Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bubble

 

"As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool returns to his folly. "

Proverbs 26:11

"And in some ways, it creates this false illusion that there are people out there looking out for the interest of taxpayers, the checks and balances that are built into the system are operational, when in fact they're not. And what you're going to see and what we are seeing is it'll be a breakdown of those governmental institutions. And you'll see governments that continue to have policies that feed the interests of -- and I don't want to get clichéd, but the one percent or the .1 percent -- to the detriment of everyone else."

Neil Barofsky, 2012 interview with Bill Moyers

"Now why don't you just take it easy, Group Captain, and please make me a drink of grain alcohol and rainwater, and help yourself to whatever you'd like."

General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), Dr. Strangelove

"Where are the leaders? Has our political process become so compromised by powerful interest groups and the threat of character assassination that even the best among us will not dare to speak honestly about the solutions that might bring us back to common sense and fundamental fairness?"

Senator Jim Webb, A Time to Fight, 2008

"General Turgidson, I find this very difficult to understand. I was under the impression that I was the only one in authority to order the use of nuclear weapons."

President Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove

From Wall Street to the White House, it's all about serving the oligarchy, the 1 percent, while maintaing plausible deniability. 

The market came in broadly expecting a whipsaw, with the FOMC standing pat with dovish verbiage, and then Jay Powell coming in and raining on the parade with skeptical cautions.

No way Zimbabwe Jay.  

Although it must be said that the Street took it much further than he allowed.  It reminded me of a college friend who kept seeing 'signs' from a girl for which he pined, but would not actually approach.

I think it would have been interesting to see the FOMC commentary on bubblevision performed by the voice-over actor from The Curse of Oak Island.

Stocks rallied very hard, parabolically surpassing their bubble peaks.

The Dollar dropped off a cliff.

Gold and silver rallied like rockets.

And there is the second phase of the wash and rinse.

VIX did not drop but marked time in place.

Stock option expiration on Friday.

I can feel the hammer getting closer, and closer, to the retail bulls.  

But give it some time.

This is not sour grapes.   I snagged some serious coin in the  miners today, buying them into this recent pounding down the last two days.  It was just too contrived and cliché.  

Pretty much like all the official 'verbiage' we get these days. 

You know how they ran gold up to a new high, ran all the short stops, and then smashed it down into yesterday?

Patented move.   

And I think they may have the same play in store for stocks.  

But timing and leverage are everything.

Meanwhile, we've got two wars a leaping. 

Changed my mind about not using twitter. 

Have a pleasant evening.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - In the Valley of the Moon - FOMC Tomorrow

 

"The souls of the virtuous are in the hands of God,
     no torment shall ever touch them.
In the eyes of the unbelieving they appeared to die,
     their going looked like a tragedy,
     their leaving us, like a desolation;
     but they are at peace.
If they experienced hardship as the worldly see it,
     their hope was rich with eternal life;
     slight was their affliction, but great their blessing will be,
     because God tried them and found them worthy to be with Him."

Wisdom 3:1-5

"Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths.  Lead me in your truth, and teach me: for you are the God of my salvation; and I wait for you all the day.   Remember, O Lord, your tender mercies and loving kindness, as they have ever been of old."

Psalm 25:4-6

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
      my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his servant's lowliness;
      behold, from now on all ages will call me blessed.
The Mighty One has done great things for me,
      and holy is his name.
His mercy is here from age to age
      to those who fear him.
He has displayed power with his arm,
      and scattered the proud of mind and heart.
He has thrown down the mighty from their thrones
      but has lifted up the humble.
The hungry he has filled with goodness;
      and the rich he sends away empty."

Luke 1:46-53


Stocks rallied higher and went out on the highs.

The VIX has now dropped to the low for the year.

The Dollar declined on the risk on trade and slightly lower interest rates.

Gold and silver were under pressure and ended up a little lower.

FOMC tomorrow.   Stocks are priced for perfection.  Be careful Jay.

The December triple witch option expiration on Friday.

The lesser of two evils is still evil.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Gauntlet - CPI and FOMC and Stock Option Expiration

 

"You might think that parking your money in a big bank like JP Morgan Chase would insulate you from fraud. It’s just the opposite.  The big banks are the biggest perpetrators of financial fraud – fraud that affects millions of us, either directly or indirectly, on an ongoing basis.  While they are wrist slaps when properly scaled, you can see the list of 'settlements' made between the government and the big banks here.  These 'settlements,' the aftermath of Wall Street's near production of a second Great Depression, entailed not a single criminal indictment.   The top two repositories of banksters, based on the number of settlements, are Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.

The banks engage in fraud for two reasons.   First, they profit from swindling the public.  Second, they can get away with it via a simple technique.  They buy off the regulators with promises of enormously lucrative jobs when they leave government service, and they buy off the politicians with huge direct and indirect campaign contributions."

Laurence Kotlikoff, When Banksters Buy Regulators and Prosecutors, Forbes, October 21, 2014

"Let us create a society in which it is easier for people to be good."

Peter Maurin

"The London Gold Pool was the pooling of gold reserves by a group of eight central banks in the United States and seven European countries that agreed on 1 November 1961 to cooperate in maintaining the Bretton Woods System of fixed-rate convertible currencies and defending a gold price of US$35 per troy ounce by interventions in the London gold market.

The central banks coordinated concerted methods of gold sales to balance spikes in the market price of gold as determined by the London morning gold fixing while buying gold on price weaknesses.  The United States provided 50% of the required gold supply for sale.  The price controls were successful for six years until the system became no longer workable.  The pegged price of gold was too low and runs on gold, the British pound, and the US dollar occurred and France decided to withdraw from the pool.  The London Gold Pool collapsed in March 1968.

The London Gold Pool controls were followed with an effort to suppress the gold price with a two-tier system of official exchange and open market transactions, but this gold window collapsed in 1971 with the Nixon Shock, and resulted in the onset of the gold bull market which saw the price of gold appreciate rapidly to US$850 in 1980."

Wikipedia, The London Gold Pool

“God meant things to be much easier than we have made them.”

Dorothy Day


Stocks managed to extend their gains.

Gold and silver lost a little more ground.

VIX is docile.

The Dollar was nominally unchanged.

This is a big week for events.

Tomorrow we will see the latest CPI data. 

On Wednesday there will be an FOMC rate decision.  

Expectations are for no action but maybe some notable words.

And on Friday we will have the big quad witch December stock option expiration.

Let's see what happens.

Oh yeah, and there are some brutal wars ongoing in the real world.

Banks 'r Us.  Policy errors to infinity.

Our oligarchy is audacious.

Have a pleasant evening.

The Lesser of Two Evils Is Still Evil

At the extreme the methods of both the left and the right become increasingly similar, even though their nominal objectives may differ greatly. 

Through varying degrees of force and fraud, invoking necessity and 'the lesser of two evils', dissent is repressed, and discussion is silenced.  They no longer serve the public, or principles, or higher ideals. .

They are enthralled to power and money, and serve themselves, above all else. 

"Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, or even a duty. Human beings are so made that the ones who do the crushing feel nothing; it is the person crushed who feels what is happening. Unless one has placed oneself on the side of the oppressed, to feel with them, one cannot understand. As soon as men know that they can kill without fear of punishment or blame, they kill; or at least they encourage killers, with approving smiles."

Simone Weil