Well, who doesn't like to say, "I told ya so?" I certainly do, which is why I'm pointing out that Intel has settled (again) with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), promising to stop using bundled pricing to keep down the competition. On June 24 we pointed out that a variety of sources were expecting a settlement soon, with a minor wrist slap for Intel.

It has turned into a complete non-event. Investors today reacted with a yawn, as Intel shares in afternoon trading were exactly flat, at $20.71. 

In other news:

• BP says it has the oil spill solved (Washington Post). Really. No, this time, you should believe them.
• Apple rumor mills are already cranking up for the fall, with speculation over the iPhone 5 and iPad mini (CNET). Also coming: iPad Double-mini, iPhoneMiniPad, the iPodPad, the iToilet, and the iToldYaSo.
• Why the UAE is done with the Blackberry (WSJ).
• ISM service index expanded in July (Bloomberg). Apparently, there was a surge in sales of Big Macs.
• Billionaires like Bill Gates and Larry Ellison are pledging more money to charity (WSJ).
• Time Warner revenues and earnings increased (TheStreet.com). Just in case it sounds foreign, let's repeat that: Time Warner revenues and earnings increased!
• ADP sees slight uptick in jobs (Forbes). Apparently that Big Mac surge forced McDonalds to hire.
• Priceline and Electronic Arts helped boost tech stocks (MarketWatch).
• Toyota's back with $2.2B in profit (Detroit Free Press). I don't know why I used the DFP link. Mildly sadistic, I guess.
• Senators are taking for-profit education to the woodshed (Reuters). Fifteen schools investigated.

There has been a remarkable turnaround in gold in the last week, which happens to coincide with the monthly futures roll from the August to the October or December contracts. Eric De Groot says this week's strong moves may be related to physical delivery notices at the COMEX exchange.

De Groot writes on his blog:

"There were unusual movements of COMEX gold inventories on July 28 and July 30 that 1) coincidentally roughly equaled what was needed for the sellers of contracts to meet delivery requirements, and 2) may indicate that unusually large quantities of COMEX gold will be withdrawn by the end of August."

This is a big deal, as it could be the start of the massive COMEX short squeeze that people have been waiting for for a long time. It follows rumors of a run on COMEX silver inventories.

Amazing to me, having followed, traded, and invested in gold over the last 8 years, that there are still so many gold skeptics out there. Like being wrong for a decade isn't enough?

Gold bears have trouble with basic comprehension of the bull market. Primary example is Ben Bernanke, who naively stated before Congress that he "didn't understand" why gold was going up. Why Ben, it's easy: It's because you are creating mountains of debt and paper money. You want some gold coins or burning paper money? What's not to understand?

This morning, Gold is breaking out again into bull territory, the beginning of a new phase that will likely carry it back above $1,300 by year-end. The correction is over.