saveyourassetsfirst3 |
- More Pain In Store For Corning
- Long Gold Miners/Short S&P 500 ETF Pairs Trade
- GDX ETF Rising
- Quanticipation in the Gold Price
- Will Gold Resume Its Rally In The Near Future?
- Profit Nuggets From Grand Delusions
- Governor Mitt Romney Accepts GOP Nomination
- 12,000 Gold Fields workers go on wildcat strike
- A Jackson Hole In One for Precious Metals?
- August 2012: Platinum Up 6.4% & Silver Surges 9%
- Bullion Headed for Third Straight Monthly Gain
- Time for eurozone to reach for the gold reserves?
- Europe: light at the end of the tunnel?
- Can Gold Positives Counter Fed Disappointment?
- How About Starting Your Own Gold Standard?
- Links 8/31/12
- Greg Hunter's Weekly Wrap Up
- Silver Update: Banana Republic 8.30.12
- Gold and Silver Market morning, August 31
- Gillian Tett: Time For Eurozone To Reach For The Gold Reserves?
- Gold standard: Could it return in the US?
- Two King World News Blogs
- Don Coxe Recommends Investors Read Lenin to Understand the Markets
- European Coins Part II: The Faceless Euro
- Links for 2012-08-30 [del.icio.us]
- Gold Option Traders Most Bullish Since Bottom In October 2008
| More Pain In Store For Corning Posted: 31 Aug 2012 11:52 AM PDT By Shareholders of Corning (GLW) have had a very difficult year. In the past 52 weeks, the stock price has declined nearly 23%, shedding nearly $4 billion in shareholder value. This decline has been slightly mitigated by an increase in dividend yield; however, many investors have experienced large losses. In this article, I will make the case that Corning could potentially face further downside in the near future. Buying a Share of Earnings The first item we will examine in this analysis is the price-to-earnings ratio. P/E is a simple ratio that essentially represents how much the market is willing to pay to purchase a dollar of the company's earnings. P/E is a popular valuation metric, and it can give important insight into determining the relative worth of an organization. In traditional fundamental analysis, a P/E ratio of below 20 represents a valuable organization. However, I believe that a more relevant Complete Story » |
| Long Gold Miners/Short S&P 500 ETF Pairs Trade Posted: 31 Aug 2012 10:19 AM PDT By SL Advisors: Towards the end of last year we felt there was an interesting opportunity to be long equities hedged with a short position in the Euro. Our thinking was that equities were attractively priced as long as a crisis was averted, and most of the bad things we could imagine would either begin in Europe (i.e. Euro collapse) or affect it more than the U.S. (such as an Israeli strike on Iran given the EU's greater reliance of Middle East imports than the U.S.). We employed this bias in Fixed Income where long positions in bank debt were combined with short Euro positions. That trade is no longer interesting, because a short Euro is a less effective hedge now that it's weakened. But a similar concept exists with gold miners and equities. Gold and Silver miners have for many months been trading at a healthy discount to the NAV of their Complete Story » |
| Posted: 31 Aug 2012 10:11 AM PDT By Scott Wright: GDX ETF Rising As gold enters into a season of fundamental strength and what should be a powerful new upleg, there ought to be rekindled interest in gold stocks. In fact, if gold indeed rallies the gold-stock sector will likely see a much-more-powerful upleg than the metal considering how oversold it's been. And one of the first places investors will go when they are drawn to this sector is the venerable GDX Gold Miners ETF. GDX was the first gold-stock ETF when it was born in 2006. And with net assets of nearly $8.0b, today it is the largest of its kind. GDX's strong correlation history with gold has made it a popular destination for institutional investors and hedge funds, while also being a hot spot for the casual retail investor looking to hedge individual-company risk. And of course GDX's primary allure is its ability to positively leverage the underlying Complete Story » |
| Quanticipation in the Gold Price Posted: 31 Aug 2012 10:01 AM PDT Quanticipation - the anticipation of quantitative easing... |
| Will Gold Resume Its Rally In The Near Future? Posted: 31 Aug 2012 09:42 AM PDT By Lior Cohen: Shares of Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX) have risen in recent weeks: During August the stock has risen by nearly 12.8%, but it has declined by nearly 21.3% year-to-end. In comparison, during the month, the price of gold has risen by 3%. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) has increased by 2.6%. The recent speech of Chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, lifted the expectations that the FOMC will announce of another quantitative easing plan in the near future, which will rally the prices of gold. Let's examine what is up ahead for the gold market. The recent recovery of gold was mostly related to the renewed expectations that the FOMC will act in the near future and issue another quantitative easing plan. The publication of the minutes of the FOMC meeting showed that many FOMC members are leaning towards issuing QE3. The recent speech of Bernanke at Jackson Hole also rekindled the Complete Story » |
| Profit Nuggets From Grand Delusions Posted: 31 Aug 2012 09:06 AM PDT "Keynesian and monetarist economists claim all that's needed to return prosperity in the PIIGS countries is looser money and their own currencies. The next best thing would be transforming the character of the euro from that of the German mark to the Italian lira. They're wrong. A policy that tries to restore conditions that existed before the euro crisis will fail, just like the foolish U.S. policy effort to reinflate the housing bubble. Prosperity comes from savings and investment, not government deficits and welfare state programs financed by the printing press." (emphasis added) Dan Amoss, CFA, Agora Financial, 8/24/12 Too true! But "government deficits and welfare state programs financed by the printing press" will not be abandoned any time soon. Since the consequences of not trying to continue to kick the Economic Can down The Road (to the Cliff) are unacceptable to Globalist Politicians and Bankers at The Fed, and the ECB, the printing will continue; thus providing the Delusion (publicized by the MainStream Media) that Recovery is on the way, until Reality pierces it. Until then, print they will (see below regarding Spain – critically important to the International Financial System). The only questions are: when, how much, and when does Reality stop them? But the Can Kicking provides Profit Opportunities. So how does one Profit while the Can Kicking