Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - It's Such a Splendid, Sunny Day

 

"Edge, Jeffrey Epstein's favourite intellectual salon — was sold to me as a gathering of the world's finest minds. The files reveal it was something far darker: a decades-long project that cloaked eugenics, race science and sexual misconduct in Ivy League respectability.

Whatever Edge was supposed to be, it became something sinister. The salon played yenta to billionaire money and alpha-male minds, and together, over decades, they all converged on a master philosophy: they were apex predators ordained by nature to exploit and subjugate others. This creed allowed the Edge set to steer intellectual history into its current fascist dead-end.  Billionaires really like thinkers who see their exploitation of the weak as a good and natural thing.

With the Epstein files, we’re confronted with exactly what all the Edge men did with the intellectual territory they seized.  With their Ivy League posts, their billions, and their blue-ribbon DNA, the would-be intellectuals in Epstein’s circle converged on nothing less than the ideology of Mein Kampf."

Virginia Heffernan, The Billionaire's Eugenics Project, 13 February 2026

"The children of elites will not succeed because they are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and an automatic ticket to the Ivy League.  They will succeed because they have inherited the talent, energy, drive, and resilience to overcome the many obstacles they will face in life.  Life is still a struggle for all who hope to have economic and social success.  It is just that we can predict who will be likely to possess the necessary characteristics from their ancestry."

Greg Clark, The Economist, 13 Feb. 2013

"To admit that the Reich was a lie and a mistake, that they were fanatical fools and Hitler an incompetent creature, would be to admit that they had become an accomplice to an unimaginable evil.  To accept that guilt, to admit one's complicity in such a horrendous assault on justice, to humble oneself and ask for forgiveness, would have taken a heroic act of self-awareness, humility and repentance. And worse, for these fanatics, it would diminish their pride.  Pride is the mother of all sin.  This is the slow descent into hell.  This is the unwillingness to let go of the lie, for the sake of pride and its power, and cling to evil as it draws them into the abyss."

Jesse, Seth the Arbiter of Chaos, 15 May 2018

"Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us—if at all—not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men."

T. S. Eliot, The Hollow Men, 1925

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace.  But with disgrace comes humility, and with humility comes wisdom.  The humility of the righteous will guide them, but the deceitfulness of the proud will destroy them."

Proverbs 11:2-3 

 

So we toddle on to the first FOMC decision under the new Chair Kevin Warsh tomorrow, and a triple witch option expiration on Friday. 

And of course, the signing of the big, beautiful Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran, which has yet to be publicly disclosed, later this week.

I hope it holds and that the interested parties will honor it.  But I have to confess that my outlook is cloudy with a chance of false flags and spoilers.

Stocks popped and flopped, with the NDX futures hitting what may prove to be a significant high, barring hyperinflation.

Gold and silver continued to bounce off the recent lows from last week.  Let's see how they make it through the FOMC and the triple witch.

I am in gold and silver for the longer term.  Nothing has changed since I first made this calculation around 2001.  

The dominant parties in the financial wars are evolving, and so the currency wars are ongoing.  It seems a lot easier to forecast now in retrospect, than back then, when the wall of worry in precious metals looked more like climbing the Eiger than a walk through Muir Woods.

It's funny how you remember things.    I recall a bright sunny spring day with the Queen in Grindelwald I think, many years ago in the late 1980s.  We were on our way by car with some friends to visit a restaurant called Piz Gloria on top of the Schilthorn.  You may recall having seen it in one of the James Bond films, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

We were standing and watching the towering Jungfrau and the Eiger, when a terrific avalanche came crashing down the mountain.  We could hear its roar after a long delay.  

The Alps were majestic, and she was so beautiful. 

It is so easy, so convenient to forget who you are, and what it means to be human.  And to allow your love to grow cold.

"It is such a splendid, sunny day, and I have to go."  Sophie Scholl, Munich, February 22, 1943.

See you on Thursday.  There is a great deal of work to be done.

Have a pleasant evening.   

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Darkest Hour

 

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious.  But it cannot survive treason from within.  An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly.  But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself."

Taylor Caldwell, A Pillar of Iron, 1965

"If the mind is to emerge unscathed from this relentless struggle with the unforeseen, two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.”

Carl Von Clausewitz, On War, 1832

"We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds: we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretense; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical.  Are we still of any use?  What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straightforward men."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, After Ten Years, New Year's Day 1943

"In the last days there will be difficult times, for people will be lovers of themselves and of money, boastful, proud, disrespectful to God, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, profane, lacking all natural affection, harsh, implacable, lying, unrestrained, brutal, despising what is good, traitors, reckless, arrogant, and lovers of their own pleasure rather than lovers of God." 

