Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Sifted - Lead Kindly Light

 

"You may wish to prepare for a period of relative self-sufficiency in your home, as unlikely as that may seem to be for us now.  The coronavirus seems to be 'gathering steam.'   Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst as they say. Love God as He loves you, and be not afraid."

Jesse, 12 February 2020

 

"Anger blows out the lamp of the mind. In the examination of a great and important question, every one should be serene, slow-pulsed, and calm.  Intelligence is not the foundation of arrogance.  Insolence is not logic.  Epithets are the arguments of malice.”

Robert Green Ingersoll

 

"Wonderful providence indeed which is so silent, yet so efficacious, so constant, so unerring.  This is what baffles the power of Satan.  He cannot discern the Hand of God in what goes on; and though he would fain meet it and encounter it, in his mad and blasphemous rebellion against heaven, he cannot find it." 

John Henry Newman

 

"The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned... Mountains and hills, come, come, and fall on me, And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!” 

Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus

 

Stocks had a risk on look to them today, buoyed by the news of another well-performing coronavirus vaccine.   

As an exogenous factor the national election is no longer a risk, although there looks to be quite a bit of sturm und drang ahead, as some leave office fitfully.

Gold and silver were unchanged, and the dollar drifted just a bit lower.

There will be an option expiration for stocks this week, and an important Comex option expiration for the precious metals on the 24^th.

We are heading into the holiday season now, and market dislocations are not seasonally inclined.  

We have come to put our trust in shameless lies and the will to power.

And the love of most grows cold, their consciences dull, and their hearts sifted and laid bare by lies.

What could go wrong?

Have a pleasant evening.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - And We're On Our Way

 

"As everything in what used to be called creation becomes a commodity, human beings begin to look at one another, and at themselves, in a funny way, and they see price tags. There was a time when people spoke, at least occasionally, of 'inherent worth'— if not of things, then at least of persons." 

Harvey Cox 

 

"Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people." 

Garrison Kellor

 

Stocks up. 

Gold and silver higher. 

VIX (volatility risk) lower but still elevated. 

The Dollar continues to slip off the 93 handle. 

And away we go, with our minds firmly rooted in fantasy.

 Have a pleasant weekend. 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Oligarchy Is Audacious

 

"Financial predators are usually narcissistic and audacious.  They regularly have an extreme sense of entitlement coupled with high self-efficacy.  Many of them have a charismatic quality and are preternaturally persuasive.  Financial predators are commonly shameless and quite adept serial liars.  They perceive themselves having near unlimited guile and resourcefulness to extricate themselves out of any compromising situations." 

Russ Alan Prince

 

"We've become, now, an oligarchy instead of a democracy. I think that's been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I've ever seen in my life." 

Jimmy Carter

 

"Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity.” 

Tacitus 

The Dollar drifted around the 93 handle, finishing slightly lower. 

Gold and silver moved a little higher. 

Stocks were in risk off mode, but managed to curtail their losses in the last hour of trading in the US.

Have a pleasant evening. 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Where Angels Fear to Tread

 

"Beauty is but a flower
Which wrinkles shall devour;
Brightness falls from the air;
Queens have died young and fair;
Dust hath closed Helen’s eye.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us."

Thomas Nashe, A Litany In Time of Plague

"Here we may reign secure, and in my choice to reign is worth ambition though in Hell:  Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven." 

John Milton, Paradise Lost 

 

"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; they did not believe in plagues." 

Albert Camus

 

Stocks were for the most part higher. 

Gold and silver were knocked back down. 

The Dollar drifted a bit higher. 

We are in one of those periods of deep denial, of business as usual. 

The scams of yesterday and the brute assertion of our own reality is an old habit that remains.

It might even be safe to say that this has been our default approach to life for some time now. 

It is certainly the style of choice for a good part of the public, and their thought leaders and talking heads. 

I have never thought I would see so many people just throwing themselves away.  

The amazement at the willful blindness reminds me of the astonishment at folly of the German people in the letters that Bonhoeffer wrote from prison.

We have no shame, no sense of proportion or our own place in our selfishness and mad defiance.

And we do it because, in the short term, we can.

Have a pleasant evening.