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• Swiss govt. urges voters to reject ban on SNB gold sales
• Can't-miss headlines - Copper at a low, palladium in a cross and more
• Euromax: low grade copper/gold but potential ‘cash cow’
• Is Silver Likely to Decline from Here?
• Who Wins?
• Kirkland Lake: A Shareholder Friendly Gold Miner With High Grades, Big Upside
• Gold coins back on sale in India
• Gold Drops $10 In 10 Seconds As Britain Announces Gold Manipulation Investigation
• China & Japan Buying Treasuries Again?
• China's Big GDP Gold Secret
• Gold & Silver Crushed as Fed Minutes Claim Taper Imminent
• Gold mine output set to reach record, disappointing bulls
• Gold bears return before Yellen signals more easing
• The Only Chart That Matters
• The Greatest Opportunity in 30 Years by Jeff Clark
• Weak U.S. inflation sees gold at five-week low on western disdain
• Silver Fundamentals – The Historian Perspective
• Jim Rogers Expects A Buying Opportunity In Gold And Silver
• Is bitcoin better than gold?
• China Gold output up 6.8% to 307.8 tons in Jan Sep Y Y
• Precious Metals – The Wheels are Turning and You Can’t Slow Down
• Jim Rogers on Why Gold Could Go Lower
• Jim Rogers on Why Gold Could Go Lower
• Ron Paul: Federal Reserve Steals From the Poor and Gives to the Rich
• ECB to move to Negative Interest Rates
• Caption Contest Wednesday!
• $1 million gold stash found in airplane toilet
• Dressed to the nines with gold
• Alasdair Macleod: Fiat Money Quantity hits new record
• Silver Fundamentals – The Historian Perspective
• 28 Miles of AGEs
• Bill Bonner: Bitcoin Bull (Can Peter Schiff Be Far Behind?)
• Chinas gold imports are likely far greater than reported from Hong Kong
• Zero Hedge: Another gold slamdown looks like the work of the BIS
• 2014 Should Be A Catch-Up Year and the Bull Will Be Back In Charge
• Gold Crashes through Chart Support
• Take It To The Bank!
• Comex suspended gold trading for 20 seconds after price slump
• Gold market needs new catalysts as traditional assets outperform
• BoE Survey Shows Growing Fears Of House Price Crash
• Heat, Light & Venezuela in London Gold Manipulation
• Jim Rogers Expects A Buying Opportunity In Gold And Silver
• Why did the gold price plunge $10 in 10 seconds?
• China Imported An Additional 133 Tonnes Of Gold Directly in 2013
• BoE Survey Shows Growing Fears Of House Price Crash
• Venezuela Reported Planning to Pawn Its Gold Through Goldman Sachs
• OECD calls Europe's crisis policy unworkable, fears 'virulent episodes' in emerging markets
• Three King World News Blogs
• Jim Rickards and Max Keiser: Interview
• Patrick Heller: What’s Correct Gold/Silver Ratio?

Swiss govt. urges voters to reject ban on SNB gold sales Posted: 20 Nov 2013 02:24 PM PST The Swiss government is urging voters to reject a popular initiative to ban the Swiss National Bank from selling any of its gold reserves.

Can't-miss headlines - Copper at a low, palladium in a cross and more Posted: 20 Nov 2013 02:12 PM PST While copper hits a three-month low, Gold Fields manages to claw its way back into profit and analysts point to a "golden cross" for palladium.

Euromax: low grade copper/gold but potential ‘cash cow’ Posted: 20 Nov 2013 02:10 PM PST Junior European mine explorer/developer, Euromax, run by former European Goldfields executives has high hopes for its Ilovitza copper/gold porphyry in Macedonia.

Is Silver Likely to Decline from Here? Posted: 20 Nov 2013 01:03 PM PST SunshineProfits

Who Wins? Posted: 20 Nov 2013 01:00 PM PST Tweet I got to thinking about “who wins” when the global monetary and banking system goes down?  Hardcore gold bugs will tell you “only those who have metal.”  I think that this is wrongheaded thinking because when this ship goes down we will all lose.  The words of one of the world’s biggest metals money manager to me several years back will ring true I believe, “Who wants to be the richest guy in a world where it’s not safe to walk the streets and can’t enjoy life because nothing’s open?”  Don’t get me wrong, owning metal will “ease your pain” but it will not be a magic lamp you can rub to make everything better. From a macro standpoint, who wins?  In this case I think it will be a different story.  Here I believe that the winners will be the countries who have accumulated gold and the losers will be those that divested.  I also believe that there will be (are) countries that do not know they have “divested” but will soon find out.  Germany being the prime example here as they were told that it would take 7 years to repatriate a measly 300 tons from N.Y., in this case Germany already knows that they have had some “leakage.” My original thoughts on this topic came from reading a Zerohedge article this morning that said “China warns of big bank failures.”  I thought to myself this is the third or fourth time that overnight rates have spiked out of fear that some banks would lock up.  They have levered their real estate market and banking system as high as or even higher than ours so risk of a black swan event from China is as high as anywhere else.  Ah…but, they have imported massive amounts of gold over the last 3-5 years.  I would be shocked if they haven’t accumulated at least 5,000-6,000 tons.  In fact, I would not even be surprised if we eventually found out that they have 8,000 or even 10,000 tons. Going back to the title “Who Wins,” China does.  If (when) it turns out that the current monetary system collapses in a heap, the clear sovereign winner WILL be whoever has the most gold.  Think about it this way, if “everything paper is worth nothing” then the winner will be whoever has the most of whatever is worth “something.”  This “something” when it comes to “money” is and has been for 5,000 years, gold.  For years the West has quietly and secretly divested gold in an effort to prop up their currencies and retain “power.”  Some (many) countries were a part of this effort without even knowing about it.  Germany comes to mind, Portugal, Finland and others also as they have leased out a major portion yet still believe they “own” gold.  Much of this gold is simply gone and will never come back.  Britain, Canada and Australia also make this list as they outright have already sold much or all of their gold. Even though China has levered itself beyond “survival capacity” they have done something very smart.  I equate what they have done with gold as something similar to a homeowner taking on huge amounts of debt yet have physical metal equal to or more what their debt totals.  In this manner a homeowner can “sleep at night.”  Yes I know the leverage in China is far and above the value of their gold holdings…currently…and at today’s prices.  This leads me to just a little bit more to explain. I have read several opinions that suggest the Chinese themselves may be a part of the current metals price suppression scheme, this does make some sense and I believe it is quite possible.  China has every motive I can think of to keep gold prices “low.”  They know that there is only so much gold to be had, why would they “pull the plug” on their reserve holdings while they could still accumulate more gold by using them?  This topic I believe was part and parcel of the mid and late 2011 high level meetings between the U.S. and China.  It would not surprise me one bit if a deal was struck where the Chinese would not liquidate Treasury holdings in size as long as gold was still being delivered.  This could also explain the meltdown of inventories at the COMEX, GLD and 1,300 tons “disappearing” from London. In any case, as I mentioned above, the “current” gold holdings of China.  China doesn’t care “what it's worth” NOW.  They only care how much “weight” they have because in my opinion the old story of “he who has the gold makes the rules” will apply.  THEY will re price gold to much much higher levels once there is no more in any sizeable quantity to be had.  They won’t care what their dollar holdings will be worth, they will only care about what their gold holdings will be “worth”…AND they will essentially “dictate” this. Is this speculation on my part?  Yes of course it is.  Does it make sense?  I think so, I think it is just basic common sense which the Chinese have and we lost as a nation or even a culture many years ago.  No matter what, it is clear that the Chinese now have at a minimum the second largest gold holding in the world if you believe that the U.S. still has 8,300 tons.  If we do not have this stash (which I entirely believe that we do not) then the Chinese have amassed the largest holding.  Which… if history is any guide makes them the “winners.”  It will also allow them to “make the rules.”Similar Posts: To Who? Who Do You Believe – Me Or Your Lying Eyes? So Who Is Right?

Kirkland Lake: A Shareholder Friendly Gold Miner With High Grades, Big Upside Posted: 20 Nov 2013 12:41 PM PST I've been looking for investments in the gold sector that have the most potential to rebound and do so strongly once the price of gold finally does rise back to the $1,500 level (which I believe it will do so in 2014 on strong physical demand). One junior gold miner that has been grabbing my attention of late is a company called Kirkland Lake Gold (OTC:KGILF), which I feel not only has the potential to double in 2014, but also holds long-term multi-bagger potential. Kirkland Lake Gold has a lot of things going in its favor - from its location of operations in mining-friendly Canada, to its super-high grades, tight share structure and recent arrangement with Franco Nevada. Here, I will try to make the case that Kirkland Lake is among one of the best junior gold mining stocks on the market. Why Kirkland Lake? Kirkland Lake is an operating

Gold coins back on sale in India Posted: 20 Nov 2013 12:30 PM PST Smarting at the huge loss in sales, retailers across India are offering smaller denomination gold coins.

Gold Drops $10 In 10 Seconds As Britain Announces Gold Manipulation Investigation Posted: 20 Nov 2013 12:20 PM PST With investigations by the CFTC into the silver market fading in the US, regulators in Britain have decided to review whether global benchmarks tied to gold trading were manipulated. This investigations is a part of a larger investigation of potential manipulation of the $5 trillion a day currency market, Libor. The morning the investigation was announced traders in London saw a considerable rapid-fire spell of selling in the gold market. The price dropped $10 immediately.  It fell throughout the rest of the day, finding some padding at the $1250 level. IG Markets commented that the drop in price came suddenly following a 2,000-contracts sell order. This is a prime example of why regulators should be curious about the gold market. It trades like no other market. It is counter-intuitive.  Gold does not comply to the logic of traders.   Is this investigation likely to go much further than the US investigations? I don’t believe so. Gold Manipulation Investigation Apart of Libor Investigations

China & Japan Buying Treasuries Again? Posted: 20 Nov 2013 12:15 PM PST Both China and Japan added a substantial amount of US Treasuries in September, according to the latest TIC-data released by the Federal Reserve on Monday. The total foreign holdings of US debt increased as well in September, ending a five-month selling spree of US debt. Compared to August, foreign countries added a net amount of [...] The post China & Japan Buying Treasuries Again? appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: China to Dump $2 TRILLION in Treasuries! China Buys Most Japan Short-Term Debt in 1 1/2 Years Russia, Greece, Turkey, Other Central Banks Buy Gold; China's PBOC Buying?

China's Big GDP Gold Secret Posted: 20 Nov 2013 12:09 PM PST Watching China's GDP data, you'll see that one man's investor is another's middle-aged housekeeping auntie...   The MOST IMPORTANT person buying gold in China today? asks Adrian Ash at BullionVault.   Bloomberg would have you think it's a middle-aged "auntie". And they might just be right. "Yang Cuiyan, a 41-year-old housekeeper from Anhui province, is one reason China is poised to topple India as the world's top consumer of gold," says the newswire, "even as investors desert the metal." Yes, of course the sub-editors got to this article. Yes, we should never take such "slice-of-life" reporting as anything serious.   But that distinction, between the middle-aged Chinese "auntie" (as women of Ms.Cuiyan's age are apparently known) and the "investor" smacks loudly of a West-centric view.    Clearly, she's dumb to buy gold jewelry in the hope of retaining her savings when investors here in the West are "deserting" the metal. Nevermind that Ms.Cuiyan, and the army of Chinese aunties, is an investor herself. Nevermind that, buying only an ounce each (as she has), that army of 120 million Chinese women in their 40s today (the prime age for China's stereotypical "goldbug" according to brokerage Nomura, although it says he's male and buys at his bank) would outweigh the gold sales from Western ETF contracts in 2013 five times over.   And nevermind that the world's still-fastest growing major economy is now the world's No.1 private gold buyer too, finally overtaking India in 2013.   Of course, that army of aunties doesn't have the cash to buy 1 ounce of gold each at will. Nor will they all choose to buy gold, let alone all at once. But nor are those women alone in buying gold in greater quantities, and at greater values, as prices fell for Chinese and Western households alike this year. Unlike here in the West, precious metals are not a minority sport in China today. And as Marcus Grubb at market-development organization the World Gold Council notes in a recent interview, the 2013 slowdown in China's economic growth has NOT seen a slowdown in China's gold demand.   It's been a while since we looked at China's gold demand in depth, or the share of China's household savings going to gold. But as our chart above shows, there was indeed something of a 2012 gold panic in China. It has only grown greater this year, pulling the gross spend on jewelry, coins, investment bars and gold trinkets still higher.   You don't need to misread the available, well-established and rigorous data to reach a startling conclusion. Based on the World Gold Council's numbers, produced by the GFMS consultancy (now part of Thomson Reuters), private consumer spending on gold, in Yuan terms, has risen up to 18 times over in the last decade. Crunching the numbers today, we reckon 0.8% of China's entire GDP was spent by private households on physical gold in the first quarter – which includes the peak seasonal demand of lunar New Year – of both 2012 and 2013.   Whether for jewelry, bars or coin, it's very hard – and very old-skool colonial – to deny the investment motive in that world-beating demand today. But one man's investor is another's housekeeping auntie. Making it all the easier to dismiss her impact, within the hardest-saving and fastest-growing big economy, on the world's flow of physical gold.

