"Quite a lot of what passes itself off as dialogue about our society consists of people trying to justify their own choices. Let me propose that if your beliefs or convictions matter more to you than people—if they require you to act as though you were a worse person than you are—you may have lost perspective."
Timothy Kreider, We Learn Nothing, 2012
"And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Luke 1:17
This weekend we will be remembering the Nativity of John the Baptist, one of those who spoke truth to the powerful, righteousness to the lawless, and gave hope to the suffering many.
Stocks finished weakly, roiled again by Trump's threat to impose a 20% tariff on all European automobile imports.
Gold and silver finished slightly higher on a weaker US dollar.
There will be an option expiration for precious metals on the Comex next Tuesday the 26th.
A little over 250,000 ounces of gold showed up in Hong Kong to relieve the relatively short supply there.
Physical gold is moving from West to East.
The economic data releases next week may provide some input to the markets. I have included the calendar for next week below.
Need little, want less, and love more. For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.
"The new London Gold Pool slow motion run on physical gold since 2013 (see latest Russian CB gold buying today) remains in full effect, w/latest COMEX registered inventories hitting lowest levels in 3 yrs, & COMEX owners/oz hitting 185x, highest since late 2015."
Luke Gromen
It's good to see that I am not the only one who seems to be noticing this and publicly commenting on it. The big physical gold demand has been coming out of what Nick Laird calls 'the New Silk Road' which includes China and India.
Gold and silver were unchanged on the day, as the US Dollar DX Index slipped below the 95 handle in the afternoon.
The drawdown in Physical Gold eligible for immediate delivery has continued its decline. There was a large addition in Hong Kong that was immediate taken off, and then some again.
I am not quite sure what this sharp decline in this particular physical gold category means. It could be some big players protecting their own stash of physical during a scheduled price takedown on paper. Or it could be the long awaited reckoning the the thinness in the gold float.
The last time we tracked a shortage in the 'gold float' the gold pool was able to fill the void with gold taken from a South American country that had gotten into a jam. Let's see what they pull out of a hat, or points south, this time around.
I noticed today that Nick's gold chart accounts are 'suspended.' I am looking into this. He hosts some of the best data and charts on every aspect of the precious metals around.
Stocks continued their decline to areas that would be considered short term support.
With the replacing of GE by Walgreens Drugstores in the Dow Jones Industrials, one might take a look at its composition and question how 'industrial' it might be. Or as Frank Booth in the movie Blue Velvet might have put it: "Industrials! F**k that s**t! Pharma, Banking, Retail!!"
Markets were concerned by the earnings warning from Daimler, as an indication of trouble in the global markets and the effects of a trade war.
There will be a precious metals option expiry on the Comex next Tuesday the 26th. The silver contract is much more active for July, but gold is in an interesting situation now and may see more antics designed to shock people out of their paper claims, which appear to be a bit over the top again.
"What is good? All that enhances the feeling of power, the will to power, and the power itself in man. What is bad? All that proceeds from weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power is increasing--that resistance has been overcome. Not contentment, but more power; not peace at any price, but war; not virtue, but competence.
The first principle of our humanism is that the weak and the failures shall perish. And they ought to be helped to perish. What is more harmful than any vice? Active pity for all failure and weakness— christianity."
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Ephesians 6:12
“A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death— the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, and murders that we are not going to be judged.”
Czesław Miłosz
Stocks were doing well today as investors continued to pile into the 'relative safety' of the small caps of the Russell 2000.
Big cap tech put its moonshot in place, but fell off into the close.
The Dow continued its string of losses, the longest since March 2017.
This may be late stage blowoff top action. We'll have to keep an eye on where we go with this next.
The market was cheered that Trumpolini signed an order putting some modification into the wholesale separation of immigrant children from their parents. The manner in which he phrased the words around this were interesting. Like Obama he seems able to look at something that he has done, and address it in the non-involved third person.
I think caution in US equities is advisable, and it may be time to take some profits off the table, especially if we get the kind of initial drop and breakdown with a failure to recover that I had been discussing with examples from history yesterday.
I'll let you know if I see a major tsunami warning, but even now caution is advisable.
The Dollar was a little higher with gold and silver off a bit.
I was a little surprised to see the dual drop in gold marked available for delivery on the Comex. Gold in the NY warehouses dropped by half to only 230,000 ounces!
This matches up with a similar drop in the gold in the inventory in Hong Kong. Let's see what happens next there. I will be curious to see what amount of gold shows up in Hong Kong to meet delivery demands there.
There will be an option expiration next week on the Comex, that is not likely to be consequential for gold. August is the month for gold trading action. It may be of more interest for silver.
Bloomberg had some transmission problems in my area in the last hour, and so I flipped over to CNBC. Now I recall why I had stopped watching that infomercial channel some time ago.
I found a short article titled A 'Zero Tolerance' Immigration Primer that is worth reading for some insight into the current situation. The vileness and bald-faced hypocrisy of what is going on is probably worse than we think.
Two of my wonderful goddaughters came over for a visit today. We (they) did a nice job tidying up some things that did not meet with their approval. I have to admit that I lack their touch. Like my son, they are my joy and my consolation.
People are funny. They just don't get it. They think that they are in the know, that they are some kind of superior beings, and that they are winning the game. They don't even understand what the game is really all about. It can be almost heart-breaking to see what they do to themselves and to others, for less than nothing. For what does it profit a man...
Need little, want less, love more. For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.
Let us pray for those whose hearts are hardened against His grace and loving kindness by greed, fear, and pride, and the seductive illusion and crushing isolation of evil.
We pray that we all may experience the three great gifts of our Lord's suffering and triumph: repentance, forgiveness, and thankfulness. And in so doing, may we obtain abundant life, and with it the peace that surpasses all understanding.
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