saveyourassetsfirst3

Gold Price Continues Drifting Lower
LISTEN: Interview with Daniel J. Mitchell
Why Rehypothecation Matters To The Metals Markets
A High-Probability Trade For Long Gold Exposure
Wednesday Options Brief: AVP, FSLR & GLD
LISTEN: Interview with James Turk
NEWSFlash 13/12/2011
Precious Metals, Equities & Oil Long Term Outlook Part II
The Bankers’ New Gold
Gold falls below 200-day moving average
Radio - Quel sera l'état du monde après la crise ?
You Can't Print More Gold
Another Torrid Day For The Euro
It Might Be Time To Acknowledge That The Gold Bull Market Has Ended
Oil already may be getting priced in gold, analyst says
America’s ‘first gold coin’ fetches almost $7.4 million
Is the Gold Bull Really Dead?
Re-Hypothecation....fancy word for theft.
Slumping solar prices rub the shine off silver
Not a surprise,
Morning Outlook from the Trade Desk - 12/14/11
The dollar rally is ON
FLASHBACK: Why Silver Bullets Are The Only Defense
Three Stooges Testify about Missing Money at MF Global
Shear Lunacy!!
Bugs Throwing in the Towel: Mark Hulbert
Gold Bugs Throwing in the Towel: Mark Hulbert
Death of Gold Bull Market Seen by Gartman
Will Nickels and Pennies Soon Disappear?
European nations' debts overwhelm their gold reserves

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 05:36 AM PST

by Roman Baudzus, GoldMoney.com:

Stock ticker Yesterday gold futures at the New York Comex dropped almost 2% to $1,630 per troy ounce – the second day of declines after Monday's 2.8% drop. The gold price is currently about 15% below its September high of $1,921.21 per troy ounce. Capital markets are keeping their eye on the dollar, as yesterday the US Federal Reserve disappointed the markets by remaining coy about the possibility of a resumption of quantitative easing (QE3). This piled more pressure onto the euro, which dropped to its lowest level in months in relation to the greenback – close to 1.30.

The current upward trend in the US dollar is having a negative effect on the prices of gold, silver and other precious metals, as a strong US dollar makes other investment alternatives look less attractive. While in today's early Asian trading the greenback climbed to 80.35 on the Dollar Index (USDX), while the euro remained under sales pressure. The USDX consists of the euro (57.6% of the index), the Japanese yen (13.6%), the British pound (11.9%), the Canadian dollar (9.1%), the Swedish Krona (4.2%) and the Swiss franc (3.6%).

Dollar Index Daily Chart:

SP500 Futures Index Daily Chart:

Silver Futures Daily Chart:

Gold Futures Daily Chart:

Crude Oil Futures Daily Chart:

Mid-Week Market Madness Trend Analysis Conclusion:

In short, stocks and commodities are under pressure from the rising dollar. We have already seen a sizable pullback but there may be more to come in the next few trading sessions.

Overall, the charts are starting to look very negative which the majority of traders/investors around the world are starting to notice. With any luck they will fuel the market with more selling pressure pushing positions that my subscribers and I are holding deeper into the money.

Now that the masses are starting to get nervous and are beginning to sell out of their positions, I am on high alert for a panic washout selling day. This occurs when everyone around the world panics at the same time and bails out of their long positions. Prices drop sharply, volume shoots through the roof, and my custom indicators for spotting extreme sentiment levels sends me an alert to start covering my shorts and tightening our stops.

Hold on tight as this could be a crazy few trading sessions….

If you want to get these free weekly reports be sure to join my free newsletter: www.GoldAndOilGuy.com

Chris Vermeulen

The Bankers’ New Gold

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 03:42 AM PST

In a fresh sign of bankster desperation, we recently learned that they have pushed lease rates for gold to the lowest, negative level in history – i.e. they are paying people more money to "borrow" their gold than at any other time. We know this is a sign of desperation, because back in the real world, buyers are paying premiums near record-highs to buy their (real) gold.

