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• London's precious metals fixes fixable?
• Gold Sold but Fails to Fold
• Historical analysis shows what to expect from gold and silver this year
• Bank jurisdiction key in gold storage - Phillips
• Gold & Silver COT Charts
• Despite gold curbs, jewellers manage record exports
• Global Gold Demand Steady Despite Indian Repression; Stealth PBOC Buying Not Factored In
• Are Silver Prices Set Up for Another Heartbreak?
• KGHM Polska- An Undervalued Copper And Silver Producer
• USD/CAD - Loonie Loses Ground As Wholesale Sales Slides
• Gold Price In The Post-Nixon Era
• Gold Holds Support; Constricts Further
• Decision Time for Silver
• What you really need to know about this “blockbuster” new book on the economy
• Balmoral Confirms High-Grade Ni-Cu-PGE Mineralization Over 45.28 Metres on New Horizon; Grasset Property, Detour Trend, Quebec
• Housing Bubble 2.0 is Popping…
• Gold Prices Will Rise on Robust Demand and Instensifying Currency War
• Mercenary Links May 20th: Lingering Woes
• Latest ECB gold sales agreement raises questions
• China gold demand drops
• German TV network broadcasts long program on gold market manipulation
• Gold Price Manipulation Goes Mainstream On German TV
• Indian gold consumption to increase?
• Lies, Inflation, and the Minimum Wage
• LBMA accredits MMTC Pamp India for Gold delivery in India
• The Meat Crisis Is Here: Price Of Shrimp Up 61% – 7 Million Pigs Dead – Beef At All-Time High
• Silver jewelery exports surge in India
• Gold policy change in the works?
• Global gold demand steady despite Indian repression
• BARBAROUS RELIQUARY: HOLDING THE METALS IN A POST – WESTERN WORLD
• Indian Gold demand witness a significant decline in Q1: WGC
• Frank Curzio: This could be the safest "700% upside" investment you ever see
• Global Gold Demand Steady Despite Indian Repression; Stealth PBOC Buying Not Factored In
• Dennis Gartman cutting Gold positions by about a third
• Ilargi: European Democracy Is Roadkill
• Conspiracy Fact: European Central Banks Again Admit, Renew Secret Coordination on Gold
• CME Cuts Silver, Gold Trading Margins
• Koos Jansen: Chinese real estate debt is being settled in silver
• Jeff Clark: The Birth of a New Bull Market
• Gold bar and coin demand slumps to 4-year low
• Smart recovery of Indian gold jewellery exports in April
• Gold Appetite Shrinks in Thailand Amid Political Deadlock
• World Gold Council: First-Quarter Demand Holds Steady With Year-Ago Levels at 1,074.5 Tonnes
• Degussa purchases world’s largest gold bullion collection
• Conspiracy fact: European central banks again admit, renew secret coordination on gold
• Seven King World News Blogs/Audio Interviews
• DoJ Does Victory Lap on Credit Suisse Guilty Plea on Single Criminal Charge
• Gold & Silver Trading Alert: Critical Support in Silver
• Gold "Important" And No Plan To Sell Significant Quantity Of - ECB
• A Whistleblower’s Tainted Defeat: CA Appellate Reversal Paves Way for Continued Bank Retaliation

London's precious metals fixes fixable? Posted: 20 May 2014 03:33 PM PDT The London silver fix in its current form will go. Can the others be saved? Should they be saved?

Gold Sold but Fails to Fold Posted: 20 May 2014 12:50 PM PDT

Historical analysis shows what to expect from gold and silver this year Posted: 20 May 2014 12:39 PM PDT From The Gold Report: Charles Oliver, lead portfolio manager with the Sprott Gold and Precious Minerals Fund, believes the only thing between investors and bigger investment returns on precious metals equities and bullion, especially silver, is time. In this interview with The Gold Report, Oliver discusses silver and gold demand drivers, as well as portfolio ideas that figure to get bigger with time as the trigger. The Gold Report: “Sell in May and go away” is a common investing axiom but does it have any validity? Charles Oliver: I recently went through some research on seasonality in the gold price. March has been negative in the gold space in six of the last eight years, April has proven negative four out of the last eight years, and May and June have both been negative five of the last eight years. However, we see a fairly dramatic turnaround in July where six of the last eight years have been positive. In August, another six of the previous eight years have been positive; September has been positive five of the last eight years. The “sell in May” adage could actually represent a great buying opportunity on the pullback. TGR: What are some investment themes you expect to dominate through the rest of the year? CO: It really comes down to printing money. The U.S. has reduced its money printing but it is still aggressively printing. Now we’re hearing about the Europeans potentially getting into quantitative easing. The debasement of currencies is an ongoing theme. The other key theme is the demand for physical gold. China has become the world’s largest gold buyer, consuming about 40% of the world’s mine production. India, which historically had been the world’s largest gold consumer, has established some tariffs on gold imports, so there’s been some pullback there. It’s noteworthy that over the last couple of decades the European central banks have been collectively selling gold. That stopped a couple of years ago. Some numbers from the Swiss Customs Authority show that Germany, France, Singapore, Thailand, even the United Kingdom, are fairly significant gold buyers. These are very positive events. TGR: What about geopolitical events? Do you expect those to dramatically influence gold prices? CO: Historically, wars and the risk of wars have been quite positive for the gold price yet recent events in the Ukraine haven’t seen gold do anything. In fact, it’s trading near the bottom end of its recent range. But should things escalate, I feel strongly that it will have a positive impact. I certainly hope that it doesn’t come to that but the risk seems significant. TGR: What is the investor pulse in the precious metals space? CO: A year ago investors were selling a little, as they had been for some time. The selling had mostly stopped by the end of the 2013 and the people who didn’t have long-term conviction had left. In early 2014 I was a bit surprised to see U.S. value investors streaming in because we had been through a period of net redemptions. When the Americans come into the market they can have quite a dramatic impact on prices. I’ll call it sporadic because it has not been a consistent stream. TGR: What happened to those bids? CO: Generally speaking, American investors, portfolio managers and pension funds were saying at the end of 2013, “We’ve had some good returns in the general market but the market is looking somewhat expensive.” They were looking for areas where there was good value. The gold price had been hammered over the last couple of years so they were starting to move some of their allocations into that space. We’ve also seen some private equity buying assets and taking them private. And some Asian interests dipping their toes in the water. People are starting to wake up and show some interest but they are still waiting for some sort of trigger in order to say that this is the time to jump in. TGR: Any idea what that could be? CO: I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that question. I liken the 1974 to 1976 period to today. In 1974, the oil price was going up after the oil embargo and inflation was going up, too. It was peculiar because the gold price went from about $200 per ounce ($200/oz) to $100/oz over the next couple of years. Then in 1976 gold suddenly went from $100/oz to about $800/oz. I have spent a lot of time trying to determine the trigger for that event. Sometimes it is just time. When I look back at 2013, I see a lot of positive fundamentals—strong Chinese demand, huge amounts of money printing—yet the gold price went down. Sometimes it’s just the way the markets time themselves. TGR: Do investors need to revise their price expectations for precious metals equities? There is zero froth in this market. CO: I think that’s a good way of putting it. I’m continually trying to figure out where the market may go. Not too long ago I said that by the end of this decade gold should be approaching something like $5,000/oz, which would have a huge impact upon the markets and stock valuations. The market is valuing equities as if gold is going to stay at $1,200–1,300/oz forever. I believe that the market will be proven wrong over time. TGR: Gold is trading at roughly 67 times silver. Does that make silver your preference? CO: Yes. It was Eric Sprott who came up with the thesis and I fully embrace it. For over 1,000 years, the silver-gold price relationship was close to 16:1, so that implies that if gold is $1,600/oz, the silver price would be $100/oz. The last time that happened was 1980 when the gold price was roughly $800/oz and the silver price was around $50/oz. Over the next couple of years, I expect to see that 67:1 ratio migrate toward 16:1. TGR: Yet the trend is moving in the opposite direction. CO: In the short term sometimes these things happen. About 25% of the weighting in the Sprott Gold and Precious Minerals Fund (SPR300:TSX) is in silver equities, which is probably among the highest in the peer group for precious metals funds. TGR: What’s your investment thesis for silver versus gold? CO: About two-thirds of mined silver is used in industry, whereas gold has virtually no industrial usage. Gold is considered a reserve currency whereas silver is not. About 150 years ago many countries had silver reserves backing their currencies. Today they don’t but China has trillions of U.S. dollars that it is converting into hard assets. The Chinese are buying a lot of gold but if they ever decide to be a silver buyer we would see a huge shift in the price of silver. Look at every mined commodity out there today—copper, nickel, zinc, iron ore—China accounts for 40–50% of global consumption. TGR: Is it all about margin for precious metals equities? CO: A lot of these companies are producing gold at $1,000/oz or silver at $18/oz. Should silver go up to $30/oz, that $2/oz margin suddenly becomes $12/oz—a sixfold increase. Shifts in commodity prices could have huge impacts on the profitability of these companies. TGR: Tell us about some of your top silver holdings. CO: Among my top 10 silver holdings, I have Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW:TSX; SLW:NYSE), Pan American Silver Corp. (PAA:TSX; PAAS:NASDAQ) and Tahoe Resources Inc. (THO:TSX; TAHO:NYSE), which operates one of the world’s newest silver mines. I visited Tahoe’s Escobal mine in Guatemala earlier this year to check out its ramp-up period because that can be challenging. The company is doing a very good job of ramping up to nameplate capacity. Tahoe’s Q1/14 results beat the expectations of most analysts and a number of them are revising their forecasts upward. In the gold space I have companies such as Osisko Mining Corp. (OSK:TSX) and IAMGOLD Corp. (IMG:TSX; IAG:NYSE). TGR: I thought the Osisko story was finished. CO: A byproduct of the Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI:TSX; AUY:NYSE; YAU:LSE)/Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM:TSX; AEM:NYSE) takeover bid for Osisko is a potential Osisko spinout company. For every Osisko share, investors would own one share of the spinco. It means roughly 15% of an Osisko share is represented by the value of the spinco and the other 85% consists of shares in Agnico-Eagle, Yamana and cash. An Osisko shareholder today will end up owning a combination of all three companies, plus the cash component of the offer. One thing that keeps me excited about the spinco is that it is going to have a 5% royalty on the Canadian Malartic gold mine. It would also have a 2% royalty on the Hammond Reef and Kirkland Lake assets, as well as a large land package in Mexico. The Osisko spinco would be Canada’s newest royalty company and royalty companies often get a premium valuation. TGR: Does the new company have a ticker? CO: Osisko shareholders will have to vote to accept the Agnico-Eagle and Yamana bid. I expect it will pass and the Osisko spinco should be trading sometime in June. TGR: Osisko was targeted largely because it had a large low-grade, low-cost asset in a safe jurisdiction. Does that make companies like Detour Gold Corp. (DGC:TSX) and Tahoe Resources takeover targets? CO: Certainly both Detour and Tahoe would fit the model sizewise. Goldcorp Inc. (G:TSX; GG:NYSE) walked away from the Osisko bid and clearly it wants to continue to grow through mergers and acquisitions. What will Goldcorp do? I’m not expecting the company to come out tomorrow and make an acquisition on either of these names, but I think it will certainly do the diligence work. Goldcorp already owns 40% of Tahoe, which has a world-class asset with world-class operating statistics. Goldcorp is already in Guatemala; I’m not sure if it wants to increase its weighting there. In the case of Detour, yes, it’s in Canada, and from that point of view, quite attractive. Detour is still in the ramp-up stage and perhaps it has finally reached the point where it is producing and reducing its cash costs. But I think Detour is still a year behind Osisko on that front. TGR: Detour just published Q1/14 results. It had an adjusted net loss of $0.20/share, while it produced roughly 107,000 oz gold. Your thoughts? CO: I was impressed at what Detour was able to achieve because it was a tough winter. I had some concerns that the weather might have proven to be an impediment, but the company produced a significant amount of gold. I think the grade was 0.9 grams per ton. Some of that was from stockpiles to buffer the grade at the mill. There are always a few bumps in the road but Detour has done very well. TGR: In early 2013 that stock was above $25/share. Now it’s about $11/share. What’s going to get it back above, say, $15/share? CO: A couple of things. As I said earlier, I believe the gold price is going higher. With higher gold prices come higher margins. And I think the market is still putting a discount on Detour as it’s in the ramp-up phase. As the company brings down cash and operating costs quarter by quarter and approaches Detour Lake’s nameplate production capacity, the stock will get back to a higher valuation. TGR: Do you have any more gold names for us? CO: I’ll mention some of my larger holdings of nonproducers: Dalradian Resources Inc. (DNA:TSX) and Asanko Gold Inc. (AKG:TSX; AKG:NYSE.MKT) that form part of a diversified portfolio. TGR: What is the Dalradian story over the next 18 months or so? CO: The company will continue to derisk the Curraghinalt project in Northern Ireland. Dalradian will go underground and through further drilling convert a fair amount of the Inferred resources to the Measured and Indicated category. As the market gets confidence with those numbers, it will start to rerate the company. A lot of people were concerned about whether mining would occur in Northern Ireland. To address that, Dalradian is looking to make a concentrate instead of using cyanide. The company is doing things that will ultimately make it more attractive. TGR: Why do you own Asanko? CO: It used to be called Keegan Resources. The management of Asanko bought into the project for around $27 million. These are the people that ran LionOre Mining, which under a decade ago was the subject of a bidding war between Xstrata Plc (XTA:LSE) and Norilsk Nickel Mining Co. (GMKN:RTS; NILSY:NASDAQ; MNOD:LSE). They’re good people with good operational experience. Asanko merged the PMI Ventures assets with those that were in Keegan and now has two projects within about 10 kilometers of each other, which are expected to have synergies. The company also has a significant amount of cash. TGR: The Sprott Gold and Precious Minerals Fund has held positions in Pretium Resources Inc. (PVG:TSX; PVG:NYSE), Guyana Goldfields Inc. (GUY:TSX), Unigold Inc. (UGD:TSX.V) and Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. (KGI:TSX). Does it still have positions in those names? CO: Pretium and Guyana are among my top holdings. Unigold, which you mentioned, is a small-cap name in the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately it has been the victim of the small-cap market where investors have turned their backs on these types of companies through no fault of management. I think Unigold has an interesting property with lots of opportunities and drill targets, and could potentially have a mineable resource one day. TGR: Guyana Goldfields’ flagship Aurora project has outlined 6.5 million ounces Measured and Indicated, yet the stock price is falling. CO: The company is at the point where it is ordering equipment, getting its financing in place, and then it will start building and moving Aurora forward. Again, it’s time and execution. TGR: Pretium had a bumpy ride in 2013. Do you still have faith in management? CO: Yes. I visited Brucejack in British Columbia last year. It’s a “nuggety” project that’s difficult to model. It takes a lot of drilling to get that necessary level of confidence. Last year the company processed a 10,000-ton bulk sample that produced around 6,000 ounces (6 Koz) or about 0.6 ounces per ton. In February, Pretium sent another 1,000-ton sample to the mill and it produced around 3 ounces gold per ton. The important thing to look at with this company is that there is lots of gold underground; the model still needs work to figure out how best to mine it. Pretium is proceeding with further studies on Brucejack, but I think it will be a mine. It’s also a potential acquisition as it is a high-grade deposit in Canada. TGR: Kirkland Lake Gold forecasts roughly 126 Koz in production in 2014. Is that realistic? CO: It will probably come close to that number. Kirkland Lake has a new CEO, George Ogilvie, and a fairly dramatic change in ideology. A couple of years ago the company was focused on mining everything in the mine. Ogilvie is focused on mining more profitable ounces. TGR: I understand that Kirkland has been attempting to lower costs. Is that working? CO: Kirkland Lake is not yet profitable, but it has instituted a new program to mine higher grades. It will focus on the high-grade ore because that is where it will make a profit. This is the same strategy that Rob McEwen put into place at the Red Lake mine. I think Kirkland has huge potential but it ultimately comes down to strategy execution. TGR: In March you said that gold would reach $5,000/oz within a few years. That seems optimistic. CO: It’s based on the historical relationship between the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the gold price. Over the last 100 years there have been three times when it has cost 1 to 2 ounces gold to buy the Dow. The last time was 1980 when the gold price was $800/oz and the Dow was 800. People roll their eyes when you forecast big numbers. In 2004 or 2005, I said gold would reach $1,000/oz. When it reached $1,000/oz, I moved to $2,000/oz and we almost got there. With the willingness of the market to continue to print money, I believe that we are going to get that 2 or 3 to 1 relationship with the Dow. With the Dow at 16,000, I think $5,000/oz is achievable. It’s not really that the gold price is increasing, it’s that paper currencies are depreciating in value. TGR: Thank you for your time and commentary, Charles. Charles Oliver joined Sprott Asset Management in 2008. He is lead portfolio manager of the Sprott Gold and Precious Minerals Fund. Previously, he was at AGF Management Limited, where his team was awarded the Canadian Investment Awards Best Precious Metals Fund in 2004, 2006 and 2007. His accolades also include: Lipper Awards’ best five-year return in the Precious Metals category (AGF Precious Metals Fund, 2007), and the Lipper Award for best one-year return in the Precious Metals category 2010.   More on gold and silver:   Casey Research: What you need to know about the bear market in silver Master trader Clark: The next major gold rally is starting now Incredible chart shows a RARE opportunity in silver right now

