Gold World News Flash |
- Gov't Intimidation of Rating Agencies Shows How Desperate U.S. Financial Situation Really Is
- Guns and Ammo – If You Ain’t Stocked Up Now You Might Be Out Of Luck
- Richard Russell - World’s Supply Of Silver Dangerously Low
- Visa Sued by Australian Regulator In Landmark Case
- The Ultimate Failure Of Ponzi Economics
- Silver Institute's New Video Now Available – Take a Look
- Silver Update 2/4/13 Silver Anomolies
- American Bases in Germany and the Gold Basis
- Gold Miners: Growth vs. Performance
- Silver Heist in the Netherlands
- Spanish Data Halts Euro Rally
- GOLD & SILVER Miners are Dirt Cheap here!
- Paul Krugman: The Real Friend of Fraud
- 5 Compelling Reasons Why It?s Now Time to Sell Gold
- Why Buy Silver?
- Guest Post: Stocks, Money Flows, And Inflation
- They're Trying to Shake You Out!
- Argentina Freezes Supermarket Prices To Halt Soaring Inflation; Chaos To Follow
- Silver Is The Element Of Change – New Educational Video
- Is Central Bank Gold Buying Relevant? – Commodities Confidential w/ CPM Group – YouTube
- The Gold Price Rose Again Today Up $5.90 to $1,675.30
- Do Silver and Platinum Have Higher Growth Potential Than Gold?
- A U.S. Debt Downgrade Could Happen At Any Moment. By Gregory Mannarino – YouTube
- 5 Compelling Reasons Why It's Now Time to Sell Gold
- Gold Range Tightens between 1650 and 1700
- Thank you J.M., for the note:
- Casey Interviews Peter Schiff on Gold, Inflation, and Interest Rates
- Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Mixed While Stocks Drop
- In The News Today
- Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts
- Gold Resource Corporation Appoints Dr. Gary Huber to Board of Directors
- News, Commentary & Analysis
- Operation Last Resort
- Chen Lin Places His Bets on Self-Financing Producers
- THE CHINESE REALLY KNOW HOW TO RING IN A NEW YEAR WITH A BANG
- Gold Flow East & Silver Squeeze To Create Surge In Metals
| Gov't Intimidation of Rating Agencies Shows How Desperate U.S. Financial Situation Really Is Posted: 04 Feb 2013 11:16 PM PST "Follow the munKNEE" via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily Intelligence Report [The U.S. governments attempt to prevent the rating agencies (and Standard & Poor's in particular) from following through on their threats to further downgrade the credit worthiness of U. S. government debt] smacks of absolute desperation. It seems that Washington insiders have come to the conclusion that the stability of the U.S. government and financial system is threatened by the ratings agencies. In this case, it is threatened by creditors and citizens knowing the truth about the financial condition of the government. So writes Jason Hamlin (www.goldstockbull.com) in edited excerpts from his original article entitled U.S. Government Sues S&P, Only Ratings Agency to Downgrade U.S. Debt.
Hamlin goes on to say in further edited excerpts: We all know that the rating agencies were slapping prime AAA ratings on investments that banks were secretly describing as 'turds.' This helped the banks sell risky assets to unsuspecting investors, teachers' pension funds, retirement funds and the like for much more than they would have otherwise got. The banks were happy with the rating agencies and no doubt showered them with "thanks (cough)." That is to say, thanks for not looking into the true risk of these investments and just rubber stamping them safe, so that we are able to get top dollar and sell huge quantities of near worthless paper to the muppets, I mean unsophisticated investing public. All of the big rating agencies were doing it, maintaining high ratings on CDOs right up until their collapse. This goes for S&P, Moody's, Fitch and several others. So, why is the Justice Department singling out just S&P in the civil lawsuit announced today? Forbes attempted to answer this question, but completely blew it. I have no idea how they couldn't make the connection (or maybe they were avoiding the political incorrectness of biting the hand that feeds) but, either way, I am happy to help. Here it is: Standard & Poor's was the only major ratings agency to downgrade U.S. debt. On August 6th, 2011, S&P deprived the U.S. for the first time of the triple-A rating it had held for over 70 years. Their justification was that the budget deal brokered in Washington didn't do enough to bring American's fiscal house in order – and they were right! Here we are again needing emergency measures to lift the debt ceiling and allow the government to continue spending money that it does not have. S&P downgraded long-term U.S. debt to AA+, but even that was probably too little, too late. This bold move by S&P to downgrade the creditworthiness of the U.S. government for the first time in history absolutely infuriated Washington and all of the pigs eating at the trough of unlimited fiat government money. It was a direct threat not only to the credibility of the U.S. government (or do I contradict myself?), but to something far more precious… the status of the U.S. dollar as the only world reserve currency. You see, if the rest of the world stop buying into the U.S. government/Federal Reserve Ponzi scheme of a monetary system, the party too must stop. The FED is already thought to be purchasing up to 70% of U.S. bonds at auction, "monetizing" the soon-to-be worthless paper for which Asian nations have lost an appetite. How DARE you do that S&P?!? So now, after a joke of a resolution to the fiscal cliff, promising to cut $1 Trillion over 10 years, when we need to cut $1 Trillion this year, and using the political process to allow Congress to increase the limit on their already maxed out credit card, agencies are once again threatening to downgrade U.S. debt. Of course they should be downgrading U.S. debt! Has anyone looked at the books lately? Any individual or business that spends this much more than they take in would have been bankrupt and on the street years ago yet, when Moody's threatened to join S&P in downgrading U.S. credit last year, they were immediately attacked by government media hacks such as Mark Weisbrot, who said:
You should be embarrassed Moody's! Get in line! I guess one could make the argument that the U.S. will never technically default because it can print as much money as it likes so there creditors, it was not a default, we just paid you back with paper notes worth about 1% of the amount you loaned us. All good? On January 15th, 2013, Fitch finally joined the other agencies in warning of a potential downgrade to U.S. debt. Fitch basically argued that the debt ceiling had to be raised or eliminated to allow for more debt, as a solution to the U.S. debt problem. Bravo sir! I'm not sure how you do it with a straight face, but well done. All of this talk of other rating agencies following S&P's lead in downgrading the U.S. must have created quite a stir in White House meetings with…White House aides and staffers scrambling frantically for solutions to postpone the inevitable loss of faith in a bankrupt government. Their solution? To hold the rating agencies feet to the fire and get them to obey government [in the future and get back at them for their previous misdeeds] they would claim that the rating agencies are fraudsters in that they helped bring about the financial crash (even though they were told that they would be let off for that whole thing provided they gave AAA rating to investments that were highly speculative junk) and, as such, announce civil charges against S&P and scare the hell out of the others so that not a single one will dare speak again of downgrading U.S. creditworthiness! Punish them sons of bitches at S&P for what they did! And so it was done. The USA Today reported:
Take this type of political brinkmanship as you will, but for me, it smacks of absolute desperation. It seems that Washington insiders have come to the conclusion that the stability of the U.S. government and financial system is threatened by the ratings agencies. In this case, it is threatened by creditors and citizens knowing the truth about the financial condition of the government. Conclusion [What the government is up to] should serve as yet another warning to convert at least some portion of your fiat paper notes into real tangible assets that do not carry counter-party risk. A dollar today will buy you roughly 95% less goods than it would have in 1913. An ounce of gold or silver will buy you the same or more in goods today. Preserve your wealth and protect your hard-earned assets from inflation or the potential of hyperinflation if we continue on our current trajectory. Editor's Note: The author's views and conclusions are unaltered and no personal comments have been included to maintain the integrity of the original article. Furthermore, the views, conclusions and any recommendations offered in this article are not to be construed as an endorsement of such by the editor.*http://www.goldstockbull.com/articles/u-s-government-targets-sp-only-ratings-agency-to-downgrade-u-s-debt-conincidence/ (Written by Jason Hamlin; Copyright © 2013 Gold Stock Bull – All Rights Reserved; Sign up for FREE email updates or click here to view the portfolio/newsletter (paid content)
