Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - To Achieve a Reverent Understanding

 

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.

All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

"Myth wants power; revelation reveals the true power of God in the most extreme powerlessness.  Myth wants knowledge; the Word of God asks for constant faith and, only within that faith, a growing, reverent understanding.  The revelation of God’s Word is gentle patience amidst the intractable tensions of life.  Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered.  On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself.”

Irenaeus of Lyons, The Scandal of The Incarnation

“We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.

But we are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased."

C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

"Far be it from us thus to fight against God's gracious purposes to man, and to make the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died! Let us acknowledge all to be Christians, who have not by open word or deed renounced their fellowship with us, and let us try to lead them on into all truth.

And for ourselves, let us endeavour to enter more and more fully into the meaning of our own prayers and professions; let us humble ourselves for the very little we do, and the poor advance we make; let us avoid unnecessary display of religion; let us do our duty in that state of life to which God has called us.

Whether rich or poor, learned or unlearned, walking by this rule, we shall become, at length, true saints, sons of God. We shall be upright and perfect, lights in the world, the image of Him who died that we might be conformed to His likeness."

John Henry Newman, Profession Without Hypocrisy

"The power of the world is great, and I am just a sinner. But I know who I love, and that I want to be a part of that love, forever.  And so I have chosen my way, and struggle on to that outcome, one day at a time.  And this is how it is and how it will be for all who have chosen the Way.  Love is our destination, but while we are here on earth it can only be a journey, a continuing way of life, as we struggle on as best we can, to a final holy rest, and peace at the last."

Jesse, Obedience Without Love: The Leaven of the Pharisees, 5 April 2017

"The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world.  It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ.  As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death.  Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.

This great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. The Incarnation is the ultimate reason why the service of God cannot be divorced from the service of man.In the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God.  Thereafter, any attack, even on the least of men, is an attack on Christ, who took on the form of man, and in his own Person restored the image of God in all.  Through our relationship with the Incarnation, we recover our true humanity, and at the same time are delivered from that perverse individualism which is the consequence of sin, and recover our solidarity with all mankind."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

The early church did not refer to themselves as 'Christians.'  They were known as the people of 'the Way.'

Redemption is not a singular event.  One makes their initial decision to follow, and then they take up their cross and follow Him, over a period of time, to the end of their lives here.

And so it takes work, and patience, and a willingness to admit that one has fallen, and will ask for and accept the grace to get back up again and continue on,.

Some don't.   Many dry up and fall away as the going gets harder, and periods of 'spiritual dryness' occur.

And some more are choked from the faith by worries, and desires, and envy and pride and worldly idols.

But it is a way, and the ongoing work of repentance and forgiveness will sustain us.

This was a wide ranging day.  The markets are struggling to estimate and price in risk, but there are powerful forces working against genuine price discovery.   They are known as Wall St, Bessent, and Trump.

Gold had an unusually wide trading range again, finishing up nearly to even.  Silver always has a volatile day it seems, but held on to a gain.

The metals go up at night, and then London and NY financial centers come in.

When I was a younger man, one day I had a bit of a shocking revelation.  As I looked at the people around me, I realized that when the oceans dry up, and the stars burn out, and all the works of man are crumbled into the fires of an expanding sun in its death throes, their souls would continue on, radiant and beautiful.

How can we value things more than people if we understand something so basic to what we believe? 

I think C. S. Lewis expresses this well in the first quotation above.  People get lost in the weeds of their divisive speculations, and completely miss the big picture, and the implications of the Incarnation. 

I have to leave early today, to take Princess Daisy for her monthly vet visit and allergy shot, yada yada.

I will adjust for any after hours movements in the charts tomorrow.

Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.  Or not.  The US federal data releases are becoming about as erratic as Trump's foreign policy.

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Little Girl, I Say to You Arise

 

"When they arrived at the house of the elder of the synagogue, Jesus observed a great deal of commotion, with people weeping and wailing loudly. When he entered, he said to them, 'Why all this hysteria and weeping? The child is not dead, she is only sleeping.' And the people began to ridicule him.

After sending them all outside, he took the child’s father and mother with his companions and entered the room where the child lay. He held her by the hand and said, 'Talitha koum' which means: 'Little girl, I say to you, arise.' And the girl of twelve got up and began to walk around. And the people were all amazed."

Mark 5:38-42

"The greedy elite would rather be extremely rich in a suffering nation than modestly rich in a successful nation.  The greater the misery, the greater their power, since power is the difference in wealth and influence between one person and another."

Jesse, Speaking Privately to Wealthy Donors, 18 September 2012

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”

Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds, 1841

"In a week of going all round Caracas [Venezuela], I had yet to see a checkpoint, that nobody had at any stage asked me who I am, what I was doing or prevented me from going anywhere, and that the shops, bars and restaurants are all functioning normally.  Colleen in Minneapolis said that there were checkpoints everywhere, that the streets are full of heavily armed men, that people are frequently stopped, questioned, asked to produce documents, and diverted, and that many shops bars and restaurants are closed because the staff are afraid to venture out into the streets."

Craig Murray, Pirate of the Caribbean, 3 February 2026


Stocks resumed their sell off today, after yesterday's short squeeze.

