"Cæsar was swimming in blood. Rome and the whole pagan world was mad. But those who had had enough of sin and madness, those who were trampled upon, those whose lives were misery and oppression, all the sad, all the unfortunate, came to hear the wonderful news of God, who out of love for men had given Himself over to be crucified for their sins.
And Peter understood that neither Nero, nor all his legions, could overcome the truth— that they could not overwhelm it with tears or blood, and that now its victory was beginning. That city of pride, of crime, of wickedness, and of a lust for power, was beginning to be His."
Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis
"Having fallen from pure Being, the evil one is driven by a desire to possess to fill his emptiness. He is compelled to possess and consume, and nothing else. All he takes, he destroys. He rules the worldly, as he is the Prince of this world."
Denis de Rougemont
"The Unspeakable. It is the void, the emptiness of the end. Not the end of the world, but a climax of absolute finality in refusal, in equivocation, in disorder, in absurdity, which can be open again to truth only by miracle, by the coming of God."
Thomas Merton
"I am guilty, but not in the way that you think. I should have recognized my duty earlier; I should have more sharply called out evil, as evil; I suppressed my judgement far too long. did warn, but not nearly enough, and certainly not clearly enough; and today I understand the nature of my guilt, and my obligation.
Albrecht Haushofer, executed by the SS, Berlin, 23 April 1945
“The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the catacombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we are ourselves are defeated in our innermost selves?”
Maximilian Kolbe
Although the Jobs report came in much stronger than expected, the markets decided to ignore the implied meme of no rate cuts, and piled into risk assets and out of safe havens.
I suspect that this was largely a 'technical rally' targeting the significant number of market participants who came into this payrolls day with bearish hedges.
Or more simply— wash follows rinse.
Gold and silver slumped.
The Dollar chopped sideways.
The VIX plunged.
The spice must flow.
Have a pleasant weekend.
