http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/4259/time-short
( the danger in charting comes from assuming the same pattern will replicate itself again - it may , perhaps it should .... but we know the silver market is subject to manipulation , right ? Be careful out there folks.... )
http://www.silverdoctors.com/gold-silver-in-waterfall-decline-on-globex-open-silver-smashed-under-33/#more-15459
( interesting to see another attack on silver - in light of the big withdrawal at Comex Friday... )
http://www.silverdoctors.com/massive-comex-silver-withdrawal-on-friday/
http://www.caseyresearch.com/gsd/edition/switzerland-world-s-gold-hub
http://www.caseyresearch.com/gsd/edition/jeff-clark-solar-silver-thrust
( the danger in charting comes from assuming the same pattern will replicate itself again - it may , perhaps it should .... but we know the silver market is subject to manipulation , right ? Be careful out there folks.... )
Time Is Short
I've been working, researching and thinking all morning and you deserve a lengthy post with full explanations. For now, though, it's getting late and I want to post some initial guidance, so, here you go.
In hindsight, this should have been anticipated. I failed you on that and I apologize. I'm still supremely confident in coming, future "historic and explosive" events and, therefore, quite reluctant to sell anything. It's also very difficult for me to advise anyone else to sell anything when the changes I expect could literally materialize at any moment.
For those keeping score at home, I still own all of the December gold and silver calls I bought late last summer. I've made no changes. Should I have locked in some gains two weeks ago? Of course but my confidence is unwavering so I've just kept them in place. This is certainly NOT the best trading strategy but I'm not really much of a trader anymore, anyway. However, this doesn't mean that you, my dear reader, are not a trader and therefore I feel badly that I didn't counsel you against last week and today. Certain subscription sites did issue warnings and for that I applaud them. At $75 or $100/month, they'd better be right every once in a while.
In the end, it boils down to this...
Our current situation is playing out almost exactly to the pattern seen post the announcement of QE2 back in late 2010. Charts, timing, sentiment...all the same. Because of this, the next phase should play out the same, as well. More on that in a minute.
For now, what we are seeing is a complete clawback of the gains made post QE∞. We saw this in January of 2011 and we are seeing it again now. {Take a minute to go back and read this. Tell me the 2nd paragraph doesn't seem like it was written last Friday. (Additionally, how about all the grief I took from some folks because gold only traded to $1577 in May?)http://tfmetalsreport.blogspot.com/2011/01/1600-gold-by-june-10-2011.html}
This is NOT the start of a major pullback and the metals are NOT going to $26 and $1500. NOT happening. Let the past be your guide and remember, the key to "successful" metals trading is to always have the courage to sell some when everyone is buying and buy some when everyone else is selling.
So, please consider these charts and try to keep your wits about you. The selloff is January of 2011 lasted three weeks and we are currently in week 2 of this one. Consequently, we are close to a bottom but not likely there just yet. With this in mind, look at these 12-hour charts. Note that prices have nearly retraced ALL of the gains made after the announcement of QE∞.
And now look at these daily charts with the RSIs at the bottom. Remember that Relative Strength Indices are my favorite indicators of "overbought" and "oversold" conditions. Note that both metals are CLOSE to reaching the RSI levels last seen in late June, at the bottom of the 100-day beatdown from Leap Day.
So, for the sake of brevity, let me sum up. I'll try to craft a more detailed post later and, for the first time since "$44 silver by Labor Day" ( http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/1993/silver-44) , I plan to give you a hard and fast prediction post that contains both a date and a price.
The metals could have bottomed today but I doubt it. Sometime in the next 5-7 trading days, though, I expect a drop in silver to near $32, maybe even a shade below. I expect gold to drop to $1720 and perhaps briefly spike to $1700 or just below. THAT IS IT, HOWEVER. From there, the metals will resume their post-QE∞ rally. By sometime early in Q1 2013, I expect silver to once again see $44 and gold will trade to near, or just above $2000.
So, that's it for now. Hang in there and keep the faith. Get ready to buy the dip.
TF
http://www.silverdoctors.com/gold-silver-in-waterfall-decline-on-globex-open-silver-smashed-under-33/#more-15459
( interesting to see another attack on silver - in light of the big withdrawal at Comex Friday... )
GOLD & SILVER IN WATERFALL DECLINE ON GLOBEX OPEN- SILVER SMASHED UNDER $33!
