Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - A Revolution of the Heart - And There's the Rinse

 

"The world would be better off if people tried to become better.  And people would become better if they stopped trying to become better off.  For when everybody tries to become better off, nobody is better off.  But when everybody tries to become better, everybody is better off.   What we give to the poor for Christ's sake, is what we carry with us when we die."

Peter Maurin

“We are slow to master the great truth that even now Christ is, as it were, walking among us, and by His hand, or eye, or voice, bidding us to follow Him.  We do not understand that His call is a thing that takes place now.  We think it took place in the Apostles' days, but we do not believe in it; we do not look for it in our own case."

John Henry Newman

“What we would like to do is change the world— make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves as God intended them to do.  And, by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of the workers, the poor, of the destitute— the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor, in other words— we can, to a certain extent, change the world; we can work for the oasis, the little cell of joy and peace in a harried world.  We can throw our pebble in the pond and be confident that its ever widening circle will reach around the world.”

Dorothy Day

 

The Jobs Report came in smoking hot this morning.

I no longer track the numbers closely in spreadsheets, but I would strongly suspect that the number this morning was the child of a misapplication of seasonality that will be corrected away some time in the future.

But it is timely, and will make a great talking point for Biden's State of the Union address.

So the outsized Jobs print signaled a hawkish Fed, higher rates for longer, and therefore a stronger US Dollar.

And with that stronger Dollar came a brutal takedown of gold and silver.

When the times comes it nevrer seems like you are short enough, or hedged enough.

But it was nice to see the markets adhering t the same fictionalized story at least, and not wildly divergent like yesterday.

 Gold has nearly completed the kind of backtest of support one might be looking for in a 'W' double bottom.   If it holds, it calls to $2100.

Let's see how it goes next week. 

We are caught up in a polar vortex here, and it is very windy and very cold. 

I am making a very hearty beef bone broth soup for dinner, and will be using the fireplace tonight for the first time this season.

Daisy hates the cold.  Maybe its a holdover from her brief life on the city streets last winter.  

She likes to fall asleep in my lap on cold nights, and we often stay snuggled in the chair under a warm blanket that way until morning, a book on my chest.

Old age is no joke.

She is slowly but surely becoming healthy after her time as a stray.  The young man has infinite patience in her care, and we found a wonderful veterinarian.

It has been time consuming and somewhat expensive.   Even feeding the birds has gotten a little pricier this year.

But in healing others, we heal ourselves.  It's good to see the difference we can make.

Need little, want less, love more.

For those who abide in love abide in God and God in them.

Have a pleasant weekend.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - And the Beat Goes On - 'Technical Trades'

 

"When you view the world from the satisfied environs of Washington — a place where lawyers outnumber machinists 27 to 1 and where five suburban counties rank among the seven wealthiest in the nation — the fantasies of postindustrial liberalism make perfect sense. The reign of the 'knowledge workers' seems noble.

Seen from almost anywhere else, however, these are lousy times. The latest data confirms that as the productivity of workers has increased, the ones reaping the benefits are stockholders. Census data tells us that the only reason family income is keeping up with inflation is that more family members are working.

Everything I have written about in this space points to the same conclusion: Democratic leaders must learn to talk about class issues again. But they won’t on their own. So pressure must come from traditional liberal constituencies and the grass roots, like the much-vilified bloggers...

The more comfortable option for Democrats is to maintain their present course, gaming out each election with political science and a little triangulation magic, their relevance slowly ebbing as memories of the middle-class republic fade."

Thomas Frank, Rendezvous With Oblivion, NYT 2006


The Dollar was up 55 cents.

The VIX rose showing some risk concerns.

Gold and silver were utterly smacked from the word go.

Stocks rallied madly to new short term highs. 

Nothing really new about all this.

Let's call it 'technical trades.'

I had hedged my trading portfolio in anticipation of this sort of predictable shenanigans.

The only real surprise today was the clip of Cathie Wood extolling the safe harbor attributes of bitcoin.

Non-Farm Payrolls tomorrow.

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Central Banks Buy Most Gold Since 1967

 

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

Upton Sinclair

"It is important to bear this in mind, because it tends to knock down the assertion that the current financial crisis is somehow an act of God, something that just happened.  There was an intent to subvert the regulatory process, to increase leverage beyond what has long been known to be prudent, and to engage in systemic fraud with a group of enables and agencies, such as the ratings firms, in order to reap fabulous personal profits for a small group at the expense of the many. 

There was planning, premeditation, malice aforethought. They may not have intended to harm; they just did not care. They really truly did not care, if they got theirs.  Until the banks are restrained, and the financial system reform, and balance restored to the economy, there will be no sustained recovery.

And there can be no better start than to stop the gambling with the public money that is the core of the existing US banking system.  The parallels with organized crime and the subversion of the public interest through graft and corruption are compelling.  And one thing we must accept is that the financiers will never be able to reform themselves, to regulate themselves, to even tell the truth overmuch about regulation while they are still 'in the game.'  It goes against their very nature, their creed, the rules of their profession. They keep what they kill, and everything that is not theirs is fair game."

Jesse, Restoring Glass-Steagall, 28 October 2009

"Successful crime is dignified with the name of virtue; the good become the slaves of the wicked; might makes right; fear silences the power of the law."

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

“Those entrapped by the herd instinct are drowned in the deluges of history.  But there are always the few who observe, reason, and take precautions, and thus escape the flood.  For these few gold has been the asset of last resort.”

Antony C. Sutton

Just another day in the Pax-American Metaverse.

The FOMC raised interest rates the expected 25 bps.

And in the end Wall Street read this as dovish, and rallied to beat the band, going out near the highs.

The NDX set a new 'third high.'  

The SP 500 was lagging and failed to set a new high.

The Meta stock was soaring after hours dye to 'not as bad' as expected results.

The Dollar slumped hard.

Gold and silver rocketed higher.

While stocks were soaring the Metaverse, back in the real world:  Central Banks Buy the Most Gold since 1967  

And the times, they are a-changing.

Why didn't the spokesmodels, chief strategists, breathless Mahoneys, and sock puppets talk about this historic development, which has been slowly unfolding since before 2009??

Yeah, buddy...

Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.

Let's see if bully can keep it up.

With these jokers its always easy come, easy go.

Have a pleasant evening.