Gold World News Flash |
- Who Controls The Money? An Unelected, Unaccountable Central Bank Of The World Secretly Does
- Why We’re Headed Back to $50.00-an-Ounce Silver
- Asian Metals Market Update
- Gold Miners Watch: Much Further GDX/HUI Weakness Could Result in a MUCH Further Decline ? Here?s Why
- Goldsmiths put the nation's coins through their paces at the ancient Trial of the Pyx
- Trial of the Pyx: Goldsmiths put the nation's coins through their paces
- United Statism of Amerika
- World Gold Council announces new Managing Director in India
- West Headed Into Orwellian Nightmare & Bankruptcy
- A Visual Snapshot of Market Signals, Commodity Trends & Economic Indicators – February Edition
- Antal Fekete: China's risk-free bonanza in covered call selling in silver
- Why the secrecy around NY Fed transactions involving U.S. government gold?
- How Obama's Balanced "Tax-Loophole" Closing Will Crush S&P Earnings
- Gold Miners Watch: Much Further GDX/HUI Weakness Could Result in a MUCH Further Decline – Here's Why
- New York Sun: Virginia in the vanguard
- Gold Churns ahead of Channel Resistance
- Edge Of A Silver Price Breakout. By Gregory Mannarino – YouTube
- QE Could Drive S&P 500 UP 25% in 2013 & UP Another 28% in 2014 – Here's Why
- First Majestic Silver Corp: A Silver Gem
- The Gold Price Pushed Higher Today then Fell $2.90 Silver Closed Higher
- Gold's Rise In Price Cannot Be Stopped
- Truth Seeking: Is The Gold Bull Market Ending?
- Guest Post: Investors Beware - Egypt’s Revolution Is Not Over
- Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Near Unchanged
- Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - A 'Risk On' Day
- Everybody Does It!
- Jim's Mailbox
- We Buy Gold!
- We Buy Gold
- Rosen - Danger For Stocks, Gold & Silver Ready For A Big Move
- Harry Dent: Crash coming between 2013 and 2015…
- U.S. government justifies drone killings of Americans for little cause
- '... and no one knows how much the central bank is buying'
- The Daily Market Report
- Farage - West Headed Into Orwellian Nightmare & Bankruptcy
- Oil May Fall as Gold Gains on Soft Services ISM Data
| Who Controls The Money? An Unelected, Unaccountable Central Bank Of The World Secretly Does Posted: 06 Feb 2013 01:00 AM PST from The Economic Collapse Blog:
Even Wikipedia admits that "it is not accountable to any single national government." The Bank for International Settlements was used to launder money for the Nazis during World War II, but these days the main purpose of the BIS is to guide and direct the centrally-planned global financial system. |
| Why We’re Headed Back to $50.00-an-Ounce Silver Posted: 06 Feb 2013 12:30 AM PST by Michael Lombardi, ProfitConfidential.com:
We have already begun to see demand for silver increase significantly. I call it the "Silver Rush." It wasn't too long ago when I reported the U.S. Mint had halted sales of Silver Eagle coins because it ran out of stock. It's no surprise that the U.S. Mint now reports that American Silver Eagle coin sales in January rose to an all-time monthly high with 7.1 million ounces of silver purchased, compared to 6.1 million ounces purchased in January of 2012. Investors are running for silver. |
| Posted: 06 Feb 2013 12:03 AM PST The yen slid to its weakest level in almost three years against the dollar and euro on speculation Japan's government will hasten the selection of a new central bank chief to take further steps to end deflation. Yen will be the key to gold and silver prices in the short term apart from global economy. Weakness in yen is reflecting fundamental and there is no reason to think that it is deliberate currency depreciation by the bank of Japan. |
| Gold Miners Watch: Much Further GDX/HUI Weakness Could Result in a MUCH Further Decline ? Here?s Why Posted: 05 Feb 2013 11:53 PM PST "Follow the [COLOR=#0000ff][U]munKNEE"[/U][/COLOR] via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily Intelligence Report GDX is currently at approx. 42 but should it*drop below*the 39 & 40 levels reached last May and July*our analysis shows that a good deal of sellers could come forward and push GDX a large percentage lower.* That double bottom needs to hold in GDX!!! Take a look at the chart below and you will clearly see why that is the case. So writes Chris Kimble ([url]http://blog.kimblechartingsolutions.com[/url]) in paraphrased and/or edited excerpts from his most recent post**entitled*Gold Miners (GDX) about to get whacked on the head again?. [INDENT] This*post 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 c... |
| Goldsmiths put the nation's coins through their paces at the ancient Trial of the Pyx Posted: 05 Feb 2013 11:30 PM PST A 1kg gold coin struck to commemorate the London Olympics was just one of the new coins put through its paces, as the Goldsmiths Company opened their doors to the Telegraph to witness their ancient 'Trial of the Pyx'.  |
| Trial of the Pyx: Goldsmiths put the nation's coins through their paces Posted: 05 Feb 2013 11:30 PM PST A 1kg gold coin struck to commemorate the London Olympics was just one of the new coins put through its paces, as the Goldsmiths Company opened their doors to the Telegraph to witness the ancient 'Trial of the Pyx'.  |
| Posted: 05 Feb 2013 11:00 PM PST by Gordon T Long, Gold Seek:
The degree of socialism in the United States increased substantially after the establishment of the Federal Reserve System (1913) and the measures taken during the Great Depression (1929-46) which it created. Ever since the early 1900′s the United States has had a two-party system dominated by what must be labeled 'socialists'. This is because, the Republican Party has always advocated conservative socialism. The Democratic Party, which in the 19th century favored libertarianism, advocates social-democratic socialism. |
| World Gold Council announces new Managing Director in India Posted: 05 Feb 2013 11:00 PM PST The World Gold Council, the market development organisation for the gold industry, has appointed Somasundaram PR as Managing Director, India. Somasundarum PR (Som) will be based in Mumbai, where he will be responsible for leading the World Gold Council's activities across the Indian market. |
| West Headed Into Orwellian Nightmare & Bankruptcy Posted: 05 Feb 2013 10:00 PM PST from KingWorldNews:
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| A Visual Snapshot of Market Signals, Commodity Trends & Economic Indicators – February Edition Posted: 05 Feb 2013 08:10 PM PST "Follow the munKNEE" via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily Intelligence Report The infographic below summarizes changes in economic indicators, Below is the VC Market Intelligence Infographic for February, 2013 from www.VisualCapitalist.com presented here by www.FinancialArticleSummariesToday.com (A site for sore eyes and inquisitive minds) and www.munKNEE.com (Your Key to Making Money!). This paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement. If you like the visual approach to understanding the marketplace please take special note of the links at the bottom of the page to a number of other infographics on a wide variety of commodities.
Related Articles: 1. A Visual Snapshot of Market Signals, Commodity Trends & Economic Indicators – December Edition
2. A Visual Snapshot of Market Signals, Commodity Trends & Economic Indicators – January Edition VC Market Intelligence is a new monthly infographic from Visual Capitalist that summarizes changes in economic indicators, relevant news stories, commodity and financial trends, and provides technical analysis. The goal is to make this information intuitive and visual to the average commodity investor. Other Commodity-related Infographics: 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. All the Facts About Physical Platinum & Palladium and How to Easily Invest in Them With demand rising and supply under pressure, the outlook for investment in physical platinum and palladium is compelling. What are they used for? Where are they produced? What is the global supply/demand for each? Learn the full story from the infographic below. 4. Death, Deception & Betrayal: The Crazy Things Done in the Name of Gold & Silver
