Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Worst Week For Stocks Since 2008 - Davos Man Springs Into Action

"From the least to the greatest, all of them are greedy for unjust gains; and from prophet to priest they all deal falsely. 

They have treated the suffering of my people carelessly, saying, ‘all is well’ when there is no safety. They act shamefully, they commit terrible offenses; and yet they are not ashamed, and do not even know how to blush.  Therefore they shall fall among those who fall."

Jeremiah 6:13-15


"Paul turned the Emperor and said, 'When they permitted you to mount your father’s throne, it was only on the assurance that you’d keep the spice flowing. You’ve failed them, Majesty.  Do you know the consequences?'”

Frank Herbert, Dune

A healthy market correction this week, as it was called by some pundits, thankful that the lack of 'market collars' and 'circuit breakers' allowed buyers and sellers to find each other without interference. It's almost romantic sounding.

This was the worst week for stocks since 2008, with the SP 500 and Nasdaq down a little over ten percent.

But it did end on a kind of an upbeat note, as the stock futures recovered today's losses and managed to go into the weekend in the green.

Several factors contributed to this.

First and foremost, the odds of a rate cut in March jumped to 96.3% today from 8.9% a week ago, we hear.  I am struggling with the notion that cheaper benchmark rates are going to tempt people to ignore the coronavirus and go to the mall.   But it may put a little life back into the financial asset bubble.  Needs must.

The team of Kudlow and Mnuchin managed to rally the banks to smack the crap out of gold and silver, running the stops and triggering margin calls from the recently increased margin requirments on the Comex.  Since the Banks were struggling with an oversized short position it certainly helped out the financial system while dampening the enthusiasm for hard assets

No slackers here, there is a two prong effort across the established powers to manage and control the narrative, while ensuring boatloads of money continue to reach 'the right kinds of people.'

The spice must flow.

And in a bipartisan celebration of better news, Joe Biden is expected to crush the opposition (Bernie) in South Carolina this weekend, an all important victory for the forces of the status quo.

In all seriousness, let's remember those who are suffering with this virus around the world, struggling to go about their business while trying to protect their livelihoods and families.

Now is a good time to prepare, if you have not already done so, and to begin engaging in those simple procedures that may help us weather this.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Worst Day For Stocks Since 2011 - What We Need Is Even More of the Same

"It is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice, perjury, and treachery. These may, perhaps, succeed at first, and limp along on hope for awhile with a flourishing appearance. But time betrays their weakness, and they eventually fall into ruin of their own designs."

Demosthenes


"Monetary and regulatory policy encourage asset bubbles to proliferate. Hot money seeks out the conscious mispricing of risk.  Capital, in the form of both money and personal talent, increasingly flows into malinvestment and the gaming of markets.  The productive economy languishes, left wanting for the lack of creative resources and attention.   The bubble rises to unsustainable valuations— and fails, and a nation's capital is consumed."

Jesse 5 August 2019, The Men Who Sold the World


"This is going to end badly.  Big changes are coming.  What has been hidden will be revealed. Rough seas ahead, mateys."

Jesse, 22 January 2020, I See It Coming


"It is precisely this — high-powered computers and the swagger of those who operate them — that is causing worries over high-frequency trading’s increasing sway. 'The markets used to be about capital formation,' said Mr. Quast, the consultant. 'Now 80 percent of trading is driven by some form of statistical arbitrage. We are buying into a statistical house of cards that could unravel very quickly.'”

Landon Thomas, Inquiry Stokes Concern over Trading Firms that Shape Markets, 3 September 2009


“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Stocks were utterly hammered today, with the stock futures going out on the lows, and continuing to fall in selling after the bell.

Let's see, are we going to blame Bernie or the Deep State or CNN today?

Or maybe just the Fed.

The Fed certainly is culpable to a degree, again, because they went all in for not-QE in the 4th quarter, bending to pressure from the White House and the Banks, mostly the Banks.

And after the last crash the Fed held up their hand and kept volunteering for more and more regulatory responsibility.

They and their cronies and paymasters put the cherry on the top of this bubble.  Until it was just a matter of what trigger event was going to set it off.

Despite the spin and narratives, the financial system, like the rest of the economy, was interconnected, over-extended, poorly regulated, and fragile.

And the coronavirus is a big cherry on top, despite the self-serving happy talk being put out about it by the usual suspects in politics and the media.

And who could have seen it coming?

Not you, if you get your news from conmen and spokesmodels for the oligarchy.

We are very oversold here for the short term.  And a bounce, like the ones that they attempted to provoke the last couple of mornings, is possible.  And it might finally stick for a day.

Let's see if the Fed and Treasury step in and tries to save this bubble.  I am sure Trumpolini has Mnuchin and Kudlow on the job.

The longer term damage to the nation is going to tax the future for the working public.

The Dollar finished lower.  Silver was off a bit.

Gold was off $3 per ounce today.  Gold, unleveraged is a safe haven.

Things are going to be getting very real this year, even as some continue to deny reality, to an almost astonishing degree of self-absorption and denial.

What is it going to take?

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Not with a Bang but a Whimper

“But man, proud man,
Dressed in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assured—
His glassy essence—like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As makes the angels weep.”

William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure


"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.”

Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism


“It isn't that they can't see the solution.  It is that they can't see the problem.”

Gilbert K. Chesterton

Trump speaks tonight about the coronavirus situation.

Gold and silver continued to trade heavily in the aftermath of the latest Comex option expiration manipulation.

Silver has had a bit of a hard go of it, thanks to this expiration being in an active month for silver.   Gold not so much.

Stocks attempted to rally, again, but failed back to finish at a small loss.

In the last hour of trading there was a contest on financial TV to see who could say the more banal and misleading things about the stock market, while calling for Fed rate cuts immediately if not sooner.

Socialism for the corporations, austerity for the people.  Bought and paid for in corruption by the moneyed interests.

Have a pleasant evening.

Sto

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Stocks Plunge for a Second Day -- Comex Metals Option Expiration

"‘Let not the worldly boast of their knowledge, or the powerful of their influence, or the wealthy of their possessions.   Rather, let those who wish to boast speak only if they know me, and understand that I am the Lord, the God of an unfailing love, who brings justice and righteousness to the earth— and that it is in these things that I truly delight.'"

Jeremiah 9:22-25


"The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.  We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC and World Health have been working hard and very smart.   Stock Market starting to look very good to me!

Donald Trump, Monday, 24 February 2020

It should look even better after today.

The bulls were trying to rally stocks higher after the 3% down day yesterday.

And they were making some headway, until the CDC issued a warning of a pandemic, and its likely spread with the US.  Duh.

This was a likely outcome to anyone who has been following the facts of the developing situation, and not blindly buying the lavishly financed narratives of Wall Street's stock touts and conmen.

Speaking of which, the safe havens gold and silver were shamelessly hammered lower, particularly in the last hour, in honor of the Comex option expiration today for the precious metals. Isn't strafing the lifeboats considered bad form among a civilized people?

Are we not exceptional?  Are you not entertained?

Have a pleasant evening.