The cartel wasted no time on light Globex trading Sunday night, attacking both gold and silver. Both metals were treated to waterfall declines on the open, with
http://www.silverdoctors.com/massive-comex-silver-withdrawal-on-friday/
There was a massive silver withdrawal out of the Comex on Friday. Over the past week, there has been a steady increase in the total amount of silver in the Comex warehouses.
However, in one huge withdrawal, 3.6 MILLION OUNCES, a whopping 17% of Brinks total REGISTERED silver inventory was removed on Friday. I have not seen such a large withdrawal from the registered category for quite some time.
Furthermore, this single withdrawal from the Brinks registered category was nearly 10% of all the total registered silver in the Comex warehouses.
NEW IMPORTANT UDPATE BELOW: added at 9:53 pm SATURDAY
Brinks had a staggering 3.6 million ounce silver withdrawal (or 17% ) from its total REGISTERED INVENTORY on Friday. There was an additional 558,390 ounces withdrawn from HSBC.
There were two deposits on the same day. 456,057 ounces was deposited into the JP Morgan warehouse and 1,176,937 ounces went into the Scotia Mocatta vaults.
Even though there was a total of 1.6 million ounces deposited in the Comex Warehouses on Friday, there was 4.16 million withdrawn with a net reduction of 2.5 million ounces.
Of course we don’t know if these figures are completely accurate, but we can plainly see there is serious movement of silver coming in and out of the Comex.
UPDATE: 9:53 PM SATURDAY
I just looked at the USGS new monthly Silver Commodity Update. What a SHOCKER. If we take a look at the difference in silver exports from just June to July, we can see that a staggering 169 metric tonnes of silver was sent to the United Kingdom back in July. This is a 5.4 million ounce transfer of silver to the U.K in just one month:
If you notice, you will see that the normal amount of silver that has been moved per month to several different countries is in the 30,000 kg or 30 metric tonnes. However, in July the U.S. exported 169,ooo kgs. or 169 metric tonnes to the U.K. Looks like there has been some serious silver being transferred to the LBMA in London.
Lastly, of the total 587 metric tonnes of silver bullion exported between Jan-July of 2012, 169 metric tonnes or 29% of the total silver exports took place in one month… and to one country…. U.K.
http://www.caseyresearch.com/gsd/edition/switzerland-world-s-gold-hub
¤ YESTERDAY IN GOLD AND SILVER
The gold price was well behaved right up until 8:30 a.m. in New York. The rally that began at that point got stepped on immediately by one of the not-for-profit sellers...and thirty-five minutes after that, the engineered price decline began...and kept up for the rest of the Comex trading session.
Ten minutes after the close of Comex trading, the gold price got kicked down the stairs one last time in the thinly-traded electronic market. The high tick of the day [$1,774.50] came at 8:45 a.m...and the low tick [$1,751.20 spot] came at 1:50 p.m. Eastern.
Gold closed at $1,754.30 spot...down $12.90 on the day. Volume was around 136,000 contracts.
Ten minutes after the close of Comex trading, the gold price got kicked down the stairs one last time in the thinly-traded electronic market. The high tick of the day [$1,774.50] came at 8:45 a.m...and the low tick [$1,751.20 spot] came at 1:50 p.m. Eastern.
Gold closed at $1,754.30 spot...down $12.90 on the day. Volume was around 136,000 contracts.
The silver price came under selling pressure almost right from the London open...and the rally at the Comex open met the same fate as the rally in gold. And, like gold, it was all down hill from there, as even the tiniest rally got sold. And, as is always the case, silver got hit far harder price wise than gold.
Silver's high tick was around $34.10 in early morning trading in the Far East...and the low of the day [33.33 spot] came shortly before the 5:15 p.m. close of electronic trading in New York.
Silver closed the Friday trading session at $33.48 spot...down 52 cents of the day. Volume was in the area of 40,000 contracts.
Silver's high tick was around $34.10 in early morning trading in the Far East...and the low of the day [33.33 spot] came shortly before the 5:15 p.m. close of electronic trading in New York.
Silver closed the Friday trading session at $33.48 spot...down 52 cents of the day. Volume was in the area of 40,000 contracts.