Gold & Silver Crushed as Fed Minutes Claim Taper Imminent Posted: 20 Nov 2013 12:04 PM PST Gold and silver have just been absolutely hammered on the Fed minutes release in which Fed MOPE claimed a taper is likely in the coming months. Gold has plunged through $1250 to $1240, and silver has just broken support at $20 and now has a $19 handle plunging to $19.73! Sunshine Mint Silver Eagles As [...] The post Gold & Silver Crushed as Fed Minutes Claim Taper Imminent appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: No Taper, QEternity Continues at $85 Billion a Month Fed Holds Serve- No Taper! Fed “Prepared To Increase Or Reduce QE” As Needed Fed Won’t Taper QE…Yet

Gold mine output set to reach record, disappointing bulls Posted: 20 Nov 2013 12:04 PM PST This record production is disappointing gold bulls who are impatiently waiting for production cuts following this year's 24% plunge in prices.

Gold bears return before Yellen signals more easing Posted: 20 Nov 2013 11:42 AM PST Gold rallied as Janet Yellen said on November 14 she's ready to back stimulus until she sees robust economic growth.

The Only Chart That Matters Posted: 20 Nov 2013 11:00 AM PST Tweet The Winklevoss twins believe Bitcoin should be worth $400 billion, going so far as to call it "gold 2.0."  Conversely, Peter Schiff deems it "Tulip mania II," referring to the rank speculation occurring under the guise of a structural change in monetary perception.  After watching it rise fivefold in two weeks, then crash 45% last night in three hours, debate on this topic will continue into the foreseeable future.  As for me, I two weeks ago said that no matter what Bitcoin trades at, it will never have the monetary properties that have sustained gold and silver demand through six millennia.  And therefore, as the Bitcoin hype reaches a fever pitch, I can only warn you to be extremely careful.  It may be a brand new technology; but like fiat currency, is "digitally printed" out of thin air; and moreover, depends heavily on whether the Chinese government accepts it. That said the fact that Bitcoin is breaking out – quite obviously, in un-manipulated fashion; speaks volumes of the emerging mindset regarding fiat currency; as ultimately, Bitcoin is a "play" on rejection of the dollar, euro, yen – and 179 other intrinsically empty mediums of exchange.  The reasons for fiat skepticism are myriad; and if history even "rhymes," guaranteed to be repeated.  To wit, in observing the extreme speculation overtaking financial markets, I feel awed by the pending financial catastrophe the Fed has spearheaded.  Even Larry Summers advocated NIRP at a speech this weekend – i.e., Negative Interest Rate Policy; and compared to Summers, Janet Yellen is vastly more dovish, per the below headlines, hot off the presses… After five years of maniacal money printing and monetization, the "only chart that matters" depicts a Fed desperate to kick the can the extra mile.  In expanding its balance sheet fivefold since 2008, it has simply caused America's debt load to explode; while in the process, destroying investment capital, exporting inflation, creating historic wealth inequality, weakening the economy, and last but not least, fostering the most rampant speculation since 1999; not to mention, the same shoddy lending practices that led to the 2008 crisis. Per these graphs, the real U.S. economy is in steep decline; as validated by this survey depicting how one-third of all major cities anticipate flat or weaker economic growth.  In fact, just 14% of all global companies plan on hiring new employees in 2014; as the same issues crippling America are affecting the entire world. Today alone, we saw dire earnings outlooks from bellwether retailers Best Buy and Campbell's Soup; and in fact, the third quarter earnings season has been one of the worst ever, with the proportion of companies reducing earnings expectations at its highest level on record.  And thus, it should be no surprise that survey after survey forecasts abysmal holiday sales; again, to levels last experienced at the height of the 2008-09 crisis.  Heck, Wal-Mart is initiating a food drive for its own employees in Ohio; and if that doesn't depict just how badly the average American is faring, nothing will. Historically, the government response to hopeless economic situations has always been the same; particularly when unfettered by real money.  That is, deploying epic levels of money printing, market manipulation, and propaganda.  For example, most readers are aware that the BEA, or Bureau of Economic Analysis, recently "rejiggered" U.S. GDP calculations to make the economy look $500 billion larger.  The methods used were shallow at best, but the BEA correctly assumed no one would pay attention to the details.  And thus, it should be no surprise that today, it was announced that China plans on doing the exact same thing – as worldwide, governments are doing everything in their power to obfuscate reality. However, no one can manipulate data with the impunity of the U.S. government; and today's bombshell report of a BEA whistleblower exposes such activities front and center.  To wit, I'm sure you remember the incredulous September 2012 NFP report – you know, the last one published before the Presidential election.  Incorporating some of the most questionable data on record, it enabled the "unemployment rate" to miraculously fall 0.1% below the level it was at when Obama took office.  At the time, Jack Welch – among others – said the Obama Administration was "cooking the books"; and now, it turns he was right.  According to this article from Jon Crudele of the NY Post, BEA contractor Julius Buckmon was ordered to fabricate jobs; thus, dealing a critical blow to those that still believe economic data (and for that matter, financial markets) are not manipulated. On that note, let's go back to the "only chart that matters" – in our search for the likely conclusion to the ongoing, global economic calamity.  At this point, so much money has been printed – worldwide – that frankly, it matters not if another dollar, euro, or yen is ever created again.  In other words, the damage has already been done, and the "point of no return" long ago passed.  That said it needs to be pointed out just how egregious official efforts have been to mask reality this year; which in my view, will be viewed as an historical inflection point in TPTB's war against real money.  And by inflection point, I mean the end of their ability to influence perception by manipulating markets. To that point, below is a chart overlaying the S&P 500 with the size of the Fed's balance sheet.  As you can see, since the post-Global Meltdown I money printing frenzy, the correlation has been an astounding 90%.  Using the obscure r-squared statistical measure – i.e., the coefficient of determination – more than 80% of all S&P 500 movement over the past four years is directly attributed to Federal Reserve asset monetization.  In other words, buying toxic assets from banks, which in turn deploy such capital to the markets? Essentially, the Fed created the current equity bubble all by itself; although rest assured, it had plenty of aid from the President's Working Group on Financial Markets.  Not only are U.S. equities up 20%-30% this year – amidst the worst financial and economic fundamentals in generations – but the Dow has only had one 2% down day all year – and that, on June 19th, just after the FOMC initially hinted at QE "tapering."  Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if that downside move wasn't orchestrated as well; you know, to "scare" the Fed from further taper talk. From the get-go, the Fed's goal has been to reduce nominal interest rates to record low levels; in it, an amazing accomplishment given surging inflation and record debt.  And until recently, their plan was working, as the correlation between the Fed's Treasury holdings and the 10-year Treasury yield was nearly perfect.  In other words, until the Fed started to lose control following its ill-advised "taper" comment in June, this correlation was a whopping 94%.  In other words, it was even higher than the correlation between its balance sheet and the S&P 500. I could take up several pages posting charts depicting correlations between the Fed's balance sheet and various financial market parameters.  However, in the interest of brevity, let me simply say, there are many.  In fact, the prices of gold and silver have been particularly heavily correlated to the Fed's activity, which makes this year's suppression that much more blatant.  Below, for instance, is an overlay of the U.S. debt limit versus gold; which until April's "Alternative Currencies Destruction," had a 98% correlation over the past 13 years.  This by the way is not much different than the 94% correlation between gold and the Fed's balance sheet over that period. Bringing the point home – of just how blatant recent interventions have been – I present the defining, damning chart of what "markets" have done since the Fed announced QE3 and QE4 last fall.  Yes, while the Dow has rocketed more than 30% higher – whilst worldwide economic activity has faltered significantly, per the dramatic table I published last week – gold has plunged more than 25%. In due time, such "anomalistic" behaviors will return to the mean – and then some.  TPTB may have won a temporary battle against the forces of economic and market reality, but such rear-guard actions increase the odds that the overarching war will not only be lost decisively, but much quicker than anticipated.  In the case of gold and silver, the physical supply and demand responses have already been dramatic; and trust me, they will only become more so as this treacherous fiat game enters its terminal phase. As far as I'm concerned, the only remaining question is how and when the end game starts; and given the enormous amount of "black swans" lurking around, nothing would surprise me at this point.  Remember, when it finally commences, the odds are that your opportunity to protect financial assets with real money will have already passed.  And thus, I suggest you take advantage of the opportunity to so before it's too late.Similar Posts: Are Bitcoins Money? Popularity of Bitcoins QE Failure – By the Numbers!

