What about one dollarcome, found, but china, sure,
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时间：2017-04-24 01:22
inthisissue
"What 'da boyz' painted yesterday was a picture-perfect key reversal to the upside"
& Yesterday In Gold & Silver
The gold price got sold down the second that trading began in New York at 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday evening---and new low tick for this move down came at, or minutes after 9:00 a.m. Tokyo time, which was 8:00 a.m. in Hong Kong on their Monday morning.& But once that engineered sell-off was out of the way, the price rallied in fits and starts for the remainder of the Monday session---culminating in a vertical spike at 1 p.m. EDT.& That got dealt with instantly---and the gold price traded mostly flat for the remainder of the New York session.
The low and high tick were posted by the CME Group as $1,183.30 and $1,209.90 in the December contract.
Gold closed on Monday at $1,206.80 spot, up $16.10 from Friday's close---and considering the fact that there was such a huge swing in prices, net volume was only 143,000 contracts, which I consider to be reasonably light considering the price action.& Well over 30,000 of those contracts were traded before London opened.
Silver, of course, got smacked in the usual way at the open in New York on Sunday evening---and da boyz also took silver to a new low minutes after 8 a.m. Hong Kong time as well.& The price recovered a bit from there, but traded mostly flat until around 2 p.m. Hong Kong time---and an hour before London opened.& Then away it went to the upside, hitting its high price tick of the day in the New York Access Market about an hour before the 5:15 p.m. close of electronic trading.
The low and high prices were recorded as $16.66 and $17.36 in the December contract.
Silver finished the Monday session in New York at $17.35 spot, up 49 cents on the day---and about 70 cents off its low.& Like gold, net volume wasn't overly heavy considering the price action, as only 38,000 contracts were traded---and about a third of that traded before London opened.
Of course, platinum and palladium weren't spared, as the HFT boyz and their algorithms set new lows in both metals at the exact same time as gold and silver, in the very thinly traded Far East market on their Monday morning as their trading day started.& Platinum traded in a $63 price range in the January 2015 contract yesterday, with volume north of 23,000 contracts---and palladium traded a dime short of $34 in the December contract in its low/high price swing. & Platinum closed up $18---and palladium was up $7---impressive closes considering the depths that JPMorgan et al drove them at 8 a.m. Hong Kong time.& Here are the charts.
The dollar index closed at 86.65 in New York late on their Friday afternoon---and didn't do much of anything all morning long in Far East trading on their Monday.& But late during the Hong Kong lunch hour the index began to fade---and this phenomenon continued right up until the decline became far more serious in mid-afternoon trading in New York.& And at around 3:40 p.m. EDT the 85.70 low tick was in---as someone was there to catch the proverbial falling knife.& After that the index rallied a small handful of basis points into the close, finished the day at 85.77.
You'll carefully note that the simultaneous engineered price declines in all four precious metals had zero to do with what was going on in the currency markets at the time.& But the main stream press uses this old canard anytime they can---and its all such bulls hit.& This was a hardball in-your-face "up yours" run-the-sell-stops-across-the-board in all four---and da boyz didn't give a flying %&$# what anyone thought, as there was nobody out there to stop them, or raise a finger in protest.
Here's the 3-day chart starting at 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday afternoon---and running until 3:00 a.m. EDT this morning.
The gold stocks opened up on the day---and then chopped higher in a rather uninspiring way for the remainder of the New York trading session---and the HUI closed up 1.96%.
The chart for the silver equities was very similar to the gold chart, except that the silver shares dipped into negative territory for a brief period just before lunch EDT.& Nick Laird's Intraday Silver Sentiment Index closed up an even 2.00%.
The CME Daily Delivery Report showed that 7 gold and 77 silver contracts were posted for delivery within the Comex-approved depositories on Wednesday. & In silver, the only short/issuer was Jefferies.& They also stopped 36 of their own contracts---and Canada's Scotiabank stopped another 32 contracts. The link to yesterday's Issuers and Stoppers Report is .
The CME Preliminary Report for the Monday trading session showed that gold open interest in October dropped by 321 contracts---and there are now only 1,592 contracts left often.& Silver's October open interest sits at 287 contracts, down 4 contracts from Friday.
There were no reported changes in
yesterday, but
had a withdrawal of 862,936 troy ounces.
The U.S. Mint had a sales report yesterday---which I triple checked to make sure that I wasn't seeing things.& Their gold eagles sales exploded from the 5,000 troy ounces reported last Thursday, up to 18,000 troy ounces---and their 1-ounce 24K gold buffalo sales jumped from 2,500 troy ounces, up to 7,000 troy ounces.
Since they don't make this many gold bullion coins in one day, they were obviously bought from existing inventory---and probably by one buyer, as retail sales in North America are lacklustre at the moment---and that's being generous.& Silver eagle sales were more modest, as they reported selling 125,000 of them.& With the return of the 'mystery buyer' in silver eagles, I am more than sensitive to the fact that this 'mystery buyer' has now shown up in the gold bullion coin sales as well.& What do they know that we don't----yet?
There was a decent amount of gold reported received at the Comex-approved depositories on Friday, as 34,250 troy ounces were reported received by Canada's Scotiabank---and 4 kilobars were shipped out.& The link to that activity is .
Of course it should come as no surprise that it was another huge day in silver, as 998,783 troy ounces were reported received---and 444,116 troy ounces were shipped out the door.& The big action was at Brink's, Inc. and HSBC USA.& The link to that is .
I have quite a few charts for you today---and here are four of them---and I've posted two others in The Wrap section as well.
The first two shows the intraday average price movements of both gold and silver averaged out over all business days during the month of September---and as you can see, there's a definite pattern to the month.& The 'high' in gold---if you wish to dignify it with that name---came at noon in Hong Kong---and negative London bias began about 30 minutes before the London a.m. fix---with the engineered price decline continuing in New York after the 11 a.m. EDT London close---and with the bottom coming minutes after trading began in Hong Kong the following day.
The intraday silver chart for September looks almost identical to the intraday gold chart above, but the low tick in that metal came about an hour later.
The beauty of these charts is that it takes out all the daily 'noise'---and strips the background base price pattern bare for all to see.& With some exceptions, the 5-year intraday charts look very similar.& The negative 'London Bias' has become an almost permanent fixture on the gold scene for the last two generations, going all the way back to January 1975.& This is the real 'price fixing' mechanism.
The next chart shows the weekly withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange.& For the week ending September 26, it was 46.309 metric tonnes.& I have the Koos Jansen take on this in the Critical Reads section, but if you don't want to scroll down---it's linked .
The last of the four charts, also courtesy of Nick Laird, shows just how rotten the sentiment is in the precious metals at the moment, as Central Fund of Canada, which has been around for 53 years, is currently selling at -7.74% NAV---and is back to the premium it was selling for in 2001.& Buy with both hands, dear reader!
Since today is Tuesday, I have a lot of stories today---and I'm sure there are a few in here that you'll find worth your while.
& Critical Reads
The suddenly unstoppable U.S. dollar is posing a triple threat to American companies' profits: driving up the costs of doing business overseas, suppressing the value of non-U.S. sales and, perhaps most worryingly, signaling weak international demand.
The dollar has been on a tear, with an index tracking it against six other major currencies notching roughly an 8 percent gain since the end of June. Few analysts see its breakout performance stalling out anytime soon since the U.S. economy stands on much firmer footing than most others around the world, Europe's in particular.
For companies in the benchmark S&P 500, that's a big headwind because so many are multinationals, and as a group they derive almost half of their revenue from international markets.
No surprises in this Reuters story that was reposted on the
Internet site at 8:04 a.m. EDT on Sunday morning---and I thank Brian Farmer for today's first story.
American banks are loading up on U.S. government debt, a sign they remain cautious on the economy even with the jobless rate at a six-year low and corporations at their healthiest in a generation.
Commercial lenders increased their holdings of Treasuries and debt from federal agencies in September by $54 billion to an unprecedented $1.99 trillion, data from the Federal Reserve show. Banks have now been net buyers for 12 straight months.
Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. are among the lenders adding government bonds this year as loan growth fails to keep up with record deposits and banks prepare for rules that take effect in January requiring them to hold more high-quality assets. While companies in the Standard & Poor&s 500 Index are earning more than ever and carrying the lowest debt burdens in at least 24 years, the buying suggests that loan officers are less sanguine over the outlook for the U.S. economy.
This Bloomberg article, filed from New York, was posted on their website at 10:00 a.m. MDT yesterday morning---and I thank Howard Wiener for bringing it to our attention.
U.S. officials are far more concerned than they are publicly acknowledging about the gigantic cyberattack against JPMorgan that affected as many as 76 million households.
And they believe Russians with at least loose connections to the country's government are behind the attack, according to a new report from The New York Times.
JP Morgan revealed Thursday that as many as& 76 million households and 7 million small businesses may have had private data compromised in the breach, one of the largest and most serious into a U.S. corporation.
Data that may have been compromised in the breach include contact information and &internal JPMorgan Chase information& relating to the users, according to an& SEC filing&from the company.
If the Russians really want to bring JPMorgan to its knees, all they would have to do is announce that they were withdrawing their precious metals production from world markets until JPMorgan et al removed their presence from the Comex futures market.& That would pretty much do it.& This story appeared on the Business Insider website at 8:20 a.m. EDT on Saturday morning---and it was picked up by the
Internet site---and it's courtesy of Brad Robertson.
Author and economist Jim Rickards tells Erin how the CIA and U.S. government should prepare for financial warfare.
This 2:46 minute video clip showed up on the Russia Today website on Sunday---and is now posted over at the < Internet site.& It's worth watching---and I thank Harold Jacobsen for digging it up for us.
Hilton Worldwide is selling the Waldorf Astoria New York to Chinese insurance company Anbang Insurance Group Co. for $1.95 billion.
Hilton Worldwide will continue to manage the storied hotel for the next 100 years as part of an agreement with Anbang.
The Waldorf Astoria New York has restaurants including Peacock Alley, Bull and Bear Prime Steakhouse and Oscar's. The companies said Monday that the property will undergo a major renovation.&
In March 1893, millionaire William Waldorf Astor opened the 13-story Waldorf Hotel. The Astoria Hotel opened four years later. The Waldorf Astoria New York, on Park Avenue in Manhattan, opened in 1931, according to the company's website. At the time it was the largest hotel in the world. The hotel became an official New York City landmark in 1993.
