Euphoria managed to out-run swine flu last week as the epidemic-du-jour, with “consumer” confidence jumping and the big bank stocks nudging up. The H1N1 virus fizzled for now, at least in terms of kill ratio, though we’re warned it might boomerang in the fall with a vengeance. No one was surprised to see Chrysler roll over like a possum on a county highway, but the memory of their muscle cars will linger on like a California surfing song. Here in the northeast, where Sundays are not spent at the NASCAR oval, the spring foliage reached the tenderly explosive stage and it was hard to feel bad about anything.

For now, the “bottom” is in — that is, the bottom of this society’s ability to process reality. It may continue for a month of so, even after the “stress test” for banks is finally let out of the massage parlor with a

Gold didn’t do much on Wednesday. It rallied a bit in the Far East and got sold off mid-morning in London. The low of the day [such as it was] came at the London p.m. gold fix at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. The subsequent rally got capped shortly after the price punctured $890…and then proceeded to get sold off [on big volume] right into the Globex close at 5:15 in New York. Total estimated volume was 87,493 contracts…with a switch effect of 5,876.

Silver was similar. A vertical spike at 8:30 a.m. in New York got squashed…and the low of the day was also at the London p.m. gold fix. And, like gold, the subsequent rally got capped at 1:00 p.m. Eastern before getting sold off to almost unchanged. Nothing to see here folks…please move along.

Open interest changes for Tuesday’s Comex trading showed an increase of 1,653 contracts in gold o.i….now