Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Deadly Embrace of Pride

 

“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, The Power Elite, April 1956

“An inflated consciousness is always egocentric and conscious of nothing but its own existence.  It is incapable of learning from the past, incapable of understanding contemporary events, and incapable of drawing right conclusions about the future.  It is hypnotized by itself and cannot be argued with.  It dooms itself to calamities that strike it dead."

Carl Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, 1944

“Pride is the beginning of sin. It was pride that changed angels into devils, and it is humility that makes men angels. There never has been, and never can be, any sin without pride."

Augustine, City of God and On Nature and Grace

"Almighty God lets the sinner go his own way, for He has given to man free-will, and does not want a forced obedience, but an obedience springing from love.  In his forgetfulness of God, the sinner squanders his fortune, the natural and supernatural gifts which he has received, using his natural gifts, his health, his physical powers, and his reason, to offend God.

The sinner falls under the dominance of Satan, and becomes the slave of his lowest passions, which are signified by the swine which the prodigal was forced to feed.  But the more he obeys his passions, the more dissatisfied he becomes.  He feels an emptiness and spiritual hunger in his heart which he is powerless to satisfy.  He only knows that he is miserable, and hateful to himself."

Friedrich Justus Knecht, The Prodigal Son, 1910

“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 1944


Stocks were dropping harder today, and have made lower lows, erasing the phony rally triggered by Trump's announcement of a ceasefire.

Will we see another insider trading opportunity set up for Monday.  One can only wonder,

Gold and silver bounced after the drubbing they took in observance of the Comex option expiration.

Bitcoin has fallen back down to the bottom of the trading range it has been in since early February.

Why this back and forth in crypto?  I assume the players on the Street have noticed this, and are banging that back and forth like an ATM.  

VIX climbed but is nowhere near the panic level.

The Dollar latched back on to the 100 handle.

I have marked the 20 and 30 percent decline levels on the SP500 and NDX charts.  There is also an open gap on the SP500 down there.

I would not hazard to make a guess how this weekend will go.  Who was the last person to talk to Donald?

Need little, want less, love more.  For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Next week is Holy Week. 

Have a pleasant weekend.  

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Into the Valley of Death

 

"Thus the elements are in place: a weak legislative body, a legal system that is both compliant and repressive, a party system in which one party, whether in opposition or in the majority, is bent upon reconstituting the existing system so as to permanently favor a ruling class of the wealthy, the well-connected and the corporate, while leaving the poorer citizens with a sense of helplessness and political despair, and, at the same time, keeping the middle classes dangling between fear of unemployment and expectations of fantastic rewards once the new economy recovers.

That scheme is abetted by a sycophantic and increasingly concentrated media; by the integration of universities with their corporate benefactors; by a propaganda machine institutionalized in well-funded think tanks and conservative foundations; by the increasingly closer cooperation between local police and national law enforcement agencies aimed at identifying terrorists, suspicious aliens and domestic dissidents."

Sheldon Wolin, Inverted Totalitarianism, 2003

"We are still under the sway of the destructive and thoroughly vain belief that man is the pinnacle of creation and not just a part of it, and that therefore everything is permitted to him.  People are manipulated in ways that are infinitely more subtle and refined than the brutal methods used in the post-totalitarian societies.  We still close our eyes to the growing social, ethnic, and cultural conflicts in the world. We are still destroying the planet that was entrusted to us.

I feel that the dormant goodwill in people needs to be stirred. People need to hear that it makes sense to behave decently or to help others, to place common interests above their own, to respect the elementary rules of human coexistence.

We are still incapable of understanding that the only genuine core of all our actions – if they are to be moral – is responsibility.  Responsibility to something higher than my family, my country, my firm, my success.  Responsibility to the order of Spirit, where all our actions are indelibly recorded and where, and only where, they will be properly judged.  Truth and love will overcome lies and hatred.”

Václav Havel, Speech to the US Congress, , February 21, 1990

“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and your children."

Luke 23:28

 

Stocks dropped decidedly today, going out on their lows, and giving up most of the rally that was Trump's phony announcement of a 'truce' that was used by insiders to game the markets.