The Greatest Opportunity in 30 Years by Jeff Clark Posted: 20 Nov 2013 10:59 AM PST The Greatest Opportunity in 30 Years By Jeff Clark, Senior Precious Metals Analyst I caught myself daydreaming last week… It’s October 27, 2008, and Silver Wheaton (SLW) just hit $3 per share. I buy 10,000 shares, more than I’ve ever devoted to any one stock. I sell half when it hits $33 per share and pocket $150,000 after a 1,000% gain. I pay off the mortgage, and my wife quits work—and I still have 5,000 shares… Not a bad daydream, eh? I don’t know how many investors actually had the intestinal fortitude to plunk down a big lump of cash on a stock at that time—but Silver Wheaton did indeed offer that 1,000% return, and more. When you look back at the investments that have made the most money over the past few decades, they’ve always been assets that had reached an extreme—an extreme low or an extreme high. Buying gold at $250 per ounce in 2001… buying tech stocks in the early ’90s or Apple Computer at $8 per share in 2003… shorting real estate in 2007 or the stock market in 2008… the list goes on. Each of those speculations led to massive returns only because the price of the respective asset was either dramatically undervalued and poised to take off or, in the case of the short sales, a bubble ready to pop. Paradoxically, such opportunities aren’t that hard to find—the truth is, they sprout up all the time. What is hard to find is the type of investor who has the guts to take advantage of those opportunities. Fact is, most people run from assets that are at an all-time low… and happily buy into stocks that are reaching their peak. As legendary resource investor Rick Rule likes to say, “You’re either a contrarian or you’re a victim.” When you think about it, the strategy for getting rich—a strategy regularly applied by the Doug Caseys and Rick Rules of the world—is deceptively simple: Find an asset at an extreme (low or high) and determine if it’s headed in the other direction anytime soon; Take a significant position and hold the fort while market forces play out. That’s all. The difficult part is to muster the courage to hold on when all your senses are screaming that it’s a huge mistake, that your investment will never pan out, that today’s fool (you) is tomorrow’s loser. If, on the other hand, you don’t mind going where others fear to tread, opportunities practically jump into your outstretched hands. Here’s the best one I know of right now: gold stocks. Actually, to say they’re a “good opportunity” is a laughable understatement: Gold stocks are at an extreme low we haven’t seen in over 30 years in this industry. Let me prove it to you. An effective way to measure the true value of gold stocks is to compare them to the gold price. Other things being equal, a gold producer selling for $20 per share at a $1,500 gold price is a heck of a lot cheaper than when gold’s at $1,000. (When the price of a product is higher, the stock is more valuable, and vice versa.) The XAU (Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index) consists of 30 gold and silver stocks and began trading in December 1983. Here are the first 23 years of the Index’s ratio to gold. Any time the ratio reached 0.20 or below, gold stocks were undervalued in relation to gold, and investors who bought at those inflection points made a profit. Conversely, once the ratio reached 0.34 or above, stocks were overvalued and due for a pullback. For 23 years, from its inception through 2007, the XAU/gold ratio provided fairly reliable feedback for investors. Now let’s add the rest of the data. Today, the XAU/gold ratio is at a historic low of 0.07. To fully appreciate what this means, look at these former lows for comparison: It’s lower than the 2008 gold stock selloff; It’s lower than the “nuclear winter” of the mid-’90s; It’s lower than the very beginning of the gold bull market in 2001. Right now, gold stocks are like a rubber band that’s being stretched to an extreme. As all rubber bands do, it will snap back. And not just that; based on how extreme the undervaluation has become, they’re bound to be among the most profitable investments of this generation. A year ago, I pointed out how cheap gold stocks were—and yes, they managed to get cheaper still. But that fact only underscores how vast this opportunity really is. Current sentiment in the precious metals sector, especially the stocks, is beyond dreary: it’s pitiful. At the Toronto Stock Exchange, where most mining stocks are traded, security guards are now doubling as suicide watchmen. (OK, I made that up.) What I didn’t make up is that your chances of following in Doug Casey’s or Rick Rule’s footsteps—and making similar breathtaking returns—have never been higher. Upside is at its greatest when even the cab driver laughs at the thought of buying a gold stock. As conditions return to normal, huge profits will be made… by those who didn’t listen to the investing herd and its mouthpieces in the mainstream financial media. Is there a guarantee gold stocks will rebound and deliver life-changing profits? I’m sure you’ve heard the “death and taxes” thing, so I don’t have to answer that question. And there are some scenarios that could conceivably prevent gold and silver from rebounding—possibly killing off the miners for a generation: If billions of Chinese, Indians, and other Asians finally realize that unbacked paper currencies are much more desirable to hold than physical gold and silver… If Ben Bernanke vows never to print another bloody greenback again, and neither does his successor… If Congress unanimously agrees to lower, instead of raise, the debt ceiling and drastically cut all but core spending, for the health of the country and its citizens (I know, don’t make me laugh)… If solar panel manufacturers and dozens of other industries find a valid replacement for silver in their products… If the insane amount of $700 trillion in derivatives circling the world like a cloud of toxic particles suddenly evaporates… If Beijing calls a press conference and proclaims they were mistaken and now feel no need to diversify out of the US dollar, that it’s the one and only reserve currency the world will ever need… … then we might see that happen. But I’m not holding my breath on any of these. (A phrase about snowballs and hot places comes to mind.) In the meantime, I bought another gold Eagle last month. Gold investing comes in many forms—bullion coins, paper proxies like gold ETFs, gold accumulation programs, large- and small-cap gold stocks. Find out which one is right for you, in my 2014 Gold Investor’s Guide that you can read free of charge by clicking here. Learn when is the best time to buy gold and where to get it… the 3 best ways to invest… and how to pick the right gold stocks. Click here to get your free report now.

Weak U.S. inflation sees gold at five-week low on western disdain Posted: 20 Nov 2013 10:51 AM PST Wholesale gold fell to new five-week lows Wednesday lunchtime in London, dropping below $1,257 for a 2.5% loss so far this week after new data showed U.S. consumer prices falling last month from September.

Silver Fundamentals – The Historian Perspective Posted: 20 Nov 2013 10:48 AM PST Gary Christenson Ryan Jordan, Ph.D. is a professional historian, author and college professor.  He is the author of "Silver – The Peoples Metal" which I highly recommend. Mr Ryan Jordan sees silver fundamentals from the perspective of a historian. Besides, he looks at it as an astute observer of present conditions.  In his analysis, he takes the following area's into account: drivers of the silver market, supply and demand forces, silver mining, inflation, investment sentiment, central bank monetary policies (in particular, bond monetization policies), politics. Before looking into the details of his work, we summarize the conclusions of his analysis. His work is not about moment moving averages, technical analysis, relative strength indicators, partial differential equations, Federal Reserve economic models. By contrast, he provides only a perspective as an historian: Demand for silver is strong in the United States, India and China. Central banks are printing currency and attempting to create inflation. The reserve status of the dollar is weakening.  Many countries are bypassing the dollar in their international trade. Mining companies will have reduced output because their revenues have declined while expenses have increased.  Hence the supply of silver and gold will remain relatively flat while demand is increasing. The global middle class will demand more gold and silver for savings.  Americans may not understand gold and silver but over 2,000,000,000 Chinese and Indians do, and that demand for actual physical metals will grow. The cult of equities is flying high but it may not last.  There is room for a shift from equities and bonds to precious metals.  Even a small shift in demand away from stocks and bonds could cause the relatively tiny gold and silver markets to rise to new highs. Fundamentally and historically speaking, there are many reasons to own gold and silver. His recent work offers more detailed thoughts about silver. Below are several quotes and thoughts from his research. 1)   Demand for silver is strong From his article: Silver Demand As Guide for Silver's Next Price Move "The US Mint confirmed a record year for sales of silver coins– and we still have six weeks in the year to go. Yes, the roughly 40 million ounces of silver only accounts for maybe 5% of overall demand, but it also represents a huge increase from a decade ago when it comes to investor interest in physical metal. In fact, globally, silver investment demand is up essentially from ZERO just 10 short years ago (take some time to allow that to sink in when thinking about the change in investor sentiment toward precious metals in recent years.) And demand for silver isn't just an American phenomenon. Last month, somewhat surprising news came out of India of a roughly 130 million ounces of silver imported into that country in just the first six months of the year. This was in response to the shutdown of gold imports into that country." 2)   Inflation will be increasingly important As long as the world monetary systems are run by central banks, particularly the Federal Reserve, we can expect inflation in the money supply, debt, and consumer prices.  The weakness in gold and silver since 2011 is, in our opinion, a temporary correction in the four decade uptrend for debt, spending, and gold and silver prices. "Gold and Silver:  The Big Picture" "Another long term, fundamental factor in the rise of gold and silver comes from the belief of central planners that inflation is nonexistent currently and actually needs to increase. This is the view held by many among western central bankers, and is part of the reason why FED bond purchases will not decline much from the nearly 1 trillion a year mark, as made clear this week by the US central bank. FOMC statements released Wednesday continue to affirm that the deflationary threats from the 2008 crisis remain. The ultra-loose stance of the world's largest central bank should be of concern to anyone who wonders if inflation might one day get out of hand. And in India, known as one of the world's leading gold markets, inflation is already making its presence felt. The Indian central bank continues to raise interest rates while attempting to curtail demand for gold among Indian citizens. Many observers note the similarity to policies once adopted by the US government in the late 1960s and 1970s, and how those policies failed to dampen demand for gold as both inflation and interest rates rose strongly. My question for any gold or silver bear is this: if gold and silver went up nearly 7 times over the last 10 years with no meaningful inflation in western nations, how much more will the metals go up when inflation is officially recognized as a problem by those in charge?" 3)   Precious metals have been largely ignored for over 30 years Yes, they are occasionally mentioned in the mainstream media and on financial television, but the media's primary focus is on stocks and bonds – paper promises and paper debt – not on something real like a gold bar or a stack of silver coins.  Dr. Jordan thinks that gold and silver will become an increasingly important part of more investment plans and that this transition will accelerate. "Precious Metals:  The Emerging Asset Class" "Over the past year, the cult of equities has made a return, as indices roar to all-time highs, and as many look to cash in on new IPOs like they did in the last tech boom 15 years ago." "But I'd like to make some historical comparisons between the two periods, to explain how even with stocks catching all the attention, this hardly means that gold and silver will continue to be left out in the cold. Here are three main reasons why I do not believe gold, silver, PGMs, or mining shares will behave as they did in the 1980s and 90s: 1) Just last month, President Obama actually made reference to the reserve status of the U.S. dollar as being in jeopardy based on current dysfunctional behavior in Washington, D.C. I don't ever recall Presidents Reagan through Clinton saying something similar– and for good reason. To take the case of President Reagan's first term in office, the US Dollar rallied something like 50% at one point. While I don't expect the dollar to crash anytime soon, too many players globally are looking to diversify away from the greenback for the dollar to re-enter a secular bull market. A big question mark remains over the US dollar's reserve status and this represents one of the most powerful reasons to continue to own precious metals– or even to acquire more. 2) The challenges facing mining companies these past couple of years signals a downshift in global gold and silver production. This decline won't happen immediately, since it takes a while to shudder mine projects – but ore grades can only decline so much before it becomes uneconomical to attempt to increase overall mine output. This reality stands in marked contrast to the 1980s and 1990s, where mine output for both metals made significant increases during those decades. Supply constraints – especially if they are coupled with new industrial demand for the white precious metals – will eventually lead to higher prices. 3) The growth in the global middle class outside of the West is a trend that began 20 years ago, but the trend has accelerated in recent years. Many commentators believe that the shift in wealth from west to east will mean that upwards of 50% of new entrants to the global middle class in future years will come from areas outside the U.S. and Western Europe. As has been seen all year, buyers in Asia and the Middle East possess an attachment to physical gold- ranging from the person buying jewelry to the central banker buying bullion bars– that is hard to break. Oftentimes these attachments speak to the cultural memory of volatile local currencies or political malfeasance in these nations. Overall there remain some big differences between today and 20 or 30 years ago when it comes to precious metals. While faith in central planners and their ability to levitate equity markets is strong among some, there are others like myself who do feel that 2008 mattered–and not in a good way. Zero percent interest rates, a stagnant economy for upwards of 80% of people in the U.S. and Western Europe, continued discussion of unsustainable debt levels, and the existence of a black hole of derivatives and other "off balance sheet" financial sleights of hand are just a few issues facing investors currently. It may be hard to believe it now, but I don't think the precious metals will remain under-owned forever." 4)   The conventional investment perspective is not the only valid one "Don't Drink Too Deeply From the Well of Conventional Thought" "The inability of people to see the world for what it is was quite apparent with the nonsensical discussion of Fed tapering over the last several months. Many in positions of power sought to convince the unwashed that somehow these extreme monetary measures can be undone, or taken back. And many still believe them. As part of this naivety we then get people believing that entire asset classes, like gold, silver and mining shares are only for crazy people- that genuine tangible asset investing need not play any role in a given portfolio. My only advice for people is to please be very careful about drinking too deeply from the well of conventional thought. It is not that the world is going to end, but by the same token the days of 4 or 5% economic growth coupled with a strong and growing middle class are gone for a long time. This new reality requires a new attitude towards investing. Don't let the recent weakness in the precious metals sector mislead you."