continues? Savvy forecasting of the Timing and Variety of Can Kicking can greatly enhance the chances for Profit and Protection, and prepares one for the more widespread recognition of The Impending Reality. That Reality, by the way, is Hyperstagflation. The excessive money printing and credit provision (QE1, 2, LTRO, and ESM, etc. e.g.) which has occurred so far has not revived the Economy. But it has caused substantial Inflation if one looks at the Real Numbers, rather than Bogus Official ones (see Note 1). The ultimate result is described by Marc Faber. "There's still a 100 percent chance the world heads into recession, Marc Faber, publisher of 'The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report,' told CNBC's 'Closing Bell' on Thursday, echoing a call he made in May. "…'The U.S. economy has decelerated and I don't see much growth in the next six to 12 months,' Faber said. "…'I think that if you look at the injection of liquidity and the intervention by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury with fiscal measures, it has already impoverished the U.S. economy,' he said. "…'Corporate profits will disappoint over the next 12 to 18 months.'" "Odds of Global Recession Are 100%" Marc Faber to CNBC's "Closing Bell," 8/23/2012 Indeed! The Mega-Banker Interventions have so distorted the Financial Markets and Economy that most Sectors have become mainly dependent on Interventions, even though The Delusion persists among many that these Sectors trade mainly on Fundamentals. Profit Nuggets:
"Debt has been growing exponentially everywhere… Debt is backed with debt, based on debt, dependent on debt, and leveraged with yet more debt. For example, today it is possible to buy a bond (i.e. lend money) on margin (i.e., with borrowed money). "The time is now fast approaching when all debt will be defaulted on. In our perverse monetary system, one party's debt is another's "money." A debtor's default will impact the creditor (who is usually also a debtor to yet other creditors), causing him to default, and so on. When this begins in earnest, it will wipe out the banking system and thus everyone's "money." The paper currencies will not survive this." "Is Gold Backwardation Now Permanent?" Keith Weiner, New Austrian School of Economics, 2/29/2012 While we do not agree that "all" Debt will be defaulted on, or with, Weiner's basic point, that Major Fiat Currencies with the Purchasing Power which they now embody, will not survive. However, his comments point in the right direction: there will be increasing Sovereign Defaults, since The Icelandic Solution (see our recent Article) is probably the only one for many Sovereigns for the long run. And the Purchasing Power of Fiat Currencies will continue to decline vis-à-vis Real Assets.
If Bailing out the Mega-Banks were not the main purpose, why is it that The Fed continues to pay "interest" to the Mega-Banks for depositing their Reserves at the Fed. Were these "interest" payments to cease, the money could be loaned to job-creating small businesses which, generally, are starved for funds. That would increase employment and economic growth.
Since the Spanish economy is much larger than Greece's, this will probably impel the ECB to print more Euros. This will depreciate that Fiat currency even more, and that is Good for Gold, Hold thy Gold! We do forecast another Takedown is likely which should provide a Buying Opportunity (see Note 3 below).
Best regards, Deepcaster August 30, 2012 Note 1: Shadowstats.com calculates Key Statistics the way they were calculated in the 1980s and 1990s before Official Data Manipulation began in earnest. Consider Bogus Official Numbers vs. Real Numbers (per Shadowstats.com) Annual U.S. Consumer Price Inflation reported August 15, 2012 1.41% / 9.02% U.S. Unemployment reported August 3, 2012 8.3% / 22.9% U.S. GDP Annual Growth/Decline reported July 27, 2012 2.21% / -2.15% U.S. M3 reported August 4, 2012 (Month of July, Y.O.Y.) No Official Report / 2.86% e Note 2: *We encourage those who doubt the scope and power of Overt and Covert Interventions by a Fed-led Cartel of Key Central Bankers and Favored Financial Institutions to read Deepcaster's December, 2009, Special Alert containing a summary overview of Intervention entitled "Forecasts and December, 2009 Special Alert: Profiting From The Cartel's Dark Interventions - III" and Deepcaster's July, 2010 Letter entitled "Profit from a Weakening Cartel; Buy Reco; Forecasts: Gold, Silver, Equities, Crude Oil, U.S. Dollar & U.S. T-Notes & T-Bonds" in the 'Alerts Cache' and 'Latest Letter' Cache at www.deepcaster.com. Also consider the substantial evidence collected by the Gold AntiTrust Action Committee at www.gata.org, including testimony before the CFTC, for information on precious metals price manipulation. Virtually all of the evidence for Intervention has been gleaned from publicly available records. Deepcaster's profitable recommendations displayed at www.deepcaster.com have been facilitated by attention to these "Interventionals." Attention to The Interventionals facilitated Deepcaster's recommending five short positions prior to the Fall, 2008 Market Crash all of which were subsequently liquidated profitably. Note 3: Rarely do the Fundamentals, Technicals, Interventionals and Actual Share Values line up so Favorably as now, for two specific Trades. If one Security which we recommended last week were "merely" to return to its 52 week high that would generate about a 4,500% Return (that's a four thousand five hundred percent Return), if one invested when we recommended. Moreover, (while it is not likely to move all that way in the next 52 weeks) we think it likely it will make a Major Move in that direction in the next few months, and quite possibly in the next few weeks. So it is important to explain why this is such a wonderful Opportunity going forward. We agree with one of the Wise Old Timers of Market Forecasting – Richard Russell – that these Markets are "as Difficult and Puzzling as any that I've ever had to wrestle with." Russell notes that while Key Fundamentals are Lousy, and Dow Theory is signaling we are in a Primary Bear Market, (both True) the Equities Markets have been bullishly approaching recent Highs. Russell has recently expressed Puzzlement at that too. We do not. In our September Letter recently posted we explain why, and identify two Trades which increasingly signaling "Bull". To see our Recommended trade which has multi-hundred per cent potential, and the two Sectors moving into Bull Tendency, read Deepcaster's "September 2012 Letter; Opportunity Knocks LOUDLY But Briefly; Buy Reco; Forecasts: Key Commodities, Gold, Silver, Crude Oil; Equities, U.S. Dollar/Euro, U.S. T-Notes, T- Bonds, & Interest Rates; September Letter" posted in 'Latest Letter and Archives' at deepcaster.com. Note 4: There are Magnificent Opportunities in the Ongoing Crises of Debt Saturation, Rising Unemployment, negative Real GDP growth, over 9.0% Real U.S. Inflation (per Shadowstats.com) and prospective Sovereign and other Defaults. One Sector full of Opportunities is the High-Yield Sector. Deepcaster's High Yield Portfolio is aimed at generating Total Return (Gain + Yield) well in excess of Real Consumer Price Inflation (9% per year in the U.S. per Shadowstats.com). To consider our High-Yield Stocks Portfolio with Recent Yields of 10.6%, 18.5%, 26%, 15.6%, 8%, 6.7%, 8.6%, 10%, 14.9%, 10.4%, 15.4%, and 10.7% when added to the portfolio; go to www.deepcaster.com and click on 'High Yield Portfolio'. |
