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• "Currency massacre": More details on the growing turmoil in emerging markets
• Four reasons the crisis in emerging markets may not go away soon
• Doc Eifrig: What you need to know before you get your next vaccine
• Doug Casey: Gold stocks about to create a whole new class of millionaires
• Why Property And Casualty Insurers Are Great Value Plays For 2014
• Now Is The Time To Enter The Precious Metals Markets
• T. Ferguson: Is it Time to Buy the Miners?
• Gold Follows Through on Reversal; 1231 Remains the Pivot
• Returns Of A Diversified Precious Metals Box
• 60 Tons of Gold Withdrawn from SGE Vaults Last Week!
• The Supply Has To Come From Somewhere…Right?
• Forex Trading Alert: U.S. Dollar Erases Losses
• Thoughts on Chinese gold reserves – Phillips
• Gold de-hedging continues, but at reducing rate - SocGen
• Fresnillo hits silver target, gold down due to explosives ban
• 'The silver bottom is in: Time to hold, add and ride it out' - Morgan
• AGXIIK: Federal Takeover of Retirement Plans is Coming!
• AGXIIK: Federal Takeover of Retirement Plans is Coming!
• The silver bottom is in: Time to hold, add and ride it out
• Could Wall Street be wrong on gold again?
• Dollar gains prominence against taper backdrop
• The Pitiful State of the Union
• Greg Hunter: Economic Collapse Within a Year – PREPARE NOW!
• Smugglers sneaking up to 3,000 kg gold to India in a month
• Gold falls ahead of FOMC
• Fukushima Radiation More Than 10 Times The Normal Level Is Detected On California Beaches
• Investors turning more bullish on Gold: ETFS
• Gold Arbitrage and Backwardation
• Large Liquidation of Gold And Silver?
• Jim Willie Reveals the SMOKING GUN On US Gold Rehypothecation!
• The Financial Times: Learn From German Central Bank and “Demand Physical Gold”
• Germany’s Central Bank Proposes "Wealth Tax" On Depositors
• Germany’s Central Bank Proposes “Wealth Tax” On Depositors
• IMF warns Fed could worsen markets rout
• Anglo Far East's John Ward Interviews Jim Rickards
• Ten King World News Blogs/Audio Interviews
• Palladium prices to go up for automakers
• Doug Casey: “Gold Stocks Are About to Create a Whole New Class of Millionaires”
• Willem Middelkoop summarizes Western central banking's war against gold
• Eric Sprott talks about gold market manipulation with Sprott Money News
• Australian law provides for gold confiscation -- and it's not unique
• Lawrence Williams: Gold stocks best performing market sector so far this year
• India Gold Import Curbs Review Seen in March on Deficit Control
• China's weekly gold off-take again exceeds world mine production, Koos Jansen reports
• China’s Gold Imports From Hong Kong Climb to Record
• Gold flows east as bars recast for Chinese defy slump
• Golden horses gallop ahead in sales in Chinese stores
• China’s Hong Kong gold trade hits new annual record, but where’s it all coming from?
• China’s Hong Kong Gold Trade Hits New Record, But Where’s it All Coming From?
• Indian government admits 3000kg of gold a month is being smuggled into the country – restrictions to be eased soon?

"Currency massacre": More details on the growing turmoil in emerging markets Posted: 28 Jan 2014 01:37 PM PST From Acting Man:   ... On Thursday, a number of stock markets, from Japan's Nikkei to the U.S. stock market, incidentally had quite a bad hair day.   Although most press reports identified the fact that China's manufacturing PMI came in slightly lower than expected as the culprit, it seems to us that there is perhaps a more profound problem boiling under the up until recently tranquil surface.   One of the sources of all this recent trouble is quite possibly Japan's decision to inflate with the help of a generous dose of 'QE' and deficit spending. Although the yen's anticipatory move lower could so far not really be justified by actual money supply growth, the fact remains that it did decline rather sharply. This in turn has put pressure on Japan's competitors in Asia, which in turn has put pressure on their suppliers in commodity-land and has altered capital flows, etc.   Recall that the Asian crisis of the late 1990s was preceded by a devaluation in China, after which the yen started weakening rather precipitously as well. Of course, the situation was different in that many of the countries hit by the crisis had their currencies pegged to the dollar at the time, but the point remains that a weakening yen preceded the event.   A parallel is that there are once again quite a few countries that sport large current account deficits and have experienced major credit and asset booms. In short, there are many balloons waiting for a pin...   Read full article...   More on emerging markets:   "MASSIVE SELLOFF": Currency "contagion" sends global markets plunging   A safer way to profit from the world's next "easy money" boom   Where emerging markets superinvestor Mark Mobius is buying today

Four reasons the crisis in emerging markets may not go away soon Posted: 28 Jan 2014 01:37 PM PST From Zero Hedge:   While HSBC itself may be having some rather substantial capital outflow issues, that does not prevent its head of EM research, Pablo Goldberg, to list four reasons why the current series of "painful though unrelated flare-ups" in key markets may last. To wit:   1) Reinforcement of preference for [developed markets] vs [emerging markets] – While EM have cheapened vs DM, value might not be enough as long as the flow continues to favor DM   2) Potential short-term solutions leading to longer-term problems   3) FX depreciation leading to outflows from local markets   4) Due to decentralized nature of these shocks, no silver bullet can restore appetite for risk   Of course, he saved the best for last...   Read full article...   More on the markets:   Two gold stocks that defied the crash last year... and could be headed even higher now   Steve Sjuggerud: Three trusted indicators say this market is about to BOOM   Porter Stansberry: Do this one thing and it's nearly impossible to lose money in stocks

Doc Eifrig: What you need to know before you get your next vaccine Posted: 28 Jan 2014 01:37 PM PST From Dr. David Eifrig, MD, MBA, editor, Retirement Millionaire:   Beware of fraudulent medical claims... In December, a professor from Iowa State University admitted to faking blood tests that showed he found a potential vaccine for the AIDS virus. Positive results meant he received an additional $19 million in milestone grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – the U.S. government's medical research agency.   The NIH tested the blood samples, uncovering the hoax. But it was a bit late. More than $100 million dollars went down the drain on this guy's lies.   This isn't the first case of fraud in the vaccine industry.   Allegedly, beginning in 2000, scientists from Merck falsified blood tests to make Merck's mumps vaccine appear to be more effective. It turned out that vaccine probably spread mumps instead of vaccinating against the disease.   Sadly, the punishments for this type of fraud are weak. The professor from Iowa State University is simply barred from applying for grants for three years.   This is one reason I have warned readers about the dangers of vaccines for years. Remember, the vaccine manufacturers have legal protection from suits regarding their vaccines and very little incentive to do things right.   Keep that in mind the next time you consider getting a vaccine.   Crux note: Long-time readers know Doc discovered an unusual "silver loophole" last year… a 100% legitimate way to collect real "hold-in-your-hand" silver from your local bank, free of charge.   Now, Doc is back with a new "must-see" update to his original report. Whether you've already taken advantage of this loophold for yourself or you're completely new to this idea, you'll want to check out his new report. Click here to see it now.   More from Doc Eifrig:   Doc Eifrig: One inexpensive vitamin could slow down Alzheimer's   Doc Eifrig: Smart investors will stay far away from these big, "safe" stocks now   Doc Eifrig: These income investments have the safety of bonds and the powerful upside of stocks