5. Why Is There Such An Interest In Gold?
6. Part 1: An Infographic on the History of Gold and What Makes It So Great
7. Part 2: An Infographic on Gold Mining & Supply
8. Part 3: China's Role in the Future of Gold
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| Antal Fekete: China's risk-free bonanza in covered call selling in silver Posted: 05 Feb 2013 07:39 PM PST 9:34p ET Tuesday, February 5, 2013 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver): 24hGold tonight republishes a 4-year-old essay by the economic historian Antal Fekete speculating, as silver market analyst Ted Butler long has done, that China is the major short in the silver market. "The Chinese," Fekete writes, "are alive to the fact that escaped the silver bugs in the West -- that you can derive a silver income from your pile of silver by covered short selling, even while retaining physical control of your silver hoard. This is an unprecedented bonanza in the history of money. It has never before happened that you earn interest while retaining physical control of your money. Typically you have to release control of money to earn interest income -- that is, you have to assume risk. Lending money necessarily involves risks: The borrower may default. But if you don't give up physical control, then you will escape the monetary debacle unscathed. Because of the imbecility of the managers of the paper dollar standard there exist durable risk-free profit opportunities in holding monetary metals in the balance sheet. The trick is: covered selling. That's possible because the price of monetary metals has been allowed to fluctuate. The price fluctuation of a monetary metal, like the flow-and-ebb of the oceans, represents energy -- energy that can be harnessed, energy that can be harnessed only by those who understand monetary economics." Fekete's commentary is headlined "The Double Whammy of Geopolitical Gold Games" and it's posted at 24hGold here: http://www.24hgold.com/english/news-gold-silver-the-double-whammy-of-geo... CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer ADVERTISEMENT Get the real story about the precious metals Now you don't have to travel to attend a financial conference to hear Sprott Asset Management's precious metals experts -- Eric Sprott, Rick Rule, and John Embry. They'll be holding a round-table discussion via the Internet at 2 p.m. ET Tuesday, February 12, and you can be part of it. Among their topics: -- Why are precious metals such a compelling investment opportunity? -- Why are non-G7 central banks buying gold? Do Western central banks have any left? -- Why are investors buying as much silver as gold in dollar terms? What does this mean for the price of silver? -- Is the growing supply deficit of platinum and palladium going to push their prices higher? To register for this Internet conference and participate from the comfort of your own home or office, please visit: http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=579230&s=1&k=70B829852A33CD255CC2A43ED63D18D0 Join GATA here: California Resource Investment Conference * * * Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006: http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT Opinion Around the World Is Changing When Deutschebank calls gold "good money" and paper "bad money". ... http://www.gata.org/node/11765 When the president of the German central bank, the Bundesbank, pays tribute to gold as "a timeless classic". ... http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/09/24/signs-of-the-gold-stan... When a leading member of the policy committee of the People's Bank of China calls the gold standard "an excellent monetary system". ... http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/10/01/signs-of-the-gold-stan... When a CNN reporter writes in The China Post that the "gold commission" plank in the 2012 Republican platform will "reverberate around the world". ... http://www.thegoldstandardnow.org/key-blogs/1563-china-post-the-gop-gold... When the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy of the U.S. House of Representatives twice called on economist, historian, and gold standard advocate Lewis E. Lehrman to testify. ... World opinion is changing in favor of gold. How can you learn why and what it will mean to you? Read the newly updated and expanded edition of Lehrman's book, "The True Gold Standard." Financial journalist James Grant says of "The True Gold Standard": "If you have ever wondered how the world can get from here to there -- from the chaos of depreciating paper to a convertible currency worthy of our children and our grandchildren -- wonder no more. The answer, brilliantly expounded, is between these covers. America has long needed a modern Alexander Hamilton. In Lewis E. Lehrman she has finally found him." To buy a copy of "The True Gold Standard," please visit: http://www.thegoldstandardnow.com/publications/the-true-gold-standard |
| Why the secrecy around NY Fed transactions involving U.S. government gold? Posted: 05 Feb 2013 07:33 PM PST 9:30p ET Tuesday, February 5, 2013 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: Financial journalist Lars Schall reports tonight (in the "Update 3" paragraph at the link below) that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York appears to be declining to explain the secrecy around its gold transactions and even around gold transactions involving the U.S. government-owned gold: http://www.larsschall.com/2013/01/30/ted-truman-is-getting-tired-of-tran... CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer ADVERTISEMENT GoldMoney adds Singapore vaulting option In addition to its precious metals storage facilities in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Toronto, and the United Kingdom, now with GoldMoney you can store gold and silver in Singapore in a high-security vault operated by Brink's Singapore Pte Limited. To find out more about the new vault, please visit: http://www.goldmoney.com/singapore?gmrefcode=gata GoldMoney customers can take delivery of any number of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bars from any GoldMoney vault, as well as personally collect their bars stored in the Hong Kong, Switzerland, and U.K. vaults. It's easy to open an account, add funds, and liquidate your investment. For more information, visit: http://www.goldmoney.com/?gmrefcode=gata Join GATA here: California Resource Investment Conference * * * Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006: http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT How to profit in the new year with silver -- Future Money Trends is offering a special 16-page silver report with our forecast for 2013 that includes profiles of nine companies and technical analysis of their stock performance. Six of the companies have market capitalizations of less than $800 million and one company has a market cap of only $30 million. The most exciting of these companies will begin production in a few weeks and has a market cap of just $150 million. Half of all proceeds from the sale of this report will be donated to the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee to support its efforts exposing manipulation and fraud in the gold and silver markets. To learn about this report, please visit: http://www.futuremoneytrends.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=376&tmp... |
| How Obama's Balanced "Tax-Loophole" Closing Will Crush S&P Earnings Posted: 05 Feb 2013 07:25 PM PST Following today's sequester-delay-seeking, tax-hiking, close-the-loophole speech by the President, it would appear that fiscal policy debates will be balanced a little more to raising effective rates on corporates (as opposed to the 'statutory' rate so many discuss). The US has the second highest global 'statutory' tax rate but less than 10% of S&P 500 firms have paid this rate over the last decade. Somewhat shockingly, since 1975, taxes have had the largest cumulative impact on S&P 500 ROE as effective rates fell from 44% to 30%. They estimate each percentage point rise in effective tax rate would lower S&P 500 ROE by 22 bp and EPS by $1.50, all else equal. Closing all the loopholes would smash year-end 2013 expectations from Goldman's 1575 to around 1300 with Staples and Tech the hardest hit. With the 'market' the only policy tool left, it would seem not even the Fed could monetarily save us from this fiscally fubar action.
Via Goldman Sachs, Political dialogue in Washington, D.C. has turned squarely to the nation's fiscal health. The temporary resolution of the 'fiscal cliff' focused mainly on raising revenues through changes to personal tax rates, but delayed decision-making deadlines on the sequester and the long-term path of Federal spending. Corporate tax rates will likely receive scrutiny as the debate continues. Corporate taxes contributed 8% of 2012 federal revenues. A recent Congressional Budget Office report suggested that policy adjustments such as eliminating foreign tax deferrals could increase US tax revenues by as much as $100 billion over the next decade. President Obama and Democratic leaders continue to focus on raising revenues. Corporate tax rates represent a logical next step following successful year-end negotiations that raised personal taxes. In his January 5th radio address, President Obama maintained that "spending cuts must be balanced with more reforms to our tax code. The wealthiest individuals and the biggest corporations shouldn't be able to take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren't available to most Americans." The debate will be fierce as Republican leaders emphasize spending reductions. In an attempt to focus on cutting mandatory government spending through entitlement reform, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell recently summarized the right's view, stating "The tax issue is finished, over, completed. That's behind us. Now the question is, what are we going to do about the biggest problem confronting our country and our future? And that's our spending addiction. It's time to confront it." The United States has the second highest statutory corporate income tax rate among OECD countries, at 39%. This rate combines the 35% federal rate with a weighted average of state corporate marginal income tax rates. Among developed countries, only Japan has a higher statutory combined rate (40%). Furthermore, although most developed countries primarily employ a territorial system, levying corporate taxes on income earned within their borders, US tax policy includes all income of domestically-incorporated multinational companies, regardless of origin, while allowing deferrals and tax credits in certain cases. However, statutory rates do not reflect the effective taxes paid by large-cap US firms. For the last 45 years, the median S&P 500 firm has paid an effective tax rate averaging more than 5 percentage points below the statutory rate. Despite statutory rates hovering near 39% for the last 25 years, effective tax rates have been gradually decreasing (see Exhibit 2). At 30%, the current S&P 500 median effective tax rate is almost 10 percentage points below the statutory level, and close to the global statutory average. The aggregate tax rate has averaged 33% over the past 10 years and was 26% over the past four quarters. The distribution of S&P 500 company median tax rates over the last 10 years indicates that fewer than 10% of firms pay at least the statutory rate. Exhibit 3 shows the median ratio of taxes paid to pre-tax income over the last 10 years. The average firm paid an effective rate of 31% with a standard deviation of 7 percentage points. The median tax rate over the past three and five years equals 31% and 30%, respectively. The tax preferences that create the gap between effective and statutory rates will likely receive scrutiny from policymakers as they attempt to reform the tax code. By closing the gap between effective and mandated tax rates, the government could raise revenues while lowering the statutory rate, thus presenting the change as a tax cut. Democratic leaders, including President Obama and Minority Leader Pelosi, have specifically mentioned targeting corporate tax strategies that create this gap. Changes to tax rates could have meaningful implications for corporate profitability. Since 1975, tax rates have had the largest cumulative contribution of the five DuPont factors to S&P 500 index ROE (ex-Financials). The majority of this 551 bp contribution was generated in the 1980s when President Reagan cut statutory rates from 50% to 39%. In the last decade, taxes have had a positive but much smaller impact, contributing 118 bps of the 534 bp ROE expansion through 3Q 2012. We estimate each percentage point rise in aggregate effective tax rates would lower S&P 500 ROE by 22 bp and EPS by $1.50, all else equal. Exhibit 5 shows the sensitivity of index ROE and our 2014 EPS forecast to tax rate changes. For example, a 4 percentage point rise in aggregate tax rate from the trailing four-quarter rate of 26% to 30% would lower current S&P 500 ROE from 16.1% to 15.2% and would reduce our 2014 forecast EPS from $114 to $107. Applying a constant P/E multiple, our year-end 2013 valuation forecast would decline by roughly 6% to 1483. Effective tax rates vary widely across sectors. Exhibits 6 and 7 show the distribution of tax rates for S&P 500 sectors during the past decade and the potential impact of changes in effective tax rates to sector ROE, respectively. Among other reasons, tax rates and ROE sensitivity vary due to differences in geographic revenue exposure, capital structure, and the applicability of various tax preferences. Details of any corporate tax code changes, not just the size of the change, will determine the specific profitability impact on each sector and company. For example, Information Technology and Health Care firms paid the lowest median tax rates over the past decade, despite having vastly different foreign revenue exposure (59% and 22% of 2011 sales, respectively). Energy pays the highest effective tax rate among S&P 500 sectors despite being frequently cited as an example of corporate tax preferences. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi recently highlighted ending "special subsidies for big oil" as an opportunity for increased government revenues. However, in part due to excise taxes on the sale of oil products, the Energy sector has paid the highest median tax rate during the last 10 years. In the first three quarters of 2012 the sector had the largest aggregate dollar amount of taxes and highest tax rate ($67 billion on $166 billion of pre-tax income, or 40% tax rate).
Source: Goldman Sachs |
| Posted: 05 Feb 2013 07:23 PM PST "Follow the munKNEE" via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily Intelligence Report GDX is currently at approx. 42 but should it drop below the 39 & 40 So writes Chris Kimble (http://blog.kimblechartingsolutions.com) in paraphrased and/or edited excerpts from his most recent post* entitled Gold Miners (GDX) about to get whacked on the head again?.