This AP story showed up on the Times of India website at 7:43 p.m. IST on their Monday evening---and I thank reader M.A. for sharing it with us.
Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Britain&s largest mortgage provider, is poised to eliminate thousands of jobs in what may be the biggest round of cuts since at least 2011, a person familiar with the matter said.
The bank will shut branches as part of efforts to automate its entire business, with job cuts expected in areas such as mortgage processing and new account opening, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the strategy isn&t finalized. Some people may be able to assume new roles in the revamp instead of losing their jobs, the person said.
Lloyds Chief Executive Officer Antonio Horta-Osorio, 50, has been seeking ways to bolster earnings growth to help return the lender to full private ownership. The bank has eliminated more than 37,000 jobs in the aftermath of its government bailout in 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, with some 15,000 cuts announced in 2011 as part of an effort to lower costs by 1.5 billion pounds ($2.4 billion).
This Bloomberg offering, filed from London, showed up on their Internet site at 5:55 a.m. Denver time yesterday morning---and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for sending it our way.
So the truth comes out at last. The EU/IMF Troika & actually the ECB & compelled the Irish state to take on the vast liabilities of Anglo-Irish and other banks in the white heat of the financial crisis.
It threatened to pull the plug on ECB support for the Irish banking system, in breach of its own core duty to act as a lender-of-last resort, unless the Irish taxpayer took the full losses.
This protected bondholders from their condign fate, even though these creditors were fully complicit in Ireland&s credit bubble. Indeed, they helped to cause it, along with the ECB&s ultra-loose monetary policy and negative real rates (set for German needs) during the boom. Even the riskiest tranches of junior bank debt were deemed off limits.
Working class youths in Cork, Limerick, and Dublin will have to service a very high public debt -- currently 124pc of GDP, up from 25pc in 2007 -- for a very long time.
This very interesting, but not surprising news showed up under Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's banner a The Telegraph last Friday---and it's the first contribution of the day from Roy Stephens.& It's definitely worth reading.
The eurozone is doomed to a decade or more of economic stagnation and civil unrest that could destroy the single currency if countries such as France do not implement vital reforms, according to one of Europe&s most influential economists.
Hans-Werner Sinn, the president of Germany&s Ifo Institute for Economic Research think-tank, said policymakers would continue to misuse capital to finance the higher living standards unlocked by joining the euro, while dragging their heels on reform.
&My prediction is not that the euro will fall apart, but that it leads to a stagnation and animosity even more than we see today among the people of Europe,& he said. &You see this very strongly in southern Europe, where people face this mass unemployment, in France, where Marine le Pen in the polls has the strongest party and with Syriza in Greece which is presenting radical decisions and has the most support in the polls.&
In an interview with The Telegraph, Mr Sinn also warned that while the Ukrainian crisis would hit German growth, the pain for its neighbours, many of which rely on Europe's largest economy, would be more severe.
This article was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site at 3 p.m. BST on Saturday---and it's the second story in a row from Roy Stephens.
Ever since Matteo Renzi became Italy's new prime minister, officials in Berlin and Brussels have had new found belief that Italy's deep-seated economic problems are being tackled. But that won't happen until the country stops deceiving itself.
After Berlusconi was sidelined and the boring Enrico Letta was replaced by the sympathetic and purposeful 39-year-old Matteo Renzi as the head of government, many thought that Italy was finally on the right track. But it's not.
On the contrary: The land is stuck in a recession. Its levels of sovereign debt, the number of bankruptcies and the rate of unemployment are perpetually setting new records. As a result, some Italian political leaders have long sought a multi-billion euro growth stimulus program -- a call that new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is likely to heed. The magnitude and form of such a program, however, still needs to be determined so that it at least maintains the illusion of conforming with the Stability and Growth Pact.
But without many other changes in Italy, including its grasp on reality, simply injecting money isn't likely to change much. &For 20 years,& economic expert Daniel Gros told La Repubblica newspaper recently, Italy has been claiming that others need to &give it another year, then you will see our wonderful reforms.&
This commentary, with is certainly worth reading as well, showed up on the German website spiegel.de at 5:42 p.m. Europe time yesterday---and I thank Roy Stephens for sending it.
The clarification of the eurozone&s plans regarding Greece did not come from the usual political channels, from Brussels or from one European capital or another. It came instead from the head of the Eurosystem, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. The ECB chief stressed that for Greek banks to be included in the two-year program for boosting liquidity via the purchase of asset-backed securities and covered bonds, the country must be the subject of a bailout program or under some form of supervision.
It is clear that the preconditions set by the ECB are in concert with what both Brussels and Berlin want in terms of the degree of freedom that this or any ensuing Greek government may have when forging and implementing economic and social policy, as well as when drawing up a new growth model. Greece&s partners and creditors obviously still lack faith in the country, despite the progress it has made in implementing a tough fiscal adjustment program over the past four years and more. Greece will remain in the Eurosystem, according to the partners& plans, but its inflows, from banks and from the European Community, will be strictly monitored and limited to the extent that the country will still be allowed to function but will not really be able to bounce back, at least in the short term.
This news item appeared on the Greek website < at 1:36 p.m. Europe time on Saturday---and I thank Harry Grant for finding it for us.& There was a similar Zero Hedge story about this---and it's headlined &&.& It was posted on their Internet site at 2:24 p.m. on Saturday as well---and it's also courtesy of Harry Grant.
Former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said Sunday he was prepared to take &all risks& to form a government after exit polls indicated his party had finished far ahead of its rivals but well short of a majority in parliamentary elections.
Borisov&s main rival, the Socialists, conceded as their spokesman, Atanas Merdzhanov, said the party suffered a &heavy defeat.&
The Alpha Research exit poll said Borisov&s GERB party won 33 percent of the votes, with the Socialists at 16.5 percent. An exit poll by Gallup International had Borisov&s party with 34 percent and the Socialists with 16 percent.
Official results are expected Monday.
One wonders what will be the fate of the strategic South Stream pipeline once the dust has settled.& This AP story, filed from , put in an appearance on the < Internet site on Sunday.& And I thank International Man senior editor, Nick Giambruno for passing it around.
The three-party gas protocol of Russia, Ukraine and the European Union is ready and Moscow is currently waiting for Kiev to answer, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Monday.
&A draft protocol to be signed by the three sides & Russia, the European Union and Ukraine & has been prepared. Currently, our joint proposal with the European Commission is being considered by the Ukrainian side. We are waiting for their answer,& the minister said.
&We have also discussed a price for future gas deliveries. The price is for six months, includes a discount of $100 [per 1,000 cubic meters] and stands at $385 per 1,000 cubic meters,& he continued.
The minister said that the three-way talks resumed on September 26, after a nearly three-month break, with an aim to resume gas deliveries to Ukraine and determine the mechanism of how the accumulated debt will be restructured and what funds will be used to repay it.
This news item showed up on the RIA Novosti website at 3:23 p.m. Moscow time on their Monday afternoon, which was 7:23 a.m. EDT.& It's the second story of the day from reader M.A.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk&s statement that $1.67 billion was transferred as part of the country's gas debt payment actually refers to the repayment of Eurobonds which Ukraine&s Naftogaz received under state guarantees, Russia&s Gazprom says.
Arseny Yatsenyuk made the statement live on-air on Ukraine's &First& TV channel, specifically stating that the recent payment was connected to &gas debt.&
&They [Russia] hoped that we will not pay off our gas debts. The day before yesterday, we paid every single penny of the [US$]1.67 billion debt,& Yatsenyuk stated.
But Gazprom spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov did not confirm receiving any money from Kiev, TASS reported. Kupriyanov added that he believes Ukraine&s prime minister was talking about Eurobonds.
This situation is getting more ridiculous all the time.& What's to figure out?& If the Ukraine pays its bills, it gets that gas---and if doesn't pay, it doesn't get the gas.& Business is business.& This article appeared on the Russia Today website at 1:11 a.m. Moscow time on their Friday morning---and my thanks go out to Roy Stephens for this.
If the Ukrainian authorities fail to agree a deal with Moscow on the renewal of gas shipments, this winter Ukraine will suffer a humanitarian catastrophe, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Bohuslav Sobotka said in an interview with the Czech news magazine Tyden, published on Monday.
&I find it extremely important that Russia and Ukraine agree on the renewal of gas shipments, for if it does not happen before the winter begins, we will witness a gigantic humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine,& Sobotka said.
According to Sobotka, the current crisis in Ukraine was caused, among other reasons by &how the Ukrainian authorities have behaved during the last 25 years, the kind of political leaders Ukraine has had, the levels of corruption and how huge the social inequality has become.&
On Monday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the terms of a deal on supplies of Russian natural gas to Ukraine should be acceptable for Kiev, but Ukraine still needs to pay its debts to Russia's energy giant Gazprom.
This RIA Novosti news item, also courtesy of Roy Stephens, appeared on their website at 9:30 p.m. yesterday evening Moscow time.
With ever louder chatter that the west will force Russia to exit the (E.U.-based) global currency messaging and interchange service that is SWIFT - essentially locking it out of transacting in &developed& currencies - and with correspondingly louder retorts by Russia that it is prepared and would welcome such a move as it would merely force it to abandon the petrodollar and align even closer with China, there was one entity whose take on the matter had been largely ignored. SWIFT itself.
Surprisingly, in a press release issued this morning,the member-owned cooperative, reveals that not only has it received &calls to disconnect institutions and entire countries from its network & most recently Israel and Russia&, but that it regrets &the pressure& as the &surrounding media speculation, both of which risk undermining the systemic character of the services that SWIFT provides its customers around the world.&
And if SWIFT has now gone so far as to distance itself from the source of such external &pressure& which needs no clarification, then surely the discord behind the SWIFT-ean scenes is far greater than meets any mainstream media eye.
This is a huge victory for Russia, as SWIFT had put its marker down here for all to see---and never again will it allow itself to be used as a political tool.& This Zero Hedge piece, courtesy of Manitoba reader U.M., falls into the must read category---and it was posted on their website at 9:39 a.m. EDT Monday morning.& I also received a Russia Today article on this, courtesy of Roy Stephens, and it's headlined &&.& It's worth skimming as well.
