Thursday cinema & library

We're on the verge of some potentially titanic movements in the next few days. Sit tight and avoid the turbulence, or at least take a barf bag with you. Better yet, get on your bike and enjoy a fine summer evening.

Tyler Durden: Positioning for weekend: BofA's risk cheat sheet (June 15)
TraderFlorida (video): Thursday wrap (June 14)
streetmoney21 (video): Currency markets prepare for total chaos on Monday (June 14)
Le Fly: Come get it (June 14)

Charles Biderman: How to benefit from global financial mess (June 14)

Street Insider: Unusual mid-day movers (NBG) (June 14)
Barron's: Apple potential 'game changer' in mobile payments (June 13)
Reggie Middleton: As predicted last year, French and Greeks in race (June 13)

Sandstorms and saliva (updated 9:46 am)

1:25 am (Hawaii) Traded just once on Thursday (small loss in TVIX, a truly wicked bitch of an ETF), just busy running errands, getting things done. No choice. Had to be done. Trading in a thin market that does nothing but eat its own vomit? Yes, I can take a pass on that even if I'm not running around away from from home.

This morning, CME mafia is lower margin requirements. I haven't kept track much of precious metals for months, so if this is a first this year or last, this might be huge news. Remember when CME kept raising margin requirements awhile back? They did it four times in nine sessions and gold spot price cratered.

So, my conspiracy theorists out there, is this an engineered move to get the market rolling higher?

MarketWatch: CME Group cuts margins for gold futures (May 25)
NY Times: In Spain, bank transfers reflect broader fears (May 25)
CBS News: EU summit ends with lots of uncertainty, few plans (May 24)
Bloomberg: Monti says Germany can be persuaded on euro bonds (May 24)

Update 8:43 am Back in FAZ at 26.91. I bought (impulsively) on a spike from 26.72 to 26.93. Soon as I re-entered, it sold off back to 26.75 or so. My stop loss was in place had it gone lower. Now FAZ is back to 26.91. Volume that spiked in the past 30 minutes. Roughly an hour and a half ago, both FAZ and gold rose and held their gain. Banks selling off and gold rising? Unusual.

AAPL also made a run during that time, from 560 to 563, but gave back all of it and more in short time. AAPL fell to 559+ and is now above 561. Thin market, unpredictable, a lot of games being played.

Not planning to hold FAZ over this three-day weekend. There's always the possibility of some form of compromise out of the euro zone. There's also the possibility of ugliness as tension rises in Greece and Spain.

Update 9:46 am Out of FAZ at 26.93 (+0.02/share) for a break-even trade. It ran a bit to 27.13, but I just raised my stop loss instead of selling for a smallish profit. The market is indecisive as ever going into the close.

Mercurial Monday? (updated)

2:27 am (Hawaii) Asia wasn't so hot. Then Europe opened and the radical elections in France took effect. As a result, the Euro sank, as did finnies there, and FAZ got up to 23.42 in pre-premarket trading. In regular-people trading, which started 27 minutes ago, FAZ was up to 23.00. it closed at 22.48 on Friday (and I took a pass imagining that the EU would start babbling about another stimulus or some other shady hero action).

Fib retrace would put FAZ at 22.80, which is close to its current price (22.89). No rush to get in here.

Update 3:41 am Out of ZAGG at 11.50, a loss of 0.56 per share. Not a tiny loss, not a huge loss. But it was pointless not because the company doesn't have a huge revenue base in the future, but because there is so much negativity surrounding it. One essay/analysis after another from amateurs and academics alike saying the financial numbers don't add up, the company is not being forthright, blah blah blah.

At a certain point, I surrender rather than be stubborn. It's not about my ego. It's about price action, and 3% down is more than enough to walk away.

Meanwhile, AAPL is up 1.2% to 572. The Nas and S&P are green, Dow is down 30 points. Europe has not altered the US market after all. ZAGG is doing an awful tumble down the hill on its own just fine, now at 10.98. The shorts own this completely, as they showed last week.

FAS vs FAZ

3:16 p.m. I love to yammer on about how the banksters have us all set up. You don't think they've shorted this market? You don't think they even short themselves? Hell yeah they do! They're freaking banksters, remember? All they want is to make profits, nothing else matters. So yeah, you bet your ass they're banking through this downswing, kneecapping every hedge fund and retail trader that went long a week or two ago. They know shit is hitting the fan. So do you and so do I. But do we dive in headfirst?

