Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Return to Normality - Comex Option Expiration Shenanigans

 

"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 forces of evil are united; the forces of good are divided. 

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

Fulton J. Sheen

 

"Do not join your efforts with the false and treacherous, for what does justice have to do with lawlessness?   Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?   What is there in common between Christ and Belial?  What do the faithful have in common with the faithless?"

2 Corinthians 6:14-16

 

Stocks slumped hard overnight, and in the morning trade, as Russia conducted a large scale incursion into the Ukraine.

Gold and silver and the Dollar soared.

But about midday the markets decided that they were tired of the war, and wanted to move on.

So stocks did a u-turn and rallied hard into the close to finish green.

 War, what is it good for?  Apparently the US markets.

Gold and silver fell back from their lofty highs and plummeted back into the red.

One day after the Comex option expiration, with the punters holding a lot of new futures contracts.

And they received a fairly substantial 'wash and rinse.'

They often call this 'buy the rumor and sell the news.'  

Or in this case I suppose it was 'sell the rumor and buy the news.'

In the short term paper markets in general are just a game of liars poker.

And our financial system has some of the biggest and most shameless liars in the world.

Let's see how we slouch into the weekend.  

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Chart - Who Could Have Seen It Coming?

 

"Could you see, what God sees, those snares and pitfalls which the devil is placing about your path; could you see that all your idle thoughts which you cherish, which seem so bright and pleasant, so much pleasanter than religious thoughts, are inspired by that ancient seducer of mankind, doubtless you would tremble, even as he does while he tempts you. 

But this you cannot possibly see, you cannot break your delusion, except by first taking God's word in this matter on trust. You cannot see the unseen world at once. They who ever speak with God in their hearts, are in turn taught by Him in all knowledge; but they who refuse to act upon the light, which God gave them by nature, at length come to lose it altogether. 

May God save us all from such wilful sin, old as well as young, and enlighten us one and all in His saving knowledge, and give us the will and the power to serve Him."

John Henry Newman

 

"Listen you greedy ones.  Weep and groan with sorrow because of the terrible troubles coming for you. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This  treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment.  

Hear the cries of the workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who work for you have reached the ears of the Lord of heaven's host.  You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.  You have condemned and ruined innocent people, who could not resist you."

James 5:1-6

 

Stocks made another weak rally attempt in the overnight, and then fell down hard in the trading day, going out near the lows.

The NDX has now hit the 38.2 fibonacci retracement level for it's long bubblicious rally.

Who could have seen it coming?

Gold and silver continued to move higher.

In all this excitement they pretty much ignored the Comex option expiration today, even though it was for a fairly inconsequential contract month. 

Tomorrow is another day.

The Dollar drifted back over the 96 handle.

The markets will continue to be volatile and dangerous as previously cautioned.

The markets were unstable, with weak underpinnings for lofty valuations.

All it took was a trigger event.

If not the Ukraine it would have been something else. 

Are you not entertained?

Have a pleasant evening.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Audacious Oligarchy

 

"Kaplan was a voting member of the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in 2020, where he had access to market-moving information throughout the unprecedented first year of the pandemic. There was no good reason for a man in this position to be trading in S&P 500 futures for his own account.

Powell’s response ignores the fact that Kaplan’s trading dates were legally required to be provided on his financial disclosure forms from 2015 through 2020 and weren’t.  That’s public information that Kaplan failed to provide. It’s long overdue to the public.  Having that information before the Senate votes to confirm Powell for another four years as Fed Chairman would allow the public to decide just how incompetently the Fed was being run under Powell.

Wall Street on Parade, Fed Just Added Short Selling and Margin Leverage to List of Restricted Trades

 

“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future.  When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations."

Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

 

"Our future could be one in which continued tumult feeds the looting of the financial system, and we talk more and more about exactly how our oligarchs became bandits and how the economy just can’t seem to get into gear." 

Simon Johnson, The Quiet Coup, May 2009

 

Stocks slumped again today over geopolitical and other exogenous concerns that are exposing the fault lines in the supply chains, public works, and financial asset valuations.

The pundits were crowing and smirking their delight this morning when stock futures managed to come back off the shocking lows of the holiday weekend.  

"It's priced in, and the markets are ready for it."

Gold and silver had rallied hard on the geo-jitters, but came back from the highs, and lows, to finished just a bit higher.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

The Dollar chopped sideways.

In all this contradictory noise there is only one struggle that is worth your concern.  

Too many are distracted and ignore what is most important, exhausted by worries and seduced by wealth.

And so the love of most grows cold.

Have a pleasant evening.

"'Help, Lord, for no one loyal remains;
the faithful have vanished from the children of men.
They tell lies to one another;
they speak with deceiving lips and hypocritical hearts.

May the Lord silence their flattering lips
and close their boastful mouths that say.
'Through our words we have power;
we say whatever we wish—who can be our master?'

'Because of the oppression of the afflicted
and the groaning of the poor,
I will now come,' says the Lord.
'I will put the one who longs for it in a safe place.'"

Psalm 12:1-6

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Childish Things

 

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger?   By what means shall we fortify against it?--  Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow?   Never!--  All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected?  I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us.   It cannot come from abroad.   If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.  As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide." 

Abraham Lincoln, Lyceum Address, 27 January 1838 

 

"And they [historians] will ask the question, Why did we, scholars and writers in America, in this time, we who had been warned of our danger not only by explicit threats but by explicit action, why did we not fight this danger while the weapons we used best - the weapons of ideas and words - could still be used against it?" 

Archibald Macleish, The Irresponsibles, 1940 

 

“Against foolishness we are defenseless.  Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the foolish person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Prisoner for God: Letters and Papers from Prison

 

"Demagoguery refers to a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the popular prejudices, emotions, fears and expectations of the public — typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist or populist themes, usually singling out a group or groups."

 

Stocks moved lower again today in a volatile session with geopolitical risks weighing on the bubble momentum mentality.

Gold and silver held their recent gains better than might have been expected for a stock option expiration. 

There will be a Comex precious metals futures options expiration next Wednesday.

See you on Tuesday.

Have a pleasant weekend.