saveyourassetsfirst3 |
- Junior-Gold Carnage
- Lessons Learned in 2011 and Implications for 2012
- Further Moves Lower in Gold Seem Unlikely
- Gold Records 11th Annual Gain, Ends 2011 Up 11% as World Stocks Drop 8%
- Bachmann Chairman Resigns, Endorses Ron Paul on Live TV
- Is a Powerful Rebound In Gold and Silver Prices About To Begin?
- Gold, Silver Prices Moving Higher In 2012
- GOLD’S D-WAVE CONFIRMED
- Public Money for Public Purpose: Toward the End of Plutocracy and the Triumph of Democracy – Part VI
- Why Gold No Longer Makes Sense
- Heavy Insider Buying by Northern Tiger’s Hayes
- LISTEN: Bob Chapman on Gold & Silver
- WATCH: Silver Chart Analysis
- Silver Update: “Silver Users Association”
- Jim Rogers on Commodities
- The End of Year Precious Metal Bullion Bear Raid - Another Form of Window Dressing?
- LISTEN: “Nothing Shines Brighter Than Silver”
- US Mint Has Enough Bullion For 2012
- Morning Outlook from the Trade Desk - 12/30/11
- Financial repression is gold price suppression
- BTFD! "Nothing Shines Brighter Than SILVER" - Chris Duane
- Silver Should See a Resurgence of Investor Interest
- China central bank researcher says gold is only safe haven now
- Italy problems weighing on the euro
- Gold Rebounds, Heads for 11th Annual Gain on Speculation Demand May Build
- China Gold Move Will Cut Risk, Not Appetite
- US to Go to War With Iran, Oil & Gold to Spike: Jim Rickards
- Gold and silver prices regaining lost ground
- Gold & Silver Market Morning, December 30, 2011
- Tocquevilles Hathaway sees panic liquidation in gold
| Posted: 30 Dec 2011 06:40 AM PST |
| Lessons Learned in 2011 and Implications for 2012 Posted: 30 Dec 2011 06:27 AM PST 2011 certainly was a difficult year for gold bugs. Gold barely held onto its gains for the year while Silver went parabolic and eventually fell to negative on the year. Mining stocks? Don't ask. The large caps (gdx) are currently down 17% on the year while the mid-tiers (gdxj) are down 41% and the explorers (gldx) are down 44%. In our last commentary we discussed the equities with respect to investing and speculating. By now, you should know that most mining stocks are speculations and do not perform consistently, even in a raging bull market. The often hyped "juniors" have been a disaster unless you've been extremely patient and selective while getting lucky with your timing. The juniors are an excellent tool for speculation and only speculation. They cannot be bought and held. They have to be timed nearly perfectly. Ironically, many advisors who are "doom and gloom" types favor the juniors. Some of these types are super bearish on the USA. They've expatriated, waiting for the collapse of the USA while holding juniors. This foolhardy strategy has helped them sell newsletters but hasn't been too profitable. Below we show a chart of the CDNX next to the S&P 500. They appear nearly identical which means that the juniors do well when the overall market does well and they perform poorly when the overall market is falling. We should have learned a few things by now. If you are really bearish then you want to concentrate your investments in Bonds, cash and Gold and completely avoid all speculative mining stocks. If you are more optimistic then look to buy quality companies and speculate in some of the juniors. We should also have learned that the dollar is not going to collapse and the US is not going collapse or go into hyperinflation. Anytime you hear this talk, get as far away as you can. This talk is romantic, enticing and can be powerful but it is never profitable. It is entertainment and fantasy. We are seeing what will be a slow motion transformation of the monetary and financial system. Pertaining to Gold we hear nonsense that you should avoid the equities because they are rigged or shorted by hedge funds. We recently explained why the shares are under-performing. How timely is this frustration from the gold bugs? Last we heard it, it was late 2008 and a tremendous buying opportunity. All this being said, now is the time to be optimistic and aggressive on the mining stocks and even the juniors. Various sentiment indicators, if not comparable to 2008 lows are nearing 2002 lows. The coming bottom in the sector will certainly be a major bottom. Technically, the large cap gold stocks have broken down but interestingly, this breakdown occurred with a bullish percent index (% of stocks on a P&F buy signal) of 10%. Back in 2008, the equities began to breakdown with a BPI of 30%. The October decline began with a BPI near 70%. By the time the BPI fell to 10%, the sector had bottomed. Traders, investors and speculators need to be a bit more patient as the market bottoms. It could be a few days or perhaps a few weeks but it should be clear one month from now. Most stocks are likely to have big rallies. How do we find the ones which will outperform? Those trading near highs with strong bases are likely to have substantial breakouts provided the fundamentals are there. Many juniors have been beaten badly but the ones with substantial cash positions, tight share structures and promising prospects have a chance to explode off their bottoms. We were cautious and neutral for most of 2011 but we are bullish on 2012. If you'd like professional guidance in navigating what lies ahead, while managing risk, consider learning more about our premium service. Good Luck! Jordan Roy-Byrne, CMT
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| Further Moves Lower in Gold Seem Unlikely Posted: 30 Dec 2011 05:53 AM PST
We are on the cusp of a new year, and this is the time that we take a look at those brave (or foolhardy) financial analysts who take out their crystal ball and predict where precious metal prices will go in 2012.
But first let's see how last year's prognosticators (including Sunshine Profits) fared. We are talking about predictions for the very chaotic 2011.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch had forecast last year at around this time that gold would top at $1,500 in the near-term and that the second half of 2011 would be more challenging. Well, gold did a lot better than $1,500 this past year. It hit an all-time nominal high in August of $1,923.70 an ounce. Gold may be down about 16% from the August highs, but it's still up roughly 14% from the 2010 settlement of $1,421, which still makes it one of the best performers this year. Even with prices falling again this week, the metal is still the top performing commodity of 2011.
Peter Schiff said about gold prices: "You ain't seen nothing yet." He was overly optimistic and predicted that gold will go up to $2,000. He might yet be proved right, but not in 2011.
James West, publisher of the Midas Letter, said gold was likely break through $1,700 an ounce by the end of 2011 and silver will likely see $35, and may even go through $40 an ounce. Well, he was right. Gold definitely broke through the $1,700 an ounce range.
Nick Barisheff, president of Canada's Bullion Management Group Inc., was looking at $1700-to $2,000 per ounce gold in 2011; he was within the right range.
At Sunshine Profits we also went out on a limb and guesstimated gold's high for 2011 at $1,800 and $45 for silver.