Bank jurisdiction key in gold storage - Phillips Posted: 20 May 2014 12:23 PM PDT In his regular update on the gold price, Julian Phillips, of the Gold Forecaster, weighs in on Credit Suisse tax evasion case.

Gold & Silver COT Charts Posted: 20 May 2014 12:09 PM PDT First here are the COTs, showing net speculative long positions as a percentage of open interest… Gold…     Silver….     Moving along, here is a breakdown by short and long positioning for Gold…         Here is the breakdown by long and short positioning in Silver….         For premium analysis, consider our premium service.   The post Gold & Silver COT Charts appeared first on The Daily Gold.

Despite gold curbs, jewellers manage record exports Posted: 20 May 2014 12:06 PM PDT Indian gold jewellery & source: "Any respite the government felt through lower imports was negated by a big jump in smuggling," a trader says.

Global Gold Demand Steady Despite Indian Repression; Stealth PBOC Buying Not Factored In Posted: 20 May 2014 12:00 PM PDT After the record year for gold demand that was 2013, gold demand made a robust start to 2014 – virtually unchanged year-on-year at 1,074.5 tonnes according to the World Gold Council data. An important caveat to the figures is the 'elephant in the room' that is demand from the People's Bank of China (PBOC). The PBOC [...] The post Global Gold Demand Steady Despite Indian Repression; Stealth PBOC Buying Not Factored In appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Russia, Greece, Turkey, Other Central Banks Buy Gold; China's PBOC Buying? Chinese Gold Imports From Hong Kong Rise Nearly 13 Fold – PBOC Likely Buying Dip Again World Gold Council: China’s Investment Demand for Gold Likely to Top Record of 200 Tons in 2011

Are Silver Prices Set Up for Another Heartbreak? Posted: 20 May 2014 12:00 PM PDT Jeffrey Lewis asks: Are Silver Prices Currently Being Set Up for Another Heartbreak?    By Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, Silver-Coin-Investor: For long term investors and precious metals observers, the range-bound price action has rubbed salt into the open wound of short price sentiment. That is, if there is anyone left to remember the move up to [...] The post Are Silver Prices Set Up for Another Heartbreak? appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Silver and Gold Prices – Rangebound Before the Storm Silver Prices, Inflation and Living With the Long Term Silver Prices – How High Could They Go?

KGHM Polska- An Undervalued Copper And Silver Producer Posted: 20 May 2014 11:59 AM PDT (Editor's Note: Investors should be mindful of the risks of transacting in illiquid securities such as KGHPF. The company's European listings under KGHA offer an alternative, however those listings also have limited liquidity.) KGHM Polska (OTC:KGHPF) is a Poland-based company, one of the world's ten biggest refined-copper producers in 2013 (according to Bloomberg). In 2013 the company produced around 530 tons of copper in concentrate (the leader, Codelco of Chile, produced 1,523 tons). This is what most people know, especially those interested in commodity markets. But what most people do not know is that, according to The Silver Institute, in 2012 KGHM was the biggest world producer of silver. In 2013 the company produced 41.0 million ounces of silver. The second in the rank silver producer, BHP Billiton, produced 39 million ounces. Goldcorp, which is a classic precious metals producer, was fourth in the rank, with a production standing

USD/CAD - Loonie Loses Ground As Wholesale Sales Slides Posted: 20 May 2014 11:52 AM PDT By Kenny Fisher The Canadian dollar has lost ground on Tuesday, as USD/CAD trades at the 1.09 line in Tuesday's North American session. The loonie posted losses as Canadian Wholesale Sales came in at -0.4%, well short of the estimate of 0.4%. It's a very quiet schedule in the US, as today's only releases are speeches from two FOMC members. In the US, last week ended with encouraging housing numbers. Building Permits jumped to 1.08 million, well above the estimate of 1.01 million. This was the highest level we've seen since December 2006. Housing Starts continues to move higher and climbed to 1.07M, compared to the estimate of 0.98M. This marked a five-month high. Meanwhile, UoM Consumer Sentiment dipped to 81.8 points, short of the estimate of 84.7 points. US numbers have generally been strong, and last week's, employment and manufacturing numbers looked sharp. Unemployment Claims were outstanding, dropping to

Gold Price In The Post-Nixon Era Posted: 20 May 2014 11:37 AM PDT Gold bull market: during the late 1960s and 70s Gold bear market: during the 80s and 90s Gold bull market: since 2001 Now we need to know: Did gold reach a generational peak in 2011 and subsequently turn down? or Did gold reach an intermediate top in 2011, correct for 2.5 years, and then begin a rally likely to persist through the end of the decade? My answer: Gold peaked in 2011, bottomed in June and December of 2013, and should rally for at least several years, and probably until the end of the decade. Why? Examine the following graph of weekly gold prices since 1977 and the 144 week simple moving average shown in red. The uptrend since 2001 is clear and pronounced. The correction since 2011 is unmistakable. gold price from 1977 till 2014   The spreadsheet (not shown) indicates: The peak in January of 1980 was 9.37 standard deviations above the 144 week moving average. The numbers are similar for the 100 week and 40 week moving averages. Clearly gold was in a blow-off bubble in late 1979 and January of 1980. The peak in August of 2011 was only 2.15 standard deviations above the 144 week moving average. It was an intermediate peak, but NOT a bull market ending bubble peak that is likely to manifest within the next decade. My conclusion is that gold prices were pushed too high in late 2010 and 2011 and have corrected since then. Currently gold is 15% BELOW (about 0.6 standard deviations) its 144 week moving average. Gold prices are very likely to be much higher next year and even higher by the next US presidential election in late 2016. Gold did NOT blow-off into a bubble high in 2011, all the drivers for higher gold prices are still valid, international demand is strong, supply will be reduced when the western central banks run out of gold or terminate "leasing" into the market, and US, EU and Japanese government expenses, "money printing" and bond monetization are out of control and accelerating. Gold prices will climb a wall of worry in the years ahead.   GE Christenson | The Deviant Investor

Gold Holds Support; Constricts Further Posted: 20 May 2014 11:18 AM PDT There was some news today dealing with gold demand from out of China, now the world's largest gold consumer, and it was not particularly friendly for the yellow metal. The World Gold Council announced that Q1 gold demand was 18% less than the previous year for the same time period. It was the 55% drop in bar and coin purchases that was primarily behind the fall off. India was not exempt either as its gold demand fell 26%. The WGC data showed an overall drop in global demand by 52% compared to a year ago resulting in a four year low. Combine this with the big drop in GLD holdings, and you can see why gold has thus far been stymied in any attempt to mount a sustained upward move in price. The demand simply is not there. That could change but until it does, the metal will continue to attract selling on rallies. By the way, as an aside, this is another of the reasons that I suggest that the readers here ignore the now commonplace, breathless talk about "gold backwardation". If gold demand were that strong as these non-stop gold promoters insist, the WGC would not be reporting falling demand. Then again, some of these charlatans will no doubt inform us that the WGC is in bed with the powers that be and is distorting its own data in order to steer investors away from gold. Sweeping away all the cobwebs and clearing the fog from their obfuscations, the gold price chart continues to reveal that pattern that is making me nervous about its fortunes. The pattern of LOWER HIGHS is not changing. Rallies are attracting selling at progressively lower points and while support is holding, the persistent inability of the mining shares to get anything going on the upside, is suggesting ( note - this is not conclusive yet ) that the support level is not going to hold. The events in Ukraine remain a wild card however. The upcoming vote is going to be closely watched but more so, the reaction to that vote. Also, any further weakness in the broader equity markets will bring, as it did in today's session, more safe haven buying into the yellow metal. Some equity players are unsure whether the weakness in the smaller cap stocks is going to spillover into the larger caps. It seems that anytime stocks waver in the least, gold gets a safe haven bid. It is just one more thing for traders to have to decipher when attempting to approach this market for a trade. One thing is for certain - trading gold has become a shortest of time frame trades. One cannot hold a position for any length of time in this completely unpredictable and volatile environment. Just today, after the Russell 2000 had managed nice back to back recoveries from the recent selling, it fell lower again. Currently it is down 1.96% compared to the 0.84% fall in the S&P 500 index and a 0.99% drop in the Dow. At the same time, the yield on the Ten Year Treasury has moved slightly lower once more. One can see the corresponding linkage when these safe haven/ risk aversion moves are underway. Small Cap stocks underperforming mid to large caps is a sure sign of this risk aversion trade. Both the Yen and the Dollar are also a wee bit higher at the moment. Disappointing sales numbers from retailers seemed to be the culprit that induced the selling in the equities, brought a bid into gold and the other safe havens. Here is a chart of the GDXJ. As you can see, it is working on putting in the lowest daily closing price since April 17th of this year; in other words, the lowest close in a month. It is sitting right at a key support level so if the juniors are going to manage a bounce, they are going to have to do it almost immediately or risk another leg down. The ADX is rising once more indicating that the potential for a trending move is now more realistic but until that support level gives way, the index is still in a range, albeit at the bottom of the range. The Daily Chart of the HUI is not any better. It is working on the lowest closing price in three months. On the grains front - traders are back to chasing soybeans higher once more,  as if we are going to run completely out of beans before turning right around and throwing them all out. This market is about as convoluted as I can ever recall seeing it, especially the old crop as the situation involving those tight carryover stocks is at the forefront of their minds again. Technically based buying is was seen in new crop beans as overhead resistance levels were taken out which brought in momentum-based buying. That buying then evaporated and sellers took over. Right now the beans are lower but whether or not they stay there or go on another wild tear higher is anyone's guess. The initial catalyst behind the early session buying was news that China  was into the US bean market as USDA this morning announced a purchase of 110,000 mt of optional origin beans. Combine those two words, "China" and "beans" and the result is always buying in the pit. KC wheat is outperforming the Chicago wheat market as deterioration of that crop was reported yesterday. While recent rains will have helped ameliorate the slide in condition ratings, traders were looking backward at the damage and felt that perhaps some got too optimistic on prospects too quickly. After all, wheat prices had dropped over $0.80/bushel in less than two weeks time. Throw in the fact that the HRS crop is behind schedule for planting and that was enough to convince some shorts to go ahead and book some gains. Corn is being pressured however by a strong planting pace ( 73% compared to the 5 year average of 76% and last year's 65%) although some of the northern tier states are running behind the norm. It does look like there is going to be an open window up there however this week so traders are looking at substantial progress to be made by the time next Monday rolls around and we get the new and updated planting progress report. Generally speaking, from this point on out, rains will now tend to be viewed as helpful for the crop. For corn, 34% of the crop has emerged compared to the 5 year average of 42% and last year's 17%. Beans are 9% emerged compared to an 11% five year average and last year's 3%. The cheaper corn, along with good pasture conditions, and tightness for feeder supplies is driving feeder cattle prices to record high prices. How high can they go is the big question at this point. Let's see what we get when the trading for today's session ends. Trying to extrapolate from daily market action nowadays is becoming almost an exercise in futility due to the wild price swings and shifting sentiment. Perhaps we need to just take things on an hourly basis. That seems to be the new "long term" horizon. Spurs up one game on the Thunder. I like KD and believe he is a great role model but I like the Spurs more.

