Gold World News Flash |
- Gold, Silver “Rumored” and “Margined” Lower
- The Goldsmiths, Part CLXXXII
- Food Price Inflation Calculator
- Will a Weak Dollar Do Us Any Good?
- What You Need to Know About Buying Silver Today
- Asian Metals Market Update
- Royal Canadian Mint Now Saying It’s Difficult Securing Silver
- Silver Market Update - 2/24/11
- Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Mixed; Fall After Hours
- Market Commentary From Monty Guild
- Stagflation 2011: Why It Is Here And Why It Is Going To Be Very Painful
- A Massive Gold Rally Is Underway
- Guest Post: The Transition To A Free Society
- The Gold Price Was Punched to the Ropes Today After the Comex Close
- A Comeback for Gold-Backed Money? - February 24, 2011
- Paul Mylchreest's Latest Must Read Report: Gresham’s Law Squared – Gearing Up For Game Over
- European Goldfields Takes a Big Hit on News Report
- What You Need To Know About Buying Silver At A Time When Even The Canadian Mint Says "It Has Sold Everything It Has"
- BMW To Pursue Hundreds For Massive Debts
- Royal Canadian Mint struggles to get silver, King World News reports
- Guest Post: Social Ownership
- Newmont Mining Is in a Holding Pattern
- Turk, Vieira to speak at CMRE spring dinner in New York
- Silver Standard Resources: Waiting on the Mine Build-Out
- As Expected, CME Follows ICE, Proceeds With First Crude Margin Hike Since March 2009
- Oil disruption means more QE and higher gold, Rule tells King
- Silver whistleblower Maguire writes trading letter
- Ted Butler: Speak up and be heard by the CFTC one more time
- 5 ETFs to Play Silver's Uptrend
- In The News Today
- Jim?s Mailbox
- 75%? Make That 25%
- Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Empire Strikes Back
- Gold Up, But Silver Upper
- What Price Growth?
- Gold, Silver & Libya's Stagflation Threat
- Gold, Silver & Libya's Stagflation Threat
- Jewelry drives up demand for gold
- Caution! Silver Chart Excitement
- Jim's Mailbox
- Betting Against the Fed: A Guaranteed Investment Strategy
- Gold's Rally Slows As Buyers Weigh Drivers
- Silver Market Hit Hard With Bear Raid - The Infamous Dr. Evil Strategy
- Gold futures close at fresh seven-week high
- Can Saudi Arabia Really Compensate for Libyan Oil Shortages?
- Grandich Client Northern Dynasty Minerals Current Price $18.30
- Has Gold Already Pre-Priced Bad News?
- SLV ETF Adds 7,470,010 Troy Ounces of Silver
- LGMR: Soaring Oil & Bond-Market Rates Snub Geithner's "No Stagflation" Claim
- It's Not an Arab Revolution ... It's a GLOBAL Revolution
| Gold, Silver “Rumored” and “Margined” Lower Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:20 PM PST HOUSTON – We remain on the sidelines with our short-term gold and silver trading ammo, watching the developments unfold in patient, Vulture fashion. We Vultures are like that. We don't feel the need to chase rallies and we don't feel like we have to have our trading ammo deployed 100% of the time. This is not the first gold and silver rally we have missed and it won't be the last. In truth, we are kind of glad for the break and double glad because it has been our experience that event-driven rallies like the one underway presently are more often than not fragile. ...
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| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:04 PM PST Something big is going on in international finance as this Goldsmiths will explain. In the way of a backdrop, it must be said that several non-Rothschild controlled nations--like China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela--started a cry for a new monetary system back in 2008 and early 2009. It seems that they did not like one of the weakest currencies in the world, the US dollar, being used by the Rothschild-US team to buy goods and influence international politics worldwide just because the dollar was the so-called international reserve currency.
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| Food Price Inflation Calculator Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:02 PM PST Mark Thornton of the Mises Institute writes, "The price of everything seems to have skyrocketed. Only housing, the dollar and inflation-adjusted income are negative."
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| Will a Weak Dollar Do Us Any Good? Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:01 PM PST And how exactly does a weakening currency result in more attractive domestic prices? Or, are you suggesting that as the currency weakens that it will mean stronger U.S. exports, and therefore greater domestic growth? if so, then how, exactly, will these miraculous exports be manufactured?
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| What You Need to Know About Buying Silver Today Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:01 PM PST
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| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:00 PM PST For the time being the fall in gold, silver and crude oil is just profit taking after a spectacular rise since last Friday. This is just a technical correction which if continues till Monday will start the beginning of a few days of a bear trend. Libya is not over yet.
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| Royal Canadian Mint Now Saying It’s Difficult Securing Silver Posted: 24 Feb 2011 05:51 PM PST With continued reports of booming sales and tightness in the silver market, today King World News interviewed Dave Madge director of sales at the Royal Canadian Mint. When asked if the RCM is having trouble acquiring silver Madge responded, "Demand right now for silver is through the roof and it shows no signs of slowing at this point. Sourcing silver is becoming very difficult. We are competing with a great many players when it comes to purchasing silver and many of these players are bidding the price higher." Dave Madge of the Royal Canadian Mint continues: "Our advantage is that we have had long-term relationships with our suppliers and that has helped us in this situation. We have been able to leverage off of those relationships to get supply, but it still remains a big challenge sourcing material. We're looking at ways of mitigating our risk regarding supply of silver. We are anticipating it to become even more difficult to secure supplies in the future. This is based on what we are seeing firsthand and what our suppliers are telling us. We work closely with these banks to secure silver and they tell us there is a lot of competition." When asked what this means for the price of silver and how long this condition is expected to persist Madge stated, "I think you are going to see the premiums go up in order to secure silver. At some point some players will be priced out of the market. I don't think this is a short-term situation, I think there are a lot of issues going forward and this may be the new norm." 
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| Silver Market Update - 2/24/11 Posted: 24 Feb 2011 04:11 PM PST Dear Investors, With silver double what it was last year, I have been receiving more requests for my thoughts on the market. I started buying silver 10 years ago when it was cheap. At the time I was preaching to anyone who would listen how undervalued silver was and how it was a “can’t go wrong” investment. As recently as 2005, I felt that the fair value of silver, based on production costs, was somewhere between $15 and $25 an ounce. I didn’t buy or recommend silver expecting to sell at fair value, because assets that are undervalued tend to overcorrect when they rise in price until they become very overvalued. When I look for an investment, I choose things that are obviously selling below their worth or things with a pretty much guaranteed rate of return. I can’t get too excited about buying silver at current prices because it is no longer a cheap “sure thing”. Short term (this year), any number of factors could knock silver...
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| Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Mixed; Fall After Hours Posted: 24 Feb 2011 04:00 PM PST Gold fell $5.45 to $1407.70 in Asia before it climbed back higher in London and saw a $4.95 gain at $1418.10 by a little after 8:15AM EST and then fell back to $1408.12 by about 11:15AM, but it then rallied back higher in the last couple of hours of trade and ended with a gain of 0.14%. Silver rose 28 cents to $33.76 in Asia before it fell to see a $0.55 loss at $32.93 at about 11:15AM EST and then also bounced back higher in late trade, but it still ended with a loss of 0.87%. Both metals are falling rather markedly in after hours access trade at the time of writing, however.
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| Market Commentary From Monty Guild Posted: 24 Feb 2011 03:16 PM PST Boom! Governments are being brought to their knees with startling speed. I spent this past Saturday in Bangkok watching the Asian news channels showing the demonstrations and various news feeds from Al Jazerra, CNN, and the BBC. I saw rioting all over the Middle East in at least six or seven countries, and the demonstrators seem intent on removing long-term, multi-decade governments from power. The dominoes have started to topple. Tunisia, Egypt (two countries where change at the top has already happened), Libya (where change at the top is being fought for in the streets as we write this letter), Bahrain (where the Shia majority has started protesting against the Sunni royalty), Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, Kuwait have all seen public protests against leadership. We have also seen smaller protests in Iran, Albania, Thailand, China, and Bolivia. Many rulers overstay their welcome and try to make a type of kingship out of their regime. The days are numbered for dictatorial or oppressive leaders who have ruled for decades. Boiling Discontent We go on record predicting that there will be more changes in governments at the top over the next two years than in any decade in the last 100 years. We predict that there will be dozens of countries following the Egyptian, Tunisian, Bahraini and Libyan examples. There will be some of these changes in Asia, but many more in the Middle East, Africa, and several in South America. We are aware that this claim sounds extraordinary, but we can see the writing on the wall. Global Hot Spots: Some Are Just Simmering, Some Boiling Over
Click map to increase size Systems of oppression that keep people in the dark are being riotously expelled and replaced by information-sharing. The two will prove mutually exclusive. In our opinion, history will hold that Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, and many companies that supply the Internet, especially the mobile Internet, with software and hardware will be among the midwives of this revolution. The electronic revolution is not just about new technology; it's about technology's impact on society. Just as television and radio helped to bring down the iron curtain and the Berlin wall, so today a more modern and more powerful force is rooting out corruption and autocracy. This revolution will bring down governments, but it does not have to bring anarchy. These changes eventually can give a voice to many millions who have been kept silent. However, the power vacuums are often exploited by radical, fringe elements who seem to thrive on disruption. Long-term, we expect that more open societies will generate positive effects, but the near term could be pretty rough. The Guild Guide What This Means for Investors Technology There are hundreds, in fact thousands of companies benefitting from this technological revolution. Many of them are U.S. companies, but some are from Japan, India, Europe, Taiwan, and South Korea, among other technology-centric economies. Many countries will benefit greatly from this revolution. The mobile Internet with all of its devices and modes of expression will be remembered by history as the force that made the difference. Oil Kuwait and Libya are major world oil producers, and Kuwait, along with Bahrain and Yemen share part of Saudi Arabia's 1,100 mile border. Saudi Arabia has a relatively small population with a large immigrant worker community, many from Pakistan which has become the current home to much of the Taliban. Many questions surround the geopolitical changes taking place in the oil producing region. Will the straits of Hormuz or the Suez Canal be closed? Will governments not sympathetic to western oil consuming interests take charge? It is hard to say, but we do know that the risk of disruption to oil flows to Europe, Asia , and to the U.S. have escalated sharply. Geopolitics reminds us once again why we are recommending that investors own substantial positions in oil and gold. If oil quickly moves to $150 per barrel, it can be good for oil related stocks, but it is definitely not good for the world's stock markets, so we recommend that investors monitor oil prices closely, looking to raise some cash or put out some hedges on stock market positions. Global Investment Watch Every fortnight we will focus on the investment climate in an individual country. Two weeks ago, we discussed Canada. An upcoming letter will discuss the investment opportunity in Japan. Summary Investors in this environment should continue to own oil, gold and silver. Japan is looking like a great long-term play if oil and gas prices don't skyrocket. We expect big consumers of oil and food to start hoarding at this juncture as fears about the continued availability of oil escalate. Libya has already declared force majeure with respect to its oil delivery obligations. Which domino is next? We have said recently that investors should own energy investments now, and this bears repeating. We recommend owning them and owning them in size. Our Recommendations—In Review Bonds Intermediate and long-term bonds are still presenting risk of falling, and we still recommend avoiding them entirely. Gold Continue to own gold. We have been bullish since June 25, 2002, when gold was selling at about $325 per ounce. We see gold moving to $1,500 and then higher. Traders should sell spikes and buy dips. Food and Farm-Related Stocks These continue as a favorite investment target of ours. We have been bullish on grains and farm-related shares since late 2008. Continue to hold and acquire investments in food and grain related industries on dips. The possibility of food crises in Africa, Asia and Latin America is very real. Oil Since February 11, 2009, when oil was trading at $35.94 per barrel, we have recommended that investors own oil investments in their portfolios…and the reasons for owning it are increasing each day. Currencies Since September 14, 2010, we have favored the Singaporean, Thai, Canadian, Swiss, Brazilian, Chinese, and Australian currencies. Use pullbacks in these currencies as an opportunity to establish long-term positions. For long-term investment, we do not like the U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, British pound, or the Euro. Global Stock Selections For stock investments throughout the world we base our recommendations on careful studying of individual companies and industries, always keeping in mind that companies and sectors are at differing stages of growth. In developed countries, technology, precious metals, and commodity producers (food, oil, and base metals) will all benefit from an improving economy and a developing back-to-work trend in the U.S. and Europe. Since September 9, 2010, we have thought U.S. stocks will go up as money flows into them and out of bonds. We recommend investors use corrections, which can occur at any time, as buying opportunities. Japan and Australia were added last week to our list of favored countries. We are also still maintaining our bullish position on Canada, South Korea, and are keeping half of our original position in Colombia. We continue to monitor world events closely, and encourage readers keep an eye out for changes to our recommendations. A summary of our current recommendations can be found in the table below:
To view current and past recommendations, and see how we have performed, please go to our Commentary Archive and Recommendation Tracker at www.guildinvestment.com.
