Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Zicke Zacke, Zicke Zacke, Hoi Hoi Hoi - Roll Out the Punch Barrel

Frühling in der Schweiz

"In the field of monetary and credit policy, precautionary action to prevent inflationary excesses is bound to have some onerous effects— if it did not, it would be ineffective and futile.   Those who have the task of making such policy don’t expect you to applaud.  The Federal Reserve, as one writer put it after the recent increase in the discount rate,  is in the position of the chaperone who has ordered the punch bowl removed just when the party was really warming up.”

William McChesney Martin,  Speech to Investment Bankers Association of New York, October 1955


Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, Der Gemütlichkeit
Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, Der Gemütlichkeit
Eins, zwei, Drei g'suffa!
Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi,
Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi,
Prosit!

FOMC Statement, March 20, 2019

Stocks were stumbling this morning, with the financials being a general drag on things, while tech and the new era was a little more resilient

The Fed surprised the markets a bit with their dovish statement at 2:00 PM.

And so the Dollar and the Treasury yield took a dive, and stocks and gold/silver took off higher. It was a remarkably sharp reaction.

Fed Chair Jay Powell must have used the word 'patient' about thirty times in his press conference.

But, somewhat ominously, stocks were not able to hold that sugar high into the close.

The financial sector continued to be a drag on the indices, pulling down the SP 500, even as tech managed to hold some ground.

Ominous if stocks cannot rebound tomorrow.

I am given to understand from the young man that they are expecting mass demonstrations in London this weekend.   I made some day trip suggestions as he is still there on spring break.

Any number of things are weighing on stocks. I think you know what they are, even if the mainstream media doesn't.

Today is the first day of Spring. And I spent all morning again working in the yard, and loved it. I only came back in for the Fed's statement.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Stocks Looking Toppy - FOMC Tomorrow

"The more people rationalize cheating, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty. And that can become a vicious, downward cycle. Because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating, you feel a need to cheat, too."

Stephen Covey


"There are six things the Lord hates, no, seven that are detestable to him:
     proud eyes,
     a lying tongue,
     hands that shed innocent blood,
     a heart that devises wicked schemes,
     feet that are quick to rush into evil,
     a false witness whose mouth pours out lies
       and most of all, a person who stirs up conflicts in a community."

Proverbs 6:16-19


"Be not deceived—  God is not mocked.  For whateverr a person sows, that they shall also reap."

Galatians 6:7

Stocks are looking very toppy, and short term overbought. Particularly tech.  That does not mean that they cannot go higher.

We may have reached that point when most nearly everyone is full of baloney.   It seems to happen every generation or so.  

FOMC tomorrow.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Una Furtiva Lagrima - FOMC on Wednesday

“There are so many ways of escaping from that which one fears, and not the least of these is hatred.”

Philip Kerr, Berlin Noir


“We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretence; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical.  

Are we still of any use?  What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, and straightforward men.  Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remorseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness?”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

Stocks were able to grind higher led by the SP 500 futures.

Tech was looking a bit overdone.

The Dollar drifted a bit lower, with gold and silver holding their own with a small gain.

The FOMC will be meeting this week. It is highly unlikely that they will actually do anything with rates, but watch for their wording on Wedgnesday.

A dovish lean could cause some movement in gold and the Dollar, and maybe in stocks, all things being equal.

Today was a great day for working outside, and that is what I did for the better part of it.

Have a pleasant evening.

If memory serves the queen and I saw Pavarotti perform this at The Met, many years ago.

L'elisir d'amore: Una furtiva lagrima
(English translation)

Softly a furtive teardrop fell,
shadowed her sparkling eyes;
Seeing the others follow me
has caused her jealous sighs.

What is there more to prize?
What more than this could I prize?
Sighing, she loves me,
I saw that she loves me.

Could I but feel her heart on mine,
breathing that tender sigh!
Could my own sighing comfort her,
and whisper in sweet reply!
Her heart on mine, as heart to heart we sigh.
So tenderly we'd share a sweet reply!

Heaven, I then could die;
no more I'd ask you, I'd ask you,
ah! heaven, I, then, I then could die;
no more I'd ask you, I'd ask you.
I then could die, I then could die of love.