saveyourassetsfirst3 |
- Akamai's Cloud Has A Silver Lining
- FTI Consulting Management Discusses Q2 2012 Results - Earnings Call Transcript
- Swiss gold repatriation movement leader interviewed
- The Tortoise and the Hare
- Vietnam’s new war
- FOMC punts to the ECB tomorrow/gold and silver raid/
- Make Money in Gold with Prospect-Generator and Royalty Companies: Adrian Day
- Silver Suffers the Most from Bernanke – What Is Next?
- Expectations of Central-Bank Action “Driving Gold Investment” as ECB Meets, South Korea Raises Gold Reserves – 2 August 2012
- Gold and silver facing an exceptionally volatile autumn?
- Luzi Stamm: champion of a new Swiss gold initiative
- Gold Chart updated
- Mainstream Reporter Tells The Truth About Audit The Fed And The Creation Of The Federal Reserve
- Silver Update: Dark Knight – 8.1.12
- Harry Dent: The Artificial Economy
- Problems in Spain: Revenues Collapse, State Spends Nearly Twice as Much as Revenues Collected in First Half
- Health is Wealth: Prevention, Fitness and Strength
- Draghi & Co. Must Deliver a Loaded Arsenal
- Silver Suffers The Most From Bernanke And What Is Next
- Gold "Tied to Central Bank Moves" as Federal Reserve "Inching" Towards More QE
- Gold Struggles at $1,600 Post-Fed, Pre-ECB Action
- Copper, Crude Oil to Fall if ECB Stimulus Falls Short
- Links 8/2/12
- South Korean Central Bank Says it Bought 16 Tonnes of Gold in July
- Six Percent Can Draw Gold from the Moon
- Links for 2012-08-01 [del.icio.us]
| Akamai's Cloud Has A Silver Lining Posted: 02 Aug 2012 11:39 AM PDT By PowerOptions: Content delivery and cloud infrastructure company Akamai (AKAM) sees opportunity in cloud computing, mobile computing, online video and Internet security. The company is in the process of diversifying its business into these other areas besides its bread-and-butter content delivery business. Five years ago Akamai did not embed its technology into other company's products or embed other company's technology into its own, but the company is currently working closely with other companies to do just that. Examples of the companies Akamai is partnering with include telecommunications company Ericsson (ERIC), telecommunications company Qualcomm (QCOM) and wide area network company Riverbed Technologies (RVBD) discussed in this article. Akamai is working with Ericcson to introduce Ericcson's Smart Cloud Accelerator solution which embeds Akamai's technology in Ericcson's SSR 8000 routing gateways. The company also announced it is working with Qualcomm to optimize delivery to mobile devices using Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipset. Akamai noted in its Q2 Complete Story » | ||
| FTI Consulting Management Discusses Q2 2012 Results - Earnings Call Transcript Posted: 02 Aug 2012 11:30 AM PDT FTI Consulting (FCN) Q2 2012 Earnings Call August 02, 2012 9:00 am ET Executives Mollie Hawkes - Assistant Vice President of Strategic Communications Jack B. Dunn - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director Roger D. Carlile - Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Dennis J. Shaughnessy - Executive Chairman Analysts Timothy McHugh - William Blair & Company L.L.C., Research Division Daniel R. Leben - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division Paul Ginocchio - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division Joseph D. Foresi - Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, Research Division Kevin D. McVeigh - Macquarie Research Tobey Sommer - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., Research Division David Gold - Sidoti & Company, LLC James J. Janesky - Avondale Partners, LLC, Research Division Presentation Operator Good day, and welcome to the FTI Consulting Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. Now for opening remarks and Complete Story » | ||
| Swiss gold repatriation movement leader interviewed Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:56 AM PDT
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: GoldMoney today publishes an interview with Swiss parliament member Luzi Stamm of the Swiss People's Party, who is leading a campaign for a referendum to require the Swiss National Bank to bring the country's gold reserves home. The interview addresses concerns that central banks have misled their countries about the status and security of gold reserves. The interview is headlined "Luzi Stamm: Champion of a New Swiss Gold Initiative" and it's posted at GoldMoney here: http://www.goldmoney.com/gold-resear...gmrefcode=gata | ||
| Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:50 AM PDT It's easy to imagine readers glancing at this title and asking themselves "what possible relevance could this have with respect to modern markets?" Even if there was some relevance, "what could adult investors learn from this old children's fable?" To answer those questions properly requires first briefly summarizing the fable. We had a Great Race between a (quietly confident) Tortoise and an arrogant, condescending Hare. When the race began, the Hare immediately sprinted way ahead of the much slower Tortoise. However, over-confidence took over and the Hare began show-boating and goofing off, and the Tortoise caught up. This caused the Hare to once again sprint to a large lead, before again succumbing to over-confidence. The pattern repeats itself, with the Hare eventually goofing off once too often – allowing the Tortoise to cross the finish-line first. The details of the fable are generally considered totally irrelevant with respect to the "moral" of this story: slow and steady wins the race. It's now possible to answer the questions posed in the first paragraph. What relevance does "The Tortoise and the Hare" have for modern markets? Throughout the entire history of human investing, "slow and steady wins the race" has been the dominant principle of investing…until the last 15 years. That marked the approximate turning point, from which time the fraud-peddlers of Wall Street and their accomplices in the Corporate Media have brainwashed the Investor Sheep into forgetting that basic principle. Instead of "slow and steady wins the race"; these modern-day con-artists have programmed the Sheep to embrace a new mantra, their mantra: "bet on the Hare." This massive paradigm-shift in global markets (and the global economy) becomes much more apparent when we shift from metaphorical analysis to specifics. "Slow and steady wins the race" is the rational for two of the most