| Governor Mitt Romney Accepts GOP Nomination Posted: 31 Aug 2012 08:21 AM PDT Governor Mitt Romney's RNC speech on August 30, 2012 is just below. The GOP presidential hopeful delivered a solid, presidential message. We particularly liked the comment that Americans deserve more than what they have today in terms of leadership. "Now is the moment when we can stand up and say: I'm an American – I make my destiny – we deserve better – my children deserve better – my family deserves better – my country deserves better!" To which we found ourselves nodding in agreement. Perhaps our favorite quote: "But for too many Americans those kind of good days are harder to come by. How many days have you woken up feeling that something really special was happening in America? Many of you felt that way four years ago on Election Day. Hope and change had a powerful appeal. But tonight I'd ask a simple question. If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he is President Obama. … You know there is something wrong with the kind of job he had done as president when the best feeling you had was when you voted for him." "The president hasn't disappointed you because he wanted to. The president has disappointed America because he hasn't led America in the right direction." -- Find out why Gov. Romney said that in the video below.
Source: YouTube A few additional quotes of many. "… We must rein in the spiraling cost of medical care by repealing and replacing Obamacare." - To raucous applause.
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| 12,000 Gold Fields workers go on wildcat strike Posted: 31 Aug 2012 07:59 AM PDT |
| A Jackson Hole In One for Precious Metals? Posted: 31 Aug 2012 07:18 AM PDT The metals complex opened higher this morning as the pre-long weekend book-squaring ritual got underway and as players awaited Mr. Bernanke's words from Jackson Hole. Gold advanced $5 to $1,660 while silver rose 20 cents to $30.70 per ounce. |
| August 2012: Platinum Up 6.4% & Silver Surges 9% Posted: 31 Aug 2012 05:46 AM PDT Bullion will benefit as an inflation hedge if Bernanke announces more bond buying and additional monetary stimulus measures for the US economy. However, there is the real possibility that Bernanke merely hints at more QE again today prior to launching QE in September. |
| Bullion Headed for Third Straight Monthly Gain Posted: 31 Aug 2012 05:19 AM PDT Wholesale prices to buy gold bullion hovered close to $1,660 an ounce Friday morning in London, around $10 below where they started the week ahead of today's much-anticipated Bernanke speech and Monday's Labor Day holiday in the US. |
| Time for eurozone to reach for the gold reserves? Posted: 31 Aug 2012 05:16 AM PDT Gillian Tett: Time for eurozone to reach for the gold reserves? Submitted by cpowell on Fri, 2012-08-31 01:33. Section: Daily Dispatches Unless the gold collateral was moved out of the vaults of the sovereign borrowers vault and into the vaults of the lenders, this idea would be just another government scam, especially insofar as the supposed gold of the anticipated borrowers probably already has been sold, swapped, leased, and hypothecated into oblivion anyway. * * * Time for Eurozone to Reach for the Gold Reserves? By Gillian Tett Financial Times, London Thursday, August 30, 2012 http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/80a239a6-f2c2-11e1-8577-00144feabdc0.html Is it time for some eurozone governments to start selling that metaphorical family silver? Or, more specifically look at their all-too-real gold reserves, to find a solution to Europe's crisis? That is a question which has recently been buzzing around in some policy making and investing circles. For as autumn looms, it is clear that the eurozone remains under profound stress. However, it is also unclear whether the European Central Bank -- let alone the eurozone politicians -- will really be able to do anything soon to ease market fears and lower those borrowing costs. Thus, as unease builds, the World Gold Council -- or the body that represents the gold industry -- has recently lobbed a new idea into the fray: It thinks it is time for eurozone governments to start using gold in a creative manner, particularly in places such as Italy, to cut those interest rates. The issue at stake revolves around the estimated 10,000 tonnes of gold reserves that are held by eurozone governments. According to the council, "It is well known that some of the countries most affected by the crisis, including Portugal and Italy, are responsible for a significant proportion of these assets." Unsurprisingly, this situation has prompted some to suggest that governments should sell some of that gold. The value of gold has soared in the last few years, and if there were ever a time that eurozone countries needed an unexpected windfall -- say, to pay interest on bonds -- it would be now. But the gold council, for its part, insists this would be a mistake. For quite apart from the fact that a massive dump of gold would dampen the price, eurozone debt woes are now so large that gold sales would only scratch the surface of the problem. Or as the council notes: "The gold holdings of the crisis-hit eurozone countries (Portugal, Spain, Greece, Ireland, and Italy) represent only 3.3 per cent of the combined outstanding debt of their central governments." Thus it favours an alternative idea: Instead eurozone countries should essentially securitise part of that gold, by issuing government bonds that are backed by gold. This could be done in a simple manner; or it could be structured to include tranches of different risks. Either way, the key point is that gold would be used to provide additional security for bonds -- and thus reassure investors who do not trust eurozone government balance sheets anymore. "Using only a portion of those gold reserves as collateral