Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - As Old as Babylon, and Evil as Sin - Strike a Level

 

"Human beings are so made that the ones who do the crushing feel nothing; it is the person crushed who feels what is happening.  Unless one has placed oneself on the side of the oppressed, to feel with them, one cannot understand.   Power is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the latter it crushes, the former it intoxicates.   The truth is, no one really possesses it." 

Simone Weil 

 

"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make a man a more clever devil." 

C. S. Lewis 

 

"You do not know the working class.  But you are not to be blamed for this.  How can you know anything about the working class?  You do not live in the same locality with the working class.  You herd with the capitalist class in another locality.  And why not?  It is the capitalist class that pays you, that feeds you, that puts the very clothes on your backs that you are wearing to-night. 

And in return you preach to your employers the brands of metaphysics that are especially acceptable to them; and the especially acceptable brands are acceptable because they do not menace the established order of society.  Each of you dwells in a cosmos of his own making, created out of his own fancies and desires.  You do not know the real world in which you live, and your thinking has no place in the real world except in so far as it is phenomena of mental aberration." 

Jack London, The Iron Heel 

 

 Gold and silver both held their price at the 61.8% retracement level. 

Next week will tell us if this is a major correction or the start of a new formation. 

But the amount of physical bullion being added in Hong Kong suggests 'mission accomplished' in cleaning out the precious metal ETFs. 

As I said, look for this type of action to continue while the gold pool falls apart.

Stocks took a plunge today, but then held their own levels as needed on their charts and managed to stage a major relief rally. 

Let's see if bully can keep that going as a trend change, or not. 

The Dollar moved to the top of the 91 handle. 

Again, let's see which way we go from here. 

Interest rates may be a key determinant. 

For those who are astonished by the antics of the some of the opposition party Senators, both outrageous and shameful, keep in mind that this is nothing new, and not so mysterious. 

The same service to the moneyed interests with a reckless disregard for the public was common among the Republican congressmen throughout the Great Depression. 

And although it is so often unmentioned, the one percent attempted to foment a coup against the elected government  by violent means in Washington DC.   

History does rhyme.

People imagine that we all worked together, but this is not at all what happened. 

Have a pleasant weekend. 

 

 

 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Great Cycle of 'Stuff' - Wild Day in the Markets

 

"This word inequality.  It's visible in the ever rising costs of healthcare and college, in the coronation of Wall Street, and the slow blighting of wherever it is that you happen to live.  And you catch a glimpse of inequality every time you hear about someone that had to declare bankruptcy because a child got sick, or you read about the lobbying industry that drives Washington DC, or the new political requirement, the new constitutional requirement that every presidential candidate has to be a billionaire's favorite, or a billionaire themselves. 

Inequality is about the way in which speculators, and even criminals, get a helping hand from Uncle Sam, while the Vietnam Vet down the street from you loses his house.  Inequality is the reason that some people find such incredible significance in the ceiling height of an entrance foyer, or the hop content of a beer, while other people will never believe in anything again. 

This is what a society looks like when the glue that holds it together starts to dissolve.  This is the way ordinary citizens react when they learn that the structure beneath them is crumbling.  And this is the thrill that pulses through the veins of the well-to-do when they discover that there is no longer any limit on their power to accumulate." 

Thomas Frank

 

"There is a lack of critical assessment of the past. But you have to understand that the current ruling elite is actually the old ruling elite. So they are incapable of a self-critical approach to the past." 

Ryszard Kapuscinski 

 

"Major commercial and investment banks—and the hedge funds that ran alongside them—were the big beneficiaries of the twin housing and equity-market bubbles of this decade, their profits fed by an ever-increasing volume of transactions founded on a relatively small base of actual physical assets.   Our future could be one in which continued tumult feeds the looting of the financial system, and we talk more and more about exactly how our oligarchs became bandits and how the economy just can’t seem to get into gear.  Recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform.  And if we are to prevent a true depression, we’re running out of time." 

Simon Johnson, The Quiet Coup, May 2009 

 

Fed Chairman Powell did not meet the expectations of Wall Street in his speech and remarks today. 

It is hard to imagine what he could have said to please them that would have been even mildly credible.. 

And so in a reset of interest rate, easy money thinking, nearly everything got sold. 