Bavaria&s entrepreneurs want Western sanctions against Russia to be lifted, said Dr. Eberhard Sasse, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Munich and Upper Bavaria.
Sasse told visitors to Russia's exhibition at an international property and investment trade fair in this German city on Monday, &We have about 9,000 members in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and we all want the sanctions against Russia to be lifted, enabling business relations between our countries to develop further.&
Sanctions as a foreign policy tool do not always produce the desired effect, Sasse said. &Sanctions create uncertainty in business prospects. This is a political tool and not a business tool,& he added.
This article showed up on the
Internet site at 8:20 p.m. Moscow time on their Monday evening---and it's also courtesy of Roy Stephens.
A secretive group of the world&s most powerful oil ministers will soon gather in Vienna to take arguably one of the most important decisions that could affect the still fragile world economy: whether to cut production of crude to defend prices at $100 per barrel, or keep open the spigots as winter looms among the biggest energy-consuming nations?
A sudden slump in the price of crude has exposed deep divisions within the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ahead of its final scheduled meeting of the year next month to decide on how much oil to pump.
Some members, led by Iran, have called for immediate action to stem the drop in oil prices, while the Arab sheikhdoms of the Gulf have so far argued that it could be another three months before it becomes clear whether the group should cut production for the first time since December 2008.
Crude oil prices, along with the prices of precious metals and copper, are 100 percent controlled by the gaming of the technical funds by JPMorgan et al in the Commercial category in the Comex paper market.& Until that changes---nothing changes.& This story put in an appearance on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site on Saturday at 10:50 a.m. BST---and I thank South African reader B.V. for sending it our way.
Good news is pouring in from plantations in Ivory Coast, the west African country is racking up record harvests for cocoa and cashew nuts of which it is a top global producer.
New policies aimed at &modernising agriculture& and &making it more competitive& are bearing fruit and at the same time providing a bigger income for farmers, said Siaka Coulibaly, the chief of staff to the agriculture minister.
At the beginning of October the government proudly announced a record cocoa crop for a market that has been boosted by growing demand for chocolate in Asia. Ivory Coast is the top producer with 35 percent of global cocoa output.
The 1.74 million tons of cocoa harvested in the
season beat the previous record of 1.51 million tons set in .
You don't read stories about the cocoa and cashew nut market very often, so when reader B.V. sent it my way, I though it might be of interest to some.& It was filed from , and posted on the < website out of Capetown, South Africa at 2:01 p.m. SAST on Sunday.
The Pakistani Taliban announced its allegiance to the Islamic State group on Saturday and ordered its jihadists to help the militants in their campaign to set up a global Islamic caliphate.
In a message to mark the Muslim holy festival of Eid al-Adha, the Pakistani Taliban said they fully supported the goals of the Islamic State group.
&Oh our brothers, we are proud of you in your victories. We are with you in your happiness and your sorrow,& Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said in a statement emailed to Reuters from an unknown location.
Islamic State militants already control large stretches of land across both Syria and Iraq but have recently begun making advances into South Asia, which has traditionally been dominated by local insurgencies against both the Pakistani and Afghan governments.
This news story appeared on the < Internet site on Sunday---and it's also courtesy of Roy Stephens.
The World Bank downgraded its growth estimates for developing East Asia citing moderation in China's economic expansion caused by structural reforms.
Developing East Asia is forecast to expand 6.9 percent this year and the next, the Washington-based lender said in its East Asia Pacific Economic Update, released Monday. In April, the bank projected 7.1 percent growth each for 2014 and 2015.
Excluding China, growth will pick up the next year as a gradual recovery in high-income economies boosts demand for exports from the region, the bank estimated. The growth in developing countries excluding China is expected to bottom out at 4.8 percent in 2014 before rising to 5.3 percent in 2015.
As the Chinese government seeks to put the economy on a more sustainable path with policies addressing financial vulnerabilities and structural constraints, the growth in the region will ease to 7.4 percent in 2014 and 7.2 percent next year.
This article appeared on the < Internet site at 1:42 a.m. EDT on Monday---and it's the third contribution of the day from Harry Grant.
A specter haunts the fast-aging &New American Century&: the possibility of a future Beijing-Moscow-Berlin strategic trade and commercial alliance. Let&s call it the BMB.
Its likelihood is being seriously discussed at the highest levels in Beijing and Moscow, and viewed with interest in Berlin, New Delhi, and Tehran. But don&t mention it inside Washington&s Beltway or at NATO headquarters in Brussels. There, the star of the show today and tomorrow is the new Osama bin Laden: Caliph Ibrahim, aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the elusive, self-appointed beheading prophet of a new mini-state and movement that has provided an acronym feast -- ISIS/ISIL/IS -- for hysterics in Washington and elsewhere.
No matter how often Washington remixes its Global War on Terror, however, the tectonic plates of Eurasian geopolitics continue to shift, and they&re not going to stop just because American elites&refuse to accept that their historically brief &unipolar moment& is on the wane.& For them, the closing of the era of &full spectrum dominance,& as the Pentagon likes to call it, is inconceivable.& After all, the necessity for the indispensable nation to control all space -- military, economic, cultural, cyber, and outer -- is little short of a religious doctrine.&&Exceptionalist missionaries don&t do equality. At best, they do &coalitions of the willing& like the one crammed with &over 40 countries& assembled to fight ISIS/ISIL/IS and either applauding (and plotting) from the sidelines or sending the odd plane or two toward Iraq or Syria.
This longish, but absolute must read essay by Pepe was posted on the < Internet site on Sunday---and the first person through the door was Manitoba reader U.M.
Rumors that North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has been deposed have heightened in intensity following a surprise trip by the country's No. 2 leader to visit South Korea.
Kim has not been seen publicly since September 4, and is reportedly suffering from gout, the &kings' malady& form of arthritis brought on by rich diet and sedentary lifestyle. He also reportedly underwent surgery for two broken ankles.
But according to some experts, his absence from the September meeting of the nation's rubber-stamp congress, the Supreme People's Assembly, is only the latest indication that something has gone seriously awry for the dictator.
The trip comes just days after Jang Jin Sung, a former counterintelligence official and high-ranking member of Kim Jong Il's regime, told fellow exiles in Netherlands that he believed recent events only added evidence that Kim was no longer in charge.
This very interesting UPI article, filed from Pyongyang, North Korea, was posted on their Internet site at 9:44 a.m. EDT yesterday morning---and it's the final offering of the day from Roy Stephens, for which I thank him.
It&s common at a bear market bottom that while people empirically understand the goods are on sale and they&re going to make money, that their recent experience has been so bad that they won&t allow themselves to reenter the market until they have confirmation from the market itself that it&s safe and attractive to do so.
It&s amusing to me that you point out Ned Goodman. I remember a speech that he gave at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada in 1999 basically saying that the pivot point was in, and the bear market was over.
I would suspect that Ned was within three or four months of being right. I don&t really consider Ned to be a market timer but what he is, is a 76-year-old guy who has been in resource markets for 50 years, and right now, people are saying to Ned with regards to his bullishness on the market that, &Well, Ned has been saying that for a year and a half. Why would anybody possibly listen to him?&
Well, how about the fact that he&s a self-made billionaire? That might be a reason. How about the fact that he was stupendously right in the
bull market? How about the fact that when he spun Dundee Corp. out of Corona in the early 90s bear market, the stock of Dundee went from $0.80 to $42 in the ensuing bull market?
This longish interview with Tekoa Da Silva appeared on the < Internet site on Monday.
As Martin Armstrong exclaimed, Obama is out of control.
According to <, Washington has said it will accelerate sanctions imposed against Harare in 2003, due to the Robert Mugabe-led government's closer ties with Russia over the US$3 billion Darwendale platinum project.
Herald columnist Nathaniel Manheru (who is thought to be Mugabe's spokesman), reported, Washington explained its expectations on Zimbabwe, namely that Zimbabwe was expected (read required) to support those sanctions by avoiding any association with companies sanctioned by the Americans and their Western allies, or their subsidiaries or affiliates.
Manheru said &it was ridiculous for the U.S. to refuse to lift sanctions against Harare and then demand support for its measures against Moscow... This is where I am tempted to tell the American government to go and hang, hang on a banana tree, bums up.&
This article showed up on the Zero Hedge website at 1:40 p.m. EDT yesterday---and I thank Nick Giambruno for his second offering in today's column.
India, the world's largest gold consumer, should target five-folds increase in gold jewellery exports to US$40 billion by 2020 from the current level of US$8 billion, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).
The country should also put to use about 22,000 tonnes of gold lying idle with households and temples and reduce its dependence on imports in the next five years, it said.
&Our vision for gold is that it should be put to work for the economy, creating jobs, developing skills, generating exports and revenues - an essential part of the financial, economic and social structure of the country,& WGC said in its Vision 2020 for the country.
WGC said that the country should meet 40 per cent of gold demand from its domestic stocks and the rest 60 per cent through imports and mining.
When the World Gold Council says that a program is in the best interests of India, you can be equally sure that it won't be in the best interests of its citizens.& This program just reeks of that.& This gold-related news item appeared on the Economic Times of India website at 5:56 p.m. IST on their Saturday afternoon---and my thanks go out to reader U.M. for sharing it with us.
Indian household, which has total holding of around 25,000 tonnes of gold, needs more gold refineries for monetising and attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector, according to industry experts.
&India's households have a total holding of around 25,000 tonnes of gold which needs to be monetised. Even if we target one per cent of gold for monetising, the quantity will come to around 250 tonnes which MMTC-PAMP cannot handle alone. Therefore, we need to have more world-class refineries through FDI investment in India,& MMTC-PAMP managing director Rajesh Khosla said at the two-day seminar organised by the India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA) here.
MMTC-PAMP is the first and the only London Bullion Markets Association accredited gold and silver refinery in the country. A joint venture between state-owned MMTC and Switzerland-based PAMP SA, has set up its refinery near Gurgaon.
This is another gold-related news item from the Economic Times of India, this one from early afternoon on Sunday IST.& It's the second story in a row from reader U.M.
It is the time to splurge in India, and when it comes to appeasing the Gods, no expense is spared. The country is in the midst of the
celebrations, where the ceremonial worship of the Mother Goddess is under way.
