Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Peace That Surpasses All Understanding

 

"The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy."

Alex Carey, Taking the Risk out of Democracy, 1995


"Why are people so reluctant to believe that sociopaths and narcissists can use the power of the pen to prey on people?  Because they are well spoken and organized?  We would contend that these are the most dangerous of the emotionally warped with a need to acquire, dominate and control, because they are smarter and more calculating than the impulse murderers, burglars, rapists, thieves, and pedophiles. 

There is a need for economic law and enforcement as there is a need for the less cerebral, hairy knuckled criminal law and enforcement.  The notion that people become naturally good, rational and well-adjusted because they are wearing a suit is ludicrous, especially to anyone who has worked with many of those who move in the upper echelons of money and power.

There will always be those at the extremes who need to 'take it to the limit,' with a well stocked foreign retreat in case things get ugly.  But for most of us, restoring a sense of justice and order and putting the nation back into some kind of working balance will be high on the priority list, if not for ourselves, then for our families. 

 Its been a long time coming, it will be a long time gone.  But it has been done before by those who created this nation, and it can be done to restore it again. The sooner we start, the sooner it will be over. 

Jesse, Predator Class, 26 December 2008

"Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I will say, rejoice; show patience and consideration to all, for the Lord is always near.  Let nothing make you anxious; but with prayer, and by supplication, and with thanksgiving, let your needs be made known unto God; and the peace of the Lord, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds, in Christ Jesus." 

Philippians 4:4-7


"Caesar was swimming in blood, Rome and the whole pagan world was mad.  But those who had had enough of transgression and madness, those who were trampled upon, those whose lives were misery and oppression, all the weighed down, all the sad, all the unfortunate, came to hear the wonderful tidings of God, who out of love for men had given Himself to be crucified and redeem their sins.

When they found a God whom they could love, they had found that which the society of the time could not give any one— happiness and love."

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis, 1905

Target, in its earnings report and forecast, shocked the markets with the fear that all is not well with the economy.

Is Target itself so pivotal?  Even when taken as an indicator with Walmart? 

Maybe but looks very much like a trigger event, for a market that was very much predisposed to a fairly sharp decline.

You may notice on the charts that the main equity index futures came down to test the prior 'second law.'

And we'll mark it as a backtest of the low unless of course the markets continue to sharply decline from here.

This latest 'failed rally' seems a bit short according to our crash models.  But we can keep an open mind.

Gold managed to hold some ground in a day marked by general liquidation selling.

Silver not so much.

Aren't you glad to be watching this latest market conflagration safely from higher ground?

Whenever it comes, you probably won't like what comes next.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Where are the Snows of Yesteryear - Götterdämmerung

 

"¿Qué fue entonces del rico y de su poderío
de la vanaglorïa, de su orgulloso brío?
Todo ya es pasado y corrió como río;
de todo su pensar fincó él mucho frío."

Pedro López de Ayala, Ubi sunt


"Beauty is but a flower
Which wrinkles will devour;
Brightness falls from the air;
Queens have died young and fair;
Dust hath close' d Helen's eye.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us.

Thomas Nashe


"Et Jehanne, la bonne Lorraine,
Qu'Anglois bruslerent à Rouen;
Où sont-ilz, Vierge souveraine?
Mais où sont les neiges d'antan."

François Villon,  Ballade des dames du temps jadis


"Wir sind aus solchem Zeug wie das zu Träumen...
Und drei sind Eins: ein Mensch, ein Ding, ein Traum."

H. von Hofmannsthal


物の哀れ


"For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, but lose his soul?"

Mark 8:36


Stocks managed to find a footing and hold an advance higher, going out near those highs of the day. 

Gold and silver were off a bit, despite the Dollar falling quite a bit down into the 103 handle.

The VIX fell back down to its 50 day moving average.

The underpinnings of the economic recovery are as full of holes as the bubbles in equities.

There will be a stock option expiration on Friday.

We have raised a mighty edifice, that overshadows the globe.

Surely we shall endure.  

For are we not wonders, the paragon of history, exceptional?

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Witnessing

 

"The new generation has to hear what the older generation refuses to tell it.  Hatred can be nurtured anywhere, idealism can be perverted into sadism anywhere.  The inferno could erupt anew anywhere. The history of man is the history of crimes, and history can repeat.  So information is a defense.  We can build, we must build, a defense against repetition.  Hitler and Stalin are waiting for us to forget, because this is what makes possible the resurrection of these two monsters."

Simon Wiesenthal


"This is what a society looks like when the glue that holds it together starts to dissolve. This is the way ordinary citizens react when they learn that the structure beneath them is crumbling. And this is the thrill that pulses through the veins of the well-to-do when they discover that there is no longer any limit on their power to accumulate." 

Thomas Frank, Rendezvous with Oblivion

 

“It is my purpose, as one who lived and acted in these days, first to show how easily the tragedy of the Second World War could have been prevented; how the malice of the wicked was reinforced by the weakness of the virtuous.” 

Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm

 

"I know nothing that I may say can influence you.  You have no souls to be influenced.   You are spineless, flaccid things.  You are lick-spittles and panderers, the creatures of the Plutocracy.  You talk verbosely in antiquated terminology of your love of liberty, and all the while you wear the scarlet livery of the Iron Heel.”

Jack London, The Iron Heel

Stocks just cannot seem to gain a footing and hold a rally together.

Gold and silver rallied today and went out near their highs.

The Dollar declined a bit from its recent impressive highs.

VIX declined, which was a bit counter-intuitive to the weakness in stocks.

Perhaps it signals a more fruitful environment for bully to finally shake off this malaise.

Stock option expiration on this Friday the 20^th may help the wiseguys focus..

Have a pleasant evening.