Doug Casey: Gold stocks about to create a whole new class of millionaires Posted: 28 Jan 2014 01:37 PM PST From Casey Research:   Bear markets always end. Has this one?   Evidence is mounting that the bottom for gold may be in. While there's still risk, there's a new air of bullishness in the industry, something we haven't seen in over two years.   An ever-growing number of industry insiders and investment analysts believe the downturn has come to a close. If that's true, it has immediate and critical implications for investors.   Doug Casey told me last week: "In my lifetime, the best time to have bought gold was 1971, at $35; it ran to over $800 by 1980. In 2001, gold was $250: in real terms even cheaper than in 1971. It ran to over $1,900 in 2011.   "It's now at $1,250. Not as cheap, in real terms, as in 1971 or 2001, but the world's financial and economic state is far more shaky.   "Gold is, once again, not just a prudent holding, but an excellent, high-potential, low-risk speculation. And gold stocks are about to create a whole new class of millionaires."   Just a couple of months ago, you would have had a hard time finding even one analyst saying something positive about gold and gold stocks—even some of the most bullish investment pros had gone silent.   But that's changing. Case in point: When Chief Metals & Mining Strategist Louis James and I attended last week's Resource Investment Conference in Vancouver, we witnessed quite a few very optimistic speakers.   Take Frank Giustra, for example, a self-made billionaire and philanthropist who made his fortune both in the mining sector and the entertainment industry. He's the founder of Lionsgate Entertainment, which is responsible for blockbuster movies like The Hunger Games, but he was just as heavily involved with mining blockbusters such as Iamgold, Wheaton River Minerals, Silver Wheaton, and others.   "I'm telling you, you've seen the bottom of the gold market," he told the rapt audience at the conference, offering a bet to the Goldman Sachs analyst who claimed gold is going to $1,000.   The stakes: Whoever loses has to stand on a popular street in downtown Vancouver dressed in women's underwear.   Tom McClellan, editor of the McClellan Market Report, stated in a recent interview on CNBC: "The commercial traders are at their most bullish stance since the 2001 low, and they usually get proven right. It's a hugely bullish condition for gold, and I'm expecting a really large rebound.   "The moment we see a major gold producer announce that it's curtailing production or it's going out of business," McClellan continued, "that'll be the moment we mark the low in gold. I expect to have one of those announcements any minute. We're getting down to the production price of gold right now, and they won't continue producing gold at that level for very long."   Are they just guessing? To answer that, first consider the historical context of this bear market—it's getting very long in the tooth:   • The current correction in gold stocks is the fourth longest since 1879. The decline of 66% ranks in the top 10 of recorded history.   • In silver, only two corrections have lasted longer—the ones that ended in 1936 and 1983.   Some technical analysts have pointed to positive chart formations, most notably the powerful "double bottom" that can portend a strong upward move. Based on intraday prices…   • Gold formed a double bottom last year, hitting $1,180.64 on June 28 and $1,182.60 on December 31, a convincing six-month span.   • Silver formed a higher low: $18.20 on June 28 vs. $18.72 on December 31, a bullish development.   • Gold stocks (XAU) formed a slightly lower low: $82.29 on June 26 vs. $79.73 December 19, 2103, a difference of 3.2%. However, as our friend Dominick Graziano, who successfully helped us earn doubles on three GLD puts last year, recently pointed out…   • The TSX Venture Index, where most junior mining stocks trade, has stayed above its June low. In fact, it recently soared above both the 50-day and 40-week moving averages for the first time since 2011.   Meanwhile, Goldcorp (GG) sent a huge bullish signal to the market earlier this month. It decided to pounce on the opportunities available right now, launching a takeover bid of Osisko Mining for $2.6 billion. The company wouldn't be buying now if it thought gold was headed to $1,000.   As Dennis Gartman, editor and publisher of The Gartman Letter, says, "It's time to be quietly bullish."   The smart money, like resource billionaire Rick Rule, is not just quietly bullish, though—they are actively buying top-quality junior mining stocks at bargain-basement prices to make a killing when prices rise.   To make sure that you can invest right alongside them, we decided to host a sequel to our 2013 Downturn Millionaires event, titled Upturn Millionaires—How to Play the Turning Tides in the Precious Metals Market.   Back then, we made a strong case for this once-in-a-generation opportunity – but it was still undetermined when the bottom would be in. It looks like that time is now very near, and we believe it's time to act.   On Wednesday, February 5, at 2 p.m. EST, resource legends Frank Giustra, Doug Casey, Rick Rule, and Ross Beaty, investment gurus John Mauldin and Porter Stansberry, and Casey Research resource experts Louis James and Marin Katusa will present the evidence and discuss the possibilities for life-changing gains for investors with the cash and courage to grab this bull by the horns.   How do we know the absolute bottom is in? I'll answer that with a quote from a recent Mineweb interview with mining giant Rob McEwen, former chairman and CEO of Goldcorp:   "I'd say we're either at or extremely close to the bottom, and as an investor I'm not prepared to wait to see if the bottom's there because it's very hard to pick it. Because … if you're not taking advantage of it right now, you're going to miss a big part of the move. And when you look at the distance these stocks have to travel to get to their old highs, there's some wonderful numbers in terms of performance that I think we're going to see."   Granted, these voices are still in the minority – but that's what makes this opportunity wonderfully contrarian. After all, once "Buy gold stocks" is investor consensus, we'll be approaching the time to sell.   Our Upturn Millionaires experts believe that our patience is about to be rewarded. And when that happens, gold stocks will be easy doubles – and the best juniors potential ten-baggers.   Don't miss the free Upturn Millionaires video event – register here to save your seat. (Even if you don't have time to watch the premiere, register anyway to receive a video recording of the event.)   More on gold stocks:   Two gold stocks that defied the crash last year... and could be headed even higher now   We could soon get a "major buy signal" in one of the last markets you'd expect   Casey Research: Twenty-three reasons to get bullish on gold again

Why Property And Casualty Insurers Are Great Value Plays For 2014 Posted: 28 Jan 2014 01:18 PM PST It's been five years since the financial meltdown wreaked havoc on both Wall Street and Main Street alike, and insurance companies, arguably the last industry to fully recover, are finally on track for a big year. Insurance is about managing uncertainty; something that even industry mainstays learned a bit more about as they witnessed heavy losses in risk, underwriting, and financial management since 2008. Now that the last vestiges of the financial crisis have finally disappeared, insurance companies are better positioned to deal with losses and looking forward to business growth in 2014. The P&C (property and casualty) business faces a growing climate this year for many reasons. For one, a stricter regulatory environment could benefit insurers even as consumer expectations change in regards to disaster protection. Interest rates are also finally beginning to rise which will help insurers' ROI and bring in higher capital appreciation. Publicly traded P&C companies

Now Is The Time To Enter The Precious Metals Markets Posted: 28 Jan 2014 01:12 PM PST The Gold Report released an interview with David Morgan covering mainly the gold and silver outlook for the year(s) ahead. In sum, with four decades of experience in the precious metals markets, David Morgan believes the bottom is in for the metals. He is expecting silver to outperform gold, going forward. His message on the Cambridge House Investment conference in Vancouver will be that now is the time to enter the market (not exit). The factor(s) that will push silver to $100/oz, presumably in a three or four years timeframe, according to David Morgan: What’s going to push it to that level are fundamentals. There is no change fundamentally in why investors would buy gold in 2001 compared to why they would buy gold in 2013 or 2014. The fundamental fact is that there isn’t a nation state on earth that has a handle on the debt problem. Because of that, we’re going to see more people wake up to the need for precious metals, because precious metals are true money outside the framework of the current system. The correction we had in silver and gold isn’t that abnormal in a major bull market. I’ve been through one bull market already in my lifetime. I watched gold go from the fixed price of $42.22/oz up to $200/oz, then to sell off to around the $100/oz level. It later advanced all the way back to the peak of $850/oz in January 1980. I have seen the damage a big shakeout in a major bull market can have. That experience makes me a little bit more hardened to weather the storm we just experienced. However, I think that the worst is over. I think silver has bottomed. Gold probably has as well. This year, 2014, will be a rebuilding year. Depending on what happens in the global economic system, it’s possible that we could even see a very good year for the metals, but I don’t anticipate that. I’m anticipating a rebuild year where silver climbs back over $30/oz and gold travels up well over $1,600/oz, probably to the $1,700/oz level or higher depending on how the economy unfolds. Whether silver outperform or perform independently, in case gold would go to $2,000/oz in 2014: I have studied this issue as much as anyone other than The Moneychanger author Franklin Sanders. A 45-foot long historic silver chart covering the last 4,500 years, where each foot would be 100 years, shows that only in the last 19 inches the silver-gold ratio would be above 16:1. The 4,400 years before that, it would be less than 16:1! So, from a long-term perspective it means silver is undervalued to gold. Yet, let us agree that for the current time frame it has much less meaning. My point is that the ratio tells you which metal is doing better relative to each other. The ratio was 80:1 when the silver bull market started, and it’s basically 60:1 now. That means as volatile as silver has been, from the start of the bull market, if investors put the same amount of dollars into gold or silver, they would be better off putting it into silver. I’m not advocating that. I think investors should own both gold and silver. But, overall, I believe silver’s outperforming trend will continue. Now Eric Sprott believes in the monetary classic ratio of 16:1 ratio and thinks the metal will eventually return to that level. I think the ratio will at least test where we’ve already been in this bull market, and that’s about a 35:1 ratio. We’ve already been there very, very briefly when silver did its big magic jump from $19/oz to $48/oz in 2011. In the meantime, we’re looking at more volatility. The number precious metals miners that is expected survive and experience the next upleg in the metals will be limited: I’m probably not the best to ask because we focus mostly on top-tier and mid-tier companies, companies that are producers or near producers. We do study a great deal of the junior exploration sector, but suggest very few. If I would venture a guess, of the micro-cap companies—$0.5–3 million—probably half will survive, maybe fewer than that. It has been very difficult in the precious metals sector over the last couple of years. Even some of the best companies—I am thinking of one recently that has one of the richest gold mines in the world—can be mismanaged. That is why with some of these companies I tell people to only risk money they can lose because the payoff can be great, but they can lose it all, too. And some of my readers thank me for it later. That happened just this morning. The message that David Morgan will give people at the Cambridge House Investment conference in Vancouver: The bull market is not over and it’s normal in these secular bull markets to shake off some bulls and reach the status that we are currently at where the sentiment is very low. There is a lot of distrust and a lot of people are questioning whether they should be in the sector. Those are signs that the bottom is in. Now is the time, for those not in the sector, to get in. For those already in, either hold what they have, add to their position or ride it out. A couple of years from now we’re going to see much higher prices in the precious metals. Three or four years out, it may be overvalued in real terms, but that remains to be determined.

T. Ferguson: Is it Time to Buy the Miners? Posted: 28 Jan 2014 01:00 PM PST It appears that we may have finally found The Bottom in this drawn out and painful decline. Of the more encouraging signs since the first of the year has been the UP tick in the HUI and most of the mining stocks. Is this just a blip or are we in the early stages of [...] The post T. Ferguson: Is it Time to Buy the Miners? appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Turd Ferguson: Courage and Conviction Turd Ferguson: Cartel Attempting to Transfer Manipulative Short Position to Speculators Turd Ferguson: The End of the Great Keynesian Experiment

Gold Follows Through on Reversal; 1231 Remains the Pivot Posted: 28 Jan 2014 12:41 PM PST

Returns Of A Diversified Precious Metals Box Posted: 28 Jan 2014 11:59 AM PST This is a guest post from Bron Suchecki, editor at Goldchat and strategic planner at The Perth Mint in Australia. I was asked about platinum on Friday in a Reuters Global Markets Forum live chat interview, and declined to give a view, saying that the Perth Mint doesn’t follow platinum, as it is a small market, less liquid, and more risky and thus not something you therefore want to push on our generally conservative clients. However, in 1994 the Perth Mint did recommend some platinum in a portfolio, producing the “Aussie Diversified Precious Metals Portfolio” which was a boxed set of two 1 kilogram Kookaburra silver bullion coins a 2oz Kangaroo gold bullion coin a 1oz Koala platinum bullion coin It never took off and the sets were eventually scrapped primarily because we charged a premium for the set (ie box) when investors could just buy the coins individually for lower cost. Anyway, the question is: how did that ratio of gold:silver:platinum perform? Before I get to that, I would just note that our Depository clients are split into three groups. The first are those who only buy gold, the second those who only buy silver, and the third who buy both. What is interesting is almost all of those buying both gold and silver do so on a 50:50 basis by dollar value, say $10,000 worth of gold and $10,000 worth of silver. I’m not sure there is anything scientific about that allocation and probably just comes down to hedging one’s bets. So let’s compare the performance of those three groups against the Aussie portfolio, using 30 Dec 1994 London Fix prices to 31 Dec 2013: I’d say if you’re not too sure about whether gold or silver will be the better performer, the un-”modern portfolio theory” 50:50 strategy seems to have worked out. Of course, the above figures themselves are highly unscientific with no real basis for the starting date beyond that was when the Aussie was launched, but hey, what do you want from a free blog? As always, do your own due diligence.

