Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - FANG Stocks Take the Gas Pipe - Dow 'Industrials' Set Record

"He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers."

Charles Peguy


“Tax reform is about job creation. President Trump is working to revitalize America’s main streets by reducing taxes, and making the tax code simpler and fairer. With nearly 1.5 million jobs created since January and two consecutive quarters of GDP growth above 3 percent, the President has unleashed a spirit of economic optimism – but our work is not done.  Lowering taxes for job creators will help them grow and hire more Americans for good, family-sustaining jobs.”

Alexander Acosta, Secretary of Labor, 29 Nov 2017

Too bad the 'job creators' who have been enjoying record profits have repeatedly said that they intend to do what they have been doing all along with their extra cash: stock buybacks, dividends, acquisitions of suppliers and competitors, and larger rewards for management.  And probably more automation and offshoring.

Increasing wages and hiring more workers is a low priority, as it has been for quite a few years.   Why would we think giving the same player MORE money without changing anything or creating new incentives would actually result in a different outcome?

The Tech stock bubble was hit by selling on higher than usual volume today, leading the NDX lower by almost a full percent.

The SP 500 finished up unchanged.

But the Dow Industrials closed higher at a new record, led by those industrial titans like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, American Express, United Healthcare, Pfizer, Disney and Verizon.

The pundits had trouble getting their stories straight today, as some went with a 'risk on' interpretation, since Treasuries and precious metals got hit.

But that was hard to square up with the rising VIX, and the minor bloodbath in the tech darlings.

It seemed to me that there was a rotation going on, from the favored to the downtrodden stocks. Although even that is a bit thin, since some of the sectors getting a boost are clearly the beneficiaries of the Trump campaign to stock picking on Wall Street and let the good times roll in big healthcare, big networks, and the other monopolists.

The speculation is on the Republican 'tax reform' which is pretty much a tax break for the wealthiest few.

Bitcoin, like a few other financial instruments these days, is a bubble.

There is nothing more remarkable  than a New York liar. They are a breed by themselves. The bigger the whopper, the more strident their insistence that they are above all approach, and are virtual fountains of virtue and reform. If their claims are proven false, they will never, ever admit that they were wrong.  They will double down with even more brazen whoppers.  Whatever they do is the best, and you will just love them for the good things they are going to do for you.

Have a pleasant evening.

Comedians: The Witch Hunt Broadens and Continues

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Twilight of the Gods

"I was satisfied that I wasn't personally to blame and that I hadn't known about those things. I wasn't aware of the extent of the crimes.

But one day I went past the memorial plaque which had been put up for Sophie Scholl in Franz Josef Strasse, and I saw that she was born the same year as me, and she was executed the same year I started working for Hitler.

And at that moment I actually sensed that it was no excuse to be young, and that it would have been possible to find things out."

Traudl Junge, Hitler's Secretary

Know well whom and what it is that you serve, for that is whom you will love, and eventually become.

I will be leaving a bit early today to take Dolly to the veterinarian for her annual checkup.

The markets were rising steadily on the questioning of the new Fed chairman Jay Powell, and on the stiff action by President Trump to diminish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is a thorn in the side of the Banks. Financial stocks were certainly responding positively to this.

But the news later came out that North Korea has fired another missile, as reported by the Japanese Coast Guard, and later confirmed by the US military, and stocks fluttered a bit, but then resumed their rally led higher by the SP 500 futures and the financial stocks.

I grew tired of the exuberant prevaricators on financial television, and flipped over to the National Geographic channel to watch 'Hitler's Final Days' which chronicled the last 11 months of the Third Reich. I thought it was interesting that the Berlin Philharmonic played Wagner's Twilight of the Gods to a packed house, even as the Allies and the Soviets were closing in from both east and west. How fitting.

If anything happens to dramatically change the charts I will publish something later on. Otherwise I will true things up tomorrow.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Godzilla - Options Expiration on the Comex

"Consequences are unpitying."

George Eliot


"Nemesis is long delayed sometimes, but it comes in the end.”

Agatha Christie

The sounds emanating from the markets and the news feeds can mean only one thing—  a page in history is turning, and a new chapter is about to begin.

Today was a precious metals December futures options expiration on the Comex. As you may recall, December is one of the biggest months for the metals futures.

That should tell you quite a bit about the price action.

Those new holders of futures contracts, thanks to holding an in-the-money call into expiration, will probably get a 'gut check' on price at some point, depending on how the numbers went. We will not know this for a day or two.

Much of the physical exchange of gold is being conducted off-market over the counter through 'Exchange for Physical' (EFP) transactions.

The real insights into the physical gold market are to be found as they can in Asia, and to some extent in London.  New York remains remarkably opaque, despite its scrupulous attention to reporting lots of details—  with a deniable linkage to the underlying reality, one might add.  Just read the disclaimer on their reports.

Is there is a risk in this lack of full disclosure?  Of course there is.  The question is whom does it advantage, and disadvantage? 

But alas, this controlling of information for advantage is the sordid tale of our society, where figures who blatantly lie to Congress are later cited as the principle information sources for claims and issues of great national preoccupation and importance.

The scene in Washington becomes increasingly embarrassing, eerily resembling the Third World.   The status quo is doubling down again and again on their perceived advantages.   And this will not be sustained.

Stocks were largely unchanged today.  The prognosticators are looking forward to a continuation of this asset inflation, without a corresponding stimulus and growth in the real economy.  And thereby it is the best of times, and the worst of times, as the saying goes.

Have a pleasant evening.