could significantly reduce the rate at which each of these [periphery] countries could issue debt," the council argues, pointing out that this scheme has been employed on a few occasions in history before. In the 1970s, for example, Italy and Portugal used their gold reserves as collateral to get loans from the Bundesbank, the Bank for International Settlements, and other creditors. More recently, India raised a loan from Japan, which it backed with gold. So is there any chance this idea could fly? Don't hold your breath, or not soon. Personally -- and leaving aside the gold council's self-serving interest in pushing the scheme -- I think that the concept of gold-backed bonds certainly is worth debating. While gold-backed bonds would not be a full-blown solution, it could help in some respects. But there is little sign that the idea has garnered any serious support from policy makers thus far. Even if eurozone leaders embraced the idea, there would be some big legal obstacles; most notably, much of the gold is held by central banks, not treasuries. Nevertheless, if nothing else, investors should take note of the debate as an interesting straw in the wind. A decade ago it seemed utterly old-fashioned to ever suggest that any investor -- or institution -- would post gold as a collateral; in the era of cyber finance, securities such as treasury bonds tended to rule. But in recent months groups such as a LCH.Clearnet, Intercontinental Exchange, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have increasingly started to accept gold as collateral for margin requirements for derivatives trades. And earlier this summer the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued a discussion paper that suggested that gold should be one of six items used as collateral for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives trades, alongside items such as treasury bonds. This does not add up to a revolution, let alone the type of step toward gold-backed finance -- or a gold standard -- that gold bugs (and some American Republican Party members) would love to see. But it does suggest that a slow evolution of attitudes is underway – not so much in terms of the desirability of gold per se, but the increasingly undesirability and riskiness of other supposedly "safe" assets, such as government bonds. That pattern is unlikely to change soon, especially as markets wait to see what the ECB might unveil on September 6. http://gata.org/node/11705 |
| Europe: light at the end of the tunnel? Posted: 31 Aug 2012 04:45 AM PDT Gold is down around 0.7% for the week as of this morning's London Fix, with silver, platinum and palladium following suit. Worries about Europe have dragged on prices, with the high-profile ... |
| Can Gold Positives Counter Fed Disappointment? Posted: 31 Aug 2012 04:40 AM PDT Gold traders from Asia to Europe have turned cautious before the speech on Friday by Bernanke. The Fed may refrain from giving the timing of a QE3 at his speech although traders expect him to sustain the market's expectations of further quantitative easing. |
| How About Starting Your Own Gold Standard? Posted: 31 Aug 2012 04:08 AM PDT Gold's role of sound money in the financial system has been determined by market participants for thousands of years. Investors seeking a hedge against devaluing fiat currencies and poor fiscal policy often turn to gold, and today's market is no different. |
| Posted: 31 Aug 2012 03:55 AM PDT By Charles Davis South African miners charged with murder of colleagues shot by police Guardian Deflation Deepens as Japan Contraction Risk Intensifies Bloomberg Consumer spending posts biggest rise in five months Reuters Greece pleads for debt extension Al Jazeera China rolling government and steel debt? Macro Business (David Llewellyn-Smith) U.S. flower growers fight to survive amid flood of imports McClatchy Harvard Investigates "Unprecedented" Academic Dishonesty Case Harvard Crimson Majority of New Jobs Pay Low Wages, Study Finds New York Times Apple's rot starts with its Samsung lawsuit win Guardian Chavez denies neglect in Venezuela oil fire Al Jazeera 200 US Marines join anti-drug effort in Guatemala AP Why Are the Big Banks Suddenly Afraid? New York Times China's Stocks Head for Longest Monthly Losing Streak Since 2004 Bloomberg Facing Grand Jury Intimidation: Fear, Silence and Solidarity Truthout Spain Said to Consider Bankia Re-Capitalization Without EU Money Bloomberg U.S. to allow Shell to begin prep work for drilling in Arctic Reuters D.C.'s very funny VeriFone contract TheFightBack Chinese firms put intellectual property lawsuits to work Washington Post * * * lambert here: D – 7 and counting* "If you have to assert you are human, there's no way you are going to be elected." –Frank Luntz RNC. Ryan review: Dazzling, deceiving, distracting (on FOX, of all places). Eastwood: "[T]here's 23 million unemployed people in this country. (Cheers, applause.) And now that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace. And we haven't done enough, obviously. This administration hasn't done enough to cure that. And whatever interest they have is not strong enough." No teleprompter. … Losing the political class: "Backstage, stern-faced Romney aides winced at times as Eastwood's remarks stretched on." … Rubio, snark watch: "Our problem with President Obama isn't that he's a bad person. By all accounts, he, too, is a good husband, and a good father … and thanks to lots of practice, a good golfer. Our problem is that he's a bad president." … Romney, snark watch: "You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him" (transcript). … Romney: "What America needs is jobs. Lots of jobs. I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs." ("Pick out any idea, compare ideas, with the one idea left you have no doubt and without a doubt we have enthusiasm!" [07:37]). … Losing the political class: "'Mr Chairman and delegates, I accept your nomination for president of the United States,' says Mitt when he reaches the podium. He appears to be shedding a few tears and his eyes are quite red." Jeebus, "appears"? … Losing the political class, Taegan Goddard: "Mitt Romney accepted the R presidential nomination but gave a speech that was flat. He started slowly, often rambling, but gradually moved to a more powerful, scolding tone. It was utterly predictable and lacked specifics, but he checked off most of the important topics." Two quotes: Josh Marshall (D), Andrew Sullivan (Obama supporter). … Losing the political class: "But the celebratory finale did not completely erase a flat feeling that hovered over the convention, leaving open the question of whether Romney had accomplished