A review of 2011 shows a chaotic picture for the precious metals. During the first few months of 2011 the price of silver sharply outperformed the price of gold and by the end of last April the price of silver rose by nearly 56%, while gold rose "only" 9% from the beginning of the year. With the sharp rise in silver prices the CME raised margins which caused silver prices to decline to 7% above the initial price level of 2011. The next rally came from May to the beginning of September for both metals due to uncertainty about the stability of the U.S. economy and the debate about raising the debt ceiling. The rally came to a halt in September due to the CME raising margins and also because the Fed did not come up with QE3. The decline of precious metal prices soon followed.
To predict how precious metals will behave in the short run, let's begin the technical part with the analysis of the USD Index. We will start with the very long-term chart (charts courtesy by http://stockcharts.com.)
Our first chart is the very long-term USD Index chart. Little has recently changed and what we wrote on December 27th, 2011 in our essay on the possible bottom in gold is still up-to-date:
Concerning the very long-term USD Index chart, we would like to stress that the dollar has not truly broken above the declining long-term resistance line, and it has not moved above the 2011 high. Consequently, one should not be overly bullish on the USD Index just yet.
The index is still below the early 2011 highs and we do not view the breakout above the long-term resistance line as being verified. A move to the downside appears to be quite likely in the coming weeks.
In the short-term USD Index chart not much changed as well. The index level initially moved lower and then moved back up to the level of its previous high. The index is now at a cyclical turning point, and this increases the probability that declines will be seen here fairly soon. With the next support line more than 4% below the level of Thursday's close, the coming decline could be significant.
On the SPY ETF chart, we saw a move to the upside early in the week, followed by a correction and another move higher. Volume levels have been quite low, however, so it's unclear whether the recent breakout is confirmed or not. In terms of price, it is confirmed, but in terms of volume, the situation is quite cloudy. At this point, it does not seem very probable that stocks will rally immediately. It is a bit more likely than not however.
The Correlation Matrix is a tool which we have developed to analyze the influence in the coming weeks of the currency markets and the general stock market upon the precious metals sector.
Gold is negatively correlated with the USD Index in the short and medium term. The coefficients are very low and thus significantly negative. With the outlook rather bearish for the dollar at this time and its correlation significantly negative with gold, the implications are somewhat bullish for gold and the entire precious metal sector.
The situation with the general stock market is unclear at this time and therefore somewhat uncertain for the gold and silver mining stocks. It seems however, that since the currency markets have a bigger impact upon the precious metals, the entire sector, including the gold and silver mining stocks are likely to rally if the USD Index declines significantly.
Currently, there is not a clear link between the general stock market and the precious metals sector. The strong negative correlation between the USD Index and gold, silver, and gold and silver mining stocks is still very much in place. The implications here are rather bullish overall for the precious metals sector.
Summing up, the situation in the USD Index is more bearish than not. The breakout above the declining long-term resistance line may be seen at some point, but until it is seen and verified, this situation here will not turn to bullish. The currently bearish outlook for the dollar translates into o rather bullish outlook for precious metals.
Thank you for reading. Have a great and profitable week! P. Radomski * * * * *
Sunshine Profits provides professional support for Gold & Silver Investors and Traders.
All essays, research and information found above represent analyses and opinions of Mr. Radomski and Sunshine Profits' associates only. As such, it may prove wrong and be a subject to change without notice. Opinions and analyses were based on data available to authors of respective essays at the time of writing. Although the information provided above is based on careful research and sources that are believed to be accurate, Mr. Radomski and his associates do not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the data or information reported. The opinions published above belong to Mr. Radomski or respective associates and are neither an offer nor a recommendation to purchase or sell securities. Mr. Radomski is not a Registered Securities Advisor. Mr. Radomski does not recommend services, products, business or investment in any company mentioned in any of his essays or reports. Materials published above have been prepared for your private use and their sole purpose is to educate readers about various investments. By reading Mr. Radomski's essays or reports you fully agree that he will not be held responsible or liable for any decisions you make regarding any information provided in these essays or reports. Investing, trading and speculation in any financial markets may involve high risk of loss. We strongly advise that you consult a certified investment advisor and we encourage you to do your own research before making any investment decision. Mr. Radomski, Sunshine Profits' employees and affiliates as well as members of their families may have a short or long position in any securities, including those mentioned in any of the reports or essays, and may make additional purchases and/or sales of those securities without notice.
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| Gold Records 11th Annual Gain, Ends 2011 Up 11% as World Stocks Drop 8% Posted: 30 Dec 2011 05:42 AM PST Fri 30 Dec., 05:55 EST Gold Records 11th Annual Gain, Ends 2011 Up 11% as World Stocks Drop 8% The PRICE OF PHYSICAL gold crept higher early Friday, recovering half of this week's 5% loss to near 6-month lows as the Euro currency rallied from 12-month lows and world stock markets held flat. The last London Gold Fix of 2011 came in at $1574.50 per ounce – some 11.6% higher from the end of 2010, and recording gold's 11th year of consecutive gains. US crude oil neared year-end just shy of $100 per barrel, also 11% up on 2010. The MSCI index of world stock markets has lost 8% in 2011. Silver bullion lost almost 9% against the US Dollar this year, recording near all-time highs in April just shy of $50 per ounce but retreating Thursday as low as $26.25. "People close their profitable positions to cash out before the year-end, " says Nick Trevethan, ANZ Bank's senior commodity strategist. "Gold is still up on the year and there are relatively few markets moving in the positive territory," "Base metals have not fared well this year, with falls recorded across the complex," notes Marc Ground at Standard Bank, listing 2011 losses of 18.6% in aluminum, 20.7% in copper and 28.7% in tin. "Gold has done its job this year of protecting investors," Bloomberg quotes Michael Cuggino at the $15 billion Permanent Portfolio Solutions in San Francisco. "Some people will get out of gold, but the longer-term investors will remain." On a technical analysis of chart patterns, says Russell Browne at Scotia Mocatta in New York, "The longer-term uptrend off the October 2008 low remains intact, but was breached on an intraday basis [on Thursday] and is likely to be re-tested and breached in the short term." "Gold is going to go higher, but it's not going to go in a straight line," says Martin Murenbeeld at DundeeWealth in Toronto. "Gold has given positive returns, but it doesn't necessarily do it in the way that gives comfort, and that makes people nervous." Adrian Ash Gold price chart, no delay | Buy gold online at live prices Formerly City correspondent for The Daily Reckoning in London and head of editorial at the UK's leading financial advisory for private investors, Adrian Ash is head of research at BullionVault – winner of the Queen's Award for Enterprise Innovation, 2009 and now backed by the World Gold Council market-development and research body – where you can buy gold today vaulted in Zurich on $3 spreads and 0.8% dealing fees. (c) BullionVault 2011 Please Note: This article is to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it.
