Gold World News Flash

Relooking At Man's Addiction To Gold
Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Fall Over 1% and 2%
Commodity Technical Analysis: Gold Trying to Hold 1700
The Gold Price Lost $16.80 Today Watch for Buying Opportunities Coming Soon
FLASH: German gold report reveals secret sales that likely were part of swaps
David Rosenberg: "What Is Wrong With This Market?
On Iranian Sanctions And Chinese Energy Needs
Commentary on QE3 Exclaims: ?We Have Been Warned!?
People Are Getting Scared And Liquidating & Germany’s Gold
Eyes Wide Shut - "We Are In A Bad Spot"
New York Sun: The 80% solution
Corzine Tells Judge That Due To Purchase Of 50,000 MF Global Shares Before Bankruptcy, He Must Acquit
Gold and Silver Mining Stocks - Still Worth Your Investment?
There's 'desperation' to keep gold down, Leeb tells King World News
Low Rates Pummel Banks
REALIST NEWS – More tungsten gold and why silver is THE metal you want
Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts
What Will Price Gold and Silver Tomorrow - In the Developed World
What will price gold and silver tomorrow – In the developed world.
Household Name From Top Hedge Fund Caught Manipulating
Gold & Silver Mining Stocks – Still Worth Your Investment?
Is Financial Crime A Systemic Risk?
Earnings Season Has Just Begun: Crucial Earning Reports Coming In WEAK!!! IBM, Intel, Google, Microsoft And McDonald All Came In Worse Than Expected!!! The Market Sell-Off Is Accelerating!!
U.S. MINT CONTINUES TO SELL 50 TIMES MORE SILVER THAN GOLD
Bundesbank Disagrees With Audit Court’s View on Gold Reserves
Gold: Stage Three – Up Down UP Down UP
'Somebody is holding gold back,' Leeb tells King World News
The Daily Market Report
Vladimir Putin: The New Global Shah of Oil

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 10:57 PM PDT

A friend recently wrote "something about it does not sound right" after reading an article appearing in The Star entitled "Man's addiction to gold" by Tan Sri Lin See-Yan. She asked for my comments, and I'm sharing them here. - Gold Standard - The author's historical account of the evolution of gold's role in monetary systems [...]

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Fall Over 1% and 2%

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 10:30 PM PDT

Gold edged up to $1730.08 in early Asian trade, but it then fell to as low as $1703.93 in afternoon New York trade and ended with a loss of 1.25%. Silver slipped to as low as $31.55 and ended with a loss of 2.35%.

Commodity Technical Analysis: Gold Trying to Hold 1700

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 09:12 PM PDT

courtesy of DailyFX.com October 22, 2012 06:15 PM Daily Bars Chart Prepared by Jamie Saettele, CMT Commodity Observations: “This is a level that could produce a low although 1715 (9/13 low) is probably stronger. The drop has shifted reward/risk to bulls against the 9/7 low at 1689.” Gold slipped just below 1715 today before rallying over $10. At least a short term low appears to be in place and focus is higher towards 1753. Commodity Trading Strategy Implications: LEVELS: 1691 1700 1713 1754 1770 1780...

The Gold Price Lost $16.80 Today Watch for Buying Opportunities Coming Soon

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 08:43 PM PDT

Gold Price Close Today : 1708.30
Change : (16.80) or -0.97%

Silver Price Close Today : 31.768
Change : (0.459) or -1.42%

Gold Silver Ratio Today : 53.774
Change : 0.245 or 0.46%

Silver Gold Ratio Today : 0.01860
Change : -0.000085 or -0.45%

Platinum Price Close Today : 1573.10
Change : -36.60 or -2.27%

Palladium Price Close Today : 594.15
Change : -28.80 or -4.62%

S&P 500 : 1,413.11
Change : -20.71 or -1.44%

Dow In GOLD$ : $158.55
Change : $ (1.36) or -0.85%

Dow in GOLD oz : 7.670
Change : -0.066 or -0.85%

Dow in SILVER oz : 412.44
Change : -1.68 or -0.40%

Dow Industrial : 13,102.53
Change : -243.36 or -1.82%

US Dollar Index : 79.96
Change : 0.520 or 0.65%

The waterfall is pouring over the cliff for the silver and GOLD PRICE. Gold today lost $16.80 to end at $1,708.30 and silver gave up 45.9 cents to 3176.8c.

That close leaves the GOLD PRICE below its 50 DMA ($1,724) and therefore (as the 50 DMA is often the target of gold corrections) rings the bell to remind us an opportunity to buy is coming soon. Might be here already. I'd rather give it a day or two to see where it will settle. $1,690-ish could catch gold, or $1,650 - $1,660. I remind y'all and myself not to allow the better to become the enemy of the good. Somewhere here the market is handing you a sweet chance to buy cheap gold and silver. Don't get greedy. Bulls get rich, and bears get rich, but pigs get slaughtered.

The SILVER PRICE sank below its 300 DMA (3200c) today as we have so long awaited. Just below us at 3097c lies the 200 DMA, with lateral support at 3050c. I think it will stop between here and there. Today I was reading some fellow who believes it might revisit that 2650c line, but I have to doubt that. Of course, I'm only a natural born fool from Tennessee, and nobody is paying me the big bucks to prognosticate for 'em, but I have to doubt silver will fall that low.

This was the day the stock market broke. Dow smashed support at 13,250 and fell another 150 points. Has lost about 500 points in three days. Closed today down 243.36 (1.86%) while the S&P500 puked back 20.71 (1.44%) to 1,413,11.

What might break stocks' fall? The 200 day moving average at 12,966? The lateral support that lurketh there as well? The FOMC committee's announcement tomorrow? If the Dow breaks that 200 DMA, don't count on seeing higher prices for, Oh, six or eight years.

Currencies: US$1.00 = Y79.83 = E0.7703.

Euro gapped down today and lost 0.62% to end at $1.2982. Didn't close below its 20 DMA, first tripwire proving a reversal, but sure punched a big hole in it. A close below $1.2900 puts gravity in the driver's seat.

Yen probably completed its plunge today, having left behind a runaway gap above and yesterday an exhaustion gap. Rose 0.16% today to 125.27 cents per hundred yen. Ought to trade sidewise and higher for a few days at the least.

US dollar index was pounding and hammering on that 80.00 door today. High was 80.062, but the buck couldn't quite close at that lofty spot, so ended at 79.957, up 0.52%. I keep asking myself, "What does the dollar market know that I don't know? What is it foreseeing?" Only answer I get is, "A more costly dollar," for the nonce at least.

Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought.

- Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger
The-MoneyChanger.com
1-888-218-9226
10:00am-5:00pm CST, Monday-Friday

© 2012, The Moneychanger. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission.

To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down.

WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. Be advised and warned:

Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.

NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps.

NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced.

NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt.

What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands.

One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose. No, I don't.

FLASH: German gold report reveals secret sales that likely were part of swaps

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 08:34 PM PDT

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

With the Associated Press report appended here, the German gold audit story has just exploded into the English-language press with some important revelations:

-- The gold vaulted by the German central bank, the Bundesbank, with the Bank of England "has fallen 'below 500 tons' due to recent sales and repatriations. ..." So despite the lack of official announcement, Germany lately has been selling gold from London -- perhaps as part of the secret "strategic activities" grudgingly acknowledged two years ago by the Bundesbank to GATA's friend, the German financial journalist Lars Schall:

http://www.gata.org/node/9363

The lack of announcement of the sale of the German gold in London suggests that the sale was actually part of a gold swap with another central bank -- like the New York Fed. That is, the powerful implication here is that German gold in London was sold at the behest of the United States and in exchange Germany took title to United States gold vaulted in the United States -- or title to gold supposedly vaulted in the United States. This way the Bundesbank could continue to claim ownership of the same amount of gold without lying, at least not technically.

As for the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department, when you rig every market you can't worry so much about lying.

Of course such gold swaps were the target of GATA's federal freedom-of-information lawsuit against the Federal Reserve in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, a lawsuit concluded somewhat successfully last year, having pried from the Fed an admission that it has secret gold swap arrangements with foreign banks:

http://www.gata.org/node/9917

-- The Bundesbank is resisting accountability and has censored part of the auditors' report in the name of protecting secrets of the central banks storing the German gold. But why should there be any secrets about it? Nobody's asking for the combination numbers to the vaults, and the combination wouldn't do anyone any good anyway, as the vaults are guarded. Do these secrets involve gold loans and leases and other legerdemain? That seems to be the case.

-- The campaign to repatriate the German gold has gotten noticed in a big way.

-- The Bundesbank has been officially reprimanded by another German government agency for negligence in its custodianship of the national gold.

-- The Bundesbank won't let German parliament members inspect the German gold vaulted abroad because the central bank vaulting facilities supposedly lack "visiting rooms." And yet one of those vaults, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, offers the public tours that include "an exclusive visit to the gold vault" -- provided, apparently, that you're not an elected representative of the German people:

http://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/visiting.html#tabs-1

GATA has made further informational requests of the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, and State Department involving their gold records:

http://www.gata.org/node/11606

Since those agencies have failed to respond, GATA now is entitled to bring more freedom-of-information lawsuits against them. But we can't do that without sufficient financing.

The auditors' report about the German gold demonstrates that the Western central bank gold price suppression scheme -- part of a vast scheme of rigging all major markets -- can be exposed and defeated by persistent clamor and demands for information. If you haven't already considered helping us financially, please do so now:

http://www.gata.org/node/16

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

* * *

Unease about Germany's unchecked gold reserves

By The Associated Press
via Boston Globe
Monday, October 22, 2012

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/2012/10/22/german-auditors-urge-...

BERLIN -- Germany's central bank has failed to properly oversee the country's massive gold reserves, which have been stored abroad since the Cold War in case of a Soviet invasion, independent auditors say.

The central bank must renegotiate its contracts to gain the right to inspect its gold bars, which are worth tens of billions of dollars and are stored in the United States, Britain, and France, the Federal Auditors Office said in a report to lawmakers obtained by The Associated Press on Monday.

The report says the gold bars "have never been physically checked by the Bundesbank itself or other independent auditors regarding their authenticity or weight." Instead, the Bundesbank relies on a "written confirmations by the storage sites."

Most of Germany's gold reserves -- some 3,400 tons worth an estimated $190 billion at current rates -- have been kept in the vaults of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of France, and the Bank of England since the postwar days, when Berlin worried about a possible land war with the Soviet bloc.

The auditors maintain that the central bank must be able to at least inspect samples of its gold bars at regular intervals to verify their book value.

The report acknowledges that such inspections might be logistically complicated, but it stresses that "this cannot discharge [the bank] from the necessity to carry out an inventory."

The central bank said in a reaction to the report that was also sent to lawmakers Monday that it sees no reason for a physical inspection of the bars. "There is no doubt about the integrity of the foreign storage sites in this regard," it stated.

The debate on most of the gold reserves being held by foreign authorities has caused some inevitable conspiracy theories questioning their very existence, but several German politicians have also voiced unease.

Philipp Missfelder, a leading lawmaker from Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right party, has asked the Bundesbank for the right to view the gold bars in Paris and London, but the central bank has denied the request, citing the lack of visitor rooms in those facilities, German daily Bild reported.

Given the growing political unease about the issue and the pressure from auditors, the central bank decided last month to repatriate some 50 tons of gold in each of the three coming years from New York to its headquarters in Frankfurt for "thorough examinations" regarding weight and quality, the report revealed.

An initiative backed by some German economists, industry leaders, and a few lawmakers dubbed "bring home our gold" launched in May has attracted some 10,000 supporters online so far.

But Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and others maintain that there is no reason to worry.

"I currently have no doubt about the stock and the storage of the gold reserves," said Priska Hinz, the opposition Greens top lawmaker on the budget committee. "I do not doubt the reliability of the foreign central banks," she told the AP.

Several passages of the auditors' report were blacked out in the copy shared with lawmakers, citing the Bundesbank's concerns that they could compromise secrets involving the central banks storing the gold.

The report said that the gold pile in London has fallen "below 500 tons" due to recent sales and repatriations, but it did not specify how much gold was held in the U.S. and in France. German media have widely reported that some 1,500 tons -- almost half of the total reserves -- are stored in New York.

David Rosenberg: "What Is Wrong With This Market?

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 08:12 PM PDT

From David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff

My Evolving Macro And Market Thots

What is wrong with this market? The S&P 500, instead of grinding higher in the aftermath of QE3 actually hit its peak for the year the day after the policy announcement. Go figure. Maybe economic reality finally caught up with Mr. Market (there is a very fine line between "'resiliency" and "denial" — and keep in mind that the S&P 500 is still up 14% in a year in which profits are now contracting, not just slowing down).

