Rick Ackerman

As much as Democrats enjoy wagging their fingers at all of us racists, homophobes and climate-changers, their first love, borne of longstanding political tradition, is kicking fallen bankers in the nuts. It doesn't hurt that in the eyes of the Democrats and America's flourishing grievance industry, many of the perps happen to be privileged white men. Wells Fargo's bankers in particular have been bludgeoned worse than a pinata at a Cinco de Mayo party, and last summer they paid $575 million to end investigations by 50 states and the District of Columbia. What did they do to deserve this shakedown? I can answer that question from personal experience, since I was one of the alleged victims. I came to possess about a dozen accounts at Wells, including business and personal checking, credit and debit cards attached to each, assorted savings accounts and related plastic. I didn’t need so many accounts, but Wells cheerfully opened them for me anyway over a period of several years, ostensibly so that I could enjoy all the features and privileges associated with each. The Lawyers Score Again! Eventually I was inundated by credit/debit cards, pin numbers and monthly statements showing little or no activity. I brought all of the cards into the bank one day and asked them to purge as many as possible. This they dutifully did, and that was the end of the story, at least for me. But it was just the beginning for a plague of tort lawyers and grandstanding politicians like Sen. Elizabeth Warren. They did a number on Wells with repercussions that have continued to this day despite the $575 million extortion payment.  Most recently, Wells' CEO resigned -- the second to quit in the last two-and-a-half years. He was not under a cloud of scandal, just a capable,

Considering the dour outlook for Q1 earnings, the stock market's exuberant run-up over the last month feels like Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade: "Into the valley of Death rode the 600...'  And yet, we know from watching the shares of Boeing, Apple (see chart inset) and Facebook climb vertically into an avalanche of negative news concerning them that Wall Street's '600' really don't give a damn about the news, or even about 'fundamentals'.  Earnings are expected to come in around 4.5% lower than a year earlier, and this will be the first quarter in three years with negative earnings growth. Bank-stock profits in particular have come under pressure because of the yield curve's flatness, and financial shares are therefore likely to be laggards if the broad  averages continue higher on vague emanations of possible Fed easing.  This amounts to glue-sniffing, and although the habit will kill you, or at least your brain eventually, at the time you are doing it, it probably seems like a small price to pay for a good high.

It's been so long since I've changed the marquee for this oftentimes dud that the modest, five-day rally warrants a few words of encouragement. It projects to 33.56, and although I'm wary of serving up any 'D' rally targets in gold with the near-certitude that is sometimes possible in other vehicles, this target looks very likely to be reached.  It is mainly a case of bulls impaling the midpoint resistance, in this case 32.07; then they closed GDXJ above it for good measure.  Considering the stellar 'technicals,' bulls can hardly miss, right? Whether they have the gumption to achieve 36.35, the Hidden Pivot target of a larger pattern, is another story, but a close above the 33.56 pivot would be a constructive step toward that end. _______ UPDATE (Apr 14, 12:12 p.m.): As we have come to expect, gold is having excruciating difficulty getting airborne. The 36.35 target remains theoretically valid nonetheless, but not if 30.57 is exceeded to the downside. For now, I'll recommend remaining discouraged. _______ UPDATE (Apr 16, 6:12 p.m.): Time to say "Sayonara!" In search of support, GDXJ is about to fall to at least 29.26, where a technically significant low was recorded in late January.

My recent commentary on the catastrophic debt deflation that lies ahead drew the usual sniper fire, all of it from dreamy inflationists who didn't address a single point I'd made. Each had his own theories about why (hyper)inflation rather than deflation is more likely to do us in, but none was even logical, let alone persuasive. I'm still waiting to hear some good arguments, so text away. If you want to add your two cents' worth, please explain how the upcoming Great Pension Bust can be dealt with in a way that would be inflationary. And bonus points to anyone who can explain how digital helicopter money will be used to reinflate the financial/credit system when the byzantine clearing network that supports plastic money lies in smoldering ruin. A daisy chain, it currently operates solely on misplaced trust -- trust that will vanish the instant the banks fail to open (and even less trustworthy at that point would be block-chain money.)

