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- Pfizer's Latest Drug Could Result In Significant Growth If Approved
- Commodity Chart Of The Day: Cocoa
- Bull Put Spread On Gold And GLD
- Quantitative Easing: The Ultimate Faustian Bargain
- BRICS Currency Swaps Portend End of Dollar Dominance
- Gambling On Gold - Is It Time To Buy?
- Gold Supply-Crisis Looms?
- Dollar Shortage Hits Highest Number Of European Banks In Six Months
- U.S. Silver Output Plunges 63% Between January and May – U.S.G.S.
- Euro hopes boost gold and silver prices
- Silver Price Forecast – Silver Premium Update August 2012
- Clearing Houses Adding 'Loco London' Gold Collateral
- Precious Metals over 2-Month Highs on Euro Hopes
- Copper, Crude Oil Lower on Japanese Export Slump
- Gold Prices Lifted by Global Stimulus Hopes
- Ned Naylor-Leyland: Precious Metals
- Silver Update: Stopped Clock 8.21.12
- Bill Murphy: JP Morgan in BIG Trouble
- Marc Faber: Surviving the Coming Crash
- Barisheff: $10,000 Gold
- Potentially 'the Largest Silver Discovery' of Century
- U.S. Silver Output Plunges 63% Between January and May - U.S.G.S.
- U.S. silver output plunges between January and May - U.S.G.S.
- Is Gold Money? LCH Accepts Shiny Yellow Metal As Collateral
- Silver's Great Expectations in an Inflationary World
- Links 8/22/12
| Pfizer's Latest Drug Could Result In Significant Growth If Approved Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:55 PM PDT By Matt Schilling: The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) carries so much weight in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors that even the slightest indication of an approval or rejection can turn a $10 million dollar company into a billion dollar enterprise and vice versa almost overnight. With that said there has been one FDA move in the last 24 hours shareholders and potential investors should consider before investing in the pharmaceutical sector. For potential investors looking to establish a position in the sector, one of the major pharmaceutical drug makers, Pfizer (PFE) received notice that the FDA has extended the action date of the New Drug Application (NDA) for PFE's drug tofacitinib. Tofacitinib is an investigational oral treatment for adults suffering from moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis. If approved, tofacitinib would be the first of its kind, in a new class of entitled Janus kinase inhibitors which are orally administered to Complete Story » |
| Commodity Chart Of The Day: Cocoa Posted: 22 Aug 2012 12:54 PM PDT By Matthew Bradbard: Commodity Chart Of The Day Daily Cocoa (click image to enlarge) This week, cocoa prices came very close to challenging their January highs, failing just a few dollars short, as seen in the chart above. Prices are off 3% in the last three sessions, as it appears they are making their way lower. My suggestion is to have bearish exposure in this contract, as long as prices remain under 2500. Use the Fibonacci levels as your downside targets. A 50% Fibonacci would drag prices back under 2300, a level last seen in late July. If the U.S. dollar finds its footing, do not rule out a trade under 2200. Risk Disclaimer: The opinions contained herein are for general information only and not tailored to any specific investor's needs Complete Story » |
| Bull Put Spread On Gold And GLD Posted: 22 Aug 2012 11:42 AM PDT By Kenneth Roberts: The recent move up in the price of gold has created an opportunity for a bull put spread on the gold ETF, GLD. The implied volatility to statistical volatility ratio is at 177.56 which is the highest it has been this year. The high implied volatility relative to the statistical volatility means that the options are relatively expensive and probability favors selling options when they are historically expensive as measured by their implied volatility. GLD is at the top of its two standard deviation Bollinger Band, and the put spread discussed below is placed more than four standard deviations below the current price of GLD. The probability of the spread expiring completely worthless is about 80%. Gold has been making a strong move lately. The low for the year for GLD was made on May 30th when it hit $148.53. It has tested this area a couple of times and Complete Story » |
| Quantitative Easing: The Ultimate Faustian Bargain Posted: 22 Aug 2012 11:37 AM PDT By Scott Minerd: In Goethe's 1831 drama Faust, the devil persuades a bankrupt emperor to print and spend vast quantities of paper money as a short-term fix for his country's fiscal problems. As a consequence, the empire ultimately unravels and descends into chaos. Today, governments that have relied upon quantitative easing (QE) instead of undertaking necessary structural reforms have arguably entered into the grandest Faustian bargain in financial history. As a result of multi-trillion dollar quantitative easing programs, central banks around the world have compromised their ability to control the money supply, making them vulnerable to runaway inflation. When interest rates rise, the market value of central bank assets could fall below the face value of their liabilities, potentially rendering the banks incapable of protecting the stability and purchasing power of their currencies. In The Beginning, There Was Gold To better understand the potential consequences of quantitative easing, it is useful to review Complete Story » |
| BRICS Currency Swaps Portend End of Dollar Dominance Posted: 22 Aug 2012 11:11 AM PDT Description: Right now trade among the BRICS only amounts to some $230 billion a year. But with a 30% annual growth rate it won't be long before BRICS dominate the global trading landscape. In this RT Studios video interview, novelist and economic analyst Gonzalo Lira comments on the spring agreement between BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to establish trade agreements among themselves and, more importantly, implement currency swaps. The agreements allow the countries to trade among themselves using their respective national currencies rather than using the standard currency for international trade, the U.S. dollar. (See Developing Market Currencies Replace Dollars in Trade for our report on the March 2012 BRICS summit.) Why is it a big deal? Because cumulatively, the BRICS constitute the largest economic bloc in the world, potentially overshadowing both the Eurozone and the United States in power and influence. The ultimate fallout from the BRICS newfound clout: the loss of the United States' ability to continually borrow from abroad to finance its steadily growing debt. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Gambling On Gold - Is It Time To Buy? Posted: 22 Aug 2012 11:06 AM PDT By Larry Cyna: In an interview with Small Cap Power, the interviewer asked whether it was was an opportune time to buy gold. At that time the US Congress was in a stalemate over raising the debt limit. There were daily increasing fears about debt defaults in Europe. China was entering a slowdown and the mood was pessimistic. It seemed that gold values could go either way with no way of telling whether it was more likely for gold to increase or decrease in value. It seemed a large gamble to purchase at that point in time. With hindsight, this observation was correct. Commentary in May 2012 after the New York Hard Asset Show said that "catching a falling knife can cut you badly." Purchasing gold bullion in the last year would have hurt your portfolio. Now it is time to revisit this question of whether gold bullion is a good investment. Technical Complete Story » |
| Posted: 22 Aug 2012 10:00 AM PDT The World Gold Council recently released its second quarter statistics on gold "demand and supply trends". For those not familiar with the WGC, it is an "industry trade group" composed of large-cap gold miners who love bankers. How much do these mining companies love bankers? So much that they allow the bankers to keep all the records for their sector, and pretty much do all of their of their promotion to the world. It is the WGC which elevated two private "consultancies" (of bankers) – GFMS and the CPM Group – to the status of quasi-official record-keepers for the entire global gold (and silver) industry. It would be problematic at best for the gold industry to allow itself to be almost entirely represented by a "profession" now known only for its rampant fraud. However, given the known hatred of the banking community toward gold and silver, and their relentless attacks on both the bullion market and the miners themselves; it's almost beyond comprehension that the world's largest gold miners choose bankers as their spokesmen. I've already exposed the devious/perverse manner in which these consultancies produce phony inventory numbers in the silver market. In the upside-down world of these "record-keepers", when someone purchases an ounce of silver from a silver-ETF (and thus takes that ounce of silver off of the market), the CPM Group adds another ounce to total inventories. In other words, if silver investors were to buy-up every ounce of silver currently available in the world (via silver-ETF's), global silver inventories would supposedly double, while if silver-ETF holders were to sell all their holdings it would (apparently) collapse inventories. GFMS, the authors of this Q2 gold report are technically no longer "bankers", since they have been bought out by the Thompson media oligopoly; one of a handful of companies who have a complete choke-hold on the world's entire English-speaking media. When it comes to the data they produce, the esteemed John Embry of Sprott Asset Management was blunt in a recent interview: "Those guys have been providing misinformation for years…[They] basically churn out negative gold news constantly and I would ignore them." While Mr. Embry pointed to several historical examples to emphasize his point, I'm going to focus on what they're currently saying about the sector to make the same point. If we look at the WGC (GFMS) headlines for Q2, it's pretty straightforward. Gold demand was down 7%; gold supply was down 6%. Looks pretty even, with perhaps a slightly bearish bias. Right? Wrong. We don't even get to the end of the first paragraph before we begin to see the 'slipperiness' of these numbers. We note that expressed in dollar figures that gold demand was only down about 1%. So we immediately see the following dynamic: a 1% drop in (sales) demand – virtually no decline at all – is accompanied by a 6% drop in supply. In other words, based upon GFMS' own numbers we see the decidedly bullish scenario of a market which can only be kept in balance if accompanied by steadily rising prices – a markedly different picture than what was presented in the headlines, and entirely different than what GFMS asserts in its analysis in talking about "The lack of a clear price trend…" When a market can only be kept in balance with steadily rising prices, that certainly looks like "a clear trend" to me. Dig deeper into the numbers and we find that: …[investment] demand is also heavily-skewed by demand in India and China…excluding them from the total data gives a notably different result: a 16% year-on-year increase in demand to 195.2. Outside of these two markets, investment demand declined in only four countries [in the entire world]. When it comes to China, what we apparently witnessed was a mere pause in demand, brought about by the long sideways movement in prices. In fact what we have seen with Chinese gold-buyers is that they are encouraged to buy with rising prices, and since prices must rise to offset declining supply; it's inevitable that Chinese buyers will soon leap back into the market. |
| Dollar Shortage Hits Highest Number Of European Banks In Six Months Posted: 22 Aug 2012 08:26 AM PDT
from zerohedge.com: This morning's update on the ECB's FX swap usage confirmed what those who care about this kind of stuff already know: the USD shortage in Europe, all Libor and other manipulated and fraudulent signs to the contrary, is getting worse: in the week starting August 23, the number of banks demanding a 7 day USD swap with the NY Fed, and intermediated by the ECB, rose to 12, or the highest since February, while the amount requested was $8.5 billion – the second highest in 2012 so far. In other words, while everyone knows the EUR interbank market in Europe is slammed shut, most likely in perpetuity, courtesy of the trillions in EURs raining from the ECB, it is now once again time for the USD market to implode, something it last did in the beginning of 2012 when the advent of the short-term benefit from LTRO 1 and 2 fixed the funding situation, albeit briefly. Keep on reading @ zerohedge.com |