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| Bachmann Chairman Resigns, Endorses Ron Paul on Live TV Posted: 30 Dec 2011 05:33 AM PST It will come as no surprise to regular readers of this site that we endorse Ron Paul for President. This endorsement comes not solely for his support of a gold standard, but for his entire platform. Auditing and eventually ending the FED gets to the root of our economic issues. Ending the immoral, illegal [...] |
| Is a Powerful Rebound In Gold and Silver Prices About To Begin? Posted: 30 Dec 2011 04:42 AM PST
Rarely has such technical destruction been visited on stalwart sectors such as gold, silver and the mining stocks(GDX). The silver charts reveal technical damage not seen since the destruction of 1984. It can only be conjecture that can account for a once in a generation obliteration of a once hallowed sector. It must be remembered that both gold(GLD) and silver(SLV) had major moves earlier this year to the $1900 and $50, surpassing overhead resistance and reaching overbought territory. This may be the reason why the decline in precious metal is overextended and extremely oversold. We urged caution back in April for silver and in September for gold. Silver has characteristically corrected close to 50% from its highs, while gold has fallen less than 20%. Pullbacks are normal and restorative in a secular bull market in precious metals especially after explosive moves. Unless such technical destruction is reflective of an upcoming geopolitical news development, we must look for more mundane causes. When the woods are ablaze, the fire obliterates the sequoias at the same time they incinerate the pines. The recent declines may be the result of a rush to the U.S. dollar (UUP) and treasuries (TLT). Fukushima's can be explained rationally as a result of a millennial event consisting of fire, wind and flood. The chaos through which we are passing defies explanation. It is as if the inmates of the asylum have taken over Wall Street. Unless there is an underlying exogenous catastrophe that lies ahead, what is being witnessed is a tale of sound and fury told by an idiot. We believe that the markets are reacting irrationally to rational fears of deflation compounded by a flight to cash in fear of risk. Gold Stock Trades has reiterated on many occasions that it is inadvisable to fight the Fed. On numerous occasions we said with one stroke of the pen the Central Bankers could reverse the entire market. This year's surprise twist resulted in reversing a precious metals market that was on the verge of a runaway upward move. Deftly the dagger that accomplished the twist was thrust through the rising precious metals market and resulted in stiletto downward moves. There was also a coordinated effort by the Japanese (FXY) and the Swiss (FXF) to boost the dollar and devalue their supposedly, safe haven yen and franc over the past few months and at the same time revive their own struggling economies. It may be that the Fed wanted to lower gold and silver prices and lift the dollar before instituting its next round of QE3 in the 2012 election year. This year may not have been the right time to weaken the U.S. dollar, especially as Europe struggles with its own debt crisis and China deals with its own weakening economy. To avoid a domino contagion effect in Europe and to prevent nations from collapsing, actions were taken by the Fed to stall rising commodities, prevent a collapse in the U.S. dollar and keep a cheap Euro so peripheral nations have an easier time paying down debts. Best to save the PIIGS, through a cheap Euro and reserve QE3 for later. The question arises: What will it take to cause a turnaround in what is the most severe correction in gold and silver in several years? Public sentiment and momentum indicators are hitting multi- year oversold levels indicative of a reversal. Heretofore, gold and silver have been safe havens, but not recently. Ergo it is hoped for that positive events in 2012 may serve to control the blaze. The U.S. dollar is reaching key resistance at 81, while gold, silver and the miners test support at oversold conditions indicative of a major rebound move. We could be setting up for the biggest move in precious metals and miners during this 10 year bull market run. It should be mentioned that this entire decline is the possible result of an assault by market manipulators who have gone short on the traditional repositories of value, exactly at the end of the year thinly traded holiday period. The move to the downside is overextended and could indicate selling capitulation. There will be a turn around very soon. Shorts will cover. Gold and silver will rise again, benefiting the source of bullion, the gold (GDX) and silver (SIL)miners. Further declines and tax loss selling may be in the offing, but are great bargain opportunities as gold, silver and the miners have reached record oversold levels. There is a rule that reactions to exogenous news items which create technical gaps down will be filled to the upside in a Newtonian equal and opposite move higher for gold, silver and the miners. Stay tuned to my free newsletter for up to the minute developments in our chosen sectors of precious metals, uranium and critical/strategic metals. Disclosure: Long GLD,GDX,SLV
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| Gold, Silver Prices Moving Higher In 2012 Posted: 30 Dec 2011 04:37 AM PST By Jeb Handwerger: Rarely has such technical destruction been visited on stalwart sectors such as gold, silver and mining stocks (GDX). The silver charts reveal technical damage not seen since the destruction of 1984. It can only be conjecture that can account for a once in a generation obliteration of a once hallowed sector. It must be remembered that both gold (GLD) and silver (SLV) had major moves earlier this year to the $1,900 and $50, surpassing overhead resistance and reaching overbought territory. This may be the reason why the decline in precious metals is overextended and extremely oversold. We urged caution back in April for silver and in September for gold. Silver has characteristically corrected close to 50% from its highs, while gold has fallen less than 20%. Pullbacks are normal and restorative in a secular bull market in precious metals (GDXJ) especially after explosive moves. Unless such technical destruction is reflective Complete Story » |
| Posted: 30 Dec 2011 03:56 AM PST With the move below $1535 this morning gold has confirmed that it is still moving down into a D-Wave bottom. There has been some question as to whether or not the D-Wave had bottomed in September. The penetration of that intermediate low this morning confirms that the D-Wave did not end during the overnight selloff on September 26. In the chart below I have marked with blue arrows the last several yearly cycle lows. As you can see they tend to occur in January or February. The timing band for the next cycle low should occur sometime in early to mid January. That should mark the bottom of this D-Wave decline with the slight possibility that there could be one more short daily cycle down, bottoming in early February. This will almost certainly be dependent on whether the dollar cycle has one or two more daily cycles higher before rolling over into an intermediate decline. Current sentiment levels on the dollar index are suggesting only one daily cycle higher, which should signal a final bottom in the gold market sometime in the next 2-3 weeks.  If gold can make it back to the 50% retracement in the next couple of weeks I would probably be inclined to call a yearly cycle low at that point. If however gold holds above $1500 at the next daily cycle low due in early to mid-January then I would be wary of one more daily cycle down to test the 2010 consolidation zone and 50% retracement ($1400) sometime in early February.  The combination of the dollar rally out of its three year cycle low, gold's yearly cycle low, and a D-Wave decline are going to produce a very sharp correction in the gold bull market. Before this is over most analysts will declare the gold bull dead. On the contrary, sometime early next year you are going to get the single best buying opportunity we will ever have to reenter the secular gold bull in preparation for the bubble phase that should top in late 2014 or early 2015. As a matter of fact, now that we have confirmed that this is an ongoing D-Wave decline, once its bottom has formed it will generate a violent A-wave advance that should test the 1800 the $1900 level rather quickly later this spring.  Serious money will be made during the A-wave advance. One just needs the patience to wait for the D-Wave to bottom before jumping back into the pool. POSTED BY TOBY CONNOR AT 6:17 AM
