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%)

Trump Crashes Markets, Bluffs Pelosi, Outs Hillary, Brennan, Obama (again)

People say a lot of things about President Trump, much of it not so nice, but there's no disputing that through his words and actions he can be wildly amusing or shocking at times.

Tuesday's stock market drama is a case in point. By tweeting that he was instructing his negotiating team (supposedly Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin) to cease dealing with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a stimulus package, the president sent the market into a violent downward spiral, turning small gains into sizable losses in a matter of minutes.

By the close, stocks suffered nothing more than flesh wounds, approximating an ordinary ho-hum losing session on Wall Street. But, this way is more fun, isn't it? Nancy Pelosi went ballistic, calling the president everything short of a dog-kicker.

About five hours later, after the day-traders had taken their treatments for carpal tunnel from pushing the sell button repeatedly in the closing hours of trading, Trump came back with more tweets, suggesting the airlines could be bailed out and small businesses could receive more PPP loans with money left over from the original CARES Act, passed back in May.

He also tweeted that he would immediately sign a stand-alone bill authorizing $1200 checks to all Americans. He effectively called Pelosi's bluff and she's now stuck looking like the Wicked Witch of the West, withholding money from millions of needy Americans.

In between the stimulus-related tweets, Trump managed to slip in another, authorizing the Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, to declassify documents, including handwritten notes from former CIA chief John Brennan in 2016, taken during a briefing former President Obama concerning a plot by Hillary Clinton to claim then-candidate Donald Trump to be in collusion with Russian intelligence as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server ahead of the 2016 US election.

Perhaps even more amusing - or alarming - than Trump's tweeting is the reaction by the mainstream media to the latest in the Clinton-Obama-Brennan-Comey-FBI-CIA-Russia hoax scandal. None of the networks will touch it with ten-foot or longer poles. The New York Times isn't carrying the story, nor is the Washington Post, or any other mainstream outlets, like the Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, etc.

There are outlets covering what is one of the biggest scandals in American history. More info can be found on Zerohedge.com, the Washington Examiner, Washington Times, Fox News, and elsewhere.

Claiming that the Russia hoax was the biggest scandal in American history and that he had already declassified all the documents, Trump rightly asserts that elements of the deep state in the intelligence community have been slow-walking the release of this information.

Former FBI Director James Comey testified before congress last week, claiming he didn't know anything about the Russian hoax, didn't get any memos on the matter and was generally not involved, despite signing off on multiple FISA requests. Meanwhile, current FBI Director Christopher Wray claims he cannot testify to congress because of COVID-19, even though he would be taking questions and offering answers via video feed. Current CIA Director Gina Haspell has been claiming risks to national security in keeping the documents classified or at least out of sight of the American people.

What the American public is getting used to receiving will look something like this:

Hillary Clinton [REDACTED] and John Brennan [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED]. President Obama [REDACTED] his [REDACTED] in the Oval Office and [REDACTED] his top aides by [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] them.
Vice President Joe Biden [REDACTED][REDACTED] at the time. FBI does not [REDACTED] [REDACTED] and CIA confirms [REDACTED][REDACTED][REDACTED] through official channels.

Somebody needs to make up a big sign that says, "Welcome to America, Now Officially a Third World Nation" and hang it from the Statue of Liberty because that's where we are, thanks to corrupt politicians, the dirtiest intelligence networks the world has ever known, and a media cabal that has descended to the depths of 24/7/365 leftist propaganda.

At the Close, Tuesday, October 6, 2020:
Dow: 27,772.76, -375.84 (-1.34%)
NASDAQ: 11,154.60, -177.89 (-1.57%)
S&P 500: 3,360.95, -47.68 (-1.40%)
NYSE: 12,837.88, -111.72 (-0.86%)

Fearless Rick Again Predicts Trump Victory In Upcoming Presidential Election

With exactly four weeks remaining before election day, this seems an appropriate time to issue the one prediction that actually matters: Donald Trump will be re-elected as president of the United States.

While this may come as a surprise to the minions enraptured by the mainstream media's constant drumbeat of Biden holding a comfortable lead in the polls, Trump supporters will be pleasantly content come October 3rd, as President Trump will likely establish such a large lead in the electoral college that the need to count millions of mail-in votes will become a moot issue.

According to the many varied polls being promoted by the propagandized mainstream media, none have President Trump ahead over rival Joe Biden, who is not the Vice President, as he is incorrectly addressed over and over again on TV interviews and talk shows. Biden is the former vice president, a tidbit of data that the media hopes to sail right over the heads of the information-starved general population.

Calling private citizen Joe Biden, Mr. Vice President is another ruse by the Democrat-controlled media whores to gain traction and votes, as if some officious-sounding title gives the candidate some magic cache. As is the case with most of their devious devices, the more the media does it, the less effective it becomes. Biden was once Vice President; he no longer holds that title.

Being that the general election is more about numbers than titles, whatever October surprises the Democrats cook up between now and November 3rd will have limited effectiveness. Most likely voters have already made up their minds, as much as the media would like to keep everybody on the collective edges of their seats until - and quite likely, well after - the election, the eventual results are already beginning to coalesce according to the one poll which does not have a bias: the monthly Democracy Institute Sunday Express poll, released on October 4, which has Trump ahead by one percent, 46 to 45, over Joe Biden.

