SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Skittish, Toombs, Skittish...

In this morning's commentary on The Recovery I ended with, "Time for more distractions. What time's the next 'big event'?"

About 45 minutes later I edited it out, as the news from Ukraine was breaking.

I do not wish to traffic in human tragedy.   And I remember the families and those who have suffered loss.

There is a bull market in chicken hawks.  It serves to distract and divert the jaded,  and besides, one must never waste a crisis.

May the odds be ever in your favour.

Have a pleasant evening.

The Recovery™ In One Chart

"Plunderers of the world, when nothing remains on the lands to which they have laid waste by wanton thievery, they search out across the seas.  The wealth of another region excites their greed; and if it is weak, their lust for power as well.  Nothing from the rising to the setting of the sun is enough for them. Among all others only they are compelled to attack the poor as well as the rich.

Robbery, rape, and slaughter they falsely call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace."

Tacitus, Agricola

Funny thing, human nature. Despite all the trappings of progress nothing ever seems to change except the names.

Empire is now called 'war on terror.'

Panem et circenses. Washington is certainly a circus, and we know who is getting all the bread.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Mum's the Word

This is a verbatim comment from a principled conservative economist friend who will remain nameless and blameless.

"Was at a Cato/Mercatus conference on The Way Forward in GSE Reform. I stood up and asked  'Every solution I have heard is just enriching government cronies and rent seekers. Is this all you've got?'

Dead silence. Yes, it's all they got.  Rent-seekers and heart-breakers."

Today I am reminded of the saying, 'if you don't have anything nice to say, then it's better to say nothing at all.'

Truly, there is none good but God.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Blue Skies, At Least Until September

eBay reported better than expected numbers after the bell. What a surprise.

Stocks had an upward drift today, in a dull market trade.

The VIX shows the markets are once again complacent.

I would expect them to stay on a generally rosy trajectory until the Alibaba IPO can be spurted out in early August. The Street has a lot of vested interest in what may be one of the largest bell-ringing IPOs in history.

Have a pleasant evening.