One of the most important festivals of India, the event is also an occasion for reunion and rejuvenation, and a celebration of traditional culture and customs.&
However, in most small lanes across the country, it is just an excuse for mainline jewellery brands to deck up some of the idols of the Goddess installed atop various small stages, or pandals.
And gold traders with an eye on the declining price of the metal might be hoping for an uptick in price as devotees& passions eat into global gold supplies.
This interesting article, filed from Mumbai, appeared on the < Internet site yesterday sometime---and it's three in a row from reader U.M.
Dhanteras, the first day of , is a day for celebrating wealth. Devotees light the first lamps of the festival of lights to welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, into their houses to bless them with fortune for the year ahead.
Usually falling between mid-October and mid-November, Diwali is one of the most important dates in the Indian calendar, and as they celebrate, Indians buy gold. Today, India is one of the largest markets for gold jewellery, which has a complex but central role in the country&s cultures.
In India, gold jewellery is a store of value, a symbol of wealth and status and a fundamental part of many rituals. In the last decade, 75 per cent of gold demand in India&has taken the form of jewellery. More than two-thirds of that demand comes from the country&s rural population, where a deep affinity for gold goes hand in hand with practical considerations of the portability and security of jewellery as an investment. This, in part, explains how India&s appetite for gold defies market conditions: despite a 400 per cent rise in the rupee gold price over the last decade, gold demand from Indian consumers continues to grow.
This must read story was posted on the World Gold Council's website, but there's no dateline, however, it's probably very recent.& There's some nice 'eye candy' in here, although the pictures are rather small.& I thank reader U.M. for her fourth contribution in a row to today's column.
The festival season in India has already kick-started with speck of positivism this year. Traders opted for further imports of gold on the enthusiasm of the festival buying. The September month figure for gold imports in India was shot up to 131 tons, a 110% increment from the August figure of 63 tons. &
Last year on September gold import saw a drastic reduction and came down to a mere 11tons due to the strict import restrictions. The Government of India had come out with the clear circular of 80:20 on August 14, 2013 that stated for every 100 tons import, one has to provide 20 tons for export purpose.
In the first eight months of 2014, India imported 418 tons of gold, which translates into average 50 tons a month. The sharp increase in import in September is indicating demand is coming back to market on account of marriage and festival and of course, comparably lower price of gold.& Gold has breached decisive support of $1200/oz in London. It appears now gold could easily come down to $1130/oz or lower level. Rupee has lost some ground against US dollar. That would remain deterrent to price fall of gold in local market. However, since gold is available at sub Rs.27,000/10gm and festival and marriage season is around, demand is expected to remain robust.
The above three paragraphs are all there is to this short story filed from
yesterday.& It was posted on the bullionbulletin.in website on Monday IST---and I'll be very happy if/when this rather enormous import number is confirmed elsewhere---and the sooner the better.& I thank reader U.M. for her final offering in today's column.
Gold researcher and GATA consultant Koos Jansen detailed on Saturday how a gold market analyst for Scotiabank has confirmed Jansen's interpretation of Chinese gold demand and the workings of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, concluding that Chinese demand is far greater than reported by the World Gold Council, and, crucially, that the People's Bank of China obtains its gold through other means, not through the exchange, signifying that Chinese demand is higher still.
The links to the Scotiabank analysis---and Jansen's commentary---were posted on the gata.org Internet site on the weekend.
Gold researcher and GATA consultant Koos Jansen reported that the latest figures from the Shanghai Gold Exchange show that Chinese gold demand remains strong. Jansen adds that while silver inventory on the Shanghai Futures Exchange has increased markedly after having been dramatically drawn down, silver remains scarce in Shanghai.
Jansen's report was posted on the < Internet site at 2:23 a.m. Singapore time on their Sunday morning---and I found 'all of the above' in a GATA release yesterday morning.& It's worth skimming.
If you want to know what China will do in the future, it's usually a good thing to look at its past.
Don't trust us --- listen to the late Chinese communist leader, Zhou Enlai. &Past experience, if not forgotten, is a guide to the future,& he said in 1972. He was talking about the relationship between China and Japan, but let's take another example, this time gold, which tumbled again to close the week at US$1,191 an ounce.
Keith Goode, probably Australia's most experienced gold analyst, now running his own outfit at Eagle Research, was struck by what the Chinese are doing in Shanghai.
This article that comments on my headline story in ---and was posted on <.au Internet site on Monday local time 'down under'.& The complete article is posted in the clear in another GATA release from yesterday.& It's worth your time as well.
Tocqueville Gold Fund manager John Hathaway's third-quarter letter to investors details how the fundamentals for a much stronger gold price remain in place, and he cites many of the developments to which GATA has called attention in recent weeks.
Hathaway's letter concludes: &We take comfort that our positive view of the future dollar gold price is shared by those who understand the difference between synthetic and physical metal and who regard the real substance as a matter of strategic imperative, not as a plaything for macro traders. We believe that China's negative assessment of the future prospects for the U.S. dollar is correct and that our investment strategy of investing in the shares of value-creating gold miners offers sensible and dynamic exposure to the inevitable repricing of gold in U.S. dollars.&
This copy of the report was posted on the gata.org Internet site on Saturday---and definitely falls into the must read category.
& The Funnies
Here are a couple of the Casey Research guys I met in San Antonio.& First is Nick Giambruno, the senior editor over at the < Internet site---and a really great guy.& It was my first attempt to take a full-body portrait with a 14mm super-wide angle lens.& Although it doesn't look it, Nick is only about 4 feet away from the lens in this shot, but because his right arm and leg is about 6 inches closer to the lens than his left ones, they appear bigger---and longer.& This close-up distortion is one of several reasons why you have to be careful when using an ultra-wide angle lenses for portrait work.& I wanted him to be close enough so his face would be recognizable, but also put his impressive environment in the shot as well---and keep the vertical lines as vertical as possible!& Note that everything in this photo is in sharp focus---no matter how close or how far away it is.& This photo is uncropped---and straight of the camera.
The second photo is of Marin 'Thumbs Up' Katusa, Casey Research's Chief Energy Investment Strategist.& This one was taken with a 300mm telephoto lens---and he was a good 25 meters away---so I had to crop it.& [Note the shallow depth-of-field with this lens.& Everything a few feet behind, or a few feet in front of Marin is out of focus.& Depth-of-field with this lens at this distance is less than a meter.] With the exception of most landscape shots, I know even before pressing the shutter button that almost any photo I take [and keep] will end of being cropped.& This is done for a very good reason, as you want the 'center of attention' in the photo to have maximum visual impact.
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& The Wrap
It wasn&t just gold and silver that slid in price this [past] week, as substantial declines were seen in all COMEX/NYMEX metals, including copper, platinum and palladium. In addition, the most important market of all, crude oil, slid to year-and-a-half price lows. Important round number price
gold ($1,200), silver ($17), copper ($3) and crude oil ($90). In platinum, not only was a round number ($1,300) level penetrated, the metal fell to five year lows and the weekly decline outdid silver&s decline on a percentage basis (thereby violating the unwritten COMEX law that silver always fall the most no matter what).
There is a common denominator behind the collective price declines [last] week and for only it isn&t the dollar or any other reason being offered. In fact, considering how many truly smart people follow the markets in general, it is somewhat disturbing that no one has offered the one true explanation for why gold, silver, copper, platinum, palladium and crude oil (and related energies) all fell in price this week---and over the past few months. The one answer is staring us in the face---and easily verified in government data on futures positioning. - : 04 October 2014
You pretty much have had to have been born on another planet not to recognize the massive and blatant engineered price declines in all four precious metals that occurred at 9 a.m. Tokyo time, or 8:00 a.m. in Hong Kong on their respective Monday mornings.& It's possible that this was the last swing for the fences by JPMorgan et al for this move down.& They pulled this stunt off when China was closed for its second
of the year.
From a technical point of view, what 'da boyz' painted yesterday was a picture-perfect
to the upside.& It was textbook in every way---and I'm sure they painted it for a very good reason, as they wished to leave no doubt in anyone's mind that the bottom was truly in.
But, since the HFT boyz and their algorithms can paint any chart pattern they so choose, I'll wait for further confirmation, fearing that this may turn out to be a
of some kind.& But, if I had to bet ten bucks at this juncture, I'd say that what we saw was the real deal---however one should never put anything past these crooks.
Here are the 6-month charts for all four precious metals---and all updated with yesterday's price/volume data.
Copper rallied back above the $3 mark---and WTI Crude is now back above $90 the barrel.
Here's the 6-month dollar index so you can see how it fared yesterday.& All of Friday's gains vanished.
And as I type this paragraph, the London open is about 85 minutes away.& With gold trading in China shut tight again today, I'm not reading too much into what's going on in the Far East markets at the moment on their Tuesday morning.& Gold is down a dollar or so, silver is back to unchanged---and both the other white metals are up 10 bucks each.& Gold volume is already over 15,000 contracts, which is pretty high for this time of day, but silver volume is in the 3,500 contract range, which isn't a lot.& The dollar index popped back over the 86.00 mark in morning trading in Hong Kong, but has since backed off---and is only up 12 basis points at the moment.
So, with the bottom for this move down safely behind us, touch wood, we'll have to wait and see what happens going forward.& Whatever transpires in the precious metals, plus copper and crude oil to the upside, will most certainly be hidden behind a rather vicious sell-off in the dollar index.
Here are the last two charts that Nick Laird sent our way yesterday.& They show the current levels of gold and silver inventories in all visible forms---and the striking dichotomy between what's happening in gold vs. what's happening in silver, is shown in all its mysterious detail.
And as I send today's column out the door at 4:55 a.m. EDT, I note that all four precious metals were rallying vigorously at the beginning of the London open as the dollar index rolled over to a new low, but all got capped to a certain extent just before 9 a.m. BST, as gentle hand lifted the dollar index from a 10 point loss to a 14 point gain as of this writing.& Gold volume is now a very chunky 38,000 contracts---and silver's volume is over 11,000 contracts, so it's obvious that even these tiny rallies are being met by waves of Comex paper by JPMorgan et al.
That's all I have for today, which is more than enough---and I'll be keenly interested in how the precious metal trading day unfolds in New York, because I'm underwhelmed with the current price action in London at the moment.