While the headline number may appear to make the race a close call, the devil, as usual, is in the details. Unlike most national or state-wide polls favored by the media, the Democracy Institute poll does not engage in tricks like oversampling Democrats, polling registered voters, or polling in urban areas only to achieve the desired outcomes. According to its published methodology, the Democracy Institute monthly poll uses a "randomly selected national telephone (landline and cell) sample of 1,500 likely voters" for its general election poll and national party identification turnout models for statewide results.

While a refreshing escape from the norm, the Democracy Institute poll - which correctly predicted both President Trump's 2016 victory and the Brexit vote in Great Britain - offers some detailed insights which eventually lead to an electoral collage landslide of 320 to Trump and 218 to Biden, roughly similar - but with an even larger margin - to the 2016 result which was 304 electoral votes for Trump to Hillary Clinton’s 227.

Some of the more salient excepts from the poll include battleground state wins for Trump.

Florida: Trump 48%, Biden 44%

Minnesota: Trump 46%, Biden 44%

New Hampshire: Trump 45%, Biden 43%

Plus, wins for Trump in Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin by a combined tally of 47%-43%.

Other tidbits of information culled from the polling sample include a massive enthusiasm gap for Trump. when asked "Are you strongly or very enthusiastic about your choice of candidate?" 83% of Trump voters responded positively, to just 49% of Biden voters. This could have a dramatic impact on turnout as it's well known that people who are uninspired by their candidate of choice often fail to show up at the actual polls that count.

The poll also reveals what's known as the "shy vote," wherein people are not exactly forthcoming in announcing their choice to friends, co-workers or relatives.

On the question, "Are you comfortable with your relatives, friends, and coworkers knowing how you vote?" only 22% of Trump voters responded "yes" compared to 87% of Biden voters. This is a factor other polls fail to take into account and it skews the results to a point of producing a false positive for Biden. Countless numbers of Trump supporters say they purposely lie to the general pollsters for a variety of reasons, which helps explain why the polls in 2016 were so far off the mark and why they will be again this time.

When asked which issues were most important, the DI poll produced the following:
Law & order/riots/violence = 32%
Economy/jobs = 30%
Education = 15%
Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic = 15%
Immigration = 8%

Trump scores well on the most important issues. The poll found Trump well ahead on key questions surrounding law and order and dealing with protests over Biden. He also led Biden in the poll on the economy, 60% to 40%.

Downtown Magazine and Money Daily publisher, Fearless Rick isn't suggesting that his prediction is based upon the outcome of just one poll, rather, the one poll that appeared to cut through the bias, the noise, the propaganda, and the hype shows Trump with a clear advantage, something the mainstream media wants to keep hidden from the general population.

Why the media wants the public to believe Biden should win is a mixed bag for the Democrats. On the one hand, their fictional narrative gives them ammunition for post-election craziness, alleging that the Republicans somehow stole the election, as they did with the Russia narrative after Trump's "surprising" victory over Clinton. To be expected on the night of November 3 and forward through and probably beyond the January 20, 2021 inaguration, are court challenges, more protests, riots, looting and burning, slanted journalism alleging interference in mail-in balloting, and as much divisive rhetoric as the radical left can emote.

On the other hand, promoting a Biden lead in the polls on a continuing basis might actually backfire, surpressing turnout for the candidate. People who believe Biden is going to win handily might just stay home on election day or not bother to acquire an absentee ballot or just casually "forget" to mail it in.

This also lends toward a COVID advantage for Trump voters. The messages from the dueling candidates are distinct. Biden says everybody should wear masks all the time; Trump doesn't really tout mask-wearing as a preventive measure. Biden encourages fearing the virus; Trump advises to not let it control your lives. Therefore, Trump voters appear to be more likely to turn out on election day at actual, physical polling places than Democrats. It's a unique condition which seems to favor Trump supporters.

Whichever way one leans is eventually going to be sorted out on election day or in the near future beyond that. It's actually difficult to imagine a Biden victory, given the apparent frailness of the former Vice President and the lack of enthusiasm by his base. On the other side, in spite of the COVID scare, Trump rallies are attended by thousands of rabid supporters, just as during the lead-up to the 2016 vote.

Judging by the media stance of being in the bag for the Democrat candidate just as in 2016, and the polls giving Biden a sometimes insurmountable lead, the evidence leads to the unmistakable conclusion that Trump will win re-election, and probably by a margin exceeding that of his initial victory.

The best source for the Democratic Institute poll, its data, methodology, and conclusions can be found here.

As a reminder, Fearless Rick correctly predicted a Trump landslide in 2016.

At the Close, Monday, October 5, 2020:
Dow: 28,148.64, +465.83 (+1.68%)
NASDAQ: 11,332.49, +257.47 (+2.32%)
S&P 500: 3,408.60, +60.18 (+1.80%)
NYSE: 12,949.65, +199.86 (+1.57%)

WEEKEND WRAP: Trumps' COVID, Poor Jobs Report Cast Longer Recession Shadow Over Markets And Economy

Friday morning, awakening to news that President Trump and First Lady Melania had tested positive for COVID-19, many Americans - after months of annoyance, disturbance, lockdowns, and social disruption - felt what it was like to be human again.

