saveyourassetsfirst3

Short Gold ETFs Get Boost From Precious Metals Weakness
Why A Gold Standard Is Still A Bad Idea
7 Deep Value Oil Stocks That Could Double By 2015
Jordan Roy-Byrne: Gold Stocks Due for a Breakout Soon
Gold Stocks Due for a Breakout Soon
What is the Pan Asia Gold Exchange?
Currency Wars - Russia Officially Adds 19.5 Tonnes of Gold Reserves in October Alone
Eric Sprott Asking Silver Producers to Save in Silver
Eric Sprott to Ask Silver Producers to Save in Silver
Europe's Debt Crisis: Can gold save the eurozone?
Gold & Silver Market Morning, November 25, 2011
Kenya: Country to Have First Gold Processing Factory
More ancient gold emerges from the Yorkshire countryside
India’s 2011 Gold Imports Could Reach 1,000 Tons Despite Record Prices
Gold grows into trees in Tokyo
India Poll : Gold may fall 3,5% in dec quarter and resurge by march
one of the best indicators I have seen
So What Happens During 2012?
Is the Gold Price going to fall to $1,500?
The Myths and Reality of Gold Confiscation
Indians favouring gold over silver
Clive Maund: Gold to Profit from Economic Uncertainty
The Fall and Rise of the Gold Standard
The Three Gold Camps
miners 50% undervalued, 10 year chart
China’s Monetary Policy
Ted Butler talks with TFMetalsReport
Survival Sales Jump Amid Worries of “Possible Collapse”
Death of a Currency as Eurogeddon Approaches
Has The Euro Reached a Tipping Point That Will Benefit Gold and Silver Prices?

Short Gold ETFs Get Boost From Precious Metals Weakness

Posted: 25 Nov 2011 05:04 AM PST

By Tom Lydon:

Inverse exchange traded funds that profit from falling gold prices have received a boost the past two weeks as precious metal prices slide with global equities.

Short gold ETFs include PowerShares DB Gold Double Short ETN (DZZ), ProShares Ultrashort Gold ETF (GLL) and PowerShares DB Gold Short ETN (DGZ).

The products are geared to traders that closely monitor their portfolios rather than buy-and-hold investors. Some of the inverse ETFs use leverage, which amplifies their daily moves.

Gold and silver ETFs have fallen in recent weeks on speculation some investors are selling profitable positions in precious metals

Complete Story »

Why A Gold Standard Is Still A Bad Idea

Posted: 25 Nov 2011 03:12 AM PST

By Cam Hui:

I have always stood firmly against a gold standard, but I remain a long-term commodity bull (yes that includes gold). I believe that while individuals should hold some precious metals or precious metal linked investments in their portfolios as a hedge against asset inflation, a gold standard introduces too many unnecessary rigidities in the system which creates economic volatility.

A Gold Standard is Unnecessarily Rigid

I came out against a gold standard back in December 2008, and I stand by my previous comments. There are numerous problems with a gold standard, which is another form of fixed exchange rate regime.

Most proponents of the gold standard tend to lean libertarian, which generally means the embrace of free markets and less government. There an inherent contradiction among this crowd that I just don't understand: How can someone who believes in free markets prefer government-mandated fixed rates, which create structural rigidities, to

Complete Story »

7 Deep Value Oil Stocks That Could Double By 2015

Posted: 25 Nov 2011 02:51 AM PST

By Hawkinvest:

Germany and the rest of Europe are playing a game of chicken whereby Germany continues to refuse a greater role for the European Central Bank (ECB). Many believe the ECB needs to lower rates and print money, much as the Federal Reserve did in the last financial crisis. Germans are historically fearful of easy money since they experienced runaway inflation decades ago. The other concern for Germany is that if they concede to bailing out the rest of Europe through the ECB too early, then real reforms that are needed to reign in excess government spending and public benefits, will be diminished. The hard-line position from Germany is scaring the markets into thinking they might actually allow a disaster to occur. European sovereign bonds could collapse in value, which leads to bank failures in Europe, which leads to a depression that spreads around the world. Angela Merkel does not want

Complete Story »

Jordan Roy-Byrne: Gold Stocks Due for a Breakout Soon

Posted: 25 Nov 2011 02:17 AM PST

Gold Stocks Due for a Breakout Soon

Posted: 25 Nov 2011 02:14 AM PST

What is the Pan Asia Gold Exchange?

