Greetings!, The Federal Reserve is currently meeting. The monthly FOMC meeting will conclude on Wednesday with a conference featuring Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. Traders will hang on each and every word, dissecting them, and reading between the lines in attempts to determine the actions that will be taken by the Federal Reserve. The extreme degree to which analysts will pick at each and every word trying to determine the nuances of the chairman's statements will make this the most important economic tea-leaf reading of the week. Little by little the E.U. sovereign debt crisis is resurfacing in reports. Debt auctions by Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy went off fairly well, but the overall picture involves a lot of uncertainty. The two main drivers of the E.U. seem to be at odds regarding underlying strategies. Germany's chancellor Merkel is calling for strict balanced budgets as the most reliable way to solve the crisis. But during current election campaigning French presidential candidate, Socialist Francois Hollande, who is leading the incumbent president Sarkozy, has now publicly stated that he wants to loosen up austerity measures in France and the E.U. Adding to European turmoil, the Netherlands, previously out of the hot lights of the Euro crisis, now seems headed for an election that might see that small but strategic country 86 the common currency. Yesterday I was interviewed by Kitco News. For those interested in viewing it, simply use the link to the right of this letter. As always, wishing you good trading, Executive Producer | 
