Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Get Three Coffins Ready

The dollar took a dive today, and the metals priced in dollars managed a bounce off of that.

Stocks bobbled a bit, but managed to hold on to their recent nearly vertical rally gains.  The three major indices, the Dow, the SP 500 and the Nasdaq 100 are all at new highs.  Oh my mistake.  The Russell 2000 makes it four.

I doubt the market will sell off, unless there is an 'event' to drive real selling, until the SNAP IPO gets squeezed out. The valuation has been reduced somewhat, from the outrageous to the merely absurd.

Once the selloff starts, it could be impressive.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Defiantly Exuberant in D Major

"Still another danger is represented by those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion. American fascists of this stamp were clandestinely aligned with their German counterparts before the war, and are even now preparing to resume where they left off, after 'the present unpleasantness' ceases.

They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection."

Henry Wallace, 9 April 1944


"People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage. Intellectual myopia, often called stupidity, is no doubt a reason. But the privileged also feel that their privileges, however egregious they may seem to others, are a solemn, basic, God-given right. The sensitivity of the poor to injustice is a trivial thing compared with that of the rich."

John Kenneth Galbraith, The Age of Uncertainty


“It appeared as if the whole world was one elaborate system, opposed to justice and kindness, and set to making cruelty and pain.”

Upton Sinclair, Oil!

There was intraday commentary on the EU and rising populism here.

After a brief bobble while the lady Yellen reslung her jawbone, stocks and precious metals went on a tear higher as the dollar slumped.

Smells like dovishness and a short squeeze all rolled into one happy package.

Stocks are so overextended that even the VIX had to reflect the increased sense of risk.

When is that SNAP IPO going to be squeezed out to the market? Maybe not soon enough to be a correction.

My laptop screen failed on Sunday evening. Since it is only seven months old the new screen and connector will be free, but the inconvenience of not having it this week is particularly annoying because I am keeping an eye on the queen and helping her out quite a bit. I cannot do that from my study downstairs. It should be back by the end of this week.

We have a three day weekend coming up with President's Day on the 20th.

There still has been no sustainable recovery.

Have a pleasant evening.

The Failure of the European Monetary Union In One Graph

This is why a wave of populism is sweeping the EU bureaucrats aside.

A similar wave of populism is underway in the US.

The reasons for it are obvious: the abuse of the law and of power in the service of a 'fortunate' few in a self-selected class of meritsocrats and their anointed.

As the pigs proclaimed in Animal Farm, 'all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.'

The credibility trap prevents the establishment and their enablers from discussing the core issues, and often even acknowledging that there is any problem.

Today's Yellen testimony and questioning before Congress was a nice example.

The Congress critters are craven except in a spirited defense of their own big money backers and sinecures, the general public and middle class be damned.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Yellen and the Jawbone - Valentine's Day

"She is more precious than jewels— and nothing you could desire can even compare with her."

Proverbs 3:15

Fed chair Yellen made some hawkish noises concerning the possibility of a rate hike in March around 10 am EST.

That took the dollar up, and the precious metals down.

The PPI (wholesale price inflation) came in a little hot this morning.

There is no real sustainable recovery. The credibility trap has caused a great number of our ruling elite to become ineffective hypocrites.

But this is nothing new. People of privilege will go to great lengths when that privilege, long held, is threatened.

I do think that things are 'going to get real' as they used to say, probably later this year. Look for the next shoes to drop in Europe.  The EU is the paradigm of official folly.

Today is Valentine's Day. I spent quite a bit of it with mine.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Risk On

Stocks were drifting higher today on lighter volumes.

The precious metals were off a bit on a stronger dollar.

Janet Yellen will be testifying tomorrow.

Have a pleasant evening.