Posted: 25 Nov 2011 01:45 AM PST

China's Yunnan Province, the southernmost tip of China, is often referred to as the "gateway to Southeast Asia," sharing borders with Vietnam, Laos, Burma, and Tibet. After virtually ...

Currency Wars - Russia Officially Adds 19.5 Tonnes of Gold Reserves in October Alone

Posted: 25 Nov 2011 01:10 AM PST

Eric Sprott Asking Silver Producers to Save in Silver

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 09:51 PM PST

From KWN:
In what could be a critical turning point for the silver market, billionaire Eric Sprott, Chairman of Sprott Asset Management, informed King World News that he is writing a letter to silver producers requesting that they store their money in silver, rather than in cash at banks. Sprott brought up the letter when asked where he sees gold and silver headed, "It's hard to define it, who knows? I mean if you had a printing scenario you have no idea where the price of gold goes because you have no idea how much they are going to print. If you had a total bust and people feared the banking system and started buying gold, I have no idea what they would take the price of gold to because, of course, by that time all of the currencies would almost be worthless as well."

Eric Sprott continues:
"All you know is that there's only a couple of things that you have to have your money in to be safe. For example, I'm writing a letter basically suggesting to the silver producers, you know you guys have all of this money in banks, why do you have it in banks?
Read more @ KingWordNews

Eric Sprott to Ask Silver Producers to Save in Silver

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 09:19 PM PST

¤ Yesterday in Gold and Silver

Gold was up about ten bucks early in Wednesday afternoon trading in the Far East...and had just broken through the $1,715 spot price level shortly after 2:00 p.m. Hong Kong time. At that point the selling began.

This sell-off lasted until the London a.m. gold fix at 10:30 a.m. GMT...5:30 a.m. Eastern time. Then a rally of sorts began and, as the case has been lately, the sell-off resumed shortly after equity trading began in New York at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time...although it might have been an early London p.m. gold fix.

The gold price then got sold off to its low of the day shortly after London closed at 4:00 p.m. local time...11:00 a.m. in New York.

The subsequent rally was only allowed to take the gold price back almost to the Tuesday closing price before a willing seller showed up...and that was it for the rest of the New York trading session on Wednesday.

Gold closed at $1,692,30 spot...down $7.10 on the day. Volume, net of huge roll-overs, was a smallish 97,000 contracts.

With the U.S.A. celebrating Thanksgiving, it should have come as no surprise to anyone that Thursday was a very quiet trading day...but it was the same old trading pattern nonetheless.

Gold traded sideways until around lunchtime in Hong Kong...and then began a rally that ran into a seller as it broke through $1,700 the ounce price level shortly after 10:00 a.m. in London. From that point, the gold priced meandered lower, with the low coming at the London p.m. fix at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. The tiny rally after that got sold off before it could get near the $1,700 level once again.

The trading session ended just before 1:30 p.m. Eastern time, with gold closing at $1,694.80 spot...up $2.50 on the day. Net volume was a microscopic 22,000 contracts.

With London closed at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time...and New York closed for Thanksgiving...one has to wonder who was doing the trading between 11:00 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. Eastern time.

The red trace is Wednesday...and the green trace is Thursday.

It was an entirely different story for silver on Wednesday, as the Commercial traders really went after it. Like gold, the selling began shortly after 2:00 p.m. Hong Kong time, with the low of the day coming at half past lunchtime in London...which was 7:30 a.m. in New York.

The subsequent rally wasn't allowed to get far during Comex trading...and the smallish rally that developed at 11:30 a.m. ran into a seller any time it showed signs of breaking through $32.00 spot.

Silver closed the Wednesday trading session at $31.76 spot...down 99 cents from Tuesday. 'Da Boyz' took back almost all of Tuesday's gains. Net volume was around 31,000 contracts.

