A Beginning And An End: Stocks And Oil Hit The Skids

Tuesday marked a beginning and an end in more ways than just the day and date.

On the one hand, today was the start of the trading week, shortened by Monday's Memorial Day holiday. On the other, it was May 31, the final trading day of the month, a date normally associated with the buying of stocks as "window dressing," wherein funds pad their holdings with the most favored stock offerings.

As days go, this one was a downer for stocks, with the major averages taking a deep dip before a late-session rally brought the S&P and NASDAQ respectively closer to breakeven and into positive territory. The Dow suffered the worst, losing nearly 150 points before ripping off a significant portion of the losses in the closing hour, ending with a drop close to 1/2 percent.

Thus, the day's trading may have marked the start of another downtrend for stocks, following the massive gains of the prior week. Notable was trading in WTI crude oil futures, which tested the $50 mark before falling off to close more than a dollar lower. Oil has been on a tear since bottoming out at $26 per barrel in mid-February.

An astonishing feat of market movement, the price of crude has nearly doubled in just over three months, but the phony pumping may have come to a quick end. Time will tell if $50 turns out to be a price too high to bear and whether stocks will begin a hasty retreat, having tested the top of the short-term range.

Investing and market-watching alike have become spectator sports of sorts for many, depending upon the level and length of financial repression one can endure, both of which have been in play for far too long.

S&P 500: 2,096.96, -2.10 (0.10%)
Dow: 17,787.20, -86.02 (0.48%)
NASDAQ: 4,948.05, +14.55 (0.29%)

Crude Oil 48.83 -1.01% Gold 1,217.50 +0.07% EUR/USD 1.1133 +0.03% 10-Yr Bond 1.83 -0.92% Corn 406.50 -1.51% Copper 2.08 -1.40% Silver 16.00 -1.65% Natural Gas 2.71 +1.61% Russell 2000 1,154.79 +0.38% VIX 14.19 +8.16% BATS 1000 20,677.17 0.00% GBP/USD 1.4486 +0.04% USD/JPY 110.7115 -0.03%

The Federal Reserve Faces Insolvency As It Attempts Impossibile Rate Hikes

As has been posited here on Money Daily and elsewhere, the Federal Reserve is facing a severe solvency crisis, due primarily to the bank bailouts from 2008-09.

In a headline story on - of all places - Yahoo! Finance, the Fed faces a real, dangerous situation if and when they try to normalize rates - something many economists say is nearly impossible to do without destroying the entire monetary system of the United States, and, ostensibly, the world.

The article fleshes out how US taxpayers could be on the hook for the Fed's bad debts, stemming from overpayment on mortgage and treasury note, bills and bonds in years past, specifically during the various QE sessions from 2009-2014.

It's long been held that the Fed was buying bad mortgage notes and bonds at par, when the true value of these slips of counterfeit are more than 30-70% lower. This effectively puts the Fed itself in a condition known to many in the world of finance as either insolvent or bankrupt.

Insolvent is the operative term here, since there is no functioning body by which the Fed can go to for a reorganization or liquidation, as do businesses or individuals in bankruptcy.

The solution would be to dissolve the Federal Reserve, extinguish all debts (which is anything numerated in US dollars), and have the US government - as is required by the constitution - issue a new currency, with gold and/or silver as backing, as opposed to the "full faith and credit" backing to which Americans have become accustomed.

This, as the presidential race looks to be one which a certain maverick billionaire, Donald J. Trump, has a solid chance of winning, could be the beginning of the end to the financial repression initiated by the Fed and its member banks and a start toward a return to honest money.

Capping off the week was a speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen, characterized by the media as being "hawkish" for a rate hike in June or July.

Apparently, investors either disagreed or threw caution to the wind in the face of the three-day Memorial Day weekend, boosting stocks late in the session, ending what was a banner week for US stocks, especially the high-leverage, high-flying NASDAQ.

On the week:
Dow: +372.28 (+2.13%)
S&P 500: +46.74 (+2.28%)
NASDAQ: +163.95 (+3.44%)

For the day:
S&P 500: 2,099.06, +8.96 (0.43%)
Dow: 17,873.22, +44.93 (0.25%)
NASDAQ: 4,933.50, +31.74 (0.65%)

Crude Oil 49.42 -0.12% Gold 1,213.20 -0.78% EUR/USD 1.1114 -0.71% 10-Yr Bond 1.85 +1.54% Corn 412.25 +0.98% Copper 2.11 +0.38% Silver 16.21 -0.81% Natural Gas 2.16 +0.65% Russell 2000 1,150.45 +0.94% VIX 13.08 -2.61% BATS 1000 20,677.17 0.00% GBP/USD 1.4613 -0.37% USD/JPY 110.3725 +0.56%

Flat Is Good Says Yahoo! Finance, Which Should Know

"Why a flat day is good for the markets" screams the headline on Yahoo! Finance at the close of trading on Thursday.

