Stocks and Precious Metal Charts - Consuming Emptiness - The Madness Serves None But Itself

 

"Cæsar was swimming in blood. Rome and the whole pagan world was mad.   But those who had had enough of sin and madness, those who were trampled upon, those whose lives were misery and oppression, all the sad, all the unfortunate, came to hear the wonderful news of God, who out of love for men had given Himself over to be crucified for their sins.

And Peter understood that neither Nero, nor all his legions, could overcome the truth— that they could not overwhelm it with tears or blood, and that now its victory was beginning.  That city of pride, of crime, of wickedness, and of a lust for power, was beginning to be His."

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis

"Having fallen from pure Being, the evil one is driven by a desire to possess to fill his emptiness.   He is compelled to possess and consume, and nothing else.   All he takes, he destroys. He rules the worldly, as he is the Prince of this world."

Denis de Rougemont

"The Unspeakable.   It is the void, the emptiness of the end.   Not the end of the world, but a climax of absolute finality in refusal, in equivocation, in disorder, in absurdity, which can be open again to truth only by miracle, by the coming of God."

Thomas Merton

"I am guilty, but not in the way that you think.  I should have recognized my duty earlier;  I should have more sharply called out evil, as evil;  I suppressed my judgement far too long. did warn, but not nearly enough, and certainly not clearly enough;  and today I understand the nature of my guilt, and my obligation.

Albrecht Haushofer, executed by the SS, Berlin, 23 April 1945

“The real conflict is the inner conflict.  Beyond armies of occupation and the catacombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love.  And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we are ourselves are defeated in our innermost selves?”

Maximilian Kolbe

Although the Jobs report came in much stronger than expected, the markets decided to ignore the implied meme of no rate cuts, and piled into risk assets and out of safe havens.

I suspect that this was largely a 'technical rally' targeting the significant number of market participants who came into this payrolls day with bearish hedges.

Or more simply— wash follows rinse.

Gold and silver slumped.

The Dollar chopped sideways.

The VIX plunged.

The spice must flow.

Have a pleasant weekend.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - War Pigs - The Rulers of the Darkness of This World

 

"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  We know who you are—the Holy One of God.”

Mark 1:24

"Seneca had made the bargain that many good men have made when agreeing to aid bad regimes.  On the one hand, their presence strengthens the regime and helps it endure.  But their moral influence may also improve the regime's behavior or save the lives of its enemies.  For many, this has been a bargain worth making, even if it has cost them—as it may have cost Seneca—their immortal soul.”

James Romm, Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero


"All tyrannies are virtuoso displays, over many years, of cunning, risk-taking, terror, delusion, narcissism, showmanship, and charm, distilled into a spectacle of total personal control."

Simon Sebag Montefiore


"There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage.  And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life.  What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?

Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee.  So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders.  But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. 

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets.  Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter's star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness."

Vermont C. Royster, In Hoc Anno Domini, WSJ, December 24, 1949

Fresh regional bank troubles and a poor outlook for iPhones had the markets reeling this morning.

Stocks trading lower most of the day, and only managed to bounce off the bottom into the close.

VIX rose.

Gold and silver put in notable rallies, alhough only silver was able to hold on to most of the breakout attempt.

It had all the appearance of a 'flight to safety.' 

Unusual for silver to lead that effort.

Non-Farm Payrolls tomorrow.  We may then see what is what.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Pause, Kind Of - Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday

 

"Once completely freed, the bankers very quickly ran their institutions off the cliff, taking much of the global economy with them. Not only did they create and sell a huge amount of junk, but they turned the financial system into a gigantic casino, one in which they played mainly with other people’s money. Both parties make a public show of how bitter their conflicts are, and how dangerous it would be for the other party to achieve power, while both prostitute themselves to the financial sector, powerful industries, and the wealthy.”

Charles H. Ferguson

"The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy.  Mr. Hoover was an engineer.  He knew that water trickled down.  Put it uphill and let it go and it will reach the driest little spot. But he didn't know that money trickled up.  Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night anyhow.  But it will at least have passed through some poor fellow’s hands.

They saved the big banks, but the little ones went up the flue."

Will Rogers, 5 December 1932

"I have come to realize that the vast majority of decent, wonderful people, have no idea how they are being hoodwinked day in and day out by the scum of this world. We are lied to, misled, bamboozled, suckered, cheated, misrepresented, conned, manipulated and royally screwed.  They take us to the cleaners day in and day out in every way possible. We, the people, pay the price of their cheating, their folly, their lying and their sheer stupidity."

Pierre Rinfret

"The American economy increasingly serves only a narrow part of society, and America's national politics has failed to put the country back on track through honest, open, and transparent problem solving.  Too many of America's elites-among the super-rich, the CEOs, and many of my colleagues in academia-have abandoned a commitment to social responsibility.  They chase wealth and power, the rest of society be damned."

Jeffrey Sachs, The Price of Civilization, January 2012


You probably won't hear this from the pampered porkers and their attendant media servants at the Milk'em Global Conference in Beverly Hills, but the Wealthy few were very disappointed that Chairman Powell would not commit to rate cuts today, despite pausing, kind of. 

But they are happy about their rule-bending savings deposit bailouts and the retention of record tax cuts for the wealthy.  And even sweeter, the powers-that-be are trying to recover from the Fed-induced bubble in financial assets by putting the screws to the public through stagnant wages and cutbacks in food and medical care for the poor and children.  

Yay us.

Stocks rolled over a bit at the end of the day, after responding positively to the indication without explicitly saying so that the Fed is probably done raising rates for this cycle.  Kind of, a little bit.

The wiseguys were appalled that Jay would not say 'rate cuts' or even 'I love you.'  But he does.

Gold and silver waffled around and then took off higher.

Gold in particular is facing a key level dead ahead at  2060 on the continuous futures charts.

Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.  A strong print may cast a pall on today's happy thoughts.

Rinse always follows wash.

After hours another regional bank, PacWest, saw its stock plummet on news it is seeking a resolution through sale or breakup.

But not to worry, all is well.

Have a pleasant evening.