Jim Rogers Expects A Buying Opportunity In Gold And Silver Posted: 20 Nov 2013 10:47 AM PST Gold Silver Worlds This is an interview with Jim Rogers, conducted by Birch Gold Group. The topics that are covered range from monetary policy, the stock market frenzy, currency wars and precious metals. Jim Rogers his observations and predictions about how the currency war will unfold: Well, the first thing you need to know is that nobody ever wins a trade war, a currency war, which is just another kind of trade war. Everybody loses in the end, some may temporarily come out ahead but it's temporary if nothing else. As you have pointed out, the cost of living of many people is going up, and it certainly is, my gosh, in Japan you have a currency that's down 25% in a year. Well I assure you the Japanese are feeling that because everything that Japan imports has gone up fairly substantially AND even the things that they don't import are up because the Japanese manufacturers and the Japanese producers can raise prices because they don't have to worry about competing with the foreigners any more. So we're all losing in currency wars. How long can it go on? Well, it can go on as long as politicians can continue to print money. The problem is, of course, eventually the markets will just say, "We're not going to play this game anymore" and we'll have a serious collapse. You and I can print money all day long, but at some point, you, I and everybody else is going to say, "Wait a minute, guys, this money is getting worse and worse and more and more worthless, so why don't we stop playing this game?" I wish the politicians were smart enough at some point to say, "We've got to stop this, this is going to be bad." But unfortunately they never have, and probably never will. Mr. Bernanke is certainly not going to stop it, because he doesn't want to go down in history as causing the collapse. Mrs. Yellen, when she comes in, she's not going to stop it, first of all she doesn't believe in stopping it, she thinks printing money is good. And she knows – I hope she's smart enough to know – that if she stops, oh my gosh, it's going to collapse. So she's not going to stop. Nobody wants to go down as causing the collapse of the world. So I'm afraid this is going to go on until the market eventually says to them, "Okay, enough is enough," we have a big collapse and then they're all thrown out and we can start over. Jim Rogers about whether Larry Summers could have stopped Quantitative Easing: Well, first of all it's irrelevant because he's not going to be Federal Reserve Chairman. Second, even if he started, you know, if somebody came in and said, "Okay, we've got a terrible problem, we've made horrible mistakes, now let's change things." And even if everybody in the world said, "You know, he's right, we've got to do something" and they started, well, within a few months or a year or two, the pain would be pretty horrible and then everybody's going to say, "Well we didn't know the pain was going to be this bad, this is not what we signed up for." And then the guy would either be thrown out or assassinated or who knows what! At first they say "It's fine, we want to do it", but once the pain comes, the pain is going to get pretty serious. We had Mr. Volcker who came in, was told "stop the madness" back in the 1970s and he did. Well, Jimmy Carter got thrown out, because he was who had told him to do that, because the pain was so bad. Reagan of course thought it was wonderful, that pain was taking place because that got him elected. And it was help to clean up the problems. That's what happens, you cause the pain and they throw you out. Which signs would reveal a collapse would be approaching: Well, I wish I was that smart or it was that easy. Back in the late 1970s, Mr. Volcker was told and he came in and said: "I am going to kill inflation because Mr. Carter has told me to." And Mr. Carter was very clear that he had to stop inflation. I doubt if we'll have that kind of scenario again but we would think, we would hope, that the Federal Reserve will announce, you know, that they publish their numbers so we can all see what's happening. At the moment they are buying a trillion dollars a year – that's a trillion with a "T" – of assets. Eventually we will see that they stop that if they do or slow it down. What will probably happen is that they will slow it down at first to see what happens, and if things aren't too bad at first – and they probably won't be too bad at first – well what is likely to happen is they will slow it down, things will drop, and then they will rally and the Federal Reserve will say "Hey, this is not so bad, we can do it." And they'll cut some more. Things will drop again and then rally, because it will take a while for people to really believe how bad it can get, or will get. And so eventually they will try to cut [QE], it will finally cause the collapse, at that point we will have a big change, because they will throw them out, whether it's the politicians or the central bankers or whoever … will continue because they like it, they got the job because of the collapse and then we'll finally start over. But it may be really painful in the meantime. Jim Rogers said in an interview in Barrons that he is holding gold right now and expects maybe a buying opportunity to come up. Is that still the case? Yes, I've owned gold for many years, I've never sold any gold and I can't imagine I ever will sell gold in my life because it is somewhat of an insurance policy. I hope that my daughters own my gold someday, I mean I owned gold, I've never sold any gold and if gold comes down and I expect it to go down, doesn't mean it will, I'll buy more. I'm certainly not going to sell. Everybody should own some precious metals as an insurance policy. So if they don't have any right now, I would urge them to go buy something, buy themselves a gold coin if nothing else, and see that it's not going to hurt. It won't hurt you to buy the first gold coin, the first silver coin, and from that you start accumulating as your own situation dictates. First, do your homework, don't buy gold because you heard me say it or even because you hear you say it. But if people don't own they should start after they have done their homework. And then they will probably, if they do their homework, most people will then realize, "Oh my gosh, I better have insurance, and gold and silver may get me through serious problems ahead." Jim Rogers about silver's prospects: Well, silver is historically down 60% from its all-time highs, so yes, I would prefer silver at the moment because gold is down only what, 30 or 40% from its all-time highs.

Is bitcoin better than gold? Posted: 20 Nov 2013 10:36 AM PST In a relatively short period of time people are declaring that bitcoin is gold 2.0. These declarations originate from bitcoin's climb whilst gold drops, despite ongoing central bank easing and a distinct lack of global recovery. Conditions in which traditionally gold is expected to outperform currencies.

China Gold output up 6.8% to 307.8 tons in Jan Sep Y Y Posted: 20 Nov 2013 10:33 AM PST The country's total gold output in the first nine months of this year was up 6.8% compared with the same period a year ago, the Association said.

Precious Metals – The Wheels are Turning and You Can’t Slow Down Posted: 20 Nov 2013 10:05 AM PST Those lucky enough to experience the physical weight of wealth of precious metals understand the broader, more abstract implications. We are aboard a speeding train that cannot speed up – neither can it slow down – due to fiat, default, and what will be remembered as the greatest credit fiasco in history. And the road [...] The post Precious Metals – The Wheels are Turning and You Can’t Slow Down appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Alasdair Macleod: The Tide is Turning Against the Dollar in Favor of Precious Metals Precious Metals and Being Long Gamma Balance Sheet Liquefaction and the Race for Precious Metals

Jim Rogers on Why Gold Could Go Lower Posted: 20 Nov 2013 10:04 AM PST The Indian politicians are now trying to do their best to destroy the gold market. They've put on huge controls and taxes on the Indian gold market. India's the largest buyer of gold in the world, and it's already having an effect. So the Indians are now trying to figure out a way to make the Indians sell their gold. Now if India goes from being the largest buyer of gold, to a seller of gold—who knows how low the price of gold will go? I know it will go a lot lower. So I'm not buying gold…. yet. Click here for more from Jim Rogers on why gold may go lower over the short term:

Jim Rogers on Why Gold Could Go Lower Posted: 20 Nov 2013 10:01 AM PST The Indian politicians are now trying to do their best to destroy the gold market. They've put on huge controls and taxes on the Indian gold market. India's the largest buyer of gold in the world, and it's already having an effect. So the Indians are now trying to figure out a way to make [...] The post Jim Rogers on Why Gold Could Go Lower appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Jim Rogers: Syria War And “Market Panic” To Send Gold “Much, Much Higher” FOMC Focuses on Slower Growth, Eyes Further Easing, Gold Lower, Equities Fall Jim Rogers: "There's No Reason For The Government To Manipulate Gold Or Silver, I Don't Buy It"

Ron Paul: Federal Reserve Steals From the Poor and Gives to the Rich Posted: 20 Nov 2013 09:40 AM PST Two days before the Janet Yellen confirmation hearings, Andrew Huszar, an ex-Fed official, publicly apologized to the American people for his role in QE. Mr. Huszar called QE “the greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout of all time." As recently as five years ago, it would have been unheard of for a Wall Street insider and [...] The post Ron Paul: Federal Reserve Steals From the Poor and Gives to the Rich appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Federal Reserve Whistleblower Tells America The REAL Reason For Quantitative Easing House to Vote in July on Ron Paul Bill to Audit the Federal Reserve Ron Paul's Federal Reserve Audit Approved by House Committee

ECB to move to Negative Interest Rates Posted: 20 Nov 2013 09:10 AM PST Several news sources are reporting that the European Central Bank is considering moving to Negative Interest Rates in yet another attempt to combat sluggish economic growth in the Eurozone. Keep in mind that this comes on the heels of their surprise interest rate cut two weeks ago which caught the markets completely off guard. That hit the Euro hard back then and once again, it is getting slammed today as a result. Gold seemed to catch a bit of a bid on this news but the moves higher are running into selling thus far. One way of looking at this is that DEFLATION fears are becoming so serious to monetary officials that they are effectively nocking their last arrow on the string to fire. If this move fails to generate any lending/economic activity/growth, what then?? Here is a good story to read dealing with the news....keep in mind that this is not a done deal, yet... the idea is probably being floated to gauge market reaction. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-19/nikkei-futures-gain-on-weak-yen-after-u-s-stocks-retreat.html

Caption Contest Wednesday! Posted: 20 Nov 2013 09:00 AM PST Somehow we suspect an encased gold futures contract might have slightly less of a draw…   2013 Gold Maples As Low As $37.99 Over Spot at SDBullion! The post Caption Contest Wednesday! appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Caption Contest Wednesday! Caption Contest Wednesday! Caption Contest Wednesday

$1 million gold stash found in airplane toilet Posted: 20 Nov 2013 08:58 AM PST The 24 gold bars were found by cleaners on an airliner in India This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Dressed to the nines with gold Posted: 20 Nov 2013 08:22 AM PST While paper gold is getting the cold shoulder in the West, the Love Trade buyers in the East are wrapping their arms around all the physical gold they can get their hands on.

Alasdair Macleod: Fiat Money Quantity hits new record Posted: 20 Nov 2013 08:00 AM PST QE3 is running at $85bn, and directly increases FMQ by double that amount, or $170bn, indicating that other factors contributed $57bn to the FMQ total. This suggests that the current rate of QE was insufficient to provide the liquidity required in money markets consistent with current interest rates, at least for the month of September. [...] The post Alasdair Macleod: Fiat Money Quantity hits new record appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Alasdair Macleod: Money Supply Accelerating Alasdair Macleod: The Unstoppable Growth of US Money Supply Alasdair Macleod: There's a liquidity crunch developing