60 Tons of Gold Withdrawn from SGE Vaults Last Week! Posted: 28 Jan 2014 11:45 AM PST Another astounding trading week on the SGE; from January 13th to 17th physical withdrawals from the SGE vaults accounted for 60 tons of gold, with 159 tons of phyzz withdrawn year to date! Although withdrawals are down 25 % from the previous week, the amount is still well above weekly global mine production.   1 oz Gold [...] The post 60 Tons of Gold Withdrawn from SGE Vaults Last Week! appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: A Spectacular 79 Tons of Physical Gold Withdrawn From SGE Vaults in 1 Week! 50 Tons of Gold Withdrawn From Shanghai Vaults in 5 Days! Gold Drain Continues As 2128 Metric Tons Withdrawn From Shanghai Vaults YTD!

The Supply Has To Come From Somewhere…Right? Posted: 28 Jan 2014 11:45 AM PST Tweet News came out yesterday (which we sort of already knew) that the world’s mints are now running 24/7 to meet the demand.   Zerohedge commented on this and quoted an investment strategist from Seattle who said, “There is no doubt that physical demand has improved, but it will not be enough to support prices.”  While they did heckle the quote, I as usual would like to break it down to its core logic or certainly lack of. “Physical demand has improved”…yes it has but improved from what?  Was physical demand “weak” in 2011 when we made the highs of $1,900 and $50 for gold and silver?  Has mine supply increased since then?  No and no.  Physical demand was firm and growing in 2011 and has grown further from there.  China’s appetite for physical metal seems to have grown with each new “import bite.”  The only thing that is in abundant supply is the paper contracts offer “gold” for sale. So breaking this down to the simple economics of Mother Nature 101, we have only so many refineries and mints in operation for a reason.  2 years ago the mints and refineries were seeing an uptick in their businesses and the amounts that were being demanded by the markets.  So they reacted by increasing their outputs to meet the higher demand.  But…you can only operate a refinery or mint at peak capacity for 24 hours each day because there are no more hours in the day.  Do you see where I’m going?  Capitalism left alone will create only as many bakers (not bankers), dentists, and mechanics etc. etc. …and mints/refineries as are necessary to meet demand.  If a market for any skill or product is glutted then capitalism will “cull the herd” and put the weaker competitors out of business until the “excess” capacity comes back into line with the demand. For instance, let’s say that “brain surgeons” are the highest paid profession and everyone (if they could stand the blood and guts) wanted to be one.  Assuming that everyone had the ability and actually did become a brain surgeon, how many of these would be “unemployed brain surgeons” in short order?  (As a side note, it would probably take a little while for the unemployment to set in since the necessity for economist/banker lobotomies would keep them busy for a year or more).  My point is this, there were only so many mints and refineries with only so much capacity in the past because it was enough to meet the “current demand.”  There was no sense in building any more capacity because it would have been idle capacity and the investment would not have made any sense… and thus then liquidated by Mother Nature. But here we are now and the capacity is becoming strained.  No problem…”we’ll just build more capacity” you say?  OK, here is the logic part…if the minting and refining capacity was ample a couple of years ago why would we need more now?  Why, if the global mine supply has not grown at all would we need any more capacity?  Think about it, just because there is more demand for the finished product doesn’t mean that refineries and mints can produce more… more production requires more “input” of raw material right?  If the production of coins and bars was in balance with demand (that already exceeded total mine supply) AND the amount of raw material (metal actually mined globally), why the big change?  And…most importantly where is the extra “raw product” to refine and mint coming from?  It has to come from somewhere right? Do you see the problem here?  What was in “balance” is no longer in balance.  Forget that demand has exploded and we can now absolutely define a minimum twice as much demand as supply, we now have another indicator (chokepoint) where “capacity” which had been built over many years is no longer enough.  “Capacity” that was MORE than ample to handle total global production that has not increased (and surely will not increase) for many years.  THIS is proof to anyone “thinking” person that “supply” is being fed into the market to keep a lid on it.  But “where” is the additional supply coming from? You see, if “they” want to continue to “meet the demand” they will need more minting and refining capacity.  Never mind that total mine supply was more than ample to supply the capacity (and workers actually got some days off), now the manufacturing capacity is not enough no matter how high the machines are turned up or how hard the workers are whipped. I hope that you see how I have come at the “supply and demand” question from a different angle here.  The processes of refining and minting had to have been built over a number of many years and assuredly the level of capacity was ample otherwise capitalism would have “built more” if there was a buck to be made.  There wasn’t, not so much because of the demand side but because of the levels of “supply” from the world’s mines and scrap supply.  This is so because a refinery or mint can only create product with actual supply of raw material…which has to come from somewhere.  Please ask yourself “where” this might be from?  While asking you this question, please also contemplate the question, “If 'something,' anything is withdrawn from a hoard…does not that hoard shrink?” Briefly, the bottom line is what it has been all along…how much metal do the central banks really have left?  Not “what do think they have left? but how much vaulted gold (by the NY Fed) is ACTUALLY left” because this is the ONLY place that the excess supply could have come from?  How do I know this?  Simply because of the sheer size and amounts that the mints and refineries are processing…there are no other “hoards” in the world large enough to supply what is now being processed.Similar Posts: Right, For the Right Reasons Come On Bennie, I Dare Ya! Physical Gold Supply Countdown

Forex Trading Alert: U.S. Dollar Erases Losses Posted: 28 Jan 2014 11:40 AM PST SunshineProfits

Thoughts on Chinese gold reserves – Phillips Posted: 28 Jan 2014 11:39 AM PST China has announced unchanged gold reserves – still officially at 1,059 tonnes as they have been reported each year since 2009 – but the Chinese only tell us what suits them!

Gold de-hedging continues, but at reducing rate - SocGen Posted: 28 Jan 2014 11:31 AM PST The latest global gold hedgebook analysis from SocGen (prepared by GFMS) notes that net de-hedging is continuing but at an ever-reducing rate with the global gold hedgebook now totalling only 92 tonnes.

Fresnillo hits silver target, gold down due to explosives ban Posted: 28 Jan 2014 11:06 AM PST Mexican precious metals miner Fresnillo said on Tuesday it hit a 2013 production target for silver, while just missing a revised target for gold.

'The silver bottom is in: Time to hold, add and ride it out' - Morgan Posted: 28 Jan 2014 10:59 AM PST When the bulls are running for the doors, that is a sign that we have hit bottom and wise investors should hold on to their portfolios for the ride up, says David Morgan.

AGXIIK: Federal Takeover of Retirement Plans is Coming! Posted: 28 Jan 2014 10:58 AM PST I'm going to clear the air on this matter.  For over 2 years I've been writing about the impending federal takeovers of pension plans. 10 countries in the Europe and South America have engaged in pension theft, conversion or expropriation to fund government operations.  It is quite likely that we will see more of this theft in 2014, and before the financial crisis is over, probably from the TSP. The brokerages will be completely compliant with these actions just like the Bail-in provisions signed by the FDIC, FED Bank of Canada and BOE, as was reported on Silver Doctors in 2013. Like Detroit with its complete expropriation of the $11,000,000,000 in pension plan funds, the Feds will use the $1.6 trillion in the TSP as they see fit.  They are patterning this on Poland and the NDRP.  Poland recently confiscated 28 billion in Euros to reduce their country debt to 56%  of the GDP. The government simply took the funds from the private and government pension plans WITHOUT ANY COMPENSATION.  Surely that could never happen here! Click here for more on the coming Federal takeover of retirement plans:

AGXIIK: Federal Takeover of Retirement Plans is Coming! Posted: 28 Jan 2014 10:30 AM PST I’m going to clear the air on this matter.  For over 2 years I’ve been writing about the impending federal takeovers of pension plans. 10 countries in the Europe and South America have engaged in pension theft, conversion or expropriation to fund government operations.  It is quite likely that we will see more of this [...] The post AGXIIK: Federal Takeover of Retirement Plans is Coming! appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Poland Nationalizes Retirement Accounts! Something Wicked This Way Comes…Obama Planning Retirement Plan Bail-ins Treasury Skips Mandatory Quarterly Federal Employee Retirement Fund Payments

The silver bottom is in: Time to hold, add and ride it out Posted: 28 Jan 2014 10:19 AM PST When the bulls are running for the doors, that is a sign that we have hit bottom and wise investors should hold on to their portfolios for the ride up. It may take a couple of resource war-addled years for gold and silver prices to move back to profitable levels,...

Could Wall Street be wrong on gold again? Posted: 28 Jan 2014 10:00 AM PST At first glance you might be a little discouraged by reading major bank after major bank release a lower forecast on the price of gold for 2014 and beyond. But knowing their track record of forecasting the gold price you might feel a lot better, and even see the...

Dollar gains prominence against taper backdrop Posted: 28 Jan 2014 09:50 AM PST Earlier today, the U.S. currency rose against most major currencies as expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue to scale back its stimulus program this week fueled demand for the greenback. What impact did these moves have on major currency pairs?