It's clear that no matter how damaging the news, Boeing's institutional sponsors will continue to do whatever it takes to levitate the stock. Remarkably, BA has rallied 10% into an onslaught of headlines concerning the aircraft manufacturer's apparent negligence in two 737 collisions that killed 346 people. Will China or some other countries cancel their orders for the 737 Max as a result? Will lawsuits ultimately cost the company many billions of dollars? If so, investors have been acting like they don't care. But let's see if they can get past the 402.67 resistance shown in the chart.  It poses a formidable obstacle to the manipulation of the stock, even by the biggest institutional players in the securities world. If they are able exceed this 'Hidden Pivot', closing for two consecutive days above it, we would have to concede that BA's cool, canny handlers are capable of challenging the all-time high at 446.01 recorded on March 1. _______ UPDATE (April 8, 6:55 a.m. ET): The stock has fallen 4.5% overnight -- not in remorse over all of those deaths, but because Boeing announced it would cut 737 Max production by 20%. Expect the stock to recover, since this will have no impact on the predictability of earnings, the single most important factor in institutional buyers' love affair with Boeing._______ UPDATE (Apr 9, 8:49 p.m.): Boeing's run of bad news is challenging the stock's mighty sponsors mightily. Even sleazeballs who happen to be Masters of the Universe can only do so much to prop up the stock when news of a 737 production cutback follows headlines concerning the crash. It's so very nice to see them in the same position Mel Gibson's William Wallace found himself at the end of Braveheart. Unlike him, though, they'll figure a way out._______ UPDATE (Apr

It's clear that no matter how damaging the news, Boeing's institutional sponsors will continue to do whatever it takes to levitate the stock. Remarkably, BA has rallied 10% into an onslaught of headlines concerning the aircraft manufacturer's apparent negligence in two 737 collisions that killed 346 people. Will China or some other countries cancel their orders for the 737 Max as a result? Will lawsuits ultimately cost the company many billions of dollars? If so, investors have been acting like they don't care. But let's see if they can get past the 402.67 resistance shown in the chart.  It poses a formidable obstacle to the manipulation of the stock, even by the biggest players. If they are able exceed this 'Hidden Pivot', closing for two consecutive days above it, we would have to concede that BA's cool handlers are capable of challenging the all-time high at 446.01 recorded on March 1.

The futures slightly exceeded the secondary pivot of the pattern shown, implying odds are good for a follow-through to the pattern's 2927.25 target. This is slightly lower than the 2929.00 target given here earlier and comes from using one-off A=2727.50 rather than the original 'marquee' A at 2726.50. The adjustment is small, but I wanted to provide a very accurate target in case you want to reverse a long position and go short there with an extremely tight stop-loss. I am recommending this only if you've made money on the way up, since the pattern looks too obvious to offer an easy-money reversal._______ UPDATE (Apr 8, 5:06 p.m. ET): Since this is The Bull Market That Wouldn't Die, we should always keep a higher target in mind in case the one we're using gets creamed. In this case, I'll suggest using the 2969.25 Hidden Pivot shown in this chart.  I am also revising the target flagged above back to 2929.00 for reasons that I won't bore you with.

Bulls and bears appear to be equally enfeebled and lacking in conviction. How else to explain why the futures spent the entire week screwing the pooch near the 1296.80 Hidden Pivot support of the pattern shown? It has been violated sufficiently to tip the odds in favor of a fall to the 1262.70 target, or at least to p2=1279.70. But we won't presume to know how things will turn out until one side or the other makes a decisive move. For now, we'll regard the stalemate as the Battle of the Dwarves. _______ UPDATE (Apr 8, 5:16 p.m.): A rally to the green line (click here for chart) would trigger a 'mechanical' short. I am not recommending the trade, however, unless you can initiate it using a 'camouflage' set-up that would cut the initial risk of $2700 per contract down to $80 or less theoretical.  My skittishness is out of deference to the fact that gold has been playing nasty little games with bulls and bears alike, screwing with their heads at every peak and trough.  In this case, the set-up for the mechanical short is so pretty that it tips me bullish, with mild expectations of a thrust exceeding the 1330.80 peak made on 3/25.

TSLA got sacked last week on news that Model 3 deliveries fell far short of expectations. Incredibly, the stock's 12% plunge did not negate a 'counterintuitive' buy signal tripped a week ago on the hourly chart at 286.19. It's tied to a minimum upside projection of 317.91 and a maximum of 381.36. I expect these upside targets to be negated when TSLA falls beneath 254.46. However, that wouldn't necessarily portend disaster, since a Hidden Pivot support at 242.44 is there to provide at least a temporary backstop. The stock has been swinging violently within a huge range for two years, and this seems likely to continue -- with a long-term bullish bias, unless the company goes bankrupt. The fact the TSLA hasn't crashed is testimony to Musk's entrepreneurship and charisma. The regulators may not like the guy, but in the business world even when he makes big mistakes he is a man to be reckoned with._______ UPDATE (Apr 11, 11:30 p.m.): The stock feels heavy. If it falls and a midpoint pivot at 264.71 gives way, that would be telegraphing more downside most immediately to as low as 248.25. ________ UPDATE (Apr 15, 10:16  p.m.): No change in the downside targets given above, but today's swoon has made a further rally to X=272.93 a 'mechanical' short, stop 281.17.  _______ UPDATE (Apr 16, 6:24 p.m.): The short triggered.  If you did the trade, please let me know in the chat room so that I can establish a tracking position if warranted. In any event, half should be covered on a fall to 264.71.