2 Timothy 3:1-4

"Arise and shine, for the light has come,
     and the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
Though darkness covers the earth,
     and total darkness shrouds the people;
but the Lord will shine over you,
     and His glory will appear with you.
Nations will walk by your light,
     and kings to the brightness of your dawning."

Isaiah 60:1-3

Stocks were in rally mode on the weekend news that the US-Iran have agreed on a 'Memorandum of Understanding' to achieve a new ceasefire in their conflict.

While I hope that this resolution is real and lasting, I see many flaws in it, and gaps in the narrative.  It is not a proper treaty, and can be dispensed with in the same way that Trump 'ripped up' the more substantial JCPOA when the mood struck him.

In summary, it is likely to be a bulltrap, a canard purposely engineered by those seeking to cash in on the SpaceX IPO.  

Let's see what transpires. 

Gold and silver and Bitcoin popped a bit.

The Dollar chopped lower.

VIX fell hard.

I will be unavailable on Wednesday.   The doctors at a local hospital are going to repair something that has gone amiss.

Old age is no joke. 

I have no idea what the surgery and the 'recovery' will be like, given my geezerly tendencies, so be advised that there is a triple witch on Friday.

At some point the MOU narratives will converge into something in writing, or they will not.  And the opponents to the ceasefire in the US and its 'closest ally' are determined and formidable.

I doubt Trump has the resolve to stand up to them.  But we can hope. 

Have a pleasant evening.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - To Be Human

"For we are the work God’s hands, created for a life of good works, prepared for us in Christ Jesus, that we may find life in them."

Ephesians 2:10

"There's been a lot of talk in this race about what it means to be a real man.  Recently on the campaign trail I told the story of my adoptive dad, Mark Talarico.  Every Saturday morning, he would mow our lawn, and then without anyone asking him to, he would go next door and mow our neighbor's lawn because she was a widow.  My dad never talked about it — he just did it, because that's what a man does.

A man takes responsibility.  A man upholds his commitments to his family and his neighbors.  A man does what's right, even when no one is watching.  Here's what real men don't do.  They don't lie and cheat their way through life, sell their soul to the highest bidder, or steal from other people in order to enrich themselves.

Real men serve others.  Weak men serve themselves.  I welcome this debate about what it means to be a man, and I don't think Ken Paxton or Ted Cruz are in a position to tell anybody what a real man is."

James Talarico, Candidate for Senator from Texas, June 12, 2026

"The government is intervening in the various markets.  There is little or no question about it, if you accept that actively changing, with intent, the rules, money supply, short term liquidity, interest rates, methods by which key statistics are tallied, spin and other information that might impolitely be called 'propaganda' is manipulating the markets. (With gold now at $912 and silver at $17.48.) 

And often it is. They admit it. The evidence is there.  If you don't know about it you have not been keeping up with current events.  Those who are in-the-know are in denial and hiding, trying to line their pockets and curry favor with whomever they think will be in power next.  Those who don't know are running around waving their hands, shouting slogans and hearing only their own voices, or just ignoring it all getting distracted by whatever happens to be handy.

One's best recourse is essere umano, to be human throughout it, perhaps giving the bastards a swift little kick from time to time just to let them know you're still there.

In the meanwhile there are important and interesting questions to investigate as best we can. Its not clear yet exactly which way this thing goes, and the variables interact with one another, and are many more than can listed here: 

• Will our government become a better democratic Republic, Fascist, or Socialist, and the related broader question of the Individual vs. the State.
  
  
• When and how the dollar will be valued and how fiat currencies can be sustained without being destroyed by inflation? (in all history none have succeeded}.
  
  
• How will the world's reserve currency evolve?  Can a greater centralization of power and control be avoided gracefully?  Can freedoms be maintained if it cannot?
  
  
• Will there be a 'moment of clarity' when the failure becomes evident and things move with alarming speed, or will this be a damp fizzling decline into an ignoble whimper.
  

We will continue to explore all these areas with what we hope is a bias to objective analysis and pertinent data, laced heavily with humour, satire, charts, and pictures.  Little by little there will be progress, and the body of knowledge grows, and life is renewed, and creation is made more orderly, and liberty and the spirit are restored."

Jesse, Of Government Intervention, and Why I Write This Blog, 11 July 2008

"I do not ask for your performance and pretense,
       the hypocrisy of festivals and solemn ceremonies.
I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain.
      I do not even notice your finest peace offerings.
Spare me the noise of your hymns and praise,
      I will not listen to the music of your harps.
Instead, let justice flow from you like a river,
     and righteousness in an ever-flowing stream."

Amos 5:21-24

"He became as we are, so we might become what he is."

Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation of the Word, 335 AD

"You have been told what is good, and what the Lord requires of you.  Only do what is right, and  love goodness and mercy, and walk humbly with your God."

Micah 6:8

Stocks rallied up on the back of yet another big, beautiful peace deal.

