Gold World News Flash |
- By the Numbers for the Week Ending March 30
- Gold Seeker Weekly Wrap-Up: Gold and Silver End Slightly Higher on the Week
- Campbell?s Critique: Some Gold Prognostications are Well Based, Some Much Less So ? Here?s a Comparison
- Did You Miss These Most Read Articles for the Past Week Ending March 30th?
- Silver COT Report 3/30/12
- Gold is Manipulated… and It’s Not Okay
- Everything Is Going To Be Alright?
- Charles Biderman: The Problem with Rigged Markets
- Silver Manipulation Acknowledged By Government
- Reflections on Post-Capitalism, Political Entrepreneurialism, and the Bernanke Contrarian Index
- Silver Responds to Fed, Then Weakens [Or "Gets Whacked by the Cartel?]
- The Decline and Fall of the USD
- Guest Post: Will India Stop Buying Gold?
- Greece: Now They’re Not Even Trying Anymore
- Unless the Gold Price drops Below $1,645 we will not see Lower Prices the Bottom is in and It's Time To Buy
- Love in a TSA Line
- Gold and Silver Disaggregated COT Report (DCOT) for March 30
- Gold Juniors to Explode?
- Health Threats, Wealth Opportunities
- Hugo Salinas Price: Civilization is at stake along with currencies
- Warren Buffett Scorns Gold. Bad Move!
- Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts
- Stocks Odd Man Out As Every Other Asset Class Has Now Faded LTRO2
- Thinking Critically
- Gold Blossoming in Colombia: Paul Harris
- Billionaire Hugo Salinas Price - World May Go Down in Flames
- COT Gold, Silver and US Dollar Index Report - March 30, 2012
- Copper-Bottomed Fake Tungsten Gold
- Who Captured the Fed?
- A polite accusation of 'financial repression' by the Fed
| By the Numbers for the Week Ending March 30 Posted: 30 Mar 2012 05:33 PM PDT This week's closing table.
Brief comments: Gold and silver near net flat for the week. Tiny, mostly positive money flow for the ETFs. Both gold and silver were higher Tuesday to Tuesday for the COT cutoff, but notice that the commercial hedgers increased their net shorts for gold but decreased net shorts for silver, even though silver was 1.3% higher. Mining shares slightly net lower, but had to recover quite a bit to get there. DXY modestly lower by Friday, by 35 ticks, but strangely the ICE commercial traders covered or offset a big 7,130 contracts of their huge net short position with the DXY off 54 ticks Tuesday to Tuesday. Quarter end profit taking? DXY LCNS still near 70%, so the ICE commercials are strongly net short the greenback still. GSR near flat, no signal there. A falling GSR would be better. Ted spread flat, a worry it is not falling. Copper still holding the $3.80s, a positive sign. Euro gold slightly weaker. Note higher highs and lows for both gold and silver with widening hi-lo spreads, a modestly bullish sign. Large drop in gold open interest at quarter end are not uncommon. Choppy, difficult to trade markets at present, but apparently rising support again for gold and consistent support for silver showing with a $31 handle. Much more in the linked charts for subscribers by Sunday evening. That is all for now, but there is more to come.
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| Gold Seeker Weekly Wrap-Up: Gold and Silver End Slightly Higher on the Week Posted: 30 Mar 2012 04:00 PM PDT Gold gained $9.60 to $1669.70 at about 8AM EST before it fell back to roughly unchanged by midmorning in New York, but it then climbed to a new session high of $1670.44 in afternoon trade and ended with a gain of 0.49%. Silver rose to as high as $32.63 before it fell back off a bit midday, but it still ended with a gain of 0.19%.
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| Posted: 30 Mar 2012 03:53 PM PDT When forecasting, many economists and commentators fail to focus on the dramatic change in inter-country dependence in our ever more globalized world…and fail to let the actual markets influence*their views. Below I critique two articles, rationalizing what they see for the price of gold for the balance of 2012. Words: 730 So says*Ian R. Campbellof www.StockResearchPortal.com in excerpts from his latest Economic & Resource Stocks Commentary (subscription required). (Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.munKNEE.com (Your Key to Making Money!), has edited his comments below for length and clarity. This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement.) Campbell goes on to write: Article #1 - A Wrongly Based Prognostication! A March 26 article* suggests that we should not expect to see new highs in the price of physical gold this year based on a review of what the author calls Secular Bull Market periods.*He puts forth*the contention that the 1...
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| Did You Miss These Most Read Articles for the Past Week Ending March 30th? Posted: 30 Mar 2012 03:53 PM PDT It is not unusual to fail to keep up with the most informative articles posted on the internet so below are links, with introductory paragraphs, to the 5 most popular for this past week in descending order as posted on munKNEE.com. Words: 595 So says Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.munKNEE.com (Your Key to Making Money!). This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement. You are busy so save time by just reading those that interest you most and Sign-up for Automatic Receipt of Articles as they get posted on munKNEE.com – Your Key to Making Money! This week the 5 most read articles of the week are all about GOLD: 1. A Message to Newly Minted (or Potential) Gold Bugs I was taught years ago that "gold is not about price… gold is about value." Be measured, be balanced and don't make more of it than it is. Gold is just a tool, an anchor to sound money; to value. [Let me explain.] Words: 1120 2. Jeff Clark: Are Gold Stocks Still Go...
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| Posted: 30 Mar 2012 03:14 PM PDT from Silver Doctors:
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| Gold is Manipulated… and It’s Not Okay Posted: 30 Mar 2012 03:03 PM PDT by Andy Hoffman, MilesFranklin.com:
Chris Martenson Explains How Gold Is Manipulated… And Why That's Okay The title of the article is what raised my dander – although it's a bit misleading, as at no point does he actually state gold manipulation is acceptable. The closest comment I found was the following, indicating that such suppression only strengthened his convictions in gold's long term path – a far cry from being "Okay" with it. Instead of being annoyed by the gold price suppression scheme, I take comfort in the idea that suppression gives us a clear indication that our investment thesis is shared by somebody with bottomless pockets — and I like paying lower prices. That said, the reason the title bothered me is thus: GOLD MANIPULATION HAS DESTROYED THE WORLD. Thus, when I saw the following headline from StockMarketWatch.com, my head started spinning:
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| Everything Is Going To Be Alright? Posted: 30 Mar 2012 03:01 PM PDT from The Economic Collapse Blog:
Read More @ TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
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| Charles Biderman: The Problem with Rigged Markets Posted: 30 Mar 2012 02:03 PM PDT from ChrisMartensondotcom : "Even Wile E. Coyote had to come back down to earth sooner or later", says Charles Biderman, founder of TrimTabs Investment Research. In his opinion, the prices of stocks and bonds – enabled by excessive financialization of our economy and central bank money printing – have been defying gravity for a dangerously long time. If we continue to do all we can to preserve the status quo — to maintain "phoney" asset price levels as Charles calls them — at best we will restrict overall growth and handicap the economy. The problem isn't so much the unfairness and malinvestment evident in a rigged market. As Charles shrewdly asks: what happens when the market becomes un-rigged? We've never experienced the unwinding of an entirely manipulated financial system, so we can't predict for sure. But at this point, a painful collapse of our markets and loss of the US dollar as the world's reserve currency seem entirely plausible.
