ou could just boil it all down to 'hope for the best but prepare for the worst.' But that tends to squeeze out the notion of differentiation.

I suspect forward earnings are going to be a bit grim, no matter what else may happen in our financial Disneyland, and what fabulous tales that chief investment strategists and their spokesmodel sock puppets might pour forth.

But we will still get soaring rallies on some transient piece of data, and some altered perception of what the Fed may or may not be doing to promote or sustain another financial bubble.

So we can expect volatility and much of it may not make sense, but against a fairly mediocre background.

We are in the aftermath of another financial asset bubble again. Third time since 2000.

Stocks traded weakly again today.

Gold and silver rallied hard early on, but then fell back during the daily grind, but still managed to hold on to some of their gains.

Gold is stuck in an obvious range, and it could be a potential bear flag. It depends on how it breaks.

No one of us can really predict it, but we can calculate how to tell what is happening and what our reaction ought to be to it.

Or we can just throw down and gamble. And there is a place for that, albeit a measured one, if you want to stay in the nicer neighborhoods.

 Most people lie to themselves, which is a complicating factor.

This will be a quiet week.

January could be quite telling for 2023.

Have a pleasant evening.

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