Of course closing flat is good. Up is good, down is good, flat is good. Darn, the markets are even good when they're closed.

It's all about the narrative, with the financial media desperately trying to keep convincing an ever-shrinking number of "home-gamers" (trtaders with their own individual accounts), 401k holders, and other interested parties that the economy - and the stock market in particular - have never been better, or at least to convince themselves that they are convincing somebody.

It's a complete crock.

The global economy is, and has been, on its knees since the fall of 2008. Everything after that is a facade, made possible by trillions of dollars spent by the Federal Reserve and matching amounts of yen, yuan, euros and rupees by corresponding central banks, stock buybacks, income sheet fraud, mark-to-fantasy accounting, high valuations and the lack of any real price discovery mechanism.

It's a sham.

Central bankers are idiots who have walled themselves off from the general population and can't seem to find their way out of the boxed-in condition they've created for themselves.

So, we have Trump and Sanders (forget Clinton, she's a has-been, and a poor candidate who cannot win in a general election) vying to be the most powerful man in the world (don't tell Mario Draghi or Janet Yellen, though), an economy that can't produce nominal growth of more then two percent, stupid wars, uncontrollable mass migration, and a host of other problems.

But, a flat day is all good, all the time. Glad Yahoo Got the memo. They've been flat (or down) for a long time. Love ya some Marissa Mayer (Yahoo CEO). She's cute. She's smart. She's blonde. She's... no, don't go there.

She's an idiot, a poser, a fraud. Just take a look at Yahoo's performance since she became CEO. Courtiers to the company are looking at a take-under sometime late this year or early next. The $35-ish share price is a bit rich for their tastes. Something more like $18-24 may be more like it.

Flat Is In... Again!
S&P 500: 2,090.10, -0.44 (0.02%)
Dow: 17,828.29, -23.22 (0.13%)
NASDAQ: 4,901.77, +6.88 (0.14%)

Crude Oil 49.33 -0.46% Gold 1,220.00 -0.31% EUR/USD 1.1193 +0.31% 10-Yr Bond 1.82 -2.51% Corn 407.75 +0.74% Copper 2.10 -0.05% Silver 16.34 +0.52% Natural Gas 2.15 -1.51% Russell 2000 1,140.39 -0.06% VIX 13.67 -1.65% BATS 1000 20,677.17 0.00% GBP/USD 1.4665 -0.25% USD/JPY 109.7650 -0.39%

Smooth Sailing As Stocks Approach Top Of Range

It's such a sham, there's little to say other than 18,000 on the Dow approaches, a level the genii marketeers have yet been able to surpass.

The likelihood is that any rally over 18,000 will be sold off within days, if not minutes.

Tomorrow's headline will scream about the Fed raising rates, thus scaring investors. Friday, Federal Reserve Chairwoman, Janet Yellen, speaks at Harvard, which should provide what the talking heads are calling "clarity."

Harumph.

Happy Motoring!
S&P 500: 2,090.54, +14.48 (0.70%)
Dow: 17,851.51, +145.46 (0.82%)
NASDAQ: 4,894.89, +33.84 (0.70%)

Crude Oil 49.74 +2.30% Gold 1,224.20 +0.03% EUR/USD 1.1154 -0.03% 10-Yr Bond 1.87 +0.59% Corn 404.00 +1.64% Copper 2.10 +0.02% Silver 16.33 +0.42% Natural Gas 2.16 +0.75% Russell 2000 1,141.02 +0.50% VIX 13.90 -3.61% BATS 1000 20,677.17 0.00% GBP/USD 1.4701 -0.01% USD/JPY 110.2160 +0.01%

Stocks Rock, Regain 17,500+ Range

Why not?

Presented without commentary.


S&P 500: 2,076.06, +28.02 (1.37%)
Dow: 17,706.05, +213.12 (1.22%)
NASDAQ: 4,861.06, +95.27 (2.00%)

Crude Oil 49.24 +1.28% Gold 1,227.50 -0.14% EUR/USD 1.1142 +0.01% 10-Yr Bond 1.86 +1.14% Corn 398.50 +0.19% Copper 2.07 +0.05% Silver 16.24 -0.09% Natural Gas 2.14 -0.19% Russell 2000 1,135.31 +2.15% VIX 14.42 -8.85% BATS 1000 20,677.17 0.00% GBP/USD 1.4622 -0.02% USD/JPY 110.0165 +0.04%