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| Silver Manipulation Acknowledged By Government Posted: 30 Mar 2012 01:38 PM PDT |
| Reflections on Post-Capitalism, Political Entrepreneurialism, and the Bernanke Contrarian Index Posted: 30 Mar 2012 01:32 PM PDT from CapitalAccount:
We've heard billionaire investor Warren Buffett saying the rich should be taxed more. That he should be taxed more. He's mad ethe case very publicly and with much fanfare, that he pays 17.7% in taxes, a lower tax rate than his secretary…and not just his secretary…all of his office staff. Sounds impressive, but our guest today asks if we should slap a warning label on each one of Buffett's public pronouncements as well. Before we get into the matter at hand, let's look back at a little history. Back in 2003, for example, Buffett was warning about the value of the dollar, the nation's debt, and what he said was the US exporting its net worth abroad. He wrote an article warning about this exact issue back in 2003…the famous "squanderville vs. thriftville." The article was titled "America's Growing Trade Deficit is Selling the Nation out from Under us." The US, of course, was Squanderville. Warren Buffett wrote, among other things, that sooner or later the Squanderville government, facing ever greater payments to service debt, would decide to embrace highly inflationary policies — that is, issue more squander bucks to dilute the value of each. But fast forward to the 2008 financial crisis and Buffett was not worrying about the debt-increasing-bailouts of the financial system; he was advocating for them. Remember how he pushed for TARP? This as the treasury's action plan which Hank Paulson was pushing. This was before it was passed by congress and signed into law by Bush, but AFTER it had failed in the House the first time around. Warren seemed a little flustered during those "free market" hours…
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| Silver Responds to Fed, Then Weakens [Or "Gets Whacked by the Cartel?] Posted: 30 Mar 2012 01:24 PM PDT by Michelle Smith Silver Investing News:
US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was again a factor in the week's silver action, but this time he had a positive effect on the market. Falling jobless claims have been an important piece of evidence used to support confidence that the US economy is recovering. This data has also played a role in pressuring silver. Read More @ SilverInvestingNews.com
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| The Decline and Fall of the USD Posted: 30 Mar 2012 01:00 PM PDT In our previous article we looked at whether the U.S. Dollar was headed for a major fall or not. We demonstrated how the dominance of the U.S. dollar was almost entirely dependent on the grip it had over oil producers and this allowed the oil price to be designmnated in the U.S. dollar. The U.S. has gone to war in Kuwait and Iraq over this issue under the guise of destroying "weapons of Mass Destruction" as it appears on the verge of doing in Iran.
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| Guest Post: Will India Stop Buying Gold? Posted: 30 Mar 2012 12:12 PM PDT Submitted by Jeff Clarke from Casey Research Will India Stop Buying Gold? We've read mixed reports about how lofty gold and silver prices are affecting demand in India. One month we're told demand is up, and the next it's supposedly down. I'm not suggesting that official reports are inaccurate, but it is admittedly confusing and doesn't help us understand the real trend in the country. Why should we care about the gold market in India? Well, let's face it; the nation is one of the biggest consumers of the metal, a major driver that can give us hints about demand and investment trends, along with what to perhaps eventually expect here in North America. But reading third-party reports about India is very different than getting information firsthand from a credible source in the country. I wanted to get to the bottom of what's really going on in India by talking to a reputable bullion dealer who could give me the inside scoop, an up-to-the-moment dispatch from the front lines, as it were. So I did just that. Ashish and Rashmi Sand own Savio Jewellery (Savio means "shine" in Italian), a design studio and jewelry factory in Jaipur, India. They've received many design and manufacturing awards since starting their business six years ago, winning five awards in just the past six months. They source gold from bullion agents in Jaipur, who in turn obtain it from dealers in Hong Kong, Dubai, Mumbai, and Delhi. They have industry contacts, friends, and relatives that span the globe, from the US and UK to Asia and Australia. If anybody knows what's happening in the physical gold and silver bullion markets and the Indian jewelry market, it's them. In this exclusive interview, you can read what Ashish and Rashmi told me about unstoppable demand, growing silver interest, budding demand for coins and bars, reduced selling, shifting trends with women, burgeoning ETFs, and why they believe a bubble is headed our way… Jeff Clark: Ashish, tell us about your manufacturing facility and design studio. Ashish: Savio Jewellery makes conceptual jewelry, which can be worn in five or six different ways. It looks "heavy" but is extremely lightweight. It's also affordable. We design what you want, for as much as you want to spend. For instance, one of my customers wanted a necklace and earring set for her daughter's wedding; based on their budget, we were able to manufacture a set using 35 grams of gold [about 1.2 ounces]. Jeff: Do you have any difficulties sourcing metal? Ashish: We don't face any difficulties in arranging gold, whether demand is high or low, because the traders hedge gold on daily basis. We also keep a reserve of gold so that our manufacturing doesn't slow down if metal isn't immediately available. Our suppliers of gold don't face any problem procuring gold, either. Jeff: How would you describe demand for gold right now in India? Ashish: We are seeing several shifts in the trends for gold demand. First, even with the increase in price, demand is still strong. People have not stopped buying. Part of this is cultural; wearing gold jewelry in a wedding is a longstanding custom in India and will not change regardless of price. In fact, our shops are experiencing increased buying in spite of higher prices. Previously we would have one or two customers per day for gold, but now we have five or six. We are getting plenty of new customers, and see new customers more frequently now. Second, I would say that awareness among customers has increased. Now they see jewelry also as an investment and want a proper return on their investment. Further, due to fluctuations in price, they may book in advance – i.e., if a customer orders a jewelry product, they lock in the gold price ahead of time. Probably the biggest change we face, though, is that customers are more focused on getting lightweight jewelry, or 14-carat gold instead of 18-carat gold. This is due to the high gold price. This adjustment, however, has not affected the desire to own gold. The bottom line is that the rise in the gold price has not hampered demand. Jeff: Are Indians investing more in bullion (bars and coins) than usual? Ashish: Indians are definitely investing more in bullion due to the rising trend in gold and silver prices. Investing in gold and silver has always been a good idea for wealth protection to Indians, and now we are seeing them buy more coins and bars than they used to. Coins and bars are mainly purchased either in wedding season or during the Diwali festival. Even I purchase gold coins every Diwali – 10 grams, 20 grams, or any amount. Another factor is that India has experienced many monsoons over the last two years, and the farmers are tending to invest their savings in gold and silver. This is a major factor for the increase in demand for coins and bars. Jeff: Is much reselling taking place right now? Is it higher or lower than it used to be? Ashish: Reselling gold has become rare – and this from a country that consumes more gold than any other and where gold jewelry is a central part of the culture. We rarely have customers who sell back their gold or silver. Before we used to have customers who would sell their scrap gold and make new jewelry from it, but now we don't experience many such customers. I would estimate we currently have 90% buyers and 10% sellers, and before the ratio was 80% buyers and 20% sellers. They're not selling, because they hope that in the next few years the price will rise further and they can get better returns than what they can at present. Just a few years ago, some customers would buy gold expecting to sell when the price rose; now those customers are sure gold will keep rising year after year and are selling only rarely. Jeff: We've read about an increased interest in silver in India – tell us what you see. Ashish: Silver demand has increased sharply in recent years, as increasing numbers of investors use silver as a store of value. Customers are also buying silver to hedge against market losses. While global markets have been uncertain over the past four years, silver has provided huge returns and has been an ideal investment. Because silver has provided the highest recent return of all the commodities, this has attracted the average layman. Silver demand has also increased for the customer for whom the gold price is out of reach. Nowadays, if they cannot afford gold, they switch to silver. So the number of customers requesting silver has increased. Silver is also part of gift-giving in India. It is customary to give silver items as a wedding gift, and there are rituals where parents gift silver dinner sets to their daughters at their weddings. In addition to dinner sets, silver is usually found in jewelry, such as a necklace, earring, bracelet, or rings; gift items such as glass sets and crafted boxes; and even showpiece furniture. Last, there is a steep rise in demand for silver in electronic goods. Jeff: Rashmi, describe how Indian women view gold. And have you noticed any changes in how they view silver? Rashmi: Gold and silver are firmly embedded in cultural and religious traditions for Indian women. Over the past decade, Diwali and Akshaya Tritiya have become major gold- and silver-buying occasions in India. Gold and silver also play an important role in the marriage ceremony, where brides are often adorned from head to toe in gold jewelry. This reminds me of my own wedding.