I liked FAZ at 45. Liked it more at 40. It hit 35 and I was surprised. From there, I really thought the banksters would seize control and send the market into a year-end eruption to new highs. But they actually can't control things in Europe as quickly or smoothly as they can control the Fed and the White House.

So we have FAZ rising to 50 (closing above 49) while FAS fizzles. Where do they go from here? I totally believe in the psychology of round numbers. People are like that. They wince and pucker at certain round numbers and 50 is one of them. I'll watch from the sideline with my binoculars now and then, but it's too busy for me anyway to pay too much attention to the market. Just be cautious out there. Traps are everywhere.

FAZ daily

Today's round of lame news had FAZ roaring higher

FAZ daily

Pushing the higher trendline or gravity kicking in?

Hanging man candle means little with headline risk dominating

FAS daily

Returning to those basement levels again

FAS daily

Generally it's a bad idea to buy anything that has a reverse split.

BAC and FAS come to mind

FAS vs FAZ

12:36 pm (Hawaii) Getting a lot of work done early in the day now that I'm not obsessing over a schizoid market. Yesterday, Italy's chief announced he would step down under conditional terms and the market zoomed. Today, Italy bonds get out of control (again) and the Dow loses 389 points (3.2%). The action was not gray area at all. AAPL sank 2.7% to 395. Financials were fugly.

BAC -5.2% to 6.19, WFC -5.4%, AIG -6.3%, IRE -6.5%, NBG -6.8%, JPM -7.2%, UBS -7.7%, C -8%, STD -8.2%, GS 8.2%, BBVA -8.3%, MS -8.7%, HBC -9.1%, ETFC -9.4%, JEF -10.4%, RBS -11.1%, DB -11.2%.

FAS shrank 14.8%. FAZ went from 39 yesterday to 43+ today with very little selloff into the close. In fact, after I got up, it dropped below 43 to the mid-42s, then ran up above 43.50. On big volume. If you're like me, you know AAPL leads the retail market, and AAPL's selloff today on large volume with that hanging man candle looks simply horrible.

Technicals do not tell us what's going to happen, and they are the mercy of headline risk. But they do provide a visual into the global monetary chaos, and what a friggin mess.

Below, some charts and that includes TVIX, which was up 37% freaking percent! I remain in the bleachers sipping a hot cocoa, cash under the mattress.

FAZ daily

No matter how much weight the banksters have behind their

punch, they can't find resolution to the toxic assets near and far.

FAZ daily

Major move today on heavy volume but I suspect this stays in a 

range between 36 and 44. A break above 44 would tempt.

FAS daily

The breakout momentum was doused today but volume

was not totally indicative of a definite avalanche.

FAS daily

Big move post-pennant? I should've said moves, as in plural!

DGP daily

Down 1.7% today, which makes no sense considering the

mega-printing of fiat that is due globally. Soon.

AAPL daily

One hell of an ugly candle.  

AAPL daily

The move lower was on significant volume.

UUP daily

Mad US dollar!

TVIX daily

37% in one day? This closed at 46.04 yesterday.

TVIX daily

The Italian-German-French-Greek soap opera continues in 

As The Euro Central Bank Turns. Tomorrow's episode: 

Happy bedroom talk resumes and TVIX loses half of

today's enormous gain. 

Tuesday cinema & library (updated 530 pm HST)

Blogs

(new) Charles Hugh Smith: The stock market megaphone pattern that should terrify you (Nov 1)

(new) Cullen Roche: The ugly math behind Italy's sovereign debt crisis (Nov 1)

(new) Golden Truth: US banking system more leveraged now than 2008 (Nov 1)

(new) Peter Brandt: What charts say about US stock market (Nov 1)

Zero Hedge: Morgan Stanley on Greece, why it is very Euro negative (Nov 1)

Turd Ferguson: MFing Global (Nov 1)

Lance Roberts: Fed trapped by inflation, there will be no QE3 tomorrow (Nov 1)
Reggie Middleton: Greco-Franco bank run has skipped pond, landed in NY/Chicago (Nov 1)
Zero Hedge: How US banks are lying about European exposure (Nov 1)
SGS: Carnage update (Nov 1)

Le Fly: Life could be worse (Nov 1)
Jake Gint: Pumpkin head market (Nov 1)
Cain Thaler: I'll take a break from pessimism (Nov 1)
Rajun Cajun: Pullback to the 20-day (Nov 1)
chessnwine: Melting away the coked-up rally (Nov 1)

SGS: MF bankruptcy, Turk and coming housing collapse (Oct 31)

