Stocks Bounce, Tech Giants Report Solid 3Q Earnings; Market Braces For Month End

Wednesday's market drops - the worst since June of this year - were followed by a cut-and-paste type of relief rally, with dip-buyers jumping into some of the more beaten down names, and even more buying up of the tech stocks which fueled the rally after March and are being counted on to bring the US equity markets back to summer levels.

Following Thursday's close, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Alphabet all reported quarterly results. Each of these companies beat estimates handily.

Interestingly, Apple ended Thursday up four points, but was selling off into the close and is down another four points (roughly 4%) in pre-market trading. Amazon was higher on Thursday by 48.23 points (+1.52%), but has given all of that back Friday morning, down 51.01 (-1.59%), to 3,160.00.

Facebook plowed ahead 13.16 points (+4.92%) Thursday, but is trending lower, down 4.03 (-1.44%), at 276.80, 90 minutes prior to the opening bell. Alphabet, parent company of Google bucked the early morning trend. It was up 50.62 (+3.34%) in Thursday's cash market session and has tacked on 96.51 (6.16%) in the pre-market. Its share price of 1,663.75 is closing in on the all-time high of 1728.28, marked on September 2, coincident with all-time highs of the S&P and NASDAQ indices.

Through Wednesday’s close, the FAAMNG stocks, Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Netflix (NFLX), and Google (GOOG, parent company Alphabet), are up 7.19% this year, against a 5.44% drop for the rest of the S&P 500, a 12.63% performance spread between the FAAMNGs and the rest of the market.

Obviously, there are a good number of companies in the market's 500 largest companies that have not done so well through the coronavirus crash and into the election season. This kind of crowding into select market darlings has pushed the market caps and stock prices of this group of tech giants to stratospheric levels, leaving the rest of the market in the dust.

The market has been weighed down by victims of the coronavirus, predictably led by elements of the travel and tourism industry. Cruise line, airlines, and energy firms take up most of the top spots in the 50 worst-performing S&P stocks of 2020.

Investors seeking bargain-basement plays can find stocks on this list that are down between 48 and 81 percent on the year, many of them household names, like Carnival Cruise Lines, American Airlines, Boeing, Slumberger, Marathon Oil and financial firms Wells Fargo, Citizens and Discover. These stocks, and many in the tiers above them, down between 20 and 48 percent continue to pressure the market, forcing more money into the tech giants, increasingly seen as the only game in town.

This sets up a dangerous situation. Should the six stocks that are leading on the year stumble or investors decide that they've made enough for 2020 and consider them overvalued, the discounting in the market would set off a cascading effect to the downside. A slew of funds are closing their books for the year today, the final trading session of October, and many more will simply hold through the end of the year.

Without active gains by the leading stocks, US equity markets ar staring straight into an abyss leading up to the election and beyond. Funds with gains on the year will want to lock them in, leaving little choice for smaller market participants who may become holiday bag-holders of some of he top names.

Overnight, Asian shares were off sharply, though none of the main exchanges down more than two percent. US market futures were in a slaughterhouse, but have pared some of the declines leading into the cash open. European stocks are flat, but under pressure.

Unless stocks rally magnificently on Friday, this week will look like a bloodbath, already sporting losses in from three to five percent in the worst weekly decline since early June. Any further deterioration will exceed that, though it would take near capitulation to rival the losses from February and March. Dow stocks have been particularly hardest hit, with that index down nearly six percent.

Putting pressure on the entire market, oil prices have been hammered. WTI crude futures are hovering just above $36, breaking down from the steady-state $40 level than has been in place since June. The current level is a five-month low, the result of a continued glut of product globally and threats of a second wave of widespread shutdowns, such as has already been put into place in France and parts of Britain and some Eurozone countries.

It's worth noting that even with the recent declines, the NASDAQ and S&P are still above September's lows, though the Dow appears to be falling off a cliff.

At the Close, Thursday, October 29, 2020:
Dow: 26,659.11, +139.16 (+0.52%)
NASDAQ: 11,185.59, +180.72 (+1.64%)
S&P 500: 3,310.11, +39.08 (+1.19%)
NYSE: 12,502.29, +86.87 (+0.70%)

Wednesday's Stock Rout May Be Just The Beginning As Politics Overwhelms Markets

Wednesday's massive stock beatdown was not without warning. Stocks had been trending lower since the beginning of September, when all of the indices made new highs, for the NASDAQ and S&P these were all-time highs.

After significant drops in September, markets stabilized and made gains from late in the month through October 12. After that, it was all downhill. For the past eleven sessions stocks had been trending lower, the losses accelerating over time. The media's incessant focus on the failure of congress to pass a stimulus bill surely had impact on trader sentiment, but chartists saw a clear double top had formed and lower lows and lower highs were obvious danger signs.

Now in the midst of third quarter earnings season, reports aren't doing much to inspire investor confidence. In fact, the first batch of reports - from the nation's major banks - were met with elevated levels of skepticism, as the largest issuers of consumer debt - credit cards, mortgages, personal loans - such as Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo, and JP Morgan Chase massively under-reserved for credit losses, a policy endorsed by the Federal Reserve and codified into the first coronavirus stimulus bill, the CARES Act. (Money Daily will have a more in depth look at the accounting trickery banks employed to boost their third quarter earnings in Sunday's WEEKEND WRAP.)

What stood out to investors and interested onlookers of the banking industry was the overwhelmingly negative response. Instead of seeing their stock prices boosted by what were, for some, blowout earnings reports, bank stocks were among the weakest trades in the immediate aftermath of their reporting. Astute money managers were simply not buying the story the banks were peddling.

Beyond some disappointment in the earnings space and the slapstick stylings of congress and the administration in the failed negotiations over stimulus - which had persisted since late July - presidential politics and mainstream media's constant, over-the-top bias also added a degree of uncertainty to the mood of the market. A narrative that a Democratic sweep, a "blue wave" theory, had made the rounds in recent weeks, and that somehow, socialist, free-spending policies of a president Biden and a left-leaning senate and house, would usher in an era of utopian prosperity.

Hard-core capitalist economists and seasoned political pundits dismissed such a scenario as pipe-dreaming even as polling numbers - largely reporting that Biden and some Democrat senate candidates had built large leads - were being questioned and President Trump was drawing his usual overflow crowds at rallies in swing states.

When bombshell reports on the exploits of Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, began to emerge via the New York Post and Rudy Giuliani, suggesting that serious improprieties by the candidate had been committed while he was Vice President under Obama, involving not just dealings in Ukraine, but also in Russia and China, the blue wave theory began to unravel. When, on Tuesday evening, Tucker Carlson devoted his entire show to a Biden business partner by the name of Tony Bobulinski and more damning revelations, it became clear that Biden's campaign was in serious trouble. Making matters worse were the outright bans on referencing these allegations and news stories on Twitter and Facebook and complete silence from TV networks and major newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post.

The media made the choice to ignore a story that should have been front-page, special report material, instead focusing more on President Trump's flaws and policies with which the media disagreed and consequently disparaged, endlessly.

Politics doesn't often influence stocks, but in this case, it was the tipping point. Beyond a weakened economy with dim prospects to escape from a deep recession, the Biden revelations and media reaction was beyond the pale, shaking confidence in government and the revered fourth estate. The confluence of economic forces, overvaluation (if anyone can even decode what "value" means in today's markets), and frightening political prospects culminated in a colossal spasm of lost confidence and global retching.

Despite the suddenness of the selloff, stocks still have not even fallen beyond the levels seen in late September, so more of the same is to be expected. It's not out of the question that by the end of next week regardless of political winners and losers, stocks could be another five to eight percent lower than current levels.

Already, stocks are close to correction levels. The Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ are uniformly down nearly nine percent from September 2nd's highs. All are trading well below their 50-day and close to their 200-day moving averages. The next step lower will confirm a correction and the follow-up should result in resumption of the bear case, regardless of Fed jawboning, bond-buying, and special dispensations to distressed publicly-traded companies.

There's simply nothing to inspire a positive attitude. Dip-buyers, those who haven't already been reamed by the recent movement, are heading for slaughter. Put-call ratios are elevated, as is the VIX, to say nothing of the inner seething of the general populace. People will put up with a lot, but there is hardly an individual who can stomach liars and cheaters. All together, the mood is ugly and about to devolve into complete disarray and that's not good for anything, especially your investments.

At the Close, Wednesday, October 28, 2020:
Dow: 26,519.95, -943.24 (-3.43%)
NASDAQ: 11,004.87, -426.48 (-3.73%)
S&P 500: 3,271.03, -119.65 (-3.53%)
NYSE: 12,415.42, -402.45 (-3.14%)

Tony Bobulinski Torpedos Biden Campaign; Media Silent; America At Crucial Crossroads

Unless you're living under a rock or only watch mainstream media (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX) or read the Washington Post and New York Times exclusively, you should be aware of the bombshell interview conducted by Tucker Carlson Tuesday night with a business partner of the Biden family, Tony Bobulinski.

If you haven't seen it, you should. It's embedded below. It may be the most important video you'll see all year, maybe in your entire life, because it exposes the depth of corruption surrounding the Democratic candidate for president, Joe Biden, and his dealings not just with Ukraine or Russia, but with the Chinese Communist Party, and how he used his name through surrogates - mainly his brother Jim and sone, Hunter - to peddle influence and enrich himself and his family.

What's likely even worse is the complete mainstream media blackout of this story, which began last week in an expose by the New York Post. This is the most important story of the year and of the election and the mainstream media cabal is completely ignoring it as though it never happened.

The trouble with this tactic media censorship is that it cannot be kept secret. The media cabal does not own Tucker Carlson. Nor do they own Tony Bobulinski, or Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, Red Eye Radio, or any of the talk shows with hundreds of affiliates nationwide. Radio reaches 97% of the adult American public. They most certainly do not own the New York Post or the Washington Times.

The media cabal also doesn't own the internet, though they're obviously in cahoots with Facebook and Twitter censors. They don't own Zero Hedge, or The Liberty Daily, Breitbart, Townhall, the Conservative Treehouse, Gateway Pundit or hundreds, if not thousands of independent websites or blogs which publish the truth. As far as integrity is concerned, the mainstream media has squandered theirs. Reliable journalism can largely only be found on radio or within the internet's alternative media.