Related Articles: 1. Why U.S. Lost its Triple A Credit Rating Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded the U.S. debt rating for the first time since the country won the top ranking in 1917. The rating was dropped from AAA to AA+ because the deficit reduction plan passed by Congress on Tuesday did not go far enough to stabilize the country's debt situation and S&P's was "pessimistic about the capacity of Congress and the administration to leverage their agreement this week into a broader [deficit cutting] plan that stabilizes the government's debt dynamics any time soon." S&P also issued a negative outlook, meaning that there was a chance it will lower the rating further within the next two years, and warned that a downgrade to AA would occur if the agency sees smaller reductions in spending than Congress and the administration have agreed to make, higher interest rates or new fiscal pressures during this period. Words: 733 2. Mohamed A. El-Erian: Bad Economics Led to Bad Politics and Will Further Undermine Economy Unless…. The warning bells are ringing, and they are ringing loudly. We've already allowed bad economics to lead to bad politics. Now, it's high time to put a stop to the cycle where bad politics undermines an already fragile economy. [Let me explain.] Words: 1085
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| Guns and Ammo – If You Ain’t Stocked Up Now You Might Be Out Of Luck Posted: 04 Feb 2013 11:00 PM PST by Jarhead Survivor, SHTFBlog:
I was in a hardware store last weekend and out of curiosity asked the guy behind the counter if he had any .223 ammo. He laughed. Seriously. They didn't have any .40 caliber ammo either, which is what I was interested in. So not only are gun sales now going through the roof, but ammunition is getting very scarce – at least around here where I live. I kick myself that I didn't stock up on more ammo, but hey – it is what it is. Pretty soon ammo will be worth as much as gold! |
| Richard Russell - World’s Supply Of Silver Dangerously Low Posted: 04 Feb 2013 10:01 PM PST  Today the Godfather of newsletter writers, Richard Russell, warned his subscribers "... the world's supply of silver has grown dangerously low." Russell also had some fascinating comments regarding gold, and stocks, including some great charts. Here is what Russell had to say: "If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact -- not to be solved, but to be coped with over time." (Shimon Peres) As I read the quote, I relate it to the FACT of the US's debt. This is a situation that can never be solved honestly -- it's a fact. A fact that our children or our grandchildren will have to cope with. How they cope with it will set the course of the world of tomorrow."This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Visa Sued by Australian Regulator In Landmark Case Posted: 04 Feb 2013 10:00 PM PST from Silver Vigilante:
Dynamic currency conversion services allows customers to complete a transaction in their home currency or in the local currency of the retail store or bank cash machine. |
| The Ultimate Failure Of Ponzi Economics Posted: 04 Feb 2013 09:50 PM PST There will be no mention of "failure" or "Ponzi" by the ever blathering "we're in a recovery" mainstream financial news media. When the "big money" sees the economy for what it is, why won't anybody listen to them? Here's your chance! Listen to what the five men below have to say about "our economy". I think you'll agree, IT'S A LIE! The CON-fidence men that manipulate our economy 24/7 at the Fed, the Treasury, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, et al, will be exposed as traitors...all in good time. Is it just a coincidence that this week begins with "new" news of "economic trouble in Europe" just as the US Dollar teeters on support going back to the last round of "bad news" out of Europe in February 2012? I think not. If the Dollar tips over here, the Greatest Ponzi of all time could well go "POOF!", and the prices paid for Precious Metals, Energy, and Food will skyrocket. Money for Nothin' Writing Checks for Free  It was Milton Friedman, not Ben Bernanke, who first made reference to dropping money from helicopters in order to prevent deflation. Bernanke's now famous "helicopter speech" in 2002, however, was no less enthusiastically supportive of the concept. In it, he boldly previewed the almost unimaginable policy solutions that would follow the black swan financial meltdown in 2008: policy rates at zero for an extended period of time; expanding the menu of assets that the Fed buys beyond Treasuries; and of course quantitative easing purchases of an almost unlimited amount should they be needed. These weren't Bernanke innovations – nor was the term QE. Many of them had been applied by policy authorities in the late 1930s and '40s as well as Japan in recent years. Yet the then Fed Governor's rather blatant support of monetary policy to come should have been a signal to investors that he would be willing to pilot a helicopter should the takeoff be necessary. "Like gold," he said, "U.S. dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply. But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost." Mr. Bernanke never provided additional clarity as to what he meant by "no cost." Perhaps he was referring to zero-bound interest rates, although at the time in 2002, 10-year Treasuries were at 4%. Or perhaps he knew something that American citizens, their political representatives, and almost all investors still don't know: that quantitative easing – the purchase of Treasury and Agency mortgage obligations from the private sector – IS essentially costless in a number of ways. That might strike almost all of us as rather incredible – writing checks for free – but that in effect is what a central bank does. Yet if ordinary citizens and corporations can't overdraft their accounts without criminal liability, how can the Fed or the European Central Bank or any central bank get away with printing "electronic money" and distributing it via helicopter flyovers in the trillions and trillions of dollars? Well, the answer is sort of complicated but then it's sort of simple: They just make it up. When the Fed now writes $85 billion of checks to buy Treasuries and mortgages every month, they really have nothing in the "bank" to back them. Supposedly they own a few billion dollars of "gold certificates" that represent a fairy-tale claim on Ft. Knox's secret stash, but there's essentially nothing there but trust. When a primary dealer such as J.P. Morgan or Bank of America sells its Treasuries to the Fed, it gets a "credit" in its account with the Fed, known as "reserves." It can spend those reserves for something else, but then another bank gets a credit for its reserves and so on and so on. The Fed has told its member banks "Trust me, we will always honor your reserves," and so the banks do, and corporations and ordinary citizens trust the banks, and "the beat goes on," as Sonny and Cher sang. $54 trillion of credit in the U.S. financial system based upon trusting a central bank with nothing in the vault to back it up. Amazing! ____________________________ Eric Sprott - We Are In The Biggest Ponzi Scheme Of All-Time "...with some simple analysis of where we are, I mean we are in the biggest Ponzi scheme of all-time. We are just printing money and people have to realize it's not a winning proposition. We have been doing this since 2008. We get program after program. We've been doing it since 2000 in Japan. All to no effect. All we end up with is a stretched out balance sheet. Sooner or later we are going to pay the piper for it, and when we pay the piper, you better be in gold and silver, other precious metals and real things." Eric King: "You said we are in the biggest Ponzi scheme of all-time, is 2013 the year that starts to unwind?" Sprott: "Well, that really is the $64 million question isn't it? We have to be getting close. Look at the degree of printing now. We're up by a substantive amount whether it's the Japanese, or every month we seem to have a new program with the doubling of the purchases by the Fed that start this month, or Mr. Monti, 'We're going to do everything we have to do.' It's totally ridiculous. If people want to try to fade the Fed and play the game, you can do that. I can guarantee you in the long-run it will all fail. Think about what's going on in Europe today. They are back in recession. We have all of these programs and we're back in a deep recession. So these policies don't work. They never were going to work. Everyone wants to believe in them, but they are not going to work. The only thing that's going to work in the long-run is that real assets will outperform paper assets." ______________________ |
| Silver Institute's New Video Now Available – Take a Look Posted: 04 Feb 2013 09:39 PM PST "Follow the munKNEE" via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily Intelligence Report Check out this new 7 minute video, just released today, which explores So says an introduction* to a release of a video (7:03 minutes) by the Silver Institute entitled "Silver: The Element of Change."
The introduction goes on to say: The video looks at:
Click here to view this video
*http://www.silverinstitute.org/site/2013/01/31/silver-institute-releases-new-video-on-silver/ (Established in 1971, the Silver Institute serves as the industry's voice in increasing public understanding of the many uses and values of silver.)
