Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Weekend Edition - These Violent Delights

"These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume."

William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Stocks bounced back a bit on Friday after the big selloff, while the metals continued their upward push into what could be some fairly stiff resistance.

The task for told this week is to take out the psychological 1300 resistance and stick a close above it.

As for silver, the 18 handle looms above.

I have been noticing a bigger than usual divergence between the spot price of gold from Kitco, for example, and the quotes I am receiving live from the Comex.

For example, the Kitco spot price quote right now is 1288, whereas the Comex gold continuous contract and December contract quote is 1294.

Well, it would be more of an issue if I was striking a price for a physical sale.

Stocks need to hang on to the bounce.

With Twitter Man predicting that a trade war with China will commence on Monday, we'll have to see what happens.

Relatives came over from Maryland and Pennsylvania this weekend. I was able to obtain some much appreciated sleep, the time to go to the store and browse a little, and a long, hot shower.   And it was nice to have some company in the evening to talk and watch a movie.

Periods of illness of a loved one can become isolating experiences.  A visit from a friend, or a kind word and a smile or gesture from a stranger, become very welcome when keeping the long vigil of duty and love.

It is funny how little things can become such welcome luxuries.   These are God's tender mercies.

See you tomorrow.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - We'll Meet Again

"Many people think of our times as being the last before the end of the world. The evidence of horror all around us makes this seem possible.

But isn't that an idea of only minor importance? Doesn't every human being, no matter which era he lives in, always have to reckon with being accountable to God at any moment? Can I know whether I'll be alive tomorrow morning?

A bomb could destroy all of us tonight. And then my guilt would not be one bit less than if I perished together with the earth and the stars.”

Sophie Scholl, Munich, 1942

The markets caught a whiff of fear, and the air started quickly coming out of the excess liquidity fueled bubbles in financial assets.

Gold and silver caught a bid in a pretty clear 'flight to safety' trade.

But at the same time the drops in the markets were long expected and fairly controlled, despite the hike in the VIX which we also saw today.

The wiseguy rally into the close in equities yesterday had me laughing a bit. I went into today fairly short stocks and very long gold and even some silver.

I only mention the short stocks positions to let you know that I took most of them off into the close. I don't like to hang on to these leveraged index shorts for very long.

We *might* have more downside action in stocks coming. That is pretty much up to the latest from Twitter Dum and the Kim Chi Kid.

If the markets get any indication that this whole thing is hot air, then expect a rocket rally.

They don't learn their lessons all that easily.

Let's hope for the best in any case.

As for gold, we will know when real fear is in the markets. We will see the physical inventory at the Comex listed warehouses in Hong Kong empty overnight.

The big resistance remains around the 1300$ level.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Still On the Line

“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.”

Fyodor Dostoevsky


“There are only two kinds of people in the end—  those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'   All that are in Hell, choose it.”

C.S. Lewis

Or as I have heard elsewhere, the door to hell is locked—  from the inside.

Here are the updated charts as of about 10:30 EDT this morning.

Stocks were jumpy and the precious metals caught a bid off the war of words last night between the US and N. Korea.

The queen is at home in a visiting nurses hospice program.

When we were first dating I was working in a union job for the Ohio Bell telephone company.

See you tomorrow.

Have a pleasant day.

Misguided Legislation Is Directly Repugnant to the First Amendment

I personally do not boycott the state of Israel, or have any interest in doing so.

However, this proposed legislation, co-sponsored by prominent Democrats and Republicans, is a direct assault on the Constitutional Rights of Americans to express their political beliefs.

It also conflates and dilutes the principled stand against anti-semitism and other forms of prejudice, which I strongly support as you know, with economic and political support for a particular government, its political actions and its domestic and international policies. That too carries its own dangers.

It is shocking that this bill has ever gained the traction that it has.

Well-intentioned legislation that extends civil and/or criminal penalties for or against expressions of political beliefs, without reference to an intrusion on the rights of others under the Constitution, sets a precedent that is very dangerous, within the context of an overall erosion of the rights of the individual.

With the ability of the president to suspend habeas corpus, and the widespread surveillance of citizens without due process, the primacy of the rights of the individual in the United States are under assault by government.

It is long time past to take a stand against the creeping corporatism and statism that continues to diminish the rights of the individual against the power of big money and big organizations.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Try To Keep a Little Grace

"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral."

Paulo Freire


"Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil."

Jerry Garcia

A very quiet trading day today saw stocks drifting higher on light volumes and puffs of fast money liquidity.

Gold and silver were slightly lower on a stronger dollar.

If something occurs to trigger selling, there is so much fluff underpinning this market that we *could* see quite a multi-day selloff. It might look like a big down move, a rally back that fails to set a new high, and then a steeper decline.

I would not look for this to happen in the near term since the volumes are so light. It is more likely in late September to the end of October.

Each day that goes by in this kind of narrowly focused price puffing lessens the significance of the 'trigger event' that will be required to provoke a sharp sell-off.

There is no doubt in my mind that the financiers know this. They just do not care when there is money to be made, by any and all means.

Have a pleasant evening.