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| Stagflation 2011: Why It Is Here And Why It Is Going To Be Very Painful Posted: 24 Feb 2011 02:29 PM PST
Stagflation 2011: Why It Is Here And Why It Is Going To Be Very PainfulCourtesy of Michael Snyder at Economic Collapse
Normally inflation is a sign of increased economic activity, but when the basic commodities that we depend on to run our economy (such as oil) go up in price it actually causes a slowdown in economy activity. When the price of oil goes up high enough, it fundamentally changes the behavior of individuals and businesses. Suddenly certain types of economic activities that were feasible when oil was very cheap are not profitable any longer. When the price of oil rises to a new level and it stays there, essentially what is happening is that more "blood" is being drained out of our economy. Our economy will continue to function when there are higher oil prices, it will just be a lot more sluggish. In some way, shape or form the price of oil factors into the production of most of our goods and services and it also factors into the transportation of most of our goods and services. A significant rise in the price of oil changes the economic equation for almost every business in the United States. Today, the price of WTI crude soared past 100 dollars a barrel before closing at $98.10. The price of Brent crude increased 5.3 percent to $111.25. The protests in Libya are certainly causing a lot of the price activity that we have seen over the past few days, but the truth is that oil has been going up for a number of months. Right now we are only seeing an acceleration of the long-term trend. Things are likely to get far worse if the "day of rage" planned for Saudi Arabia next month turns into a full-blown revolution. Up to this point, the revolutions that have been sweeping the Middle East have been organized largely on Facebook, and now there are calls all over Facebook for the "Saudi revolution" to start on March 20th. That date is less than 4 weeks away. If Saudi Arabia plunges into chaos, the price of oil is going to go through the roof. A rapidly rising price for oil is really bad news for the U.S. economy, because it is going to mean lots of inflation. Unfortunately, this also comes at a time when the economy is also feeling the inflationary effects of more quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve. So if rising oil prices are going to cause more inflation and if rising oil prices are also going to cause our economy to become even more sluggish, what does all of that add up to? It adds up to stagflation. Wikipedia defines stagflation in the following manner....
This is going to rapidly become the "new normal" for America. High oil prices are going to cause the cost of just about everything to go up, and high oil prices are also going to cause the economy to slow down thus making the unemployment numbers even worse. It is going to be just like the 1970s all over again. Only worse. Economists differ as to how much rising oil prices affect U.S. GDP, but almost all of them agree that rising oil prices do cause a decline in U.S. GDP at least to some extent. If American families have to spend $10 or $20 more each time they visit a gas station, that means that they are going to have less discretionary income. They won't be able to spend as much at the stores. Not only that, but since the price of oil affects the price of almost everything else, Americans will find that their dollars have reduced purchasing power. An oil crisis would force American families to stretch their already overburdened budgets even farther. So where is the price of gasoline going from here? Well, the average price of gasoline in the United States is rapidly sneaking up on the $3.20 a gallon mark. Almost everyone believes that it is going to be going significantly higher. Tom Kloza, the chief analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, was recently quoted in USA Today as saying that he believes that the average price for gasoline in the United States will reach somewhere between $3.50 and $3.75 a gallon by April. As I wrote about yesterday, there are other analysts that believe that we are going to see $4.00 gasoline in the United States by the end of the year, and there are some that believe that we could see $5.00 gasoline if revolution sweeps Saudi Arabia. If gasoline becomes that expensive and it stays there for a while, it is going to seriously start affecting the behavior of American businesses and American consumers. Just remember what happened back in 2008. Andrew Busch of BMO Capital Markets recently told CNBC the following....
Can you imagine what it would do to the economy if millions of Americans start sitting in their homes instead of doing their normal amounts of driving and flying? In addition, one of the biggest problems with a higher price for oil is that it would cause our trade deficit to explode. According to the U.S. government, more than half of the oil that we use is imported. So every month we send the rest of the world billions and billions of our dollars and they send us massive amounts of oil. We rapidly consume all of the oil they send us and we continually need more. So we keep sending larger and larger amounts of money overseas and they keep sending us larger amounts of oil. In the process, our national wealth is being drained at an astounding rate. It is one of the greatest transfers of wealth the world has ever seen. When the price of oil rises substantially, the transfer of wealth accelerates. This is a very bad thing for the U.S. economy. For example, when oil prices were above $100 a barrel back in 2008 our trade deficit for the year was almost 700 billion dollars. It would be great if the Middle East would settle down and oil prices would start declining because that would really help out the U.S. economy. Unfortunately, it does not look like that is going to happen. Instead, it appears that we are steamrolling directly towards stagflation. Anyone that lived through the stagflation of the 1970s knows that it is not a lot of fun. The cold, hard reality of the matter is that without cheap oil our lifestyles are going to change. Our economy was not set up to run on expensive oil. If oil moves well above $100 a barrel and it stays there it is going to bring about significant societal changes. For the rest of 2011, the price of oil will be the number one economic indicator to watch. If it gets too high it is going to be an absolute disaster for the U.S. economy.
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| A Massive Gold Rally Is Underway Posted: 24 Feb 2011 12:57 PM PST Recent action in both equity and currency markets seem to be coagulating around an idea I first proposed last summer. That idea calls for a minor currency crisis, centered around the dollar's decline, to simultaneously bring an end to ... Read More...
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| Guest Post: The Transition To A Free Society Posted: 24 Feb 2011 12:14 PM PST
The next in a continuing series (most recently: Democracy and Its Contradictions). The Transition to a Free Society
The first, most fundamental, and most necessary step in the transition to a free society is the demise of the modern “monster state.” And the first, most fundamental, and most necessary step in this process is the demise of the monstrous American state, its erstwhile role as a beacon to the world having long ago given way to a superpower that brings not light but heat, pulling a shroud over its own people in the process. The monster will object that it only wants to keep its people warm and safe, of course, but as people elsewhere start kicking their shrouds off, it is increasingly clear that the status – as in statist – quo is changing and that neither suffocating domestic policies nor incendiary foreign ones will be tolerated much longer.
So, too, would the fact that the delegations of three states, in ratifying the Constitution, specifically reserved not only each state’s right to withdraw from the Union but the people’s right to do so. For example,
Clearly, then, not only the state of Virginia but any number of it or any other state’s citizens can legally secede from the Union. But as the United States Supreme Court, however groundlessly, would no doubt rule against them were they to attempt to do so, let us dispense with the U.S. Government’s law altogether and appeal instead to the fact that one has no obligation to obey an immoral law but, on the contrary, a duty to break it. And let us imagine that the lawbreaking manifests itself in the form of a nonviolent protest, such that an initial fraction puts the “injury and oppression” of the American state to the test by standing up in defense of the right of self-determination and declaring its freedom accordingly. Moreover, let us do so by recalling the spectacle of a lone man confronting the armored emblem of the state in the capital city of a communist dictatorship. Glued to its television sets, the world watched in horror and fascination as the brave young man stood his ground while the mechanized monster tried in vain to outmaneuver him, the question being why it tried to outmaneuver him at all. That is, why didn’t the monster simply stay its course, the better for its monstrous master to leave no question as to who controlled whom? i Harper’s magazine, May, 2002.
