Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Quod Erat Demonstrandum

Gold and silver were under some serious pressure after a mid morning hit that was particularly blatant and clumsy.

The pressure continued steadily most of the day with silver really taking it hard.

The Fed minutes came out around 2 PM, and the equity and the precious metal markets headed north like scalded cats, because of the decidedly dovish flavor of the Fed talk.

Is there anyone, and I mean anyone, who reads what I write here who is surprised by this? If so, then I must not be doing a very effective job of explaining that The Recovery™ is not yet sustainable, and the Fed must continue 'priming the pump' in a somewhat neurotic attempt to invoke the appearance of growth and vitality where none exists.

And why is this? Because the system has not been reformed, and the financial sector and the one percent continue to take, by far, the greatest share of this monetary stimulus and shove it into their own tax avoiding pockets, and the public be damned.

After the Fed minutes came out, a few of us crossed emails saying, 'is there any doubt why they hit gold and silver this morning?'

There is almost NO doubt in my mind that the Fed and their Bankster owners are actively managing market perceptions while they continue their failing policies, all in the virtuous name of 'instilling confidence.' 

But a goodly portion of the Rest of the World seems intent on calling their bluff.

Well, let's see what happens. It is far too early to call the 'triple bottom' in place. We must see a breaking of the downtrend of lower highs and lower lows.

But the fundamentals remain in place, and for longer term investors, that is what matters the most.

As for stocks, I have mixed emotions. They are running on Fed money expansions, but the organic growth from the economy really is not there yet.

A true stock market junkie and advisor making their living from stocks will keep reciting the 'stay fully invested' mantra. I became intimately familiar with this mindset as I chose to liquidate a substantial tech stock portfolio prior to the tech bubble crash of 2000.

I remember the big house broker almost yelling at me to 'stay fully invested, these are good companies!'    I liquidated everything and took my money as far away from that firm and Wall Street as I could manage.

And in less than six months I saw many of my friends who took that sort of advice being virtually ruined, as their stock heavy retirement plans evaporated. And even if they had held they would not have gotten even in the subsequent bubble, because they were not able to toss the losers out of their portfolios as the indices like the Dow, the SP and the NDX so often may do.

And you know what was said on financial television to these people who had been ruined?  "No one MADE them buy those stocks."

And we saw a similar cycle of run up and crash in 2007-2008.  Many were decimated, but Wall Street continued on, keeping its profits, and socializing its losses to the public trust.  Hi ho.

Neo-liberalism breeds a pathology of the sociopaths.  It holds that the markets are as gods, and that people will get what they deserve.  If they are tricked, if they are taken advantage, if they are destroyed, they must have had it coming because they were stupid and weak.  To each as they deserve, and what they deserve from the strong is subjugation and death. 

 

This too shall pass.

 

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Easy FOMC and Here Come the Earnings

After the bell Alcoa kicked off earnings season by beating estimates for profits, and coming in-line for revenues.

For the entirety of the earnings season take profit results lightly, but key in on the top line numbers.  They are harder to engineer using accounting gimmicks.

The Fed minutes were decidedly dovish, and they caused the equity markets to take off.  

This is not due to any recovery,  but to the Fed's indication of keeping zero interest rates in place for a considerable amount of time.  Why is this important? Because it compels one to calculate the risks somewhat differently.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

Hospital Beds, Physicians, and Infant Mortality Per 1000 Population in OECD Countries

I thought this was interesting.

 

I would imagine the national average for the US is subject to some significant regional variation.

 

Interesting that the US exceeds Canada by a bit in both.  No wonder there is often a queue for doctors and facilities there according to people with whom I have spoken.    The US manages that by deprivation.  I wonder if the wealthy can buy extra-systemic, first class care in Harper's world?

One might be tempted to surmise that unless one is wealthy, connected,  or exceptionally well-insured, in the event of a serious epidemic a person might end up in a makeshift quarantine facility, and not a hospital bed in order to manage costs.

 

To each as they deserve.  Welcome to Camp Hospice.  And may the odds be ever in your favour.

 

The trend for the US over time is in blue.

Physicians Per 1000 Population in OECD Countries

Infant Mortality Per 1000 Population in OECD Countries

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Leveling Up

Gold held its gains today, while silver was once again the target of some mild selling pressures.

The gold silver ratio is back up over 70 again as I showed in the intraday NAV Premiums tally.

Gold is stronger against most of the industrial metals including the white metals. This *could* be a sign of stresses in the gold supply, or even some foreboding of an economic event with gold serving as a safe haven.

Gold is apparently in the lead sled dog position for the precious metals now, so let's see if it can sustain an advance and break this pattern of lower highs and lower lows.

China should be back from their National Week tomorrow. Let's see if Asia will make a difference overnight.

Try to keep a broad portfolio of wealth and savings, so you are not too heavily impacted by any big event in any specific sector. And this includes your relationship with the first things, and the last things. For what does it profit a man...

Have a pleasant evening.