Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Pig Kings Rising - Uber IPO Prices At Bottom of Range

“To love at all is to be vulnerable.  Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.  If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal.  Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements.  Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.  But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change.  It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

To love is to be vulnerable.”

C.S. Lewis


"All creatures of our God and King,
lift up your voice and with us sing
alleluia, alleluia.

Thou burning sun with golden beam,
thou silver moon with softer gleam,
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

Francis of Assisi

Stocks were reeling a bit today, with fresh concerns about trade relations between China and the US.

Negotiations are expected to begin again about now, and continue into the evening.

Supposedly the US will decide after midnight whether to increase tariffs on China goods or not.

Brinksmanship most likely, but let's see what happens.

Angelo Mozilo was a prominent interviewee on Bloomberg today, as they made the rounds of the SALT conference at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. 

Angelo, the ex-CEO of the housing crisis' notorious Countrywide Financial, had words about the mortgage markets and the economy for Bloomberg's Eric Schachter.  He took care to note how homeowners continue to abuse and victimize the financial system. 

Next up, insights on personal grooming and hairstyles by tonsorial thought leader Sweeney Todd, late of Fleet Street.

Being a Wall Street pigman means never having to say you're guilty, much less sorry about it, for the many lives that you have ruined.

SALT is the brainchild of Anthony 'The Mooch' Scaramucci of Skybridge Capital, and is 'a global thought leadership forum devoted to unlocking growth opportunities in the fields of finance, economics, entrepreneurship, public policy, technology and philanthropy'.

The 10 Year Treasury auction today was rather ugly, and the Dollar continued to dip lower.

Gold is still being held in check, purportedly by a Bank that finds itself holding a largish short which they still hope to cash in.

And stocks are being saved in the US trade every afternoon by the underwriters and assorted wiseguys who would like to get the Uber IPO out the door tomorrow.

Let's see what happens tomorrow with the trade negotiation and the Uber IPO.

I hear bells faintly ringing, maybe after a last big push higher with a trade deal, or some other flight of fancy.  Or not.  Things are very risky.  It may not take much more to get the ball rolling.

From our oasis to yours, have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Uber Alles the IPO

Uber the IPO

"If you’re the Democrats and you look at the lessons of the election, you saw that people rejected your neoliberal economic legacy, that means you have to start challenging the powerful corporate sectors that you’ve been representing for a long time, actually posing real alternative policies to Donald Trump.

If you do that, though, you risk losing your privileged status within the power structure. And it's the same thing if you’re in the media and you identify with that faction of the power structure."

Aaron Maté, America In Denial: The Psychology of Russiagate

I had just finished a commentary for this evening after the close, while I was watching Tottenham vs. Ajax Amsterdam in the UEFA final. Tottenham has just come back with two quick goals to tie it up 2-2.

And I hit 'delete' rather than 'update.' And blogger is very unforgiving about that sort of thing, alas.

Stocks remain in elevated risk, although the wiseguys will be propping the market until Friday at least.

There is a big IPO for Uber coming out, and they won't let the market decline much further, if it can be helped, until they launch that oinker.

Have a pleasant evening.

Postscript:  In an electrifying finish Tottenham just won to advance to the final against Liverpool in Madrid. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Are You Not Entertained? - Liverpool Vs. Barcelona

"The Federal Reserve printed $4 trillion to buy up the banks’ bad debt while permitting ten million homeowners to be foreclosed.  Student loan debt prevents university graduates from forming independent households.  Mortgage and credit card debt prevents households from having discretionary income with which to drive retail sales."

Paul Craig Roberts


"Gentlemen! I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country.

When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin!

Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, (bringing his fist down on the table) I will rout you out."

Andrew Jackson, in a meeting with the Bankers, February 1834


"The truth is, there are not two kinds of people.  There’s only one: the kind that loves to divide up into gangs who hate each other’s guts.  Both conservatives and liberals agree among themselves, on their respective message boards, in uncannily identical language, that their opponents lack any self-awareness or empathy, the ability to see the other side of an argument or to laugh at themselves.  Which would seem to suggest that they’re both correct...

Let me propose that if your beliefs or convictions matter more to you than people—if they require you to act as though you were a worse person than you are—you may have lost perspective.”

Tim Kreider, We Learn Nothing

Stocks were on another wild ride today, plunging lower than the lows from yesterday, which were erased by a 'timely' boost in buying.

But alas, it was not to be today, as this fresh draft of fear swept over the halls of the mighty, the financial engineers and giants.

Although some short covering and late day buying in the futures managed to take stocks back up to some levels with more 'comfortable' losses.

If stocks cannot shake this off and manage to close the week out in a decent position on some support, we could see a fresh wave of more serious selling next week. Or sooner.

But never fear.  Things will soon be looking up.  The Trump Administration is going to reduce poverty in America—  by redefining it.

Just another glorious day in the Empire. Are you not entertained?

