Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Into the Weekend

"We looked into the abyss if the gold price rose further. A further rise would have taken down one or several trading houses, which might have taken down all the rest in their wake.  Therefore at any price, at any cost, the central banks had to quell the gold price, manage it.  It was very difficult to get the gold price under control but we have now succeeded.   The US Fed was very active in getting the gold price down.  So was the U.K." 

Eddie George, Governor Bank of England, in a conversation with CEO of Lonmin, September 1999

 Stocks were weaker today, continuing the slide from yesterday for the quad witch option expiration.

They did recover some of their losses into the closing hour for the weekend. 

The Dollar was choppy and weak, but managed to close almost unchanged.

Gold and silver were a little stronger but closed almost unchanged.

Next week is a Comex option expiration for gold, for the October contract.  

The physical inventories in Hong Kong Comex warehouses remained very thin.

Repentance - forgiveness - thankfulness.

There are the three great gifts of His tender mercy.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Of Plagues and Ponzis and the Devil - Quad Witch Option Expiration Tomorrow

"This (pandemic) has, indeed, been a war against an invisible enemy. But it was fought with lies and coverups instead of a carefully constructed, long-term battle plan that all Americans were committed to and engaged in."

Pam and Russ Martens, Wall Street on Parade

 

"The loveliest of the Devil's tricks is to make you believe that he does not exist."

Charles Pierre Baudelaire

 

"Foolishness has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves.  In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves; in other words they were human: they did not believe in plagues." 

Albert Camus, The Plague

 

The plague is indifferent to whom it sickens and kills.   But the Devil believes in you, desire to consume you.

Stocks took a dive this morning, but managed to claw a chunk of it back into the close. 

Gold and silver were also hit, but finished in the green. 

These are pre quad witch shenanigans. 

I hope they did not unnecessarily whipsaw you out of your positions. 

I came in short stocks and light on gold in my trading position, but covered and took some gold longs in the first hour.

The dollar moved lower. 

The more physically tied Hong Kong gold warehouses are very light on the metal. 

Let see what antics the Wall Street wiseguys will have for us tomorrow. 

And what antics the Washington clown show might provide to shake things up for the weekend.

Have a pleasant evening. 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Let's Party Like It's 1929 - Quad Witch Option Expiration on Friday

 

“Human nature being what it is, small loopholes are likely to be exploited until they become big ones, and big ones until they turn into financial disasters.”

Seth Klarman

 

“Speculators may do no harm as bubbles on a steady stream of enterprise. But the position is serious when enterprise becomes the bubble on a whirlpool of speculation.”

 John Maynard Keynes

 

 “As a rule, Panics do not destroy capital; they merely reveal the extent to which it has been previously destroyed by its betrayal into hopelessly unproductive works.”

 John Stuart Mill

 

“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

 

Stocks tried to rally today.

There was a sector shift out of big cap tech and into the broader small caps and the Dow.

 But alas, it was not meant to be. 

Stocks went out on the lows of the day, as Powell Punch lacked enough sizzle to keep the party going.

Jerome Powell made some very incisive points in his press conference, especially with regard to the relative fragility of the recovery due to its striking lack of broad participation and organic growth.

He did say that they saw no asset bubbles, but what else would he be expected to say in his position.

Gold and silver were rallying, but gave up some of their gains.

The dollar was slumping but was largely unchanged.

The 'dot plot' indicates that the Fed will keep interest rates close to zero through 2023.

The economic data from July showed a striking lack of foreign money flowing into US debt.

#la_douleur_du_monde

There will be a quad witch expiration on Friday.

We turned the heat on this morning for the first time this season.  It was very cold overnight.

Google seems determined to force me to use this dopey new version of blogger. It has some real drawbacks, and no discernible advantages.   I wonder why they did it, and for whom?  The old version worked well and was stable.  This new one is awkward and buggy.

Well, at least the price is right.

Autumn is in the air.   Winter is coming.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Bonfires and Vanities - FOMC Tomorrow

“An enthusiastic philosopher, of whose name we are not informed, had constructed a very satisfactory theory on some subject or other, and was not a little proud of it. 'But the facts, my dear fellow,' said his friend, 'the facts do not agree with your theory.'

'Don't they?' replied the philosopher, shrugging his shoulders, 'then, tant pis pour les faits' — so much the worse for the facts!”

Charles Mackay


"Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be:
They are but broken lights of thee,
And thou, O Lord, art more than they."

Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam


“Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves.  But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, something is out of tune."

Carl Jung


"He prompts you what to say, and then listens to you, and praises you, and encourages you.  He bids you mount aloft.  He shows you how to become as gods.  Then he laughs and jokes with you, and gets intimate with you; he takes your hand, and gets his fingers between yours, and grasps them, and then you are his."

John Henry Newman

Never short a stock or stock index just because it has moved higher.

FOMC tomorrow.

Quad witch option expiration on Friday.

Keep your eyes open. Things are progressing faster than one might have expected.

 

We are well into the hysteria.  And now and then, with a touch of defiant madness, anger, and pride.

Perhaps now is the time to take some profits as one may have them in equities, and redeploy them in safe havens, including cash.

The bubble is frothing.

And so is Trumpolini. 

Neither is likely to end well.

Have a pleasant evening.