Vlogs

bigdad06: China moves on water! (Nov 1)

manoftruth: Europe, Greece, US and total economic collapse (Nov 1)
RT: Domino effect? 'Debt unpayable, Greece to exit Euro mess' (Nov 1)
chessnwine: Stock market recap (Nov 1)

RT: Lauren Lyster (Nov 1)

Gerald Celente: Liberty Plaza, part 3 (Nov 1)

(new) NewAmericaNow: Greece: SHTF imminent (Nov 1)

(new) Christopher Greene: MF Global is next Lehman (Nov 1)

Audio

Mainstream
(new) Business Insider: Europe - What to expect in the next 24 hours (Nov 1)

(new) Business Insider: The scariest chart in Europe: Italy-German 10-year spread (Nov 1)

(new) Business Insider: Here's who is freaking out now that Greece will hard default (Nov 1)

(new) Business Insider: Fitch joins mass freak-out over Greek referendum (Nov 1)

Bloomberg: Wen may loosen credit as China inflation cools (Nov 1)
Bloomberg: All MF Global funds accounted for (Nov 1)
Bloomberg: EU leaders hold pre-G20 crisis talks (Nov 1)
AP: Greek govt in chaos with debt deal in doubt (Nov 1)

(new) Business Insider: Papandreou gets cabinet to rally around referendum (Nov 1)
Reuters: Germans warn of Greek euro exit after referendum gambit (Nov 1)

Bloomberg: Selling more insurance on shaky European debt raises risk for US banks (Nov 1)
NBC: FBI, federal prosecutors to join inquiry into Corzine firm (Nov 1)
Investopedia: The history of Greek sovereign debt defaults (Sept 26)

(new) Business Insider: The sad story of why everyone's angry at Italy (Sept 23)

Trick or Treat?

Turrbul Tuesday?

12:46 am (Hawaii) Some Halloween. I stayed in, hardly any trick or treaters came by and it was couch potato night instead of wild partying. This is what happens when people get old. Late nights and bad traffic and deafening music add up to a non-necessity. But this is interesting: Dow futures are -150, S&P futures are -22.50 and Nasdaq futures are -40.25.

Asia tanked overnight: Nikkei -1.7%, Topix -1.25%, Hang Seng -2.5%. Europe is far worse: Stoxx -3.9%, FTSE -2.5%, Dax -3.8%. So much for Sarkozy and Merkel and all that bullydoodoo talk last Friday. Don't mean squat now. It was all vapor.

I'm all cash so this doesn't hurt or help me. Okay maybe it hurts a little that I didn't pick up some FAZ at 35-36 even though I had HOPED it would fall to 35 when it was hovering at 42-44. I'm just weak that way sometimes. FAZ was 39+ at the closing bell yesterday and 40+ afterhours. I suppose it'll start trading premarket at 42. Still a long way back to 81 and even further to 100. I don't know when that happens. It just will. We could see a retest of 35 this week. All Sarkozy and Merkel have to do is start another ballroom dance to get the markets titillated again.

FAS vs FAZ

11:32 am (Hawaii) Technical Knockout? Huge volume in both FAS and FAZ. Even with normal profit-taking, FAS is up 17% to 16.45, blasting through that 15.00 level. If the myth/lie can be perpetuated out of Euroland, FAS could rise into the 20s rapidly.

FAZ is barely able to hold above 35, which had been my hope for a new entry point. I'm waiting this out to see how the market reacts. Fuck theory and logic. If hedge funds and mutual funds pour in for Nov and Dec madness, it doesn't matter how smart or clever your theory is about the disintegration of the Fiat monetary system. Not until 2012, anyway.

FAS daily

Completely ripped through megaphone levels

without QE3, unless this Euro Bailout is the same.

15.00 was a possibility, now 25 is in the picture!

FAS daily

The first uptrend lasted 7 days.

The new one barely lasted 7 days, seemed ready

to dip on day 8 (yesterday) and has surged back

to the top of the current level. 

FAS daily

Major volume - short covering? - today.

FAZ daily

42 was the new thin ice. 

Now 35 is in play, new territory.

FAZ daily

Snapback action could be coming, but I'm not

inclined to bet against the banksters yet. 

FAZ daily

Currently below 1-year lows.

FAZ daily

Previous 1-year lows are history now

For a little more fun, a look at SPY.

SPY daily

Basically a clone of FAS daily, if less volatile.

SPY daily

As the EU turns, so does the days of our market.