Related Articles: 1. The Silver Series: Silver as an Investment (Part 3) Silver has had double digit gains in 7 of the last 10 years. In this infographic, we look at the investment properties of silver as well as its chief differences with gold. Highlights include a study on silver correlation, volatility, performance against the US Dollar and money supply, and portfolio diversification. 2. The Silver Series (Part 2): Supply & Demand
3. Part 1: The History of Silver As a Currency – and More
4. The Top 10 Silver Producing Countries & Companies – and Investment Options
5. Silver's Price Could Outpace That of Gold – Here's Why
6. I'm A Crazy Silver Bug…Why Aren't You?!!
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| American Bases in Germany and the Gold Basis Posted: 04 Feb 2013 09:20 PM PST by Antal Fekete, Financial Sense:
But why would the Americans ask the Bundesbank to request the return of a part of German gold from the 'safety' of the basement of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in lower Manhattan? Surely not because the vaults are bulging with American gold and they have to make room for more. It's all grand theater. There is a hidden agenda that has to be camouflaged. The best way of doing it is to put up a show. The public is fascinated by images of shuffling central bank gold. |
| Gold Miners: Growth vs. Performance Posted: 04 Feb 2013 09:00 PM PST Casey Research |
| Silver Heist in the Netherlands Posted: 04 Feb 2013 08:25 PM PST from acuriousbeast: |
| Posted: 04 Feb 2013 08:22 PM PST Spanish Data Halts Euro Rally Back to square one. Spain is in the spotlight once again with data unsettling enough to shatter the Euro's 4 month rally against the dollar. Record unemployment coupled with depressing growth data and political woes paint Spain to look like a sinking ship.
Your currency analyst, Justin Burkhardt #032a47; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Disclaimer: I have no positions in any of assets mentioned, but may initiate a (long or short) position in the EURUSD over the next 72 hours  |
| GOLD & SILVER Miners are Dirt Cheap here! Posted: 04 Feb 2013 08:00 PM PST from silver investor.com: |
| Paul Krugman: The Real Friend of Fraud Posted: 04 Feb 2013 07:54 PM PST One of Paul Krugman's constant themes is that financial regulation, if done by people who properly have been schooled as Democrats, will guard against fraud, and he is at it again in his most recent column. The flip side of that point, of course, is that Republicans want fraud to happen because they are evil and beholden to Wild West Capitalism. Before I deal with Krugman's own enthusiastic support for outright financial fraud, let me address one point that he claims: Barney Frank had absolutely no influence regarding the collapse of Fannie and Freddie. Krugman writes: How can the G.O.P. be so determined to make America safe for financial fraud, with the 2008 crisis still so fresh in our memory? In part it's because Republicans are deep in denial about what actually happened to our financial system and economy. On the right, it's now complete orthodoxy that do-gooder liberals, especially former Representative Barney Frank, somehow caused the financial disaster by forcing helpless bankers to lend to Those People. This is one of those True Krugman Moments when he claims that (1) Frank had absolutely no influence in Congress even though he was the Democrat's Congressional point man on banking and financial matters; (2) the government never attempted to have large sums of money funneled to borrowers in the "sub-prime" category; and (3) the financial system that existed during the housing boom was pure free market without a hint of government intervention anywhere. (Given Krugman's belief that Democrats are pure of heart and never would engage in financial fraud, I am surprised that he does not go after Jon Corzine, who was responsible for more than a billion dollars in very questionable losses for investors. Oh, I forgot. Corzine was a Democrat politician; he lost the money honestly trying to help his dear clients. And Bernie Madeoff also was a Democrat.) As that famed right-wing publication, The Boston Globe, declared in a feature on Frank: When US Representative Barney Frank spoke in a packed hearing room on Capitol Hill seven years ago, he did not imagine that his words would eventually haunt a reelection bid.Now, I absolutely agree that Frank did not cause the meltdown nor did he cause the collapse of Fannie and Freddie, but even though his party did not hold a majority in the House of Representatives, nonetheless he did have influence and lots of it. (The influence comes out in the committee action, not the actual vote on the floor.) Furthermore, I do not recall any prominent Democrats during that period calling for lending restrictions on people with bad credit. The blame for the meltdown is bipartisan, although Krugman will never admit to such. As for the Consumer Protection Bureau which he champions throughout the column, I do not believe that Washington and the Democrats are ready to jettison the very tenets of political liberalism and call for strict lending standards and to shut out people with bad credit from mortgage markets. That really would be a first! Krugman's enthusiastic support for massive fraud, however, comes in his enthusiastic calls for inflation and lots of it, and inflation is a fraudulent way to repudiate debt (although Krugman has written that such a method is perfectly moral). As I have pointed out before, Krugman has openly agitated for government financial measures such as the Fed purchasing worthless financial instruments in order to jack up their market prices (if a private firm does the same, it is called "manipulation," which is against the law). The difference is in the sheer numbers. While the meltdown featured head-scratching decisions by banks, nonetheless the actual losses due to the Corzine-Madeoff kind of fraud (where people actually set out to deceive others) were small compared to the over-the-cliff losses that came from lots of people jumping into the housing market because it was hot. Krugman, like most Keynesians, believes that regulators have excellent foresight and know beforehand what lines of production will be profitable and which will not. (One remembers the Democrats pushing "industrial policy" in the 1980s, a brainchild of Bill Bradley and Gary Hart, both of whom believed that government agencies should target upcoming industries and then subsidize them. We see how well that works with "green energy.") As Murray Rothbard once put it, if regulators actually had the kind of knowledge Krugman believes they have, then they would be in the markets themselves making lots of money employing their great foresight instead of making paltry government salaries. Instead, we find that regulators mostly will try to block any innovation, since they never will get credit for market successes, but surely will be blamed for market failures. When it comes to fraud, however, keep in mind that it was the players in the market that realized Madeoff was running a scam, not the regulators. In fact, the lack of insight by regulators actually permitted Madeoff to run his operation longer than it should have gone, as people tended to think that if the regulatory agencies were OK with the guy, then he must be on-the-level. The kind of fraud I fear, however, is not the fraud of some people being scammed in the financial markets. The greater and more dangerous fraud is that which Krugman heartily endorses: government money printing and the destructive inflation that follows it. Krugman's Inflation Fairy is as dishonest as Bernie Madeoff and much more dangerous.  |
| 5 Compelling Reasons Why It?s Now Time to Sell Gold Posted: 04 Feb 2013 07:32 PM PST [B]"Follow the [COLOR=#0000ff][U]munKNEE"[/U][/B] [/COLOR]via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily [B][B][B][B][B]Intelligence Report[/B][/B][/B][/B][/B] I explained in an earlier article**my thesis for why gold’s 12-year winning streak will come to an end in 2013…[and] nearly a month into 2013, the case for selling gold is gaining strength. [This article puts forth 5 compelling reasons why it is now time to sell gold.] Words: 690*; Charts: 2 So writes Mike Williams in edited excerpts from his article** as originally posted on Seeking Alpha under the title 5 Compelling Reasons To Sell Gold. [INDENT]*This article is presented compliments of [B]www.FinancialArticleSummariesToday.com (A site for sore eyes and inquisitive minds) and [COLOR=#ff0000]www.munKNEE.com [/COLOR](Your Key to Making Money!) and may have been edited ([ ]), abridged (…) and/or reformatted (some sub-titles and bold/italics emphases) for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast an... |
| Posted: 04 Feb 2013 07:28 PM PST ■Silver has no counter-party risk. It is not someone else's liability. Silver Eagles or Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins are recognized around the world and have intrinsic value everywhere. The same is NOT true for hundreds of paper currencies that have become worthless, usually because the government or central bank printed them to excess to pay the debts of governments that did not control spending. |
| Guest Post: Stocks, Money Flows, And Inflation Posted: 04 Feb 2013 07:16 PM PST Via Pater Tenebrarum of Acting-Man blog, Sentiment Goes NutsMish reports that this week's Barron's cover looks like a pretty strong warning sign for stocks (but not only the cover as he points out, but also what's inside). However, there may be an even more stunning capitulation datum out there, in this case a survey that we have frequently mentioned in the past, the NAAIM survey of fund managers. This survey has reached an all time high in net bullishness last week, with managers on average 104% long (this is to say, including the bears, the average response results in a leveraged net long position, a first).
