No Happy Meals For McDonald's Shareholders; Gold, Silver Rise

The signs of collapse are everywhere. You just have to know where to look.

Detroit declared itself a bankrupt city on Friday and on Monday, McDonald's (MCD) - home of the Happy Meal - reported earnings before the opening bell that were short of estimates. When the world's largest purveyor of cheap, unsubstantial, processed, nutrient-deprived food (though Yum Brands is a close second) can't meet the already-lowered bar of wall Street estimates, you know that something bad this way comes.

McDonald's is all about everything that is wrong with our society. Their main profit center is the dollar menu - cheap, boiled or broiled sandwiches or chunks of deep-fried processed chicken with gobs of unsaturated fats included at no extra charge - an affordable alternative to actual, pesticide-free nutrition, that gets goobed-up by the least of our society in massive numbers daily. The problem - in a very heuristic, superfluous, nebulous kind of way - is that numbers of the wretched poor can't even afford to eat this crap any more, so burdened are they by taxes, lack of meaningful and good-paying employment and general economic malaise. It's a much more serious problem than just not making the numbers. The American poor are being slowly, methodologically, starved into submission and death.

America was once the land of milk and honey and other worldly gifts, but, no more. Now, the country is devoid of morals, an aimless gob of humanity looking for a way off the debt treadmill. And Wall Street isn't giving them an escape route.

Bottom lime is that McDonald's food is junk food and their stock is a junk stock, like so many others, profitable upon the backs of cheap labor and unconscionable practices.

The market is dead. Gold - in backwardation since January - shot through $1300 like an unguided missile, dragging silver along for a gain of better than a dollar on the day. Land, precious metals, fuels, tools, skills. That's survival. The rest will vanish.

You thought last week's market was dull. Wait for Thursday. It will be like being struck with the wrong side of an axe. These aren't gains. They are mirages.

Dow 15,545.55, +1.81 (0.01%)
NASDAQ 3,600.39, +12.77 (0.36%)
S&P 500 1,695.53, +3.44 (0.20%)
NYSE Composite 9,650.61, +32.10 (0.33%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,459,571,875
NYSE Volume 3,047,999,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3911-2541
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 607-74
WTI crude oil: 106.91, -1.14
Gold: 1,336.00, +43.10
Silver: 20.51, +1.049

Stocks Spilt to End Uneventful Week

Microsoft and Google both missed the mark on earnings for the second quarter, which is why the NASDAQ was down significantly on the day. Otherwise, the S&P hit a new all-time closing high and the Dow just missed.

While normally, such news would send markets screaming in reverse, the new normal of continued money printing and zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) by the Federal Reserve keeps stocks high, along with WTI crude oil, which has almost reached parity with Brent Crude.

Sell NOW.

Oh, yes, the city of Detroit has filed for bankruptcy, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States. Now that just reeks of "recovery," doesn't it?

Obama continues to backtrack on ObamaCare, because the regulators (mostly the IRS) cannot implement all of the regulations without bankrupting (oops, there's that word again) not only the entire medical industry, but the entire country. Already, employers nationwide are downsizing weekly hours worked for most employees to under 30, in order to avoid compliance with the Affordable Health Care Act (ObamaCare), so, in our new labor normal, 30 is the new 40, as in full-time employment.

Welcome to the American Gulag, comrades.

Dow 15,543.74, -4.80 (0.03%)
NASDAQ 3,587.61, -23.66 (0.66%)
S&P 500 1,692.09, +2.72 (0.16%)
NYSE Composite 9,618.46, +31.26 (0.33%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,775,103,250
NYSE Volume 3,510,552,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3228-3307 (odd, no?)
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 466-27
WTI crude oil: 108.05, +0.01
Gold: 1,292.90, +8.70
Silver: 19.46, +0.071

Dull Session, Profit-Taking, Lack of Interest Sends Stocks Lower

Wow! Stocks closed lower for a change.

Change is good, but this is nothing but a little white noise in the overall scheme.

Considering that this is probably the slowest week of the year, unless something earth-shattering occurs over the next few days, Money Daily will return on Friday.

After all, it is major league baseball's All Star break and since our Fearless Editor is an All Star of sorts, he could use a break, too.

Dow 15,451.85, -32.41 (0.21%)
NASDAQ 3,598.50, -8.99 (0.25%)
S&P 500 1,676.26, -6.24 (0.37%)
NYSE Composite 9,485.55, -35.41 (0.37%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,559,187,125.00
NYSE Volume 3,137,933,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2607-3853
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 430-33
WTI crude oil: 106.00, -0.32
Gold: 1,290.40, +6.90
Silver: 19.94, +0.096

Up, Up, Higher and Higher Go Stocks

Middling economic data. Mixed earnings reports. Anemic volume.

Somehow, all of this amounts to one of the best winning streaks for stocks in decades and record highs on the S&P and the Dow, with multi-year highs (like 12 years) on the NASDAQ.

Let's see: The Dow industrials have been up seven out of the last eight sessions, the only down day being a nine-point loss on July 10.

The S&P 500 has shown day-ending gains eight straight sessions and 13 of the last 15 trading days have ended higher. The only two losing days were disappointments of 6.92 and 0.88.

Likewise the NASDAQ has closed higher eight straight, and 13 of the last 14 sessions have been positive, the only setback was a loss of 0.91 on July 2nd.

Gotta love that computer-driven trading. It's beaten the fundamental traders and skeptical bears into lunch sandwiches.

Bear in mind (no pun intended) that 2nd quarter GDP is estimated to be below one percent, but that data won't be released until the final week of July. This week, there's a slew of earnings and economic data due out, including CPI, Housing Starts, Industrial Production, Initial Unemployment Claims and Leading Indicators, all of which will be interpreted as positive news, even if it's negative.

And so it goes...

Dow 15,484.26, +19.96 (0.13%)
NASDAQ 3,607.49, +7.41 (0.21%)
S&P 500 1,682.50, +2.31 (0.14%)
NYSE Composite 9,523.16, +24.65 (0.26%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,439,276,250
NYSE Volume 2,683,426,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4249-2288
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 660-31 (yowzah!)
WTI crude oil: 106.32, +0.37
Gold: 1,283.50, +5.90
Silver: 19.84, +0.047

Boffo Week for Stocks; Gas Prices on the Rise

For investors, a week nearly devoid of any actionable news resulted in one of the best weekly gains in stocks of the year.

On the week, stocks roared higher, much of the gains based on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's dovish comments on unemployment and the economy following the close of trading on Wednesday. Fed governor James Bullard - the most dovish of the flock of doves comprising the Fed governors - chimed in late Friday to add more fuel to the hot money rally.

The weekly gains:
Dow: +328.46 (2.17%)
S&P 500: +48.30 (2.96%)
NASDAQ: +120.70 (3.47%)

That's it in a nutshell. Just remember that nothing matters except the words coming out of Fed members' mouths.

On the downside, oil prices have spiked higher, consequently raising the price of fuel at the pump. According to AAA, gas prices nationally rose an average of 7 1/2 cents this week to $3.550 for unleaded regular, but the price pass-along to stations has only just begun. Drivers should brace for gas at $3.80 to over $4.00, depending on location, long before Labor Day.

Dow 15,464.30, +3.38(0.02%)
NASDAQ 3,600.08, +21.78(0.61%)
S&P 500 1,680.19, +5.17(0.31%)
NYSE Composite 9,493.20, -0.06 (0.00%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,487,364,375
NYSE Volume 3,132,032,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3295-3092
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 543-27
WTI crude oil: 105.95, +1.04
Gold: 1,277.60, -2.30
Silver: 19.79, -0.164