Tuesday cinema & library (updated 900 pm HST)

Blogs
Upside Trader: Why I shorted financials twice in 2 days (Oct 25)
Le Fly: You are cordially invited (Oct 25)
Cain Thaler: I told you they'd disappoint (Oct 25)
Le Fly: Hedge fund relief rally stalled (Oct 25)
Cain Thaler: QE3 is coming (Oct 25)
Le Fly: There is only one long trade here (Oct 25)
Le Fly: Devil is in details (Oct 25)
Rajun Cajun: What I'm looking at this morning (Oct 25)
Golden Truth: Housing continues death spiral (Oct 25)

Vlogs

(new) streetmoney21: Gold, silver finally make a move (Oct 25)

(new) bullorbearreport: Silver rebound, markets looking bullish (Oct 25)

Truth Never Told: The Riddle (Oct 25)

Peter Schiff: How govt stimulus spending and deficits impact capital markets (Oct 25)

Wearchange.org: Russell Simmons on End the Fed (Oct 25)

endless mountain: Stock market and silver technical analysis (Oct 25)

ScrapGoldBusiness: Time has come to buy silver (Oct 25)

Kitco: Bill Murphy, Jeff Christian (Oct 25)

Jim Comiskey: Daily market insights - Metals futures (Oct 25)

Audio
Peter Schiff Radio (Oct 25)

Chris Martenson: Guest Eric Sprott (Oct 25)

Mainstream

Reuters: Amazon profits fall more than expected (Oct 25)

Thursday cinema & library (updated Fri 100 am HST)

Blogs
(new) RT: Are we headed for another Lehman moment in Europe? (Oct 20)

(new) Zero Hedge: Bill Gross was right - Fed's Tarullo calls for restart of MBS monetization (Oct 20)
Zero Hedge: Merkel cancels Friday govt statement on EFSF (Oct 20)
Reggie Middleton: This bank is much worse than the rest (Oct 20)
Le Fly: There will be rumors of rumors (Oct 20)
Le Fly: All eyes on Italy (Oct 20)
Turd Ferguson: Chart review (Oct 20)
Dan Norcini: Another down day for metals (Oct 20)
SGS: Go take a shot of something before reading this (Oct 19)

Vlogs

(new) endlessmountain: Nonsense - Silver, dollar index, TLT bonds (Oct 21)

(new) MoneyBags73: Massive conflicts of interest at Fed (Oct 20)

(new) Jim Comiskey: Daily market insights - metals futures (Oct 20)

(new) streetmoney21: Bank of America - A lot more reason to get your money out NOW (Oct 20)

(new) Peter Schiff: Listener questions (Oct 20)
RT: Athens chaos: Cop-protester crossfire (Oct 20)
Keiser Report: Live and let fail (Oct 20)

ScrapGoldBusiness: Perth Mint update (Oct 20)

J.S. Kim: Understanding banker manipulation of gold and silver (Oct 20)

bullorbearreport: The revolution has begun! (Oct 20)

RT: 'Killing Gaddafi easy cover-up for West deals' (Oct 20)

Audio
(new) Peter Schiff Radio (Oct 20)

Mainstream

image: Roy De Young

(new) Bloomberg: EU considers wielding $1.3T to break debt crisis impasse (Oct 20)

Euronews: International leaders react to Gaddafi's death (Oct 20)

Daily Mail: 'What did I ever do to you?': What Gaddafi said as he begged for his life (Oct 20)

CBS: Why Steve Jobs refused a potentially life-saving surgery (Oct 20)

Reuters: US equities selloff seen likely in near term (Oct 20)

Reuters: Citigroup's $285M settlement may get 2nd look (Oct 20)

Dylan Ratigan: Audit exposes secrets, corruption of Fed (Oct 19)

Christopher Whalen: Is Bank of America preparing for a Chapter 11? (Oct 19)

Metal bling

999silverhk: Perth Mint - Year of Dragon silver coin (Oct 20)

Eye candy

Street Low: Impala '64 clowning with Desire (Oct 15)

FAS vs FAZ (closing bell edition)

10:18 am (Hawaii) Euro banks down, US banks up. Well, there's NBG up 1.8%, but that's the exception. Of course it's a lot more fun sitting out than riding a whipsaw roller coaster. Flat, all cash. Stay tuned for the resumption of funny business anytime soon.

FAZ daily

Yesterday, it traded between 51.50 and 52.25 in the late hours.

Today, more like 49 and 50. Too spastic for me.

FAS daily

Pushed higher late in the day but the constant heave and ho

make the closing action irrelevant.

