Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - God Bless the Child

The Fed is hiking rates into one of the slowest growing economies in U.S. history.  Previous such events didn't work out well. Whatever economic growth US has had recently has been driven by increased debt & dissaving. If interest rates are raised brakes automatically applied.

Dr. Harald Malmgrem

There is no doubt that the projections of the future growth of GDP are estimates based on the estimates of estimates, and that the results may vary greatly from expected outcomes.   Especially if your paycheck depends on a range of outcomes acceptable to your superiors.

They seem to have already lined up a set of potential scapegoats, who despise us for our freedom and seek to undermine us, the paragons of virtue, in all of our efforts.  For how else could we have not succeeded?

Once again stocks were lower and the Dollar was stronger, because the accepted orthodoxy of popular media and Federal Reserve economics is that interest rates are going to k33p going higher, to the tune of four such hikes this year (at least).

The Trump tax cuts and infrastructure spending programs are going to stimulate a recovered economy, bringing the risks of wage inflation to bear. Never mind asset inflation because that is a good thing to the stock owning and value-reaving elites.

To the victors go the spoils.  Winning....

But real wage income increases are a threat to the economic order that was established back in the 1980's, that order being: them that's got shall have, them that's not shall lose....

I'll stick with my own theory that the Fed just wants to get as far away from the ZIRP as is possible, before the latest asset bubble and phony recovery collapses around their ears. But seriously, only time will tell.

But the tax cuts are not really going to the people who are going to be growing aggregate demand organically, but for the most part and despite corporate propaganda to the contrary, that money is going to the same old cats who have been getting the most for as far back as most can remember.

And as for the stimulus of infrastructure, that one does not even quality for the derogatory term 'paper tiger.'   It is a $200 billion Trojan horse of privatization and neo-liberalism come home to roost, at long last.

Today was the six months anniversary of the passing of the queen from this world into the next.  Ex umbris et imaginibus in vitam.

March is the month where silver is favored on the Comex, and we saw a mighty surge in the exchanging of paper claims for March 1 delivery in silver, as noted in the Comex clearing report below.

Gold is dullsville in March, at least on the Comex if not in Asia, so we may not see it continuing to hold the price lead, and silver may take up the slack.

A bigger change is coming, that may creep up on those who hold most of the public speaking platforms these days.

And what rough beast, it's hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

W. B. Yeats, The Second Coming, 1919

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Powell Makes Hawkish Squawk

The new Fed Chairman deluxe was answering questions before the Congress today.

And the old chairs, Zimbabwe Ben and Janet, were discussing economic war stories, tall tales, and their mighty bubble adventures at the Brookings Institution today.

Mr. Jerome Powell, may I call you Jay?  Well, apparently Jay said something to our august lawmakers that the markets interpreted as 'hawkish'.

And since the markets lack any internal compass or conviction, but hang on every syllable from the mouths of those who dole out its daily dose of hot money sugar, stocks took a dive. The Dollar was rallying on higher yield expectations and, of course, precious metals were moving lower.

The markets were not the only ones having a bad day. Dolly, our rescue Shih Tzu, paid a visit to the groomer early this afternoon.

And as a consequence of her stressful day, Dolly has spent the remainder of the day curled up and pouting mightily in her blanket.   She does not like baths, vets, or thunderstorms in that order.

 But at least Dolly looks and smells better than before. The markets still stink of corruption.

And so both the markets and Dolly have had a thorough wash and rinse this week.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Slow Descent Into Reckless Hysteria - The Ends Justify the Means

“To write the truth as I see it; to defend the weak against the strong; to fight for justice; and to seek, as best I can to bring healing perspectives to bear on the terrible hates and fears of mankind, in the hope of someday bringing about a world in which men and women will enjoy the differences of the human garden instead of killing each other over them.”

I.F. Stone


“In reading The History of Nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities, their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first.”

Charles Mackay


“At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas of which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is “not done” to say it… Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the high-brow periodicals.”

George Orwell


"Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

John 8:43-44

I cannot believe some of the things that I am hearing on the mainstream media and reading on the internet these days.  Well, shame on me if I am shocked, because I forecast that this was coming. A period of hysteria and a general disregard for reality follow on a long period of lies and corruption, like night follows day. First comes the loss of a regard for virtue of almost any sort, and then the embrace of the darkness.

If the economic hardships had been more rigorous I have little doubt that the killing would have come closer to home by now.

What does shock me I suppose is how blithely seemingly well-educated people of relative privilege, who certainly know better, are willing to embrace the Big Lie, and run with it without a second glance back. Bizarre untruths and gross hyperbole are not just for the fringes anymore.

I was greatly disappointed by the 'debate' between James Risen and Glenn Greenwald, moderated by Jeremy Scahill. I include a video from Jimmy Dore below in which he discusses it, and I have posted the original debate here before.

But this is hardly the worst example, not at all. That was all over the airwaves and in the print media this weekend. The propaganda being spun out with regularity about dire threats and declarations of war make me wonder where this is all going.

Some feel perfectly happy picking and choosing among the lies that suit them, that promote their own biases and purposes. After all, 'everyone is doing it now.'

Try to resist the temptation to join in on this dalliance into this mesmerizing dance of deceit, and the sickness unto death that follows with it.

Stocks were rallying today, so all is good. We may soon recover the levels of our blow off top. It is not surprise since the mania is still alive and well. I considered the plunge we had the other week as likely a 'market break.'

I do think this presages a decline, most likely in the neighborhood of 20%. But timing that sort of thing is extremely difficult. Unless you are a legend of the punditry, remarkable as long as you can keep your own scorecard with other people's money.

Gold and silver were moving up quite nicely on the overnight, and were then pushed back down when the Dollar recovered its declines, finishing weakly higher.

We've been here before. It rarely ends well.
.
Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Wall Street Noir

“Berlin.  I used to love this old city.  But that was before it had caught sight of its own reflection and taken to wearing corsets laced so tight that it could hardly breathe.  I loved the easy, carefree philosophies, the cheap jazz, the vulgar cabarets and all of the other cultural excesses that characterized the Weimar years and made Berlin seem like one of the most exciting cities in the world.”

Philip Kerr, Berlin Noir: March Violets


“What in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca?”
“My health, I came to Casablanca for the waters.”
“The waters?  What waters?  We’re in the desert.”
“I was misinformed.”

Casablanca, 1943

Stocks were rallied sharply and steadily into the weekend close, after the rest of the world had gone home.

Great success.

Gold and silver went sideways, as did the US Dollar.

Dropbox has filed for an IPO.

After the close President Trump said he wants a 24% import tariff on global steel imports and a lesser import tax on aluminum.

Let the games begin.

Have a pleasant weekend.