Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - FOMC Wednesday, Quad Witch Friday

There is quite a bit going on next week.

Most of the economic reports before Wednesday afternoon will be interpreted in light of the pending FOMC decision on whether to end ZIRP.

Frankly, I don't see how the Fed can not raise rates now, and maintain their credibility, unless some major exogenous event occurs.   The markets will wonder what the Fed is seeing that they are not, or even worse, what the Fed is hiding.

And I certainly do not think they are more concerned about the real economy now than they are with their own needs to get some policy room below their key rate so they can cut it again when their latest bubble implodes.

The economic reports coming out these days remind me of the painfully obvious special effects from the old 'Batman' television show.

And speaking of painful reports, we saw some inconsequential precious metal deliveries at The Bucket Shop yesterday.  There was some cursory movement in the gold warehouse, with more active 'pushing around the plate' in silver.  That means there was quite a bit of movement, but nothing much to show for it in the end.

The CME is changing their rules for declaring force majeure as noted in this document.

And today was the day for the unscheduled exit of Harriet Hunnable from her post as the Executive Director of precious metals at the CME.

Gold caught a little bid today that felt like a minor flight to safety, and silver barely hung on to the 14 handle.

So let's see what antics the Street might deliver next week, with such a nice one-two events punch opportunity, with the Fed's 'big decision' followed two days later with a quad witch.  Mining stocks might be a roller coaster.  All the better to skin you with, my dear.

Have a pleasant weekend.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Wobbly Ahead of Next Week

The Fed is widely expected to raise rates next week. I will show the entire economic calendar in tonight's precious metals commentary.

And next Friday is the December 'quad witching' option expiration.

So what is this really, fear of the Fed, or some antics de luxe ahead of the option expiry?

I'd give it even money at the moment with a lean towards cynicism.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Exceptional Hypocrisy

Gold and silver finished largely unchanged in a lightly traded session.

There were no deliveries worth noting at The Bucket Shop yesterday.  Nothing in gold, and a few bars of silver.

The gold warehouses were completely quiet, sitting tight with warranted (registered) bullion sitting at decades long lows, and with little historical precedent for their ratio to open interest.

The Hong Kong warehouses of the CME, of which Brinks is the only one of size, saw drawdowns below the one million ounce mark again.

As for silver, it was just the usual shoving bullion around the plate, with another drop in their registered bullion.

Next week is the FOMC rate decision and the quad witching expiry for stocks on Friday the 18th.

There was intraday commentary on the exceptionalism of the American economy here.

There will be no sustainable recovery until we have substantial political and economic reform.

And there is no use complaining about how you are suffering in rigged markets if you have so little interest in all the other injustice that pervades our financial system.

As the famous conservative politician Edmund Burke noted:

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

If I could do any small thing, it would be to open the eyes of those who feel the sting of injustice when they themselves are subjected to it, so they might see the injustice to which their fellows are subjected.

And it pains me to say that I have never heard a more plaintive, pitiable complaining coming from those who in the face of injustice done to others not only remain silent, but too often speak out in support of it.

They imagine that they have earned good fortune and justice and richly deserve it, while these others deserve the injustice that they get at the hands the same cheats and scoundrel.  They think their hypocrisy is somehow a contribution to the ordering of the moral universe.

They secretly identify with the powerful, in the hopes that somehow they themselves will profit from it, and squeal all the more loudly when instead they receive the same rough treatment from those who make little distinction amongst their victims, as long as they perceive them to be vulnerable.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Economic Malaise - FOMC and Quad Witch

Jeffrey Gundlach is speculating that the Fed might not raise rates next week because the markets are failing and the economy is weakening.

While I tend to agree with him on the economy, and am revolted by those leaning so heavily on the unemployment percentage while ignoring so much other data, as noted in this intraday posting, I do not think the Fed can stand pat next week and do nothing, and retain any shred of their tattered credibility.

The Fed was never acting on rates because of a robust recovery. We have an elite recovery while the broader public stagnates and the middle class, or what is left of it, hangs on by their fingernails.

The Fed will most likely raise rates, and they will do so in order to provide themselves some policy maneuvering room to cut rates when their latest financial asset bubble starts to collapse.

And if the Fed does not raise rates, which is possible, what will the market think? What will you think? See the Fed's problem? They have painted themselves into a credibility corner.

I have included the latest economic figures from this week. And this is a recovery?

Let's see how we end the week, and look forward to the FOMC rate decision and big quad witch option expiration for stocks on Friday the 18th next week.

Have a pleasant evening.

American Exceptionalism: Endless War, Parasitic Financialisation, Wage Stagnation, and Oligarchy

“The financial system itself continues to exhibit dangerous and erratic behavior; the stock market is rigged and Wall Street is a parasitic wealth transfer operation; commodity prices plummet; junk bond defaults double; derivative exposures remain in the dark; community banks are gobbled up; and the holdings of the mega Wall Street banks become ever more concentrated, with just six banks now controlling over 90% of derivatives and 40% of deposits.”

Wall Street On Parade

There will be the usual movement to 'blame the victims' in this, the 'gullible' American people who do not wish to face the facts.  This is how it always goes, and it works because it is easy to despise the other guy, or just hate 'the other.'

Most people are busy and working hard to make ends meet. They obtain their view of things from 'the news media' for the most part.

When was the last time you heard any rational discussion or even saw any of these charts below in a newspaper or on television news program?  They seem almost too hard to believe.

The American people are being fed a steady stream of lies and half-truths from a captive media, and for the most part the privileged achievers keep silent to protect their own interests, to 'go along to get along.'  They rationalize this by burying themselves in the details of their own professions.

If you hide the facts from people, and lie to them constantly to promote the interests of the powerful oligarchs and the moneyed interests, how can you blame the people for falling for the lies? Where is the truth to be heard?

Even now, if one puts up data such as this, the resulting prescriptions for change are all too often just pre-programmed slogans fed to the public on an almost daily basis by talk radio and the 'fair and balanced' mouthpieces for big money corporatism.

Have we ever seen a more ridiculous presidential election than this one?  The Republican candidates are for the most part stooges for big money and special interests, demagogues, legacy pledges, and jokes, and the Democratic frontrunner is a recycled Wall Street party boss who has become a multi-millionaire from the payments received for showing up at parties hosted by Big Finance's moneyed interests.

And what are the prevailing prescriptions for the future:  more war, more tax cuts, less rights to vote and organize, more consolidation of industry and power, less investment in public infrastructure, and of course, more cutbacks and austerity.

Just the right things to sustain a recovery for some, for the elite few.

And if things go wrong, they will blame the victims of their lies for not stopping them.  This is what greedy narcissists and sociopaths do, blame their victims.

I wish these charts included the percentage of the population incarcerated in prison, the number of children living in poverty, and the huge cost in lies and spending for wars to 'save the world.'

What went wrong?  Follow the money.  The American republic has been waylaid and twisted for the very obvious benefit a powerful few, and is in dire need of genuine political and financial reform.

These charts are from Jeremy Grantham in Give Me the Good News, with a hat tip to Zerohedge.