And the cyclicals and Financials have lagged the defensive sectors.

I looked at all the prior major non-conventional easing measures in the past four years: QE1, QE2, Operation Twist, and the ECB-led Long-term Refinancing Operation which a year ago was a really big deal in unleashing a massive global risk-on trade.

On average, six weeks hence, the S&P 500 was up more than 9% after the policy announcement. It was all so novel! Tech on average was up over 11%, industrials were up 12%... ditto for Consumer Discretionary and Materials. The cyclicals flew off the shelves.

But this time around. either Mr. Market is jaded or the laws of diminishing returns are setting in.

Six weeks after the unveiling of QE3, the market is down 2%. This hasn't happened before. Every economic-sensitive sector is in the red, and even Financials — the one sector that should benefit from all the "sucking at the Fed teat" — have made no money for anybody! Of course, there are the compressed net interest margins to consider.

The bottom line is that since that famous September 13th FOMC meeting that had the bulls going hog wild, the only equity sectors that are in the plus column are ...

Utilities: +1.5%
Health Care: +2.4%
And while Consumer Staples are down fractionally, they have outperformed the broad market by 120 basis points

In other words, as aggressive as the Fed has become, maybe, just maybe, Mr Market is starting to focus on the patient rather than the prescription.

The problem is that at the highs, the market had become overbought and right after that September 13th QE3 announcement, the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) data showed the hedge funds had already jumped in and the buying power became quickly exhausted. Sentiment surveys and the low levels of the VIX index flashed a certain level of complacency. On each of these post-QE rallies, momentum had become increasingly diminished, and it has been no different this time around. And the bond market has consistently refused to buy into the economic reacceleration viewpoint dominated by the equity bulls. A cursory look at the charts suggests that a near-term top has been turned in and the popular view of a rally into year-end is beginning to look a bit discredited here.

S&P 500 revenues are set to decline on a YoY basis for the first time in over three years. Here we are, one-fifth into earnings season, and less than 40% have managed to beat their sales estimates - we have not seen a number this low since the first quarter of 2009 when U.S. GDP contracted at an epic 5.3% annual rate (and 20 percentage points below the historical average)! I guess this does matter for the stock market, after all, despite all the money printing out of the Fed which merely debases wealth instead of creating it. With margins coming off cycle highs and all the fat already being cut out of the corporate cost structure, faltering sales can be expected to exert an outsized influence over profits in coming quarters. Be prepared for more downward revisions in the EPS outlook, which means be diversified, defensive and dividend-driven.

Of note for pro-cyclical enthusiasts, the Asian stock market, a pro-growth bellwether, has now turned in three losing sessions in a row - a 0.4% drop today with two declines for every advancer. The economic-sensitive Korean Kospi index led the decline with a 0.8% setback and China was down 0.9% in its worst day in four weeks. Equity markets are down through most of the planet today (Japan an exception) with economic and political concerns re-ignited in Europe, a spotty earnings cycle and, of course, what the polls may show with President Obama "winning on points" according to the experts with regards to last nights debate. Though it was interesting to see the incumbent sound more like a challenger... "Attacking me is not an agenda" I thought was one of the better lines of the night; I realize that people need sound-bites and the President, in classic Chicago-style-politics sarcastic for sure delivered some zingers, but Romney was most effective, I thought, and stayed on message, as non-sound-bitey as it may have been, that, sorry, Bin Laden may indeed be dead but Al Qaeda is not and is staging a comeback... see the op-ed on this file by Jack Keane, former Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, on page A17 of the WSJ.

To be sure, Obama is a brilliant debater and ostensibly king of the one-liner, but Romney did come off as a credible leader and keep in mind that no matter the "spin", the president had a 10-point lead in the polls as recently as July and all signs still suggest a neck-and-neck race. As an aside, it's not just tax policy, energy policy and foreign policy that are at stake in the coming election, but Fed policy will likely be affected as well — for more on this file, see On Fed's Horizon; Nov. 6 Looks Large on page B1 of the NYT.

The euro is softening now on the news that Moody's cut the credit ratings of five Spanish regions and French business confidence tumbled to its lowest level in over three years in October (lnsee index down to 85 from 90, the lowest reading since August 2009). As if to add insult to injury, Spanish GDP contracted 0.4% in Q3, matching the Q2 decline (though better than what was generally expected) and the fifth straight shrinkage.

On a day when there was little in the way of data-flow, what was key yesterday was what Caterpillar had to say about the global economic outlook and the picture painted was no Picasso — announcing that the global headwinds are even more acute than previously thought, citing that end-user demand "is not growing as fast as we were expecting it would" (full-year sales seen now at $66 billion from $67.64 billion and 2013 revenues now seen -5% instead of +5%). Texas Instruments reported that its quarterly revenue dropped 2.3% as demand for its chips receded and the CFO (Kevin March) stated "across the board, we're seeing customers being extremely cautious, very careful about the level of inventory that they hold so giving us very low levels of visibility as to what they'll want to order for the quarter". Now does that sound like escape-velocity to you? Freeport-McMoRan missed its EPS target for the first time in 17 quarters ... an inflection point, perhaps? Dupont missed too this morning (cutting jobs as well) and what was that Philips Electronics said yesterday? That "the economy in the U.S. is at the moment moving a little bit sideways". Yikes... that means stagnation. No growth. Microsoft doesn't get the attention it once had with the likes of Apple and Google now the darlings of the tech world, but the bellwether is now down 10% in the past month (stock price, that is) and as such is in official correction terrain. And didn't we near from Canadian National Railway (CNR) yesterday say that it is expecting a "challenging end to the year' even though it delivered a Q3 results that fractionally beat estimates?

But at least Yahoo surprised to the high side — a rarity so far in the fairly bleak earnings reporting season (something like 8% of the S&P 500 companies report today). May as well find those needles in the haystack.

Also have a glimpse at the article on page B1 of today's NYT titled Dwindling Demand: China's Slowing Economy Puts Pressure on American Exporters. Fiscal cliff notwithstanding, the really big risk is a negative export shock about to hit the U.S. economy... did anyone notice that Q3 industrial production actually contracted, albeit fractionally, for the first time since the depths of the Great Recession over three years ago? And if you have become a bull over Europe, notwithstanding all the ECB support in the world, the problem of massive excessive indebtedness has not gone away instead, it has gotten worse. See Despite Push for Austerity, European Debt Has Soared on page 138 of the NYT.