Decision Time for Silver Posted: 20 May 2014 11:05 AM PDT Chart 1: Silver finds itself between a downtrend and a strong support…    Source: Bar Chart (edited by Short Side of Long) Precious metals sector outperformed majority of other asset classes in Q1 of 2014, however that strength has recently dissipated. Whats even more interesting is the fact that while Gold and various miners rebounded powerfully in quarter one, Silver has continued to disappoint. As we can see in Chart 1, the metal now finds itself at a technical pressure point. To break on the upside, Silver will have to overcome a downtrend line, which has been in place since the bear market began in May 2011. On the other hand, if Silver was to move towards new bear market lows, it will first have to break a strong support area around $18.50 to $19.00 per ounce. A break in either direction could occur very soon, and would be a leading indicator for the rest of the PM space. So which way will Silver move? While I wish I could answer that question with precision, unfortunately I do not know as my crystal ball is currently getting fixed. What I will do is place forward a handful of clues, so that we can work on probabilities and case scenarios. Chart 2: Silver has declined 15% over last 3 months, but not yet oversold   Source: Short Side of Long Over the last three months, Silver has sold off by about 15%. As we can see from Chart 2 above, Silver is slightly oversold, but not yet past the 1.5 standard deviations on the downside (or about 19% decline) that I like to use. Therefore, more selling could come in the short term, before we consider the long side. Keep in mind that Silver usually follows Gold closely and Gold itself is even less oversold over the last 3 months. Finally, most of other classic technical indicators (RSI, MACD, STO, etc) are not at oversold daily or weekly levels either. Chart 3: Change in hedge fund positioning is now close to bearish levels   Source: Short Side of Long Recent COT report, released last Friday, continues to show that hedge funds and other speculators continue to dislike Silver. However, future positioning hasn't reached extreme bearish levels just yet. Last time we saw those type of conditions, signalling a contrarian buy signal, was around the back part of the panic sell off in middle of 2013. Since there is numerous ways to track the COT report, I thought I'd include a few other interesting charts: Disaggregated report shows managed money is quite bearish, but not yet at outright extremes we saw during July 2013 intermediate bottom Commitment of traders net long positioning as a percentage of overall open interest is also quite low, but has not yet reached extreme single digit percentage level Hedge funds continue to hold large gross short positions on Silver, but if prices were to move lower, there is a possibility that these could yet increase further Chart 4: Premium during topping phase, discount during basing phase?   Source: Short Side of Long As precious metals sector was building a complicated top from 2011 into 2012, majority of the closed ETFs (such as Central Fund of Canada) displayed a premium to its net asset value. In other words, retail investors were bullish on Gold and Silver, just prior to a correction. Today, we have a totally opposite picture. The sector has corrected rather sharply in 2013 and ever since the sell off, retail investor have pushed the CEF ETF into discount territory (refer to Chart 4). While lower prices are still possible, it is almost always wiser to be a buyer when majority are sellers. Therefore, if the ETF traded at a premium near its peak, most likely the current discount is a signal that we are closer to the final bottom. Chart 5: Sentiment on Silver has been very negative throughout '13/'14   Source: SentimenTrader (edited by Short Side of Long) Next up, we look at SentimenTrader's public opinion levels. As we can see, Silver continues to hold support around $19, while sentiment on the metal is rather negative (only 31% bulls today compared to 91% bulls in May 2011). Public opinion readings this low are a decent indicator of a possible reversal in price, however at times negative sentiment readings can also occur just prior to a final collapse. Finally, there are many other indicators traders should research prior to making up their minds on the up and coming Silver move. These include Gold sentiment indicators, Gold Miners breadth readings, ETF fund flow data, volatility and put / call ratios, ratio between Silver & Gold, Silver & Silver Miners and Gold & Gold Miners, and so forth. It is very important to do your own research before anticipating the next move. However, when it comes to speculating on price directions, maybe the most prudent advice I could give is to follow Jesse Livermore, who famously said: In a narrow market, when prices are not getting anywhere to speak of but move within a narrow range, there is no sense in trying to anticipate what the next big movement is going to be. The thing to do is to watch the market, read the tape to determine the limits of the get nowhere prices, and make up your mind that you will not take an interest until the prices breaks through the limit in either direction. The post Decision Time for Silver appeared first on The Daily Gold.

What you really need to know about this “blockbuster” new book on the economy Posted: 20 May 2014 11:02 AM PDT From Jeff Thomas for Casey Research: Europe is abuzz with Capital in the Twenty-First Century by French economist Thomas Piketty, released in Europe in March of this year and now a best-seller. It has since crossed the Atlantic and is already the number-one best-seller for booksmith Amazon. It has been called a "blockbuster" of a book, and many reviewers believe that it has the ability to revolutionise the study of economics. Here are a few quotes from reviews: In Piketty's view, the solution is a measure beyond the political reach of any individual nation or international body, as they are now constituted: a global wealth tax. Only such a tax "would contain the unlimited growth of global inequality of wealth, which is currently increasing at a rate that cannot be sustained in the long run." —Thomas B. Edsall Many of the book's 700 pages are spent marshalling the evidence that 21st-century capitalism is on a one-way journey towards inequality – unless we do something. … Piketty’s call for a "confiscatory" global tax on inherited wealth makes other supposedly radical economists look positively house-trained. He calls for an 80% tax on incomes above $500,000 a year in the US, assuring his readers there would be neither a flight of top execs to Canada nor a slowdown in growth, since the outcome would simply be to suppress such incomes. … Piketty's Capital, unlike Marx's Capital, contains solutions possible on the terrain of capitalism itself: the 15% tax on capital, the 80% tax on high incomes, enforced transparency for all bank transactions, overt use of inflation to redistribute wealth downwards. —Rosaline Christine McGreevy His findings will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality. … A work of extraordinary ambition, originality, and rigor, Capital in the Twenty-First Century reorients our understanding of economic history and confronts us with sobering lessons for today. —Amazon The words, "Brilliant!", "Ground-breaking!" and "Visionary!" will no doubt be seen in many reviews of Mr. Piketty's book. He has written some 700 pages and gone back as far as the eighteenth century in his research, so few would doubt that he has been thorough. And there can be no doubt that the world is presently facing greater economic turmoil than it ever has in history. One might say that his tome is "right on time." So let us examine his principal conclusions and learn why so many people are seeing his vision as the answer to the world's troubles. He recommends: Uniform global taxation Confiscatory tax on inherited wealth 15% tax on capital 80% tax on annual incomes over US$500,000 Enforced transparency on all bank transactions Overt use of inflation to redistribute wealth downwards Why didn't anyone else think of this brilliant plan? Well actually, they did. In fact, the above is essentially the shopping list of the IMF, the EU, the OECD and, in fact, many of the governments that make up what was formerly described as "the free world." Piketty's "vision" so closely follows the visions of these entities that, if he did not exist, they might have had to invent him. After all, if governments come up with an economic plan that is dramatically socialistic, they might be regarded as being somewhat suspect. However, if an economist, who is of course "independent" in his thinking, offers a grand solution, it becomes easier for the masses to swallow. Readers of International Man are likely to take a different view. They may argue that the observation that "satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories" is poppycock. Libertarians and contrarians have been offering very real solutions for decades. Unfortunately, Boobus humanus rarely bothers to pay attention to any view that is not the one currently being promoted by the governments of the day. As Doug Casey says so accurately: Even when people recognize and intellectually understand the philosophy of personal freedom and responsibility, most just can't integrate it into themselves emotionally. And others simply refuse to grasp it intellectually. I'm afraid libertarianism is fated to appeal to only a small minority. It's interesting to draw a parallel between Mr. Piketty and John Maynard Keynes. Mister Keynes published his The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money in 1936. It was therefore well timed to provide the populace (who were then struggling with the Great Depression) with a brilliant solution from a Cambridge-educated economist. Mister Keynes' book was an instant hit with most all governments of the day, as it endorsed more state-controlled, socialistic economic principles. Since 1936, Keynesian economics has been the standard for most all governments and is regularly referred to, to explain why they employ such confiscatory policies. Now, just in time for the Greater Depression, fate has delivered what we might term Mister Piketty's "Revised Keynesianism"—an economic standard for the twenty-first century, and one which takes the power of governments up several notches. Will the governments of the world respond to this new vision and announce that Mister Piketty has "shown the way" out of the current debacle, which has been blamed on capitalism? Most definitely. Just as Mister Keynes was "just right" for the goals of governments in the twentieth century, Mister Piketty is just right for the goals of governments in the twenty-first century. And, as in the Great Depression, the great majority of people will not only accept the new approach, but applaud. Of course, those of us with a libertarian bent could simply choose to regard Mister Piketty as a misinformed academic who fails to understand economics, but this would be a mistake. Yes, there are many people today who are thinking in a more libertarian direction. Indeed, many are seeking to internationalise themselves in order to save their liberty and their wealth. Far more people, however, who also fear the downfall of the present economic system, are sitting tight, in the hope that the light will suddenly go on in the minds of economists and political leaders alike, that what is needed is a more free-market society. This group of people hopes that national leaders will "come to their senses" and reverse the trend toward socialism and fascism. These latter people might do well to consider that the blueprint for the future has now been published. The blueprint implies that the reason Keynesianism has failed is not that it was socialistic. We are told that it failed because it was not radical enough; not far-reaching enough. A more totalitarian Keynesianism was needed and has now been provided. If the reader lives in the EU, US, or other country whose economic direction is similar, he is left with the question of whether it is in his interest to remain in a jurisdiction that is likely to become even more totalitarian during and after the Greater Depression. P.S. I believe one of the problems is that people tend to hope until the last minute that the major economic crisis, the political turmoil, "can't happen here." When they finally acknowledge what is going on, it's often too late. The timely documentary Meltdown America shows how stealthily financial collapse, war, hyperinflation can creep up on us—and why it can and will "happen here." Listen to crisis survivors from Zimbabwe, Serbia, and Argentina, as well as world-renowned experts, in this eye-opening video—click to watch it here. More from Casey Research: Forget about the Keystone XL… Obama's "secret pipeline" is a much bigger deal Casey Research: What you need to know about the bear market in silver Casey Research: How Russia could take down America… without firing a single shot

Balmoral Confirms High-Grade Ni-Cu-PGE Mineralization Over 45.28 Metres on New Horizon; Grasset Property, Detour Trend, Quebec Posted: 20 May 2014 10:47 AM PDT VANCOUVER, BC–(Marketwired – May 20, 2014) - Intersects 45.28 metres grading 1.79% Nickel, 0.19% Copper, 0.42 g/t Platinum and 1.04 g/t Palladium Includes 17.60 metres grading 2.45% Ni, 0.31% Cu, 0.62 g/t Pt and 1.57 g/t Pd Balmoral Resources Ltd. (“Balmoral” or the “Company”) (TSX: BAR)(OTCQX: BALMF) today confirmed the discovery of high-grade nickel-copper-PGE mineralization associated with the previously highlighted (see NR14-09, April 30, 2014) net textured sulphide zone in hole GR-14-25.The net textured zone, one of four mineralized intervals in the hole, returned a near surface intercept of 1.79% nickel, 0.19% copper, 0.42 g/t platinum and 1.04 g/t palladium over 45.28 metres. This high-grade interval is capped by, and includes, 1.11 metres of massive to semi-massive sulphide which returned 10.60% Ni, 0.45% Cu, 2.04 g/t Pt and 5.23 g/t Pd, confirming the potential for very high grade nickel and PGE values within the system (see table below). Hole GR-14-25 is the first hole on the property to intersect Horizon 3 of the Grasset Ultramafic Complex (see Figure 1 and Figure 2). This newly discovered, sulphide rich horizon is open in all directions and sits approximately 100 metres southwest of, and stratigraphically above, two other vertically oriented Ni-Cu-PGE mineralized horizons within the southern-most portion of this sparsely tested, up to 16 kilometre long, ultramafic sill complex. Hole North West Dip From To Inter- val* Ni Cu Pt Pd Hori- zon Number (m) (m) (m) (%) (%) g/t g/t GR-14-22 0+90 S 2+60 E -57 141.23 173.97 32.74 0.47 0.05 0.11 0.26 2 including 166.66 173.03 6.37 0.91 0.12 0.24 0.6 “ 188.72 204.50 15.78 0.38 0.02 Pending 1b 219.00 235.41 16.41 0.44 0.05 Pending 1a GR-14-23 0+90 S 2+60 E -64 170.53 182.44 11.91 0.49 0.05 0.11 0.25 2 including 179.04 181.55 2.51 1.05 0.13 0.25 0.63 “ 291.23 303.09 11.86 0.30 0.03 0.05 0.11 1 GR-14-24 1+30 S 7+20 E -57 168.20 185.51 17.31 0.32 0.04 0.05 0.11 2 including 184.88 185.51 0.63 1.22 0.22 0.27 0.55 “ 222.06 222.47 0.41 0.08 1.31 0.13 0.18 vein 230.66 246.95 16.29 0.34 0.04 0.08 0.16 1 GR-14-25 1+30 S 5+20 E -61 79.62 156.91 77.29 1.17 0.12 0.25 0.62 3 including “net textured” interval 95.67 140.95 45.28 1.79 0.19 0.42 1.04 “ which includes “ 97.91 130.00 32.09 2.17 0.23 0.53 1.31 “ which includes “ 97.91 99.02 1.11 10.60 0.45 2.04 5.23 3 which includes “ 98.40 99.02 0.62 14.35 0.51 2.32 6.70 “ and “ 110.55 128.15 17.60 2.45 0.31 0.62 1.57 “ 322.49 336.97 14.48 0.27 0.03 0.04 0.09 2 343.51 346.45 2.94 0.57 0.03 0.06 0.16 2 372.00 403.81 31.81 0.55 0.05 Pending 1b including 380.71 398.11 17.40 0.68 0.06 Pending “ 439.79 470.19 30.40 0.38 0.03 0.05 0.11 1a * All intercepts reported are down hole lengths, not true thicknesses. Insufficient drilling has been completed to date to define the orientation of the mineralized zone in space The 45.28 metre net-textured interval in GR-14-25 exhibits excellent internal continuity and uniformly exhibits strong nickel and PGE grades (SeeFigure 3). Today’s results also confirm the presence of nickel-copper-PGE mineralization for over 840 metres laterally, and 300 metres vertically, along Horizon 1; and for over 540 metres laterally and 240 metres vertically along Horizon 2. The first test of Horizon 3 was hole GR-14-25 which intersected the high-grade mineralized zone at less than 100 metres vertical depth. All three mineralized horizons remain open in all directions, save Horizon 1 which appears to be terminated by the Sunday Lake Deformation Zone to the south. Massive nickel-copper-PGE bearing sulphides have been intersected along both Horizon 1 and Horizon 3 in the limited (10 holes) drilling completed to date. The host Grasset Ultramafic Complex is interpreted to stretch for 16 kilometres across Balmoral’s wholly owned Grasset and Fenelon Properties. It has seen only limited drilling, focused primarily in an area 8.3 kilometres northwest of the current discovery. Similar nickel-copper-PGE sulphide mineralization is known to occur in this area, suggesting significant potential for additional discoveries along the length of the Complex. Recently received thin section analyses (see www.balmoralresources.com) indicate the presence of abundant pyrrhotite and pentlandite, with lesser chalcopyrite, magnetite (after chromite), pyrite and millerite (the latter a nickel sulphide with strong nickel tenure) within the high-grade, net textured zone. Pentlandite, which appears to host the bulk of the nickel mineralization, occurs as isolated mineral grains which the Company believes to be favourable from a metallurgical viewpoint. The Company anticipates that drilling and geophysical work on the Grasset Property will resume, ground conditions permitting, in mid-June, followed shortly thereafter by the resumption of drilling on Balmoral’s Martiniere high-grade gold property 40 kilometres to the west. “The broad, high-grade nature of the Grasset Ni-Cu-PGE discovery provides Balmoral with a second exciting, near-term growth opportunity in Quebec” said Darin Wagner, President and CEO of Balmoral Resources. “With recent price increases demonstrating the sensitivity of the nickel market to political uncertainties in major producing regions, the lack of new nickel discoveries globally over the past several years, the strength of the grades, wide nature of the intercepts, significant PGE content and apparent scale of the mineralized system, the Grasset discovery would appear to position the Company to attract significant interest from investors in both the precious and base metal sectors.” QP and Quality Control Mr. Darin Wagner (P.Geo.), President and CEO of the Company, is the non-independent qualified person who has approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. Mr. Wagner has supervised the work programs on the Grasset Property, visited the property on multiple occasions, has examined the drill core from the holes summarized in this release, reviewed the results with senior on-site geological staff and reviewed the available analytical and quality control results. Balmoral employs a quality control program for all of its drill programs, to ensure best practice in the sampling and analysis of drill core. This includes the insertion of blind blanks, duplicates and certified standards into the sample stream. NQ-sized drill core is saw cut with half of the drill core sampled at intervals based on geological criteria including lithology, visual mineralization and alteration. The remaining half of the core is stored on-site at the Company’s Fenelon field camp in Central Quebec. Drill core samples are transported in sealed bags to ALS Minerals Val d’Or, Quebec analytical facilities. Base metal analysis were initially obtained via ICP-AES with both Aqua Regia and 4 Acid digestion employed. The two digestion methods show good correlation. Nickel values in excess of 10,000 ppm are reanalyzed using a sodium peroxide fusion followed by ICP-AES finish. PGE values were obtained via industry standard fire assay with ICP-AES finish using 30 g aliquots. Following receipt of assays, visual analysis of mineralized intercepts is conducted and additional analysis may be requested. ALS Minerals is ISO 9001:2008 certified. About Balmoral Resources Ltd. - www.balmoralresources.com Balmoral is a Canadian-based discovery company focused on high-grade gold and nickel discoveries on its wholly owned, 700 square kilometre Detour Trend Project in Quebec, Canada. With a philosophy of creating value through the drill bit and a focus on proven productive precious/base metal belts, Balmoral is following an established formula with a goal of maximizing shareholder value through discovery and definition of high-grade, Canadian gold and base metal assets. On behalf of the board of directors of BALMORAL RESOURCES LTD. “Darin Wagner“ President and CEO The post Balmoral Confirms High-Grade Ni-Cu-PGE Mineralization Over 45.28 Metres on New Horizon; Grasset Property, Detour Trend, Quebec appeared first on The Daily Gold.

