Just Charts at 3 PM - Dog Day Afternoon

Another sleepy day, even with some shenanigans for the stock option expiration.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Just Charts - The Walking Dead Markets

The market action is beyond dull, almost sleep-walking.

Understandable for mid-August, but certainly it is not good that they are ignoring the risks in the real economy.

But why should they be any different from the Fed and the rest of the political and financial establishment in their attitudes towards the 'new normal.'

As a reminder, there will be an option expiration tomorrow.

Here is the scorecard for today.

Have a pleasant evening.

Charts at 3:30 - A Really Dull Market

"Even the broader stock market has moved into the gray area beyond rationality, ruled by hype and 'adjusted' earnings and monkeyed accountings, financial engineering, and feverish hopes for central-bank market manipulation. Everyone loves a rigged market, as long as it’s rigged the right way. We’ve come to call it, consensual hallucination."

Wolf Richter

We have a break in the weather, and I do not wish to waste it watching this inconsequential nonsense today.

Without significant financial and political reform there will be no sustainable economic recovery.

Paul Krugman was a guest speaker on Bloomberg television today, and he is a willfully blind, walking, talking poster child for the credibility trap.

Have a pleasant evening.