There are numerous implications regarding this latest bankster tactic to suppress the gold market, but before getting into those let's explore all of the reasons why bankers like "leasing gold" in the first place. The starting point is to note that it is with gold-leasing that we see the beginnings of the banksters' 100:1 leverage in the gold market.

A banker is holding a quantity of gold in his vault. He "lends" the gold to a trader, and suddenly you have two parties both pretending to be the "owners" of that gold. Naturally, the banksters also like the fact that this is a totally opaque, unregulated/unreported transaction. The banksters can secretly lend out their gold, and since the transactions are never reported, we lack the absolute proof that none of this "loaned gold" is ever repaid.

There is certainly plenty of circumstantial evidence on which to base such a conclusion, however. In order to review this evidence, we first need to know what is being done with the bankers' leased gold. A detailed analysis by veteran precious metals commentator Frank Veneroso explains how and why "The ultimate borrowers in the gold lending operation are these shorts in the gold futures and forward market."

We immediately see a second reason the bankers love gold-leasing: all of the "leased" gold ends up being shorted onto the market. What this directly implies then is that in order for these gold leases to ever be repaid the short positions must be closed out so that the gold (supposedly) backing the trade can be repatriated to the bank. However, what we see in the gold market is a huge, permanent short position in the gold market – which has swelled enormously since Veneroso wrote the article above nearly a decade ago.

We now know that at least some of these gold leases have never been repaid, since the gold that was loaned out remains on the market. However, as a matter of simple arithmetic we can deduce that few if any of these leases are ever repaid. As I noted above, each gold lease creates "paper gold" (i.e. a "fractional reserve" gold market) and increases the bankers' leverage in the gold market.

We know from Jeffrey "I can't keep a secret" Christian of the CPM Group that the gold market is leveraged by approximately 100:1. Yet just as every new lease increases leverage in the gold market, closing out any lease would reduce leverage by a corresponding amount. The combination of the permanently rising leverage, and the permanently rising short position provide irrefutable empirical evidence that little if any of this "leased gold" is ever repaid.

Gold falls below 200-day moving average

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 03:37 AM PST

Radio - Quel sera l'état du monde après la crise ?

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 03:10 AM PST

Selon le Laboratoire Européen d'Anticipation Politique (LEAP), la crise économique globale est entrée dans une nouvelle phase, celle de la décote généralisée des dettes publiques occidentales, soit la disparition de 30 000 milliards d'actifs fantômes d'ici le début 2013. Ce phénomène devrait également s'accompagner d'une partition du marché financier mondial en trois grandes zones monétaires de plus en plus déconnectées : Dollar, Euro, Yuan. Mais qui sont les principales victimes de ces deux phénomènes ? Franck Biancheri est directeur des Etudes de LEAP et auteur de « Crise mondiale : En route pour le monde d'après », publié aux éditions Anticipolis RealAudioMP3
Un entretien réalisé par Thomas Chabolle...

Ecouter

You Can't Print More Gold

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 02:54 AM PST

$2,200 forecast for early 2012.

Another Torrid Day For The Euro

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 02:09 AM PST

from GoldMoney.com:

euros The euro has endured another torrid time at the currency markets, with the EURUSD testing resistance earlier at $1.30. Any drop below this important support level could encourage further euro selling and US dollar buying.

This dollar strength continues to pile bearish pressure on precious metals, with a sharp sell-off late yesterday afternoon taking the gold price below $1,630 briefly and silver coming close to the $30 mark. As Dan Norcini comments at his blog, the gold and silver markets could experience increased volatility over the Christmas period, as more traders offset futures positions ahead of the holidays. This reduction in liquidity could accentuate sharp price movements – both to the up and downside.

Read More @ USAWatchdog.com

Re-Hypothecation....fancy word for theft.