Silver Fundamentals – The Historian Perspective Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:56 AM PST Ryan Jordan, Ph.D. is a professional historian, author and college professor.  He is the author of "Silver – The Peoples Metal" which I highly recommend. Mr Ryan Jordan sees silver fundamentals from the perspective of a historian. Besides, he looks at it as an astute observer of present conditions.  In his analysis, he takes the following area’s into account: drivers of the silver market supply and demand forces mining inflation investment sentiment central bank monetary policies (in particular, bond monetization policies) politics. Before looking into the details of his work, we summarize the conclusions of his analysis. His work is not about moment moving averages, technical analysis, relative strength indicators, partial differential equations, Federal Reserve economic models. By contrast, he provides only a perspective as an historian: Demand for silver is strong in the United States, India and China. Central banks are printing currency and attempting to create inflation. The reserve status of the dollar is weakening.  Many countries are bypassing the dollar in their international trade. Mining companies will have reduced output because their revenues have declined while expenses have increased.  Hence the supply of silver and gold will remain relatively flat while demand is increasing. The global middle class will demand more gold and silver for savings.  Americans may not understand gold and silver but over 2,000,000,000 Chinese and Indians do, and that demand for actual physical metals will grow. The cult of equities is flying high but it may not last.  There is room for a shift from equities and bonds to precious metals.  Even a small shift in demand away from stocks and bonds could cause the relatively tiny gold and silver markets to rise to new highs. Fundamentally and historically speaking, there are many reasons to own gold and silver. His recent work offers more detailed thoughts about silver. Below are several quotes and thoughts from his research. 1)   Demand for silver is strong From his article: Silver Demand As Guide for Silver's Next Price Move "The US Mint confirmed a record year for sales of silver coins– and we still have six weeks in the year to go. Yes, the roughly 40 million ounces of silver only accounts for maybe 5% of overall demand, but it also represents a huge increase from a decade ago when it comes to investor interest in physical metal. In fact, globally, silver investment demand is up essentially from ZERO just 10 short years ago (take some time to allow that to sink in when thinking about the change in investor sentiment toward precious metals in recent years.) And demand for silver isn't just an American phenomenon. Last month, somewhat surprising news came out of India of a roughly 130 million ounces of silver imported into that country in just the first six months of the year. This was in response to the shutdown of gold imports into that country." 2)   Inflation will be increasingly important As long as the world monetary systems are run by central banks, particularly the Federal Reserve, we can expect inflation in the money supply, debt, and consumer prices.  The weakness in gold and silver since 2011 is, in our opinion, a temporary correction in the four decade uptrend for debt, spending, and gold and silver prices. "Gold and Silver:  The Big Picture" "Another long term, fundamental factor in the rise of gold and silver comes from the belief of central planners that inflation is nonexistent currently and actually needs to increase. This is the view held by many among western central bankers, and is part of the reason why FED bond purchases will not decline much from the nearly 1 trillion a year mark, as made clear this week by the US central bank. FOMC statements released Wednesday continue to affirm that the deflationary threats from the 2008 crisis remain. The ultra-loose stance of the world's largest central bank should be of concern to anyone who wonders if inflation might one day get out of hand. And in India, known as one of the world's leading gold markets, inflation is already making its presence felt. The Indian central bank continues to raise interest rates while attempting to curtail demand for gold among Indian citizens. Many observers note the similarity to policies once adopted by the US government in the late 1960s and 1970s, and how those policies failed to dampen demand for gold as both inflation and interest rates rose strongly. My question for any gold or silver bear is this: if gold and silver went up nearly 7 times over the last 10 years with no meaningful inflation in western nations, how much more will the metals go up when inflation is officially recognized as a problem by those in charge?" 3)   Precious metals have been largely ignored for over 30 years Yes, they are occasionally mentioned in the mainstream media and on financial television, but the media's primary focus is on stocks and bonds – paper promises and paper debt – not on something real like a gold bar or a stack of silver coins.  Dr. Jordan thinks that gold and silver will become an increasingly important part of more investment plans and that this transition will accelerate. "Precious Metals:  The Emerging Asset Class" "Over the past year, the cult of equities has made a return, as indices roar to all-time highs, and as many look to cash in on new IPOs like they did in the last tech boom 15 years ago." "But I'd like to make some historical comparisons between the two periods, to explain how even with stocks catching all the attention, this hardly means that gold and silver will continue to be left out in the cold. Here are three main reasons why I do not believe gold, silver, PGMs, or mining shares will behave as they did in the 1980s and 90s: 1) Just last month, President Obama actually made reference to the reserve status of the U.S. dollar as being in jeopardy based on current dysfunctional behavior in Washington, D.C. I don't ever recall Presidents Reagan through Clinton saying something similar– and for good reason. To take the case of President Reagan's first term in office, the US Dollar rallied something like 50% at one point. While I don't expect the dollar to crash anytime soon, too many players globally are looking to diversify away from the greenback for the dollar to re-enter a secular bull market. A big question mark remains over the US dollar's reserve status and this represents one of the most powerful reasons to continue to own precious metals– or even to acquire more. 2) The challenges facing mining companies these past couple of years signals a downshift in global gold and silver production. This decline won't happen immediately, since it takes a while to shudder mine projects – but ore grades can only decline so much before it becomes uneconomical to attempt to increase overall mine output. This reality stands in marked contrast to the 1980s and 1990s, where mine output for both metals made significant increases during those decades. Supply constraints – especially if they are coupled with new industrial demand for the white precious metals – will eventually lead to higher prices. 3) The growth in the global middle class outside of the West is a trend that began 20 years ago, but the trend has accelerated in recent years. Many commentators believe that the shift in wealth from west to east will mean that upwards of 50% of new entrants to the global middle class in future years will come from areas outside the U.S. and Western Europe. As has been seen all year, buyers in Asia and the Middle East possess an attachment to physical gold- ranging from the person buying jewelry to the central banker buying bullion bars– that is hard to break. Oftentimes these attachments speak to the cultural memory of volatile local currencies or political malfeasance in these nations. Overall there remain some big differences between today and 20 or 30 years ago when it comes to precious metals. While faith in central planners and their ability to levitate equity markets is strong among some, there are others like myself who do feel that 2008 mattered–and not in a good way. Zero percent interest rates, a stagnant economy for upwards of 80% of people in the U.S. and Western Europe, continued discussion of unsustainable debt levels, and the existence of a black hole of derivatives and other "off balance sheet" financial sleights of hand are just a few issues facing investors currently. It may be hard to believe it now, but I don't think the precious metals will remain under-owned forever." 4)   The conventional investment perspective is not the only valid one "Don't Drink Too Deeply From the Well of Conventional Thought" "The inability of people to see the world for what it is was quite apparent with the nonsensical discussion of Fed tapering over the last several months. Many in positions of power sought to convince the unwashed that somehow these extreme monetary measures can be undone, or taken back. And many still believe them. As part of this naivety we then get people believing that entire asset classes, like gold, silver and mining shares are only for crazy people- that genuine tangible asset investing need not play any role in a given portfolio. My only advice for people is to please be very careful about drinking too deeply from the well of conventional thought. It is not that the world is going to end, but by the same token the days of 4 or 5% economic growth coupled with a strong and growing middle class are gone for a long time. This new reality requires a new attitude towards investing. Don't let the recent weakness in the precious metals sector mislead you." GE Christenson  |  The Deviant Investor

28 Miles of AGEs Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:40 AM PST While we sit and watch JPM roll their Dec13 position and smash price in the process, I thought we should have some fun by putting this year's GLD pillaging into context. read more

Bill Bonner: Bitcoin Bull (Can Peter Schiff Be Far Behind?) Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:35 AM PST Gold 2.0 By Bill Bonner, Chairman, Bonner & Partners on November 20, 2013 Publicly, the feds are playing it cool with bitcoin. Privately, they must be sweating. As we told a small group of Bonner & Partners Family Office members last week at our private meeting in Nicaragua, bitcoin has the potential to be "gold 2.0." The new virtual money has the potential to destroy the dollar… the Fed… the banks… and the world's fiat money system. It could also make gold obsolete. This new money is easier to use and costs nothing to store. But regulate it? That may be impossible.

Chinas gold imports are likely far greater than reported from Hong Kong Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:31 AM PST GATA

Zero Hedge: Another gold slamdown looks like the work of the BIS Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:31 AM PST GATA

2014 Should Be A Catch-Up Year and the Bull Will Be Back In Charge Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:15 AM PST Tweet In today's Featured Articles section below, we present an excellent article from LeMetropole Café by Michael Noonan.  They are one of my favorite newsletters.   You should check them out.  Their newsletters is unique, and very valuable. Michael Noonan's article makes a good point.  Even though the fundamentals we present to you should make for higher prices, Technical Analysis is setting the price – at least for now.  All that's necessary is to short gold (and silver) to key technical levels and then the hedge funds jump in and sell. Ted Butler and Ed Steer (two of my favorite writers) maintain that at some point, JPMorgan will start to manipulate the market UP instead of down and the hedge funds will join in and the prices will rise dramatically.  Since JPMorgan is heavily long in physical gold, that day will come.   Here is an interesting article from Ted Butler: At this time last week, I had estimated that the total net commercial short positions in Comex gold and silver would be down 25,000 contracts in gold and more than 3,000 contracts in silver, if the report was cut-off last Friday (and not the coming Tuesday). I should have left out the qualifier, as more than 28,000 contracts of gold and 3,200 contracts of net commercial shorts were eliminated as of Tuesday. The fact is that many COT mavens were expecting big declines in the commercial short positions, so my point is not to pat myself on the back. My point is that more observers who study the COT reports can see that what moves prices are how the tech funds behave on the Comex. If you think about that for a moment, it's kind of extraordinary. I agree that not everyone makes the connection that the commercials are tricking and controlling when the tech funds buy and sell, but to my mind it's just a matter of time before they do. As backing for my assertion I would point out that a few years ago, a very small number of precious metals investors even considered the COTs. Now, many are making predictions of what the new reports may show based upon reporting week price action. That's just a short distance away from viewing the reports as being what caused prices to move and the realization of that is price manipulation. - Silver analyst Ted Butler, Butler Research, November 16, 2013 A decade ago, Jim Sinclair wrote that the same banks that are currently on the short side will be the ones on the long side when the price turns up.  They will be the ones to make a fortune on the up move.  I know it seems unlikely now, but it will happen. My best guess, and it is a guess, as is any prediction, is that everything turns around before the end of the first quarter.  At that point, Janet Yellen will be in place as Fed Head and the key delivery months of December and February will be history.   Bill Holter and Andy Hoffman have written numerous articles that the Comex gold inventory is very low and if they can't meet the delivery demand in December or February, game over.  Currently, the Comex inventory is too low to meet any meaningful physical settlement.  If even a small percentage of the holders of the contracts demand delivery instead of a dollar settlement, the price of gold will take off like a rocket. Where will the banks get the bullion to deliver with inventories so low?”  All traders who hold futures or options contracts for December have to sell, roll, or stand for delivery.  Where will the banks get the gold to deliver?  Here is a strong candidate.    Below is an article from GATA: Venezuela reported planning to pawn its gold through Goldman Sachs Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2013-11-19 18:33 The Venezuela newspaper El Nacional, the voice of that tortured country’s political opposition, reports today in the story appended here that, after triumphantly repatriating its gold reserves two years ago, Venezuela has sunk so much economically under its predatory socialist regime that it will raise cash by pawning its gold through Goldman Sachs. That gold almost surely will be delivered by Goldman Sachs to the use of the Western central bank gold price suppression scheme. Presumably Venezuela’s friend China could have bid directly for the gold and apparently didn’t, maybe suggesting that China may be glad of the resulting discounting of gold on the international market, especially since the Venezuelan gold well may end up in Beijing anyway after nicely knocking prices down in its travels. The translation, done largely by Google Translator, is far from perfect but may convey the idea well enough. Read more… Ed Steer wrote the following below about the manipulated gold trading on the COMEX – I don’t have a thing to add to what I said earlier about yesterday’s price action, or lack of it, in both silver and gold.  It was just another day off the calendar as we approach First Notice Day for the December delivery month. All traders who hold futures or options contracts for December, have to sell, roll, or stand for delivery, and all that has to occur between now and the close of Comex trading next Thursday.  I don’t expect much price action, except to the downside, between now and then.  But as I said in this space yesterday, once December goes off the board, it’s a whole new ball game in my opinion, and we’ll have to wait until then. Yesterday, at the close of Comex trading, was the cut-off for Friday’s Commitment of Traders Report.  Just eye-balling the weekly price action that will be in that report, it’s a certainty that there will be an improvement in the Commercial net short position in silver, because a new low price was set for this move down yesterday.  However, Ted Butler says that it’s too hard to tell with gold, as their was a big out-of-the-blue rally in electronic trading last Wednesday to start off this current reporting week, and it’s unknown whether it was short covering or a new long position being placed that caused it.  So I’m prepared for either scenario. As I’ve said before, if the Fed is looking for a little inflationary pressure, all they have to do is get their foot off these key commodities, and the free market will do the rest.  Will it happen?  Beats me, but it’s a scenario that I’ve been expecting for some time. -Casey Research, November 20, 2013 I asked my friend, Trader David R where he thinks gold is going?  He told me, "I think we will continue to drift lower or stay around here, as stop loss selling and producer hedging will come into play, but I think we see new all time highs next year…. unless we get more data manipulation from the government and keep dreaming of tapering and recovery…… it's tough call these days as the data and markets are disconnected!" He makes his living trading, not selling newsletter subscriptions, and I have found him to be very accurate.  As you can see from his comments, he discusses government "data" manipulation.  There is no question but the government does manipulate the inflation, employment and GDP numbers and the result is an over-valued Dow and undervalued gold. 2013 has not been kind to precious metals, but 2014 should be a catch-up year and the bull will be back in charge.Similar Posts: You Might Be A Conspiracy Theorist. Signs What Has Changed?