Kimble goes on to say in further edited excerpts: Over the past 90 days Gold has been flat while the Gold Miners ETF (GDX) has gone down over 14% [yet, even though it is] oversold compared to Gold, every time GDX attempts a rally the sellers come rushing in. Bottom line: While many investors hang in hoping for a [much touted] rebound [see here, here and here]…a break of falling support at (1) [in the chart below] could send GDX a good deal lower! CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE
*http://blog.kimblechartingsolutions.com/2013/02/gold-miners-gdx-about-to-get-whacked-on-the-head-again/
Related Articles: 1. Finally the Final Bottom in Gold Stocks Is Coming – Finally! The mining stocks have been a disaster if you've invested in the average fund, GDX or GDXJ and if you've invested in the wrong stocks, they've been a total disaster and you will now hate the sector forever. We've certainly been surprised by this protracted struggle. In my articles you've heard me talk about accumulating on weakness, buying support, being patient and waiting for better opportunities. Folks, this next week is one of those opportunities. The gold stocks are setting up similarly to the bottom in 2005 [and, as such,] are set to test a major bottom and could be on the cusp of a major reversal. Let me explain. Words: 438; Charts: 3 2. Goldrunner Update: Gold, Silver & PM Stock Sentiment Sucks BUT the Fundamentals Are Off the Wall! Sentiment in the precious metals sector is in the toilet yet the fundamentals for the sector are off the walls positive. That is not secret, but it is what creates huge market moves in the direction of the fundamentals. In fact, market management will never move price against the underlying fundamentals for too long a period of time. 3. Gold Stocks Go Up Dramatically In Inauguration Years – Will Another +20% Increase Occur This Year? President Obama will be sworn into office for a second term on January 21 and that's good news if you own gold stocks. Why? Because gold stocks, [as represented by the XAU] have increased, on average, by 20% during inaugural years since 1985 (28% in 2005; 36% in 2003). While there's no real rhyme or reason as to why gold stocks thrive in inauguration years – statistical anomaly or otherwise – it is yet another reason to buy gold stocks right now. Words: 312; Charts: 1 4. Keep the Faith – This Bull Market in Gold STILL Promises to Be One for the History Books! Here's Why
6. A Peek at Possible Developments in Gold, Silver, Mining Shares & the Dow
8. Goldrunner: HUI Index Could Go As High As 1000 in 2013! Here's Why
9. We Are Certain Gold Producers Will Soar – Here's Why
10. Here's An Easy Way to Identify Gold & Gold Miner Market Tops and Bottoms It's amazing! Every day I learn something new. I have just come across a very powerful tool that identifies market tops and bottoms in both the gold price and the gold mining industry valuation. Let me share it with you. Words: 352; Charts: 4 11. The Charts Tell ALL and THIS Is What They're Saying About Gold & Silver for 2013 It is impossible not to read some source…touting the "fact" that the price of gold and silver will be…["$x", "$y", etc.] in the "coming months" or in the "next year or two," etc. The market, however, does not echo those…sentiments because that is exactly what they are, sentiments. When it comes to sentiments or opinions, regardless of how close to source or how well reasoned, the market does not care. The charts are all-knowing, and they present everything known about the price, sans any opinion(s). Just deal with the facts and plan accordingly. Trust the markets – they never lie – [and this is what they are saying about the price of gold and silver in 2013]. Words: 1889; Charts: 6 12. The Good News – and Bad – Regarding Gold, Silver & PM Stocks Going Forward As we begin 2013, there has been an important shift in regards to precious metals…the decoupling that has taken place between the equity market and the precious metals complex…[which] began nearly 17 months ago (decouplings of three or six months are not significant). Since the Euro crisis in summer 2011, the equity market has rallied nearly 30% and reached a five-year high, but gold stocks are down by more than 30%…[and, as such,] precious metals cannot begin an impulsive sustained bull move if the equity market continues to move higher. The equity market has to struggle with resistance and begin a mild cyclical bear move. While over the near-term precious metals can confirm a higher low, the 2013 success of the sector depends on the struggles of conventional stocks. [This article explains why that is the case and uses several charts to illustrate the point.] Words: 899
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| New York Sun: Virginia in the vanguard Posted: 05 Feb 2013 06:48 PM PST 8:45p ET Tuesday, February 5, 2013 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: The New York Sun today lauds Virginia for its legislature's considering establishing a metallic standard for money. The Sun says: "'Our nation's most fundamental principles -- equal rights, rule of law, private property rights, individual liberty -- still require a dependable dollar to be meaningfully preserved,' the Washington Post quotes the Virginia bill as saying. This is precisely why the study that Virginia is considering could prove to be so important. By our lights this is another area -- like public service unions, spending and tax reduction, entitlement reform, eminent domain protection, and vouchsafing the right to keep and bear arms -- where the states are leading the reform effort in the country." The Sun's editorial is headlined "Virginia in the Vanguard" and it's posted here: http://www.nysun.com/editorials/virginia-in-the-vanguard/88184/ CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer ADVERTISEMENT How to profit in the new year with silver -- Future Money Trends is offering a special 16-page silver report with our forecast for 2013 that includes profiles of nine companies and technical analysis of their stock performance. Six of the companies have market capitalizations of less than $800 million and one company has a market cap of only $30 million. The most exciting of these companies will begin production in a few weeks and has a market cap of just $150 million. Half of all proceeds from the sale of this report will be donated to the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee to support its efforts exposing manipulation and fraud in the gold and silver markets. To learn about this report, please visit: http://www.futuremoneytrends.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=376&tmp... Join GATA here: California Resource Investment Conference * * * Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006: http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT GoldMoney adds Singapore vaulting option In addition to its precious metals storage facilities in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Toronto, and the United Kingdom, now with GoldMoney you can store gold and silver in Singapore in a high-security vault operated by Brink's Singapore Pte Limited. To find out more about the new vault, please visit: http://www.goldmoney.com/singapore?gmrefcode=gata GoldMoney customers can take delivery of any number of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bars from any GoldMoney vault, as well as personally collect their bars stored in the Hong Kong, Switzerland, and U.K. vaults. It's easy to open an account, add funds, and liquidate your investment. For more information, visit: http://www.goldmoney.com/?gmrefcode=gata |
| Gold Churns ahead of Channel Resistance Posted: 05 Feb 2013 06:19 PM PST courtesy of DailyFX.com February 05, 2013 03:58 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 1685 1697 1711... |
| Edge Of A Silver Price Breakout. By Gregory Mannarino – YouTube Posted: 05 Feb 2013 06:12 PM PST Check our website daily at... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://www.figanews.com for full Content ]]  |
| QE Could Drive S&P 500 UP 25% in 2013 & UP Another 28% in 2014 – Here's Why Posted: 05 Feb 2013 05:43 PM PST "Follow the munKNEE" via twitter & Facebook or Register to receive our daily Intelligence Report Ever since the Dow broke the 14,000 mark and the S&P broke the 1,500 So writes the Macro Investor in edited excerpts from his most recent post* on Seeking Alpha entitled S&P To 1872 From Quantitative Easing.
The article goes on to say in further edited excerpts: Comparison of S&P 500 Increase vs. U.S. Monetary Base Expansion [As mentioned in the opening paragraph,] I find it a bit surprising that no one is talking of the single largest driver for stocks in the past 4 years – massive monetary base expansion by the Fed [see chart below]. To estimate [the affect of the] monetary base expansion on the S&P 500, I did a simple calculation. Projecting the monetary base in the future is tricky, so I took the Federal Reserve Balance Sheet as a proxy. I plotted the S&P 500 against the Fed's Balance Sheet on a weekly basis since the market bottom on March 2009 [see chart below]. (click to enlarge) Effects of QE on Past S&P 500 Performance From the [above] chart, it is clear that the Fed's balance sheet is a good proxy for the monetary base [so] I ran a regression model [see chart below] to see how the S&P 500 has changed with the Fed's balance sheet. (click to enlarge) The R2 at ~77% is pretty high, which means that 77% of the price movement in the S&P 500 can be explained by changes in the Fed's balance sheet…. Projected Effect on Future Levels of S&P 500 We know that the Fed will be expanding its balance sheet by at least $85 billion each month from QE, which means the ending balance will be ~$4T. Substituting in the equation, this means:
Cross Checking Confirmation [The above] may seem like big increases, so let's cross check this with historical P/E ratios. Even if earnings were to be flat for the next 12 months, at 1872, S&P 500 will have a backward looking P/E of 19. If earnings were to increase by 5%, backward looking P/E would be 18, and if they were to increase by 10%, backward looking P/E would be 17. As a comparison, the last time the S&P 500 was at 1500, the backward looking P/E was 17.6 so these numbers are not unrealistic at all. How to Maximize Profits How can an investor profit from this trend? Today, I bought January 2014 strike 115 calls on the 3x leveraged ETF on SPY (UPRO) for $11.5. If the S&P increases by 12.5% from this level (half of the predicted 25%), then UPRO will end the year at ~140. This will mean about 120% return on the calls in a year. Breakeven will require about 7-8% increase in the S&P 500, which I expect to come before summer. Conclusion This market, fueled by massive amounts of liquidity being pumped by the Fed, has legs.
