Gold and silver took a sharp jump higher about 10 AM, when the economic news came in weekly, and stocks sold off.
I am not too sure how much importance to give to the markets today, since it seemed that the algos were in charge, with some of the junior staff to tend to their needs.
Next week will see the December Non-Farm Payrolls Report.
There was intraday commentary on Modern Monetary Theory here.
The US is lost in a daydream about exceptional economic growth, so there might be some cloudiness with a chance of shenanigans in reaction to the headline jobs number, etc. next week.
If we say it is, and say it loudly and often enough, it must be so. And if you do not agree, well then, you must obviously be afflicted, deficient, or disloyal.
I do not see a recovery behind the numbers yet, just the appearance of one manufactured out of generally abused accounting principles. It may be one of the few things that are seeing a boom in manufacturing: bad numbers and bad paper. Ah, the wonders of financialisation.
Despite the soaring stock market and general American triumphalism, the year seemed somehow grim. Not bad, but like walking on a treadmill, getting nowhere in particular. Nothing was really accomplished except for more of the same. And we increasingly reserve the right to do as we wish, and accuse just about anybody of anything that strikes our fancy without a resort to evidence, and with the right to pre-emptively punish them for it. At least Rome had bread and circuses. The Pax Americana offers drones and sanctions.
My outlook for 2015 is for increasing surrealism, as the dream fades, but the dreamers double down on their delusions.
If this is the case, 2016 could be rather frisky, with a high probability of cognitive dissonance, and selective outbreaks of popular uprisings and demonstrations, with correspondingly heavy handed official tantrums.
The Ohio State - Alabama match up in the Sugar Bowl yesterday was diverting. Go Buckeyes.
Have a pleasant weekend.