time-honoured principles of investing: "buy and hold" and "buy low, sell high". We know the first principle is dead, because the charlatans who manage most investing for the Sheep have explicitly proclaimed again and again (following the Crash of '08) that "buy and hold is dead." We can see that even the second principle has been de-programmed from the minds of the Sheep once we analyze what "bet on the Hare" actually represents. In the fable, the Hare was both the clear race-favorite and capable of sprinting to large leads, apparently at will. Astute readers should now be able to figure out who these New Investors are who consistently "bet on the Hare." They are the momentum-players (i.e. momentum chasers). For the momentum-players, "buy low and sell high" is a principle which simply doesn't exist in their universe. By definition, all momentum-players buy high: they jump on the bandwagon of asset-classes which have already soared in value; simply hoping that this momentum will last long enough for them to (a) make a profit, and (b) make an exit with their profit before the inevitable "correction" occurs. Why did the Wall Street crime syndicate and the Corporate propaganda machine consider it essential to manipulate the Sheep from being buy-and-hold investors to momentum-chasing gamblers? The answer should be self-evident: it's much, much easier to cheat gamblers than investors. For those for whom this is not self-evident, I'll elaborate. Buy-and-hold investors are comprised of two closely-related sub-categories. There are the "value investors". These investors look at the present (discounted) value of a particular asset/investment, versus its current valuation. When the value of the investment seems to significantly exceed the current valuation, they buy. The second group are the "fundamentals investors". These investors look at the market/economic fundamentals for a particular asset, and when they perceive fundamentals which make it very likely/near-certain that an asset will rise in value over the longer term, they buy. More generally, both of these classes of investors are people who always "look under the hood" before they buy anything. Pretty hard to cheat such people. | ||
| Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:35 AM PDT Vietnam's new war Posted Aug 2 2012 by Jan Skoyles Back in April we wrote about Vietnam and gold investment, a brief look at the Vietnamese government's attempts to 'stabilize' the economy through a series of restrictions on the gold market. These restrictions included banning gold as a medium of exchange and issuing 7 'solutions' which were designed to reduce 'goldization' the practice of replacing the dong with gold in transactions. As many readers already know, Vietnam has a huge affinity with gold. So much so that house prices are priced in both dong and gold. According to Ronald Stoerferle's 'In Gold We Trust' 2012 report, 'Overall gold demand amounts to roughly 3.1%of GDP' Stoerferle also notes that by comparison it is less than 0.5% in China. These moves by the government aren't so much to change the behaviour of citizens but also their psyche. Further measures have been put into place in the last month in order to reduce the dependency on gold. Ban on gold mobilisation and gold lending To 'prevent gold speculation' the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued a directive ordering credit institutions to halt gold mobilisation and lending in gold from November 25 2012. Gold speculation is popular in the country, namely in Ho Chi Minh which accounts for nearly 76% of the national total. Banks mobilise capital in the public's gold to sell for Dong in order to settle liquidity problems. Prior to July, commercial banks reportedly rushed to raise gold deposit interest rates in an effort to improve their liquidity – they used mobilized gold in order to borrow on the interbank market. However, according to reports, it is now easier to do this without mobilizing gold as bank liquidity has been improved. Therefore banks no longer have to mobilize gold. In line with the directive, credit institutions will only issue short-term gold certificates, for those depositing physical gold bullion, to pay customers upon request, these will terminate on the 25 November. Gold and inflation Gold controls such as those mentioned above and in our previous research has come into force in order to try and control inflation of the dong. In the last year inflation has reached highs of 17%. Resolution 11, brought in to force in March 2011 in order to reduce inflation in the country, has included a series of measures in order to gain tighter controls on money, credit and the budget deficit. One of the measures implemented by the central bank saw the interest rate on dollar deposits reduced to 3% whilst the 14% rate was maintained for Dong deposits. Last month, this tactic was carried through to the gold market where the lowering of interest rates on gold deposits has been the first step by banks to stop mobilizing gold and reduce the attractiveness of storing gold with a bank. They of course hope this will slow down gold investment. The Vietnamese Business Times outlined: - Saigon Bank, which previously offered very high interest rates of up to 4.6 per cent per annum to attract deposits, has slashed the interest rates to 2.2 per cent at the highest, which is applied to 6-9 month term deposits. Meanwhile, the interest rate of 2 per cent is being applied to other kinds of deposits. - Nam A Bank, which once paid 4 per cent per annum to gold depositors, now pays 1.8 per cent per annum for 1-3 month term deposits, and 2 per cent for longer term deposits. - At ACB, the gold deposit interest rate has dropped to 0.9 per cent per annum at the highest, while the depositors at the bank last month received approximately 2 per cent. - Viet A's and Eximbank's interest rates have been hovering around 0.6-0.9 per cent. Currency controls The SBV have said that the new regulation regarding the mobilisation of gold will not impact the majority of Vietnam's citizens in the countryside as they traditionally do not store gold in the banking system. However, it may well impact the price they receive for their gold in both the official and underground gold market. In early July the SBV confirmed that it had taken over gold bar production in late May, making Saigon Jewellery Company (SJC) the national brand. 