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| Public Money for Public Purpose: Toward the End of Plutocracy and the Triumph of Democracy – Part VI Posted: 30 Dec 2011 03:56 AM PST By Dan Kervick, a PhD in Philosophy and an active independent scholar specializing in the philosophy of David Hume who also does research in decision theory and analytic metaphysics. Cross posted from New Economics Perspectives. I will conclude by proposing six social tasks for the rising generation – six challenging tasks whose successful pursuit will help us achieve a more just, equal and democratic society. It is my view that the resulting society will not only be fairer and more decent. It will also be more economically productive, and will better promote human happiness and flourishing by more effectively distributing the goods and services we produce. Most of us will be happier in such a society as well, because the practices of democratic equality do a better job satisfying the human desires for cooperation, solidarity, trust, stability and fellowship that are the foundation of the social life for which human beings are naturally framed. Extreme laissez faire capitalism of the kind extolled off and on over the past two centuries, and increasingly preached by economists, financiers and conservative thinkers over the past four decades, is a perverse distortion of human nature, foisted upon us by cold and demented thinkers captivated by inhuman notions of efficiency and domination. In the end, it is a system that reduces each human being to an object whose value is nothing beyond what it is worth in the market. We need to restore a social balance, in which private property, entrepreneurialism and commercial activity do not dominate our lives and set all the rules for our existence, but function within a democratic social order framed by a politically coherent and effective commitment to the public good. In a democratic social order there exists an activist public sector controlling a substantial store of social goods, and channeling democratic energies and intelligence into the ambitious perfection of such goods. The six proposed tasks are not intended to be in any way exhaustive. They all pertain to the economic sphere of life alone. But the realization of a genuinely democratic society will require efforts that transcend the economic sphere. We need to rejuvenate the democratic spirit in America, educate ourselves and our fellow citizens on the unfulfilled potentialities of democratic existence, recapture the salvageable institutions of our threatened but still existing democracy, and further expand the institutions and habits of democratic practice. There is much to be done, but the prospect of doing it is exciting. Task One: Full Employment The first task is to employ all of our people and end unemployment as we know it. We must commit our societies to the goal of full employment, and build an economic order in which a job is always provided by either a public or private sector enterprise for everyone willing and able to work. We must be willing to invest continually in human development in order to provide everyone with the skills and knowledge they need to contribute meaningful work to our productive activities, and participate meaningfully as fellow citizens in our democratic society. Unemployment should not be regarded as some sort of inescapable curse visited upon us by the mysterious providence of the invisible hand and the hard tutelage of the business cycle. It is not an essential economic medicine or purgative that we are required to swallow for the sake of our long-term economic health. It is a social choice that we have made. And it is a bad social choice. Yes, private sector enterprises rise and fall, and their employment needs are constantly shifting. But we have it within our power to organize the public sector to absorb workers who have been released from their private sector employment, and employ them immediately in useful public enterprises. Then as private sector activity picks up and generates a demand for more workers, we can release public sector workers back into the private sector economy. Human needs and desires always far exceed our capacity to satisfy those needs and desires, and that means that there is always plenty of work to be done. The system of persistent unemployment we have now is a bad social choice, but it is the social choice many plutocratic power-brokers prefer. So long as mercenary private wealth is permitted to call the shots in our economy, many of those at the top will find it preferable to dispose of unwanted human beings and their labor by jettisoning surplus workers from the active economy from time to time, just to put them on a low cost dole. The alternative – in which a democratic government is permitted to exercise its organizational power and pool social resources in order to employ the unemployed – is a threat to the power and wealth of plutocrats. By preserving a permanent pool of unemployed workers, the plutocracy ensures a permanent buyers' market for labor, keeping wages down and worker bargaining power at a minimum. This allows the owners of private sector enterprises, working together with their most well-paid executive employees, to steer a greater portion of the revenues of the enterprise into the hands of the owners and top executives. A full employment economy, on the other hand, would restore bargaining power to workers, and permit those workers to retain a greater share of the firm's revenues as wages. The plutocracy also wishes to preserve the myth that if there is work that could be done, but that some private sector firm is not performing already, then it must be unprofitable work that is just not worth doing. But that's an error. For one thing an immense amount of the goods in this world are owned by the public at large or by nobody at all. Private capital will be invested only when it can bring about improvements in someone's private property, the property of those who are investing their own capital or investing capital they have borrowed from others. This usually generates a surplus that can then be sold on the market. That's the only way the investor can profit from those improvements and productive processes, and that means that private capital has no interest in investing in those things from which no private individual or firm profits. But the public owns or draws value from a great many goods that lie outside this sphere of profitable private investment. It can add substantial, usable value to the world by organizing public investment in these goods. Look around and ask whether or not there is valuable work to be done. Of course there is. There is always far more work to be done than there are people to do it. Human beings are mortal and limited, and when we succeed in achieving something new, that only frees us up to move on to something else that we were not able even to begin to address before. When we fail to employ ourselves in doing that work because of our ideological commitments to an existing system of private enterprise, we stupidly deprive ourselves of the productive efforts of many unemployed people who are willing to work. The existence of needless mass unemployment within the present system only shows that the existing system is incomplete and inefficient, and that it is not the full answer to the satisfaction of human needs. Adam Smith, a much more moderate and reasonable man than is sometimes painted by the crazed disciples of laissez faire who have adopted Smith as their patron, also recognized that the system of private enterprise is not sufficient to satisfy all social needs. He recognized the need for public employment, because he recognized that there are ends we can pursue that, "though they may be in the highest degree advantageous to a great society, are, however, of such a nature that the profit could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals." We