Stocks and Precious Metal Charts - The Darkness Rising - Twilight of Those Who Would Be Gods

"At dæmon, homini quum struit aliquid malum,
Pervertit illi primitus mentem suam."

But when the devil intends any evil against man, he first viciously corrupts their mind.

Euripides


"Nimirum insanus paucis videatur, eo quod
Maxima pars hominum morbo jactatur eodem."

He appears mad indeed but only to a few, because many are infected with the same disease.

Horace


"Though this be madness, yet there is a method in it."

Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2.

The retail sales number came in rather badly this morning.

There is no real recovery. Just a papering over of the rot endemic to oligarchy.

Gold and silver are struggling at overhead resistance.

Gold is much more interesting to watch here because of its nature as a safe haven.

And of course its central role in the changes in the monetary regime which have been called currency wars.

Stocks have reached the 38.2% fibonacci retracement level. They may keep on reaching for 50%.

It is reported that JP Morgan is holding $2.3 trillion in stock derivatives, or roughly 2/3rds of the entire market.

Let's see how this charade plays out.  My general forecast is for pain.

When intelligent, verbally acute narcissists start succumbing to continuing pressure they typically become paranoid, and then violent.   The mechanism for this is reasonably straightforward.

Their pathology is expressed in grandiose self-images and imagined and great exaggerated accomplishments.   When they fail to achieve their lofty goals, they start blaming others. Their narcissism turns malignant.

After all, in their minds they are fabulously talented and have never failed or even made a serious mistake.   So if there is failure, it cannot possibly be due to anything that they have done, but rather the failure of those who work for them.  And so there is a great deal of staff turnover.

And if the failures continue, there must certainly be some group that is sabotaging their efforts, in an effort to make them look bad.  Eventually their rage and words translate into acting out, and violence, most often against critics, potential critics and scapegoats.

There might be an epidemic of this sort of thing in the Beltway.

And then the darkness comes.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts Hang On To Your Hats - Gold Working 'W' Bottom on Big Cup Handle

“When an honest man speaks, he says only what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false. For the bullshitter, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false.

His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly.  He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.”

Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit

Yesterday I said, "We may get a tweet fueled rebound of sorts. But it is unlikely to last."

We may get a little more upside, if Trump-o-weenie puts out more fantasy tweets about a trade deal, and Mnuchin mobilizes the Exchange Stabilization Fund.

But, the risks remain elevated, highly elevated.

Gold hung in there today, despite a little profit-taking and a stronger dollar.  We may have put in a 'W' double bottom.   Let's see if that formation can activate on the chart.

Bloomberg *finally* fixed their intraday DX chart. Thank you guys. They have an excellent organization when it comes to collecting, organizing and presenting data.

As for the big picture, the 'recovery' may be faltering, the world may be teetering on the verge of economic stagnation, the US may be aggressively pursuing regime change in multiple countries, but at least the deficit is out of control, thanks in large part to the tax cuts for corporations and the ultra-wealthy.

As for the rest of us and these markets, hang on to your hats. We may be in for a rough ride.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Oh the Bovinity! - Flight to Safety - Stock Option Expiration Friday

"While everyone enjoys an economic party the long-term costs of a bubble to the economy and society are potentially great. They include a reduction in the long-term saving rate, a seemingly random distribution of wealth, and the diversion of financial human capital into the acquisition of wealth.

As in the United States in the late 1920s and Japan in the late 1980s, the case for a central bank ultimately to burst that bubble becomes overwhelming. I think it is far better that we do so while the bubble still resembles surface froth and before the bubble carries the economy to stratospheric heights. Whenever we do it, it is going to be painful, however.”

Larry Lindsey, Federal Reserve Governor, September 24, 1996 FOMC Minutes


“I recognise that there is a stock market bubble problem at this point, and I agree with Governor Lindsey that this is a problem that we should keep an eye on....We do have the possibility of raising major concerns by increasing margin requirements.  I guarantee that if you want to get rid of the bubble, whatever it is, that will do it.”

Alan Greenspan, September 24, 1996 FOMC Minutes


"And in some ways, it creates this false illusion that there are people out there looking out for the interest of taxpayers, the checks and balances that are built into the system are operational, when in fact they're not. And what you're going to see and what we are seeing is it'll be a breakdown of those governmental institutions. And you'll see governments that continue to have policies that feed the interests of -- and I don't want to get clichéd, but the one percent or the .1 percent -- to the detriment of everyone else."

Neil Barofsky, 2012 interview with Bill Moyers

Stocks were in meltdown mode, relatively speaking, to the insouciance with which they have greeted most negative economic news this year.

That recovery on Friday reeked of bravado and phoniness.  But it went less noticed because there is so much of that going around lately.

There was special coverage and a wave of happy talk this morning on bubblevision, that seemed to fade into quiet desperation and calls for a rate cut to rescue the markets.

But there was really no panic, despite the fact that both of the gaps in the equity indices have now been filled, as we had suggested that they would be.  For this is no breakaway gap in a booming economy.  This was a gap in a highly cynical, very technical, asset bubble following the debacle in December.

Gold was a clear beneficiary of this, banging up to the $1300 level.   The dollar and silver were both fairly flat.

We may get a tweet fueled rebound of sorts.  But it is unlikely to last.

There will be a stock market option expiration on Friday.

Just a quick mention as the eight year saga of Game of Thrones staggers to a close. A friend of ours sent us the following diagram of the series from China, which is included below. It is remarkably insightful. I have seen other versions floating around the circles where these things are discussed.

I am given to understand that the writers for these last few seasons of GoT are moving on to become the writers of a new Star Wars trilogy.

Need little, want less, love more.  For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant evening.

Physical Holdings of Gold and Silver in Trusts and Funds