what he needed to do." RNCon protests. Crowds: "I guess all it takes to squash a big protest is $50 mill in taxpayer expenditures and the threat of a hurricane." …. Exterior lines: "Many Romneyville residents are relocating their impromptu community to Charlotte and the DNCon. They are hoping for bigger crowds and more energy, drawing on Occupy activists from cities along the Eastern seaboard." Conventions. The hall and the program: "There is a curious interaction at national party conventions between the physical setup of the convention writ large, the effective content of its substantive program, and the technology by which this substance is communicated. [N]ow that the hall has actually been used to deliver a program on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights, it is probably time to consider the two sides of this interaction, 'the Hall' and 'the Program'." Recommended. AK. Extractive economy: "Royal Dutch Shell PLC has been given a permit to begin preparation work at exploratory drilling sites in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast while it awaits certification for its oil spill response barge, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Thursday." AL. Extractive economy: "Black Warrior Riverkeeper opposes the Shepherd Bend Mine, which would discharge wastewater from coal mining into the Black Warrior's Mulberry Fork only 800 feet from a major drinking water intake for 200,000 customers of the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB)." CO. Fracking: "In a highly charged vote Tuesday night, [Erie's] Board of Trustees decided to let a six-month moratorium on new oil and gas operations expire Monday while entering into agreements [memoranda of understandings] with energy producers that will place tough regulations on their operations. In an email, Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Executive Director Matt Lepore said the best management practices contained in Erie's MOUs "can be incorporated into a COGCC permit to drill as enforceable conditions of the permit." … Fracking: "Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which estimates its Colorado reserves at the equivalent 1.5 billion barrels of oil, is set to spend about $1 billion this year on its Weld County operations, a company spokesman said." FL. Voting: "[A]t least one person will be going to jail for voting illegally in 2008. Josef Sever, born in Austria, pleaded guilty Thursday to voting in the November 4, 2008 presidential election even though he is not a U.S. citizen. Sever, who also received a concealed firearms license and bought nine guns under the pretense that he was U.S. citizen, faces up to five years in prison for the voting and gun-related charges." It would be an Austrian. …. Isaac: "Health officials are warning those homeowners they will have to extensively decontaminate anything that makes contact with contaminated well water — filters, pipes, water softeners — everything [after their wells and septic fields were inundated]. Further, government won't be testing their well water for them. They'll have to take care of that on their own." … Police state: "A north Florida judge has sentenced a 21-year-old homeless man to 180 days in jail for stealing $2 worth of candy." MT. Legalization: "A convicted Montana medical marijuana provider with a history of serious illness died [in custody] Thursday after his transfer to a federal prison that could give him proper medical care was delayed for months." As surely as if they'd beat him to death. NC. Fracking: "Before voting to allow fracking in NC, state lawmakers took two fact-finding trips to PA — and a gas company [Chesapeake] that's now facing multiple federal and state investigations served as their guide." NY. Handmaid's Tale: "Five women who worked for Vito J. Lopez, the [D] assemblyman at the center of a broadening sexual harassment scandal, described in interviews an atmosphere of sexual pressure and crude language in his office." OR. Pissoirs: "Here, where just about everything is greener, hipper and more carbon-neutral, it was only a matter of time before someone came up with a sustainable urban toilet." PA. Fracking, "List of the harmed": "[#1: ] Headaches, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, nosebleeds, blood test show exposure to benzene and other chemicals." Each example with link. Impressive. TX. Voting: "Following on the DOJ finding last March that the R-enacted polling place Photo ID restriction law in Texas was discriminatory, in violation of the U.S. Voting Rights Act (VRA), a three-judge U.S. District Court panel has again blocked the law from being implemented." … Voting: "When Texas filed its case in defense of the law in the District Court, it made two general points: first, that the [photo ID] requirement does not reduce the voting rights of minorities protected by the Voting Rights Act and thus should be cleared, and, second, that if the Act did not get clearance, then the Act itself is unconstitutional. " So now comes part 2. …. Voting: "TX is likely to appeal this case to the Supreme Court, and I would expect to see an application for an emergency injunction allowing TX to use its voter id law during the upcoming election. If this happens, this will be a major question for the Roberts Court, and it would have to be decided in short order." Son of Bush v. Gore. … Vampire squids: "A small number of homeowners who lost their homes last year to the wildfires in Bastrop, TX, reported that their mortgage lenders made them pay down or pay off their mortgage balance with insurance money, instead of applying the funds towards rebuilding." So why get insurance? VA. Extractive economy: "Local residents assert that while the [Coalfields Expressway] project is being billed as a highway project, in reality it's a taxpayer financed strip mine that is likely to be exempt from all of the permitting requirements and other protections provided for communities and the environment by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Action." WA. Extractive economy: "WA is threatening legal action if the federal government doesn't respond to questions about cleanup delays at [Hanford,] the nation's most contaminated nuclear site." WI. Fracking: "One of the themes that emerged was worries about a lack of transparency about who owns the [fracking sand] companies. [Landowner Paul van Eijl] said he can't say who's funding Superior because those with a lot of money to invest don't want to be known. Outside baseball. Torture: "The DOJ has just formally ended their investigation into CIA 'enhanced interrogations' without bringing any charges." Man, I'm so old I remember when "progressives" actually thought torture was important. Good times. … Food: "Nationally, food insecurity among elderly Americans increased by 78 percent between 2001 and 2010, according to the Meals on Wheels Association of America. In 2010, nearly 15 percent of all American seniors weren't sure from day to day if they'd have access to food." USA! USA! Robama vs. Obomney watch. Convention review: "'We can do better' was the overall theme, with each night having its own: 'We did build it,' 'We can change it,' and 'We believe in America.' What does that mean? It sounds as empty as the words that speaker after speaker mocked this week: Obama's promise four years ago of hope and change." Yep. …. Bots: "Watch how often Obama supporters will defend their leader from conservative attacks by proudly arguing that Obama's policies are actually the same as that which conservatives advocate." The trail. Razor-thin margin: "[T]he best explanation I can come up with for the gap between the polls, on the one hand, and the apparent confidence of Obama's camp (and the lack of confident in Romney's revealed behavior) on the other, it's that the polls are showing more white people than either campaign projects." Or "It's not your night, kid. Romney. Facts: "While Obama and his allies have made many misleading claims of their own, the frequency and repetition of the Romney campaign's claims has been particularly striking." Obama. Legalization: "Despite several of the most upvoted questions being about the drug war and marijuana prohibition, the President again chose to ignore the subject. Instead, he decided to answer important questions about the White House beer recipe and who his favorite basketball player is." Brave Sir Robin! … Fear of a Black President, Shirley Sherrod: "How can I explain to my children that I got fired by the first black president?" Tell them you got fired by America's first black fascist President! [rimshot. laughter] … Bots: "Well, you can have your opinion about Afghanistan, but that's no reason to character assassinate the President" (sigh). … Rape: "In May 2009, Barack Obama announced he would not comply with a court order that would have brought hundreds of meticulously documented cases of rape and sexual assault from prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan to the forefront of public debate and scrutiny." Because "rape is rape," except when it's not. * 7 days until the Democratic National Convention ends with surplus cheese for everyone on the floor of the NOTE Had to do a little Gregorian reform there; I think crossing the international dateline scrambled my calendar circuitry and simple arithmetical processes, such as they are. T 0 is September 7, when the campaign begins. My bad. * * * Antidote du jour:
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| Posted: 31 Aug 2012 03:20 AM PDT There's big news in the Middle East this week. A new U.N. report says the Iranians are ramping up uranium enrichment. There are also reports that the Russians are backing out of Syria, leaving the Assad regime to fend for itself. from usawatchdog: Both reports are ominous signs the world is inching towards war in the ME. The big story about the GOP convention is not Romney or Ryan, but talk of Gold and the fiscal cliff. Finally, Hurricane Isaac has flooded Louisiana, but the good news is it will bring much needed rain to the drought ravaged Midwest. Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com gives his analysis on these stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up. ~TVR |
| Silver Update: Banana Republic 8.30.12 Posted: 31 Aug 2012 03:16 AM PDT |
| Gold and Silver Market morning, August 31 Posted: 31 Aug 2012 03:00 AM PDT |
| Gillian Tett: Time For Eurozone To Reach For The Gold Reserves? Posted: 31 Aug 2012 02:35 AM PDT ¤ Yesterday in Gold and SilverIt was another lackluster trading day in gold...trading mostly sideways right up until about ten minutes before the Comex open in New York. A rally of sorts developed from there, but that ran out of gas...or into a willing seller...right around 9:00 a.m. Eastern, and that was the high of the day. From there it trended down until the London p.m. gold fix...and from that point, the gold price got sold down a bit more than ten bucks, but that was probably attributable to the move in the dollar index. It recovered a hair from that before trading mostly sideways into the close of electronic trading. Gold finished at $1,655.30 spot...down 80 cents. Volume was around 101,000 contracts...most of it of the high-frequency trading variety.
It was pretty much the same for silver, but after the 8:45 a.m. Eastern high...$31.04 spot...the sell off in silver was far more vicious, with the absolute low of the day coming at precisely 12:30 p.m. in New York...long after gold's low was in. The low tick was $30.13...a 3.0% intraday move. The subsequent rally didn't go far...and from 2:30 p.m. onwards, the silver price traded sideways into the 5:15 p.m. Eastern electronic close. For the fourth day in a row, attempts [two in all] to break above...and stay above...the $31 spot price were sold off the instant they occurred. No 'for profit' seller ever sells like this into a rally...ever! It's my bet that we're looking at an interim top at this price. Silver finished the Thursday session at $30.44 spot...down 29 cents from Wednesday. Gross volume was huge once again because of roll-overs...but net volume was still pretty decent at around 29,000 contracts, as there was lots of trading in the new front month for silver, which is December.
Here's the New York Silver Spot [Bid] chart for silver on its own. Note the precision of the 12:30 p.m. low tick. This was not a random event.
The dollar index opened around 81.55...and then traded a bit lower from there...bouncing off the 81.43 mark several times right up until the 10:00 a.m. Eastern time London p.m. gold fix. Then in less than an hour the index rallied about 30 basis points...and then traded more or less sideways into the 5:30 p.m. Eastern close. The index closed 81.72...up a whole 17 basis points on the day. I suppose one can attribute the gold price action to the dollar index move...but silver seemed a little overdone...especially when the actual low of the day came an hour and forty minutes after the dollar index rally ended. As you already know, silver is l'enfant terrible for JPMorgan et al...and this was an opportunity not to be passed up. And they didn't. I'm also curious as to why the dollar index would rally out of the blue at precisely the time of the London p.m. gold fix, as I didn't hear any news that might have caused that. If you heard anything, please let me know.