'Since then, all production of gold bars in the country has been exclusively handled by the government'. This was expected following an announcement in November 2011 which announced the company would be put under government management. SJC, according to their website, account for 90% of the gold bar market. The brand was selected for its popularity, 'to save money for the state and avoid creating chaos in the production and trading of gold bars, ' stated the Deputy governor Le Minh Hung in the Vietnam Economic Times. Citizens, all of whom are familiar with gold investment, have expressed concern that once SJC becomes the official brand of bullion it will be controlled like a currency. As the SBV will set the price each day, people fear the bullion will be put under further strict control, similar to currency controls. Similar to legal tender laws in which the central bank has monopoly of control over currency creation, Vietnamese citizens have now had to come to terms with the idea that not all of their gold holdings will carry equal 'value' in the marketplace. Despite the fact that the SBV has not banned any particular brand of bars, when it now comes to selling your gold, many shops will only accept SJC bars, whilst those who will accept the gold will only accept non-SJC bars at significantly reduced prices. This decision by gold shops, to only accept SJC-branded bars, is thanks to the SBV announcing that it is considering only having SJC branded bars in the market place, as it 'would be easier for the monetary authority to manage the gold market.' Gold trade controls Further rules also being considered by the SBV in the last month include the banning of travellers from bringing gold bars and gold 'material' in and out of the country. Only small amounts of jewellery – under 300g – will be allowed, otherwise customs officials will have to be informed and taxes will have to be paid. Reasons listed for considering such a rule include the SBV's aims to 'strengthen the management of gold bullion…to keep the market stable…Strict management will create the right conditions for the processing of gold trading and ensure the rights of residents and gold enterprises.' In our humble opinion, it seems that all the reasons given by the both the government and the SBV as to why the various gold controls are taking place i.e. the rights of citizens, to ensure a fair markets etc., are actually the very opposite of why they are being enforced. The main reason so many people advocate a return to gold, and gold investment, is because it is the currency of humanity. It is chosen by citizens when they feel they are no longer receiving value from their nation's currency. In the last year the cost of living has risen by 18% – third only to Venezuela and Ethiopia. The most cited reason for gold purchases in Vietnam is as its use as a savings vehicle. It's a currency which everyone understands and it holds its value. However, the Vietnamese authorities are doing their utmost to try and control it like a paper currency. As we have warned before, the government needs to be careful that these new gold policies do not increase the feelings of insecurity within the country. At the moment there is a fine balancing act between the fear of paper currencies from the citizens and the fear of gold by the government. http://therealasset.co.uk/vietnams-war-gold/ | ||
| FOMC punts to the ECB tomorrow/gold and silver raid/ Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:00 AM PDT
from harveyorgan.blogspot.com: Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen: Gold closed down $7.40 to $1603.00 Silver was hit for 48 cents to close the comex session at $27.52 In the USA we had the private ADP jobs numbers out and they showed a gain which is quite surprising because the national ISM numbers on manufacturing showed a contraction. Go figure. We will go over many of those stories today but first,let us now head over to the comex and assess the damage today. The total gold comex OI fell by another 9990 contracts from 413,393 to 403,403. Keep on reading @ harveyorgan.blogspot.com | ||
| Make Money in Gold with Prospect-Generator and Royalty Companies: Adrian Day Posted: 02 Aug 2012 08:49 AM PDT | ||
| Silver Suffers the Most from Bernanke – What Is Next? Posted: 02 Aug 2012 08:45 AM PDT While the exchange traded funds for gold and copper fell Wednesday due to investors expressing disappoint at the modest response of the Federal Reserve to declining economic growth, it was silver that was off the most. | ||
| Posted: 02 Aug 2012 08:41 AM PDT
from goldnews.bullionvault.com: WHOLESALE PRICES for Gold Investment bars struggled just above $1600 per ounce in London on Thursday, after dipping below that level for the first time in a week as the US Federal Reserve left monetary policy unchanged yesterday. "You can say that immediate QE is off the table," reckons Frank McGhee, head of precious metals trading at Integrated Brokerage Services in Chicago. "I will probably not be surprised to see them not do anything in September either," he adds. The Bank of England followed the US Fed in leaving UK policy unchanged in its midday announcement today. The European Central Bank was also expected to make no change to its record-low rates of 0.75% per year. Stock markets meantime ticked higher, while crude oil held onto a sharp rally but major-government bond prices also rose. "Increased or decreased prospects of [central-bank] intervention seem to be the rationale for any move in precious metals at the moment," says a London analyst in a note. Ahead of Wednesday's Fed decision, "Gold's $50 gain since Mario Draghi's pledge to 'do whatever it takes' last week suggested high expectations were priced in," he adds. Italy's prime minister Mario Monti yesterday told reporters that a banking license for the European Stability Mechanism "will in due course occur" – meaning that the €500 billion ($615bn) bail-out fund could buy government debt using money borrowed from the European Central Bank. But "a banking license for the ESM rescue fund is absolutely not our way," said German spokesman Georg Streiter after a cabinet meeting in Berlin. German Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann – a member of the ECB meeting together with the 16 other national Eurozone central bank heads today – is also against such a move. "If the ECB doesn't do something today, there will be disappointment," reckons Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi's precious metals analyst Matthew Turner, speaking to CNBC. "But they will have to do something at some point. The situation…will force them," says Turner, pointing to support for Gold Investment prices at the June and July lows around $1550 per ounce. Back in Washington, and where the Federal Reserve's June statement said "The Committee is prepared to take further action as appropriate," this week's press release said it will "will provide additional accommodation as needed." The Dollar rose fast on the "no change" decision against the European single currency, but gave back most of its gains by Thursday lunchtime in London to trade at $1.228 per Euro. Keep on reading @ goldnews.bullionvault.com | ||