| U.S. Silver Output Plunges 63% Between January and May – U.S.G.S. Posted: 22 Aug 2012 08:25 AM PDT
from caseyresearch.com: Yesterday in Gold and Silver The gold price didn't do much of anything up until 1:00 p.m. Hong Kong time…12 midnight Eastern…and then developed a slightly positive bias from there. It then traded flat from shortly after the London open, right up until half-past lunchtime BST…7:30 a.m. in New York…and at that point, a rally of some substance developed. This rally continued at the 8:40 a.m. Comex open…and ten minutes later the price went vertical…and it was obvious, at least to me, that a not-for-profit seller stepped and managed the price higher from there. The high tick of the day [$1,642.60 spot] came at 10:00 a.m. Eastern…which was the 3:00 p.m. BST London gold fix. It got sold down a few dollars from that high…and then more or less traded sideways into the 5:15 p.m. close of electronic trading. Keep on reading @ caseyresearch.com |
| Euro hopes boost gold and silver prices Posted: 22 Aug 2012 07:45 AM PDT Hopes for a further crisis response by the European Central Bank (ECB) cheered the markets yesterday, with a declining dollar giving support to rallies in commodities and precious metals prices. ... |
| Silver Price Forecast – Silver Premium Update August 2012 Posted: 22 Aug 2012 06:19 AM PDT Silver Update By Hubert Moolman The silver chart has formed a big pennant like that of the gold chart. What this indicates is that the silver price will likely make a massive move soon. Technically, this move can be up or down. Note that this update is from my premium service originally published on 6 [...]  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Clearing Houses Adding 'Loco London' Gold Collateral Posted: 22 Aug 2012 05:38 AM PDT Gold briefly popped above the 200 day moving average at $1,643/oz. this morning and remains near the 3½ month high set in the prior session. A break above the 200 day moving average will be bullish technically. |
| Precious Metals over 2-Month Highs on Euro Hopes Posted: 22 Aug 2012 05:14 AM PDT Spot market gold prices hit their highest level since early May Wednesday, rising to $1,645 an ounce during this morning's London trading. Silver prices also gained, rising to $29.70 per ounce – their highest level since early June. |
| Copper, Crude Oil Lower on Japanese Export Slump Posted: 22 Aug 2012 04:55 AM PDT While risk aversion would typically be expected to boost demand for the safe-haven US dollar and thereby extend selling pressure to gold and silver, the precious metals are holding their own this time around. |
| Gold Prices Lifted by Global Stimulus Hopes Posted: 22 Aug 2012 04:43 AM PDT The risky external markets, commodities and gold are all having a tear. Sentiment on commodities has turned positive owing to traders' expectations of further monetary easing in China and better US growth prospects. |
| Ned Naylor-Leyland: Precious Metals Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:13 AM PDT In this episode, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss further signs of success from the shakedown of Standard Chartered as the City starts firing, while the Street is hiring. from russiatoday: Max and Stacy look at some of the help wanted ads and examine the unusually small head of JP Morgan's chief executive. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to Ned Naylor-Leyland of Cheviot Asset Management about unallocated versus allocated gold and silver bullion and permanent backwardation as a sign that everything is breaking down completely in the precious metals market. from russiatoday: ~TVR |
| Silver Update: Stopped Clock 8.21.12 Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:12 AM PDT |
| Bill Murphy: JP Morgan in BIG Trouble Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:08 AM PDT Bill Murphy discusses: from altinvestorshangout: ~TVR |
| Marc Faber: Surviving the Coming Crash Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:07 AM PDT Marc Faber: Balanced Approach For the Coming Crash On this week's show: from mcalvanyfinancial: ~TVR |
| Posted: 22 Aug 2012 03:03 AM PDT The CEO of Bullion Management Group, Nick Barisheff, says the yellow metal will hit "$1,900 per ounce by year end" and "$10,000″ per ounce within five years. from usawatchdog: He lays out his case in a new book titled "$10,000 Gold." You think that is an overly bullish prediction? Not if there is hyperinflation. Barisheff says, "If we get into hyperinflation, $10,000 will be a conservative estimate." How likely is hyperinflation? According to Mr. Barisheff, "There's never been a fiat currency that didn't end in hyperinflation and then complete collapse, not one in all of history." Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with Nick Barisheff. ~TVR |
| Potentially 'the Largest Silver Discovery' of Century Posted: 22 Aug 2012 02:48 AM PDT We are not aware of any other active silver exploration company having recently started with an aggressive exploration program based on that many and high-grade samples from surface. We rate the prospects for an exploration success as exquisitely high. |
| U.S. Silver Output Plunges 63% Between January and May - U.S.G.S. Posted: 22 Aug 2012 02:33 AM PDT ¤ Yesterday in Gold and SilverThe gold price didn't do much of anything up until 1:00 p.m. Hong Kong time...12 midnight Eastern...and then developed a slightly positive bias from there. It then traded flat from shortly after the London open, right up until half-past lunchtime BST...7:30 a.m. in New York...and at that point, a rally of some substance developed. This rally continued at the 8:40 a.m. Comex open...and ten minutes later the price went vertical...and it was obvious, at least to me, that a not-for-profit seller stepped and managed the price higher from there. The high tick of the day [$1,642.60 spot] came at 10:00 a.m. Eastern...which was the 3:00 p.m. BST London gold fix. It got sold down a few dollars from that high...and then more or less traded sideways into the 5:15 p.m. close of electronic trading. The gold price closed the Tuesday session at $1,638.60 spot...up $17.40 on the day. Volume was very decent at around 140,000 contracts, virtually double Monday's volume. It's obvious from that volume, coupled with the price action, that this rally was not going unopposed by JPMorgan et al.
