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- Time to Accumulate Gold and Silver
- The Dead Cat (SP500) Did Bounce Just As We Expected!
- Inflation-Sanitized For Your Protection
- “Strong Silver Price” in 2012 As “Strengthening” Investment and Industrial Demand
- Searching for Germany's gold
- This could be a fantastic time to buy gold mining stocks
- Morning Outlook fromt he Trade Desk 03/09/12
- Why I Have A Hard Time Believing “Un-named” Silver Insiders
- ‘Strong Silver Price’ in 2012 with Stronger Demand
- German newspaper faults secrecy around Germanys gold in New York
- Why I Have A Hard Time Believing “Un-named” Silver Insiders
- Bullion Remains in Consolidation
- German Newspaper Faults Secrecy Around Germany's Gold in New York
- Bernard Von NotHaus...and the Liberty Dollar case: Another letter
- Central banks squelch gold to protect QE, Sinclair tells King World News
- Lou Dobbs interviews CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton
- Greek bailout will crash, gold 'correction' is over anyway, von Greyerz says
- Gold & Silver Market Morning, March 9 2012
- Grecian Summer of 2012 Turns Into A Full Blown Revolution?
- Geithner: No Risk to Dollar
- Silver Proving Its Mettle in 2012
- The Fed’s Newest Trick
- Silver Update: “Viewer Questions 2″
- Iraq Aims to Increase Gold Production
- Do Precious Metals Still Sparkle for Germany & Morgan Stanley?
- Philip Pilkington: Student Debt in the US Continues to Blow Up
- Dollar at a Critical Juncture
- March 9, 1933 : The Great Gold Robbery of 1933
- Why Greece Ain’t Alright
- Today’s Winners and Losers
| Time to Accumulate Gold and Silver Posted: 09 Mar 2012 03:07 AM PST |
| The Dead Cat (SP500) Did Bounce Just As We Expected! Posted: 09 Mar 2012 02:13 AM PST Friday Technical Take Blog Post: Stocks are pushing deep into a resistance level with very light volume… not a bullish sign. This is why we took profits yesterday with our SSO trade once we reached our dead cat bounce target of 2.5%. With it being Friday volume should only get lighter as the say progresses. I am starting to look at buying SDS as risk is low in my opinion but I'm going to let the morning play out first and re analyze in the afternoon. Pre-Dead Cat Bounce Warning:
The rising market has sent the volatility index tumbling lower and this just goes to show why you must manage position and use protective stops. I know many of you were angry that I said to take partial profits and that we got stopped out yesterday on the VXX trade for a net gain of 2.9% in three days. Maybe one day emotional traders will see that you must trade with the market and adjust your trade outlook while in the trade. The market does not stop and wait for you to see the light, rather it will just steam roll you and never look back. So with that being said I am starting to really like the VXX again for another buy signal. With any luck it could keep dropping for most of the session and we could go long this afternoon.
Crude oil is moving nicely in our favor today up another 2% on our 2x leveraged ETF's. I am keeping my stop at breakeven for now as but that may change by the end of the day if we break the $109 level which is unlikely. Where to put your stops for any trade is always a tough call. It varies on the time frame, overall market condition and the size of your position so don't think it's just as simple s using the previous pivot high or low. That being said, those are good places for them if you have the timing correct or if the market co-operates with you…
*One key thing to point out today, the dollar bounced off support which is what I warned about last night and again this morning in pre-market. The strong bounce in the dollar has not caused any selling in oil or stocks this morning. I think that is based on the strong jobs report this morning. More jobs means businesses should be getting stronger and the more gas/oil will be consumed. But if the dollar keeps on moving higher and breaks above this key resistance level in the next few trading sessions then it will likely cause selling in stocks. Oil may hold up because demand will still be there.