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| The Gold Price Was Punched to the Ropes Today After the Comex Close Posted: 24 Feb 2011 11:40 AM PST Gold Price Close Today : 1413.40 Change : 12.90 or 0.9% Silver Price Close Today : 33.166 Change : (0.132) cents or -0.4% Gold Silver Ratio Today : 42.62 Change : 0.556 or 1.3% Silver Gold Ratio Today : 0.02347 Change : -0.000310 or -1.3% Platinum Price Close Today : 1776.00 Change : -7.40 or -0.4% Palladium Price Close Today : 773.80 Change : -3.90 or -0.5% S&P 500 : 1,306.10 Change : -1.30 or -0.1% Dow In GOLD$ : $176.51 Change : $ (2.16) or -1.2% Dow in GOLD oz : 8.539 Change : -0.104 or -1.2% Dow in SILVER oz : 363.88 Change : -1.11 or -0.3% Dow Industrial : 12,068.50 Change : -37.28 or -0.3% US Dollar Index : 77.09 Change : -0.317 or -0.4% The GOLD PRICE and the SILVER PRICE were punched to the ropes and hit the mat after the Comex close. Stock continue to slide, as does the dollar. Oil -- light crude -- hit $100 bucks yesterday and fell to 93 today. Platinum and palladium are also ailing. Gentle readers, it is not a "good day" in any market when it closes up at a new high then falls out of bed (top bunk of the bed, at that) in the aftermarket. So gold today, and silver. Nervous, nervous -- Gold traded almost all day above 1410, and closed Comex (1:30 Eastern time) at $1,415.30, up $1.90. Rumors about Libya flew and suddenly the bottom dropped out, as low as $1,394.30. When I checked last the GOLD PRICE was trading at $1,396, down $19.30 from Comex. Which way do these forks in the road take us? First fork takes us to gold making a shallow correction, say to $1,380, then resuming its rally. T'other fork runs to a longer correction after failing today at the old high ($1,422.60, but today came close enough). Clearly the turmoil in the Middle East is influencing the market, both ways. That ain't much to build a rally on. On a five day chart gold plunged through its uptrend line, breaking down badly. On a longer chart today's break did not hit the trend line, but all isn't well. A little gap up on Tuesday makes the chart look like an island reversal (a gap up, several days trading sideways, then a gap down leaving an island behind). If gold gaps down tomorrow, you have to call it an island reversal. The SILVER PRICE chart looks much like gold, smashing down through the five day trend line, a clear breakdown. Now the number for silver to defend becomes 3150c - 3100c. After closing down 13.2c at 3316.6c on Comex, silver dropped to a low of 3172.2 cents, 144c off its Comex close. On a longer chart silver dropped clean to its uptrend line. Support awaits at 3100c, then 2832c. Now I never say "I told you so" because I think that is the height (the lowth?) of bad manners, but I do recall somebody yesterday musing that when the party gets so wild that people start throwing bottles and fighting and screaming, it may not be long before the cops pull up. From a Comex close of 42.673 the GOLD/SILVER RATIO jumped in the aftermarket to 43.7! If you were EVER planning to swap silver for gold, you'd better do it Johnny-quick-smart. I'd stand back from silver and gold to give them a couple of days to settle. As I said, this might be shallow and temporary, or it might entail more pain, even surgery. Epicenter of all these tergiversations appears to be the risible dictator of Libya, the fellow who wears the baker's cap. Yesterday the rumor flew that he was in trouble, might flee, and in the melee Libya's oil production (12th largest world producer, largest in Africa) might fall. Oil rose to 100. Today, he shot a couple of hundred more protesters, discouraging democracy, and the rumor flew he was NOT leaving. Oil tanked, taking silver and gold with it. Meanwhile that old derelict, the US DOLLAR, just keeps on rolling downhill. Having throw down its chance to rally with contempt, it reached 77 today, on its way to 76.90 and lower. The scrofulous euro, for reasons that will never be derived from facts or reality, has rallied to its last low. What happens now? Dollar and euro swap directions? Y'all don't know what an effort I have to make to keep from waxing bitter over these scabrous, scrofulous fiat currencies. They are the vampire fixed on the carotid artery of the whole world, roaches feeding on the world's pantry, damp, mangey rats ferrying their economic plague from one country to another. And the bristly swine that run them, the much bepraised central bank heads and experts? Yellow egg-sucking dogs, not worth the powder to blow them to a higher state of existence. Whoa. Get a grip. Let it roll, their day will not last long. One (that would be ME) prays and hopes to see the end of their rule with one's own eyes, and not too far from now. Before I forget about it, I want to tell y'all about my friend Jim Smith's Back to The Land Store. Visit him at www.backtotheland.com. He sells anything you'd need for a mule, a garden, or a milch cow. Need open-pollinated non-GMO seeds? Jim's the go-to man. And, alone, I believe, in the western world, he has garden tools that won't break the first time you use them. Visit them on the internet or call 866-764-0034. Jim is in Erin, just two hours up the road from us. STOCKS today slid again. Dow gave up another 37.28 points to close at 12,068.50. It barely managed to stay above the psychologically critical 12,000 round number, and hit a low at 11,983.17. Mercy! I would love to have been a fly on the wall in the Nice Government Men's command center when the Dow pierced 12,000. Coffee cups and donuts went a-flying every which way as they leapt to their computers to slam in those orders and get that index up. Shame their naps were disturbed. S&P500 dropped as low as 1,294.26, but ended down only 1.3 points at 1,306.10. On a five day chart the Dow is impulsing downward. Today probably marked the end of the first leg, so tomorrow (helped by the end of the week) stocks might climb as high as 12,152. That will give out and they'll fall again, gaining speed as they plunge each successive level of support technical and psychological. If y'all are watching, I'd bring gauze and plenty of adhesive tape, cause it's likely to get bloody. More proof stocks have turned: the Dow in Gold Dollars now stands at G$176.51 (8.538 oz), having rolled over at G$188 and crashed through G$180 on the way to tunnel beneath its 200 DMA once again. Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought. - Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger The-MoneyChanger.com Phone: (888) 218-9226 or (931) 766-6066 © 2011, The Moneychanger. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission. To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate in a bubble, primary trend way down. Whenever I write "Stay out of stocks" readers inevitably ask, "Do you mean precious metals mining stocks, too?" No, I don't. 
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| A Comeback for Gold-Backed Money? - February 24, 2011 Posted: 24 Feb 2011 11:32 AM PST A Comeback for Gold-Backed Money? - Casey's Daily Dispatch [LIST] [*]Sign Up Now! [*]| [*]RSS Feed [*]| [*]Print this [*]| [*]Visit the Archives [*]| [*]Email to a Friend [*]| [*]Back to All Publications [/LIST] February 24, 2011 | [url]www.CaseyResearch.com[/url] Dear Reader, Many market participants dream of a robust bull market that will make them piles of cash. Of course, I'd be a liar to deny the appeal here. But more often than not, today's bull markets are crashes waiting to happen. So, what's my dream market? Well, I could see it now. F...
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| Paul Mylchreest's Latest Must Read Report: Gresham’s Law Squared – Gearing Up For Game Over Posted: 24 Feb 2011 11:14 AM PST
From Paul Mylchreest's latest must read Thunderroad Report Gresham’s Law Squared - gearing up for Game Over (pdf) It’s getting serious, Gresham’s Law is kicking in and this isn’t any “run-of-the-mill” Gresham’s Law either – it’s “Gresham’s Law Squared”. Not only is there huge hoarding of gold and silver, but it is being compounded by the simultaneous transformation of the gold and silver markets themselves. Having been dominated by paper claims to bullion, all that matters now is ownership of the physical metal itself. The price of gold and silver on your Bloomberg screen is actually a HYBRID price of physical bullion and a larger amount of “paper” bullion, e.g. unallocated gold and silver, exchange traded futures, OTC derivatives and some ETFs. The paper bullion price and the metal price are still the same, but this market structure (which had successfully channelled much of the demand away from physical metal) is now breaking down. When the screen price accurately reflects the prices of physical gold and silver per se, they will need to be FAR higher than you see today. Right now, the frontline in the battle between “real” money and paper currency is in the silver market, but most remain blissfully unaware of the significance of what is taking place. The world’s financial system, as currently configured, is falling apart. The vast majority, including bankers and brokers (who should know better), don’t appreciate it – a sort of tragi-comedy really. The bubble this time is in the money, so nobody will be spared. Buying gold and silver is the fear AND greed trade! So here we are, waiting for the “event” which triggers a loss of confidence across the system. Will it be a sovereign, a US state, a bank, QE3 or QE5, the oil price, Chinese fixed investment, a false flag event (a convenient distraction/excuse) or a revolution? When it happens, the speed at which capital will move in today’s over-liquefied world will take people’s breath away. Where will it go? This is the global end of normal (baby) so that, first and foremost, it will go into the strategic assets - gold/silver, energy, food/agriculture, rare earths, etc, (as well as the equities of the financially strongest economies). Bernanke’s QE2 is nothing short of economic warfare, in the form of a wave of inflation, directed at the rest of the world and even his own population (at least anybody without a large stock market, commodities or precious metals portfolio). This inflation is not temporary, as per the false reassurances, it’s baked in. Here is Martin Armstrong recently talking about the US budget deficit: “A friend of mine on Capitol Hill, among others there, tells me there is no solution whatsoever until there is a MAJOR crisis” In response, creditor nations have no other choice than to cut purchases of US Treasuries (China is selling), leaving the Fed increasingly standing alone. Rampant or hyperinflation results from the complete loss of confidence in a currency and we are being steered in this direction by the gentlemen above. Sure, they are smartly dressed, well educated (kind of) and pretend to know what they’re talking about with their carefully worded “policies”. It’s all NONSENSE. All they’re doing is leading us down a well-trodden path which has happened time and again throughout history. In the meantime, there is evidence that the correction in gold and silver prices during January/ early-February-2011 only accelerated the process of Gresham’s Law Squared. In this scenario, buying some junior gold and silver exploration & development plays could translate into “Gresham’s Law Cubed”. These stocks should have the greatest leverage to bullion prices in the medium term if they execute well and big funds, as well as retail investors, increasingly buy in. Examples from the 1970s prove this in spades – I wish I’d owned the “5,000 bagger”. I’ve cut back some positions in some major gold and silver companies to fund small positions in a string of these (admittedly risky) juniors. I already had positions in ECU Silver and Fortuna Silver mines, which are development plays/early producers, and I’ve bought some South American Silver, Bear Creek Mining, Vista Gold, Minco Silver, Gold Bullion Developments, Arian Silver, Axmin, PC Gold and Majestic Gold. Like wild dogs which have been cornered, our central banking friends are likely to strike back at some point, since gold and silver are their mortal enemies. So expect the unexpected. The enemies of gold and silver are twofold, benign economic conditions and rising real interest rates. The former is not on the horizon, so they might try to bluff the market into believing the latter - for a while anyway. We all know that they are well behind the curve on inflation. So don’t be surprised if, for example, a manipulated Non-Farm Payrolls (unemployment) report out of the US is used as the catalyst for a (small) coordinated rate rise across the US, UK and Europe. The problem for these gentlemen and their political brethren is their insane policy of trying to solve a debt crisis with MORE DEBT. We are already past the point of no return in the current monetary system and anything other than a very modest rise in rates will only bring systemic collapse sooner rather than later. Hu Jintao was only stating the obvious on 17 January 2011 when he said that the dollar reserve system is a “product of the past”. The bark of these wild dogs (and “monetary drug dealers”) is much worse than their bite. If you think about it, the whole basis of world finance and the world economy as we know it - and all those millions of forecasts for corporate earnings and economic data generated by legions of analysts in investment banks - are based on one critical assumption. It all hinges on the “greater fool theory” continuing to apply to buyers of US Treasury bonds (and the debt of other western governments along with Japan) and that a demonstrably insolvent US government can continue to find “investors” prepared to lend it gargantuan amounts of money. Kick away the rotting foundations beneath the world’s reserve currencies and everything changes. Do you remember the bit in the movie, “The French Connection”, where the mobsters bring in “Howard the chemist” to test the purity of the smuggled heroin. Howard puts his apparatus together, heats up the “testing material”, and comments as he watches the mercury rise: “Blast off: one-eight-oh…Two hundred: Good Housekeeping seal of approval. Two ten: US government certified. Two twenty: lunar trajectory, junk of the month club, sirloin steak. Two thirty: Grade A poison...(the mercury finally hits 240) Absolute dynamite! Eighty nine per-cent pure junk. Best I’ve ever seen.” How about “Triple A-rated” poison instead of Grade A poison? Just as “strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government” (quoting Monty Python), the greater fool theory shouldn’t inspire confidence in our current financial system, but it should inspire a response. Gresham’s Law is global, are you in or out? Must more in the full report:
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| European Goldfields Takes a Big Hit on News Report Posted: 24 Feb 2011 10:40 AM PST Proactive Investor submits: European Goldfields' (EGFDF.PK) [TSE:EGU, LON:EGU] shares plummeted roughly 20% on Thursday after a news report from Thomson Reuters threw the company's environmental permitting process for its Greek projects into question. Dual-listed European Goldfields operates in Greece through its subsidiary Hellas Gold, which runs a lead and zinc mine in the northern part of the country. The company submitted what was the largest environmental impact study (EIS) ever in Greece to develop goldfields in the surrounding area. Hellas even signed letters to arrange a $300 million debt facility for the mission. The official public consultation period for the permit ended last December, and the receipt of the permit was originally expected earlier this month. However, Reuters cited Greek's environment minister Tina Birbili as saying that the permit issue is "polarising", as the prospect of the company running multiple goldmines has met opposition from local activists. "There must definitely be more consultation," Complete Story »
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| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 10:27 AM PST
Even as silver performed some unprecedented fireworks today, plunging on what was a margin hike in... crude, the metal continues to trade just below its post-Hunt Brother highs. So for those who still have not decided whether or not to take the plunge and buy into the precious metal (which, granted, was selling at $8.80 three years ago, and has since nearly quadrupled in price), we present the following discussion between Jeff Clark of Casey Research and The Daily Crux, which answers "what you need to know about buying silver today." This comes a week after we first highlighted that the Canadian Mint has sold it last stock in silver and has demand for much more. As we said back then:
So now that you know what the considerations are of one of the biggest players in the space, here is Casey Research's Jeff Clark: What You Need to Know About Buying Silver Today It’s hard to believe that less than three years ago, silver was $8.80 an ounce. Since then it has nearly quadrupled in value (up 385%) and more than doubled in the last 12 months alone. That’s great for those who already own the metal – but is it too late for the rest of us to get in? To answer that question, BIG GOLD Editor Jeff Clark sat down with our friends of The Daily Crux. Read what he had to say about the silver rally, and why you should view any correction as good news. Crux: Jeff, silver has had an incredible run over the past year or so... Where do you think it's headed next?