| Gold and silver facing an exceptionally volatile autumn? Posted: 02 Aug 2012 08:29 AM PDT
from arabianmoney.net: Gold and silver investors are coming through the normal summer lows in prices and there are some nice price gains already from these summer lows. Autumn is traditionally the best season for precious metal prices. Gold hit an all-time high of $1,923 on September 6th last year before a sharp correction. We could well see a similar pattern this year, only perhaps with even greater volatility. Eurozone debt crisis The reason? The 600lb gorilla sitting in the front room is the incredibly long and tedious eurozone sovereign debt crisis, an immovable object of great size and ferocity. It threatens a 2008-style global financial crisis this autumn once market finally get it and realize that the central banks' power to save the system is an illusion, like making a loud noise to frighten off a gorilla. Once that happens the precious metals will sell-off, but we may well have some excitement to the upside before then. Why so? Partly because traders will seize the opportunity to trade the autumn cycle which is linked to religious festivals like Ramadan that ends in late August this year. There is also a feeling that while global financial markets are in danger, it is not imminent. Gold and silver also look very oversold and due for a rebound, and traders are usually happy to oblige in raising prices in these circumstances, other things being equal as they usually are in August. Besides none of the good arguments for owning gold and silver have changed. Keep on reading @ arabianmoney.net | ||
| Luzi Stamm: champion of a new Swiss gold initiative Posted: 02 Aug 2012 05:45 AM PDT Luzi Stamm was first elected to the Swiss National Council, representing the FDP (Liberal Democrats), in 1989. In 2001, as a result of debates over possible European Union membership for Switzerland, ... | ||
| Posted: 02 Aug 2012 05:24 AM PDT
from traderdannorcini.blogspot.ca: Here is an updated 12 hour gold chart showing the resistance level between 1620-1630 which so far has been able to hold gold's upward progress. Note that gold did spike below the $1600 briefly out of disappointment with the comments from the FOMC but rebounded as dip buyers believe (hope springs eternal) that the Fed will certainly act next month. Also some are expecting some gold friendly statements from the ECB as far as measures they will undertake to support the Euro and deal with the sovereign debt issues over that way. Regardless, the market failed at the upside of the newest congestion zone and thus remains trapped within that pattern albeit with a slight upside bias at this time. Keep on reading @ traderdannorcini.blogspot.ca | ||
| Mainstream Reporter Tells The Truth About Audit The Fed And The Creation Of The Federal Reserve Posted: 02 Aug 2012 05:13 AM PDT
from theeconomiccollapseblog.com: When someone in the mainstream media goes out on a limb to tell the truth, then the rest of us should go out of our way to applaud that effort. Reporter Ben Swann of Fox 19 in Cincinnati is one of the few local television reporters in the United States that consistently tackles the tough issues. As you can see from his "Reality Check" archives, he regularly does reports on the Federal Reserve, the emerging police state, the loss of our freedoms and liberties, the advance of globalism, the economic collapse, political corruption, etc. etc. That is one reason why his YouTube channel is rapidly approaching a million views. In his most recent Reality Check, Ben Swann asked this question: "Is auditing the Federal Reserve really necessary?" In just four minutes, Swann covered the creation of the Federal Reserve, where money comes from, the 16 trillion dollars in secret loans given out by the Fed during the last financial crisis, and why an audit of the Fed is so important. It really was extraordinary to watch a local mainstream news reporter tell the truth about these things. We could definitely use about 1000 more reporters just like him. The video of Ben Swann's recent Reality Check is posted below. If you have not see Keep on reading @ theeconomiccollapseblog.com | ||
| Silver Update: Dark Knight – 8.1.12 Posted: 02 Aug 2012 05:10 AM PDT | ||
| Harry Dent: The Artificial Economy Posted: 02 Aug 2012 05:05 AM PDT
About Gold Seek Radio: More interviews @ radio.goldseek.com | ||
| Posted: 02 Aug 2012 05:02 AM PDT
from globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.ca: It's hard to meet budget targets as promised to the bureaucrats in Brussels when revenues collapse and the State Spends Nearly Twice as Much as Revenues Collected in First Half. Via Google translate (heavily modified by me) from El Confidencial: Or what is the same, the central government already has obligations amounting to 87.967 billion. The resources, however, only amounted to 44.879 billion (-4.1%), which means that during the first six months of the year the state has spent (or is obliged to spend) almost double what it has collected in revenues. Keep on reading @ globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.ca | ||
| Health is Wealth: Prevention, Fitness and Strength Posted: 02 Aug 2012 05:00 AM PDT
from oftwominds.com: Today we start a multi-day series on improving health via prevention, fitness and strength. Readers also know that I consider "a healthy home-cooked meal a revolutionary act" because the Status Quo encourages chronic disease and ill-health. Why? 1) managing these conditions is immensely and enduringly profitable to the sickcare cartels and 2) weak, sickly, drugged-out citizens are easily manipulated politically and are too overwhelmed by their multiple chronic health issues to actively challenge the Status Quo. I know that this sounds inflammatory to many of you, but for whatever reason oftwominds.com has attracted a very large readership of physicians, nurses and other caregivers, and the people who work in the trenches of the sickcare system are inevitably supportive of these "inflammatory" summations. Sickcare is not sustainable financially, and so it will devolve and collapse, along with other unsustainable systems. I expect healthcare to slowly revert to cash-only if you want immediate care, with all other care becoming increasingly unavailable. Therefore prevention will be the key to well-being going forward, not hyper-expensive care that costs $100,000 for a few days of treatment. Keep on reading @ oftwominds.com | ||
