Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Central Bank Blather and Stock Option Expiration

"People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage. Intellectual myopia, often called stupidity, is no doubt a reason. But the privileged also feel that their privileges, however egregious they may seem to others, are a solemn, basic, God-given right."

John Kenneth Galbraith


"Countries such as Great Britain and the United States became rich because their citizens overthrew the elites who controlled power and created a society where political rights were much more broadly distributed, where the government was accountable and responsive to citizens, and where the great mass of people could take advantage of economic opportunities."

Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, Why Nations Fail


"I don’t think there’s any doubt that quantitative easing enabled the rich and the quick. It was a massive gift… I hope that we do indeed succeed in being able to say in the end the wealth effect was more evenly distributed. I doubt it.”

Richard Fisher, former Dallas Fed President

Freedom is not an objective to be reached and then forgotten.  It is a way of life.

Gold and silver were lower today, largely on a stronger dollar and what I like to think of as stock market option expiration for September which is this Friday.  The options on miners are lucrative enough to warrant the attention of some of the pigmen.

It is fashionable but fatally myopic to blame everything on government manipulation when the regulatory bodies and their bosses are as ideologically and financially compromised as they are today, and the moneyed interests buy and sell politicians almost openly, and even then quite brazenly.

But still, these fluctuations in the metals themselves are just short term 'wiggles' for the most part, and the overall trend remains bullish.

So if you chase and fret about with these fluctuations, you may get dizzy, and a bit poorer, from chasing your own tail.  Especially if you are over-playing your hand and your temperament with excessive leverage.

The economic news starts trickling in tomorrow.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Stock Option Expiration Week Shenanigans

Stocks have been gyrating the last couple of days, largely on little things like comments from central bankers.

I think much of the 'action' and the increased volatility has more to do with the stock option expiration this Friday the 16th as with anything that could be considered fundamental.  Stocks are in bubble valuation territory however, and the 'real' volumes remain light compared to the algo driven volumes.

This is a corrupt system which you tolerate, so get used to it or seek to change it and make it just for everyone.

Have a pleasant evening.

Just Charts At 10 PM

Stocks have given up some of their gains after hours.

Gold and silver recovered all of their early losses and then some.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Restless

"Two-thirds of the directors at the New York Fed are hand-picked by the same bankers that the Fed is in charge of regulating.

Today, the United States is No. 1 in corporate profits, No. 1 in CEO salaries, No. 1 in childhood poverty, and No. 1 in income and wealth inequality in the industrialized world.

Today, the top one-tenth of 1% owns nearly as much wealth as the bottom 90%. The economic game is rigged, and this level of inequality is unsustainable.

We need an economy that works for all, not just the powerful.

I think what the American people are saying is enough is enough. This country, this great country, belongs to all of us.  It cannot continue to be controlled by a handful of billionaires who apparently want it all."

Bernie Sanders


"Then the kings of the earth, their nobles and their commanders, the rich, the powerful, and every one of their willing slaves and free men, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne, and from the righteous anger of the Lamb.'"

Rev 6:15-16

We had our answer, a real workable solution, and we trampled it in the dirt and threw it away, because it did not flatter our vanity.

Today we had the expected correction in the markets. It was the first stock market move greater than one percent since the Brexit decision in July.

Stocks came down hard on nothing particularly new. And bonds followed as yields rose, and the reckless pursuit of returns without regard to risks reversed.

They had all been greatly overextended by a calculated and intentional mispricing of risk, and today we had a minor settling of accounts.

That mispricing of risk had not been at all accidental, and was well supported by many fine words and false rationalizations that were repeated by the pundits in the media who afterwards will shamelessly plead ignorance, despite their pretentious claims to the well paying rewards of authority.   It is what I have called 'the CEO defense.'

Gold gave up a little less than silver, which has a higher industrial component, but even moreso, a higher beta.   This was a result of the dollar moving slightly higher in the usual currency cross trading.

I took the short broad stocks hedge for my silver positions off in the afternoon, probably a little too early, but these leveraged instruments are notoriously volatile, and they had done their job for me. I always seem to be a little early in these things.

Next week will be heavy on economic data as indicated in the calendar below.

People always say at these times, 'what is next?'  Not, 'what can we learn from what just happened.'  Not, 'what can I do personally to make things better for everyone, and not just myself.'

This is probably not such a great thing, and will be quickly forgotten enough. But the reckoning of accounts will come, when gold will be more likely moving up many, many dollars ovrnight.  And the fear in the markets will be palpable.  And the mood of the people will become ugly.

The politicians have failed, the regulators have failed, the people have failed to be vigilant and vocal for justice for all, and not just for their own private benefits.

But these are all things that you know, and that you have been told many, many times. And you will think about it for a day, and then most likely forget all about them.

In the end the only pity is not to have saved yourself, your real self, the part of you that matters and will remain and has lasting value, and which is also the substance of those whom you love.

And the good news is that it is almost never too late to come back home.  The pity is that in their stubborn pride and foolish greed some will not.  This is the only tragedy.

The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustainable recovery.

Have a pleasant weekend.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - There For All To See

“He did not care for the lying at first. He hated it. Then later he had come to like it. It was part of being an insider, but it was a very corrupting business.”

Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls


"And the shark has pretty teeth,
there they are for all to see;
and Macheath has a sharp knife,
but no one knows where it may be."

Berthold Brecht, Die Moritat von Mackie Messer

Were you surprised at what happened today, the big drop on the seemingly inconsequential 'news' that the ECB may not continue to expand stimulus, and that the Fed may be inclined to raise rates, even the slightest bit?

Even as Wall Street was dipping its flags in the blood of the victims of 9/11.

You ought not to have been, if you have been following the commentary here.

The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustainable recovery.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Anything Goes

“They shall never get the upper hand!” said Alfred.

“That’s right,” said St. Clare; “put on the steam, fasten down the escape-valve, and sit on it, and see where you’ll land.”

“Well,” said Alfred, “we will see. I’m not afraid to sit on the escape-valve, as long as the boilers are strong, and the machinery works well.”

Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin

The dollar took back a little from its drop yesterday, and gold and silver commensurately gave up a little of their gains.

What is most striking is the manner in which gold and silver are trading as currency crosses. While this makes sense within a certain market context of short term valuations, it tends to overlook, if not completely ignore, the commodity feature of the metals.

This is what makes them unique among currencies. They are self-sufficient. They have no counterparty risks or true masters, as they are not created, only discovered and exchanged.

It is a modern monetary phenomenon to believe that when it comes to monetary valuations, anything goes.

And for it time it does. Until it does not.

And then the dislocation caused by the reckoning of the balance sheets of theoretical values with hard realities may be quite impressive.

Have a pleasant evening.