Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Geo-Political Jitters Shake Equity Markets, Trigger Flight to Safer Assets

 

“Reality denied comes back to haunt.”

Philip K. Dick, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said  

 

"This market is one exogenous event away from a meltdown."

Jesse 11 January 2022

 

“Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky.  There have been as many plagues as wars in history, yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise." 

Albert Camus, The Plague 

 

"The essence of God is existence, and He defines Himself as: 'I am Who am.'  The essence of the devil is the lie, and he defines himself as: 'I am who am not.'  Satan has very little trouble with those who do not believe in him; they are already on his side.

Those who have the faith had better keep in the state of grace, for in the coming age there will be only one way to stop your trembling knees, and that will be to get down on them and pray.  The most important problem in the world today is your soul, for that is what the struggle is about." 

Fulton J. Sheen

The simmering situation on the border between Russia and the Ukraine surfaced today.

It's not that anything terribly new has happened.   

The markets just stopped ignoring the increasingly tense situation.

Stocks sold off again-- hard.

The failed rally attempts off that last blow off top keep piling up.

Gold and silver and the Dollar rallied today in a classic flight to safer assets.

Bitcoin apparently didn't get the safer asset seal of approval.

Let's see what next week brings.

Have a pleasant weekend.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Loss and Gain - The Spice Must Flow

 

"Then the Lord said to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  But only one thing is worthy of concern.'" 

 Luke 10:41-42

 

"They have treated the suffering of my people carelessly, saying, ‘all is well’ when there is no safety. They act shamefully, they commit terrible offenses; and yet they are not ashamed, and do not even know how to blush.   They shall be found among the fallen." 

Jeremiah 6:14-15 

 

"The selfishness of an age that has devoted itself to the mere cult of pleasure has tainted the whole human race with an error that makes all our acts more or less lies against God.  It is better to find God on the threshold of despair than to risk our lives in a complacency that has never felt the need of forgiveness." 

Thomas Merton 

 

"All persons desire to be saved, but the greater part, because they will not adopt the means of being saved, fall into sin and are lost." 

Alphonsus Liguori

 

"The rich man replied, ‘If someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’  But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone rises from the dead.’” 

Luke 16:30-31

 

"In the end there is only one real tragedy, not to have been a saint." 

Léon Bloy

 

 The CPI numbers came in hot this morning.

And the yields on Treasuries climbed to multi-year (decade?) highs.

Smells like teen spirit.

And so stocks fell hard, bounced and then fell harder again.

Gold and silver rallied on inflation and then fell off during the day with stocks.

The Dollar chopped sideways.

I came in short from late yesterday, covered, and then shorted the bounce again.

I ended up flat, but I did leave some potential profits on the table.  

I mention this only because I have not taken two roundtrips on the short side in a day like this in many years.

This is a deadly black diamond market, pros only.

A seemingly endless wash and rinse.   The financial navigators demand the spice must flow.

Let's see what the rest of the week brings.

I am watching the metals and miners especially, but am being slow to act on the bullish side here.

I do foresee a batch of homemade oatmeal raisin cookies with walnuts in my future.  Yum.

It's the little things that make life worth living.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Unloving, Unforgiven - CPI Tomorrow

 

"Remember that there will be trying times in the last days.  For people will love only themselves and their money.  They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, dishonoring their parents, and ungrateful.  To them nothing is sacred.  

They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control.  They will be cruel and despise what is good.   They will betray their friends, be reckless and proud, and love pleasures of the world more than God.  

They may talk like they are religious, but they will reject the grace that could make them righteous."

2 Timothy 3:1-5 

 

"Gloom is no Christian temper; that repentance is not real, which has not love in it; that self-chastisement is not acceptable, which is not sweetened by faith and cheerfulness. 

We attempt for the most part what we know; we begin what we think we can go through. Our sins are more in number than the hairs of our head; yet even the hairs of our head are all numbered by Him.  He counts our sins, and, as He counts, so can He forgive; for that reckoning, great though it be, comes to an end; but His mercies fail not, and His Son's merits are infinite." 

John Henry Newman

 

"For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you."

Matthew 7:2

 

Stocks went on a tear to the upside today, as momentum gained traction once again.

The CPI numbers tomorrow will be closely watched, for any impact on Fed actions.

Gold and silver moved higher.

The Dollar drifted lower.

Markets are at thresholds.  

Tomorrow's data may have an impact.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Spice Must Flow

 

"So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, saying:  'Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders, but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?'   And Jesus answered, 'Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:

This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines what are human traditions.

You disregard God’s commandment but cling to what are merely customs.'  He went on to say, 'How well you have set aside the commandments of God, in order to uphold your own ways.'" 

Mark 7:5-13 

 

"Come, let us bring joy to the Lord,  let us sing with joy to the rock of our salvation.   Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving, and sing to Him with joy.  For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all. 

In His hands are the deep places of the earth, and the heights of the mountains. The sea which He made is His, and His hands formed the dry land.  Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, who is our maker. 

For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation and the day of trials in the wilderness."

Psalm 95 

Stocks managed to shake off their early losses, and turn higher, finishing in the green.

Gold and silver were higher.

The Dollar chopped sideways.

The prognosis for the equity markets remains weak, because their underpinnings are hollowed and with little conviction.

 Have a pleasant evening.