See you tomorrow.
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"What 'da boyz' painted yesterday was a picture-perfect key reversal to the upside"
& Yesterday In Gold & Silver
The gold price got sold down the second that trading began in New York at 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday evening---and new low tick for this move down came at, or minutes after 9:00 a.m. Tokyo time, which was 8:00 a.m. in Hong Kong on their Monday morning.& But once that engineered sell-off was out of the way, the price rallied in fits and starts for the remainder of the Monday session---culminating in a vertical spike at 1 p.m. EDT.& That got dealt with instantly---and the gold price traded mostly flat for the remainder of the New York session.
The low and high tick were posted by the CME Group as $1,183.30 and $1,209.90 in the December contract.
Gold closed on Monday at $1,206.80 spot, up $16.10 from Friday's close---and considering the fact that there was such a huge swing in prices, net volume was only 143,000 contracts, which I consider to be reasonably light considering the price action.& Well over 30,000 of those contracts were traded before London opened.
Silver, of course, got smacked in the usual way at the open in New York on Sunday evening---and da boyz also took silver to a new low minutes after 8 a.m. Hong Kong time as well.& The price recovered a bit from there, but traded mostly flat until around 2 p.m. Hong Kong time---and an hour before London opened.& Then away it went to the upside, hitting its high price tick of the day in the New York Access Market about an hour before the 5:15 p.m. close of electronic trading.
The low and high prices were recorded as $16.66 and $17.36 in the December contract.
Silver finished the Monday session in New York at $17.35 spot, up 49 cents on the day---and about 70 cents off its low.& Like gold, net volume wasn't overly heavy considering the price action, as only 38,000 contracts were traded---and about a third of that traded before London opened.
Of course, platinum and palladium weren't spared, as the HFT boyz and their algorithms set new lows in both metals at the exact same time as gold and silver, in the very thinly traded Far East market on their Monday morning as their trading day started.& Platinum traded in a $63 price range in the January 2015 contract yesterday, with volume north of 23,000 contracts---and palladium traded a dime short of $34 in the December contract in its low/high price swing. & Platinum closed up $18---and palladium was up $7---impressive closes considering the depths that JPMorgan et al drove them at 8 a.m. Hong Kong time.& Here are the charts.
The dollar index closed at 86.65 in New York late on their Friday afternoon---and didn't do much of anything all morning long in Far East trading on their Monday.& But late during the Hong Kong lunch hour the index began to fade---and this phenomenon continued right up until the decline became far more serious in mid-afternoon trading in New York.& And at around 3:40 p.m. EDT the 85.70 low tick was in---as someone was there to catch the proverbial falling knife.& After that the index rallied a small handful of basis points into the close, finished the day at 85.77.
You'll carefully note that the simultaneous engineered price declines in all four precious metals had zero to do with what was going on in the currency markets at the time.& But the main stream press uses this old canard anytime they can---and its all such bulls hit.& This was a hardball in-your-face "up yours" run-the-sell-stops-across-the-board in all four---and da boyz didn't give a flying %&$# what anyone thought, as there was nobody out there to stop them, or raise a finger in protest.
Here's the 3-day chart starting at 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday afternoon---and running until 3:00 a.m. EDT this morning.
The gold stocks opened up on the day---and then chopped higher in a rather uninspiring way for the remainder of the New York trading session---and the HUI closed up 1.96%.
The chart for the silver equities was very similar to the gold chart, except that the silver shares dipped into negative territory for a brief period just before lunch EDT.& Nick Laird's Intraday Silver Sentiment Index closed up an even 2.00%.
The CME Daily Delivery Report showed that 7 gold and 77 silver contracts were posted for delivery within the Comex-approved depositories on Wednesday. & In silver, the only short/issuer was Jefferies.& They also stopped 36 of their own contracts---and Canada's Scotiabank stopped another 32 contracts. The link to yesterday's Issuers and Stoppers Report is .
The CME Preliminary Report for the Monday trading session showed that gold open interest in October dropped by 321 contracts---and there are now only 1,592 contracts left often.& Silver's October open interest sits at 287 contracts, down 4 contracts from Friday.
There were no reported changes in
yesterday, but
had a withdrawal of 862,936 troy ounces.
The U.S. Mint had a sales report yesterday---which I triple checked to make sure that I wasn't seeing things.& Their gold eagles sales exploded from the 5,000 troy ounces reported last Thursday, up to 18,000 troy ounces---and their 1-ounce 24K gold buffalo sales jumped from 2,500 troy ounces, up to 7,000 troy ounces.
Since they don't make this many gold bullion coins in one day, they were obviously bought from existing inventory---and probably by one buyer, as retail sales in North America are lacklustre at the moment---and that's being generous.& Silver eagle sales were more modest, as they reported selling 125,000 of them.& With the return of the 'mystery buyer' in silver eagles, I am more than sensitive to the fact that this 'mystery buyer' has now shown up in the gold bullion coin sales as well.& What do they know that we don't----yet?
There was a decent amount of gold reported received at the Comex-approved depositories on Friday, as 34,250 troy ounces were reported received by Canada's Scotiabank---and 4 kilobars were shipped out.& The link to that activity is .
Of course it should come as no surprise that it was another huge day in silver, as 998,783 troy ounces were reported received---and 444,116 troy ounces were shipped out the door.& The big action was at Brink's, Inc. and HSBC USA.& The link to that is .
I have quite a few charts for you today---and here are four of them---and I've posted two others in The Wrap section as well.
The first two shows the intraday average price movements of both gold and silver averaged out over all business days during the month of September---and as you can see, there's a definite pattern to the month.& The 'high' in gold---if you wish to dignify it with that name---came at noon in Hong Kong---and negative London bias began about 30 minutes before the London a.m. fix---with the engineered price decline continuing in New York after the 11 a.m. EDT London close---and with the bottom coming minutes after trading began in Hong Kong the following day.
The intraday silver chart for September looks almost identical to the intraday gold chart above, but the low tick in that metal came about an hour later.
The beauty of these charts is that it takes out all the daily 'noise'---and strips the background base price pattern bare for all to see.& With some exceptions, the 5-year intraday charts look very similar.& The negative 'London Bias' has become an almost permanent fixture on the gold scene for the last two generations, going all the way back to January 1975.& This is the real 'price fixing' mechanism.
The next chart shows the weekly withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange.& For the week ending September 26, it was 46.309 metric tonnes.& I have the Koos Jansen take on this in the Critical Reads section, but if you don't want to scroll down---it's linked .
The last of the four charts, also courtesy of Nick Laird, shows just how rotten the sentiment is in the precious metals at the moment, as Central Fund of Canada, which has been around for 53 years, is currently selling at -7.74% NAV---and is back to the premium it was selling for in 2001.& Buy with both hands, dear reader!
Since today is Tuesday, I have a lot of stories today---and I'm sure there are a few in here that you'll find worth your while.
& Critical Reads
The suddenly unstoppable U.S. dollar is posing a triple threat to American companies' profits: driving up the costs of doing business overseas, suppressing the value of non-U.S. sales and, perhaps most worryingly, signaling weak international demand.
The dollar has been on a tear, with an index tracking it against six other major currencies notching roughly an 8 percent gain since the end of June. Few analysts see its breakout performance stalling out anytime soon since the U.S. economy stands on much firmer footing than most others around the world, Europe's in particular.
For companies in the benchmark S&P 500, that's a big headwind because so many are multinationals, and as a group they derive almost half of their revenue from international markets.
No surprises in this Reuters story that was reposted on the
Internet site at 8:04 a.m. EDT on Sunday morning---and I thank Brian Farmer for today's first story.
American banks are loading up on U.S. government debt, a sign they remain cautious on the economy even with the jobless rate at a six-year low and corporations at their healthiest in a generation.
Commercial lenders increased their holdings of Treasuries and debt from federal agencies in September by $54 billion to an unprecedented $1.99 trillion, data from the Federal Reserve show. Banks have now been net buyers for 12 straight months.
Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. are among the lenders adding government bonds this year as loan growth fails to keep up with record deposits and banks prepare for rules that take effect in January requiring them to hold more high-quality assets. While companies in the Standard & Poor&s 500 Index are earning more than ever and carrying the lowest debt burdens in at least 24 years, the buying suggests that loan officers are less sanguine over the outlook for the U.S. economy.
This Bloomberg article, filed from New York, was posted on their website at 10:00 a.m. MDT yesterday morning---and I thank Howard Wiener for bringing it to our attention.
U.S. officials are far more concerned than they are publicly acknowledging about the gigantic cyberattack against JPMorgan that affected as many as 76 million households.
And they believe Russians with at least loose connections to the country's government are behind the attack, according to a new report from The New York Times.
JP Morgan revealed Thursday that as many as& 76 million households and 7 million small businesses may have had private data compromised in the breach, one of the largest and most serious into a U.S. corporation.
Data that may have been compromised in the breach include contact information and &internal JPMorgan Chase information& relating to the users, according to an& SEC filing&from the company.
If the Russians really want to bring JPMorgan to its knees, all they would have to do is announce that they were withdrawing their precious metals production from world markets until JPMorgan et al removed their presence from the Comex futures market.& That would pretty much do it.& This story appeared on the Business Insider website at 8:20 a.m. EDT on Saturday morning---and it was picked up by the
Internet site---and it's courtesy of Brad Robertson.
Author and economist Jim Rickards tells Erin how the CIA and U.S. government should prepare for financial warfare.
This 2:46 minute video clip showed up on the Russia Today website on Sunday---and is now posted over at the < Internet site.& It's worth watching---and I thank Harold Jacobsen for digging it up for us.
Hilton Worldwide is selling the Waldorf Astoria New York to Chinese insurance company Anbang Insurance Group Co. for $1.95 billion.
Hilton Worldwide will continue to manage the storied hotel for the next 100 years as part of an agreement with Anbang.
The Waldorf Astoria New York has restaurants including Peacock Alley, Bull and Bear Prime Steakhouse and Oscar's. The companies said Monday that the property will undergo a major renovation.&
In March 1893, millionaire William Waldorf Astor opened the 13-story Waldorf Hotel. The Astoria Hotel opened four years later. The Waldorf Astoria New York, on Park Avenue in Manhattan, opened in 1931, according to the company's website. At the time it was the largest hotel in the world. The hotel became an official New York City landmark in 1993.
