Gold Report for Wednesday, August 2, 2017 Gold has been a disappointment this year given:

• All the chaos in the White House

• World anxiety with North Korea

• A falling US Dollar

• A “cold war” type environment with Russia

• Venezuela’s implosion Wage inflation continues to elude most developed countries. In fact, when I look at inflation on a global basis in Western countries, its been a clear miss universally speaking. Investors have been and in some markets like Europe, continue to plow into stock markets. Obviously, stock markets, especially those in the US have been where returns have been stellar. I realize and read daily reports about how overpriced stocks in the US are, but for the past decade its really been the main, high return investment and its had doubters all through its run. Cycle strength due to currency moves are now taking place. Stock indices in emerging countries are now being touted as “the place to be”. Given current US valuations, its understandable. Since President Trump took office, the US Dollar has dropped, making new lows for the year through today. He should be given credit for this as it was one of his goals, but most realize that a lot of the break in the US Dollar has to do with his not being able to deliver on:

• HealthCare Replace and Repeal

• Tax Reforms

• Infrastructure Spending Disclaimer: This publication is strictly the opinion of its writer and is intended solely for informative purposes and is not to be construed, under any circumstances, by implication or otherwise, as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or trade in any commodities or securities herein named. Information is taken from sources believed to be reliable, but is in no way guaranteed. Chart data is courtesy of LGP-IraCharts. No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted. Futures and Options on Futures trading involve risk. In no event should the content of this market letter be construed as an express or implied promise, guarantee or implication by or from The Ira Epstein Division of Linn & Associates or Linn & Associates LLC that you will profit or that losses can or will be limited in any manner whatsoever. No such promises, guarantees or implications are given. Past results are not indicative of future performance.

Therefore, his win, in terms of driving the US Dollar down is not about statesmanship, but rather for lack of delivery of programs we need. I question how much technology is playing in keeping wage inflation down. Every aspect of our lives is impacted by technology. In order to compete in practically anything, if your product in some manner doesn’t take advantage of technology, its likely to not succeed. Electric cars are also a game changer. Be it less use of fossil fuels, less emissions or how they are made, they are changing the automotive industry right now. Elon Musk is proving that via radical use of technology, there’s a better way to do things. The problem is that the way things are made use less, not more people. In addition, I question the idea that technology necessarily creates higher paying jobs. Once a robot is programmed to paint, assemble, weld and so on, each of those jobs replace people. Take this concept across other areas of manufacturing and the service sector and you see the same thing happening, which I think a major part of explaining why wage inflation stays tame. Another reason inflation hasn’t picked up has to do with energy prices. Saudi Arabia made a serious mistake when they overproduced to drive US shale producers out of the market. They drove US producers to find better technology to produce wells. We are now testing robots to drill and getting wells producing due to the lack of and cost of hiring oil crews. Oil Rig Pads, where drilling rigs are placed now drill several wells at a time, reducing the cost of well production as one in one location rig does the work of several, due to technology. When market conditions are right, the wells drilled, by not yet in production are brought online. Instead of taking years, we’re talking about months to get new production online. Oil is a large component of inflation. It’s settled into a trading range that in my opinion has limited upside due to the relative ease of turning up more production in the US along with the need by producers outside of the US for oil revenue income. In other words, the artificial production cuts by OPEC and some NON-OPEC members will only run so long. Once economic needs take over, production is going to go back up from these producers. Ecuador, a small OPEC member has already announced that they cannot economically continue to hold back oil production. I wonder how many others feel they are in the same position. Disclaimer: This publication is strictly the opinion of its writer and is intended solely for informative purposes and is not to be construed, under any circumstances, by implication or otherwise, as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or trade in any commodities or securities herein named. Information is taken from sources believed to be reliable, but is in no way guaranteed. Chart data is courtesy of LGP-IraCharts. No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted. Futures and Options on Futures trading involve risk. In no event should the content of this market letter be construed as an express or implied promise, guarantee or implication by or from The Ira Epstein Division of Linn & Associates or Linn & Associates LLC that you will profit or that losses can or will be limited in any manner whatsoever. No such promises, guarantees or implications are given. Past results are not indicative of future performance.