[Rashmi is wearing approximately 500 grams of pure gold (about 17.6 ounces), including a necklace, earring, a tika and matha patti on her head, haath phool in her hands, bangles on her wrists, nose ring, arm band (bajubandh), and finger rings.]So during wedding season, the demand for gold and silver increases. Our women customers prefer lightweight jewelry instead of heavy and bulky ornaments. Increasingly, it also appears they now prefer workmanship over weight when choosing jewelry made from gold. The Indian custom of women wearing jewelry has not changed, though they have started accepting 14 carat gold in order to make it more pocketbook friendly. And people in India wear jewelry to all kinds of parties. We have also experienced an increased number of women customers in our shop. They still buy gold and silver jewelry, but now they prefer jewelry that is of designer quality and looks good. This is the biggest change I have noticed with women over the past few years; they want jewelry that is unique. They prefer wearing long earrings – danglers or hoops. They also prefer multipurpose or conceptual jewelry – in other words, jewelry that can be worn in different ways. This attracts the woman customer, as they think they have more jewelry for the same price. There is a different culture in south India, where the people are more bound to gold jewelry than silver. The parents still focus on giving gold to their daughters for a wedding present. Each part of India has different customs, but the one thing that remains common is that gold jewelry is bought by everyone for weddings. Jeff: Ashish, you've stated you are very bullish on the price of gold and silver, and that a bubble for prices is ahead; why? Ashish: To be clear, we are extremely bullish on the price of silver and gold. We believe that both will eventually advance into a full-fledged bubble that will surpass most investors' wildest dreams. The world is changing and so is the way we invest. Gold and silver were once considered a marginal investment, worn mostly as jewelry or something that was stored in banks. Now it is making a comeback and has become a primary investment asset for many individuals and institutions. In India, people are very futuristic and are so bound to the culture that they're buying gold and silver in advance. If they know that they are going to marry their daughter in three to four years, for example, they will purchase the gold now instead of waiting when prices will be higher. This will continue to underpin demand and push the price higher. Jeff: Any other trends you see in India? Ashish: From the average layman to the high-class educated person, they now want to invest in gold and silver. In fact, those who were investing in equities have been switching to gold and silver. Even the gold and silver ETF has become common in India. This is partly due to rising prices; keeping metal at home has become riskier, so they can avoid the risks of self-storage by using an ETF. Even I have invested in gold and silver for my personal use apart from my business. Instead of buying equities, I now invest more in gold and silver, with the expectation of getting a good return. I will conclude by just saying that based on what we see here every day, we believe gold and silver prices will continue to go up. Jeff: Thanks, Ashish and Rashmi.
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| Greece: Now They’re Not Even Trying Anymore Posted: 30 Mar 2012 11:51 AM PDT Wolf Richter www.testosteronepit.com Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, while visiting Japan, summarized it eloquently when he said, "The financial aspect of the crisis is over." The ECB, despite any apparently fake German reservations, has jumped with both feet on the money printing bandwagon where it happily joins the Fed, the Bank of Japan, and other central banks around the world. The endless flow of money has started in the Eurozone, and Greek politicians, it turns out, have figured this out. Among them, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos who didn't wait long to put the need for a third bailout package on the table. And the difficult reforms are falling off the table one by one. The new priority is the general election on May 6—the flood of euros having been secured for the time being. Politicians are jostling for position to grab whatever votes they can. They're no longer paying attention to their legislative work, the tough reforms that party leaders and the government had promised the bailout Troika. Some of which would have to be completed before the elections. Promises made solely to obtain the second bailout package. And they’re altering what little reform legislation does move forward, such as liberalizing the taxi industry, to curry favors with their supporters—to the utter frustration of their unelected technocrat Prime Minister who implored his ministers to focus on their jobs and stop the political quibbling. Apparently with little impact. “It is the prime minister’s decision that this government should continue working right up to the last day,” spokesperson Pantelis Kapsis said lamely but admitted that much of the work would be left to the next government. So, the interim government only accomplished part of its job: the bond swap, a default that blew up over €100 billion in Greek bonds held by private sector investors. “We owed it to our children and grandchildren to rid them of the burden of this debt,” mused Evangelos Venizelos, at the time Finance Minister, after having whacked private sector investors with a 72% loss, while the drumbeat of Greece’s economic horror show continues. For that unrelenting debacle and its consequences, read.... “A harder Default To Come.” The interim government also accomplished another part of its job: it opened the Troika money spigot and got the bailout billions flowing again. But many of the reforms that it promised to implement would remain up in the air. With one exception. Under pressure from the bailout Troika, Parliament is moving on a bill that would set in motion the creation of an escrow account for a big portion of the bailout billions, a condition imposed by the Troika who no longer trust Greece on anything. They want to make sure the money doesn’t evaporate. It will be used to repay Greece’s foreign creditors—their backdoor bailout being the purpose of the whole scheme. The Greek people, however, will see little of it. And Papademos, who was supposed to oversee the implemention the reforms, and who has been shunted aside, darkened his outlook for the next government. Further wage cuts might be necessary, he said on Friday. And “joblessness will probably increase and the recession will probably continue,” through “most of 2013”—a downward revision from his assessment of only a few weeks ago when he pegged the end of the recession at mid-2013. With the bailout billions, the government would likely have enough money to fund pensions till 2015, he said, but that would be it. And his government was working on a proposal to cut another €12 billion from the budget, as promised to the Troika, he said, but the nearly impossible job of implementing those cuts: “The next government and the next parliament will decide.” The writing is on the wall. Little will get done before the election. And after the new government takes over, it’s back to square one. More promises, more strikes, more disappointments, and the extortion racket to get more bailout billions will start all over again. Meanwhile, across the border, deficit-plagued and inflation-infested Turkey floated a plan to get its people to turn in their huge stash of physical gold in exchange for paper “certificates,” a first step in what may become a process of gold confiscation. And this, just as the world's major central bankers met in Washington. For that load of ironies, doublespeak, and red flags, read.... Gold Confiscation, Inflation, And Suddenly Virtuous Central Bankers.
