Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Dry Bones

 

"The hand of the Lord came upon me.  His Spirit took me up and set me in the center of a valley that was full of bones.  He led me through the valley, and I saw there were many bones that were very dry.  The Lord said, 'Son of man, can these bones live again?'  I answered, 'O Lord, only You know.'  He answered, 'Speak in My name over these bones.  Say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.’'  The Lord God says to these bones: ‘I will breath on you, and you will come back to life.  I will join you together, make flesh grow back, cover you with skin, and put breath in you to make you come to life.  Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

Ezekiel 37:1-6

"When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together and, to test him, a scholar of the law asked this question, 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus said, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Everything in the Law and the Prophets depends on these two commandments.'”

Matthew 22:34-40

"The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham.  But if someone comes back 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 16:31

"And Jesus said, 'Did I not say that if you have faith you will see the glory of God?' And so they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, 'Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me, but I say this for the sake of the people, so that they may believe that it was you who sent me.' When he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth.'"

John 11:40=43

 

Jay Powell delivered a dovish nod in his speech from Jackson Hole this morning, as one might have expected.

Stocks rallied.

Gold and silver rallied.

VIX fell.

The Dollar fell 82 cents back down to the 100 level.

Now Wall Street can occupy itself with trying to unwrap either a 25 or 50 basis point rate cut for the September meeting.

Fifty is not out of the question because I don't think the Fed will want to spread a cut closer to the November Presidential election.

Forgotten for now is the boiling geopolitical tension in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. 

What will the Lord do, to breathe life back into the dry bones of these hardened hearts.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - A Carnival of Beasts

 

"Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.  We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in.  Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.  Our knowledge has made us cynical.  Our cleverness hard and unkind.  We think too much, and feel too little.  More than machinery, we need humanity.  More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness.  Without these qualities life will be violent, and all will be lost."

Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator, October 15, 1940

"The great failure that was made by so many was the assumption that as the leader of a great and educated nation, Hitler was rational, and would eventually make the most rational decisions.  So they believed his many assertions of his peaceful intents, and good wishes, even as he turned Europe into an abattoir.  Like the efficient market hypothesis, people were blinded to reality by a theory about the natural goodness and rationality of politicians."

Jesse, The Garden of Beasts: Die Nacht der Langen Messer, 26 September 2011

"The men who locked their wives out in the snow, because the snow of twenty-nine wasn't real snow.  If you didn't want it to be snow, you just paid some money."

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Babylon Revisited, February 1931

“When Fascism came into power, most people were unprepared, both theoretically and practically. They were unable to believe that man could exhibit such propensities for evil, such lust for power, such disregard for the rights of the weak, or such yearning for submission. Only a few had been aware of the rumbling of the volcano preceding the outbreak.”

Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom, 1941

"Of course, there are many days in this age of anxiety when a human being feels awfully low and discouraged.  I myself find consolation at such moments by two means: trying to develop a sense of history, and renewing the quest for inner life.

I find that most true happiness comes from one’s inner life; from the disposition of the mind and soul.  Admittedly, a good inner life is difficult to achieve, especially in these trying times.  It takes reflection and contemplation.  And self-discipline.  One must be honest with oneself, and that’s not easy.  You have to have patience and understanding.  And, when you can, seek God.  But the reward of having an inner life, which no outside storm or evil turn of fortune can touch, is, it seems to me, a very great one."

William L. Shirer, author of Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, 1951

Power corrupts, but power attracts the corruptible.

Our politics are bought by money, covered by a thin veneer of lies.  And so our hypocrisy is shameless, and knows no bounds.  

I don't want to single out any particular wing of the duopoly. 

They are both sick at heart, but with varying degrees of social grace and smarmy political charm.

Stocks were weak today and went out near the lows.

Gold and silver were hit hard.

The Dollar rose, taking back the .50 it recently lost.

Powell's speech tomorrow from Jackson Hole *might* be notable.

And in the background, the abyss the violence of empire continues.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - What Sorrow Awaits the Shepherds of Lawlessness

 

"This word came to me from the Lord: 'Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel.  Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord:  What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks.  Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep?  You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. 

You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured.  You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost.  Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty.  So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal.  They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.

Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you abandoned my flock and left them to be attacked by every wild animal.  And though you were my shepherds, you didn’t search for my sheep when they were lost.  You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve. 

Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord.  This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I now consider these shepherds my adversaries, and I will hold them to account for what has happened to my flock.  I will take away their right to care for the flock, and I will stop them from feeding themselves.  I will rescue my flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey."

Ezekiel 34:1-10

"No one screams against this hell. No one protests. And if they abhor what they see, they do not have the courage to damn the damned. One alone would not have failed us. Péguy would have spoken, I hope, he would have let loose his scream. He is not here, and there is no one else."

André Suarès, 1939

"He who does not shout the truth when he knows it makes himself the accomplice of liars and frauds."

Charles Péguy, Lettre du Provincial, 21 December 1899

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness in this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Ephesians 6:12

"They do not see the image of Almighty God before them, and ask themselves what He wishes.  And, for the same reason that they do not please Him, they succeed in pleasing themselves.  

Hence, they become both self-satisfied and self-sufficient; they think they know just what they ought to do, and that they do it all; and in consequence they are very well content with themselves, and rate their merit very high, and have no fear at all of any future scrutiny into their conduct.  The more secret God's hand is, the more powerful— the more silent, the more awful."

John Henry Newman

Stocks managed to wobble higher today, in the usual up and down session.

VIX crept a little higher.

Gold and silver managed to hold their ground, with silver even gaining a little.

The Fed is meeting in Jackson Hole.

Expectations are running high for a Fed rate cut, especially after the big downward revision in the Jobs number this morning.

Powell will be speaking later this week.  If there is to be some announcement, that maybe the time.

I can't help but wonder if the Fed does finally cut, in September perhaps, the markets will give us a dramatic 'pop and flop.'

And in the background, the rolling boil in geopolitical events continues.

Have a pleasant evening.