Stocks Grind Slightly Higher; Bitcoin, Gold, Silver on a Break; Crypto vs. MSM; Collectibles FTW?

It appears that the incredible rise of Bitcoin over the past two months is leveling off and there could be further downside, but, as is the case with just about any investment these days, downside risk is a clear and present danger whether it be stocks, fixed income, precious metals, commodities, or baseball cards. Bitcoin offers significant upside in relation to fiat currencies, so this recent stalling and roughly 28% drop is likley nothing to cause worry. Six months from now, this is likely to appear as nothing more than a blip on the longer-term radar screen.

Nothing in the current environment serves as a safe haven because there continues to exist extreme political pressure and lack of price discovery in many asset classes. Probably the most free from manipulation are cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Etherium, collectibles - which have their own immunity system built in from years of data and avid traders - and commodities, while on the other end are stocks (which only seem to go up) and precious metals (which only seem to go down).

Putting money to work in these times, where political, social, and financial events are being compressed into a tight-knit control regime, is challenging and possibly detrimental to longer-term goals. While it's difficult to focus beyond the horizon, it's what is keeping most sane investors from tearing out hair and running wildly down the street screaming "I can't take it any more."

Short-term, markets are very messy. In particular, the NASDAQ, guided, as it is by tech oligopolies like Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft (the FAAMGs) has seen days and weeks of erratic activity and recently has been whipsawed in the wake of the ongoing censorship purge.

At this moment, what's probably the best space for safety purposes is in collectibles. Coins, stamps, comic books, trading cards, art, antiques, and especially things that could actually have real life usefulness like depression-era glassware, sterling silver flatware, old tools, and so forth. Nobody knows, but in the case of a total global meltdown, those items that have useful applications could contribute as life-sustaining elements in addition to being prized possessions.

Outside of complete capitulation of the US dollar, collectibles maintain a unique posture among tradable assets. They're ultimately divisible - think baseball card collections - retain value well and, unlike many other assets mentioned here, have well-developed price discovery mechanisms.

So, instead of scouring stock boards, crypto messages, and coin shops, perhaps the best investments can be found at garage sales and flea markets. Aks anyone who collects anything tangible and they're sure to have a story about a great deal found at a thrift store, yard sale, or other off-the-beaten-path venue.

It pays to be diversified into several asset classes instead of the old 60-40 (stocks-fixed income) rule that many investment advisors are still employing for their clients. That's eventually going to fail. The new breed of investor is into all manner of asset diversification, with varied percentages of real estate, stocks, bonds, physical commodities, collectibles and art, crypto, and even sustainability items like solar panels (best ever hedge), canned goods, energy and water supplies.

This is a new world whether the deep state "Great Reset" comes to fruition or not. While the Klaus Schwaub adherents (download "COVID-19: The Great Reset" here [PDF] instead of paying for it on Amazon) feel comfortable in their castles in the sky above the rabble (us), there continues to be unrest among the populations being subjected to censorship, lockdowns, restricted movement, pushed to take unproven "poisonous" vaccines, and other nasty, harmful measures. The plebes are eventually revolt against the elite and that's not going to be pretty. It always happens. The ruling class overreaches and people just want to be left alone, so they're forced into rebellion. The natives, as they say, are restless.

In conclusion to today's mini-treatise on the human condition and implications for investors, keep thinking with a clear mind, don't let the mainstream media guide you because they are propagandists and liars, and be free to do your own things.

Here's a video from Altcoin Daily, focused on the relationship of mainstream media - specifically, CNBC's Jim Cramer - to Bitcoin. This is the first inclusion of a video from this source. Being that it's excellent, expect more in the future.

Just a note on the Cramer part of the video above: the mainstream, like the central banks (Fed, ECB, BOJ, etc.) have lost control of many elements of the financial system, such as interest rates. Bitcoin and crypto in general they have no control over, so all they can do is "jawbone." it's a sure sign of desperation that when things aren't going as they planned, they start to come out of hiding and into the light, making recommendations with faulty analyses, making spurious claims that cannot be supported by facts. It's best to fade them and stay ahead of the game.

