19 April 2022

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Behold All Things Made New

 

"They boast with pride about things of which they should be ashamed.  They think only about the privileges and glories of this world."

Philippians 3:20


"Some may then ask, why did He not manifest Himself by means of other and nobler parts of creation, and use some grander instrument, such as the sun or moon or stars or fire or air, instead of appearing as a mere man?   The answer is this. The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering humanity. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have been to appear and dazzle the beholders.

But for Him Who came to heal and to teach, the way was not merely to appear here, but to place Himself in the service of those who needed Him, and to be made known to them as they could bear to accept it, not misappropriating the value of the Divine appearance by exceeding their capacity to receive it, to make use of it."

Athanasius, On the Incarnation


"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.  Crafty and experienced as he is, he appears like a child or a fool, like one made sport of, whose daily bread is but failure and mockery.

If even devils, sagacious as they are, spirits by nature and experienced in evil, cannot detect His hand, while He works, how can we hope to see it except by that way which the devils cannot take, by loving faith?"

John Henry Newman

The Dollar moved higher on increases in Treasury yields, and especially because of the differentials with other nations in the DXY index.

Gold and silver were hit hard by the same.

Stocks enjoyed a risk on day surprisingly enough.

Let's see if the bulls can keep the 'exuberance' going.

When haughty people strut their stuff, the result is almost always unintentionally funny.   

That is because they have lost their way, and true sense of who they are.

Have a pleasant evening.

 



18 April 2022

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Risk Off, Risk On - The Triumph of Equivocation

 

"The money of vested interests nullifies genuine voter choice and trust.   The democracy gap in our politics and elections spells a deep sense of powerlessness by people who drop out, do not vote, or listlessly vote for the least worst every four years and then wonder why after every cycle the least worst gets worse.

We’re told that we’re a polarized society, right?  And, sure, there are differences between the Left and the Right over reproductive rights, school prayer, gun control, government regulation, and now, immigration.

That’s the way the ruling classes have manipulated people for more than two thousand years: divide and rule.  The only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door."

Ralph Nader, Crashing the Party, 2007


"Progress is a nice word.  But change is its motivator.  And change has its enemies.”

Robert F. Kennedy


"To achieve fat financial-sector profits, the housing and mortgage markets might as well have been merged with Las Vegas.    The principal inventors, hustlers , borrowers and culprits were the nation's 15-20 largest and best known financial institutions - including the ones that keep making headlines by demanding more bail-out money from Washington and giving huge bonuses.  These same institutions got much of the early bail-out money and as of December 2008 they accounted for over half of the bad assets written off.

The reason these needed so much money is that they government had let them merge, speculate, expand and experiment on dimensions beyond all logic.  That is why the complicit politicians and regulators have to talk about $100 billion here and $1 trillion there even while they pretend that it's all under control and that the run-amok financial sector remains sound.

But for the moment, let me underscore: the average American knows little of the dimensions of the financial sector aggrandizement and misbehavior involved.  Until this is remedied, there probably will not be enough informed, focused indignation to achieve far-reaching reform in the teeth of financial sector money and influence.  Equivocation will triumph.  This will not displease politicians and regulators leery of offending their contributors and backers."

Kevin Phillips, The Disaster Stage of US Financialization, April 7, 2009

Some days I just don't feel that adding any words is necessary for those who have been paying the least amount of attention to what has been going on.

And as for those that can't or more likely refuse to see it yet, they probably won't, until it gets them. 

Have a pleasant evening.

17 April 2022

Easter 2022 - He is Risen

 

"On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.  So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, 'They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.'

So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.  They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.  When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.

Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed."

John 20:1-8


"Do not abandon yourselves to despair.  We are the Easter people, and hallelujah is our song."

John Paul II


"Without a doubt, at the center of the New Testament there stands the Cross, which receives its interpretation from the Resurrection."

Hans Urs von Balthasar


"He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.  We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.  They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. 

This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.  He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.  

To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Acts of the Apostles 10:37-43


"Let us feel what we really are— sinners attempting great things.  Let us simply obey God’s will, whatever may come.  He can turn all things to our eternal good.  Easter day is preceded by the forty days of Lent, to show us that they only who sow in tears shall reap in joy."

John Henry Newman

 

He is truly risen.  

The tomb is empty, and death is overthrown,  and we are the heirs to eternal life.

'May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all.'   Rev 22:21

Alleluia, Alleluia.


14 April 2022

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - No One Sees What They Don't Want to See

 

"You push away every thought of disaster, but only bring the throne of iniquity closer."

Amos 6:3


“You felt secure in your wickedness.  ‘No one sees what I do,’ you think.   But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray. And you so believe that, ‘I am the only one, and no one else matters.’

Disaster will overtake you, and you won’t be able to charm it away.   Misfortune will descend upon you, and you won’t be able to buy your way out.  A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one for which you cannot prepare."

Isaiah 47:10-11


“There are two ways to be fooled.  One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”

Søren Kierkegaard


"Market dislocations are among those things that are not well defined and difficult to understand, especially for those who have never experienced them directly. But like true love, you know it when it happens and don't tend to forget it.

These patterns of collapse tend to have a common framework. The challenge is separating a market dislocation from an ordinary correction.  In our work, we have arrived at some hallmarks that characterize a market dislocation, which as you know is always a low probability event.

Jesse, The Rally that Fails as Hallmark of Major Market Dislocations, 27 January 2008

“No one in the world can change Truth.  What we can do and and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it.  The real conflict is the inner conflict.  Beyond armies of occupation and the catacombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love.  And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we are ourselves are defeated in our innermost selves?” 

 Maximilian Kolbe


Stocks flopped at the end of the holiday shortened week, going out near the lows

Gold and silver backed off a bit from their points of breakout.

The Dollar reclaimed the 100 handle.

The VIX bounced back higher off its moving average.

The major indices are on support.

We need to be watchful to see if they can gather themselves together and stabilize, or continue to decline and set a lower low.

That would be bad news for bully.

But let's see what happens.

We have become very proud and willful.  I am struggling to see a good outcome for this, economically and politically. 

There are some very ugly, wicked, and capable people out there, waiting and hoping that in anger and despair we hand them the reigns of power.

God have mercy on us if we do.

Have a pleasant weekend.