Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - An Impasse in Expectations

 

"She was steadfast when stability was unknown, and honorable in an age which had forgotten what honor was; she was a rock of convictions in a time when men believed in nothing and scoffed at all things. She was of a dauntless courage when hope and courage had perished in the hearts of her nation.”

Mark Twain, Joan of Arc

“A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today.   The Western world has lost its civic courage.  Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elite, causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society.”

Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, A World Split Apart, 8 June 1978

"At the root of America's economic crisis lies a moral crisis: the decline of civic virtue among America's political and economic elite. A society of markets, laws, and elections is not enough if the rich and powerful fail to behave with respect, honesty, and compassion toward the rest of society and toward the world. America has developed the world's most competitive market society but has squandered its civic virtue along the way. Without restoring an ethos of social responsibility, there can be no meaningful and sustained economic recovery."

Jeffrey Sachs, The Price of Civilization, October 4, 2011

"That is a dirty word in this age of empire, to serve.  Ironically we all end up serving something or someone, even if it is only ourselves.  And we become defined by what we serve.  Anyone can be a hero or a saint, not flawless, but faltering, not perfect, but persevering, not proud but pushing forward often in fear and trembling, not losing their own way but following the light of righteousness and goodness, even while stumbling and going forward again, because everyone can serve, and serve well if they choose something lasting and worthy."

Jesse, Heroes and Saints, 18 January 2015


The secret of courage is to care for something, someone, more than you care for yourself. 

Stocks had another waffling day, seemingly waiting with bated breath for the Consumer Price Inflation data tomorrow.

Earnings season will begin on Friday with the Banks.

Gold and silver rose a little.

The Dollar gave back Monday's gains.

Back and forth, wash and rinse.

The VIX looks to be caught in a tight range.

I suspect something will break soon.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Age of Incessant Selfies - Empire of the Self-Absorbed

 

"Satan’s monomaniac concern with himself and his supposed rights and wrongs is a necessity of the Satanic predicament.   He has wished to ‘be himself,’ and to be in himself and for himself, and his wish has been granted.  To admire Satan, then, is to give one’s vote not only for a world of misery, but also for a world of lies and propaganda, of wishful thinking, of incessant autobiography."

C. S. Lewis

"Despair is the absolute extreme of self-love."

Thomas Merton

"Sorrow can do one of two things to us.  It can make us hard, bitter, resentful, rebellious against God.  Or it can make us kinder, softer, more sympathetic.  It can despoil us of our faith; or it can root faith ever deeper.   It all depends how we think of God."

William Barclay, Commentary on Luke 2:36-40

"Every century is like every other, and to those who live in it seems worse than all times before it."

John Henry Newman

"In the past thirty years it seems that Anglo-American culture has grown increasingly narcissistic.  I do not know if there are more narcissistic individuals in society now, and perhaps there are not.  But I do think that narcissism is much more widely tolerated, rewarded, and even admired now than it would have been in the period of 1930 to 1950 for example.  And that is what makes all the difference.  More people feel free to indulge their selfish and egotistical tendencies, and to cultivate them, in order to be fashionable and competitive. 

Power expresses itself in the assertion of the will over others, and the cultivation of unrestrained personal power, the triumph of their will, is the lifeblood of the narcissist."  

Jesse, Empire of the Exceptional: The Age of Narcissism, 1 October 2012

"The humble live in continuous peace, while in the hearts of the proud are envy and frequent anger."

Thomas à Kempis

And so we are back to business, from the holiest week in the Christian calendar again.

And Wall Street marked it with a fairly clumsy and obvious wash and rinse, from the backwash of the Non-Farm Payrolls report from Friday.

The Dollar edged higher.

Gold and silver struggled a bit but ended all right enough.

There will be some important inflation data on Wednesday, 

Geo-politics are heating up, with the encouragement of those superior beings the Neo-cons.

The west seems in thrall to the sickness unto death.

Hi ho.

Have a pleasant evening.

Rise

 

"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said."

Matthew 28:6


“Awake, O sleeper! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Ephesians 5:14


"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 penetrating as he is, yet his thousand eyes and his many instruments avail him nothing against the majestic serene silence, the holy imperturbable calm which reigns through the providence of God."

John Henry Newman,


"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


"Then Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though they die will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?'”

John 11:25-26


Your face will shine like the sun in the kingdom of your Father.

Believe in the resurrection, because He lives in you.

Have a happy Easter.

He is risen.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Maundy Thursday

 

"'The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me
   because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to announce good news to the poor,
   to strengthen the brokenhearted,
   to proclaim liberty to those held in captivity
a recovery of sight to the blind, and release to those who have been oppressed,
   to proclaim a year of the Lord’s favor.'

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all looked intently at him. He said to them,  'Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.'”

Luke 4:18-21

"We are slow to master the great truth that even now Christ is, as it were, walking among us, and by His hand, or eye, or voice, bidding us to follow Him.  We do not understand that His call is a thing that takes place now. We think it took place in the Apostles' days, but we do not believe in it; we do not look for it in our own case.

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.  The more we do, the more shall we trust in Christ; and that surely is no morose doctrine, that leads us to soothe our selfish restlessness, and forget our fears, in the vision of the Incarnate Son of God."

John Henry Newman

"I give you a new commandment: love one another.  As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.   This is how all will know that you are mine, if you have love for one another.”

John 13:34-35

The mighty rise and are forgotten, but the word and the spirit endure. 

Maundy Thursday: The English word maundy in the name for the day is derived through Middle English and Old French mandé, from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

 Stocks were trading in a relatively tight range ahead of the three day Easter weekend and especially because of the Non-Farm Payrolls report tomorrow.

VIX fell.

The Dollar chopped sideways.

Gold and silver waffled around.

Let's see what happens.

Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again. 

In the end, the only real tragedy is not to be among the saints.

Have a blessed and joyous weekend.