Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Hidden in Plain Sight - The Interests of Empire

 

"We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies.  Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."

Lord Palmerston, speech, House of Commons, 1 March 1848

"On Tuesday following the [1987] crash, with the futures market indicating a significantly lower open, Alan Greenspan and the Fed came in buying SP 500 futures in order to turn the markets around. And it worked. And it continued, with the Fed supporting the equity markets with jawboning, persuasion, and occasionally direct intervention, so that by the end of the year all was well with the markets. On the advice of his financial advisors, President Reagan formed The Working Group on Financial Markets (colloquially referred to as the Plunge Protection Team) was created by Executive Order 12631, signed on March 18, 1988. And thus came the era of bubble-nomics."

Jesse, All Is Well: 1987 and It's Consequences, October 19, 2017

The Working Group On Financial Markets consists of:

• The Secretary of the Treasury, or his or her designee (as Chairperson of the Working Group);
• The Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or his or her designee;
• The Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or his or her designee; and
• The Chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or his or her designee.

Wikipedia, Working Group on Financial Markets

Washington: The Trump administration is arranging a phone call on Monday with top regulators to discuss financial markets amid a rout on Wall Street. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will host the call with the president's Working Group on Financial Markets, known colloquially as the 'Plunge Protection team.'

Jason Lange, 'Plunge Protection Team' to convene amid Wall Street rout, Reuters, December 24, 2018

"We looked into the abyss if the gold price rose further. A further rise would have taken down one or several trading houses, which might have taken down all the rest in their wake. Therefore at any price, at any cost, the central banks had to quell the gold price, manage it. It was very difficult to get the gold price under control but we have now succeeded. The US Fed was very active in getting the gold price down. So was the U.K."

Edward George, Governor Bank of England 1993-2003, from Reg Howe v. BIS, JPM et al.


Stocks were in rally risk on mode today, with the big cap tech bubbles leading the way.  The broader market was just so-so.

 

VIX has fallen now to the area which, like a low barometer reading, suggests some stormy weather may be heading our way.

 

Gold and silver rallied higher, but were pressed a bit into the close.

 

Tomorrow is an option expiration for precious metals futures on the Comex.

 

Shenanigans are usually expected, either tomorrow or the day after.   Or both.

 

Bear in mind that the wiseguys not only see what each other are doing, and will signal their intentions in various ways to the lesser denizens of the pits, but they also are able to see in the aggregate what you are holding in your hand.

 

It does matter.  And that's why they don't let you see it, but pay well for their own ability to watch the order flows and reconstruct relative positions.

 

Yeah, it's not fair.   That's the point.  And its very confusing to 'bull market geniuses'.

 

So let's see how the next couple of days go.  I think a drop in stocks is in the wind, as well as a gut check for the precious metals.

 

But timing these sorts of things for those who are playing the game according to 'the rules'.

 

Empires and the powerful do not have friends, or allies, or favorites.   

 

Those who worship money and power have abiding interests of their own.  And you are not one of them.

 

But there is One who loves you, as you would love yourself, if you were wise..

 

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Their Perfect Possession - Comex Expiration

 

“Once they’re in power, narcissists consolidate their position by firing everyone who challenges them. In their place rise a plague of toadies, opportunists, and enablers equally guided by self-interest and short on scruples. So you end up with these individualistic cultures with no teamwork and low integrity.

True narcissists are self-serving and lack integrity. They believe they’re superior and thus not subject to the same rules and norms. Studies show they’re more likely to act dishonestly to achieve their ends. They know they’re lying, and it doesn’t bother them. They don’t feel shame. These people aren’t going to change."

Charles A. O’Reilly, as quoted in How Narcissistic Leaders Destroy from Within, Stanford Business School, April 30, 2020

“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.

The surest road to Hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."

C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, 1942

"Love does not make you weak, because it is the source of all strength— but it makes you see the nothingness of the illusory strength on which you depended before you knew it."

Léon Bloy

"Nor will love be seen coming from the hearts of those who are fallen into wickedness: they are the fruit of hate, deceit, greed, fear, pride, possession, and aggression. And they will not only forsake love by washing their hands of it, they will eventually come to condemn it, and persecute it— and thereby condemn themselves."

Jesse, Love is the Refuge of the Way, 24 June 2017

"We live in a world where love itself is condemned.  People call it weakness, something to grow out of. Some are saying: 'let each one become as strong as he can, and let the weak perish.'  The neo-paganism [of the Nazis] may well cast-off love but, in spite of everything, history teaches us that we shall be the victors over this.  Do not yield to hatred.  We are here in a dark tunnel, but we have to go on.  At the end, an eternal light is shining for us.  We shall not forsake love."