Silver's price path on Thursday was basically the same as gold's...the high at 10:00 a.m. in London...and the low at the London p.m. gold fix. The silver price spent some of the day above $32.00 spot, but once the 'fix was in'...silver was not allowed to close above that price.

Silver closed the Thursday trading day at $31.87 spot...up 11 cents from Wednesday. Net volume, if it can be believed, was around 3,400 contracts.

As I've mentioned many times over the years, when the New York players are on holidays, volume just about vanishes, as their trading activity constitutes between 80% and 90% of all volume on the Globex. Thanksgiving Thursday was a case in point.

The dollar was on a tear for most of Wednesday. Between 6:00 p.m on Tuesday...and around noon on Wednesday, the dollar was up almost a full cent. From that Wednesday high, the dollar slid about 45 basis points until about 11:00 a.m. in London yesterday morning...and has been rising in fits and starts since then and is back above its Wednesday high as of this writing. Here's the 3-day chart...

Here's the HUI chart from Wednesday's trading day. I'm not sure why the chart came to an end when it did, as I was under the impression that the equity markets were open all day, so I'm not sure how the HUI really finished. This chart shows it down 2.48% before the price flat-lined.

With silver getting smacked for a buck on Thursday [and it was down much more than that intraday]...Nick Laird's Silver Sentiment Index was down 4.57%. Ouch!

(Click on image to enlarge)

The CME's Daily Delivery Report on Wednesday showed that 9 gold and 2 silver contracts were posted for delivery on Monday. We've only got two delivery days left in November before the big delivery month of December gets underway.

There were no reported changes in the GLD ETF on Wednesday...but another 1,848,298 troy ounces of silver were withdrawn from SLV.

The U.S. Mint had a small sales report on Wednesday. They sold 1,500 ounces of gold eagles...500 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes...and zero silver eagles. Silver eagle sales have yet to break the one million mark so far this month.

The Comex-approved depositories reported receiving no silver on Tuesday...and they shipped 334,382 troy ounces out the door.

Silver analyst Ted Butler posted his mid-week commentary on Wednesday...and here are two free paragraphs...

"The manipulation, which I liken to financial terrorism, takes on a regular pattern. There's a group of around 20 commercials on the COMEX, including JPMorgan, that know how to suddenly rig prices lower (usually in the middle of the night or at some other thinly-traded time). Knowing that this will scare some people into selling and keep others from buying, this small group of commercials then sits back and waits to buy what they can scare others into selling. The proof of this is that government data consistently reveals that these commercials are always the big buyers on any sharp sell-off in silver. No exceptions. Some might call this just good luck on the part of these commercials. I call it manipulation and financial terrorism."

"The most ironic thing is that most silver and gold investors originally bought precious metals as protection against exactly the type of financial crisis we are going through now. In other words, the price of gold and silver should be soaring based upon current conditions. Instead, the manipulation and financial terrorism is so pronounced that the crooked commercials on the COMEX have managed to convince the market that financial crises involving a flight from paper assets is somehow bad for precious metals. That's preposterous...and you should not be fooled by their crooked games. The proof is that these commercial crooks are buying hand over fist on the contrived sell-offs. So should you."

Here's a chart that Washington state reader S.A. sent me on Wednesday...and the heading says it all.

Here's another chart...this one from Nick Laird yesterday. It goes back 21 years. In his covering e-mail, Nick had this to say..."Global markets heading down to support. When that breaks, look out below...and call Bernanke!" The 'click to enlarge' feature comes in handy on a graph this size.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Here's a Richard Russell snippet that was sent to me by Washington state reader S.A. yesterday...and it's definitely worth posting here...

"At the La Jolla Rehab Center I still read 10 papers and maybe 25 magazines every week, and let's be honest. The news is so confusing that it is absolutely impossible to come to any sort of intelligible conclusion. I'm embarrassed to say that for the first time in six decades I don't really know what's going on. The Dow the last few months has traveled thousands of points and ended up nowhere -- actually as of yesterday's close the Dow and the S&P were down for the year showing net losses for all the frantic activity. My advice, is to stay with gold, some cash, and Permanent Portfolio (PRPFX). I also think silver is particularly interesting here, and I advise the purchase of 10 oz. silver bars. Buy them and pile them up in your bank vault."

