"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem. You who murder the prophets, and abuse those whom God has sent as messengers to you. How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings— but you would not let me. As you have willed it, so your house is now yours to command— but is made desolate. For I tell you truly, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'” Matthew 23:37-39
"Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power— let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will!"
Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator
Stocks managed to rally back off their losses to close largely unchanged.
Gold and silver held relatively steady in price.
Trump named Jay Powell as the new Fed Chair today.
Put another nickel in
In the nickelodeon
All I want is having you
And music, music, music.
Teresa Brewer, Music, Music, Music
"A nickel's not worth a dime anymore."
Yogi Berra
The FOMC did nothing with rates, but remarked that in their judgement the growth in the economy has changed from 'moderate' to 'solid.' The market is looking for a rate increase at the December meeting.
I am solidly willing to speculate that the Fed will flip their judgement faster than a flapjack in a NJ diner in the not too distant future. But let's see what happens.
The markets are widely pricing in a rate increase from the Bank of England this week. Let's see if they get it.
Donald l'Orange will be spilling the beans on his pick for Fed head tomorrow. Presumably it will be someone not currently under indictment. It is said by insiders that his pick will be Jay Powell. As the Wall Street hot money hopheads say, 'Pass that J my way.'
I have included the chart for the little followed industrial metal nickel futures directly below. It has been on a tear of late. And, (want yearn), is taking a crack at the kind of breakout attempt that we have looking for in gold and silver. From what I hear this is an electric car play. Or blockchain. lol
We are still looking for the results and effects of the Non-Farm Payrolls report on Friday.
Here is a link to a paper from Artemis Capital titled Volatility and the Alchemy of Risk. It does a decent job of describing the setup for a hyper-correction that may occur based on the systematic mispricing of risk and market manipulation by the Banks, both global and central. In other words, the third collapse of a major financial asset bubble since the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999.
At some point in this correction I expect the Bankers to try and stop it, and restore confidence, in the manner of what was done in 1929. They will have more time and ways to do this than in 1987, if they wish to avail themselves of it. Circuit breakers, cooling off periods and all that. Still, fortunes may be lost, and made.
That no one can see it coming is utter rubbish, although the timing is problematic. But as Walter Bagehot once famously observed, 'Life is a school of probabilities.'
Or in other words, as Dirty Harry phrased it, "you've gotta ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" Since we have established the principles of too big to fail (or jail) and government bailouts, they may indeed be feeling rather lucky, playing heads I win and tails you lose with other people's money. And that is the moral hazard of the system as it feeds the snakes of Wall Street today.
Lord, it is time. Let summer lushness go,
Lay longer shadows on the trees,
And over harvests, winds resplendent blow.
Tell fruits to fully ripen;
Give them a final southerly hour,
Urge them to essence, and with power
Gift sweetness to the laden grapes.
Those who linger, for a time remain alone,
No place to rest their weary hands,
They'll wake, read, write longingly to friends
And walk spackled streets, up and down,
Pacing restlessly, while leaves in falling, dance.
Rainer Maria Rilke, Autumn Day
"Heaven has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turned, Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorned."
William Congreve, The Mourning Bride
And the dark rage of an arrogantly confident candidate spurned knows no bounds.
Around the market close there were reports of a vehicle traveling down a bike path that runs along the Westside Highway, knocking down pedestrians and bicyclists. The NYPD reports eight fatalities and several injuries. The suspect, Sayfullo Saipov of Florida, originally from Uzbekistan, was taken by police armed with a paintball and pellet gun.
In NY Times Writes Its Own Indictment for the Russia Probe, Pam and Russ Martens shine a light on a very interesting twist in flagship journalism. If it turns out that the reporter had received a leak of the unrevealed substance of the indictment through some source, well then, that is a nice scoop gotten through aggressive reporting.
But if it turns out that this story is just a speculation woven from the whole cloth of innuendo without substance, printed as fact by the NY Times to advance a partisan meme of one political party member, then the reporter and his editor ought to resign or be dismissed in disgrace. The credibility of the mainstream media has already fallen low enough without such partisan tabloid antics from the 'papers of record'. So let us see which it shall be.
Speaking of soulless hypocrisy, the CME has announced it will be offering Bitcoin futures by year end. Bitcoin futures. Good grief.
Dolly and I placed some flowers on the queen's niche in the Lady Chapel for the second monthly anniversary of her passing. Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord...
The Fed will be making some pronouncements tomorrow afternoon. Donald of Orange may be naming Janet Yellen's successor on Thursday.
Let us pray for those whose hearts are hardened against His grace and loving kindness by greed, fear, and pride, and the seductive illusion and crushing isolation of evil.
We pray that we all may experience the three great gifts of our Lord's suffering and triumph: repentance, forgiveness, and thankfulness. And in so doing, may we obtain abundant life, and with it the peace that surpasses all understanding.
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