This AP story showed up on the Times of India website at 7:43 p.m. IST on their Monday evening---and I thank reader M.A. for sharing it with us.
Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Britain&s largest mortgage provider, is poised to eliminate thousands of jobs in what may be the biggest round of cuts since at least 2011, a person familiar with the matter said.
The bank will shut branches as part of efforts to automate its entire business, with job cuts expected in areas such as mortgage processing and new account opening, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the strategy isn&t finalized. Some people may be able to assume new roles in the revamp instead of losing their jobs, the person said.
Lloyds Chief Executive Officer Antonio Horta-Osorio, 50, has been seeking ways to bolster earnings growth to help return the lender to full private ownership. The bank has eliminated more than 37,000 jobs in the aftermath of its government bailout in 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, with some 15,000 cuts announced in 2011 as part of an effort to lower costs by 1.5 billion pounds ($2.4 billion).
This Bloomberg offering, filed from London, showed up on their Internet site at 5:55 a.m. Denver time yesterday morning---and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for sending it our way.
So the truth comes out at last. The EU/IMF Troika & actually the ECB & compelled the Irish state to take on the vast liabilities of Anglo-Irish and other banks in the white heat of the financial crisis.
It threatened to pull the plug on ECB support for the Irish banking system, in breach of its own core duty to act as a lender-of-last resort, unless the Irish taxpayer took the full losses.
This protected bondholders from their condign fate, even though these creditors were fully complicit in Ireland&s credit bubble. Indeed, they helped to cause it, along with the ECB&s ultra-loose monetary policy and negative real rates (set for German needs) during the boom. Even the riskiest tranches of junior bank debt were deemed off limits.
Working class youths in Cork, Limerick, and Dublin will have to service a very high public debt -- currently 124pc of GDP, up from 25pc in 2007 -- for a very long time.
This very interesting, but not surprising news showed up under Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's banner a The Telegraph last Friday---and it's the first contribution of the day from Roy Stephens.& It's definitely worth reading.
The eurozone is doomed to a decade or more of economic stagnation and civil unrest that could destroy the single currency if countries such as France do not implement vital reforms, according to one of Europe&s most influential economists.
Hans-Werner Sinn, the president of Germany&s Ifo Institute for Economic Research think-tank, said policymakers would continue to misuse capital to finance the higher living standards unlocked by joining the euro, while dragging their heels on reform.
&My prediction is not that the euro will fall apart, but that it leads to a stagnation and animosity even more than we see today among the people of Europe,& he said. &You see this very strongly in southern Europe, where people face this mass unemployment, in France, where Marine le Pen in the polls has the strongest party and with Syriza in Greece which is presenting radical decisions and has the most support in the polls.&
In an interview with The Telegraph, Mr Sinn also warned that while the Ukrainian crisis would hit German growth, the pain for its neighbours, many of which rely on Europe's largest economy, would be more severe.
This article was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site at 3 p.m. BST on Saturday---and it's the second story in a row from Roy Stephens.
Ever since Matteo Renzi became Italy's new prime minister, officials in Berlin and Brussels have had new found belief that Italy's deep-seated economic problems are being tackled. But that won't happen until the country stops deceiving itself.
After Berlusconi was sidelined and the boring Enrico Letta was replaced by the sympathetic and purposeful 39-year-old Matteo Renzi as the head of government, many thought that Italy was finally on the right track. But it's not.
On the contrary: The land is stuck in a recession. Its levels of sovereign debt, the number of bankruptcies and the rate of unemployment are perpetually setting new records. As a result, some Italian political leaders have long sought a multi-billion euro growth stimulus program -- a call that new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is likely to heed. The magnitude and form of such a program, however, still needs to be determined so that it at least maintains the illusion of conforming with the Stability and Growth Pact.
But without many other changes in Italy, including its grasp on reality, simply injecting money isn't likely to change much. &For 20 years,& economic expert Daniel Gros told La Repubblica newspaper recently, Italy has been claiming that others need to &give it another year, then you will see our wonderful reforms.&
This commentary, with is certainly worth reading as well, showed up on the German website spiegel.de at 5:42 p.m. Europe time yesterday---and I thank Roy Stephens for sending it.
The clarification of the eurozone&s plans regarding Greece did not come from the usual political channels, from Brussels or from one European capital or another. It came instead from the head of the Eurosystem, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. The ECB chief stressed that for Greek banks to be included in the two-year program for boosting liquidity via the purchase of asset-backed securities and covered bonds, the country must be the subject of a bailout program or under some form of supervision.
It is clear that the preconditions set by the ECB are in concert with what both Brussels and Berlin want in terms of the degree of freedom that this or any ensuing Greek government may have when forging and implementing economic and social policy, as well as when drawing up a new growth model. Greece&s partners and creditors obviously still lack faith in the country, despite the progress it has made in implementing a tough fiscal adjustment program over the past four years and more. Greece will remain in the Eurosystem, according to the partners& plans, but its inflows, from banks and from the European Community, will be strictly monitored and limited to the extent that the country will still be allowed to function but will not really be able to bounce back, at least in the short term.
This news item appeared on the Greek website < at 1:36 p.m. Europe time on Saturday---and I thank Harry Grant for finding it for us.& There was a similar Zero Hedge story about this---and it's headlined &&.& It was posted on their Internet site at 2:24 p.m. on Saturday as well---and it's also courtesy of Harry Grant.
Former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said Sunday he was prepared to take &all risks& to form a government after exit polls indicated his party had finished far ahead of its rivals but well short of a majority in parliamentary elections.
Borisov&s main rival, the Socialists, conceded as their spokesman, Atanas Merdzhanov, said the party suffered a &heavy defeat.&
The Alpha Research exit poll said Borisov&s GERB party won 33 percent of the votes, with the Socialists at 16.5 percent. An exit poll by Gallup International had Borisov&s party with 34 percent and the Socialists with 16 percent.
Official results are expected Monday.
One wonders what will be the fate of the strategic South Stream pipeline once the dust has settled.& This AP story, filed from , put in an appearance on the < Internet site on Sunday.& And I thank International Man senior editor, Nick Giambruno for passing it around.
The three-party gas protocol of Russia, Ukraine and the European Union is ready and Moscow is currently waiting for Kiev to answer, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Monday.
&A draft protocol to be signed by the three sides & Russia, the European Union and Ukraine & has been prepared. Currently, our joint proposal with the European Commission is being considered by the Ukrainian side. We are waiting for their answer,& the minister said.
&We have also discussed a price for future gas deliveries. The price is for six months, includes a discount of $100 [per 1,000 cubic meters] and stands at $385 per 1,000 cubic meters,& he continued.
The minister said that the three-way talks resumed on September 26, after a nearly three-month break, with an aim to resume gas deliveries to Ukraine and determine the mechanism of how the accumulated debt will be restructured and what funds will be used to repay it.
This news item showed up on the RIA Novosti website at 3:23 p.m. Moscow time on their Monday afternoon, which was 7:23 a.m. EDT.& It's the second story of the day from reader M.A.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk&s statement that $1.67 billion was transferred as part of the country's gas debt payment actually refers to the repayment of Eurobonds which Ukraine&s Naftogaz received under state guarantees, Russia&s Gazprom says.
Arseny Yatsenyuk made the statement live on-air on Ukraine's &First& TV channel, specifically stating that the recent payment was connected to &gas debt.&
&They [Russia] hoped that we will not pay off our gas debts. The day before yesterday, we paid every single penny of the [US$]1.67 billion debt,& Yatsenyuk stated.
But Gazprom spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov did not confirm receiving any money from Kiev, TASS reported. Kupriyanov added that he believes Ukraine&s prime minister was talking about Eurobonds.
This situation is getting more ridiculous all the time.& What's to figure out?& If the Ukraine pays its bills, it gets that gas---and if doesn't pay, it doesn't get the gas.& Business is business.& This article appeared on the Russia Today website at 1:11 a.m. Moscow time on their Friday morning---and my thanks go out to Roy Stephens for this.
If the Ukrainian authorities fail to agree a deal with Moscow on the renewal of gas shipments, this winter Ukraine will suffer a humanitarian catastrophe, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Bohuslav Sobotka said in an interview with the Czech news magazine Tyden, published on Monday.
&I find it extremely important that Russia and Ukraine agree on the renewal of gas shipments, for if it does not happen before the winter begins, we will witness a gigantic humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine,& Sobotka said.
According to Sobotka, the current crisis in Ukraine was caused, among other reasons by &how the Ukrainian authorities have behaved during the last 25 years, the kind of political leaders Ukraine has had, the levels of corruption and how huge the social inequality has become.&
On Monday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the terms of a deal on supplies of Russian natural gas to Ukraine should be acceptable for Kiev, but Ukraine still needs to pay its debts to Russia's energy giant Gazprom.
This RIA Novosti news item, also courtesy of Roy Stephens, appeared on their website at 9:30 p.m. yesterday evening Moscow time.
With ever louder chatter that the west will force Russia to exit the (E.U.-based) global currency messaging and interchange service that is SWIFT - essentially locking it out of transacting in &developed& currencies - and with correspondingly louder retorts by Russia that it is prepared and would welcome such a move as it would merely force it to abandon the petrodollar and align even closer with China, there was one entity whose take on the matter had been largely ignored. SWIFT itself.
Surprisingly, in a press release issued this morning,the member-owned cooperative, reveals that not only has it received &calls to disconnect institutions and entire countries from its network & most recently Israel and Russia&, but that it regrets &the pressure& as the &surrounding media speculation, both of which risk undermining the systemic character of the services that SWIFT provides its customers around the world.&
And if SWIFT has now gone so far as to distance itself from the source of such external &pressure& which needs no clarification, then surely the discord behind the SWIFT-ean scenes is far greater than meets any mainstream media eye.
This is a huge victory for Russia, as SWIFT had put its marker down here for all to see---and never again will it allow itself to be used as a political tool.& This Zero Hedge piece, courtesy of Manitoba reader U.M., falls into the must read category---and it was posted on their website at 9:39 a.m. EDT Monday morning.& I also received a Russia Today article on this, courtesy of Roy Stephens, and it's headlined &&.& It's worth skimming as well.