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| BMW To Pursue Hundreds For Massive Debts Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:59 AM PST BMW is pursuing hundreds of Australians in bankruptcy proceedings over luxury vehicles collectively worth up to $18 million, as dreams of enjoying opulent lifestyles crash. The social aspirants now face losing their luxury vehicles and possibly their homes to repay massive debts to car financing giant BMW Finance. The company took 226 Australians to court last year, up almost 37 per cent on the previous year, while overall national bankruptcy figures remained stable. A further 21 actions have been launched this year. BMW Finance offers loans for all makes of luxury cars under several schemes, including a fixed instalment scheme that ends with a big "balloon", or final repayment. One Victorian man owes the company $167,000, while a Queensland man owes $190,000 for a car loan he could not afford. 
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| Royal Canadian Mint struggles to get silver, King World News reports Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:56 AM PST 5:48p ET Thursday, February 24, 2011 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver): The ratio between commentary and actual journalism isn't very good in the gold and silver sector but Eric King of King World News does his part to rectify it some today. He gets the sales director of the Royal Canadian Mint to acknowledge that the mint is having serious trouble getting silver and expects even more trouble, likely for the long term. (Looks like Eric Sprott took what was left and hid it.) Of course the Royal Canadian Mint deals only with real metal. If you'll settle for imaginary silver, Jeff Christian of CPM Group can help you. He's got plenty and it has the advantage of incurring no storage costs. You can find excerpts from the interview with the Royal Canadian Mint's sales director at the King World News blog here: http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/2/24_Ro... Or try this abbreviated link: CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer ADVERTISEMENT Prophecy Resource Spins Off Platinum/Palladium Venture: Company Press Release, January 18, 2011 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Prophecy Resource Corp. (TSX-V:PCY)and Pacific Coast Nickel Corp. announce that they have agreed that PCNC will acquire Prophecy's Nickel PGM projects by issuing common shares to Prophecy. PCNC will acquire the Wellgreen PGM Ni-Cu and Lynn Lake nickel projects in the Yukon Territory and Manitoba respectively by issuing up to 550 million common shares of PCNC to Prophecy. PCNC has 55.7 million shares outstanding. Following the transaction: -- Prophecy will own approximately 90 percent of PCNC. -- PCNC will consolidate its share capital on a 10 old for one new basis. -- Prophecy will change its name to Prophecy Coal Corp. and PCNC will be renamed Prophecy Platinum Corp. -- Prophecy intends to distribute half of its PCNC shares to shareholders pro-rata in accordance with their holdings. Based on the closing price of the common shares of PCNC on January 17, $0.195 per share, the gross value of the transaction is $107,250,000. For the complete announcement, please visit: http://prophecyresource.com/news_2011_jan18.php Support GATA by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon: Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: http://www.gata.org/node/16 ADVERTISEMENT Sona Drills 85.4g Gold/Ton Over 4 Metres at Elizabeth Gold Deposit, Extending the Mineralization of the Southwest Vein on the Property Company Press Release, October 27, 2010 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sona Resources Corp. reports on five drillling holes in the third round of assay results from the recently completed drill program at its 100 percent-owned Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property in the Lillooet Mining District of southern British Columbia. Highlights from the diamond drilling include: -- Hole E10-66 intersected 17.4g gold/ton over 1.54 metres. -- Hole E10-67 intersected 96.4g gold/ton over 2.5 metres, including one assay interval of 383g of gold/ton over 0.5 metres. -- Hole E10-69 intersected 85.4g gold/ton over 4.03 metres, including one assay interval of 230g gold/ton over 1 metre. Four drill holes, E10-66 to E10-69, targeted the southwestern end of the Southwest Vein, and three of the holes have expanded the mineralized zone in that direction. The Southwest Vein gold mineralization has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 metres, with the deepest hole drilled less than 200 metres from surface. "The assay results from the Southwest Zone quartz vein continue to be extremely positive," says John P. Thompson, Sona's president and CEO. "We are expanding the Southwest Vein, and this high-grade gold mineralization remains wide open down dip and along strike to the southwest." For the company's full press release, please visit: http://sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR19_2010.pdf
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| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:55 AM PST
By Michael Suede of Fascist Soup Social Ownership In listening to some old lectures by Rothbard, I heard him bring up a concept called “social ownership” that was being pushed by communists in the former country of Yugoslavia as a way of managing the ownership of industry. In Yugoslavia there was a communist general named Josip Broz, who commonly went by the name Marshal Tito (how can you not love a guy that walks around calling himself Marshal Tito?). Marshal Tito is not your average run of the mill commie hahaha. I actually somewhat like this guy. From his biography:
Marshal Tito is one of those guys that accomplished a tremendous amount of good for his country, which is why you’ve probably never heard his name before. You see, Tito came to recognize that while the Marxists constantly called for the ownership of industry “by the people,” they never actually got around to making this happen. Tito believed that “ownership by the people” must obviously preclude the ownership of industry by the State. In Tito’s view, communist social ownership should consist of the factory workers owning a share of the company they worked for. The communist followers of Tito were inherently anti-statist. They made a clear distinction between State ownership and social ownership. They saw that the two were not related to each other in the slightest. When Tito gained political control over Yugoslavia in 1945, he began aggressively implementing his policies of social ownership. Those sectors of the economy in which the public assumed ownership of industry soon began to prosper. This lead to increased reforms and greater public control of industry. The communists ran into some problems though. The workers wanted to be able to retain their ownership in a company as their own private property. This caused some tension between the old hard-line Marxists and the general public. The workers began calling for what amounted to a stock exchange so they could trade their shares of ownership with each other and pass them on to their children. By 1952 the new system was in place. It had a price system between plants, and a profit and loss system in the plants. The banks were decentralized and consumer co-op banks (credit unions) took the lead role in lending. This lead to success after success as the economic problems the country was facing resolved themselves. By 1967 a third phase of reforms were implemented that were much more free market. The price system became completely free, profit and loss tests for all firms were implemented, firms could go bankrupt, and State control of investment was reduced. By the end, the State took only 20% of industrial profit in taxes – less than the United States. The Slovenians and Croatians became the most industrialized as they were the most accepting of the “social ownership” concept. The Serbs remained the most statist in their economic views so they tended to lag far behind the economic growth of the Slovenians and Croatians. By the end, the Slovenian or Croat communists sounded like Barry Goldwater or Ronald Regan. They were even saying things like, “The individual should not have to sacrafice himself for the social welfare.” They even wanted a gold standard and a freely convertible Dinar. Rothbard’s lecture ends without him getting into the specifics of the civil war that led to Yugoslavia’s break up, but the reasons behind the conflict should be obvious. Wiki states:
You see, statist socialists always come to depend on the economic success of freedom in order to support their statist programs. Socialist nations always have an incentive to violently attack the productive members of their society if those productive members attempt to leave the tax system. There are tremendous parallels between the Yugoslavian civil war and our own Civil War. The causes of both are nearly identical. The South wanted to withdraw from the Union because the North had nullified the fugitive slave act. By nullifying the fugitive slave act, the North had removed the only remaining economic incentive for the South to remain in the union. The southerners were putting up with high levels of federal taxation and tariffs, without any return on those tax dollars, simply because they needed the North’s cooperation in keeping slavery in place. Without the cooperation of the North in returning fugitive slaves, the South had no remaining economic incentive to remain in the union. The South viewed themselves as nothing more than tax slaves to the North. The money that was collected in federal taxes was almost exclusively spent in the Northern states. Since the South didn’t want to be tax slaves to the North, they withdrew from the Union. In so doing, the South did not want to invade and conquer the North, they simply wanted to be left alone. The Northern states had made it quite clear to the South that if they attempted to leave the union, they would be attacked. This is what caused the South to fire the first shots, since the South was dead set on leaving the union, they figured they might as well position themselves in an as advantageous a position as possible before the North could muster an invading Army. If the North had simply let the South walk away, there would have been no Civil War in America. However, the North could not stand for this loss of Southern tax revenue, which is why they violently attacked and invaded the South. Lincoln made it clear why aggressed against the South in his letter to Horace Greeley:
Lincoln was an ardent racist, as is evidenced in numerous speeches and writings. He even proposed sending all the blacks back to Africa at one point. The US Civil War was strictly about maintaining the flow of tax revenue from the South into Northern coffers. This cause parallels almost exactly with why the Serbian military attacked Croatia after it declared its independence. History repeats itself, only in Yugoslavia, the South won. Yugoslavia commentary starts at time 1:07:30
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| Newmont Mining Is in a Holding Pattern Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:53 AM PST David Urban submits: Newmont Mining (NEM) is one of the largest gold mining firms in the world with projects on 5 continents globally and gold reserves of 93.5 million attributable ounces and 9.4 billion pounds of attributable copper. Fourth quarter results released Thursday show revenue growth of 24% over 2009 with adjusted net income per share rising by 38%. Costs were contained as the average realized gold and copper prices rose by 25% and 32% respectively, while costs only rose by 18% and 25%. This allowed for margin expansion and with the gold and copper operating margins increasing by 30% and 34% respectively. Fourth quarter gold and copper production was down year over year with higher prices offsetting the decline keeping leading to a rise of 2% in the EPS for the quarter. Attributable gold production rose by 4% to 5.4 million ounces in 2010 from 5.2 million ounces in 2009. The Akyem Complete Story »