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 12:29 AM PST

If you aren't familiar with the term, go read this article at Silver Bear Cafe:

http://www.silverbearcafe.com/privat...1/scandal.html

A legal loophole in international brokerage regulations means that few, if any, clients of MF Global are likely to get their money back. Although details of the drama are still unfolding, it appears that MF Global and some of its Wall Street counterparts have been actively and aggressively circumventing U.S. securities rules at the expense (quite literally) of their clients.

The above article ( and I had to read it a couple times ) lays out IN DETAIL exactly how these bastards have managed to construct a business in which they use client money to fund their bets, and THEN, if they lose, tough....client is just out.....legally. NO ONE is going to jail over this, as they can pull out the client agreement, and buried way down in the legaleze is where the client gave them permission to use their assets to play with, and if the broker loses...well, tough. THAT IS WHY NONE OF THE SO-CALLED "INSURANCES" ( like SPIC ) are going to pay off.....because this was a LEGAL process....same as if the client made a loosing trade !

As Wood Guthrie wrote in a song about Pretty Boy Floyd:

"Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.

And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home."

AND it gets more interesting, as we may find most brokers have written language buried way down deep in the agreement one signs to get an account with them that allows the EXACT SAME THING that just happened at MF Gobal !

For example, E-Trade:

(b) Loan or Pledge of Securities
I authorize E*TRADE Securities to lend either to itself or to others any Securities and/or Other Property held by E*TRADE Securities in my Margin Account to the extent permitted by law. I understand that within the limitations imposed by applicable laws, rules and regulations all of my securities and/or other property may be pledged and repledged and hypothecated and rehypothecated by E*TRADE Securities. This can occur without my being notified, either separately or together with other securities and/or other property of other customers of E*TRADE Securities, for any amount due E*TRADE Securities in any Account in which I have an interest; provided, however, that E*TRADE Securities may not undertake such actions from any Account for any amount due E*TRADE Securities in any retirement Account or from a retirement Account for any amount due E*TRADE Securities in any other Account.

Notice the underlined part.....to the extent permitted by law. The problem is that US law does limit how much they can lend themselves, but if they have a subsidiary in the UK, and move the money there, there is no limit. ( Again, read the Silver Bear article for an understanding of this ).

Scottrade:

All securities and other property now or hereafter held, carried, or maintained by us in or for your account may, from time to time without notice to you, be pledged, re-pledged, hypothecated, or re-hypothecated by us, either separately or in common with other securities and other property. The values received may be greater than the amount you owe us.

Fidelity:

Fidelity can loan out (to itself or others) the securities that collateralize your margin borrowing. If it does, you may not be entitled to receive, with respect to securities that are lent, certain benefits that normally accrue to a securities owner, such as the ability to exercise voting rights, or to receive interest, dividends, or other distributions.

Bottom line, a WHOLE LOT of client money in brokerage accounts is NOT SAFE.....not only do you have market risk, but you sign an agreement that basically gives them the key to your lock box !

To Quote Silver Doc Blog: http://silverdoctors.com/

Meaning- if you trade on margin, expect that your margin is currently re-hypothecated by your broker.

As in loaned out to itself or THE MORGUE!
Which means that if your broker goes the way of the Dodo bird (as E*Trade came within hours of doing in Oct of 2008), you can kiss your cash goodbye, just like MF Global clients have.
If your re-hypothecated collateral has been used to purchase derivatives, the counter-party to your brokerage who re-hypothecated your assets WILL LAY CLAIM TO YOUR BROKERS' ASSETS (YOUR COLLATERAL) AS THEY HOLD SENIOR STATUS UNDER CURRENT BANKRUPTCY LAW!!
This is what just went down with MF Global and JP Morgan, and why Mr. Dimon is walking around with a big grin on his face.

EXPECT TO LOSE (HAVE STOLEN) YOUR PAPER ASSETS BY THE END OF THE FINANCIAL COLLAPSE!

GOT PHYZZ!?!

By the way, Rich and I will spend the whole hour tonight on GIM Radio about this subject. If you have time today to study this, and join us tonight on the radio.

Now I got to get down to the apple orchard and get some work done.....