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| Posted: 30 Mar 2012 11:02 AM PDT Gold Price Close Today : 1,669.30 Gold Price Close 23-Mar : 1,662.30 Change : 7.00 or 0.4% Silver Price Close Today : 3246.9 Silver Price Close 23-Mar : 3224.8 Change : 22.10 or 0.7% Gold Silver Ratio Today : 51.412 Gold Silver Ratio 23-Mar : 51.547 Change : -0.14 or -0.3% Silver Gold Ratio : 0.01945 Silver Gold Ratio 23-Mar : 0.01940 Change : 0.00005 or 0.3% Dow in Gold Dollars : $ 163.61 Dow in Gold Dollars 23-Mar : $ 162.67 Change : $ 0.94 or 0.6% Dow in Gold Ounces : 7.915 Dow in Gold Ounces 23-Mar : 7.869 Change : 0.05 or 0.6% Dow in Silver Ounces : 406.91 Dow in Silver Ounces 23-Mar : 405.63 Change : 1.28 or 0.3% Dow Industrial : 13,212.04 Dow Industrial 23-Mar : 13,080.73 Change : 131.31 or 1.0% S&P 500 : 1,408.47 S&P 500 23-Mar : 1,397.11 Change : 11.36 or 0.8% US Dollar Index : 78.949 US Dollar Index 23-Mar : 79.366 Change : -0.417 or -0.5% Platinum Price Close Today : 1,639.40 Platinum Price Close 23-Mar : 1,626.20 Change : 13.20 or 0.8% Palladium Price Close Today : 653.90 Palladium Price Close 23-Mar : 659.20 Change : -5.30 or -0.8% On the SILVER and GOLD PRICE last week I wrote, "The end to this correction for silver and gold is not far away, two weeks at most, I suspect. Yes, we might have seen it already, but we'll know that if we get a confirmation like this: a rise to 3300c, then a fall back to 3150c but no lower." The GOLD PRICE had to hold $1,627. Ponder then, and consider: The SILVER PRICE rose this week to 3318c, then fell back to 3163.2c (yesterday). The GOLD PRICE ranged from $1,693.30 to $1,645.60 So far, then, both metals are following my interpretation, that they have already bottomed and will not fall lower, therefore it's time to buy. Both silver and gold rose this week, after making new lows for this move. Yesterday and today both completed key reversals, breaking into new low territory for the move but closing higher yesterday, and closing higher still today. More than that, both metals left behind clean, plain V-bottoms yesterday. But y'all never mind about silver and gold, y'all go buy lottery tickets. Maybe y'all will hit that $640 million jackpot. You're only about 50 times less likely to hit that jackpot than you are to be struck by lightning. The GOLD PRICE today rose $17.10 to close Comex at $1,669.30. SILVER PRICE rose 49.1c to close 3246.9c. Gold's low came at a comfortable $1,659.70, and it's high at an ambitious $1,670.40. With a 3211c low silver never dropped below 3200c, and rose 30c higher than yesterday at 3261c. Nobody much wanted to go home short silver or gold. UNLESS silver drops below 3150c or gold drops below $1,645, both will not see lower prices. The bottom is in, and it's time to buy. This does not mean that both metals will immediately surge. We may have several months more of frustrating sideways movement (probably will), but they will keep on edging ever higher. Much higher prices will come before the year dies. Ahh, there's a lesson on that scoreboard, but what does it teach? Stocks rose amidst crowing over the best first quarter since 1998 (or was it 1898?), silver and gold were taken to the woodshed for a beating but ended the week up (pennies count), and the dollar index finally let go flatlining and fell out of the bed. Let's start with the disgusting, repulsive fiat currencies before they sink completely out of sight and become extinct. US dollar index was flat all week but today made a new intraday low for the move. Fell 23.7 basis points (0.3%) to 78.949. Low was 78.727. Lying about 78.30 there appeareth a very important internal support line the dollar dare not cross. If it does, 'twill drop toward 77.50 and the 200 day moving average. Insofar as you can talk about technical analysis in a market so heavily manipulated, you have to expect the dollar to drop more. The Euro stands at about a 45% correction of the fall from its October high (142.47). It sought to conquer the 50% mark in February but failed. Lower highs make for a downtrend. Closed today 1.3342, up 0.31%, which looks great as long as you don't look at the Spanish real estate bust, the Italian stock market bust, the Portuguese bankruptcy, and all the rest. No direction here but permanently lower. The Yen fell back through the 20 DMA that it yesterday conquered (121.03) to close down 0.52% at 120.69c (Y82.86). No matter, it bottomed two weeks ago and has advanced ever since. Will go higher -- consistent with the impenetrable aims and purposes of the Nice Government Men's "minds." Now let's think about stocks -- don't get squeamish on me -- for a few moments. All the folks who sell and tout stocks are all aflutter about this quarter's results. Alas, I bear sober tidings of great sorrow. Stocks do not begin bull markets from high valuations. Historically, when the S&P500's Price/Earnings ratio reaches 7 or lower, it offers good value and a good buy. Above 20 it's about to crack. At the dot.com bust it stood over 40. Today it's at 23.46. Does that sound like the birthplace of a bull market? Today the Dow Jones Industrial's P/E was 14.79 and its dividend yield was 2.47%. Historically dividend yield has been very low and the market ready to tumble whenever dividend yield reached 3.2% (1929) and ready to be bought when 8% or more. Today it's 2.47%. Bull markets are not born at 2.47% dividend yields. Today the Dow amidst near-universal jubilating rose 66.22% (0.5%) to 13,212.04. S&P500 ran along with it, gaining 5.19 (0.37%) to 1,408.47. Yep, both are candidates for double tops. Rally long in the tooth (such teeth as it has left, it's so old), MACD turning down, RSI a little high, and in general rebelling against gravity. BWDIK? I'm only a natural born fool from Tennessee. Haven't even ever OWNED a pair of them shiny, pointy Wall Street shoes. Listen, I'm not a bird, so I don't tweet very often. But I know a lot of y'all are active on Twitter so I'd be much obliged if you would follow @TheMoneychanger. Who knows, you might see some special offers and announcements every now and again. Y'all enjoy your weekend! Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought. - Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger The-MoneyChanger.com 888-218-9226 10:00am-5:00pm CST, Monday-Friday © 2012, The Moneychanger. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission. To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down. WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. Be advised and warned: Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures. NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps. NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced. NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt. What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands. One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose. 