More of the same churning until the next

catalyst/Merkel-Sarkosy rumor/downgrade/etc.

Below, the 2-year charts for FAS and FAZ. Clearly, the time decay effect is what makes both more effective as short-term trading vehicles rather than holds. Over the long haul, traders who shorted both were better off than testing the long side, it would seem.

FAS weekly (2 year)

Hate the banksters or not, over the long term,

those bloodsucking pencil pushers show resiliency.

In other words, they find ways to get their way.

FAZ weekly (2 year)

The "easy" money was made in July.

Wednesday cinema & library (updated 115 am HST)

Update 11:45 am (Hawaii) I urge you to give Scott Bleier's latest post a read: 'The entire rally is bullshit'.

"All the low volume volatility of recent weeks has served to scare the remaining individual investors out of the game. The rest of the market has become dominated and overpowered by the correlation between currencies, commodities, stocks and bonds. The programs work in milliseconds to run over any intra-market movements with instantaneous results. By the time you hear or read the news, the market move is over and you as an investor are forced to chase."

Found in the comments of Bleier's blog: Fed/POMO buying $44 billion in Treasurys this month, up from the usual $14-16 billion.

6:35 am (Hawaii) Started this yesterday, but the eyelids wouldn't stay open, so now it's a Wednesday edition. It's been a relatively quiet week of ups (two tiny profit trades on Monday) and one butchered trade on Tuesday. I got FAS at 12.99 before the bell, it went to 13.08 and I debated whether to sell immediately or put in a trailing stop. While I debated myself, it sank to 13.05, then 12.95, then to 12.60. I got out at 12.68 for a small loss. Again, it's not wise to enter late and wing it. Always have a stop in the final minutes of the session especially after the machines have taken anything more than 5% or 10% higher.

It was due for a major selloff and I screwed up. Protect protect protect.

Blogs

(new) RajunCajun: Not feeling it (Oct 19)

(new) Le Fly: Mandatory listening (Oct 19)

Scott Bleier: The entire rally is bullshit (Oct 19)

Zero Hedge: FT reports Europe to sacrifice banks to bail out sovereigns (Oct 19)

Le Fly: Zero reasons to be long (Oct 19)

Zero Hedge: Now Bundestag demands a say (Oct 19)

Zero Hedge: Latest European (fake?) news: EFSF talks have stalled (Oct 19)

Turd Ferguson: Beyond the pale (Oct 19)

Golden Truth: This is why we own gold - 10,000 reasons (Oct 19)

Reggie Middleton: The only investment/research house to warn of Apple miss vindicated (Oct 18)

Reggie Middleton: Just as predicted, world's first FDIC insured hedge fund takes fat loss (Oct 18)

Le Fly: Burn it all to the ground! (Oct 18)

Turd Ferguson: Silver bull market of 2012 (Oct 18)

Golden Truth: Bank of America takes sleaze to new level (Oct 18)

Golden Truth: Bank of America takes accounting fraud a step further (Oct 18)

Chris Duane (Silver Shield): Great minds think alike? (Oct 18)

Vlogs

UKIP: Nigel Farage - Standing up for British business (Oct 19)

DEMCAD: Bank of America on verge of failure? (Oct 19)

ScrapGoldBusiness: Is JP Morgan ready to crash silver again? (Oct 19)

endlessmountain: Silver Log - Midweek report (Oct 19)

Christopher Greene: I am extremely concerned (Oct 19)

Casey Research: Guest Rick Rule (Oct 19)

Casey Research: Guest Eric Sprott (Oct 19)

Hit the Bid: Krull to Arms - Is your Mac working? (Oct 19)

drutter: Occupy Vancouver, silver canoe porn (Oct 18)

Chris Garcia: Gold and silver news (Oct 18)

StreetMoney21: Bank of America - Are they getting ready to soak US taxpayers again? (Oct 18)

Keiser Report: Live by fraud, die by fraud (Oct 18)

silverfuturist: Silver to peak 2017-20? (Oct 16)

Audio

Peter Schiff: Guest Sen. Rand Paul (Oct 19)

Chris Martenson: Guest Nate Hagens (Oct 19)

Mainstream

(video) Reuters: Difficult for EU bailout fund to cover Italy & Spain - poll (Oct 19)

(video) Press TV: Max Keiser: 'US bankers stole billions' (Oct 19)

(video) Euronews: EU probes interbank lending rates (Oct 19)