Here's the New York Spot Gold [Bid] chart on its own, which is pretty much the only chart that matters.
The silver chart looks almost the same as the gold chart. The only real difference between the two was the fact that the high of the day for silver [$29.63 spot] did not come at the London gold fix, but within the first thirty minutes of electronic trading after the 1:30 p.m. Eastern Comex close. From that high, silver got sold down a bit more than 30 cents by 3:15 p.m...and then more or less traded sideways into the close. Silver finished the Tuesday session at $29.33 spot...up 52 cents from Monday's close. Net volume was around 33,500 contracts...about 40% higher than Monday's.
And, for information purposes only, here's the New York Spot Silver [Bid] chart that shows the minute-by-minute action during the Comex session...and the electronic market that followed.
The dollar index developed a negative bias right from the 6:00 p.m. Monday night open...and then really headed south very shortly after London open for trading at 8:00 a.m. BST...3:00 a.m. in New York. From there, the index continued lower...and the low price tick [81.82] came just a few minutes after 11:00 a.m. Eastern. The subsequent rally into the close cut the daily loss by less than 10 basis points. The dollar index close down a bit over 50 basis points...and you can see from the gold and silver charts that the decline had virtually no impact on their prices until around 11:30 a.m. in London, or 7:30 a.m. in New York. Only then did the rallies in the precious metals develop some legs...and by that time, half the decline in the dollar index was already in. In my opinion, it's a stretch to say that there was any co-relation between currency movements and the precious metal prices yesterday.
The gold stocks gapped up...and then stayed up. They hit their zenith around 11:00 a.m. Eastern time, about an hour after gold hit its high. From there, and up until half an hour before trading ended, the shares gave up over two percentage points of their gains, even though the gold price was trading sideways. Then, with thirty minute left, the HUI rallied into the close...and finished up 1.69%. But at its high, the HUI was up about 3.50%.
The silver stocks had another good day, as did the juniors. Nick Laird's Silver Sentiment Index closed up another 2.66%.
(Click on image to enlarge) The CME's Daily Delivery Report showed that 75 gold...along with 1 silver contract...were posted for delivery on Thursday. Like Monday, the biggest short/issuer was JPMorgan with 74 contracts...and it was the same group of 'usual suspects' as long/stoppers...the Bank of Nova Scotia, HSBC USA...and Deutsche Bank. The link to the action is here. An authorized participant added 135,679 troy ounces of gold to GLD yesterday...and there were no reported changes in SLV. Since the beginning of August...authorized participants have added 869,264 ounce of gold to GLD, but have only added about 1,470,000 ounces of silver to SLV. I'm sure that the authorized participants would have added more...and the obvious reason that they haven't, is because it's just not available. So in lieu of adding physical silver, they short the shares instead. The next report on GLD and SLV's short position from shortsqueeze.com should, hopefully, tell us a lot. There was no sales report from the U.S. Mint. Over at the Comex-approved depositories on Monday, they didn't receive any silver...but they shipped 1,063,729 troy ounces of the stuff out the door. The link to that activity is here. Here are a couple of charts that Washington state reader S.A. sent me yesterday...and I seem to remember posting the first one, once before. But it fits like a hand in a glove with the second chart, so here it is again. Nothing has obviously changed over the millennia...governments debasing the currency to worthlessness.
Here's another chart for you today...this one courtesy of Nick Laird. Nick said that based on a 40% backing, the gold price would have to just about double to US$3,400 just to play 'catch up' from where it's priced at right now.
