Dead Market Syndrome Continues; Consent by the Governed Should be Withdrawn

It's almost impossible to write any compelling commentary on the market as long as the PPT continues to meddle and volumes remain so horrifyingly low.

There is a serious problem developing if the world's most active market - the US stock exchanges - continue the daily pattern of losses in the morning followed by sharp reversal and firming up throughout the remainder of the session.

Combined trading volumes for the NYSE and NASDAQ today reached the nadir for the year and could possibly represent the lowest trading volume since the 2008 crash.

This is worse than a liquidity issue; it is a confidence issue. Individual investors have fled the marketplace, seeking safer havens in raw land, gold, silver and other hard assets.

Small, passive investors, such as those stuck in pension plans, IRAs or 401k plans, have no options other than to cash out and take the penalty, but the PPT has made that approach seem ludicrous by pumping up equities on a regular basis.

Were stocks free to trade without government intervention, the p/e multiples would be in the range of eight to ten, sending indices plummeting, reflecting the true weakness in the markets, but that's not going to happen until sometime close to the election, which is now a mere 13 weeks away.

The candidates are posturing and the rhetoric will get louder and more divisive as the conventions approach, though it's all for show, meaning nothing, as compaign promises are routinely broken. Whichever candidates are chosen (or appropriated by the black boxes that purportedly count every vote), little will change for the good of the people. It's amusing that the media and presidential candidates want the general public to believe this is the most important election of their lives, just as it was in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

All right, this election is important. It's important to understand that the elections are absolutely meaningless because the civil rights of American citizens have been slowly but surely stripped away, the constitution shredded, and the two-party system guarantees mediocre politicians and worse outcomes. Not voting, i.e., withdrawing consent, is the only way Americans are ever going to regain the freedoms lost over the past 12 years, but, as is usual in America, the people have been asleep for so long, they merely follow along, in a zombie trance, trusting in a system built on lies, fraud and special interests.

A day of reckoning is soon to come. Best be prepared.

Dow 13,169.43, -38.52 (0.29%)
NASDAQ 3,022.52, +1.66 (0.05%)
S&P 500 1,404.11, -1.76 (0.13%)
NYSE Composite 8,012.29, -32.47 (0.40%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,321,221,625
NYSE Volume 2,340,765,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2214-3277
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 116-55
WTI crude oil: 92.73, -0.14
Gold: 1,612.60, -10.20
Silver: 27.77, -0.30