The news was like being hit with a dull object. Once again, we were able to share pain and sympathy. We put aside the petty arguments, the baseless accusations, the political bias and shared a common grieving for the first couple. Outside of a few insensitive media personalities, there came a moment of peace. Whatever one felt about our boisterous president, he was, for a moment, our president, representative for all of us, and we'd be damned if some invisible virus were to put him down.

Shock permeated even the dullest facades. Even the usual bombast from the canyons of Wall Street were subdued. Making money trading stocks suddenly seems less important. The Dow opened down nearly 350 points. All other markets were similarly in the red.

As the day wore on, stocks recovered somewhat as the news flow began to indicate that the president and Melania would be receiving the best of care and were likely to survive. An understanding that COVID-19 kills very few of those infected and both Mr. Trump and his wife were in good health overall. By the end of the day, only the NASDAQ was damaged badly, losing more than two percent on the day, wiping out some of the gains made earlier in the week.

That was Friday. Most of the week was spent racking up profits. When it was all said and done, the Dow and S&P finished with the first positive weekly close in five weeks. The NASDAQ put in its second straight weekly gain and the NYSE Composite ended with its second weekly plus in the last five.

Despite Friday's dull thud, exacerbated by a poor showing in the September Non-Farm Payroll data, stocks had put in the best week since August, with the gains ranging between 1.48 and 2.12%.

The September employment report was a major disappointment and that may have had an equally depressing effect on Friday's session as the news on the president. Forecast to have added 850,000 jobs, only 661,000 were actually created. The unemployment rate fell from 8.4% to 7.9%, but that improvement was overshadowed by the major miss on the headline jobs number.

Overall, the report deflated hopes for a quick recovery in the economy and brought out fears that the coronavirus-inspired recession could last longer than most were anticipating. Almost all cities remain in some kind of restricted state, with business closures and swelling unemployment the norm. In the countryside, the mood was a little brighter, though many Midwestern states were seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases, and that was troubling to everybody.

Parts of Europe were readying for another round of lockdowns and stay-at-home conditions and the feeling that a second wave of the virus, along with a complicated scenario with the normal seasonal flu, might prompt more restrictions on school, business, travel, and employment. The economy has been put through a wringer and parts of the country and economy have been severely damaged. A longer, more painful recession looms large.

Everything seemed to be deflating at the same time. Oil, which has been under pressure, unable to break out from its recent range, dropped to its lowest level in six months, ending the week badly, down from $40.25 a week ago to $37.05 at Friday's close.

Treasuries were hit, but only slightly. While the short maturities remained tethered to the zero-bound, the 10-year note gained four basis points, from 1.66% to 1.70%. The 30-year added eight basis points, from 1.40% the prior week, to 1.48% on Friday.

Precious metals, prices of which should be heading to the stratosphere, were mired in muck. For the week, gold gained nearly $40 per ounce, though the current level is far below the recent peak. Closing out the week at $1899.84 per ounce, the glorious metal is down eight percent from the August 6 high over $2063.54.

Silver, the undeclared enemy of the state, spent the week pricing off recent lows. On September 25th, spot silver stood at a depressed $22.89 per troy ounce. By Friday, October 2, it had recovered slightly, finishing at $23.74, though that number was hardly representative of physical demand and heightened premiums being charged by dealers amid a prolonged shortage. It was a far cry from the August 10 high of $29.13, a decline of 18.5%, nearing bear market status for spot when indications in the real world are exactly the opposite.

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

Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 29.58 / 44.05 / 34.53 / 34.23
1 oz silver bar: 28.80 / 48.00 / 33.78 / 32.26
1 oz gold coin: 2,000.00 / 2,045.09 / 2,019.52 / 2,014.60
1 oz gold bar: 1,980.00 / 2,023.09 / 2,007.88 / 2,009.45

It is plain to see that premiums for the average or median-priced 1 ounce gold coin or bar are over $100 higher than spot prices and dealers are getting them and more. Silver premiums remain through the roof, with average or median-priced 1 ounce silver coin $10 or more over spot.

The stranglehold that the spot and futures markets have on precious metals is largely unreflected in the physical market. When traders begin to stand for delivery instead of setting in cash, the fraud on the public by the futures traders and spot price-setters will be blown to smithereens and prices for gold and silver will rise parabolically. When that day comes, nobody knows, though it is all but certain that precious metals prices, at least in their relationships to fiat currencies are a far cry from true price discovery.

At the Close, Friday, October 2, 2020:
Dow: 27,682.81, -134.09 (-0.48%)
NASDAQ: 11,075.02, -251.49 (-2.22%)
S&P 500: 3,348.44, -32.36 (-0.96%)
NYSE: 12,749.79, +22.95 (+0.18%)

For the Week:
Dow: +508.85 (+1.87%)
NASDAQ: +161.46 (+1.48%)
S&P 500: +49.96 (+1.51%)
NYSE: +264.41 (+2.12%)

President Trump, First Lady Melania Test Positive For COVID-19; Wall Street Braces For Reaction

Overnight, it ws revealed that President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have both tested positive for the coronavirus, COVID-19. They are beginning treatment protocols and will be quarantined at the White House until further notice.

Wall Street's knee-jerk reaction was a sharp decline in stock futures, which were also awaiting the September Non-Farm Payroll report, released at 8:30 am.

September jobs came in at 661,000, well short of expectations of 859,000, with the unemployment rate dropping to 7.9%, which is largely a fiction, as very many formerly employed persons have now dropped off the official tallies.

