Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Plus Ca Change...

"The greatest triumph of the banking industry wasn’t ATMs or even depositing a check via the camera of your mobile phone. It was convincing Treasury and Justice Department officials that prosecuting bankers for their crimes would destabilize the global economy.”

Barry Ritholtz

As a reminder, this is a stock option expiration week.

Obama's State of the Union message this evening. Regards to the staffers watching their bosses at Bullfeathers.

There was a hit on the metals but they clawed their way back.

I include the VIX here just to show the complacency and the likely cause for the divergence between stocks and the metals. Its a 'risk on' thing and its has been going on since the Republicans blinked on the fiscal cliff.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Complacency By the VIX

"The man who knows the truth and has the opportunity to tell it, but who nonetheless refuses to, is among the most shameful of all creatures."

Theodore Roosevelt

VIX is back to the lows, and SP back to new highs, although the NDX remains a big 'non-confirm.'

Japan's Finance Minister says he would like to see a 17% rally on the Nikkei by the end of March.

I suspect that Bernanke is already doing his thing and inflating another asset bubble. The only question is how long can it last, and ignore the lack of recovery.

State of the Union tonight. Set your expectations low.

As a reminder this is a stock option expiration week.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - G7 'All Is Well' - Raid in Honor of Chinese New Year

Obama will deliver the State of the Union address tomorrow.

This week is a stock market expiration week.

Eric Sprott sees the gold scrap market drying up, and a default coming on the COMEX.

The G7 issued a statement ahead of their meeting in Moscow saying that there would be no escalation in the currency war.

To paraphrase Orwell, economic language 'is designed to make lies sound truthful and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.'

When the G7 show us a workable, sustainable solution to the reserve currency crisis, that is acceptable to the world at large including the BRICs, perhaps one might tend to take their diplomatic dispatches more seriously.

Meanwhile, the currency war continues as the Anglo-American economic empire, its multinational companies, and its client states resist change and reform at every opportunity in order to support a broken and corrupt financial system.