Seasonal Chart provided by Moore Research Center, Inc.

When looking at the above chart, it’s clear to me that past history shows a tendency for gold to rally from August into October regardless of the time frame being looked at. This is called a “Seasonal Tendency” and kicked in in July. There is a discrepancy at year-end as the 5-year line on the above chart shows prices breaking into year-end while the 30 and 15-year lines deviate with prices going both up and down together. What’s clear is that the time frame we’re currently in has been one of the strongest for gold, regardless of the 3 time frames being displayed. Disclaimer: This publication is strictly the opinion of its writer and is intended solely for informative purposes and is not to be construed, under any circumstances, by implication or otherwise, as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or trade in any commodities or securities herein named. Information is taken from sources believed to be reliable, but is in no way guaranteed. Chart data is courtesy of LGP-IraCharts. No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted. Futures and Options on Futures trading involve risk. In no event should the content of this market letter be construed as an express or implied promise, guarantee or implication by or from The Ira Epstein Division of Linn & Associates or Linn & Associates LLC that you will profit or that losses can or will be limited in any manner whatsoever. No such promises, guarantees or implications are given. Past results are not indicative of future performance.

PriceCounts Chart

As you can see, an upside PriceCount has been activated and been in place since the beginning of the year. Admittedly it’s not had a big impact on prices, but nonetheless the chart remains under its influence. I recommend you write down the first upside PriceCount. These numbers are often hit. More important, the 1303.6 number is close to the current 1295 level I make mention of on the Daily Chart. 1295 up to 1303 is what can be called a price zone, which fits in well with my initial price objective. Disclaimer: This publication is strictly the opinion of its writer and is intended solely for informative purposes and is not to be construed, under any circumstances, by implication or otherwise, as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or trade in any commodities or securities herein named. Information is taken from sources believed to be reliable, but is in no way guaranteed. Chart data is courtesy of LGP-IraCharts. No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted. Futures and Options on Futures trading involve risk. In no event should the content of this market letter be construed as an express or implied promise, guarantee or implication by or from The Ira Epstein Division of Linn & Associates or Linn & Associates LLC that you will profit or that losses can or will be limited in any manner whatsoever. No such promises, guarantees or implications are given. Past results are not indicative of future performance.

Monthly Chart with 18-Month Moving Average of Closes and Slow Stochastic Reading

Disclaimer: This publication is strictly the opinion of its writer and is intended solely for informative purposes and is not to be construed, under any circumstances, by implication or otherwise, as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or trade in any commodities or securities herein named. Information is taken from sources believed to be reliable, but is in no way guaranteed. Chart data is courtesy of LGP-IraCharts. No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted. Futures and Options on Futures trading involve risk. In no event should the content of this market letter be construed as an express or implied promise, guarantee or implication by or from The Ira Epstein Division of Linn & Associates or Linn & Associates LLC that you will profit or that losses can or will be limited in any manner whatsoever. No such promises, guarantees or implications are given. Past results are not indicative of future performance.

My last Gold Report on June 17th focused on longer-term charts. This one won’t but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look at the longer time frame to see what’s happened in the 6 or so weeks since my last report. Gold has developed and has stayed in a trading range of 1295 down to 1204. In my last report, I had concerns about gold taking out the 1214 level, which it did. I thought that might have been it for the bulls, but what occurred was no follow through. In fact, as seen on the Weekly Chart gold reversed course against 1204 and hasn’t looked back since. Now the question is whether a rally up to resistance up at 1295 will occur and if it does, will it stop the current rally or not. If the market can clear this hurdle and move up to possibly the 1353 level. The good news is that seasonally speaking, history shows this to be where gold strength is often seen. Therefore, I have upside bias. Weekly Chart with 18-Week Moving Average of Closes As you’ll see on the Weekly Chart below, prices are oscillating against the 18-Week Moving Average of Closes. At the same time momentum as measured by the Slow Stochastic Oscillator is pointing higher. The upside target is the current trading range high of 1295 in the December Contract. Weekly charts as I use them take into account each month of trade and append weeks to the chart to create what’s called a Continuation Chart. Therefore, the chart shown below is not of the December Gold Contract, it contains other months and take the current month as the lead price. The Daily Chart is what I “tee off” of in terms of making trade recommendations. Disclaimer: This publication is strictly the opinion of its writer and is intended solely for informative purposes and is not to be construed, under any circumstances, by implication or otherwise, as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or trade in any commodities or securities herein named. Information is taken from sources believed to be reliable, but is in no way guaranteed. Chart data is courtesy of LGP-IraCharts. No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted. Futures and Options on Futures trading involve risk. In no event should the content of this market letter be construed as an express or implied promise, guarantee or implication by or from The Ira Epstein Division of Linn & Associates or Linn & Associates LLC that you will profit or that losses can or will be limited in any manner whatsoever. No such promises, guarantees or implications are given. Past results are not indicative of future performance.