Futures remain near session lows, with Dow futures off 340 points.

Thursday's results left much to be desired, as the Dow, after being up by 250 points in early trading, eventually slipped into negative territory and finished up a mere 35 points. The NASDAQ, however, closed near its highs of the day, gaining nearly 160 points.

What shook up markets on Thursday was the continued stalemate between Democrats and Republicans over a fresh stimulus bill. They're still about $600 billion apart, the Dems looking for a $2.2 trillion package while the Republicans have offered $1.6 trillion through Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Included in both packages is bailout money for ailing airlines which had held off firings and layoffs until September 30 as per their agreement in the CARES Act. As of Thursday, United Airlines and American Airlines have begun laying off workers, though both companies agreed they could cancel the furloughs should the congress commit to a stimulus package.

For their part, Democrats in the House, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, passed a $2.2 trillion resolution late Thursday, but the Senate is unlikely to entertain the measure, considering it too expensive and full of wasteful spending.

It's worth noting that the federal government has entered a new fiscal year as of October 1. Starting it off with a big, gaping budget hole may not be the most desired circumstance, but the lawmakers may not be left with much choice. The longer they delay, the more workers the airlines will let go, and the effects of airline workers on the dole will have spillover effects into the general economy, gnawing away at any nascent recovery in the wake of the COVID crash.

Another ironic feature of the first Friday session of October is that Trump, so vilified by the press, is now causing market stress. The political ramifications of the president's illness are far-reaching, with the election less than five weeks ahead.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead by 642 points for the week as of Thursday's close. With poor employment figures, no new stimulus on the horizon, and the uncertainty surrounding President Trump's status, those gains could be scuttled in a week-ending selloff.

Stay tuned. Friday looks to be a wild ride.

At the Close, Thursday, October 1, 2020:
Dow: 27,816.90, +35.20 (+0.13%)
NASDAQ: 11,326.51, +159.01 (+1.42%)
S&P 500: 3,380.80, +17.80 (+0.53%)
NYSE: 12,726.84, +24.94 (+0.20%)

Debate Pundits Target Trump; Airlines Seeking 2nd Bailout Boost Hopes For Stimulus Deal

Now that the post-mortems are coming in on the debate, just one more thing…

Apparently, it's OK for Joe Biden to repeatedly call the president a liar, to tell him to shut up, to call him a racist, call him a clown, repeatedly assert that he lies all the time, and that he "doesn't care about you," but when Trump tells the Proud Boys to "stand down and stand ready," that somehow crosses a line.

If, somehow, Joe Biden and his corrupt cohorts, crooked pollsters, and media lackeys manage to win or steal this election, there's going to be hell to pay and one has to wonder if saving this country is worth the effort. What is worth considering is that perhaps only half of it should be preserved, the half made up of the producers, the givers, the workers. The half consisting of the takers, the protesters, the rioters and looters will need to fend for themselves.

This election process, on top of the COVID nonsense, radical ideologies, rioting, burning, looting, a compromised media, and a party - the Democrats - facing extinction, has made people in America very angry and borderline crazy. The country cannot survive and prosper with this kind of division. The real perpetrators of the rancor and divisiveness must be sought out, exposed and brought to justice.

Enough on that. If the response from Wall Street can be gauged by the reaction in markets on Wednesday following the debate (debacle might be a better descriptor), the financial crowd is sadly factoring in a Biden win on November 3rd. Would they get their wish for more handouts, bailouts, endless streams of worthless fiat currency from the Fed and the federal government, the US economy will be kaput in less than three years. The banana republic promised by the Democrat party will become a reality - if it isn't already - and the bonanza of money (currency) for nothing, welfare, universal basic income, the Fed's MMT (Modern Monetary Theory), will flow to the coffers of the insolvent banks and publicly-held corporations.

The end result of unbridled currency creation is a further expansion of the wealth inequality gap, social disjunction, and rampant inflation. Such a system would eventually collapse under its own weight, but not before the wealth hoarders in the political and financial circles have stripped away enough for themselves and scurried off to distant shores. If this is what is coming, most people want no part of it, though many will be forced into acceptance by fear of losing their livelihoods, their families, their whole existence.

History offers comparable examples of runaway currencies, most notably, Weimar Germany from 1921-1923 and Zimbabwe from 2007 to 2009 and again today. Is this what awaits America under the auspices of a central government, central bank authority?

The picture painted is not a pretty one and few are aware of the distinct possibility of it becoming reality and the consequences of such policies. The United States is rushing headlong into disaster without bothering to comprehend or question the actions of its political and economic leaders. For the present, focusing on the election and a vaccine for COVID-19 (if one is even needed) are fanning the flames of division while keeping the discussion off the economy. This recipe for disaster will come to full fruition while stocks soar, pricing in Democrat party takeover of congress and the presidency.

In front of congress presently is the issue of another round of coronavirus-related stimulus, this one prompted not by the needs of millions of Americans, but by the demands of the nation's airlines, which, after a decade-long orgy of stock buybacks and failure to re-invest in their own businesses, are threatening to lay off as many as 50,000 workers.

A CARES Act deadline of September 30, by which the airlines received a $25 billion bailout on condition that they not layoff or fire workers until after that date, has passed and United and American Airlines together are threatening mass layoffs and firings if congress doesn't give them another $25 billion.