If deflation was not a primary theme, then we likely would not have seen gold break below its 50-day moving average this morning, with the overall commodity complex moving in the same direction (the oil price has declined now for four days running). Copper and gold (the red and yellow metals) have now traded down to six-week lows! Ditto for platinum. Now that is deflationary — and confirmed by the behaviour in the bond market U.S. Treasuries (and German Bunds) are back in rally-mode, even in the face of this week's $99 billion new- issue calendar in the government bond market and it is nice to see how the 200-day moving average on the 10-year 1-note proved to be solid support for the fifth time this year!

Again, all these market moves are diametrically opposed to what we had experienced after the prior QE moves ... call it life at the zero-bound. The only difference is that this time around, the market realizes that the Fed is pushing on a string. Perhaps in a classic sign of "unintended consequences", the Fed's actions are now doing more to hurt the Financials than help them — see Low Rates Pummel Banks on the front page of today's WSJ. Financial industry profit levels are sagging to their lowest level in three years on the back of increasingly squeezed Fed-induced net interest margins. Indeed, margins are down now for five quarters in a row and at 31.2% to their tightest levels since the second quarter of 2009 (when they needed a government bailout).

Yes, yes, housing and autos have both enjoyed good years, but don't confuse a cyclical upturn with a level shift — and I sense we are in the latter in each sector. Single-family starts now exceed sales by more than 60% and only 30% of the sales are by first-time buyers. That does not tell me housing is in some durable uptrend, and the reality is that after over-cutting, the builders have now caught up with demand. And after two years in which uber frugality took the stock of U.S. motor vehicles down for two years in a row, there was indeed some good pent-up demand (the fact that the median age of the existing stock is over 11 years is immaterial because cars are being built to last longer today) but the buying intentions surveys suggest that the peak has been turned in. The question is that if I am correct in the assertion that the mini housing and auto cycle has run its course, and all this could produce was economic growth of 1.5% for this year, then what picks up the mantle and prompts anything better than that meagre GDP trend (which is one-third what is typical for an economy supposedly heading into year-four of an expansion). Indeed, you know that the housing rebound is on a short leash when people aren't shopping for furniture or home appliances any longer—just have a look at Appliances Hit Slow Cycle on page 35 of today's WSJ.

On Iranian Sanctions And Chinese Energy Needs

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 06:02 PM PDT

US reliance on oil imports as a share of consumption is gradually declining; but China's, however, is rising and is now higher than the US. As JPMorgan's Michael Cembalest notes, China now has the world's largest new car market and most extensive network of superhighways - which given the lack of a viable, affordable electric car - means fossil fuel consumption is expected to continue to rise. The trends that lead to this inexorable rise have critically important implications for the West in the ongoing containment of Iran's nuclear ambitions. Unfortunately for the West, the prospects for cooperation on sanctions appear dim as the following nine points (on China's relationship with Iran) should make clear.

Via JPMorgan

As shown below, US reliance on oil imports as a share of consumption is gradually declining. China's percentage, on the other hand, is rising and now higher than in the US (in dollar terms, US imports are higher but they should converge in a few years)

The penetration rate of passenger vehicles in China is considerably lower than in other countries. China's per capita GDP is lower as well, so the gap will not close overnight. The second chart below gives a good indication of the potential rise in automobile use in China over time. These trends are part of the reason why we do not expect reduced US imports to result in lower oil prices.

Vaclav sees these trends as important, since they affect prospects of China co-operating with the West on containment of Iran's nuclear ambitions. Unfortunately for the West, the prospects for co-operation on sanctions appear dim. Some things to keep in mind about China's relationship with Iran, described in greater detail in a 2012 Rand Institute report:

Iran and China share a deep ambivalence about the West given their prior experiences as semi-colonial states in the beginning of the 20th century. The US supported a coup against a popular Iranian leader in 1953 (and also influenced other political transitions), and Communist China was under U.S.-led international sanctions for most of its existence.
China extended recognition to Iran's Islamic Republic only 3 days after its founding, and improved relations with Iran through arms sales during the Iran-Iraq war (small arms, ballistic and anti-cruise ship missiles)
China became a net oil importer in 1993, and further strengthened ties with Iran. Once China was accepted into the World Trade Organization in 2001, the West lost the little leverage it had over Sino-Iranian ties.
From 1985 to 1996, China provided Iran with civil nuclear technology and machinery, assistance in uranium exploration and mining, training for nuclear engineers, and instruction on the use of lasers for uranium enrichment. China ended its direct support for these nuclear programs in 1997. Chinese design and technology are seen in Iranian ballistic and anti-cruise ship missiles, anti-ship mines and fast attack boats.
For the last two decades, China has built railroads, bridges, dams, ports and tunnels throughout Iran. In 2007, China became Iran's largest trading partner, and the two countries announced plans to broaden bilateral trade to $100 bn per year by 2016.
The two countries formed a joint oil and gas committee to broaden energy cooperation. China is the most important investor in Iranian exploration and extraction operations, and has been selected to develop the Azadegan and Yadavaran oil and natural gas fields, and the South Pars field. Iran is the largest methanol exporter to China, displacing Saudi Arabia.
Iran used to be vulnerable to refined fuel sanctions when it imported 40% of them; China helped Iran build out its refining capacity, and Iran is now a refined fuels exporter.
China is paying Iran in rice and medical/engineering supplies (and cash) in exchange for Iranian oil, and a Chinese shipyard delivered the first of 12 supertankers to Iran, giving it extra capacity to transport its oil to Asia.
A couple of quotes on the geopolitics of all of this, from the Peking University School of International Studies and Renmin University: "It is beneficial for our external environment to have the United States militarily and diplomatically deeply sunk in the Mideast to the extent that it can hardly extricate itself", and "Washington's deeper involvement in the Middle East is favorable to Beijing, reducing Washington's ability to place focused attention and pressure on China." [Rand report]

Commentary on QE3 Exclaims: ?We Have Been Warned!?

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 05:02 PM PDT

QE3 looks like a desperate act to feed money to large banks, offload MBS toxic waste from their balance sheets, devalue the dollar against houses, commodities, and other currencies and create significant collateral damage in the form of consumer price inflation according to*a number of respected economists and critical thinkers on the subject of QE3. [let's take a look at what they have to say.] Words: 1661 So says GE Christenson ([url]www.deviantinvestor.com[/url]) in edited excerpts from his original article* entitled We Have Been Warned! – Part 2. [INDENT]Lorimer Wilson, editor of [B][COLOR=#0000ff]www.FinancialArticleSummariesToday.com (A site for sore eyes and inquisitive minds) and www.munKNEE.com (Your Key to Making Money!), has edited the article below for length and clarity – see Editor's Note at the bottom of the page. This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement.[/COLOR][/B] [/INDENT]The article goes on to say, in part: P...