Another problem that the media blackout on this story is that many people have already voted and won't make the effort to change their votes if they even get to see this story. Many people have submitted absentee ballots. There's widespread reporting of voter fraud, everywhere, yet the media continues to deny any exists. Looking at this condition from a cynical perspective, one might assume, as they say, "the fix is in." It may already be too late.

This story has a direct impact on the presidential election and tangentially, all down-vote elections for congress and local offices. If the media was actually doing its job, this story would be the top headline on every network. Instead, they're featuring the World Series, Hurricane Zeta, and riots in Philadelphia.

By themselves, those stories are worthwhile and important, but the Biden corruption saga and how badly he has sold his influence and is compromised is more important by many degrees of magnitude. It will affect the votes of millions and who will be elected to public office for years, and the media's tacit willingness to bury it, to keep it out of the eyes and ears of the American public is nothing short of a criminal conspiracy.

We're supposed to have a free press in this country. What we have instead is a propaganda arm for a leftist movement designed to usher in an era of tyranny and destroy the constitution.

Everybody in America, white, black, Democrat, Republican, should be outraged at the media's handling of this vital story and they should be demanding honest journalism, not the backhanded shilling for Democrats hat's being spoon-fed to the public day in and day out, constantly, without being called into question.

When you mosey over to the stock market this morning and see that futures are cratering, that European stocks are down across the board, that oil is down, gold and silver are down, don't buy into the hype that it's because of COVID-19 cases spiking (another big lie), or that stocks are down because there's no stimulus bill forthcoming before the election (politicians playing games). Everything is going to crash because of this interview and the media's willful ignorance. The story of a compromised presidential candidate and the media's refusal to cover it will shake the foundation of this nation and of society. Smart money is getting out of the way, in a hurry.

Our government has failed us. Our media has failed us, miserably.

We are, truly, on our own. The only hope is that enough people cast ballots for President Trump and he wins re-election in a landslide, by enough votes that even widespread ballot stuffing and other dirty tricks can't overcome it because he is truly the only man standing between saving the Republic and tyranny.

At the Close, Tuesday, October 27, 2020:
Dow: 27,463.19, -222.19 (-0.80%)
NASDAQ: 11,431.35, +72.41 (+0.64%)
S&P 500: 3,390.68, -10.29 (-0.30%)
NYSE: 12,817.87, -118.52 (-0.92%)

Monday Was Ugly. Now, Can the Fed Staunch the Selling or Is a Trump Victory Being Baked In?

Early on Monday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell sensed a disturbance in the force that is central bank intervention, mad money printing, control of interest rates and equity market command.

Despite the best efforts of the Chairman and his cohorts, there was little they could do to prevent Monday’s wholesale one-day slaughter of the equity market and the spreading fear that a Democrat "blue wave" election was not going to materialize.

What some corners had been talking openly about for weeks - A Biden victory over the Bad Orange Man, Donald Trump, and a sweep of the senate, giving Democrats a troika of power with the House added in - all of a sudden seemed to be less certain. It was something Wall Street professionals were banking on, because complete control of the purse-and-policy strings in the nation's capitol by liberal Democrats would likely result in bucketsful of cash flowing to the money center in Manhattan.

What the Wall Street crowd wants more than anything out of this election is four more years of easy money policies, making their world safe from regulation and scrutiny, or so the thinking went.

However they were playing their cards and their money, there was a sneaking suspicion that the polls might be wrong, that President Trump was indeed winning hearts and minds and might pull along some of the Republicans in hotly-contested senatorial races with a week to go before all the votes are counted. That was always a possibility and the hedging of their bets was evident in trading the prior week, which was manifested in selling into strength rather than buying of dips. Lower highs and lower lows became more typical as the week wore on and by Monday, the trickle of dissent became a flood of angry traders relentlessly banging on their sell buttons.

Stocks took a major tumble on Monday, and the likelihood of a continuation - with possibly a brief respite Tuesday, even Wednesday of this week - of a downward spiral appeared not just possible, but probable. After all, any talk of a stimulus bill prior to the election had also been scrapped by Friday, so that helping hand had been withdrawn. There might not be another stimulus (read: free money) after the election or even after inauguration if Trump won and Republicans held the Senate.

After Monday night's senate confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court - filling the vacancy created by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg - the 6-3 conservative majority on the high bench had been obviated. Trump and loyal Republicans celebrated the swearing in at a White House celebration. The outrage from Democrats would sound hollow to the American public Tuesday morning as races tightened, the veracity of polling again being brought into question. The volatility index (VIX) was bounding upward, futures were trending toward the flatline, and European stocks were under pressure, signaling that the markets might be poised for a dead cat bounce preceding another bloodbath for stocks.

It would not come as a surprise to anybody if the selloff continued all the way through to election day, with little respite in between waves of anxious unloading of stocks, prices falling back below trend lines.

Stay tuned. This is just part of the second leg down of a confirmed bear market.

At the Close, Monday, October 26, 2020:
Dow: 27,685.38, -650.19 (-2.29%)
NASDAQ: 11,358.94, -189.34 (-1.64%)
S&P 500: 3,400.97, -64.42 (-1.86%)
NYSE: 12,936.38, -263.48 (-2.00%)

Non-Stimulus Fatigue? Bond Yields Jump; Election Just 9 Days Away

Stocks took it mostly on the chin this week, though the blow was nothing that could cause a knockdown or even the faintest whisper of a selloff.

Rather, equity markets seemed to be suffering from a combination of coronavirus fatigue, overvaluation fatigue, election fatigue, stimulus fatigue (is such a thing even possible?) and media censorship fatigue. What the market needs most right now is a nap, a good long one, to wring out the excessive volatility that has been built into it by outside forces.

The week's trading provided something along those lines, but it's probably not enough, as Monday will start yet another cycle of incessant noise that has little to do with fundamentals and even less to do with proper valuations, a concept that's been thrown out the window in the age of instant gratification, instant profits, instant allegations, instant bailouts, instant karma.

Instant karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You better get yourself together
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead

-- John Lennon, Instant Karma, Plastic Ono Band, 1970

What the financial media claimed was responsible for slumping markets was continued foot-dragging by congress on a second stimulus bill. Another week passed without congress capable of agreeing on a bill that would send more money to individuals and families and potentially shore up failing businesses, aid airlines, and maybe even cure cancer.

The mere fact that congress wastes everyone's time on their inability to blow another $1.8 or $2.2 trillion is indictment enough to send them all packing on November 3rd, or to not bother to vote at all, a practice that has been in vogue for decades in the US, with roughly a third of eligible voters to avoid the process altogether every four years, and even more so in off-year elections.

Meanwhile, the presidential candidates squared off in a final debate, with President Trump winning handily, if only for prodding Joe Biden into an outright admission that he would end the use of fossil fuels in America, meaning he would likely ban fracking, which pretty much cost him the state of Pennsylvania and any other constituency that relies on oil or gas for its economy.

Biden, who has called himself a "gaffe machine," really planted his foot into his mouth this time, so much so that moderator Kristen Welker blurted out, "why would you say that?" as almost an admonishment to the favored candidate of the left-leaning media cabal.

On top of that, Trump made reference to Biden's public statements to ban fracking, to which Biden responded that it wasn't true and challenged Trump to put it on his website.

Team Trump did, releasing a tweet that was featured on the campaign website shortly after the debate.

Here you go @JoeBiden! pic.twitter.com/UBqPJT85Pt

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2020

Admist all the chatter of the week, various companies released third quarter earnings results, most notably computer chip manufacturer, Intel (INTC), which was punished for reveaing the truth despite beating earnings and revenue projections.

Revenue fell 4% year-over-year for the quarter, GAAP profits per share slipped 25%, and gross profit margins were lower by 5.7%. CEO George Davis noted that PCs “in the consumer and education markets,” which are “more entry-level,” or lower margin, were leading sales for the quarter.

Not to let the tidbits of bad news stand alone, Intel raised guidance for upcoming quarters. It didn't matter at all to investors, who took the stock down nearly 11% on Friday, from its close Thursday of 53.90 to 48.20 per share.

What Intel's results say about the real economy is that the slowdown from the summer is obvious and not about to self-immolate. Businesses of all sizes have been slammed, the hardest hit, small to medium sized businesses which have traditionally been the backbone of job creation. While the number of initial claims fell again this week, the data is still staggering. Thursday's reading of 787,000 new unemployment claims was the best number in months, but still extraordinarily high.

Alarm bells were going off in fixed income markets as yield on the 10-year note skyrocketed, hitting 0.87% on Thursday before settling in at 0.85% on Friday. The jump, week-over-week, was nine basis points, or 11.8%. The 30 year bond rose 12 basis points, from 1.52% to 1.64%. Yields on the two long-dated instruments were the highest since June 5th.

For reference, the move from 5/29 to 6/5 dwarfed this past week's. Back then, yields on the 10-year and 30-year spiked by 26 basis points (0.65% to 0.91%) and 27 basis points (1.41% to 1.68%), respectively.

Could this move in the bond market be a signal for a coincident sell-off in equities? Stocks are already lower since October 12. In the week following the June bond rout, the Dow popped to 27,572.44 on June 8, but lost ground the follow four sessions. By June 11, the Dow stood at 25,128.17, a drop of nearly nine percent.

Should bonds and stocks follow the same pattern, the final week of October - and the last full week before the election - could bring an unwanted surprise to the Trump equation, as the president routinely touts the stock market as a gauge for the "recovery."

Certain to bring out the most radical conspiracy theorists, a stock market decline at this juncture might be perceived as damaging to Trump's re-election, though reality suggests that people have already made up their minds and many (as much as 40% in some states) have already voted.

We'll just have to wait and see how things pan out before getting spooked (next Sunday is Halloween).

