The way I phrased it last week, I am long-term bearish on precious metals (in spite of their being in a 7-year bear market) and short-term bullish. Well, the “bullish” worked out, because gold, silver, and more specifically the miners, all had nice bounces. Those few days of reprieve, however, seem to have shot their wad, as precious metals have resumed what they have spent the past seven years doing, which is sucking out loud. One way to view this is via the triple-bearish-on-miners fund below, which has a critical breakout above its descending trendline (red oval) and a more recent gap-up (green oval). Let me put it this way – – the chart is bullish, and if this were just a normal common stock, I think any technician would draw the same conclusion.

(Click on image to enlarge)