A new record high in the net bullish percentage of the NAAIM survey of fund managers – click for better resolution.
However, that is not all. NAIIM asks fund managers to relate their positioning as a range bounded by "200% net short" to "200% net long", in other words, even fully leveraged net long and net short positions are considered. The survey keepers also relate where the most extreme replies are situated within this range. Naturally, the most bullish manager(s) have been between 180% and 200% long for some time. So that number is actually only of concern if it shrinks, which has in fact done (slightly) last week. However, here is the stunner: the most "bearish" fund manager is now 60% net long! That has also never happened before – in effect, there not only are no bears left, there is also no-one left who's merely "neutral" on the market – the bullish consensus is now effectively 100% in the sense that not a single manager among those surveyed is left with an open net short position, not even a tiny one. Two weeks earlier, the most bearish respondent was still 200% short, and one week earlier 125%.
The NAAIM response range. The red ellipses show the new all time high in net bullish positioning, as well as the stance taken by the most "bearish" manager in the survey, who's now 60% net long.
That should be good for at least a two to three percent correction one would think, probably intraday (i.e., to be fully recovered by the close).
"Money Flows"The nonsense people will talk – people who really should know better - is sometimes truly breathtaking. Recently a number of strategists from large institutions, i.e., people who get paid big bucks for coming up with this stuff, have assured us that "equities are underowned", that "money will flow from bonds to equities", and that "money sitting on the sidelines" will be drawn into the market. What are "underowned" equities, precisely? Are there any stocks that are not yet owned by someone, so to speak orphans, that are flying around in the Wall Street aether unsupervised? If so, give them to us please. Since apparently no-one owns them, they should presumably come for free. And how exactly does money "flow from bonds to stocks", pray tell? There may well be bondholders crazy enough to sell their bonds so they can buy into a stock market that's already 130% off the lows, but then someone else will have to buy their bonds, and someone will have to sell them his stocks. If that happens, someone will end up the patsy, but no money has "flowed" from one market to another. All that has happened is that the ownership of bonds, stocks and cash has changed. The same holds of course for so-called "money on the sidelines". Admittedly, the stock of money is indeed growing, courtesy of the Federal Reserve's virtual printing press. At the moment it increases at an 11.2% annual pace (broad money TMS-2) respectively a 9.3% annual pace (narrow money TMS-1), which is admittedly none too shabby and undoubtedly a major reason why stock prices have held firm. However, what that mainly tells us is that money is now worth less, because there is more of it. Which prices in the economy will rise when the money supply is increased is never certain, but it is certain that some prices will rise. Other than that, all stocks, all bonds and all cash are always held by someone. The only orphaned cash that is truly "on the sidelines" are banknotes people have lost on the street. Probably not enough to push equities even higher, but you never know. John Hussman has also written about this very topic again last week (Hussman is among the handful of people actually getting this right) and has raised a further interesting and logical point in this context. He explains why the weighting of bonds versus equities at pension funds and other institutional investors has been altered toward a larger percentage of bonds:
(emphasis added) There you have it – all it means at this juncture is that there is more debt extant than before. In fact, a lot more – as Hussman also remarks:
(emphasis in the original) The above facts have been pointed out over and over again, by Hussman and a few others (to our knowledge, Mish, Steven Saville and yours truly. If we forgot to mention anyone, then only because we haven't come across their writings yet). And yet, the fallacy keeps being repeated by people all over Wall Street.
Stocks and "Inflation"As noted above, there is currently (and has been for the past 4 ½ years), plenty of inflation. The money supply is inflated at breakneck speed, after all, the 10% and higher annualized growth rates we have experienced are compounding. We keep hearing from various sources that stocks are expected to be acting as a "hedge" when the time comes when a decline in money's purchasing power becomes evident by dint of rising indexes of the "general price level", such as CPI. For instance, Kyle Bass last week reminded us of the excellent performance of Zimbabwe's stock market during the hyperinflation period by noting:
He's quite right, but it would actually be a mistake to compare the current market situation and the situation we will likely have the opportunity to observe should CPI actually ever rise again, with the Zimbabwe situation (at least initially). Let us explain: right now, the "inflation" backdrop is a kind of sweet spot for stocks. There is plenty of monetary inflation, but the officially reported decline in money's purchasing power is very small, which helps to keep bond yields at a low level. "Inflation expectations", i.e., expectations regarding future CPI, have risen, but not by enough to disturb this happy state of affairs. It should be clear that the chance to go from "almost no inflation" (let's call that state "A") directly to "hyperinflation" (which we will call state "C") is non-existent. Again, this is in the sense of rising consumer prices and disregarding the fact that the officially reported data are somewhat suspect. We are also disregarding the fact that the decline in money's purchasing power cannot be "measured" anyway. So even to those who insist that stocks will protect one against the ravages of sharply rising prices of goods and services, it should be clear that things won't simply go from "A" to "C" in one go, but will first proceed to "B" (note, we are also leaving a deflationary contraction of the money supply aside here, which everyone agrees will result in falling stock prices. As long as there are Bernanke & co. at the helm, it isn't going to happen anyway). "B" is the state of affairs that pertained in the 1970s: high levels of CPI, close to and intermittently even exceeding double digits, but not hyperinflation. What would stocks likely do if we were visited by such a state "B" in spite of the valiant efforts to keep CPI as low as possible by means of an ever changing calculation method? Both logic and experience tell us that their valuations will be compressed, this is to say, p/e ratios will decline, very likely into single digits. This is because high levels of CPI will raise bond yields considerably, and the future stream of earnings will have to be discounted by higher interest rates. Stock prices will also reflect the then presumably much higher inflation expectations. If nominal economic growth does not exceed the increase in CPI, then neither will earnings. The 1970s have in fact already shown what happens in such an environment: the stock market tends to decline. So what if hyperinflation were to break out one day? In Zimbabwe even the nominal prices of stocks of companies that were effectively put out of business because they could no longer pay for inputs (due to a lack of foreign exchange) soared. However, Kyle Bass is correct: the devaluation of money in the wider sense was even more pronounced than the increase in stock prices. Stocks did not protect anyone in the sense of fully preserving one's purchasing power. It was clearly better to hold stocks than cash or bonds in the hyperinflation period, but still your portfolio would 'only buy you three eggs' when all was said and done (while cash holdings bought absolutely nothing anymore in the end). The only things that actually preserved purchasing power were gold, foreign exchange and assorted hard assets for which a liquid market exists. We have put gold in first place because it not only preserved purchasing power during the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, it actually increased it. Stocks did no such thing.
The ZSE Industrial Index – impressive, right? Not so fast…..(via Random Thoughts) – click for better resolution.
The Zim$-USD exchange rate, official, parallel market, and the 'OMIR' rate (which is probably the most exact one: "…the Old Mutual Implied Rate (OMIR) was calculated by dividing the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange price of shares of the insurance company named "Old Mutual" by the London Stock Exchange Price for the same share." – click for better resolution.
