Loyalty to Country
With our MWM quarterly client call yesterday and this author’s in-laws visiting for the long Memorial Day holiday weekend, this HAI will just offer weekly prices and some Memorial Day commentary.
To mesh the significance of Memorial Day with our running market/economic theme, HAI will honor fallen American heroes with some timeless quotes and a profoundly sincere hope for the future.
HAI favorite economist Ludwig von Mises had a way of simplifying the complex, and harnessing the essence of what is most essential. Discussing the economic foundations of freedom, he observed that, “The freedom that the market economy grants to the individual is not merely ‘economic’ as distinguished from some other kind of freedom. It implies the freedom to determine also all those issues that are considered as moral, spiritual, and intellectual.”
That’s why, when speaking of the United States of America, Mark Twain hit center bullseye when he urged, “Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
As citizens, we honor those American heroes who gave their lives for this country this weekend. HAI asks that government officials honor the ultimate sacrifice of those fallen American heroes by similarly prioritizing their country over politics and themselves.
As the Gipper put it, “if words cannot repay the debt we owe these men, surely with our actions we must strive to keep faith with them and with the vision that led them to battle and to final sacrifice.”
This weekend, let’s honor our fallen heroes, and with our actions strive to keep faith with them and with the vision that led them to battle and to final sacrifice. If we do, we can all have profound hope for “a more perfect union.”
Weekly performance: The S&P 500 was nearly flat, up 0.03%. Gold was off 3.43%, silver was down 2.43%, platinum was lower by 4.72%, and palladium was off 4.04%. The HUI gold miners index was lower by 3.73%. The IFRA iShares US Infrastructure ETF was down 1.00%. Energy commodities were, again, volatile and mixed on the week. WTI crude oil was down 2.34%, while natural gas jumped 5.60%. The CRB Commodity Index was nearly flat, up 0.18%. Copper got smacked down 5.87%. The Dow Jones US Specialty Real Estate Investment Trust Index was down 3.59%. The Vanguard Utilities ETF was down 1.34%. The dollar index was up 0.30% to close the week at 104.64. The yield on the 10-yr U.S. Treasury was up 4 bps to close at 4.47%.
Have a wonderful long weekend!
Best Regards,
Morgan Lewis
Investment Strategist & Co-Portfolio Manager
MWM LLC