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| Posted: 30 Mar 2012 10:28 AM PDT An allegory for you today, Fellow Reckoner. A story within a story. This one was inspired by a presentation your editor saw last week while attending the inaugural Rancho Santana Sessions. The speaker was Douglas Clayton, founder of Leopard Capital. His topic, as we reported from Nicaragua at the time, was Frontier Markets. Since hearing Mr. Clayton talk, we've conversed with many a casual acquaintance — and even a few serious investors — on the explosive potential of frontier investing. Many are intrigued by the idea…even excited. But the following responses, or similar, remain stubbornly pervasive: "Yes, but what about the political risk?" or "Well, it's just so difficult doing business in those types of countries." The term "those types" is, you'll not be surprised to discover, invariably pregnant with the implied hardship and backwardness of "lesser evolved states." We'll get to all this in a second. First, our little story: Returning from Managua to Buenos Aires, your editor suffered the distinct misfortune of having to connect through Miami International Airport — appropriately coded "MIA," presumably a reference to the absent state of the attending security agencies' sense of dignity and humanity. An OECD nation had, in other words, perforated our blissful sojourn between two frontier markets. Now, American passport holders might not yet be aware that the United States is today the only country with the dubious distinction of requiring all passengers — even those in transit — to run the gruesome gauntlet of customs lines, security checks and generally demeaning immigration interrogation sessions usually reserved for those aspiring to enter the so-labeled "Homeland" land, not simply pass through it. There is no such thing as "transit" in the U.S.A. anymore. It's a "post-9/11" thing, we're told. If you're on US soil, you are required to pass through backscatter radiation baths and/or (VERY!) intimate pat downs along with the rest of the largely questionless herd. And so it went. We had a five hour layover between flights; plenty of time, we thought, to get through the nasty cattle dip processes and into the comfortable seat awaiting us by the bar on the other side. Ha! After an hour and a half waiting in a queue that seemed to inhabit most of the arrival wing's floor space, we were interviewed by a man whose angry-suspicious gaze had actually seared itself into his facial template. He was, to coin a word, perma-spicious. (You've seen this type before…they're almost always wearing a badge.) We tried to imagine him asking something that was not a rudely invasive, double-edged question, but could not. Instead, we fielded, among others: "What were you doing in Nicaragua? What kind of business? Where are you going next? For how long? What do you do? Where do you actually live?" Remember, we're simply passing through the place, not looking to relocate there and open a puppy mill across from the local church. Alas, it's guilty until proven innocent when it comes to dealing with the morally threadbare individuals populating the ranks of the nation's "first line of defense." Next up was the security gate. We'd already gone through the escalated security process at the other end, a process required by the various US security agencies of all planes entering the Homeland. Never mind all that — it's Department of Homeland Security Land now…where no issue is so small that it can't be made into a national security-sized, near-disaster. We then waited another hour, along with a friend, to enter a certain wing of the MIA complex. Having not been to this particular airport in some time, but to many others since (they do tend to look alike after a while), we asked one of the mirthless badges whether we could, with our ticket (which we dutifully displayed) enter departures through this particular insecurity gate. In other words, could we, with our plane departing from another terminal, still get to where we needed to be once on the other side of the shoeless, beltless, laptop-in-separate-container, no-liquids-over-3-ounces, step-this-way-please-sir, now-touch-your-toes Orwellian nightmare ahead of us? "Yes. You can," the woman replied, marshaling all the syllables her brain would allow her to cram into each word. "Okay. Well, thank you for your vigilance and service. Your country is a much safer place now," we wanted (but dared not) to say. Alas, what we discovered on the other side of the gate did not corroborate the woman's claim. We would not be able to simply amble over to the correct wing, as was our plan. We would have to go out through security, walk to the other side of the airport, and repeat the process. And so, without recourse to reason nor appeal to sanity, we did just that. This second go around was slightly more eventful in that we were "selected" for a full body imaging session. Lucky us. We opted out, of course, which inspired the next series of events… The attending TSA goon was nice enough to ask us whether we'd like to have the "procedure" performed in front of everyone in the (mile long) line behind us, or whether we'd prefer a private room. "A private room," we remember thinking, "just how intimate is this 'procedure' going to get? Should I have picked up a dinner tab first? Should I have brought some one dollar bills along? Should my doctor and/or fianceé be present?" "No. You can do whatever it is that you're paid to do in front of all the witnesses here," we (wished we'd) said. In reality, we said nothing but simply walked over to the spot and assumed the position in silence. (They might treat you like a dog, we thought, but you don't have to bark like one.) And so the "procedure" proceeded. Now, as Fellow Opt Outers already know, this is an intensely intimate experience, one step shy of its "rubber-glove-and-cough" cousin. As you're standing there, with a stranger performing acts on you that would earn them a snap-reflex punch in the face in almost any other situation, you develop a new and special dislike for Opt Inners. Watching them acquiesce so willingly to the thugs' demands, you almost feel betrayed, like your friends have turned into comrades and gone over to the dark side. You feel yourself giving them the evil eye. And they feel it, too, finding any excuse to avoid eye contact with you while you're pressed up against the back of the agent's wandering hand. Then, when the hand wanders a little further, you're promptly, rudely, reminded who the real enemy is. "Yes, yes, yes," we hear the reader gripe, "TSA bad. But what does this have to do with investing in frontier markets?" A second longer, we implore. After all was said and done — and searched and felt — we found ourselves running to the gate. [Note to international transiters: When budgeting for layover time Stateside, project and factor in all conceivable inconveniences. Then, when you have a number, double it.] Eight hours of planesleep later and we had reached Guarulhos International Airport in São Paolo, largest city in the not-quite-frontier-but-still-very-much-emerging country of Brazil. We had four more hours to wait before the next and final leg to Buenos Aires. "¿Donde están las puertas para las conexiones?" we inquired. (Most Brazilians understand Spanish — even poor Spanish compromised by an Australian accent.) The cheerful gentleman pointed us through a door…a single door…a single door without metal detectors or guards with guns. Just. One. Door. We marched through, happily, as if returning to a warm, dry home after having been caught in a blizzard outside. Seeing that there were a number of TAM-operated flights heading to Buenos Aires before our own was due, we approached that gate from which the next one was scheduled to depart and, perhaps pushing our luck a tad, asked whether we would be able to hop an earlier flight. The chipper woman took a look at our ticket, a look at the screen, and smiled. We were on the plane five minutes later and bound for home. Now, ask yourself, do you want to invest in a country where the tax authorities operate with the ruthless, reasonless disposition of the TSA? Or one in which you (and your investment) are welcomed with open arms? To those who feel inspired to write in in defense of the eternally patriotic squadron of grandma-fondling border troops with a witless "if you don't like it, then don't come here" rant, allow us to save you some time. We won't. Joel Bowman Love in a TSA Line originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. Recently Agora Financial released a video titled "What is Fracking?".
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| Gold and Silver Disaggregated COT Report (DCOT) for March 30 Posted: 30 Mar 2012 10:01 AM PDT SOUTHEAST TEXAS -- This week's Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) disaggregated commitments of traders (DCOT) report is interesting, because it shows the usual hedgers on the net buy side of silver futures even though silver was up $0.43 Tuesday to Tuesday, while at the same time they were fairly strong net sellers of gold futures with gold up $29.85. Indeed, the combined commercial traders have decreased their net short positioning for silver futures for a fourth consecutive week. In the DCOT table below a net short position shows as a negative figure in red. A net long position shows in black. In the Change column, a negative number indicates either an increase to an existing net short position or a reduction of a net long position. A black figure in the Change column indicates an increase to an existing long position or a reduction of an existing net short position. The way to think of it is that black figures in the Change column are traders getting "longer" and red figures are traders getting less long or shorter. All of the trader's positions are calculated net of spreading contracts as of the Tuesday disaggregated COT report.
Continued… Vultures, (Got Gold Report Subscribers) please note that updates to our linked technical charts, including our comments about the COT reports and the week's technical changes, should be completed by the usual time on Sunday evening (around 18:00 ET). As a reminder, the linked charts for gold, silver, mining shares indexes and important ratios are located in the subscriber pages. In addition Vultures have access anytime to all 30-something Vulture Bargain (VB) and Vulture Bargain Candidates of Interest (VBCI) tracking charts – the small resource-related companies that we attempt to game here at Got Gold Report. Continue to look for new commentary directly in the charts often. Combined (legacy, not disaggregated) Commercial Net Short Position for Silver, then Gold below. Source CFTC for COT, Cash market for gold and silver. Details and commentary to be included in our chart commentary on Sunday. Combined Commercial Net Short positioning (LCNS) for silver futures (including Swap Dealers) fell 2,448 lots to 29,678 contracts net short, a reduction of 7.6%. The LCNS for gold futures increased by 18,938 contracts or 11.4% to 185,076 contracts net short as gold rose $29.85 or 1.8%. Note that the combined commercials added to their gold hedges at the same time they decreased hedges for silver.