Zimbabwe's estimated inflation rate (from a report by the CATO institute, pdf):
Zimbabwe's hyperinflation progression
Hyperinflation episodes compared:
The time it took for prices to double, several hyperinflation episodes compared. As can be seen, the rise in Zimbabwe's stock market was no match for the decline in money's purchasing power. |
| They're Trying to Shake You Out! Posted: 04 Feb 2013 06:00 PM PST If we are to believe market commentators, then Gold is being held back because the FED's QE may be ending sooner than expected. The argument is that if the economy improves, the FED will back out of asset purchases (QE) ... Read More...  |
| Argentina Freezes Supermarket Prices To Halt Soaring Inflation; Chaos To Follow Posted: 04 Feb 2013 05:25 PM PST Up until now, Argentina's descent into a hyperinflationary basket case, with a crashing currency and loss of outside funding was relatively moderate and controlled. All this is about to change. Today, in a futile attempt to halt inflation, the government of Cristina Kirchner announced a two-month price freeze on supermarket products. The price freeze applies to every product in all of the nation's largest supermarkets — a group including Walmart, Carrefour, Coto, Jumbo, Disco and other large chains. The companies' trade group, representing 70 percent of the Argentine supermarket sector, reached the accord with Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno, the government's news agency Telam reported. As AP reports, "The commerce ministry wants consumers to keep receipts and complain to a hotline about any price hikes they see before April 1." Perhaps they will. What consumers will certainly do is scramble into local stores to take advantage of artificially-controlled prices knowing very well they have two short months to stock up on perishable goods at today's prices, before the country's inflation comes soaring back, only this time many of the local stores will not be around as their profit margins implode and as owners, especially of foreign-based chains, make the prudent decision to get out of Dodge while the getting's good and before the next steps, including such measures as nationalization, in the escalation into a full out hyperinflationary collapse, are taken by Argentina's female ruler. As such expect photos of empty shelves from Buenos Aires to start popping up in a few days, comparable to how threats of a gun and weapon ban by the US government did more for the top and bottom line of US arms dealers than any military conflict ever could.
In other news Argentina, just like the rest of the "developed" world, appears to have a slight inflation tracking problem:
The BLS has the solution: just exclude any product whose price is rising from your CPI calculation, and voila. For everything else there is a hedonic adjustment. The ironic comparison to the US does not end there however:
Wait, are they still talking about Argentina or the US?
Well good thing the US complies with the IMF's stringent "seasonally adjusted" data reporting quality control. Or else, the US may have been expelled from the IMF too. And then who would fund the creeping bailout of Europe (aside from Germany of course)?
So to summarize: first capital controls, then a currency crisis, then expectations of sovereign default, then a rise in military tensions, and finally - price controls, after which all out chaos usually follows. Study this sequence well: it is coming to every "developed" country near you in the months and years ahead. But, as with every other hyperinflationary implosion, there is a silver lining: the stock market is soaring... ... at least in Peso terms. When priced in USD, the 360% stock market "rise" is more like -9% in the past 21 years. But luckily, the general public has a gene that prevents it from grasping the difference between nominal and real - something Ben Bernanke is very well aware of. |
| Silver Is The Element Of Change – New Educational Video Posted: 04 Feb 2013 05:10 PM PST The Silver Institute published today the following short but highly educational video about silver. They explain why it is the element of change. Silver is one of the most widely used and indispensable precious metals in modern society. Throughout history silver has played a key role in many of civilizations' greatest advancements. It is the element of change. Since it was first extracted from the earth in ancient Turkey some five thousand years ago, silver has helped society. Silver changed the course of countless lives in the time of the Greek and Roman empires when it was first used to prevent infection. In the middle ages silver was first used to disinfect water and food during storage.
Silver has been a popular store of that for centuries. Today large and small investors alike recognize silvers intrinsic worth and are including silver their investment portfolio's. Without question, few other substances are as versatile, as beneficial, as beautiful as silver. It has been instrumental in changing the course of history and no doubt the future possibilities are limitless for silver, the element of change. |
| Is Central Bank Gold Buying Relevant? – Commodities Confidential w/ CPM Group – YouTube Posted: 04 Feb 2013 05:02 PM PST Check our website daily at... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.figanews.com for full Content ]]  |
| The Gold Price Rose Again Today Up $5.90 to $1,675.30 Posted: 04 Feb 2013 05:01 PM PST Gold Price Close Today : 1,675.30 Gold Price Close 25-Jan-13 : 1,656.40 Change : 18.90 or 1.1% Silver Price Close Today : 3170 Silver Price Close 25-Jan-13 : 3118 Change : 52.00 or 1.7% Gold Silver Ratio Today : 52.849 Gold Silver Ratio 25-Jan-13 : 53.124 Change : -0.28 or -0.5% Silver Gold Ratio : 0.01892 Silver Gold Ratio 25-Jan-13 : 0.01882 Change : 0.00010 or 0.5% Dow in Gold Dollars : $ 171.27 Dow in Gold Dollars 25-Jan-13 : $ 173.11 Change : -$1.84 or -1.1% Dow in Gold Ounces : 8.285 Dow in Gold Ounces 25-Jan-13 : 8.374 Change : -0.09 or -1.1% Dow in Silver Ounces : 437.86 Dow in Silver Ounces 25-Jan-13 : 444.86 Change : -7.00 or -1.6% Dow Industrial : 13,880.08 Dow Industrial 25-Jan-13 : 13,870.75 Change : 9.33 or 0.1% S&P 500 : 1,495.71 S&P 500 25-Jan-13 : 1,500.67 Change : -4.96 or -0.3% US Dollar Index : 79.551 US Dollar Index 25-Jan-13 : 79.748 Change : -0.197 or -0.2% Platinum Price Close Today : 1,696.60 Platinum Price Close 25-Jan-13 : 1,693.90 Change : 2.70 or 0.2% Palladium Price Close Today : 757.40 Palladium Price Close 25-Jan-13 : 740.25 Change : 17.15 or 2.3% Since I didn't send y'all a commentary on Friday, I'm sending the week's comparison today. The GOLD PRICE rose again today, adding $5.90 to Friday's close to end the day at $1,675.30. Silver, however, after rising 60.7 cents on Friday, lost 24.2c today and closed at 3170c. This only underscores their conflicting performance, although it's been silver outrunning gold most of the time. Gold closed January lower than it ended December ($1,669.40 against $1,674.50) -- not much, but never a good sign. The SILVER PRICE, though, closed January a buck and six bits higher, 3017.3c against 3194.2c. Arguing with each other, but silver will win. 'Tis eye-catching that although gold rose today while silver fell, the GOLD/SILVER RATIO (gold divided by silver) actually fell from 52.982 to 52.849. So the SILVER PRICE didn't fall enough, or gold didn't rise enough, to keep the ratio from falling, and a falling ratio always whispers good things into the bull's ear. Lines for silver and gold are plainly drawn. Both, bear in mind, are building even-sided triangles, and both I expect will break out upside. the GOLD PRICE must jump over $1,705 to break free of gravity, while silver needs a close above 3200c, followed quickly by a close over 3250c. Fifty day moving average has been keeping gold captive, and now stands at $1,684.40. Ditto for silver with a 3180c 50 DMA. Silver and gold grow more and more attractive day by day. Yes, the investing media blackens them, yes, they are struggling, yes, investor opinion is low. Precisely a good time to buy. But if you don't think so, wait for a couple of confirmations and buy some at higher prices. I brought my knife, fork, and napkin to work today, expecting to have to gag down some crow with meet humility and humiliation. After all, Thursday I said I expected stocks to move lower, and they obliged me by jumping up 149.21 (1.08%) to their first close since 2007 above 14,000 (14,009.79 -- S&P500 rose 1.01% to 1,513.17). "Whoa, there, put down that dinner plate and back away from that crow!" I thought when I saw that today the Dow LOST 129.71 (0.93%) to 13,880.08 while the S&P500 lost 117.46 (1.15%) to 1,495.71. Markets are so goosey, so driven by the fad or news of the moment, that it's hard to forecast what they'll do next. Apparently on Friday, goofy as this sounds to those with an IQ greater than their refrigerator setting, the deal Congress agreed to suspend the debt ceiling until May drove that rise. Mmmm, let me think. They agreed to spend as much as they like, but in May to add that to the debt ceiling and again approve a debt ceiling. Yes, this is like raising yourself to the sky by pulling on your own bootstraps. Yes, this is unlimited