Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Witch of November

 

“These people honor me with their lips, and offer worship with their words, but their hearts are far from me. Their religion is nothing but the rituals and traditions of men, which they memorize. I will awaken them with one shocking blow after another. Their wisdom will be shown as foolish, and all their cleverness will be made worthless. Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, 'No one can see us, so who will know?’"

Isaiah 29:13-15

"The mystery of Providence is a grace that gives those who accept it a power that is incomprehensible to the calculating mind of this world, that knows only what it can see and measure according to its own pride and willfulness.  And it confounds the ever-fading powers of the restless servants of wickedness in high places. 

His call occurs, and for our part we must rise and follow.  His yoke, though gentle, both constrains our natures, and at times leads us through the desert, those inevitable periods of dryness and self-denial.  But as we may need them, unexpectedly, there are consolations, His gentle kindness and tender mercies.  

This is no complacency, no retreat from the world, no quiet acceptance of evil, but rather a call to action.  We are directed not to linger, to watch and wait for ever more signs and wonders, gifts and consolations, not an endless menu of comforts so that we may be carried effortlessly to heaven, but to bear up with what we have been given, and to do His work, with love.   We are called to a love which is transformative when it is living for others, but a vain preoccupation and a kind of twilight of lingering misery and despair when it is not.

We will contemplate the face of God in the next world, but in this, we are called to action and His work in His creation and among His creatures.   This is the implication of the Incarnation."

Jesse, Providence Is the Hidden Hand of God, 13 December 2015

"Then Jesus said to his followers: ‘The things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to the one through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown in the sea with a millstone around their neck, than to lead one of these little ones to sin.'"

Luke 17:1-2

"This empire, unlike any other in the history of the world, has been built primarily through economic manipulation, through cheating, through fraud, through seducing people into our way of life, through the economic hit men."

John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hitman

"We are a generation made drunk with power and a perverse individualism that has been foretold for increasingly dark times.  May God have mercy on any who provide provocation and false teachings to others, and scandalous examples to their brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren, especially because of their willful selfishness, stubborn greed, and foolish pride. And you know who you are, if you are not already completely dead to the life of the Spirit."

Jesse, To a Power Drunk Generation, the Vista of Eternity, 19 January 2015

There was a lot of edgy positioning today in the markets, ahead of the consumer inflation data tomorrow morning.

The charts that show today's action are below.

Tomorrow morning's data may set the tone for the week.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Masquerade of Evil - Inflation Data Next Week

 

"'Gnosis’ was an enormous temptation in the early Christian Church.  What made it so insidious was the fact that the Gnostics very often did not want to leave the Church.  Instead, they claimed to be offering a superior and more authentic exposition of Holy Scripture, though, of course, this was only for the ‘superior souls’.  It inevitably encouraged not only an excited craving for higher initiation, but also an almost unbounded arrogance in those who had moved from mere ‘faith’ to real, enlightened ‘knowledge’.

Myth seeks the ascent of man to spirit; the Word of God seeks descent into flesh and blood.  Myth wants power; revelation reveals the true power of God in the most extreme powerlessness.  Myth wants knowledge; the Word of God asks for constant faith and, only within that faith, a growing, reverent understanding.   The revelation of God’s Word is gentle patience amidst the intractable tensions of life.  Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered.  On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself.”

Irenaeus of Lyons, The Scandal of The Incarnation

"He became what we are, that he might make us what he is."

Athanasius of Alexandria, Against Heresies

“We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day. We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us. We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom. We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence. We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light.”

Henri Nouwen, Advent Prayer

"This great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. For evil to appear disguised as light, compassion, historical necessity or even social justice is quite bewildering to anyone brought up on traditional concepts.

In the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God. Thereafter, any attack, even on the least of men, is an attack on Christ, who took on the form of man, and in his own Person restored the image of God in all. Through our relationship with the Incarnation, we recover our true humanity, and at the same time are delivered from that perverse individualism which is the consequence of sin, and recover our solidarity with all mankind."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

It was definitely a risk on day as stocks went roaring higher.

Fearless, into the weekend.

Gold and silver were under quite a bit of pressure, and went out near the lows.

VIX fell.

The Dollar fell a bit.

So is it blue skies ahead, with a Goldilocks economy in a calm and peaceful world?

Or whistling past a graveyard for a quick technical trade

Economic data in the form of Consumer Inflation may help us to decide.

Let's see what happens.

Repentance, forgiveness, thankfulness. 

These are gifts of the cross, illuminated by the resurrection, made possible by the Incarnation: the greatest gifts that we may ever hope to receive. And they are given freely, to all who will accept them. 

And in the end, isn't that what really matters?

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Old as Babylon, Evil as Sin

 

"Help us, Lord, for no one faithful remains standing;
        the righteous have vanished from the children of men.
They tell lies to one another,
        and speak with deceiving lips from deceitful hearts.

May the Lord silence all deceiving lips,
        and every boastful word, and
Those who think, 'By our eloquence we prevail;
        when we speak, who can be our master?'

'Because they plunder the weak, and make the poor suffer,
       I will now rise up,' says the Lord;
       'I will be a refuge to those who long for it.'

The promises of the Lord are true,
       like silver refined in a crucible,
       purified seven times.
You, Lord, protect us always;
       preserve us from this faithless generation.
On every side the wicked roam;
        the shameless are esteemed by the children of men."

Psalm 12:1-9

"Power is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the latter it crushes, the former it intoxicates.  The truth is, no one really possesses it."

Simone Weil

"Wicked men rationalize and give themselves the leeway to attempt and commit all manner of offenses, seeing that the result of that injustice is soon ripe, and offers itself quickly to the their hands, whereas punishment comes later, and long behind the pleasures of their enjoyment."

Plutarch, The Morals

"Hell for all eternity for so little in exchange.  The fact he could publicly project an Antichrist image with pride, having no fear of reprisal, and his seeming diabolical art of escaping all punishment, would certainly signal that an unnatural individual walked in their midst.

"Yet how apropos, considering his willingness to follow the Father of Lies and deception.  A life of good or evil, the hope of Heaven or the despair of Hell,  Faustus stands as a reminder that the choice between these two absolutes also falls to us.”

E.A. Bucchianeri, Faust: My Soul Be Damned for the World

"And so with many other words he warned and pleaded with them saying, ‘Save yourselves from this wicked generation.’"

Acts 2:40
 

Stocks were trying to keep piling on their gains, but alas, a dodgy Treasury auction and some of the usual hawkish burbling from Joltin' Jay Powell triggered the rinse cycle.

 Gold and silver tried to rally but were caught up in the same wave of bipolar pseudo-hawkishness and ended up lower on the day.

VIX rose.

These guys vacillate between greed and fear based on very little or nothing changing from the Fed.

It's part of the great wash and rinse.

Have a pleasant evening.