The gold stocks opened barely in positive territory, but that all ended the moment that gold got hit just a few minutes after the London p.m. gold fix. Not surprisingly, the shares hit their nadir at 10:50 a.m. Eastern, gold's low price tick...and after that, every attempt by gold shares to rally significantly, got sold off in a pattern very similar to what was going on with the gold price at the same time. The HUI finished down 0.73%.
Of course the silver shares didn't do particularly well, either...and Nick Laird's Silver Sentiment Index finished down another 0.95%.
(Click on image to enlarge) As I mentioned in this space yesterday, the CME's Daily Delivery Report did show a handful of gold contracts still outstanding for August...seven in all...and they will be delivered today. First Day Notice for the September delivery month showed that 590 gold and only 292 silver contracts were posted for delivery on Tuesday, September 4th. In gold, the big short/issuer was JPMorgan in both its client and proprietary trading accounts. They issued 578 contracts of the total amount...and the biggest long/stopper by far was the Bank of Nova Scotia with 507 contracts. There were only two short/issuers in silver...Jefferies with 153 contracts...and JPMorgan in its client account for 139 contracts. The largest long/stopper was JPMorgan with 130 contracts in its proprietary trading account...and 101 in its client account. The other nine long/stoppers accounted for the rest. I was somewhat surprised that more silver contracts weren't posted for delivery on first notice day...but this isn't the first time that a major delivery month has started off slowly. As a matter of fact, it's almost becoming the 'new normal'. The rest of the delivery month should prove interesting. The link to yesterday's Issuers and Stoppers Report is here...and it's definitely worth a look. There were no reported changes in GLD yesterday...but the big surprise was SLV. They reported a third withdrawal this week. This time it was 1,356,720 troy ounces. Since the silver rally began two weeks ago, SLV has shown a net decline of about 198,000 troy ounces of silver...and GLD has added 475,181 ounces of gold, with no withdrawals at all. Are silver supplies getting a little tight out there, or is it just Ted and I that are thinking that way? I had a chat with Eric Sprott yesterday...and the first question out of my mouth was how long did it take to get the seven million ounces that PSLV purchased in the last offering. Eric said it took about two weeks. The next question was about the amount of silver purchased. I'd heard that it was eight million ounces, but Nick Laird and I could only come up with seven million received so far. It appears that Sprott is sitting on some of the cash received in case there is a price correction...and redemptions. If this scenario doesn't materialize within a reasonable period of time, I get the impression that Eric will pull the trigger and purchase more silver. There was a smallish report from the U.S. Mint yesterday. They sold another 1,000 ounces of gold eagles...and 55,000 silver eagles. That may be the mint's final sales report for August. I must admit that with such a big rally in silver during the prior reporting week, I'm somewhat surprised that silver eagles sales weren't a bit higher for August than they show at the moment, which is 2,575,000. We'll see if that changes today...or on Tuesday. The Comex-approved depositories didn't show a lot of activity on Wednesday. They reported receiving 199,812 ounces of silver...and shipped a smallish 10,212 troy ounces out the door. The link to that activity, is here. The photo below was one of many that Australian reader Wesley Legrand sent my way yesterday.
(Click on image to enlarge) I had an interesting question from reader L. Grapentine yesterday...and I thought his question and my reply were worth sharing. As a set-up to the exchange, I had mentioned that the Comex-approved warehouses on one day earlier this week had only reported receiving one good delivery silver bar that weighed 958.100 troy ounces. It was this comment that prompted the following exchange...and I've greatly expanded on my answer now that I'm posting it in the public domain... LG: I found it extremely interesting (and disconcerting) that a good delivery bar could be only 958 ounces. By how much may good delivery bars vary in weight, and are contracts settled by a fixed number of good delivery bars, or is the weight differential resolved in some way? If such differences are otherwise settled, how is that? ES: A good delivery bar varies in weight...and a silver contract is 5 good delivery bars, with each bar weighing approximately 1,000 troy ounces. The contract is settled in the exact bar weights exchanged...and the weights to the nearest tenth of a troy ounce is stamped on every bar, but we always round off the numbers when we talk about them on the Internet...1,000 oz/bar. I Googled 'good delivery bar'...and this is what popped up from Wikipedia...and it's worth reading, regardless of what you think you know, or don't know. I thank Mr. Grapentine for prompting me to take action in this area...as it's something I should have done years ago. With everything winding down for the last long weekend of the summer in the Northern Hemisphere...there has been next to nothing out there in the way of hard news. I'm happy to say that I don't have that many stories today...and that suits me just fine. Then there's the not-so-little matter of the huge short position in SLV that would also be in the sights of JPMorgan et al. Gold standard: Could it return in the US? Malema threatens revolution at South Africa's mines. SLV has another 1.36 million ounces withdrawn yesterday...where is it all going? ¤ Critical ReadsSubscribeHarvard Cheating Probe Under Way for About 125About 125 Harvard University undergraduates are being investigated for cheating on a final exam earlier this year, the most widespread academic misconduct scandal known at the school, college officials said. All of the students, who were in a class of more than 250, will face hearings before Harvard's Administrative Board, Jay Harris, dean of undergraduate education at the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school, said today in an interview. Harvard professors probed the incident with months of reading through the take-home exams beginning in May, Harris said. Students found to have violated university rules may be required to withdraw from school for a year, Harvard said in a statement. "These allegations, if proven, represent totally unacceptable behavior that betrays the trust upon which intellectual inquiry at Harvard depends," Harvard President Drew Faust said in a statement on the college's website. This story showed up on the Bloomberg website yesterday afternoon...and I thank Elliot Simon for sending it. The link is here.  