The Pitiful State of the Union Posted: 28 Jan 2014 09:45 AM PST Tweet In last year's fourth quarter, the annual Wall Street-funded propaganda blitz was in its highest ever gear; coupled, of course, with the most vicious, blatant market manipulation in recorded history.  Consequently, the "cover" provided by strong equity gains caused the entire MSM community – and sadly, much of the alternative media – to figuratively "close up shop" during the holiday season.  Thank god for Zero Hedge and a handful of others – like the Miles Franklin Blog, of course – kept on plugging away; as the reality of rising global debt, unemployment, inflation and unrest was as virulent as ever.  It was only a matter of time before these issues again made headline news; and in this case, all it took was the turning of the calendar to release their fury.  We anticipated so much in our "2014 predictions," which sadly, have in several instances already come to fruition. Just four weeks into the New Year, global financial markets are in chaos; particularly in nations with collapsing currencies, yielding the potential for near-term hyperinflations.  Thailand, the Ukraine, Venezuela and Argentina are receiving the most media attention; but rest assured, the steep currency declines we anticipated are wreaking havoc the world round – and shortly, will be infecting as many "first world" nations as "third world" ones.  And when they do, life as we have known it for generations will permanently change. Part and parcel to the surge in market volatility – as economic reality sets in – is the re-awakening of global media coverage.  Consequently, our daily "housekeeping" before "thought pieces" has become more time-consuming.  Not only are we attempting to give "big picture" commentary to digest; but with the world's financial markets changing so rapidly, it is important to relay real-time information as well.  Currently, the "horrible headlines meter" is pegged off the scale; and thus, I'll try to be as concise as possible in describing the day's key events. Let's start with yesterday's ridiculous late day PM "crybaby attack"; catalyzed by absolutely NOTHING except Cartel fear of major breakouts ahead of today's COMEX options expirations, tonight's State of the Union address, and tomorrow's FOMC statement.  As you can see, the Cartel is utterly terrified of silver breaking above its seven-month "line in the sand" at $20/oz.; while equally obviously, it fears a large amount of $1,250/oz. gold calls closing today's February contract significantly "in the money."  Remember, there are still 125,000 ounces of gold standing for delivery of the December contract; and with 11 million ounces of open interest on the expiring February contract, the odds that the measly 375,000 registered inventory ounces will be enough to prevent a month-end default are extremely low. Next, how about an update on the global economy – starting with "updates" on two recent pieces?  The first, regarding how amazed I was to see AFC championship tickets priced at the same level as those from Opening Day, was validated by this week's flood of commentary about plunging Super Bowl ticket prices.  Below is a chart of the trend in ticket prices over the past four years – which in our view, perfectly mirrors the global economy; as this year's secondary market ticket pricing is the lowest since the 2002 Super Bowl – you know, right after 9/11, when people were scared to fly.  As for the second update, to yesterday's piece about the Girl Scouts of America pushing scout leaders with massive cookie sale demands; lo and behold, it turns out 25% of its "HQ" personnel in New York City were just laid off, as the relentless recession that started five years ago worsens with each passing day. Yesterday, we saw an incredible 11% sequential decline in new U.S. home sales – followed up by today's Case-Shiller real estate index, which depicted its first monthly decline in more than a year.  In other words, the dramatic impact of (modestly) higher rates on a heavily leveraged, accounting-gimmick-masked housing bubble is returning to the fore.  To wit, this is the TOP STORY on Yahoo! Finance this morning – about surging underwater mortgages – which we assure you, will become a MAJOR issue in the coming months.  And oh yeah, durable goods orders were reported this morning to have plunged 4.3% in December, compared to "expectations" of a 1.6% increase.  You know, the type of things that destroyed the freely-traded markets of yesteryear.  By the way, take a look at the chart below, and tell me if you spot the relentlessly hyped U.S. "recovery." For that matter, look at the two below charts of the European recovery – updated yesterday for current conditions.  The first depicts all-time high French unemployment – incredibly, 67% above the pre-2008 crisis levels; and the second, the astonishing decline in 4Q 2013 European corporate earnings estimates in just the past six weeks, from expectations of a 9% year-over-year increase in early December, to a big old goose egg today!  And for the record, if we do see any "improvement" in Greek GDP this year, it's because they just copied the U.S. and Chinese government propagandists in restating their definition of GDP to make it look stronger. Last but not least, we have last night's earnings report from Apple; i.e., the "face of global retail demand."  I may not be a technology analyst, but I know a thing or two about retail stocks from my decade as a buy and sell-side analyst.  Below is what I wrote after Apple's devastating 2Q13 earnings miss in September; validated 100% by yesterday's even worse 4Q miss, when just 51 million iPhones were sold compared to "expectations" closer to 55 million.  Not to mention, forward revenue guidance was dramatically reduced; partly due to the market saturation noted below and partly the weak global economy.  And BTW, note how what I wrote then about falling iPhone prices describes exactly the gist of yesterday's "Need vs. Want, Part II."  For the record, Apple stock is down $42/share today; but don't worry, the PPT will not allow the Dow to fall ahead of the (pitiful) State of the Union address. FYI, the Apple "glamour trade" is long OVER; as it is now just a simple retail stock, whose P/E multiple will eventually trade down to mid-single digits.  Heck, when I bought my Samsung Galaxy S3 just one year ago, I was forced to pay nearly $300; but now, you can get one with "no money down" and payments over multiple years.  Sorry, folks, the GLOBAL smart phone market is saturated; and thus, yet another "savior" business is DEAD, DEAD, DEAD. -Miles Franklin, September12, 2013 Or, for that matter, gold and silver to trade materially above the key round numbers of $1,250/oz. and $19.50/oz., respectively (the former representing gold's two-month "line in the sand" ahead of this afternoon's COMEX options expiration; which, "coincidentally," represent major strike prices.  Given the past two days' horrific economic data, how can any other explanation than official intervention is utilized to explain today's waterfall declines at the 10:00 AM "key attack time" – to exactly these key strike price levels?  Oh well, let's just see what happens tomorrow, when the Fed must decide whether or not to "taper" amidst a collapsing global economic and market environment! Which brings me to today's discussion of said State of the Union speech; in which, pitifully, Obama's "handlers" have decided to focused on America's widening wealth inequality.  Quite apropos, just a day after Jamie Dimon was awarded a 74% pay raise after JP Morgan's historic year of convictions related to defrauding the public; not to mention, this incredible hotel bill from this week's Davos Economic Summit, where billionaires also discussed their "worries" about wealth inequality.  FYI, when reading this bill, consider that the Swiss Franc/U.S. dollar exchange rate is near parity. For those not watching the polls, Obama's approval rating hit an all-time low this week (see below).  In other words, all's not well on many fronts, despite what he will undoubtedly purport.  And for those that don't think TPTB fear rising gold prices, take a look at the last time his approval dropped this low; yes, in August 2011, when "dollar-priced gold" hit an all-time high – amidst the S&P downgrade and spiraling U.S. debt problems.  Since then, America has added more than $3 trillion of debt, S&P has been sued by the government, and real employment has soared to Depression-era levels.  But amazingly, the stock market is much higher and gold much lower; care of the unprecedented money printing, market manipulation and propaganda campaign put into place back then; which sadly, appears to have reached the end of its rope. Even more pathetically, Obama believes he will "win votes" via last night's Executive Order mandating an increased minimum wage – to $10.10/hour – for future Federal contracts.  In other words, the nation's least productive workers will get a raise, funded by the rest of us – via future inflation, as the money to pay for this raise will be printed.  Of course, $10.10 per hour won't feed a typical family either; and frankly, is flat out insulting to the concept of inequality reduction – insomuch as the world's richest 85 people are now cumulatively wealthier than the 3.5 billion poorest. For a variety of reasons – many of them structural and irreversible – real wages have been declining for four decades.  Sadly, the average food stamp recipient is now of good health and working age; and for those lucky enough to work for such slave wages, not only did the average work week just hit an all-time high, but the ratio of profits to employees did as well – meaning more is being accomplished with less; whilst the ratio of wages to profits just hit an all-time low! Of course, the giant pink elephant in the room is the fact that the most significant "inequality engine" is the Central bank printing presses that create inflation for all, but profits for just "the 1%" owning it; particularly when Wall Street lobbyists have been generating exponentially increasing benefits for their clients, paid for by the unsuspecting "99%."  Worse yet, even when Wall Street loses this free money, it gets bailed out with TARP, ZIRP, QE and other government interventions – again, financed by the eternally inflation-generating printing presses of Central bankers. And thus, if you can stomach watching the State of the Union address tonight (I can't), consider that essentially every objective metric depicts a decline of the "world's greatest nation" to all-time lows – particularly since its current President took office.  Not that Obama is any more than a cog in a broken piece of machinery, of course; as frankly, said decline started in August 1971, when the abandonment of the gold standard enabled America's balance sheet to morph from the best in global history to the worst in just four decades.  Today, the Ponzi scheme that is the global fiat currency regime is in its final, hyper-destructive phases; and thus, I can only imagine the horrific topics that will be described when America's next President delivers the State of the Union speech.  By then, of course, if you haven't protected yourself against the ramifications of these issues, you will likely have been financially destroyed.Similar Posts: Gold Takes Off When Interest Rates Rise Minimum Wage Hell How Long Can A (Rigged) Market Trade Below the Cost of Production?

Greg Hunter: Economic Collapse Within a Year – PREPARE NOW! Posted: 28 Jan 2014 09:30 AM PST In this interview with Finance & Liberty’s Elijah Johnson, Greg Hunter discusses: -Germany’s top financial regulator says that precious metals manipulation is worse than the LIBOR rigging scandal - The Federal Reserve has NO GOLD - Those in Washington Know We Are Headed Towards ECONOMIC Crisis – China buying up economic power from the United [...] The post Greg Hunter: Economic Collapse Within a Year – PREPARE NOW! appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Is It "Anti-Faith" To Prepare For The Coming Economic Collapse? The Insiders Are Now Preparing For The Economic Collapse Gerald Celente’s 2014 Forecast: Rising Gold, Financial Panic, Economic Collapse, & War

Smugglers sneaking up to 3,000 kg gold to India in a month Posted: 28 Jan 2014 09:22 AM PST While speaking at the occasion of the International Customs Day on Jan. 26, Indian Finance Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram admitted that in spite of the stringent import restrictions, gold smuggling reached up to 3,000 kg in certain months.

