Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Our Poisoned Chalice - Option Expiration Tomorrow

 

"When clouds appear, wise men put on their cloaks;
When great leaves fall, the winter is at hand;
When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?...

Bloody thou art; bloody will be thy end,
Shame serves your life, and does your death attend."

William Shakespeare, Richard III

"Why doesn't 'greed is good' work?  Because rather than work harder, a certain portion of the population, not necessarily the most productive and intelligent, will immediately seek rents and extraordinary income obtained by unnatural advantages, by gaming the system, by cheating and coercion, by the subversion of the rule of law, which saps the vitality of the greater portion of the population which does in fact work harder, until they can no longer sustain themselves.  And then the lawless few seek to expand their reign of greed, and colonies and empires are born."

Jesse, Modern Economic Myths and The Failure of Financial Engineering, 21 February 2010

"...we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips..."

Shakespeare, Macbeth

"Where are the princes of this world, and those who lorded it over the creatures of the earth? Those who made sport of the birds of the air, and hoarded up riches in which they trusted, and for whom there is no limit to their greed, those who schemed to get wealth, and were always anxious about their possessions.

But now there is no trace left of them. They have vanished down into the bowels of the earth, and others have risen to take their place."

Baruch 3:16-19


The market liked the economic data from this morning, as can clearly be seen on the daily US Dollar chart.  

Stocks followed suit, and rallied higher, and went out near those highs.

Gold and silver had also rallied along with everything else, but gave back a little more at the end.

There will be a stock option expiration tomorrow.

VIX continued to fall from its recent high.

I will be very surprised if we do not get a proper wash and rinse out of this, most likely attributed to some geopolitical event that no one could have seen coming.

Except they do.  They just don't care.

I also suspect that some who have sold their souls to power and madness are going to falter, and fall in a rather scandalous, spectacular manner.   

And no one could have seen that coming either. 

Sic semper avaritia.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Testifying Through the Emptiness and Indifference

 

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.   Ephesians 4:32

"Kindness is love expressed in practical ways; it is putting the needs of others before our own.  It is intentionally considering ways to meet other people’s needs.  Being tenderhearted means showing compassion toward those around us.

We show forgiveness because we, too, fall short of God’s ideal.  Knowing that God has graciously saved us from destruction motivates us to forgive others when they offend us.  We must set aside the self-centered attitude that leads to impatience and criticism of others.

Jesus did not say that the world will know Him by our miracles, by our grand testimonies, or by our vast Bible knowledge.  The world will know Him by the love that Christians show to one another. Ask God to give you kindness, a tender heart, and a forgiving spirit."

Henry Blackaby, Showing Grace

“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 most deadly poison of our times is indifference.

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 personal selves?”

Maximilian Kolbe, died for love, Auschwitz, August 14, 1941

"There are children of God and the children of the devil.  Those who do not do what is right and who do not love their brothers and sisters are not the children of God.  For this is the message you have heard, that we should love one another.  Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another.  Whoever does not love remains in death.  All who hate are murderers, and murderers do not have eternal life in them.  We know love because He laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.  How does God’s love abide in anyone who has worldly goods and sees a brother or sister in need, and yet refuses to help?

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will comfort our hearts before him."

1 John 3:10-19

 

Stocks managed to turn in a positive performance despite a lackluster trade off mundane economic data.

Gold and silver were under heavy pressure, and the Dollar did very little.

The VIX continued to slide back down to its comfortable complacency.

The markets are staggering to the weekend, and the growing unease about geopolitical events.

Today is the memorial day for Maximilian Kolbe, the saint and martyr for love of others.

His example shines down through the dark selfishness and cruel indifference of the servants of power.

A fitting reminder as we sink back into that sort of madness today.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Their Hearts Are Haunts of Violence

 

"Tyranny becomes a habit, and scenes of suffering, often repeated, render the heart callous.  We first crush people to the earth, and then claim the right of trampling on them forever, because they are prostrate.”

Lydia Maria Child, 1861

"Remember, Lord, how the godless mock the law,
      and the malevolent abuse your name.
Do not abandon the souls of doves to predators;
      or forget the lives of your poor, forever.
Remember your promise,
      for their darkened hearts are haunts of violence.
Do not let the oppressed be put to shame;
      let the poor and humble praise you."

Psalm 74:18-21

"'The Pharisees, who were money loving and covetous, heard all these things and scornfully mocked him.  And Jesus said, 'You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts.'"