(Click on image to enlarge) I have the usual number of stories for you today, which is quite a few...but not nearly as many as yesterday. I'm concerned about the volume figures...and who was going short against all the new technical fund long contracts being placed. Is Gold Money? LCH Accepts Shiny Yellow Metal As Collateral. Silicosis lawsuit filed against South Africa's gold miners. Chris Powell, GATA's Treasurer, Interviewed by Jay Taylor. ¤ Critical ReadsSubscribeCHART OF THE DAY: OH NO, It's The Dreaded Triple Top!Traders have been talking about the S&P's Triple Top recently, as the index hit highs not seen since before the financial crisis began in 2008. The Triple Top is a take on the Head and Shoulders trading pattern, that garnered attention at the end of 2011. Simply, the Triple Top is three peaks perforated by recessions or sell-offs in between rallies. Volume tends to decline from the first peak to the second, and from the second to the third, something we've noted has been endemic to the recent trading data. This must read story was posted on the businessinsider.com website yesterday afternoon...and it's courtesy of Roy Stephens. The link is here.  Analysis: U.S. corporate earnings point to further gloomEarnings season is drawing to a close and the results raise a number of worrying questions about the economy's direction. For the second quarter, the percentage of companies beating revenue forecasts was the lowest since 2009. For every company that gave a positive outlook, nearly five companies gave negative outlooks, Thomson Reuters data showed. Third-quarter earnings estimates are down sharply, and now show a year-over-year decline of 1.8 percent, which would be the first quarter of negative growth in three years. This Reuters story from last Friday is one that I borrowed from yesterday's King Report...and the link is here.  Matt Taibbi: More Evidence Wall Street Is OverpaidOne of the most frequently-overlooked problems of the financialization age is that a lot of our brilliant financial engineers are actually pretty damned average, when it comes to playing the market. There's a great little piece at Zero Hedge about how hedge funds are having a terrible year (for the second straight year), with only 11% of all funds outperforming the Standard and Poor's 500, the basic stock index. Here's Tyler's take on the panic in the hedge fund industry: This is the worst yearly aggregate S&P 500 underperformance by the hedge fund industry in history, and also explains why the smooth sailing in the S&P500 belies the fact that nearly every single hedge fund manager (and at least 89% of all) is currently panicking like never before knowing very well there are only 4 more months left to beat the S&P or face terminal redemption requests. And with $1.2 trillion in gross equity positions, the day of redemption reckoning at the end of the year (and just after September 30 for that matter as well) could be the most painful yet. Matt Taibbi is at it again in this short and rather pithy blog over at the Rolling Stone website...and it's definitely worth the read. It's also courtesy of Roy Stephens...and the link is here.  Oil resumes upward march, hits 3-month highThe price of oil resumed climbing Tuesday, reaching its highest point since early May. Speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve might take action to spark the sluggish recovery and hopes for good news from upcoming debt-crisis meetings in Europe were the catalysts. Benchmark crude finished up 71 cents at $96.68 in New York. Earlier, it crossed $97 for the first time since May 11. It lost 4 cents Monday after rising for four straight days. Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, rose 94 cents to $114.64 per barrel in London. This AP story was posted on their website later in the afternoon on Tuesday...and it's another item that I lifted from yesterday's edition of the King Report. Since I posted this, the headline has now been changed to read "Oil Prices up as Traders Foresee Tighter Supplies"...and the link is here.  Forget Europe... This is a REAL Crisis to Be Afraid OfWe need to address a MAJOR situation that is developing: the drought in the US and its impact on US crops. The US is experiencing its worst drought since 1956. Altogether 63% of the lower US 48 states are experiencing a drought. As a result of this, the USDA has said that 50% of the US's corn crop will be in poor to very poor condition. What does this mean? That the US will have a very VERY low corn crop. This in of itself is bad. But when you consider that corn supplies are at their lowest levels in 17 years, you've got a recipe for a serious corn shortage. Few people understand how large a part of the US industrial food chain is tied to corn. This is the first of two stories in a row about the devastating U.S. drought. This short essay appeared on the zerohedge.com Internet site yesterday...and I thank reader Marshall Angeles for sharing this story with us. It's definitely worth the read...and the link is here.  The Cost of Hunger: Drought Only One Factor Behind High Food PricesThe severe drought in the US has been blamed the rising prices of agricultural commodities. But that is only part of the story: Biofuels, financial speculation and changing dietary habits are also playing a role. The global food supply faces pressure from all sides. The American Midwest is experiencing its worst drought since the 1930s. One-sixth of the corn crop has been lost and the soybean plants and wheat stalks don't look much better. Shortages and rising prices for essential commodities are the result. Some prices have soared by almost 50 percent within just 10 weeks, and grain warehouses are beginning to empty out. Other important supplier countries also anticipate poor harvests. Because of a prolonged dry period in Russia, wheat exports are expected to be only half of what they were last year. Brazil, on the other hand, has had too much rain, which is bad news for sugar-cane farmers. "The latest crop predictions suggest that we should fear the worst," the United Nations World Food Programme warned last week. It is the third such warning in recent years, following similar crises in 2008 and 2011. Catastrophe, it would seem, is becoming the norm. Sudden spikes in the prices of wheat, soybeans and corn threaten the wellbeing of every individual. Economists warn of "agflation," or inflation triggered by a rise in the price of agricultural products. Poor nations, however, are disproportionately affected because people there spend a larger share of their income on food. But consumers in the industrialized world will also feel the effects. This short essay was posted on the German website spiegel.de yesterday...and I thank Roy Stephens for his third offering in today's column. The link is here.  