Housing Bubble 2.0 is Popping… Posted: 20 May 2014 10:45 AM PDT The housing "recovery" of 2012 – 2013 was nothing more than a product of the mult-trillion dollar market rigging that has been implemented by the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Government .  TARP, TALF, HAMP, HARP, FHA, FNMA, QE – all acronyms for "our economy is collapsing and we're going to print as much money [...] The post Housing Bubble 2.0 is Popping… appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Will The New Housing Bubble That Bernanke Is Creating End As Badly As The Last One Did? Bob Moriarty Compares Silver to Housing Bubble, Says Final Bull Market Top is In Zillow Opens the Floodgates to Chinese Buyers in Order to Keep Housing Bubble 2.0 Inflated

Gold Prices Will Rise on Robust Demand and Instensifying Currency War Posted: 20 May 2014 10:34 AM PDT Gold prices remain stuck in a narrow range between $1,290 and $1,305, the downside being limited by geopolitical concerns and the upside being capped by generally good U.S. data, which suggest the U.S Federal Reserve will carry on with the current pace of stimulus tapering. Meanwhile reports show that the Chinese are buying less gold this year and demand during the Golden Week holidays that began on 1 May dropped some 30% from a year ago. After an exceptional year for gold sales in 2013, the situation is back to something like 2012, according to Haywood Cheung, president of the Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange Society. While China surpassed India as the biggest bullion consumer last year, the buying frenzy, triggered by a price slump last April has not been repeated this year. “Before, when they walk into a jewellery shop, they spend about HK$10,000 ($1,290), and now it’s about HK$5,000 to HK$6, 000,” Cheung told Bloomberg, quoting estimates by the society’s 171 members including HSBC Holdings and Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, the largest listed jewellery chain. “Last year was something special. We’re back to something like 2012. Wait till next year, we’ll start to pick up gradually and come back to 2013 levels,” Cheung added. Chinese gold and silver jewellery sales dropped 30% to 20.8bn yuan ($3.3bn, €2.4bn, £1.9bn) in April from a year ago, according to government data. Net gold imports into mainland China from Hong Kong hovered at 275.6 tonnes in the first three months of 2014 as against 210.5 tonnes in the corresponding period a year ago. According to the Swiss Federal Customs Administration, more than 80% of Switzerland’s gold and silver bullion and coin exports found their way into Asia in January. Some reports show that China imported nearly 1,160 tonnes of gold from Hong Kong in 2013 in the wake of the price slump. Gold consumption in China hovered at a record 1,176.4 tonnes last year. The flow of bullion from the west to the east was emphasised by the World Gold Council in November 2013, citing higher activity at refiners in Switzerland that were recasting bullion into the higher-purity, smaller-sized bars preferred by Asian buyers. While the drop in demand is quite substantial, and even though analysts attribute the decline to a weaker yuan, which has made gold less attractive to Chinese buyers of bullion, the fall in Hong Kong shipments coincides with another event. The Chinese government announced the opening of official gold imports through Beijing–the first time foreign bullion sales will be allowed directly through the capital. Up until now, Hong Kong has been the preferred channel for China’s gold imports. But authorities are reportedly uneasy about Hong Kong’s extensive and transparent reporting on trade. By using Beijng as a port of entry, imports into China may become more opaque, once again.This will allow China’s banks to build a sizeable position in physical gold without global buyers realizing the accumulation is taking place. The fall in Hong Kong gold trade may not be as significant as it seems if Chinese purchases are moving to more-secretive sales through Beijing. And, this may result in permanent decrease in the amount of trade conducted through other cities. We could thus be witnessing the beginning of a new era in the global gold market. Of course, there’s no way to know for sure what’s happening with Chinese purchases. But the timing of the shifts in trade is certainly something that is worth considering. In India, Narendra Modi, the controversial Hindu nationalist won a landslide victory in the country's general election. Few predicted his conservative, pro-business Bharatiya Janata party, in opposition since 2004, would win 282 of the 543 directly elected seats in India’s lower house and international investors and local businessmen have welcomed the huge mandate for the BJP, which has promised to implement wide-ranging economic reforms. Though economic growth was strong through much of the decade of rule by Congress, it has faltered in recent years. Even though, India announced yet another hike in the import tariff value of gold on Friday, analysts believe that the new government may ease the restriction on gold imports. Last year duties on gold imports were increased several times. Currently, they stand at 10%. Other measures include an 80-20 rule that stipulates that a minimum of 20% of all gold imported must be exported before further imports can be made. The Reserve Bank of India that imposed the restrictions ignored the fact that gold has been part of the Indian culture for centuries. It's normal to buy and store gold and give it as a gift at weddings and certain times of year. The government did not want money going into gold so the government curbed gold imports, causing internal pricing to go through the roof and also were the cause of a dramatic increase in the smuggling of the yellow metal. As the conflict in Ukraine continues and while the West blames Russia as the cause, Russian President Vladimir Putin has informed multiple European states that Moscow will not supply gas to Europe through Ukraine as of June 1 if Kiev does not pay its bills. On Thursday, Putin said Russian gas exporter Gazprom had been forced to demand Ukraine pay in advance for gas as of June after its debt for gas already delivered reached $3.5 billion. Putin also urged European leaders to do more to help Ukraine through its economic crisis and to resolve the standoff over gas, repeating a threat to cut exports if Kiev fails to pay in advance for June deliveries. As the US and EU threaten to halt Russia from what they perceive as destabilising Ukraine by imposing a string of sanctions against the country, Russia has been working on trade arrangements that minimize the participation (and influence) of the US dollar. For decades, virtually all oil and natural gas around the world has been traded in U.S. dollars. However, the struggle over Ukraine has caused Russia to completely re-evaluate the financial relationship that it has with the United States. If it starts trading a lot of oil and natural gas for currencies other than the U.S. dollar, that will be a massive blow for the petrodollar, and it could end up dramatically changing the global economic landscape. According to various sources, Russia's Ministry of Finance is ready to green-light a plan to radically increase the role of the Russian ruble in export operations while reducing the share of dollar-denominated transactions. The "de-dollarization meeting" was chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov, proving that Moscow is very serious in its intention to stop using the dollar. A subsequent meeting was chaired by Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev who later told the Rossia 24 channel that "the amount of ruble-denominated contracts will be increased", adding that none of the polled experts and bank representatives found any problems with the government's plan to increase the share of ruble payments. Of course, the success of Moscow's campaign to switch its trading to rubles or other regional currencies will depend on the willingness of its trading partners to get rid of the dollar. Sources cited by Politonline.ru mentioned two countries that are already willing to support Russia: Iran and China. Given that Vladimir Putin will visit Beijing on May 20, it can be speculated that the gas and oil contracts that are going to be signed between Russia and China will be denominated in rubles and yuan, not dollars. While China and Russia both expand their respective currency's acceptance and accumulate more gold, the US dollar will ultimately lose its status as the world's reserve currency. And, while most western central banks as well as the Bank of Japan continue to devalue their respective currencies, the on-going currency war will intensify. The prudent minority won't be beguiled into holding paper currencies, and instead they will diversify into hard assets, such as gold and silver. gold price Gold prices continue to trade sideways, hovering around the $1300/oz. level and the 200 day MA. Prices remain stuck between $1280/oz. and $1320/oz.

Mercenary Links May 20th: Lingering Woes Posted: 20 May 2014 10:33 AM PDT Mercenary Links May 20th: Mortgage, home equity woes linger… Russia close to $400 billion China pipeline deal… Thailand’s army declares martial law… China’s Elon Musk, New York’s surging heroin trade, and more. Mortgage, Home-Equity Woes Linger Housing Bulls Unfazed by Faltering Growth ~~~ Chasing Yield, Investors Plow Into Junk Bonds Signs of Improving Labor Market Conditions – St. Louis Fed Brevan Howard winds down recovery fund early with 20% profit ~~~ Home Depot Reports Disappointing Sales, Profit Growth Home Depot says May sales ‘robust’ on post-winter demand ~~~ Congratulations to Class of 2014, Most Indebted Ever The Retirement Apocalypse That Isn’t Coming No Joke: Rising Medical Costs Boosting Inflation ~~~ WTI Oil Trades Near Four-Week High on Refinery Demand Russia Close to $400 Billion Gas Pipeline Deal in Pivot to China Millennials Spurning Silicon Valley for Dallas Oil Patch ~~~ China Halts Cybersecurity Cooperation After U.S. Spying Charges North Korea may be close to developing nuclear missile, some say ~~~ Thailand’s army declares martial law after six months of political unrest After Martial Law Declaration, Thailand Waits for General’s Next Move ~~~ Is This Man Going to Be China's Elon Musk? Modi needs to give India its Thatcher moment Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s Richest Man, Speaks Out Against Separatists ~~~ Staples Feeds the Bears Vodafone Hurt by Europe – WSJ.com Target Fires Another Exec, This Time Over Canadian Woes Home Depot Finally Bids Farewell to Fax Machines GM recalls another 2.42 million vehicles, doubles Q2 charge ~~~ European Regulators Accuse 3 More Banks of Manipulating Interest Rates Gold Deals Remain Likely Despite Barrick-Newmont Merger’s Collapse ~~~ Several Earthquakes are Bigger Threat to San Francisco Bay Area Triple Murder Renews Friction Over Rain-Forest Growth ~~~ New York Is a Hub in a Surging Heroin Trade The three deadliest drugs in America are all totally legal Q&A: Why We’re Better Off Eating Plenty of Fat ~~~ McDonald's Happy Meal Character Scares Social-Media Users Todd Harrison: Why I’m Exiting The Digital Media Business ~~~ Russian businessman must pay his ex $4.8B — and 64 cents America dumbs down: a rising tide of anti-intellectual thinking Favorite for Preakness Was Bred on a California Ranch Recent Mercenary Links (scroll for archives) (select a post)Mercenary Links May 20th: Lingering WoesMercenary Links May 19th: The Walter White of Central BankingMercenary Links May 16th: Storming and SweepingMercenary Links May 15th: Nervous TimeMercenary Links May 14th: Euro-StimulusMercenary Links May 13th: Demographic BidMercenary Links May 12th: Modi ManiaMercenary Links May 9th: Fresh BeatsMercenary Links May 8th: Slow Night at the Auction HouseMercenary Links May 7th: Pot PressureMercenary Links May 6th: Rich ListMercenary Links May 5th: Wage PressuresMercenary Links May 2nd: Kicking Into Higher GearMercenary Links May 1st: Most Affluent EhMercenary Links April 30th: Slowing to a CrawlMercenary Links April 29th: Labor ShortagesMercenary Links April 28th: Crisis WatchMercenary Links April 25th: Flash Boys STFUMercenary Links April 24th: Losing SteamMercenary Links April 23rd: Shorting Cool KidsMercenary Links April 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Feb 10th: Waning MagicMercenary Links Feb 7th: Undeterred FedMercenary Links Feb 6th: The Poverty EconomyMercenary Links Feb 5th: Ok Janet, Now WhatMercenary Links Feb 4th: No Pause For You!Mercenary Links Feb 3rd: War DrumsMercenary Links Jan 31st: End of an EraMercenary Links Jan 30th: Wobbly House of CardsMercenary Links Jan 29th: $10 BillionMercenary Links Jan 28th: Hut, Hut, HikeMercenary Links Jan 27th: 1997 ReduxMercenary Links Jan 24th: Capital FlightMercenary Links Jan 23rd: Dragon RattleMercenary Links Jan 22nd: Offshore PrincelingsMercenary Links Jan 21st: Animal SpiritsMercenary Links Jan 17th: Impossible DreamMercenary Links Jan 15th: Mao StimulusMercenary Links Jan 14th: Housing Bubble EhMercenary Links Jan 13th: Number One TraderMercenary Links Jan 10th: Cold Snap Latest ECB gold sales agreement raises questions Posted: 20 May 2014 10:31 AM PDT The latest ECB gold sales agreement is notable for not putting a cap on possible future sales, but is a cap necessary under current market conditions? Perhaps it should be.

China gold demand drops Posted: 20 May 2014 10:12 AM PDT "Having some gold is still a preferred option in China."

German TV network broadcasts long program on gold market manipulation Posted: 20 May 2014 10:01 AM PDT GATA

Gold Price Manipulation Goes Mainstream On German TV Posted: 20 May 2014 09:58 AM PDT Gold Price Manipulation Goes Mainstream On German TV http://t.co/b5duLs0eFS @SprottMoney @GoldCore @JamesGRickards @maxkeiser @mike_maloney — In Gold We Trust (@KoosJansen) May 20, 2014

Indian gold consumption to increase? Posted: 20 May 2014 09:56 AM PDT "Indian people don't buy gold to speculate, it's a necessity."

Lies, Inflation, and the Minimum Wage Posted: 20 May 2014 09:24 AM PDT Regular readers are familiar with the Great Inflation Lie. Lying about inflation is a device of deceit which governments use to pad numerous economic statistics, since most of these statistics only have relevance/legitimacy if fully "deflated" by the (real) prevailing rate of inflation. The example with which readers are most familiar is that understating inflation can be used to exaggerate GDP, on a point-for-point basis. Understate the rate of inflation by 5%, and you overstate GDP by an equal 5%. It is thus through this Lie (which is getting larger every year) that the U.S. government has been able to pretend that it's Greater Depression is actually an "economic recovery". However, readers have also previously seen another manifestation of the Great Inflation Lie: to hide the collapse in Western wages, which (in real dollars) have fallen by more than 50% over the past 40 years. The chart below illustrates this Lie perfectly. [chart courtesy of Nowandfutures.com] The blue line (wages deflated with the "official" rate of inflation), shows the myth: wages which have supposedly stayed roughly flat in real dollars. The green line shows the truth: wages deflated with the real rate of inflation. As readers can see for themselves; the collapse in Western wages has dragged them all the way back (in real dollars) to Great Depression levels. But not all Western nations (and their citizens) have bought into this Corporate mythology, and doomed the vast majority of their populations to little more than slave wages. A few Western nations have shielded their populations from this wage-destruction via (unreported) inflation, and the differences between their economies and ours are highly revealing – especially when viewed from the bottom (i.e. the "minimum wage").

