Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Exceptional

 

"I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside.  I do not mean that they may not wish to come out of hell, but they certainly do not will even the first preliminary stages of that self-abandonment through which alone the soul can reach any good."

C. S. Lewis 

 

“They support freedom for themselves and slavery for everyone else, and they use the freedom of the market to disguise this.” 

Robert Peate

 

"If there are damned souls in Hell, it is because men blind themselves.” 

E.A. Bucchianeri, Faust: My Soul Be Damned for the World 

 

“Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, or even a duty. Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction."

Simone Weil

 

"Then it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature.  It will be too late then to choose your side.  That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it before or not." 

C. S. Lewis, 1944 

 

"True opium of the people is the belief in nothingness after death, the huge solace, the huge comfort of thinking that for our betrayals, our greed, our cowardice, our murders, that we are not going to be judged.” 

Czeslaw Milosz, The Discreet Charm of Nihilism

 

The CPI came in hot as expected, especially if one is looking at the short term and year-over-year comparisons.

Stocks managed to shake off their early malaise, and powered ahead back to within reach of the all time highs.

Gold and silver managed a bit of a bounce, but are still caught up in a trading range.

The Dollar slipped a bit, but managed to hang on to the 96 handle.

VIX is finding a place on its moving averages, but is significantly off its highs.

People always seem to think that it is different this time.

What is less recognized is that they always think that they are somehow different— exceptional.

Sometimes when I communicate with people I wonder that they understand anything that I include here at all.

It always applies to some other guy, especially someone they don't like, or who are far off in history.

But the rules, the judgement, the consequences, never seem to apply to us.  

We're special by whatever rationale we may choose to apply.  Master race, special knowledge, magic words, enhanced pedigree, powerful friends, some ideology rooted in fantasy, some theory promoted by very important people, etc.

Or as so many prefer, just blithely ignore the issue all together, and resent being reminded of it.

Caught up in a cycle of pride, greed, and fear, they become deluded and enslaved by the very things that they think they stand far above, and even despise.  

And so they cannot bear to see things are they are and may go to monstrous lengths to protect their illusions.  And create a hell on earth.

Have a pleasant weekend.

 

 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Purgatorio

 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

 

"Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring.  Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.  Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, or even a duty." 

Simone Weil

 

"Be wary of those who cause divisions and undermine the faithful, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned.  Avoid them.  For such people do not serve our Lord, but their own appetites and desires.  And by clever words and flattery they deceive the hearts of many of the innocent and easily led." 

Romans 16:17-18

 

"Try not our strength, so easily subdued,
against the ancient Adversary, but set it free
from that which would twist it to perversity."

Dante, Purgatorio

 

"In the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God.  Thereafter, any attack, even on the least of men, is an attack on Christ, who took on the form of man, and in his own Person restored the image of God in all.   

Through our relationship with the Incarnation, we recover our true humanity, and at the same time are delivered from that perverse individualism which is the consequence of sin, and recover our solidarity with all mankind."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison

 

Stocks were hammered into the close after trading weakly most of the day. 

The broader Russell 2000 was signalling the weakness, and the SP and NDX played catch up.

I came in short equities, and closed them out into the close ahead of the CPI data tomorrow. 

These markets seem to be locked onto a permanent wash and rinse cycle.

Stocks need to make a new high, badly.

Gold fell, and silver was hammered lower back down to $22.

The VIX bounced higher off its moving averages.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

There is a video about silver manipulation at the bottom of this posting that I have previously included.    

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Stocks Need To Make a New High

 

"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." 

Revelation 12:1

 

"Kneeling beside the much enduring bond-woman, he experienced those holy mysteries as he had done in his youth.  He seemed able to feel all it meant to her to know that there was a kind woman in Heaven, though there were such cruel ones on earth.  

Old people, who have felt blows and toil and known the world’s hard hand, need, even more than children do, a woman’s tenderness."

Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop

Stocks swung in a range today, but managed to finish slightly in the green.

After yesterday's strong rally they are back once again within range of the all time highs.

Stocks need to make a new high to keep their bullish momentum going.

So the markets will be watching the CPI data on Friday.

The Dollar fell, and is back in the middle of the 95 handle.

Gold and silver were up slightly.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Where Are the Princes of This World? - Ubi Sunt

 

"What has become of any of them?
What remains of our handsome nobility?
And of the many fads and fashions
They brought with them?
What remains of their jousts and tournaments,
Gilded ornamentations, fancy embroideries
And feathered tops?
Was all this insignificant waste?
Was it anything but a season's
fleeting touch of green on the fields?"

Jorge Manrique 

"This is how we know what love is: the Lord laid down his life for us.  And we are obliged to offer our lives for our brothers and sisters.   If anyone has more than enough and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?  Little children, let us not love with words or speech, but in the truth of our actions."

1 John 3:15-18

 

"The inability to identify with others was unquestionably the most important psychological condition for the fact that something like Auschwitz could have occurred in the midst of more or less civilized and innocent people." 

Theodor Adorno 

 

“If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can't have any practical result whatsoever, you've beaten them.” 

George Orwell 

 

 "The most important problem in the world today is your soul, for that is what the struggle is all about." 

 Fulton Sheen

 

Stocks went on a tear higher today, in full risk on mode, as all concerns were put aside and forgotten..   

The VIX fell sharply.

Gold and silver edged a bit higher, as the Dollar chopped sideways.

The markets are looking forward to the CPI data later this week.  It may be more emotive and symbolic, but it could move markets.

There is nothing wrong with making money, making a living.   Everyone has to do it in one way or another. 

As in most things,it is how we set our priorities, and how we use what we have.

Know your priorities, who it is you serve, for that is what you love, where your heart will abide.

Have a pleasant evening.