At the Close, Tuesday, January 12, 2021:
Dow: 31,068.69, +59.99 (+0.19%)
NASDAQ: 13,072.43, +36.03 (+0.28%)
S&P 500: 3,801.19, +1.58 (+0.04%)
NYSE: 15,010.29, +72.29 (+0.48%)

Twitter, Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple All Lower After Censorship Purge

Publisher's Note: If you're seeing blank spaces on this page or other pages on dtmagazine.com, then Google is still attempting to de-monetize it. Downtown Magazine's relationship with Google dates back to 2003. We've been revenue partners through Adsense for most of those years, but apparently, our commentary isn't to their liking of late, even though we've not been informed of any issues. Google's ads on this site could be replaced in a heartbeat. We have other partners, but Google (used to) pay better and the blank spaces now serve as a badge of honor. Nobody likes censorship, except those who live in fear of the truth. Downtown Magazine has always been devoted to reporting and opining on the truth and will continue to do so. Since the main revenue source has been shut off, if you feel the urge, there's a donation link in the left column on the Money Daily page at dtmagazine.com. Any amount is appreciated. A few bucks from a few people would likely exceed what Google used to pay. As long as there are blank spaces on this page and Google continues its purge of the truth - not just here, but widespread - this note will appear atop every Money Daily post.

I'm going to give it a week or maybe two to see if the censors at Google will come to their senses or the government steps in and seizes their servers (could happen).

Thank you,
Fearless Rick, Publisher, Downtown Magazine, Money Daily

First, the good news:

People like Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, and Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, will probably never be able to go out in public without bodyguards. They've censored tens of thousands of voices with their anti-free speech policies and people aren't happy about it. The first amendment guarantees freedom of speech in America. Those guys are enemies of free speech.

Appropriately, Twitter (TWTR) stock was down more then six percent on Monday. Facebook (FB) was off 4.01%. Fellow travelers at Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL) (each of which killed the Parler app in their app stores), and Amazon (AMZN) (which took the extraordinary step of stifling free speech at Parler completely by shutting down their servers on AWS) were down 2.24%, 2.32%, and 2.15%, respectively.

By their actions, the executives of these companies are destroying the value of their companies. More power to them! They are joined at the hip with the fake news media (you know who they are, or you should) and the democrats in congress who have been trying to get rid of President Trump for more than four years. Should they wish to walk out into the public world, they do so at their own considerable risk and they know that is the case.

So, if these companies wish ot continue distorting news, lying to and censoring the American people, that's their choice. Short at will. (not investment advice)

As an extension of the censorship and denial of first amendment rights, social media site, gab.com has been taking in new users at an astonishing rate, something on the order of 600,000 a day. Conservatives who have had their voices silenced on other social sites are flocking there because the site is self-supported and does not censor its users. What a concept!

Elsewhere, while stocks were taking a little bit of a hit and the major indices were all lower, led by the NASDAQ.

Bitcoin and virtually all cryptocurrencies got hammered on Monday, many of them down 20% or more. Bitcoin touched down at 30,100 early Tuesday morning after reaching nearly $42,000 on Friday. Essentially, Bitcoin is down to where it was a week ago, so this looks like an ordinary correction with a little bit of FUD thrown in from the political and social universes. Probably not a big deal. Bitcoin's future still looks very promising both from an investment standpoint and as a stand-alone unassailable alternate currency.

Supposedly, President Trump plans to speak live from the Alamo (last stand appropriate?) on Tuesday at 3:00 pm ET. Livestream HERE.

Gold and silver made modest gains Monday. Yield on the 10-year note continues to rise, hitting 1.13% on Monday. Oil also continued its rally. WTI crude futures are looking at a $53 handle. The US dollar was higher against the main currencies, Euro, Yen, and Pound on Monday, but it is falling against them as the sun rises on the East coast of the United States.

Futures are pointing towards a relatively quiet, positive open. European stocks are fading. The VIX is higher.

Zero Day, if there is such a thing, looks to be on the immediate horizon.

At the Close, Monday, January 11, 2021:
Dow: 31,008.69, -89.28 (-0.29%)
NASDAQ: 13,036.43, -165.54 (-1.25%)
S&P 500: 3,799.61, -25.07 (-0.66%)
NYSE: 14,937.96, -28.87 (-0.19%)

WEEKEND WRAP: Stocks Rip, Bonds Flip, Metals Dumped, Cryptos Soar (dtmagazine.com demonetized)

Unless you've been under a rock, you're probably aware of the social and political developments that occurred over the past week. Wednesday saw the storming of the Capitol and the illegal, unconstitutional certification of the presidential and vice presidential electors from the states, making Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the choice of the congress, against the will of more than 70 million Americans who feel, justifiably, cheated.