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| Turk, Vieira to speak at CMRE spring dinner in New York Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:42 AM PST 5:30p ET Thursday, February 24, 2011 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver): GATA consultants James Turk and Edwin Vieira will be among the speakers Thursday, May 12, at the spring dinner meeting of the Committee for Monetary Research and Education, to be held in New York City. The venue isn't settled yet but the dinner is always outstanding, along with the company. Also speaking will be James Grant, editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer; Daniel Oliver Jr. of Myrmikan Capital; Victor Sperandeo of Enhanced Alpha Technologies; Leonard Liggio, executive vice president of Atlas Research; and Robert Hoye of Institutional Advisers in Vancouver. Admission is $175 for CMRE members and spouses and $185 for others. You can view the meeting's program at the CMRE Internet site here: A registration form is here: http://www.gata.org/files/CMREDinnerRegistration-Spring2011.htm_.txt CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer ADVERTISEMENT Prophecy Resource Spins Off Platinum/Palladium Venture: Company Press Release, January 18, 2011 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Prophecy Resource Corp. (TSX-V:PCY)and Pacific Coast Nickel Corp. announce that they have agreed that PCNC will acquire Prophecy's Nickel PGM projects by issuing common shares to Prophecy. PCNC will acquire the Wellgreen PGM Ni-Cu and Lynn Lake nickel projects in the Yukon Territory and Manitoba respectively by issuing up to 550 million common shares of PCNC to Prophecy. PCNC has 55.7 million shares outstanding. Following the transaction: -- Prophecy will own approximately 90 percent of PCNC. -- PCNC will consolidate its share capital on a 10 old for one new basis. -- Prophecy will change its name to Prophecy Coal Corp. and PCNC will be renamed Prophecy Platinum Corp. -- Prophecy intends to distribute half of its PCNC shares to shareholders pro-rata in accordance with their holdings. Based on the closing price of the common shares of PCNC on January 17, $0.195 per share, the gross value of the transaction is $107,250,000. For the complete announcement, please visit: http://prophecyresource.com/news_2011_jan18.php Support GATA by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon: Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: http://www.gata.org/node/16 ADVERTISEMENT Sona Drills 85.4g Gold/Ton Over 4 Metres at Elizabeth Gold Deposit, Extending the Mineralization of the Southwest Vein on the Property Company Press Release, October 27, 2010 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sona Resources Corp. reports on five drillling holes in the third round of assay results from the recently completed drill program at its 100 percent-owned Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property in the Lillooet Mining District of southern British Columbia. Highlights from the diamond drilling include: -- Hole E10-66 intersected 17.4g gold/ton over 1.54 metres. -- Hole E10-67 intersected 96.4g gold/ton over 2.5 metres, including one assay interval of 383g of gold/ton over 0.5 metres. -- Hole E10-69 intersected 85.4g gold/ton over 4.03 metres, including one assay interval of 230g gold/ton over 1 metre. Four drill holes, E10-66 to E10-69, targeted the southwestern end of the Southwest Vein, and three of the holes have expanded the mineralized zone in that direction. The Southwest Vein gold mineralization has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 metres, with the deepest hole drilled less than 200 metres from surface. "The assay results from the Southwest Zone quartz vein continue to be extremely positive," says John P. Thompson, Sona's president and CEO. "We are expanding the Southwest Vein, and this high-grade gold mineralization remains wide open down dip and along strike to the southwest." For the company's full press release, please visit: http://sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR19_2010.pdf
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| Silver Standard Resources: Waiting on the Mine Build-Out Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:34 AM PST David Urban submits: Silver Standard Resources (SSRI) is a silver mine developer and operator based out of Canada with operations in Australia, North America and South America. SSRI has the largest in-ground silver resource of any silver company estimated at proven, probable, measured, indicated, and inferred resources totaling 1.68 billion ounces of silver and an extensive portfolio of projects throughout the Americas. During 2010 SSRI started mining from its Pirquitas mine in Northern Argentina with production ramping up to 8 to 10 million ounces of silver per year. Byproducts from the silver production are tin (extremely high demand globally) and zinc. SSRI currently has the San Luis JV and Pitarilla projects under development and Diablillos and San Agustin projects in the advanced exploration stage. The San Luis JV project is a small mine in Peru located in proximity to Barrick's Pierina mine. The expected mine life is only 3.5 years and holds just Complete Story »
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| As Expected, CME Follows ICE, Proceeds With First Crude Margin Hike Since March 2009 Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:18 AM PST
As usual, our Onionesque predictive powers are spot on. Two hours ago, when we reported the ICE margin hike, we stated: "We expect the NYMEX will follow suit on its own WTI contract margin hike any minute." 60 minutes later, this prediction comes true. Per Bloomberg: "CME Group’s New York Mercantile Exchange plans to raise margin requirements on its light, sweet crude oil contract for the first time since March 2009, according to the exchange. Margins for speculators will increase to $6,075 per contract from $5,063, and for hedgers to $4,500 from $3,750, according to a notice on the CME’s website. The change will take place after the close of trading tomorrow." The heavy artillery in crude is out. And while margin hikes do nothing any more for silver and gold, the weak hands in crude have at least two rounds of margin hikes before they are flushed out. Of course, the half life of margin hikes is about 2-3 days. We expect this increase to be internalized very quickly. The next one will be priced in within hours. And the third one will be ignored. After that... who knows.
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| Oil disruption means more QE and higher gold, Rule tells King Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:16 AM PST 5:15p ET Thursday, February 24, 2011 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver): Rick Rule of Global Resources tells King World News that disruption in the oil market and the resulting higher prices will prompt more "quantitative easing" and probably much higher gold prices as well. You can find excerpts of the interview at the King World News blog here: http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/2/24_Ri... Or try this abbreviated link: CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer ADVERTISEMENT Prophecy Resource Spins Off Platinum/Palladium Venture: Company Press Release, January 18, 2011 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Prophecy Resource Corp. (TSX-V:PCY)and Pacific Coast Nickel Corp. announce that they have agreed that PCNC will acquire Prophecy's Nickel PGM projects by issuing common shares to Prophecy. PCNC will acquire the Wellgreen PGM Ni-Cu and Lynn Lake nickel projects in the Yukon Territory and Manitoba respectively by issuing up to 550 million common shares of PCNC to Prophecy. PCNC has 55.7 million shares outstanding. Following the transaction: -- Prophecy will own approximately 90 percent of PCNC. -- PCNC will consolidate its share capital on a 10 old for one new basis. -- Prophecy will change its name to Prophecy Coal Corp. and PCNC will be renamed Prophecy Platinum Corp. -- Prophecy intends to distribute half of its PCNC shares to shareholders pro-rata in accordance with their holdings. Based on the closing price of the common shares of PCNC on January 17, $0.195 per share, the gross value of the transaction is $107,250,000. For the complete announcement, please visit: http://prophecyresource.com/news_2011_jan18.php Support GATA by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon: Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: http://www.gata.org/node/16 ADVERTISEMENT Sona Drills 85.4g Gold/Ton Over 4 Metres at Elizabeth Gold Deposit, Extending the Mineralization of the Southwest Vein on the Property Company Press Release, October 27, 2010 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sona Resources Corp. reports on five drillling holes in the third round of assay results from the recently completed drill program at its 100 percent-owned Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property in the Lillooet Mining District of southern British Columbia. Highlights from the diamond drilling include: -- Hole E10-66 intersected 17.4g gold/ton over 1.54 metres. -- Hole E10-67 intersected 96.4g gold/ton over 2.5 metres, including one assay interval of 383g of gold/ton over 0.5 metres. -- Hole E10-69 intersected 85.4g gold/ton over 4.03 metres, including one assay interval of 230g gold/ton over 1 metre. Four drill holes, E10-66 to E10-69, targeted the southwestern end of the Southwest Vein, and three of the holes have expanded the mineralized zone in that direction. The Southwest Vein gold mineralization has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 metres, with the deepest hole drilled less than 200 metres from surface. "The assay results from the Southwest Zone quartz vein continue to be extremely positive," says John P. Thompson, Sona's president and CEO. "We are expanding the Southwest Vein, and this high-grade gold mineralization remains wide open down dip and along strike to the southwest." For the company's full press release, please visit: http://sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR19_2010.pdf
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| Silver whistleblower Maguire writes trading letter Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:11 AM PST 5:05p ET Thursday, February 24, 2011 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver): London silver trader Andrew Maguire, whose whistleblowing complaint about silver market manipulation was delivered by GATA Chairman Bill Murphy to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission at the CFTC's public hearing last March, has begun writing a silver trading strategy letter for Coghlan Capital LLC in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. One has to wonder if J.P. Morgan Chase's commodity trading chief, Blythe Masters, is among the charter subscribers. You can learn about the Maguire letter at the Coghlan Capital Internet site here: http://www.coghlancapital.com/metalstrades CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer ADVERTISEMENT Prophecy Resource Spins Off Platinum/Palladium Venture: Company Press Release, January 18, 2011 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Prophecy Resource Corp. (TSX-V:PCY)and Pacific Coast Nickel Corp. announce that they have agreed that PCNC will acquire Prophecy's Nickel PGM projects by issuing common shares to Prophecy. PCNC will acquire the Wellgreen PGM Ni-Cu and Lynn Lake nickel projects in the Yukon Territory and Manitoba respectively by issuing up to 550 million common shares of PCNC to Prophecy. PCNC has 55.7 million shares outstanding. Following the transaction: -- Prophecy will own approximately 90 percent of PCNC. -- PCNC will consolidate its share capital on a 10 old for one new basis. -- Prophecy will change its name to Prophecy Coal Corp. and PCNC will be renamed Prophecy Platinum Corp. -- Prophecy intends to distribute half of its PCNC shares to shareholders pro-rata in accordance with their holdings. Based on the closing price of the common shares of PCNC on January 17, $0.195 per share, the gross value of the transaction is $107,250,000. For the complete announcement, please visit: http://prophecyresource.com/news_2011_jan18.php Support GATA by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon: Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: http://www.gata.org/node/16 ADVERTISEMENT Sona Drills 85.4g Gold/Ton Over 4 Metres at Elizabeth Gold Deposit, Extending the Mineralization of the Southwest Vein on the Property Company Press Release, October 27, 2010 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sona Resources Corp. reports on five drillling holes in the third round of assay results from the recently completed drill program at its 100 percent-owned Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property in the Lillooet Mining District of southern British Columbia. Highlights from the diamond drilling include: -- Hole E10-66 intersected 17.4g gold/ton over 1.54 metres. -- Hole E10-67 intersected 96.4g gold/ton over 2.5 metres, including one assay interval of 383g of gold/ton over 0.5 metres. -- Hole E10-69 intersected 85.4g gold/ton over 4.03 metres, including one assay interval of 230g gold/ton over 1 metre. Four drill holes, E10-66 to E10-69, targeted the southwestern end of the Southwest Vein, and three of the holes have expanded the mineralized zone in that direction. The Southwest Vein gold mineralization has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 metres, with the deepest hole drilled less than 200 metres from surface. "The assay results from the Southwest Zone quartz vein continue to be extremely positive," says John P. Thompson, Sona's president and CEO. "We are expanding the Southwest Vein, and this high-grade gold mineralization remains wide open down dip and along strike to the southwest." For the company's full press release, please visit: http://sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR19_2010.pdf