Disclaimer: This publication is strictly the opinion of its writer and is intended solely for informative purposes and is not to be construed, under any circumstances, by implication or otherwise, as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or trade in any commodities or securities herein named. Information is taken from sources believed to be reliable, but is in no way guaranteed. Chart data is courtesy of LGP-IraCharts. No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted. Futures and Options on Futures trading involve risk. In no event should the content of this market letter be construed as an express or implied promise, guarantee or implication by or from The Ira Epstein Division of Linn & Associates or Linn & Associates LLC that you will profit or that losses can or will be limited in any manner whatsoever. No such promises, guarantees or implications are given. Past results are not indicative of future performance.

Daily Chart with Moving Averages and Slow Stochastic Indicator

Disclaimer: This publication is strictly the opinion of its writer and is intended solely for informative purposes and is not to be construed, under any circumstances, by implication or otherwise, as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or trade in any commodities or securities herein named. Information is taken from sources believed to be reliable, but is in no way guaranteed. Chart data is courtesy of LGP-IraCharts. No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted. Futures and Options on Futures trading involve risk. In no event should the content of this market letter be construed as an express or implied promise, guarantee or implication by or from The Ira Epstein Division of Linn & Associates or Linn & Associates LLC that you will profit or that losses can or will be limited in any manner whatsoever. No such promises, guarantees or implications are given. Past results are not indicative of future performance.

Commentary Today I had subscribers to my research purchase December Gold Futures at 1270.5. I think gold is poised to challenge the Upper Bollinger Band, which I have labeled on the above chart. If I am right and this occurs, ideally follow through will be strong enough to challenge the current high near 1295. After that the resistance at 1350, established on November 9, 2016 could become a longer-term target. Technically speaking, this current thrust should last until the bullish embedded reading on the Daily Chart is lost. The upper Bollinger Band is a primary target. It moves a bit daily, but as you can see on the above chart, it is currently up at 1289.6. Given gold’s strong seasonal tendency to rally now, along with the bullish embedded reading signal, offers a strong technical reason for prices to rally. Obviously daily news events, especially unforeseen ones always lurk in the background. Speaking of fundamentals, this coming Friday’s Non-Farm Payroll Data is what traders are currently focused on. I expect weak wage pressures to continue, adding to pressure on the Fed not to raise interest rates this year, even though that’s Ms. Yellen’s stated course. I do expect the Fed to outline a plan that explains how the Fed will let the assets, treasuries, they bought over the years to run off its balance sheet, which is a form of tapering. However, announcing a plan and explaining how it will work still doesn’t say when it will be enacted which all benefits gold in the short-term.

Disclaimer: This publication is strictly the opinion of its writer and is intended solely for informative purposes and is not to be construed, under any circumstances, by implication or otherwise, as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or trade in any commodities or securities herein named. Information is taken from sources believed to be reliable, but is in no way guaranteed. Chart data is courtesy of LGP-IraCharts. No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted. Futures and Options on Futures trading involve risk. In no event should the content of this market letter be construed as an express or implied promise, guarantee or implication by or from The Ira Epstein Division of Linn & Associates or Linn & Associates LLC that you will profit or that losses can or will be limited in any manner whatsoever. No such promises, guarantees or implications are given. Past results are not indicative of future performance.

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