Gold and silver rebounded.

The Dollar weakened.

Bitcoin fell to a new recent low, but rebounded a bit into the close.

VIX rose.

Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.

Have a pleasant weekend. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - And the Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail

 

"Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, you who carry out what He commands.  Seek righteousness, and seek humility, that you may find shelter on the day of the Lord’s wrath.

But I will leave as a remnant in your midst, a people humble and lowly, who shall take refuge in the name of the Lord — the remnant of Israel.  They shall do no wrong and speak no lies; nor shall there be found in their mouths a deceitful tongue.  They shall pasture and lie down with none to disturb them."

Zephaniah 2:3 3:12-13

"His instruments are poor and despised; the world hardly knows their names, or not at all. They are busied about what the world thinks petty actions, and no one minds them. They are apparently set on no great works; nothing is seen to come of what they do.

The world does not understand what our real power is, and where it lies.  And until we put ourselves into power's hands of our own act, it can do nothing against us.  Let all who labour for God in a dark time beware of any thing which ruffles, excites, and in any way withdraws them from the love of God and Christ, and a simple obedience to Him."

John Henry Newman, The Rule of Our Warfare, 13 June 1841

"Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things.  Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people.  Lacking any other purpose in life, it would be good enough to live for their sake."

Garrison Keillor, A Prairie Home Companion

"The Beatitudes remain a paradox only for those who believe that God is other than how Christ reveals him.  Those who expect the arrogant to always rule the earth are surprised by the Lord’s words.  Those who are accustomed to thinking that happiness belongs to the rich may believe that Jesus is deluded.  However, the delusion lies precisely in the lack of faith in Christ.  He is the poor man who shares his life with everyone, the meek man who perseveres in suffering, the peacemaker persecuted to death on the cross."

Pope Leo XIV, Angelus Address, 1 February 2026

We are seeing a repeating pattern wherein the stock index futures get hammered overnight on Sunday, and then we see a steady short squeeze on Monday.

The Dollar gained back a little more into the 97 handle.

Gold and silver could not sustain a rebound but recovered well from their lows.

VIX fell sharply as Bessent and his minions poured the oil of liquidity and buy programs over the mispriced troubles of the risk markets.

We will be heading into a Non-Farm Payrolls report on Friday.

I think Donnie is reluctant to pull the trigger on his 'great armada' positioned near Iran, despite the ardent urging of his donor class and regional 'allies.'

The Congress, particularly the GOP but not excluding some of the Democratic leadership, are disgraceful in failing to uphold their oaths to the Constitution.

And the band played on.

We are assured that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the people of God.  

But that does not mean we ought to do nothing.  

"In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose cry rises to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you: stop the repression. You can tell your people that if they succeed in killing me, that I forgive and bless those who do it. Hopefully, they will realize they are wasting their time. A bishop will die, but the church of God, which is the people, will never perish." Bishop Oscar Romero

I wish those who honor their conscience in the march for life would also march for the lives of those who are being shot, and abducted, and falsely imprisoned.  This would be a true test of faith, to join those who are acting in faith, where God is moving among his people in the care of the least of these. 

Have a pleasant evening. 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Rot of Imperial Decay

 

"A clique of U.S. industrialists is hell-bent to bring a fascist state to supplant our democratic government and is working closely with the fascist regime in Germany and Italy.  I have had plenty of opportunity in my post in Berlin to witness how close some of our American ruling families are to the Nazi regime.  Certain American industrialists had a great deal to do with bringing fascist regimes into being in both Germany and Italy.  They extend aid to help Fascism occupy the seat of power, and they are helping to keep it there."

William E. Dodd, US Ambassador to Germany, Letter to President Roosevelt, 1936

“The main problem in any democracy is that crowd-pleasers are generally brainless swine who can go out on a stage and whip their supporters into an orgiastic frenzy— then go back to the office and sell every one of the poor bastards down the tube for a nickel apiece.”

Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

"The party defined what was legal and what was not.  The presumption of innocence was replaced by a universalized presumption of guilt.  Extreme radical systems have unique features, including rationalization of power, definition of the enemies. They represent efforts to establish total control over society through systematic aggression against any form of autonomous associations, as well as the persecution and eventual extermination of ideologically defined adversaries.  The ideology is aptly summarized in an apocalyptic statement from the vision of a superior elite whose utopian goals sanctify the most barbaric methods — the denial of the right to life to those who are defined as 'degenerate parasites and predators,' the deliberate de-humanization of the victims."

Vladimir Tismaneanu, Understanding Radical Evil, July 7, 2011


Gold and silver were hammered down today. I have been expecting something like this, and have been standing aside in cash. 

I came back in and took some new positions near the close.

China is having a holiday week in February, and I do not know how active their trading markets will be.

Stocks waffled around.

VIX is a puppet on a string.

As I have mentioned before, the smell of Bessent and the government are all over the tape and the 'official data.'  

When Donnie realizes he is going down, things could get much more bizarre. 

If after all that has happened you are still willing to ignore and rationalize fraud, lies, willful murder, and genocide, then you are most likely on a twisted path that will not end well for you and those around you. 

I will pray for all of us.

Have a pleasant weekend.