"The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the weak are clothed with strength.
Those with plenty must labour for bread,
but the hungry need work no more.
The childless wife has children now
but the fruitful wife bears no more.
It is the Lord who gives life and death,
he brings men to the grave and back;
it is the Lord who gives poverty and riches.
He brings men low and raises them on high.
He lifts up the lowly from the dust,
from the dungheap he raises the poor
to set him in the company of princes,
to give him a glorious throne."
1 Samuel 2:4-8
"In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
The only shadow that the Desert knows:
I am great Ozymandias, saith the stone,
The King of Kings; this mighty City shows
The wonders of my hand. — The City's gone,
Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose
The site of this forgotten Babylon.
We wonder, and some hunter may express
Wonder like ours, when through the wilderness
Where London stood, holding the wolf in chase,
He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess
What powerful but unrecorded race,
Once dwelt in that annihilated place."
Horace Smith, Ozymandias, 1818
Stocks were slumping and the precious metals caught a bid as an exclusive story at Bloomberg said that China is considering curtailing or even halting its purchases of US Treasuries.
Bloomberg's own spokesmodels were snickering the mere possibility of that aside, as just a rumour, and unthinkable to boot.
And the markets seemed to join in as stocks recouped most of their losses, and the precious metals back off. Bonds had an interesting ride as well as the US dollar.
The gold inventories in Hong Kong CME warehouses remain markedly low.
Have a pleasant evening.
