Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - From Instruments of Darkness Come Instruments of Change

"The love of wicked men converts to fear;
That fear to hate, and hate turns one or both
To worthy danger and deserved death."

William Shakespeare, Richard II


"All the world marveled at this, and gave their allegiance to the beast. They worshiped the dragon for giving such power to him. as they also worshiped the beast.  'Who is as great as the beast?' they exclaimed.  'And who is able to resist him?'  The beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God.  And he was given the authority to do what he willed, but only for forty-two months."

Revelation 13:3-5


"But ’tis strange.
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray us
In deepest consequence."

William Shakespeare, Macbeth

As you may know by now, there was the usual tweetfest out of Osaka over the weekend, and an apparent thawing in the deadlock in discussions between the US and China.

Stock futures soared, and the risk on trades were unleashed. The US Dollar rose triumphantly against most major currencies.

And in that process, gold and silver were trounced.

Well, there was a certain amount of tension built up in the market, and a reversal of recent trends was not unexpected, given the willing stimulus of Trumpolini's declaration of yet another miracle of his personal diplomacy.

The stock rocket faded badly into the afternoon, but managed to recover a little bit into the close.  Still, it was an impressive display.

There will be a Non-Farm Payrolls report on Friday.

The spokesmodels were appalled by the violence in the Hong Kong protests over the weekend, and that damage that was inflicted upon the empty legislature building.

As you may have noticed in the news, or not, despite this wonderful abundant economy, the number of suicides in the US are at a record pace not seen since World War II.

And that is just how things are, in that sunny world of wonder.  It can't be helped.

So there is joy amongst the elite, and within the halls of power, at their many triumphs, bringing further opportunities.

As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods.

And what will they think of next?

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - End of Month, End of Quarter

"Never in the current cycle have investors been so determined to deny what’s staring them in the face."

Danielle DiMartino Booth


"[Kamala] Harris is everything the US empire’s unelected power establishment wants in a politician: charismatic, commanding, and completely unprincipled. In that sense she’s like Obama, only better.

Trump supporters like to claim that the president is fighting the establishment, citing the open revulsion that so many noxious establishment figures have for him. But the establishment doesn’t hate Trump because he opposes them; he doesn’t oppose existing power structures in any meaningful way at all. The reason the heads of those power structures despise Trump is solely because he sucks at narrative management and puts an ugly face on the ugly things that America’s permanent government is constantly doing. He’s bad at managing their assets.

Kamala Harris is the exact opposite of this. She’d be able to obliterate noncompliant nations and dead-end the left for eight years, and look good while doing it. She’s got the skills to become president, and she’ll have the establishment backing as well."

Caitlin Johnstone, Kamala Harris Is an Oligarch's Dream

And the paint dries on the tape for the end of the quarter boogie woogie.

All eyes will be on twitter this weekend, as Trumpolini meets with China's Xi.

I need to go and help the kids with something.

The market will always be there.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Fear of Mispriced Risk Is Sucking The Oxygen Out of the Markets

Estragon: We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?

Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot


"This is where policy errors begin to happen, when the Fed cannot acknowledge they're actually damaging the economy."

Danielle DiMartino Booth

DDB is describing the credibility trap.

The markets are just slip-sliding sideways here, waiting for something to happen.

I could comment on the Democratic debates. If I had watched them.

Trumpolini is on his way to the G20 in Osaka.

I will be very surprised if any good comes out of it.

Have a pleasant evening.

Admittedly, the latter part of the 60's and most of the 70's are a bit hazy in spots. But I am almost certain that I saw this local (Youngstown) band perform live at a dance club in northeastern Ohio, the home of my missspent youth.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Downward Spiral of Dumbness

"Ideologues are often willfully blind, on both the right and the left.  It serves them. Their selective blindness allows them to avoid thinking seriously about the world—  and especially the state of their own souls. 

Most of their lives are spent in the expedient serving of themselves.  The good they do, the good things they may think, the public service that they may provide is generally inner directed.  It is designed to make themselves feel good about themselves, and superior and apart from other people, whom they secretly despise.

They are incapable of genuine repentance, because they blind themselves to their sins, and wash them away in their disgust with others whom they imagine are so much worse."

Jesse


“The downward spiral of dumbness in America is about to hit a new low.”

Hunter S. Thompson

Another exciting day in the markets, as they nervously move from foot to foot, waiting to see what happens next in the world, from Iran to the G20.

Gold and silver were off day. No surprise there, since the lucky holders of in-the-money call options from yesterday end up holding futures contracts today. The wiseguys always like to give them a little test on those new positions.

But let's face it. The metals have had one heck of a run, and are due for a little back and fill consolidation here.

Stocks remain a bit of an edgy deal, since they have come back so briskly from the big December sell off.

It still seems that they are priced for a rosy scenario that does not exist and is in fact falling apart.

But, since the music is still playing, the players will keep dancing.

Need little, want less, love more.

Have a pleasant evening.