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| Posted: 30 Mar 2012 09:19 AM PDT Scott Wright March 30, 2012 2343 Words Over the course of gold’s bull, the companies that explore for and mine this metal have greatly prospered. The gold-stock sector has thus been one of the top-performing in all the markets over the last 10+ years, and its investors have been richly rewarded. But this last year or so has been a tough one, one that sure has tested investors’ mettle. Gold stocks had been doing great since their panic lows in 2008. Measured by the venerable GDX Gold Miners ETF, gold stocks were up nearly 300% to their late-2010 highs. This well outpaced the gains of both the general markets (+86% as measured by the S&P 500) and gold (+100%) over this time. But once 2011 rolled around, gold ...
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| Health Threats, Wealth Opportunities Posted: 30 Mar 2012 09:16 AM PDT March 30, 2012 [LIST] [*]Scores of wealth creators descend on... the state most hostile to wealth creation. And our own Patrick Cox is leading the charge... [*]Two of the biggest threats to human health you've never heard of... and the microcap companies on the verge of wiping them out [*]Gold and the dollar both tread water, delivering 5 for 5 on our "mock trades": To celebrate, we'd like to do you a favor [*]The agony and the lack of ecstasy in the PIIGS nations: From failed attempts at self-immolation... to high-end hookers walking off the job [*]Greece's "Potato Revolution"... the real reason parents go into hock to pay for private schools... Jim Cramer picking up where Billy Mays left off... and more! [/LIST] "California was my home for more than 15 years," says our tech maven Patrick Cox. He's on his way back for a rare visit today. "I left, in large part, because it was obvious that the political culture had become radicalized and intransigent," he explain...
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| Hugo Salinas Price: Civilization is at stake along with currencies Posted: 30 Mar 2012 08:25 AM PDT 4:25p ET Friday, March 30, 2012 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver): Industrialist and economist Hugo Salinas Price, president of the Mexican Civic Association for Silver, today tells King World News that gold and silver will be the only currencies to endure and will offer some protection to their owners but that this protection won't be enough if civilization fails, and civilization is very much at stake in the world financial turmoil. Salinas Price sees protectionism as the next phase of that turmoil. An excerpt from the interview is posted at the King World News blog here: http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/3/30_Bi... CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer ADVERTISEMENT Sona Discovers Potential High-Grade Gold Mineralization From a Company Press Release VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- With its latest surface diamond drilling program at its 100-percent-owned, formerly producing Blackdome gold mine in southern British Columbia, Sona Resources Corp. has discovered a potentially high-grade gold-mineralized area, with one hole intersecting 13.6 grams of gold in 1.5 meters of core drilling. "We intersected a promising new mineralized zone, and we feel optimistic about the assay results," says Sona's president and CEO, John P. Thompson. "We have undertaken an aggressive exploration program that has tested a number of target zones. Our discovery of this new gold-bearing structure is significant, and it represents a positive development for the company." Sona aims to bring its permitted Blackdome mill back into production over the next year and a half, at a rate of 200 tonnes per day, with feed from the formerly producing Blackdome mine and the nearby Elizabeth gold deposit property. A positive preliminary economic assessment by Micon International Ltd., based on a gold price of $950 per ounce over eight years, has estimated a cash cost of $208 per tonne milled, or $686 per gold ounce recovered. For the company's complete press release, please visit: http://www.sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR18_2011-opt.pdf Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006: http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT Prophecy Platinum (TSXV: NKL) and Ursa Major Minerals Company Press Release VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada -- Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL, OTC-QX: PNIKF, Frankfurt: P94P) and Ursa Major Minerals Inc. have signed a binding letter of agreement for a business combination through a proposed all-share transaction. In doing so Prophecy and Ursa have acted at arm's length and the transaction has been negotiated at arm's length. Prophecy will issue one common share in exchange for every 25 outstanding common shares of Ursa. Ursa options and warrants will be exchanged for options and warrants of Prophecy on an agreed schedule. Prophecy's offer represents a value of about $0.15 per each common share of Ursa based on Prophecy's share price of $3.70 as at March 1, representing a premium of 130 percent to Ursa's March 1 closing price of $0.065. Prophecy is to subscribe for $1 million common shares of Ursa by way of private placement financing at $0.06 per share, subject to regulatory approval. Upon placement completion, John Lee and Greg Hall, current Prophecy directors, will be appointed to Ursa's board. Prophecy thus will become a mid-tier resource company with a robust and -- The fully permitted open-pit Shakespeare PGM-Ni-Cu mine close to Sudbury, Ontario, infrastructure with near-term production capabilities. -- The flagship Wellgreen (Yukon) PGM-Ni-Cu project with more than 10 million ounces of Pt-Pd-Au inferred resource. Drilling is under way and a preliminary economic assessment study is pending. -- Manitoba's Lynn Lake Ni-Cu project with more than 262 million pounds Ni and 138 million pounds Cu measured and indicated. For the complete announcement, please visit Prophecy Platinum's Internet site here: http://www.prophecyplat.com/news_2012_mar02_prophecy_platinum_ursa_major...
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| Warren Buffett Scorns Gold. Bad Move! Posted: 30 Mar 2012 08:21 AM PDT Warren Buffett doesn't like gold. In this year's annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Warren Buffett scorned gold as an asset that is "forever unproductive." And he's right about that… But investors don't buy gold because they hope it will produce something. They buy gold because they know that no one can produce it. Therefore, the more that folks distrust their national currency, the more they put their trust in the ultimate currency: gold. The gold price has increased for 11 consecutive years — a time frame during which, coincidentally, it has trounced the investment return of Berkshire Hathaway. Why? Because a new era of monetary destruction is unfolding throughout the Western world. That's why a growing number of investors are devoting a growing percentage of their investment portfolios to gold and other hard assets.
Nevertheless, the American community of gold lovers remains miniscule by comparison to the community of Berkshire Hathaway lovers or Apple lovers. In this sense, Buffett is thoroughly average — he hates gold just as much as the next guy. Interestingly, however, Buffett is one of the very few billionaires on the planet who scorns gold. In fact, several billionaire investors have disclosed recently that they are taking the other side of the Buffett "sell" on gold. George Soros, the billionaire founder of Soros Fund Management LLC, raised his stake in the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) to 85,450 shares from 48,350 during the last three months of 2011. The billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson also holds a large stake in GLD. "Paulson made his way into the financial history books thanks to what many now call the 'greatest trade ever,'" Money Morning reports: "Paulson & Co. shorted the subprime mortgage market before the collapse, banking a $15 billion gain. So when Paulson went big again by buying gold in 2009 and 2010, investors took notice… In fact, Paulson's holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) make his firm the biggest stakeholder in this ETF, with a position currently valued at $2.9 billion." The billionaire "Bond King" is also singing gold's praises these days. Bill Gross, the guy who founded PIMCO, the $1.3 trillion financial firm dedicated to managing bond portfolios, remarked last month, "Recent central bank behavior, including that of the US Fed… may as well induce inflationary distortions that give a rise to commodities and gold as store of value alternatives when there is little value left in paper." One final admirer of gold is neither a hedge fund manager nor a billionaire. This admirer is a trillionaire! Literally. In 2011, China became the No. 1 importer of gold. China was already the world's leading gold producer. The Asian juggernaut also reduced its holdings of US government securities last year for the first time since the Treasury began keeping the data in 2001. As of Dec. 31, China held $1.15 trillion in Treasuries, down from $1.16 trillion at the end of 2010. This reduction doesn't sound like much, but it's the trend that's telling: gold up, Treasuries down.