Secret Libor Committee Clings to Anonymity Following ScandalEvery two months, representatives from the world's largest banks meet at an undisclosed location to review the London interbank offered rate. Who sits on the British Bankers' Association's Foreign Exchange and Money Markets Committee, the body that governs the benchmark for more than $300 trillion of securities worldwide, is a secret. No minutes are published. The BBA won't identify any members, saying it wants to protect them from being lobbied, and declined to make the chairman available for interview. The group's lack of transparency is symptomatic of a self- regulated system that failed to stop traders around the world manipulating the world's most widely used benchmark interest rate for profit. Martin Wheatley, the British regulator charged with reviewing Libor after the scandal, is now weighing whether to bring oversight under the control of regulators. Well, this Bloomberg story from yesterday was a big eye-opener for me...and I expect for you as well, dear reader. For that reason alone, it's a must read...and I thank Richard Craggs for sending it our way. The link is here. U.S. silver output plunges between January and May - U.S.G.S. Posted: 22 Aug 2012 02:33 AM PDT  The temporary closure of Hecla's Lucky Friday Mine, complicated by ground support rehabilitation work at the company's Greens Creek Mine, negatively impacted U.S. silver production earlier this year. Domestic silver production for the period from January to May of this year totaled 411,000 kg (13,214,000 oz.), down 63% from total production of 1,120,000 kg (36,008,836 oz.) reported during the first five months of last year. |
| Is Gold Money? LCH Accepts Shiny Yellow Metal As Collateral Posted: 22 Aug 2012 02:33 AM PDT  Whether it is because the CME just did it; or it's all their clients have left; or Gold volatility is lower than EUR/USD volatility (9.0% vs. 9.6% in last 3 weeks); or they see the painting on the wall of Draghi's grand-plans, the LCH-Clearnet just announced that as of August 28th, unallocated gold will be accepted as collateral for margin cover purposes. This now means all the major exchanges accept worthless barbarous relics as collateral - as well as worthless fiat paper 'money'. |
| Silver's Great Expectations in an Inflationary World Posted: 22 Aug 2012 01:07 AM PDT Basically, the best one can hope for when faced with an economic collapse is a return on and of your investment. In such a scenario, precious metals like silver should appreciate considerably, which can keep your invested capital safe. |
| Posted: 22 Aug 2012 01:04 AM PDT Arctic cap on course for record melt: scientists AFP Coal-fired plants spared US pollution rule Financial Times Star is caught devouring planet BBC AT&T: Pay Me, Screw Net Neutrality Huffington Post (Timothy K) Tech Confessional: The Googler Who Looked At The Worst Of The Internet BuzzFeed Crime & Pussy Riot: The Missing Story Mark Ames, NSFW Zombie China MacroBusiness China bubble in 'danger zone' warns Bank of Japan Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph Dispute Over Islands Reflects Japanese Fear of China's Rise New York Times. One of my astute buddies said 15 years ago this would be the cause of the next world war. Spain Deficit Goals at Risk as Cuts Consensus Fades Bloomberg SocGen: Italy Looks 'Perilously Close' To Getting Shut Out Of The Bond Markets Clusterstock Father Of Marine Killed By Afghan Recruits: 'My Son Trained Somebody To Murder Him' Clusterstock (Chuck L) FDIC files lawsuit tied to failed bank RMBS investments Housing Wire Public Pension Funds Named to Lead 'London Whale' Lawsuit Bloomberg Auditors of broker-dealers under scrutiny Financial Times FBI | HUSBAND AND WIFE INDICTED IN MORTGAGE FRAUD SCHEME, FACE A MAXIMUM PENALTY OF 30 YEARS IN PRISON FOR LYING ABOUT EMPLOYMENT, SALARY AND RESIDENCY Forclosure Fraud (Mark H). Yes, sports fans, THIS is the sort of fraud that Schneiderman is pursuing. State warns of future scams capitalizing on 'crowdfunding' trend Madison.com (Lambert). As foretold. The US labour market doesn't work Financial Times When Wall Street Watchdogs Hunt Whistle-Blowers William Cohan (Lisa Epstein) * * * lambert here: D – 19 and counting* "Think happy thoughts," the MP said to Eric, "on the way down." Grabbing Eric by the arm, he slung him into a helpless, crippled posture and shoved him toward the hatch. It was all expert and entirely professional; he found himself teetering at the hatch and then the MP released him in order to escape falling himself. –Philip K. Dick, Now Wait for Last Year Montreal. Manifestation: "'This August 22, CLASSE invites you to the largest demonstration in Quebec history,' reads the Facebook page created by the Coalition large de l'Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante, the federation representing 100,000 students that has been the most ardent backer of the protests." RNCon. Speakers: "Many of the up-and-coming Republican leaders are barely in their 40s. All are part of next week's Republican convention lineup, with Christie as the keynote speaker and Rubio getting the prominent role of introducing Romney." … Party crashing: "On Monday, August 27 and Tuesday, August 28, Vice President Joe Biden will travel to the Tampa area and other cities for campaign events," Obama's campaign announced Tuesday. "Additional details on the Vice President's trip are forthcoming." … Party crashing: "Wasserman Schultz [will inaugurate] the D's 'rapid-response war room,' a home base said to be 'just a short walk' from the heart of the R convention in downtown Tampa." … Police state: "The pipes and bricks were found Friday on the roof of a building at 1004 N. Florida Ave. Graffiti, including the numeral '99′ and an image of a person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, similar to those worn by