Gold falls ahead of FOMC Posted: 28 Jan 2014 08:55 AM PST The gold price retreated from its two-month high yesterday, falling by 1% as U.S. equities steadied and jittery speculators prepared themselves for the FOMC meeting, which commences today.

Fukushima Radiation More Than 10 Times The Normal Level Is Detected On California Beaches Posted: 28 Jan 2014 08:30 AM PST Multiple independent tests have confirmed that levels of nuclear radiation are being detected on California beaches that are more than 10 times the normal level.  Many believe that this is the result of highly radioactive water from Fukushima that has crossed the Pacific Ocean and is now washing up on California beaches.  Others are blaming [...] The post Fukushima Radiation More Than 10 Times The Normal Level Is Detected On California Beaches appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Fukushima Radiation Seen in Tuna off California Fukushima Radiation Levels Now Immeasurable Radiation in Groundwater Near Fukushima 10,000 Times Legal Max

Investors turning more bullish on Gold: ETFS Posted: 28 Jan 2014 07:46 AM PST Long positions have climbed up after a steady decline which helped Gold become the best performing precious metal last week.

Gold Arbitrage and Backwardation Posted: 28 Jan 2014 07:30 AM PST Every attempt by the government to interfere with markets forces spreads to widen. This is why the presence of wide spreads today—with worldwide government intervention gone mad—does not invalidate the concept of arbitrage. These are the two universal, absolute, immutable, and essential facts that give rise to the need for a broad concept of arbitrage. [...] The post Gold Arbitrage and Backwardation appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Gold & Silver Supply & Demand Report: Backwardation is Back! Q&A With The Doc: If Silver is in Backwardation, Why Not Buy 2017 Contracts at a Discount? Perfect Storm Sees Gold & Silver Surge – Chavez Gold Action Leads to Backwardation, Short Squeeze and 'Havoc' Concerns

Large Liquidation of Gold And Silver? Posted: 28 Jan 2014 07:05 AM PST Tweet Is silver a better buy than gold?  Ted Butler thinks so. Here are some interesting facts pointed out by Ted Butler.  The total world production of silver is around 800 million oz.  There are 1.3 billion oz. of above ground silver.  The open interest on Comex equals around 700 million oz., which is equal to nearly 90% of annual silver production. The total world production of gold is about 95 million oz.  There are an estimated 5.5 billion oz. of above ground gold holdings.   The open interest on Comex equals approximately 41 million oz., which is equal to only 43% of annual gold production. Note the imbalance here.  The Comex open interest is twice that of gold and around 35 times that of gold's world inventories. This is not bearish for gold but does point out the heavy foot on the price of silver.  Butler says: If just 0.3% (a third of one percent) of the total current value of all the gold in the world ($7 trillion) tried to convert to silver that would be more than all the silver bullion that existed. Higher gold prices would only amplify the comparison.  -Butler Research Compared to gold, silver is scarce! In the last several years there has been a large liquidation of gold and silver, most notably gold from GLD where over 40% of the ETFs gold has been liquidated (around $25 billion in 2013 alone.  At the same time, there is very little silver liquidation from SLV, though there has been a constant movement in and out that would allow a large buyer to steadily accumulate a large quantity of silver without calling attention to itself. The low prices for precious metals has translated into softer business – in the US.  If your precious metals dealer has a business model that relies on strong volume and their overhead is based on this business model, they are in trouble.  We have heard stories from our clients and from our contacts in the business that several large firms, names you would recognize, are in big trouble now.  They are offering excuses and stalling tactics instead of shipping gold and silver to their clients. I took the following story from Ed Steer's newsletter today, but I also heard about it from several wholesale sources as well. Joshua Gibbons Warns on Tulving Company For close to two decades, The Tulving Company has been well known for almost always offering the best prices on a fairly limited selection of items, with a high minimum order, and ‘no-frills’ being an understatement. We would always recommend them to people who could afford the minimums, and were looking for the best prices. In the past, he would normally ship very quickly (often the same day he received your money). However, starting mid-April, 2013, there were serious (read: illegal) issues with delays. Complaints to the BBB increased, and it looked like there could have been a problem.  Now, things are at the point where we feel that an alert needs to be issued. There are dozens of 300+ confirmed complaints of people waiting several up to 6+ months for $10,000 to $200,000+ orders. This commentary by Joshua was posted on his website last Friday—and it’s worth reading.  All questions about this story should be directed to him—and his e-mail address is at the bottom of the linked commentary.  I thank Ted Butler for pointing it out to me yesterday. Read more… -Casey Research, January 28, 2014 You may see more cases like this if the rebound in gold and silver business, here in the U.S., drags on until late 2014.  Many firms are losing money and have been for months.  This happens in our industry whenever a long-lasting correction takes place.  Companies expand and over-spend during the boom times and can't re-adjust when business disappears. Why is this happening?  Because when firms business model is based on selling at the lowest price and then there is a protracted period when volume drops significantly, it often results in long delays of customer shipments.  It takes new money coming in to buy material to ship out.  That's the way Ponzi schemes work. I'm sure Ed Steer is not deliberately singling out Tulving but this story – and even Kitco's well-documented legal problems with the Canadian government – are warning shorts that all is not well in our industry.  Do your homework before you send off money.  Do NOT store your metals with any dealer!  Be very concerned if your order is not shipped in two weeks or LESS.  If you have any concerns, check with the BBB and state agencies – find out if other people are complaining and stop doing business with firms that have over-extended themselves. Now is not the time to "pay the least" for your gold and silver.  Deal only with firms with no complaints filed with the BBB and with a long history of honesty and service.  Getting your orders filled is not a given in this market. I can promise you that Miles Franklin is doing fine, since our overhead was structured with the ups and downs of our industry in mind.  We deliver.  We also offer personal broker-to-client service and many benefits not available from the low-price outfits.  Even with our newsletter and our highly experienced and dedicated brokers, our prices are not far off from those who offer nothing else but price, and you will never have to worry about Miles Franklin not delivering or taking months to fill an order.  We are based in Minnesota and the State of Minnesota has very strict laws about how to run a precious metals business.  We don't need their regulation to do things the right way, but it insures that we must ship in a timely fashion. We are exactly the kind of firm you want to do business with.  You will never read about us on the Internet under the "bankrupt business" or "under investigation for stealing client money" category.  We are highly respected within our industry, have a spotless 25-year track record and have booked nearly $2 billion in sales.  We have survived the horrible business climate in the 90s and early 2000s with our reputation and a spotless record.  You can count on us. Finally, to give you an idea why gold and silver fell (again) yesterday and as a heads up where they may be headed the rest of the week, Ed Steer and Ted Butler point out… Today is options expiry for February on the Comex—and tomorrow is the last day for the large traders to roll out of their February futures contracts on the Comex as well—and by the end of trading on Thursday, every other trader holding a February Comex contract in any physical commodity must have either sold it, rolled it, or are standing for delivery on First Day Notice—and the first of those statistics will be posted on the CFTC’s website late Thursday evening New York time.  And, as always, it’s who the issuers and stoppers are that matter.  How big a part will the HSBC USA, Canada’s Scotia Bank and, most importantly, JPMorgan Chase have in all of this?  I’d guess that it will be almost all of it.  It will be interesting to see how the delivery month unfolds. The above Comex timetable, along with the FOMC meeting that starts today—and ends tomorrow afternoon—will be what drives the market for the remainder of the week.  It matters not that platinum production is shut down in South Africa, or that China is sucking the world dry of every gold bar it can lay its hands on.  Supply and demand mean—and have always meant—nothing.  It’s only what JPMorgan et al do, or are instructed to do, that matters—period. Of course, in silver, there was a time when supply and demand mattered greatly—and that’s when JPMorgan almost got overrun during the latter part of March and all of April in 2011—and why they and others took a sledge hammer to the Comex futures market in the drive-by shooting that began in the thinly-traded Far East market on Monday, May 1, 2011.  That’s also the day they began accumulating silver for the first time in their own warehouse.  Ted Butler spoke about this at length in his commentary to his paying subscribers last week—and I’ve touched on this from time to time as well. -Casey Research, January 28, 2014 Similar Posts: Price of Gold Can't Stay Below the Cost of Production for Long Comex Registered Inventories – Could Disappear Any Day! The Gold Bull Market Is Not Over

Jim Willie Reveals the SMOKING GUN On US Gold Rehypothecation! Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:35 AM PST The Doc sat down with the Golden Jackass himself this weekend for an in-depth interview covering the state of the gold market and the Western banking system. Willie discusses the German efforts to repatriate their gold reserves (along with the implications of only receiving 5 tons from the NY Fed in year 1), as well [...] The post Jim Willie Reveals the SMOKING GUN On US Gold Rehypothecation! appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Jim Willie: Central Bank Gold Rehypothecation Scandal to Take Gold to $5,000/oz Glenn Beck Takes Gold Rehypothecation Story Mainstream- German Gold is GONE! Jim Willie: The Rush for Physical Gold is On This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

The Financial Times: Learn From German Central Bank and “Demand Physical Gold” Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:28 AM PST The Financial Times has told investors that they should act like the German Bundesbank and “demand physical gold” and warned that gold price “manipulation” could end “catastrophically“. "There's surely no chance that the Fed's little delivery difficulty has anything to do with the cat's-cradle of pledges based on the gold in its vaults?  As has [...] The post The Financial Times: Learn From German Central Bank and “Demand Physical Gold” appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Gold Investment Demand and India, China Demand Down; Central Bank Demand Doubles "Gold Is A Physical Safe Asset" Says Central Bank of Korea Gold ETF Sales Dwarfed By Central Bank, Jewellery, Coin and Bar Demand

Germany’s Central Bank Proposes "Wealth Tax" On Depositors Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:02 AM PST gold.ie