The dollar index opened around 79.80...and traded flat until the London open. The it dropped 25 basis points in less than an hour...and crept slowly lower from there. It's nadir [79.52] came at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time...and from there it rallied until 11:40 a.m. before trading sideways into the 5:30 p.m. Eastern time close.
The index finished the day at 79.69...down 11 basis points from its Thursday close...and you pretty much have to be dreaming in Technicolor to make the gold and silver price chart fit what happened in the currencies yesterday. The declines in gold and silver had zero to do with moves in the dollar index...especially that big drop at the London open...and the decline from there.
The index finished the day at 79.69...down 11 basis points from its Thursday close...and you pretty much have to be dreaming in Technicolor to make the gold and silver price chart fit what happened in the currencies yesterday. The declines in gold and silver had zero to do with moves in the dollar index...especially that big drop at the London open...and the decline from there.
***
The CME's Daily Delivery Report was pretty sparse, as only 23 gold and 1 lonely silver contract were posted for delivery on Tuesday.
There were no reported changes in either GLD or SLV yesterday.
The U.S. Mint had obviously been saving up its sales reports for the week...and posted them all yesterday. They sold 10,000 ounces of gold eagles...3,000 one ounce 24K gold buffaloes...but only 175,000 silver eagles. Month-to-date the mint has sold 17,000 ounces of gold eagles...5,500 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes...and 1,408,000 silver eagles. The sales ratio of silver to gold based on these sales figures is a bit over 62 to 1.
It was a monster day over at the Comex-approved depositories on Thursday. They reported receiving 1,632,994 troy ounces of silver, but shipped a staggering 4,159,936 troy ounces out the door. Of the amount received...456,057 troy ounces disappeared into JPMorgan's depository, which now hold 23.81 million ounces of silver. The big withdrawal...3,600,546 troy ounces...was from Brink's, Inc. The activity is definitely worth checking out...and the link is here.
As expected, there wasn't much change in yesterday's Commitment of Traders Report...as the Commercial net short position in silver only declined by 836 contracts...and gold's Commercial net short position only improved by 2,282 contracts.
Ted Butler says that JPMorgan is still short about 33,000 Comex contracts, so nothing has changed there...and reader EWF, who provides me with the charts from the Disaggregated COT report, said that "The Top 4 silver traders hold their largest net short position since October 2010 when silver was $22 per ounce."
To see how the long and short positions shape up in all three COT categories over time, here are a couple of links where you can see at a glance what's been going on all year long...and the weekly COT history on both gold and silver going back about seventeen years. The link to the Gold COT Report is here...and the Silver COT Report is here. These links are definitely worth checking out.
There were no reported changes in either GLD or SLV yesterday.
The U.S. Mint had obviously been saving up its sales reports for the week...and posted them all yesterday. They sold 10,000 ounces of gold eagles...3,000 one ounce 24K gold buffaloes...but only 175,000 silver eagles. Month-to-date the mint has sold 17,000 ounces of gold eagles...5,500 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes...and 1,408,000 silver eagles. The sales ratio of silver to gold based on these sales figures is a bit over 62 to 1.
It was a monster day over at the Comex-approved depositories on Thursday. They reported receiving 1,632,994 troy ounces of silver, but shipped a staggering 4,159,936 troy ounces out the door. Of the amount received...456,057 troy ounces disappeared into JPMorgan's depository, which now hold 23.81 million ounces of silver. The big withdrawal...3,600,546 troy ounces...was from Brink's, Inc. The activity is definitely worth checking out...and the link is here.
As expected, there wasn't much change in yesterday's Commitment of Traders Report...as the Commercial net short position in silver only declined by 836 contracts...and gold's Commercial net short position only improved by 2,282 contracts.
Ted Butler says that JPMorgan is still short about 33,000 Comex contracts, so nothing has changed there...and reader EWF, who provides me with the charts from the Disaggregated COT report, said that "The Top 4 silver traders hold their largest net short position since October 2010 when silver was $22 per ounce."
To see how the long and short positions shape up in all three COT categories over time, here are a couple of links where you can see at a glance what's been going on all year long...and the weekly COT history on both gold and silver going back about seventeen years. The link to the Gold COT Report is here...and the Silver COT Report is here. These links are definitely worth checking out.
I want to point out that my computer has always had problems loading the graphics from the above links...especially silver...and yours might as well, so be warned.