LBMA accredits MMTC Pamp India for Gold delivery in India Posted: 20 May 2014 09:16 AM PDT The London Bullion Markets Association (LBMA) has accredited MMTC-Pamp India Pvt Ltd (MPIPL), a joint venture between Pamp SA, Switzerland and the Indian public sector MMTC Ltd, for gold delivery in India.

The Meat Crisis Is Here: Price Of Shrimp Up 61% – 7 Million Pigs Dead – Beef At All-Time High Posted: 20 May 2014 09:15 AM PDT As the price of meat continues to skyrocket, will meat soon be considered a “luxury item” for most American families?  This week we learned that the price of meat in the United States rose at the fastest pace in more than 10 years last month.  Leading the way is the price of shrimp.  According to the U.S. [...] The post The Meat Crisis Is Here: Price Of Shrimp Up 61% – 7 Million Pigs Dead – Beef At All-Time High appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY GEITHNER IS "DEAD MEAT" Are You Ready For The Price Of Food To More Than Double? Confirmed Mad-Cow Case in CA Sends Cattle Futures Plunging

Silver jewelery exports surge in India Posted: 20 May 2014 09:09 AM PDT The silver jewelery exports from India recorded a significant jump of 75.4% year-on-year to $1,459.87 million.

Gold policy change in the works? Posted: 20 May 2014 08:59 AM PDT India is likely to witness increased demand for gold during the second half of the year.

Global gold demand steady despite Indian repression Posted: 20 May 2014 08:36 AM PDT Gold prices are marginally lower today as market participants digest yesterday's European central bank gold agreement.

BARBAROUS RELIQUARY: HOLDING THE METALS IN A POST – WESTERN WORLD Posted: 20 May 2014 08:00 AM PDT A recent Chairman of that private corporation in control of the finances – perhaps even, the destiny – of the USA for the past 100 years, famously referred to the yellow metal as "a barbarous relic".   Although this Ph'd prophet of policy-managed markets has hardly been a fount of wisdom in the course of his career… in this case [...] The post BARBAROUS RELIQUARY: HOLDING THE METALS IN A POST – WESTERN WORLD appeared first on Silver Doctors. Check out these similar articles: Western World Spends More on Dog Food & Manicures Than on Silver! Jim Sinclair: Entire Western World May Announce Massive QE This Weekend! Guest Post: Western Financial System Default is Underway NOW!

Indian Gold demand witness a significant decline in Q1: WGC Posted: 20 May 2014 07:53 AM PDT India, the second biggest bullion consuming nation, gold demand declined significantly by 26% year-on-year to 190.3 tons during the first-quarter of this year, as per the World Gold Council.

Frank Curzio: This could be the safest "700% upside" investment you ever see Posted: 20 May 2014 05:59 AM PDT From Frank Curzio, editor, Phase 1 Investor: Uranium prices are in freefall. As regular readers know, uranium – the fuel used in nuclear power stations – collapsed in 2011. It has since been in a steady downtrend. And so far this year, the radioactive metal has fallen hard. It’s down 16% since the start of 2014. For comparison, gold prices are up 8% and the S&P 500 Index is up 2% during the same time frame. But it appears the bottom in uranium prices is finally here. And the recent pullback gives us the chance to buy one stock with triple-digit upside and limited downside risk for cheap today. Let me explain… Longtime readers know uranium, like most commodities, goes through huge boom and bust cycles. Up until early 2011, uranium had seen an incredible boom. But then a tsunami swept through Japan and caused radiation to leak from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Uranium prices were around $65 a pound just before the disaster. But after the disaster, there was a fundamental change in the uranium market – and prices plunged. France – the second-largest consumer of nuclear energy – said it would cut its share of nuclear power for electricity generation by 33%. Germany – the fifth-largest consumer – said it would completely phase out nuclear energy within 10 years. Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium also shelved projects to build out nuclear power stations. But the big news came out of Japan. The world’s third-largest nuclear-energy consumer said it would abandon nuclear energy altogether. This was a huge blow to the industry. Japan sold its stockpiled uranium into the market… which depressed prices further. Sentiment toward the sector has been terrible ever since. And analysts have been trying to call a bottom – and spot the next “boom” cycle – in uranium for more than a year. But prices have averaged around $37 a pound since March 2011 – until this year. Take a look at this chart of the uranium price… The latest downturn has now pushed uranium prices below $30 per pound for the first time since 2005. And sentiment toward the metal could not be worse. I recently spoke with energy expert Rick Rule. He told me right now, spot uranium is selling for below the production cost of many miners. In short, many uranium producers are no longer making money. The good news is, it appears the bottom in uranium prices is finally here. You see, for the first time since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, there are positive catalysts in the uranium market. And just the smallest bit of positive news could result in a huge spike in prices for this hated sector. In mid-December, a new political party was elected into office in Japan. The new trade minister said Japan will likely reopen nuclear plants that pass stringent safety tests. He’s also considering keeping plants open that are more than 40 years old. Next month, this plan will finally come to fruition – Japan is expected to reactivate its first nuclear reactor. And 17 of Japan’s 48 idled reactors are expected to restart over the next few months. This will create demand for uranium. Rick says demand will also come from places like China and India. Their growing economies are desperate for sources of low-cost electric power. Uranium is a key component of their future energy plans. So these countries will provide a huge source of demand for decades. Higher uranium demand will be good news for many uranium stocks – like Fission Uranium. Fission is sitting on one of the largest uranium discoveries in the past decade. It’s called Patterson Lake South (PLS) – and it’s located in Canada’s Athabasca Basin, the most prolific uranium-producing area in the world. I first recommended the company to my Phase 1 Investor subscribers over a year ago. At the time, it was trading for under C$0.50 a share. (We originally invested in Fission Energy, which later became Fission Uranium.) The stock moved up to C$1.70 before pulling back to the C$1.20 level recently. The push lower was mostly due to the collapse in uranium prices over the past few months. But there’s plenty of upside ahead… Fission’s PLS property is projected to have more than 100 million pounds of high-grade uranium. That makes it one of the largest uranium mines on the planet. And we have the chance to get in at a huge discount. Based on my analysis, Fission is worth at least C$2.50 a share (at least double its current level) at the current price of uranium. As I mentioned earlier, there are plenty of catalysts that could result in strong demand for uranium over the next 12 to 24 months. If only a few nuclear plants come back online, it should be enough to easily push uranium prices north of $40 per pound (still a depressed level based on historical prices). If uranium prices simply push to $60 per pound (the price uranium traded before the Fukushima disaster) over the next five years, Fission could be worth C$7 to C$10 a share. That’s a 480% to 700% gain from the current price. And uranium prices doubling in the next five years is conservative based on the massive pullback in the commodity over the past few years. The metal could head even higher. My advice is to take a small position in Fission Uranium. The stock trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol FCU.V. The market-cap is more than $400 million – so you will not have to worry about a lot of volatility in the stock. If uranium prices stay at current levels, the stock is easily worth more than twice the current price. However, if uranium prices jump higher in the years ahead, you could be sitting on a life-changing investment. Based on the risk-to-reward ratio, you won’t find a better investment in the commodity space than Fission Uranium.   More from Frank Curzio: Frank Curzio: How to profit from the next phase of the shale gas boom Frank Curzio: These super-rare stocks can help you create a million-dollar portfolio Heads up: If Congress does the "right thing," these stocks will SOAR

Global Gold Demand Steady Despite Indian Repression; Stealth PBOC Buying Not Factored In Posted: 20 May 2014 04:01 AM PDT gold.ie

Dennis Gartman cutting Gold positions by about a third Posted: 20 May 2014 03:25 AM PDT Dennis Gartman said that he is cutting his gold positions by about a third. He said that lackluster action of gold prompts him to curb exposure.

Ilargi: European Democracy Is Roadkill Posted: 20 May 2014 03:10 AM PDT Yves here. Some of you found a London Review of Books article that I flagged over the weekend, on corruption in Europe and how the US and IMF had succeeded in influencing Italian politics far more widely than is widely recognized, to be a bit of a slog. Ilargi covers some of this terrain in his latest post. By Raúl Ilargi Meijer, editor-in-chief of The Automatic Earth. Originally published at Automatic Earth There are two elections coming up this week that have the potential to shake up a lot of things, not least of all the global financial markets, both in their own way and for their own reasons. First of all, the May 22-25 European parliament elections, which as far as I'm concerned should simply be declared illegal in at least a few of the 28 EU member countries they're held in. I find it unbelievable, and I even tend to find it scary, that not one respected member of the respected press has paid any attention to the story that emerged during the course of last week and that I described this way on Friday: Europe Imitates The Fall Of The Roman Empire First, there was a passage from Tim Geithner's new book. Then, there was a 3-part series 'How The Euro Was Saved' by Peter Spiegel for the Financial Times. Together, they deliver the following storyline: EU leaders refused to let Greece have a referendum on its bail-out, and toppled PM Papandreou to kill it. Then, afraid that Italian PM Berlusconi would make good on his threat to return to the lira if they stuck to their bail-out conditions, they toppled him. What this means to Europeans is that if they elect a government for their country, and it subsequently falls out of favor with Brussels, they can expect to see it overthrown, and likely have it replaced by a technocrat handpicked by the EU leadership (as happened in Greece and Italy). Ergo: Europe is not a democracy, and pretending otherwise is foolish. Democratic elections in member states are merely empty lip service exercises, because on important topics governments of member states have no say. In fact, the only journalist who did pick up on it was Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, also on Friday, and while I understand people's reservations concerning Ambrose, please don't forget this: as it became known that the EU leadership has no scruples when it comes to bringing down elected governments of member states, AEP was the only one writing for the mainstream media who brought this ultimate betrayal of European democracy, and hence of all European voters, to light. EU Officials Plotted IMF Attack To Bring Rebellious Italy To Its Knees (AEP) The revelations about EMU skulduggery are coming thick and fast. Tim Geithner recounts in his book Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises just how far the EU elites are willing to go to save the euro, even if it means toppling elected leaders and eviscerating Europe's sovereign parliaments. The former US Treasury Secretary says that EU officials approached him in the white heat of the EMU crisis in November 2011 with a plan to overthrow Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's elected leader. "They wanted us to refuse to back IMF loans to Italy as long as he refused to go," he writes. Geithner told them this was unthinkable. The US could not misuse the machinery of the IMF to settle political disputes in this way. "We can't have his blood on our hands". This concurs with what we knew at the time about the backroom manoeuvres, and the action in the bond markets. It is a constitutional scandal of the first order. These officials decided for themselves that the sanctity of monetary union entitled them to overrule the parliamentary process, that means justify the end. It is the definition of a monetary dictatorship. Mr Berlusconi has demanded a parliamentary inquiry. "It's a clear violation of democratic rules and an assault on the sovereignty of our country. The plot is an extremely serious news which confirms what I've been saying for a long time," he said. This is no trifling matter, even though one may get that idea because of the deafening silence we've been blinded with so far on this topic. As I write, it scares me anew. In three days, elections begin for a region that holds 500 million people. But there is a tiny group, largely unelected, in Europe's capital Brussels, that find they have the moral right to handpick their favorites and topple non-favorites who were elected in democratic elections. If it reminds me of one thing, it's how Salvador Allende lost the power his people voted him into, and lost his life, in Chile in 1972, because the CIA and Milton Friedman's Chicago Schoolboys wanted someone else, who would serve THEIR purpose, not that of the people. That is what happened in both Greece and Italy, and we can now prove it. And no, there were no bombs and machine gun heli's involved this time around, but that's not where we should put the dividing line. A coup is a coup. And any coup in an ostensibly democratic nation is a crime that the perpetrators need to be dragged in front of a judge and jury for, if not court-martialed. Yeah, well, that sounds lovely, but not a word was said or written. I looked earlier today, and there was only one reference I could find, in the English edition of Greek paper Ekathimerini in which Evangelos Venizelos, finance minister under Papandreou, the Greek PM who was ousted under EU auspices because he wanted the Greek people to decide in a referendum whether they wanted Troika austerity or not, an event in which Venizelos did not play a clean role at all, that same Venizelos who is now leader of PASOK, the party that held power for decades but is presently scraping the voters barrel in polls for this week elections, said: Barroso did not choose PM, says PASOK chief "Mr Barroso did not have the main role in the discussion and the process," said the PASOK chief. "Whoever says this does not have an understanding of the international balance of power and of the roles that EU figures have." Venizelos also said that Papademos had not been first choice to become interim prime minister. Before he was sworn in on November 11, Parliament Speaker Filippos Petsalnikos and PASOK veteran Apostolos Kaklamanis had been suggested for the role, Venizelos claimed. However, Venizelos defended the decision not to proceed with a referendum, which eurozone leaders insisted should only be on whether Greece should remain in the euro. The PASOK leader suggested that proceeding with the vote would have led to a flight of deposits. "Did anyone want the banks to collapse the next day and the country to default?" he said. Hmm, Evangelos. That's how we decide these matters, is it? Maybe the question should be: did anyone want democracy? Because if they did, that was no longer an option, was it? How on earth can someone who's the leader of a party that's part of a democratic system, and who apparently hopes to be elected as the leader of a democratic nation, defend the toppling of his former boss in such a way? What the f**k is wrong with you? And what the f**k is wrong with all the journalists who have undoubtedly read the accounts of both the Berlusconi and the Papandreou coups, and decided not to write one single word about them while there are elections in just 3 days in which voters are fooled into thinking their vote counts for something? Parties that are critical of the EU, if not downright against it, may win large victories in France, Holland, the UK, Finland, Norway, Italy and perhaps more countries. We'll know by Sunday. But what will that mean? The entire mainstream storyline is HOW are we going to do Europe, not IF we're going to do it. How fast are we going to hand over ever more powers to a cabal of career "civil servants" who have shown they are more than willing to sweep aside any actually elected politician from any of the 28 EU nations who dare stand in their way, and in the way of their dreams of what Europe should be, damn the people, and damn the democratic process?! Maybe this will give everyone a pause for thought: Greek Selloff Shows Rush for Exit Recalling Crisis Bondholders in Europe just got a wakeup call. After a four-month rally in euro-region debt, yields on Italian and Spanish bonds had their biggest one-day jump in almost a year last week as a selloff that started in Greece spread. With bids evaporating and prices sliding, traders poured into derivatives as they rushed to protect against losses. Italy's and Spain's bonds extended that slump today. [..] The risk is that speculative traders, who bought debt on the assumption the European Central Bank would support the market, may try to flee at the same time if the outlook darkens. "You only know how wide the door to the exit is when there are a few of you trying to push through at the same time," Michael Riddell, fund manager at M&G Group, which oversees $417 billion, said on May 16. "I don't think liquidity has been that great in peripherals at any stage." Prices plunged in the wake of opinion polls suggesting the nation's governing coalition was losing support before local-government votes and European Parliament elections on May 25. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's coalition partner Pasok, which dominated Greece's politics for three decades, was ranked sixth in a poll with 5.5% as voters blamed the party for the country's economic meltdown. The first round of local and regional elections in Greece ended yesterday with no single party winning enough support to declare a decisive victory. In Italy, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's party is facing its first elections since coming to power three months ago, risking a voter backlash amid a sluggish economy and a corruption scandal in Milan. How much irony is there in thinking that the financial markets are the only hope left for European voters? Democracy is Europe is roadkill until those responsible for toppling Papandreou and Berlusconi have been thrown out, the system has been restructured to ensure no such things can happen again, and the appropriate courts have passed judgment on the guilty parties. None of those things are going to happen, the same old clique that executed the coups will start divvying up the cushy jobs come Sunday night if they haven't already, and that can only mean one thing: the old continent is morally going going gone. And it's not just the politicians, or whatever the proper term is for Brussels career wankers, it's just as much an indictment of the entire world press. I was going to cover the Ukraine elections this weekend too, but I'll do that later in the week, Europe's "monetary dictators" got me riled up plenty for now. And that goes for the entire press corps too. What a bunch of useless parakeets.