Germany’s Central Bank Proposes “Wealth Tax” On Depositors Posted: 28 Jan 2014 03:48 AM PST Today's AM fix was USD 1,253.50, EUR 919.12 and GBP 757.04 per ounce. Yesterday's AM fix was USD 1,270.00, EUR 927.82 and GBP 767.14 per ounce. Gold fell $13.30 or 1.05% on yesterday to $1,255.10/oz. Silver slipped $0.28 or 1.41% to $19.63/oz. Gold is marginally lower today in dollars but higher in yen and emerging market currencies. The fall in stock markets and in currency values in many emerging markets should support gold and is leading to an increase in demand for physical gold. Gold in U.S. Dollars, Jan 2014 -  (Bloomberg) Turkey, South Africa, Ukraine, Venezuela and especially Argentina have all seen sharp falls in their currency. Those with an allocation to gold have again protected their investments and savings. Eurozone governments vulnerable to insolvency such as France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Ireland should impose a "wealth tax" on their citizens, Germany's Bundesbank proposed yesterday. The German central bank raised the idea of an emergency "capital levy" in its monthly report. The Bundesbank said that the levy would have to be a one-off "imposed in conditions of extraordinary national crisis", in order to limit negative consequences for investment, and potential capital outflows. It acknowledged that a nation in crisis would have difficulty making a convincing case to depositors and investors that any such levy would be a one-time measure. We have argued consistently for the last 10 years that investment diversification is vitally important in order to protect and grow wealth. The very real likelihood of bail-ins means that savings diversification has to be considered. Find out why Singapore is now one of the safest places in the world to store gold in our latest gold guide – The Essential Guide To Storing Gold In Singapore NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD Gold Steady Ahead Of Fed; Stimulus Outlook In Focus Gold Flows East As Bars Recast For Chinese Defying Slump Platinum Producers Build Stockpiles To Beat Strike 3,000kg Of Gold Being Smuggled In A Month: Chidambaram Bundesbank Calls For Capital Levy To Avert Government Bankruptcies MARKET COMMENTARY Scrambling Gold Mints Around The World Plead: “We Can't Meet The Demand, Even If We Work Overtime” This Is What Banks Do When They Go Broke Video: Gold Rush: Double Bottom Or A Flight To Safety? Global Economy 2.0 Collapsing; 3.0 Growing Rapidly Let Banks Fail Is Iceland Mantra As 2% Joblessness In Sight

IMF warns Fed could worsen markets rout Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST IMF warns Fed could worsen markets rout The currency and equity rout across emerging markets over recent days is in danger of escalating as the US Federal Reserve turns off the spigot of global dollar liquidity, the International Monetary Fund has warned. Christine Lagarde, the IMF’s managing director, said spill-over effects from Fed bond tapering could destabilise vulnerable countries that have failed to rein in imbalances. “It is clearly a new risk on the horizon and has to be watched,” she told the World Economic Forum in Davos. The warning came after Argentina’s peso crisis last week set off contagion across the globe, with major knock-on effects in Turkey, South Africa, Brazil, Russia, and India. Even the Australian dollar fell to a three-year low, damaged by commodity links to China and other Asian economies. This Ambrose Evans-Pritchard offering was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site on Saturday evening GMT---and it's the first offering of the day from Roy Stephens.

Anglo Far East's John Ward Interviews Jim Rickards Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST Anglo Far East's John Ward Interviews Jim Rickards Although the interview starts out talking about gold in a deflationary environment, it quickly turns to the topic of the Federal Reserve---and never returns to the topic of precious metals after that. The January 14 interview is described as follows on the physicalgoldfund.com Internet site: "Interview with Jim Rickards on Gold during massive deflation, gold is positioned for a huge technical rally, tapering into weakness, the new FED Chairwoman's twin pillars of Optimal Control Theory and Communications Policy, the FED’s intended role versus what it does now, the incredible leverage employed on the FED’s balance sheet, and how most financial models today are completely wrong." The audio interview runs for just under 31 minutes---and I thank reader Harold Jacobsen for bringing it to our attention.

Ten King World News Blogs/Audio Interviews Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST Ten King World News Blogs/Audio Interviews 1. Michael Pento: "2014 - A Catastrophic Year of Historic Devastation and Chaos".  2. Egon von Greyerz: "What's Starting Now Will Be Much More Terrifying Than 2008".  3. James Dines: "The Coming "Age of Immortality" Will Shock The World".  4. Robert Fitzwilson: "The Entire World is Being Turned Upside Down in 2014".  5. John Hathaway: "This Will Create a Massive Spike in the Price of Gold".  6. Michael Pento: "2014 is Quickly Turning Into a Hellish and Terrifying Year".  7. James Turk: "War on Gold Accelerates, But Silver Will Shock Traders".  8. Richard Russell: "Stocks to Crash as U.S. Lies to Its People".  9. The first audio interview is with James Dines---and the second audio interview is with Gerald Celente. [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]

Palladium prices to go up for automakers Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST Palladium prices to go up for automakers Sales of new cars in developing countries are forecast to grow, even as supply of the metal is in deficit Categorised as a precious metal, palladium is part of what are popularly referred to as Platinum Group Metals (PGM) with increasing industrial application, mainly in auto-catalysts (for automobiles), electrical, dental and chemical industries. Jewellery sector demand is limited. Auto-catalysts for cars that run on gasoline require a higher content of palladium (unlike diesel cars that need more platinum for auto-catalyst), and majority of cars sold in the US and major developing countries such as China and India run on gasoline. With the world’s top two producers Russia and South Africa accounting for about 80 per cent of the total primary supply, the market is vulnerable to supply-related developments in the two key producing countries. Since the strike began in South Africa last week, the prices of palladium and platinum are down almost 4 percent apiece courtesy of JPMorgan Chase et al.  Using January's Bank Participation Report as a guide, I'd bet big money that JPM has a short-side corner in the palladium market to go along with its short-side corner in silver and platinum.  This article was posted on thehindubusinessline.com Internet site on Sunday IST---and I thank reader M.A. for his second contribution to today's column.

Doug Casey: “Gold Stocks Are About to Create a Whole New Class of Millionaires” Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST Doug Casey: "Gold Stocks Are About to Create a Whole New Class of Millionaires" Bear markets always end. Has this one? Evidence is mounting that the bottom for gold may be in. While there's still risk, there's a new air of bullishness in the industry, something we haven't seen in over two years. An ever-growing number of industry insiders and investment analysts believe the downturn has come to a close. If that's true, it has immediate and critical implications for investors. This commentary by Jeff Clark, with an introduction by Louis James, is to be found in yesterday's edition of the Casey Daily Dispatch---and it's worth reading.

Willem Middelkoop summarizes Western central banking's war against gold Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST Willem Middelkoop summarizes Western central banking's war against gold Willem Middelkoop, author of the new book "The Big Reset," gives an excellent summary of Western central banking's gold price suppression scheme in the second part of his interview with gold researcher and GATA consultant Koos Jansen. This interview was posted at Jansen's Internet site ingoldwetrust.ch on Saturday---and it's definitely worth reading.  I found it posted in a GATA release on the weekend.

Eric Sprott talks about gold market manipulation with Sprott Money News Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST Eric Sprott talks about gold market manipulation with Sprott Money News Interviewed for five minutes by Sprott Money News, Sprott Asset Management CEO Eric Sprott discusses gold market manipulation and the likely inability of the New York Commodities Exchange to deliver on its gold contracts. I thank Chris Powell for wordsmithing the above paragraph of introduction.  It's worth five minutes of your time---and it was posted on the sprottmoney.com Internet site on Friday.

Australian law provides for gold confiscation -- and it's not unique Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST Australian law provides for gold confiscation -- and it's not unique Writing on Sunday night for The Market Oracle, Paul Behan notes that a mechanism for government confiscation of privately held gold is already explicitly part of the law in Australia. Behan's commentary is headlined "Gold and Silver Confiscation? It's Written In the Law". Six years ago the Perth Mint's Bron Suchecki noted as much at his Internet site, Gold Chat, but elaborated in detail about the law's nuances and the political circumstances likely to bear on any attempt to implement it. Suchecki commented astutely that any confiscation of gold by government probably would manifest itself as nationalization of mines, the sources of large amounts of gold, long before it got around to privately held metal. Suchecki's commentary was headlined "Australian Gold Confiscation". With some difficulty seven years ago GATA extracted an answer on the point from the U.S. Treasury Department, which replied that the U.S. government, upon proclamation of an emergency by the president, claims the power provided by statutes enacted in 1917 and 1977 to confiscate from the people not just gold and silver but any damn thing the government feels like confiscating. Since most U.S. citizens can't even spell gold and fewer still own it, such confiscation probably would not accomplish much, and certainly the rationale for the U.S. government's trying to confiscate gold as it did in 1933 evaporated long ago, gold then being a huge part of the country's official money stock and today constituting none of it. The links to all of these gold confiscation commentaries are posted in this longish GATA release by Chris Powell that was posted on the gata.org Internet site yesterday.  There's a lot of reading here, so it's best to put on a pot of coffee before you start.

Lawrence Williams: Gold stocks best performing market sector so far this year Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST Lawrence Williams: Gold stocks best performing market sector so far this year Investors in gold equities have had little cheer in the past couple of years – indeed the period has seen a sell-off not experienced in the sector since the Bre-X fraud exposure of 1996, which had a huge downside impact on gold stocks, particularly in the junior gold sector. But so far this year – admittedly it is very early days yet – gold stocks have proven to be the sector to be in and while the major global stock indices have drifted downwards so far many gold stocks have risen by up to 30% or more. Is this the signal the market has been waiting for to get back into what has to have been the most oversold stock market sector of the past two years? Hong Kong based Global Financial Services specialist, the REORIENT Group, certainly thinks this is the case and is distinctly bullish on the gold stock market sector. In a note the Group puts forward a number of factors which it sees as distinctly bullish for gold stocks – and they may well have a strong point here with all of these. This commentary by Lawrie was posted on the mineweb.com Internet site on Monday sometime---and it's another contribution from Ulrike Marx.