United (UAL) spent roughly 90% of their free cash flow, an amount of nearly $10 billion dollars, on stock buybacks from 2014 to 2019. Over a similar period, American (AAL) was even more the spendthrift, shedding 96% of free cash flow - $12 billion - on stock buybacks. Now, these two profligate stock manipulators are holding a gun to the heads of congress and their employees. By any reasonable standard, they should be bankrupted rather than supported by yet another infusion of public cash.

For their part, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are about $600 billion apart on a stimulus plan. Pelosi and her Democrat allies have put together a $2.2 trillion plan. Mnuchin reportedly offered $1.6 trillion on Wednesday as a compromise. The consensus betting is that after three months of wrangling, the threat from the airlines will prompt a deal which will include another round of stimulus checks similar to those doled out earlier this year. Direct deposits and checks could begin to be distributed as soon as next week if a deal is struck by Friday.

On Thursday morning, the Labor Department announced that weekly initial unemployment claims of 837,000 against 850,000 expected and 873,000 during the prior week.

Continuing claims for the week ended September 19 stood at 11.767 million.

With less than an hour to the opening bell, stock futures are positioned strongly positive. dow futures are up more than 200 points. NASDAQ futures are ahead by more than 150 points as market participants anticipate a stimulus deal while ignoring the continuing unemployment crisis.

As the fourth quarter begins, the US economy is once again being powered by the madness of greed.

At the Close, Wednesday, September 30, 2020:
Dow: 27,781.70, +329.04 (+1.20%)
NASDAQ: 11,167.51, +82.26 (+0.74%)
S&P 500: 3,363.00, +27.53 (+0.83%)
NYSE: 12,701.88, +99.25 (+0.79%)

Trump Won The Debate Handily As Biden Calls The President A Clown, A Racist, And A Liar

Tuesday night's debate between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden - with assistance from moderator Chris Wallace - was further evidence that the American system is broken, nearly beyond repair.

One can hardly blame the president for his firery rhetoric and his pugilistic approach to the event. After all, the man has been put through a political wringer for the past five years - since he became a candidate on June 16, 2015. He's had to deal with a corrupt deep state shadow government that has dealt opposition to every initiative of his administration, a determined Democrat majority in the House which went so far as to impeach him over a single phone call, and a mainstream media which has been in the pocket of the Democrats for decades.

So, if the president lashed out against his opponent while being repeatedly called a liar, a clown, a racist, incompetent ("the worst president in the history of our country" according to Joe Biden) while delivering some serious blows to the Democrat candidate, can one blame him?

Certainly, moderator Chris Wallace is in the Democrat - or at least the anti-Trump - camp, repeatedly warning and cajoling the president for interrupting, while Biden interrupted nearly as often but was chided by Wallace only once or twice.

Trump won the debate hands down. He had his facts straight while Biden mumbled, bumbled and hesitated through rehearsed - and possibly fed to him through a wire - weak-kneed attacks and responses, but the media will no doubt focus on how bullying the president was, overlooking the obvious points scored by Trump on health care, the supreme court, law and order, climate, race, the economy, the pandemic, while also getting in some great digs about Biden's education, his son Hunter's sleazy financial relationships with Russia, China and Ukraine.

Trump also made solid points about Biden's failure to do anything about America's ongoing problems by pointing out that the former vice president from 2009 through 2017 was previously a senator from Delaware, first elected to that office in 1973. Trump pointed out that Biden had 47 years in which to "fix things" and "did nothing."

While the president was his usual rambunctious self, displaying good energy, quick wit and a solid grasp of the facts and issues, Biden appeared feeble, unsure, and hesitant. The few retorts he mustered up consisted mainly of disputing the claims without offering any proof, calling Trump names and attempting to denigrate him with ad hominem attacks. It was an unseemly display of unpreparedness and outright disrespect. On the grounds that Biden relies mainly on attacking his opponent rather than offering real answers or solutions, he should be an unqualified loser of the debate, but the press will focus on how Trump seemed angry (he should be) and the fiction that since he's behind in the polls, he didn't gain any ground.

The media will likely declare no winners in the debate, or, if pressed, admit that Biden won it, even though that's hardly provable.

With the press completely in the bag for Biden and Democrats, they say whatever they like and get away with it, not a word given to their arrogant, often malicious behavior.

As for the polls, well, every poll had Hillary Clinton winning in 2016 and they were all proven wrong. The inaccurate and often slanted polls have been and are still being deployed by the media as a foil to influence voting against President Trump, as if the rest of American voters are so fervently taken with Democrat candidates it would behoove everyone to get on board. It's a slimy propaganda ploy, employed mostly in communist countries.

Biden may be winning is Democrat strongholds in the burned out cities run by Democrat mayors, but in the heartland of rural America, Trump is hands-down the choice and one can safely conclude where most of the polls are conducted: in cities, not suburbs or farming communities. Were a fair poll to be conducted, Trump would probably be ahead by double digits. After all, Trump is correct when he says nobody goes to Biden's events while his rallies are overwhelmed by throngs of avid, even rabid supporters.

In less than six weeks, Donald Trump will be re-elected in a landslide. Of course, the media is intent on muddying the waters with contested mail-in ballots that may take weeks or months to be verified. There's an ongoing coup being entertained by Democrats and deep state operatives and they will stop at nothing to prevent another four years of Donald Trump as president.