Once again I have lots of stories for you to browse through...and the final edit is up to you.

In the end, all paper will crash and burn...and those that survive when the smoke has cleared will be the ones that hold hard assets.

Royal Canadian Mint raises $600 million in gold fund IPO. The Myths and Reality of Gold Confiscation: James Turk. Europe's Debt Crisis: Can gold save the eurozone?

¤ Critical Reads

UC Davis Pepper-Spray Incident Reveals Weakness Up Top: Matt Taibbi

For those of who haven't seen this video clip yet: police in paramilitary gear line up in front of a group of Occupy protesters peacefully assembled on a quad pathway. Completely unprovoked, police decide to douse the whole group of sitting protesters with pepper spray. There is crying and chaos and panic, but the wheezing protesters sit resolutely in place and refuse to move despite the assault.

Finally, in what to me is the most amazing part, the protesters gather together and move forward shouting "Shame On You! Shame On You!" over and over again. You can literally see the painful truth of those words cutting the resolve of the policemen and forcing them backwards.

Glenn Greenwald's post at Salon says this far better than I can, but there are undeniable conclusions one can draw from this incident. The main thing is that the frenzied dissolution of due process and individual rights that took place under George Bush's watch, and continued uncorrected even when supposed liberal constitutional lawyer Barack Obama took office, has now come full circle and become an important element to the newer political controversy involving domestic/financial corruption and economic injustice.

This rather long Matt Taibbi blog was posted over at Rolling Stone magazine on Tuesday...and it's Roy Stephens first of many offerings in this column. The link is here.

View full GSD edition

Bank of America Swaps Soar to Record

The cost to protect Bank of America Corp. debt surged to a record and a benchmark gauge of U.S. corporate credit risk climbed to a seven-week high as Europe's sovereign fiscal crisis intensified.

The Markit CDX North America Investment Grade Index of credit default swaps, which investors use to hedge against losses on company debt or to speculate on creditworthiness, added 5.9 basis points to a mid-price of 146.4 at 4:57 p.m. in New York, the highest since Oct. 4, according to Markit Group Ltd.

The contagion is obviously spreading to the U.S. now...and it won't be long before the world's entire financial system is infected. There is no way out of this except via the printing press, or its electronic equivalent.

This Bloomberg story was filed on Wednesday afternoon...and I thank Elliot Simon for sending it along. The link is here.

View full GSD edition

'A Complete Disaster' - Sovereign Bond Auction Fizzles in Germany

Germany has been considered a safe haven of financial stability amid the ongoing euro crisis -- but that may be changing. Growing mistrust from investors seems apparent after what has been described as a "disastrous" government bond auction on Wednesday. Just two-thirds of the German bonds sold, leaving analysts concerned but not panicked.

Roy Stephens sent me this piece on Wednesday...and it's posted at the German website spiegel.de. The link is here.

View full GSD edition

Financial Paralysis: Europe Short on Cash as Bond Fears Deepen

The euro zone is stuck in a double crisis. On the one hand, investors are no longer interested in purchasing sovereign bonds. On the other, banks with such bonds on their books are being treated with extreme caution. A massive financial crisis threatens -- and it could be worse than the last.

Germany's top banker is not alone with his concern about the problem. The entire financial world is in turmoil this autumn. Once seen as iron-clad investments, state bonds are no longer seen as secure -- particularly since the European Union agreed to a 50 percent debt haircut for Greece in October. It can, warned Andreas Schmidt, president of the Association of German Banks, earlier this week, no longer be taken for granted that countries can turn to the capital markets to finance their budgets.

This story was posted in spiegel.de on Wednesday...and is another Roy Stephens offering. The link is here.

View full GSD edition

Germany unmoved by French pleas for more ECB action

French appeals for Germany to sanction extra powers for the European Central Bank have been firmly rejected, despite warnings from politicians, economists and even the Vatican that it is the only way of "averting a catastrophe".

Angela Merkel was unmoved by another roller-coaster day that saw Portuguese debt being downgraded to junk status, Italian bond yields pushed into the bail-out zone, and doubts cast over France's AAA rating: the German Chancellor refused to allow the ECB to become Europe's lender of last resort.