(video) RT: First video of Athens night clashes as Greece fights austerity (Oct 19)

Reuters: Morgan Stanley can thank brokerage, banking (Oct 19)

Bloomberg: BofA said to split regulators over moving Merrill derivatives to bank unit (Oct 18)

CNBC: Apple misses big on earnings, shares tumble (Oct 18)
CNBC: Greeks work hard, so why is there a debt crisis? (Oct 18)

Paul Farrell: Weiss: EU bank failures will crash Wall St - again (Oct 18)

Globe and Mail: Sprott makes bet on different kind of bank (Oct 17)

Eye candy

Street Low: Carnales Unidos Car Show (Oct 19)

Street Low: Models dancing at Carnales Unidos Car Show (Oct 18)

Street Low: LuxuriouS CC, Mike's Beef n' Brew Car & Bike Show (Oct 18)

Thursday cinema & library (updated 1000 pm HST)

Federal Reserve

Blogs
Zero Hedge: BBC does it again (Oct 6)

Le Fly: Enter decadence (Oct 6)

Le Fly: This is madness (Oct 6)

Scott Bleier: Hope lives! (Oct 6)

Rajun Cajun: The Russell paints the picture (Oct 6)

madhedgefundtrader: Why I tripled my volatitlity index short (Oct 6)

Le Fly: Ignoring warnings (Oct 6)

Le Fly: Rally will continue until pain threshold is met (Oct 6)

Zero Hedge: France, Germany fail to reach agreement (Oct 6)

Turd Ferguson: Ready for more BLSBS? (Oct 6)

Golden Truth: Hugo Chavez issues wake-up call to paper gold shorts (Oct 6)

Golden Truth: No longer 'barbarous relic.' gold is 'high quality liquid asset' (Oct 6)

Mike Shedlock: How Bernanke 'f*d' banks and fixed income savers at same time (Oct 6)

Zero Hedge: Bank of England expands EQ by 75 billion pounds (Oct 6)

Turd Ferguson: Disconnect (Oct 5)

Vlogs

(new) bullorbearreport: Silver +10% in 2 days! Good buy point (Oct 6)

(new) BrotherJohnF: Silver Update - Buy the dips (Oct 6)

Reggie Middleton: BoomBustBlog Occupy Wall St documentary (Oct 6)

silverfuturist: Wall St 'Dr Evil' created by guaranteed rates of return (Oct 6)

endlessmountain: Rant - Using charts for buy/sell points (Oct 6)
endlessmountain: Silver Log (Oct 6)

Christopher Greene: Entire banking system imploding, European QE2 launched (Oct 6)

jackieochannel: Occupy Wall St media zombies (Oct 6)

Keiser Report: Debts and slavery (Oct 5)

Audio

Progressive Radio News Hour: Guest Gerald Celente (Oct 6)

Kerry Lutz: Guest Barry Stuppler (Oct 6)

Chris Martenson: Guest David Stockman (Oct 6)

Peter Schiff Radio (Oct 5)

Mainstream

(video) CNBC: The jobs report trade (Doug Kass) (Oct 6)

(video) CNN: Bank of America to make 13% more from debit fees (Oct 6)

Reuters: Venezuela says gold repatriation to start soon (Oct 6)

CNBC: Doug Kass: These stocks are stupid cheap (Oct 6)
CNBC: Labor report: Investors getting used to bad news? (Oct 6)
CNBC: Obama attacks banks, cites Wall St protests (Oct 6)
Euronews: One million banknotes seized in Poland (Oct 6)

Bloomberg: Germany, France split on EFSF bond purchases (Oct 6)

Telegraph: World facing worst financial crisis in hstory, Bank of England governor says (Oct 6)

(video) C-SPAN: Ron Paul: We have crossed rubicon towards empire, tyranny (Oct 5)

Eye candy

Street Low: Perscilla's photo shoot (Oct 6)

FAZ is a spaz

FAZ: A bullish gap up? Or signs of quantitative puppeteering?

1:55 pm (Hawaii) Watching from afar, thought about scaling into FAZ on Friday. Decided to pass at 53-54. Today, with the usual gyrations from Europe, some panic is setting in, stocks sold off (though they rallied into the close) and FAZ is above 58 as after-hours trading is about to end for the day.

At 58.70, FAZ is in the midst of its lower megaphone channel/trendlines/zone. It bounced off its lower trendline of roughly 52 after falling from its pennant/flag formation. So now what? The FOMC's two-day meeting begins soon, and if the indications are correct, Helicopter Ben will push hard for more inflation via fiat currency printing. By the trillions.