If Tuesday night's debate proves anything it is that the Democrats don't have a platform other than to call Trump a liar, a clown, a racist and urge him to “just shut up, man,” as Biden did during the debate.

Since that's not really a solid strategy, they will most assuredly resort to cheating by vote harvesting, culling, miscounting, undercounting, and an avalanche of mail-in votes for Biden which will steamrolling post offices around the country and be impossible to validate. We're in for a roller coaster of a ride until November 3rd and it may get even worse after that.

A Trump landslide, in which he's far ahead in key states like Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan, and Ohio, is the only way to prevent the outright civil war for which the Democrats and the media are preparing.

Donald Trump will win re-election, but it will almost certainly be contested. In the meantime, the country is crumbling under the weight of corruption, propaganda, and lies.

Good luck.

Prior to the debate, stocks took a small haircut, shunting the one-day rally from Monday, returning to the theme of selling off positions and heading for the hills. What's confusing and confounding about the stock market these days is that precious metals appear to be uniquely aligned. When stocks are up, so are gold and silver. When stocks are down, the precious metals get hammered as well. It's not normal and has no bearing on the true nature of precious metals, which are real money and usually act as a safe haven in times of uncertainty and market stress. Like everything else these days, they're likely being rigged to make them appear as poor investment choices.

As the opening bell approaches for Wednesday's session, futures are marginally lower, but indications are clear that the direction remains to the downside. Any gains will likely be sold into as most of the more glamorous names are still overvalued.

At the Close, Tuesday, September 29, 2020:
Dow: 27,452.66, -131.40 (-0.48%)
NASDAQ: 11,085.25, -32.28 (-0.29%)
S&P 500: 3,335.47, -16.13 (-0.48%)
NYSE: 12,602.64, -74.90 (-0.59%)

Stocks Stage Monday Rally But Second Wave Of Coronavirus Will Spoil The Party

There's nothing like a big rally on a Monday to brighten the spirits and Wall Street knows that all too well. Unfortunately, this Monday rally from out of nowhere follows a series of serious declines in stocks over the past four weeks. The NASDAQ was the only index to post a weekly gain last week, after losing three straight. The NYSE posted a positive in the prior week, surrounded by declines; the S&P and DOW have dropped four straight.

In sporting terms, the main indices would have been swept in a best-of-seven series and Monday's trading just an exhibition.

To illustrate how benign Monday's rally was, a look back from the prior highs proves instructive.

Beginning with the close of business on September 2, here are the losses for the major indices (including Monday's gains):
Dow: -1,516.44
NASDAQ: -938.91
S&P 500: -229.24
NYSE: -599.20

While those losses are not extreme, they are nonetheless significant. On a purely technical basis, stocks were severely oversold entering Monday's session and stock traders responded as they always do - especially on Mondays - by buying what are perceived to be undervalued stocks. Sadly, there are no undervalued stocks available, only stocks that appear to be undervalued relative to the rest of the market, which is absolute garbage.

A handful of stocks - particularly the FAANMGs on the NASDAQ - account for most of the trading and movement in the indices. The vast bulk of stocks go nowhere or vacillate between uncertain highs and lows, gaining with the high tides, falling on the ebbing.

Thus, it would not be surprising if Monday's rally was a one-day wonder, lacking directional follow-through on subsequent trading days. Anybody believing that stocks are poised to break through recent all-time highs (S&P and NASDAQ) is failing to read the economic tea leaves properly. The global economy has been severely damaged by the effects of government response to the coronavirus over the past six months and it appears that "officials" are looking for a second round of knockdown lockouts and assorted stupidity that accompanies a virus that has an infection mortality rate of less than 0.01. In other words, the chances of dying from COVID-19, once contracted, are less than 1 in 1000 for anybody under the age of 70, and many times greater than that the younger a person is. That is according to the CDC, which published the data a few days ago.

However, increased testing is leading once again to an increase of infection. The mainstream media is currently blaring about the Midwest, including the states of Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Minnesota and Utah having seen cases increase over the past week.

Bearing in mind that the tests return massive amounts of false positives, most "cases" result in either no or mild cold-like symptoms, the 58,461 new cases recorded on Friday across the US - even if believable - will eventually result in the death of less than 58 people, or less than the number of people murdered in Chicago over the course of an ordinary two weeks.

The message the media should be offering is not for people to wear masks, but to avoid bad neighborhoods in Chicago or refrain from traveling there altogether. Ditto for New York, Seattle, Detroit, Baltimore, etc.

In any case, the word is out that the feared "second wave" of the virus is coming. Already, California's Governor Newsom is warning and restrictions on travel, gatherings and businesses are already being re-introduced across parts of Europe.

The government/media/medical cartel of lunatics will have their way. A second wave is guaranteed, whether it is real or imagined, true or fake, and it will wreak further havoc on the global economy.

Count on it. Act (and trade) accordingly.

At the Close, Monday, September 28, 2020:
Dow: 27,584.06, +410.10 (+1.51%)
NASDAQ: 11,117.53, +203.96 (+1.87%)
S&P 500: 3,351.60, +53.14 (+1.61%)
NYSE: 12,677.54, +192.16 (+1.54%)

WEEKEND WRAP: Dow, S&P Lower 4th Straight Week; Physical Silver Premiums at Extremes; Presidential Debate Tuesday

The last full week of September failed to bring any surprises or relief to embattled equity investors. The bulk of the trading was to the downside, as it has been for the majority of the month. Based on the possibility of another round of government stimulus checks, Friday's knee-jerk rally kept only the NASDAQ from finishing on the downside.