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| Ted Butler: Speak up and be heard by the CFTC one more time Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:02 AM PST 5p ET Thursday, February 24, 2011 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver): Silver market analyst Ted Butler, who first identified the silver price suppression scheme and clamored against it for years when it seemed that no one else cared, today urges silver investors and believers in free markets to make one more appeal to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is support of effective position limits in the silver futures market. Butler's commentary is headlined "Speak Up and Be Heard" and you can find it at GoldSeek's companion site, SilverSeek, here: http://news.silverseek.com/SilverSeek/1298557244.php CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer ADVERTISEMENT Prophecy Resource Spins Off Platinum/Palladium Venture: Company Press Release, January 18, 2011 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Prophecy Resource Corp. (TSX-V:PCY)and Pacific Coast Nickel Corp. announce that they have agreed that PCNC will acquire Prophecy's Nickel PGM projects by issuing common shares to Prophecy. PCNC will acquire the Wellgreen PGM Ni-Cu and Lynn Lake nickel projects in the Yukon Territory and Manitoba respectively by issuing up to 550 million common shares of PCNC to Prophecy. PCNC has 55.7 million shares outstanding. Following the transaction: -- Prophecy will own approximately 90 percent of PCNC. -- PCNC will consolidate its share capital on a 10 old for one new basis. -- Prophecy will change its name to Prophecy Coal Corp. and PCNC will be renamed Prophecy Platinum Corp. -- Prophecy intends to distribute half of its PCNC shares to shareholders pro-rata in accordance with their holdings. Based on the closing price of the common shares of PCNC on January 17, $0.195 per share, the gross value of the transaction is $107,250,000. For the complete announcement, please visit: http://prophecyresource.com/news_2011_jan18.php Support GATA by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Or a video disc of GATA's 2005 Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon: Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: http://www.gata.org/node/16 ADVERTISEMENT Sona Drills 85.4g Gold/Ton Over 4 Metres at Elizabeth Gold Deposit, Extending the Mineralization of the Southwest Vein on the Property Company Press Release, October 27, 2010 VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sona Resources Corp. reports on five drillling holes in the third round of assay results from the recently completed drill program at its 100 percent-owned Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property in the Lillooet Mining District of southern British Columbia. Highlights from the diamond drilling include: -- Hole E10-66 intersected 17.4g gold/ton over 1.54 metres. -- Hole E10-67 intersected 96.4g gold/ton over 2.5 metres, including one assay interval of 383g of gold/ton over 0.5 metres. -- Hole E10-69 intersected 85.4g gold/ton over 4.03 metres, including one assay interval of 230g gold/ton over 1 metre. Four drill holes, E10-66 to E10-69, targeted the southwestern end of the Southwest Vein, and three of the holes have expanded the mineralized zone in that direction. The Southwest Vein gold mineralization has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 metres, with the deepest hole drilled less than 200 metres from surface. "The assay results from the Southwest Zone quartz vein continue to be extremely positive," says John P. Thompson, Sona's president and CEO. "We are expanding the Southwest Vein, and this high-grade gold mineralization remains wide open down dip and along strike to the southwest." For the company's full press release, please visit: http://sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR19_2010.pdf
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| 5 ETFs to Play Silver's Uptrend Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:58 AM PST Kevin Grewal submits: As political uncertainty in Africa and the Middle East continues to prevail, commodities, in particularly crude oil, gold and silver have surged. As for the future, it appears to remain bright for all three of these commodities, but especially so for silver. In addition to political uncertainty, macroeconomic forces have been favorable for the metal. Increases in money supply and a record budget deficit have many concerned about the overall strength of the dollar and a reduction in the purchasing power of the nat Complete Story »
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| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:41 AM PST View the original post at jsmineset.com... February 24, 2011 01:10 PM Dear CIGAs, Today gold is being supplied by the usual suspects at the $1400 – $1415 level for the second time. That suspect is the Exchange Stabilization Fund, an account that is run by the Secretary of the Treasury or his designee. The designee is an infamous major international banking firm with representatives on the floor of the COMEX. This has taken place at key levels in gold generally outlined by the Angels. As each Angel has fallen so will this effort now at $1400-$1444. What is infinitely more important is that the Media from day one has failed to report on what actually is happening in the Middle East. The main impact is that this phenomenon is going to accelerate the impact on society of peak oil. The winner coming out of these major changes is Iran. The loser is the West as every state so far involved was a client or covert client of the West. The following documentary states gold becomes th...
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| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:41 AM PST View the original post at jsmineset.com... February 24, 2011 01:06 PM Greetings Jim, Gold closed moderately higher today, reconfirming the short-term uptrend from late January and approaching the all-time high of the secular bull market near $1,424. Technical indicators have strengthened further on the daily chart and are now extremely bullish overall, strongly supporting a continuation of the advance. The daily chart of the Gold Currency Index (GCI) is bullish to a similar degree, confirming the underlying strength of the uptrend. From a temporal perspective, the cycle following the Short-Term Cycle Low (STCL) on February 14 is right translated to an extreme degree, just like its predecessor, suggesting that a breakout to new all-time highs is becoming more likely. The gold market has tracked our computer model almost exactly since we anticipated the development of a meaningful bottom in late January, and the next technical objective for the rally off of the latest Intermed...
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| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:37 AM PST
 How quickly we're made the fool these days. Yesterday, we speculated Libya’s oil output had fallen to 75% of normal.This morning, it appears the number has already fallen to 25% of capacity. The output estimate comes from the CEO of the Italian oil giant Eni, the largest foreign operator in Libya.
Down to 25% of capacity... and the "Mad Dog of the Middle East" hasn't even carried out his threat to detonate the nation's pipelines to the Mediterranean yet.  And just like that, West Texas Intermediate crude broke through the $100 barrier. It’s currently $101.41 a barrel. Brent crude is up to $115.28. Not to worry, says an unnamed “Saudi Arabian oil official” to Bloomberg. “Saudi Arabia and OPEC won’t allow shortages to exist,” reads the story, because they can “replace any lost Libyan oil as soon as companies ask for it.”Apparently, we’re supposed to forget the WikiLeaks revelation from just two weeks ago that Saudi Arabian reserves may be 40% smaller than advertised. Likewise, we’re supposed to forget that their vaunted “spare capacity” never seemed to come into play as oil ran up from $25 to $147 between 2003-08. Besides, the 6,000-some Saudi princes have bigger things to worry about right now.  Saudi Arabia’s octogenarian King Abdullah has just returned home from three months of unspecified “medical treatment” overseas in hopes he’ll avoid the fate that’s already befallen Tunisia’s Ben Ali and Egypt’s Mubarak.He’s unveiled a Saudi-style stimulus program worth $36 billion, including…
 Into this new and volatile mix we feel compelled to throw a couple of old facts: The House of Saud hews to Sunni Islam. The country’s oil fields are populated mostly by Shiites. Between the two factions lies a rift going back 1,354 years.That’s what’s at the heart of the “New War” scenario of $220-a-barrel oil from Outstanding Investments editor Byron King. Just yesterday, Japan’s Nomura Securities called for exactly that price if production is shut down in Libya and Algeria. We’re almost there already in Libya. Review Byron’s scenario now... or wait until it is "old" news. Your choice. [Ed. Note: “Over the past 10 years,” columnist Peter Brimelow wrote yesterday on MarketWatch.com, “Outstanding Investments was up an absolutely stunning 21.66% annualized by Hulbert Financial Digest's count.” That compares to a mere 2.33% for Hulbert’s benchmark -- the dividend-reinvested Wilshire 5000 index. “That makes OI easily HFD’s top performer over the decade.” It’s one more reason to consider an OI subscription now more than ever.]  Major U.S. stock indexes are stuck in neutral this morning. The Dow appears to be stabilizing after a 300-point loss over the last two days. Ditto for the S&P, which shed some 30 points in as much time.The volatility index has gone mildly berserk -- from 16.5 at the end of last week to 22.25 today.  While we notice that 16 seems like a good level to buy calls in the VIX in the scheme of things; 22 is still pretty mellow – the Flash Crash high of last year was 46 -- but it does mark a three-month high.  “Whenever market action has you stressed,” cautions our small-cap sleuth Jonas Elmerraji, “I’d suggest taking a look at the unintentionally humorous stock observations being made by staff writers at CNBC.com: “Stocks pared some losses Wednesday but were still under pressure amid growing concern over the political turmoil in Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi vowed to crush the revolution.” -- staff writer for CNBC “This is a perfect example," Jonas points out, "of some ‘journalist’ picking the day’s top news story as the reason for the market’s move... in either direction. Very few stocks have direct exposure to Libya. It’s absurd to think that the situation there is the root cause of Tuesday’s sell-off. Or yesterday’s downward market pressures. “The correction is the result of the fact that the market has rallied more than 23% in the last six months. There's nothing scary about it. In fact, a correction in prices is often healthy. The relatively normal trading range we saw yesterday is a sign that selling has already stabilized.” Markets move up. Markets move down. But they rarely do so in a straight line. Using similar logic for much of last year, Jonas delivered 123 winners out of 127 recommendations. If you're actively trading stocks, we suggest you learn how Jonas' S.T.O.R.M. strategy can help you remain calm in volatile markets… and how it routinely delivers double-digit gains. See Jonas' presentation here.  With all the screaming headlines and hurly-burly of this week’s events in the Middle East and Midwest, it’s easy to lose sight of other key market indicators. So here’s a quick update…