How to prepare for this? I have my little sack of physical metals. I am all cash and have no equity positions. Yet. If I were long FAZ, I probably would've taken today's 6-7% overnight profit. I did it a couple of weeks ago when FAZ went from 54 to 60. Over the weekend, FAZ went from 53 to 58. The top line of this range is 66, which could be touched again (as it was two weeks ago). Beyond that? Who knows?

If Bernanke gets his way and the machines churn out paper currency and digital dollars by the trillions, FAZ will tank in the short term. 50 would not be out of the question. If that's the bottom, I'll start scaling in then. Probably. There's no happy ending for Euro toxic bankster crisis. Same here in the States. They're just going to eat the dust first. Before us.

No paper gold or silver trades for me. Not yet.

Weekend cinema & library (updated Sun 200 pm HST)

2:20 pm (Hawaii) Geithner wasn't well received, apparently, in his "visit" to Poland. Guess nobody likes taking financial advice from American ponzi artists — not that Geithner invented the scheme. He's just another part of the machine.

10:20 am The FAZ chart never fails to intrigue my feeble mind.

• The last time FAZ had five down days in a row was June 27 to July 1. Price went from 50.79 (intraday high) to 42.06 (intraday low), a decline of 17.2%.

• Since then, price has been often volatile. The biggest declines: 81.50 (Aug 9) to 54.70 (Aug 12), -32.9%; 73.87 (Aug 23) to 50.10 (Aug 31), -32.2%; 66.84 (Sept 6) to 54.65 (Sept 7), -18.2%. (These are intraday prices.)

• The current fall from 66.81 (Sept 12) to 53.40 (today, after hours) is a 20% drop, right on the nose.

If FAZ needs to go to the lower trendline, that would be roughly 52. It already touched 52.12 earlier today and bounced a bit, running to 55.87 intraday. But there's no conviction by bears or bulls in the finnies right now. FAZ is meandering in this range. Again, if the world believed in the EU and the FED with any sense of conviction, FAZ would be well below 50 and back to early summer levels as low as 40.

Interesting how it trades occasionally. The 1-min chart showed yesterday a clear ceiling at around 57.70 that lasted several minutes. Right now (10:33 am Hawaii), it has stayed above 53.40 since the close (33 minutes ago), with the closing price for each minute at exactly 53.40 (while price goes as high as 53.83 in between). So there has to be a seller or buyer playing this area with a clear line across the sand at that price. Why? No idea. That's just what I'm looking at. Then again it's afterhours trading and volume is extremely thin.

As an ETF/ETN, FAZ is clearly at the whim of all these external factors and headline risks. It's really not an ideal thing to chart. But it's fun, keeps my eyes wide open and offers different perspectives as I watch and wait. Maybe I scale a little bit in here. Maybe I don't. Wait for that softball toss and delivering a home run swing would mean waiting for 50. Or 40.

Or maybe if FAZ breaks this trendline lower, all bets should be off and the market makes a huge rally based on a diet of cotton candy, whopper balls and big gulp sodas. Yeah. That'll last.

10:45 am Hawaii time, FAZ to bounce or break?

Blogs

(new) Le Fly: Futures open substantially lower (Sept 18)

(new) Zero Hedge: DSK says Greece is done (Sept 18)

(new) King World News: Jim Rickards: Secrets of QE, gold and currency wars (Sept 18)

(new) Peter Tchir: Is Sept 20 Greek default day? (Sept 17)

(new) SGS: Position limits back in play at CFTC (Sept 17)

(new) SGS: Chart of the month: AMZN (Sept 17)

(new) SGS: COT report, FOMC (Sept 17)

(new) SGS: Got gold? Austria limits purchases to $15,000 Euros (Sept 17)

Dan Norcini: HUI bounces from key support level (Sept 16)

Harvey Organ: Gold, silver rebound as expected (Sept 16)

> Huge news on silver fraud case against JPMorgan

Jesse's Cafe Americain: Antics abounding (Sept 16)

Golden Truth: Anybody still believe that Fed doesn't manipulate gold price? (Sept 16)

Zero Hedge: Forget Operation Twist (Sept 16)

> David Rosenberg says Bernanke will shock everyone

Zero Hedge/Brandon Smith: Is China ready to pull the plug? (Sept 16)

Turd Ferguson: (am) Macro (Sept 16)

> Charts Gold Dec 4-hour | Silver Dec 4-hour

King World News: Identities of JP Morgan silver manipulators exposed (Sept 16)