Let's see how the morning and lunch unfolds and regroup. Chris Vermeulen – Free Trade Ideas – www.GoldAndOilGuy.com |
| Inflation-Sanitized For Your Protection Posted: 09 Mar 2012 02:04 AM PST Whereas gold had opened in New York right around the pivotal $1,700 mark, Labor Department data sent the yellow metal some $20-25 lower, and to a low of $1,675 per ounce, within the first hour after the figures were released. |
| “Strong Silver Price” in 2012 As “Strengthening” Investment and Industrial Demand Posted: 09 Mar 2012 01:40 AM PST |
| Posted: 09 Mar 2012 01:15 AM PST Gold and silver prices could gain slightly in yesterday's trading and continued in the green in early trading this morning. Comex Gold is currently trading back above the $1,700 mark and silver is ... |
| This could be a fantastic time to buy gold mining stocks Posted: 09 Mar 2012 12:11 AM PST From Kimble Charting Solutions: Miners ETF (GDX) finds itself on channel support and has created a couple bullish wicks of late. Aggressive investors should consider buying on support with a stop below... Read full article (with chart)... More on gold mining stocks: Why the world's top gold stocks could finally be ready to rally Top gold CEO explains why junior resource stocks can be incredible speculations Top resource firm Sprott: "Every segment of the gold stock market is very cheap today" |
| Morning Outlook fromt he Trade Desk 03/09/12 Posted: 08 Mar 2012 11:49 PM PST Markets treading water ahead of US jobs report. The report should set the tone for the day. Metals will take their cue from the US$ and equity markets. Looking for job creation north of 200,000 to sustain equity euphoria. |
| Why I Have A Hard Time Believing “Un-named” Silver Insiders Posted: 08 Mar 2012 11:34 PM PST Thursday, March 8, 2012 Why I Have A Hard Time Believing "Un-named" Silver Insiders I read an interview with an un-named "London Trader" on Eric King's King World News site this evening that had me scratching my head as the interview raises more doubt about the constant permabull theme and story. Who knows…maybe he does have an inside source on the trading floor in London. However, contradictions are often purely visible in the silver story if you take the time to study the information. First let me fill you in on what this un-named "London Trader" had to say. The Chinese are divesting out of paper right now. So we are seeing a huge uptick in euro physical silver purchases, as well as dollar silver purchases. When silver took out $33, a huge amount of physical orders were filled." The Chinese are doing the exact same thing in the silver market that they are doing in the gold market, massive accumulation on dips. It is also important to note that the local traders in silver are short and nervous. Everyone is short silver and so that market can move violently higher when it turns. When silver reverses, it will be the one that leads the market higher. Also, the commercials have been covering in silver the same way they have been in gold.... The physical silver orders that were just filled have been waiting since February 16th. Those orders near the $33 level were filled in huge size on Tuesday. These long-term accumulators are buying every dip. There were some fills at $34, but some very large orders were filled near $33. As long as we stay under $34, there is going to be constant accumulation. What does it matter if you buy silver at $32 or $38, when it is going to go multiples higher from these levels? The Chinese know this and that is why they are accumulating in size. (My own note: Exactly! If silver is going much higher, what does it matter? Why were the orders waiting from February 16th waiting for $33.00?) What is happening here is essentially criminal, but the smart money is capitalizing on it by accumulating. They take advantage of the manipulation. Remember, a lot of this is spot indexing that will be converted to physical over the next few days. These guys (bullion banks) are so naked short and the last thing they need is to have physical disappear at this time. This is the ammunition they have to drive the market lower and they don't have very much ammunition. Even in the virtual market they are running out of sellers they can cover into. There simply aren't enough weak hands for them to cover in size and as I said, the last thing they need is for physical to be disappearing at these levels. The real (physical) market is taking over now and the virtual (paper) market will not be as important going forward as the price of silver begins to rise again." I wonder how the Chinese were able to accumulate such "huge" amounts of physical silver. It was just this past December that this same "London Trader" told Eric King There isn't enough silver for investors to buy (in large amounts) The silver isn't there. You can just imagine how long the wait times will be going forward." (Apparently less than two weeks according to the story above) Sprott's fund as of February this year held 32,878,296 silver ounces in bullion bar form. That's a lot of silver. In fact he was able to purchase 11 million ounces for his Trust this past January alone on relatively short notice