*http://seekingalpha.com/article/1156031-s-p-to-1872-from-quantitative-easing
Related Articles: 1. 5 Reasons To Be Positive On Equities For the month of January, U.S. stocks experienced the best month in more than two decades [and the Dow hit 14,009 on Feb. 1st for the first time since 2007]. Per the Stock Traders' Almanac market indicator, the "January Barometer," the performance of the S&P 500 Index in the first month of the year dictates where stock prices will head for the year. Let's hope so…. [This article identifies f more solid reasons why equities should do well in 2013.] Words: 453 2. World Economy & Market Forecast: More Sunshine & Less Stormy Weather Ahead It seems clear that there are a number of investors who have gained confidence in the global economy and are seeking to capture the growth opportunities taking place around the world. With the European crisis comfortably in the rear view mirror and global central banks taking the position that they will continue their easing policies, investors have taken their foot off the brake and have begun to accelerate….We see more sunshine and less stormy weather ahead [and explain why that is the case in this article]. Words: 695; Charts: 3 3. Start Investing In Equities – Your Future Self May Thank You. Here's Why As Winston Churchill once said: "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" and in that vain I challenge all readers to fight off the negativity, see long-term opportunity in global equity markets and, most importantly, remain invested. Your future self may thank you. Words: 732; Charts: 6 4. What Recovery? Contradictions Between Reality & Political Claims Are Everywhere! There is no recovery, regardless of what the elite and their minions in the media want you to believe. The economy is sick. It was made so by the malpractice of government and will become even weaker as government continues to administer the poison that got us to this point. The political class's version of remedy is akin to the medical profession's practice of bloodletting. Neither does any good and both, carried to extreme, are fatal. [Let me explain more fully.] Words: 548 5. Ignore Wall Street Cheerleaders: Market Technicals, Fundamentals & Other Info Says Otherwise! [In spite of what] the typical Wall Street cheerleaders, I mean strategists, are predicting, we see the equity market ever more closer to its cyclical top, miners about to retest a major bottom and hard assets with a new catalyst. [This article analyzes 9 pieces of information, complete with charts, that show what is actually going on in the marketplace at this point in time and what the short-term future holds.] Words: 930; Charts: 8 Without economic growth, and real economic growth at that, there can be no meaningful long-term economic recovery in the developed countries. Growth or lack thereof will have to be reflected in the financial markets over time. Currently, I continue to see a disconnect between where the financial markets are pricing things, and where I think they ought to be pricing things. Words: 784 At some point we are going to see another wave of panic hit the financial markets like we saw back in 2008. The false stock market bubble will burst, major banks will fail and the financial system will implode. It could unfold something like this: Words: 660 |
| First Majestic Silver Corp: A Silver Gem Posted: 05 Feb 2013 05:35 PM PST Introduction We first met with Keith Neumeyer, President and CEO at a Silver Summit in London a good few years ago and from that meeting we decided to watch the development of First Majestic Silver Corporation (FR:TSX || AG:NYSE) with the view to making an investment. As our interest grew we were fortunate enough to get an exclusive interview with Keith along with Todd Anthony, MBA, Investments Relationships Manager and Jill Arias, VP of Marketing. Following this interview we took the plunge and made our first purchase for an average cost of $13.13, which was back in back in February 2013. A few days ago we managed    |
| The Gold Price Pushed Higher Today then Fell $2.90 Silver Closed Higher Posted: 05 Feb 2013 05:16 PM PST Gold Price Close Today : 1672.40 Change : -2.90 or -0.17% Silver Price Close Today : 31.859 Change : 0.159 or 0.50% Gold Silver Ratio Today : 52.494 Change : -0.355 or -0.67% Silver Gold Ratio Today : 0.01905 Change : 0.000128 or 0.68% Platinum Price Close Today : 1705.70 Change : 9.10 or 0.54% Palladium Price Close Today : 765.05 Change : 7.65 or 1.01% S&P 500 : 1,511.29 Change : 1,558.00 or -3335.47% Dow In GOLD$ : $172.79 Change : $ 7.50 or 4.54% Dow in GOLD oz : 8.359 Change : 0.363 or 4.54% Dow in SILVER oz : 438.79 Change : 0.93 or 0.21% Dow Industrial : 13,979.30 Change : 99.20 or 0.71% US Dollar Index : 79.54 Change : 0.020 or 0.03% The silver and GOLD PRICE tugged against each other today. Gold fell 2.90 to $1,672.40 but silver rose 15.9 cents to 3185.9c. Gold pushed higher today, up to $1,683.63, but that's the very area that for nearly a fortnight has blocked it. Lows have been climbing the last four days. Today gold stopped at $1,667. But back away from that short term chart. On the longer chart Gold has built a falling wedge, broken out to the upside through the top of that wedge, and traded sideways. Someday soon it will puncture $1,705, and then the fun will begin. The GOLD PRICE must hold $1,655 down below. Since mid-January the SILVER PRICE has been wrestling with 3200c and 3250c. Today it once again reached that area (3203c) but fell back. Lows are rising. Silver's chart shows more strength than gold's. Like gold, it has broken out of a falling wedge, then traded sideways into an even-sided triangle. Soon it will break out of that triangle, up or down. My money's on up, but I don't buy lottery tickets. Y'all, it's cruel to keep me in here. It's about 65 degrees, sky is clear, sun is bright, and through my window I can hear and see the lambs jumping and playing in my pasture. No day for me to stay inside and stare at a computer screen. What mind I've got left keeps on wandering outside. Makes me want to run wild over the mountaintops. Been thinking today. Unless y'all have been watching the economy and money supply and Fed for years, y'all cannot appreciate how much money they have created since 2007. Used to talk about billions, now it's trillions. Sure mark of a market blowing off or near the end of a bull move is a straight up or hyperbolic rise. That's what they're working on printing money, and not just the Fed but all the world's central banks. I read today some 40 of 'em have a zero interest rate policy right now. You can call me a natural born fool from Tennessee and brush whatever I say aside, but truth's truth: they're going to blow up the whole system. That's why you need to buy silver and gold. Let 'em go over the cliff by themselves. Stocks bounced back today, but couldn't clear 14,000. Dow added 99.22 (0.71%) to 13,979.30. S&P500 gained 15.58 (1.04%) to 1,511.29. It's a mania. I don't care what all the performers on CNBC and the rest say, it's a mania, and it will end as all manias end, with an explosion followed by sorrow, weeping, and wailing. Y'all watch yourselves. US dollar index climbed back up off its support, but at day's end had only lost 2 basis points to end at 79.54. What can you say? It's below all its moving averages, pushed up against support, and been declining since November. Don't sound like a winning lottery ticket to me. Those Japanese are fighting the currency wars in earnest. Yen just keeps on plunging, down another 1.41% today to 106.82 cents/Y100. Will the Japanese finally stop at 100c/Y100? Europeans, Koreans, Americans -- none of 'em will be able to sell exports with the yen that low. Somebody's gonna get mad. And the Euro keeps rising against the US dollar, up 0.47 today to $1.3711, first close above $1.3700 for this move. Has its eye on $1.425. US$1=Y93.62=E0.7293=0.031388 oz. Ag=0.000598 oz Au. Two of the puzzlingest charts I've ever seen are the Dow in Gold and the Dow in Silver. Dow/Gold looks like an island reversal top, but unless gold breaks out upside soon, Dow/Gold could drive for 9.12 oz (G$188.53 gold dollars). Dow in silver is even jumpier, all over the place, gaping up then gapping down, and now just below the downtrend line and almost through the 20 DMA. Can only watch until it reveals its mind, but I know at least that because stocks are locked in a bear market against silver and gold, eventually both these charts will resume falling. Tyrants don't always win. On 5 February 1937 Franklin Roosevelt announced a plan to pack the Supreme Court with his own appointees, increasing the judges' number to 15. Comrade Roosevelt was ticked because the Supreme Court had refused to rubber stamp his fascist revolution. Clearly, they were a different bunch then than they are now. Roosevelt was beaten miserably in the Senate. 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.  |
| Gold's Rise In Price Cannot Be Stopped Posted: 05 Feb 2013 04:47 PM PST Dear CIGAs, The price of gold and silver will be a product of the declining value of the US dollar in 2013. The bond market is not going to break now as pointed out to you yesterday and repeated at the end of this article. This article which accurately taught you what interest is Continue reading Gold's Rise In Price Cannot Be Stopped |
| Truth Seeking: Is The Gold Bull Market Ending? Posted: 05 Feb 2013 03:56 PM PST A couple of days ago, Credit Suisse published their latest gold market analysis. The report "Gold: The Beginning Of The End Of An Era" called the end of the 12 year bull run. Bloomberg wrote: "Bullion will average $1,740 an ounce this year and $1,720 in 2014, before dropping to $1,500 the following year, Credit Suisse said in a report yesterday." In a short summary on Business Insider the two key arguments from the report were presented with some interesting charts.