Bavaria&s entrepreneurs want Western sanctions against Russia to be lifted, said Dr. Eberhard Sasse, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Munich and Upper Bavaria.
Sasse told visitors to Russia's exhibition at an international property and investment trade fair in this German city on Monday, &We have about 9,000 members in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and we all want the sanctions against Russia to be lifted, enabling business relations between our countries to develop further.&
Sanctions as a foreign policy tool do not always produce the desired effect, Sasse said. &Sanctions create uncertainty in business prospects. This is a political tool and not a business tool,& he added.
This article showed up on the
Internet site at 8:20 p.m. Moscow time on their Monday evening---and it's also courtesy of Roy Stephens.
A secretive group of the world&s most powerful oil ministers will soon gather in Vienna to take arguably one of the most important decisions that could affect the still fragile world economy: whether to cut production of crude to defend prices at $100 per barrel, or keep open the spigots as winter looms among the biggest energy-consuming nations?
A sudden slump in the price of crude has exposed deep divisions within the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ahead of its final scheduled meeting of the year next month to decide on how much oil to pump.
Some members, led by Iran, have called for immediate action to stem the drop in oil prices, while the Arab sheikhdoms of the Gulf have so far argued that it could be another three months before it becomes clear whether the group should cut production for the first time since December 2008.
Crude oil prices, along with the prices of precious metals and copper, are 100 percent controlled by the gaming of the technical funds by JPMorgan et al in the Commercial category in the Comex paper market.& Until that changes---nothing changes.& This story put in an appearance on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site on Saturday at 10:50 a.m. BST---and I thank South African reader B.V. for sending it our way.
Good news is pouring in from plantations in Ivory Coast, the west African country is racking up record harvests for cocoa and cashew nuts of which it is a top global producer.
New policies aimed at &modernising agriculture& and &making it more competitive& are bearing fruit and at the same time providing a bigger income for farmers, said Siaka Coulibaly, the chief of staff to the agriculture minister.
At the beginning of October the government proudly announced a record cocoa crop for a market that has been boosted by growing demand for chocolate in Asia. Ivory Coast is the top producer with 35 percent of global cocoa output.
The 1.74 million tons of cocoa harvested in the
season beat the previous record of 1.51 million tons set in .
You don't read stories about the cocoa and cashew nut market very often, so when reader B.V. sent it my way, I though it might be of interest to some.& It was filed from , and posted on the < website out of Capetown, South Africa at 2:01 p.m. SAST on Sunday.
The Pakistani Taliban announced its allegiance to the Islamic State group on Saturday and ordered its jihadists to help the militants in their campaign to set up a global Islamic caliphate.
In a message to mark the Muslim holy festival of Eid al-Adha, the Pakistani Taliban said they fully supported the goals of the Islamic State group.
&Oh our brothers, we are proud of you in your victories. We are with you in your happiness and your sorrow,& Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said in a statement emailed to Reuters from an unknown location.
Islamic State militants already control large stretches of land across both Syria and Iraq but have recently begun making advances into South Asia, which has traditionally been dominated by local insurgencies against both the Pakistani and Afghan governments.
This news story appeared on the < Internet site on Sunday---and it's also courtesy of Roy Stephens.
The World Bank downgraded its growth estimates for developing East Asia citing moderation in China's economic expansion caused by structural reforms.
Developing East Asia is forecast to expand 6.9 percent this year and the next, the Washington-based lender said in its East Asia Pacific Economic Update, released Monday. In April, the bank projected 7.1 percent growth each for 2014 and 2015.
Excluding China, growth will pick up the next year as a gradual recovery in high-income economies boosts demand for exports from the region, the bank estimated. The growth in developing countries excluding China is expected to bottom out at 4.8 percent in 2014 before rising to 5.3 percent in 2015.
As the Chinese government seeks to put the economy on a more sustainable path with policies addressing financial vulnerabilities and structural constraints, the growth in the region will ease to 7.4 percent in 2014 and 7.2 percent next year.
This article appeared on the < Internet site at 1:42 a.m. EDT on Monday---and it's the third contribution of the day from Harry Grant.
A specter haunts the fast-aging &New American Century&: the possibility of a future Beijing-Moscow-Berlin strategic trade and commercial alliance. Let&s call it the BMB.
Its likelihood is being seriously discussed at the highest levels in Beijing and Moscow, and viewed with interest in Berlin, New Delhi, and Tehran. But don&t mention it inside Washington&s Beltway or at NATO headquarters in Brussels. There, the star of the show today and tomorrow is the new Osama bin Laden: Caliph Ibrahim, aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the elusive, self-appointed beheading prophet of a new mini-state and movement that has provided an acronym feast -- ISIS/ISIL/IS -- for hysterics in Washington and elsewhere.
No matter how often Washington remixes its Global War on Terror, however, the tectonic plates of Eurasian geopolitics continue to shift, and they&re not going to stop just because American elites&refuse to accept that their historically brief &unipolar moment& is on the wane.& For them, the closing of the era of &full spectrum dominance,& as the Pentagon likes to call it, is inconceivable.& After all, the necessity for the indispensable nation to control all space -- military, economic, cultural, cyber, and outer -- is little short of a religious doctrine.&&Exceptionalist missionaries don&t do equality. At best, they do &coalitions of the willing& like the one crammed with &over 40 countries& assembled to fight ISIS/ISIL/IS and either applauding (and plotting) from the sidelines or sending the odd plane or two toward Iraq or Syria.
This longish, but absolute must read essay by Pepe was posted on the < Internet site on Sunday---and the first person through the door was Manitoba reader U.M.
Rumors that North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has been deposed have heightened in intensity following a surprise trip by the country's No. 2 leader to visit South Korea.
Kim has not been seen publicly since September 4, and is reportedly suffering from gout, the &kings' malady& form of arthritis brought on by rich diet and sedentary lifestyle. He also reportedly underwent surgery for two broken ankles.
But according to some experts, his absence from the September meeting of the nation's rubber-stamp congress, the Supreme People's Assembly, is only the latest indication that something has gone seriously awry for the dictator.
The trip comes just days after Jang Jin Sung, a former counterintelligence official and high-ranking member of Kim Jong Il's regime, told fellow exiles in Netherlands that he believed recent events only added evidence that Kim was no longer in charge.
This very interesting UPI article, filed from Pyongyang, North Korea, was posted on their Internet site at 9:44 a.m. EDT yesterday morning---and it's the final offering of the day from Roy Stephens, for which I thank him.
It&s common at a bear market bottom that while people empirically understand the goods are on sale and they&re going to make money, that their recent experience has been so bad that they won&t allow themselves to reenter the market until they have confirmation from the market itself that it&s safe and attractive to do so.
It&s amusing to me that you point out Ned Goodman. I remember a speech that he gave at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada in 1999 basically saying that the pivot point was in, and the bear market was over.
I would suspect that Ned was within three or four months of being right. I don&t really consider Ned to be a market timer but what he is, is a 76-year-old guy who has been in resource markets for 50 years, and right now, people are saying to Ned with regards to his bullishness on the market that, &Well, Ned has been saying that for a year and a half. Why would anybody possibly listen to him?&
Well, how about the fact that he&s a self-made billionaire? That might be a reason. How about the fact that he was stupendously right in the
bull market? How about the fact that when he spun Dundee Corp. out of Corona in the early 90s bear market, the stock of Dundee went from $0.80 to $42 in the ensuing bull market?
This longish interview with Tekoa Da Silva appeared on the < Internet site on Monday.
As Martin Armstrong exclaimed, Obama is out of control.
According to <, Washington has said it will accelerate sanctions imposed against Harare in 2003, due to the Robert Mugabe-led government's closer ties with Russia over the US$3 billion Darwendale platinum project.
Herald columnist Nathaniel Manheru (who is thought to be Mugabe's spokesman), reported, Washington explained its expectations on Zimbabwe, namely that Zimbabwe was expected (read required) to support those sanctions by avoiding any association with companies sanctioned by the Americans and their Western allies, or their subsidiaries or affiliates.
Manheru said &it was ridiculous for the U.S. to refuse to lift sanctions against Harare and then demand support for its measures against Moscow... This is where I am tempted to tell the American government to go and hang, hang on a banana tree, bums up.&
This article showed up on the Zero Hedge website at 1:40 p.m. EDT yesterday---and I thank Nick Giambruno for his second offering in today's column.
India, the world's largest gold consumer, should target five-folds increase in gold jewellery exports to US$40 billion by 2020 from the current level of US$8 billion, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).
The country should also put to use about 22,000 tonnes of gold lying idle with households and temples and reduce its dependence on imports in the next five years, it said.
&Our vision for gold is that it should be put to work for the economy, creating jobs, developing skills, generating exports and revenues - an essential part of the financial, economic and social structure of the country,& WGC said in its Vision 2020 for the country.
WGC said that the country should meet 40 per cent of gold demand from its domestic stocks and the rest 60 per cent through imports and mining.
When the World Gold Council says that a program is in the best interests of India, you can be equally sure that it won't be in the best interests of its citizens.& This program just reeks of that.& This gold-related news item appeared on the Economic Times of India website at 5:56 p.m. IST on their Saturday afternoon---and my thanks go out to reader U.M. for sharing it with us.
Indian household, which has total holding of around 25,000 tonnes of gold, needs more gold refineries for monetising and attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the sector, according to industry experts.
&India's households have a total holding of around 25,000 tonnes of gold which needs to be monetised. Even if we target one per cent of gold for monetising, the quantity will come to around 250 tonnes which MMTC-PAMP cannot handle alone. Therefore, we need to have more world-class refineries through FDI investment in India,& MMTC-PAMP managing director Rajesh Khosla said at the two-day seminar organised by the India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA) here.
MMTC-PAMP is the first and the only London Bullion Markets Association accredited gold and silver refinery in the country. A joint venture between state-owned MMTC and Switzerland-based PAMP SA, has set up its refinery near Gurgaon.
This is another gold-related news item from the Economic Times of India, this one from early afternoon on Sunday IST.& It's the second story in a row from reader U.M.
It is the time to splurge in India, and when it comes to appeasing the Gods, no expense is spared. The country is in the midst of the
celebrations, where the ceremonial worship of the Mother Goddess is under way.
