Well, what can we say? The past two months have not seemed very kind to gold or silver. However, when we step back and examine the three-year chart, we find that gold is holding its own from a technical standpoint. In fact, it has carved out a more sustainable long-term up-trend line. No major support lines were breached. In fact, the channel between $1,675 and that stubborn $2,075 high is now very clearly defined. A potential worst-case scenario could see a pullback to test the lower bound of this channel. If that happens, we would need to zoom out to the 5 or 10-year chart to find a new uptrend line. Or, gold could climb the new uptrend line. We'll know more in the next two months.

As for silver, well, it's doing its "silver" thing. It's always been more volatile than gold and the past two months have been no exception. The chart looks very similar to the washout selloff when pandemic panic gripped the markets in 2020. This time around it is war in Ukraine and inflation driving the markets mad. Silver did breach its lower channel boundary, but only slightly and only for one day. Thus far, technical damage is limited. As with gold, we'll see over the next two months how it resolves.

Traditionally, precious metals suffer from the summer doldrums. "Sell in May and go away until Labor Day." is a pretty common theme most years.  That leads to light trading volume and generally flat to slightly lower prices. But this is no ordinary year. We expect that there will be plenty of action as world events unfold over the summer months. It might be wise to keep an eye on these metals as temperatures heat up in nature as well as the global markets and politics.