Once again I thank Roy Stephens for sending me this story. It's from The Telegraph late last night...and the link is

Europe's Debt Crisis: Can gold save the eurozone?

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 09:19 PM PST

Europe's Debt Crisis: Can gold save the eurozone?

With no end to the eurozone debt crisis in sight, there has also been no end to the stream of possible solutions. The latest involves using gold as collateral.

With eurozone central banks holding some 64% of the world's gold reserves, they'd have the heft to back that up.

And there is some precedent, though that was largely during the pre-euro era. So it is unclear what legal hurdles might need to be overcome to satisfy all 17 euro-area nations.

But assuming those challenges could be addressed, experts see it as a real win-win possibility.

Gold & Silver Market Morning, November 25, 2011

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 09:00 PM PST

Kenya: Country to Have First Gold Processing Factory

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 08:37 PM PST

More ancient gold emerges from the Yorkshire countryside

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 08:31 PM PST

India’s 2011 Gold Imports Could Reach 1,000 Tons Despite Record Prices

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 08:25 PM PST

Gold grows into trees in Tokyo

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 08:23 PM PST

India Poll : Gold may fall 3,5% in dec quarter and resurge by march

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 08:18 PM PST

one of the best indicators I have seen

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 08:17 PM PST

When you see things like this on Kitco's latest gold news section (today) "Gold May Gain in London as Price Decline Spurs Physical Demand" ....gold is headed down. Lately about every time I have seen things like "gold may show gains next week due to weakening dollar....etc." it goes the other way.

So What Happens During 2012?

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 08:04 PM PST

In the first half of 2012, most stock markets should do well as long as Europe does not fall to pieces. That problem is real but I think the clowns running that movie use fictional media to full advantage and stumble through until a 10-15% correction at the end of May. Precious metals prices, bullion, coins, shares, etc. should do well from January, 2012, through the end of May, 2012, when they also correct; but mildly.

Our summer could be flat, choppy and indecisive. However, by the end of summer 2012, expect a very long list of serious problems upsetting all markets in the 4th quarter of 2012. Somewhere, on some day in the not too distant future, the bond market will collapse and then everything begins to unravel. This crashing process, interestingly enough, might hit the world just before our USA fall elections.

If this is true, all kinds of really bad things can happen like: (1) Stiffer capital controls (2) Major trade wars (3) Summer and fair weather food and joblessness riots (4) More marching and demonstrations with increasing violence (5) A real possibility of bank runs and holidays, and even perhaps marshal law.

What would happen if the USA national elections were cancelled, the date-time was extended or, whatever by the president? I feature all kinds of problems in this scenario. It could happen if the worst of this stuff hits simultaneously in the last quarter of 2012. Who knows? Maybe that is the elitists' stealth plan from an escape to avoid losing an election or beginning a new world war. Investors and traders should continue on the path we've talked about for years. However, risk control is the newer watchword. Take full precautions and be especially careful of bank runs, holding money where it cannot be retrieved or, be converted to something of little value.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Is the Gold Price going to fall to $1,500?

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 06:19 PM PST

Gold Forecaster

The Myths and Reality of Gold Confiscation

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 06:17 PM PST

Indians favouring gold over silver

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 06:15 PM PST

Clive Maund: Gold to Profit from Economic Uncertainty

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 06:00 PM PST

The mountains of debt engulfing Western economies is likely to lead to hyperinflation according to Clive Maund, president of clivemaund.com. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Maund...

Visit the aureport.com for more information and for a free newsletter

The Fall and Rise of the Gold Standard

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 05:00 PM PST

The Three Gold Camps

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 04:30 PM PST

miners 50% undervalued, 10 year chart

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 03:36 PM PST

this is why i'm holding gdx, gdxj

some day...

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/images...g/XAU-Gold.png

China’s Monetary Policy

Posted: 24 Nov 2011 02:59 PM PST

We finished off yesterday poo-poohing the idea that China's monetary policy makers can do anything to halt China's bust that follows its boom.