Conspiracy Fact: European Central Banks Again Admit, Renew Secret Coordination on Gold Posted: 20 May 2014 02:25 AM PDT "The gains of the Far East and London sessions were crushed" ¤ Yesterday In Gold & Silver The gold price got sold off a few dollars the moment that trading began on Sunday evening in New York.  But a few hours later it began to chop unsteadily higher.  However, the rally that began at the 8:20 a.m. New York open on Monday morning got dealt with in the usual manner by the usual suspects 10 minutes after the open---and by the end of the day the gold price was back to where it started at Friday's close. The low and high ticks according to the CME Group were recorded as $1,289.50 and $1,305.70 in the June contract. Gold closed in New York on Monday at $1,292.60 spot, down one thin dime.  Net volume was pretty light at only 95,000 contracts, so anyone with an agenda had an easy time pushing the gold price in whatever direction they chose---and that's precisely what they did. The price path for silver was virtually identical to that of gold, with all the highs and lows coming at the same times---along with the ensuing sell-off during the New York trading session, so I shall spare you the details. The low and high ticks in silver were posted as $19.31 and $19.685 in the July contract. Silver closed yesterday at $19.335 spot, down a penny from Friday.  Volume, net of May and June, was 38,000 contracts, of which 3,400 contracts was in the September and December delivery months.  And as I said last week, it's hard to tell whether these positions in the far months are new ones, roll-overs, or one leg of a spread trade. Platinum was up about five bucks by lunchtime in Hong Kong---and then jumped up another ten bucks just before 9 a.m. BST in London.  It tacked on another five spot in early New York trading---and it's attempts to rise further ran into the usual sellers of last resort.  By the 1:30 p.m. Comex close, virtually all of the Monday gains had vanished.  Platinum close up a whole four bucks. Palladium's rally was a bit more anemic, but even those gains vanished under the feet of JPMorgan et al during New York trading.  Palladium closed down a buck. It was obvious, at least to me, that the sellers of last resort were toying with all four precious metal prices---and what surprised me the most was that they didn't close palladium down on the day as well. The dollar index closed late on Friday afternoon in New York at 80.05---but then began to head quietly lower shortly after trading began in the Far East on their Monday morning.  The index sank down to 79.89 shortly before 10:30 a.m. EDT---the London a.m. gold fix---and then it looked like a buyer of last resort showed up close it just above the 80.00 mark at 80.01.  Here's the 3-day dollar chart. The gold stocks gapped up just over a percent at the open, but then chopped lower, hitting their low ticks about one minute to noon in New York.  From there they chopped sideways, but then rallied a hair with the HUI managing to close in the black, up 0.13%. For the second day in a row the silver stocks turned in a bit of a surprise performance.  After opening lower, they rallied into positive territory---and spent most of the day bouncing off unchanged until shortly before 2 p.m. EDT.  Then they rallied from there---and Nick Laird's Intraday Silver Sentiment Index closed up 0.66%. The CME's Daily Delivery Report showed that 28 gold and 167 silver contracts were posted for delivery within the Comex-approved depositories on Wednesday.  In gold, Jefferies was the short/issuer on all 28 contracts---JPMorgan and Canada's Scotiabank stopped all but one of them.  In silver, the largest short issuers were ABN Amro, Jefferies and JPMorgan, with 72, 70 and 19 contracts respectively.  JPMorgan stopped 127 contracts---and Scotiabank stopped 13. The link to yesterday's Issuers and Stoppers Report is here. There were no changes in GLD yesterday---and as of 6:45 p.m EDT yesterday evening, there were no reported changes in SLV, either. The U.S. Mint had a tiny sales report yesterday.  They sold 1,500 troy ounces of gold eagles---and that was it.  If they follow last week's procedure, they should have a more decent sales report today. There wasn't much gold activity over at the Comex-approved depositories on Friday.  Only 4,406 troy ounces was reported received---and a grand total of eight, one kilo gold bars were shipped out---257.200 troy ounces.  The link to that activity is here. There was much more activity in silver, of course, as 367,190 troy ounces were reported shipped in---and 126,161 troy ounces were shipped out.  The link to that action is here. I have a pretty decent number of stories for you today---and I hope you find some that are of interest. ¤ Critical Reads Inflation in wonderland: Disney hikes prices as much as 10% Over the weekend the Mouse House announced unexpected price increases for visitors to its Disney Land resort complex in Los Angeles. As of yesterday morning a day pass to Disney Land will cost $96, up from $92, and the popular "One Day Parkhopper" passes give visitors access to both Disney Land and the adjacent California Adventure Park will run a cool $150, nearly 10% more than the passes cost last week. Disney also said it will stop selling new annual passes which had been available to local residents. It's another triumph for CEO Bob Iger who chose to spend billions upgrading Disney Parks during the recession while other companies pulled back. Disney paid $1.1 billion on California Adventure alone, and now it's cashing in. Even before last weekend's price hikes, domestic park attendance and profits have been up double digits every year since 2011 and park attendance is at record levels. To be sure, Disney customers are used to price hikes but the company is showing signs of getting more aggressive in recent years. The company normally waits until school lets out in June before hiking annual prices, but the Disneyland ticket boost comes immediately ahead of the unofficial start of summer with Memorial Day weekend starting Friday (the park also increased prices by 4% last June). Today's first news item showed up on the finance.yahoo.com Internet site late Monday morning EDT---and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for sending it along. Supermarket shrinkage? It's not your imagination, experts say Have you noticed that some of your favorite brands are downsizing, giving you less and less while charging you the same price, or even more? Some experts say companies are getting sly in how they do it. From cereal to cookies, paper towels to peanut butter, you can find it in supermarkets everywhere: Some of the most trusted brands getting smaller, the price tag not so much. "It's a very sneaky way to raise the price of a product," said consumer crusader Edgar Dworsky, who runs the website, consumerworld.com. One tactic: the "optical illusion." Dworsky showed us two boxes of Apple Jacks side by side. Back in 2008 the product went from 11 ounces to 8.7 ounces, but from the front, the two boxes appeared the same; only when they were turned to the side did it become apparent that one was "much narrower," according to Dworsky. "That's one of the tricks of the trade," he said. This news item appeared on the today.com Internet site very early Monday morning EDT---and it's the second offering in a row from Elliot Simon. Fed's Williams Admits "Soft Landings Never Happen... Be Wary of Excessive Risk" Fed's Williams and Fisher are talking this morning in an oddly frank (and concerning) manner... WILLIAMS SAYS 'SOFT LANDINGS' IN MONETARY POLICY NEVER HAPPEN WILLIAMS: FED NEEDS TO CONTINUE TO BE WARY OF EXCESSIVE RISK Williams says our extraordinary policies could have adverse consequences down the road Fisher must be wary of markets potential to overshoot So, we have had Tarullo (Feb) and Yellen (May) warning of bubbles in small caps and credit and now Williams and Fisher sounding some alarms... Don't fight the Fed! (unless the Fed says 'sell') It seems the market is heeding the message in the short-term. That's all there is to this Zero Hedge piece posted on their Internet site during the New York lunch hour yesterday, but the three embedded charts are worth a quick peek---and that makes it three in a row from Elliot Simon. Credit Suisse Pleads Guilty in Three-Year U.S. Tax Probe Credit Suisse AG agreed to pay $2.6 billion in penalties and pleaded guilty to helping Americans cheat on their taxes, making it the first global bank in a decade to admit to a crime in a U.S. courtroom. The plea also signals a tougher posture by the Justice Department, which has faced criticism that it avoided pursuing large banks after the 2008 financial crisis because of the potential economic fallout. The firm said the deal will cut second-quarter earnings by 1.6 billion francs ($1.79 billion). “This case shows that no financial institution, no matter its size or global reach, is above the law,” Attorney General Eric Holder said during a press conference. He said “a company’s profitability or market share can never and will never be used as a shield from prosecution or penalty. And this action should put that misguided notion definitively to rest.” And nobody is going to jail.  When that happens, or when JPMorgan finally gets convicted of something, then that will be news.  The Bloomberg story appeared on their Internet site very late yesterday afternoon Denver time---and I thank Roy Stephens for his first offering in today's column. Deutsche Bank Scrambles To Raise Capital: Will Sell €8 Billion In Stock At Up To 30% Discount This is a chart we have been presenting since last year, updated periodically, showing just how vast Deutsche Bank's potential undercapitalization is/would be if, as in the case of Lehman, for some reason gross exposure suddenly became net, and there was counterparty failure. It is also the reason why we predicted as recently as last month when Deutsche announced it would issue another €1.5 billion in Tier 1 capital, that the German megabank's capital raising is far from over. Sure enough, just out from Bloomberg: Deutsche Bank preparing a capital increase, aims to raise EU8 billion through new shares by end of June, Handelsblatt says, citing unidentified people in the finance industry. Deutsche Bank likely to get new single investor Negotiations ongoing, haven’t been made final Deutsche Bank declined to comment: Handelsblatt Who will buy the shares? This Zero Hedge news item was posted on their Internet site late Sunday morning EDT---and I thank reader Joe Nordgaard for sending it our way.  The chart is worth a look---and the article worth skimming. Deutsche Bank to raise $11 billion with help from Qatar Deutsche Bank has asked shareholders for 8 billion euros ($11 billion) in new cash to strengthen its balance sheet ahead of European stress tests and to help fund an expansion in U.S. investment banking as its rivals retreat. Qatar's royal family will become a major investor in Germany's largest bank under the plan, unveiled as Deutsche Bank delayed or diluted most of its 2015 turnaround targets, saying the cost of scandals and new capital rules would remain high. The capital increase gives Deutsche firepower for the investment banking drive after a pull-back by Barclays, UBS and others left a gap that it aims to fill as Europe's top debt trader. But it also underscores how the bank has fallen short of profitability targets and how burdensome fines and settlements and lagging profitability have hampered management's efforts to fortify capital by retaining earnings. This Reuters story, filed from Frankfurt, was posted on their website early yesterday morning EDT---and it's another contribution to today's column from Elliot Simon. Portugal leaves bailout program with 214bn euro debt, 4% lower GDP Portugal exited its international bailout program on Saturday, regaining its economic sovereignty, which it lost after the European debt crisis. However, the country’s GDP is four percent lower than in 2010, a year before it asked for financial help. The country will become the second eurozone country to leave the bailout after Ireland. Portugal underwent three years of painful austerity, in order to receive a 78-billion euro loan (106 billion US dollars), to help a nation that was on the verge of bankruptcy. However, not everything has gone smoothly for Portugal, with the end of the bailout coming at a time when data has shown the country’s economy contracted by 0.7 percent in the first quarter of 2014. Overall, the country’s GDP is four percent lower than in 2010, a year before they asked the International Monetary Fund for financial help. The Iberian country is 214 billion euros in debt (293 billion US dollars), which is the third highest in the eurozone. The Portuguese government has focused on trying to increase exports, but this has been hampered by volatile markets abroad. There have been some positive signs, such as the Portuguese government’s success in reducing unemployment from its peak of 17.5 percent in 2013, to 15.1 percent at present, while borrowing costs are at an eight-year low. Portugal is still toast, as you'll find out when you read this Russia Today article from Saturday---and I thank Harry Grant for sharing it with us.  It's well worth reading. Combating the Crunch: ECB Plans Negative Rate on Bank Deposits European Central Bank executive board member Peter Praet of Germany is expected to recommend that the bank cut its main refinancing rate from the current 0.25 percent to a record low of 0.15 percent when the bank's Governing Council meets on June 5. In addition, the bank also wants to introduce a negative rate on bank deposits of -0.1 for the first time in its history. The ECB's deposit rate is currently at zero, and a further cut would mean that banks would effectively have to pay a fee to park their money. Normally they would be paid interest to do so. Under the new punitive rate, if a bank were to deposit €100 million in a central bank account, the ECB would withhold €100,000. The measure is aimed at encouraging banks to lend money rather than park it at the ECB. It is hoped the move will prevent the kind of credit crunch and freeze in lending seen during the height of the euro crisis, when private and corporate loans all but dried up. Particularly within the crisis-plagued countries of the euro zone, consumers and companies are still having a difficult time obtaining loans. The lower interest rate could also lead to a drop in the euro's high exchange rate. This news item was posted on the German website spiegel.de late yesterday morning Europe time---and it's the second offering of the day from Roy Stephens.  It's definitely worth reading.   Unprotected in the East: NATO Appears Toothless in Ukraine Crisis If Russia were to engage in military aggression in the Baltics, NATO would be unable to defend the region using conventional means. An internal report highlights weaknesses in the alliance. They were big words, spoken almost as if they had been written in stone. "Our commitment to collective defence is rock solid, now and for the future," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said more than a week ago, first in the Polish capital Warsaw and then, on the same day, in the Estonian capital Tallinn. Before that, the US ambassador to Latvia, speaking to local and American soldiers at a military base in the country, had sounded equally forceful when he insisted that the NATO partners and Latvia are standing "shoulder to shoulder." Rasmussen's remarks were well intentioned but relatively toothless -- little more than whistling in the dark. The Balts and Poles sense it, and the NATO secretary general knows it. This very interesting article appeared on the German website spiegel.de yesterday as well.  This one was posted on their Internet site very early Monday evening local time---and it's certainly a must read, especially for all serious students of the New Great Game.  It's also had a headline change. It used to read "Ukraine Crisis Shows Up Cracks in NATO".  Once again I thank Roy Stephens for tracking it down for us. 'It's a dead end': German FM joins chorus of discontent over Russia sanctions rhetoric German F

CME Cuts Silver, Gold Trading Margins Posted: 20 May 2014 02:25 AM PDT CME Cuts Silver, Gold Trading Margins Exchange operator CME Group Inc. reduced the amount of collateral required to trade the benchmark gold and silver futures contracts on Thursday. CME, which owns the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, trimmed gold margins by 7.7% effective close of trading Friday, in a notice emailed Thursday evening. Speculative investors in the benchmark 100-troy ounce gold contract can now deposit $6,600 to open a position and maintain $6,000 of that to keep that position overnight. That's down from the previous initial margin of $7,150 and maintenance margin of $6,500. I asked Ted Butler what he thought of this news item---and he said this was just normal business activity for the CME Group and not news at all.  Here it is anyway.  It was posted on the nasdaq.com Internet site early Thursday evening last week---and I thank reader Jason Edwards for sending it along.

Koos Jansen: Chinese real estate debt is being settled in silver Posted: 20 May 2014 02:25 AM PDT Koos Jansen: Chinese real estate debt is being settled in silver Silver is not only trading in backwardation in China, gold researcher and GATA consultant Koos Jansen reports, but it is also trading at a great premium to real estate, being used to settle debt on real estate whose price is collapsing. Jansen's commentary is headlined "Chinese Real Estate Debt Settled in Silver, SGE Premium 5.7%" and it was posted on his Internet site on Saturday sometime---and I found it embedded in a GATA release.

