Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - They Shall Eat the Bitter Fruit

 

"Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues.  The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries.  It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, 'the greatest'."

Sydney J. Harris, Pieces of Eight, September 1982

“Exceptionalism— the view that the United States has a right to impose its will because it knows more, sees farther, and lives on a higher moral plane than other nations— was to them not a platitude, but the organizing principle of daily life and global politics... With a glance, a nod, and a few words, without consulting anyone other than the President, the brothers could mobilize the full power of the United States anywhere in the world."

Stephen Kinzer, The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, October 2013

"Having fallen from the eternal, the evil one's desires are endless, insatiable. Having fallen from pure Being, he is driven by the desire to possess, to fill his emptiness. But the problem is insoluble, always. He is compelled to have and to hold, to possess and consume, and nothing else. All he takes, he destroys. Certainly he rules the material, as he is called the Prince of this World in the gospels."

Denis de Rougemont, Love in the Western World,

"Exceptionalism is no virtue, no mark of the chosen, but merely the sin of pride, wearing the silks of rationalization and self-delusion. And this is at the root of every fallen angel, every lost soul, and every failing nation."

Jesse, The Will to Power in the Exceptional, March 2015

"In international conventions and the general literature, genocide has been defined as intentional killing by government of people because of their race, religion, ethnicity, or other indelible group membership.  Power will achieve its murderous potential.  It simply waits for an excuse, an event of some sort, an assassination, a massacre in a neighboring country, an attempted coup, a famine, or a natural disaster, to justify the beginning of murder en masse."

R. J. Rummel, Death By Government: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900, 1994

"One of the primary characteristics of narcissists is their exaggerated sense of entitlement. In their heavily self-biased opinion, if they want something, by rights it should be theirs.  So, nothing if not opportunistic, they take from public and private coffers alike whatever they think they can get away with.  And given their grandiose sense of self, they're inclined to believe they can get away with most anything.  In their minds their very ability to attain something must certainly mean it was merited."

Leon F. Seltzer, Narcissism: Why It's So Rampant in Politics, 2011

"Therefore they shall eat the bitter fruit of their ways, and be gutted by their own schemes.   For the foolish turn away from me—to death.  For fools are destroyed by their pride and self-satisfaction.  But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.”

Proverbs 1:31-33


The risk markets were in rally mode today, with the major stock indices finishing higher.

The Dollar fell, and gold bounced back a little.

Silver continued to decline.

VIX is waffling around.

Non-Farm Payrolls may move the markets tomorrow.

"We are going to lead once again by being the best. We're gonna lead economically. We're gonna lead technologically. We're gonna go back to the Moon, we're gonna do whatever we're gonna do. We are going to lead by engaging in American exceptionalism and this is going to inspire others to come along with us. We're not shrinking away from anybody. We are reengaging. That's what Trump is."

Rush Limbaugh

Exceptional, but not in the way that they thought.   

Are you not entertained?

Madness serves none but itself.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - A Consecration to Lawlessness

 

"There is now abundant evidence of widespread, unpunished criminal behavior in the financial sector.  The evidence is now overwhelming that over the last thirty years, the U.S. financial sector has become a rogue industry.  As its wealth and power grew, it subverted America’s political system (including both political parties), government, and academic institutions in order to free itself from regulation.  As deregulation progressed, the industry became ever more unethical and dangerous, producing ever larger financial crises and ever more blatant criminality.  The financial sector is now a parasitic and destabilizing industry that constitutes a major drag on American economic growth. "

Charles Ferguson, Predator Nation, 2013

"Today, more than ever, it is critical for American citizens to understand the difference between the free-market capitalism that made our country great, and the corporate cronyism that is now corrupting our political process, strangling democracy and devouring our national treasures."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Crimes against Nature, Rolling Stone, December 11, 2003

"Recognition of that falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, and on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live."

Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, 4 March 1933

“It could be argued that we are now in the midst of a coup d’état in slow motion. Democracy is weakening. Corporatism is strengthening; you only have to look around you. Yet none of us has chosen this route for our society, in spite of which our elites quite happily continue down it. Certainly corporatism is creating a conformist society. It is a modern form of feudalism.”

John Ralston Saul, The Unconscious Civilization, 2005 

 

The markets are pretty much running in place ahead of the Non-Farm Payrolls report on Friday.

Unless there is some exogenous event, all we might see until then is high frequency pushing and shoving.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Longing for Virtue in the Darkness

 

"When a nation threatens another nation the people of the latter forget their factionalism, their local antagonisms, their political differences, their suspicions of each other, their religious hostilities, and band together as one unit.  Leaders know that, and that is why so many of them whip up wars during periods of national crisis, or when the people become discontented and angry.  The leaders stigmatize the enemy with every vice they can think of, every evil and human depravity.  Attacking another nation, then, acts as a sort of catharsis, temporarily, on men’s fear of their immediate neighbors.  This is the explanation of all wars, all racial and religious hatreds, all massacres, and all attempts at genocide."

Taylor Caldwell, The Devil's Advocate, 1952

"The myth that holds that the great corporation is the puppet of the market, the powerless servant of the consumer is in fact one of the devices by which its power is perpetuated.   People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.  The privileged feel that their privileges, however egregious they may seem to others, are a solemn, basic, God-given right."

John Kenneth Galbraith, The Age of Uncertainty, 1977

“Corrupt citizens breed corrupt rulers, and it is the mob who finally decides when virtue shall die.”

Taylor Caldwell, Dear and Glorious Physician, 1958

“The mob believes everything it is told, provided only that it be repeated over and over.  Provided too that its passions, hatreds, fears are catered to.  The grosser, the bigger, the cruder the lie, the more readily is it believed and followed.  The mob can never comprehend that its own interests are what is at stake.”

Alexandre Koyré, Réflexions sur le Mensonge, 1943

"Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.  All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting. War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it."

George Orwell, Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays, 1999

Stocks were taking a little respite and a bounce higher after their recent declines.

The Dollar moved higher.

Gold and silver extended their decline.

VIX declined.

There is quite a chunk of gold sitting in the Comex warehouses in Hong Kong. 

This often presages a smack down in the Western futures price, and an outflow of physical in Asia, when they can manage it.  Like a Non-Farm Payrolls report.

Let's see what happens.  Sometimes they like to flip the trade, when too many hangers on are leaning heavily on a directional move.  Like the last Comex option expiration in the metals.

Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.

People can be very gullible about what causes moves in the equity markets.

Lately the shiny thing has been the perception of interest rates, moving up or pivoting towards cuts.

If you take these rationalizations at face value for the big daily moves in stocks, you might assume that the Wall Street crowd have the situational awareness and conviction of goldfish.

The small investor is not much of a factor in intraday pricing moves anymore.  They are mostly in cash or riding some favorite index fund.  The high frequency crowd preys on everyone, especially big fat managed funds.

Barring the big exogenous events, there is a relatively small but elite crew swinging a big money stick on the Street that sets the tone, and the rest follow the momentum that they declare.

Have a pleasant evening.