Precious Metal Holdings and Commitments of Traders

Thanks to Nick Laird the data wrangler at goldchartsrus.com as always.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - RISK ON! - Sitting on Top of the World

"I have hitherto been assuming that such teachers...do not fully realize what they are doing and do not intend the far-reaching consequences it will actually have.  There is, of course, another possibility.  What I have called the trousered ape and the urban blockhead may be precisely the kind of man they really wish to produce.

The differences between us may go all the way down.  They may really hold that the ordinary human feelings about the past or animals or large waterfalls are contrary to reason and contemptible and ought to be eradicated.  They may be intending to make a clean sweep of traditional values and start with a new set."

C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man


"This explains much about how Trump — whose company has been linked with everything from housing discrimination to outright fraud — has gotten away with so much.  His standards are low; his ethics, nonexistent.  And yet he is adored by millions.  This says as much about him as it does about us."

Paul Brandus, The Real Reason Behind Trump's Meltdown


‘The banks are circling the wagons.  Somebody’s got a problem.’

Charles R. Geisst,  as quoted in There’s Nothing Normal About the Fed Pumping Hundreds of Billions Weekly to Unnamed Banks on Wall Street

Today's Non-Farm Payrolls Report missed to the downside, and the growth of wages was nil.

And so it was time for a rally!

Stocks were propelled higher. Gold and silver were off a bit, and the Dollar was also lower.

The Street was piling into risk, on the assumption that if they are bold enough in denying what is expected of them, that the Fed will be compelled to bail them out once again.

On one hand the recent reliance on daily Fed repos to balance the banking systems cash on hand could be argued to be a return to what was more commonplace in the 1980's. Of course, those were times of tremendous economic strain, now long forgotten, in the aftermath of the Volcker interest rate gambit, and the oil shocks to the economy.

But we are in some golden recovery now, right?  Jobs and the economy and booming!   And yet our financiers are clamoring for rate cuts, with rates already at historically low levels.

But then there are the deficits, which seem to be a hallmark of Republican governance.  All that debt issuance by the Treasury to finance the tax cuts for the wealthiest and corporations must surely require something extraordinary to support it.

It is the mark of our genius to hold several contradictory assumptions and observations at the same time, and blithely push on as though they were all tied together by impeccable reason.

Like the recent weather, that flashes from hot humid summer to the crisp coolness of autumn overnight, we seem to be finding our balance in the extremes.  The madness of one side is answered with the obsessive madness of the other.  Madness abounding, and so it all seems chaotic, but normal—  the new normal, thoroughly modern, so climb on board.

But still, there is that nagging feeling that something behind the scenes is going extraordinarily wrong, and that our complacency and confidence are at best bravado, but at worst a kind of madness.  And who can call it madness if all our best and brightest deny it?  What happens if we declare madness to be common sense, a sign of proper belonging, or even a patriotic duty?

As Sir John Harington once noted, 'Treason doth never prosper.  What's the reason?  Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason.'  And say we same the same for madness?  If we are all mad together, who but the mad would call it madness?

There is a feeling that despite all the talk of our exceptionalism and glorious excellence, that something very wicked this way comes.  That one cannot make their deal with the devil without paying, at long last, some terrible price.

Quid pro quo, Clarice?

Do not be deceived, for God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, so shall he reap.

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

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Justice, For Some - Non-Farm Payrolls Tomorrow

"Free Markets"

"The IRS audits the working poor at about the same rate as the wealthiest 1%.  Now, in response to questions from a U.S. senator, the IRS has acknowledged that’s true but professes it can’t change anything unless it is given more money.

ProPublica reported the disproportionate audit focus on lower-income families in April. Lawmakers confronted IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig about the emphasis, citing our stories, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked Rettig for a plan to fix the imbalance.  Rettig readily agreed.

Last month, Rettig replied with a report, but it said the IRS has no plan and won’t have one until Congress agrees to restore the funding it slashed from the agency over the past nine years — something lawmakers have shown little inclination to do."

ProPublica, IRS: It’s Just Easier and Cheaper to Audit the Poor


"Since the first Fed rate cut, these are what the stock market benchmarks have done: Dow -2.9%; S&P 500 -3.1%; Nasdaq -4.8%; Russell 2000 -6.0%.   Even before today’s slide, the small-caps were down 14% from their peaks and are flashing warning signs for the broader market.  As an aside, when the ISM has hit 47.8 in the past, it rarely bottomed there and indicates 60%+ chance that the recession is about to start."

David Rosenberg

The ISM Services number came in very weakly this morning, missing all estimates.

And so stocks and the dollar took a dive, and gold and silver rallied.

But the wiseguys were not to be denied, and used the quiet afternoon to walk stocks back up to a gain.

The Non-Farm Payrolls number tomorrow could be a market mover, one way or the other. I did not take positions on the bearish side overnight because the NFP is far too easy for the executive branch to manipulate in the short term.

And the brazen obviousness of the lies coming out of Washington are just stunning.

We  are in the land of oligarchs, and their demagogues and stooges.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Savour of Death

Load up on guns, bring your friends
It's fun to lose and to pretend
With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us.

Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit


"For the hearts of these people are hardened,
and their ears cannot hear,
and they have closed their eyes,
so their eyes cannot see,
and their ears cannot hear,
and their hearts cannot understand,
and they cannot turn to me
and let me heal them."

Matthew 13:15


"They do not see the image of Almighty God before them, and ask themselves what He wishes: if once they did this they would begin to see how much He requires, and they would earnestly come to Him, both to be pardoned for what they do wrong, and for the power to do better.   And, for the same reason that they do not please Him, they succeed in pleasing themselves.

Surely, there is at this day a confederacy of evil, marshalling its hosts from all parts of the world, organizing itself, taking its measures, enclosing the Church of Christ as in a net, and preparing the way for a general Apostasy from it. Whether this very Apostasy is to give birth to Antichrist, or whether he is still to be delayed, as he has already been delayed so long, we cannot know; but at any rate this Apostasy, and all its tokens and instruments, are of the Evil One, and savour of death."

John Henry Newman

Another round of economic data intruded on the illusions of exceptionalism and prosperity this morning.   The pigmen and their servants are restless.

Well, tomorrow is another day, and a good ISM Services number, if such a thing is on deck, will provide a renewed enthusiasm for the games that we play.

The Dollar was lower and gold and silver rose sharply.  Funny, that the metals went down BEFORE Golden Week, a seven day national holiday in China.

The theory there is, of course, that during Golden Week with their markets closed, the Chinese will not be active in the physical markets, thereby cramping the style of the paper leverage games in New York and London.  But the stiff decline in the metals happened before Golden Week even began.

By the way, have you noticed that the Chinese have stopped the big offtakes in physical gold from the Hong Kong Comex warehouses some months ago?  Do you know why?

The big hit on the metals last month was driven largely, if not almost exclusively, by market antics on the Comex, and the four or five houses who were sucking on the wrong end of a big metals short, with an intense desire to drive the price down and cover.   And so they did.

Not one thing has changed.   The markets may rally madly on a different set of economic data into the weekend.  But this is not reform or recovery. 

Need little, want less, and love more.  For blessed are those who called to the supper of the Lamb.

Have a pleasant evening.