| Draghi & Co. Must Deliver a Loaded Arsenal Posted: 02 Aug 2012 04:43 AM PDT Gold was off less than 1% on Wednesday, its biggest drop in three weeks, as the Fed didn't deliver the sparks for QE3's fireworks. It did signal that further bond buying could be in store to help the US economic recovery that had lost steam this year. | ||
| Silver Suffers The Most From Bernanke And What Is Next Posted: 02 Aug 2012 04:34 AM PDT While the exchange traded funds for gold (NYSEARCA: GLD TRADING - GLD QUOTE) and copper (NYSEARCA: JJC) fell today due to investors expressing disappoint at the modest response of the Federal Reserve to declining economic growth, it was silver (NYSEARCA: SLV Trading, SLV Quote) that was off the most. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) fell in trading today by 0.89%. IPath Dow Jones Copper (JJC) dropped 1.89%. Plunging the deepest was iShares Silver Trust (SLV), off by 2.14%.  SLV Bullion Trust Traders were hoping for more aggressive action by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. But that will not come until after the November elections in the United States. Remember that Quantitative Easing 2 did not begin until November 2010, though it was announced at the Jackson Hole economic policy summit in August of 2010. Silver is in what would seem to be the "sweet spot" between gold and copper. Almost all of gold is used for investment or decorative purposes. Almost all of The Red Metal goes for industrial needs. For silver, it comes almost down right in the middle between commercial and a commodity for investments or jewelry. The charts below show the trading relationship for each of the exchange traded funds when paired against each other.  JJC Copper ETF Trading Even though silver has a much higher industrial usage, the SLV moves along with the GLD. As a result, it soared during Quantitative Easing 2. Obviously, the charts reveal that most of the trading is from speculators as the JJC should move in an inverse relationship with the GLD. That is due to gold being used almost entirely for non-industrial end uses while copper is used almost industrial for industrial uses. Up slightly for the week as traders thought more dramatic economic stimulus efforts would result from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting other than an extension until the end of the year for Operation Twist, the SLV is down for the last month, quarter, six months and 52 weeks of market action. Year to date, the SLV is off by 1.48%. For the last year, however, the SLV is down 33.35%. Volume was up today, with the SLV below its 20-day, 50-day and 200-day moving averages. In the most obvious trend, it is trading much lower under its 200-day day moving average at 11.67% down than underneath the 20-day moving average, beneath it by only 0.17%. The only move worth noting in the technical indicators for silver were the long engulfing green bodies last week after Treasury Secretary Geithner's gloomy testimony on The Hill and more bad economic news from the US peaked buying as traders thought Quantitative Easing 3 was coming.  SLV ETF Trading If traders long on silver are looking for help from Bernanke, it will not be coming until after the November election, though it could be announced when he speaks later this month at Jackson Hole.
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| Gold "Tied to Central Bank Moves" as Federal Reserve "Inching" Towards More QE Posted: 02 Aug 2012 04:30 AM PDT | ||
| Gold Struggles at $1,600 Post-Fed, Pre-ECB Action Posted: 02 Aug 2012 04:22 AM PDT Wholesale prices for gold investment bars struggled just above $1,600 per ounce in London on Thursday, after dipping below that level for the first time in a week as the US Federal Reserve left monetary policy unchanged yesterday. | ||
| Copper, Crude Oil to Fall if ECB Stimulus Falls Short Posted: 02 Aug 2012 04:07 AM PDT Failure to deliver is likely to carry negative implications for risky assets, weighing on growth-geared base metals and crude oil. Such an outcome will also probably boost haven demand for the US dollar, producing de-facto downward pressure on gold and silver. | ||
| Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:55 AM PDT Thousands Await Testing for Hepatitis New York Times Oregon man sentenced to jail for collecting rain water Digital Journal (John L) Health Coverage "a New Part of the Conversation" After Tragedy Medscape (Aquifer) Doctors Prescribe Non-GMO Diets; People and Animals Thrive FoodFreedom (furzy mouse) Artificial butter flavoring ingredient linked to key Alzheimer's disease process Science Daily (Chuck L) Jailhouse phone calls reveal when domestic abusers most likely to attack Science Daily (Chuck L) NBC shows perfect logic but a prime time farce John Gapper, Financial Times Global PMI shows stalling growth MacroBusiness Europe's very ugly PMIs MacroBusiness. Notice a theme here? Pressure on Spain to bow to bail-out Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph Shame on All of Us Philip Giraldi, Antiwar (1 SK) Former U.S. officials call for Bachmann to be replaced on Intelligence Committee Daily Kos How the Republicans are using voter ID laws to steal the Presidency Werewolf (Flying Kiwi) The Gray Lady's Voter Suppression Quandry Scott Horton, Harpers (Chuck L) Beyond Debt/Deficit Politics: The $60 Trillion Plan for Ending Federal Borrowing and Paying Off the National Debt Joe Firestone, Corrente When Did The Economist Become Comically Stupid? James Kwak (Ed Harrison) "They Were Suspending My Credit Line" Marcy Wheeler (Chuck L) Green Party nominee arrested in Philly bank sit-in Boston Globe Manufactured Postal Service Challenges Have Plenty of Answers Dave Dayen, Firedoglake US factory activity stagnates Financial Times Why I don't believe housing has put in a secular bottom Ed Harrison Why Ed DeMarco Won't Be Fired Dave Dayen, Firedoglake Is lending by state