Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - May

"It is an old maxim and a very sound one, that he that dances should always pay the fiddler.  Now, sir, in the present case, if any gentlemen, whose money is a burden to them, choose to lead off a dance, I am decidedly opposed to the people's money being used to pay the fiddler...

These capitalists generally act harmoniously, and in concert, to fleece the people, and now, that they have got into a quarrel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people's money to settle the quarrel."

Abraham Lincoln, Speech in the Illinois Legislature Concerning the State Bank, 11 January 1837


“But you can't make people listen.  They have to come round in their own time, wondering what happened, and why the world blew up around them.”

Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451


"Dividers speak evil about things that are different, 'the other,' or which they do not understand. Like instinctive animals, they follow wherever their passions lead them, and so they bring about their destruction. What sorrow awaits them. For they follow in the footsteps of Cain, who killed his own brother. Like Balaam, they deceive other people for money. And like Korah, they destroy themselves with their rebellious natures.

If they eat with you in your fellowship meals of the Lord’s love, they are hidden and dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land but not giving any rain. They are like wild waves of the sea, which churn up foam with their shameful deeds. They are orphaned stars, doomed to wander forever in blackest darkness.

People like this are detractors and complainers, living only to satisfy their desires. They are loudly boastful and arrogant, bragging loudly about themselves, and flattering others to get what they want."

Jude 1:10-13,16

Stocks gave up much of the bubbly, optimistic gains that market had taken at the end of the quarter in the past two days.

Gold and silver moved a bit lower, with the Dollar steady.

Next week we will see a Non-Farm payrolls report on Friday.

The consensus is for a fairly hefty loss of jobs.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Pampered Princes

“He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything.  That points clearly to a political career.”

George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara


"Pride makes us artificial, and humility makes us real."

Thomas Merton


"And they said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us!  Hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb!  For the great Day of His judgement has come!  And who among us can stand?'”

Revelation 6:16-17

Stocks were in profit-taking today.

And yet the Dollar, gold and silver were lower, with the VIX higher.

How could such a lively little market be so boring?

And yet it was.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - We Are the Champions - Hubris and Nemesis

"Nemesis, the goddess of retribution and vengeance, the punisher of pride and hubris, waits impatiently for her meeting with us."

Chalmers Johnson


"This is the contempt in which they hold the majority of American people and the political process: the common people are easily led fools, and everyone else who is smart enough to know better has their price. And they would beggar every middle class voter in the US before they will voluntarily give up one dime of their ill gotten gains."

Simon Johnson, The Quiet Coup, May 2009


"As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool returns to his folly."

Proverbs 26:11


"Everyone knows that plagues have a way of recurring throughout history, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in the ones that crash down on us out of the sky. There have always been plagues and wars, yet they always take us by surprise. When war breaks out people say it's stupid and won't last long. Stupidity has a knack of getting in the way, which we would see if not wrapped up in ourselves. In this our townsfolk were like everybody else— they did not believe in plagues."

Albert Camus, The Plague

Stocks rallied hard on the news that a vaccine may be closer than thought.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Downfall - These Violent Delights

Anthonisz, Allegory of Transitoriness

"These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder."

William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet


“He will choose you, disarm you with his words, and control you with his presence.  He will delight you with his wit and his plans.  He will smile and deceive you, and he will scare you with his eyes.   And when he is through with you, and he will be through with you, he will desert you, and take with him your innocence and your pride."

Robert D. Hare, Without Conscience

Stocks finished lower across the board today, as the markets adjust to their recent sharp gains from the bottom, just a month or so ago.

Gold and silver showed the kind of weakness we have come to expect the day after a comex metals option expiration.

Gold seems to be in a triangle pattern that *most likely* will be a continuation pattern for its test of 1800, and beyond.

The big tickle tomorrow will be the advance 1Q GDP numbers, and of course the FOMC rate decision and press conference which will be around 1 PM.

You would hardly notice that the market recently crashed, and in a big way.

I have people ask me even recently if i thought the market would crash. It's like, 'hello?'

I guess our attention span really is that short. Or we are that convinced of our exceptionalism.

We are just still bouncing off the bottom, after the Fed and government literally tossed trillions, directly at the markets and corporate America, with a few crumbs for the sparrows in the public.

I would try not to underestimate the self-absorbed incompetency of the DNC's avaricious and badly-aging elites, but for the most part Trump is pretty much done— you can stick a fork in him.

Yeah, I know, he will maintain a hard core of highly vocal supporters even to the end, but he has lost the big money guys, and most of the discerning public. It was a try for a change, but it flopped.

His political instincts are awful, and his aversion to listening to expert advice is crippling.  He should have limited his personal exposure on this viral crisis, which for the most part was badly handled by most of Washington's leadership.

His almost childlike grabbing center stage and inability to recognize and deal with issues in an effective manner tended to highlight his weaknesses as a political leader, which are almost astonishing at times.

And yet he is hardly the worst in the wings of potential leaders from that side of polticial spectrum.

The problem is that there is a huge leadership gap with his stepping off the stage on the other side of the aisle as well.   I don't see Biden doing much except safeguarding the status quo ante for corporate America, while paying lip service to change and reform.

And seeing Hillary coming back to the stage for an encore is off-putting for a country yearning for change to say the least.   The Democrats need a makeover, badly.  They cannot do it for themselves, because they are mired in a credibility trap and big money.

The looting and imbalance will most likely continue, until change comes from some unexpected source and direction.

Have a pleasant evening.