Silver stairs

And now the silver stairway?

Another early post because of a busy evening. I managed to sell my Hong Kong shares, without technical problems, as prospects for the market deteriorated. There was one glitch of my own making - one of my holdings I sold 4000 shares instead of 40000. D'oh!

I'll fix that tonight and then I'll be out of equities with the exception of AFC on the London market. I'm holding for the long term on the recommendation of a very good friend. I sit and wait with no strong feelings about it except for trust of the source and a consequent willingness to hold with a 20-25% stop loss.

The weakness in the futures market overnight has been transformed into a continuing rally, up to the 200 day moving average so far. We're still mid range and we still haven't fallen to touch the 11520 support level. Everything remains up for grabs.

Gold and silver, on the other hand are on the move in a gentle sort of way. Gold seems to be climbing up to the next step on its stairway. (see yesterday's graph.)

Silver, (today's graph) has touched the bottom of its current step so I upped my stake as I said I would yesterday. I can always take some profit when it reaches the top of this run. However, there is a triangle, which brought today's rise to an end. Let's worry about that tomorrow.

My portfolio breakdown is now: gold and silver 21%, commodity 5%, equity 3%, cash 71%.


I did a quick and easy duck a l'orange for my wife and I last night. Sainsbury's was selling duck breasts at half price.

I fried the duck breast in lard at high heat on the skin side (skin salted) for about 8 minutes then turned it over and fried for 3 minutes the other side. I then finished it off in the oven at 195 deg. for 6 minutes.

The sauce consisted of 3 oz sugar dissolved in 1.5 fl oz of vinegar. To this I added the zest grated off one orange. I find the best way is to use the coarse side of the grater (though I did grate my thumb). I then peeled the orange and sliced it. I added this to the liquid together with about 5 fl oz of Cointreau. I simmered all this for about 5 mins and then a bit while I served up the rest.

The sauce was quite liquid so I served it with brown rice which I always cook with frozen peas (added at the last minute so they only just cook). I sliced the duck breasts before serving and they were a lovely pink. Leave them longer in the oven if you are queasy about under done meat.