members of the Anonymous collective, as well as Occupy movement protestors, was found on the building." Gee, does the word "planted" come to mind? DNCon. City workers: "Sanitation workers picketing outside the Government Center Monday said they aren't letting the upcoming Democratic National Convention stop their weekly protests. All of the demands are listed in a 13 point Municipal Workers Bill of Rights. The protesters said the goal is to get the City of Charlotte to adopt it." AZ. Voting: "After spending almost $1 million and successfully fighting a court challenge, the citizens' initiative that seeks to put in a 'top-two' primary election system in AZ appears to lack the signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot." IA. Teebee: "Obama's latest television commercial in IA spotlights abortion rights and federal funding for Planned Parenthood." CO. Legalization: "Yet, although Obama desperately needs to turn out a constituency that was key to sweeping him into the White House, he is keeping a safe distance from the marijuana legalization measure, known as Amendment 64, and its organizers." FL. Election: "Miami Gardens Rep. Barbara Watson [D] edged out North Miami Beach Rep. John Patrick Julien [D] by a narrow 13 votes, according to a manual recount.Julien went to the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office Monday with what he called evidence of a third boletero [here] submitting hundreds of absentee ballots on election day." … Media critique: "A political writer for Examiner.com who for months has written stories attacking opponents of Hallandale Beach mayoral hopeful Jay Schorr did not tell her readers that she is Schorr's wife." …. Disemployment: "Critics say Gov. Rick Scott and Florida's Legislature are behind a multipronged effort to restrict [unemployment] payments to eligible Floridians. A required 45-question 'skills review' and an online-only application system have combined to restrict thousands of applicants from receiving aid." GA. Stimulus (not): "[GA] has not only depleted our unemployment insurance trust fund, we are also one of 20 states that have been required to borrow funds from the federal government to keep our fund solvent. [O]ur outstanding balance is $742 million. Because the interest cannot be paid from the unemployment tax or trust fund, it has to be paid from other state revenues. Last year the interest payment exceeded $20 million. In an effort to pay back the loan and prevent the fund from further insolvency, earlier this year the legislature passed SB 347, cutting jobless benefits while increasing unemployment benefits paid by employers." LA. Foodies: "[Brennan's] oyster soup was overly vegetal and bitter on the edge lacking in any of the buttery richness or salty punch of Louisiana oysters." Thanks, BP? MA. Ethnography: "When you're talking about local politics, everybody knows everybody." And all politics is local. ME. Angus King: "The moderate centrist is polling more than 50 per cent in a three-way race, almost 30 points ahead of his Democratic and Republican rivals, but says he will not decide which party to support until after he is elected." MI. Pipelines: "The Brandon Township Board unanimously passed a resolution Monday demanding that Enbridge Energy meet eight requirements before beginning construction of its oil pipeline in the township." NY. Corruption: "David Paterson is joining in the protest against Goodwill Industries in the wake of revelations that they paid some workers as little as 22 cents an hour." PA. Fracking: "When PA released official data on Marcellus Shale natural gas production last week, there was no mention that numbers from Chesapeake Energy were missing, meaning the bi-annual totals weren't close to being accurate. The firm has been a top producer in previous reports." VA. Sea level: "In the wettest zones [of Norfolk], streets are studded with 'for sale' signs. [The neighborhood] fronts on a canal and floods regularly. Telltale signs are easy to spot. Evaporating salt water leaves rusty stains on street curbs. Repeated overflows have killed grass in waterfront parks, leaving stretches of bare ground. Spartina, a salt-tolerant marsh grass, is sprouting on slopes above canals and marinas." VT. Bees: "Kirk Webster, a well-known Vermont honeybee queen breeder, didn't use chemicals at all when tracheal mites were first discovered in the state in the late 1980s. He lost 95 percent of his bees the first year, but by breeding the survivors, now has a resistant stock." WI. Credentials: "The new pathway [to become a licensed educator] allows an individual with three years of teaching experience – such as in a private school, workplace training center, child care center or postsecondary institution – to apply for a teaching license by submitting a portfolio of work to the DPI for review." … Agriculture: "State soybean production has been forecast to drop 18 percent to 60.5 million bushels, according to a report from the Wisconsin office of the National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS). Soybeans have been damaged by the drought and an infestation of pesky two-spot spider mites." Outside baseball. Market state: "Their goal is to push schools into a market-system despite any evidence that such a system makes any sense for anyone except those selling stuff to schools or wanting to take over schools and make a profit by cutting costs (teachers)." … Coal: "Tighter emissions standards and an abundance of cheap natural gas have made coal less attractive to domestic utilities. [That's why] coal, rail and shipping companies are looking to overseas markets. To reach them, they need to build export terminals along the West Coast. A string of derailments of trains carrying coal has galvanized opponents." … Constitutional order: "I think we are looking at an 1850′s of the political mind. I think we are two countries, each with its own history, and laws, and language, and religion, and their own mass media to amplify all those things. But only one of these two countries of the mind is tightly organized and capable of moving as a single unit. I think things like the sovereign-citizens movement are merely a particularly vivid example of this." … Constitutional order: "'Lonely Planet types from around the world would immediately embrace the [newly seceded] South