Stocks took a breath-taking dive. 

They managed to finish on the charts where they needed to finish. 

It took on the characteristics of a liquidity event.

Gold miners seemed to fare a little better than silver miners, but most were sold.

I made money today in my trading account, despite some truly awesome and sudden swings in value during the day, up and down. 

I did take down my stock index short positions today. 

Let's see how the Non-Farm Payrolls report comes out tomorrow. 

Have a pleasant evening.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Long Time Coming - Stocks Drop Hard Led by Big Cap Tech

 

This place is like somebody's memory of a town, and the memory is fading. It's like there was never anything here but jungle.

Rust Cohle, True Detective 

 

"It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought." 

John Kenneth Galbraith 

 

"You are the very cause of your ignorance, yourselves. You put away the light, yourselves; you first pluck out both your own eyes, yourselves; and after that other men’s too, so that the blind may lead the blind, until you both fall into the pit.” 

Thomas More

 

"Foolishness has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves. In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves; they did not believe in plagues." 

Albert Camus 

 

Stocks slumped today, with the selling gaining some momentum in the afternoon. 

It was clearly a 'risk off' consideration. 

The VIX got some legs higher. 

Gold and silver were pushed lower once again, and the miners could not provide any leadership. 

The dollar moved sideways. there will be a Non-Farm Payrolls report on Friday. 

Have a pleasant evening. 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Spring - Gold and Silver Snap Back, Stocks Dip

 

After a deep overnight spike lower in the precious metals futures, designed to run the stops and skin the spec long out, gold and silver managed to snap back in the NY trading hours.

Early this morning I was telling some guys to look for the big cap miners and the silver fliers to lead the way higher ahead of the bullion futures if we were going to get a reversal, or at least a relief rally.

And that is what happened. 

I did short the broader stock index, but only to provide a little hedge for the stock exposure in new miner longs taken on yesterday afternoon.  

But that worked too, in its own right, as a little air from yesterday's moon launch leaked out.

While March may be a potentially risky month for stocks, overall the climate for equities is still bubble friendly.

There will be a Non-Farm Payrolls Report on Friday. 

I think the wiseguys were covering their bullion shorts, and even covering shorts and going long into some of the miners.

Even quality names with fairly strong 3-4% dividends were crushed in this take down of the bullion.  We were seeing price levels going back quite a while to multi-year lows on the charts.

The bullion bear raid freed up a quite a bit of gold from the ETFs, which will help to relieve the pressure on physical in London and Asia. 

Look for this kind of wash and rinse to repeat, as the gold pool continues to deteriorate.  And surprisingly enough, silver seems to be getting in on this action.

JPM is sitting on a major silver hoard.  Otherwise there are no central bank holdings of silver to speak of, to be deployed on leases to help out the bullion banks.

And while it was nice to make a gain on both ends, this was the trade for the day.

Let's see how we get past the Payrolls and finish the week, and try to determine if we have a practical bottom here after these antics, or not. 

It is tough to see a coherent pattern on the daily gold chart.

On the silver weekly chart, however, the W bottom is still holding strong and survived a backtest.

If it works the price objective is in the high 30's.  I have marked it on the chart.

But there are some very big 'ifs' in there.   

And these are some very lightly regulated, almost verging on lawless, markets.   We might have to cut Warren and Sanders some political slack if we want to see genuine financial reform.   Gensler *might* be up for it, but I am not optimistic.  And Biden is from the corporate wing of his party.

Trump and his crew were never going to reform anything.  They didn't want to stop the soft corruption and crony capitalism— they wanted to private label it.

Genuine change and reform is going to be a long time coming, especially as long as our political system is mired in deep pools of dark money.

Let's see if the silver rocket can achieve liftoff, before we look for escape velocity.  But it might be impressive.

Even though most of our yard is still covered in fairly deep snow, in the warmer areas around the house daffodils are rising, and crocuses and snowdrops are almost ready to bloom.

Change is coming, if but slowly, and then all at once.

Have a pleasant evening. 

 

A Lenten Meditation - Walk Humbly With Your God

 

If we should desire to make some worthy offering and useful sacrifice for Lent, let us give up our pride and our anger and fears driven by greed and selfishness.