The mission of Gold Silver Worlds is not to argue about price forecasts, for sure if the work is well detailed like the report from Credit Suisse. It is written by top analysts who are following the precious metals sector for years. However, it is our mission to bring transparency about the dynamics, drivers and fundamentals of the precious metals. This article looks thoroughly at the conclusions from the report, with an unbiased view. Real interest rates & inflation The first argument of the report points to rising real rates. While it is correct that the Treasury yield has made a historical low in the summer of 2012, it does not imply that real rates will be positive nor that the gold price cannot increase with rising real rates. The following chart shows that even with positive real rates (both in today's bull run and the one in the 70's), the gold price can rise simultaneously. The key question in our opinion is how high real rates are allowed to rise given the huge debt levels (which many commentators refer to as a "Ponzi scheme"). With today's historic low interest rates, every percentage increase will result in additionally 160 billion dollars cost of debt servicing (US only). Interest rates simply cannot go higher without severe consequences. Financial repression is the choice of political leaders to keep on expanding the unseen debt creation. Today's monetary system is tied to nothing but promises; the monetary base has exploded over the past years; the value of every additional unit of currency keeps on decreasing. It is reflected in the next chart. Furthermore, all major economic regions have committed themselves to unseen monetary stimulus. With ongoing Quantitative Easing (QE) in the US, Japan has committed to unlimited QE and aims for higher inflation (with Yen gold at all-time highs). In the UK, Mr. Carney is considering to abolish the inflation target "temporarily." In that respect, Jim Rickards pointed out that nominal GDP targeting is a very likely objective of central banks. He said on King World News: "If the Fed targets NGDP, what they are really saying is they don't care about inflation anymore, they've given up. I've said all along the Fed wants inflation, and this is a way of getting it. It's also a way of destroying the debt by cheapening the dollar." Nominal GDP targeting was also echoed in Mark Carney's words in December 2012 and in Davos in January 2013. All this "money creation" in a fiat based currency system simply does not come without consequences. Marc Faber explained that currency debasement is one of "unintended consequences of money printing." Now, linking this back to gold, the fact of the matter is that a higher gold price is simply the result of a devaluing currency. The gold price does not go up in a currency; it is the value of that currency that goes down. Sadly, there is no reference in the Credit Suisse report to that key principle. As reported by Bloomberg, Credit Suisse explicitly stated that inflation should not be expected: "With global growth now improving and inflation expectations contained, we feel that downside risks are building for gold." Credit Suisse assumes a lowering inflation risk. Interestingly, the US Fed committed only a few weeks ago to keep on easing until the unemployment rate drops to 6.5%. As reported in a recent article, the economy would need to add nearly 5 million jobs to achieve that target. In the very best case scenario, the US would get there by 2015, with a US Fed balance sheet of almost 6 trillion dollar (doubling from today's levels). Undoubtedly, the monetary inflation created by the central bank will result in price inflation. Even without giant government stimulus, the annualized inflation rate since August 1971 (when the world was taken off the gold standard) has been 5% in the US. Source: DB Research. Volatility This brings us to the second argument mentioned in the report: volatility has decreased significantly in the past months in the light of increasing equity markets. This is a clear example of the consequences of inflating the monetary base. In fact, neoclassical economists and analysts (by far the majority) have a hard time understanding that inflation IS the increase in the monetary base. Inflation CAN result in price inflation (expressed in the CPI) but that's only one of the possible outcomes. As Marc Faber explains in an earlier article: "Central banks simply cannot determine what will happen with the money that is created. The key point is that inflation does not necessarily occur in wage inflation or in consumer prices. The additional liquidity can create unpredictable sorts of inflations. For instance, it can result in a housing boom, in employment wage inflation, or in commodity price inflation. Furthermore, not every price increase will occur at the same rate, with the same intensity, at the same time. " He adds to it: "High monetary inflation brings distortions in the price mechanisms and volatility." The next chart shows the return of gold (courtesy "In Gold We Trust 2012"). The left-hand scale shows the ratio of the MSCI World equity index to gold while the right-hand one depicts the ratio of a total return index of 10Y US Treasuries to gold. The chart clearly highlights the fact that the relative strength of gold (falling ratio) vis-à-vis both asset classes. It is more than obvious that the gold price and equity prices CAN rise simultaneously, at a similar pace as the previous chart shows (especially in the period 2002-2008). Related to the second argument, Bloomberg mentioned: "Given its historical role as a store of value, it was not surprising that investor demand for gold increased substantially," Kendall said in the report. "We feel that this sideways drift will turn into a modest downward trend over the course of this year." At this point it gets interesting as well. In a recent article on Gold Silver Worlds, Ronald Stoeferle, managing director and fund manager at Incrementum Liechtenstein, explains the most important fundamental underpinning the physical gold market: there is an insatiable demand out of Asia, in particular China and India. Asian demand for physical gold was 30 times bigger than central bank demand in the time period between 2007 and 2011. Furthermore, Asian people have a totally different purchasing power than the people in the Western economies. Gold has NOT become more expensive for them as the GDP per capita in China and India have risen at the same pace as the gold price. Additionally, governments actively stimulate the ownership of the metal. Gold is being used in an increasing number of trading transactions overseas, including oil for gold. In closing, we believe the sentiment is a reliable contrary indicator. As the Hulbert Gold Sentiment index shows, sentiment is currently at depressed levels. Although this point can be categorized under speculation, we would not exclude that financial institutions are stimulating a negative sentiment. Chart courtesy: SentimenTrader.com. Gold Silver Worlds has been advocating that readers conduct their own research instead of taking reports or predictions as given. Research has shown that half of the predictions of analysts and gurus are wrong. In that respect, this contribution should help readers to look at the total picture, as we believe not all relevant elements were taken into account in Credit Suisse's report. This article does not say anything about the company itself, the analyst who wrote the report, the trustworthiness of the figures in the report, or their price predictions. |
| Guest Post: Investors Beware - Egypt’s Revolution Is Not Over Posted: 05 Feb 2013 03:49 PM PST Courtesy of OilPrice Premium Investors Beware: Egypt's Revolution Is Not Over In April, Egypt will hold crucial parliamentary elections. Preparations for this are being undertaken against an extremely volatile backdrop of violent protests, a state of emergency in three key provinces, weapons caches discovered in Cairo, and growing calls from radical Salafi forces who think the Muslim Brotherhood has far too moderate an agenda. All of these should be warning signs for investors, if economic indicators aren't enough. Popular Uprising, Take II A number of developments over the past months, weeks and days have triggered country-wide unrest in Egypt, which was already volatile.
Forces Line Up Against the Muslim Brotherhood The secular opposition in Egypt is out in full force, and its power is being boosted by these recent protest developments. The military - which loyally maintains its own Facebook page - has informed the public that the government faces collapse. On another front, radical Salafi figures are plotting the Brotherhood's demise. While it is the Western tendency to toss the various Salafi groupings and political parties in with the Muslim Brotherhood, the reality is that the Brotherhood has some moderate Salafi allies, but the more radical groups are hoping to make a power grab to sideline the Brotherhood. There is a new figure emerging from the dust of this power play, and that is the dangerously charismatic Hazem Abu Ismail. Abu Ismail is forming his own coalition and has had significant success in luring away the Brotherhood's supporters and forming a radical coalition to challenge the Muslim Brotherhood in April parliamentary elections. The Muslim Brotherhood and the military have only a very shaky alliance. Despite President Morsi's recent moves to chip away at the military's power by removing key generals and replacing them with someone believed to be more sympathetic to the Brotherhood cause, the president may have underestimated the effect of this move. Amid these latest, ongoing riots and the state of emergency, the military is attempting to present itself as the savior of the people. It is the military's perception that they are responsible for making the 2011 revolution happen in the first place, but they overlook the population's sense of betrayal when the military aligned itself with the Muslim Brotherhood and hijacked the revolution. For now, the population does not seem to be buying in to the military's attempts to paint itself as the protector of the protest movement, while police clash with demonstrators and deaths, injuries and arrests mount. The military has a tendency to play a quiet game in the background and hedge its bets. Its statement on Facebook is a clear message, though, that it is ready to step in and take over at the next sign of imminent government collapse. It may even be ready to help that collapse manifest more quickly. So, the Brotherhood faces mounting opposition on three fronts: the secular opposition, the military (whose loyalty is uncertain), and Salafi radicals coming at them from an entirely different and potentially more dangerous angle. Economic Disaster Egypt's tourism revenues—the economy's mainstay—are down from $14 billion annually in 2010 to $6 billion in 2012. Only 7 million tourists visited Egypt in 2011, down from 14 million in 2010. While the first half saw a slight rebound, this will again be reversed due to the current atmosphere of violence and uncertainty. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has also taken a major hit, which has declined at a rate of over 90% since the revolution and in comparison to 2009-2010. Here's where the math gets really bad: In the first half of 2010 there was new FDI of $4.1 billion. The first half of 2011 saw $100 million in net OUTFLOW of FDI. Again, the first half of 2012 indicated a rebound, but it was only temporary. Foreign currency reserves have fallen by $21 billion, and Egypt now has enough reserves for less than 3 months of imports (not enough to get it to elections). Inflation is soaring and full-scale currency devaluation looks imminent. The population is hoarding dollars as the Egyptian pound continues to lose value. This panic was exacerbated in January when the president banned citizens from leaving the country with more than $10,000 in cash, which sparked an immediate run on banks' foreign currency reserves. Austerity measures are necessary, and this will add more fuel to the fires in terms of socio-economic unrest. Caught Between Libya and Syria: Too Many Weapons, Too Much Meddling In the meantime, Qatar is using Egypt as a sort of springboard to fame. Qatar is for all intents and purposes the banker of the Muslim Brotherhood, and it has vowed to do whatever it takes to ensure that the Brotherhood does not lose power in Egypt. So far, on the official level, that has resulted in financial aid to stem currency devaluation. This aid has already started coming in, but will not be enough. In return for this Qatari largesse, Egypt has had to throw the Qataris a few perks: 1) it will half to provide "technical support" to the Syrian rebels (and Salafi militants by default) in Syria; 2) Qataris have been exempted from Egypt's new rules governing foreign ownership, which keep foreigners from having sole proprietorships or simple partnerships. The conflicts in Libya (which should be considered ongoing) and Mali reverberate in Egypt. Both conflicts have opened up a transnational Salafi jihadist pipeline that extends all the way from Libya to Syria (and branches out in numerous places along the way). Egypt is the central venue for that pipeline, and recent weapons caches discovered there were likely bound for the Syrian theater. Libya has created a mini-industry for arms that seems to have no end to supplies. This all adds a very dangerous element to Egypt's domestic political crisis and the intensifying unrest. Conclusion The Egyptian government is facing potential collapse and a re-run of a revolution that has never really ended. The economy is facing total collapse, and Qatari aid efforts will only go so far. The first half of 2013 will produce only worse economic indicators and the market will feed off of this. The regulatory environment in the meantime remains uncertain at best, and much will depend on which group (or combination of groups) comes out on top after the dust settles and if April elections indeed proceed. If this turns out to be a successful power grab by radical Salafi forces, it will not proceed without a great deal of bloodshed, and it will destroy Egypt's investment climate. |
| Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Near Unchanged Posted: 05 Feb 2013 02:24 PM PST Gold climbed $11.25 to $1684.75 by a little before 9AM EST before it fell back to $1666.85 in the next two and a half hours of trade, but it then rallied back higher midday and ended with a loss of just 0.03%. Silver rose to $32.10 in London before it fell back to $31.608, but it then bounced back higher midday and ended with a gain of 0.25%. |
| Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - A 'Risk On' Day Posted: 05 Feb 2013 02:19 PM PST  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 05 Feb 2013 02:12 PM PST February 5, 2013
By now you might have heard the news: The Justice Department is suing Standard & Poor's for putting its AAA blessing on mortgage securities packed with crappy subprime loans doomed to failure.
Well, they have a point. Back in the day it was only "doom and gloomers" like us who dared to suggest housing prices don't always go up. In 2004, the year we carried the playfully facetious headline "The Total Destruction of the U.S. Housing Market," the FDIC declared, "It is unlikely that home prices are poised to plunge nationwide, even when mortgage rates rise." The following year, future Fed chief Ben Bernanke told CNBC, "We've never had a decline in house prices on a nationwide basis." "At the time," writes Doug French in an essay for tomorrow's Daily Reckoning, "the government's top economic minds thought everything was A-OK with housing. They were wrong. They were mistaken. Most everyone was. Now the its lawyers, using 20/20 hindsight, figure S&P analysts weren't mistaken, but instead were carrying out a fraudulent scheme to harm not just investors, but the entire world economy."
A function, perhaps, of the fact that the S&P downgraded U.S. sovereign debt in 2011, while the other two continue to declare Uncle Sam AAA? (We've chronicled the feds' chronic harassment of second-tier rating agency Egan-Jones, which downgraded the government not once, but three times — most recently here.) "The entity in question," says Mr. French, "has made promises well beyond the $16 trillion of its official debt and is currently running a $1.5 trillion annual deficit. It has the ongoing character flaw of not being able to control its spending."