always possess the capacity to do what we need to do in order to employ the unemployed. The monetary system should never stand in our way. Since the public's money is only a tool, and since these monetary tools can be produced and wielded by a democratic society in whatever quantities are needed to pursue public purposes, it is absurd to argue one cannot afford to generate real value in the world because of a lack of money. As we create additional real value in the world, we can concurrently create the additional money we need to measure that additional value, to efficiently manage the entry of that added value into the existing economy, and to pay those who produced the additional value. Since the process adds new goods and services to the economy, rather than simply creating more money to chase existing goods and services, the additional money we bring into existence in this way does not exert significant inflationary pressures and destabilize prices. Unemployment has tremendous social and individual costs. It leads to the loss of skills and capacity over time as a changing economy moves further and further ahead of the workers who have been jettisoned from it. These abandoned workers are then increasingly transformed into a burden on others. Unemployment also leads to psychological depression, shame and humiliation, and creates invidious social caste distinctions between the employed and the unemployed. Our current social practice of deferring all employment decisions to private sector entities, and permitting massive unemployment for long periods of time, is not just unnecessary. It is cruel, barbaric and stupid. It is notable that during the current economic crisis, the national government in the United States decided early on to turn its attentions away from employment and toward the plutocratic agenda of public debt reduction. The government was willing to tolerate official unemployment standing between 9% and 10%. That, of course, is only the misleading official number. That this national policy direction of forced and recession-intensifying austerity was partly set by a Democratic administration, which rammed a deficit and debt reduction agenda down the throat of the national debate by appointing a "Deficit Reduction Commission" headed by committed conservative deficit hawks from both parties, is an indication of just how deeply both major national parties are now embroiled in the game of protecting the interests of the wealthy and neglecting the interests of tens of millions of desperate Americans. So the young Americans who take on this first task of employing all of our people can expect to face a broad and bipartisan front of resistance from politicians in the employ of private corporations and financial interests. There are, to be sure, good people in government as well. But they are in the minority, and will need the kind of support that only a mass movement can provide. Task Two: Public Investment in Our Future The second task is actually an extension of the first task, and further develops the insight from Adam Smith quoted from the previous section. The private sector does a good job with the day-to-day management of, and innovation in, productive processes that make new goods and useful technologies and services available to markets. Entrepreneurs who want to develop these new products, or make old products in a better and more efficient way, can very often work out the means of creating a viable and sustainable business operation around their production, and can thus attract the private sector financing they need to build those businesses and market the products. We all benefit from much of this entrepreneurial creativity and industriousness. But we need to recognize that many of the larger scale investments a society needs to carry out in order to sustain progress and build prosperity do not just happen by themselves through the hubbub of entrepreneurial innovation. They often possess a scale, scope and degree of organizational thoughtfulness and planning that cannot or should not be carried out by private sector business enterprise. Even if some of these major national-scale infrastructure projects can be carried out by private sector corporations commanding massive supplies of private capital, it might not always be a wise social decision to allow those corporations to assume those responsibilities. Note that what Smith said is that some highly advantageous social ends cannot be carried out in a way that brings profit to some small number of individuals. But of course, if we allow large oligopolistic private corporations to acquire ownership and control of everything that is important to us, then those corporations might be able to profit by investing in the satisfaction of large social needs. Yet any enterprise with the power and capital and political muscle to build, say, an entire national infrastructure for electric car use, or a national electrical grid or a system of mass education maintaining national standards, will possess too much power to place in corporate hands. Allowing such vast quantities of economic power to flow into oligopolistic or monopolistic corporations is likely to bestow on those corporations the power to dominate politically the democratic communities they have been chartered to serve. Note that there is an inherent tension between the corporate form of organization and the organization of a democratic society. Corporate decision-making structures are indeed the very antithesis of democracy: They are hierarchical, secretive, and profoundly undemocratic command systems. It is arguable that we need to permit such institutions to exist on smaller scales. Or perhaps we don't. But in any case, if hierarchical corporations as we know them must exist, limiting the degree and scope of corporate power is in itself an essential public purpose for a democracy. Vigilant preservation of those limits requires that democratic communities at the national, state and local level deliberate in an open and rational way on the future shape of their communities and on their desired way of life. They should atempt to achieve a broad consensus on those desired forms of life, and then retain sufficient control over real decision-making power so that they can carry out the plans that will determine the long-term shape of their community's future. Democratic communities must also seek to retain ownership of substantial amounts of public land and infrastructure within their communities. In the end, the world is governed by those who own it. Building a decent and just future requires substantial public command of resources and a commitment to democratically organized public investment of those resources. But it is not enough to invest in physical infrastructure alone. We also need to invest in our people. We are still making do with an antiquated education system in which we devote a great many resources to educating our youth, but then leave our citizens on their own for the rest of their lives to provide for any desirable remaining education. We should consider the possibility that such a system is no longer viable in an era in which technological and intellectual changes are constant and rapid, and in which fewer people are employed in types of work that do not require the continual improvement of knowledge and knowledge-based skills. We should consider moving to a system in which people are given periodic paid furloughs from work, say every five years, to return to school for six months for additional publicly-delivered education. There is no reason at all that a public education needs to be pigeonholed as a purely K-12 system. 