On the NYMEX, WTI crude oil remained tethered to $40 per barrel. Nothing new there, as crude has maintained this price level - give or take a few points - consistently since the beginning of June. Such remarkable stability in the one market that just happens to be the lifeblood of the global economy is uncanny and is likely the result of an unannounced gentleman's agreement between the major oil producers, the US, Russia, and the Saudis. Nobody will openly admit that oil prices are controlled, but there's undeniable proof that prices that are either too high or too low are damaging to economies. The past five months may have been an orchestrated "goldilocks" moment in the oil fields and something that may extend for longer.

Precious metals were flat on the week. Gold rose from $1899.29 to $1924.33 on Wednesday, only to be beaten back to $1902.05 by Friday's close. Silver put on a small gain, rising from $24.16 to $24.61 the ounce on Friday.

Metals continue to be in short supply as demand has not abated since earlier in the year, especially acute during the early days of the coronavirus panic back in February and March. Back then, shortages were blamed on supply chain interruptions due to travel restrictions, but there's no excuses now, as prices remain elevated and premiums have not come back down.

The most recent prices on eBay for common gold and silver items (shipping - often free - included, numismatics excluded) are presented below:

Item: Low / High / Average / Median

1 oz silver coin: 29.12 / 51.00 / 38.04 / 38.23
1 oz silver bar: 30.50 / 43.01 / 35.81 / 35.00
1 oz gold coin: 1,974.85 / 2,052.13 / 2,023.40 / 2,024.40
1 oz gold bar: 1,995.00 / 2,012.84 / 2,003.75 / 2,003.57

At the Close, Friday, October 23, 2020:
Dow: 28,335.57, -28.09 (-0.10%)
NASDAQ: 11,548.28, +42.28 (+0.37%)
S&P 500: 3,465.39, +11.90 (+0.34%)
NYSE: 13,199.86, +53.94 (+0.41%)

For the Week:
Dow: -270.74 (-0.95%)
NASDAQ: -123.27 (-1.06%)
S&P 500: -18.42 (-0.53%)
NYSE: +30.55 (+0.23%)

Stocks Looking At Losses for the Week as Stimulus Talks Continue to Go Nowhere

To reach positive territory for the week, on Friday, the Dow needs to gain 243 points; the NASDAQ, 166; S&P, 31; and the NYSE Composite, just 24 points.

In the aftermath of Thursday night's presidential debate, stock futures are pointing to a positive open (nothing new there), and headlines are still promoting the idea that the politicians are zeroing in on a stimulus deal.

A stimulus deal has been the dominant, running theme for the past three months. Nothing else seems to matter, indicating the converse of the narrative. Wall Street sees handing out money to individuals and corporations as a positive, but the reality is that if the economy were on sound footing, stimulus would not be needed, such is the paradoxical nature of the market and public perception, usually short-sighted.

President Trump, in a tweet, and also during the debate, put a less-than-enthusiastic spin on current negotiations, saying that there's unlikely to be a deal prior to the election. The president blames House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, for purposely stalling on any deal, her thinking being that denying a stimulus is somehow good for Democrat prospects in the November 3rd voting. Trump believes the tactic will backfire on the Democrats.

As far as the debate is concerned, it's difficult to pick a winner, as both President Trump and former VP Joe Biden had moments of strength and weakness, though the president seemed to be the more confident of the two and able to counter his opponent's arguments. Biden made a number of false claims, such as the US facing another 200,000 COVID deaths by the end of the year, saying Trump was somehow in cahoots with foreign governments when there's absolutely no proof of that, and repeated bleats of "false" or "not true" in response to Trump accusations.

Biden did outright deny receiving money from any foreign government, though the evidence is almost at a point of 100% certainty that he did. The media's continued stonewalling on the explosive stories coming out of the NY Post and elsewhere don't help his case at all. The fact that they are covering for the former VP is probably doing more harm for his campaign than good.

Of particular note on background issues, Russ and Pam Martens' Wall Street on Parade reports that banks - which last week reported generally solid earnings for the third quarter - are not setting aside sufficient amounts for loan loss reserves as they were allowed to under-report expected losses via the CARES Act which gave the banks until December 31, 2020 to opt out of employing the accounting standard, ASU 2016-13, for reporting Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL).

What this means is that some of the largest banks in the country - Well Fargo, Citi, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase - are not likely to report sufficient set-asides for the outgrowth of their deferrals, forbearances, and other accounting magic until the first quarter of 2021, or, about the second week of April, 2021, a key time frame to keep back of mind.

This fundamental fakery helps explain why the banks are reporting mostly strong results, but their shares are not appreciating. Rather, bank stocks remain mired closer to the March lows than the August-September highs. Investors simply are not buying into the fake numbers.

Andrew Maguire explains how China is bypassing the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), which no longer can provide much metal, and buying unrefined gold directly from mines in Africa and South America in the interview below.

At the Close, Thursday, October 21, 2020:
Dow: 28,363.66, +152.84 (+0.54%)
NASDAQ: 11,506.01, +21.31 (+0.19%)
S&P 500: 3,453.49, +17.93 (+0.52%)
NYSE: 13,145.92, +105.79 (+0.81%)

With Election 12 Days Away, Congress Punts On Stimulus; Biden, Media Cabal Hides From Truth

The tenor of Wednesday's session was marked by caution and selling into strength. As was Tuesday, dip-buyers were led to the feeding trough and then slaughtered, mercilessly.

Not only were the past two days of trading tough on short-term tacticians, but the charts from the past four days - only one of which, Monday, produced a positive close - illustrate just how nasty the market has been to those convinced that buying dips is a profitable strategy as every bounce higher was met with engaged selling, marked generally by lower highs and lower lows.

Since it's the middle of earnings season, bets are being laid down on expectations or post-reporting euphoria or derision, but most trades have ended up in tatters, as the mood has shifted quite forcefully to pessimism over everything from the coronavirus to failed stimulus talks to presidential politics. Astute traders are sensing that nothing is being done in Washington prior to the election unless it's a political event, such as the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. Deadlines and ultimatums on the Covid relief package have turned out to be mostly false bravado and not even good negotiating tactics.

Anyone believing that there's going to be a stimulus bill forthcoming prior to the election - now a mere 12 days off with early voting already well underway - must have overlooked the jabbering and back-and-forth nattering that's been a feature of Washington politics since July (and, for the truly cynical, forever). The stimulus bill is a can that anticipates and enjoys being kicked down the road by any kind of shoe, Republican or Democrat.

Even if, in the extremely improbable case that a bill does manage to sneak through both the House and Senate and reach the president's desk within the next few days, nobody is going to get a check or direct deposit until well after November 3rd, despite promises - like with the first round - that the money will be going out "right away."

In Washington, "right away" generally means after the next recess or at least three weeks into the future and beyond, unless, of course, you're a Wall Street firm, hedge fund, or airline company seeking bailout booty. If the legislators in DC were employed as wait-people, clerks, or messengers, they wouldn't last a week before being fired.

Since the current posture on both sides appears to be one of not giving in to even the most severe prodding to get a deal done and the second round stimulus bill likely already priced into many market models, any stimulus bill passed will have little to no lasting effect on stocks. There are a plethora of other, more pressing issues facing up to the wall of worry that is the stock market that make coronavirus relief a second rate passenger on the road to ruin.

At 8:30 am ET, another 787,000 people filed initial unemployment claims, futures are off the bottoms put in overnight, as though something uplifting is about to happen. Meanwhile, the mainstream media cabal continues to refuse to report on the unfolding Joe and Hunter Biden graft, corruption and bribery scandal, all the while scaring the bejeezus out of the viewing public with warnings about a third wave of COVID-19 infections, cases, hospitalizations, deaths and the toll it is taking on health care workers, teachers, kids, and even pets.

The mainstream meadia has been consistent above all else in reporting anything even remotely negative about President Trump while ignoring any indications that he is drawing enormous crowds at rallies and that his administration continues to work on important issues such as immigration and Middle East peace.

While Kamala Harris spoke to a "crowd" of what looks like about a dozen "supporters" in Asheville, North Carolina, President Trump held a rally for thousands of cheering, enthusiastic supporters in Gastonia, NC. (full videos below, judge for yourself)

The contrast in crowd size and enthusiasm is stunning, putting the accuracy of the mainstream polls into question and reminiscent of scenes from 2016, when Hillary Clinton was supposed to sweep the nation to victory and instead Donald J. Trump shocked the sold out media.

The media circus stopped being amusing last week when Twitter and Facebook began banning stories from the New York Post that were damaging to Joe Biden and became a national emergency because their censorship effort was quickly reinforced by all of the major media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, and FOX. If the media enjoyed using the word "collusion" in their non-stop fake news reporting over the Trump-Russia hoax, they're going to hate it when American citizens and hopefully a court of law takes up the same term in referring to their election interference efforts, not just in this cycle, but from 2016 as well.

The American public may be a lot of things, but they are certainly capable of discerning - after plenty of obfuscation and misinformation - when they are being deceived. The mainstream press has been lying, prevaricating, and amplifying anti-Trump messaging so consistently for the past five years (and longer), that people are tuning it out. Those Democrats and left-leaning individuals who still feel a need to get rid of the current president and replace him with a crooked, demented, sick individual like Joe Biden have to be checking their morals at the polling station door and selling their worthless souls to the devil.

That's why there's mail-in and absentee voting. It makes impossible decisions palatable, unseen, and quickly forgotten.

All the time Joe Biden cowers in his basement, millions of early voters are trying desperately to forget what they've already done, quietly hoping that their votes will be repudiated come November 3rd and their worst fears - that they've elected a serial criminal to the highest office in the land - will not be realized.

BTW: The final presidential debate is Thursday night at 9:00 pm ET. It will be carried by the major networks and should likely provide more talking points for each candidate and little more. It's time to go to the polls and start counting the votes.

This will soon be over, though the aftermath may be even more unsettling than what the country has been though the past eight months.

Kamala Harris in Asheville, NC:

President Trump in Gastonia, NC:

At the Close, Wednesday, October 21, 2020:
Dow: 28,210.82, -97.97 (-0.35%)
NASDAQ: 11,484.69, -31.80 (-0.28%)
S&P 500: 3,435.56, -7.56 (-0.22%)
NYSE: 13,040.13, -52.03 (-0.40%)

Stocks Slump Into Close, Futures Flat as Stimulus Talks Fail, 10-Year Yields Spike

Slumping into the close, stocks posted small gains Tuesday as Nancy Pelosi's deadline for a stimulus bill passed with nothing accomplished in the nation's capitol.