Here's the "Days of World Production to Cover Short Positions" chart courtesy of Nick Laird...and shows the extreme short positions held by the '4 or less' and '8 or less' traders in all the physical commodities traded on the Comex. The thing that we know for sure now is that, in silver, three banks...two U.S. and one non-U.S...hold around 95% of the entire '4 largest traders' category between them...that's the red bar on this chart...and the other five 'large traders' that are left in the '8 largest traders' category, hold the tiny balance between them. That's basically the difference between the red bar and the green bar on this chart...plus 5% of the red bar. How grotesque and manipulative can you get???
Here's the "Days of World Production to Cover Short Positions" chart courtesy of Nick Laird...and shows the extreme short positions held by the '4 or less' and '8 or less' traders in all the physical commodities traded on the Comex. The thing that we know for sure now is that, in silver, three banks...two U.S. and one non-U.S...hold around 95% of the entire '4 largest traders' category between them...that's the red bar on this chart...and the other five 'large traders' that are left in the '8 largest traders' category, hold the tiny balance between them. That's basically the difference between the red bar and the green bar on this chart...plus 5% of the red bar. How grotesque and manipulative can you get???
*** news of note...
U.S. Budget deficit tops $1 trillion for fourth straight year
The United States government reported a budget surplus for the final month of the 2012 fiscal year, but the tiny bump in revenues did not prevent the country's deficit from exceeding $1 trillion for the fourth year in a row.
The 2012 budget gap was $1.089 trillion, narrower than last year's deficit of $1.297 trillion because of higher corporate income tax receipts and less spending, the Treasury Department said on Friday.
The deficit equaled 7.0 percent of U.S. economic output, down from 8.7 percent last year, the department said. Economists generally consider deficits exceeding 3.0 percent of gross domestic product to be unsustainable in the long term.
This Reuters story was posted on their Internet site late on Friday afternoon...and I thank Manitoba reader Ulrike Marx for providing the first story in today's column. The link is here.
The 2012 budget gap was $1.089 trillion, narrower than last year's deficit of $1.297 trillion because of higher corporate income tax receipts and less spending, the Treasury Department said on Friday.
The deficit equaled 7.0 percent of U.S. economic output, down from 8.7 percent last year, the department said. Economists generally consider deficits exceeding 3.0 percent of gross domestic product to be unsustainable in the long term.
This Reuters story was posted on their Internet site late on Friday afternoon...and I thank Manitoba reader Ulrike Marx for providing the first story in today's column. The link is here.
Russia bridges Middle Eastern divides
A multi-billion dollar arms deal with Iraq, a summit meeting with Turkey, a fence-mending exercise with Saudi Arabia, a debut with Egypt's Sphinx-like Muslim Brothers - all this is slated to happen within the period of a turbulent month in the Middle East. And all this is to happen when the United States' "return" to the region after the hurly-burly of the November election still seems a distant dream. Simply put, Russia is suddenly all over the Middle East.
Moscow announced on Tuesday that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was in town and the two countries signed contracts worth "more than" US$4.2 billion in an arms deal that includes Iraq's purchase of 30 Mi-28 attack helicopters and 42 Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems that can also be used to defend against attack jets.
The joint Russian-Iraqi statement issued in Moscow revealed that discussions had been going on for the past five months over the arms deal and that further talks are under way for Iraq's purchase of MiG-29 jets, heavy-armored vehicles and other weaponry. A Kremlin announcement said Maliki is due to meet President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and the focus of the discussions will be energy cooperation between Russia and Iraq.
The stunning news will send US politicians into a tizzy. Reports say the phone kept ringing in Maliki's office in Baghdad as soon as it transpired that he was to travel to Moscow and something big could be in the works. Queries were coming in from the US State Department and the National Security Council as to what warranted such a trip at this point in time.
Moscow announced on Tuesday that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was in town and the two countries signed contracts worth "more than" US$4.2 billion in an arms deal that includes Iraq's purchase of 30 Mi-28 attack helicopters and 42 Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems that can also be used to defend against attack jets.
The joint Russian-Iraqi statement issued in Moscow revealed that discussions had been going on for the past five months over the arms deal and that further talks are under way for Iraq's purchase of MiG-29 jets, heavy-armored vehicles and other weaponry. A Kremlin announcement said Maliki is due to meet President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and the focus of the discussions will be energy cooperation between Russia and Iraq.