Wrap your mind around this: Uncle Sam racked up $6.6 trillion in new obligations during fiscal 2012, according to John Williams of ShadowStats.com — who recently picked apart the 2012 financial statement of the United States Government. This document applies generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to the budget — instead of the phony-baloney practices that would condemn anyone who used them in the private sector to a long stay at Club Fed. The Treasury Department usually tries to bury the report by releasing it between Christmas and New Year's, but this time, it was delayed by the fiscal cliff drama. Using GAAP, Uncle Sam has to take into account its future obligations for Social Security and Medicare. Thus the $6.6 trillion deficit. That's alarming enough — more alarming is how the number exploded in 2012: Why the increase? It reflects, says Mr. Williams, "deteriorating economic conditions, some likely more realistic reporting on the liabilities tied to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, and possible consolidation of troubled entities, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into the federal government's numbers."
"We know where this is going," he told us in a recent interview. "We know they can't meet their obligations — which means somewhere along the line, either government-pensioned employees, someone on Social Security, someone who thinks they're going to get health care, they're not going to get it. And that's fairly predictable." The day that realization hits is one of several scenarios we discussed in which "a breakdown of the financial system brings people to gold and silver." We'll share those scenarios in this month's Apogee Advisory. If you're not a subscriber yet, here's where you can become one. [Ed. Note: One week from today, Mr. Sprott will be joined by two of his most trusted colleagues -- John Embry and our friend Rick Rule -- for a "virtual round table" on precious metals. They'll dig deep into questions like whether the Western central banks have any gold left in their vaults... and why investors are buying just as much silver (measured in dollars) as gold. If you're interested at all in precious metals, you don't want to miss it. To register, follow this link.]
The "most transparent administration in history" has been tight-lipped about its kill-list criteria. Now NBC News has gotten its hands on an unsigned, undated "white paper" from the Justice Department. It says it's lawful to kill a U.S. citizen without charge or trial if…
Significantly, there need be no intelligence that shows you're engaged in an active attack plot. The paper lays out what it calls a "broader concept of imminence." It's the Bush Doctrine of preventive war, brought down to the personal level. Hmmm… We think back to Osama bin Laden's speech right before the 2004 election, the one in which he said he aimed for nothing less than "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy." Heck, that's two presidents and hundreds of current and former congress members who could be considered al-Qaida accomplices, no?
We already knew the total would be a record when the Mint ran out of supply in mid-January. A new batch arrived last week and raised the total even higher. Gold Eagle sales were no slouch either, at 150,000 ounces — the highest monthly total since mid-2010.
Blame it in part on a strengthening dollar. With the latest euroscare we alluded to yesterday, the dollar index has bounced hard off Friday's 79 level to 79.7. The euro, which hit $1.37 on Friday, is back to $1.353 at last check.
Like any saver with a conservative, bond-heavy portfolio, low interest rates are hurting returns. And like retirees, company-sponsored plans are saving more to make up for the loss of interest income. Ford, for instance, contributed $3.4 billion to its pension — not much, considering it's still underfunded by $18.7 billion. Between cash contributions and pensioner buyouts, Ford spent as much in 2012 on meeting pension promises as it spent building plants, buying equipment and developing new car models. Much to the disappointment of the manipulators at the Federal Reserve, few pension funds and retirees are going to flee bonds and bid up stocks; most will respond to lower interest rates by saving more – the exact opposite response the Fed wants to see. Heckuva job, Mr. Bernanke!
Seriously. This is why you read The 5 every day, isn't it? According to Agence France Presse, men in China will pretend to be your significant other for the right amount of yuan. These services "address the most traditional of values: respecting their elders, meeting their demand to find a mate and bringing him home for the country's biggest holiday, the Lunar New Year… More than 300 results appeared on the popular shopping website Taobao.com to rent a pretend partner ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday…" "If they haven't found a partner yet, when they go home, parents will nag them or send them on blind dates or find someone to introduce them to people" says Meng Guangyong, a 29-year-old "boyfriend broker." He rents himself out too. Just how much will Mr. Right-for-a-Night run you? That's up for negotiation: "The menu one fake boyfriend offered online was exhaustive. Chatting: 30 yuan ($5) an hour. Eating a meal, bill paid by renter: 50 yuan an hour. Chatting with elders: free. The package for a whole day: 1,000 yuan… one advertiser priced at 10, 20 and 500 yuan per display of affection… Once they have hashed out an agreement, Meng said he encourages pairs to meet and try to develop a rapport." It's like a real-life Chinese version of the The Wedding Date. The takeaway, Meng says, is that you "can hearten parents over Lunar New Year but also bring each other a little joy… especially with Valentine's Day following four days later."
"I watched our local news coverage of this ballyhooed liberal miracle, meant to aleve Seattle of all of its guns, no questions asked. They gave people who submitted their weapons $20, $40 and $100 gift cards for assault weapons. I, like the gun dealers who were across the street, was seriously thinking of joining the gun-buying mob, in need of a AR15 to add to my gun collection. "The gun dealers were shouting at people in line, asking certain patrons to come to the 'dark side' and saying 'We will pay you a lot more, and it will be in cash!' All that was missing was ATF and IRS agents! "Even more amusing was the moms and grandmas with their stories of these hand-me-down rifles and shotguns. Geez, grandpa is turning over in his grave because you gave away his favorite squirrel gun. Now we're ridding the streets of Seattle of those awful illegal weapons! "But the biggest attraction, though, was the nut with the rocket launcher. Funny thing. What you didn't hear or see was he didn't get a dime. He was he was being hustled by the gun dealers. But the news failed to mention that the Seattle Police just confiscated the damn thing from him. Surprisingly, he didn't end up with a nice pair of brass bracelets, courtesy of Seattle's finest. I'm sure that nut is on some Homeland Security list now! "Not surprisingly, I didn't see one gang-banger or felon with huge guns (biceps) and prison tats in line with their MAC 10′s and the sort! "By the way," he adds, "Greg Guenthner's recommendation of Smith & Wesson was one sweet deal last year. Keep 'em coming, Greg!" The 5: Ah yes, 158% gains in just shy of a year. Yes, he'll keep 'em coming. (Not one of Greg's readers yet? You can remedy that here.) Regards, Dave Gonigam P.S. "How about, just for kicks, "posting Patrick's record of returns if one had taken him up on all his stunning breakthroughs and bombshell announcements," a reader dares us. "My guess is it's worse than giving money to the big banks or Obama and hoping to get a profit! Please??" The 5: Actually, it's an excellent time to review Patrick's track record, since he's been on the team five years this month. In that time, he's recommended selling six of his positions. Not one sold for a loss, and the average gain was 168%. Are some of his open positions down? Sure. But as we've said before, the only possible way anyone could have booked a loss on one of his recommendations… is to sell it before he says it's time to sell. His open positions are all "high-conviction"… loaded with the potential for triple-digit gains at worst and life-changing gains at best. His favorite high-conviction play of the moment is also his most controversial. As always, the final decision is yours.        |
| Posted: 05 Feb 2013 01:43 PM PST Jim, 3 years ago they came on the attack in April, 2 years ago in March, last year in February and finally this year at the end of January! Pretty soon there won't be a season for gold stocks. THIS JUST WREAKS OF DESPERATION! CIGA David David, Think for a minute. Maybe you Continue reading Jim's Mailbox |
| Posted: 05 Feb 2013 01:28 PM PST Florida Avenue is the main drag in our little town in central Florida. In less than a mile, you're likely to see three or four folks standing on the sidewalk wearing headphones, bopping to music, and waving big glittery signs or arrows with "We Buy Gold" written across them. It's a common sight across many cities today. During my annual trip to Arizona, my friend Phil asked me about gold. He owns some gold with no emotional value tied to it, and I convinced him of two things. First, he should not sell his gold; and second, he should hold it in a portable form with an easily recognizable value, like Gold Eagles. If things really get tough, he wouldn't want to have to barter jewelry with no easily agreed-upon value. There are many places where he could probably sell his jewelry, but how would he know if he was getting a fair price? I didn't know either, but I knew I had a friend who would. I called up my good friend Rob. His family has owned a pawnshop for decades; it even has a "We Buy Gold" sign in the window. Who better to ask? Rob explained his position as a dealer. For him, gold is a highly volatile asset; its price swings can have a major impact on his margins. When he buys gold, he must hold it – sometimes for several months – until he has enough to sell to a refinery. His highest percentage payout at the refinery is tied to the volume he sells. Under Florida law, even if he buys the gold outright, as opposed to taking a pawn, he's required to hold the item for at least 30 days. The normal "We Buy Gold" facilities have a 15-day minimum hold. When the price of gold is rising, a lot of folks come into his store to sell. When it drops, Rob can get caught with inventory he can't sell at a profit. The dealer does take a sizeable risk. Rob walked me through the process his clerks use to evaluate gold, using a necklace as an example. WeightFirst they put the item on a scale to weigh it. Most dealers weigh the item in "pennyweight," not ounces. One pennyweight is 1/20 of a Troy ounce. I asked Rob, "If I weighed a gold necklace on my wife's Weight Watcher's scale and it weighed 1 oz., that's 20 pennyweight on your scale, right?" He replied, "Not exactly." A Troy ounce is not the same unit of measurement as the "ounce" on a postal scale or the scale you weigh yourself on at home. When you see the price of gold quoted in the paper, it's in Troy ounces. He also mentioned that some dealers weigh the gold in grams. There are 31.1 grams in a Troy ounce. (I'm using pennyweight in our example because that's what Rob uses in his store.) KaratThe second step is to determine the karat weight (abbreviated "K") of the gold. "Karat" is the term used for purity; 24K gold is 99% pure. Commercially made jewelry will always have a karat marking on it. If there's no marking, it's a huge red flag, and most dealers won't buy it. A dealer will still verify that the karat marking on the gold is accurate. There are several styles of test kits that dealers use; Rob noted that karat markings are usually accurate, but not always. Some inaccurate markings are actually there to deceive you. For example, "14K Filled" or "14K HGE" (heavy gold electroplated) are both gold-plated designations. That's why they check. Doing the Math – "Cheat Sheets" Provided!After that, it's a matter of math. It's not especially complicated, but the terminology used by the jewelry industry can puzzle people. Assume you have a 20-pennyweight piece of 18K gold, which means it's 75% pure gold. Fifteen is 75% of 20, so you have 15 pennyweight of 24-karat gold. And since 20 pennyweight equals one Troy ounce, that's 0.75 oz. of 24K (pure) gold. To make this process even more straightforward, I – with Rob's help – put together two Gold Conversion Worksheets for our Money Forever readers. Both walk you through the process step by step. That's