Before we explain why, check out the latest example of what happens when easy money saturates an economy. Dan Denning sent this article to our inbox early this morning. According to the report, wind - of indeterminate strength - blew part of the roof off Shanghai Airport's Terminal 3.

The architect blamed shoddy construction, as you would. We're guessing the construction company, if they're still around, will be pointing the finger at the architect.

So, why are China's monetary policy makers impotent in preventing the bust?

The simple answer is because everyone thinks they can. It's the 'prevailing wisdom'. To paraphrase Warren Buffett, such sentiment will neither prevail for long nor be wise.

Yesterday, Money Morning editor Kris Sayce sent us this clip from Barry Ritholtz's Big Picture blog. It's a Bloomberg interview with hedge fund manager Jim Chanos, who recently visited Hong Kong and Australia.

Chanos is a noted China naysayer. When asked how he felt about his bearish call after the trip, he said:

"I think we probably came back a little bit more bearish...Our concerns about what we saw in Australia: an economy clearly tied to China has hitched its wagon to the tail of the tiger. In terms of the general complacency, what we heard over and over from investors and clients and potential clients is, 'yes, yes, there are some excesses, but the government will figure out a way. That the government is this all-knowing, omniscient basic entity that will not prevent me from losing money."

Clearly, Chanos meant to say 'will prevent me from losing money'.

This is the denial stage of a bubble bust. While China's economy is clearly slowing, the consensus opinion is this is an engineered slowdown that will be expertly managed by China's central planners.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that China can lower interest rates to 'loosen' its tight monetary policy. Here's a newsflash. Policy is not tight at all.

According to a report from Fitch Ratings, issued a few months ago, China's official and unofficial credit growth equalled a massive 40 per cent of GDP in 2009 and 2010. They estimate it will equate to 37 per cent of GDP in 2011.

To give you some perspective, in the year to September Australia's credit growth was equivalent to around 5 per cent of GDP.

So to think that China's monetary policy is 'tight' and a few tweaks of the interest rate lever will encourage another wave of borrowing and even greater credit growth is wishful thinking.

China's monetary policy is not tight. Sure they have raised interest rates a few times to cool speculation but inflation has been on the rise too. This means REAL interest rates (which equals the nominal rate minus inflation) are already very low or even in negative territory.

One of the big myths about China's apparent strength is the size of its foreign exchange reserves. At US$3.2 trillion dollars, many people mistakenly believe China can use this 'war chest' to spend its way out of trouble.

As Chanos correctly points out in his interview, what China hopers don't realise is that there are liabilities that match the size of those assets.

Those liabilities are effectively reserves of the Chinese banking system. The explanation gets a little complicated, but this all comes back to China's currency peg with the US dollar.

The US has run a very loose monetary policy for years. To maintain a fixed rate to the dollar, China's central bank has had to print yuan to buy dollars. The freshly printed yuan (to the extent that they are not absorbed by the process of sterilisation) flow into the Chinese banking system. They are additional fuel to the fire that is (actually, was) the Chinese credit boom.

So selling the foreign exchange reserves is not really an option.

Can't China just run up big fiscal deficits to prop the economy up? Maybe that is a short-term option. But China's debt is much larger than most people think. Officially it's around 35 per cent of GDP, according to the IMF. Unofficially it's closer to 80 per cent.

This is a result of combining all the bad local government debt with the debt of various ministries (for example, the bankrupt Railways Ministry has debts equivalent to 5 per cent of GDP), which the central government will need to stand behind.

So while China can potentially run large budget deficits to offset the credit bust, its existing debt load is already quite high for a developing economy. China doesn't really have the fiscal scope to do any major stimulus. It doesn't mean they won't try, but it will be difficult to pull off in size.

And don't forget, with the currency peg China is still hostage to US monetary policy. Ben Bernanke hasn't pulled the QEIII rabbit out of his hat yet but it will come at some stage. When it does, it will have an inflationary impact on China (just like QEII did) making it that much harder for China to manage its credit-induced slowdown.

As Dan Denning is fond of saying, the West is in a credit depression. From where we're sitting, China looks like joining that unhappy bunch in 2012.

Greg Canavan,
for The Daily Reckoning Australia