Gold Crashes through Chart Support Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:11 AM PST So much for quiet trading ahead of today's release of the FOMC minutes from their last meeting! Volume had just dried up with the market killing time as the hour of the release drew near when a batch of large sell orders came out of nowhere and caught the market sleeping. The intention was to run the stops sitting down below yesterday's lows - guess what? They got them! The surge in volume caused a temporary halt in trading. When trading resumed, momentum based selling then entered in large size dropping gold further. It fell through $1258 which was acting as a temporary floor. Here is another example of how hedge funds can push price by taking advantage of lulls in liquidity. I am sure some in the gold camp will once again credit this "takedown" to the big bullion banks but that is simply not the case. They continue to lift their existing short positions and add to their exposure on the long side of the market. It is hedge funds who continue to reduce long side exposure and add to their growing, and profitable, number of short positions. We will get to see this as the December contract enters its delivery period soon. I suspect we will see J P Morgan taking delivery of a rather large amount of gold. Either way, we will see. One bummer is the fact that this move lower through support occurred today, Wednesday, so unfortunately this week's CFTC report ( Commitment of Traders ) will not pick up the positioning of players. Silver is dangerously flirting with the $20 level. If it loses support there, another 50 cent drop will come rather quickly with potential for further losses down towards $19. More later today after the release of the FOMC minutes. Let's see what they might say and whether or not it has an impact on the markets or if they have correctly anticipated the contents. Crude oil is sinking further today having bounced back above $93 yesterday. That seems to be a general pivot region with the market oscillating around this level.

Take It To The Bank! Posted: 20 Nov 2013 07:00 AM PST The top ten biggest banks, in addition to holding the vast majority of deposits, mortgages and credit card accounts, operate 33% of all the bank branches in the country. The very same banks that have paid out $66 billion in criminal settlement charges over the last three years and have incurred $103 billion of legal [...] The post Take It To The Bank! appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Did UK’s NatWest Bank Rehypothecate Client Cash Accounts to Meet Margin Call? Goldman Builds New Private Bank for Wealthy Clients UK’s NatWest Suffer’s New ‘Bank Glitch’

Comex suspended gold trading for 20 seconds after price slump Posted: 20 Nov 2013 06:57 AM PST CME Group Inc.'s Comex halted trading in December gold futures for about 20 seconds today at 6:26:41 a.m. New York time, said Damon Leavell, a spokesman for the exchange.

Gold market needs new catalysts as traditional assets outperform Posted: 20 Nov 2013 06:41 AM PST According to the CFTC, the combined net gold positions by managed money declined about 37% during the week ending Nov. 12, led by a 104% jump in the short contracts.

BoE Survey Shows Growing Fears Of House Price Crash Posted: 20 Nov 2013 06:31 AM PST gold.ie

Heat, Light & Venezuela in London Gold Manipulation Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:42 AM PST No-news flash! Regulator the FCA is looking at London gold prices. News-sites are chasing "manipulation" traffic...   MORE heat than light in a story from Bloomberg overnight, writes Adrian Ash at BullionVault.   Certain parts of the London gold market are being "reviewed" by the UK's financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority. Because London trade sets the world's gold benchmarks for price (notably the London Fix) as well as lending rates (known as GOFO). And where there are benchmarks, regulators must now follow.    It's not an "investigation" however. So the source won't give their name, nor anything else, let alone a blunt accusation of "manipulation". Which doesn't make them much of a "source".   Nor is any of this news. Reuters had a better report 3 weeks ago about how the London gold trading industry, heart of the world's wholesale bullion trade, is addressing the rising temperature of regulatory interest. And at last month's London Bullion Market Association shindig in Rome, we in fact got this short presentation straight from the horse's mouth, plus this interview (via our friends at Kitco) with the FCA's Don Groves during a conference coffee break.    So what's the likely impact of whatever is, or isn't, now under review? In London's wholesale gold market, GOFO is the lending rate (in fact, it's the interest rate which current owners will pay a borrower to take their gold away). Rather than being directly visible to the world at large, it is reported by the banks to trade association the LBMA, in much the same way individual banks' Libor interest rates (the interbank interest rates which banks charge each other to borrow) are reported to the British Bankers Association, which then produces a single Libor figure for the cash lending market as a whole.   So with GOFO, there's lots of scope for the regulator, the FCA, to ask questions. Because like Libor, the reported GOFO rate is used in other, off-the-shelf products more widely available to market participants. The value will be very much smaller than the value of business done with reference to interbank cash rates. Not least thanks to the collapse in gold lending and swapping, starting in 2003, brought about by the long bull market in prices. But you can smell the story here, if not the facts. Manipulation of Libor has, to date, led to fines worth some $5 billion.   The gold and silver prices Fixes, in contrast, are a market price set by client business through the 5 member banks of the London Gold Fixing Ltd, as we explained in this article earlier this year. Or alternatively, market participants can deal "spot". Although commonly cited, this doesn't in fact exist as a single, firm price. Instead, it represents the average mid-price of the 11 bullion market-making banks' firm bid/ask quotes, plus the quotes from all the hundreds of other gold and silver dealing banks, brokerages and trading houses centered in London.   You can see this average tracked on BullionVault's reference gold price chart here. As regards prices on BullionVault's order board, where consumers (like you and me) can trade wholesale gold and silver for instant settlement, they're freely quoted and set by our users in open competition. No other retail investment service lets you set your own bid/ask prices as you choose with any market depth or liquidity. None also lets you trade at the Daily Price, if you so wish, as achieved by the London Fixes.    Again, the Fix offers a separate route to price discovery. To learn more about that global benchmark, please see the Fixing Limited's own site.   Meantime, and away from news-sites chasing Google hits for "London gold manipulation", there's much more important events for gold happening in Venezuela. Because the socialist paradise, of all places, is having to pawn its gold reserves to raise cash, according to local press. And it's using investment bank Goldman Sachs of all people to do it!    El Banco Central de Venezuela is said to have entered into a "gold swap" agreement with Goldmans for some 45 tonnes of its 367-tonne gold reserves. Part of the 14th largest national hoard in the world is apparently being swapped for cash (which will then be swapped back, sometime in the future) because the country's foreign-exchange reserves have run down to a 10-year low, with only enough money left to fund 10 days of imports, according to a local economist.   Why the cash crunch? Because El Banco is desperately selling foreign currency, and buying its own money back, trying to defend the Venezuelan Bolivar Fuerte's value against the US Dollar on the FX markets. The central bank slashed the VEF's official peg to the imperialist greenback by one third at the start of this year. But the black market price (ie, the only market price, where private individuals buy and sell away from the politicos' diktat) puts the devaluation nearer 90%.   So after making such a fuss about "taking its gold home from London" under the late Hugo Chavez, the Central Bank of Venezuela is now turning back to the London gold market to mobilize the value of its reserves.    London regulator the FCA is part of the Bank of England. Maybe Venezuela will email the Market Abuse team about the swap rate it got in that deal with Goldmans, you might ask. But that was, by all accounts, a direct deal between two consenting parties. Enquiring minds might further wonder who's playing the end-borrower of those 45 tonnes of gold apparently swapped out by El Banco. With gold prices falling so hard in 2013, many smaller mining companies have reportedly been looking to sell gold now, borrowing it with a view to repaying that bullion debt with forward mine production in the future. And with gold prices down so hard after emerging-market economies started to build their reserves during the metal's unstoppable 12-year rise, many more of those central banks might also be looking to "mobilize" their holdings, getting a rate of return via the gold lending market in London.

Jim Rogers Expects A Buying Opportunity In Gold And Silver Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:38 AM PST This is an interview with Jim Rogers, conducted by Birch Gold Group. The topics that are covered range from monetary policy, the stock market frenzy, currency wars and precious metals. Jim Rogers his observations and predictions about how the currency war will unfold: Well, the first thing you need to know is that nobody ever wins a trade war, a currency war, which is just another kind of trade war. Everybody loses in the end, some may temporarily come out ahead but it's temporary if nothing else. As you have pointed out, the cost of living of many people is going up, and it certainly is, my gosh, in Japan you have a currency that's down 25% in a year. Well I assure you the Japanese are feeling that because everything that Japan imports has gone up fairly substantially AND even the things that they don't import are up because the Japanese manufacturers and the Japanese producers can raise prices because they don't have to worry about competing with the foreigners any more. So we're all losing in currency wars. How long can it go on? Well, it can go on as long as politicians can continue to print money. The problem is, of course, eventually the markets will just say, "We're not going to play this game anymore" and we'll have a serious collapse. You and I can print money all day long, but at some point, you, I and everybody else is going to say, "Wait a minute, guys, this money is getting worse and worse and more and more worthless, so why don't we stop playing this game?" I wish the politicians were smart enough at some point to say, "We've got to stop this, this is going to be bad." But unfortunately they never have, and probably never will. Mr. Bernanke is certainly not going to stop it, because he doesn't want to go down in history as causing the collapse. Mrs. Yellen, when she comes in, she's not going to stop it, first of all she doesn't believe in stopping it, she thinks printing money is good. And she knows – I hope she's smart enough to know – that if she stops, oh my gosh, it's going to collapse. So she's not going to stop. Nobody wants to go down as causing the collapse of the world. So I'm afraid this is going to go on until the market eventually says to them, "Okay, enough is enough," we have a big collapse and then they're all thrown out and we can start over. Jim Rogers about whether Larry Summers could have stopped Quantitative Easing: Well, first of all it's irrelevant because he's not going to be Federal Reserve Chairman. Second, even if he started, you know, if somebody came in and said, "Okay, we've got a terrible problem, we've made horrible mistakes, now let's change things." And even if everybody in the world said, "You know, he's right, we've got to do something" and they started, well, within a few months or a year or two, the pain would be pretty horrible and then everybody's going to say, "Well we didn't know the pain was going to be this bad, this is not what we signed up for." And then the guy would either be thrown out or assassinated or who knows what! At first they say "It's fine, we want to do it", but once the pain comes, the pain is going to get pretty serious. We had Mr. Volcker who came in, was told "stop the madness" back in the 1970s and he did. Well, Jimmy Carter got thrown out, because he was who had told him to do that, because the pain was so bad. Reagan of course thought it was wonderful, that pain was taking place because that got him elected. And it was help to clean up the problems. That's what happens, you cause the pain and they throw you out. Which signs would reveal a collapse would be approaching: Well, I wish I was that smart or it was that easy. Back in the late 1970s, Mr. Volcker was told and he came in and said: "I am going to kill inflation because Mr. Carter has told me to." And Mr. Carter was very clear that he had to stop inflation. I doubt if we'll have that kind of scenario again but we would think, we would hope, that the Federal Reserve will announce, you know, that they publish their numbers so we can all see what's happening. At the moment they are buying a trillion dollars a year – that's a trillion with a "T" – of assets. Eventually we will see that they stop that if they do or slow it down. What will probably happen is that they will slow it down at first to see what happens, and if things aren't too bad at first – and they probably won't be too bad at first – well what is likely to happen is they will slow it down, things will drop, and then they will rally and the Federal Reserve will say "Hey, this is not so bad, we can do it." And they'll cut some more. Things will drop again and then rally, because it will take a while for people to really believe how bad it can get, or will get. And so eventually they will try to cut [QE], it will finally cause the collapse, at that point we will have a big change, because they will throw them out, whether it's the politicians or the central bankers or whoever … will continue because they like it, they got the job because of the collapse and then we'll finally start over. But it may be really painful in the meantime. Jim Rogers said in an interview in Barrons that he is holding gold right now and expects maybe a buying opportunity to come up. Is that still the case? Yes, I've owned gold for many years, I've never sold any gold and I can't imagine I ever will sell gold in my life because it is somewhat of an insurance policy. I hope that my daughters own my gold someday, I mean I owned gold, I've never sold any gold and if gold comes down and I expect it to go down, doesn't mean it will, I'll buy more. I'm certainly not going to sell. Everybody should own some precious metals as an insurance policy. So if they don't have any right now, I would urge them to go buy something, buy themselves a gold coin if nothing else, and see that it's not going to hurt. It won't hurt you to buy the first gold coin, the first silver coin, and from that you start accumulating as your own situation dictates. First, do your homework, don't buy gold because you heard me say it or even because you hear you say it. But if people don't own they should start after they have done their homework. And then they will probably, if they do their homework, most people will then realize, "Oh my gosh, I better have insurance, and gold and silver may get me through serious problems ahead." Jim Rogers about silver’s prospects: Well, silver is historically down 60% from its all-time highs, so yes, I would prefer silver at the moment because gold is down only what, 30 or 40% from its all-time highs.