People Are Getting Scared And Liquidating & Germany’s Gold

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 05:00 PM PDT

from KingWorldNews:

With global markets trading in the red, including gold and silver, today acclaimed money manager Stephen Leeb spoke with King World News about the action in the metals, and the Germans looking to audit and repatriate some of their gold: "Desperation leads to desperate measures, and yes, could entities be hiding gold or not having what they say they have? Absolutely." Leeb also said, "… somebody is holding (the price of) gold back."

Here is what Leeb had to say: "People are getting scared. I guess there's some liquidation of virtually everything on the basis of these fears. Gold, though down, is certainly down less than virtually every other asset. Even silver, which is extremely volatile both on the upside and downside, is down about 1%, which is a lot less than the market."

Stephen Leeb continues @ KingWorldNews.com

Eyes Wide Shut - "We Are In A Bad Spot"

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 03:54 PM PDT

Submitted by Chris Martenson of Peak Prosperity,

After traveling some, speaking with lots of people, reading, and digesting, I cannot escape the conclusion that things remain hopelessly off track. Whatever form of 'recovery' is being sought here simply will not arrive.

The core of my views is shaped by the idea that the very thing being sought, more economic growth (and exponential growth, at that), is exactly the root of the problem. I suppose I would take a similarly dim view of an alcoholic trying to drink their way back to health as I do the increasingly interventionist central bank and associated political policies the world over.

Go on then, drink more, but I think we all know what the result will be.

The most pressing concept at the center of it all is the idea of net energy, or the energy returned on energy invested. As I explained in the Crash Course, the price of energy is not really the most pressing that we need to keep track of. Instead, what we care about is the net, or surplus, energy that is returned from our energy exploration and production efforts for society to do with as it wishes.

Figure 1: This hypothetical chart reveals the energy returned (green area) on energy invested (red part) and postulates what trying to live in a world of 3:1 energy returns would look like visually. Where petroleum finds of just a few decades ago where offering 95% or greater returns on energy invested, a future of 3:1 oil offers just a 66% return.

The above chart reveals the world towards which we are rapidly moving with new petroleum finds being deeper, tighter, smaller, and generally more difficult to get to and extract, thereby offering lower net energy returns than in the past.

If there's less 'green area' in which to organize ourselves, then we will simply have to do fewer things. However, the idea that we are going to get increasing amounts of exponentially-growing economy in conjunction with falling net energy is simply nuts. It is insane, or at least developmentally immature.

Predictions for a World of Declining Net Energy

The world around me makes a lot more sense when I think about it in terms of net energy and where we are in that story. Everywhere I go, I simply see oil, oil, and more oil, expressed in jets in the air, cars and trucks on the road, abundant and varied food types at every time of the year, and stores crammed with consumer goods from hither and yon. We truly live in the age of abundance.

Yet that abundance is heavily subsidized by petroleum as well as other fossil fuels.

Where the prior 150 years were defined by ever-increasing amounts of both gross and net energy, a remarkable experience unlikely to ever again be replicated, the next 150 will be defined by its exact opposite.

The predictions for living in such a world are impossible to make in terms of timing and magnitude, but the trends and direction can be pinned down.

The big picture items are these:

Living standards are going to fall. Ever-rising gross and net amounts of energy provide the essential building blocks for rising living standards, both directly through the goods and services brought to our doorsteps, such as food and warmth and mobility, and indirectly by allowing lots and lots of people to deploy their talents to things other than securing the basics. In fact, this process has already begun; it will follow the 'outside in' model where the weaker elements of society and the weaker nation states will absorb the first effects of 'less than there used to be.'
Inflation will come. Because of the tendency of humans to try and print their way out of trouble, and because the system is now so saturated with debt that 'allowing' it to crumble to meet the realities of a world of less would risk a catastrophic systemic collapse of institutions and ruling parties, there's not much doubt that sooner or later all this will end in a very scary round of inflation. Some currencies will not survive at all, and the areas served by them will experience hyperinflation first and complete monetary destruction second.
Stocks and bonds will fail to generate real returns. Real returns, meaning positive growth in the value of stocks and bonds after inflation is subtracted, are an impossibility in a world where the economy is not growing in real terms. You have to have real growth in the economy if you want real growth in stocks and bonds (in aggregate, that is). Stripping away all of the gobbledy-gook, real GDP growth is simply not possible without real increases in real things – and those depend, in very large measure, on how much net energy there is to go around. With declining net energy, there will fewer things to sell and do.
Retirements will be postponed, if they happen at all. It is only the very recent generations that have been afforded the reality of this thing called 'retirement,' which is the idea that you can live off of one's prior savings and investments for a decade or three, consuming and not producing the whole time. Not so coincidentally (to me, at any rate), retirement and the exploitation of fossil fuels came along at roughly the same time. That is, with enough 'green area,' we humans can do anything at all that we want with all that surplus energy. We can go to the moon, we can take long holidays to distant places, we can host Olympics, we can retire or do any of a billion other things. For many, especially those at the margins of society, retirement will simply not be an option. Retirement as a concept, and these individuals specifically, will be casualties of circumstances.
We're just going to do fewer things and produce less stuff. What exactly will go away as the green area gets pinched downwards is impossible to predict, as much will depend on decisions that have not yet been made. Perhaps we'll do something completely surprising with our remaining energy, channel the spirits of Easter Island, and build some huge yet frivolous monuments to ourselves. Perhaps we'll squander the last bits of good energy on bad wars that end up destroying infrastructure that could only be built when there was enough surplus to go around. Or maybe we'll get it right and choose a future that we can strive for and use our remaining resources wisely to achieve those dreams. While the exact features are impossible to predict, we can say that the map of our territory will shrink. We won't be able to do everything, or even very many things as compared to before.
More resources will be dedicated to and consumed by the energy sector. One easy observation to make is that if net energy is declining, then we are going to be spending more of our energy wealth on the process of obtaining more energy. This is one great field to be in, whether in the production side or the efficiency side. If it takes more and more energy to get energy, what does that mean? It means more drilling, pipelines, processing facilities, and all of the thousands of job types and millions of parts and components that are needed to get the energy out of the ground and to market. As prices inevitably rise, the desire (if not the necessity) of using energy more efficiently will skyrocket. Everything in the entire "built" environment, from commercial and residential buildings, to factories, to how we move ourselves around, and the water we drink will be targets for improvements and enhancements. If you are thinking of a career to move into, the energy sector is a great place to start.

