Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Non-Farm Payrolls Next Friday

Nero

“Arm yourself with wisdom, arm yourself with knowledge;
folly is a fierce lion roaming the streets.”

Matshona Dhliwayo


“Yet what is expectation but a kind of folly, and what is that folly but an excess of hope?”

Alexandre Dumas


"Where are the princes of this world, and those who lorded it over the creatures of the earth? Those who made sport of the birds of the air, and hoarded up riches in which they trusted, and for whom there is no limit to their greed, those who schemed to get wealth, and were always anxious about their possessions.

But now there is no trace left of them. They have vanished down into the bowels of the earth, and others have risen to take their place."

Baruch 3:16-19


"Jesus asked him a third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And Peter said, ‘Lord, you know all things— you know that I love you.’ And Jesus said, ‘Feed my lambs.'

'Verily, verily, I say to you, when you were young, you dressed yourself, and walked where you liked. But when you are old, you will stretch out your your hands, and another will dress you, and take you where you would not like to go.'

And then he said to him, ‘Follow me!’"

John 21:17-19

Stocks were a bit wobbly most of the day, but rallied into the close when Trumpolini did not anything economically destructive in his press conference.

Gold and silver managed to climb a bit while the dollar finished largely unchanged.

Silver in particular has been staging an impressive 'catch up' rally for the past week or so.

I was out of pocket most of the day, so I am playing a little catch up of my own.

The young man is back here, and has started working from home in his new job. He is in 'quarantine' after his return from England.

There will be the May Non-Farm Payrolls report next Friday.

Need little, want less, love more. For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Pop and Flop

"Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future."

Marcus Aurelius


"A narcissist will deliberately damage other people in pursuit of their own selfish desires, but may regret and will in some circumstances show remorse for doing so, while a malignant narcissist will harm others and enjoy doing so, showing little empathy or regret for the damage they have caused.”

John D. Garner

Stocks were trying to extend their rally today, but fizzled badly into the close.

Are they ready to roll over? It might take some sort of exogenous event to get that ball rolling.

But the market valuations are thinly supported and vulnerable to a serious sell off, unless the ESF and powers that be once again choose to expend public funds to support it.

Gold and silver rose a bit with the Dollar lower.

Donny was roiling markets today as he and his merry pranksters attempt to divert attention from their pervasive corruption and inept handling of the nation's business with emotional bread and circuses.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Devil Take the Hindmost - Here We Go Again

"Hubris calls for nemesis, and in one form or another it's going to get it, not as a punishment from outside but as the completion of a pattern already started."

Mary Midgley, The Myths We Live By


"Over the past 30 years the plutocrats have used their vastly increased wealth to capture the flag and assure the government does their bidding. This marriage of money and politics has produced an America of gross inequality at the top and low social mobility at the bottom, with little but anxiety and dread in between, as middle class Americans feel the ground falling out from under their feet.

Like those populists of that earlier era, millions of Americans have awakened to a sobering reality: they live in a plutocracy, where they are disposable. Then, the remedy was a popular insurgency that ignited the spark of democracy. Now we have come to another parting of the ways, and once again the fate and character of our country are up for grabs."

Bill Moyers, last episode of Bill Moyers Journal, 30 April 2010


“A mighty bubble of wealth is blown before our eyes, as empty, as transient, as contradictory to the laws of solid material, as confuted by every circumstance of actual condition, as any other bubble which man or child ever blew before.”

Edward Chancellor, Devil Take the Hindmost


"This is funny."

Doc Holliday, last words, November 8, 1887, Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Stocks are reaching for a high note, on a bubble of easy money and slack oversight, as well as a lack of adult supervision.

Gold was hit hard today but bounced back.  Pure shenanigans.

Trump is losing it.  Nothing could be more obvious, even by his standards which are pretty weird.

Not much good can be said for the character of the rest of the political establishment and the elites in general.

That does not bode well for a country skimming the edge of the abyss.

Things could get quite intense and exciting over the next few months.

Learn to pray.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Another Comex Options Expiration - Bluster and Bravado

"Another toast to Citizens United, gentlemen?"

"It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes."

Andrew Jackson, On the Second Bank of the United States


"Jim, lad, there be consequences an' then there be consequences. Devil take 'em all, says I, and pass aft the rum."

Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

It was a risk on day today, with the prospects for risky assets rising higher on a wave of hot air.

The NDX was a huge non-confirmation of this latest rally, as the futures actually finished unchanged. The SP futures did better but still gave up much of their gains.

Gold was hit hard as expected for a key futures month in option expiration. Silver gave up its gains and finished in the red as well.

The Dollar was lower.

Today was an excellent example of the deep and cynical corruption of the financial system, overfunded and underregulated.

Let's see how the rest of the week goes.

The young man is back from England, working from home now at his new job. He is in two weeks quarantine here. I bought the supplies today for a small garden, so he can fulfill his new interests in that regard in addition to his technical work.

We always had a modest garden, but over the past years had taken it down and returned it to the lawn.

As Cicero noted, 'if you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'

Have a pleasant evening.