As the opening bell approaches, deal-makers in Washington are probably just getting around to talking points for another day of finger-pointing and doing nothing. Meanwhile, the corrupt media still won't address the issues stemming from emails and text messages discovered on the Hunter Biden's computer as father Joe, presidential candidate, cowers in his bunker, refusing to answer any questions related to the findings.

These developments put quite the spin on the final two weeks heading into the election. Donald Trump is surging while the Biden-Harris ticket appears t be circling the drain. The massive censorship and denial campaign being waged on social and mainstream media points up the levels of corruption that exist on the Democrat, liberal side of the equation. While Republicans may or may not be much better, at least they haven'tbeen accused of anything illegal lately. More importantly, President Trump weathered four years of bad (horrifyingly biased) press and every effort, including impeachment, to remove him from office and is now on the cusp of winning a second term in the White House.

The left has no answers and the election, should this condition persist, may as well be over. The media and pollsters, along with their candidates, have been shown to be frauds at best, criminals at worst. The American public isn't going to sit back and allow crooks to rule over them. The Democrats - and some RINO Republicans - are about to get a shock treatmet of public outrage and withdrawn consent. People really don't like being lied to, and theyre not very fond of censorship and politicians who hide from misdeeds. The Biden campaign is effectively over.

With the sudden reversal of fortunes (remember, like in 2016, the Democrat candidate was supposedly well ahead in the polls), Wall Street will reassess their positions, though a Trump win wouldn't exactly be the worst outcome for the country. As it stands, the economy was doing OK until the coronavirus hit, so it stands to reason that President Trump's comtinued policies would include lower taxes and reduced regulation, both good for business. Thus, regardless of one's political position, a Trump victory on November 3rd should be seen as a positive.

However, the damage done by the government shutdowns of businesses in the US and around the world, and with Europe looking at another virus wave and more shutdowns is compelling and has set gloabl economies back substantially. Individual freedoms are being challenged around the globe. And while the lack of a stimulus bill from Washington may be top of mind for some, underlying trends, especially for major urban areas, are still quite troubling.

Should the politicians actually come up with a satisfactory stimulus bill within the next week, it's not going to change the dynamics of the market or the election very much. Minds are already made up; money is already in play. It's doubtful that even a $2 trillion package would move the needle much at all on either front.

With the opening bell just moments away, a serious development come via the bond market where the yield on the 10-year note has creasted above 0.80 for the first time since early June. The 10-year benchmark yield has been elevated recently and may be getting away from the control freaks at the Federal Reserve. Should the bond selling spree continue apace, gold and silver - already higher on the day - will rocket higher. Stocks could be getting set up for a dramtic multi-session decline.

At the Close, Tuesday, October 20, 2020:
Dow: 28,308.79, +113.37 (+0.40%)
NASDAQ: 11,516.49, +37.61 (+0.33%)
S&P 500: 3,443.12, +16.20 (+0.47%)
NYSE: 13,092.16, +73.66 (+0.57%)

Stocks Dump on Anniversary of Black Monday; Silver Buys Much More Chicken Than in 1960

On the 33rd anniversary of Black Monday (October 19, 1987), stocks didn't drop by 20% or more as they did on that fateful day, though there was a level of trepidation not seen in recent market action. After a lull in September, the major averages have been rising over the past two to three weeks.

For sure, Monday's market action left plenty of dip buyers holding a bag of pain, as gains were wiped out in waves of lower highs and lower lows as stocks stair-stepped their way to a distressing close.

29 of 30 Dow stocks closed in the red, led by:

AAPL, Apple: 115.98, -3.04 (-2.55%)

JNJ, Johnson & Johnson: 144.32, -3.78 (-2.55%)

MSFT, Microsoft: 214.22, -5.44 (-2.48%)

AXP, American Express: 102.47, -2.44 (-2.33%)

The only winner of the bunch was Intel (INTC), which closed at 54.58, up 0.42 (+0.78%).

As usual, the financial news pundits trotted out the same tired excuse for stocks losing steam: continued failure of congress to pass a stimulus bill.

Now, this most recent of Washington's foibles has been a steady-state comedy of errors since mid-July, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin first began negotiating for a second major coronavirus bailout. For the duration, Pelosi's been pushing for a bigger price tag and including money for states and municipalities, schools, and other pet projects while Mnuchin and the White House favored a much smaller expenditure.

The two sides keep inching closer to a deal, with the latest ploy by Pelosi being a demand that an agreement be reached by Tuesday, which just happens to be today. Accordingly, the newspeople are reporting that the two sides are "close to a deal," a position they've bandied about twice as often as being "far apart."

Blaming the demise of the stock market on the inability of politicians to reach agreement on the size of a stimulus bill is the height of folly. It's akin to blaming the manufacturer for your 12-year-old car's performance when your tires are bald, the oil hasn't been changed in three years, and the half of the fuel injectors are plugged.

In other words, there may be other reasons for stocks to go up or down outside of what the nitwits in the nation's capitol are doing, or not doing.

Here are some other possible reasons for stocks to lose value:

Unemployment is very high

Coronavirus fatigue

Concerns over electing Joe Biden president

Concerns over electing Donald Trump president

Many schools are closed or only partially open

Cities are facing budget deficits (New York, Chicago, others)

Protests, riots, looting by leftist groups ANTIFA and BLM

Stocks are overpriced

Record federal budget deficit

Record trade deficit

Slumping GDP

Corrupt politicians

Corrupt media

Censorship by Big Tech companies like Facebook and Twitter

Consumer price inflation

Lack of trust in government

Wall Street's V-shaped recovery looks more like an "L" on Main Street

Taken together, those issues would make a normal person want to crawl into a hole and wait until it all passes, but these issues are at least as concerning to some traders and fund managers as a government stimulus bill.

Besides, if the stock market is pinning its hopes on a stimulus bill, having the federal government go deeper into deficit by bailing out everything from airlines to schools to cities to restaurants to you and your neighbor, doesn't that indicate that there may be deeper problems facing the stock market and the general economy?

For some perspective, here's a mind experiment on the value of silver.

Silver and gold aren't going to the moon, as some suggest.

Think in terms of purchasing power. Currently, an ounce of silver is worth about $32 (probably more, see this link for a survey of recent actual sales on eBay).

Let's say a 6 pound roasting chicken (yum) is $8, or $1.33 a pound. (it's usually cheaper, but stick with us here). Right now, you can buy four of those with a one ounce silver coin or bar. OK, you can eat for a couple of weeks.

With inflation, that same chicken may be $2.00 a pound, or $12, in six months, so $32 will only buy two of them, plus a 4-pound fryer.

The ounce of silver will still buy four, and probably more, unless, of course, the mendacious futures marketeers are allowed to suppress the price as they have been for decades in order to keep fiat ($US dollar) the circulating currency.

For reference, chicken was 29 cents a pound in 1960, when silver was still a circulating currency. A six pound chicken cost $1.74, or seven Washington quarters (you'd get an all-copper penny back). That's more than an ounce of silver. There's actually 1.2659 troy ounces of silver in 7 silver Washington quarters, so you couldn't even buy one chicken with an ounce of silver, when today, 60 years later, you can buy four. Four chickens in 1960 would have set you back 5 ounces of silver. Today, that same five ounces will buy you 20 6-pound chickens. On this basis, silver has improved its purchasing power five-fold while the purchasing power of the US dollar has declined in a corresponding fashion.

A six pound chicken in 1960 set you back $1.74. Today, it's $8.00.

That means silver is actually worth much more today than it was then, in real terms (chickens). This illustrates how the dollar has been losing value and will continue to do so. Silver is a long-term investment in real money. This example proves it to be also a worthwhile store of value.

The Fed didn't know how good they had it, both when they conspired to take silver out of circulation and when they started printing money willy-nilly to boost the economy (and the price of everything).

A 401k or an IRA is a trap, tying up fiat currency for decades while its value declines. Silver (and gold) is salvation from inflation.

At the Close, Monday, October 19, 2020:
Dow: 28,195.42, -410.89 (-1.44%)
NASDAQ: 11,478.88, -192.67 (-1.65%)
S&P 500: 3,426.92, -56.89 (-1.63%)
NYSE: 13,018.51, -150.81 (-1.15%)

WEEKEND WRAP: Presidential Politics, Biden, Social Media Scandal Dominate

On the surface, stocks put in a mostly positive five days, with three of the four main US indices ending the week in positive territory. Only the NYSE Composite suffered a loss.

It appears as if Friday's trading was extended, all of the bourses would have joined the NYSE in negative ground as the final hour was all selling, perhaps spurred by smart money exiting the equity markets in anticipation of the weekend's re-pricing of $80 trillion of loans and derivative contracts form LIBOR (London InterBank Offered Rate) to SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate), a result of the manipulation of LIBOR during the sub-prime crisis of 2007-09.

Since the resetting of interest rates on trillions of dollars worth of loans and derivative contracts isn't an ordinary practice, this weekend's reset has been nicknamed the "Big Bang" as banks and financial institutions around the world hope to make the transition a smooth one. The vast majority of these contracts are over-the-counter derivatives held by banks, ostensibly between two contract partners, but about five percent of the total $200 trillion notional are business loans, floating rate notes and bonds, securitizations, and consumer loans (credit cards, car loans, personal loans).

How this all plays out will be closely guarded by the participants, but could show up in differences in rates on some mortgages and consumer loans.

While some people have become apoplectic over the change, it's likely that nothing earth-shattering will result. Still, there is some trepidation that this event might lead to some overflow turbulence in other markets, particularly, stocks and bonds. Thus, some people were likely selling late Friday to avoid possibly being left out in the open with their pants down on Monday morning.