Citigroup pays £373m to settle debt claimsThe class-action suit, which was filed in New York in 2009, accused Citi of employing a "CDO-related quasi-Ponzi scheme" to conceal the growing risks on its balance sheet from the mortgage-backed debt and collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) it owned. Citi told the investors that the CDOs had been sold when, in fact, the bank still remained liable for any losses the products suffered, the lawsuit claimed. The settlement is one of the largest to emerge from the financial crisis and comes almost four years after Citi turned to the US taxpayer for a $50bn bail-out. Fears about the health of the bank's balance sheet had sent its shares tumbling following the demise of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, eventually forcing then US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to step in. Citi, which denies the investors' allegations, said it had settled to avoid a protracted legal fight. "This settlement is a significant step toward resolving our exposure to claims arising from the period of the financial crisis," the bank said. This isn't a fine...it's another licensing fee. This story was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site late on Wednesday evening...and I thank Donald Sinclair for finding it for us. The link is here.  Financial crisis: the printing press has reached its limitsCentral bankers may have averted outright disaster, but they are powerless to do more. Few jamborees excite financial markets as much as the symposium of international central bankers which is held annually in late August at Jackson Hole in the Rockies. Interest this year focuses around whether, with the American recovery again running out of steam, the US Federal Reserve is about to signal a further round of quantitative easing, marking the third such burst of money-printing in that country since the crisis began. Yet it is also fair to say that the gathering no longer holds quite the same cachet it used to. Faith in central banks as guarantors of macro-economic stability has been shaken to breaking point by the events of recent years, a crisis which they utterly failed to see coming, still less were able to prevent. This is another story from The Telegraph...this one from yesterday evening...and it's Roy Stephens first offering of the day. It's certainly worth reading...and the link is here.  EU commission gears up for banking union legislationLegislation to establish a banking union for the eurozone will be tabled on 12 September, European Commission President Jose Barroso said in a speech Thursday (30 August). Speaking at the Aspbach Economic Symposium in Austria, President Barroso described the step, which is expected to see the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank given extensive powers to supervise and intervene in the European banking system, as "the next concrete and immediate deliverable of our vision to generate confidence in the future of the euro area". However, with Britain and other non-eurozone countries likely to opt-out of the system, the union is expected to focus on the single currency areas. I'll believe it when I see it. This story was posted on the euobserver.com Internet site yesterday...and is Roy's second offering in today's column. The link is here.  Assault on Google News: Berlin Cabinet Approves New Web Copyright LawThe government of Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to require Google and other aggregators to pay for reproducing content from news websites. Her cabinet on Wednesday agreed on a draft law that would impose a fee even for tiny snippets of text. Web activists are outraged. Google News, of course, looks not unlike the homepage of a standard newspaper. It is divided into sections, some articles have short teasers to pique the interest of readers and photos illustrate the stories of the day. If Chancellor Angela Merkel gets her way, however, that may soon change in Germany. Her cabinet on Wednesday agreed on a draft law that would require Google and other news aggregator sites to pay publishing houses a fee when they take snippets of articles for reproduction on their site. "Publishers should be better protected on the Internet," reads a statement from Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger posted on the homepage of Germany's Justice Ministry. "They will now receive a tailor-made copyright law for their online presence." If this isn't the thin edge of the wedge...I don't know what is. This story was posted on the German website spiegel.de yesterday...and I thank Roy Stephens once again for digging it up on our behalf. The link is here.  Greece's €11.5bn austerity measures 'will be the last', promises PM Antonis SamarasSamaras, who is struggling to get his uneasy coalition partners' full support for the €11.5bn (£9bn) in cutbacks, argued that economic reforms and privatizations would restore growth after four years of deep recession. "This is the last such package of spending cuts," Samaras told a meeting of his conservative party's officials. "The Greek economy can take no more." Samaras' promise will sound familiar to Greeks, as previous governments have offered - and broken - similar pledges during more than two-and-a-half years of harsh austerity measures designed to curtail huge budget deficits. "Many of these cutbacks are difficult, painful," Samaras said. "But they are also inevitable. For without them the country would return to zero credibility and effectively leave the euro. Wh |
| Gold standard: Could it return in the US? Posted: 31 Aug 2012 02:35 AM PDT  For many years, calling for "a return to the gold standard" in the United States put you in the company of economic eccentrics and the libertarian, Congressman Ron Paul. But this week, the Republican Party agreed to set up a commission to look into fixing the gold value of the dollar. Why? The usual reason given for a return to some kind of gold standard is that gold leads to sound money. It links the supply of money to the supply of gold and since gold reserves increase only slowly, the growth in the supply of money is limited, thus helping to choke off causes of inflation. The problem is that in practice, things do not always work out like that - from 1919 to the 1930s, US prices were anything but stable. |
| Posted: 31 Aug 2012 02:35 AM PDT  The first is with Egon von Greyerz...and it's headlined "Investors Assets to be Stolen in the Coming Collapse". The second blog is with Peter Schiff. It's entitled "The US Will Be On A Gold Standard In 12 To 24 Months". |
| Don Coxe Recommends Investors Read Lenin to Understand the Markets Posted: 31 Aug 2012 01:00 AM PDT China and India have always been crazy for gold and the yellow metal remains the choice store of value in those two countries, says Don Coxe, a strategic advisor to the BMO Financial Group. In an... Visit the aureport.com for more information and for a free newsletter |
| European Coins Part II: The Faceless Euro Posted: 31 Aug 2012 12:04 AM PDT In trying to match ancient Rome's monetary reach, the euro is running pretty much neck-and-neck with the almighty dollar. So exactly what do all those bridges and windows on euro banknotes and symbols on the coins mean? |
| Links for 2012-08-30 [del.icio.us] Posted: 31 Aug 2012 12:00 AM PDT
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| Gold Option Traders Most Bullish Since Bottom In October 2008 Posted: 30 Aug 2012 11:26 PM PDT |
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