Gold and silver were hit hard because it is an option expiration on the Comex for the April futures contracts.

The Dollar moved to the top of the 99 handle.   

Bitcoin gave up its recent push higher and slipped back down into the trading range it has been held in since the beginning of February.

VIX crept higher.

Israel and the US bases in the Mideast are largely exposed to Iranian missile attacks now, as the 'Iron Dome' has become depleted of effective interceptors.

The US seems to be preparing for some sort of ground action with light infantry.  And of course there is the chance of a targeted strike as we had seen in Venezuela against the Iranian leadership and nuclear or missile facilities.

And so we continue on into the valley of tears and death, pulled forward by the vanity of madness.

They will never learn, but can we? 

Have a pleasant evening. 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Nothing Stands Between Them and Tears

 

"Such unsustainable arrangements are backed by force and fraud.  And as the fraud loses its power over time, force must increase, until there is an end in genuine reform, or eventual self-destruction."

Jesse, Credibility Trap, 24 August 2012

"Those who have force on loan from fate count on it too much and are destroyed.  But at the time their own destruction seems impossible to them.  For they do not see that the force in their possession is only a limited quantity; nor do they see their relations with other human beings as a kind of balance between unequal amounts of force.

Since other people do not impose on their movements that halt, that interval of hesitation, wherein lies all our consideration for our brothers in humanity, they conclude that destiny has given complete license to them, and none at all to their inferiors.

And at this point they exceed the measure of the force that is actually at their disposal.  Inevitably they exceed it, since they are not aware that it is limited.  And now we see them committed irretrievably to chance; suddenly things cease to obey them.  Sometimes chance is kind to them, sometimes cruel.  But in any case there they are, exposed, open to misfortune; gone is the armor of power that formerly protected their naked souls; nothing, no shield, stands between them and tears."

Simone Weil, L'Iliade ou le poème de la force, 1939

"The lie is comfortable, an illusion easy to live with, familiar, and safe."

Jesse, Elite in the Grip of Fear, Fraud, and Denial, 16 May 2010

“Prepare for great battles.  Know that you are now on a great stage where all heaven and earth are watching you.  Before I come as a just Judge, I will first open wide the door of My mercy.”

Maria Faustina Kowalska, Divine Mercy in My Soul, Kraków 1938


Stock futures were jammed higher in the quiet overnight trading once again. 

This is all a part of the 'public relations' campaign being spun by the Trump Administration.

His minions have pointed to the "50,000 Dow" often enough to know this is one of their fig leafs covering a failing economy and administration.

Gold and silver  bounced around, gaining quite a bit in the overseas, overnight trading, and then being whittled down in the NY trading hours.

All is well, don't you know.

The economic data was inflationary.

VIX ticked lower, because all is well, you know.

Bitcoin is stuck on the wash and rinse cycle.

If the smart money is not slowly exiting from this 'asset' I will be surprised. 

Despite the circuses and illusions, nothing has changed in the fundamentals of risk and the markets.  

Not one thing.  Stocks and the economy are cooked, and the rest of the world is finding a refuge in non-Dollar dependent assets. 

Trump is moving troops towards Iran every day.   This talk of peace seems to be the usual scam.  

Netanyahu will not countenance anything but the reduction of Iran to a broken state.  And Iran is rather keen for eliminating what they now perceive as an existential threat.

And everyone has forgotten all about Ukraine, and the horrendous Epstein scandals.

We are coming up on an option expiration on the Comex this Thursday, more for gold than silver.

And next week is Holy Week.

I still remember a Palm Sunday, many years ago in Zermatt.  We woke up early, as the low hanging, dense cloud cover from the night we arrived had dissipated.  And we watched the sun lighting the top of the Matterhorn.

The air was crisp and very cold, and there was singing as people were exiting the local church, carrying the branches of evergreens.

Some are happy that Trump's approval rating is 'down' to only 35%.   All things considered, after all that has been revealed, I am shocked that it is so high.

There is a sickness in the body politic that has been growing steadily for some time.

"Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.”    C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

What are we becoming. 