Slumping solar prices rub the shine off silver

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 12:25 AM PST

Source:

Reuters

The solar industry's rapidly growing demand for silver could hit a wall next year, as the rising price of the precious metal forces solar cell makers to cut use of the metal in their battle against overcapacity and a near halving of product prices.

December 14, 2011 - 7:07am

Not a surprise,

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 12:18 AM PST

Been talking about this for awhile now,

Seasonal break down = prices down,

Time to start planning on how to put dry powder to work,

avg on in is my take on it, we have long needed a outsized correction in order to remove froth from the market.
We are getting it. This is a good thing longer term,

Keep Stackin'

silver 200 dma is way back at 21.40
gold 200 dma is way back at 1168.10

long ways to go before the bull is killed off,

Attached Images

gold 12.14.11.png‎ (20.9 KB)
silver 12.14.11.png‎ (19.8 KB)

Morning Outlook from the Trade Desk - 12/14/11

Posted: 14 Dec 2011 12:16 AM PST

No real news yesterday. They tested the $1.650 support three times and when the buyers grew tired it broke and the computers took over, driving gold down another $30. I do not believe there is much more downside in the market "this year". You would have to be a little unbalanced to be short over the holidays. If I were to take a position, I would be long in anticipation of short covering into the Holidays. The market will be extremely thin by next Tuesday. I anticipate most of the action by close Friday.

Next year marks my 60th, but yesterday I felt my age, when someone asked "who the --- is Twiggy. Come on guys, she is as famous as the Dave Clarke Five and Mr. Ed.

The dollar rally is ON

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 11:48 PM PST

From Kimble Charting Solutions:

The "Power of the Pattern" suggested that a "bullish cup and handle" pattern looked to be taking shape almost two weeks ago. Below is an update to the pattern.

The week is far from over, though so far the dollar and euro are both doing their best to break key resistance/support lines.

Keep a close eye on the C&H pattern to see if...

Read full article (with chart)...

More on the dollar and the euro:

How the euro could trigger a 2008-style crash

An update on the U.S. dollar's huge potential move

Risk OFF: The dollar could be on the verge of another big move

FLASHBACK: Why Silver Bullets Are The Only Defense

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 10:24 PM PST

Mike Krieger Explains Why Silver Bullets Are The Only Defense Against Modern Financial Vampires

A Silver Bullet for Modern Vampires

by Michael Krieger via ZeroHedge:

vam•pire
noun \?vam-?p?(-?)r\

Definition of VAMPIRE

1: the reanimated body of a dead person believed to come from the grave at night and suck the blood of persons asleep

2 a : one who lives by preying on others

Does the above definition of vampire by Merriam Webster remind you of anything? Yes of course it does, it reminds you of the Too Big To Fail Banks. It was extremely appropriate for Matt Taibbi to refer to Goldman Sachs as the "Vampire Squid." Just as the above definition lays out, vampires are able to come back from the dead and once they have done so they drain the life out of the living while they sleep. Need I say more? The big banks and the Federal Reserve are modern day vampires and they are feeding off what remains of the living (productive) parts of the economy while the majority of Americans are stuck in a reality tv, Prozac induced coma of endless propaganda and brainwashing. Indeed the vampires are feeding off of an American public that still by and large remains "asleep." These are ideal hunting grounds for vampires.

¤ Yesterday in Gold and Silver

For the second day in a row, gold opened quietly in Far East trading...and then about 9:30 a.m. Hong Kong time, a not-for-profit seller showed up...and dropped gold about a percent.

Gold then traded quietly until about an hour before the London open, where it developed a positive bias...and then traded very close to Monday's closing price until the open of the equity markets in New York at 9:30 a.m. Eastern.

A smallish rally began at that point that got sold off immediately...and gold traded down about five dollars for the rest of the Comex trading session. Then, in the very thinly-trading New York Access Market, another not-for-profit seller showed up and peeled nearly forty bucks off the gold price in the space of ninety minutes, before recovering a bit into the 5:15 p.m. close.

