Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Non Serviam

 

"I urge you, brothers and sisters, to beware of those who cause arguments and put obstacles in your way with things that are contrary to the teachings you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord, but their own vain appetites and inclinations. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people."

Romans 16:17-18

"God has no pleasure in afflicting us, but He will not keep back even the most painful chastisement if He can but thereby guide His beloved child to come home."

Andrew Murray

"The more a thing may disappoint them, the more it may be proven false, the more readily it is debunked and shown to be a falsehood, or even evil, the more strongly some will embrace it, as if by sacrificing their own integrity, and perhaps even their souls, for something so unworthy will silence the criticisms and redeem it.  

For to admit that the Reich was a lie, and a mistake, that they were fanatical fools, and Hitler an incompetent creature of evil would be to admit that one was wrong, a failure, and worse, had become an accomplice to an unimaginable evil. And even worse, for these fanatics, it would diminish their pride, which was at the foundation of the most fervent supporters of such flamboyant excess.

That, and a desire to become beasts, to lose themselves in their mindless fanaticism, and escape the pain of being men. And so they struck out, and killed everything that held up a mirror to their darkened souls, and showed them their pride was based on a lie. Pride is the mother of all sin. This is the descent into hell. This is the unwillingness to let go of the lie, for the sake of pride and its power, and cling to evil as it draws one into the abyss."

Jesse, Seth the Arbiter of Chaos, 15 May 2018

"Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’   

The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Luke 16:19-31


I am going to keep the comments brief, because Google blogger has decided to go walkabout, and is making it very difficult to update.

Sometimes they make 'improvements' and blow things up.   It is near impossible to let them know, but apparently some have figured it out because it generally gets fixed in a day or so.

Stocks were wobbly today.

Gold and silver showed some resilience.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Plagues of Moral Hazard - Stock Option Expiration

 

“Against such foolishness we are defenseless.   Reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the foolish person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental.  In all this the foolish person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.  Never again will we try to persuade the foolish person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, 1951

“The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”

Garry Kasparov

"Everyone knows that plagues have a way of recurring throughout history, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in the ones that crash down on us out of the sky.  There have always been plagues and wars, yet they always take us by surprise. When war breaks out people say it's stupid and won't last long.  Stupidity has a knack of getting in the way, which we would see if not wrapped up in ourselves. In this our townsfolk were like everybody else— they did not believe in plagues."

Albert Camus, The Plague

And apparently our Banks and trading firms don't believe in risk anymore, either.

Stocks rallied on the usual nonsense including the worse than expected Empire State report.

The Dollar fell.

The VIX fell.

Gold and silver declined.

Why does the tension on the tape feel like we are setting up for a wash and rinse? 

Oh yeah, this is an option expiration week.

The war in the Mideast is escalating, slowly but surely.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Time to Come Home

 

"Repentance and forgiveness are the two great gifts of God, freely given. But there is the third and greatest gift, which is thankfulness. For with thankfulness our sinful pride is vanquished, our hearts are opened, and love enters. And a light comes into our lives."

Jesse, Love and Thankfulness, 15 November 2018

"We pray for the big things, and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small, and yet really not so small, blessings.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“People with advantages are loathe to believe that they just happen to be people with advantages. They come readily to define themselves as inherently worthy of what they possess; they come to believe themselves 'naturally' elite; and, in fact, to imagine their possessions and their privileges as natural extensions of their own elite selves.”

C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite

"The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself: ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity— greedy, dishonest, adulterous— or even like this tax collector over there."

Luke 18:11

"All sin, indeed, when repented of, He will put away; but pride hardens the heart against repentance, and sensuality debases it to a brutal nature."

John Henry Newman

"Almighty God lets the sinner go his own way, for He has given to man free-will, and does not want a forced obedience, but an obedience springing from love. In his forgetfulness of God, the sinner squanders his fortune, the natural and supernatural gifts which he has received, using his natural gifts, his health, his physical powers, and his reason, to offend God.  The sinner, having forsaken the service of his God, falls under the dominance of Satan, and becomes the slave of his lowest passions, which are signified by the swine which the prodigal was forced to feed.  But the more he obeys his passions, the more dissatisfied he becomes.  No pleasure of the senses can give him happiness, and he feels an emptiness and spiritual hunger in his heart which he is powerless to satisfy.  He knows no rest; he only knows that he is miserable, and hateful to himself."

Friedrich Justus Knecht

"The Lord requires you to act justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

Micah 6:8


We are commanded by God to love His creation and our neighbors, both the worthy and the unworthy, in this attractive but deceitful world.

Not for any profit, or admiration, or even gratitude which is often enough lacking in this fallen world, but because it is His will, and we are His— in repentance, forgiveness, and thankfulness. 

He has chosen us, and called us by name.  Nothing else can claim us. Only we can harden our hearts and choose to say no.

And in the end, that is the only real tragedy.

It's time to leave the world of empty illusions, and cast your pride aside.

Time to come home. 

The highly optimistic rally of the week ended with profit-taking today.

What a surprise.

Stocks were lower.

VIX rose sharply as traders rediscovered the concept of risk.

Gold and silver rallied sharply as the very heavy-handed price suppression of the week of the Non-farm Payrolls report has helped to fuel a strong rebound.

Wash - rinse - repeat.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East may weigh heavily on markets as they re-open on Monday.

 Need little, want less, love more.  For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant weekend.