Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - In the Valley of the Moon - FOMC Tomorrow

 

"The souls of the virtuous are in the hands of God,
     no torment shall ever touch them.
In the eyes of the unbelieving they appeared to die,
     their going looked like a tragedy,
     their leaving us, like a desolation;
     but they are at peace.
If they experienced hardship as the worldly see it,
     their hope was rich with eternal life;
     slight was their affliction, but great their blessing will be,
     because God tried them and found them worthy to be with Him."

Wisdom 3:1-5

"Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths.  Lead me in your truth, and teach me: for you are the God of my salvation; and I wait for you all the day.   Remember, O Lord, your tender mercies and loving kindness, as they have ever been of old."

Psalm 25:4-6

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
      my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his servant's lowliness;
      behold, from now on all ages will call me blessed.
The Mighty One has done great things for me,
      and holy is his name.
His mercy is here from age to age
      to those who fear him.
He has displayed power with his arm,
      and scattered the proud of mind and heart.
He has thrown down the mighty from their thrones
      but has lifted up the humble.
The hungry he has filled with goodness;
      and the rich he sends away empty."

Luke 1:46-53


Stocks rallied higher and went out on the highs.

The VIX has now dropped to the low for the year.

The Dollar declined on the risk on trade and slightly lower interest rates.

Gold and silver were under pressure and ended up a little lower.

FOMC tomorrow.   Stocks are priced for perfection.  Be careful Jay.

The December triple witch option expiration on Friday.

The lesser of two evils is still evil.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Gauntlet - CPI and FOMC and Stock Option Expiration

 

"You might think that parking your money in a big bank like JP Morgan Chase would insulate you from fraud. It’s just the opposite.  The big banks are the biggest perpetrators of financial fraud – fraud that affects millions of us, either directly or indirectly, on an ongoing basis.  While they are wrist slaps when properly scaled, you can see the list of 'settlements' made between the government and the big banks here.  These 'settlements,' the aftermath of Wall Street's near production of a second Great Depression, entailed not a single criminal indictment.   The top two repositories of banksters, based on the number of settlements, are Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.

The banks engage in fraud for two reasons.   First, they profit from swindling the public.  Second, they can get away with it via a simple technique.  They buy off the regulators with promises of enormously lucrative jobs when they leave government service, and they buy off the politicians with huge direct and indirect campaign contributions."

Laurence Kotlikoff, When Banksters Buy Regulators and Prosecutors, Forbes, October 21, 2014

"Let us create a society in which it is easier for people to be good."

Peter Maurin

"The London Gold Pool was the pooling of gold reserves by a group of eight central banks in the United States and seven European countries that agreed on 1 November 1961 to cooperate in maintaining the Bretton Woods System of fixed-rate convertible currencies and defending a gold price of US$35 per troy ounce by interventions in the London gold market.

The central banks coordinated concerted methods of gold sales to balance spikes in the market price of gold as determined by the London morning gold fixing while buying gold on price weaknesses.  The United States provided 50% of the required gold supply for sale.  The price controls were successful for six years until the system became no longer workable.  The pegged price of gold was too low and runs on gold, the British pound, and the US dollar occurred and France decided to withdraw from the pool.  The London Gold Pool collapsed in March 1968.

The London Gold Pool controls were followed with an effort to suppress the gold price with a two-tier system of official exchange and open market transactions, but this gold window collapsed in 1971 with the Nixon Shock, and resulted in the onset of the gold bull market which saw the price of gold appreciate rapidly to US$850 in 1980."

Wikipedia, The London Gold Pool

“God meant things to be much easier than we have made them.”

Dorothy Day


Stocks managed to extend their gains.

Gold and silver lost a little more ground.

VIX is docile.

The Dollar was nominally unchanged.

This is a big week for events.

Tomorrow we will see the latest CPI data. 

On Wednesday there will be an FOMC rate decision.  

Expectations are for no action but maybe some notable words.

And on Friday we will have the big quad witch December stock option expiration.

Let's see what happens.

Oh yeah, and there are some brutal wars ongoing in the real world.

Banks 'r Us.  Policy errors to infinity.

Our oligarchy is audacious.

Have a pleasant evening.

The Lesser of Two Evils Is Still Evil

At the extreme the methods of both the left and the right become increasingly similar, even though their nominal objectives may differ greatly. 

Through varying degrees of force and fraud, invoking necessity and 'the lesser of two evils', dissent is repressed, and discussion is silenced.  They no longer serve the public, or principles, or higher ideals. .

They are enthralled to power and money, and serve themselves, above all else. 

"Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, or even a duty. Human beings are so made that the ones who do the crushing feel nothing; it is the person crushed who feels what is happening. Unless one has placed oneself on the side of the oppressed, to feel with them, one cannot understand. As soon as men know that they can kill without fear of punishment or blame, they kill; or at least they encourage killers, with approving smiles."

Simone Weil