Otherwise, the week just ended was dominated once again by presidential politics as the November 3rd date with destiny crept closer. With less than three weeks in the monumental election race between President Donald J. Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, the rancor reached a fever pitch when damning evidence of Biden's son, Hunter's, involvement in Ukraine politics - implicating the senior Biden as an influence peddler - was reported by the New York Post and subsequently squelched by social media giants, Facebook and Twitter.

The story, which involved emails and photos from a computer supposedly belonging to Hunter Biden that was left at a Delaware repair shop and never picked up, gained traction in the alternate media but was completely ignored by the mainstream, to which proponents on the right claimed foul.

Twitter accounts of the NY Post, Trump's campaign, Trump press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany and others were shut down on Wednesday, though most of them were restored by Thursday. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey issued a couple of thinly-worded apologies, neither of which satisfied congressmen and senators who rang the alarm over first amendment protections and sought to bring Dorsey and Facebook CEO in for hearings on the matter.

By the weekend, following Thursday night's dueling presidential town halls (Trump on NBC, Biden on ABC), the mainstream, including the major networks, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and Fox, remained mum on the story, despite the attempted censorship by their cohorts in the social universe. The censorship of these explosive allegations and evidence of wrong-doing by Biden while he was Vice President under Obama (2009-2016) was so egregious it could not be readily contained. Unless one were living under a rock, the story made the rounds to the public nonetheless.

More revelations have followed from Hunter Biden's hard drive and elsewhere, and the mainstream media's reluctance to even acknowledge their existence shows how partisan and biased these giant media companies are and poses a serious threat to democracy and to the welfare of the United States.

Outside of politics, earnings were the focus on Wall Street, as banks posted third quarter results, noting the usual record-setting trading profits and the unusual, severely slashed loan loss provisions. Apparently, the banks aren't gearing up for a spate of bankruptcies, mortgage defaults and credit card delinquencies stemming from the coronavirus and associated lockdowns, business closures, and various state-by-state restrictions.

In congress, the Senate was occupied with confirmation hearings of Trump Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, while Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continued to spar over stimulus proposals. On Saturday, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell announced that the senate would take a standalone vote on more funds for the Paycheck Protection Program Tuesday, followed by the main relief bill, including, ostensibly, $1200 checks for most Americans, money for states and municipalities, relief for the airlines, and other measures on Wednesday. Estimates vary, but it's assumed that McConnell's bills will amount to less than the $1.8 to $2.2 trillion being bandied about by the administration and House operatives.

Treasuries saw little movement. Yield on the 10-year note fell three basis points to 0.76%, while the 30-year dropped six basis points to 1.52%.

Price for a barrel of WTI crude oil continued to hug the $40 mark, dipping as low as $39.43 (Monday), but gaining through the week to close out at $40.88.

Precious metals were lower, primarily due to another raid on the futures Tuesday which brought the price of gold down from $1922.77 to $1891.36. The price finished the week at $1899.29 on Friday. Silver was victimized as well, losing just under a dollar on the spot market, to 24.16.

Premiums for deliverable, physical gold and silver remained high. Latest prices for common items on eBay are as follows (numismatics excluded, shipping - often free - included):

Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 28.00 / 43.95 / 37.91 / 38.20
1 oz silver bar: 28.00 / 45.05 / 35.49 / 34.40
1 oz gold coin: 1,950.00 / 2,108.82 / 2,018.20 / 2,026.65
1 oz gold bar: 1,903.70 / 2,019.73 / 1,996.39 / 2,000.08

Obviously, buyers of small physical gold and silver items aren't quite buying into the derivative-based prices generated by the futures market. Of particular note this week was the US Mint's jacking of the price of its flagship silver eagle to $67.00, along with significant price hikes (30-60%) on other silver products. The mint's move may explain the extraordinary premium price rise in silver eagle auctions on eBay and by dealers.

At the Close, Friday, October 16, 2020:
Dow: 28,606.31, +112.11 (+0.39%)
NASDAQ: 11,671.56, -42.31 (-0.36%)
S&P 500: 3,483.81, +0.47 (+0.01%)
NYSE: 13,169.32, +32.07 (+0.24%)

For the Week:
Dow: +19.41 (+0.07%)
NASDAQ: +91.61 (0.79%)
S&P 500: +6.67 (+0.19%)
NYSE: -83.30 (-0.63%)

The Crash That Wasn't: Thursday's Rally Explained

At the Close, Thursday, October 15, 2020:
Dow: 28,494.20, -19.80 (-0.07%)
NASDAQ: 11,713.87, -54.86 (-0.47%)
S&P 500: 3,483.34, -5.33 (-0.15%)
NYSE: 13,137.25, -5.92 (-0.05%)

This morning, the normal "at the close" piece attached to every Money Daily post has been moved to the top of the page instead of its normal position at the bottom to illustrate, clearly, what happened on Thursday, when futures suggested a major selloff in the cash market.

Let's take a look at the lows of the day:

At the LOWS, Thursday, October 15, 2020:
Dow: 28,181.54, -332.46
NASDAQ: 11,559.10, -209.63
S&P 500: 3,440.89, -47.48
NYSE: 12,960.98, -182.18

Yes, the major indices were down roughly 1 1/2 percent at the lows. What happened?

First, understand that those lows were made - on each market, in unison - within minutes of the opening bell. Conversely, on the other side of the daily chart, the highs of the day were reached roughly 10-15 minutes before the close. In other words, "you got played."

Not that this is an isolated incident. As a matter of fact, erasure of losses happens all the time on US stock exchanges, and has been occurring repeatedly since then-President Reagan signed executive order 12631, on March 18, 1988, establishing the Working Group on Financial Markets, commonly referred to as the Plunge Protection Team, or PPT.

The PPT was established in the aftermath of the 1987 crash, a one-day global sell-off that happened on October 19. That date is referenced around Wall Street as "Black Monday." The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 22% on that day; the S&P was also down more than 20%.

For many years, mere mention of the "Working Group" or PPT would elicit jeers and laughter as its existence was considered high humor and conspiracy theory. It wasn't until February 23, 1997, when a Washington Post staff writer, Brett D Fromson, coined the term "Plunge Protection Team" as the headline of an article in the Washington Post detailing how the "Working Group" was designed to function.

New York Post financial writer John Crudele, former congressman Ron Paul, among others, have used the term openly and frequently since then. It's now common knowledge that the PPT exists and that it prevents market crashes by buying futures contracts.

Apparently, the PPT sprang into action right at the opening bell Thursday, as markets were crashing, not because negotiations on a stimulus bill were stalled out or that coronavirus cases have been rising. Those stories have been used as scapegoats for every market slip since July. Thursday's crash was set off by the New York Post story detailing some of the contents of one of Hunter Biden's - son of presidential candidate, Joe Biden - computers, and the swift censorship of same by Twitter and Facebook.

If the wheels were coming off the great "blue wave" Democrat sweep narrative because it's figurehead, Biden, was being exposed as a crook, liar, bribe-taking dirty dealer, then the Deep State's dream of a new world order might be coming to a quick and premature end.

Once the market opened and the social media giants made it clear that the story would not be allowed to circulate through their platforms, the PPT had its marching orders or really, really smart money started buying and kept buying all day as it became clear that Facebook, Twitter and the mainstream media would not make mention of the article or any of the subsequent articles from the Post (which had its twitter account locked) or mentions of it by President Trump's campaign team (ditto) or anybody else.

So, there you have it. Americans are being played, not just by the media or lying politicians, but Wall Street hucksters who make their plays in the futures market and move money in the cash market. It's like an elaborate game of three-card monte in which the brokerages owned by the biggest banks are the dealers and the general public are the marks. The scheme relies upon computer algorithms that respond to headlines promulgated by their allies in the mainstream media. Some of it works automatically, to make markets and individual stocks go in whichever direction they please, despite fundamentals, earnings, p/e ratios and tools like that which used to help determine stock prices and real value.

No more. Those days are over. Today's stock markets are controlled by unseen forces beyond the ken of most wizened traders or analysts. It's a new ball game. The PPT is part of it. The meida is another cog in the wheel, and in the end, nothing happens without the whirring sounds of computer fans at server farms in New York and New Jersey pushing HFTs (High Frequency Trading) through the system formerly know as "markets."

These aren't markets any more. They haven’t been markets in any traditional sense for a long time, at least since the GFC of ’08-09 and likely earlier. These are control mechanisms, deep state constructs designed to influence public behavior, stifle awareness and shunt free thought. Think you can beat the market? Do you have trillions of dollars available at a moment's notice from the central bank? They do, and you can't possibly win unless you play their game.

The alternative is to not play at all, a position that’s becoming increasingly popular as institutions become monolithic oligarchies and individual freedoms are beaten to the curb.

It’s not for everybody, but it’s at least an option.

Revelations Of Joe Biden's Ukraine Dealings Blow Away 'Blue Wave' Market Theory

Like it or not, the American public, the sleazy politicians in Washington DC, the corrupt media are going to get four more years of Donald J. Trump shoved down their throats starting November 3rd.

This is thanks to the careless, feckless, cavalier attitude of the Democrat opponent, Joe Biden, his campaign handlers and especially his son Hunter, whose clumsiness allowed sensitive communications to fall into the hands of a computer repair shop owner, because he was too reckless or thoughtless to remember to pick up the three computers he dropped off months earlier.

Brought to light by none other than America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, the exclusive by the New York Post, the story of the Bidens is one so rich in irony and scandal that those bastions of unfree speech and censorship, Facebook and Twitter, chose to try to hide it from the peering eyes of the public.

Their efforts to suppress the truth - possibly the most egregious display of censorship ever witnessed in the United States - served as clear and conclusive evidence that Big Tech companies that manage the information flow of the country have been in the bag for the Democrats and Joe Biden throughout the election process.

It is not the duty nor the intent of this blog to convey the entire story, but only to point readers seeking the truth in the correct directions, providing a cursory overview of a saga that is only going to grow more astounding over the coming days and weeks leading up to the election. The Biden exposé is too deep and too broad to be adequately conveyed in one post, or even a series. Money Daily likes to stick to financial affairs, not affairs of state. We’ll leave it to others in the alt-media universe to inflict appropriate damage.