and with an extremely low premium. Dr. Jeffrey Lewis said in September of 2011: In less than one week, the price of silver gave up some 9 months of gains in a move from $40 per ounce to $28. The current price for silver, which is the lowest price in 9 months, is sure to create shortages for physical silver. It should be recommended to anyone who is currently accumulating metals that purchasing silver immediately after a correction is a poor investment decision, especially in physical metals. One of the current themes permeating the market has been whether or not a physical silver shortage will lead to an imminent price spike. Zero Hedge certainly pumped this theme in early December. So how is this London Trader able to tell us that there was plenty of physical to be had with less than a two week wait? But wait, wasn't last week's smash a "paper take-down"? Then there was Sprott himself saying that he can basically buy silver "at spot". (3:19 of this video) in May of 2011. Buying silver at spot doesn't imply shortage does it? He also says that he will be a net buyer going forward, "every day" … hmmm, but I thought there was a supply issue. Dear readers … I think you are all smart enough to think for yourselves. This piece isn't a bash on silver .. this piece is meant to open your eyes to keep you from "blindly" believing everything you read about silver, especially when the information comes from "un-named" sources and no proof to back up such claims other than the un-named person's word. Question everything! Names, proof and confirmation … that's all I look for when I read these stories. Ask yourselves, if silver shortage issues have been been the main driver of silver prices since the euphoria around physical silver buying started then how are all of you able to accumulate, how can every bullion shop I call have ample supply and how can these major purchases happen with relatively no wait time for such large orders? Heck, the purchaser in the above piece had to wait less than two weeks. That doesn't imply shortage. It's the same story all the time. The same stories come out of the woodwork after every major correction in the price of silver. Are you buying it for fundamental reasons (shortage, industrial output less than industrial usage) or are you buying it as a form of alternative currency? Don't flood my inbox with hate please … this is not a bash on silver (of which I am long term bullish) but just another piece pointing out some of the irregularities in the silver stories. These are things that anyone wanting to purchase silver should be aware of. There are two sides to every coin .. I'm just trying to show you the other one. http://thefundamentalview.blogspot.c...h/label/Silver |
| ‘Strong Silver Price’ in 2012 with Stronger Demand Posted: 08 Mar 2012 11:21 PM PST Silver prices have been boosted by investment and industrial demand this year, the Silver Institute has reported. Sturdy investment demand has pushed the silver price up 20% in the first ten weeks of 2012. |
| German newspaper faults secrecy around Germanys gold in New York Posted: 08 Mar 2012 11:01 PM PST |
| Why I Have A Hard Time Believing “Un-named” Silver Insiders Posted: 08 Mar 2012 10:40 PM PST |
| Bullion Remains in Consolidation Posted: 08 Mar 2012 09:30 PM PST We believed gold would be range bound, but because it was emerging from support, it would have an upward bias. With gold's failure at $1,800, now we can say range-bound with a downward bias. |
| German Newspaper Faults Secrecy Around Germany's Gold in New York Posted: 08 Mar 2012 09:06 PM PST ¤ Yesterday in Gold and SilverThe gold price made it above the $1,700 spot price for a few hours in London, before getting sold off into the London p.m. gold fix shortly after 10:00 a.m. in New York. It took the rest of the New York trading session for gold to make it back to that level...and closed just a bit under it. Gold closed Thursday at $1,699.50 spot...up $15.20 on the day. Net volume wasn't overly heavy...around 118,000 contracts.
Silver's foray above the $34.00 spot level lasted just about the same length of time in London, but once the p.m. gold fix was in, silver never made it back to that price level for the rest of the day. Silver closed at $33.88 spot...up 45 cents. Net volume was pretty light...around 35,000 contracts.
The dollar index didn't take long to roll over once trading began in the Far East on their Thursday morning...and the absolute low of the day came minutes after 3:00 p.m. in New York. The index closed at 79.15...down about 55 basis points from Wednesday's close. Even though the dollar index declined, it would be stretching the imagination to the breaking point if you could make the gold and silver price activity fit the dollar chart. There were obviously other forces at work in the precious metals yesterday.
The low at the London p.m. gold fix shortly after 10:00 a.m. Eastern time is a prominent feature on the HUI chart below...as is the quick sell-off after gold dipped a bit around 3:15 p.m. in New York. The HUI finished Thursday up 1.30% on the day.
The silver shares did OK as well...and Nick Laird's Silver Sentiment Index rose by 1.44%.
