Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Excelsior

"The greatest want of the world is the want of men — men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall."

Ellen G. White


"I have tired of hearing the argument from my friends about how we could not expect anything better from various folks given the perverse incentives.  I cannot accept that.  I know of several people who have failed to take advantage of their good government jobs when they moved to the private sector. They have done reasonably well, but they have not enriched themselves at the expense of everyone else. I know of even more who have prostituted themselves. The institutions may provide the opportunity, but it is the person who acts on it."

HBK


"And because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.  But those who endure to the end will be saved  The gospel of the kingdom of God will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all nations.  And then the end will come."

Matthew 24:11-14


“Be not deceived, Wormwood, our cause is never more in jeopardy than when a human, no longer desiring but still intending to do our Enemy's [God's] will, looks round upon a universe in which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

The Jobs Report came in Better-Than-Expected this morning. Trumpolini twittered enthusiastically about it an hour before its release, although he did not disclose any specific numbers.

The markets were in rally mode led by tech.

We may be building to a Blow off Top III.

RECORD 95,689,000 Americans ARE NOT IN THE LABOR FORCE: That is how the US official unemployment number can be so low. If we count age-eligible workers who stopped looking for work and no longer in Labor Dept jobs data base unemployment near 10%. AND of those counted as employed, large fraction unwillingly part-time. I have been a longtime critic of all BLS and BEA unreliable & misleading data. 2017+Q1 2018 show higher per capita income, but median essentially no gain. Reason: higher pay for supervisors & professionals, but not 90% underclass.

Many of us kept pointing out the fact unemployment was around 15% during the 0bama regime and the media conspicuously ignored it. NOW you bring it up, conspicuously ignoring the fact it is STILL better than during the 0bama regime. I was saying the same thing not only about entire Obama years employment data but long before then. Each new WH staff discovers labor mkt data can be shaped to give any POTUS à good report card. Even Fed uses that BLS number, aware it is misleading.

Dr. Harald Malmgren

Gold was lower in an almost cliche manner. Silver was a bit lower as well.

This was a week heavy with economic news. Next week will be a bit more normal.

There are quite a few significant risk factors that were tossed aside today.  But they are still very much there, merely hidden by the willful mispricing of risks, and the misrepresentations of them.

Be wary of those who set themselves as the paragons of the law, and adorn themselves with its details, applying them with harsh judgments and even harsher words.

They may outwardly gleam with righteousness, and scrupulous knowledge of the scriptures and precepts of religion, but inside they are empty, and lacking in love.  And this is how you will know them, and the emptiness of their words— there is little love in them.

Need little, want less, love more.   For whosoever abides in love abides in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Mindful of His Mercy

"I proclaim the power of God,
You do marvels for your servants;
Though you scatter the proud-hearted
And destroy the might of princes.

To the hungry you give food,
send the rich away empty.
In your mercy you are mindful
of the people you have chosen.

In your love you now fulfill
What you promised to your people.
I will praise you, Lord, my saviour,
Everlasting is your mercy."

Canticle of Mary

Stocks were flat to lower today ahead of the Non-Farm Payrolls Report tomorrow.

The Trump Administration placed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico, and the EU.

And as these entities are answering with tariffs of their own in kind, then the markets have suddenly become aware of the deterioration of the international trade status quo.

Problems and injuries with 'autonomous driving' continue to be reported.   I might suggest that until something is done to significantly upgrade the crazy and deteriorating patchwork of roads in the US, that fully autonomous driving is a potential benefit without substance, and likely to be an expensive failure.

And until something is done to root out the institutionalized corruption and purposeful policy errors in the economy, that there will be no sustainable recovery.  It will exist only in wishful thinking and frauds.

Gold, silver, and the Dollar were largely unchanged.

The economic data this morning showed that personal spending is expanding at 0.6% while personal income is only growing at 0.3%. It will be tough to make that up in volume, especially with most of the income growth continuing to flow almost exclusively to the top one percent.

Luke Gromen had an interesting observation about US corporate profits. I include it in the first chart below.

Tomorrow is the Non-Farm Payrolls report.

Even in the midst of these unknowns, God has once again impressed upon this unworthy and foolish servant the tender mercies and compassionate judgement of His economy, founded and enduring in joy.  Thanking Him always, for giving what we need, rather than what we may desire.

The tomb is empty, and death is overthrown, and we are the heirs to eternal life.

Need little, want less, love more.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Never Mind, Risk Back On

"It was miraculous.  It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue, and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice.  Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all.  It merely required no character."

Joseph Heller, Catch 22


"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to fulfill your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks from his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

John 8:44


"You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, (bringing his fist down on the table) I will rout you out."

Andrew Jackson

All the fears that drove the markets yesterday were forgotten today.  This is how it is these days in the United States of Amnesia.   We shun the light, and hold our lies close to our hearts.  If you do not like the truth today, just wait—  we will have a new and different set of truths tomorrow.

Since the economic data missed this morning a bit, the fretting about interest rates went off the table. As did all those deep concerns about Quitaly, and geo-political risks, and the rise of populism, and all the rest of those burning issues that drove the traders just yesterday.

Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.

Are we not exceptional? Are you not entertained?

Need little, want less, love more.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Safe Harbors - Running Before the Storms

"We should ban banks from risk-taking because society is going to pay the price... It was obvious that their profits were simply cash borrowed from destiny with some random payback time."

Nassim Nicholas Taleb


"The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act makes the most important legislative changes to the structure of the U.S. financial system since the 1930s.  Financial services firms will be authorized to conduct a wide range of financial activities, allowing them freedom to innovate in the new economy.

The Act repeals provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act that, since the Great Depression, have restricted affiliations between banks and securities firms. It also amends the Bank Holding Company Act to remove restrictions on affiliations between banks and insurance companies. It grants banks significant new authority to conduct most newly authorized activities through financial subsidiaries.

Removal of barriers to competition will enhance the stability of our financial services system. Financial services firms will be able to diversify their product offerings and thus their sources of revenue. They will also be better equipped to compete in global financial markets."

William Jefferson Clinton, November 12, 1999

There was a highly observable 'flight to safety' today in the markets, in response to fears for the political and financial stability of Italy.

The US dollar was again sharply higher, and US debt saw its yields decrease in response to safe haven buying.

Gold and silver were largely unchanged in the face of the soaring dollar.

There are a number of sources of potential geo-political instability in the world. The Australian housing bubble is capable of taking down a Bank or two given the bubble in housing debt valuations. Canada is also riding a housing bubble in several of its major cities. And the US is once more vulnerable to a cascade of counter-party failures which, need we say it, no one could possibly see coming.

But for now the focus is on Europe and on Italy, which had dared to form a populist government which was taken down by the President.

This holiday-shortened week is packed with economic data releases.

There will be a Non-Farm Payrolls Report on Friday

Need little, want less, love more.

Have a pleasant evening.