One of the most important festivals of India, the event is also an occasion for reunion and rejuvenation, and a celebration of traditional culture and customs.&
However, in most small lanes across the country, it is just an excuse for mainline jewellery brands to deck up some of the idols of the Goddess installed atop various small stages, or pandals.
And gold traders with an eye on the declining price of the metal might be hoping for an uptick in price as devotees& passions eat into global gold supplies.
This interesting article, filed from Mumbai, appeared on the < Internet site yesterday sometime---and it's three in a row from reader U.M.
Dhanteras, the first day of , is a day for celebrating wealth. Devotees light the first lamps of the festival of lights to welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, into their houses to bless them with fortune for the year ahead.
Usually falling between mid-October and mid-November, Diwali is one of the most important dates in the Indian calendar, and as they celebrate, Indians buy gold. Today, India is one of the largest markets for gold jewellery, which has a complex but central role in the country&s cultures.
In India, gold jewellery is a store of value, a symbol of wealth and status and a fundamental part of many rituals. In the last decade, 75 per cent of gold demand in India&has taken the form of jewellery. More than two-thirds of that demand comes from the country&s rural population, where a deep affinity for gold goes hand in hand with practical considerations of the portability and security of jewellery as an investment. This, in part, explains how India&s appetite for gold defies market conditions: despite a 400 per cent rise in the rupee gold price over the last decade, gold demand from Indian consumers continues to grow.
This must read story was posted on the World Gold Council's website, but there's no dateline, however, it's probably very recent.& There's some nice 'eye candy' in here, although the pictures are rather small.& I thank reader U.M. for her fourth contribution in a row to today's column.
The festival season in India has already kick-started with speck of positivism this year. Traders opted for further imports of gold on the enthusiasm of the festival buying. The September month figure for gold imports in India was shot up to 131 tons, a 110% increment from the August figure of 63 tons. &
Last year on September gold import saw a drastic reduction and came down to a mere 11tons due to the strict import restrictions. The Government of India had come out with the clear circular of 80:20 on August 14, 2013 that stated for every 100 tons import, one has to provide 20 tons for export purpose.
In the first eight months of 2014, India imported 418 tons of gold, which translates into average 50 tons a month. The sharp increase in import in September is indicating demand is coming back to market on account of marriage and festival and of course, comparably lower price of gold.& Gold has breached decisive support of $1200/oz in London. It appears now gold could easily come down to $1130/oz or lower level. Rupee has lost some ground against US dollar. That would remain deterrent to price fall of gold in local market. However, since gold is available at sub Rs.27,000/10gm and festival and marriage season is around, demand is expected to remain robust.
The above three paragraphs are all there is to this short story filed from
yesterday.& It was posted on the bullionbulletin.in website on Monday IST---and I'll be very happy if/when this rather enormous import number is confirmed elsewhere---and the sooner the better.& I thank reader U.M. for her final offering in today's column.
Gold researcher and GATA consultant Koos Jansen detailed on Saturday how a gold market analyst for Scotiabank has confirmed Jansen's interpretation of Chinese gold demand and the workings of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, concluding that Chinese demand is far greater than reported by the World Gold Council, and, crucially, that the People's Bank of China obtains its gold through other means, not through the exchange, signifying that Chinese demand is higher still.
The links to the Scotiabank analysis---and Jansen's commentary---were posted on the gata.org Internet site on the weekend.
Gold researcher and GATA consultant Koos Jansen reported that the latest figures from the Shanghai Gold Exchange show that Chinese gold demand remains strong. Jansen adds that while silver inventory on the Shanghai Futures Exchange has increased markedly after having been dramatically drawn down, silver remains scarce in Shanghai.
Jansen's report was posted on the < Internet site at 2:23 a.m. Singapore time on their Sunday morning---and I found 'all of the above' in a GATA release yesterday morning.& It's worth skimming.
If you want to know what China will do in the future, it's usually a good thing to look at its past.
Don't trust us --- listen to the late Chinese communist leader, Zhou Enlai. &Past experience, if not forgotten, is a guide to the future,& he said in 1972. He was talking about the relationship between China and Japan, but let's take another example, this time gold, which tumbled again to close the week at US$1,191 an ounce.
Keith Goode, probably Australia's most experienced gold analyst, now running his own outfit at Eagle Research, was struck by what the Chinese are doing in Shanghai.
This article that comments on my headline story in ---and was posted on <.au Internet site on Monday local time 'down under'.& The complete article is posted in the clear in another GATA release from yesterday.& It's worth your time as well.
Tocqueville Gold Fund manager John Hathaway's third-quarter letter to investors details how the fundamentals for a much stronger gold price remain in place, and he cites many of the developments to which GATA has called attention in recent weeks.
Hathaway's letter concludes: &We take comfort that our positive view of the future dollar gold price is shared by those who understand the difference between synthetic and physical metal and who regard the real substance as a matter of strategic imperative, not as a plaything for macro traders. We believe that China's negative assessment of the future prospects for the U.S. dollar is correct and that our investment strategy of investing in the shares of value-creating gold miners offers sensible and dynamic exposure to the inevitable repricing of gold in U.S. dollars.&
This copy of the report was posted on the gata.org Internet site on Saturday---and definitely falls into the must read category.
& The Funnies
Here are a couple of the Casey Research guys I met in San Antonio.& First is Nick Giambruno, the senior editor over at the < Internet site---and a really great guy.& It was my first attempt to take a full-body portrait with a 14mm super-wide angle lens.& Although it doesn't look it, Nick is only about 4 feet away from the lens in this shot, but because his right arm and leg is about 6 inches closer to the lens than his left ones, they appear bigger---and longer.& This close-up distortion is one of several reasons why you have to be careful when using an ultra-wide angle lenses for portrait work.& I wanted him to be close enough so his face would be recognizable, but also put his impressive environment in the shot as well---and keep the vertical lines as vertical as possible!& Note that everything in this photo is in sharp focus---no matter how close or how far away it is.& This photo is uncropped---and straight of the camera.
The second photo is of Marin 'Thumbs Up' Katusa, Casey Research's Chief Energy Investment Strategist.& This one was taken with a 300mm telephoto lens---and he was a good 25 meters away---so I had to crop it.& [Note the shallow depth-of-field with this lens.& Everything a few feet behind, or a few feet in front of Marin is out of focus.& Depth-of-field with this lens at this distance is less than a meter.] With the exception of most landscape shots, I know even before pressing the shutter button that almost any photo I take [and keep] will end of being cropped.& This is done for a very good reason, as you want the 'center of attention' in the photo to have maximum visual impact.
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& The Wrap
It wasn&t just gold and silver that slid in price this [past] week, as substantial declines were seen in all COMEX/NYMEX metals, including copper, platinum and palladium. In addition, the most important market of all, crude oil, slid to year-and-a-half price lows. Important round number price
gold ($1,200), silver ($17), copper ($3) and crude oil ($90). In platinum, not only was a round number ($1,300) level penetrated, the metal fell to five year lows and the weekly decline outdid silver&s decline on a percentage basis (thereby violating the unwritten COMEX law that silver always fall the most no matter what).
There is a common denominator behind the collective price declines [last] week and for only it isn&t the dollar or any other reason being offered. In fact, considering how many truly smart people follow the markets in general, it is somewhat disturbing that no one has offered the one true explanation for why gold, silver, copper, platinum, palladium and crude oil (and related energies) all fell in price this week---and over the past few months. The one answer is staring us in the face---and easily verified in government data on futures positioning. - : 04 October 2014
You pretty much have had to have been born on another planet not to recognize the massive and blatant engineered price declines in all four precious metals that occurred at 9 a.m. Tokyo time, or 8:00 a.m. in Hong Kong on their respective Monday mornings.& It's possible that this was the last swing for the fences by JPMorgan et al for this move down.& They pulled this stunt off when China was closed for its second
of the year.
From a technical point of view, what 'da boyz' painted yesterday was a picture-perfect
to the upside.& It was textbook in every way---and I'm sure they painted it for a very good reason, as they wished to leave no doubt in anyone's mind that the bottom was truly in.
But, since the HFT boyz and their algorithms can paint any chart pattern they so choose, I'll wait for further confirmation, fearing that this may turn out to be a
of some kind.& But, if I had to bet ten bucks at this juncture, I'd say that what we saw was the real deal---however one should never put anything past these crooks.
Here are the 6-month charts for all four precious metals---and all updated with yesterday's price/volume data.
Copper rallied back above the $3 mark---and WTI Crude is now back above $90 the barrel.
Here's the 6-month dollar index so you can see how it fared yesterday.& All of Friday's gains vanished.
And as I type this paragraph, the London open is about 85 minutes away.& With gold trading in China shut tight again today, I'm not reading too much into what's going on in the Far East markets at the moment on their Tuesday morning.& Gold is down a dollar or so, silver is back to unchanged---and both the other white metals are up 10 bucks each.& Gold volume is already over 15,000 contracts, which is pretty high for this time of day, but silver volume is in the 3,500 contract range, which isn't a lot.& The dollar index popped back over the 86.00 mark in morning trading in Hong Kong, but has since backed off---and is only up 12 basis points at the moment.
So, with the bottom for this move down safely behind us, touch wood, we'll have to wait and see what happens going forward.& Whatever transpires in the precious metals, plus copper and crude oil to the upside, will most certainly be hidden behind a rather vicious sell-off in the dollar index.
Here are the last two charts that Nick Laird sent our way yesterday.& They show the current levels of gold and silver inventories in all visible forms---and the striking dichotomy between what's happening in gold vs. what's happening in silver, is shown in all its mysterious detail.
And as I send today's column out the door at 4:55 a.m. EDT, I note that all four precious metals were rallying vigorously at the beginning of the London open as the dollar index rolled over to a new low, but all got capped to a certain extent just before 9 a.m. BST, as gentle hand lifted the dollar index from a 10 point loss to a 14 point gain as of this writing.& Gold volume is now a very chunky 38,000 contracts---and silver's volume is over 11,000 contracts, so it's obvious that even these tiny rallies are being met by waves of Comex paper by JPMorgan et al.
That's all I have for today, which is more than enough---and I'll be keenly interested in how the precious metal trading day unfolds in New York, because I'm underwhelmed with the current price action in London at the moment.
See you tomorrow.
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