banks more stable over the business cycle? VoxEU. I think bank efficiency is overdone (for system designers, stability is a first order design consideration, efficiency is second order, so prioritizing efficiency is a bad idea, as our recent debacle attests). And I wonder whether the causality might run counter to the author's tacit assumption in the "countries with a lot of state banking have lower growth rates" observation. Flood of Errant Trades Is a Black Eye for Wall Street New York Times (furzy mouse) The Ruling Elite and the Perversion of Scholarship Chris Hedges, Truthout * * * D – 35 and counting* "If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote. It may clog the administration, it may convulse the society; but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence under the forms of the Constitution. " — James Madison, Federalist #10 Today, in short form, I'd like to call out the Campaign Countdown theme of "Voting." At least since Florida 2000, when Justice Scalia's "good for one time only" decision in Bush v. Gore halted the completion of a hand recount in a closely contested election before the final tally was known, we've known that there is something terribly wrong with the franchise. If there were any doubts, then OH 2004 and the D TX 2008 primary should have removed them. Democracy's "gold standard" (sorry for the dead metaphor, with which, were it live, I would not agree) for voting is hand-marked paper ballots, publicly tabulated. Yet in many jurisdictions, voting takes place on privately owned e-voting machines, which are easy to game by whichever fraudsters control them (see other Campaign Countdown themes: Privatization; Corruption). Two e-voting swing states, CO and VA, are rated "needs improvement" in a report issued by Common Cause, Verified Voting, and Rutgers. (Note that even some e-voting infects an entire state's voting total, rather like a CDO tranche fail; see the WA 2004 gubernatorial election). If your vote is electronic, it doesn't meet Democracy's gold standard. Given the givens, is it still worth voting? Well, your vote is your own. Personally, I don't plan to vote for evil, but you certainly may! However, I think a useful framework for such decisions is Albert Hirschman's "Exit, Voice, and Loyalty" (PDF); a fine analysis by Rajiv Sethi. From page 4:
Clearly, one's personal set point for "loyalty" (some might prefer the label tribalism) counts for a lot in setting the balance between the exit option, and the voice option. I tried the voice option with the Ds from 2003 through July 2008, when Obama flip-flopped on FISA and voted to give the telcos retroactive immunity for Bush's program of warrantless surveillance, thereby normalizing and ratifying the destruction of the Fourth Amendment, hence, Constitutional government (Yes, I know the "class of" 2008 is late!) Since then, well, I've had no place to go, as amply confirmed by the war that Obama's career "progressive" supporters waged against single payer advocates in 2009. That's exit from a party. What about exit, voice, and loyalty and the entire system of representative democracy? Especially given that one's vote may not, quite literally, count, due to privatization of the franchise through e-voting? That's a harder call. The strategy of voting for evil ("lesser" or not) hasn't been working out real well. (I'm pleased to see civil resistance by the top of the Green Party ticket.) But some might argue that the problem with representative democracy the representative part, so that the only solution is exit. So, is the problem representative democracy as such? And where do my loyalties lie then? Worst form of government, except for all the others? Of all that, I'm not so sure. * 35 days until the Democratic National Convention ends with buckets of Manwiches specially imported from K Street for everybody on the floor of the * * * Antidote du jour:
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| South Korean Central Bank Says it Bought 16 Tonnes of Gold in July Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:20 AM PDT Yesterday in Gold and SilverThe gold price did little in Far East trading yesterday...and the high tick of the day [around $1,618 spot] came a few minutes after the London open. From that high, the gold price drifted a few dollars lower...and was sitting at the $1,615 mark about five minutes before trading began on the Comex in New York. Out of the blue, a sell-off began, that by the time it was done, it had all the hallmarks of a JPMorgan-inspired engineered price decline...and gold was down twenty bucks to the $1,595 spot mark. The sell off ended shortly after the 9:30 open of the New York equity markets. From there, the gold price worked its way slowly back above the $1,600 spot mark...and then traded pretty much ruler flat at $1,605 from around noon Eastern time, right up until the announcement from the FOMC. Gold was hit again...and got sold down to it's low of that day [$1,591.00 spot] around the 2:20 p.m. mark in New York. From there, it quickly jumped back above the $1,600 spot price mark...and finished the Wednesday trading session at $1,600.10 spot...down $14.80 from Tuesday's close. Not surprisingly, net volume was pretty chunky...around 170,000 contracts.
Here's the New York Spot Gold [Bid] chart, so you can see the only action that counted, up close and personal.
As is always the case, it was silver that really got it in the neck. Like gold, the price did little of anything in Far East trading...and volumes were very light. The high of the day, if one wishes to dignify it with that name, came about thirty minutes after the London open...and that was around the $28.05 spot mark, only about a nickel above Tuesday's New York close. From there, the silver price drifted lower...and was a few pennies below $27.90 spot mark when the Comex trading session began at 8:40 a.m. Eastern time. The bid vanished...and less than thirty-five minutes later, silver had cratered to its low of the day, which was $27.03 spot. After that pounding, it took the silver price a little while to find its feet. But once it did, there was a willing seller standing buy to nip that rally in the bud about five minutes before the Comex close...and from there it rolled over and got hit along with gold at the FOMC news. Silver closed the New York electronic session at $27.44 spot...down 56 cents from Tuesday's closed. Like gold, silver's net volume was real chunky as well...around 49,000 contracts.
