SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Hanging On

The Q2 GDP number sucked out loud this morning, coming in at 1.2% as compared to the economic consensus of 2.6%.  And the prior period was adjusted lower to a slim 0.8% from 1.1%.  And the Atlanta Fed slashed their going forward GDP forecast.

Well, Hillary has been nominated now to carry on Barry O's legacy of stagnation for the many, so it's mission accomplished, and time for the economic carnies to pull up their statistical stakes and move on.

Now we know why the Fed balked at a largely symbolic 25 basis point yesterday;  today's GDP number would have made them look like idiots.

But they did say they saw clear signs of growth, so maybe they are still following their normal course of seeing the world through one percent eyes.

VIX took a decline today, and stocks are looking very fully valued, with leadership continuing to narrow.    Time to start trimming stock positions from the longs, perhaps, because any exogenous event could make for a fairly stiff reversal.  But those are very tough to predict.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Helicopter Money - Hope and Change

"History is made up of the bad actions of extraordinary men and woman. All the most noted destroyers and deceivers of our species, all the founders of arbitrary governments and false religions have been extraordinary people; and nine tenths of the calamities that have befallen the human race had no other origin than the union of high intelligence with low desires."

Thomas Babington Macaulay


"This was a night dominated by the hollow men of the Democratic Party: Panetta, Kaine, Biden and Obama. Men who knew better, but did worse. Barack Obama possesses so many scintillating skills, perhaps more skills than any other political figure of the modern era. Yet he put those magical gifts to such meagre, timid and often brutal uses. What a waste. His is the tragedy of a squandered presidency."

Jeffrey St Clair, Notes From the Democratic Convention 2016

Gold and silver mostly marked time today, giving back a little of the bigger gains from yesterday's post FOMC rally.

The Bank of Japan is said to be announcing something vis a vis 'helicopter money' overnight.

The metals need to breakout on the charts.

The Comex seems to be stocking up on gold, as if to try and isolate themselves from supply shocks overseas perhaps?

There were few deliveries worth noting yesterday, and the data for the day before never really came out.

I have included the warehouse inventories although there is not all that much change there.

August may be an interesting contract month for the precious metals.

Day Three of the Democratic Convention was just peachy.

I hope few of you have any illusions about the integrity of the political party system given all that we have seen.

Well, let's see how it all goes.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Rally Narrows Sharply To a Few Big Tech Names

It's mostly about Big Tech 'story stocks' like Facebook, Alphabet, and Amazon now.

The broader market seems sluggish, as if it is running out of gas.

This difference shows up most sharply in comparing the SP 500 and the Industrials against the Nas 100.

The Bank of Japan may do something worth watching overnight.

Let's see how the bulls can take it into the weekend.

Have a pleasant evening.

Thomas Frank Explains Why Hillary May Talk Reform, But Will Never Be a Reformer

"The hypocrite's crime is that he bears false witness against himself. What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of vices is that integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other vices except this one. Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core."

Hannah Arendt

"Those who are able to climb up the ladder will find ways to pull it up after them, or selectively lower it down to allow their friends, allies, and kin to scramble up. In other words: 'who says meritocracy says oligarchy.'"

Chris Hayes

The DNC is an arm of the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party.

Hillary is a neo-liberal on economics, and a neo-con on foreign policy.

She and her crowd are masters of spin and the management of popular perception.

I think Frank and Scheer are being far too kind.

The politicians and bankers know exactly what they are doing.

They are not deluded, or simply mistaken; they simply do not care.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - So Far So Good

Gold and silver caught some legs to the upside today after the Fed did nothing.

The markets suspect that the Bank of Japan will be announcing something that sounds like 'helicopter money' on Friday, which will continue to boost the global liquidity depending on what they do.

Another day or two of upside for the metals and we may be getting that 'up, up, and away' action that we discussed last week.

We have an intermediate inverse head and shoulders working, and if it breaks out it signals 1450 as a minimum objective, against the cup and handle longer term target of 1490.

Silver is just a beast, explosive to the upside.

It turns out that the DNC had been warned some time ago that their servers were vulnerable to hacking, and they chose to do nothing about it.   I suppose that is consistent with Hillary's Luddite approach to tech security for her own State Department emails.

Let's see if gold and silver can hold on to these gains and add enough to stick a close in the breakout territory that lasts.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Risk On As the Fed Coos Short Term Dovishness

Stocks caught a serious bid after the Fed announced they were doing nothing today.

They did change some of their wording, with the intent of smoothing the way for a possible rate hike in September.

That is getting a little close to the election, but I think that all things considered they have one more rate hike in their bag of tricks, and if not September then December, but that delay adds risks of missing the opportunity.

After the bell Facebook beat its numbers adding further fuel to big tech which was leading the way higher today compliments of Apple.

Have a pleasant evening.