Titus Brandsma, Statement, Dachau, 26 July 1942

"The demon's target is not the possessed; it is us the observers.. everyone in this house. I think the point is to make us despair..to reject our humanity: to see ourselves as ultimately bestial, vile and putrescent; without dignity; ugly; unworthy."

William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist, May 1971


It was risk on today.

Stocks rallied, gapping up at the open, and going out near the highs.

The VIX fell.

The Dollar rallied a bit to take back the 104 handle.

Gold and silver suffered some further weakness.

There will be an April futures contract option expiration for precious metals on the Comex on Wednesday the 26^th.

We should be ashamed of what we are becoming.  

It puzzles us that there are many ardent believers in what is the worst in us, yielding to hate, anger, and greed.

How easily it is for the proud to fall, gradually into the abyss, according to that infernal plan.

We shall see the gradual downfall of nations to the unthinkable, one by one after another.

Repentance, forgiveness, thankfulness.   These are our three great gifts.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - They Lie and Worship Their Own Lying

 

"To be a sophisticate in the 21st century requires the ability to shut one's eyes and one's mind to anything that one does not want to see or think about. The more glaring that the contradiction between what is said and what is done becomes, the harder it is to remain sophisticated. The tragedy is that the only alternative, that of becoming an independent thinker, is looked upon as more terrifying than to go on pretending to be deaf, dumb and blind."

Bill Buckler, The Privateer, 2012

"Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all."

Edmund Burke

“What they were doing was unconstitutional.  Sometimes I worry that people take the oath of office or the oath to the Constitution, and it’s just a set of words that mean nothing.  They really don’t feel in their heart the weight of those words.  They [federal agents deployed by Trump] came out in this phalanx, running, and then they plowed into a bunch of protesters in the intersection of the street and knocked them over. 

They came out to fight.  I took a couple steps back, straightened up, and then just stood my ground right there, arms down by my side.  They are thugs and goons.  I couldn’t recognize anything tactically that they were attempting to do that was even remotely related to crowd control.  It looked to me like a gang of guys with sticks.  I’m not a redwood tree.  I’m an overweight 53-year-old man.”

Christopher David, Navy veteran and peaceful protester, Portland, Oregon, July 2020

"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to fulfill your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks from his own character— for he is a liar and the father of lies."

John 8:44


Another typical stock option triple witch expiration today.

Gold and silver were slammed hard in the opening hour.

Stocks slumped, but were brought back to life into the close.   Nearly unchanged.

The Dollar ticked higher a bit.

VIX declined.

Robbery, rape and murder en masse are the marks of those who worship power above all.

Need little, want less, love more.  For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Wrath of the Lamb - Option Expiration

 

“Prepare for great battles. Know that you are now on a great stage where all heaven and earth are watching you. Fight like a knight, so that He can reward you. Do not be unduly fearful, because you are not alone.

Before I come as a just Judge, I will first open wide the door of My mercy. Those who refuse to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice.”

Maria Faustina Kowalska, Divine Mercy in My Soul

"Despite knowing of God, they refused to honor him as God, or give Him thanks. As a result, they became vain in their thinking, and their uncomprehending hearts became hardened."

Romans 1:21

“Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, or even a duty. Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction. 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. Power is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the latter it crushes, the former it intoxicates. The truth is, no one really possesses it."

Simone Weil, War and the Iliad, 1939

"All the world marveled at this, and gave their allegiance to the Beast. And they worshiped the dragon for giving such power to him. as they also worshiped the Beast. 'Who is as great as the Beast?' they exclaimed. 'And who is able to resist him?' And the Beast was allowed to commit great blasphemies against God, and to exercise its authority for forty-two months."

Revelation 13:3-5

"When a society fails to restrain the worst behaviours of those who prey on others through the abuse of power or money, their example brings out the worst in a much larger subset of the population. This is why romantic notions about markets and societies without law and transparent regulation are so harmful. They turn the power of the markets and the laws over to the least scrupulous and self-controlled in a society. This is why any social system without checks and balances, without transparency and restraints, will eventually deteriorate into a dysfunctional system of self-interest and looting."

Jesse, Without Empathy or Remorse, 13 August 2016

"The kings of the earth, the nobles, the military officers, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid themselves in caves and among mountain crags.  They cried out to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their judgement has come, and who can stand against it?”

Revelation 6:15-17

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

Fulton J. Sheen


I have an appointment at 4:45 so no commentary tonight, just charts.  

There will be a stock option expiration tomorrow. 

March is a triple witch occasion as I recall.

And a cautionary word, about the things that matter the most.

Have a pleasant evening.