Great, But How Much Money Will I Get?On average, "We Buy Gold" dealers pay about 76% of the spot price to sellers for their gold. As a dealer, Rob loses approximately 5% when he takes the gold to the refinery. Because the refiner actually melts down the gold, its appraisal is even more accurate than Rob's. When he weighs the gold in the store, there may be steel (not gold) springs, a little filler, or even some soap scum (remember we are talking about used jewelry) on the product; that all adds to its weight. One pennyweight is 1/20 of an ounce, so it doesn't take much to register a little more weight on Rob's scale. When the refiner melts out the actual gold, it's usually about 5% less than what he calculated. Rob emphasized that his weight estimates never quite match what's left after the gold's been melted down. The refiner never buys the gold at spot price; when you boil it down (pun intended), his margins are normally 10-12%… certainly not exorbitant. When I asked Rob if he had any suggestions for our readers, he said to take one item and shop it around. He suggested using a heavy item; it will give you a more accurate reading of what the jeweler is paying per Troy ounce. Go to three or four places and get quotes, and you will likely get a variety of prices. Also, always ask the dealer for the weight and the karat of your item. They will probably quote the weight in pennyweight, knowing full well that most folks cannot convert it to Troy ounces. Write it down so you can easily compare dealers' offers. If a couple of dealers give you the same weight, and then one is different, ask them to recheck it; don't hesitate to mention that other dealers told you something else. If the jewelry has a karat mark and the dealer tells you it's inaccurate, ask why – and get a second opinion. Secret ShoppersToday's market for gold buyers is more competitive than you might think. To learn what the competition is offering, dealers will periodically send a secret shopper around with a gold item to their competitors to ask for a bid, should they decide they want to sell it. Some gold buyers are very aggressive. Rob mentioned one store where the appraiser stands behind a piece of thick plastic, like at a currency exchange, and the customers slide their gold through an opening. In one instance, a lady went into a particular store to have her jewelry appraised; the clerk slid paperwork and cash back through the slot, and refused to return her jewelry. It took fifteen minutes of escalating demands before she was finally able to speak to a manager and get her jewelry back. If you're shopping around, trust your instincts. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it! There are plenty of reputable places that will buy your item, so do business where you feel comfortable. Shopping around can easily net you a few hundred dollars more for your item. Remember Those Late-Night Commercials for Mail-In Gold Dealers?I asked Rob about the firms where you mail in your gold, and they send you back the cash. Just like dealers in town, some are reputable, and some are not. Many also charge a high "assay fee," which lowers your total return. From a practical standpoint, it's much more difficult to comparison shop and negotiate through the mail. So while it's probably the most convenient way to sell your gold it's likely you'll get less for it. Like anything in life, if you're doing less legwork on this then you're going to get less of a pay off. Selling Directly to a RefinerI asked Jeff Clark, the editor of BIG GOLD, if he had any suggestions. He indicated that local gold markets vary throughout the country. Some markets lack competitive buyers, so shopping around is paramount.
He also pointed out that gold refiners do not negotiate. They take the metal, melt it down, and pay you accordingly. Jeff pointed me toward two refiners, Dillon Gage and Precious Metal Recovery, and I phoned them both. Dillon Gage has a $10,000 minimum order and requires a tax ID number. It pays out 99% of spot price, minus an assay fee for analyzing the gold. Precious Metal Recovery pays 93%-96% depending on quantity, with no assay fee. If you ask, the company will also provide a coupon for a portion off the shipping for larger orders. Just like with dealers, if you go directly to a refiner, it's still important to compare prices and shop around. While we're talking gold today Money Forever covers many more financial subjects of interest to retirees including high-yield dividend stocks, annuities, reverse mortgages, mutual funds, TIPS, and much more. Find out more by clicking here. |
| Posted: 05 Feb 2013 01:14 PM PST Florida Avenue is the main drag in our little town in central Florida. In less than a mile, you're likely to see three or four folks standing on the sidewalk wearing headphones, bopping to music, and waving big glittery signs or arrows with "We Buy Gold" written across them. It's a common sight across many cities today. |
| Rosen - Danger For Stocks, Gold & Silver Ready For A Big Move Posted: 05 Feb 2013 01:09 PM PST  On the heels of MEP Nigel Farage telling King World News that the West is headed into an Orwellian nightmare and bankruptcy, today 56-year market veteran and analyst Ron Rosen sent King World News exclusively three outstanding charts and commentary for our global readers. This will give KWN readers an important snapshot of of the extraordinary roadmap he sees going forward for key markets such as gold and silver.This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Harry Dent: Crash coming between 2013 and 2015… Posted: 05 Feb 2013 01:04 PM PST Below is an excerpt of a very interesting article of Harry Dent via TheGoldReport. In this Gold Report interview, Dent predicts a global crash between mid-2013 and early 2015, in an ongoing decade of economic coma. For now, gold and gold equities are great investments, but when the crash comes, read on to find out what he suggests will be a good sector until the echo generation enters the workforce and starts buying potato chips and houses. … Recently, Japan's strategy has been to print enough yen to push down its currency to increase exports, even though its domestic economy is dying due to an aging population, bad demographic trends and super-high debt ratios. By doing this, Japan is starting the next trade war. Other countries will respond by lowering their currencies and doing more stimulus. If you keep doing this, the whole thing will break down at some point. The question is when. We think the next breakdown will start in late 2013 or early 2014. … TGR: Roller coasters can be scary things. Unless you are looking in the rearview mirror, how do you know when is the high and when is the low? HD: It is not easy. We predict that the Dow could go as high as 15,000 this year before dropping to 6,000 in early 2015. Nobody can predict the exact top or the exact date. You can only guess by seeing when investors are overly bullish or bearish and when patterns are stretching on. … According to your research, when will enough young people be in the workforce earning money, buying potato chips and houses to pump up the economy again? HD: We are looking for that to happen in the early 2020s. … Your key goal should be to protect the gains you made in the greatest global bubble boom in history. Get out, keep cash and wait for the next big crash. Then buy at $0.20 or $0.40 on the dollar. What could be better than that? |
| U.S. government justifies drone killings of Americans for little cause Posted: 05 Feb 2013 12:42 PM PST Memo Justifies Drone Kills Even with Patchy Intelligence By Susan Heavey, David Ingram, and Mark Hosenball http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/05/us-usa-drones-idUSBRE9140X1201... WASHINGTON -- The government has authorized the killing of American citizens as part of its controversial drone campaign against al Qaeda even without intelligence that such Americans are actively plotting to attack a U.S. target, according to a Justice Department memo. The unclassified memo, first obtained by NBC News, argues that drone strikes are justified under American law if a targeted U.S. citizen had "recently" been involved in "activities" posing a possible threat and provided that there is no evidence suggesting the individual "renounced or abandoned" such activities. The document was disclosed as a bipartisan group of U.S. senators called on the Obama administration to release to Congress "any and all" legal opinions laying out the government's understanding of what legal powers the president has to deliberately kill American citizens. ... Dispatch continues below ... ADVERTISEMENT Fred Goldstein and Tim Murphy open All Pro Gold All-Pro Gold, run by long-time GATA supporters Fred Goldstein and Tim Murphy, offers its services to GATA supporters and anyone else interested in precious metals. The company brokers a full line of precious metals and numismatic coins. It aims to inform prospective clients about the importance of the monetary metals as part of a diversified financial portfolio and to keep prospective clients current with market trends. All-Pro Gold has competitive pricing and ships promptly to clients so they may have physical possession. Learn more by e-mailing Fred@allprogold.com or Tim@allprogold.com or telephone 1-855-377-4653 or visit www.allprogold.com. The senators who signed the letter, including members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the administration's cooperation would "help avoid an unnecessary confrontation that could affect the Senate's consideration of nominees for national security purposes." Obama has nominated John Brennan, his White House counter terrorism adviser, who defends drone strikes, to lead the CIA. An Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on the nomination is scheduled for Thursday and Brennan is likely to face questioning on drone policy. One national security official said the leak of the Justice Department memo may have been timed to blunt such congressional demands for the release of additional, possibly classified, documents relating to the U.S. use of drones. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a statement on Tuesday said she had been calling on the administration to release legal analyses related to the use of drones for more than a year. Feinstein said the document published by NBC had been given to congressional committees last June on a confidential basis and that her committee is seeking additional documents, which are believed to remain classified. Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday said he was concerned release of more documents could put sources and operations at risk. "We'll have to look at this and see how, what it is we want to do with these memos. But you have to understand that we are talking about things that are, that go into really kind of how we conduct our offensive operations against a clear and present danger to this nation," Holder said at a press conference. "That is a real concern to reveal sources, to potentially reveal sources and methods and put at risk the very mechanisms that we use to try to keep people safe, which is our primary responsibility, he added. In the unclassified Justice Department paper posted by NBC on its website, the authors laid out three conditions that the executive branch should meet before a drone strike is ordered. A top U.S. official must determine that the targeted person "poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States," cannot be captured, and that the strike "would be conducted in a manner consistent with applicable law of war principles," the department said. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment to Reuters about the report. The memo is drawing new attention to the 2011 strike that killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born alleged leader of Al Qaeda's Yemen-based affiliate who U.S. investigators linked to a botched plot to blow up a U.S. airliner with a bomb hidden in a man's underwear on Christmas Day, 2009. Targeted killings, carried out by remotely piloted unmanned aircraft, are controversial because of the risks to nearby civilians and because of their increasing use. The United Nations recently launched an investigation into their use. Most such attacks have been carried out by the United States, but Britain and Israel have also used drones. Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has sued for more information on the drone program, called the memo "profoundly disturbing" and "a stunning overreach of executive authority." Shamsi, head of the ACLU's National Security Project, in a statement called on the Obama administration to release what she said was a 50-page classified legal document on which the 16-page summary is based. "Among other things, we need to know if the limits the executive purports to impose on its killing authority are as loosely defined as in this summary, because if they are, they ultimately mean little," she said late Monday. The ACLU on Tuesday will also file court papers seeking to block government efforts to dismiss the group's lawsuit challenging the 2011 killing of Awlaki and two other Americans in Yemen, the statement said. Join GATA here: California Resource Investment Conference * * * Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006: http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT Opinion Around the World Is Changing When Deutschebank calls gold "good money" and paper "bad money". ... http://www.gata.org/node/11765 When the president of the German central bank, the Bundesbank, pays tribute to gold as "a timeless classic". ... http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/09/24/signs-of-the-gold-stan... When a leading member of the policy committee of the People's Bank of China calls the gold standard "an excellent monetary system". ... http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/10/01/signs-of-the-gold-stan... When a CNN reporter writes in The China Post that the "gold commission" plank in the 2012 Republican platform will "reverberate around the world". ... http://www.thegoldstandardnow.org/key-blogs/1563-china-post-the-gop-gold... When the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy of the U.S. House of Representatives twice called on economist, historian, and gold standard advocate Lewis E. Lehrman to testify. ... World opinion is changing in favor of gold. How can you learn why and what it will mean to you? Read the newly updated and expanded edition of Lehrman's book, "The True Gold Standard." Financial journalist James Grant says of "The True Gold Standard": "If you have ever wondered how the world can get from here to there -- from the chaos of depreciating paper to a convertible currency worthy of our children and our grandchildren -- wonder no more. The answer, brilliantly expounded, is between these covers. America has long needed a modern Alexander Hamilton. In Lewis E. Lehrman she has finally found him." To buy a copy of "The True Gold Standard," please visit: http://www.thegoldstandardnow.com/publications/the-true-gold-standard |
| '... and no one knows how much the central bank is buying' Posted: 05 Feb 2013 12:35 PM PST Hong Kong-to-China Gold Flow Hit Record in 2012 By Rujun Shen http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/05/hongkong-gold-china-idUSL4N0B5... SINGAPORE -- Hong Kong's net gold flow to mainland China jumped 47 percent in 2012 to a record high of 557.478 tonnes, indicating robust demand in China, which vies with India to be the world's top gold consumer. Hong Kong shipped 114.372 tonnes of gold to China in December, also a record high for monthly exports. The former British colony received 19.644 tonnes of gold from the mainland in that month. Its total gold shipments to China in 2012 jumped 94 percent from the 2011 total to over 832 tonnes, but imports also were six times higher at 274.684 tonnes, data from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department showed on Tuesday (www.censtatd.gov.hk). ... Dispatch continues below ... ADVERTISEMENT Opinion Around the World Is Changing When Deutschebank calls gold "good money" and paper "bad money". ... http://www.gata.org/node/11765 When the president of the German central bank, the Bundesbank, pays tribute to gold as "a timeless classic". ... http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/09/24/signs-of-the-gold-stan... When a leading member of the policy committee of the People's Bank of China calls the gold standard "an excellent monetary system". ... http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2012/10/01/signs-of-the-gold-stan... When a CNN reporter writes in The China Post that the "gold commission" plank in the 2012 Republican platform will "reverberate around the world". ... http://www.thegoldstandardnow.org/key-blogs/1563-china-post-the-gop-gold... When the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy of the U.S. House of Representatives twice called on economist, historian, and gold standard advocate Lewis E. Lehrman to testify. ... World opinion is changing in favor of gold. How can you learn why and what it will mean to you? Read the newly updated and expanded edition of Lehrman's book, "The True Gold Standard." Financial journalist James Grant says of "The True Gold Standard": "If you have ever wondered how the world can get from here to there -- from the chaos of depreciating paper to a convertible currency worthy of our children and our grandchildren -- wonder no more. The answer, brilliantly expounded, is between these covers. America has long needed a modern Alexander Hamilton. In Lewis E. Lehrman she has finally found him." To buy a copy of "The True Gold Standard," please visit: http://www.thegoldstandardnow.com/publications/the-true-gold-standard "It is not a surprise," said Dan Smith, head of metals research at Standard Chartered. "Consumer and investment appetite was quite strong and no one knows how much the central bank is buying." Investors are waiting for a research report from the World Gold Council due next week, which will show whether China overtook India last year as the world's top gold consumer. "This is a very strong number," said Nick Trevethan, senior commodity strategist at ANZ in Singapore. "China's implied gold demand looks set to approach or exceed 1,000 tonnes based on Hong Kong trade data and the annualised gold production number." The implied demand could reach 1,050 tonnes if gold inflow from other channels is factored in, he added. China produced 322.8 tonnes of gold in the first 10 months of 2012, up 11 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said. Physical buying at the start of 2013 was strong as seasonal demand picked up before the Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 10. But buying has since ebbed as prices moved higher and settled in a rangebound mode. Traders have said the pre-holiday demand is not as strong as in the past few years as improving global and domestic economies sap some investors' interest in gold. Join GATA here: California Resource Investment Conference * * * Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006: http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt: Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009: http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal Help keep GATA going GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at: To contribute to GATA, please visit: ADVERTISEMENT Get the real story about the precious metals Now you don't have to travel to attend a financial conference to hear Sprott Asset Management's precious metals experts -- Eric Sprott, Rick Rule, and John Embry. They'll be holding a round-table discussion via the Internet at 2 p.m. ET Tuesday, February 12, and you can be part of it. Among their topics: -- Why are precious metals such a compelling investment opportunity? -- Why are non-G7 central banks buying gold? Do Western central banks have any left? -- Why are investors buying as much silver as gold in dollar terms? What does this mean for the price of silver? -- Is the growing supply deficit of platinum and palladium going to push their prices higher? To register for this Internet conference and participate from the comfort of your own home or office, please visit: http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=579230&s=1&k=70B829852A33CD255CC2A43ED63D18D0 |
| Posted: 05 Feb 2013 12:18 PM PST Gold Choppy Ahead of ECB Policy
I would submit, that a sustained move above $1700 would also encourage buyers. The midpoint of the range that has dominated for more than a year is found at 1721.61. The euro was similarly volatile, initially weighed by French PM's Hollande's expressed concerns about recent euro strength. Hollande said the eurozone should have an "exchange rate policy," noting that "The euro should not fluctuate according to the mood of the markets." That would suggest that Hollande was advocating for a fixed exchange rate policy, or that he simply has no concept about how markets operate. The euro subsequently rebounded on reports that euro strength would not prompt further easing on the part of the ECB. The central bank will announce policy on Thursday and is widely expected to hold the refi rate steady at 0.75%. While that is a pretty low interest rate, it's still quite a bit higher than the benchmark rates of the BoE, Fed and BoJ. The single currency has garnered additional support in recent months from a growing consensus that a breakup of the EU has been successfully averted. Interestingly, developing political scandals in both Spain and Italy threaten to sap that sense of relief and move the European debt crisis back onto the radar screens of global market. That may actually be viewed as a good thing in the eyes of those like Hollande. |
| Farage - West Headed Into Orwellian Nightmare & Bankruptcy Posted: 05 Feb 2013 10:50 AM PST  Today Nigel Farage told King World News he is deeply concerned about Orwellian developments, and military interventions. He also believes the world will witness a massive spike in the gold price as the West marches towards bankruptcy, and financial crisis once again engulfs the world. But first, Farage, who is Britain's very popular MEP, gave this entertaining response when asked what has him worried right now, "Joe Biden (laughter ensues). What a ghastly man. What have you done in America to deserve such an appalling bloke? We've had a special relationship between Britain and America going back over very many years."This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Oil May Fall as Gold Gains on Soft Services ISM Data Posted: 05 Feb 2013 10:15 AM PST courtesy of DailyFX.com February 05, 2013 06:00 AM Crude oil may fall while gold prices advance as risk appetite falters anew after soft service-sector ISM data reboots fears about US resilience ahead of further austerity. Crude oil may fall while gold prices advance as risk appetite falters anew after soft service-sector ISM data reboots fears about US resilience ahead of further austerity. Talking Points [LIST] [*]Commodity Prices Broadly Higher as Risky Assets Correct After Yesterday’s Selloff [*]Crude Oil May Fall as Gold Gains if Soft Services ISM Triggers US Austerity Fears [/LIST] Commodities are on the upswing heading into the opening bell in North America, with a sharp pickup on S&P 500 futures reinforcing the case for upside follow-through as Wall Street comes online. The newswires are teeming with plausible explanations for the advance, from better-than-expected European PMI figures to a narrowing Eurozone bond yield spreads. Capital flows seem like the mos... |
An immensely powerful international organization that most people have never even heard of secretly controls the money supply of the entire globe. It is called the Bank for International Settlements, and it is the central bank of central banks. It is located in Basel, Switzerland, but it also has branches in Hong Kong and Mexico City. It is essentially an unelected, unaccountable central bank of the world that has complete immunity from taxation and from national laws. 
The pieces of the puzzle are coming together nicely. As I have been expecting, small investors are running towards 
In 'The Road to Serfdom', F.A. Hayek showed how governments, supported by a collectivist mindset, always tend towards totalitarianism. Even the most libertarian government thus far created, the government of the United States, has slipped incrementally towards totalitarianism over the past two centuries, more noticeably since 911 and most alarmingly since the 2008 financial crisis. This is because it is an inherent trait of a government. Planned or random crisis events inevitably accelerate the process.
Today Nigel Farage told King World News he is deeply concerned about Orwellian developments, and military interventions. He also believes the world will witness massive spike in the gold price as the West marches towards bankruptcy, and financial crisis once again engulfs the world. But first, Farage, who is Britain's very popular MEP, gave this entertaining response when asked what has him worried right now, "Joe Biden (laughter ensues). What a ghastly man. What have you done in America to deserve such an appalling bloke? We've had a special relationship between Britain and America going back over very many years."
Whaddya know… It's a new entrant to our ever-expanding 
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