The NYSE Composite, which was the only index to make gains in the prior week, suffered the worst of it, along with the Dow, which still hovers just above correction territory. All of the indices were down at least 10% from their highs at some time during the week. With markets so utterly contrived and manipulated by the Fed and their covert - and overt - agents the message being sent seems to be one of confusion and contradiction, though it's becoming apparent that all is not well with the global or US-based economies.

Mainstream media continues to promote the "killer" COVID-19 narrative, though it's about as likely that there is going to be a second wave as there was an actual "first" wave. Between panicked hospital administrators, "warp speed" vaccines, unconstitutional government edicts, quarantines, lockdowns, tests famous for false positives, conflicting messages from the CDC and WHO, and nearly universal acceptance of mask-wearing, the psy-op that is the coronavirus and COVID-19 has made a mockery of a free press to say nothing of the impression and malleable nature of the world's population.

Not everybody has bought into the global panic, but the numbers of resistors are small. Most people who don't believe in the boogeyman of a particulate-based, invisible killer virus are playing along, wearing masks when not doing so would upset others, privately decrying the existence of a deep state conspiracy. Very few are willing to risk bearing the wrath of the authorities for poor social behavior, so most just play along. Meanwhile, contradictions are everywhere.

Fans are allowed at football games but not baseball games; The NFL has tested an average of 8,554 people over four periods since mid-August and produced 25 positives, a takeup rate of 0.70%, whereas the general population in most states is producing positives at rates between 4 and 15%. The same applies to Major League Baseball, which has suffered few setbacks due to the virus since the early days of their shortened season.

On the contrary, college football has had a raft of games postponed due to positive test results from players or coaches. On the whole, however, none of the very few athletes which tested positive nationwide have suffered anything more than mild symptoms similar to a common cold. Could it be that as a group they possess strong immune systems and maintain a healthy regimen of good diet and exercise?

It's obvious that the best defense against the COVID nightmare and any disease is simply being healthy. The vast majority - over 93% - of people who died from COVID-19 were over 55 years old and had at least one other medical condition. Countries in Europe are supposedly experiencing a second wave (increased testing with faulty tests producing more cases, replete with abundant false positives) and more lockdowns and stay-at-home orders are coming soon. Call it a hoax, a conspiracy, or whatever, all the COVID craziness has managed to do is make people crazy and torpedo the global economy, which, as some believe, was the plan in the first place.

With coronavirus being kept top of mind the coming week will feature one major event, the first presidential debate, in which the world will finally be able to judge the two candidates - President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden - in a face-to-face environment and see for themselves if the persistent rumors of Biden's failing mental acuity are for real. Tuesday night's live, prime time event is a 90-minute affair beginning at 9:00 pm ET.

For the past week, as stocks and precious metals continued to sink, two markets that remained somewhat stable were those of treasury securities and oil. With the short end of the treasury curve consistently at the zero-bound, longer-dated maturities remained range-bound with the 10-year note yield falling four basis points to close out the week at 0.66%, the 30-year yield dropping five, to 1.40%. Both have remained in a tight band throughout the month, the 10-year between 0.63 and 0.72%, the 30-year between 1.34 and 1.46%.

WTI crude, which had fallen as low as $36/barrel early in the month, has recovered nicely and spent the week neatly between $39.31 and $40.31, closing out the week at $40.25. The $40 per barrel price seems to be the sweet spot for everybody from frackers to drillers to explorers.

As for precious metals, gold and silver have exhibited the kind of counterintuitive price action that only the futures market - dominated by international banking consortiums and bullion banks - can provide.

From last Friday (9/18) to this one (9/25), gold fell from $1950.86 to $1861.58. Over the same time span, silver declined from $26.79 to $22.88, a 15% drop. Nothing says "flight to safety" like rapidly declining prices of real money. Yeah, sure.

For the rest of us playing the in real world, there is the physical market, best exemplified at eBay. As has become a regular feature of the WEEKEND WRAP, here are the latest actual sale prices for commonly-purchased items on the world's top trading platform (numismatics excluded, shipping - often free - included):

Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 31.50 / 45.00 / 37.62 / 37.68
1 oz silver bar: 30.00 / 41.23 / 33.89 / 33.75
1 oz gold coin: 1,815.00 / 2,147.22 / 1,994.04 / 1,999.94
1 oz gold bar: 1,950.00 / 1,981.80 / 1,968.12 / 1,965.62

As can be clearly seen, premiums remain high, but silver, especially, is not bowing to the spot and futures overlords one bit. Median price for a one ounce coin is more than $14 over spot, a one ounce bar, $11 over spot. It would not be surprising to see silver separate completely from the futures and spot prices and become a true world "currency of the people" if only because central banks despise silver with such unbridled passion. They would like nothing more than to push the futures and spot price down to $3 an ounce or lower.

The repeated recent attempts to shunt the value of silver are failing miserably. The physical market is close to a complete separation from the paper price.