Eyes Wide Shut

I think we're in a bad spot. I mean the globe here, but the developed economies in particular. I am losing hope that we will navigate towards anything other than a hard landing at some point because even with copious amounts of data accumulating suggesting that the old ways are not working, I cannot detect even the slightest hint of original thinking or new thoughts coming out of the marbled halls of power.

Business-as-usual and more-of-the-same seem to be the only operative ideas right now. And that's not really unexpected; systems always try to preserve themselves long after it should be obvious that a new tack is in order. So there's nothing really surprising here about where things seem to be headed.

But what is a bit startling to me is the number of individuals that have not yet caught onto the idea that things have permanently and irrevocably changed.

New York Sun: The 80% solution

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 03:40 PM PDT

4:40p CT Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Prompted by last night's final debate of the major-party presidential candidates, the New York Sun has the explosive insight of the day:

"If Mr. Obama comprehends how bad it is for Iran that its currency has shed 80 percent of its value, why doesn't he comprehend that about a dollar that has lost 50 percent of its value under his presidency alone? The point seemed to go right by Mr. Romney. Gee, willikers, what is it going to take to get the Republican candidate to make an issue of the collapse of the dollar?"

The Sun's editorial is headlined "The 80% Solution" and it's posted here:

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-80-solution/88049/

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

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GoldMoney adds Toronto vaulting option

In addition to its precious metals storage facilities in Hong Kong, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, GoldMoney customers now can store their gold and silver in a high-security vault operated by Brink's in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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Join GATA here:

New Orleans Investment Conference
Wednesday-Saturday, October 24-27, 2012
Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel
New Orleans, Louisiana
http://www.neworleansconference.com/

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Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006:

http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html

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Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:

http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

Help keep GATA going

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:

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Prophecy Platinum Intercepts Best Pt+Pd+Au Grades Yet
at Wellgreen Project in Yukon Territory: 5.36 g/t

Company Press Release
Tuesday, September 11, 2012

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL, OTC-QX: PNIKF, Frankfurt: P94P) announces more results of its 2012 drill program on the company's fully-owned Wellgreen platinum group metals, nickel, and copper project in southwestern Yukon Territory, Canada. Four surface holes and four underground holes all intercepted significant mineralized widths, ranging from 28.5 meters (WS12-201) and up to 459.5 metres (WS12-193). Highlights include WU12-540, which returned 8.9 metres of 5.36 grams per tonne platinum, palladium, and gold; 1.73 percent copper; and 1.01 percent nickel within 304.5 meters of 0.66 g/t platinum-palladium-gold, 0.20 percent copper, and 0.27 percent nickel.

The surface drill program started in June and has completed 16 holes (assays pending for 12 holes) with two rigs now on site. The surface program continues to progress at a steady pace.

Prophecy Chairman John Lee commented: "Wellgreen is a very large nickel, copper, and platinum group metals project with near-surface high-grade zones. High-grade intercepts will be incorporated into resource modeling and mine planning in the pre-feasibility study. We expect further positive drill results from Wellgreen shortly."

Wellgreen features a low 2.59-to-1 strip ratio, is situated at an altitude of 1,300 meters, and is only 15 kilometers from the two-lane paved Alaska Highway. Those factors significantly minimize the project's indirect costs.

For the complete company statement with full tabulation of the drilling results, please visit:

http://prophecyplat.com/news_2012_sep11_prophecy_platinum_drill_results....

Corzine Tells Judge That Due To Purchase Of 50,000 MF Global Shares Before Bankruptcy, He Must Acquit

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 03:13 PM PDT

from Zero Hedge:

That former Goldman, New Jersey and MF Global head Jon Corzine is absolutely convinced he is innocent of any client money vaporization or wrongdoing, and that the definition of the phrase "to Corzine (verb- to trust your money to a prominent individual and to find it has mysteriously disappeared)" is absolutely arbitrary, is not news to anyone. And if not convinced then at least at a complete loss to what actually happened. One just had to recall all the "I don't recalls" the Honorable Corzine told congress during the makeshift kangaroo court hearing on MF Global's collapse (even if the final outcome was less than desired). So it's only logical that the Honorable Corzine asked a federal judge to "toss a civil fraud lawsuit accusing him of misleading investors about the risky bets the futures firm was taking before its collapse a year ago." The WSJ reports that "Corzine's lawyers blasted the investors' suit as a "jumble of assertions and accusations" that makes "no sense" that should be dismissed in a filing Friday in U.S. District Court in New York." But here is the kicker: MF Global may have mismanaged trades, Corzine's lawyers admit, but he sure didn't hide the risks or mislead investors about the firm's risk appetite or liquidity. Why? Because he was so convinced in the profitability of MFG he bought a whopping 50,000 MF Global shares in the open market two months before the firm collapsed. So let's get this straight: Corzine invested a whopping $225,000 (as a reminder, Corzine was CEO of Goldman Sachs for years) because he believed in the firm and not to give the impression that the firm was "safe" in order to avoid a full blown panic once the realization its was insolvent could no longer be hidden, and be wiped out on all of his stock, option and other MFG holdings?

Read More @ Zero Hedge.com

Gold and Silver Mining Stocks - Still Worth Your Investment?

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 03:05 PM PDT

Last Tuesday we posted an essay entitled Gold & Silver Mining Stocks Hold Well Despite Metals' Correction and we summarized it in the following way ... Read More...

There's 'desperation' to keep gold down, Leeb tells King World News

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 02:57 PM PDT

3:50p CT Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

A second excerpt of his interview today with King World News quotes fund manager Stephen Leeb as saying that efforts to suppress the price of gold have become pervasive.

"There is tremendous vested interest in promoting paper money," Leeb says. "When you have that kind of vested interest, people aren't going to go down without a fight, and I think all year long you have seen desperation at play in the gold market. When you step back, with all of the desperation, with all of the manipulation, gold is still up year-to-date. They've been unable to hold it back."