Have a pleasant evening. 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Consumed By Predators from Within

 

"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."

Simon Johnson, The Quiet Coup, May 2009

"Financial predators are usually narcissistic and audacious criminals.  They regularly have an extreme sense of entitlement coupled with high self-efficacy.  Many of them have a charismatic quality and are preternaturally persuasive.  Financial Predators are commonly shameless and quite adept serial liars.  They perceive themselves having near unlimited guile and resourcefulness to extricate themselves out of any compromising situations."

Russ Alan Prince, Unmasking Financial Predators, Forbes, 6 Nov 2017

"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, Impact Festival 2012

"The greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."

Martin Luther King, Stride Towards Freedom, 1958

"Most of them became wealthy by being well connected and crooked.  And they are creating a society in which they can commit hugely damaging economic crimes with impunity, and in which only children of the wealthy have the opportunity to become successful."

Charles Ferguson, Predator Nation, 2012

"They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution.  They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest."

Henry Wallace, American Fascism, April 9,1944

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every form of corruption. On the outside you appear to be righteous, but inside you are full of deceits and lawlessness. You snakes! You brood of vipers."

Matthew 23:27-28,33

"To keep standing you have to do it for love, for love of God.  Otherwise it seems too senseless, too frustrating."

Jesse, 22 March 2026


Stocks rallied sharply this morning in a reaction to some outrageous lies told to the American public by Trump.   The lies were intended to boost the slumping markets.  

The insiders front-running this had a good time, but the credibility of the United States and its financial system is being shredded. 

Stocks backed off their highs once it became apparent that this was a cynical hoax.

Gold and silver were hammered again, as the Comex option expiration for the precious metals contracts approaches on this Thursday the 26th.

VIX collapsed initially and then bounced back up again as the conscious mispricing of risk was revealed.

Bitcoin spiked on the false representation of peace, and managed to hold on to a gain.  Control frauds can ride on the waves of gullibility for quite some time, but will eventually fail.  They always do.

This is madness, and it is the work of the darkness of the world.  If you support it, this is what you serve.

Have a pleasant evening.   

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Truth - And They Turned and Washed Their Hands of It

 

"Always struggle with Christian methods and Christian weapons.  Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter.  As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love.

Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.  Always avoid violence.  If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos."

Martin Luther King, The Most Durable Power, 6 November 1956

"If anyone says, 'I love God,' but hates his neighbor, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a neighbor whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen."

1 John 4:20

"For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'  Then they will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?'  Then he will answer, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'”

Matthew 25:42-45

“I am going to shock the ears of all who hear.  I will bring forth the things that I have proclaimed.  I will judge their house because they knew their sons have made themselves contemptible to me, and they did not try to restrain them.”

1 Samuel 3:11-13

"You belong to your father, the devil, and you live to serve your father’s desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies he speaks from his heart, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

John 8:43-44

"For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind."

Hosea 8:7


In the end it's all about love, isn't it?  Whether you serve love with love, or serve something that savors of death.

Stocks were hammered today, in a brief moment of recognition by the markets of the collapsing global energy supply chains, likely taking much more with them as this mad war of aggression continues.

Nassim Taleb made a remarkable comparison today between this regional war in the Middle East and the 'Late Bronze Age Collapse' of 1177 BC.   

The preeminent scholar on the topic in my mind is Eric Cline, and there are a number of his lectures on the subject online in videos.  In short, something triggered the collapse of global supply chains and triggered lawlessness that took down most of the great Bronze age empires.

Gold and silver were hit hard, even as the Dollar took a dive back down to the low end 99 handle.

Must be an option expiration tomorrow.  And Comex precious metals options next Thursday the 26^th. 

VIX fell of course.

Bessent and the Treasury in conjunction with the NY Fed and some oligarchs are attempting keep up appearances, for whatever vain reasons by which they operate besides looting.

There are some who are joining them in their retreat into fantasy, pride and greed.

It is your decision if you wish to join them, and turn your backs to the truth.

Some of the biggest institutions and the finest of the elite are doing it. 

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Have a pleasant evening.