as … an indigenous society teeming with underappreciated folk wisdom, ancient values, and fascinating dialects deserving of fierce protection and a slew of new expat-financed eco-lodges.' It would be another Mexico, in other words, 'only with an even weaker currency and more corrupt government.'" Grand Bargain™-brand Cat Food watch. Medicare: "A new Obama radio ad on Monday featured an elderly male voice complaining Romney would "end Medicare and replace it with a voucher." That's not true. That's bad public policy, but Ryan would allow those 55 years old and older now to keep traditional Medicare." Two-tier Medicare is the real evil. So why doesn't Obama attack that? A question that answers itself once asked. The trail. ObamaCare, voter interview: "Obamacare would force me to spend money that I do not have, with no guarantee that I'm still not going to spend more money at the hospital or on prescriptions than I already do. Except I can get fined by the federal government. That gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling." Forced to buy a defective product. … ObamaCare, poll: "The [Siena Research Institute ] survey found NY voters supported Obamacare by a 59-36 margin." … ObamaCare, the cuts: "The [Obamacare cuts to Medicare] are targeted at insurance companies and hospitals, not beneficiaries. Whether they'll reduce services in future years is an open question." Not in a profit-driven system, it's not. … Money: "Romney, who is out-fundraising Obama by impressive margins, is attracting thousands of donors this summer from traditionally D areas of the United States, collecting millions of dollars in even progressive communities from New York to Los Angeles." … Polls, PPP, VA: "Obama leads by 5 points, 50-45. In 8 Virginia surveys PPP has done this cycle, Obama has never led Mitt Romney by less than 4 points. It continues to look like it could be his firewall state this fall." … Media critique: "[Percentage of election coverage from citizens] increased to 17% in the week ending on August 10. Following [the Ryan] announcement, citizen VoiceShare was drowned out by coverage of Paul Ryan and so it fell to 11% last week." Roboma vs. Obomney watch. Climate: "Nary a word has been spoken about climate change on the presidential campaign trail, and it's a silence that some journalists find deafening." And the parties took the economy off the table too. Romney. Oppo: "[RYAN:] Remember this other time where [Obama] was caught on video saying, 'People like to cling to their guns and their religion.' Hey, I'm a Catholic deer hunter. I am happy to be clinging to my guns and my religion." Memories…. Akin flap. Matt 22-39: "We see it on TV all the time. Whenever a women is raped by someone she knows, she falls in love with her rapist. It's just the way it is. Search 'rape' on YouTube and see what comes up." … Matt 22-39: "[American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer:] 'You know the Gospel writers say that [the scribes and Pharisees] kept looking for some way to trap Jesus in something that he might say, just one single word they could jump on to try to discredit him and that's what they did with Todd Akin and his comments about rape.'" (That the Ds are, in fact, scribes and Pharisees, doesn't make Akins Jesus.) … "Shut the whole thing down" watch: "Why didn't God go further, and give us the superpower ability to, I don't know, secrete a toxin that would instantly dissolve the human penis that's being forced into our bodies?" Oppo, Lynn Sweet: "Ty Matsdorf, a senior adviser for American Bridge, told me their Missouri tracker saw the interview live and flagged it for his bosses. They posted a clip on YouTube and sent it around to some reporters. The explosion was just a matter of time." … Losing the political class: "Politico editors have removed David Catanese from [Akin] coverage following the reporter's defense of the congressman's comments." … Even Karl Rove: "This is one of those unfortunate things that's so bad, so deplorable, so out-of-touch that there's no way to recover, in my opinion, from it." … Even Rush Limbaugh: "[A]ll of these things that he truly cares about will be much easier to make happen if we win the Senate and the White House and hold the House this November." … Oh, and Romney, 4:24PM: "Today, his fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race." … Religious right: "[Dr. Jack Willke, founder of the International Right to Life Federation] and his wife, Barbara, are leading antiabortion advocates. Their book, first published in 1971, asserts that 'assault rape' rarely results in pregnancy because the assault traumatizes the woman and makes her body less habitable." They're shipping Akin their book. ("Habitable"?!) … Pass the popcorn: "[I]t really is all kinds of hilarious watching Rs, for once, have to try to throw somebody over the side. I mean, they don't even really know HOW." True, dat. Rove/Bush/Cheney would have thrown Akin out of an airplane. Top of the ticket: "[Akin and Ryan] share a voting history on abortion rights, including mutual support for a controversial measure that would define an embryo as a person. They cosponsored another measure, subsequently withdrawn, that would distinguish 'forcible rape' in banning abortion funding. Akin, Ryan, and Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney also back less-controversial measures, such as defunding Planned Parenthood." … Sticking: "Akin said definitively that he would not leave the race for the Senate in MO, saying on Mike Huckabee's radio show that 'there's a cause here' and that an outpouring of grass-roots support [for example] would propel him to victory without the support of the R establishment." Because he's now a superstar! The 10 Reasons Todd Akin Is Staying In. … That PPP snap poll (here): "But if you're Todd Akin looking for some justification to continue your increasingly doomed campaign, you can use this flawed Republican-heavy poll to make your case to stick around." But PPP is D-leaning. Hmm…. Akin speaks: "Will you stand with me and chip-in $3 as a sign of support of my continued candidacy?" In the "apology" video! * 19 days until the Democratic National Convention ends with turkey tetrazzini for everyone on the floor of the * * * Antidote du jour (Herman S):
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