There's no doubt that there was manipulation and tampering with the presidential vote totals from November 3, 2020, and probably of a good number of Senate and House races as well, especially the two just stolen on Tuesday in Georgia, giving Democrats and Republicans an equal 50-50 split in the Senate (Doesn't really matter. The Republicans were in on the scam, too.).

On Friday and Saturday, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon continued efforts to silence President Trump and other conservative voices. The president was banned on Twitter and Facebook, all accounts shut down, along with others like General Flynn, attorneys Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, Rush Limbaugh, many independent bloggers, and many others. Some have estimated Twitter purged more than 10,000 users over the past few days.

In an attempt to avoid over-politicizing this space - there are plenty of websites which cover that better - let's get right to the economic side of the equation.

Amid all the turmoil in the political space, just like public sector employees who haven't missed a single paycheck over the last nine months, Wall Street traders didn't skip a beat over the week, sending all the major averages to record highs.

The real action, however, was at the bond market where the 10-year note exploded higher, which, in the upside-down world of fixed income, meant a huge sell-off was underway. This only makes sense because the Fed believes they can make inflation happen while keeping interest rates near zero. Voodoo Economics has resurfaced, and it's located in the Eccles Building. There are trillions of dollars in malinvestments now, and more to come.

Yield on the 10-year note, which was as low as 0.54% on March 9, 2020, opened the new year on January 4 at 0.93%. By week's end, January 8, it was yielding 1.13%, a full 20 basis points higher. Uh-oh! This is not what the Fed had in mind, but it is what happens when you debase your currency, keeping the printing presses going 24 hours a day. Money in fixed income flees to the risk assets in the stock market.

Yield on the 30-year bond rose, from 1.66% on Monday to 1.87% as of Friday's close. Monday, and moving forward, is going to be interesting, to say the least.

In crypto-land, Bitcoin and Etherium continued their steady, unstoppable ascent. Bitcoin, which touched down at $27,678 on Monday, got as high as $41,986 on Friday, and is holding above $38,000 as of this writing. Etherium rocketed from $886 (Monday) to $1350 (Sunday), an impressive move.

Precious metals continue to be erratic, thanks in large part to being driven solely by the derivative, futures market. On Friday, both gold and silver were devastated by the criminal enterprises controlling the price. Silver was hammered, reaching nearly $28 an ounce on Wednesday. Friday's futures trading took it down as low as $24.41 (that's not a misprint) before closing out the week at $25.40.

Gold was walloped in similar manner. After hitting a three-month high at $1957.20 on Wednesday, controllers took it down as low as $1828.20 on Friday, settling out for the week at a depressing $1850.00.

Buyers and sellers were not amused in the least, as asset values for everything other than real money - which gold and silver have proven to be over thousands of years - were shooting higher. Buyers of physical sensed bargains, but paid severe premiums as supply continues to be strained. This is demonstrated by the weekly survey of prices on eBay, below.

The latest prices for common gold and silver items on eBay (numismatics excluded, shipping - often free - included):

Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 31.05 / 52.00 / 39.64 / 38.48
1 oz silver bar: 34.30 / 49.50 / 39.66 / 39.52
1 oz gold coin: 1,915.00 / 2,054.59 / 1,976.41 / 1,969.40
1 oz gold bar: 1,859.00 / 2,027.00 / 1,953.40 / 1,952.21

Oil continued to rise through the week as anybody checking gas prices will attest. WTI crude and gas at the pump are at the highest prices since March of last year even though most of Europe and half of the US is on lockdown. It's criminal behavior, as prices should be leveling off or dropping post-holiday.

The coming week is going to be epic. Beyond the political struggle, which is rapidly descending into armed camps in Washington, DC (9,000 National Guardsmen on the ground for an indefinite stay) with congress calling for President Trump's impeachment, again, while the president refuses to concede the election.

Earnings begin rolling out this coming week, though on a limited schedule due to the calendar and annual reports being prepared. Friday should be the most interesting day, with reports prior to the opening bell from banking giants JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Citi (C), Wells Fargo (WCF) and PNC Financial (PNC). The rest of the biggest banks - Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Bank of America (BAC) - will report the following week. It will be especially interesting to note which banks, if any, begin to report credit loss reserves that have been building, largely unreported, since the end of the first quarter. Millions have had credit card, mortgage, and personal loan deferrals or forbearance which the banks have not had to report due to regulations enacted under the CARES Act.

