Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Snakes and Ladders

Today was an interesting day.

Certainly not at The Bucket Shop, which showed all quiet in the reports from the warehouses and deliveries yesterday.

As noted in an intraday post which you may read here, gold and silver were both hit in the usual manner shortly after the trade in paper opened up this morning.

That of course is not odd or interesting.  More like the modes du monde these days.  The markets open, and then attempts are made to cheat us.  And then the nibbling continues on more subtly for the rest of the day.   If we do not complain too much, they leave us alone, and just take a little bit from every trade through their algos and HFT.

No what was odd was that gold snapped back almost immediately from its hit, but poor silver went down almost 3 percent and stayed down, losing the fifteen handle.

Is any of this an efficient market mechanism, a 'level playing field' of price discovery?

No, it is more like a con game, with the basic structure of the old child's game of Snakes and Ladders.  Or Chutes 'n Ladders as it is called in the States.

The snakes lie in wait for the passerby, ready to take them down a notch.  And they use the ladders of insider knowledge and good old fashioned cheating to give themselves a leg up.

And no one notices.  And if they dare say anything, they are assaulted with contrived nonsense that sounds good, sometimes so good that even people that one might think to be their companions in a righteous cause are taken in by it, and propagate it.

And for what?  What does it profit someone, to betray their own cause and their associates?  Is it money?  That I can understand, although it certainly does make the act particularly craven.  Perhaps it is something more amenable to rationalization, such as pride, or just an exhaustion in fighting a good cause for all the wrong reasons, and failing to receive the recognition and rewards one thinks that they deserve?

Who can remain standing, if they are merely standing on their own pride and self-interest?

We must all hold to something greater than ourselves, better than ourselves, or we will surely fail to remain standing in the winds that will soon be blowing across the land.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - La Vie en Rose

"Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good."

Václav Havel

Now might be a good time to find something that you can firmly believe in, something that is greater and better than yourself, and then hang on to it and faithfully serve it, with all your strength and hope.

Have a pleasant evening.

Hidden History: The Wall Street Coup Attempt of 1933

I wonder why this is never mentioned in history classes in the US.

And I wonder why the US media has not frankly discussed what happened.  Is it because it would embarrass powerful figures still on the scene today?

I wonder why there is no frank discussion of the Wall Street interests who helped to finance the fascists in Europe, including the National Socialists in Germany, even during the 1940's?

When the going gets tough, the moneyed interests seem to invariably reach for fascism to maintain the status quo.

We keep too many things hidden 'for the sake of the system.'    This obsession with secrecy is all too often the cover to hide misdeeds, incompetency, abuses of the system, and outright crimes.

If some things cannot bear the light of day but are allowed to remain hidden, the chances are pretty good that they will become a festering sore and a moral hazard for the future.

Here is a BBC documentary about what had happened.  It did happen.  That is not speculation or a rumour or a conspiracy theory.

NAV Premiums of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds

Both gold and silver were hit at The Bucket Shop this morning, but gold snapped back more quickly.

I bought a little silver.  The metals may have a tough time until they can break out of this price fixing.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Dog Days of Summer

"Justice will eventually overtake the fabricators and false witnesses.

There is nothing permanent, except change. Change alone is unchanging."

Heraclitus

Today was very quiet in the US markets.   Even the weather seemed to conspire in it, quietly baking metropolis in a still Summer heat.

Gold and silver popped early on the weaker than expected Empire report, and then drifted lower on the general lack of interest in The Bucket Shop by all except a small group of professional sharpers, shills, and hapless tourists.

Even the dollar moved sideways.  All is calm in the Pax Americana.

Change very difficult for people to accept sometimes, especially when they have worked long and hard to set things up for their own advantage, and they think that they are winning.

Change is coming. It is coming for you, and for all of us.  Slowly but surely, change is the only certainty.

And the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Lazy Day In the Heart of Empire - The Summer Wind

Today was a very sleepy day in the markets, as the NYC metro area bakes under a hot Summer sun and temperatures in the high 90's.

The Empire Manufacturing number this morning was unexpectedly very negative, unexpected at least to the mainstream economists.

CPI and the FOMC minutes will be out in midweek.

But that did not really matter, and stocks flowed higher on the lazy, convictionless trade as it is often wont to do when the wiseguys are setting up a wash and rinse.   There will be a minor option expiration this week.

People may go on vacation, but crime never sleeps.  One thing of which we may be proud is that our financiers and politicians are never too lazy to steal.  They take a professional pride in their work.

Have a pleasant evening.