Here's the New York Spot Silver [Bid] chart so you can see more price-action detail.
The dollar index did little of anything during the Wednesday session...and was in a tight range around the 82.65 level. Of course all that changed on the joyous FOMC news...and the index blasted up to the 83.13 mark...before settling back and closing right on 83.10. I'll accept the 'buy the dollar/sell gold' theory on the FOMC news...but I'd love to hear a rational explanation as to what happened before, or at, the Comex open in all four precious metals.
Of course the gold stocks gapped down at the open...and hit their lows the same time as the gold price, but then rebounded sharply. They only sold off a bit at the FOMC news, but then a buyer showed up immediately after that...and the HUI took off to the upside. The three attempts to break above [and stay above] Tuesday's close all got sold off by a not-for-profit seller. Then the day traders finished the job...and the HUI closed down 1.42%. And you thought that the engineered price decline in the metals themselves was obvious.
Not surprisingly, the silver stocks got hit pretty hard across the board...although there was the odd green arrow here and there. Nick Laird's Silver Sentiment Index closed down 1.97%.
(Click on image to enlarge) The CME's Daily Delivery Report [for 'Day 3' of the August delivery month] showed that 547 gold and 13 silver contracts were posted for delivery on Friday from the Comex-approved depositories. In gold, the largest short/issuers were the Bank of Nova Scotia, Morgan Stanley and Jefferies, with 249, 200 and 51 contracts respectively. The two biggest long/stoppers were HSBC USA with 299 contracts...and Deutsche Bank with 171 contracts. The link to yesterday's Issuers and Stoppers Report is here. There were no reported changes in GLD yesterday...but an authorized participant deposited 678,612 troy ounces of silver in SLV. There was no sales report from the U.S. Mint. The Comex-approved depositories showed that they received no silver on Tuesday, but they shipped 621,019 troy ounces of the stuff out the door. The link to that activity is here. I have a lot of stories for a weekday...and I hope you have time to at least skim them all. Silver's break-out above its 50-day moving average got crushed under the boot of JPMorgan yesterday. Mexico silver output up 18.6% in May. Interview with Nick Barisheff of Bullion Management Group. James Turk: Gold To Explode Higher As US Debt To Be Downgraded. SLV takes in more silver. Critical ReadsFed Signals More Steps to Spur Economy Amid Slower GrowthThe Federal Reserve said it will pump fresh stimulus if necessary into the weakening economic expansion to boost growth and reduce an unemployment rate that's been stuck at 8 percent or higher for more than three years. The Federal Open Market Committee "will provide additional accommodation as needed to promote a stronger economic recovery and sustained improvement in labor market conditions in a context of price stability," it said today in a statement at the end of a two-day meeting in Washington. "Economic activity decelerated somewhat over the first half of this year." Stocks fell on disappointment Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke refrained from taking action even as consumer spending flagged, job growth slackened and manufacturing cooled. Before its next meeting Sept. 12-13, the FOMC will assess unemployment reports for July and August, and the European Central Bank may take steps to ease Europe's debt crisis at a meeting [later today]. This Bloomberg story was posted on their website mid-afternoon yesterday...and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for sending it. The link is here. Treasury prepares for negative-rate bidding in bond auctionsThe U.S. Treasury Department said today it is developing a floating-rate note program that could be operational in a year or more, while it is preparing for possible negative-rate bidding. The Treasury also plans to sell $72 billion in notes and bonds in next week's refunding, it said in a statement. The Treasury intends to auction $32 billion in 3-year notes on Aug. 7, $24 billion in 10-year notes on Aug. 8, and $16 billion in 30-year bonds on Aug. 9. The floating-rate notes would be the first new U.S. government debt security since Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, known as TIPS, were introduced in 1997. With a budget deficit estimated at $1.21 trillion this year, the Treasury needs to expand its base of investors, and the notes may appeal to those who are seeking to protect themselves from a possible increase in interest rates or faster inflation stemming from the Federal Reserve's unprecedented stimulus. I found this Bloomberg story in a GATA release yesterday...and here are Chris Powell's comments that went with it..."The more that real interest rates are negative, the more "financial repression" and gold price suppression are required to keep the currency alive and defend it against competitors that don't depreciate so quickly." The link is here. Technical glitch by Knight Capital rips through U.S. stock marketA technology breakdown at a major trading firm roiled the prices of 140 stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, undermining fragile investor confidence in the stability of U.S. stock markets. The problems at Knight Capital Group Inc, one of the largest firms that buys and sells stocks to provide liquidity to the markets, emerged at the beginning of trading. Heavy computer-based trading caused a rush of orders for dozens of stocks, ranging from well-known bellwethers like General Electric to tiny Wizzard Software Corp, whose shares soared to $14.76 after closing the previous day at $3.50. The NYSE has canceled trades in six particularly volatile issues. The trading glitches are the latest in a series of market snafus that have hurt retail investors' confidence, including the botched Facebook initial public offering, the 2010 "flash crash" in which nearly $1 trillion in market value disappeared in minutes, and the failed public offering of BATS Global Markets, a rival to the NYSE and the Nasdaq. This Reuters story was posted on The Vancouver Sun's Internet site yesterday...and I thank Roy Stephens for sending this piece to me very late last night. It's definitely worth reading...and the link is here. This is What Happens When an HFT Algo Goes Totally Berserk and Serves Knight Capital With the BillAn under-the-hood assessment of what happened at Knight Capital yesterday was served up over at the