The second excerpt is posted at the King World News blog here:

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/10/23_H...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

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Fred Goldstein and Tim Murphy open All Pro Gold

Longtime GATA supporters Fred Goldstein and Tim Murphy have brought their many years of experience in the precious metals and numismatic coins to All Pro Gold as metals brokers who specialize in the delivery of gold and silver bullion bars and coins as well as numismatic gold and silver coins. Fred and Tim follow these markets closely and are assisted by a team of consultants in monitoring market trends. All Pro Gold offers GATA supporters competitive pricing on all bullion products and welcomes inquiries. Tim can be reached at 602-299-2585 and Tim@allprogold.com, Fred at 602-799-8378 and Fred@allprogold.com. Ask about their ratio strategy and the relationship of generic $20 dollar gold pieces to 1-ounce gold bullion coins. Visit their Internet site at http://www.allprogold.com/.

Join GATA here:

New Orleans Investment Conference
Wednesday-Saturday, October 24-27, 2012
Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel
New Orleans, Louisiana
http://www.neworleansconference.com/

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Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006:

http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html

Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt:

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Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:

http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

Help keep GATA going

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:

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To contribute to GATA, please visit:

http://www.gata.org/node/16

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Opinion Around the World Is Changing
in Favor of Gold -- Find Out Why

When Deutschebank calls gold "good money" and paper "bad money". ...

http://www.gata.org/node/11765

When the president of the German central bank, the Bundesbank, pays tribute to gold as "a timeless classic". ...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/09/24/signs-of-the-gold-stan...

When a leading member of the policy committee of the People's Bank of China calls the gold standard "an excellent monetary system". ...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/10/01/signs-of-the-gold-stan...

When a CNN reporter writes in The China Post that the "gold commission" plank in the 2012 Republican platform will "reverberate around the world". ...

http://www.thegoldstandardnow.org/key-blogs/1563-china-post-the-gop-gold...

When the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy of the U.S. House of Representatives twice called on economist, historian, and gold standard advocate Lewis E. Lehrman to testify. ...

World opinion is changing in favor of gold.

How can you learn why and what it will mean to you?

Read the newly updated and expanded edition of Lehrman's book, "The True Gold Standard."

Financial journalist James Grant says of "The True Gold Standard": "If you have ever wondered how the world can get from here to there -- from the chaos of depreciating paper to a convertible currency worthy of our children and our grandchildren -- wonder no more. The answer, brilliantly expounded, is between these covers. America has long needed a modern Alexander Hamilton. In Lewis E. Lehrman she has finally found him."

To buy a copy of "The True Gold Standard," please visit:

http://www.thegoldstandardnow.com/publications/the-true-gold-standard

Low Rates Pummel Banks

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 02:54 PM PDT

23-Oct (Wall Street Journal) — Superlow U.S. interest rates are squeezing bank profits, complicating the industry's nascent recovery from the financial crisis.

An important gauge of lending profitability, known as net interest margin, has dropped to its lowest level in three years. The measure tracks how much banks earn when they borrow from depositors and then lend or invest those funds.

The squeeze is the flip side of the Federal Reserve Board's four-year effort to revive the sluggish U.S. economy, with near-zero short-term interest rates and repeated rounds of bond purchases that aim to reduce long-term rates as well. Ten-year U.S. Treasury yields hit 1.43% in July, their lowest level since World War II.

[source]

PG View: Savers are also being pummeled by low rates, making it prudent to allocate at least a portion of one's savings to gold.

REALIST NEWS – More tungsten gold and why silver is THE metal you want

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 02:40 PM PDT

from jsnip4:

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 02:30 PM PDT

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

What Will Price Gold and Silver Tomorrow - In the Developed World

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 02:04 PM PDT

What will price gold and silver tomorrow – In the developed world.

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 02:00 PM PDT

The gold and silver price has and will move in tandem with each other, with silver moving higher still when gold prices rise and falling further when gold prices fall. Despite different fundamentals behind the two and a different pattern of mining [silver is a by-product of base metal production usually] the two metals are reflecting their value as a means of saving value and wealth, their monetary value. This won't change as we see the economic currents behind the world's financial system continue to falter.

Household Name From Top Hedge Fund Caught Manipulating

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 01:38 PM PDT

Today acclaimed money manager Stephen Leeb shocked King World News when he said his friend was at the office of a major hedge fund operator, "... when the instructions the head of the hedge fund was giving to one of his traders was, 'Sell it, and sell it stupid. And make sure people just don't know where the selling is coming from and why it's coming.'"

The acclaimed money manager also added, "... there is tremendous vested interest in promoting paper money. When you have that kind of vested interest, people aren't going to go down without a fight, and I think all year long you have seen desperation at play in the gold market."

Here is what Leeb had to say in this KWN exclusive: "I've never seen a situation like this. It really does suggest somebody out there is trying to keep gold from blowing the cover off the fact that currencies are being trashed, and are becoming more and more worthless by the day. They are pretty brilliant at it (the manipulation of gold). That's how hedge funds and anyone that's doing this operates."

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Gold & Silver Mining Stocks – Still Worth Your Investment?

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 01:33 PM PDT

In the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture Index (which is a proxy for the junior miners as so many of them are included in it), the outlook remains bullish even with the declines seen in precious metals' prices over the last two weeks. The index remains above its support line, and the outlook makes the picture bullish. Summing up, even though the short-term outlook for mining stocks is a bit unclear, the medium term case is very bullish in our view – especially for the junior mining stocks.

Is Financial Crime A Systemic Risk?

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 01:30 PM PDT

Famed Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises wrote in his seminal work, Human Action (originally published by the Yale University Press in 1949), that "There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about ... Read More...

Earnings Season Has Just Begun: Crucial Earning Reports Coming In WEAK!!! IBM, Intel, Google, Microsoft And McDonald All Came In Worse Than Expected!!! The Market Sell-Off Is Accelerating!!

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 12:54 PM PDT

A MASSIVE collapse of the stock market lies ahead!!!
Today is the 25th anniversary of the 1987 "crash"
Critical Levels on the 25th Anniversary of the Crash
The World's Biggest Tech Companies Could Be Sending A Serious Warning

Three technology bellwethers missed income or revenue expectations in the past few days. Let's take a quick look at IBM (IBM), Intel (INTC), and Google (GOOG).
TechCrunch reports "IBM Q3 Earnings Mostly In Line With Expectations":
IBM just released its Q3 2012 financials. Big Blue's GAAP earnings came in at $3.8 billion, up 3% from the last quarter. Non-GAAP earnings were $4.2 billion. Overall, the company reported revenue of $24.7 billion, down from $25.8 billion in Q2.