The stunning news will send US politicians into a tizzy. Reports say the phone kept ringing in Maliki's office in Baghdad as soon as it transpired that he was to travel to Moscow and something big could be in the works. Queries were coming in from the US State Department and the National Security Council as to what warranted such a trip at this point in time.
Of course the summit meeting mentioned in the first sentence of the first paragraph is now out the window, as this story was posted before the Syrian airliner was forced to land in Turkey...but the rest of this Asia Times piece isworth reading. I thank Roy Stephens for sending it...and the link is here.
Switzerland: the world’s gold hub
It is difficult to visualise the enormous quantity of gold that arrives in Switzerland every year. In 2011, over 2,600 metric tons of raw gold were imported into the country, to a total value of SFr96 billion ($103 billion). This was a record, the quantity having more than doubled over the last ten years, not including the gold that transits through Swiss free ports.
To get an idea of Switzerland’s profile in the sector of gold refining and trading, consider another figure: the production of gold from all the mines in the world in 2011 amounted to 2,700 metric tons, according to data from the US Geological Survey.
If to this figure you add the gold coming from small businesses all over the world, which say “we buy gold,” and from illegal mines – a figure not considered in official statistics, – it would appear that two thirds of the world’s gold transits through Switzerland.
“In an average year, Switzerland refines about 70 per cent of world gold,” according to Frédéric Panizzutti, spokesman of MKS (Switzerland) SA, a Geneva-based company, which specialises in gold trading and which owns the Pamp refinery in Castel San Pietro, Ticino.
This very interesting story was posted on the swissinfo.ch Internet site on Friday sometime...and I thank Ulrike Marx for sharing it with us. The link ishere.
To get an idea of Switzerland’s profile in the sector of gold refining and trading, consider another figure: the production of gold from all the mines in the world in 2011 amounted to 2,700 metric tons, according to data from the US Geological Survey.
If to this figure you add the gold coming from small businesses all over the world, which say “we buy gold,” and from illegal mines – a figure not considered in official statistics, – it would appear that two thirds of the world’s gold transits through Switzerland.
“In an average year, Switzerland refines about 70 per cent of world gold,” according to Frédéric Panizzutti, spokesman of MKS (Switzerland) SA, a Geneva-based company, which specialises in gold trading and which owns the Pamp refinery in Castel San Pietro, Ticino.
This very interesting story was posted on the swissinfo.ch Internet site on Friday sometime...and I thank Ulrike Marx for sharing it with us. The link ishere.
Singapore hopes gold tax repeal will lure bullion refiners
Singapore has repealed a 7% tax on investment-grade gold and other precious metals to spur the development of gold trading in the country. It is hoped the move will lift demand for gold bars and coins in the fourth quarter and applies to gold of 99.5% purity, silver of 99.9% purity and platinum of 99% purity.
While in the works for several months, the repeal came into effect on October 1.
Singapore is hoping the scrapping of the tax will lure bullion refiners to the country and convince trading houses to open storage facilities, transforming it into a key Asian pricing hub. along the lines of London and Zurich. Currently holding 2% of global gold demand, the Southeast Asian city-state aims to hike that to 10% to 15% over the next five to 10 years.
This story mineweb.com story was filed from Mumbai yesterday. I thank Ulrike for her second story in a row...and her final article in today's column. The link is here.
While in the works for several months, the repeal came into effect on October 1.
Singapore is hoping the scrapping of the tax will lure bullion refiners to the country and convince trading houses to open storage facilities, transforming it into a key Asian pricing hub. along the lines of London and Zurich. Currently holding 2% of global gold demand, the Southeast Asian city-state aims to hike that to 10% to 15% over the next five to 10 years.
This story mineweb.com story was filed from Mumbai yesterday. I thank Ulrike for her second story in a row...and her final article in today's column. The link is here.
SILVER COT REPORT 10/12/12: COMMERCIALS DECREASE NET SHORTS BY 4 MILLION OUNCES!
Submitted by SD Contributor 
Gold & silver prices may remain contained until after the U.S. election but we expect that soon after the election (we expect Obama to be re-elected), precious metal prices will again surge. Indeed, from November into the early months of 2013, we could see one of the largest upward price movements in gold and silver so far in their bull markets.http://www.caseyresearch.com/gsd/edition/jeff-clark-solar-silver-thrust
¤ YESTERDAY IN GOLD AND SILVER
Gold hit its low price tick of the day [around $1,759 spot] at 10:00 a.m. in Hong Kong...11:00 a.m. in Tokyo...on their Thursday morning. From that low, the price had rallied about seventeen bucks by ten minutes after the Comex open in New York...and $1,776.00 spot was the high tick of the day at that point.