Here's Mike Maloney discussing when he will sell his gold and silver:

At the Close, Friday, September 25, 2020:
Dow: 27,173.96, +358.56 (+1.34%)
NASDAQ: 10,913.56, +241.26 (+2.26%)
S&P 500: 3,298.46, +51.87 (+1.60%)
NYSE: 12,485.38, +119.88 (+0.97%)

For the Week:
Dow: -483.46 (-1.75%)
NASDAQ: +120.28 (+1.11%)
S&P 500: -21.01 (-0.63%)
NYSE: -348.19 (-2.71%)

Stock Gains Inconsequential As Major Indices Are On Track For 4th Straight Losing Week; Gold, Silver At Bargain Prices

Notice: This post is being written while under emergency backup power (solar), so it may be more brief than normal. Power at this location has been down for more than three hours as of 7:40 am ET. Further, power outages should be expected by everyone, everywhere. It is advisable to obtain backup power sources such as solar, geo-thermal, etc. Wood-burning stoves are strongly advised for the coming winter.

It's been an interesting week for the purveyors of paper promises known as stocks. Unless there's a massive rally on Friday, the major indices are on track for the fourth consecutive week of losses.

While the losses have not been large, they have been steady, taking the indices into or close to a 10% correction from recent or all-time highs. The Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 are all trading below their 50-day moving averages. The NYSE Composite index is trading at its 200-day MA.

Asian and European indices have also been hard hit during September as, in Europe and Great Britain especially, a re-emergence of the COVID-19 virus seems to be developing, at least that's what the authoritative, tyrannical government/media/medical consortium is telling the people. Renewed lockdowns and/or stay-at-home orders may be issued within days in various European countries, primarily Germany, France, and Great Britain.

Thursday's trading action may best be described as indecisive as the indices vacillated above and below the unchanged line, eventually finishing with inconsequential gains. Futures are indicating a lower opening for Friday. A furtherance of the concentrated selling pressure would not be surprising.

(... and, at 8:08 am ET, power has been restored)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been hit the hardest this week. As of the close on Thursday, it is down nearly 850 points, just over three percent. The NASDAQ has suffered the least, losing 121 points, or 1.12%, but, even though this week's losses have been on the mild side, it is still down more than 10% from its September 2nd closing high of 12,074.06.

With just four trading days remaining in the month and the quarter, stocks are in a bifurcated mode: the quarter is slightly positive, but September, on its own, is vastly negative. Individuals with brokerage accounts may be in for a nasty shock when they receive their monthly statements.

What may save the stock market's bacon for the month - at least partially trimming losses - is action by congress on another round of stimulus for the American people. Both Republicans and Democrats are now scrambling to come up with a plan that makes both sides look good ahead of the November elections. Anybody with a wagering mentality would probably put money down on the House and Senate coming up with a package within the next two weeks that would offer another round of checks to middle and lower class citizens along with some partial restoration of over-the-top unemployment compensation.

It's being reported that Democrats in the House of Representatives are pulling together a $2.4 trillion plan that would include enhanced unemployment insurance, direct payments to Americans, funding for the Paycheck Protection Program small-business loan program and aid to airlines. What may ultimately push the bill to passage is any bailout for the airlines included in it. Major US airlines have been pleading for assistance from the government for months, threatening mass layoffs if they don't get some relief. Neither the Democrats nor Republicans see any positives heading into the elections with layoffs proliferating, so they may have found a key on which they can agree.

Mostly absent from this renewed effort are assistance to local governments and the US Postal Service, an issue Democrats tried to use to frame Republicans as selfish and uncaring, but their ploy failed to ignite any partisan flames. What both parties are aiming for is some kind of high ground prior to the elections, and nothing works better at buying votes than handing out cash to the electorate. While there is likely some need for many families in America for some assistance at this time, the politicians efforts are, at best, shameful and disingenuous. They're only acting because of upcoming elections. Otherwise, they'd be content to let people go homeless and starve to death.

Mark Cuban is calling for $1000 checks being doled out to every American through November. His plan calls for a stipulation that the people spend the money within ten days in a kind of "use it or lose it" function. Of course, Cuban and his billions has an ulterior motive, and that is to keep the economy moving and stocks green as grass. As the economy is almost fully dependent on consumer spending, his investments rise and fall with the general welfare of the average consumer. In a way, Cuban's desires are no different than every American though his approach to finance might be considered a bit high-handed.

It should not go without notice the most recent declines in precious metals prices on the futures and spot exchanges. The prepared paradigm calls for gold and silver to become cheaper as stocks fall off the table, as if they are one and the same. This kind of counterintuitive construct works only to benefit the paper pushers in their quest to save their failing fiat currencies. While futures may be falling along with stocks, premiums on gold and silver remain elevated. With silver beaten down below $23 an ounce and gold sold off to $1860 - a level not seen since mid-July - small investors are eyeing the pullbacks as a buying opportunity. Even with premiums, the coming weekend may be a good time to head out to the local coin shop or do some browsing on ebay or among online dealers to pick up some bargains.

With Friday's opening bell less than half an hour ahead, futures are shoring up closer to positive (NASDAQ futures are already green) though the prospects for gains on the final Friday of September still appear muted.

At the Close, Thursday, September 24, 2020:
Dow: 26,815.44, +52.31 (+0.20%)
NASDAQ: 10,672.27, +39.28 (+0.37%)
S&P 500: 3,246.59, +9.67 (+0.30%)
NYSE: 12,365.54, +6.39 (+0.05%)