Jeff Clark: The Birth of a New Bull Market Posted: 20 May 2014 02:25 AM PDT Jeff Clark: The Birth of a New Bull Market If I asked you why you think I’m bullish on platinum and palladium, you’d probably point to the strikes in South Africa, the world’s largest producer of platinum. Or maybe the geopolitical conflicts with Russia, the largest supplier of palladium. Maybe you’d even mention that some technical analysts say the palladium price has “broken out” of its trading range. These are all valid points—but they’re reasons why a trader might be bullish. When the strikes end, or Russia ends its aggression, or short-term price momentum eases, they’ll sell. And that will be a mistake. Because underneath the headlines lies an irreparable situation with the PGM (Platinum Group Metals) market, one that will last at least several years and probably more like a decade. This market is teetering on the edge of a supply crunch, one more perilous than many investors realize. As the issues outlined below play out, prices will be forced higher—which signals that we should diversify into the “other” precious metals now. I'm wildly bullish on these two metals myself---and for all of the reasons mentioned in this article.  But my enthusiasm is somewhat tempered at the moment by the mega short positions of not only the 4 or 8 big traders, but also the short-side corners that '4 or less' U.S. bullion banks hold in these two precious metals as well.  Despite the out-of-this-world supply/demand fundamentals, it's all for naught if JPMorgan et al decide otherwise and, for the moment, it is.  This commentary showed up in yesterday's edition of the Casey Daily Dispatch---and it's definitely worth reading.

Gold bar and coin demand slumps to 4-year low Posted: 20 May 2014 02:25 AM PDT Gold bar and coin demand slumps to 4-year low Investors dramatically scaled back purchases of gold bars and coins in the first quarter as uncertainty in the bullion price outlook put a damper on demand, an industry report showed on Tuesday. Demand for bars and coins slumped 39 percent on year to 283 tonnes in the January-March quarter, the lowest level in four years, according to the World Gold Council's (WGC) latest Gold Demand Trends report. "Caution permeated the market for small bars and coins during the first quarter, particularly in the more price-sensitive markets, as investors awaited a clear signal as to the future direction of the gold price following the huge levels of investment in 2013," the industry body representing gold mining companies, wrote. And retail bullion sales are even slower in the second quarter.  This gold-related news item was posted on the CNBC Asia internet site early Tuesday afternoon local time---and I thank reader Mark Molinari for bringing it to our attention.

Smart recovery of Indian gold jewellery exports in April Posted: 20 May 2014 02:25 AM PDT Smart recovery of Indian gold jewellery exports in April India’s export of Gold jewellery recorded a smart recovery at the start of fiscal year 2014-15 growing 27.3 per cent to reach Rs.3,648.29 crore in April 2014, against the year-ago period. Figures from Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) show that in dollar terms, gold jewellery exports rose 14.69 per cent to $604.42 million. Cut and polished diamond exports too rose almost 20 per cent at Rs.9,864.34 crore while in dollar terms they rose 8 per cent to $1,634.25 million in April 2014. However, total exports including exports of gold medallions & coins, coloured gemstones, silver jewellery, pearls, synthetic stones and rough diamonds, declined 6.8 per cent to Rs.14,989.4 crore and 16.03 per cent in dollar terms to $2,483.33 million. “The improvement is heartening and I believe the worst for the industry is now behind us. It also reflects the improvement in the supply of gold,’’ Vipul Shah, Chairman, GJEPC, told this correspondent. This very interesting gold-related news item was posted on thehindu.com Internet site one minute before midnight late Monday evening India Standard Time---and it's another contribution from Ulrike Marx.

Gold Appetite Shrinks in Thailand Amid Political Deadlock Posted: 20 May 2014 02:25 AM PDT Gold Appetite Shrinks in Thailand Amid Political Deadlock Gold shipments to Southeast Asia’s biggest consumer are forecast to contract by as much as half this year, a sign the unprecedented Asian demand that helped stem last year’s rout in prices is weakening. Thailand’s purchases may be 150 to 200 metric tons because of falling prices and the country’s political crisis, according to YLG Bullion International Co., the largest local importer. They fell 78 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier and totaled 314 tons in 2013, valued at about $13 billion. Consumption across Asia reached a record in 2013 even as some investors in the U.S. and Europe lost their faith in bullion as a store of value. Prices snapped a 12-year bull market, the longest in at least nine decades. Holdings in exchange-traded products backed by gold are contracting and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says prices will keep retreating. This Bloomberg news item, filed from Bangkok, showed up on their Internet site very early Monday morning Denver time---and it's courtesy of reader "Tom in Thailand".

World Gold Council: First-Quarter Demand Holds Steady With Year-Ago Levels at 1,074.5 Tonnes Posted: 20 May 2014 02:25 AM PDT World Gold Council: First-Quarter Demand Holds Steady With Year-Ago Levels at 1,074.5 Tonnes Gold demand in the first quarter was 1,074.5 metric tonnes, on par with bullion demand the first quarter of last year, the World Gold Council said Tuesday. Compared demand in the first quarter of 2013 of 1,077.2 tonnes, gold demand in the first quarter of this year was down 0.25%. The WGC said jewelry demand rose 3% because of lower prices versus the first quarter of last year, along with season factors such as Chinese New Year. China saw record first-quarter jewelry demand, the group said. Investment demand in the first quarter was 282.3 tonnes in the first quarter, down 2% from the 288.1 tons bought in the first quarter of 2013. The investment demand breakdown shows that exchange-traded fund flows were essentially zero, while bar and coin demand fell 39% from year ago levels, down to 282.5 tons. Total supply rose 1% to 1,048.5 tons, which includes both mine supply and recycling. This must read commentary showed up on the Kitco Internet site one minute after midnight EDT this morning---and my thanks go out to Ulrike Marx one more time.

Degussa purchases world’s largest gold bullion collection Posted: 20 May 2014 02:25 AM PDT Degussa purchases world's largest gold bullion collection Frankfurt-based precious metals trader, Degussa Gold Trading GmbH, announced Monday that it has recently acquired “The Industry Collection of Gold Bars Worldwide,” also known as the “Rothschild Collection” of more than 1,000 artistically and historically valued gold bullion from 145 manufacturers in 35 nations. Originally founded by NM Rothschild & Sons (Australia) in 1993, the collection has a total weight of more than 230 kilograms (7,394 troy ounces) of fine gold and a material value of seven million euros (US$10 million). In 2005 the Perth Mint took over safekeeping of the collection. The Industry Collection of Gold Bars Worldwide has been ongoing since 1993 as manufacturers from across the global have made their gold bars available to the collection. It focuses on bars manufactured by the world’s leading refiners since the abandonment of the Gold Standard in 1971, which resulted in many countries allowing private individuals to own gold. This interesting news item was posted on the mineweb.com Internet site just after midnight Mountain Daylight time---and Ulrike Marx slid it into my in-box in the wee hours of this morning.  It's also her final contribution to today's column.

Conspiracy fact: European central banks again admit, renew secret coordination on gold Posted: 20 May 2014 02:25 AM PDT Conspiracy fact: European central banks again admit, renew secret coordination on gold The European Central Bank, the Nationale Bank van Belgie/Banque Nationale de Belgique, the Deutsche Bundesbank, Eesti Pank, the Central Bank of Ireland, the Bank of Greece, the Banco de Espana, the Banque de France, the Banca d'Italia, the Central Bank of Cyprus, Latvijas Banka, the Banque centrale du Luxembourg, the Central Bank of Malta, De Nederlandsche Bank, the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, the Banco de Portugal, Banka Slovenije, Narodna banka Slovenska, Suomen PankkiFinlands Bank, Sveriges Riksbank, and the Swiss National Bank today [Monday] announce the fourth Central Bank Gold Agreement (CBGA). In the interest of clarifying their intentions with respect to their gold holdings, the signatories of the fourth CBGA issue the following statement: -- Gold remains an important element of global monetary reserves. -- The signatories will continue to coordinate their gold transactions so as to avoid market disturbances. -- The signatories note that, currently, they do not have any plans to sell significant amounts of gold. -- This agreement, which applies as of 27 September 2014, following the expiry of the current agreement, will be reviewed after five years. That's all there is to this short press release that showed up on the European Central Bank's website yesterday, but GATA's Chris Powell has more to say about this turn of events in another GATA release from yesterday---and it's certainly worth reading if you have the time.

Seven King World News Blogs/Audio Interviews Posted: 20 May 2014 02:25 AM PDT Seven King World News Blogs/Audio Interviews 1. James Turk: "Behind The Mainstream Media Lies, People Are Suffering"  2. Richard Russell: "I'm Afraid We'll See Blood Spilled in America"  3. Ronald-Peter Stoferle: "The Seeds For a Much Bigger Crisis Have Now Been Sown"  4. Robert Fitzwilson: "People Are in Danger of Suffering Catastrophic Losses"  5. Michael Pento: "It's Far Worse Today Than at the Beginning of 2008 Collapse"  6. The first audio interview is with William Kaye---and the second audio interview is with Dr. Stephen Leeb

DoJ Does Victory Lap on Credit Suisse Guilty Plea on Single Criminal Charge Posted: 20 May 2014 02:20 AM PDT Underwhelming sanctions against banks have become such a dog bites man story that they would normally seem to be beneath notice. However, the officialdom inched out a bit in wresting a guilty plea from the parent company of a bank, Credit Suisse, on a single criminal charge. Per the Wall Street Journal: The criminal charge filed Monday in federal court outlined a decadeslong, concerted attempt by Credit Suisse to “knowingly and willfully” help thousands of U.S. clients open accounts and conceal their “assets and income from the IRS.” Mr. Holder said the bank destroyed account records sent to the U.S. for client review, concealed transactions and “failed to take even the most basic steps to ensure compliance with tax laws.” The bank agreed to pay roughly $2.6 billion in fines, with $100 million going to the Fed, $715 million to the New York Department of Financial Services, and $1.8 billion to the Department of Justice. Credit Suisse will also appoint a monitor for two years subject to the approval of the DFS. For the most part, the mainstream media is dutifully accepting the spin of the Department of Justice, that this case is significant by virtue of being the first plea of this sort made by a bank in over two decades. The fact that those intervening years saw regulators generally take a very hands off approach to banks, and that we had a global financial crisis with no measures of this sort taken against the perps somehow escapes mention. And let us also not forget that a mere three weeks ago, Jesse Eisinger ran an apology for the Department of Justice in the form of a New York Times Sunday Magazine that argued…hold your breath…that the DoJ was victim of having been too ambitious in the past. And lest you think I’m being unfair, Eisinger took questions at an Occupy Wall Street Alternative Banking meeting right before the story ran and I got unhappy e-mails from the session as to the line Eisinger was taking in response to questions, particularly his use of the repeatedly debunked “these cases are just so darn complicated” trope. So what is noteworthy about the Credit Suisse guilty plea? As usual, no current senior officials were targeted. Pray tell, what is the deterrent value? The fines, which are more than the bank expected to pay, ultimately come out of taxpayer hides. Admittedly, there is a hue and cry in Switzerland for some heads to roll, but that would be an accidental by-product. As the New York Times notes: For Credit Suisse, other than the fines and the reputational stain of being a felon, the implications are likely to be limited. The bank may lose some clients but is otherwise expected to survive largely unscathed. The plea deal also enables it to move beyond a case that had prompted a congressional hearing and had thrust the bank into an international squabble over tax dodging. If the bank had continued to fight the case, it would have been indicted, calling into question its very existence. The New York Department of Financial Services had also wanted to have Credit Suisse suspended from access to dollar clearing services, but that very suggestion likely generated a freakout among other banking regulators. Now the Department of Justice had previously indicted 7 individuals, three lower level bankers and four former senior managers, including the former North American head of offshore banking. The Financial Times reports that the three indicted bankers still on the Credit Suisse payroll will be fired as part of the settlement. The authorities are much more concerned about crimes against the government and its apparatus, in this case, payment and the surveillance And even then, what appears to have gotten the officialdom upset about Credit Suisse was its intransigence once the US made it clear it was determined to go after secret Swiss accounts. Again from the Journal: Even after a U.S. crackdown on Swiss accounts in 2008 led Credit Suisse and rival UBS AG to tighten restrictions on the kinds of services they would provide to American customers, they continued to take steps that hindered investigators, the filing said. Credit Suisse didn’t conduct a thorough inventory of the accounts its managers oversaw, and some managers helped clients move their assets to other offshore banks so they would remain hidden to the U.S., according to the filing. When it became clear in 2010 that the Justice Department was investigating the bank’s conduct, Mr. Holder said Credit Suisse “failed to retain key documents, allowed evidence to be lost or destroyed, and conducted an inadequate internal inquiry.” So the authorities got accountholder names, right? Remarkably, no. Again from the Journal: While Credit Suisse isn’t turning over names of account holders as part of the agreement, it is handing over information that Deputy Attorney General James Cole said would lead to specific account holders. “There’s going to be a substantial amount of information that we’re going to get that will enable us to find out who the account holders are and take the appropriate action,” Mr. Cole said…. Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich) said it is “a mystery to me why the U.S. government didn’t require as part of the agreement that the bank cough up some of the names of the U.S. clients with secret Swiss bank accounts.” Needless to say, it was a foreign institution that was targeted. Let me return to one critical issue: why no individuals were prosecuted or even fined. This case, like so many we have discussed, seems ideally made for at least a civil action under Sarbanes Oxley against the CEO and CFO, since they must certify the adequacy of internal controls. The most charitable coloration you can put on what looks an awful lot like obstruction of justice (although Credit Suisse was not charged with that) was that it was a failure of internal controls. And Sarbanes Oxley is designed so that a civil action can easily tee up a criminal case on the same control deficiencies. So why didn’t the officials go that route? One would be that a serious civil action, if the bank executives fought it, would lead to all sorts of dirt being unearthed in discovery that might call the bank-wide settlement into question. But I think there’s a much more obvious reason that no one talks about: Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer was aggressive and creative in how he used indictments to bring institutions to heel, to the point where he was criticized for forcing settlements via the cudgel of threatening an indictment (which as various reports have noted, would be far more damaging, in that more of its customers would be required to halt business with it, than this limited guilty plea). The Wall Street Journal would regularly inveigh against Spitzer for using strong-arm tactics and not allowing companies to have their day in court, since they were not able to fight the sort of charges he was levying (as in the company would not survive to have its day in court). What I suspect brought Spitzer down was his pursuit of AIG, in which he forced the resignation of Hank Greenberg. Greenberg is an extremely wealthy, powerful, and by all accounts, vindictive individual. It is almost a certainty that Spitzer’s use of prostitutes was discovered though extensive personal investigation, and odds are high that Greenberg was behind it. Any prosecutor who was thinking of targeting banks would think twice based on Spitzer’s downfall. And you don’t have to be frequenting prostitutes to be at risk. There are all sorts of ways information gleaned through personal investigation can be used to bring someone to heel: the threat of revealing a past or current affair to an unsuspecting spouse; finding evidence of resume inflation to land a position; current use of marijuana (remember, prosecutors are held to a higher standard than mere mortals) or more serious drug experimentation in the past. And that’s only a starter list. Given the ability to glean so much more information about a person’s habits than was dimly possible in the past thanks to the use of smart devices that know way too much about their users, prosecutors are even more vulnerable to blackmail than they were in the past. So while the DoJ is taking baby steps in the right direction, as readers know all too well, it’s too little, too late as far as ordinary citizens are concerned. Senior bankers remain a protected class.