Why did the gold price plunge $10 in 10 seconds? Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:35 AM PST Sudden drop in the precious metal on the day it emerges the UK regulator is investigating alleged rigging of the price raises questions about the market This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

China Imported An Additional 133 Tonnes Of Gold Directly in 2013 Posted: 20 Nov 2013 05:14 AM PST In early November we reported that China's net gold imports from Hong Kong totalled 854.2 tonnes between January and September 2013. More or less at the same period of time, based on the latest official gold market data, we concluded that the Chinese gold figures are merely reflecting part of reality, as explained in “World Gold Council Reports Significant Error In China's Gold Holdings.” Today’s news from Reuters shows that things are even more “complicated.” Over the course of this year, China would have imported an additional 133 tonnes directly, i.e. not through Hong Kong. This figure is a calculation by Reuters based on top 20 gold exporters in the world. From Reuters: But a surge in China’s gold purchases as prices slumped by a quarter this year has also seen at least 133 tonnes shipped directly, according to Reuters calculations based on data from Global Trade Information Services (GTIS). That figure could be even higher as it does not include central bank purchases. “This year, we have seen quite considerable flows coming directly to Shanghai. More gold will come into Shanghai over the next two years,” said Cameron Alexander, manager of Asian precious metals demand with metals consultancy GFMS, which is owned by Thomson Reuters. Moreover, the same article says that the calculcation probably understates the total direct imports as Britain and Switzerland do not provide complete details. “In the last few months we have seen a significant rise in gold travelling into both Hong Kong and China from all over the world,” said a source at a top logistics firm that has shipped into Shanghai. Exports from Switzerland – home to the world’s biggest gold refineries – are also being shipped directly to Shanghai, he said. In addition, the 133 tonnes do not include the gold that was purchased by China’s central bank. The official reserves of the country have not been updated in the last 4 years (approximately). There are estimate that the real Chinese gold reserves are closer to 4,000 tonnes.

BoE Survey Shows Growing Fears Of House Price Crash Posted: 20 Nov 2013 04:03 AM PST "This is different" and "this location is different" is the mantra of every property bubble. We will soon see if the London property bubble is truly different or will suffer the fate of bubbles throughout history. Of the four charts in our market update today, which ones do you think show characteristics of a bubble? Those diversifying and buying gold in the UK today will be rewarded in the coming years. The smart money is reducing exposure to overvalued London property and increasing exposure to undervalued gold. Today's AM fix was USD 1,271.50, EUR 939.69 and GBP 787.11 per ounce. Yesterday's AM fix was USD 1,272.25, EUR 942.13 and GBP 790.12 per ounce. Gold fell $0.30 or 0.02% yesterday, closing at $1,273.40/oz. Silver slipped $0.09 or 0.44% closing at $20.32/oz. Platinum climbed $3.40 or 0.2% to $1,411.40/oz, while palladium rose $3.75 or 0.5% to $718.47/oz. Gold in GBP, 1 Year – (Bloomberg) Gold in sterling terms is testing strong support at the £775/oz level. A breach of this level could lead to gold testing the next level of support at £740/oz and below that at £700/oz which was resistance in 2009 (see 5 year chart below). Gold was trading in a tight range until it suffered another very sharp concentrated sell off at 1126 GMT which led to prices falling from $1,272/oz to $1,259/50 in seconds. The selling was so furious and concentrated that it led the CME to stop trading for a significant twenty seconds. Some entity appeared determined to get the gold price lower and they succeeded – for now. Gold failed to make any headway despite dollar weakness after more dovish comments from exiting Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke about the bank’s bond purchases. Bernanke said yesterday that the Fed will maintain an ultra loose U.S. monetary policy for as long as needed and will only begin to taper bond buying once it is assured that labour market improvements would continue. The assumption that QE will be trimmed is like a lot of assumptions wrong. There are strong grounds for believing that the weak state of the U.S. economy may lead to Bernanke's even more dovish successor, Yellen, increasing the QE programme. Physical demand continues at these levels but is not at the very high levels seen in recent months. Many bullion coin and bar buyers have accumulated their allocation of gold and silver and are waiting for higher prices. There is a real sense of the calm before the storm in the gold market. How that will manifest and the catalysts for a resumption of the bull market is yet to be seen. Gold in GBP, 5 Year – (Bloomberg) ​The Bank of England's Systemic Risk Survey semi annual report to quantify and track market participants' views of risks to, and their confidence in, the UK financial system shows increasing concerns of a house price crash. The report presents the results of the 2013 H2 survey, which was conducted between 23 September and 24 October 2013 with 76 financial services companies. Fears that a house price crash could damage the financial system have risen sharply in the last year, the key Bank of England survey shows. Increased concerns were expressed by the participants over ultra loose monetary policies and the extended low interest rate period. Concerns about a property price bubble rose and were mentioned by 36% of respondents, up 21% from 14% since the previous survey in the second half of 2012. Concerns were concentrated almost exclusively on the residential market, where responses focused on the risk of a house price correction. As we know house price corrections tend to feed on themselves and often lead to house price crashes. Other Key Risks To The UK Financial System: • Perceptions of the two main risks to the UK financial system remain sovereign risk and the risk of an economic downturn, although citations of both have fallen: 74% of respondents mentioned the former (-3 percentage points since May 2013) and 67% (-12 percentage points) the latter. Concerns over sovereign risk continue to focus on Europe, but unsurprisingly given the uncertainty surrounding the U.S. debt ceiling negotiations that prevailed during the survey period, there was a sharp increase in concerns around U.S. sovereign risk. • For the second survey in succession, risk surrounding the low interest rate environment was the fastest growing, with 43% of respondents citing it, up 17 percentage points since May 2013. Over half of the responses emphasised risks around low rates, with the remainder referring to risks associated with a snapback in those low rates to more normal levels. Perceived risk around property prices also rose, being mentioned by 36% of respondents, up 11 percentage points since the previous survey. Concerns were concentrated almost exclusively on the residential market, where responses focused on the risk of a house price correction. • Other top risks include regulation/taxes (cited by 41% of respondents, up 1 percentage point since May 2013), financial institution failure/distress (+4 percentage points to 30%) and operational risk (+1 percentage point to 25%). Outside of the top seven, geopolitical risk has grown in prominence, with concern focusing on instability in the Middle East. The report may have led to GBP weakness upon its release as the pound fell against the dollar, euro and gold. UK Rightmove Regional Avg Asking Price Greater London, 2002-Today – (Bloomberg) Interestingly, also on Monday came news of a sharp 5% drop in London property prices in what could portend a bust of the London property bubble. Values in the U.K. capital dropped 5%, or 26,956 pounds ($43,500), from the previous month to an average 517,276 pounds, Rightmove PLC said Monday. Across England and Wales, average prices declined by 2.4%. Estate agents and property industry blamed the falls on a seasonal pre-Christmas decline, however valuations are extremely stretched with very low yields and the hot money that has fueled the huge increase in London property prices may be pulling back. UK Rightmove Regional Avg Asking Price Greater London, 2006-Today – (Bloomberg) "This is different" and "this location is different" is the mantra of every property bubble. We will soon see if the London property bubble is truly different or will suffer the fate of bubbles throughout history. Of the four charts in our market update today, which ones do you think show characteristics of a bubble? Those diversifying and buying gold in the UK today will be rewarded in the coming years. The smart money is reducing exposure to overvalued London property and increasing exposure to undervalued gold. Click Gold News For This Week's Breaking Gold And Silver News Click Gold and Silver Commentary For This Week's Leading Gold, Silver Opinion Like Our Facebook Page For Interesting Insights, Blogs, Prizes and Special Offers