(Click on image to enlarge) The CME's Daily Delivery Report was another yawner, as only 50 gold and 1 silver contract were posted for delivery on Monday. There were no reported changes in either GLD or SLV. The U.S. Mint had another small sales report. They sold 1,500 ounces of gold eagles...and 5,000 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes. Wednesday was another busy day over at the Comex-approved depositories. They reported receiving 2,939,984 troy ounces of silver...and shipped 336,601 ounces out the door. Virtually every ounce received was unloaded at the Scotia Mocatta warehouse...and the link to all the activity is here. Here's an S&P 500 chart that Nitin Agrawal sent my way yesterday. A rising wedge on declining volume is almost always a danger signal. This is similar to a graph that reader Scott Pluschau shared with us last week.
It was a very slow news day yesterday...and my list of stories certainly reflects that...but there are quite a few must reads/watch/listens sprinkled throughout...so I hope you make time for those. Gold and silver weren't allowed to do much on Thursday. Their respective attempts to break through $1,700 and $34 were turned back. Central banks squelch gold to protect QE, Sinclair tells King World News. Greek bailout will crash, gold 'correction' is over, von Greyerz says. Lou Dobbs interviews Bart Chilton. ¤ Critical ReadsSubscribeU.S. Budget Deficit Hits All Time High In FebruaryFor a global economy that is "improving" we sure are getting a whole lot of records in the won't direction in the last two days. Yesterday it was Japan which printed a record current account deficit (yes, the most indebted country in the world was once upon a time supposed to export its way out of debt). Today, we learn that in February the US will report its largest budget deficit in history, as the Keynesian floodgates open full bore. This zerohedge.com posting contains two excellent graphs...and only one paragraph of text. It will only take a minute of your time...and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for sending it. The link is here.  Bud Conrad: The Only Way Out Is to InflateBud is chief economist at Casey Research. He believes the US will opt for inflation (more money-printing) as the only way to deal with its massive and compounding debt. As well as being chief economist for Casey Research, Bud is also author of the book Profiting from the World's Economic Crisis. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Yale and an MBA from Harvard. He has held positions with IBM, CDC, Amdahl, and Tandem. Currently, he serves as a local board member of the National Association of Business Economics and teaches graduate courses in investing at Golden Gate University. Bud, a futures investor for 25 years and a full-time investor for a decade, is also a regular lecturer for American Association of Individual Investors. In addition, he produces original analysis for Casey Research, including unique charts and research on the economy and investment markets. This audio interview with Jim Puplava was done on Wednesday...and it runs a hair under twenty-nine minutes. It's posted over at the financialsense.com website...and it's well worth your time if you have it. The link is here.  One in two young Greeks are unemployed as jobs crisis spiralsGreece's youth unemployment rate hit 51.1pc in December, official statistics from ELSTAT showed on Thursday. In contrast, Germany's youth unemployment rate is just 7.8pc. The worrying youth jobless figure in Greece has overtaken crisis-hit Spain, which has its own youth jobless rate of 49.9pc, according to the latest available figures. Overall, the jobless rate in Greece hit 21pc, up from 20.9pc in November and twice the eurozone rate. The youth unemployment rate is twice as high as three years ago, according to the figures, which are not adjusted for seasonal factors. This Roy Stephens offering was posted over at The Telegraph yesterday afternoon...and the link is here.  Debt crisis and Greek bond swap: liveSeveral readers sent me stories yesterday about the Greek bond situation, but that all got preempted by the following... At 1:00 a.m. Eastern time this morning, the Greek government said that 85.8pc of bondholders had accepted the bond swap offer, moving the country closer to another much-needed bail-out, and this will rise to 95.7pc with the use of collective action clauses to enforce the deal. The situation is very fluid at the moment...and I'm posting this blog from The Telegraph less than two hours after the 'deal' was announced. I'm sure we'll hear much more about this as the day rolls on. The link is here.  