Luke 16:14

"Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
      the splendor and majesty of Chaldea,
 will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
      when God destroyed them.
Babylon will not live again.
      It will be desolate, for generations.
Nomads will not pitch tents there,
      or shepherds bed their flocks.
Desert animals will roam the city,
     its homes filled with howling creatures.
Owls will live among the ruins,
      and wild goats will dance.
Hyenas will watch from its towers,
      and jackals rule hopeless palaces.
Babylon’s days are numbered;
      its time of destruction is coming."

Isaiah 13:19-22

“When you see the desolation of abomination standing where it should not, let those who seek knowledge understand, then flee from Judea to the mountains."

Mark 13:14

“The greatest evil is not done now in sordid dens of crime.  It is not even done in concentration camps and labor camps.  In those we see its final result.  But it is conceived and ordered in clear, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices by quiet men, with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks, who do not need to raise their voice.”

C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, 1942


The PPI inflation data came in a little light this morning. 

The markets put a very bullish cast on the numbers, and stocks slipped into rally mode.

Gold and silver were off a bit.

The Dollar fell.

VIX fell.

In short, it was a risk on fiesta.

CPI data tomorrow.  Expectations are for a softer than expected number.

Provocations in the Mideast and Eastern Europe continue.

At some point soon the reactions will come.

I am sure there is some semblance of a longer term strategy involved in all this.

If we were to actually hear it articulated it would probably be shallow and disappointing.

As for integrity and respect for any higher moral principles, forget about it.

They have let all those 'high ground' fall by the wayside, quite a while ago.

They worship power and money, and nothing else.

And nations that are weak, and their corruptible leaders, are attracted to its corruption.

And they lose themselves to the madness, together, sliding quietly into the abyss.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Devils of Lawlessness and The King in Yellow

 

"I think there is ultimately a desire for a great War, not by the Kamala Harris's and Walz's of this world but by those deep structures of foreign policy which need, if you like, some form of reset for financial reasons, economic reasons essentially.  You know the West has created this inverted pyramid of financial instruments, all of these financial structures that sit in derivatives in trillions, and they sit on a tiny base of real collateral of real value, a few bars of gold perhaps here and there, a little bit of real value.

This is why you had Lindsey Graham saying, very clearly, 'Ukraine for America is a gold mine.  It it sits on 12 trillion worth of materials of raw materials. We need those to finance ourselves. And we don't want Putin and China to get it.' That's what he was speaking about, saying we need some more actual commodity value at the bottom of our pyramid so we can go on expanding our pyramid— our inverted pyramid that rests on this tiny base of real commodities: oil, gold, rare minerals, lithium, all of the things."

Alastair Crooke, former British diplomat, Judging Freedom, August 12, 2024

"The ambition of Caesar and of Napoleon pales before that which could not rest until it had seized the minds of men and controlled even their unborn thoughts. The very banality and innocence of the first act only allowed the blow to fall afterwards with more awful effect— this beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth― a world which now trembles before the King in Yellow.”

Robert W. Chambers, The King In Yellow

"The transition from unitary executive to dictator – conservative, benevolent or otherwise – will not happen in the waning months of the current administration, but succeeding chief executives may choose overtly to expand further the envelope-pushing and Constitution-trampling of the 43rd President cabal as the American oligarchy, and the nation, slouches slowly toward despotism.

As such, we will one day awake from our debt-financed, pleasure-induced stupors to find one person or group firmly in charge, answering to no one, especially not Congress, and in complete grasp of the military, the intelligence agencies, the treasury, the Federal Reserve and the financial and judicial systems.  It will happen – it is happening – an inch at a time, until the day comes when not only will we, the fun loving, celebrity worshiping, civic duty abhorring citizens of America, so embrace the notion of despotism, we will think it entirely our own idea."

Keith Hazleton, Anecdotal Economics, June 2006

"The wealth of another region excites their greed; and if it is weak, their lust for power as well.  Nothing from the rising to the setting of the sun is enough for them.  Plunder, rape, and slaughter they falsely call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace."

Tacitus, Agricola


Stocks wobbled around once again, going out nearly unchanged.

Gold and silver bolted higher.

They are now, once again, up against resistance.

VIX was steady.

The Dollar chopped into unchanged.

PPI tomorrow, and CPI on Wednesday.

That, and Iran's response to Israel's attack on their territory, is what the markets are waiting to see.

Have a pleasant evening.