21st century people require educational services spread across the lifespan. We need to reaffirm community responsibility for most forms of education. Although some forms of education might be of benefit only to the individual who receives the education, most forms of education benefit all of us directly or indirectly. A prosperous and enlightened democratic community will develop the talents and unexpressed capacities of its citizens, and distribute these human development costs widely. And the more equal our society becomes, the more those human development costs pay off for all of us. In a society organized to preserve broad social and economic equality, the benefits of higher education aren't all poured into generating extravagant incomes for the privileged class of high earners who happen to have received that education, and who profit from it individually, but are directed back into the community as the educated contribute the value of their enhanced skills and knowledge to generally beneficial production and activity. These enhanced education programs can be integrated with the full employment commitments discussed in the first task. For all of our people – at certain stages of their lives, at least – we should regard teaching or learning, or both, as that person's job. There are many useful things we can pay the unemployed to do, but among those things are the jobs of teaching others the things that these unemployed people already know, and of learning something from someone else so that new knowledge can be brought back into the world of productive activity to create value that couldn't have been created before. Those people for whom the private sector is not providing employment represent a large treasure trove of unutilized skill and knowledge. We need to create the institutional frameworks in which those skills can passed onto others, while new skills are acquired at the same time, and in which these citizen educators and learners are then able to draw an income to support their participation in this vital area of public investment. In thinking about the needs for public investment in our physical infrastructure and our people, we should never allow ourselves to be overwhelmed and dazzled by the complex instrumentalities of money and monetary tools. The only thing that ever stands between our desires for the world we want and the realization of that world is the existence of real resources. If the resources exist, we can always create whatever additional monetary tools and financial instruments are needed to command those resources and organize their allocation. We can adjust our monetary policies to give democratic communities the monetary powers they need to better direct their communities' resources into the channels in which they desire them to flow. And besides additional monetary policy tools, there remain the traditional tools of taxation. Private sector systems for distributing income are sometimes wasteful and crude in the aggregate, and do not adequately reflect social needs and values that are not manifested in the marketplace by purely self-seeking customers. To advance such values, the public sometimes needs to take surplus savings that exist in wasteful and unnecessary abundance on the monetary scorecards of the most fortunate individuals, and direct those savings toward public purposes. Critics sometimes claim redistributive taxation of this kind is a mere zero-sum shift of productive economic activity in one sector of the economy to productive activity in another sector. But that is not true. In some cases it is a positive net shift of idle low-productivity savings into highly productive activity. Task Three: Public Stewardship of the Financial Sector The third task is to reassert public authority over the financial sector of our economy. The late economist Hyman Minksy persuasively argued that financial instability is not just an anomalous blip of temporary dysfunction in generally stable and self-regulating financial markets. Rather, Minsky said, a tendency toward financial instability is inherent in the normal functioning of a capitalist economy. Periods of financial stability, in fact, lie at the roots of instability. Robust systems of finance naturally evolve into systems characterized by higher and higher degrees of risky, speculative lending, and ultimately higher degrees of what Minsky called "Ponzi lending". Stability is itself destabilizing. Preventing instability therefore calls for regulation, since a system that is inherently prone to instability does not regulate itself. Few people these days are in need of further convincing that financial professionals are not always the sober and steady managers of money and investment funds that their defenders sometimes like to present themselves as being, or that they effectively regulate themselves through the discipline of market forces. The US financial sector blew up a bubble of overleveraged and toxic debt based on liar loans and runaway home prices leading up to the crash of 2007 and 2008, a bubble inflated by a combination irrational exuberance, irresponsible management and outright fraud. The banks and shadow banks crashed our economy into the ground. Human beings come in many varieties. But there will probably always be among us those who seek to steal, defraud, scam, swindle, manipulate, chisel, plunder and exploit. The quantitative mazes and fine print of financial transactions and contracts provide fertile ground for such activity. The financial world is full of very clever people who devise increasingly clever ways of inserting taps into our society's massive flows of money and siphoning off some of the flow for themselves. It is essentially money for nothing, but it can generate huge short-term rewards for some of the lucky investors, and huge compensation packages and bonus for the clever engineers of the leaky ductwork of money streams. Sometimes the complex movements of money and value are so mathematically complicated that even relatively sophisticated people who have had millions and billions stolen from them can't even say for sure if they have been robbed, or if they just made bad decisions in purchasing legitimate services. To imagine that these dens of greedy money pillagers can be self-regulating if left to their own devices, and that market competition generates all the information that is necessary to enable investors and savers to make prudent decisions with the funds for which they are responsible, is naïve in the extreme. And in a modern economy, we are all entangled in the maze of money. Even the most frugal, modest and cautious people are dependent on the behavior of the guild of financial engineers. So in the end, not only do the schemers and scammers exploit individuals. Their destabilizing pyramids of monetary liabilities collapse and destroy whole economies. The University of Missouri, Kansas City economist and regulator William K. Black has commented on the "three dees" – deregulation, desupervision, and de facto decriminalization – that helped bring our financial system to the ground:
I will leave it to people like Black and other experienced financial sector sleuths and regulators to recommend the specific regulatory policies that are needed to bend the financial sector back toward the public purposes it is supposed to serve, and to make sure large and risky financial ventures are not allowed to escape the regulatory watchdogs – perhaps by moving into the "shadow banking" sector. But I do want to suggest |
| Why Gold No Longer Makes Sense Posted: 30 Dec 2011 03:26 AM PST By Robert Rubin: If one had bought gold on December 31, 2001, and simply held the position, the total return would have been 409.33%, far exceeding the 30.10% total return achieved by the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (SPY). Gold has been an incredible investment over the past decade for those who correctly predicted the coming end of the leverage cycle by Western countries, the resulting risk (and dislocation) of Sovereign debt and the demand in the markets for an old world safe haven and store of currency value. This was truly a great call, both in seeing the forthcoming debt crisis and in predicting the shift to gold as a safe haven. However, based upon what we know already and what the markets have priced in, it may be time consider why the considerable uptrend cycle in the yellow metal has come to an end (or at least, slowed considerably). The reason Complete Story » |