Gold closed at $1,630.90 spot...down $34.40 on the day. Volume was even heavier than on Monday, with about 192,000 contracts traded.

Like the Monday trading day, silver was under pressure as soon as New York opened on Monday night, with the Far East low coming minutes before 4:00 p.m. Hong Kong time...which was minutes before the 8:00 a.m. London open.

Silver then rallied for a couple of hours before trading sideways. This state of affairs lasted until 9:30 a.m. when silver blasted off...and before the not-for-profit seller showed up twenty minutes later, silver had tacked on about 90 cents. The 'powers that be' took that away, and more, and had silver back below its New York opening price by shortly after 11:00 a.m. Eastern time.

From there it traded sideways. Then, about forty minutes after electronic trading began, the usual not-for-profit seller showed up again...and by the time the low of the day was in, they had hit the silver price for another 80 cents.

Silver recovered from there...and the metal closed at $30.84 spot...down 45 cents on the day. The intra-day range was just as wild as it was on Monday...$1.77...which converts to a 5.5% swing from top to bottom. Volume was around 40,000 contracts, a bit higher than Monday's volume.

The dollar declined about 20 basis points between the Monday night close, up until about 9:50 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday morning...the precise moment that gold and silver hit their high ticks of the day. [In hindsight, this high for gold and silver/low for the dollar, probably occurred at an early London p.m. gold fix.] Then, in the space of about an hour, the dollar shot up about 60 basis point before trading sideways until precisely 2:00 p.m. Eastern time where it added on another 40 basis points during the next 90 minutes of trading. From there it traded quietly sideways into the close.

For the second day in a row, 'rallies' in the dollar caused falls in the precious metals out of all proportion to the dollar price movement itself.

The gold stock topped out at 9:50 a.m....which was, in hindsight, the London p.m. gold fix...and it was all down hill from there. The HUI didn't finish on its low of the day, but came close, closing down 3.26%.

The silver stocks got hit pretty hard as well. Nick Laird's Silver Sentiment Index dropped another 2.75%.

(Click on image to enlarge)

The CME's Daily Delivery Report showed that 157 gold and 68 silver contracts were posted for delivery on Thursday. In gold...and for the second day running...the standout feature was the fact that the Bank of Nova Scotia was the big long/stopper, taking about 80% of all the deliveries. The link to the Issuers and Stoppers Report is here.

There were no reported changes in either GLD or SLV yesterday. Considering that gold is down about $80 in the last two trading days...and silver is down over a buck...this is a bit of a surprise. The only movement in either ETF since the weekend, was a small withdrawal of about 20,000 ounces from GLD on Monday. One has to wonder if the big paper shorts in both ETFs aren't using this opportunity to reduce their positions...buying all the metal that the general public is selling. We'll find out in due course.

The U.S. Mint had another sales report yesterday. They sold 12,500 ounces of gold eagles...500 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes...and no silver eagles. Month-to-date so far, the mint has sold 32,500 ounces of gold eagles...9,000 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes...and 1,356,000 silver eagles.

Over at the Comex-approved warehouses on Monday, they reported receiving 300,906 ounces of silver...and shipped 216,507 troy ounces out the door. The link to that action is here.

BIG GOLD editor, Jeff Clark, passed around this comment from Richard Russell yesterday..."The preferred position is no stocks, gold, and 10 ounce silver bars, with some cash for practical purposes. We are headed for uncharted waters and in time all central bank created currencies will be crushed. Gold is the only currency that is not someone else's liability, and it should be accumulated....The ease with which the Dow cut through the 12,000 level and back into the 11,000 area was I thought ominous. Instructions: Be out of ALL stocks including mining stocks if you've not done so already. As I see it, the bear market is now continuing from where it left off in 2009. I expect the Fed to start printing again within the next few months. I see major danger ahead and a further collapse in housing prices."

Matt Taibbi's "Giant Vampire Squid" gets paraded in front of Goldman Sachs...the story below.

