SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Stocks Wallowing On Lower Volume

Stock continued to wallow in a low volatility, lower volume trading range best described as 'lackluster.'

I suspect quite a bit of this is due to the vacations being taken in this hot August by the seniors, leaving the markets in the hands of those who are under instructions to pretty much do little and not screw it up.

Certainly there is little organic purchasing of stocks at these prices. Besides the Feds and company stock buyback programs determined to skew the results for bonus purposes, who would bother?

Aggregate demand is sluggish, revenues are flattish to declining, and profits are not worth the accounting ink which dreams them up.

A friend and I were considering the economic forecasts past by government tools, otherwise known as big name expert economists, and for the most part they were very high end fantasy in retrospect, and not worth the electrons used to transmit them.

Are they just that bad? Or just that servile to what their paymasters demand? One can only wonder.

Have a pleasant evening

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Marking Time In a Dollar World

It certainly seems as though some entities with real clout have had the markets in a virtual lockdown since Brexit.

Gold and silver continue chopping sideways in a relatively tight range, with exceptions for the usual shenanigans, and stocks have been trading in less than 1% moves daily.

The 'deliveries' for gold on the Comex continue, with little action in silver this month, and the usual playing with their food in the precious metals warehouses.

I know, it is a bit boring.  I could just make things up, and maybe one of them would be right.

Or I can skip the legendary predictions game and just say that the metals look quiet, but are continuing to coil, perhaps winding up for a move out of these chart formations.   It is worth watching.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Sleepy Summer Days

Stocks were sleep-walking once again, with the VIX volatility index moving lower.

It has been quite some time since stocks saw a greater than 1% daily move, not since Brexit I think.

Earnings continue rolling in, and we will be getting a new macroeconomic numbers this week as noted in the calendar below.

Have a pleasant evening.

Thomas Frank: The Rise of the Professional Plutocrat and the Betrayal of the Democratic Base

The Bush government of hacks and cronies was replaced by Obama's government of 'well pedigreed and highly educated'experts,' and nothing changed...  The professional class, the so-called meritocracy, have just learned to repeat all the same phrases, and are the servants of the prevailing orthodoxy.

Thomas Frank

What Do You See That Frightens You? - A Light In the Darkness

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, and will help you; I will uphold you with my firm hand of righteousness.

Isaiah 41:10

"Peace I leave you; my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give it to you; so do not let your heart be troubled, do not let it be afraid."

John 14:27

I am frightened by the strength of evil, and the weakness of man.

If you love the Lord, as He loves you, you cannot be afraid.

For I will be with you always, even until I have led you into my Father's house.

"God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission -- I may never know it in this life but I shall be told it in the next.

I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught.

I shall do good, I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.

Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.

He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about.

He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me -- still He knows what He is about.

We are slow to master the great truth that even now Christ is, as it were, walking among us, and by His hand, or eye, or voice, bidding us to follow Him. We do not understand that His call is a thing that takes place now. We think it took place in the Apostles' days, but we do not believe in it; we do not look for it in our own case.

Let us feel what we really are--sinners attempting great things. Let us simply obey God's will, whatever may come. He can turn all things to our eternal good. Easter day is preceded by the forty days of Lent, to show us that they only who sow in tears shall reap in joy.

The more we do, the more shall we trust in Christ; and that surely is no morose doctrine, that leads us to soothe our selfish restlessness, and forget our fears, in the vision of the Incarnate Son of God.

May the Lord support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.

Then in His mercy may He give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last.”

John Henry Newman

Caesar was swimming in blood, Rome and the whole pagan world was mad.

"But those who had had enough of transgression and madness, those who were trampled upon, those whose lives were misery and oppression, all the weighed down, all the sad, all the unfortunate, came to hear the wonderful tidings of God, who out of love for men had given Himself to be crucified and redeem their sins.

When they found a God whom they could love, they had found that which the society of the time could not give any one, -- happiness and love."

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis, 1905

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Where the Elite Meet To Cheat

As you may recall I said last month that we would probably be seeing 'better than expected' jobs reports from now until the election. The incumbent party wants to paint a pretty recovery picture quite badly.

And the Fed would at least like the option of pulling the trigger on their likely 'one and done' interest rate increase for the year. Its either September or December.

The dollar rallied and gold took a hit, on expectations of an improving US economy and higher interest rates. We are the champions of the world it appears, and the only thing that can spoil it is one of those backwards nations in Europe or Asia. har har har dee har har.

The queen had a bit of a relapse today with a seizure caused by her recent operation, and that occupied much of my thought and time for the morning. No permanent damage done with the fall, and as for the rest of it, time heals. Luckily we will be seeing doctors and hospitals almost every day next week as they scan and probe and analyse and develop their game plans, so it looks to be a timely coincidence.

I have included the action on the deliveries which are still lively for gold, and put the warehouse data down for your viewing pleasure.

I am still in quite a bit of cash as I reduced positions dramatically ahead of the Payrolls.  Election shenanigans looked likely, and I really was not interested in chasing this market around today.  I took a little of it back but not all that much.

There was intraday figures of the Net Asset Values of the Funds.  I was clearly shopping around.  lol.  Let's see if we get a good buying opportunity and/or a clear signal of direction.

Next week might be interesting to see how these trends breakdown or break out, as the case may be.

VIX is at a twelve month low.  I wish the vehicles to play volatility in the ETF class were not such blatant sucker bets.   But there are other ways to play the risk off flip side of this sort of thing.

Have a pleasant weekend.