Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Gradually, and then Suddenly

"For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear,
and they have closed their eyes, so their eyes cannot see,
and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand,
and so they cannot turn to me, and let me heal them."

Matthew 13:15


"They do not see the image of Almighty God before them, and ask themselves what He wishes: if once they did this they would begin to see how much He requires, and they would earnestly come to Him, both to be pardoned for what they do wrong, and for the power to do better.  And, for the same reason that they do not please Him, they succeed in pleasing themselves."

John Henry Newman


"The wealthy, not only by private fraud but also by common laws, do every day pluck and snatch away from the people some part of their daily living.  They invent and devise all means and crafts, first how to keep safely without fear of losing that which they have unjustly gathered together, and next how to hire and abuse the work and labor of the people for as little money and effort as possible."

Thomas More


"Thomas More: When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water. And if he opens his fingers then— he needn't hope to find himself again."

Robert Bolt, A Man For All Seasons


"Blessed Thomas More is important today, but he is not as important now as he will be in one hundred years from today."

G. K. Chesterton, 1929

Gold and silver gave it a good try, but were unable to hold a breakout.

Both metals finished just below the key overhead resistance.

Stocks managed to put in some gains again, and this time hold them.

We *might* see a determined attempt to paint the tape into the end of the second quarter.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Tribes - Stimulus Failing in a Miserable Pit of Corruption and Incompetency

“Someone told me recently that a commentator or some sort had said, 'The United States is in spiritual free-fall.'   When people make such remarks, such appalling judgements, they never include themselves, their friends, those with whom they agree.   They have drawn, as they say, a bright line between an us and a them.

Those on the other side of the line are assumed to be unworthy of respect or hearing, and are in fact to be regarded as a huge problem to the us who presume to judge them.   This tedious pattern has repeated itself endlessly through human history and is, as I have said, the end of community and the beginning of tribalism.”

Marilynne Robinson, When I Was a Child


“The rich ruling class has used tribalism, a primitive caveman instinct, to their advantage since the beginning of time.   They use it to divide and conquer us.   They drive wedges between us peasants and make us fight each other, so we won’t rise up against our rulers and fight them.

You can observe the same old trick everywhere in America today.  That doesn’t just happen all by itself.  There are always voices instigating these fights.”

Oliver Markus Malloy

Today was an infamous 'quad witch' and a rebalancing of the SP 500 index.

Stocks were ripping higher in the morning, faded badly later in the day, and then went out slightly lower to unchanged into the close.

There was some discouragement in the news that Apple will be re-closing some stores in Florida.

Gold and silver ripped higher, finishing around important resistance but not yet breaking out.

There will be precious metal option expirations next week on the Comex for gold and silver. The calendars are included below.

July, which is the option contract expiring, is a dull month for gold but an active month for silver.

Right now the action in gold is centered on the August contract.

Trumpolini will be staging an indoor mass rally in Tulsa. This could be worth watching.

I hope he is not foolhardy enough to try and evoke violence for his own Reichstag event.  

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

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Darkness Rising - Quad Witch Option Expiration Tomorrow

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

Martin Luther King


“Booms start with some tie-in to reality, some reason which justifies the increase in asset values, and then -- and this is the critical feature of speculative mood -- the market loses touch with reality.”

John Kenneth Galbraith


"Day by day the money-masters of America become more aware of their danger, they draw together, they grow more class-conscious, more aggressive. The [first world] war has taught them the possibilities of propaganda ; it has accustomed them to the idea of enormous campaigns which sway the minds of millions and make them pliable to any purpose.

American political corruption was the buying up of legislatures and assemblies to keep them from doing the people's will and protecting the people's interests; it was the exploiter entrenching himself in power, it was financial autocracy undermining and destroying political democracy. By the blindness and greed of ruling classes the people have been plunged into infinite misery."

Upton Sinclair, The Brass Check

As befitting the day before a quad witch, stocks had a ranging day, but finished almost unchanged compared to the day's highs and lows.

The wash and rinse is on, and small specs are being cleansed of their funds.

The surprisingly high number for new unemployment claims put a dark cloud over dreams of a rosy dawn of a V-shaped recovery.

Although the SP 500 continues to lag, the big cap NASDAQ stocks are still near lofty all time highs.  They are the heart of the classic 'new era' speculation and spin.

Gold and silver were struggling all day, and the Dollar drifted a bit higher.

This is all going to end in a tragedy of course. What else can we expect when we allow ourselves to be convinced that printing money without end will have no consequences?

It does serve to make a few filthy rich— at the expense of almost everyone else.

It breeds self-deception, financial corruption, civil unrest, and the degradation of values.

But there are no serious consequences.  Right?

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Hair of the Dog - Policy Hangover Part IV - Belly Up to the Bar

“If getting drunk was how people forgot they were mortal, then hangovers were how they remembered.”

Matt Haig, The Humans


"In the field of monetary and credit policy, precautionary action to prevent inflationary excesses is bound to have some onerous effects— if it did not, it would be ineffective and futile. Those who have the task of making such policy don’t expect you to applaud. The Federal Reserve, as one writer put it after the recent increase in the discount rate, is in the position of the chaperone who has ordered the punch bowl removed just when the party was really warming up.”

William McChesney Martin, Speech to Investment Bankers Association of New York, October 1955


“Nothing spells trouble like two drunk cowboys with a rocket launcher.”

C.J. Box


"We're not even thinking about thinking about the consequences of our actions."

Jerome Powell, Chairman, Federal Reserve

Stocks attempted to rally again today, cheered on by the financial TV muppets and spokesmodels, riding the buzz from yesterday's retail sales numbers, and various fantasies about a cure for the coronavirus.

But alas, and again, stocks had their early rise, but then fell back into the close to finish lower or unchanged.

Gold and silver were under pressure most of the day, but managed to eke out a small gain into the close.

The Dollar gained a very small bit as well.

I cannot stress enough how volatile the situation is beneath the surface.

Madness.

Have a pleasant evening.