Good Luck!

At the Close, Friday, Janaury 8, 2020:
Dow: 31,097.97, +56.84 (+0.18%)
NASDAQ: 13,201.98, +134.50 (+1.03%)
S&P 500: 3,824.68, +20.89 (+0.55%)
NYSE: 14,966.83, +38.08 (+0.26%)

For the Week:
Dow: +491.49 (+1.61%)
NASDAQ: +313.69 (+2.43%)
S&P 500: +68.61 (+1.83%)
NYSE: +442.03 (+3.04%)

December Non-Farm Payrolls -140,000; Stocks Gain, Bitcoin Soars Over $41,000

Heading into the NFL's Super Wild Card Weekend, while the nation tunes into six pro football playoff games, there's a good chance that a lot more will be happening on the ground in Washington, DC.

That's all we know for now. More as the story develops.

In economic news, stocks were up sharply the day after protesters - following ANTIFA radicals disguised as pro-Trump demonstrators in a planned false flag designed to demonize Trump supporters - stormed the Capitol, Wall Street took the news rather lightly, one might assume.

What do they know that the rest of the world does not? There's a very good chance they know almost nothing other than how to push "BUY" buttons and that they're wrong, actually. Things are about to change in meaningful ways.

Some readers may be saying that Money Daily has been saying "change" as often as Obama did in his 2008 campaign, and they're right. But change takes time, or, as in the case of Bitcoin, not very much time. The meteoric rise of the first and largest - by market capitalization - has been flying. Just this morning, it topped $41,000. Bitcoin was at $29,000 just a week ago, on January 1. If that's not change we can believe in, then what is?

Maybe it's the December Non-Farm Payroll report referenced in today's headline. Reading from the BLS press release linked above, notes huge job losses in leisure and hospitality and in private education, partially offset by gains in professional and business services, retail trade, and construction.

Does anybody need a playbook to understand that leisure and hospitality, otherwise know as cruise ships, hotels, bars, and restaurants has been hammered to death by the lockdowns?

From the press release: "In December, employment in leisure and hospitality declined by 498,000, with three-quarters of the decrease in food services and drinking places (-372,000). Employment also fell in the amusements, gambling, and recreation industry (-92,000) and in the accommodation industry (-24,000). Since February, employment in leisure and hospitality is down by 3.9 million, or 23.2 percent.”

“Employment in private education decreased by 63,000 in December. Employment in the industry is down by 450,000 since February.”

Drops in bars and restaurants were the most pronounced, obviously, because that's where humans are not allowed to tread, although it's perfectly OK for everybody to shop at Target or Wal-Mart, because they're public corporations and stocks have to go up. Small business, the kind owned by your neighbors or friends, real people, people who are just trying to get ahead or out of the corporate slog (old-timers used to call it the "rat race") that dehumanizes and demoralizes people, have been shattered by the lockdowns. Not by the virus itself, which, unless your a "maskhole" you know is a complete media-driven sham, just like the fake election and just about everything else coming out of the mainstream media.

And let's not forget that private schools are also bad. Your kids must go to public schools for indoctrination. So much BS.

“The unemployment rate is 6.7 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 10.7 million, were unchanged.”

Out of here for the weekend. Stay alert.

Ezekiel 25:17
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

At the Close, Thursday, January 7, 2021:
Dow: 31,041.13, +211.73 (+0.69%)
NASDAQ: 13,067.48, +326.69 (+2.56%)
S&P 500: 3,803.79, +55.65 (+1.48%)
NYSE: 4,928.75, +139.92 (+0.95%)

Best Wishes, Joe & Kamala, From 80 Million Deplorables; Mudville, Bitcoin, and Max Keiser's Reveal

So, it's Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, right?

Congress made it official, albeit a little later than they had planned, thanks to a small insurrection and breach of the nation's capitol. Not a biggie.