In a nutshell, the story of Joe and Hunter Biden and their dealings with Ukranian officials and the Burisma energy company signal the death knell for the Biden-Harris ticket. The election is now essentially over because it's become so glaringly obvious that former Vice President Biden, like his chief, former president Obama, is nothing more than a pay-for-play, corrupt politician straight out of the Hillary Clinton model. Anybody even considering casting a ballot for this nefarious criminal is now required to check their morality at the polling station door. If nothing else, these revelations - along with other misdeeds so rabidly suppressed by the social and mainstream media for years - will drive Democratic voters away from the polls and away from the party.

All other Democrat candidates are guilty by association, automatically. Biden's gaffes, slack mental acuity, criminal activity, and slip-shod laziness is not only going to cost him the election, but it offers the real possibility of swinging the Senate and House races to the Republicans.

With less than three weeks to the election, with early voting already underway, this story is not going away and a massive Trump landslide victory is all but assured, despite the worst efforts by the mainstream and social media - and the pollsters - to swing opinion to the Democrat side.

This story, which broke only yesterday, will have ramifications for the election and well beyond. Even at the first glance, markets on Wednesday began to slide. On Yahoo Finance, the headline blamed the decline on a quip from Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, who opined for the umpteenth time that a stimulus bill was unlikely before the election. Behind the scenes, editorial effort was being made to hide the effect of the Biden revelations, even as early as 10:00 am, when the sell-off became pronounced. The 'Blue Wave' theory that had been bandied about by slack-jawed internet media had crashed upon the shoals of corruption and scandal.

A Biden presidency, which was supposedly going to be great for the economy and Wall Street, had been exposed as as yet another fraud from wishful-thinking hack journalists who support higher taxes, socialism, hand-outs, corruption and criminal behavior which is endemic, not only in politics, but in finance, as has been evidenced over the years.

Even this Thursday morning, as stock futures are collapsing, Yahoo Finance headlines put the blame on Mnuchin and the coronavirus. They can't mention the Biden revelations because they can't handle the truth, but that's what's really tanking the markets and is likely to continue doing so.

The "Blue Wave," resurrected from Clinton's failed 2016 campaign is just another liberal fantasy designed to make people think Democrats are leading in the (oversampled and about to be proven wrong again) polls and are good for the future of America. The truth is that there is no blue wave, there never was one in 2016, and any investment pundits or advisors pushing this narrative are prevaricators of the highest order, stealing money and minds with their baseless investment theories.

Wednesday's smallish losses were just the appetizers. The main course will be served Thursday, after it's revealed that another 800,000+ people filed initial unemployment claims and the Biden cover-up continues unraveling into the weekend. By the time Meet the Press airs Sunday morning, there's either going to be a pronounced denial and cover-up by the media or a full-blown manic conspiracy theory denial. Neither will work. And the COVID scare, in which a not-so-deadly virus shut down the global economy for months and is doing so again in Europe at the behest of wrong-thinking socialist leaders over there is also failing to pass the smell test, the PCR test, the false positive test.

Exposing Joe Biden as a criminal bribe dealer and threat to the security of the United States is only the tip of the iceberg. That these stories are coming out now is no accident. Donald Trump's strategy to expose the swamp creatures in the Democrat and Republican parties is just getting started, which is why the effort to censor and suppress this information is so magnified. Four more years of a Donald Trump presidency may put many corrupt politicians and businesspeople out to pasture and maybe behind bars.

The following are sources by which readers may discover the truth for themselves. The mainstream media isn't going to do anything but offer denials and call everything "conspiracy theory" because they are counting on American voters to be blind to the truth as voting gets underway.

This blog can only lead readers to the fountain of truth. It cannot make them drink from it. That's a choice each individual must make.

New York Post
The Liberty Daily
Red State
Rudy Giuliani's Common Sense
Conservative Treehouse

Here's Rudy Giuliani laying out more damning details, promising more to come.

Giuliani, a former prosecutor who used RICO statutes to bring down crime families in New York and New Jersey, knows the terrain and will be like a rabid pit bull with expose´s right up to the election and hopefully, beyond.

Lastly, here's Tucker Carlson laying out the details of Twitter and Facebook's censorship:

Here comes the second wave. Not of the virus, but of stock market chaos.

At the Close, Wednesday, October 14, 2020:
Dow: 28,514.00, -165.81 (-0.58%)
NASDAQ: 11,768.73, -95.17 (-0.80%)
S&P 500: 3,488.67, -23.26 (-0.66%)
NYSE: 13,143.16, -68.79 (-0.52%)

Up, Down, Sideways? Which Way Is The Stock Market Headed?

About the only thing certain about equity markets recently is uncertainty.

Nobody knows who's going to be president in three weeks time, nor can anybody adequately discern whether Democrats or Republicans will hold majorities in the House and Senate.

Will protests re-appear if Trump wins? What if Biden wins? There remains the issues which the protesters insist to be at the core of the looting, burning and rioting: systemic racial inequality and oppressive police forces.

Then there's the COVID crisis. Like the old Memorex audio tape commercials, people are asking, "is it real or is it a scam-demic?" Cases are up in some places, down in others. Vaccines look promising one day, not so hot the next, and who's going to take them when they do become available? There are other treatments available, and, by the time a safe vaccine is developed, the coronavirus may have run its course, mutating into something more like the common flu than the Black Plague.

Will we have a second wave of the virus, and will states decide to shut down again or "tough it out" this time?

Are schools open, closed, virtual? And is virtual learning as good, if not better, or worse, than traditional classroom instruction?

The politicians in Washington seem reluctant to pass another stimulus bill prior to the election, but will they continue to dither over details afterward?

Is the economy good, bad, worse, better, the same, and how does it matter? Are jobs coming back or have many gone away permanently?

While these are just top of mind issues presently, there are more underneath and over the top. It's well known that stock markets despise uncertainty, though they've shown a great resilience over the past six months, though much of the rise in stocks can be directly attributed to the Federal Reserve, which has had the money spigots open to full volume. To be fair, while stock markets loath questioning times, traders love the volatility, as adroit stock adherents are able to make positions and trades based on momentum, sentiment, money flows, political events, and just about anything other than fundamental analysis.

So, will stocks continue to rise back toward record highs or will they gravitate to the depths of the February-March crash? Getting that equation right could mean the difference between making one's way to Easy Street or wholesale wealth destruction.

There are admittedly more variables than answers, and while the squeamish will settle for somewhere in between a rally and a crash, that's not a coherent strategy for making hay, or money.

About the best the high-minded can come up with these days is a "it depends..." analysis, which leaves everybody right where they are most uncomfortable, in the dark. Volatility remains elevated. Bank stocks are currently reporting third quarter earnings and they're all over the map. JP Morgan beat by a lot, Citi, by a little, Bank of America, which reported prior to the Wednesday open, beat on the bottom line, earning 51 cents per share, but misfired on the top, as net income fell to $4.9 billion, from $5.8 billion and 56 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Goldman Sachs smashed expectations, with profits for the three months ending in September pegged at $9.68 per share, more than double the $4.79 posted over the same period last year and well ahead of the Street consensus forecast of $5.57 per share. Goldman, like JP Morgan and Citi, slashed its provisions for credit losses to just $278 million. Bank of America raised theirs to $1.39 billion from $779 million in the prior quarter.

These credit loss provisions are tiny, considering the depth and scope of the coronavirus crisis. Apparently, banks don't see much risk associated with overdue rents, unpaid mortgages, credit card and auto loan payments that have been deferred until a later date, and student loans which have been put on hold. Either that, or they're just not realizing the losses now and more reserves will be set aside in future quarters. They may even believe their own narrative that the stock market is actually a leading indicator and it's forecasting a brighter future.

A rosy outlook may be well and good, but investors aren't buying it. All the bank stocks were lower on Tuesday, and they're looking for a repeat performance Wednesday. Bank shares were hit hard in the February-March crash and most have not returned to levels prior to that. In fact, the banks with high retail exposure - Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo - are much closer to the March lows than the prior, February highs. Wells Fargo is actually trading below its March 23 low of 25.25. It closed Tuesday at 24.74 and this morning posted its first profitable quarter of the last three, earning 42 cents a share in the third quarter, two cents below forecasts. It is selling off in pre-market trading.

The airlines are kaput. Delta (DAL) posted a $5.4 billion loss in the third quarter, following an even bigger second quarter loss. United Airlines (UAL), which showed a $9.31 per share loss in the second quarter, reports after the closing bell. The estimate is for -$7.44. Ubelieveably, the airline stocks are slowly rising as hope for another government bailout is also.

You might as well throw darts at a page of stock quotes amid all the confusion and cross-currents. Staying out of the markets seems an advisable strategy - one that is a standard for CNBC's Jim Cramer during earnings seasons - until election day.

But, what happens then?

At the Close, Tuesday, October 13, 2020:
Dow: 28,679.81, -157.71 (-0.55%)
NASDAQ: 11,863.90, -12.36 (-0.10%)
S&P 500: 3,511.93, -22.29 (-0.63%)
NYSE: 13,211.95, -112.93 (-0.85%)

Third Quarter Earnings From BlackRock, JP Morgan Chase Blow Away Estimates

Coming out strong on the first day of third quarter earnings releases, BlackRock (BLK) and JP Morgan Chase (JMP) led the charge toward new stock market highs, both reporting top and bottom line earnings beats for the period ended September 30.

BlackRock (BLK) stock was surging Tuesday morning in pre-market trading, up 25.65 points (4.17%) to 640.51 as of 7:35 am ET.

The world's largest asset manager, largest US landlord, and designated bond buyer for the Federal Reserve reported better-than-expected earnings. Third-quarter earnings grew 29% to $9.22 a share, up from $7.15 a share a year earlier. Analysts were looking for the company to post earnings per share of $7.77, but the company benefitted from additional fee income and a increase in assets under management (AUM), now pegged at $7.81 trillion, up from the $7.32 trillion in the second quarter and $6.96 trillion a year earlier.

Revenue grew 18% to $4.37 billion, topping the FactSet total revenue consensus of $3.94 billion.