spending, without even a fig leaf of illusory restraint. Yes, this is piled on top of the Federal Reserve's commitment to unlimited spending (QE du jour), along with the ECB and Bank of Japan. Yes, the yield on 10 year Treasuries is rising, which implies interest rates are rising, which economic headwind stocks must breast. Yet stocks rose, briskly. Common sense is not operating here, but the mania and madness of crowds. However, Friday's close warns that before the madness ceases, probably by end-March, the Dow might reach 15,000 as the fever blows red hot. Wherefore, stand not in the way, but do use this opportunity to unload any stocks you have left and put the proceeds into silver and gold. Unless Dow closes below $13,678 (the 20 DMA), stocks will add altitude. US dollar index Friday fell and stopped at 79 support (79.088) but rose today 27.1 basis points (0.36%) to 79.551. This might amount to no more than a bounce off that support before the dollar index sinks through toward the earth's core, or it might turn around and move sideways. What's that? Higher? I think not, but 'twas a droll suggestion. Euro made a spike top at $1.3711 on Friday, yet gainsaid itself today by falling back below the resistance line. Was that its limit? Stay tuned, as it does qualify as a warning. Must follow thorough with closes below $1.3500 to confirm. Fell 0.9% today to $1.3518. If you were a bookmaker and hadn't done anything savvier since September than fading bets the yen would rise, you'd be rolling in the dough. Friday yen made yet another low (107.56 intraday) but rose 0.51% today to close 108.34 cents/Y100. No logic, no rationale. It's market, it's crazy. US$1 =Y92.03=E0.7398=0.031546 oz Ag=0.000597 oz Au. Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought. - Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger The-MoneyChanger.com 1-888-218-9226 10:00am-5:00pm CST, Monday-Friday © 2013, The Moneychanger. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission. To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down. WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. Be advised and warned: Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures. NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps. NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced. NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt. What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands. One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose. No, I don't.  |
| Do Silver and Platinum Have Higher Growth Potential Than Gold? Posted: 04 Feb 2013 04:54 PM PST We at Sunshine Profits suggest holding three precious metals (in a physical form) as long-term investments in a "default" precious metals portfolio - gold, silver and platinum. There are, of course, other viable options ... Read More...  |
| A U.S. Debt Downgrade Could Happen At Any Moment. By Gregory Mannarino – YouTube Posted: 04 Feb 2013 04:38 PM PST Check our website daily at... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.figanews.com for full Content ]]  |
| 5 Compelling Reasons Why It's Now Time to Sell Gold Posted: 04 Feb 2013 04:20 PM PST "Follow the munKNEE" via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily Intelligence Report I explained in an earlier article* my thesis for why gold's 12-year winning streak So writes Mike Williams in edited excerpts from his article** as originally posted on Seeking Alpha under the title 5 Compelling Reasons To Sell Gold.
Williams goes on to say in further edited excerpts: Since putting in its 2012 high at $1,800 in the first quarter, gold has, thus far, been unable to break out above that resistance after three attempts — even with the aid of QE3 and additional treasury purchases. Long gone are the days when even a hint at further easing on behalf of a major central bank sent the metal soaring a few percentage points. Below are 5 compelling reasons why it is now time to sell gold: 1. Outstanding Strength in Equities With the S&P 500 breaking above the psychologically significant 1,500 level mark and stocks' ability to shrug off any bad news ("climbing the wall of worry"), the opportunity costs of allocating capital to gold are rising quickly. Let's think about this from the perspective of a fund manager. While many funds, such as Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates, are bullish on growth and are buying gold as a hedge against inflation, it's plausible that a very large number are still sticking to either the "doomsday trade" or the low-growth, low-rate environment trade. Those who positioned themselves for a bearish 2012 were probably met with major redemptions as the year came to a close, which is what some are attributing gold's year-end slide to….[It has been suggested] that funds had to sell some gold holdings to meet investor calls for their cash back. This seems plausible, and I'd argue that a similar change in psychology is under way now. …In 2012 was the hedge fund industry experienced significant underperformance and, as equities continue their historically strong start to 2013, it's likely that many are finding themselves already trailing their benchmarks by a wide margin. Anyone who was betting on a low-growth environment where stocks move marginally was probably holding gold-related assets, and is now worrying. Gold, which as we know doesn't produce any income unless you sell it, is awfully hard to hold when stocks are soaring. It's going to get harder as the bears start to capitulate and retail investors finally get into equities…. 2. Correlations …The EUR/USD has been rising rapidly of late…[yet] despite this dollar weakness, gold has been unable to catch a strong bid. A major downward move in the dollar should have supported gold prices; instead we're still under $1,700. The same can be seen in the breakdown of the gold/S&P correlation, which should cause many to rethink their theses for holding gold. 3. Macro Indicators Showing Structural Shifts The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield is now above 2%, and the 2Y-10Y spread appears to be on its way to 200 bps. As mentioned above, the euro has gained significant ground on the dollar rather quickly, and many other currency pairs (such as EUR/CHF) are also indicating that the "fear trade" may be unwinding. 4. Fed Action Not That Bullish QE has lost its shock value, and the top that the commodities complex put in during 2011 (which I think coincided with the peak of Fed-induced enthusiasm in commodities trading) looks as if it's going to hold. Click to enlarge images. Today, the view that the Fed's current policies will result in a major devaluation of the USD — and thus sent commodities to record highs — is a bit less prevalent. This is a major change in the way traders approach commodities as a whole and has major effects on how they formulate opinions on gold. 5. Technicals Finally, the chart for gold is also bearish: Following the announcement of QE3, I wrote that I felt gold would finally take out the $1,800 level, which it had tested once in both 2011 and 2012. When the resistance held, I believed it was a major signal that investor enthusiasm due to Fed policies had waned. Right now, gold is range-bound and consolidating between $1,650 and $1,690. I think we'll stay in this range for a while until we get a temporary change in the direction of equities, causing people to rethink their allocations. My guess is, obviously, that it loses $1,650 and tests $1,600.
*http://seekingalpha.com/article/1097131-2013-the-end-of-gold-s-12-year-winning-streak **http://seekingalpha.com/article/1153051-5-compelling-reasons-to-sell-gold
Related Articles: 1. Gold On Verge of Another MAJOR Down Leg – Here's What to Do Now I would love nothing more than to tell you that gold has finally embarked on its next leg up to $5,000+ but the fact of the matter is that there is no evidence that it has. Period. In fact, gold is telling you exactly the opposite. Gold is now nearly $257 below its all-time record high. It can barely rally and very time it does, the rally fades away and now the price of gold is dangerously near an important weekly sell signal on my systems, which stands at $1,657. Words: 780; Charts: 1 2. 5 Reasons to Short Gold In 2013 There are significant challenges to gold prices increasing in 2013. In fact, I believe that gold prices should move down in 2013 because of five strong headwinds, elaborated in this article. Words: 464 3. Gold Is Looking Increasingly Vulnerable – Here's Why The threats of global recession, insurmountable debt, terrible government policy, central bank support, and many other very persuasive arguments present gold as a very appealing investment or safe haven but all of this is an illusion. Gold was a sensible investment in the early part of the bull market (1999-07), but has now become a false sense of security for many investors who will soon learn the hard way. Not only are the fundamentals already priced in, the technicals severely weakened, and the extremes in gold optimism easily apparent, but the bad news for gold could soon get much worse. The next weeks or few months will hopefully give us a lot more clarity. Words: 1170 4. Is Gold's 13 Year Run Almost Over?