What congress and their newly-appointed president and vice have to now consider is how to deal with:

80 million angry, disenfranchised, armed adults

millions more on lockdown

hundreds of thousands of small businesses shuttered for good

millions more unemployed

$600 checks that were spent on guns, ammo, and bitcoin

millions of past due rents of six months or longer

millions of mortgages in forbearance

fake news

tech censorship

fake plague

vaccines that are killing recipients

$27.8 trillion national debt

$4 trillion current deficit

US$ sinking

wealth disparity at all-time high

broken election system

ongoing, self-inflicted pandemic

Those are just for starters. Soon to come on the menu are regional wars, China, Europe's inevitable implosion, unworkable Brexit in the UK, a blizzard here and there, and maybe a natural disaster down the line. Joe has the answer: mandatory mask-wearing everywhere and a 90-day, nationwide lockdown.

This is what is expected to be handled by the uniparty in congress, an aged, grifter president who often doesn't know where he is, and a VP with no foreign relations or governance experience. And Janet Yellen at Treasury. Oh, joy!

They've got less than two weeks to get plans together to deal with all of this, besides the usual moving-in disruptions, internecine office warfare, a few doses of graft and bribery, undermining of plans by their new hires, and more demands of Green New Deals, reparations, and loony leftist ideas from AOC and her "squad."

While a peaceful demonstration turned into a brief storming of the barricades early Wednesday afternoon, wall Street was enjoying another make-believe rally on the back of the falling US dollar. The trading crew in the tall Manhattan buildings expect big spending by Biden and company, and they're not wrong about that at all. There will be massive give-aways of money and priviledge, and inflation running north of 15% per annum.

Joe and Kamala ought to be given a prize or trophy for wishing to inherit the wind... and getting it.

Hosea 8:7: “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”

Gold and silver took their usual weekly beating with appropriate humility. An ounce of silver (it's assumed that Mike Pence got a number of those, as a Judas of biblical fame) sold down into the $26.60 range. Since the start of December, it's continued to climb upwards from $23.

Gold stumbled badly, losing nearly $50 an ounce, but it's holding its own between $1910 and $1920. This too has been in rally mode for weeks. It's likely to soar right past $2050 shortly, then beyond. Silver will finally breach $30, then higher.

Bitcoin and Etherium, the two major cryptocurrency assets, continue to amaze. Just a moment ago, Bitcoin topped $38,000. A week ago it was $28,500. Less than a month ago, it was $17,500. Less than a month ago, Ether, or Etherium, was $550. A week ago, it was hovering around $750. This morning it's over $1200.

Bitcoin is a rocket ship to Nirvana. Ether is heading to Valhahla, all because what central banks issue as currency is counterfeit and people are catching on. Not everybody, but enough people are scared to death about what's happening to - as Larry Kudlow calls it - "King Dollar" that they're scurrying to other asset classes besides stocks. One can tell by the dollar index that something is afoot, but looking no further than the yield on the 10-year note, opening today at a nine-month high of 1.04% is as good a proxy for dollar flight as can be found anywhere.

Treasury bonds have reversed course with yields heading higher. This is not a head fake. The Fed's efforts to keep rates low while stoking inflation with ceaseless cutesie "Quantitative Easing" (counterfeiting) is about as crude a bludgeon to the economy as a pole axe to the side of the head. The bleeding will never stop until the victim is exhausted. It's happening. It's not going to stop.

Across America, 787,000 people filed initial jobless claims last week. So much for the V-shaped recovery. The letter q or Q might be a more distinct impression for the chartists.

Although it's the heart of the "dark winter" that Quid Pro Joe has promised us, it's hard not to have some hope that in about seven weeks, young and aging pitchers and catchers alike may possibly be assembling on various playing fields of Florida and Arizona for the start of baseball's Spring Training. If the Ides of March are kind, the regular season might start around the first week of April, if April Fools Day passes without incident and the annual tax filing deadline isn't extended too far into the future.

For those still optimistic about our new congressional and executive branches, and, to all the wheezy economists at the Federal Reserve, offered is the final quatrain of Ernest Lawrence Thayer's humble addition to the national consciousness, Casey at the Bat.

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out.

Max Keiser Reveals Bitcoin Price Forecast for 2021:

At the Close, Wednesday, January 6, 2021:
Dow: 30,829.40, +437.80 (+1.44%)
NASDAQ: 12,740.79, -78.17 (-0.61%)
S&P 500: 3,748.14, +21.28 (+0.57%)
NYSE: 14,788.83, +252.30 (+1.74%)