"He has shown you all what is good.
And what else does the Lord require of you
But to do justice,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?"

Micah 6:8 

"Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life.  Excessive sadness seldom springs from any other source than pride.

For my part, when I find someone securely confident in themselves and without fear, I give them up for lost. "

Philip Neri

 

"It was pride that changed angels into devils; and it is humility that makes men angels.  There never has been, and never can be, and there never shall be any sin without pride.” 

Augustine of Hippo

 

"The most powerful weapon to stand against the devil is humility.  For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, so he does not know how to defeat it."

Vincent de Paul 

 

"The humble live in continuous peace, while in the hearts of the proud are envy and frequent anger."

Thomas à Kempis

 

"Take up my yoke and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

Matthew 11:29

 

Jesus, Lord, gentle and humble of heart,
From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me.
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me.
From the desire of being honored, deliver me.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me.
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me.
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me.
From the desire of being approved, deliver me.
From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me.
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me.
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me.
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me.

That others may be loved more than I, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, grant me the grace to desire it.
others may increase and I may decrease, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Lord, grant me the grace to desire it.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Everybody Knows, But Who Could Have Seen It Coming?

"I have one other issue I'd like to throw on the table. I hesitate to do it, but let me tell you some of the issues that are involved here.  If we are dealing with psychology, then the thermometers one uses to measure it have an effect.  I was raising the question on the side with Governor Mullins of what would happen if the Treasury sold a little gold in this market.

There's an interesting question here because if the gold price broke [lower] in that context, the thermometer would not be just a measuring tool.  It would basically affect the underlying psychology. Now, we don't have the legal right to sell gold but I'm just frankly curious about what people's views are on situations of this nature because something unusual is involved in policy here.  We're not just going through the standard policy where the money supply is expanding, the economy is expanding, and the Fed tightens. This is a wholly different thing." 

Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Minutes from May 18, 1993 

 

"We looked into the abyss if the gold price rose further.  A further rise would have taken down one or several trading houses, which might have taken down all the rest in their wake.  Therefore at any price, at any cost, the central banks had to quell the gold price, manage it.  It was very difficult to get the gold price under control but we have now succeeded.  The US Fed was very active in getting the gold price down.  So was the U.K." 

Sir Eddie George, Governor Bank of England in conversation with Nicholas J. Morrell, of Lonmin Plc, 1999

 

"The information in this report is taken from sources believed to be reliable; however, the Commodity Exchange, Inc. disclaims all liability whatsoever with regard to its accuracy or completeness.  This report is produced for information purposes only." 

Statement at the bottom of the CME Gold and Silver warehouse inventory reports

 

"On January 30, 2012 the Wall Street Journal did a hilariously bad job of reporting when its front page article stated that a 'person close to the investigation' said that as a result of chaotic trading in the week before MF Global's October 31 bankruptcy, customers' money 'vaporized.'  Money doesn't vaporize...

The habitual filching of customers' funds -- even if the funds are later replaced -- goes way beyond sloppy bookkeeping.  It goes way beyond bad judgment.  Just because MF Global got away with it for a long time before it blew up in its face doesn't mean one can call it sloppy bookkeeping and have any reasonable person believe it."

Janet Tavakoli,  MF Global:  Crime, Comedy, and Cover-Up, February 28, 2012

 

"But there is a sort of  'Ok guys, you're mad, but how are you going to stop me' mentality at the top." 

Robert Johnson, Audacious Oligarchy

 

“If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.” 

Émile Zola

 

I just thought these statements were an interesting reminder, and a modern truth to be relearned, bluntly and plainly stated. 

Promises and commitments these days are writ on the water of the fine print, and in the laws which the corporations have paid to have written. 

Who can say where and when the next Madoff moment will appear.

Gold and silver rallied strongly overnight.

Alas, they were hit in the London and NY trading, finishing slightly lower.

The Dollar drifted sideways, managing to hold a toe over the 91 handle.

Stocks soared today, taking back much of their recent losses, but still falling short of their recent highs.

Who could see it coming?

Risk on.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Gold and Silver Hammered

 

Gold and silver were hammered lower.

Let's see if they can hold support next week.

The dollar rallied. 

Stocks managed to churn out a neutral showing. 

Have a pleasant weekend.