Also reporting prior to the opening bell, JP Morgan said earnings for the three months ending in September were $9.4 billion, or $2.92 per share, up 9% from the same period last year and well ahead of consensus forecast of $2.22 per share.

Stunning was the revelation that JP Morgan's credit loss provision for the quarter rose by a mere $611 million, a minuscule figure compared to the massive $10.5 billion booked over the three months ending in June. Expectations were for the largest US bank by assets to set aside somewhere in the range of $1.8 billion to as high as $6 billion.

Shares of the bank's stock were sharply higher in pre-market trading, coming on the heels of a major upswing Monday. JPM was a point higher on Monday and it looks to add to those gains when regular trading resumes on Tuesday.

While BlackRock has put in an impressive run this year, with shares up 22.3% since December 31, 2019, JP Morgan has not done quite as well. Its price was slashed in the February-March crash, though it has regained some of those losses. Still, Jamie Dimon's firm is down 26.5% year to date.

Monday's rally took the major indices a step closer to all-time highs. At Monday's peak, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was within 50 points of 29,000, a level it's pierced only once since the March lows (September 2, 29,100.50), The all-time high of 21,511.42 (February 12) once agin appears to be within range, less than three percent off that target.

The NASDAQ is within 1 1/2% of its record close of 12,056.44 from September 2nd of this year. Also making its record close on 9/2 was the S&P 500 when it settled out at 3,580.84. It too is less than 1 1/2% from achieving another record high.

The NYSE Composite, which, like the Dow, has lagged the other two indices, needs to gain another six percent to overtake its February 12 record close of 14,136.98.

If earnings for other major corporations show as well as the two financial behemoths which reported Tuesday, record highs could be a shoo-in prior to the November 3 election, a big plus for President Trump, as he seeks a second term.

With stocks soaring and the threat of another round of lockdowns becoming less and less likely, it's going to be difficult for challenger Joe Biden to make a case for his Democrat agenda, which includes a nationwide mask mandate and up to a three-month economic lockdown.

The polls employed by the mainstream media have Biden leading comfortably nationwide and in the electoral college, though other indicators and polls less publicized have Trump winning handily. A repeat of the on-air crying and teeth-gnashing by left-leaning TV anchors and reporters is a real possibility.

At the Close, Monday, October 12, 2020:
Dow: 28,837.52, +250.62 (+0.88%)
NASDAQ: 11,876.26, +296.32 (+2.56%)
S&P 500: 3,534.22, +57.09 (+1.64%)
NYSE: 13,324.87, +72.25 (+0.55%)

WEEKEND WRAP: Trump Defeats Coronavirus; Stocks Rip; Polls Wrong-Footed; Gold, Silver Rising

President Trump, slightly overweight and in his 70s, catches COVID-19, goes to hospital for a few days, is virus-free in just over a week.

That's a close summary for the news for the week. Everybody can go back to sleep now. Nothing to see here. Move along.

There are some observations from outside the mainstream that indicate the coronavirus "pandemic" crisis is fading into the background of the presidential election. Notably, various college football games were quite well-attended. For instance, the nationally-televised #7 Miami at #1 Clemson game had 18,885 fans in attendance. #2 Alabama at Ole Miss was attended by 14,419. #4 Florida lost at #21 Texas A&M, 41-38, as seen by 24,709 in the stands. The list goes on and on, despite restrictions on attendance. Most games were only allowed 20-30% capacity. Apparently, football fans aren't very fearful of COVID-19. It's highly probable that had the authorities allowed the colleges to sell as many tickets as they liked, the stands would have been packed full, but then we'd have to endure the endless fear-mongering from the control media about a “super-spreader” event.

Being that it's October, third quarter corporate earnings results will begin to pour in beginning next week. Up first are banks and airlines with JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Citi (C), BlackRock (BLK) and Delta Airlines (DAL) reporting Tuesday.

Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), US Bancorp (USB), Wells Fargo (WFC), PNC (PNC), and United Airlines (UAL) are on deck for Wednesday.

Thursday, Morgan Stanley (MS) reports, and on Friday, Ally Financial (ALLY), BNY Mellon (BK), and Citizens (CFG) open their books.

Banking stocks are likely to report large trading profits and expanded loan loss or bad credit reserves, while the airline stocks should post incredible losses as they were not allowed to perform any major cost-cutting through layoffs until October 1, via agreement for bailouts issued thought the CARES Act. Airline traffic has been a trickle of what is normally was, thanks to the coronavirus and government restrictions on travel.

An aside to the airlines and bank stocks, the US congress and the president have failed to reach agreement on a second round of stimulus, including more money for the airlines and $1200 checks to most adult Americans. Despite the deadlock on a stimulus deal being constant since July, stocks apparently pinned hopes on one emerging from the DC morass. Thus far, they have been disappointed, though one could hardly suspect that considering the outsized gains put up over the past two weeks.

All the majors were up more than three percent on the week, with the NASDAQ surging ahead by 4.5%. Some media outlets touted that stock gains were due to investors eyeing a Joe Biden "blue wave" victory for the Democrats come November 3, as if the prospect of increased free money to the masses along with higher corporate taxes and tax hikes on people earning over $400,000 a year - as Biden has promised - is somehow a good thing.

The mainstream polls keep putting Biden well ahead of President Trump, though most Americans are aware that the polls are fatally flawed, as evidenced the last time anybody was nearly a "lock" in 2016, when Hillary Clinton was supposed to win in a landslide. We all know what happened then. Thus far, the pollsters haven't mended their methodologies to fall in line with reality. Polling and predictions have become a massive con game and propaganda ploy by the deep state, but, unless the pollsters show Trump making headway over the next three weeks, they're likely to be exposed as frauds again.

The pollsters also aren't cognizant of the idea that by showing Biden with a comfortable lead, many Democrat voters may eschew the process altogether, figuring it's in the bag for their man. That may be a part of the plan, however, as the Democrat National Committee (DNC) can then claim low voter turnout as a proximate cause for the demise of their candidates. As backup, they have millions of mail-in votes by which to contest election night results, which also appears to be part of the plan to rid Washington of Mr. Trump and his deep-state-draining entourage. A Trump-Pence victory seems more and more likely with each passing day and each fake news story fed to the largely "not buying it" public.

Treasury yields rose substantially over the course of the week, reaching what may turn out to be something of a new norm for long-dated securities. The 10-year note yielded 0.79% at the close of business Friday, up from 0.70% a week ago. Yield on the 30-year was also ahead, by 10 basis points, to 1.58%. Short-dated maturities remained more or less anchored to the zero-bound.

Oil rebounded sharply off an October 2nd bottom at $37.05 for a barrel of WTI crude, bouncing as high as $41.19 on Thursday before settling out at $40.60 Friday. The gains can be tied neatly to Hurricane Delta, the massive category 3 storm that came ashore at Southwestern Louisiana, the same area devastated by Hurricane Laura just a week weeks ago.

The storm caused extensive damage, left 700,000 homes and businesses without power and caused the shutdown of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. Most ports and refineries were closed in advance of the storm and will be slowly reopening in the coming week. Getting back to anything resembling "normal" in the area is likely to take months.

Precious metals had a roller coaster of a week, but ended positive thanks to intense buying on Friday. Gold was $1899.84 an ounce at the previous Friday (October 2) close, dipped as low as $1878.18 on Tuesday, but closed out the week at $1930.40. Silver engaged in a similar pattern, closing out the prior week at $23.74, dipping down to $23.07 on Tuesday, but rallying the rest of the week to close at $25.15.

Here are the latest real sales numbers on common gold and silver items sold on eBay (numismatics excluded, shipping - often free - included):

Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 30.00 / 49.99 / 37.41 / 35.99
1 oz silver bar: 30.00 / 53.20 / 36.46 / 35.50
1 oz gold coin: 1,978.90 / 2,260.96 / 2,068.36 / 2,059.51
1 oz gold bar: 1,955.00 / 2,050.77 / 2,025.75 / 2,029.84

Premiums for physical precious metals remain at extremes, though Friday's gains in the spot and futures markets began to bring the paper and physical worlds closer together. Chartists are looking to call the past 2 1/2 weeks a near-term bottom, setting up another major move to the upside for both gold and silver.

At the Close, Friday, October 9, 2020:
Dow: 28,586.90, +161.39 (+0.57%)
NASDAQ: 11,579.94, +158.96 (+1.39%)
S&P 500: 3,477.13, +30.30 (+0.88%)
NYSE: 13,252.62, +62.04 (+0.47%)

For the Week:
Dow: +904.09 (+3.27%)
NASDAQ: +504.93 (+4.56%)
S&P 500: +128.72 (+3.84%)
NYSE: +502.83 (+3.94%)

Media Bias for Biden-Harris Glaringly Obvious But Candidates Don't Look Like They're Winning

There's no doubt that much of what we see and hear on television, radio, in newspapers and magazines, or on the internet is fake news or outright propaganda, designed to influence the way people think about issues and modify their behaviors to fulfill a controlled, desired narrative.

There are countless examples, any of which may be a salient point in determining which issues are most important to the mainstream media complex that seeks to undermine press freedom, freedom of expression and other rights guaranteed by the constitution and natural law.

One example, relevant to the ongoing coronavirus escapade, is of purposeful omission of simple actions that can lead to prevention from catching the virus in the first place and useful, meaningful treatments should one become infected.

While the worldwide message has been to social distance and wear masks, no official agency or news outlet has offered advice on strengthening the immune system by taking a regular regimen of vitamins C, D3, Zinc, and Quercetin, or even drinking green tea, all of which have been proven to be beneficial to overall health and provide a strong defense against coronavirus of all kinds and many other potential illnesses.

Why is this? Wouldn't the government and the media be focused on prevention and treatment for the general population? One would assume so, though it's becoming obvious that the money-driven government/media/medical cartel is more concerned about control and getting the public to believe that a pharmaceutical solution, such as a vaccine created by one of the Big Pharma companies is the only remedy to controlling the spread of the virus.

It's been widely reported that masks provide little to no protection against any kind of airborne virus (more evidence here, here, and here).

So, if masks don't work, why is the media promoting them so consistently? Control. At best, the use of masks is fake science promoted by fake news. At worst, it’s causing more psychological damage than medical good.

