Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Mardi Gras - Laissez le Bon Temps Rouler

"Peace I leave you, my peace I give to you;  not as the world gives do I give it to you. So do not let your heart be troubled— do not let it be afraid."

John 14:27


"Let us feel what we really are— sinners attempting great things. Let us simply obey God's will, whatever may come. He can turn all things to our eternal good. Easter day is preceded by the forty days of Lent, to show us that they only who sow in tears shall reap in joy."

J. H. Newman

Another interesting day in The Recovery™ as the US Dollar remained steady at the close, gold was hit in a series of little cheap shots, stocks were weak, and the VIX rose once again.

The Donald speaks to the professional politocrats in Washington this evening.

Snapchat IPO should be getting its final pricing tomorrow, and be out trading on March 2.  I hear the voice of a fat lady singing.

There was a serious problem with Amazon's cloud computing services today, that caused problems across a wide range of platforms on the East coast of the US.   I had trouble getting my email from this site today for most of the afternoon.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Here Come Donnie and Snapchat

There are two notable events in particular this week that may affect the markets.

The first will be President's Trump address to the joint session of the Congress tomorrow night.

Since this is his first term, it will not be called a 'State of the Union.'  And I doubt he will start with the traditional opening phrase, 'the state of the union is strong.'

But he has expressed the intention to make a 'big announcement,' so we'll have to see if anything of substance falls on the table with regard to infrastructure spending and tax cuts, not to mention healthcare.

The second event will be the IPO of Snapchat, in the form of SNAP, which is likely to be coming out to market on Wednesday.   I am going to be watching the aftermarket action closely, as well as the ability of the wiseguys to sustain these lofty levels in equities.

As you know I am leaning towards a suspicion of the usual shenanigans and antics by the money men, but still keeping an open mind.  It is hard to tell exactly what flavor of scam they may be weaving.

Next week we will get the February Non-Farm Payrolls report.

Gold and silver were attempting to rally higher today, but gave up their gains and went negative, even as stocks rallied.   Interestingly enough the VIX finished higher.

AngloGold Ashanti (AU) has indicated it will begin to pay a dividend again today. The stock is troubled by speculation about its South African holdings and some share sales by its CEO.

The US Dollar did not show much in the way of gains.  That chart is included below.

The warehouses at the Comex were relatively quiet.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - God and Mammon and Power

"The world is ours, we are its lords, and ours it shall remain. As for the host of labor, it has been in the dirt since history began, and I read history aright. And in the dirt it shall remain so long as I and mine and those that come after us have the power.

There is the word. It is the king of words— Power. Not God, not Mammon, but Power. Pour it over your tongue till it tingles with it. Power.”

Jack London, The Iron Heel


"What is good?  All that heightens the feeling of power in a man, the will to power, power itself.  What is bad?  All that is born of weakness.  What is happiness?  The feeling that power is growing, and that resistance is overcome."

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist


"No one can serve two masters, for he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one, and be neglectful of the other; and so you cannot serve both God and Mammon."

Matt 6:24

Gold stuck a close over the 1250 mark, largely on dollar weakness.

Once perceived volatility starts picking up, I suspect that gold and silver will obtain enough energy to take on the more important downtrend and psychological resistance on the charts, around the 1290 to 1300 level.

For the higher volatility silver weekly chart, I have an eye on 21.50 to 22.   If silver can take out those levels and hold them decisively, then one must look at a potential run to 30.

Stocks are pausing here as I had suggested they might.  I don't quite see a big downtrend developing yet.  I do think a market break is possible in March.   If that does happen, then we will have to start keeping a close eye on how the markets and the policymakers react to it, with some potential thoughts towards a bleak October.

But that is far, far ahead of ourselves.  For now things seem relatively stable.  But there are some clouds on the horizon.

There were few clouds on the horizon here today, as the skies were sunny and blue, and the temperatures were in the high 70's, a surprisingly nice surprise for February.

Try to remember to feed God's creatures, and the poor, and to pray for those poor in spirit, who do not even comprehend their spiritual poverty.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - No Breakouts or Breakdowns Yet

After the bell the Trump Administration's DOJ rescinded the ban on the use of private prisons for Federal prisoners. Progress!

Perhaps they can explore the use of private workhouses and poorhouses for those who will continue to become impoverished by policies that favor a redistribution of the wealth to the top few percent.

Oh wait, they already have those. It is called working for below poverty wages while having to compete with near slave labor working in deplorable conditions in authoritarian and plutocratic regimes.

Stocks were weak to sideways today. Unless something happens to trigger selling, I suspect we will see the major market indices hanging in there until at least the SNAP IPO comes out in early March.

And the band played on.

Have a pleasant evening.

Net Asset Value Premiums of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds