Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Say It Ain't So, Jerome

 

"The control of information is something the elite always does, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people."

Tom Clancy 

 

“I've always resented the smug statements of politicians, media commentators, corporate executives who talked of how, in America, if you worked hard you would become rich. The meaning of that was if you were poor it was because you hadn't worked hard enough. I knew this was a lie, about my father and millions of others, men and women who worked harder than anyone, harder than financiers and politicians, harder than anybody if you accept that when you work at an unpleasant job that makes it very hard work indeed.” 

Howard Zinn 

 

"Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell sold between $1 million and $5 million worth of stock from his personal account on October 1, 2020, according to disclosure forms reviewed by the Prospect. Powell’s sale of shares from a Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund has not been previously reported. 

This sale occurred right before the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered a significant drop."

Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect, 18 October 2021

 

"There is no clean way to make a hundred million bucks. Somewhere along the line guys got pushed to the wall, nice little businesses got the ground cut out from under them. Decent people lost their jobs. Big money is big power, and big power gets used wrong." 

 Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye

 

“People with advantages are loathe to believe that they just happen to be people with advantages. They come readily to define themselves as inherently worthy of what they possess; they come to believe themselves 'naturally' elite; and, in fact, to imagine their possessions and their privileges as natural extensions of their own elite selves.” 

C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite

 

Stocks managed to stage a rally today, and went out near the highs.

Gold and silver fell a bit.

The Dollar was flat.

It seems like the VIX is bottoming. 

Jerome Powell's credibility as a 'self-policing' leader of the Federal Reserve just got shot all to hell.

It seems like most were doing it there, trading for themselves with huge information advantages, doesn't it. 

Just the tip of the dirty iceberg.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - What a Surprise - Metals Smacked Hard For Option Expiration

 

"Our Lord has no body now but yours,
  no hands, no feet on earth but yours.
 Yours are the eyes through which He looks
  with compassion on this world,
  yours are the feet with which He walks to do good.
 Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.

Let nothing disturb you.  Let nothing make you afraid.
All things are passing.  God alone never changes."

Teresa of Avila

 

Stocks managed to extend their rally in the big names. 

Goldman turned in 'stellar results' from their trading.

Maybe Kaplan's trading book which he kept with them helped.

The broader stock market in the Russell 2000 not so much. 

The Dollar was unchanged, just hovering below the 94 handle.

Gold and silver were hammered because -- well it was a stock option expiration.

The VIX was lower.   

Today was a 'risk on day,' deluxe. 

Let's see if stocks can bravely soldier on.

And if the wiseguys can keep the precious metals under wraps.

I almost took a position in the metals today but I wanted to see how things went on Monday.

The heart of the problem is the same as it has been throughout most of history:  too much power in too few hands. 

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 - A Rising Tide of Whatever - Option Expiration Tomorrow

 

"Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.  I do not feel there will be soon if ever a 50 or 60 point break from present levels, such as (bears) have predicted.  I expect to see the stock market a good deal higher within a few months."

Irving Fisher, Ph.D., Oct. 17, 1929 

 

"We feel that fundamentally Wall Street is sound, and that for people who can afford to pay for them outright, good stocks are cheap at these prices." 

Goodbody and Company, The New York Times, October 25, 1929 

 

"This is the time to buy stocks.  This is the time to recall the words of the late J. P. Morgan that any man who is bearish on America will go broke.  Within a few days there is likely to be a bear panic rather than a bull panic.  Many of the low prices as a result of this hysterical selling are not likely to be reached again in many years." 

 R. W. McNeal, NY Herald Tribune, October 30, 1929 

 

"America is now in the eighth year of prosperity as commercially defined. The former great periods of prosperity in America averaged eleven years.  On this basis we now have three more years to go before the tailspin." 

Stuart Chase, NY Herald Tribune, November 1, 1929 

 

"If you're going to be in this game for the long pull, which is the way to do it, you better be able to handle a 50% decline without fussing too much about it." 

Charlie Munger "

 

"Life is a school of probability." 

Walter Bagehot 

 

That last quote is the money quote.  No one can predict an improbable event like a crash. 

Unless you have real time access to critical insider information perhaps.

There are far too many variables, and too many degrees of freedom for the powers that be in the regime of a fiat currency and an oligarchical political structure in campaign funding.

But there are periods of increasing risk, even for lower probability events.

And if the Fed keeps saving the one percent and their Banks, and letting Main Street fend for itself, then stagflation becomes a more likely outcome, even though it is an economic distortion of the first order.

But, with no disrespect to Mr. Charlie Munger, unless you are part of the one percent, expect to be told to 'suck it up' if half of your savings evaporate.

Do not let greed overwhelm your common sense, no matter how persuasive the siren songs of easy money may be.

If you still had any doubts, this recent and pervasive scandal of insider trading at the Fed demonstrates how rotten and inefficient and rigged for the benefit of a few that the existing 'market' economy has become.

Stocks were off to the races, as fear was shed and greed became the theme of the day for traders.

Gold rose, and silver rose even more, rising the wave of fearless beta.

The Dollar fell slightly, slipping off the 94 handle.

The VIX dropped through its moving averages on an upswelling of exuberance.

The root cause of these supply chain disruptions are fragile operational systems driven by self-serving greed, the growth of behemoth corporate monopolies, and reckless, short term management.

Stock option expiration tomorrow.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Precious Metals Rally - Stock Option Expiration Friday

 

"He has shown you all what is good.  And what else does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" 

Micah 6:8 

 

"It was pride that changed angels into devils; and it is humility that makes men angels. There never has been, and never can be, and there never shall be any sin without pride.” 

Augustine of Hippo 

 

"Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us.” 

Stephen Colbert 

 

"By your stubbornness and hardened heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of revelation of the just judgment of God,  who will repay everyone according to his works:  eternal life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality through perseverance in good works,  but anger and rebukes to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness." 

Romans 2:4-8 

"The humble live in continuous peace, while in the hearts of the proud are envy and frequent anger."

 Thomas à Kempis 

 

"All bitterness, anger and violence, shouting and derision must be removed from you, along with all hatrefulness.   Be kind and compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ has forgiven you." 

Ephesians 4:31-32

 

The inflation numbers came in pretty much as forecast this morning, which was a reassurance to the markets it seems.

Stocks managed to rally, and were able to hold it into the close.

Gold and silver were impressive today, although only lightly remarked on financial television.

They managed to stage a breakout, and hold it into the close.

Let's see if they can add to those gains.

The Dollar took a dive today, but managed to hang on to the 94 handle.

There will be a stock market option expiration on Friday.

The lack of follow up and attention to an almost unprecedented scandal of Fed governors engaging in brazen insider trading is surprising.

Maybe not so surprising in the corporate media perhaps, but even the bloggers, with a few notable exceptions, are remarkably quiet about this stunning revelation of corruption at the highest levels in our Federal Reserve System, a powerful regulator and largely self-regulating of itself and its clients.

The financial establishment is no benign, objective force for good in the economy.  

They are powerful, self-promoting, and petty in terms of rewards, accolades, and that most golden of oligarchical treasures, access to power.

Have a pleasant evening.