zerohedge.com website late last night, with Tyler Durden doing the honours himself. It's very technical, but it would be more than worth your while to run through it. I thank Washington state reader S.A. for sending me this piece just before midnight local time last night...and the link is here. Knight Bruised as Analyst Estimates $170 Million LossThe latest black eye for U.S. equity markets is proving a body blow for Knight Capital Group Inc. Shares of the Jersey City, New Jersey-based firm plunged 33 percent, the most ever, in record volume yesterday as investors speculated on how much a breakdown that whipsawed owners of 140 stocks will cost the company. Its loss may be as much as $170 million, according to analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. "This isn't good for the market overall and it's not good for Knight," Sang Lee, managing partner at Boston-based research firm Aite Group LLC, said in a phone interview. "They took a beating in their share price. It's not going to devastate the business of Knight since they're a major market maker in equities. But when you're a major player like Knight, mistakes will have a more expanded impact." This Bloomberg story was posted on their Internet site late last night...and I thank Roy Stephens for sending it our way. The link is here. The Cartel: Behind the Scenes in the Libor Interest Rate ScandalThere have been plenty of banking scandals, but none quite like this: Investigators and political leaders believe that the manipulation of the Libor benchmark interest rate was the result of organized fraud. Institutions that participated could face billions in fines and penalties. Eduard Pomeranz and Rolf Majcen are small fish in the shark tank of international high finance. Their hedge fund, FTC Capital, is headquartered in tranquil Vienna and manages only €150 million ($189 million) in assets. But now Pomeranz, the founder, and Majcen, the head of the legal department, have been able to strike fear in the hearts of the big fish. "The Libor manipulation is presumably the biggest financial scandal ever," says Majcen, a man with slightly disheveled-looking hair and Viennese sarcasm. Yes, he says, it did shock him that something like this was even possible, namely that a group of international banks had been manipulating interest rates for years. But Majcen takes a matter-of-fact approach to it all. As a financial professional, he is only one of many who want to get back the money that they feel they've been cheated out of. At the end of June, British and American regulators imposed a $500 million fine on Barclays, the major British bank, and forced its CEO Bob Diamond to resign. Since then, a war of sorts has erupted in the financial sector. Investigators are attacking presumed offenders, banks that are involved are denouncing others in the hope of mitigating their own penalties, and small investors like Majcen are inundating Libor banks with lawsuits. This longish read showed up on the German website spiegel.de yesterday...and is worth reading. Donald Sinclair was the first reading through door with this story...and the link is here. Begging for the Bazooka: Europe's Dangerous Dream of Unlimited MoneyThe bazooka isn't just the name of a portable American antitank weapon. Recently it has also become the synonym for a financial super weapon that is supposed to end the euro crisis once and for all. There also used to be a chewing gum called Bazooka that was sold in German supermarkets until the 1980s. Once the pink stuff got stuck somewhere, it was hard to get rid of -- not unlike the current discussion about a euro crisis bazooka. The bazooka debate heated up after a suggestion from some countries, including Italy and France, that the permanent euro rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), should be equipped with "unlimited firepower" through a banking license. In concrete terms, it would enable the ESM to borrow unlimited amounts of money from the European Central Bank and use it to shore up euro-zone member states threatening to buckle under the weight of the crisis. Given that billions of euros have already been deployed in the euro crisis, the idea of unlimited credit seems risky to say the very least. Not surprisingly, the reactions have been intense. "A banking license for the ESM would mean firing up the money printing machine, which means inflation and nearly unlimited liabilities," Patrick Döring, the general secretary of the business-friendly Free Democratic Party, the junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government coalition, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "That is why the FDP cannot and will not allow a banking license to be issued." This story was also posted on the spiegel.de Internet site yesterday...and is the second contribution in a row from reader Donald Sinclair...and the link is here. Global manufacturing slows as euro crisis dents demandManufacturing in the world's biggest economy grew at its slowest pace in nearly three years last month, while Chinese factory output grew at its slowest rate in eight months. Eurozone manufacturing activity contracted for the 11th month in a row as star performer Germany was began to feel the affects.of a two-and-a-half-year debt crisis which has sapped growth and market confidence. While in Britain the sector shrank at its fastest rate in more than three years in July, as wet weather and the euro crisis hit output, new orders and exports. The final Markit US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index stood at 51.4 in July, below both a preliminary estimate of 51.8 and June's reading of 52.5. It was the lowest reading since September of 2009. A reading above 50 indicates growth. This story showed up on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site yesterday afternoon BST...and I thank Roy Stephens for sending it along. The link is here. Carmakers stuff German market with self-salesEurope's largest car market is in recession, but few outside the industry would know it, thanks to a controversial sales practice that inflates official statistics and paints a flattering picture of demand. &l | ||
| Six Percent Can Draw Gold from the Moon Posted: 02 Aug 2012 02:24 AM PDT As long as real interest rates are low gold is in a bull market. There are no plans to raise interest rates for at least two years. Indeed the Fed is actively working to lower longer term rates. | ||
| Links for 2012-08-01 [del.icio.us] Posted: 02 Aug 2012 12:00 AM PDT
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