Ahead of the earnings release, most analysts expected that Big Blue would report robust earnings. The consensus was that earnings per share would increase to around $3.62 (up from last quarter's $3.51 non-GAAP EPS), but that overall revenue would decline to about $25.4 billion from $25.8 billion last quarter. With $24.7 billion, the company missed the analysts' expectations.
On Thursday, Google accidentally posted incomplete earnings four hours early and its shares were halted following a huge plunge. Read more....

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

U.S. MINT CONTINUES TO SELL 50 TIMES MORE SILVER THAN GOLD

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 12:17 PM PDT

By SRSrocco: The US Mint's frantic silver sales pace continued over the weekend, as the Mint reported 430,000 ounces of silver sales over the weekend on Monday. Perhaps more importantly, the US Mint Silver eagle to US Gold eagle sales … Continue reading →

Bundesbank Disagrees With Audit Court’s View on Gold Reserves

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 12:13 PM PDT

23-Oct (Bloomberg) — The Bundesbank disagrees with Germany's Audit Court that the central bank should take stock of its gold holdings outside Germany.

"The Bundesbank and the Federal Court of Auditors have different opinions" on the matter, the Frankfurt-based Bundesbank said in a statement posted on its website today. The foreign central banks that hold gold on the Bundesbank's behalf verify the holdings annually and "there are no doubts about the integrity, reputation and safety of these foreign depositories," it said.

The Bundesbank manages Germany's gold reserves, which amounted to 3,396 tons as of Dec. 21, 2011. The gold hoard is kept at central bank vaults in Frankfurt, New York, Paris and London. The Federal Court of Auditors yesterday called on the Bundesbank to physically take stock of its gold holdings outside Germany because "they've never been assessed."

[source]

Gold: Stage Three – Up Down UP Down UP

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 11:30 AM PDT

Survive the Crisis

'Somebody is holding gold back,' Leeb tells King World News

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 11:22 AM PDT

12:19p CT Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Fund manager Stephen Leeb today tells King World News that people are scared, "everything is being liquidated," and that "somebody is holding gold back," but the monetary metals are still doing better than other asset classes. An excerpt from the interview is posted at the King World News blog here:

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/10/23_P...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

The Daily Market Report

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 11:06 AM PDT

Gold Falls on Heightened Risk Aversion

23-Oct (USAGOLD) — Gold has come under intensified pressure, dropping to new seven-week lows near $1700. The yellow metal has been hit by heightened risk aversion on several fronts.

Spain recorded its fifth consecutive quarterly GDP contraction, as PM Rajoy continues to waffle on an official bailout request. This comes on the heels of yesterday's downgrade by Moody's on Monday of five Spanish regions. Nothing has been resolved in Spain, or Greece and the eurozone as a whole for that matter. At best the troika has cobbled together a series of short-term fixes. The euro has fallen back below 1.30 today, and the corresponding dollar gains are weighing on gold.

Stocks are also taking a beating as a result of the stronger dollar, on top of earnings disappointments. Sharp drops in equities can sometimes prompt investors to liquidate even profitable gold positions to cover margin calls in other markets.

Finally, there is heightened speculation that Ben Bernanke's days as Fed chairman are numbered, regardless of who wins the Presidential election in two-weeks. Republican candidate Mitt Romney has said he would seek to replace Bernanke if he becomes President. However, the New York Times is reporting that Bernanke has told close friends that he is not interested in a third term, presumably even if President Obama wins reelection.

There are a lot of long positions out there in many markets that are at least partially based on the expansive monetary policies of a Bernanke run Fed. Heightened doubts that Bernanke will get a third-term at the helm of the Fed may well be prompting unwinding of at least some of those positions, as the market generally dislikes uncertainty. Interestingly this escalates on the day the FOMC begins its latest policy setting meeting, amid a broad consensus that the Fed will renew direct Treasury purchases before the end of the year.

What the market seemingly hasn't thought through are who would be likely replacements for Bernanke. If President Obama wins the election on November 6 and Bernanke rejects a third-term, vice chairpman Janet Yellen would be a likely frontrunner. Yellen is arguably more of a dove than Bernanke is. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has also been mentioned. While Summers has expressed some reservations about QE3, he certainly would not be considered a hawk.

Short-listers for appointment to Fed chairman from Romney are thought to be Greg Mankiw and Glenn Hubbard. Neither Mankiw nor Hubbard are considered hawks. In fact, Hubbard has advocated that Romney should reappoint Bernanke. However, Stanford economist John Taylor is also thought to be on the list. Taylor has indeed written about the perils of an "interventionist" Fed, advocating for predictable, rules-based monetary policy with a clear price-stability goal. He has also warned about leaving rates "too low for too long."

It strikes me as more likely than not that the extraordinary measures championed by Bernanke would remain in place for some time to come. I suspect that even if Taylor were confirmed under a Romney Presidency, that any policy shift would probably be gradual. And, as we mentioned yesterday, Romney threatens to complicate the Fed's mission if he significantly escalates tensions with the Chinese by labeling them a currency manipulator on his first day in the Oval Office.

The bottom line here is that no matter who wins the upcoming Presidential election and no matter whom is in charge of the Fed, ZIRP and extraordinary accommodations aren't going away any time soon. I'm sure Japan didn't intend their super-easy monetary policy to be in place for decades either; and yet after ten different Prime Ministers and four BoJ governors since the late-1990s, Japanese rates are still near zero and they continue to expand their quantitative measures.

Vladimir Putin: The New Global Shah of Oil

Posted: 23 Oct 2012 11:01 AM PDT

Synopsis: Is there anything that could cause Putin to stumble in his plan for Russian world energy domination? Dear Reader, The presidential election is just weeks away, major deals are being made and denied in the markets, and gold prices are jumping around – there will be lots to discuss at the upcoming New Orleans Investment Conference. If you're attending the conference, be sure to attend the Casey discussion with Doug Casey, Louis James, and Marin Katusa. The event will take place on the main stage (Grand Ballroom A&B) in the conference hall at 8:45 p.m. on Thursday. And now on to the topic of the day – the rise of a new global oil shah. Marin Katusa Chief Energy Investment Strategist Casey Research Vladimir Putin: The New Global Shah of Oil By Marin Katusa Exxon Mobil is no longer the world's number-one oil producer. As of yesterday, that title belongs to Putin Oil Corp – oh, whoops. I mean the title belongs to ...