Legal skull-duggery in Greece may doom PortugalEurope has ring-fenced Greece's debt crisis for now but its escalating recourse to legal legerdemain has shattered the trust of global bond markets and may ultimately expose Portugal, Spain, and Italy to greater danger. At the start of the crisis EU leaders declared it unthinkable that any eurozone state should require debt relief, let alone default. Each pledge was breached, and the haircut imposed on banks, insurers, and pension funds ratcheted up to 75pc. Last month the European Central Bank exercised its droit du seigneur, exempting itself from loses on Greek bonds. The instant effect was to concentrate more loss on other bondholders. "This has set a major precedent," said Marchel Alexandrivich from Jefferies Fixed Income. "It does not matter how often the EU authorities repeat that Greece is a 'one-off' case, nobody in the markets believes them." The Greek parliament's retroactive law last month to insert collective action clauses (CACs) into its bonds to coerce creditor hold-outs has added a fresh twist. These CAC's are likely to be activated over coming days. Use of retroactive laws to change contracts is anathema in credit markets. This Ambrose Evans-Pritchard offering was posted in The Telegraph at 9:00 p.m. GMT. It's a must read for sure...and I thank Roy Stephens for his second offering in a row. The link is here.  Zimbabwe - last to leave, Never Mind Turning Off the Lights - They're Already OffIn the 32 years of his benighted rule, Zimbabwe's President Robert Gabriel Mugabe has done more damage to the country than its white-led minority government ever did. With the exception of the smuggling of "blood diamonds" the country's economy, once the "breadbasket of Africa," resembles nothing so much as a slow motion train wreck. One of the foundations of modern nations' economic prosperity are reliable sources of power and here too, Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union cronies have managed to screw things up. I have a very soft spot in my heart for Zimbabwe...or Rhodesia as it was called when I was there in my youth. If you want to see what happens when a country with a totally corrupted political system tries to solve its financial and economic problems via the printing press...then this rather short essay is a must read. This piece started off life posted over at the OilPrice.com website...but the copy posted here is from safehaven.com...and I thank Roy Stephens for digging it up on our behalf. The link is here.  Why Putin is driving Washington nuts: Pepe EscobarForget the past (Saddam, Osama, Gaddafi) and the present (Assad, Ahmadinejad). A bet can be made over a bottle of Petrus 1989 (the problem is waiting the next six years to collect); for the foreseeable future, Washington's top bogeyman - and also for its rogue North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners and assorted media shills - will be none other than back-to-the-future Russian President Vladimir Putin. For all students of the new "Great Game" this 5-minute essay is a must read< |
| Bernard Von NotHaus...and the Liberty Dollar case: Another letter Posted: 08 Mar 2012 09:06 PM PST  One of my regular readers is a gentleman by the name of Tolling Jennings. He lives on a small island on the west coast of Canada that's not only off grid...but has no road access or car ferry. I found out yesterday that he operates a very small mint [with the emphasis on the word 'very'] from that location. He told me that he sent a short letter to the judge in the Von NotHaus case...and I thought it well worth reading. It's posted over at The Lasqueti Mint website...and the link is here. If you scroll further down, you'll see examples of the products they mint...and I consider them to be almost works of art. The low mintage numbers are shocking. |
| Central banks squelch gold to protect QE, Sinclair tells King World News Posted: 08 Mar 2012 09:06 PM PST  King World News has posted a wonderful interview with gold trader and mining entrepreneur Jim Sinclair, who says central banks are restraining the gold price so it won't expose "quantitative easing" quite so much. Sinclair adds that the increasing number of mechanisms being established for bypassing the U.S. dollar in trade settlement foreshadow the dollar's decline. Once again I thank Chris Powell for providing the headline and the preamble...and the link to this KWN blog is here. |
| Lou Dobbs interviews CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton Posted: 08 Mar 2012 09:06 PM PST  Even though the topic is energy, Chilton manages to bring up the fact that one player controls 30% of the silver market. Of course he doesn't mention JPMorgan by name, but we know who it is. And it's equally obvious, at least to me...having been interviewed many times myself...that Bart helped Lou out by giving him some lead-directing questions just so he could make that point. This interview was posted over at the foxbusiness.com website late last night...and I thank reader Tom Germain for bringing it to our attention. It runs for just under six minutes...and it's worth watching. The link is here. |
| Greek bailout will crash, gold 'correction' is over anyway, von Greyerz says Posted: 08 Mar 2012 09:06 PM PST  Fund manager Egon von Greyerz told King World News yesterday that the perpetually imminent bailout for Greece will collapse eventually and require trillions more in euro money printing to insulate banks against all un-payable European debt. He expects hyperinflation as a result and in any case thinks the "correction" in gold and silver is over. I thank Chris Powell for providing the headline and the introduction. The link to the KWN blog is here. |
