Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Fruits of Graft - Costco Selling One Ounce Gold Bars

 

“Trickle-down theory represents the less than elegant metaphor that if one feeds the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.”

John Kenneth Galbraith

"You should thank God the government saved the big banks and their investors. Now, if you talk about bailouts for everybody else, there comes a place where if you just start bailing out all the individuals instead of telling them to adapt, the culture dies. Suck it in and cope."

Charlie Munger, Christian Science Monitor, September 30, 2010

"Inequality is a euphemism for all the things that have gone to make the lives of the rich so much more delicious for the last three decades. And for the things that have made the lives of working people so wretched and so precarious.  You catch a glimpse of inequality every time you hear about someone that had to declare bankruptcy because a child got sick.  Inequality is about the way in which speculators, and even criminals, get a helping hand from Uncle Sam, while the Vietnam Vet down the street loses his house."

Thomas Frank, Listen Liberal

“Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction.  Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, or even a duty."

Simone Weil

Today we had the expected 'gut punch' follow up to the recent precious metals option expiration on the Comex.

I would normally expect this to be about it, but since we are approaching the end of the third quarter we will have to wait and see if the big metal and miner shorts have used this opportunity to square up their books for quarter end.

The Dollar rallied and took the 106 handle and then some.

Stocks were punched down hard, but managed to rally into the close and finish unchanged to green.

What a surprise.

The government shutdown looms as the House continues in disarray.

But this reaction in the equity markets so far is mostly the usual end of quarter shenanigans.

And as a surprise in the news, national retailer Costco is now selling one ounce gold bars.   And they are selling out as fast as they can stock them.    Physical gold to go and a free lunch of tasty samples.   What will they think of next. 

There may be a flight to safety of sorts in the air.  Let's see what happens. 

As Cicero is said to have famously observed in his first oration against Cataline, 'O tempora, O mores.'

When he spoke in 63 BC his republic was failing as well.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Prowling the Earth Like a Lion, Seeking Those to Devour

 

"We've become, now, an oligarchy instead of a democracy.  I think that's been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I've ever seen in my life."

Jimmy Carter, 39^th President of the United States

"I think the oligarchy now is audacious.  They don't really care if they're legitimate.  But there is a sort of 'Ok guys you're mad. How are you going to stop me' mentality at the top."

Robert Johnson, Institute for Economic Thinking

"I think I'm signaling something a little bit shocking to Americans, and to myself, actually.  Which is the situation we find ourselves in at this moment, this week, is very strongly reminiscent of the situations we've seen many times in other places.

But they're places we don't like to think of ourselves as being similar to.  They're emerging markets.  It's Russia or Indonesia or a Thailand type situation, or Korea.  That's not comfortable.  America is different.  America is special.  America is rich.  And, yet, we've somehow find ourselves in the grip of the same sort of crisis and the same sort of oligarchs.

It's a small group with a lot of power.  A lot of wealth.  They don't necessarily - they're not necessarily always the names, the household names that spring to mind, in this kind of context.  But they are the people who could pull the strings.  Who have the influence.  Who call the shots.

I have this feeling in my stomach that I felt in other countries, much poorer countries, countries that were headed into really difficult economic situation.  When there's a small group of people who got you into a disaster, and who were still powerful.  Disaster even made them more powerful.  And you know you need to come in and break that power.  And you can't.  You're stuck.

The powerful people are the insiders.  They're the people who pay themselves the massive bonuses at the end of the last year.  Now, those bonuses are not the essence of the problem, but they are a symptom of an arrogance, and a feeling of invincibility, that tells you a lot about the culture of those organizations, and the attitudes of the people who lead them.  But it really shows you the arrogance.  They think it's over.  They think it's won.  It's astonishing."

Bill Moyer's Journal - Interview with Simon Johnson, February, 2009

"Power is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the latter it crushes, the former it intoxicates. The truth is, no one really possesses it."

Simone Weil

Stocks initially dipped, but managed to gather a footing and ended the day slightly higher.

VIX fell.

The Dollar rose a bit.

Gold and silver were utterly hammered, in observance of the Comex precious metals option expiration.

What a surprise.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Wash and Rinse in Silver - Global Turmoil

 

"Caesar was swimming in blood, Rome and the whole pagan world was mad. But those who had had enough of transgression and madness, those who were trampled upon, those whose lives were misery and oppression, all the weighed down, all the sad, all the unfortunate, came to hear the wonderful tidings of God, who out of love for men had given Himself to be crucified and redeem their sins.

When they found a God whom they could love, they had found that which the society of the time could not give any one— happiness and love."

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis: The Time of Nero

"Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song."

John Paul II

"He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.

This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.   To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Acts of the Apostles 10:37-43

 

The 'highly anticipated' Fed minutes came out at 2 PM and basically added nothing new to the conversation given the recent speeches by Fed heads Bulland and Mester.

 Stocks were meh, although the NDX showed some strength all things considered.