 Durable goods orders registered their first monthly increase since September, according to the Commerce Department this morning. The general definition of durable goods are “expensive items expected to least three years or longer,” and orders for those items grew 2.7% in January.Unfortunately, most of the increase is confined to the aircraft sector. Take out "transportation" and the number fell 3.6%, the weakest number since those cold, dark days of January 2009.  Another down day in the grain markets, although it’s not shaping up to the “lock limit down” day that Tuesday was… when several commodities fell the maximum allowed by the exchange.“One day does not change a trend,” cautions our commodities watcher Alan Knuckman. “The limit down moves in soybeans, corn and wheat show downward moves are often fast and more violent. The grains are all 10% off the recent highs that looked on the march to 2008 record prices.“Though these 2011 prices peaked at 30-month highs, more upside exists. A decline from lofty levels doesn't just reverse straight down with fundamental food forces at work. “I'll be watching this increased volatility (see: opportunity) closely to find buying support levels as the unpredictable spring planting season adds another whole layer of uncertainty and uncontrollable variable to production.” Right now, you have a unique opportunity to take advantage of Alan’s profitable trade recommendations in Resource Trader Alert… plus the explosive small-cap resource recommendations from Byron King’s Energy & Scarcity Investor… not to mention Outstanding Investments, top ranked over the last 10 years by Hulbert Financial Digest. It’s a package deal we call the Resource Reserve -- lifetime subscriptions to all three of these services, for a one-time fee equal to what you’d pay for just one year if you subscribed separately. If you’ve had any success at all with these services individually, you owe it to yourself to see how powerfully they work in tandem. Give it a look here.  More than 10% of the nation’s banks now sit on the FDIC’s “troubled bank” list -- the highest level since the hangover from the S&L crisis and subsequent recession in 1991.Out of 7,657 banks, the FDIC reckons 884 have too little capital to cover the risks they’ve taken. Considering how loose the FDIC’s standards are, the real number is surely much higher. The FDIC’s deposit insurance fund -- the fund that allegedly backs your account up to $250,000 -- is now $7.4 billion in the red.  Courtesy of WikiLeaks, we’ve just learned Libya’s sovereign wealth fund had placed $32 billion in cash with U.S. banks ever since the Bush administration let Col. Gaddafi in from the diplomatic cold in 2003.More interesting, we think, is who Libya did not place its funds with -- Bernie Madoff. The relevant State Department cable, dated Jan. 28, 2010, reveals Madoff approached the Libyan Investment Authority, but LIA chief Mohamed Layas turned him down. Further, Layas wrote a letter to the Financial Times denying that LIA had placed $100 million with Madoff’s small-time rival Allen Stanford. On the other hand, the cable says Layas was quite proud of his September 2009 purchase of the Canadian oil operator Verenex. As well he should be… he bought near the bottom, and shares had doubled just six months later. We haven’t heard whether Mr. Layas is among the many Libyans who’ve defected to the opposition… or whether Col. Gaddafi has made him an offer he can’t refuse. Stay tuned.  “Can you make available a print copy of the Resource Reserve offer?” a reader inquires? “I don't feel like taking the time to watch a video, but am very interested in subscribing. Thanks.”“Greatly interested,” adds another, “but I do not have the time to listen to lengthy presentation: Any shortcuts to know more about the service?” The 5: Sure, right here. Or you can call John Wilkinson at (866) 361-7662 and he can answer any questions you might have. Thanks for your interest. If you're interested in investing in or trading resources, the Resource Reserve is the best deal you can get in the industry. Hands down.  “I never quite understood the passionate devotion of libertarians to Ayn Rand, and especially her tome Atlas Shrugged,” writes a reader. “So about a year ago, I bought a copy of the book and started working my way through almost a thousand pages of what I can only describe as turgid prose.“Her characters are two-dimensional at best, and comparable to Workers of the World depictions of robber barons and greedy capitalist caricatures from the 1930s, albeit from a diametrically opposite point of view. “About three-quarters of the way through the novel, after countless straw man setups glorifying the clever, somewhat saintly, hard-working, industrious capitalist heroes of production pitted against a dull, lifeless, faceless, whining and totalitarian bureaucracy, I finally arrived in Rand's private picture of heaven... Galt's Gulch. “Frankly, I am no more thrilled by that concept than the leaden images of workers' paradises envisioned by leftists of the last century. Did I miss anything by not disciplining myself to read to the last page? “I suspect that people who really become enamored of this book do so because it meshes so nicely with their own libertarian point of view, which is not frequently extolled in mainstream literature. But then all bibles and holy texts I've ever encountered make pretty boring reading except to the anointed believers and a few anthropologists.” The 5: Amen.  “If anyone cares to," a reader responds to our candid query yesterday, "they can 'flee' and keep their entrepreneurial spirit. Moreover, that spirit will only grow after flight.“I've lived continuously in Chile and Argentina for more than two years, and every day I see opportunity absolutely everywhere. Yet the locals don't see it without my pointing it out to them and explaining what I mean. “For example, only today I found that I can't get trifocal glasses in Argentina. Surely, out of 41 million people in the country, there must be a local market...either present or created. Even if only one person in a thousand buys trifocals, that's a huge market. “Pick your country, pick your opportunity -- it is there, just waiting. The hardest part will be choosing the one you most want to do.” The 5: Are you sure that someone who wants to start a trifocal business doesn’t have to fill out multiple forms and file them with disparate government agencies... and perhaps that’s the reason no one has moved into the trifocal niche? Just asking. Cheers, Addison Wiggin The 5 Min. Forecast P.S.: “I sent your account of the Granada, Nicaragua, poetry festival to my daughter,” writes a reader. “She’s been in that area for the last two months learning Spanish at a local school in exchange for teaching art and English at the same school. Her take on the festival and Nicaragua in general is a little different than yours: “I wonder about the use of the word 'untainted' being used to describe Nicaragua's people. The description of Nica's internal economy glosses over any mention of globalization... it fails to mention the coffee industry's effect on Nicaraguan land ownership and the reality for farmers who are struggling to battle international companies. “While jobs are supplied, the idea that these jobs wouldn't exist without us is absurd. If we had truly left Nicaragua untainted, we wouldn't be there at all. There would still be jobs for Nicaraguans in Nicaragua, and they wouldn't be immigrating in hordes to Texas and New York. “Yes, there are still local fisherman and big hotels purchasing the fish, but the fisherman certainly aren't benefiting much from it. The fish is purchased for nearly the same cost as a Nicaraguan might buy it, but is sold to tourists who come for cheaper eats, but not the street food, thereby still spending over the local limit. It uses economic, rather than ideological, terminology, to justify an imperialist mind-set. “But the ideology is still threaded into the baseness of the interpretation of the Nicaraguan people as untainted. There is a definite dual economy in Granada -- the tourist and the Nica. “The notion of an untainted economy really refers to a dichotomy of rich and poor. The poor folks are untainted from our view as we sit in this Western-inspired cafe, companions either travelers or...well, usually travelers, and occasionally well-off locals... We're trying to stay in the world we're used to -- untainted by our world of bottled water, better hygiene, better food that doesn't make us sick... whatever else we've made up to be able to sell more stuff to more people. “I'm glad these people there are aware of perhaps not being exactly 'god's work,' but I still get a feeling that they might not really understand their own effect on the people here. Comments about people not wanting to gather in 91 degree weather or how they see the untainted economy from where they stay, but offer no anecdotes for participation, except their business-creating jobs -- seems to me they don't want to think seriously about the other standards that are realities for many in Granada. “Just because we are aware in general that we change countries we visit doesn't mean we have fully grasped that every individual action we take affects the place and people we are nearest to. Just because we are 'from somewhere' doesn't mean we are exempt from how we act in other countries. “I really am starting to believe that as much as possible, contributing to the local economy is the far most responsible decision we can make as travelers.” The 5: Ah, yes... to be young and perfect again. We were marveling at the civility of the poetry festival. Admiring it. Not complaining about the weather. Oy. The description of the Nicaraguan people as 'untainted' we found interesting because it came from a gentleman who hails from a Oaxaca, a town he described as similar that is not too far north in Mexico. His description. And, for the record, something he also admired. Bottled water? We prefer the local beer. Food that doesn't make us sick? Have you seen the obesity rate in the U.S.? The food in Nicaragua is much better. Simple. Fresh. Local. What's not to like? Western-inspired cafe? Nicaragua is the West. The dichotomy of rich and poor exists just as much in Baltimore as it does in Granada. It's worse in many ways. The folks at the festival in Granada just seemed a little more civilized about it... on that day. We apologize for not self-aggrandizing to the point where we feel comfortable pontificating on things we don't know anything about: fair trade in coffee production or the battle of farmers against international corporations. Enlighten us. We do write about the perils of empire, ad nauseum. Come to think of it... that was our point. We don't fully understand our impact on the people in Nicaragua. Nor do most 'travelers' pay any attention. Maybe it would have been better if the U.S. never meddled in Nicaraguan affairs. Amen. That's not really for us to decide now, though is it? The history is long and sordid. If we failed at anything, we failed to tinge our comments with enough guilt and self-loathing to reach your high level of sanctimony. Thanks for setting us straight.
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| Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Empire Strikes Back Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:27 AM PST | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:13 AM PST The Gold Silver Ratio is sinking to lows not seen since the '80s as Silver Prices shoot ahead...
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| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:11 AM PST The Mighty Mogambo struggles to contain his rage at the UUF of the last FFY of Fed policy...
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| Gold, Silver & Libya's Stagflation Threat Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:09 AM PST Stagflation from Libya's $100 oil shock is driving a new stage in silver and Gold Investing...
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| Gold, Silver & Libya's Stagflation Threat Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:09 AM PST | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jewelry drives up demand for gold Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:07 AM PST This week, the World Gold Council (WGC) confirmed something we'd already suspected: 2010 was a remarkable year for gold. Overall demand grew by 9 percent to reach a 10-year high on increased jewelry demand, strong momentum in key Asian markets and a paradigm shift in the official sector, the WGC says. Demand for jewelry was the biggest contributor to gold demand, accounting for 54 percent of the total. That's a 17 percent rise despite gold prices jumping 26 percent in many currencies. Gold demand for technology increased 12 percent. Surprisingly, investment demand declined 2 percent as investment in gold ETFs dropped 45 percent. Even with the drop, 2010 was the second-highest year on record in terms of investment demand. [source] PG View: While this article notes the modest decline in investment demand for gold last year, largely driven by outflows from from paper representations of the yellow metal such as ETFs, there have been indications that large investors were exchanging their paper exposure to the real thing.
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| Caution! Silver Chart Excitement Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:07 AM PST | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:06 AM PST Greetings Jim, Gold closed moderately higher today, reconfirming the short-term uptrend from late January and approaching the all-time high of the secular bull market near $1,424.
Technical indicators have strengthened further on the daily chart and are now extremely bullish overall, strongly supporting a continuation of the advance. The daily chart of the Gold Currency Index (GCI) is bullish to a similar degree, confirming the underlying strength of the uptrend.
From a temporal perspective, the cycle following the Short-Term Cycle Low (STCL) on February 14 is right translated to an extreme degree, just like its predecessor, suggesting that a breakout to new all-time highs is becoming more likely.
The gold market has tracked our computer model almost exactly since we anticipated the development of a meaningful bottom in late January, and the next technical objective for the rally off of the latest Intermediate-Term Cycle Low (ITCL) is a breakout to new all-time highs.
The sharp rebound during the past 3 weeks indicates that the latest Annual Cycle Low (ACL) likely occurred at the end of January, so the current advance must break out and move up to meaningful new highs in order for the long-term uptrend to remain healthy.
