Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - And Where They Make a Desert, They Call It Peace

“He felt that he had known them all, those strange terrible figures that had passed across the stage of the world, and made sin so marvelous and evil so full of subtlety."

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray


“In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely.”

Hunter S. Thompson

Stocks were drifting higher today on light volumes and the good news of a very large arms deal with Saudi Arabia.   Few things are so immensely profitable for us than war, because its products contain their own need for replacements.

Gold and silver saw a little upside on weaker economic outlooks based on stagnant wages, weakening demand, and the continuing printing of money by the unproductive bushels in pursuit of mad and discredited economic theories.

There will be a Comex precious metals options expiration this Thursday the 25th.

Trump's budget was revealed in absentia today.

It presents a diligent effort to strip the weak, the poor, and the disabled of what little they have in order to give the wealthiest few even more. This would be more surprising if one were to forget that this has been the general theme since the rule of Bill Clinton, who while serving the vile interests of mammon could at least make us feel better about it, make us think that he too felt our pain.

I was wondering today, was Hillary really the lesser of two evils? She certainly has the credentials, if not the polish of her spouse and predecessor who were exceptional orators and performers. Even W managed to memorize his lines, and effect the steely gaze when mouthing the watchword, 'terror.'

This is the shortcoming of Trump that so infuriates the more accomplished fakers, swine and hypocrites among our ruling elite—   he is a clumsy liar and a terrible actor, and so rarely fails to spoil the public's illusions about our goodness.

Have a pleasant evening.

Reprise: How Elitist Democrats Betrayed Their Traditional Working Class Base And Gave Trump the Presidency

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Between the Crosses, Row By Row

"One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them."

Thomas Sowell

Today was an option expiration, and we had an additional pop in stocks in order to complete the routing of the bears who piled on to the 'Trump dump.'

The putative reason for today's rally was a statement by the Fed's Bullard about the role that additional QE may play.  I am not sure if this was 'real' or just another reasons to wash and rinse the public.

Next week will be the June option expiration for precious metals on the Comex.

Stocks are at a bit of a crossroads here.  The SP 500 futures and big cap tech in the NDX, for example, have retraced approximately fifty percent of the recent drop, and are both at the midpoint of their respective bull trend channels.

There will be the second estimate of Q1 GDP next week.  I do not think it will be a big mover, since we tend to be forgetful of where we have been, even most recently.

Memorial Day is coming up at the end of this month.  As the poem says, 'take up our quarrel with the foe.'  

Who is 'the foe' of liberty and the pursuit of happiness?  In the answer to that question lies maturity, and wisdom.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Burning Down the House

"Most of us are still too sane to piss in our own cistern, but we allow others to do so and we reward them for it. We reward them so well, in fact, that those who piss in our cistern are wealthier than the rest of us. How do we submit? By not being radical enough. Or by not being thorough enough, which is the same thing."

Wendell Berry


"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


"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


"Isn't it a riddle and awe-inspiring that things can be so beautiful, despite the horror? I've seen something wondrous peering through my joy in the beautiful, a sense of its creator...Only people can be truly ugly, because they have free will to separate themselves from this song of praise. It often seems they will drown out this hymn with cannon thunder, curses, and blasphemy. But I have realized they will not succeed. And so I want to throw myself on the side of the victor.”

Sophie Scholl, Munich 1942

Stock options expiration tomorrow, and a precious metals option expiration on the Comex next week.

The action today looked like a dead cat bounce, with a little whiplash to give the amateur options betters a thrill. Here's a suggestion. At least the booze is free in Las Vegas.

Steve Mnuchin and Paul Ryan proved one thing in their respective testimony and press conferences today.

Trump is not the problem— he is a symptom. And so is Hillary.

Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Mind the Gap

"Starting around 1980, American society began to undergo a series of deep shifts. Deregulation, weakened antitrust enforcement, and technological changes led to increasing concentration of industry and finance. Money began to play a larger and more corrupting role in politics. America fell behind other nations in education, in infrastructure, and in the performance of many of its major industries. Inequality increased.

As a result of these and other changes, America was turning into a rigged game—a society that denies opportunity to those who are not born into wealthy families, one that resembles a third-world dictatorship more than an advanced democracy."

Charles H. Ferguson, Predator Nation


“When the system is rigged, when ordinary citizens are powerless, and when whistle-blowers are pariahs at best, three things happen:

First, the worst people rise to the top. They behave appallingly, and they wreak havoc.

Second, people who could make productive contributions to society are incented to become destructive, because corruption is far more lucrative than honest work.

And third, everyone else pays, both economically and emotionally; people become cynical, selfish, and fatalistic. Often they go along with the system, but they hate themselves for it. They play the game to survive and feed their families, but both they and society suffer.”

Charles H. Ferguson, Inside Job

It was a risk off day in the markets.  No doubt about it.

The purported reason was the disclosure by the ex-FBI Director Comey that President Trump apparently asked him to forego the investigation of the ex-Security Advisor Flynn.

Personally I am stunned that the markets were able to overextend as far as they had gone.  This Trump drama is just the trigger event.   The more extended the market becomes, the less significant of a trigger event is required to begin the reversal.

If Trump were impeached, then the Tea Party Conservative Mike Pence would assume the presidency.  He is a GOP old boy and friend to Paul Ryan.   It would almost be better for the GOP if he did become president because he doesn't use twitter.

In other words, the problems are far more substantial than the egos and personal power trips of a few Washington plutocrats and pundits.   Without a serious overhaul, the financial system is going to go off the rails again.

There was late day commentary here about the action in stocks and metals.

Have a pleasant evening.