“One day, we will have to stand before the God of history. And we will talk in terms of things we've done. And its seems to me that I can hear the God of history saying, 'That was not enough. For I was hungry, and you fed me not. I was naked, and you clothed me not. I was devoid of a decent sanitary house to live in, and you provided no shelter for me. And consequently, you cannot enter the kingdom of greatness.'" Martin Luther King
"I see dead people. Walking around like regular people. They don't see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don't know that they're dead."
Cole Sear: The Sixth Sense
"And they [historians] will ask the question, Why did we, scholars and writers in America, in this time, we who had been warned of our danger not only by explicit threats but by explicit action, why did we not fight this danger while the weapons we used best - the weapons of ideas and words - could still be used against it?"
Archibald Macleish, The Irresponsibles, 1940
Stocks were making another attempt to rally today, and were making some headway.
But the DC Drama Queen decided to unilaterally decided to cancel the Covid19 relief/stimulus discussions. And his sidekick Mitch decided to put the Senate into recess. Until he needs to vote on the Supreme Court nominee of course.
This was after Jay Powell's warning that a failure to address this on the fiscal side would place the economy in a 'tragic scenario.'
Gold and silver slumped along with stocks, the Dollar rose, and the VIX ran up again to overhead resistance.
“Love endures everything, love is stronger than death, love fears nothing. Help me, Lord, that my eyes may see all with mercy, so that I may never suspect or judge from appearances, but look deeper for what is good and beautiful in others' souls, and then come to their aid. Truth wears a crown of thorns. Let all my nothingness be drowned in the ocean of your mercy.”
Maria Faustyna Kowalska
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy."
Matthew 5:7
Stocks were in rally mode today, with the major indices going out on the highs.
The main suspects was Trump's return to DC after his weekend stint in the hospital, but more likely the better than expected PMI data.
And perhaps even more significant was the movement in the long end of the yield curve, which signals to some that the Fed's great experience for growth through inflation is succeeding.
The VIX rose today, along with gold and silver, so this was not so much a clear 'risk on' event.
And the Dollar slumped a bit.
So taken on in overall context, this may have been a flash of optimism about the economy.
Let's see how well the flash carries through into the week.
"Jim, lad, there be consequences an' then there be consequences. Devil take 'em all, says I, and pass aft the rum."
Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
"Foolishness has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves. In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves; they did not believe in plagues."
Albert Camus, The Plague
"Distrustful Sense with modest Caution speaks; It still looks home, and short Excursions makes; But rattling Nonsense in full Vollies breaks; For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread."
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
"Nemesis, the goddess of retribution and vengeance, the punisher of pride and hubris, waits impatiently for her meeting with us."
Chalmers Johnson
Stocks flopped hard this morning, on the news and Trump et al. have tested positive for Covid-19.
This served to distract from the disappointing miss in the Non-Farm Payrolls report.
Non-tech managed to take a little of those losses back, but still finished in the red.
I don't think it is reasonable to expect frankness in the disclosures about the progress of the President's health, but I do wish him and everyone else who struggles with illness such as this well.
Gold and silver shook off the traditional hit for the Non-Farm Payrolls report.
Still, they need to surmount the overhead resistance before one can say that they are back on the bull market track.
Let's see what next week brings.
As an afterthought, I have added a chart formation I have been thinking about for gold.
It is a falling wedge.
If it is so, and it breaks up and out, the move could be rather impressive.
"They have treated the suffering of my people carelessly, saying, ‘all is well’ when there is no safety. They act shamefully, they commit terrible offenses; and yet they are not ashamed, and do not even know how to blush. They shall be found among those who are fallen." Jeremiah 6:14-15
"The rich man replied, ‘If someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Luke 16:30-31
"A true opium of the people is the belief in nothingness after death, the huge solace, the huge comfort of thinking that for our betrayals, our greed, our cowardice, our murders, that we are not going to be judged.”
Czeslaw Milosz, The Discreet Charm of Nihilism
"The selfishness of an age that has devoted itself to the mere cult of pleasure has tainted the whole human race with an error that makes all our acts more or less lies against God. It is better to find God on the threshold of despair than to risk our lives in a complacency that has never felt the need of forgiveness.
Despair is the absolute extreme of self-love. It is reached when a person deliberately turns his back on all help from anyone else in order to taste the rotten luxury of knowing himself to be lost. It is therefore of supreme importance that we consent to live not for ourselves but for others."
Thomas Merton
“Each day we are becoming a creature of splendid glory, or one of unthinkable horror.”
C. S. Lewis
Stocks rallied again today, led higher by big cap techs, with some surprising strength in the broader midcaps thanks to some speculations.
Gold and silver were higher, coming off a bit from the peak of their rallies.
Gold and silver both have some serious overhead resistance overhead before I might feel good about putting up a more substantial short term trading position.
Let's see how the metals and stocks fare after tomorrow's Non-Farm Payrolls report.
We are in a time of hysteria and excess emotionalism, more than usual, as I cautioned years ago in my long term forecast.
We may reach a crescendo in this over the next 12 months or so. The big changes occur slowly, then all at once.
The Dollar edged a bit lower.
If Brexit takes a toll on the Pound, the Dollar Index may benefit. But the Euro remains the highest weight in the index by far.
We love our lies, and find our comfort in them. And so we serve them, cherish them. Complacent fools, fooling ourselves to death.
"If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone rises from the dead.’”
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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