Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - So That the Thoughts of Many Hearts May Be Revealed

 

"The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, 'Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, as a sign that will be opposed.  And a sword will pierce your heart, so that the thoughts of many may be revealed.”

Luke 2:33-35

"When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said, 'Woman, behold, your son.'  Then he said to his disciple, 'Behold, your mother.'  And from that moment the disciple took her into his home."

John 19:26-27

"When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  And Mary treasured up all these things, and pondered them in her heart."

Luke 2:17-19

"And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head."

Revelation 12:1


It was a relatively quiet day of trading, with stocks finishing nearly unchanged.

VIX was slightly lower.

The Dollar bounced back to the 100 handle.

Gold and silver moved a bit higher.

There will be a stock option expiration on Thursday.

The hidden volatility beneath the surface of the markets is almost compelling.

The Treasury is doing its best to pour oil on troubled waters, until they can hopefully announce a deal with Russia over Ukraine, and take everyone's minds off the tariffs fiasco.

I spent much of the day getting ready for the kids and their little ones who will be coming over for an Easter egg hunt and dinner on Sunday.

Daisy and I abide.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - When the 'Truth' If Found To Be Lies

 

“Political language – and with variations this is true of all political parties – is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

George Orwell, Politics and the English Language, 1946

"By October 1918, the city of Washington, D.C. became a breeding ground for the highly contagious H1N1 strain of the flu. As civilian cases multiplied, local health officials initiated bans on public gatherings in order to quell the spread of infections. Across the city, public schools and universities closed their doors. The infection caused life expectancy in the U.S. to drop by twelve years in 1918."

Sarah Fling, White House History: Spanish Influenza in the President's Neighborhood, October 2019

"While Wilson is usually commemorated as the US president who proclaimed that the US’s entry into the First World War was to make the world 'safe for democracy', he was ironically more inclined towards consolidating power by authoritarian means domestically.

When the US entered the First World War in 1917, Wilson immediately moved towards controlling the flow of information.  He began by issuing executive orders legalising the seizure of radio stations by federal and military authorities and establishing the Committee on Public Information (CPI).  Altogether, the suppression of information was immense.  

Most authorities used the influenza’s spread as a justification for the continued usage of widespread censorship.  The US’s slide into authoritarianism was only stopped once Wilson suffered a severe stroke in 1919, growing resistance within the federal government mounted against continued police actions."

Francis Shin, The 1918 Pandemic and the US Slide Towards Authoritarianism, La Gazette de la Paix, Geneva, April 2020

"The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly and with unflagging attention.  It must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.  Here, as so often in this world, persistence is the first and most important requirement for success."

Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf, Vol 1, Chap VI, 1925

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”

George W. Bush, Speech, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005


 Stocks tried to rally from early this morning, starting with the futures overnnight.

By the end of the day they gave those up, and hung on for just small losses from a gap up open.

Gold and silver were under a bit of pressure, with silver doing a little better on a ranging day.

The VIX continued to fall.

All is well.

I am not watching the bond market closely but keeping enough on an eye on it to watch for signs of problems that will appear long before they show up in equities.

The bond bros tend to be the adults in the room.   And they will let you know how well a new policy in politics or economics is being received.

It is relatively easier to paint the tape on equities than the global bonds market.

The Dollar is firmly planted on the 99 handle.  Low in the short term, but longer term its in no apparent trouble - yet.

This is Holy Week.  The markets will be closed on Good Friday.

There will be a stock market option expiration on Thursday. 

The back and forth and the increasingly outrageous whoppers being told by public figures and their own corrupt actions is very bad.  It contributes to an atmosphere of lawlessness,

More to my concern, it tends to drain the light of love out of people, leaving hardened hearts that are ironically more vulnerable to the dark forces of evil.  

Believe what you will, but try to love the truth in all that you do.  If you love the truth with a faithful heart, you may come out of this all right.  And that is what really matters, because it is what makes and keeps us human and not beasts.

"The most important problem in the world today is your soul, for that is what the struggle is about."     Fulton J. Sheen

You do not have a soul.   You are a soul.  

You do not belong to this world.  You are just passing through.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends

 

“If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.”

Émile Zola, as quoted in Dreyfus: His Life and Letters, 1937

"These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume."

William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 1597

“He will choose you, disarm you with his words, and control you with his presence. He will delight you with his wit and his plans. He will smile and deceive you, and he will scare you with his eyes. And when he is through with you, and he will be through with you, he will desert you, and take with him your innocence and your pride."

Robert D. Hare, Without Conscience, 1993

"That the rate of interest will be lower when commerce languishes and when there is little demand for money, than when the energies of commerce are in full play and there is an active demand for money, is indisputable; but it is equally beyond doubt, that every speculative mania which has run its course of folly and disaster in this country has derived its original impulse from cheap money."

The Economist, 1858

"For those who are determined to be rich fall into temptations and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful passions which drown them in ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil, after which some have coveted, and have lost their faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

1 Timothy 6:9-10


The volatility in these markets is just a taste of things to come.

Stocks managed another bounce back rally.

If they did not have some 'encouragement' from the Exchange Stabilization Fund I would be surprised.

A Fed head made it clear today that they are on board with further subsidies for the one percent.

Gold rallied to an all time high, with silver extending its recovery from its earlier shellacking.

The lawlessness of this Administration and defiance of the Constitution and rule of law is not surprising, but the way in which few in government do or say anything is.

This will end in tears.

The Dollar slipped off the 100 handle.

The interview with Netanyahu and Trump earlier this week was almost unbearable in its darkness.

"You cannot play with the animal in you without becoming wholly animal, play with falsehood without forfeiting your right to truth, play with cruelty without losing your sensitivity of mind.

God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity.  But we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder the source of which is beyond all reason."

Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings, 1963

Hammarskjöld was a good man, a man of peace.   

All this is causing the rest of the world to lose patience, along with confidence.

Next week is Holy Week.

There will be a stock option expiration on Thursday.

The markets will be closed on Good Friday. 

My posting may be sparse.  We'll see what happens.

Have a pleasant evening.