| Gold & Silver Market Morning, March 9 2012 Posted: 08 Mar 2012 09:00 PM PST |
| Grecian Summer of 2012 Turns Into A Full Blown Revolution? Posted: 08 Mar 2012 08:40 PM PST It is now obvious to Greek citizens they have been sold out by their politicians, central bankers and others. The only thing coming out of the re-funding of Greece was to re-fiance the bad loans that could not be paid and to take the Greek Central Banks' gold as collateral so they can steal it when the next loans fail. I would not want to be a central banker, or a nation's banker involved in this massive robbery. Next, we'll see other nations in Europe go the way of Greece. They 'll fall like ten pins and those doing the stealing have no place to hide. "Spanish revolt brews as national economic rearmament begins in Europe". "Spain's new prime minister has looked into the abyss and recoiled." -Ambrose Evans-Pritchard The Telegraph "Though he swept into office as an apostle of orthodoxy, Mariano Rajoy has since delved into Madrid's ghastly accounts and concluded that it would be "suicidal" to try to slash the budget deficit from 8% of GDP to 4.4% of GDP this year, as demanded by Europe's fiscal Calvinists. Such a policy would require a further €40bn or €50bn of cuts and accelerate a downward spiral already underway, beyond the -1.7% contraction expected this year by the IMF. The unemployment rate would rise to well over 25% with six million out of work by the end of the year, equivalent to 30% under the old definition used in the last jobless crisis in the early 1990s." "A study …of 173 cases of fiscal squeezes in OECD countries over the last thirty years concluded demands on Spain are almost unprecedented. They found only four such cases, and three were offset by devaluations. The fourth was Ireland in 2009. The country crashed into slump, culminating in a -54% fall in Dublin house prices. There is near unanimity across the political spectrum that drastic pro-cyclical tightening at this stage is unwarranted and dangerous. Josep Borrell, ex-president of the European Parliament and the voice of Spain's pro-European establishment, said such debt-deflation risks pushing the banking system over the edge. 'To cut the deficit almost four points in one year would be a true depressionary shock for an anemic economy…" Editor: With Spanish housing in a major disaster, authorities are literally paralyzed. USA forces and the IMF are pushing everyone around to maintain their control over international bond markets and credit. It's not working.         This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 08 Mar 2012 08:35 PM PST
from CNBC: U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday that he saw no risk to the U.S. dollar from China's efforts to encourage other emerging market economies to use the yuan more in international trade. "What you're seeing China do is gradually dismantle what were a comprehensive set of very, very tight controls on the ability of countries to use their (the Chinese) currency," Geithner told an event at the Dallas Regional Chamber. "Over time that will mean — and this is a good thing for the United States — more use of that currency and it will mean the currency will have to reflect market forces … So, I see no risk to the dollar in those reforms," he said. China is planning to extend renminbi-denominated loans to its fellow BRICS countries — a grouping that includes China, Russia, South Africa, Brazil and India — in an attempt to boost trade between the leading emerging market nations and promote the use of the yuan, according to the Financial Times. Geithner said he was skeptical the yuan, or renminbi, would soon become a world currency. "I don't think so. I don't know, maybe in some long time after we're all gone, it would be possible," Geithner said after he toured a railcar facility here. However, China's transition from an economy fueled by exports to one driven more by domestic demand is partly why the value of China's currency "is moving up against the dollar," he added. Continue reading at CNBC |
| Silver Proving Its Mettle in 2012 Posted: 08 Mar 2012 08:30 PM PST Sturdy investment demand has pushed the silver price up 20 percent in the first ten weeks of 2012, outperforming platinum, palladium and gold during the period. Investors are increasingly acquiring silver in many forms. Globally, silver-based exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) account for 586 million ounces (Moz) of silver, up from 576 Moz at the end of 2011. Demand for physical silver bars is also strong. According to several precious metals dealers silver bar sales continue to be brisk. Moreover, investor demand on the Commodity Mercantile Exchange (a division of the CME Group) has been strong this year. As of February 28, net long silver positions, which are the difference between total long positions and total short positions, had increased by more than two-fold from end-2011. If investors are net long they are bullish on prices and expect further price strength. Total net long positions on February 28 were at their highest level since September 13, 2011. Read More @ Finance.Yahoo.com |