5. It's Time to Seriously Consider SHORTING Gold – Here's Why
6. 7 Indications That Gold & Silver Bearishness Most Likely Will Continue
7. Rising Deflation Concerns Could Cause Gold to Plummet Dramatically – Here's Why
8. My Case Against the Case Against The Case Against Gold
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| Gold Range Tightens between 1650 and 1700 Posted: 04 Feb 2013 04:02 PM PST courtesy of DailyFX.com February 04, 2013 02:50 PM Weekly Bars Chart Prepared by Jamie Saettele, CMT using Marketscope 2.0 Commodity Analysis: Gold’s rebound from the 61.8% retracement of the rally from 1522 and former resistance (June-August 2012 highs) is constructive but the near term picture is defined by roughly 1650 and 1700. A break of that zone will present the next directional opportunity. Commodity Trading Strategy: Flat LEVELS: 1626 1642 1652 1684 1697 1711... |
| Posted: 04 Feb 2013 03:55 PM PST Just a short note….you always do a great job with your newsletters…shows a real understanding of economic principles…and , "yes"…you want to sell gold …but you do seem very much above the commercial aspects of making a profit on sales. Sincerely, |
| Casey Interviews Peter Schiff on Gold, Inflation, and Interest Rates Posted: 04 Feb 2013 03:29 PM PST Two highly successful libertarian iconoclasts – Peter Schiff and Doug Casey – in a wide-ranging, thought-provoking conversation covering precious metals, the status of Peter's father, Irwin Schiff, the near future of the US dollar, and much more. Read More...  |
| Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Mixed While Stocks Drop Posted: 04 Feb 2013 02:22 PM PST Gold rose $5.10 to $1672.90 in Asia before it fell to see a $6.45 loss at $1661.35 at about 9AM EST, but it then rose to as high as $1677.41 by midday in New York and ended with a gain of 0.34%. Silver edged up to $31.86 in Asia before it fell back to $31.38 and then rose to as high as $31.91, but it then fell back off a bit in afternoon trade and ended with a loss of 0.35%. |
| Posted: 04 Feb 2013 02:15 PM PST My Dear Friends, Today's news fury over Italy immediately unleashed the demon of MSM screaming, "So you thought the problems in Europe were over." Almost as fast as the US attacks any rating agency that looks negatively at the dollar, so does MSM broadcast temporary political instability to attack the euro. The war between Continue reading In The News Today |
| Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts Posted: 04 Feb 2013 02:11 PM PST  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Gold Resource Corporation Appoints Dr. Gary Huber to Board of Directors Posted: 04 Feb 2013 02:09 PM PST Gold Resource Corporation ( NYSE MKT : GORO ) (the Company) today announced that effective January 30, 2013, the size of the Board of Directors was increased from five members to six members and the Board of Directors appointed Dr. Gary Huber to fill the newly created vacancy on the board. Gold Resource Corporation is a low-cost gold and silver producer with operations in the southern state of Oaxaca, Mexico. |
| News, Commentary & Analysis Posted: 04 Feb 2013 01:30 PM PST This morning we released the February edition of our newsletter headlined Print those blues away
______________ News, Commentary & Analysis is the contemporary, web-based version of our client letter, which traces its beginnings to the early 1990s under the News & Views banner. Its principle objectives have always been to keep our clients informed on important developments in the gold market; condense the available gold-based news and opinion into a brief, readable digest; and, counter the traditional anti-gold bias in the mainstream media. That formula has won it a five-figure subscription base. In addition to our regular newsletters, we occasionally publish in-depth special reports that focus on events and developments of interest to gold owners. Valued for their insight, accuracy and reliability, our publications are linked and reprinted by a large number of websites both in the United States and around the globe. News, Commentary & Analysis is edited by Michael J. Kosares, the founder of USAGOLD and the author of "The ABCs of Gold Investing: How To Protect and Build Your Wealth With Gold", the widely read guideline to gold ownership. |
| Posted: 04 Feb 2013 01:28 PM PST February 4, 2013
While everyone was watching the Super Bowl yesterday, our favorite "hacktivist" group Anonymous was carrying out its latest project: "Operation Last Resort."
Heh. These guys are amusing, at the very least. The group published a spreadsheet "allegedly containing login information and credentials, IP addresses and contact information of American bank executives," according to ZDNet. In a YouTube video released during the attack, Anonymous are miffed at the recent suicide of Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz. "Aaron was facing a trial this coming April," our Laissez Faire editor Jeffrey Tucker wrote mid-January, "with him on one side and the full power of the world's most heavily armed government on the other. The prosecution wanted him fined more than a million dollars and jailed for possibly 30-plus years. "And what had he done? He hid a laptop in a closet at MIT and downloaded academic papers that are already available to millions around the world, with the apparent attempt to make them available even more broadly. That's all he did. For this, he was charged with wire fraud and computer fraud."
"With Aaron's death, we can wait no longer," the Anonymous film states. "The time has come to show the United States Department of Justice and its affiliates the true meaning of infiltration. The time has come to give this system a taste of its own medicine. The time has come for them to feel the helplessness and fear that comes with being forced into a game where the odds are stacked against them." The new video has over a million views since last night. "We note that the Federal Reserve minidrop [of bank executive names and addresses] was just a counter-distraction to the superbowl distraction," a follow-up tweet reads. "We await the DOJ's statement." More to come…
"The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked." Twitter's statements immediately follow reports from media outlets like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and the U.S. Department of Energy announcing cyberattacks on their systems.
And former Energy Department security official Ed McCallum suspects the same for the Department of Energy attacks, claiming that China and Iran have been after Energy Department secrets. "It's a continuing story of negligence," told Free Beacon, despite the Energy Department's control of the most "sophisticated military and intelligence technology the country owns." The Chinese response? "According to some investigative results," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei announced, "which showed no proof and had uncertain evidence and a baseless conclusion, China had participated in online attacks. That is a totally irresponsible conclusion." Easy for him to say. "China is also a victim of online attacks. China's laws clearly ban online attacks."
"This is how wars usually start," wrote strategic studies professor Hugh White of Australian National University in the waning days of 2012: "with a steadily escalating standoff over something intrinsically worthless. "So don't be too surprised if the U.S. and Japan go to war with China next year over the uninhabited rocks that Japan calls the Senkakus and China calls the Diaoyu islands. And don't assume the war would be contained and short."
In addition to their beef over the Senkakus/Diaoyu Islands, the Japanese are increasingly agitated by China's smog… now making its way over the China Sea to Japan. "It is very worrying," Mr. Abiko goes on. "This is dangerous pollution, like poison, and we can't protect ourselves. It's scary." "Air pollution over the west of Japan has exceeded government limits over the last few days," Atsushi Shimizu of the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) told AFP, "with tiny particulate matter a problem." Just a few minor tensions, worth keeping an eye on. We'll keep you posted should anything really develop. [Ed Note. See also: Invest... Not Invade, in which we compare and contrast China's global economic domination strategy versus that of the U.S.]
Nice. That juicy nugget and political troubles in Spain helped nudge stocks down from the five-year highs they hit last week. All three indexes dropped as the market opened this morning, due to uncertainty in Europe. The Dow fell over 106 points, ending the "14,000 Dow" party, while the S&P retreated 19 points. The Nasdaq slid down 16 points, too. Investors looking for the "safety" of government bonds over stocks piled into Treasuries — pushing yields on 10-year notes down by 2 basis points, to 1.99%. Rising yields on Spanish bonds have helped the dollar strengthen against the euro, causing gold futures contracts to fall by $6, to $1,664.