I have a fair number of stories for you today, but not nearly as many as I had on Tuesday, so I hope you have time to at least skim that all.

Once they've shaken this tree and forced the very last speculative long that wants to sell, to do so...then the bottom is in.

Central Bank Appetite And The Monetary Case For $10,000 Gold: Frank Holmes. Death of Gold Bull Market Seen by Gartman. European nations' debts overwhelm their gold reserves.

¤ Critical Reads

Existing Home Sales Debacle, As Larry 'Baghdad-Bob' Yun Confirms Overstatement

In what can only be described as completely unsurprising, Larry Yun of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has admitted, according to CNNMoney, that maybe, possibly they overstated, purely by accident, the number of existing homes sales statistic that has formed the cornerstone of his constant corner-turning commentary over the past few years.

We have unequivocally challenged the Ph.D.'s claims as fudged and fabricated this year and even The Wall Street Journal, back in February 2011, saw 'challenges' in the NAR's data when compared to other unbiased sources of the same reality. We can only assume that when Yun explains, in true Baghdad-Bob-style, the adjustments (when they are released on December 21st) that they will be either a signal that the bottom is in for home sales or that from such a low base, things can only get better. From our perspective, they remain irrelevant and untrustworthy with the CoreLogic data seemingly less naturally biased to an organization desperate for a foothold on the glimmering slope back to the American Dream.

Reader Phil Barlett slid this zerohedge.com piece into my in-box just minutes before I hit the send button at 5:20 a.m. this morning. It's a must read...and the link is here.

View full GSD edition

Money flees the corruption of U.S. markets, Armstrong tells King World News

Interviewed by King World News yesterday, market analyst and former political prisoner Martin Armstrong contends that the corruption of U.S. financial companies as exemplified by the collapse of MF Global is causing money to flee U.S. markets. Armstrong says the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, clearinghouse for MF Global, should reimburse the firm's clients for the money missing from their accounts...and, in turn, seek reimbursement from the banking houses where the money ended up.

I found this story in a GATA release last night...and I thank Chris Powell for saving me the trouble of wordsmithing the introduction. The link is here.

View full GSD edition

JP Morgan Stock Breaks Down On News Company's Role As MF Global Lender To Be Probed

The following article showed up posted over at the zerohedge.com website yesterday.

Not an hour after we asked who gave permission to MF Global estate to sell Italian bonds to JPM...which was a lender to MF Global...at preferential terms and we get the following headline from Bloomberg: JPMORGAN ACTIONS AS MF LENDER LIKELY TO BE PROBED: LIQUIDATOR.

Needless to say, we are quite happy. Someone who isn't however, are JPM's shareholders, as the stock just took out the lows on the news.

I thank reader Matthew Nel for sending us this very short read about U.S. Public Enemy #2...and the link is here.

View full GSD edition

MF Global shoots counterparty risk worldwide, Turk tells King World News

GoldMoney founder and GATA consultant James Turk told King World News yesterday that the failure of the MF Global brokerage house has spread counterparty risk throughout the world financial system, causing trading to shrink and creating a crisis worse than the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Turk echoed the advice just given via King World News by Jim Sinclair: Be your own central bank with gold and silver in possession. Eric King sent me the story yesterday afternoon, but the introduction is courtesy of Chris Powell once again. Eric's title reads "Turk - Lehman II in Progress as Financial System Implodes"...and the link to the KWN blog is here.

View full GSD edition

Occupy Wall Street: The 'Squidding' of Goldman Sachs - Matt Taibbi

I almost shed tears of pride this morning when I read this hilarious passage in the Daily News:

Earlier Monday, about 300 protesters in squid costumes surged outside the offices of Goldman Sachs investment bank shouting, "We fry calamari!" and "Everyone pays their tax – everyone but Goldman, Sachs!"

