Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - That Hideous Strength - Stock Option Expiration Friday

 

“Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.  It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.  A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1952

"All the ruling elite have to offer to us is hate and fear— both of which obscure reason, that instrument of scrutiny which their self-serving actions and policies cannot bear."

Jesse, The Greatest Showman on Earth, 2 January 2019

“The last moments before damnation are not often so dramatic.  Often the man knows with perfect clarity that some still possible action of his own will could yet save him.  But he cannot make this knowledge real to himself.  Some tiny habitual sensuality, some resentment, the indulgence of some fatal lethargy, seems to him at that moment more important than the choice between total joy and total destruction.  With eyes wide open, seeing that the endless terror is just about to begin and yet, for the moment, unable to feel terrified, he watches passively, not moving a finger for his own rescue, while the last links with joy and reason are severed, and drowsily sees the trap close upon his soul.”

C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength, 1945

 

Stocks came in wobbly this morning, as the bipolar market stance towards Fed rate cuts went beaerish again.

This despite the shockingly bad Empire State Manufacturing Index.

And so the Dollar rallied quite handily.

Gold and silver fell.

VIX rose, but fell back in the afternoon as stocks managed to pare most of their losses.

The geopolitical situation is getting increasingly ugly.

Mispriced risks abounding.

It is difficult to take most of the short term moves in the markets too seriously.

Kind of like the results of the lightly participated Iowa caucus which garners attention only because of its early scheduling.

New Hampshire will be significantly more interesting as always.

There will be the monthly stock option expiration on Friday.

Have a pleasant evening.

Martin Luther King Day

 

"And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak.  We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak."

Martin Luther King, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence,  Riverside Church, 4 April 1967


"It is a dark day in our nation when high-level authorities will seek to use every method to silence dissent.  But something is happening, and people are not going to be silenced.

And don’t let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems that I can hear God saying to America, 'You’re too arrogant!  And if you don’t change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I’ll place it in the hands of a nation that doesn’t even know my name.  Be still and know that I’m God.”

Martin Luther King, It's a Dark Day in Our Nation, Riverside Church, 30 April 1967

"But if not, I will not bow, and God grant that we will never bow, before the gods of evil."

Martin Luther King, Ebenezer Baptist Church, 5 November 1967


"I have come across something that troubles me very much. We have fought long and hard for integration, as I believe we should, and I know we will win. But it seems to me that we are integrating into a house on fire. America is losing the moral vision that it may once have had. And I fear that even as we integrate, we are entering a place that does not understand that this nation must be deeply concerned with the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. Until we commit to ensuring that the underclass receives justice and opportunity, we will continue to perpetuate the anger and violence that tugs at the soul of this nation." 

 Martin Luther King, to Harry Belafonte, March 27, 1968

"We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life — longevity has its place.   But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.

So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything, I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

Martin Luther King, 3 April 1968 

The next day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee, 4 April 1968.

Exactly one year to the day after his first anti-war sermon, A Time To Break the Silence.  

He was warned against giving it, but his conscience would not permit him to remain silent. 

This was no coincidence.  This was madness, these brutal assassinations, these three contemptible murders, in the depraved pursuit of power and profits above all else, that continues even until this day.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - That City of Pride, Wickedness, and Lust for Power

 

"Seneca had made the bargain that many good men have made when agreeing to aid bad regimes. On the one hand, their presence strengthens the regime and helps it endure. But their moral influence may also improve the regime's behavior or save the lives of its enemies. For many, this has been a bargain worth making, even if it has cost them—as it may have cost Seneca—their immortal soul...

The Rome he has been trained to serve, the Rome of Augustus and Germanicus, was gone. In its place stood Neropolis, ruled by a megalomaniac brat.”

James Romm, Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero

"We live in a world where love itself is condemned. People call it weakness, something to grow out of. Some are saying: 'Let each one become as strong as he can, and let the weak perish.' They say that the Christian religion with its preaching about love is a thing of the past. The neo-paganism [of the Nazis] may well cast off love but, in spite of everything, history teaches us that we shall be the victors over this. We shall not forsake love."

Titus Brandsma, executed at Dachau, 26 July 1942

"Caesar was swimming in blood, Rome and the whole pagan world was mad. But those who had had enough of transgression and madness, those who were trampled upon, those whose lives were misery and oppression, all the weighed down, all the sad, all the unfortunate, came to hear the wonderful tidings of God, who out of love for men had given Himself to be crucified and redeem their sins. When they found a God whom they could love, they had found that which the society of the time could not give any one, — happiness and love.

And Peter understood that neither Nero, nor all his legions, could overcome the living truth— that they could not overwhelm it with tears or blood, and that now its victory was beginning.   He understood with equal force why the Lord had turned him back on the road.   That city of pride, of crime, of wickedness, and of a lust for power, was beginning to be His city."

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis, 1905

Stocks did their usual wide ranging wash and rinse, ending the day slightly higher.

Gold and silver soared in the morning, and held on to much of their gains, giving up a goodly portion of them during the day.

VIX continues in its complacency.

The conflict in the Mideast is metastasizing, and the unpriced risk it carries continues to grow.

The US presidential election season kicks off next week with the Iowa Primary.

Exceptionalism, in terms of bad judgement and shamelessness, will be on display for all. 

Tossing aside the moral high ground and civilized behaviour seems to be a general trend globally.

The World Economic Forum will be meeting in Davos, Switzerland once again next week.

When I was a boy engineer in the 1980s I was assigned to EIA and IEEE standards meetings in the States, and would spend weeks at the Palais des Nations in Genève for plenary meetings representing the US consensus on the international recommendations.  Have OSI model will travel.  Yeah, it had a hands-on learning curve, and some fun moments, mostly after hours.

Sleepy town, but a good base of operations for weekend trips into France or into the mountains, what the seasoned vets called Heidi-land.  The queen sometimes came along on the good trips, before the young man arrived.  She always enjoyed the challenge of mastering public transit and shopping for her little treasures and bargains in languages which she did not speak.  A true professional, lol.

US markets will be closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King day.

 Option expiration next week Friday.

Have a pleasant holiday weekend.