| Heavy Insider Buying by Northern Tiger’s Hayes Posted: 30 Dec 2011 02:40 AM PST HOUSTON -- The small exploration companies looking for gold, silver, copper and other resources up in the Yukon Territory of northern Canada have been pretty mistreated in 2011. Some have been so ill-treated and their prices beaten down so much, their execs have been on the bid, often and in size just recently (insiders buying their own shares). Northern Tiger Resources (TSX:NTR.V, OTCBB:NTGSF) is one such company. Continued... Apparently Greg Hayes, NTR's CEO decided in December that shares of Northern Tiger had been unfairly abused after it had fallen from the C$0.60s to under $0.15. According to Ink Research, Mr. Hayes was on the bid and purchased 668,000 shares in the open market December 20 – 22 at prices between $0.13 and $0.14. As of this writing, on Friday, December 30, 2011, NTR.V was changing hands in Canada at $0.145. Source: Ink Research (Canadian Insider.com) Disclosure: Northern Tiger Resources is a Vulture Bargain Candidate of Interest (VBCI) and is our fully fledged Vulture Bargain #7. Members of the GGR team are actively accumulating and hold long positions in NTR.V or NTGSF. Although we did not know it at the time, we were apparently on the bid for NTR at the same time as Mr. Hayes! For a full-sized look at the table below, follow the link above to Ink Research. Happy New Year everyone. |
| LISTEN: Bob Chapman on Gold & Silver Posted: 30 Dec 2011 01:50 AM PST
Kerry's back for his weekly discussion with The International Forecaster, Bob Chapman. Although the gold slam down continues and the price per ounce has dropped to a record low, Bob reminds us to remember the difference between paper and physical investments. Precious metals are a long-term investment. Don't be fooled by the mainstream media reports of the Christmas retail boom. The economy is not recovering, Sears and Kmart have announced the closing of over 100 stores and have left thousands of more people unemployed. The lesson of the day: buy while the buying is good. Much more @ KerryLutz.com or @ 347.460.LUTZ |
| Posted: 30 Dec 2011 01:47 AM PST Endless Mountain's (EM) silver chart analysis from 12.29.11. from endlessmountain: ~TVR |
| Silver Update: “Silver Users Association” Posted: 30 Dec 2011 01:46 AM PST from BrotherJohnF:
~TVR |
| Posted: 30 Dec 2011 01:45 AM PST Jimmy Rogers on commodities: ~TVR |
| The End of Year Precious Metal Bullion Bear Raid - Another Form of Window Dressing? Posted: 30 Dec 2011 01:45 AM PST Jesse's Cafe |
| LISTEN: “Nothing Shines Brighter Than Silver” Posted: 30 Dec 2011 01:40 AM PST from SGT: |
| US Mint Has Enough Bullion For 2012 Posted: 30 Dec 2011 01:39 AM PST The fundamental View |
| Morning Outlook from the Trade Desk - 12/30/11 Posted: 30 Dec 2011 01:35 AM PST 12/30/11 As I mentioned. Year end tax selling in a thin market can be a significant market event. Looks like everybody got it done. This week does not signify anything. I wish everyone a Happy and Safe New Year! |
| Financial repression is gold price suppression Posted: 30 Dec 2011 01:30 AM PST |
| BTFD! "Nothing Shines Brighter Than SILVER" - Chris Duane Posted: 30 Dec 2011 01:00 AM PST BTFD! "Nothing Shines Brighter Than SILVER" - Chris Duane (13 min 19 sec): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueRLezbNVvg info from YouTube: A special end of the year silver update with 'Silver Shield' Chris Duane. See Chris' work at http://dont-tread-on.me/ |
| Silver Should See a Resurgence of Investor Interest Posted: 30 Dec 2011 12:51 AM PST |
| China central bank researcher says gold is only safe haven now Posted: 30 Dec 2011 12:41 AM PST |
| Italy problems weighing on the euro Posted: 30 Dec 2011 12:00 AM PST Worries at the European credit markets have persisted as yield on Italian bonds remain high. The euro has been under renewed sales pressure, hitting $1.29 against the US dollar - the lowest ... |
| Gold Rebounds, Heads for 11th Annual Gain on Speculation Demand May Build Posted: 29 Dec 2011 11:46 PM PST Gold rebounded in New York, extending an 11th annual gain, on speculation prices at a five- month low will spur demand from jewelers and investors. Bullion fell 4.8 percent over the previous six sessions to the lowest level since July 7 as gains by the dollar against the euro curbed demand for the metal as an alternative investment. Jewelry usage in India, the world's biggest buyer, rose 12 percent in 2011's first quarter from a year earlier, according to World Gold Council figures. "January and February are usually good months in India, and a lower gold price might attract some buyers," said Marc Ground, a commodities strategist at Standard Bank Plc in Johannesburg. "While we haven't seen physical demand pick up yet, maybe people are anticipating it for next year." Gold futures for February delivery climbed 1.8 percent to $1,568.40 an ounce on the Comex in New York by 7:59 a.m., ending the longest slump since March 2009. Prices are up 10 percent this year. Dennis Gartman, the economist and editor of the Gartman Letter, is "about to become bullish" on gold after being neutral on the market since mid-November. "We did not expect to see gold hold as well as it has or did in the past 24 hours," Gartman wrote in his letter e-mailed today. Holdings (.GLDTONS) of gold in exchange-traded products are climbing for the first time in three weeks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Assets rose 0.3 percent this week after falling 1.5 percent the previous two weeks. Silver for March delivery jumped 2.8 percent to $28.075 an ounce, bringing the 2011 drop to 10 percent, the first decline in three years. Palladium for March delivery climbed 1.7 percent to $637 an ounce, reducing the annual loss to 21 percent, the first retreat since 2008. Platinum for April delivery advanced 1.3 percent to $1,386.50 an ounce. It's down 22 percent this year. Comex floor trading will be closed on Jan. 2 for New Year's Day. To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Carpenter in London at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-1...nual-gain.html |
| China Gold Move Will Cut Risk, Not Appetite Posted: 29 Dec 2011 11:42 PM PST Move will protect investors and increase gold buying |
| US to Go to War With Iran, Oil & Gold to Spike: Jim Rickards Posted: 29 Dec 2011 11:41 PM PST Yesterday in Gold and SilverThe gold price didn't do much until shortly after 1:00 p.m. Hong Kong time during their Thursday afternoon. Then it developed a negative bias and began to roll over shortly after 9:00 a.m. in London. The low of the day, around $1,520 spot, came at precisely 12 o'clock noon in London...which just happened to coincide with the London silver fix. Once that low was printed, a smallish rally began that lasted until minutes after 2:00 p.m. in the New York Access Market...and from there it traded more or less sideways into the 5:15 p.m. Eastern close. The gold price closed at $1,545.50 spot, down $10.80 on the day. Volume was 131,000 contracts, even bigger than the 122,000 contracts traded on Wednesday. It's a pretty good bet that there was a lot of spec long liquidation with that new low price tick in London.
Silver's price path was more or less the same as gold's...and by 11:45 a.m. in London, it was down about 40 cents from its New York close on Wednesday. Then, in the space of fifteen minutes, the silver price got pasted for another 70 cents...with the absolute low price coming at 12 o'clock noon which, as I mentioned above, was the exact moment of the London silver price fix. Then a substantial rally got under way...and by minutes after 4:00 p.m. in New York, the silver price was up about $1.70 off its noon low in London. It then traded sideways into the close. The silver price closed at $27.70 spot...up 62 cents from its Wednesday close. Thursday's volume was a very chunky 37,000 contracts, even higher than the 32,000 contracts that traded on Wednesday.
The dollar traded sideways until around 3:00 p.m. Hong Kong time. At that point, a smallish 30 basis point rally developed which lasted until a few minutes after 12:00 o'clock noon in London...the time of the silver fix. Then the dollar proceeded to give up all its earlier gains, closing down about 10 basis points on the day. Although the price trends matched, it would be a real stretch to say that yesterday's dollar movements were a determining factor in what the precious metal prices were doing.
Even though the gold price never came close to finishing in positive territory, the gold stocks did very well for themselves. They started off in the red, but within an hour were in the black...and the HUI finished up 2.04%. Were insiders buying shares at the bottom of the market, or was there short covering going on?
The large cap silver shares did OK as well, but the junior producer as a group did a little better. Nick Laird's Silver Sentiment Index closed up 2.44%.
