By Bill Murphy
www.LeMetropoleCafe.com
May 23, 2000

Right off the bat today J.P. Morgan came out selling
gold down. I remarked to an associate to look out for
trouble in the stock market. It is starting to appear
that the Plunge Protection Team is running out of
bullets in its effort to prop the stock market up. Sure
enough, today's stock market action was horrendous.
Every feeble rally was sold.

The pundits say "no volume." Perhaps that is good, they
remark.

Don't kid yourself. The insiders have been selling for
months. Tiger and George Soros are out. Warren Buffett
has warned of tough times ahead. On the other hand, the
public has not sold, as they are waiting for the
inevitable PPT rally. They have not heard a lot from
Wall Street about moral hazard. The Nasdaq is down
almost 40 percent from its high. Who is to say it can't
go down 60 or 70 percent?

When the public finds out that there may not be a big
rally, the volume may kick in.

The gold market manipulators know all this, so they
continue their desperate attack on the gold market.
Once again on CNBC today a commentator said, "But look
at gold. It would be going up if there were serious
problems or real inflation concerns."

Bonds are going down on inflation fears. The stock
market is going down on inflation fears. The CRB is
going up because there IS inflation, not just fear of
it. It closed above 224 today, a new high.

* * *

Reuters, New York, May 23

With a global economic expansion lifting oil and
commodity prices, U.S. economists are increasingly
worried about inflation and see no peak in sight.

Oil prices hit their highest level in two months last
week and a key commodity price index reached a two-year
high on Monday, adding to concerns about inflation
pressures from strong growth and a very tight labor
market."

* * *

Platinum rose to $541.50 an ounce today, a record for
the benchmark contract, overcoming the February peak.

And what does gold do? It goes down $1.60, making a new
low for the move.

The manipulation of the gold market is beyond obvious.

The day of reckoning is coming closer. That also could
not be more obvious. The shorts are in big trouble.

-END-