If the rally is unable to move up to new all-time highs and prices subsequently decline below the January low near $1,310, a potential long-term inflection point will form, suggesting the possible development of a substantial correction. It will be important to monitor gold closely during the next few months as the secular bull market attempts to reassert itself. Best, Erik McCurdy
Housing Will Remain Weak For Years (Decades) The state of housing is often quite different than picture painted by headline interpretations. The game of perception often suggests that the worse is over in the real estate market. It is not. New home sales continue to contract as supply swamps demand. The sharp and steady decline real or currency adjusted prices reflects cycle weakness that will take decades to overcome. (1) New home sales continue their sharp and steady contraction. In time the unwinding in the real estate market will be compared to the contraction from the Great Depression. New Home Sales And Change YOY, SA: (2) Supply, which fails to account for substantial 'shadow' inventory held in foreclosure, dominates demand. Months Supply And Change YOY: (3) A supply driven market means real (devaluation adjusted prices) continue to their steady decline. Median Home Price to Gold Ratio (MHPGOLDR) And YOY Change: Headline: Sales of New U.S. Homes Fell More Than Forecast in January Purchases of new houses in the U.S. fell more than forecast in January, reflecting declines in the West and South that indicate a California tax credit and bad weather may have played a role. Sales declined 13 percent to a 284,000 annual pace, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a decrease to a 305,000 rate. Demand dropped 37 percent in the West and 13 percent in the South. Foreclosures will keep depressing prices, making distressed, previously owned properties more attractive to prospective buyers than new houses. Combined with unemployment at 9 percent and tight credit standards, home construction may keep lagging behind the rest of the economy this year. Source: bloomberg.com
Divergences and Nonconfirmations Provide Warnings The evolution of a top can only described as a process. Divergences and nonconfirmations tend to provide warnings before the breaks. Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CNFAI) and S&P 500 Average Economic Activity Slower in January Led by declines in production-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index decreased to –0.16 in January from +0.18 in December. Three of the four broad categories of indicators that make up the index made positive contributions in January, but they were offset by continued weakness in the consumption and housing category. Source: chicagofed.org
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| Betting Against the Fed: A Guaranteed Investment Strategy Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:00 AM PST We were quoted in The Wall Street Journal last week. "Gold is a bet against the Fed," we said. Gold is now firmly over $1,400 an ounce. The correction seems to be over. Frankly, we were disappointed. We were hoping for a deep correction that would shake out the speculators and discourage the Johnny-come-lately investors. Didn't happen. Instead, the price barely went down at all. Less than 10% (from vague memory). Hardly a correction. We wanted lower prices so we could buy more. Because, if there were ever a sure-fire, under-priced wager here's one: betting that the Fed will err. You can understand the power of that bet just by taking the other side for a moment. Who, in his right mind, would bet that the Fed won't err? Thanks largely to the Fed and other central banks, the crisis that began 4 years ago with the bankruptcy of subprime lender Countrywide Financial was never resolved. Instead, the problems were largely increased. The private sector still has far too much debt. Now, the public sector is headed for bankruptcy too. It is only a matter of time before new crises arise and intensify. Ben Bernanke has never given the slightest indication, hint or wink to suggest that he has any idea of what is really going on or that he understands how an economy really works. At every point over the last 5 years, his analysis has been incorrect. His predictions have been wrong. And his policies have made things worse. You want to bet on Ben Bernanke? Yes, thanks…we'll take that bet. We'll take your money! Was there ever a problem so intractable…or a situation so awful…that government planning couldn't make worse? Here's the latest. With food prices soaring, the feds move into the market. They need to go back and read the Old Testament. An ancient Mubarak in the land of the pyramids was faced with famine. But he had the good sense to save up grain when it was cheap…and release it to the people when it was dear. These morons are doing the opposite. A pox on their houses! May their beer be always flat! Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) – Governments worldwide will increase their role in global food markets and may boost stockpiles and subsidies or impose trade curbs to head off the protests that have rippled through the Middle East, commodity traders said. "Greater political intervention in food matters is only to be expected," Alan Winney, chairman of Emerald Group Australia Pty Ltd., said in an interview at a sugar-industry conference in Dubai. "Governments will be careful to take preemptive measures to prevent increases in food prices," said Winney. The higher costs of wheat, sugar and dairy products sent the United Nations' World Food Price Index to an all-time high last month. The jump has contributed to democratic revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, as well as other Arab nations. Saif al-Islam Qaddafi said in a televised address Libya is "not Tunisia and Egypt" after thousands demonstrated in the city of Benghazi. Regards, Bill Bonner Betting Against the Fed: A Guaranteed Investment Strategy originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning has published articles on the impact of quantitative easing, bakken oil, and hyperinflation.
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| Gold's Rally Slows As Buyers Weigh Drivers Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:55 AM PST NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Gold's rally slowed Thursday as investors scrutinized the economic risks of an unstable Middle East and higher oil prices. The most actively traded contract, for April delivery, settled up 0.1%, or $1.80, at $1,415.80 a troy ounce. Gold futures have climbed 7.6% since Jan. 27, when markets first took notice of pro-democracy protests in Egypt. Since then, antigovernment demonstrations have spread to neighboring states and grown increasingly violent, especially in oil-producer Libya where security forces repeatedly opened fire on demonstrators. The mounting uncertainty has been a boon for gold prices, but as prices get closer to record levels investors are turning a more critical eye on what's pushing them higher. [source]
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| Silver Market Hit Hard With Bear Raid - The Infamous Dr. Evil Strategy Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:55 AM PST | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gold futures close at fresh seven-week high Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:50 AM PST SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures settled at a fresh seven-week high Thursday, garnering some support from safe-haven buying on the heels of unrest in Libya but giving up some of their earlier gains in the session. Gold for February delivery, the most active contract, added $1.80, or 0.1%, to $1,415.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was gold's highest settlement since Jan. 3. Sustained violent clashes between the government and regime opponents in Libya have dampened investors' appetite for risk, and gold has added more than $12 per ounce in the couple of sessions prior to Thursday. With the higher prices comes the possibility of short-term pullbacks, but longer-term gold still looks supported, said Tom Pawlicki, an analyst with MF Global in Chicago. [source] PG View: While gold fell to fresh intraday lows after the futures market closed, the underlying bullish trend remains well protected.
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| Can Saudi Arabia Really Compensate for Libyan Oil Shortages? Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:26 AM PST How quickly we're made the fool these days. Yesterday, we speculated Libya's oil output had fallen to 75% of normal. This morning, it appears the number has already fallen to 25% of capacity. The output estimate comes from the CEO of the Italian oil giant Eni, the largest foreign operator in Libya.
Down to 25% of capacity… and the "Mad Dog of the Middle East" hasn't even carried out his threat to detonate the nation's pipelines to the Mediterranean yet. And just like that, West Texas Intermediate crude broke through the $100 barrier. It's currently $101.41 a barrel. Brent crude is up to $115.28. Not to worry, says an unnamed "Saudi Arabian oil official" to Bloomberg. "Saudi Arabia and OPEC won't allow shortages to exist," reads the story, because they can "replace any lost Libyan oil as soon as companies ask for it." Apparently, we're supposed to forget the WikiLeaks revelation from just two weeks ago that Saudi Arabian reserves may be 40% smaller than advertised. Likewise, we're supposed to forget that their vaunted "spare capacity" never seemed to come into play as oil ran up from $25 to $147 between 2003-08. Besides, the 6,000-some Saudi princes have bigger things to worry about right now. Saudi Arabia's octogenarian King Abdullah has just returned home from three months of unspecified "medical treatment" overseas in hopes he'll avoid the fate that's already befallen Tunisia's Ben Ali and Egypt's Mubarak. He's unveiled a Saudi-style stimulus program worth $36 billion, including…
Not good enough, say some of the young, hip Saudi Arabians using Facebook to organize a "day of rage" on March 11. "We want rights, not gifts," says a typical message on Twitter. Into this new and volatile mix we feel compelled to throw a couple of old facts: The House of Saud hews to Sunni Islam. The country's oil fields are populated mostly by Shiites. Between the two factions lies a rift going back 1,354 years. That's what's at the heart of the "New War" scenario of $220-a-barrel oil from Outstanding Investments editor Byron King. Just yesterday, Japan's Nomura Securities called for exactly that price if production is shut down in Libya and Algeria. We're almost there already in Libya. Addison Wiggin Can Saudi Arabia Really Compensate for Libyan Oil Shortages? originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning has published articles on the impact of quantitative easing, bakken oil, and hyperinflation.
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| Grandich Client Northern Dynasty Minerals Current Price $18.30 Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:21 AM PST The following is automatically syndicated from Grandich's blog. You can view the original post here. Stay up to date on his model portfolio! February 24, 2011 11:38 AM NDM was the very first stock on my Tracking List when the blog began back in late 2008. While the gains have been quite nice since then, the company itself took a quantum leap in size in my biased opinion based on the news last night. If not for today’s overall market weakness, I fully believed it could have held its earlier gains and then some. This has given those not yet a believer to consider the following: [LIST] [*]With Ivanhoe’s Oyu Tolgoi effectively no longer a prime takeover target thanks to it’s most recent deal with Rio Tinto, NDM is truly by far the largest undeveloped copper-gold acquisition available to a major or majors. I say available because NDM’s CEO has more than once stated the likelihood of NDM being put up for sale and/or being a takeover target. He suggested in his o...
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| Has Gold Already Pre-Priced Bad News? Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:16 AM PST | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SLV ETF Adds 7,470,010 Troy Ounces of Silver Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:00 AM PST "Robbed! - Safely Storing Your Gold. Gold Cheap Versus Oil Signals Bullion to Rally. Oil could hit $220 a barrel...and much more. " Yesterday in Gold and Silver Gold saw its low price of the day about two hours after trading began in the Far East on Wednesday morning...around $1,395 spot the ounce. From that point, it struggled to back to $1,403 spot by 9:30 a.m. in New York. Then the gold price popped for a quick ten bucks...and worked its way up to the high of the day at $1,417.80 spot just before 1:00 p.m. Eastern. From that high, gold got sold back down to $1,408 spot by 2:30 p.m...and gained $4 of that loss back by the close of trading at 5:15 p.m. Eastern. I wouldn't read too much into yesterday's price action, but I'm happy to see the gold price on the right side of the $1,400 mark. The silver price pretty much mirrored what happened in the gold market. Silver's low occurred around 1:00 p.m. Hong Kong time...and its high tick at $33.81 sp...
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| LGMR: Soaring Oil & Bond-Market Rates Snub Geithner's "No Stagflation" Claim Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:35 AM PST London Gold Market Report from Adrian Ash BullionVault Thurs 24 Feb., 09:30 EST Gold Up, Silver Down as Soaring Oil & Bond-Market Rates Snub Geithner's "No Stagflation" Claim THE PRICE OF GOLD rose further in London trade Thursday morning, hitting new 2011 highs for Dollar investors as Brent crude oil jumped to $119 per barrel and a raft of economic analysis warned of "stagflation" ahead for the global economy. Silver prices ticked lower together with platinum and palladium – which also find the bulk of their demand from industry, rather than investment or jewelry – as well as base metals. New estimates said oil output from Libya has fallen by two-thirds since unrest first spilled into rebellion against Colonel Gaddafi's regime a week ago. Saudi Arabia offered to match failed supplies from Africa's 3rd largest producer. British prime minister David Cameron apologized for failing to evacuate UK citizens more quickly from what one national called the "mass ...
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| It's Not an Arab Revolution ... It's a GLOBAL Revolution Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:29 AM PST
While the revolution in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and other North African countries may seem like an "Arab revolt", it's actually worldwide. Protests involving thousands of protesters have recently been held in:
Predicted Years Ago As I noted at the time:
The Root Cause: Bad Economic Policy The U.S. is printing lots of money.....
The Bank of England is printing lots of money.....
The EU is printing lots of money....
Source: The ECB Japan is printing lots of money.....
China is printing lots of money.....
Source: The People’s Bank of China India is printing lots of money.....
Unemployment is soaring globally - especially among youth.
Of course, the big banks are hoarding, and refusing to lend to Main Street. In fact, they admitted back in 2008 that they would. And the same is playing out globally.
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