Venezuela Reported Planning to Pawn Its Gold Through Goldman Sachs Posted: 20 Nov 2013 02:23 AM PST "All traders who hold futures or options contracts for December, have to sell, roll, or stand for delivery" ¤ Yesterday In Gold & Silver With net volume being what it was in gold yesterday, I wouldn't read a thing into Tuesday's price action, and the highs and lows aren't even worth my while to look up. Gold closed at $1,275.20 spot, down 80 cents from Monday's close.  Net volume was microscopic at only 72,000 contracts. But the silver price action was slightly different.  The HFT boyz set a new low price tick for this move down about 11:30 Hong Kong time on their Tuesday morning.  The subsequent rally made it back above Monday's New York close by the noon silver fix in London, and that pretty much all she wrote for the remainder of the day both in London and New York. The CME recorded the low and high ticks at $20.20 and $20.475. Silver closed in New York yesterday afternoon at $20.34 spot, down 5.5 cents from Monday.  Net volume was pretty light as well at only 24,500 contracts. Platinum and palladium didn't do much price-wise until the equity markets opened in New York.  Then both spiked higher until 10 a.m. EST, and then both rallies were met by sellers of last resort.  Both finished up a few dollars on the day.  Here are the charts. The dollar index close in New York on Monday at 80.73, and then chopped sideways in a very tight range on Tuesday, before falling off a small cliff just before the close yesterday.  The index finished at 80.54, which was down 19 basis points on the day. The gold stocks opened in positive territory and hung around just above unchanged until about 12:30 in New York.  Then they got sold down into the red and struggled for the rest of the day.  The HUI finished down 0.10%. It was more or less the same chart pattern in the silver equities, although you have to wonder why that would have to be the case, but it almost always is.  Nick Laird's Intraday Silver Sentiment Index closed up 0.13%. The CME Daily Delivery Report was another non-event, as only 1 gold and 1 silver contract were posted for delivery within the Comex-approved depositories on Thursday.  So far this month only two gold and 106 silver contracts have been delivered in the November delivery month.  That's not a lot. Once again there was a withdrawal from GLD.  This time it was 48,243 troy ounces.  And as of 10:05 p.m. EST yesterday evening, there were no reported changes in SLV. The U.S. Mint had a small sales report, as they sold 239,000 silver eagles and nothing else. Monday was a very quiet day over at the Comex-approved depositories in both gold and silver.  In gold, only 1,099 troy ounces were reported received, and nothing was shipped out.  In silver, nothing was reported received, but 121,517 troy ounces were removed.  The link to the silver "action" is here. I have the usual number of stories for a weekday column, and the final edit is up to you. ¤ Critical Reads Bernanke Sees Low Interest Rates Long After Bond Buying Ends Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the labor market has shown “meaningful improvement” since the start of the central bank’s bond-buying program and that the benchmark interest rate will probably stay low long after the purchases end. “The target for the federal funds rate is likely to remain near zero for a considerable time after the asset purchases end, perhaps well after” the jobless rate falls below the Fed’s 6.5 percent threshold, Bernanke said today in a speech to economists in Washington. He said a “preponderance of data” would be needed to begin removing accommodation. Policy makers are debating how to slow the pace of asset purchases without causing a surge in interest rates that could jeopardize the more than four-year economic expansion. Central bankers have sought to convince investors that tapering the $85 billion monthly pace of bond purchases wouldn’t signal that an increase in the benchmark interest rate is any closer. Today's first story was posted on the Bloomberg website early yesterday evening MST...and it's courtesy of reader Doug Milne. Justice Department Announces $13 Billion Settlement With JPMorgan The settlement amounts to roughly half the bank’s annual profit. The deal with JPMorgan, which eclipses other Wall Street settlements, is the largest sum a single company has ever paid to the government. The bank, at the Justice Department’s insistence, also admitted to a statement of facts that outlined how it failed to fully disclose the risks of buying risky mortgage securities from 2005 to 2008. And the case, a symbol of the government’s wider crackdown on Wall Street’s sale of troubled mortgage securities to pension funds and other investors, may set a precedent for cases against other major banks and industries like health care, where fines have already swelled in recent years. “The size and scope of this resolution should send a clear signal that the Justice Department’s financial fraud investigations are far from over,” Mr. Holder said in a statement. “No firm, no matter how profitable, is above the law, and the passage of time is no shield from accountability.” This New York Times article from yesterday [and updated late last night] now sports a new headline.  It reads "In Extracting Deal From JPMorgan, U.S. Aimed for Bottom Line".  Roy Stephens sent me this story the moment it hit his in-box yesterday afternoon...and it's the first of many from him today. NSA broke its own rules in 'virtually every' record, declassified documents show The National Security Agency systematically broke its own rules and collected information it wasn't supposed to, according to 1,000 pages of highly redacted classified files released for the first time by the Obama administration. The documents include 2009 court records in which the NSA acknowledged it improperly collected data despite repeated assurances to the contrary. The NSA engaged in what John D. Bates, the presiding judge over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court, called "systemic overcollection." "Virtually every" record generated by the program "included some data that had not been authorized for collection," the Guardian cites Bates as saying. Bates noted that the problems were endemic since the program’s inception. This Russia Today news item was posted on their website shortly after 4 p.m. Moscow time yesterday...which was shortly after 7 a.m. EST.  It's the second offering in a row from Roy Stephens. Declassified Documents: NSA Wanted To Collect Geo-location Data The White House had to declassify NSA documents once again this week. The papers show that the NSA also wanted to collect and save mobile phone location information domestically and may already be doing so. At the very latest, it's been clear since the scandal surrounding spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone that when American intelligence services comment on their practices, every single word has meaning. If an official says, for example, "We don't do that and we will not do so in the future," it could well mean, "We did that up until now." In that light, one statement written by the NSA in secret documents declassified in redacted form by the US government on Monday seems of particular interest. In the 2010 document, a staff member for a US senator on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence asked the agency to "Please clarify when NSA can collect FISA geo-location data, either through telephony or Internet." In other words, the senator wanted to know if, in addition to telephone and Internet metadata, the US intelligence agency was also tracking the location of everybody who has a mobile phone or Internet connection. FISA is a reference to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which permits US intelligence agencies to undertake certain types of eavesdropping and data collection within the scope of the law. This short news item is similar to the previous RT story, but it has more depth.  It was posted on the German website spiegel.de early yesterday evening Europe time...and it's another offering from Roy Stephens.  It's worth the read. Norway admits it carried out phone surveillance for NSA Norway's intelligence services said they, not the US National Security Agency, collected data on more than 33 million phone conversations in Norway over the space of one month last year. The comments came following a report on Tuesday by Dagbladet, the Norwegian daily, that said the NSA collected the ‘meta data’ on the private phone calls of over 33 million Norwegian phone calls last December and January. Norwegian intelligence says it voluntarily shares the collected data with the Americans in the name of security. This is another short article from Russia Today.  This one was posted on their Internet site early yesterday afternoon Moscow time...and it's also courtesy of Roy Stephens. End to privacy? Western firms hawk mass surveillance technology to developing world Human rights groups are sounding alarms as Western firms sell mass surveillance technology in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, equipping governments and companies new capabilities to snoop on citizens. Despite the public outcry over mass global surveillance being carried out by the NSA and the GCHQ, brought to light in May by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, the scandal has not prevented tech companies and countries from closing contracts on spy technology. That was the conclusion by Privacy International, a surveillance technology watchdog that has spent four years studying over 1,000 brochures and seminars used at technology fairs in major cities around the world, including in Dubai, Prague, Brasilia, Kuala Lumpur, Paris and London, The Guardian reported. This is another story from the Russia Today website yesterday...and another offering from Roy Stephens. OECD calls Europe's crisis policy unworkable, fears 'virulent episodes' in emerging markets The eurozone's strategy of trying to drive down wage costs across Southern Europe through deflation is leading to a debt trap and is ultimately unworkable, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned. The OECD said the global economy remains extremely fragile, highlighting the danger of "virulent episodes" in emerging markets as the US Federal Reserve starts to withdraw global dollar liquidity. There is a risk that any emerging market crisis could be large enough to short-circuit global recovery altogether. Mr Padoan's comments are certain to cause irritation in Berlin, already smarting from a rap across the knuckles by the European Commission over its huge current account surpluses. The US Treasury launched a blistering attack on German surpluses (7pc of GDP) earlier this month, saying the deformed policy structure in Europe was creating a "deflationary bias" for the world economy. This commentary by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site yesterday afternoon GMT...and the contributions from Roy just keep on coming.  It's certainly worth your time. Bundesbank says Italian and Spanish banks still hooked on home state debt The Bundesbank always like to spoil the party. Tucked away on page 33 if its November monthly report is a reminder that the banking systems and sovereign states of southern Europe remain stuck in a vicious circle. Italian banks have increased their holdings of Italian public debt from €240bn to €415bn since November 2011 (+ 73pc).  Spanish banks have raised their holdings of Spanish debt €166bn to €299. (+81pc). Ditto Irish banks, up 60pc; and Portuguese banks, up 51pc. The EU summit pledge made in June 2012 to end this dangerous and incestuous linkage has come to little. This commentary/blog from Ambrose was posted on The Telegraph's website on Monday sometime...and this is worth reading as well...and the embedded chart is worth the trip all by itself.  My thanks to Roy Stephens once again. Euro Shuffle: MEPs Rebel Against Monthly Move to Strasbourg Members of the European Parliament are tired of the monthly move from Brussels to Strasbourg for a week of plenary sessions. But France has blocked attempts to scrap Strasbourg as the second seat. Now lawmakers plan to use a trick to stop this immensely expensive traveling circus. Every month, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have to pack their files in black plastic containers. Thousands of boxes, brimming with transcripts, strategy papers and draft laws are stacked along the corridors of the Brussels-based EU parliament building each Friday ahead of the monthly plenary session in the French city of Strasbourg. Workers collect the containers and heave them onto eight large trucks, which then transport them to the second seat of the parliament 430 kilometers (267 miles) away. An army of 4,000 MEPs, their staffs and lobbyists pack their bags and follow. A week later, it's all schlepped back to Brussels. That monthly shuffle has been taking place 12 times a year for decades. Most of the MEPs would prefer to put a halt to this traveling circus. Thousands of working days are lost in the move from Brussels, where committee meetings are held, to Strasbourg, where meetings of the whole parliament take place. Each year, it generates 15,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and costs taxpayers some €180 million ($243 million). If I hadn't seen this story show up on the spiegel.de website yesterday, I would have found it hard to believe.  It was posted on their website during the Europe lunch hour yesterday...and my thanks go out to Roy Stephens again. Pushing boundaries: U.S. eyes Russian encirclement via NATO 'Trojan horse' The U.S. is using the NATO as a Trojan horse in order to take over militarily and politically the whole of Eastern Europe, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and this is an open provocation vis-à-vis Russia, Rick Rozoff, manager of Stop NATO told RT. RT: What's the problem with NATO doing more war drills? We do live in a dangerous world and practice makes perfect doesn't it? Rick Rozoff: Right, we have to put matters into context. If we are talking about the most recent NATO war games in the Baltic Sea, so-called operations or exercise Steadfast Jazz 2013. We have to keep in mind it's the largest joint military exercise held by NATO in seven years. And it was with the expressed intent of solidifying what is called the NATO response force, which is a global military strike force and was conducted in two countries - Latvia and Poland - that share borders with Russia. And it was again a large-scale: 6,000 troops, air and naval and as well land and infantry components in countries bordering Russia. It’s not an everyday affair, as your comments may have indicated. If anything analogous to this were to occur on an American border, say Mexico and Canada, and troops from 40 countries, all NATO members, and a number of NATO partners were to engage in joint war games on the American border, you’d hear something from Washington, I’m going to assure you. And this isn't an innocuous everyday affair of one nation, two nations, holding war games; this is the largest military bloc in history, to be honest, with 24 members, with partners of over 70 countries in the world, which is over a third of the nations in the world, and in the UN, for example. So this is a further indication that the US-led military bloc that is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, inspires, first of all, to hold what could be construed as reckless and perhaps even dangerous war games near Russia’s borders and at the same time design to further develop and give a body to activate its international response force. Here's another Russia Today story.  This is a must read for sure, especially for serious students of the New Great Game.  I thank South African reader B.V. for sending it our way. PBOC Will 'Basically' End Normal Yuan Intervention: Zhou China’s central bank will “basically” end normal intervention in the currency market and broaden the yuan’s daily trading limit, Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said, without giving a time frame. The daily range will be widened in an “orderly way” as China seeks to enhance the currency’s two-way flexibility, Zhou wrote in an article in a guidebook explaining reforms outlined last week following a Communist Party meeting. The nation will phase out investment ca

OECD calls Europe's crisis policy unworkable, fears 'virulent episodes' in emerging markets Posted: 20 Nov 2013 02:23 AM PST OECD calls Europe's crisis policy unworkable, fears 'virulent episodes' in emerging markets The eurozone's strategy of trying to drive down wage costs across Southern Europe through deflation is leading to a debt trap and is ultimately unworkable, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned. The OECD said the global economy remains extremely fragile, highlighting the danger of "virulent episodes" in emerging markets as the US Federal Reserve starts to withdraw global dollar liquidity. There is a risk that any emerging market crisis could be large enough to short-circuit global recovery altogether. Mr Padoan's comments are certain to cause irritation in Berlin, already smarting from a rap across the knuckles by the European Commission over its huge current account surpluses. The US Treasury launched a blistering attack on German surpluses (7pc of GDP) earlier this month, saying the deformed policy structure in Europe was creating a "deflationary bias" for the world economy. This commentary by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site yesterday afternoon GMT...and the contributions from Roy just keep on coming.  It's certainly worth your time.

Three King World News Blogs Posted: 20 Nov 2013 02:23 AM PST Three King World News Blogs 1. Robin Griffiths: "China, India, Gold and an Ace in the West's Hand".  2. Gerald Celente: "Ex-Treasury Secretary Shot With JFK - Vast Criminality in U.S."  3. John Hathaway: "Warning - NSA to Oversee Individual Bank Accounts and Wealth". [Please direct any questions or comments about what is said in these interviews by either Eric King or his guests to them, and not to me. Thank you. - Ed]

Jim Rickards and Max Keiser: Interview Posted: 20 Nov 2013 02:23 AM PST Jim Rickards and Max Keiser: Interview This Russia Today interview between Jim and Max was posted on the youtube.com Internet site yesterday...and it's headlined "Art Market Melt-Up"...but there's much more to it than that...and gold is discussed at several points.  The interview starts at the 12:30 minute market...and I consider it a must watch.  My thanks go out to reader Harold Jacobsen for bringing this excellent interview to our attention.

Patrick Heller: What’s Correct Gold/Silver Ratio? Posted: 20 Nov 2013 02:23 AM PST Patrick Heller: What's Correct Gold/Silver Ratio? At what level is the long-term gold/silver ratio likely to settle? Will it end up at 15 or 16 to 1 such as established by many nations during the 1800s and early 1900s and again in January 1980? Will it exceed 100 as it did in the early 1990s, or will it remain around 60 as has happened for much of the past year? The truthful answer is that no one knows, not even me. Although the daily prices of gold and silver tended to rise or fall in tandem about 70 percent of the time over the past several decades, they rarely move in tandem by the same percentage. Silver has always been more volatile, both in strong and weak markets, than gold. In bull markets, silver soars while gold rises. In down markets, silver plummets to a much greater degree than gold. As Ted Butler has said on many occasions, just as the current prices of silver and gold are artificial, so is the gold/silver ratio.  When the "new and improved"...and hopefully close to free-market prices are finally allowed to prevail, then we'll know for sure.  This commentary was posted on the numismaster.com Internet site yesterday...and my thanks go out to Elliot Simon for sharing this with us.

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