| Posted: 08 Mar 2012 08:26 PM PST by Jeffrey Tucker, Whiskey and Gun Powder:
Every few months since the great meltdown of 2008, there's been some announcement that appears in the financial press about the latest fancy-pants move that the Fed will undertake to save the day. These guys aren't just printing money! They are engaged in amazingly technical maneuvers that mere mortals can't fathom. The catchphrases are multiplying: quantitative easing, Operation Twist, sterilized QE, ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) and now reverse repo. Stay tuned for other amazing tricks. They could pull out the camel clutch, the bite of the dragon, the hammerlock, the bridging chickenwing, the gorilla press, the octopus hold, the sunset flip, the inverted figure-four three-quarter leglock and finally, if they really get desperate, the Tree of Woe. Read More @ WhiskeyAndGunPowder.com |
| Silver Update: “Viewer Questions 2″ Posted: 08 Mar 2012 08:00 PM PST from BrotherJohnF: BJF answers more viewer questions in the 3.8.12 Silver Got Physical ? ~TVR |
| Iraq Aims to Increase Gold Production Posted: 08 Mar 2012 07:57 PM PST According to officials in Baghdad, Iraq has huge gold producing potential. Nevertheless, senior government members have stated that the country does not have the necessary know-how in terms of mining capabilities. |
| Do Precious Metals Still Sparkle for Germany & Morgan Stanley? Posted: 08 Mar 2012 05:38 PM PST It has been a rough week for precious metals. On Tuesday, renewed Greek concerns drove gold down $32 to close at $1,672.10 per ounce. It was gold's lowest close and first time settling below $1,700 since late January. |
| Philip Pilkington: Student Debt in the US Continues to Blow Up Posted: 08 Mar 2012 05:18 PM PST By Philip Pilkington, a writer and journalist based in Dublin, Ireland. You can follow him on Twitter at @pilkingtonphil Perhaps the most obvious indicator that the US has become a society of debtors is the ever-expanding market for student loans. Recently clocked at $870 billion and rising quickly, this market has been a focal point for the recent Occupy movements. The White House knows that this is a key issue among potential voters and recently tried to provide some relief to debtors by placing a cap of 10% of discretionary income on the repayment of such loans – down from a previous cap of 15%. But of course placing a cap on how much needs to be repaid is hardly a solution to what appears to be a much larger problem. Student loans are growing at a remarkable rate. Between the second and third quarter of 2011 they grew from an estimated $852m to an estimated $870 billion – that's an increase of 2.1% in only one quarter; and this while other types of consumer debt either declined or remained flat. And even these estimates are pretty fuzzy because, as the New York Fed highlights, the market is highly complex and difficult to gauge:
The rapid expansion of student debt appears to be due in large part to the increasing numbers of Americans enrolling in third-level (what Americans call "advanced") education. This is not surprising given the slack and therefore highly competitive jobs market that doesn't appear to be going away any time soon. The market for student debt has also become remarkably complex. Again, the New York Fed gives us the details:
Delinquency rates are already high and appear to be rising. Previous calculations indicated that some 10% of those with student loans should be considered delinquent. But due to the complexity of the market this is probably far too conservative an estimate and recent calculations by the New York Fed indicate that the actual figure is probably closer to 21%. That's pretty whopping by any standard. So, what does this all mean? At first glance the market appears to be enormous and the default rate high – surely this can only mean trouble for the financial sector. Recall that the subprime mortgage market was estimated at being about $1.3trn in 2007 and when that blew up it took the financial system down with it. The student loan market, clocking in at around $870m and rising, is certainly somewhere in that ballpark. Nevertheless the student loans market seems to be slightly different. The subprime market was built on debts that were structured in such a way that they excluded only a so-called 'black swan' event – that is, the occurrence of a series of defaults that those constructing the debts deemed basically impossible. What they didn't factor in, of course, was an asset price bubble in the housing market that, when it inevitably blew up, would raise the default rate significantly almost overnight. It is not clear that there is such a potential for a