13 April 2017

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Risk Off - Maundy Thursday


"Jesus stood up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped round him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’

Jesus replied, ‘You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’

‘No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my feet.’

Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’

‘Then, Lord,’ Simon Peter replied, ‘not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!’

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ‘You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

A new commandment I give you: that you love one another, as I have loved you. By this all will know that you are mine— if you have love for one another.'”

John 13


"What we would like to do is change the world–make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe and shelter themselves as God intended them to do. And to a certain extent, by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of the workers, of the poor, of the destitute–the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor in other words, we can to a certain extent change the world; we can work for the oasis, the little cell of joy and peace in a harried world. We can throw our pebble in the pond and be confident that its ever widening circle will reach around the world."

Dorothy Day, June 1946

Today was a 'risk off' day in the markets.

Some of this was due to geopolitical risks.

The rest was in anticipation of a three day weekend, with new political and geopolitical risks being anticipated.

The US government, specifically the Congress, has to renew the debt ceiling, and despite being controlled by one party it remains dysfunctional, being sharply divided by ideologues and servants of various corporate interests and a wealthy few who do not carry the needs and best outcomes for the people or the nation in their hearts.   And as for the corporate powers, they serve only their own greed, which is mammon.

Few suffering servants in power these days; they serve what they love the most, a false vision of god as themselves, which is death. It would be far better for them if they had never been born.

Gold and silver remain jammed into key resistance, and both of the major stock indices which I track here closed down to key support.

VIX, the measure of risk and volatility, has ticked up to a new short term high.

Let's see if we can come out of this weekend blithely, and reverse these trends next week. Or on the other hand, confirm these trends with breakouts and breakdowns as the mispricing of risk that began with the Trump ascendancy starts to unwind.

This is Holy Week for us. And so I will likely not post anything tomorrow, but perhaps some little things over the weekend. I spent much of today taking care of the queen, who is very fatigued and forgetful because of her illness. I managed to do all her laundry which was a major milestone. She was too tired to object, because I won't 'do it the right way.' lol.

Have a pleasant weekend.