Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - A Daunting Landscape - Consumer Inflation Data Tomorrow

 

"God beholds you.  He calls you by your name.  He sees you and understands you as He made you.  He knows what is in you, all your peculiar feelings and thoughts, your dispositions and likings, your strengths and your weaknesses. 

He views you in your day of rejoicing and in your day of sorrow.  He sympathizes in your hopes and your temptations.  He interests Himself in all your anxieties and remembrances, all the risings and fallings of your spirit.

He encompasses you round and bears you in His arms. He notes your very countenance, whether smiling or in tears.  He looks tenderly upon you.  He hears your voice, the beating of your heart, and your very breathing.

You do not love yourself better than He loves you. You cannot shrink from pain more than He dislikes your bearing it; and if He puts it on you, it is as you would put it on yourself, if you would be wise, for a greater good afterwards.

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.  I have my mission — I may never know it in this life but I shall be told it in the next.

I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught.  I shall do good, I shall do His work.  I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.

Therefore I will trust Him.  Whatever I am, I can never be thrown away.  If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him.  If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain.  He knows what He is about.

Let us feel what we really are — sinners attempting great things.  Let us simply obey God's will, whatever may come.  The more we do, the more shall we trust in Christ; and that surely is no morose doctrine, that leads us to soothe our selfish restlessness, and forget our fears, in the vision of the Incarnate Son of God.

May the Lord support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.  Then in His mercy may He give us safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at last.”

John Henry Newman

Stocks slumped today.

VIX was flattish.

The Dollar chopped sideways again, finishing essentially unchanged.

Gold and silver took a hit on some early selling.

The US Consumer Price Index information tomorrow will likely be a market mover.

The doctor had some constructive things to report today.   

Although the short term will be inconvenient and annoying and a bit painful, specialists will be surveying the internals of my right eye, and if sound or even in need of some remediation, will be eventually implanting a lens.   And perhaps this one will be successful.

God's loving kindness and tender mercies are there, sometimes obscured by life's brambles, but always moving before us, leading the way.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Take Five

 

"God is constantly knocking at the gate of my heart to invite me to go beyond the state I have reached, because my whole life should be a journey on the way to love.  I cannot give a renewed assent to love, nor above all can I give a more intensified assent than hitherto, unless a divine movement comes secretly to my heart to help it ascend higher. 

I can refuse it.   But if I let God act he will raise me further, step by step, to a greater love."

Charles Journet


Just charts tonight.

The surgery this morning did not go well.  

The replacement lens would not seat so they had to remove it, and stitch me up without it.

Very unusual, don't know what caused it.

It seems I will be visiting some specialists to see if there is any damage, and what might be done to correct the situation.

I am just letting you know why I may be posting somewhat lightly for a little while.  Starość nie radość

In the end the only real tragedy is not to be a saint.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Ensnared In Proud Places

 

Ravages of Pride

"It was pride that changed angels into devils; and it is humility that makes men angels.  There never has been, and never can be, and there never shall be any sin without pride.”

Augustine of Hippo

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men, and he will abide with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.'"

Revelation 21:1-4

"The humble live in continuous peace, while the hearts of the proud are full of envy and frequent anger."

Thomas à Kempis

“We live according to what we see and feel and wander like madmen in a labyrinth of darkness and illusion for want of the light of faith which would guide us safely through it.  By means of faith we should be able to aspire after God and to live for Him alone, forsaking and going beyond mere worldly symbols.

In the state of abandonment the only rule is the duty of the present moment.  In this the soul resembles water, which flows into any shaped vessel, exactly filling every crevice.  

The high road to all perfection is pointed out in the 'Our Father.'  Thy will be done.  Say this with your lips as well as you can; and still more perfectly in your heart, and be assured that, with this interior disposition nothing is wanting to you, nor ever will be.  There is absolutely nothing that gives us more peace or does more to make us holy than obeying the will of God.

It is certain that God always gives what is necessary to those souls who fear Him. The gifts He bestows on them are not always the most apparent to the senses, nor the most agreeable, nor the most sought after, but the most necessary and solid, what best enables us to die to self.  All humble souls should admire and respect one another, saying: 'Let us proceed along our own path to the same goal, united in purpose and by means of God's plan which, in its great variety, is in us all.”

Jean-Pierre de Caussade, L'Abandon a la Providence divine


The first and most difficult step in the abandonment to God's will is to let go of our selfish pride.  Trust in God is a way of life, through which only His love can guide us.  Love is not easy.  It seems weak and foolish, and even despicable to the fallen and the eyes of the world.

It is a disposition of the mind and the heart, an act of acceptance of grace.  It can be a shield against temptation.  It is a habit of acting and looking at life, as we carry a yoke of restraint on our weaker nature and harsher emotions.  We are always failing, always having to recover and go forward again.

Stocks wobbled most of the day but managed to pull together and rally into the close, going out near the highs.

The Dollar was a choppy unchanged.

Gold and silver were under selling pressure, because they can.

VIX fell.    

Exceptional complacency and moral hazard are us.

The big tickle this week is likely to be earnings, and the inflation data on Thursday and Friday.

I will probably not be posting tomorrow as I am going to have eye surgery for a cataract in the morning.

As routine and beneficial this may be, I may not be feeling perky in the aftermath.

Why does it have to be so early?  

Have a pleasant evening.