Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Through Renovated Eyes

 

"We pray for the big things, and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small, and yet really not so small, blessings.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Repentance and forgiveness are the two great gifts of God, freely given.  But there is the third and greatest gift, which is thankfulness.  For with thankfulness our sinful pride is vanquished, our hearts are opened, and love enters.  And a light comes into our lives."

Jesse, Love and Thankfulness, 15 November 2018

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”

William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well

"Here Homer with his nervous arms
Strikes the twanging harp of war,
And even the western splendour warms,
While the trumpets sound afar:
But, what creates the most intense surprise,
His soul looks out through renovated eyes."

John Keats, Ode to Apollo


So to make a long story short, I had 'no stitch' cataract surgery on my left eye yesterday, dreadfully early in the morning.

It was surprisingly quick and painless.

And today I have 20/30 vision, which will be improving as my eye continues to normalize over the next week.

Putting the past aside, choosing this new doctor and latest technique was absolutely the right decision for me, on a number of different levels.

As usual lot of eyedrops for the next 30 days, to prevent infection and to promote healing and normalization of the cornea and sclera.  

This is a fairly non-invasive surgery compared to things as they had been done.

It's funny but now with both eyes done my seeing distance vision is superb, better than it has been since probably the second grade.  The colors are vibrant and the contrast is sharp.

But I now need reading glasses, lol.    A small price to pay.  

I picked up a couple OTC temps at the drugstore on the way home.   They will fit me for a more permanent solution at the end of the month as my vision stabilizes.

Fashion tips?   Pas de 'Chuck Schumer' look.

The young man proposed a type of bifocal but with a clear upper portion.   Maybe even polarized.

Stocks shook off the interest rate jitters and a stronger than expected Jobs report.

Wash - rinse - repeat.

And perhaps more surprisingly growing geopolitical tensions and potential trade disruptions.

Gold and silver backed off as the Dollar rallied.

And so it goes on.

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

Have a wonderful weekend.  I will.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Reflections

 

“There is not a moment in which God does not present Himself under the cover of some pain to be endured, of some consolation to be enjoyed, or of some duty to be performed. All that takes place within us, around us, or through us, contains and conceals His divine action. All souls must admire and respect one another, walking along our path to the same goal, united in purpose and with the help of God's plan which, in its great variety, is in us all.

To escape the pain caused by regret for the past or fear about the future, this is the rule to follow: leave the past to the infinite mercy of God, the future to His good Providence, and give the present wholly to His love by being faithful to His grace.”

Jean-Pierre de Caussade, L'Abandon a la Providence Divine

“Man has places in his heart which do not yet exist— and into them enters suffering, in order that they may have life.”

Léon Bloy

"Wonderful providence indeed which is so silent, yet so efficacious, so constant, so unerring. This is what baffles the power of Satan. He cannot discern the Hand of God in what goes on; and though he would fain meet it and encounter it, in his mad and blasphemous rebellion against heaven, he cannot find it.

Crafty and penetrating as he is, yet his thousand eyes and his many instruments avail him nothing against the majestic serene silence, the holy imperturbable calm which reigns through the providences of God. He makes a guess here, or does a bold act there, but all in the dark. If even devils, sagacious as they are, spirits by nature and experienced in evil, cannot detect His hand while He works, how can we hope to see it except by that way which the devils cannot take, by loving faith."

John Henry Newman

Any concerns from the Fed comments of yesterday were dismissed and forgotten today.

Wash - rinse - repeat.

Let's see how the Non-Farm Payrolls report comes out tomorrow.

I will not be posting an update tomorrow unless something meaningful occurs.

I also have a post-surgical medical appointment on Saturday.

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 - In Lost Carcosa

 

"The ambition of Caesar and of Napoleon pales before that which could not rest until it had seized the minds of men and controlled even their unborn thoughts. The very banality and innocence of the first act only allowed the blow to fall afterwards with more awful effect— this beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth― a world which now trembles before the King in Yellow.”

Robert W. Chambers, The King In Yellow

“Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity.”

Tacitus, Annals

"Everywhere and always demonic powers lurk in the dark, waiting for the moment when man is weak; when of his own volition he leaves his place in Creation, as founded for him by God in freedom; when he yields to the force of evil, he separates himself from the powers of a higher order; and after voluntarily taking the first step, he is driven on to the next and the next at a furiously accelerating rate."

White Rose, Fourth Leaflet, Munich 1942

"And such was the attitude of their minds that a shocking crime was dared by a few, with the blessing of more, and the passive acquiescence of all."

Tacitus, Histories: Book I, XXVIII, The Murder of Galba

"By your stubbornness and hardened heart you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of the just judgment of God, who will repay everyone according to their works."

Romans 2:5-6

"This place is like somebody's memory of a town, and the memory is fading. It's like there was never anything here but jungle."

Rust Cohle, True Detective: Season One

"The wealth of another region excites their greed; and if it is weak, their lust for power as well. Nothing from the rising to the setting of the sun is enough for them. Among all others only they are compelled to attack the poor as well as the rich. Plunder, rape, and slaughter they falsely call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace."

Tacitus, Agricola

 

This morning our mighty debts market mechanism was pricing in a 50% chance of a Fed rate cut in March.

The equity markets were slavering in a corner somewhere.

But after the Fed acted, and Powell spoke, alas, rude reality once again intruded on their fever dreams.

The plaintive whining of aggrieved disappointment from our privileged Wall Street masters was so loud it sounded like a rally for you-know-who. 

Hey, those Fed insider trading accounts need some love too.

The Dollar did a slingshot higher, and ended up with a bit of a gain for the day.

Gold and silver moved lower.

VIX rose.

Wash-rinse-repeat.

Non-Farm Payrolls report on Friday.

Have a pleasant evening.