SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Options Expiry and a Retail Flop

Retail sales came in plug ugly this morning, and stocks sold off.  It certainly landed a surprise to the stock option dip buyers who braved these storm-tossed markets and got appropriately tossed.

The elite class is beginning to acknowledge that keeping the working class down as the 'working poor' is not good for sales, especially when the common people have exhausted their ability to mortgage their futures.  They are struggling to pay all their bank fees, rents, and healthcare.

But for now at least most of the privileged class just seem puzzled.  Why aren't the puppies eating our puppy chow?

If the old saying that 'as goes January so goes the year' holds true then hang on to your hats.  Although it should be noted that we are only halfway through January.

US markets will be closed on Monday for Martin Luther King day.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - C'est la Même Chose

Gold and silver were hit by selling starting in the overnight, but gathering a little more momentum in the late London and early NY trading in synthetic paper metals.

There was a dribble of 'physical' gold deliveries in The Bucket Shop yesterday, and nothing for silver.

There was minimal movement in the warehouses once again.

To consistently complain about market manipulation and being bullied, while doing nothing or speaking out in favor of those who bully others in different ways is the height of foolishness.

No justice for some implies no justice for all, given time. One has to read history and consider the human situation with open eyes to see this sort of thing.

Personal egoism tends to persuade the individual that 'they are different,' they are better than these others, and will certainly be favored by the powerful and the sociopaths who pillage these others who probably deserve it.

This is the great weakness in too many reform movements and efforts to improve the human condition. They are merely other forms of selfishness and pride wrapped up in base hypocrisy.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Flippity Flop

Stocks were in rally mode today, in an attempt to dampen fear and encourage confidence.

While they were most likely short term oversold, the 'rally' was all artifice, and had the feel of the kind of forced cheeriness in the big household during times of plague.

And so the half-hearted rally faded into the close.

The economic news this morning was rather poor.  And yet there was happy talk being given out by the creatures of the financial sector, both in the States and the UK.

There will be no sustainable rally based on fundamentals, and no general return to prosperity and growth, until the system is reformed.

As Simon Johnson noted a few years ago, there has been a financial coup d'etat.  We talk about these things like they are abstractions, almost stories, things that are happening to someone else.

But it is real, and it is affecting your lives, and the real economy, every day.

Have a pleasant evening.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Grinding

"It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the abuses of power corrupts those who are subject to it."

Aung San Suu Kyi


"I do think that looking out six months that we will likely see a widening of the swings in volatility, as events drive real people to take certain decisions, and the Banks and their government associates seek to stabilize and maintain their status quo."

Jesse, 14 August 2015


Through the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
With patience He is waiting, and with exactness grinds them all."

Baron Friedrich von Logau, Sinngedichte

The bubble in US financial paper continued unwinding today in stocks, despite efforts by the financial engineers to rally them starting with the overnight futures.

There is always a reversion to the mean struck by the fundamentals, sooner or later.

Some of those reversions can be quite impressive, especially to those made stolidly proud through the appearance of their own power and continuing success.  How are the mighty fallen.

Have a pleasant evening.