India Gold Import Curbs Review Seen in March on Deficit Control Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST India Gold Import Curbs Review Seen in March on Deficit Control India can review gold import curbs by the end of March if Asia’s third-largest economy controls the current-account deficit, said Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram. “We can revisit curbs on gold imports by end of the year but let me hasten to add that it will happen only after we get a firm grip on the current-account deficit,” Chidambaram said in New Delhi today. Shipments rose in December from a month earlier, Revenue Secretary Sumit Bose said at the same event, and confirmed that the minister was referring to the financial year ending March 31. The rupee has rebounded about 9 percent from a record low against the dollar in August after the government raised the tax on imports three times in 2013 and linked purchases to re-exports. The government is seeking to trim imports to 800 metric tons in the financial year ending March from 845 tons a year earlier and the restrictions helped cut the deficit in the quarter ended September to the lowest level since 2010. This short Bloomberg article, filed from Mumbai, was posted on their Internet site during the Denver lunch hour yesterday---and it's another contribution to today's column from Ulrike Marx.

China's weekly gold off-take again exceeds world mine production, Koos Jansen reports Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST China's weekly gold off-take again exceeds world mine production, Koos Jansen reports Gold off-take at the Shanghai gold exchange for the week ending January 17 continued to be greater than world gold mine production, gold researcher and GATA Koos Jansen reported yesterday. "Again an astounding trading week on the SGE; from January 13 – 17, 2014 physical withdrawals from the SGE vaults accounted for 60 tons of gold, year to date 159 tons. Although withdrawals are down 25 % from the previous week, the amount is still well above weekly global mine production." "This strong demand could be related to the Chinese Lunar year, which is celebrated on January 31, 2014. SGE withdrawals in the first three weeks were up 60 % compared to the same period in 2013." I found this short commentary posted in a GATA release yesterday---and it's definitely worth reading

China’s Gold Imports From Hong Kong Climb to Record Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST China's Gold Imports From Hong Kong Climb to Record Gold shipments to China from Hong Kong rose to a record in 2013 as bullion’s slump attracted buyers in the world’s second-largest economy. Purchases that climbed by 51 percent in December before the Lunar New Year holiday starting Jan. 31 took net imports for the year to 1,108.8 metric tons, a 33 percent gain from 2012, according to calculations by Bloomberg News based on data from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. The net figure deducts flows from China into Hong Kong. Net gold imports jumped to 91.9 tons in December from the previous month as mainland buyers purchased 126.6 tons, including scrap, compared with 107.4 tons a month earlier, data from the Hong Kong government showed. China’s purchases in December were 10 percent higher than the 114.4 tons a year earlier, according to the Hong Kong data. Mainland China doesn’t publish such data. This Bloomberg news item, filed from Beijing, was posted on their website in the wee hours of yesterday morning MST---and I thank Ulrike Marx once again.  It, too, is worth reading.

Gold flows east as bars recast for Chinese defy slump Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST Gold flows east as bars recast for Chinese defy slump Gold's biggest slump in three decades has been a boon for MKS (Switzerland) SA's PAMP refinery near the Italian border in Castel San Pietro, whose bullion sales to China surged to a record as demand rose for coins, bars and jewelry. As prices plunged 28 percent in 2013, investors dumped a record 869.1 metric tons from gold-backed funds traded mostly in the U.S. and Europe. Much of that metal is ending up in Asia, where companies such as The Brink's Co., UBS AG, and Deutsche Bank AG are opening new vaults. China's expanding wealth has made the country the world's largest buyer, surpassing India, as imports reached an all-time high. PAMP Managing Director Mehdi Barkhordar, who credited China's "insatiable" appetite for a sales boost of as much as 20 percent last year, remains optimistic even as growth in the world's second-largest economy slows. "The demand in China is off its peak, but still respectable," he said last week. This longish Bloomberg story, co-filed from London and Singapore, was posted on their Internet site on Monday evening MST---and it's another article I found embedded in a GATA release.  It's definitely worth your while.

Golden horses gallop ahead in sales in Chinese stores Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST Golden horses gallop ahead in sales in Chinese stores Golden horses have replaced golden snakes in China, in a run up to the New Year (the year of the horse) that is to be celebrated on January 31. Hong Kong based jewellers have reported massive sales of equine jewellery pieces across the counter, with sales picking up over the weekend. Several customers are visiting jewellery shops to pick up their favourite pieces of gold accessories for the Lunar New Year. The prime shopping areas of Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok town have seen more than 60% of gold jewellery purchases by mainland visitors, reports indicate. In 2013, China was the world's largest jewellery fabricating nation, accounting for 33% of the fabrication across the world, according to a Thomson Reuters GFMS study. Last year, China's jewellery fabrication rose 31% to 724 tonnes. China and India tend to account for 51% of the world's jewellery fabrication. Net of scrap, global jewellery fabrication gained 48% year on year in 2013, data showed. This gold-related article, filed from Mumbai, was posted on the mineweb.com Internet site yesterday---and it, too, is worth reading.  It's also the final offering of the day from Manitoba reader Ulrike Marx.

China’s Hong Kong gold trade hits new annual record, but where’s it all coming from? Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST China's Hong Kong gold trade hits new annual record, but where's it all coming from? Blaring headlines earlier today from Bloomberg and Reuters announced that Chinese gold imports through Hong Kong reached a new record in 2014.  Readers of Mineweb will hardly be surprised at that – indeed they will be aware that gold imports by this route had already achieved a record total a couple of months ago!  But it’s nice, at least, to have the full year’s figures confirmed, even though the two agencies disagree a little on actual figures! December’s net gold imports by Mainland China via Hong Kong bounced back to hit around 95 tonnes from 77 tonnes in November, but still way below the 131 tonnes recorded in October.  For some reason Reuters and Bloomberg figures for Chinese gold imports seem to vary – despite both reporting statistics received from the same source – The Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department – but overall both sources confirm record net and gross import figures for the year and the variations are not important – it’s the trend that counts most.  Reuters puts the total at 1,158 tonnes while Bloomberg at a rather lower 1,109 tonnes.  Mineweb, which has been monitoring the announced Reuters figures month by month puts the total somewhere between the two at 1,139 tonnes – the differences rather more than can be accounted for by rounding monthly figures up and down – but be this as it may it suggests that Chinese gold imports through Hong Kong probably more than doubled in 2013 over 2012. Since Hong Kong is actually a Special Administrative Region of China, we also publish gross figures (i.e. not discounting re-exports from  Mainland China back to Hong Kong) – and this suggests China as a whole (i.e. Including Hong Kong) will have imported a little under 1,500 tonnes of gold in 2013. This commentary by Lawrence Williams over at the mineweb.com Internet site yesterday, certainly falls into the must read category---and I thank reader M.A. for the final story in today's column.