Gold and silver continued higher. The chicanery assoaciated with the recent 'FOMC and Non-Farm Payrolls' slam dunk is over, at least for now.

But gold needs to lead the way and break out cleanly above the very obvious and tempting overhead resistance.

I have been watching the UEFA Championship Semi-Final game between Liverpool and Barcelona this afternoon.

Postscript:  And Liverpool wins in an historic upset.

From our oasis to yours, have a pleasant eveening.

The Political Elite and the Rise of Global Populism

"What the two sets of party elites also share is contempt for their parties’ base of activists, voters and non-donor constituencies. Aside from paying them lip service during election season, Republican elites have no use for their base of religious voters, anti-immigrant activists and small-business people...

Similarly, Democratic Party leaders have no use for the priorities of their voters and activists, who by large margins support Medicare-for-all, the Green New Deal and an end to our militarized foreign policy...

The realization of how little the agendas of ordinary people matter to the elites of both parties has made it a lot more acceptable for their betrayed bases to look for alternatives, which would have been unthinkable a decade ago. In fact, this realization is the genesis of the populist moment in current American politics."

Bill Blum, Democratic [and Republican] Elite Could Care Less About the Life of the Party


“Incestuous, homogeneous fiefdoms of self-proclaimed expertise are always rank-closing and mutually self-defending, above all else.”

Glenn Greenwald


“People with advantages are loathe to believe that they just happen to be people with advantages. They come readily to define themselves as inherently worthy of what they possess; they come to believe themselves 'naturally' elite; and, in fact, to imagine their possessions and their privileges as natural extensions of their own elite selves.”

C. Wright Mills


"Propaganda is the executive arm of the invisible government."

Edward Bernays

There is no point in trying to persuade and cajole the various party elites, of either side of the aisle, to redirect their attention back to the American public. Their minds and hearts belong to the donor class and the power elite, and while they may pay lip service to reform and rights and the public welfare, their venal instincts bring them around to follow the money, every time.

Obama betrayed the progressiver trust in the mandate he was given for reform.  That is a difficult but key admission towards freeing oneself from the unthinking herd.   And abandoning the ''lesser of two evils' rationale.

Have you ever wondered why there are effectively only two parties in this vast America?

Trump talks a good game as well, albeit more loudly and more crudely and more shamelessly, but he is betraying his own base of supporters as well.  He is remarkably adept at shifting the blame, and blowing all the familiar dog whistles when his natives get restless.   The benefit to him is that he is riding a wave of irrational anger and backlash, and he feeds and channels it like most unscrupulous demagogues do so well.

The American people soundly rejected Hillary and her party apparatus which was made evident in the last election. And as a result of what could have been a learning experience the Democrats may talk a good game about change, and then the party elite serve up who— the corporatist party hack Joe Biden, probably the least reform-minded and progressive candidate in the field.  And all the courtiers to corporate power in the media and the other enabling organizations fall immediately into line.

And try to shame anyone who disagrees or dissents from the prevailing narrative.

Liberals like to pride themselves with their intellectual sophistication and high-principled judgement, as compared to 'the deplorables.'   Conservatives do the same thing, with a strong emphsis on morality and common sense.

But when it comes to it, they both will stand by and accept terrible injustice, if not outright crimes, and toss aside the very principles for which they apparently stand. For the sake of winning.  But oh no, not for their own benefit, but for the sake of 'justice' for the right kind of people.  Never mind the methods they must regretfully employ.

They will bend themselves into logical knots, and paint their hypocrisy with rationales designed to let them keep their pride and sense of being better than the rest, whom they despise.  They are the most noble, untainted by the things that they despise.  But they embrace what they hate in other guises.

They will do it for the sake of 'the party,'  for winning, for the continuing power of an organization which has been waylaid by a relatively small group of the servants of the powerful few, and primarily serves itself, while couching its actions as 'the lesser of two evils.'

For the sake of victory over the forces of evil these jokers will make Faustian bargains, for the sake of expediency and some higher good, with the same thought and care with which they change their underwear.

Change will come. But it will be jarring, and disruptive.

Winning....

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Saving Private Equity

"There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away. The British people can face peril or misfortune with fortitude and buoyancy, but they bitterly resent being deceived or finding that those responsible for their affairs are themselves dwelling in a fool's paradise."

Winston Churchill


“Those entrapped by the herd instinct are drowned in the deluges of history. But there are always the few who observe, reason, and take precautions, and thus escape the flood. For these few gold has been the asset of last resort.”

Antony C. Sutton

Just charts tonight.

The futures reversed and are selling off after hours as the US says it will increase China tariffs on Friday.

And the paint on the tape was barely dry.

Have a pleasant evening.

Physical Metal Holdings of Trusts and Funds

"What these experiences have taught me is that even when people are warned of a previously founded case or even a conviction, they still routinely underestimate the pathology with which they are dealing.”

Anna Salter

The spice must flow.