China is not only the biggest importer of gold, it is also the biggest miner of the precious metal. According to the World Gold Council, China produces nearly 50% more gold (about 300 tons per year) than the second-place country… Australia. And not a single ounce of that newly mined gold leaves the country. By law, the Chinese government buys every ounce of gold that surfaces from a Chinese mine shaft… no matter what. Clearly, the Chinese are taking the "long view" when it comes to gold accumulation. They believe they can trust gold more than US Treasuries. Maybe Soros, Paulson, Gross and the Chinese are all crazy to buy gold. Or maybe Buffett is crazy not to. Place your bets! Regards, Addison Wiggin, Warren Buffett Scorns Gold. Bad Move! originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. Recently Agora Financial released a video titled "What is Fracking?".
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| Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts Posted: 30 Mar 2012 08:12 AM PDT |
| Stocks Odd Man Out As Every Other Asset Class Has Now Faded LTRO2 Posted: 30 Mar 2012 08:06 AM PDT Silver remains the best performer YTD and the Long Bond the worst performer but what is most notable is the quiet serenity of the equity rally continued through March as Commodities, Precious Metals, Treasuries, and Corporate Bonds all lost notable ground post LTRO2. Is equity keeping the dream alive as the liquidity spigot has slowed to a drop (for now)? AAPL had it largest 2-day drop for almost 4 months into quarter-end - ending under $600 - and the broad S&P 500 pulled away once again from credit yesterday and today as IG, HY, and HYG close practically unchanged from last Friday's low but the ES up 15-20pts. Of the S&P sectors, Energy was the only one to fall appreciably post LTRO2 with Utilities the only sector in the red YTD -2.6% as Financials +21.5% and Tech +18.5% dominate. YTD performance of major asset classes - note the selloff in everything post LTRO2 (liquidity) except stocks...
Credit markets remain far less sanguine once again as the S&P 500 surged again away from credit which is practically unchanged on the week...
IG, HY, and TSYs all lost ground in March following the LTRO2 but stocks strolled happily onwards...
AAPL suffered its largest 2-day drop in four months (since the rally began) and closed the quarter under $600...
S&P sectors show Utes the only one in the red -2.6% while Financials and Tech dominate and post LTRO2, Energy is the only sector appreciably lower...
Charts: Bloomberg
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| Posted: 30 Mar 2012 08:03 AM PDT Synopsis: If the general population doesn't wake up soon, the world George Orwell painted in 1984 will seem like a picnic in the not-too-distant future. Dear Reader, Well, I'm back from a couple of weeks traipsing about in the sunny vineyards of Argentina. As many dear readers will still be suffering from the painful condition known as "winter," I won't taunt you with tales of viscerally vibrant vistas, sun-soaked al fresco luncheons among the vines, dinners served in sidewalk cafés by favorite waiters or any of the other freshly registered memories.
Before getting down to business, however, I would like to say what a great pleasure it was spending time with so many of you at the recent Harvest Event at La Estancia de Cafayate… playing golf, pumping iron at the wonderful new Athletic Club, sharing meals and/or a glass of wine, riding Paso Peruano horses, hiking on a little-known Inca trail that winds through the beautiful canyons leading to Cafayate (thanks to Rudi Goldman, who is in the photo, for the photos) and much, much more. At one point, while being tenderized by the strong fingers of a skilled masajista at the Jack Zehren-designed Athletic Club, I found myself marveling at how remarkably well things had come together at "Casey's Gulch." That's not to say there haven't been challenges along the way, but I firmly believe that community at La Estancia de Cafayate is unique in this world, and I am absolutely exhilarated to be a part of it... and, more to the point, to have it as a part of my personal "Plan B." And on the topic of needing a Plan B, I turn to today's musings.
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| Gold Blossoming in Colombia: Paul Harris Posted: 30 Mar 2012 07:40 AM PDT The Gold Report: Colombia's mining and energy sectors received about $12 billion (B) in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2011, making it the largest recipient of FDI relative to gross domestic product of any country in Latin America. Although there are excellent geological potential and dozens of junior mining companies exploring Colombia, not one of those juniors has successfully permitted a mine. Does the country risk losing some of that free-flowing capital if it doesn't start to permit mines? Paul Harris: No. The majority of that $12B you mentioned is in the oil and coal sectors. Gold is still in its infancy. Colombia enacted a mining code in 2001, so the mine permitting provisions within that code haven't been tried and tested before, but there is apprehension about how those provisions will perform when companies do put them through their paces. A couple of projects are rapidly approaching permitting. Continental Gold Ltd.'s (CNL:TSX) Buriticá is one of those as is the AngloGo...
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| Billionaire Hugo Salinas Price - World May Go Down in Flames Posted: 30 Mar 2012 07:38 AM PDT  Today multi-billionaire Hugo Salinas Price told King World News a complete catastrophe is unfolding in Europe. He also called Fed Chairman Bernanke "a vampire" and urged people to hold gold and silver because they will be the last things standing. But first, Salinas Price warned about the serious dangers we are facing: "I think that unless we see legislation, somewhere, that is rational and recognizes that gold and silver are really different forms of money, and that this whole scheme of paper is unworkable, then the world is going to go down in flames. The only thing that would last will be people's savings of gold and silver."
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| COT Gold, Silver and US Dollar Index Report - March 30, 2012 Posted: 30 Mar 2012 07:32 AM PDT COT Gold, Silver and US Dollar Index Report - March 30, 2012
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| Copper-Bottomed Fake Tungsten Gold Posted: 30 Mar 2012 07:29 AM PDT |
| Posted: 30 Mar 2012 07:23 AM PDT Future generations will look back and ask themselves, 'How could they not see what was happening? Were they blind?' The Fed is not the only problem here, but a key enabler. White collar crimes and fraud flourished amongst the robber barons even in the days of the gold standard. It just was not as convenient, as easy, to defraud the people en masse through the debasement of the currency.