Just days ago, a petition signed by over 6,000 scientists and 60,000 individuals, was released, calling for an end to government lockdowns as a response to coronavirus, saying, in part, "current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health."

The petition continues: "Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed."

The document, known as the Great Barrington Declaration, was co-authored by Harvard professor of medicine Dr. Martin Kulldorff, Oxford professor Dr. Sunetra Gupta, and Stanford Medical School professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. The doctors insist on an approach more focused on protecting vulnerable populations and achieving the goal of "herd immunity," which they refer to as "Focused Protection."

Lockdowns and other social distancing, stay-at-home orders are causing more harm than good, but the mainstream media has given the doctors and the petition short shrift, with barely a mention in the papers or on TV network news. Opinions and real science goes against their narrative, which is apparently to keep everybody in mortal fear of the virus, condition the public to engage in actions that are counterproductive or harmful and not question the authorities at the CDC or WHO, while anything President Trump does, says, or promotes concerning the virus is necessarily evil.

So, this morning's headline on Yahoo! Finance, blaring "Stocks continue to rise as expectations grow of Joe Biden victory" comes as no surprise to anyone who regularly visits the site.

The article states, without proof, "European stock markets continued to rally on Friday, as investors’ hopes grew of a US stimulus package and a Joe Biden victory in the US election."

Seriously? Investors in Europe want Joe Biden to win the US presidency and they're basing investment decisions on the possibility of him winning?

They also think there's going to be a stimulus bill coming out of congress soon, even though negotiations have stalled since July and they're buying stocks because of this. Well, that's what Yahoo wants you to believe, probably because they have a vested interest - lots of money - in a Joe Biden victory come November 3rd.

Yahoo is owned by Verizon, which acquired the company back in 2017 for $4.48 billion. In the most recent contribution cycle, individuals affiliated with Verizon - ranked 118 of 20,157, with nearly $3 million in contributions to political candidates - gave Joe Biden $300,000, compared to $76,000 to Donald Trump, hedging their bets. The company's people also contributed heavily to the campaigns of the main Democratic presidential candidates, doling out cash to Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Andrew Yang.

The company also supports major lobbying efforts, spending $11,143,183 in 2019, ranking them 24th of 5,558 companies. With that kind of money going to candidates and causes, there's some doubt that Verizon's world view is completely unbiased. Even a casual perusal of their various sections of the Yahoo! website reveals an editorial slant that is not only left-leaning but also virulently anti-Trump.

So, Yahoo!, just like their counterparts in the heavily controlled space known as mainstream media, is strongly supportive of Democrats and Joe Biden, disdainful of Republicans and President Trump.

Check.

Credibility? Out the window. Honesty? Don't think so. Objectivity? Come on, please. Integrity? Zero. The deck is stacked so high against President Trump voters will likely have to pole vault into voting booths to cast a ballot for the president.

Unfortunately for them, it's not working, despite polling that routinely oversamples city residents (largely Democrats) over rural, and Democrats over Republicans to produce a comfy lead for Biden and Harris, the candidates themselves aren't acting like they're winning. Instead of exuding confidence, they look sheepish and unsure. The media continues to coddle them, like they are some precious, fragile words of the state that cannot be questioned nor maligned in any way. This is not what winning or being ahead normally looks like, because they’re not winning, they’re losing, and they and their media buddies know it.

Compared to the treatment of Trump, the media is giving the Biden-Harris ticket a free pass on every important issue, despite their unpopular, largely inaccurate or simply untruthful positions.

The media is trying to capture the narrative of the election, just as it attempted to do in 2016. It will be a shame if they're successful and Joe Biden wins the presidency, because their mendacious assault on civil liberties will have only just begun.

At the Close, Thursday, October 8, 2020:
Dow: 28,425.51, +122.05 (+0.43%)
NASDAQ: 11,420.98, +56.38 (+0.50%)
S&P 500: 3,446.83, +27.38 (+0.80%)
NYSE: 13,190.58, +148.25 (+1.14%)

Stocks Continue October Rally, Sending Bond Yields Rocketing Higher

Apologies to any readers who disdain politics for the prior two days of postings; it's just that the political climate is so hot right now that it's dominating the news and the markets.

Whether or not that will remain the norm in the lead-up to the election depends on a wide array of variables, but there's good reason to believe that the political storm will create more than enough trading scenarios to keep the stock jockeys busy through the month of October.

Of course, there are other elements affecting stocks and the economy. Beginning in earnest next week will be an avalanche of third quarter earnings reports, led off by the banks and financial institutions. As was the case with the second quarter, of particular interest will be the loan loss reserves put aside by these companies. They were large in the prior two quarters and there's little doubt they will grow again, as the COVID crisis has not been broken by any means. Some trend and economic followers may actually believe that the after effects have only worsened with the passage of time, especially since the congress has chosen to punt on any new stimulus measures.

Negotiations for a second round of stimulus began in July and have consistently stalled out, the Democrats wanting more, Republicans less. It now appears that the Democrat strategy has been to purposely overshoot and add in aid to states, municipalities, and schools, knowing that the Republican-led senate would surely reject such proposals.

Thus, according to the Democrats, it would be the Republicans that have kept the American public in limbo prior to the election. This strategy seems to have failed. If anything, the public is blaming both sides for not coming to a reasonable compromise, though President Trump's recent forays into the struggle seem to have tipped House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's hand. Trump favors stand-alone bills for the airlines, small business, and another round of $1200 checks to Americans. He has called Pelosi's bluff and she has folded, unable to respond with a cogent counteroffer.

It would appear that a standalone bill for checks to most Americans (those earning less than $125,000, or similar threshold), and additional money for dependents would be a no-brainer and would easily sail through both houses of congress and onto the president's desk lickety-split. However, there's been no offer since Trump brought it to the table Tuesday night. Heading into the weekend, without a plan to move forward, Pelosi now appears to be the one blocking the path and the longer she delays, the more it will appear that Democrats are the ones not attuned to the plight of the common men and women of the country.

Moving on, Paychex (PAYX), the company that manages payroll and tax reporting for thousands of small companies nationwide, reported earnings Tuesday for its fiscal first quarter, ended August 31. As was the case in the prior quarter, the company beat lowered expectations,

Paychex reported net income of $211.6 million, or 59 cents a share, down from $264.2 million, or 73 cents a share, a year ago. The company said adjusted net income includes adjustments for one-time costs of $31.2 million related to the acceleration of cost-saving initiatives, "including the long-term strategy to reduce our geographic footprint and headcount optimization, and net tax windfall benefits related to employee stock-based compensation payments."

Well, how about that? While whistling an upbeat tune, the company is actually downsizing. Naturally, they've couched their long-term strategy with catch-phrases like "geographic footprint" and "headcount optimization" instead of saying, "we're closing branches and laying people off."

Paychex is a bellwether for small business and their quarterly report was just a little bit distressing to holders of the stock. Paychex reported before the bell on Tuesday and shares were initially lower, down 1 1/2 points before gaining some traction as the whole market moved higher. Carrying a ridiculous P/E ratio of 27.77, this is a company that has been materially affected by the COVID shutdowns of small business and they can only hide that reality so long.

Since the company is heavily-owned by funds and institutional investors, there will be a concerted effort to keep its shares moving higher, despite the obvious slowdown in its core business. Top holders of the stock are BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, and Bank of America, which speaks volumes to the concentration of vested interests invested.

Paxchex is still profitable, though less so than last year, and pays a healthy dividend. It's shares will roll gaily along until the next panic, then will be sold hastily, as it was in February and March of this year. As a going concern, it's a shaky, overvalued investment. As a barometer for the general economy, it's shrieking about lost revenue and layoffs.

For the hopelessly cynical, a pledge by JP Morgan Chase (JPM) to inject up to $30 billion into Black and Hispanic communities reeks of disingenuous intentions. On the surface, the nation's largest bank by assets appears to be tackling "systemic racism" (no such thing) head on, when in reality all they're doing is making more loans available for housing and small businesses. Now that JP Morgan and their cohorts in the banking cartel have successfully hollowed out the middle class, they have to target other groups to inflict with their version of debt slavery.

Other than Wall Street financial psychopaths can see this as anything other than a predatory action, cloaked in good intentions. If anything, people in these communities should tell CEO Jamie Dmon and his teams of lenders to stay away. Inner city communities have been victimized enough already by government and big business policies. Saying you're helping by putting more people into debt is like telling a diabetic to eat more candy. After a period of seeming euphoria the end result will be disastrous.

Americans of all races, ages, and political leanings need to realize that the proximate causes for most of the problems in this country stem from government, Wall Street financing, and mega-corporations acting in collusion to "fix" what they've already broken. Programs like the "war on poverty" and "urban renewal" were nothing more than wholesale strip-mining of minority communities, lining the pockets of the already well-off with manufactured profits.

It brings into question the recent concept of being "woke." Millennials and generation Z types who believe they are somehow on the receiving end of socialized economics are more likely suffering early onset dementia and instead of being "woke" are actually in a currency-induced coma.

Heading into the final two sessions for the week, the major averages are looking at solid gains, though the indices are still below the highs recorded in late August and early September, but not by very much. As long as the market keeps pinning hopes on a stimulus breakthrough - as has been the overriding narrative since July - there's nothing other than possibly some slumping earnings news to keep the markets from churning higher. If some sort of stimulus bill is passed before the election, new highs should be in the cards despite plenty of evidence that the economy is still slipping.

Long-dated treasuries have been selling off all week, punching yields higher. The 10-year note hit 0.81% on Wednesday; the yield on a 30-year bond posted 1.60%. That pair hasn't seen yields that high since early June. With the Federal Reserve hell-bent on creating inflation, it's no surprise that yields should go higher as money moves from fixed income to riskier alternatives.

At the Close, Wednesday, October 7, 2020:
Dow: 28,303.46, +530.70 (+1.91%)
NASDAQ: 11,364.60, +210.00 (+1.88%)
S&P 500: 3,419.45, +58.50 (+1.74%)
NYSE: 13,042.33, +204.45 (+1.59%)