And that, as they say, was that. In less than twenty-five minutes, the usual not-for-profit sellers had sold the gold price back down below the New York open...and the subsequent rally was dispatched in the usual way at precisely 11:00 a.m. Eastern time. By noon the selling was done...and the gold price traded quietly into the 5:15 p.m. electronic close.
A cursory glance of the 3-day Kitco gold chart below shows the "Groundhog Day" phenomena on Thursday....Wednesday...and Tuesday, was in full cry during the Comex trading session in New York on those days.
Gold finished the day at $1,767.20 spot...up $4.60. Net volume was around 122,000 contracts.
And that, as they say, was that. In less than twenty-five minutes, the usual not-for-profit sellers had sold the gold price back down below the New York open...and the subsequent rally was dispatched in the usual way at precisely 11:00 a.m. Eastern time. By noon the selling was done...and the gold price traded quietly into the 5:15 p.m. electronic close.
A cursory glance of the 3-day Kitco gold chart below shows the "Groundhog Day" phenomena on Thursday....Wednesday...and Tuesday, was in full cry during the Comex trading session in New York on those days.
Gold finished the day at $1,767.20 spot...up $4.60. Net volume was around 122,000 contracts.
It was precisely the same story in silver, as the continuing rally at the Comex open was cut off at the knees less than ten minutes after the open. The only real difference was that silver's secondary high came at 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, whereas gold's high came precisely fifteen minutes later. Other than that, the gold and silver charts looked mostly identical.
Silver's low tick at 10:00 a.m. in Hong Kong was around $33.75...and it's high tick at 8:30 a.m. in New York was recorded as $34.44 spot.
Silver closed on Thursday at $34.00 right on the nose...up the magnificent sum of 2 cents.
As has been the case nearly every day for the last month, both silver and gold would have closed substantially higher if "day boyz" hadn't been running their usual interference.
Silver's low tick at 10:00 a.m. in Hong Kong was around $33.75...and it's high tick at 8:30 a.m. in New York was recorded as $34.44 spot.
Silver closed on Thursday at $34.00 right on the nose...up the magnificent sum of 2 cents.
The dollar index had a price pattern on Thursday very similar to the price pattern that it had on Wednesday...a bit of a rally in early Far East trading, with the high [80.18] coming mid-morning in Hong Kong...and then a long, slow slide to its low of the day [79.75] in New York...which came at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. From that point, the index gained back a bit of that loss, closing at 79.79...down 31 basis points from Wednesday's close.
The gold and silver prices pretty much followed the dollar index movements right up until about ten minutes after the Comex open yesterday morning...and at that point, both got clubbed to death by JPMorgan et al. Nothing free market about that...and as I pointed out further up, gold and silver wanted to sail, but every attempt was sold off.
The gold and silver prices pretty much followed the dollar index movements right up until about ten minutes after the Comex open yesterday morning...and at that point, both got clubbed to death by JPMorgan et al. Nothing free market about that...and as I pointed out further up, gold and silver wanted to sail, but every attempt was sold off.
****
The CME's Daily Delivery Report showed that 8 gold and 2 silver contracts were posted for delivery within the Comex-approved depositories on Monday. Nothing to see here.
There were no reported changes in GLD yesterday...but an authorized participant redeemed 823,273 shares of SLV...and had this silver shipped to parts unknown. Since the beginning of October, a net one million ounces of silver have been withdrawn from SLV. During the same time period...634,795 troy ounces of gold have been added to GLD.
For the third day in a row, there was no sales report from the U.S. Mint.
The Comex-approved depositories were busy on Wednesday. They reported receiving 764,222 troy ounces of silver...all of it into JPMorgan's depository....and shipped 717,073 troy ounces out the door.
JPMorgan's silver stash is getting up there. It currently stands at 23.35 million ounces...and has now surpassed the holdings of its partner-in-crime[?], Scotia Mocatta. But as I said before, there's no way of knowing how much of this silver is held for its clients...and how much is held for its in-house trading account. The link to Wednesday's activity is here.