"In a financial crisis," he goes on, "using public resources to defend private wealth seems like a good idea. But when budget cuts start depressing the economy, voters rethink the wisdom of bailouts. Recent Italian political polls show that corruption, long tolerated, is starting to matter." Taking a very wide view of the markets this morning, Mr. Amoss suggests a few ways to play current strife in the Italian markets in today's 5 PRO… below.
A barrel of Brent Crude oil is going for $116.18. West Texas Intermediate sits just below $100, at $96.72
"Platinum and palladium (PGMs), as I told you about last week, are a solid buy. I see limited downside with this one, because the supply deficit in the PGM metals is here and not going away. The demand side is primed to explode."
"On the merely valuable side — but not quite as precious — copper prices are firm too. The recent price for copper has been solid, within a dime or so of $3.70 per pound. There's no apparent demand weakness, what with globally active construction and industrial activity." [Ed. Note: You can review Byron's precious metals recommendations in this month's copy of Outstanding Investments. If you're not currently a subscriber, we recommend you become on here.]
"The company behind one of the world's very first mobile phones," Australia's News.com reports, "has been approved for a $1.35 billion grant to develop 'the world's strongest material,' known as graphene."
"Current methods of growing flakes of graphene often suffer from graphene domains not lining up," said project leader professor Nicole Grobert, of Oxford University's Department of Materials. "Our discovery shows that it is possible to produce large sheets of graphene where these flakes, called domains, are well aligned, which will create a neater, stronger, and more 'electron-friendly' material."
Nokia hopes to tap China Mobile's 700 million customer base… and could further increase demand for graphene…. and interest in Byron's "pickaxe and shovel" play in the space. If you're interested in learning more, you can do so here.
Problem: The world didn't end. In 2010, according to SFGate, Pratt and his girlfriend, Heidi Montag, revealed they were on the verge of bankruptcy. To save money, they moved in with his father and gave up their luxury home in Beverley Hills. It was later revealed the couple deliberately spent all of the money on things like an armored truck and designer handbags because they believed the world was coming to an end. "I would give my friends $15,000 for their birthday," Pratt told OK! "Just cash. I would buy people cars. Every valet I met got a couple of hundred pounds tip. I would pay people $200 just to open doors for us. "Here's some advice," Pratt concludes, "definitely do not spend your money thinking asteroids are coming."
"One of my sons with his wife attempted to buy a type of condominium. They were refused because he was BORN in America! I have two combat tours in the bank for American foreign policy misadventures. The day is drawing much closer when I renounce my U.S. indebted servitude!" The 5: How the tables turn. Addison Wiggin P.S. Although Samsung's Super Bowl commercial was a dud, the word is Samsung "unofficially" set a date when they will announce the release date: March 22, at their Mobile Unpacked event. If that is indeed the case, we could see Byron's graphene pick skyrocket long before word is official. Click here to get in before the news hits. |
| Chen Lin Places His Bets on Self-Financing Producers Posted: 04 Feb 2013 01:25 PM PST The Gold Report: We are already into February and the gold market doesn't seem to want to do what most people have been predicting. Why has it been acting so poorly over the past few months? Chen Lin: That's a good question. Nothing goes up in a straight line and 2013 could be a difficult year for gold. Recently Goldman Sachs predicted that gold will peak this year and then go down to $1,200/ounce (oz) in a few years. That could shake a lot of weak hands, so I won't be surprised to see some selling this year, especially because gold's seasonal peak is around Chinese New Year at the beginning of February. TGR: Are you expecting a little bounce off of the bottom that we've been seeing for the last few weeks? CL: It's hard to say. Right now, money is going to risky assets, exactly opposite of 2008. Money is rushing into financials with banks showing record earnings. In the meantime, funds heavily invested in gold are not doing well. They could be facing redemptions, management changes ... |
| THE CHINESE REALLY KNOW HOW TO RING IN A NEW YEAR WITH A BANG Posted: 04 Feb 2013 12:52 PM PST Safety is job one in China. I knew they shouldn't have hired a smoker to drive that truck. Chinese highway collapses after fireworks truck explodes, 9 killedPublished: 01 February, 2013, 17:44 A truck laden with fireworks exploded on an elevated highway in central China, killing at least nine people and injuring 13. The force of the blast sent several vehicles plummeting off the road, destroying an 80-meter section of the highway. Salvage teams are currently at the scene of the incident on the G30 expressway in China's Henan province. The blast took place at 8:52am local time (00:52 GMT), Chinese state news outlet Xinhua reported, citing local officials. The massive explosion threw six vehicles into a ravine 30 meters below the raised highway; the survivors were retrieved by emergency teams. Accidents involving fireworks are relatively commonplace in China around the run up to the Chinese New Year, which will take place on February 10. Enormous quantities of fireworks are transported throughout China, often under unsafe conditions to meet public demand in preparation for the public holiday. The Ministry of Public Security dispatched a team to the site of the explosion to establish the cause of the blast, Xinhua reported. In 2006, a fireworks storeroom exploded in Henan province, killing 36 people. The highway accident has once again drawn attention to Chinese road safety, which has recently been under discussion. Earlier this month, the Chinese government delayed plans to introduce harsher punishments for traffic violations after complaints from the public. Fatal road accidents are quite common in China. In 2011, over 60,000 people died on China's roads in accidents that were largely attributed to lax safety regulations.
 Rescuers work under the collapsed Yichang bridge near the city of Sanmenxia, central China's Henan province, on February 1, 2013 (AFP Photo / China Out)
 Rescuers work at the scene of the collapsed Yichang bridge near the city of Sanmenxia, central China's Henan province, on February 1, 2013 after a fireworks-laden truck exploded as it crossed the bridge killing 26 people as the structure collapsed and vehicles plummeted to the ground, state-run media reported (AFP Photo / China Out)
 A rescuer (C) looks for survivors with a dog (C) at the scene of the collapsed Yichang bridge near the city of Sanmenxia, central China's Henan province, on February 1, 2013 after a fireworks-laden truck exploded as it crossed the bridge killing 26 people as the structure collapsed and vehicles plummeted to the ground, state-run media reported (AFP Photo / China Out)
 Rescuers work at the scene of the collapsed Yichang bridge near the city of Sanmenxia, central China's Henan province, on February 1, 2013 after a fireworks-laden truck exploded as it crossed the bridge killing 26 people as the structure collapsed and vehicles plummeted to the ground, state-run media reported (AFP Photo / China Out)
 Rescuers pull a damaged car at the scene of the collapsed Yichang bridge near the city of Sanmenxia, central China's Henan province, on February 1, 2013 after a fireworks-laden truck exploded as it crossed the bridge killing 26 people as the structure collapsed and vehicles plummeted to the ground, state-run media reported (AFP Photo / China Out)
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| Gold Flow East & Silver Squeeze To Create Surge In Metals Posted: 04 Feb 2013 12:50 PM PST  Today acclaimed money manager Stephen Leeb told King World News there is an investment and industrial squeeze taking place in the silver market. Leeb stated, "The coming move in gold and silver will mark a major turning point in what will probably be the greatest bull market people will ever see in their lifetimes." Here is what Leeb had to say: "I think the key to this market is understanding when commodities are going to breakout and how high they will go. Investors need to understand that once commodities breakout, the higher prices will be a constraint on growth going forward."This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Like all of you I've been watching the news lately and just ran across an interesting article about how 
According to Australian competition regulators, Visa, Inc., the world's biggest payment network, 
Germany is neither independent nor sovereign, prevailing pretenses notwithstanding. It has American troops on her soil for reasons unexplained and unexplainable after all Soviet occupying troops were withdrawn almost 25 years ago. Equally significant is the fact that the lion's share of the German gold reserve is in American custody. If the Bundesbank asked for the repatriation of a token part of that gold over a long period of time, we may take it for granted that it was done on American instructions.
"There's a war going on," Bob Violino of InfoWorld.com writes, "and it's raging here at home — not in the streets or the fields, but on the Internet."
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