I don't think the 'deal is real' but the Street wanted to launch a pig into space, and so they did, lipstick and all.   Elon Musk just became the world’s first trillionaire.  Let’s make sure he’s the last.

Gold and silver gained a little, coming off their recent lows earlier this week.

VIX fell down again.  

The Dollar is chopping around in a trading range.  Nothing could be more clear.

Bitcoin failed to take off, and is still stuck at overhead resistance.

There will be a triple with option expiration next Friday.

Let's see what new deals are announce over the weekend to prop the markets up on Monday.

"The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them."  Elena Gorokhova, A Mountain of Crumbs, 12 January 2010

The US is sliding into the kind of country we used to hold up as an example of what we were not, and were so much better and freer.

 It's the new tradition. And Trump is just hatching the egg that the imperial presidents before him have laid.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - As a Testimony to the Nations

 

"Financial predators, on the other hand, are usually narcissistic and audacious criminals.  They regularly have an extreme sense of entitlement coupled with high self-efficacy.  Many of them have a charismatic quality and are preternaturally persuasive.  Financial predators are commonly shameless and quite adept serial liars.  They perceive themselves having near unlimited guile and resourcefulness to extricate themselves out of any compromising situations."

Russ Alan Prince, Unmasking Financial Predators, Forbes 2017

"...over the last thirty years, the United States has been taken over by an amoral financial oligarchy, and the American dream of opportunity, education, and upward mobility is now largely confined to the top few percent of the population. Federal policy is increasingly dictated by the wealthy, by the financial sector, and by powerful (though sometimes badly mismanaged) industries such as telecommunications, health care, automobiles, and energy. These policies are implemented and praised by these groups’ willing servants, namely the increasingly bought-and-paid-for leadership of America’s political parties, academia, and lobbying industry.

If allowed to continue, this process will turn the United States into a declining, unfair society with an impoverished, angry, uneducated population under the control of a small, ultrawealthy elite. Such a society would be not only immoral but also eventually unstable, dangerously ripe for religious and political extremism.

Thus far, both political parties have been remarkably clever and effective in concealing this new reality. In fact, the two parties have formed an innovative kind of cartel — an arrangement I have termed America’s political duopoly. Both parties lie about the fact that they have each sold out to the financial sector and the wealthy.  So far both have largely gotten away with the lie, helped in part by the enormous amount of money now spent on deceptive, manipulative political advertising.  But that can’t last indefinitely; Americans are getting angry, and even when they’re misguided or poorly informed, people have a deep, visceral sense that they’re being screwed.

I have no problem with people becoming billionaires — if they got there by winning a fair race, if their accomplishments merit it, if they pay their fair share of taxes, and if they don’t corrupt their society.  But that’s not how most of the people mentioned in this book became wealthy.  Most of them became wealthy by being well connected and crooked.  And they are creating a society in which they can commit hugely damaging economic crimes with impunity, and in which only children of the wealthy have the opportunity to become successful.  That’s what I have a problem with.  And I think most people agree with me." 

Charles Ferguson, Predator Nation, 2012

"It is never really between them and you, but between you and yourself, between you and your God.  No act of kindness is wasted.  You store them in your heart, and these are the only things that you will take with you when the day is done.  It is how you rise above the darkness, and become human."

Jesse, Even In a Time of Vanity and Greed, 5 May 2013

"Do not be deceived, for God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap."

Galatians 6:7


Trump sparked the equity markets today with yet another whopper about taking a pause from bombing Iran to work on a peace Memorandum of Understanding. 

More likely this is a courtesy to Elon Musk, who is squeezing out a whopping pig of an IPO tomorrow for SpaceX at a wildly confabulated evaluation of $135 a share, in his never-ending quest to become a trillionaire. 

The Street knows this. They absolutely know what is what about all of it.  Trump and the Congress know that he is lying through his teeth.

They don't care.  They just want to get paid. They all have the same moral sensibility, which essentially none.

"Iran directly rejects Trump's new claim that he reached an agreement to "cancel tonight's strikes" on Iran as baseless, saying no agreement has been approved at all, and all of Trump's words should be disregarded like all his previous 38 times deal-imminent announcements over two months, per Tasnim. A senior Israeli official also tells Channel 12 they are 'not aware of any agreement being reached'."

So, stocks rallied hard after Trump made his 39th announcement of an imminent peace deal.

Gold and silver rallied.  Bitcoin rallied a bit.

VIX fell.

SpaceX is coming out tomorrow.

"You are the very cause of your ignorance, yourselves.  You put away the light, yourselves; you first pluck out both your own eyes, yourselves; and after that other men’s too, so that the blind may lead the blind, until you both fall into the pit.”    Thomas More, 1535

And the Band played on. 

Have a pleasant evening.