Here's a chart that Australian reader Wesley Legrand sent me way last night...and he admitted that he shamelessly ripped it from an essay that Peter Degraaf wrote. It's the 1-year chart of the XAU divided by the S&P500 Index...and despite the fact that I'm on the lookout for "in your ear"...this chart looks bullish to me...touch wood!
There were no reported changes in GLD yesterday...but an authorized participant redeemed 823,273 shares of SLV...and had this silver shipped to parts unknown. Since the beginning of October, a net one million ounces of silver have been withdrawn from SLV. During the same time period...634,795 troy ounces of gold have been added to GLD.
For the third day in a row, there was no sales report from the U.S. Mint.
The Comex-approved depositories were busy on Wednesday. They reported receiving 764,222 troy ounces of silver...all of it into JPMorgan's depository....and shipped 717,073 troy ounces out the door.
JPMorgan's silver stash is getting up there. It currently stands at 23.35 million ounces...and has now surpassed the holdings of its partner-in-crime[?], Scotia Mocatta. But as I said before, there's no way of knowing how much of this silver is held for its clients...and how much is held for its in-house trading account. The link to Wednesday's activity is here.
Here's a chart that Australian reader Wesley Legrand sent me way last night...and he admitted that he shamelessly ripped it from an essay that Peter Degraaf wrote. It's the 1-year chart of the XAU divided by the S&P500 Index...and despite the fact that I'm on the lookout for "in your ear"...this chart looks bullish to me...touch wood!
***
news of note....
Growth Warning: Top German Economists Say Greece Is Lost
Several top German economic institutes on Thursday warned that German growth is slowing as the country continues to be hampered by the ongoing euro-zone debt crisis. And Greece, they say, will be unable to "free itself from its debt burden" and will need another haircut.
Chancellor Angela Merkel had been hoping that her trip to Athens earlier this week would help demonstrate Germany's solidarity with Greece as it struggles to overcome its debt crisis. Just two days later, however, leading economic institutes in Germany have darkened the mood considerably. The institutes presented their autumn economic forecast on Thursday, and cast doubt on whether Greece would be able to remain part of the euro.
Chancellor Angela Merkel had been hoping that her trip to Athens earlier this week would help demonstrate Germany's solidarity with Greece as it struggles to overcome its debt crisis. Just two days later, however, leading economic institutes in Germany have darkened the mood considerably. The institutes presented their autumn economic forecast on Thursday, and cast doubt on whether Greece would be able to remain part of the euro.
"We believe that Greece cannot be saved," said Joachim Scheide from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, one of several top economic institutes tasked by the German government with examining the state of the country's economy twice a year.
This story appeared on the German website spiegel.de yesterday...and I thank Roy Stephens for his third offering in a row. The link is here.
Greek Central Banker's Big Payoff
The governor of the Bank of Greece was given a severance payment of 3.4 million euros when he left his former employer, a major bank that he now regulates, documents seen by Reuters show.
George Provopoulos was awarded the sum when he stepped down as vice-chairman of Piraeus Bank to become governor of Greece's central bank and a member of the board of the European Central Bank in 2008. The scale of the pay-off, previously unknown to most Greeks, is likely to prove controversial, amounting to nearly 2.8 million euros ($3.6 million) after tax.
As governor of the central bank, Provopoulos, now 62, has played a key role in propping up Greece's banking system, which has received billions of euros in liquidity from the ECB and is in line for up to 50 billion euros of new capital from the bailout provided by euro zone countries and the International Monetary Fund.
This Reuters story was filed from Athens yesterday...and I plucked it from a GATA release. The link is here.
George Provopoulos was awarded the sum when he stepped down as vice-chairman of Piraeus Bank to become governor of Greece's central bank and a member of the board of the European Central Bank in 2008. The scale of the pay-off, previously unknown to most Greeks, is likely to prove controversial, amounting to nearly 2.8 million euros ($3.6 million) after tax.
As governor of the central bank, Provopoulos, now 62, has played a key role in propping up Greece's banking system, which has received billions of euros in liquidity from the ECB and is in line for up to 50 billion euros of new capital from the bailout provided by euro zone countries and the International Monetary Fund.
This Reuters story was filed from Athens yesterday...and I plucked it from a GATA release. The link is here.
Global spat erupts over power of developing countries at IMF
A spat has broken out between developing countries and the US over Washington’s refusal to sign off a deal struck two years ago that would give the smaller nations greater influence at the International Monetary Fund.
The Obama administration is believed to be dragging its feet because the agreement would formally release roughly $55bn to the IMF that its political opponents could paint as bail-out funds for the eurozone. With just a month to go before the presidential elections, the sign-off comes at a sensitive time.
A deal to double the IMF’s resources between its 188 members was first struck in April 2009 when Gordon Brown hosted the G20 summit in London. It was formalised in November the following year, and wrapped up with governance reforms to give developing economies more seats on the managing board.
At the time, the IMF set a target of ratifying the arrangements at its annual meetings in Tokyo, which are currently taking place.
This short story showed up on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site early yesterday afternoon BST...and I thank Manitoba reader Ulrike Marx for bringing it to our attention. The link is here.
The Obama administration is believed to be dragging its feet because the agreement would formally release roughly $55bn to the IMF that its political opponents could paint as bail-out funds for the eurozone. With just a month to go before the presidential elections, the sign-off comes at a sensitive time.
A deal to double the IMF’s resources between its 188 members was first struck in April 2009 when Gordon Brown hosted the G20 summit in London. It was formalised in November the following year, and wrapped up with governance reforms to give developing economies more seats on the managing board.
At the time, the IMF set a target of ratifying the arrangements at its annual meetings in Tokyo, which are currently taking place.
This short story showed up on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site early yesterday afternoon BST...and I thank Manitoba reader Ulrike Marx for bringing it to our attention. The link is here.
EU Said to Consider Delaying Basel Bank Rules for Up to a Year
The European Union may consider pushing back when lenders need to start phasing in tougher Basel bank-capital rules by as much as a year after warnings that pressing ahead with the original timetable may drive up costs, according to three people familiar with the talks.
EU lawmakers and officials, facing a Jan. 1 international deadline for incorporating the rules, held the latest in a series of meetings yesterday on how the bloc should implement the Basel measures, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private.
Representatives of Cyprus, which holds the rotating EU presidency, and legislators from the European Parliament, discussed whether the start date for phasing in the measures within the bloc could be delayed beyond the beginning of next year, said the people. Possible alternative dates might include July 1, 2013, or Jan. 1, 2014, one of the people said.
This story showed up on the Bloomberg Internet site at 5:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time yesterday...and I thank Ulrike Marx for her second story in a row in today's column. The link is here.
EU lawmakers and officials, facing a Jan. 1 international deadline for incorporating the rules, held the latest in a series of meetings yesterday on how the bloc should implement the Basel measures, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private.
Representatives of Cyprus, which holds the rotating EU presidency, and legislators from the European Parliament, discussed whether the start date for phasing in the measures within the bloc could be delayed beyond the beginning of next year, said the people. Possible alternative dates might include July 1, 2013, or Jan. 1, 2014, one of the people said.
This story showed up on the Bloomberg Internet site at 5:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time yesterday...and I thank Ulrike Marx for her second story in a row in today's column. The link is here.
Striking South African gold miners reject pay offer
Striking gold miners in South Africa have rejected the industry's latest wage offer, a trade union said on Thursday, dimming hopes that strikes that have led to dozens of deaths and paralyzed the sector could end soon.
Since August, almost 100,000 workers across South Africa - including 75,000 in the mining sector - have downed tools in often illegal and violent walkouts that are hitting economic growth and undermining investor confidence in the minerals hub.
"This was a final offer from the companies. They said take it or leave it," Lesiba Seshoka, spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers said. "Now that it has been rejected our options have been exhausted."
This Reuters story was filed from Johannesburg late Thursday morning Eastern Daylight Time...and I thank Ulrike Marx for her final offering in today's column. It's definitely worth reading...and the link is here.
Since August, almost 100,000 workers across South Africa - including 75,000 in the mining sector - have downed tools in often illegal and violent walkouts that are hitting economic growth and undermining investor confidence in the minerals hub.
"This was a final offer from the companies. They said take it or leave it," Lesiba Seshoka, spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers said. "Now that it has been rejected our options have been exhausted."
This Reuters story was filed from Johannesburg late Thursday morning Eastern Daylight Time...and I thank Ulrike Marx for her final offering in today's column. It's definitely worth reading...and the link is here.
No comments:
Post a Comment