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| A polite accusation of 'financial repression' by the Fed Posted: 30 Mar 2012 07:21 AM PDT The Dangers of an Interventionist Fed By John Taylor http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230381650457730740397182409... America has now had nearly a century of decision-making experience under the Federal Reserve Act, first passed in 1913. Thanks to careful empirical research by Milton Friedman, Anna Schwartz, and Allan Meltzer, we have plenty of evidence that rules-based monetary policies work and unpredictable discretionary policies don't. Now is the time to act on that evidence. The Fed's mistake of slowing money growth at the onset of the Great Depression is well-known. And from the mid-1960s through the '70s, the Fed intervened with discretionary go-stop changes in money growth that led to frequent recessions, high unemployment, low economic growth, and high inflation. In contrast, through much of the 1980s and '90s and into the past decade the Fed ran a more predictable, rules-based policy with a clear price-stability goal. This eventually led to lower unemployment, lower interest rates, longer expansions, and stronger economic growth. ... Dispatch continues below ... ADVERTISEMENT A Rare Opportunity with Collectible Gold Coins Sovereign debt problems in the United States as well as Europe will worsen this year. The mainstream financial media may never report about the likely inflationary consequences of bailouts and "quantitative easing," nor are they likely ever to recommend tangible assets for financial protection. But at Swiss America Trading Corp. we believe that it is no longer a luxury to own gold and silver coins but rather a necessity. At the moment the public is showing little interest in Double Eagle U.S. $20 gold coins, so the price premiums above the intrinsic melt values (.9675 ounce of gold in each coin) are historically low. The ratio of price to bullion content for these coins has been 2:1 but today it is only about 1.25:1. This is a real opportunity. So give us a call or e-mail and we will be glad to discuss the potential of these coins and how to use a ratio strategy to increase your gold ounces without money out of pocket. In the January edition of his Early Warning Report, Richard Maybury writes: "As they are inherently in very limited supply, I believe that high-quality numismatics will become tulips, eventually rising a thousand percent or more in real terms, when money velocity goes into mid-second stage. In late stage, who knows -- 2,000 percent? 3,000?" All inquiries will receive without charge (while supplies last) our latest book, "The Inflation Deception," as well as our newsletter "Real Money Perspectives." -- Tim Murphy, trmurphy@swissamerica.com -- Fred Goldstein, figoldstein@swissamerica.com Telephone: 1-800-289-2646 Swiss America Trading Corp., 15018 North Tatum Blvd., Phoenix, AZ 85032 Unfortunately the Fed has returned to its discretionary, unpredictable ways, and the results are not good. Starting in 2003-05 it held interest rates too low for too long and thereby encouraged excessive risk taking and the housing boom. It then overshot the needed increase in interest rates, which worsened the bust. Now, with inflation and the economy picking up, the Fed is again veering into "too low for too long" territory. Policy indicators suggest the need for higher interest rates, while the Fed signals a zero rate through 2014. It is difficult to overstate the extraordinary nature of the recent interventions, even if you ignore actions during the 2008 panic, including the Bear Stearns and AIG bailouts, and consider only the subsequent two rounds of "quantitative easing" (QE1 and QE2) -- the large-scale purchases of mortgage-backed securities and longer-term Treasurys. The Fed's discretion is now virtually unlimited. To pay for mortgages and other large-scale securities purchases, all it has to do is credit banks with electronic deposits—called reserve balances or bank money. The result is the explosion of bank money, which now dwarfs the Fed's emergency response to the 9/11 attacks. Before the 2008 panic, reserve balances were about $10 billion. By the end of 2011 they were about $1,600 billion. If the Fed had stopped with the emergency responses of the 2008 panic, instead of embarking on QE1 and QE2, reserve balances would now be normal. This large expansion of bank money creates risks. If it is not undone, then the bank money will eventually pour out into the economy, causing inflation. If it is undone too quickly, banks may find it hard to adjust and pull back on loans. The very existence of quantitative easing as a policy tool creates unpredictability, as traders speculate whether and when the Fed will intervene again. That the Fed can, if it chooses, intervene without limit in any credit market -- not only mortgage-backed securities but also securities backed by automobile loans or student loans -- creates more uncertainty and raises questions about why an independent agency of government should have such power. The combination of the prolonged zero interest rate and the bloated supply of bank money is potentially lethal. The Fed has effectively replaced the entire interbank money market and large segments of other markets with itself -- i.e., the Fed determines the interest rate by declaring what it will pay on bank deposits at the Fed without regard for the supply and demand for money. By replacing large decentralized markets with centralized control by a few government officials, the Fed is distorting incentives and interfering with price discovery with unintended consequences throughout the economy. For all these reasons, the Federal Reserve should move to a less interventionist and more rules-based policy of the kind that has worked in the past. With due deliberation, it should make plans to raise the interest rate and develop a credible strategy to reduce its outsized portfolio of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities. History shows that reform of the Federal Reserve Act is also needed to incentivize rules-based policy and prevent a return to excessive discretion. The Sound Dollar Act of 2012, a subject of hearings at the Joint Economic Committee this week, has a number of useful provisions. It removes the confusing dual mandate of "maximum employment" and "stable prices," which was put into the Federal Reserve Act during the interventionist wave of the 1970s. Instead it gives the Federal Reserve a single goal of "long-run price stability." The term "long-run" clarifies that the goal does not require the Fed to overreact to the short-run ups and downs in inflation. The single goal wouldn't stop the Fed from providing liquidity when money markets freeze up, or serving as lender of last resort to banks during a panic, or reducing the interest rate in a recession. Some worry that a focus on the goal of price stability would lead to more unemployment. History shows the opposite. One reason the Fed kept its interest rate too low for too long in 2003-05 was concern that raising the interest rate would increase unemployment in the short run. However, an unintended effect was the great recession and very high unemployment. A single mandate would help the Fed avoid such mistakes. Since 2008, the Fed has explicitly cited the dual mandate to justify its extraordinary interventions, including quantitative easing. Removing the dual mandate will remove that excuse. A single goal of long-run price stability should be supplemented with a requirement that the Fed establish and report its strategy for setting the interest rate or the money supply to achieve that goal. If the Fed deviates from its strategy, it should provide a written explanation and testify in Congress. To further limit discretion, restraints on the composition of the Federal Reserve's portfolio are also appropriate, as called for in the Sound Dollar Act. Giving all Federal Reserve district bank presidents -- not only the New York Fed president—voting rights at every Federal Open Market Committee meeting, as does the Sound Dollar Act, would ensure that the entire Federal Reserve system is involved in designing and implementing the strategy. It would offset any tendency for decisions to favor certain sectors or groups in the economy. Such reforms would lead to a more predictable policy centered on maintaining the purchasing power of the dollar. They would provide an appropriate degree of oversight by the political authorities without interfering in the Fed's day-to-day operations. ----- Mr. Taylor is a professor of economics at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. This is adapted from his testimony this week before the Joint Economic Committee, which drew on his book "First Principles: Five Keys to Restoring America's Prosperity." (W.W. Norton, 2012). Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006: http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT Free Month Subscription to Market Force Analysis for GATA Supporters Market Force Analysis is a unique, patent-pending approach to commodity market analysis. An algorithm has been developed to extract supply and demand weightings from futures market data. The difference between supply and demand is the market imbalance that is called "market force," so named because it is what drives price. 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The commercials reduced their silver futures short position a net 2,448 contracts (12.24 million ounces) in the week ending 3/27/12. This is a total reduction of 5,953 contracts or 30 million ounces over the past 2 weeks! (
There is NEVER a shortage of topics to discuss as the END GAME of the GLOBAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM approaches. For a brief moment I didn't have one lined up, but when I reviewed yesterday's fabulous Chris Martenson article about gold manipulation, my "writer's block" quickly dissipated.
Is the U.S. economy going to be okay? Well, if the only source you listened to was the mainstream media, you would be left with the distinct impression that the U.S. economy is heading toward a full recovery and that everything is going to be alright. Unfortunately, that is not the case at all. The United States is rapidly becoming poorer as a nation and less competitive in the global marketplace. At the same time, consumer debt levels are rising, corporate debt levels are rising, state and local government debt levels are rising and the U.S. government is indulging in a debt binge unlike anything the world has ever seen. Considering the insane amount of money the U.S. government has been pumping into the economy, we should have seen a much more robust recovery by now. Instead, the employment statistics 
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