China’s Hong Kong Gold Trade Hits New Record, But Where’s it All Coming From? Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:22 AM PST "This state of affairs can't go on forever---and it won't." ¤ Yesterday In Gold & Silver The gold price began to rise right from the open of Sunday evening trading in New York.  Then shortly before 9 a.m. Hong Kong time, the price spiked up, only to run into a wall of selling which probably came from the usual bunch of not-for-profit sellers---led by JPMorgan et al. The gold price was back in the box within a couple of hours---and it proceeded to traded more or less sideways until 10 a.m. GMT in London.  The sell off from there lasted until the London p.m. fix---and then proceeded to rally a few dollars until 1 p.m. EST in New York.  Then the HFT boyz showed up---and by 2:35 p.m. EST, the low was in for the day.  From there, the gold price rallied a few dollars into the 5:15 p.m. close of electronic trading. The CME Group recorded the high and low ticks as $1,279.80 and $1,251.90 in the February contract. Gold closed in New York on Monday at $1,256.50 spot, which was down $12.50 from Friday's close.  With options/futures expiry for the February contract upon us, gross volume was very heavy.  But net of everything, the volume was actually quite light at 93,000 contracts---with a decent chunk of that needed to put the gold price pike in Hong Kong in its place. With some minor differences, the silver price action was similar to gold's, so I'll dispense with the play-by-play. The high and low ticks in silver were $20.09 and $19.55 in the March contract. Silver closed yesterday at $19.685 spot, down 22.5 cents from Friday.  Volume, net of January and February, was about 40,500 contracts. Both platinum and palladium traded basically flat until an hour or so after the London open---and then like gold and silver, down they went as well.  Here are the charts. The dollar index closed in New York late on Friday afternoon at 80.46---and then proceeded to trade flat for the entire Monday session on Planet Earth.  There was a 30 basis point down/up/down move embedded in yesterday's price 'action'---but by the end of the day, the index closed at 80.43---which was basically unchanged.  Nothing to see here. The gold stocks gapped down a bit at the open---and then traded sideways until shortly after the London p.m. gold fix.  Then, as the gold price began to rally to its 1 p.m. EST high, the gold stocks got sold down---and continued lower for the remainder of the day.  The HUI finished virtually on its low of the tick of the day, down 3.06%. The silver shares fared even worse, as the outcome was never in doubt right from the open---and Nick Laird's Intraday Silver Sentiment Index got clocked by 4.37%.  That's the second big down day in a row for silver stocks.  Since the Thursday close, silver is only down 33 cents, but the shares have been hit for about 7.5% on both Friday and Monday combined. Not surprisingly, the CME's Daily Delivery Report was pretty skinny yesterday as the January delivery month draws to a close.  It showed that 46 gold and 18 silver contracts were posted for delivery on Wednesday.  JPMorgan provided all the gold contracts---and Canada's Scotiabank stopped all of them, along with all 18 silver contracts.  The link to yesterday's Issuers and Stoppers Report is here. There were no reported changes in GLD---and as of 9:19 p.m. EST yesterday evening, there were no reported changes in SLV, either. For whatever reason, the good folks over at shortsqueeze.com haven't updated their website with the mid-month short interest for both SLV and GLD.  I've been expecting it for about a week now, but so far, nothing. I got an e-mail from Switzerland's Zürcher Kantonalbank just before I hit the send button on today's column.  They updated their gold and silver ETF for the week ending Friday, January 24---and this is their first update since January 3.  During those three weeks, their gold ETF declined by 117,788 troy ounces---and their SLV dropped by 248,301 troy ounces. And, as an aside to the above, I note that Sprott's physical silver trust, along with their platinum and palladium trust, have quietly turned from a discount to their NAV---to a premium, over the last week or so. The U.S. Mint reported selling 512,000 silver eagles yesterday---and that was it. Over at the Comex-approved depositories on Friday, there was no gold reported received---and only  546 troy ounces reported shipped out.  The link to that action, such as it was, is here. And, as is almost always the case, the activity in silver was much more dramatic---and Friday's activity was no exception to that rule, as 593, 571 troy ounces were reported received---all into the CNT Depository---and 109,108 troy ounces were shipped out.  The link to that activity is here. There were a lot of stories over the weekend---and on Monday---that I thought worth posting, so what's posted below will keep you off the streets for a while. ¤ Critical Reads Margin Debt Soars to Record High; Investor Net Worth Now Doubly Negative From 2007 Bubble Peak That margin debt kept rising into the last month of last year is no surprise: after all, with a market that was destined to follow the Fed's balance sheet through thick and thin, there was "no risk" - just remember what David Tepper said: no taper is bullish, a taper is even more bullish as it means the economy is recovering and 20x P/E multiples are just around the corner. Sure enough as reported earlier by the NYSE, margin debt rose by another $21 billion in December to an all time high of $445 billion, and up 29% from a year ago - incidentally almost identical to the increase in the S&P. This much should come as no surprise to anyone. However what may come as a shock to many is that the other key metric provided by the NYSE - total net free credit - also known as investor net worth (calculated as Free Credit Cash plus Credit Balances in Margin Accounts less Margin Debt) just dropped to a whopping $148 billion, double where it was in February 2013, and double where it was during the peak of the last stock (and credit and housing) bubble, when it rose to a then-all time high of $79 billion in June 2007. It was all downhill from there. This commentary posted on the Zero Hedge Internet site very early yesterday evening EST, is definitely worth your time, even if you only look at the chart.  I thank reader U.D. for sending it along. IMF warns Fed could worsen markets rout The currency and equity rout across emerging markets over recent days is in danger of escalating as the US Federal Reserve turns off the spigot of global dollar liquidity, the International Monetary Fund has warned. Christine Lagarde, the IMF’s managing director, said spill-over effects from Fed bond tapering could destabilise vulnerable countries that have failed to rein in imbalances. “It is clearly a new risk on the horizon and has to be watched,” she told the World Economic Forum in Davos. The warning came after Argentina’s peso crisis last week set off contagion across the globe, with major knock-on effects in Turkey, South Africa, Brazil, Russia, and India. Even the Australian dollar fell to a three-year low, damaged by commodity links to China and other Asian economies. This Ambrose Evans-Pritchard offering was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site on Saturday evening GMT---and it's the first offering of the day from Roy Stephens. Gundlach Counting Rotting Homes Makes Sub-prime Bear For Jeffrey Gundlach, the U.S. housing recovery isn’t so rosy. The founder of $49 billion investment firm DoubleLine Capital LP is largely avoiding the sub-prime mortgage bonds that jumped about 17 percent last year after home prices surged by the most since 2006, deterred by the lengthy process to sell foreclosed houses and the destruction that’s creating. “These properties are rotting away,” Gundlach, 54, said last week on a conference call with investors, about homes stuck in foreclosure pipelines, adding that it could take six years to resolve defaulted loans made to the least creditworthy borrowers before the real-estate crash. DoubleLine is giving up potentially higher yields that last year attracted money managers including Western Asset Management Co. along with hedge funds as 21 percent of foreclosed homes across the U.S. are in limbo, vacated by former owners and not yet seized by lenders, according to data company RealtyTrac. This Bloomberg story showed up on their website on Friday afternoon Denver time---and I thank reader Ken Hurt for sending it our way. The new face of food stamps: working-age Americans In a first, working-age people now make up the majority in U.S. households that rely on food stamps — a switch from a few years ago, when children and the elderly were the main recipients. Some of the change is due to demographics, such as the trend toward having fewer children. But a slow economic recovery with high unemployment, stagnant wages and an increasing gulf between low-wage and high-skill jobs also plays a big role. It suggests that government spending on the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program — twice what it cost five years ago — may not subside significantly anytime soon. Food stamp participation since 1980 has grown the fastest among workers with some college training, a sign that the safety net has stretched further to cover America's former middle class, according to an analysis of government data for The Associated Press by economists at the University of Kentucky. Formally called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, or SNAP, the program now covers 1 in 7 Americans. This AP story, filed from Washington, showed up on the news.yahoo.com Internet site very early Monday morning...and I thank Manitoba reader Ulrike Marx for her first contribution of many to today's column. Regulators probe currency benchmarks and front-running by Bank of America A powerful global financial regulator will scrutinize benchmarks used in currency trading, it said on Friday, a first sign that the largely unregulated market may be kept on a tighter leash after allegations of manipulation. The Financial Stability Board, which coordinates regulation for the Group of 20 leading economies, is already working on a reform of interest rate benchmarks after the Libor interbank rate-fixing scandal. "The FSB is in the process of defining the work it will do on issues around FX benchmarks," the Swiss-based agency told Reuters in an emailed statement. Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the U.S. Department of Justice have been investigating allegations that traders at some of the world's biggest banks manipulated the largely unregulated $5.3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market. This Reuters piece, filed from Washington, was posted on their website on Friday afternoon---and I found it in a GATA release. Swiss Banks Seek Tax Amnesty as Third Accept U.S. Offer About a third of Swiss banks have applied for amnesty from the U.S. for helping Americans cheat the Internal Revenue Service, the top U.S. federal tax prosecutor said. The U.S. government gave more than 300 Swiss banks until Dec. 31 to seek non-prosecution agreements if they had “reason to believe” they helped Americans violate tax laws, and 106 submitted letters of intent, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally said today in a statement. The program is the largest assault in a five-year U.S. Justice Department crackdown on offshore tax evasion. Keneally first announced the number of Swiss banks that applied on Jan. 25 at a conference in Phoenix. She didn’t name any banks seeking to take part in the U.S. effort, which isn’t open to 14 institutions already under criminal scrutiny, including Credit Suisse Group AG and HSBC Holdings Plc. “Every Swiss bank that comes forward to cooperate under the program represents an opportunity to obtain valuable law enforcement information from a source that is new to the department’s investigations of offshore banking activities in Switzerland and throughout the world,” Keneally said. This very interesting Bloomberg story was posted on their website very early yesterday evening MST---and it's the second offering of the day from Ulrike Marx. Government to Allow Technology Companies to Disclose More Data on Surveillance Requests The Obama administration will allow Internet companies to talk more specifically about when they’re forced to turn over customer data to government agents, the Justice Department said Monday. The new rules resolve legal fights with Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook before the nation’s secret surveillance court. But while under the terms of the new arrangement, customers will have a somewhat better idea of how often the government demands information, they still won’t know what’s being collected, or how much. The dispute began last year after a former government contractor, Edward J. Snowden, revealed that F.B.I. and National Security Agency surveillance programs rely heavily on data from U.S. email providers, video-chat services and social-networking companies. This story showed up on The New York Times website yesterday---and I thank Roy Stephens for bringing it to our attention. Anglo Far East's John Ward Interviews Jim Rickards Although the interview starts out talking about gold in a deflationary environment, it quickly turns to the topic of the Federal Reserve---and never returns to the topic of precious metals after that. The January 14 interview is described as follows on the physicalgoldfund.com Internet site: "Interview with Jim Rickards on Gold during massive deflation, gold is positioned for a huge technical rally, tapering into weakness, the new FED Chairwoman's twin pillars of Optimal Control Theory and Communications Policy, the FED’s intended role versus what it does now, the incredible leverage employed on the FED’s balance sheet, and how most financial models today are completely wrong." The audio interview runs for just under 31 minutes---and I thank reader Harold Jacobsen for bringing it to our attention. Furious Backlash Forces HSBC in U.K. to Scrap Large Cash Withdrawal Limit Following the quiet update that HSBC had decided to withhold large cash withdrawals from some if its clients - demanding to know the purpose of the withdrawal before handing over the customers' money - it appears the anger among the over 60 thousand readers who found out about HSBC's implied capital shortfall just on this website, has forced HSBC's hands. The bank issued a statement (below) this morning defending their actions - it's for your own good - but rescinding the decision - "following feedback, we are immediately updating guidance to our customer facing staff to reiterate that it is not mandatory for customers to provide documentary evidence for large cash withdrawals." After all the last thing the bank, which over the past few years has been implicated in aiding an abetting terrorists and laundering pretty much anything, wants is an implied capital shortfall to become an all too explicit one. This short Zero Hedge piece from early yesterday afternoon EST is worth reading---and my thanks go out to reader M.A. for finding it for us. Bundesbank calls for capital levy to avert government bankruptcies Germany's Bundesbank said on Monday that countries about to go bankrupt should draw on the private wealth of their citizens through a one-off capital levy before asking other states for help. The Bundesbank's tough stance comes after years of euro zone crisis that saw five government bailouts. There have also bond market interventions by the European Central Bank in, for example, Italy where households' average net wealth is higher than in Germany. "(A capital levy) corresponds to the principle of national responsibility, according to which tax payers are responsible for their government's obligations before solidarity of other states is required," the Bundesbank said in its monthly report. It warned that such a levy carried significant risks and its implementation would not be easy, adding it should only be considered in absolute exceptional cases, for example to avert a looming sovereign insolvency. This scary Reuters story, filed from Frankfurt, was posted on their website very early Monday morning EST---and is certainly worth skimming.  It's another offering from Ulrike Marx. Indian government admits 3000kg of gold a month is being smuggled into the country – restrictions to be eased soon? Posted: 28 Jan 2014 02:05 AM PST Yesterday we wrote about the Indian government's commitment to 'review' restrictions on gold imports by the end of March (well, there is an election to be won after-all). And today we get a reminder... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

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