be too late for many of them.

The G20 meeting in Toronto was billed as a showdown between the Germans and the Americans -- between the deficit cutters and the big spenders.

Gold prices and the Sept 10-year Treasury note futures are firm again this morning, extending last week's rallies and pushing up towards a test of their recent bull market highs.