But not to waste an opportunity, gold and silver were lower as the Dollar edged higher.

And I am shocked, shocked, that silver got smacked down after the seemingly uncorrelated rally.

 As noted in yesterday's commentary.

"Silver was the standout, rallying up for most of the day, contra just about everything.  We have an option expiration for silver on the Comex coming on the 23rd.  Forewarned is forearmed."

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Who Could Have Seen It Coming? - Comex Gold Option Expiration Tomorrow

 

"We looked into the abyss if the gold price rose further.  A further rise would have taken down one or several trading houses, which might have taken down all the rest in their wake.   Therefore at any price, at any cost, the central banks had to quell the gold price, manage it.   It was very difficult to get the gold price under control but we have now succeeded.  The US Fed was very active in getting the gold price down. So was the U.K."

Eddie George, Bank of England, From Reg Howe v. BIS, JPM et al.


"What is offensive is that they lie, and worship their own lying."

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment


"It is in the gold lending market that the central banks of the world lend out their gold holdings to commercial bullion banks, where the physical gold is sold and shipped out, and where the central banks then claim to hold interest-earning ‘gold deposits’ with the bullion banks.   These gold-deposits (which are merely a claim on a bullion bank) then mostly roll over short-term, passed around indefinitely between the clubby LBMA cartel of bullion banks, in a totally opaque behind the scenes network.

The physical gold bars lent out are long gone to Switzerland and the Far East, and the central banks then deceptively claim that they still hold the gold on their balance sheets when in fact all they have is a liability to the bullion banks. In the middle of this market sits the Bank of England, offering gold custody and storage to other central banks (in the vaults under the Bank of England headquarters in London) and offering gold accounts to the bullion banks concerned."

Ronan Manly, French central bank and JP Morgan team up to boost Gold Lending


The Dollar jumped to take the 114 handle today, off the weakness in the Euro, Yen, Pound et al. 

This record Dollar strength poses serious earnings risks for dollar-based companies with international exposure.

Gold was hammered down to a multi-year low, along with silver.

Tomorrow is a fairly important Comex option expiration for gold, for the October contract. 

What a surprise.

The physical inventories in Hong Kong Comex warehouses remained very thin.   

Bonds are getting clocked by the rising interest rates, although the shorter term bills can be held to maturity.

Gold from the ETF selling may be some assistance, in addition to the usual Bank shenanigans.

Stocks were lower once again, with the SP flirting with the important CrashTrak prior low.

I don't think we have seen capitulation in the equity markets yet.

Or from the gold and silver cartels in NY and London either.

What is the old market saying, Sell Rosh Hashanah and buy Yom Kippur.

But the high ground seems to be a reasonable good position for waiting, as indicated many times here previously. 

Or perhaps even more appropriate for this year,  Sell in May and go away.

The atonement for the Wall Street financial assets bubble compels the Fed to continue to feed our children's future to the Moloch of the money men.

But in this as always, remember what is truly important.

"The most important problem in the world today is your soul, for that is what the struggle is about."

Fulton J. Sheen

There are the three great gifts of His tender mercy. 

 Repentance - forgiveness - thankfulness.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Crescendo - Metals Expiry Tomorrow, Jackson Hole Friday

 

“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 personal selves?”

Maximilian Kolbe

"God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission— I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.

Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons.  He has not created me for naught.  I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.

Therefore I will trust Him.  Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away.  If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.  My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us.

He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about.  He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—still He knows what He is about."

John Henry Newman, Meditations and Devotions

"Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be.   Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, or even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.  Without love deeds, even the greatest, count as nothing.   Our Lord's love shines forth as much in the simplest of souls as it does in the most highly gifted, as long as there is no refusal of His grace."

Thérèse Martin de Lisieux

"Those who have faith had better keep in the state of grace, and those who have neither had better find out what they mean, for in the coming age there will be only one way to stop your trembling knees, and that will be to get down on them and pray. The most important problem in the world today is your soul, for that is what the struggle is about."

Fulton J. Sheen


Stocks managed a bounce today in what was otherwise another wide-ranging day.

The Dollar chopped sideways, at a lofty 108+ handle.

Gold and silver managed to edge higher.

The VIX dropped.

Tomorrow is an option expiration for precious metals on the Comex.  Contract-wise it is more significant or silver than gold, but that may have little effect with those who manage the markets.

Jay Powell is speaking at Jackson Hole Fed Symposium on Friday, and the markets seem to be hlding their collective breath ahead of that performance.

I have never been to Jackson Hole or Wyoming.

But I used to really like taking the family on a road trip in the early autumn to visit the Skylands Resort on the Blue Ridge Parkway.   We would look at the leaves, make sidetrips to various attractions around the area, and day hike sections of the nearby Appalachian Trail. 

Be warned, the leaves turn and snows come early.

In a week or so it will be the fifth anniversary of when I bid a farewell to the queen.

Here's looking at you, kid.

Have a pleasant evening.