Gold & Silver Trading Alert: Critical Support in Silver Posted: 20 May 2014 02:15 AM PDT SunshineProfits

Gold "Important" And No Plan To Sell Significant Quantity Of - ECB Posted: 20 May 2014 02:10 AM PDT fxstreet

A Whistleblower’s Tainted Defeat: CA Appellate Reversal Paves Way for Continued Bank Retaliation Posted: 20 May 2014 01:55 AM PDT Yves here. A key element that this post’s author, whistleblower Michael Winston, does not mention is that he played an important role in the PBS documentary The Untouchables, which is probably best known for the scene in which Lanny Breuer said he stayed awake at night worrying that he might be hurting banks. By Michael G. Winston, who served in executive positions for five Fortune 100 companies across three industries (high technology, aerospace and financial services) and has been included in several "Top Business Thought-Leaders" lists. He took a strong and visible stand against the malfeasance he witnessed at Countrywide I have been called the whistleblower who “conquered Countrywide" by Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Gretchen Morgenson of The New York Times. I have also been referred to as "Wall-Street's Greatest Enemy: The Man Who Knows Too Much," by the PBS show Moyers & Company and a revelatory article by David Dayen in Salon. However, I do not feel like a conqueror at all. I feel like a victim who has been repeatedly re-victimized by a system that allows legal loopholes, misrepresentations, and fraud on a trial and appellate court. On May 8, 2014, I was informed that Bank of America, a $100,000,000,000 company with over $2.2 trillion in assets, has placed a lien on my Thousand Oaks home for $96,523.29. Ironic that this is the home I purchased to which I relocated my family when accepting a position for which Countrywide aggressively recruited me. This continues the retaliation that I have experienced by Countrywide and successor BAC for over 7 years. My offense? When they defrauded and abused employees, homeowners, shareholders and taxpayers, I stepped up and challenged them vigorously and took them to court. I won a convincing legal victory. Somehow they found a way to have my strong jury verdict and judicial ruling reversed in my absence (there was no new evidence) and now I must pay this behemoth's court costs including nearly $65,000 for a bond that was ordered by the court, not requested by me. The Court is leaning on me. Interestingly, no such efforts were made by the Court to collect my substantial financial award or court costs from BAC/CFC during the 26 months after my successful verdicts and judgments and before appellate reversal deemed to be unconstitutional and unlawful by a growing number of prominent attorneys. The damages were NEVER given to me. Not a penny! It is almost like they had planned to reverse judgment and verdict from the outset. During litigation, BAC/CFC lost motions for summary judgment, disqualification for lack of court standing, lost jury verdict, judicial ruling, motion for judgment notwithstanding verdict and had very strong evidence against them. BAC/CFC, waited over two years thereafter, then was able to convince a court to support their appeal (consisting largely of lies under oath) and found a court willing to reverse these (in violation of law, constitution and despite evidence in my favor cited as “overwhelming” by trial judge). They claimed I had no evidence and therefore have to pay court costs to the “prevailing party.” They did this by manipulating some crucial evidence and eliminating or ignoring other crucial evidence. I am in possession of original evidence and court record. If an unbiased panel reviewed the actual evidence, they would affirm original verdicts and judgments against BAC/CFC. I believe I actually possess enough evidence for an unbiased Court to pursue criminal charges. These courts should have. I would like to call for just this action. In the meantime, whistleblowers like me see once-impressive corporate careers collapse and strong financial positions implode. Why? Because we uncovered fraud, insider trading, and illegal business and safety practices, spoke against these unlawful practices and tried to protect the masses from them. In short, we are punished for doing the right thing and telling the truth about it while the guilty are rewarded for doing the wrong thing and lying to cover it up. I recently returned from the American Whistleblower Tour at Syracuse University, during which I presented my saga to a number of audiences. Several of my colleagues suggested I share the new elements of this story, once-forgotten and now-recalled, that change the calculus and make it even more in the public interest. The case of Winston vs. Bank of America/Countrywide has been reported upon for many reasons. The strong and decisive jury verdict in my favor with over $3.8 M in damages prompted the case to be newsworthy for over two years. So, too, did the unwillingness of any in the legal system to take action against CFC/BAC witnesses for an unending litany of lies as well as document alterations and fabrication while under oath. (See embedded document at the end of this post) There were no repercussions. A seemingly pretextual appellate reversal over two years after the favorable jury verdict has kept it in the news. Whistleblowers and others are concerned that an Appellate Court can deny due process and remove rights guaranteed by the constitution. They are also questioning the legality of this action. I am hoping to have this judgment amended. A prominent California attorney, Cliff Palefsky, recently went on the record regarding actions taken by the Appellate Court which deprived me of my constitutional rights reversing the favorable jury verdict (said to be “overwhelming” by the Trial Judge on the record). This sets a dangerous precedent. Mr. Palefsky stated on the record, "This never happens…It isn't legal." He then said "The appeals court is not supposed to go back and cherry-pick through the evidence the way this court did. And if there is any doubt about a case, they are legally bound to uphold the jury's verdict." Mr. Palefsky has been included as one of the Best Lawyers in America every year since that survey's inception in 1986 and was named Best Lawyer of the Year in the San Francisco Labor and Employment Law category in 2011. In 2013, Best Lawyers named him Best Lawyer of the Year in the San Francisco Employment Law – Individuals category. He received his J.D. from Georgetown University in 1977. Mr. Palefsky has been called one of the "Most Feared Lawyers" by Human Resources Magazine and the San Francisco Business Journal. In 2010 he received the California Lawyer Magazine Attorney of the Year Award for his work as part of a litigation team that obtained a $78.5 million settlement – the largest settlement in the history of the U.S. Department of Education. Chambers USA described him as "the leading plaintiff side employment lawyer in California" and named McGuinn, Hillsman & Palefsky as the leading plaintiff employment firm in the state. If it is true that "they are legally bound to uphold the jury's verdict," I need a lawyer to enforce this for me. The Appellate reversal felt totally contrived, a product of an unholy alliance between the legal system and a too-big-to-fail bank. The appellate process as it was applied to my case was deeply-flawed. It involved people who were not there and do not know what happened. They may not have even read the briefs, delegating this task instead to law clerks. Even then, the overworked clerks may only scan portions of the material. Appellate documents were pushed back and forth between the two parties. Three times each. With each successive receipt, more and more of the evidence that the jury relied upon in deciding my case was deleted. Vanished into thin air. Thus, this Appellate court decision was based upon sound-bites, half-truths, untruths, edited or radically-depleted records. I have been informed by leading attorneys that the process described above is highly unusual. Purposeful or not, the Appellate Court is depriving people of their civil rights and depriving society of the truth. How many others once victimized and seeking justice will be re-victimized by the legal process? How pervasive is this practice which denies us of constitutional rights? Lawyer Clay Robbins told me the Appellate Court made a "draconian move. They did it deliberately. You got shafted. You had sufficient evidence to prevail with the Appellate Court. They should have affirmed the jury verdict. They deliberately circumvented your options. Their decision was not judicious.” Why would a court be suppressing rather than enforcing my rights? When I accepted an invitation to go work for this rapidly growing mortgage company in 2005, I was eager for a new opportunity and envisioned years of impact, performance and the satisfaction that comes from knowing we made a difference. I was excited to help them build a broadly diversified financial services firm. They told me they wanted me to help them build a "Goldman Sachs on the Pacific." I served as Managing Director and Enterprise Chief Leadership Officer. I had no idea I would wind up in a battle that would consume years of my life. I never dreamt the nation's economy would soon lie in tatters, forcing millions from their jobs and, in record numbers, from their homes as well. I never suspected that my new employer would in a few years come to be known as one of the prime players in a global economic crisis of historical proportions—an institution that Senator Charles Schumer referred to as "ground zero of the financial crisis." The Great American Dream had become the Great American Nightmare. Right before my eyes, Bank of America/Countrywide Financial seemed to repeatedly break the law. I saw it and tried to correct it. I was retaliated against mightily for doing so. It is against the law to retaliate against an employee for engaging in a protected activity. I sacrificed my career, personal life and financial stability to do the right thing. I was completely vindicated by the jury. The Chief Justice admitted this saying in the L.A. Times "the California Court of Appeal ruling… did not dispute Winston's account of how Countrywide executives, including then-Chairman Angelo Mozilo had turned against him." This case involved my refusal to misrepresent material facts to a securities rating agency (Moody's Investors Services, Inc.) and other business integrity issues and my whistleblowing activities (reporting serious health concerns to Cal-OSHA). These acts are protected by the law as a matter of public policy. I tried to stop the malfeasance I observed at Countrywide. I had witnessed what I believed to be blatant Countrywide insider trading, securities fraud and market manipulation. So, too, did the authorities. I had hoped the Board would step in but it was not to be. It was later revealed by Moody's that there was a reason the outside directors did not act. Moody's cited as concerns "Limited large public-company senior executive experience among directors" and "Director pay out of line with peers." (Note- Outside directors were paid twice as much as their peer group, according to Moody's.) My warnings were dismissed or ignored by management as well as the SEC. Instead of being rewarded for doing the right thing, I was punished, isolated, tormented, financially harmed and ultimately dismissed. I may be the only plaintiff who has been able to convince a court of the direct involvement of the top officers of Countrywide Financial – including cofounder, CEO and chairman of the board Angelo Mozilo – in wrongdoing and thus compel their testimony. My case was a retaliation case, not a wrongful termination case. It is true I was terminated a month after BAC took over, however my case was about the ongoing, relentless, egregious retaliation that took place at least once monthly (usually multiple times) from August, 2006 until termination in end of July, 2008. The jury heard about and saw proof of over eighty adverse employment actions taken against me by Countrywide over a two-year period, starting immediately after my alert to Cal-OSHA about dangerous conditions of a “sick building.” The jury heard and saw proof that dozens of people complained of difficulty breathing, headache and stomach ache, a metallic taste in their mouths and dizziness. Many sought medical attention for these sudden conditions. The jury also saw proof that I had sought mitigation from every level internally at Countrywide before contacting OSHA. It was only when I saw proof of their intent to cover-up, not mitigate, the environmental hazards that I took action. Many witnesses testified that my team and I were retaliated against. The jury heard this. Such retaliation was blatant, relentless and done in plain sight. The retaliation actually increased when I refused to lie when asked, to Moody's Investors Service, a ratings agency. I was asked to misstate the truth about the company's succession plan and other governance issues by Countrywide's President and COO as well as the Chief Human Resources Officer. My report acknowledged the succession gap clearly noticed by employees and ALL ratings agencies and attributed this to rapid growth, intense market demand and paucity of skills in this area (which is, in part, why my team and I were hired). This was the truthful and appropriate response. I was not going to outright lie and claim there was no gap in leadership. There was. In fact, I urged CFC to file an 8 K form to notify investors of the departure of the President and Chief Operating Officer, considered a material event that is important to shareholders and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. As early as 2005, well before the mortgage crisis brought the economy to a halt, I had also informed the President of Countrywide Home Loans that their policy of a loan for everyone was neither responsible nor sustainable. I offered to help them change their business model. When the retaliation, fraud and market manipulation picked up speed, I decided to sue as a means to hold them accountable. Wrongful termination was only the last of over eighty adverse employment actions. The case-in-chief we filed and pled was "Retaliation in violation of public policy." The wrongful termination claim is much narrower and is not what we argued. The term was never even used during trial until the jurors were asked, after rendering their verdict, to initial a "special verdict form." The Appellate Opinion written by the Court was eerily similar to the initial Appellate Brief written by Bank of America's lawyers. It seemed as if both were written by the same people or one was simply lifted from the other. I found this very worrisome. The Appellate Court seemed to be attempting to rewrite history. They edited evidence, re-sequenced evidence, misinterpreted evidence and completely deleted evidence. They re-weighed the evidence though this is not allowed. They failed to credit the overwhelming jury verdict to me though they are supposed to. My trial lawyer told me after the hearing that the Chief Justice gave BAC the benefit of the doubt in virtually every instance. Yet, the law requires that such benefit go to me, the person who won the jury verdict. Why would Justices show such bias? Further, instead of fully crediting the jury verdict, the court fashioned some form of additional de facto direct-evidence requirement of what was said behind closed doors. In doing the above they have denied me of rights granted all citizens under the U.S. Constitution. When a jury verdict is overturned, it always raises the concept of a denial of the right to a jury trial if based on a reevaluation of the facts instead of the law. This would be a violation of one's civil rights. Further, the Appellate Court re-weighed the evidence on a cold case. There was no new evidence. The case had been over for more than two years when they looked at it. The Appellate Justices were not there and thus, could not hear the intonation, inflection and other manifestations of verbal (and non-verbal) communication that persuaded the jury to grant him a favorable verdict and note BAC/CFC guilt. All they could do was read a cold, dry record. According to an amicus brief filed by Government Accountability Project (GAP) to the California Supreme Court and signed by Senior Counsel Richard Condit, The Court of Appeal carved out an exception to the longstanding rule of law leaving matters of credibility, the drawing of inferences, and making judgments concerning the weight of evidence to the jury. Instead, the Court of Appeal nullified the jury’s determinations and substituted its assessment of the record for those of the jury and trial judge. Such a departure from well-established principles of law creates a conflict among the Courts of Appeals and conflicts with the prior rulings of this Court. Mr. Condit then stated that "respect for the jury’s determinations is the rule in California and likewise the rule in the federal system." The Justices are supposed to credit the jury's interpretation. They did not. GAP's Senior Counsel continued, stating "this result is contrary to and in conflict with California precedent and prevailing federal precedent in whistle blower cases." Further, attorney Palefsky notes that the Appellate Court not only re-weighed the evidence, but pretended not to. He noted the Court gave full credit to BAC/CFC testimony (which was proven to be fraught with countless lies on issues material to my case.) This is unlawful. Further, he opined that the Court gave NO credit to me for getting the jury verdict. This is also unlawful. Still further, according to the Trial Judge Bert Glennon Jr., when denying BAC’s claim for a Judgment Notwithstanding Verdict and supporting my victory, "there was a great deal of evidence that was provided to the jury in making their decision, and they went about it very carefully and took their time. As this Court has noted, trial judges have the unique opportunity to consider the evidence in the living courtroom context, while appellate judges see only the cold paper record." This, too, is on the record. Given the above, how is reversal even possible? How is reversal even legal? I am told it is not. I believe the Appellate Court violated my constitutional rights. The precedent this sets is too dangerous to go unchallenged. The facts speak for themselves. So did the jury, which voted overwhelmingly in my favor and gave me the verdict. The weight of the evidence supported the jury verdict. Thus, while the Appellate Court states they have “scoured the record” and found no support for the claim, the record actually shows abundant evidence. In fact, our evidence was so overwhelming that the trial judge informed us twice that we had met the sufficiency criterion and instructed us to submit no further evidence as the Judge and jury had heard and seen more than enough. It is on the record. It appears the Appellate Court overlooked or ignored the evidence. It is the purported absence of evidence where such evidence is abundant that the al

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