SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Geopolitical Risks and Numbers Nonsense

 

"A clueless political personnel, in denial of the systemic nature of the crisis, is pursuing policies akin to carpet-bombing the economy of proud European nations in order to save them."

Yanis Varoufakis

The big tickle today was the jobs report. They went back and greatly revised the numbers for at least all of 2014. I really did not have the time today for the kind of analysis I would like to give a change of that magnitude.

But let's just say that the skepticism about the employment picture I have had for the past few weeks, as so well expressed by the CEO of Gallup, has not abated one bit.  I think we are dealing with very frightened public figures who have become inured to lying to get what they want.  They have been using contacts and deceit and special privileges and arrangements most of their lives.

Stocks were in rally mode, but backed off hard into the loss category into the close. The SP futures have taken multiple runs now at the near overhead resistance around 1265-1270, and they either punch it through next week, or we may just go back down again for a reconsideration of the whole rally effort.

I expect geopolitics involving the Ukraine and Greece to dominate the news for the next few weeks. The Street will forget about it, and rally up now and then on some bubblicious news item related to dodgy accounting and ridiculous company market caps and growth estimates, and then tumble on back down again.

Some of the lesser reported news today was the 'emergency meeting' in Moscow between Merkel, Hollande, and Putin with regard to the fighting in the Ukraine.

The US and the UK are calling for 'Nato unity' in taking a hard line, and are concerned that France and Germany might strike a compromise that cedes a portion of the Ukraine and Crimea to Russian influence.

We are losing our humanness in the States, and are being actively conditioned to be 'hard' and ruthless in our quest to order the world. That is of more concern to me perhaps, that the gap between perception and reality will continue to widen to some tear in the social fabric.

But life goes on, and human spirit endures.

Have a pleasant weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

An Uninvited Guest At the UK Arms Dealers Annual Dinner This Week

This was the scene at this year's annual dinner for the UK ADS Society:  Advancing Aerospace, Defense, and Security.

 

Who is in charge of their security, Inspector Clouseau?

 

Well said, nonetheless.

 

I wonder how good the vetting is at the Fed's conferences?  

 

At least the UK Arms Dealers were more gracious in removing their protester, than was Senator John McCain who reacted to his own anti-war protesters from Code Pink: Women For Peace this way last week.  Class!

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Non-Farm Payrolls Tomorrow - The Fed's Serial Policy Errors

 

Gold and silver took the usual early hits and then came back a bit intraday.  As you can see, gold is pinned to support.

 

Speaking of jobs, the Cleveland Fed head Loretta Mester says that interest rates should be rising soon because of the solid labor gains.   And this from Cleveland? 

"There are accumulating signs that the economy is building momentum and that, this time, a pick-up in speed will be sustained because the underlying fundamentals have improved," Mester told a bankers' group in Columbus, Ohio.

Is this another 'green shoots' sighting?  Or a familiar phase in bubblenomics?  Victory, huzzah!  Because we say so.

 

I think maybe Fed President Mester needs to get out more often, and to more varied different venues than bankers' luncheons.   Youngstown would be a good place to stop for a Jib Jab hot dog.  Maybe not as good as the PO Lunch in Newcastle Pa., but certainly on a par with Yocco's in Allentown (or Easton if you want a beer with that dog).   And don't forget about Corporal Klinger's favorite, Tony Packos in Toledo. 

 

The working poor in her areas may not be able to afford McDonalds as much, but they still like their hot dogs when they can afford them.  Maybe while she is there, she can talk to some people about their wonderful lives in The Recovery™, compliments of the Fed's propeller heads and their serial policy errors.  

 

And while she is there, she can ask about what is going on in Europe, and factor that into her equations.   And about what the Gallup CEO recently said about the booshwa nature of the unemployment numbers.   Does she wish to make public policy based on that?    Maybe, until the real economy bleeds out.

 

God save us from the propeller heads, and the generals who are far from the field, and fighting the last war.  The carnage they inflicted in the first World War was epic.  And so was the carnage of their political peers in the terms of the peace.

 

I will try not to take what she says too seriously because the Fed has an itch to raise rates at least once, so they have room to cut them again when their latest bubble bursts.

 

Tomorrow is Non-Farm Payrolls.  I suppose they will create a good report to make us feel better.  They might even say something nice for a change about wages and labor participation. 

 

I have included a delivery report on gold below, which has sparked some real interest for the first time this month.

 

There was some intraday commentary regarding gold and the dore of war here.

I am not a 'gold bug' whatever the heck that means.  But I do think that gold and silver are important components of a solid portfolio, particularly in these times of currency wars.  I had a penchant for collecting coins from a young age, but never became interested in gold whatsoever until after 2000, when I became intensely interested in currencies. 

 

Anyone who studies currencies without appreciating the history and qualities of gold as a natural currency is ill-educated.  And people who 'hate' gold are probably the real goldbugs if I understand what they mean by it as a pejorative term, because they say the buggiest, most obsessively absurd things imaginable about it.

 

But to heck with them.  Their folly will be sifted by time.  Despite the antics which we may be in for tomorrow.

 

Tick tock.

 

Have pleasant evening.

 

 

Related: 

The Big Lie: 5.6 Percent Unemployment 

Greek economic austerity measures tied to 30 Year high in Suicides