Morning Note: Forgive Me My Cynicism

“We definitely need another round of stimulus here, not only for confidence for the American public and workers, but also for the markets,” Michelle Connell, the owner and president of Portia Capital Management, said on Bloomberg Television. “Going into this election, that would definitely help.”

Allow me to tweak that statement just a bit to capture the fundamental belief that guides the powers-that-"stimulate"- in today's top-down, big-government world:

"We definitely need another round of stimulus for the markets. If we can hold the markets up (keep them from actually clearing) we'll maintain the delusion that all's well and people will keep spending away. Otherwise markets will begin reflecting reality (dropping precipitously) and folks will pull in, exercise prudence, pay off debt, save their money, and recovery will be historically slow and painful."

Please forgive me my cynicism...

I.e., in "today's world" there's no tolerance for market pain (short-term or otherwise). Long-term gain be damned! Question being, can it ever end well? 

Well, the plan is for "it" to never end. The plan is to literally stamp out the business cycle. 

So we'll see...

Asian equities leaned lower overnight, with 10 of the 16 markets we track closing in the red. Same for Europe so far this morning, with 13 of the 19 bourses we follow trading down (albeit barely). U.S. equities are, let's say, hesitant, early in today's session: Dow down 45 points (-0.16%), S&P 500 flat (+0.02%), Nasdaq flat +0.03%), Russell 2000 down -0.73%.

The VIX (SP500 implied volatility) is up 0.80%. VXN (Nasdaq vol) is up 1.76%.

Oil futures are down -1.60%, gold's up 0.36%, silver's up 1.61%, copper futures are down -0.55% and the ag complex is up 0.08%.

The 10-year treasury is trading higher (yield lower) and the dollar continues to decline into the week, -0.40%.

Our core portfolio, lifted by silver, healthcare, Eurozone equities, utilities and gold, and weighed down by energy, banks, financials, base metals and the yen, is essentially flat (+.06%), as I type. 

In our upcoming weekly message we'll delve into the 2021-on inflation debate and highlight how we intend to prudently exploit the opportunities as they arise. 

Have a great day!

Marty