All eyes have been on the European Union's quest for a bailout package to keep Greece financially afloat. The euro group will meet on Monday to seal the deal on proposed loans needed to keep Greece from defaulting on looming scheduled debt payments. While most expect this meeting to result in a positive resolution, don't throw away your drachmas just yet.

We had a most interesting week in the precious metals markets. On a technical basis the markets were flat and choppy. However, they held up very well in light of the U.S. dollar strengthening this week.

With the U.S. equities markets having a substantial rally today, and solid economic data coming from this week's U.S. reports, the current perception assumes that the Federal Reserve will continue its monetary policy course, which includes rounds of quantitative easing. This assumption has been supportive of the precious metals all week.

Strong physical demand is still coming from Asia and India. Particularly noteworthy was a Bloomberg article today that quoted billionaire Paulson telling investors "It's time to buy the metals as protection against inflation caused by government spending ." There can be no doubt that Paulson has already initiated and purchased his long gold positions. I find it interesting that both Paulson and George Soros were publicly on record as bearish on gold while they were slowly accumulating their net long gold positions. Go figure.  

Wishing you as always, good trading,