SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - No Fear, Little Shame, Lousy Pay 'With Benefits'

"The problem of the last three decades is not the 'vicissitudes of the marketplace,' but rather deliberate actions by the government to redistribute income from the rest of us to the one percent. This pattern of government action shows up in all areas of government policy."

Dean Baker

A quick peek at the VIX chart below really tells the whole story of this market: no fear.   These sorts of extremes in manipulation and perception management to the point of delusion rarely last long.

We are in a financial asset bubble that is diverging from reality. The economic number from this morning's Philly Fed was abysmal. But the Fed just keeps on keeping on, with compounding policy errors and elite friendly bubbles.

This is going to end, and badly.

By mid-next week I think we will have a better idea of where we are in the wash-rinse-repeat cycle of the mispricing of risks.

 

There should be no doubt that this creation and management of another financial asset bubble is intentional at least in its effects, if not in its consequences.  

 

It is doing a very good job of channeling the vast majority of new money created by the Fed almost directly into the hands of the 'audacious oligarchy'.

Apparently Chairwoman Yellen likes the Employment Cost Index number which is increasing. Right below here is a comparison of the Employment Cost Index and the growth of wages.

 

As you can see, the employee cost index rose sharply while actual wages are flat to declining. What's up with that, besides seasonal adjustments and any other bureaucratic tinkering and the usual statistical suspects?

The index measures changes in the cost of compensation not only for wages and salaries, but also for an extensive list of benefits.

The benefits covered by the ECI include the following:

• Paid leave—vacations, holidays, sick leave, and other leave;

• Other supplemental cash payments—premium pay for work in addition to the regular work schedule (for example, overtime pay and pay for working weekends and holidays),

• Insurance benefits—life, health, short-term disability, and long-term disability insurance;

• Retirement and savings benefits—employers’ payments into defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans, including Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP’s);

• Legally required benefits—Social Security, Federal and State unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, and Medicare;

• Other benefits—severance pay and payment into supplemental unemployment plans.

The grift is certainly working, and there is a recovery for some. 

But not for the 'working classes'.  That much is painfully obvious.  Let us not forget that most of the poor are the 'working poor.'  And there is a long line of unproductive drains on them from the FIRE sector, like a plump tick on their necks.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

 

'Owners Per Ounce' For All Precious Metals At the Comex

"He who sells what isn't his'n, must buy it back or go to prison."

Daniel Drew

Daniel Drew's famous maxim about naked short selling appears quaint now in these days of no fault market rigging, at least for the well-connected insiders and the too big to fail institutions.

For platinum and palladium Nick at Sharelynx.com spreads the open interest over all the stocks, and not with a split between 'eligible' and 'deliverable' as in the case of gold and silver, in case you were wondering.

Although paper claims vs. deliverable gold is by far the highest at 94:1, the trend recently on the Comex has been for more paper trading and less bullion available to cover at current prices.  Silver is at about 16:1,  palladium at 26:1, and platinum at 31:1.

This creates a condition of potential volatility at the Comex, although I do not think that a 'default' is on the table, but perhaps a short squeeze, that could be dramatic given a certain set of global events.

And of course, no one could have ever seen anything like this coming.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Pervasive Nonsense

Gold and silver we hit again today, but silver managed to hang on to its 15 handle, and gold bounced back to 1050. 

 

I suspect that this was the usual sort of antics we see whenever some Fed head appears before the Congress for some 'confidence building.'

 

Gold and silver are now both short term oversold, and at some key support areas.

 

I may put something out on this later, but the open interest in gold is really very high, and the next active month for the metal is August.  I suspect some of the action we are seeing with price here is designed to try and shake off more of the short term longs.

 

It would be fairly easy for a short squeeze to occur in gold, because all the longs would have to do is to take delivery and park it as eligible storage, and force higher prices in order to shake more of that eligible gold into the delivery category.  This would not be a default since there is plenty of gold overall, given the Comex anyway.  But it would be a price squeeze.  So let's see what happens.

 

Greece is far from settled.  With some twists it is still progressing pretty much as I had expected it would.  The crux of the matter is that the German government and Eurocrats are trying to force an unworkable, painful situation on Greece out of some reflexive emotional commitment to the cargo cult economics of neoliberals.  To that extent they are like the Fed and the Bank of England among others.

 

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Fed Follies and Assorted Shenanigans

Stocks managed to hold their own today in honor of Janet Yellen's testimony before the House.   And it was painful to watch.

 

The Greek situation continues to remain highly unstable, but the rinse cycle is not quite due yet.  but the markets are ignoring these things because of 'technical conditions.' 

 

Maybe later this week or next week we will see it dump again, perhaps after a push higher.  Where this little rally ends will be technically significant.

Netflix looks like it might be the big tickle tomorrow that could take us up to the next tipping point.  What a puffball.

 

There is no recovery.  The Western governments have been hijacked by the oligarchs for the most part, and their financial and economic minions are acting for their own short term interests, which are contrary for the most part to the greater good.  It is really too bad to see this.

 

Have a pleasant evening.