King World News: Rick Rule: Silver default possible (Sept 16)

King World News: Peter Schiff: Expect more inflation, printing, higher gold (Sept 16)

Reggie Middleton: Another RIMM job? (Sept 16)

Morris Hubbartt: Fall 2011: Gold breakout season? (Sept 16)

Julian Phillips: Effects of a major banking crisis on gold price (Sept 16)

(new) Class Action Complaint against JP Morgan (Sept 12)

Vlogs

Yeeeeah! Brother Jim read my comment! (10:05)

Jim Comiskey: Daily market insights - Metals futures (Sept 16)

SilverCircleMovie: Guest John Schaffer (Sept 16)

reason.tv: Peter Schiff on dismal future of US economy (Sept 16)

BrotherJohnF: Silver update - Correction (Sept 16)

Hit the Bid: Friday is huge (Sept 16)

drutter: Burning Man 2011 (first half) (Sept 16)

ScrapGoldBusiness: Gun and ammo sales go ballistic! (Sept 16)

Casey Research: American Debt Crisis - After Hours (Sept 16)

(new) Alex Jones: USB rogue trader, guest Max Keiser (Sept 15)

(new) Alex Schaefer: Protest (July 1)

Audio

King World News: Weekly metals wrap (Sept 17)

Peter Schiff Radio (Sept 16)

King World News: Guest Stephen Leeb (Sept 15)

King World News: Guest Michael Pento (Sept 15)

Kerry Lutz: Guest Robert Ian (Sept 15)

Financial Survival: Guest Bob Chapman (Sept 15)

Blog commentary

DarkPurpleHaze: Fried eggs (Sept 16)

> I agree with DPH that whatever Bernanke unveils next week, China will not be happy. If it's a bigass, unprecedented QE bomb, China will counter accordingly. In other words, timing is key in the paper trade. Price matters. Obsessing over price action? Unnecessary. I'm sticking to price levels no matter what the yakkers say on TV.

spiral_eyes: Shouldn't we be thanking Blythe? (Sept 16)

Economical Disaster: We are fast approaching... (Sept 16)

Mainstream

(new) International Business Times: Facebook teams up with Twitter (Sept 18)

(video) International Business Times: Gold, silver end week with strong gains (Sept 16)

(video) CNBC: Fallout from Euro solution delay? (Sept 16)

(video) Reuters: Nasdaq posts best week in 2 years (Sept 16)

(video) Fox: Peter Schiff - Fined for hiring too many people (Sept 16)

CNBC: Euro collapse could lead to war: Polish FinMin (Sept 16)

Reuters: China sets national gold standard (Sept 16)

Euronews: Strauss-Kahn to give TV interview on Sunday (Sept 16)

Bloomberg: Goldman Sachs shuts Global Alpha Fund (Sept 16)

The Telegraph: China to 'liquidate' US Treasuries, not dollars (Sept 15)

BBC: Central banks act as economy hits 'dangerous new phase' (Sept 15)

(video) CNBC: UBS: Lehman-type credit crisis unlikely (Sept 15)

(video) CNBC: Credit markets waving a red flag? (Sept 15)

Metal bling

BullionCatalogue: Silver - Australian Koala - 2011 - Berlin Privy - 1 oz (Sept 16)

BullionCatalogue: Silver - Australian Koala - 2011 - 1 oz (Sept 16)

US Mint: ATB 5-oz silver coin on sale Sept 22 (Sept 16)

> They've raised the per-household limit to 5 coins from 1. Is US Mint concerned that silver price may decline soon?

Eye candy

Alex Schaefer: Pasadena plein air (Sept 13)

PanicPoints: Tatiana Swidin Miss Reef Peru (Mar 5)

CHV: Miss Reef show it all (Nov 30 2010)

atatakech: Miss Reef Bikini 2010 (Oct 23 2010)

Reef Entertainment: 2011 Miss Reef Calendar (Sept 30 2010)

> Filmed in Panama

PanicPoints: Romina Cisneros at Miss Reef (July 18 2010)

Reef Entertainment: 2010 Miss Reef Calendar Spot #3 (Jan 26 2010)

> Filmed in Brazil

Reef Entertainment: 2010 Miss Reef Calendar Spot #2 (Jan 26 2010)

> Filmed in Brazil

NFL yadayada

dereksdiary: First-round QBs not starting this weekend (Sept 16)

Bankster art

3-year, weekly

SCGLY

BAC

AIG

JPM