I wish someone had called me – I would have loved to have attended this "Let's Go Squidding" expedition. Folks, if you do this again, please let me know, and I promise to put some serious man-hours into designing a squid costume. As it is, I'd like to see in person some of the ones that turned out yesterday, especially that giant papier-mâché-looking thing I seem to see in the News photo.

I'm sure that when Matt hatched the description of Goldman Sachs as "the great vampire squid with it's tentacles wrapped around the face of humanity"...he had no idea that the name would stick. A more appropriate name for a criminal organization like this, I could not imagine.

This short story about U.S. Public Enemy #1 was sent to me by Roy Stephens last night. It's posted over at the rollingstone.com website...and, like the JPMorgan story above, is worth the two minutes of your time it will take you to run through it. The link is here.

View full GSD edition

City not shielded by Cameron's veto, EU insists

European ministers have warned that the City of London is not shielded by David Cameron's veto of the Brussels summit proposals and have vowed to impose tough financial regulations on Britain anyway.

Amid chaotic confusion over the relevance of the Brussels summit, including Britain's veto, Olli Rehn, the EU's economic affairs commissioner said: "If [Britain's] move was intended to prevent bankers and financial corporations of the City from being regulated, that's not going to happen."

Nicolas Sarkozy said Britain&

Gold Bugs Throwing in the Towel: Mark Hulbert

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 09:05 PM PST

Gold Bugs Throwing in the Towel: Mark Hulbert

Gold bugs over the last two weeks have become even more discouraged than they were at the end of November...and that's saying something, since they were already quite dejected.

As a result, contrarians detect a very strong wall of worry forming in the gold market, one which could very well be the springboard for bullion rallying into new all-time high territory.

There's another reason to expect bullion to soon begin rallying: The end-of-year period historically has been a strong one for gold. We haven't seen any such seasonal strength this year, needless to say. But gold's seasonal tendencies are yet more evidence pointing in the same direction as contrarian analysis: Gold is due for a strong rally.

Death of Gold Bull Market Seen by Gartman

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 09:05 PM PST

Death of Gold Bull Market Seen by Gartman

Gold, in the 11th year of its longest winning streak in at least nine decades, is poised to enter a bear market, according to Dennis Gartman, who correctly predicted the slump in commodities in 2008.

The metal, which traded at $1,666.30 an ounce at 2:43 p.m. in London, may decline to as low as $1,475, the economist wrote today in his Suffolk, Virginia-based Gartman Letter. He sold the last of his gold yesterday. Bullion has already dropped 13 percent from the record $1,921.15 reached Sept. 6 and $1,475 would extend that to more than 20 percent, the common definition of a bear market.

Will Nickels and Pennies Soon Disappear?

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 09:05 PM PST

Will Nickels and Pennies Soon Disappear?

So with nickels worth slightly more than 5¢ and pennies minted before 1982 worth almost 3¢ due to their copper content, it isn't hard to imagine that they will someday disappear from circulation as the Fed continues to expand its monetary base. Kyle Bass, who heads the hedge fund Hayman Capital Management, has already purchased $1 million worth of nickels according to Business Insider. For any more proof that the 5¢ and certain 1¢ pieces may disappear soon, just consider how many Roosevelt dimes or Washington quarters minted pre-1965 you see around today. Both are composed of 90 percent silver and are worth far more for their metal content than they are as legal tender.

European nations' debts overwhelm their gold reserves

Posted: 13 Dec 2011 09:05 PM PST

European nations' debts overwhelm their gold reserves

The actual title to this story that appeared in The Wall Street Journal this morning reads "All That Glitters, Will Not Solve Europe's Debt Woes".

The story starts off with the line that "Europe governments have a lot of gold, but that won't be much help." But Chris Powell added the line..."Not at current gold prices, it won't"...and I agree entirely. As I [and a growing list of other voices] have been going on about for many years, is that re-pricing of the world's central bank gold reserves would be a ticket out of this mess.

I thank Washington state reader S.A. for sending me this WSJ story yesterday...and the link is here.

Save Your ASSets First

Wednesday, December 14, 2011