(Click on image to enlarge) Today is First Day Notice for delivery into the January contract...and I was somewhat surprised at the Issuers and Stoppers Report from the CME late last night. Their report showed that 852 gold and 239 silver contracts were posted for delivery on Monday. In gold, the big short/issuer was the Bank of Nova Scotia...and the big long/stopper was JPMorgan. They're receiving 741 contracts in their proprietary [house] trading account...plus 66 contracts in their client account on Tuesday. You can see that JPM is doing more gold buying and selling for its own account, than for its clients...and by a wide margin. In silver, the big short/issuers were Jefferies and the Bank of Nova Scotia...with 116 and 96 contracts respectively. JPMorgan was just about the only long/stopper. They will take delivery of 157 contracts for their in-house trading account...and 77 contracts on behalf of their clients. The link to all the action, which is worth a look, is here. Despite the pounding that both gold and silver have taken over the last couple of days, there were no reported changes in either GLD or SLV yesterday. Maybe there will be some withdrawals posted today. There was no sales report from the U.S. Mint. Yesterday the Comex-approved depositories reported that 597,077 troy ounces of silver were deposited...and 502,246 ounces were withdrawn. I have a very short report tonight, so I thought I'd puff it up a bit by sticking in one more free paragraph from silver analyst Ted Butler's Wednesday comments to his paying subscribers... "We are at an important junction for silver. The commercials have clearly manipulated the price lower so that they could buy as much as possible. They have succeeded beyond my expectations, to be sure. This has put the commercials in their best position yet to exit the long-term silver manipulation. Whether they will refrain from future manipulation will become obvious on the next silver rally. I know that this has been a trying time for silver investors, but it's important to both understand what has happened...and to look ahead. The intentional price smash has created a powerful set up for the next silver rally. Shame on the COMEX commercial crooks and the regulators who have been derelict in fulfilling their principal mission of protecting the public and preventing manipulation. Just don't compound the pain by missing what should be a coming silver rally of historic proportions." As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I don't have many stories today, which suits me fine. One thing is for sure, we are at all-time record lows in every category in the COT for silver. This is way beyond blood-out-of-a-stone territory. Precious metals' plunge is just a paper illusion, not real metal: Egon von Greyerz. The depth of despair in the gold community: Jim Sinclair. King World News Audio Interviews with John Hathaway and Rick Rule. Critical ReadsSEC chided again by judge in Citigroup fraud caseThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission got a fresh dressing-down from the judge who rejected its $285 million settlement with Citigroup Inc, as he said the regulator kept him out of the loop on its efforts to salvage the case. In his latest sharply-worded order, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff chastised the SEC for not telling him it had filed an emergency request with an appeals court to put the case on hold, after making the same request to him. So when Rakoff on Tuesday issued a ruling opposing any delay in the case, he was beaten to the punch; 78 seconds earlier, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had granted the SEC the temporary halt it sought. He also accused the SEC and Citigroup of potentially "misleading" the court, saying they called him around 3:30 p.m. EST (2030 GMT) on Tuesday to discuss the case, without mentioning the filing with the 2nd Circuit. This SEC/Citigroup scenario is really starting to turn into something...and this Reuters story posted over at the cnbc.com website yesterday is a must read. I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for sending it to me...and the link is here. John Williams: The US Has $100 Trillion in Debts & ObligationsEric King sent me this John Williams blog. We haven't heard from John for ages...and if you're a fan of his, this is certainly worth your time. It's posted over at the King World News website...and the link is here. Financial market credit tightened at year end: FedBanks tightened the screws on lending to major financial market participants in recent months, the U.S. Federal Reserve said on Thursday, reflecting concerns about Europe's banking crisis. The central bank's survey of senior credit officers did not mention Europe directly, but indicated a "broad but moderate tightening of credit terms applicable to important classes of counterparties over the past three months." Large financial firms have been under pressure from worries that Europe's political deadlock may eventually lead to some type of sovereign debt default, saddling institutions with massive losses. The Fed said tighter credit terms were especially evident for hedge funds, real estate investment trusts and non-financial corporations. This is another Reuters piece that was picked up by cnbc.com...and Elliot Simon's second offering of the day. The link is here. Eurozone credit crunch fears on M3 money contractionData released by the European Central Bank shows that M3 money figures tracked by experts as a leading indicator for the economy have turned negative since August, signaling almost certain recession over coming months for the region as a whole. "The message of these numbers is that the eurozone faces a bleak 2012, with inflation falling rapidly," said Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research. "There is a desperate need to restore growth to the banking system and boost the quantity of money." Credit to households and business is still growing at 1pc on an annual basis, but on a month-to-month basis it has been flat for months and is now shrinking. It is broadly the same picture for the "broad" M3 money supply, which includes cash and a wide range of accounts and forms a key pillar of the ECB's monetary policy. This Ambrose Evans-Pritchard article was posted in The Telegraph yesterday afternoon...and I thank Roy Stephens for providing this story. The link is here. Italian bond auction highlights eurozone nation's woesSigns that Italy faces a tough start to 2012 were evident on Thursday as the country's final bond sale of the year saw nervous investors demand close to 7pc to hold the ailing nation's 10-year debt. The closely-watched auction saw Italy sell €2.5bn (£2.09bn) of 10-year bonds at an average rate of 6.98pc, down from euro-era highs of 7.56pc at an auction on November 29, but still at levels regarded as unsustainable. Demand outstripped supply by a ratio of 1.36 to one, compared with 1.34 at the last auction. This is another Roy Stephens offering from yesterday's edition of The Telegraph...and the link is here. Former Deutsche Bank CEO Hilmar Kopper: 'Money Needs Laws'As the former head of Deutsche Bank, Hilmar Kopper was once the most powerful banker in Germany. In an interview with SPIEGEL, the 76-year old takes stock of his career and the current crisis shaking Europe. The three main constants he has seen the world, he says, are "money, avarice and greed." This rather long 3-page interview was posted over at the German website spiegel.de yesterday...and I thank reader Bob Fitzwilson for sending it along. The link is here. Rick Rule audio interview at King World NewsEric King sent me this audio interview on Wednesday night...and because I just had no room it in Thursday's column, it had to wait until my column today....and Edmonton reader B.E.O. also recommended that I post it, so here's the link. John Hathaway on CNBC's 'Fast Money'Here's a 5:55 video clip that was posted over at cnbc.com yesterday. The talking head that is interviewing him is a real doorknob...and you can tell by John's tone of voice that he's more than a bit underwhelmed by this guy. I thank Elliot Simon for sharing it with us...and the link is here. Jim Sinclair: The depth of despair in the gold communityHere's commentary from Jim that was posted on his jsmineset.com website yesterday. I borrowed it from a GATA release...and the link to this very short read is here. |
| Gold & Silver Market Morning, December 30, 2011 Posted: 29 Dec 2011 09:00 PM PST |
| Tocquevilles Hathaway sees panic liquidation in gold Posted: 29 Dec 2011 08:52 PM PST |
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