Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Oh SNAP! - Wall Street's Trousered Apes Celebrate National Pig Day

"What I have called the trousered ape and the urban blockhead may be precisely the kind of man they really wish to produce. The differences between us may go all the way down. They may really hold that the ordinary human feelings about the past or animals or large waterfalls are contrary to reason and contemptible and ought to be eradicated. They may be intending to make a clean sweep of traditional values and start with a new set."

C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man


Ashes. Ashes!
We all fall down.

Nursery Rhyme

All the bearish types who bet on a sell off on a lack of details from Donnie got smoked this morning, as stocks went on a tear higher.

Talk about exceeding a very low bar.   I think the markets were afraid that Il Douché would take off his shoe and start pounding it on the podium.

Ah, but the SNAP IPO is pricing this evening, and at a couple of dollars above the 'expected price' at $17. It will start openly trading tomorrow. There is a lot of interest in their big underwriter Goldman, among others, seeing it 'pop' and close higher tomorrow to flush out the pan. And there are other IPOs lined up to follow if this one flies. Uber, among others perhaps.

I am not sure that markets will start selling off next week, but I was pretty sure they would not start selling off before now, all things being equal and considered.

This is one bent financial system, and Donnie is no reformer by all indications so far.  But there are so few of them these days.  It is very fashionable for the elite to embrace their inner swine.

So was this a high note today, or just another stop along the way of making America great again? And what will things be like when we finally face the music?

I suspect that this is just another cycle in the series of financial bubbles and busts which we have been enjoying since the 1990's, when it was declared that greed is good, and being a nation led by shameless pigmen had its compensations, at least for those who count.

Well, the future will certainly not be boring.

Happy National Pig Day.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Mardi Gras - Laissez le Bon Temps Rouler

"Peace I leave you, my peace I give to you;  not as the world gives do I give it to you. So do not let your heart be troubled— do not let it be afraid."

John 14:27


"Let us feel what we really are— sinners attempting great things. Let us simply obey God's will, whatever may come. He can turn all things to our eternal good. Easter day is preceded by the forty days of Lent, to show us that they only who sow in tears shall reap in joy."

J. H. Newman

Another interesting day in The Recovery™ as the US Dollar remained steady at the close, gold was hit in a series of little cheap shots, stocks were weak, and the VIX rose once again.

The Donald speaks to the professional politocrats in Washington this evening.

Snapchat IPO should be getting its final pricing tomorrow, and be out trading on March 2.  I hear the voice of a fat lady singing.

There was a serious problem with Amazon's cloud computing services today, that caused problems across a wide range of platforms on the East coast of the US.   I had trouble getting my email from this site today for most of the afternoon.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Here Come Donnie and Snapchat

There are two notable events in particular this week that may affect the markets.

The first will be President's Trump address to the joint session of the Congress tomorrow night.

Since this is his first term, it will not be called a 'State of the Union.'  And I doubt he will start with the traditional opening phrase, 'the state of the union is strong.'

But he has expressed the intention to make a 'big announcement,' so we'll have to see if anything of substance falls on the table with regard to infrastructure spending and tax cuts, not to mention healthcare.

The second event will be the IPO of Snapchat, in the form of SNAP, which is likely to be coming out to market on Wednesday.   I am going to be watching the aftermarket action closely, as well as the ability of the wiseguys to sustain these lofty levels in equities.

As you know I am leaning towards a suspicion of the usual shenanigans and antics by the money men, but still keeping an open mind.  It is hard to tell exactly what flavor of scam they may be weaving.

Next week we will get the February Non-Farm Payrolls report.

Gold and silver were attempting to rally higher today, but gave up their gains and went negative, even as stocks rallied.   Interestingly enough the VIX finished higher.

AngloGold Ashanti (AU) has indicated it will begin to pay a dividend again today. The stock is troubled by speculation about its South African holdings and some share sales by its CEO.

The US Dollar did not show much in the way of gains.  That chart is included below.

The warehouses at the Comex were relatively quiet.

Have a pleasant evening.