"What good is it, brethren, if someone claims to have faith but does not perform acts of love? Can this kind of faith save them? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks food, and one of you says to them, 'Go with God, keep warm and eat well,' but do not help them at all to receive what they need, what good is this? So also is faith, which if it does not flourish as acts of love and exists alone with itself, is dead."
James 2:14-16
“Reality denied comes back to haunt.”
Philip K. Dick, Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
"The seed sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and receives it in faith with joy. But their faith takes no root in their daily lives and actions, and does not endure. When personal sacrifice or persecution come because of the Word, they quickly fall away. And the seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word and takes it into their hearts, but the struggles of material things and the seductiveness of money choke their faith, so it produces nothing, no fruits."
Matthew 13:20-22
"Through the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
With patience He stands waiting, with exactness He grinds all."
Friedrich von Logau, Sinngedichte
“It is better to be a child of God than king of the whole world.”
Aloysius Gonzaga
Stocks were hammered down again today, going out near the lows.
Reckless capital meets mispriced risk, and is consumed.
This is not constructive for bully.
Stocks are falling hard, without a noticeable exogenous event.
Smells like a taper tantrum.
The major indices are at some 'must hold' levels if this is to be a correction, and not a rout.
As the old saying goes, 'as goes January, so goes the year.'
Gold and silver gave up some gains in the selloff, but managed to hold some impressive advances for the week, especially in the case of silver.
The Dollar drifted lower.
VIX rocketed higher.
FOMC next week.
Have a pleasant weekend.