black swan event in the student loan market. This market is not in a bubble per se. It is similar to the mortgage market in that it is an enormous amount of long-term debt placed on the backs of people who are going to have a very difficult time paying it off. But it is still not predicated on ever rising asset prices that could collapse at any moment, as the housing market was prior to 2008. The only massive shock that could bring down this market all at once would be a sharp rise in the unemployment rate among college graduates. That could lead the payments system to break down and might constitute a so-called black swan event. This is unlikely, however, unless there is another massive financial or economic shock. And in such a case, the student loan market might be more of an aftershock than an earthquake. Although in saying that the possibility is not to be sneered at. More important, perhaps, is the fact that many students in the US are burdening themselves with enormous amounts of debt in an era when opportunities are drying up and the future looks bleak. This seems to be an awful and retrograde economic strategy by the US government. And yet, although the administration recognises the problem, they continue to think that private sector debt is the way to fund the education system. This even though a federally funded education system would be much cheaper given that borrowing by the federal government is far less costly than by a student with an uncertain future. But it is only the Occupy movement that has even raised these issues and they look likely to penetrate the mainstream in the near future, so concerned are the US about their budget deficit. More likely that the student loan market will continue its expansion and increasing numbers of students will be subject to what can only be described as a sort of debt peonage. Meanwhile the government will attempt to avoid bankruptcies through restructuring arrangement that, while preventing many from going fully underwater, hardly save them from the nasty prospects of persistent partial drowning in what can only be described as the financial equivalent of water-boarding.
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| Posted: 08 Mar 2012 04:16 PM PST Now that we are at a pullback point in the market, the dollar clearly has a couple choices: 1) either go on to make new highs and most likely drive a deeper correction in stocks and commodities, or 2) fail to make new highs, and stoke a continued rally in... |
| March 9, 1933 : The Great Gold Robbery of 1933 Posted: 08 Mar 2012 04:00 PM PST Mises.org |
| Posted: 08 Mar 2012 03:48 PM PST I don't know how many times I have to say this, but I'm saying it again. Greece and the Euro are finished. The math is impossible. There is no way on earth that this Second Bailout accomplishes anything worthy of note. The idea that this country will somehow return to economic growth within two years, based on an additional €130billion in bailouts is outright insane. Remember, Greece already received €110 billion in bailout funds in 2010... and still posted GDP growth of -4.5% in 2010 and -6.8% in 2011. Greece's economy is only €227 billion, so the country failed to post any economic growth and in fact saw its economic collapse accelerate after receiving a bailout equal to 57% of its GDP!!! And somehow another €130 billion is going to get this country back to economic growth in two years' time? Greece hasn't experienced any growth in five years. Again, this entire deal is just stupid. And all it's done is alert Spain and Italy to the fact that handing over fiscal sovereignty and implementing austerity measures in exchange for bailouts is a waste of time. - Graham Summers Phoenix Capital We didn't write that. But we're too lazy to say the same thing in our own words so we thank Phoenix Capital for saying it for us. So as Greece apparently avoids another default - no wait, a disorderly default...a plain old default is okay - the market is already placing bets on the next one. This 'Greece is alright' rally is a knee-jerk reaction. Our guess is that the market has topped out, at least for the time being. The panic sell-off earlier in the week is a sign of things to come. When a market grinds higher for weeks, then loses those gains in a matter of two days...well, it's not a good sign. Slipstream Trader and technical guru Murray Dawes thinks the same. If you haven't already seen it, check out Murray's latest (and last for a while) free stock market update on You Tube. He doesn't like what he sees and thinks this market could head south in a hurry. Regards, Greg Canavan |
| Posted: 08 Mar 2012 02:31 PM PST GDX gained by 1.22% while GDXJ gained by 2.55% and SIL gained by 2.08% Here are today's best performing Silver and Gold stocks:
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The money masters at the Federal Reserve have done a splendid job, haven't they? Well, no, and all the more reason to End the Fed, in the legendary slogan of Ron Paul.
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