And old but goodie on the gold etf.....( note reference to pg 76 should actually be pg 72 ( Item 12 )
http://truthingold.blogspot.com/2010/08/gld-managing-director-jason-toussaint.html
http://www.silverdoctors.com/jim-sinclair-cartel-shorts-are-a-managed-spread-position-banks-flipping-to-naked-long-will-propel-gold-to-12400/
http://www.silverdoctors.com/cartel-again-attempting-to-smash-silver-under-32-50/#more-15718
( silver driven this morning as low as 32.30 , gold as low as 1733 - same game day after day )
http://www.caseyresearch.com/gsd/edition/billionaire-frank-giustra-gold-mother-all-bubbles-which-why-you-should-buy-it
http://truthingold.blogspot.com/2010/08/gld-managing-director-jason-toussaint.html
FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2010
GLD Managing Director Jason Toussaint Does Not Own ANY GLD Shares...
BUT he owns physical gold and mining stocks. Greg in Chicago alerted me to a blog post by Jeff Nielson on seekingalpha.com. It regards an interview of Toussaint on Canada's Business News Network (BNN). As Nielson points out, Touissant admits at the end of the interview that he owns physical gold but does not mention that he owns any GLD. Here is the link to interview - I've linked part 2: Toussaint = The Big Whiff The relevant comment starts at the 5:44 mark. The 10-K I've linked below confirms that Toussaint indeed does not own ANY GLD shares.
But there's so much more if you listen to both parts of the interview. Let's get the basics out of the way. Jason Touissant is the Managing Director the GLD Trust and a principle executive officer of the World Gold Trust Services, the sponsor of the GLD Trust. All of this information can be gleaned from the GLD 10-K, which I've linked here: GLD 10-K
Note that on page 76, as Jeff Nielson picked up on from the BNN interview, that NO officers and directors of the World Gold Council or of the GLD Trust own ANY shares. No insiders own shares. Why would that be the case? If GLD is as good as owing physical gold, and is fully backed by physical gold, why would Toussaint admit to owning his own physical gold, but not express confidence in the fund that he oversees by owning some the stock in GLD? We would NEVER own any mining stocks in our fund in which insiders did not own a meaningful amount of shares. In fact, with our junior mining stock holdings, insiders typically own 10-20% of the company.
Now let's get to other interesting aspects of the interview that Nielson did not cover. At the 4:25 mark in Part 2, Toussaint makes the statement that the bar auditor of GLD audits the bars twice a year and physically handles each of the bars once per year. HOWEVER, the auditor, Inspectorate, only looks at the bars in the HSBC vault. As per the prospectus, HSBC has subcustodians with which there is no formal contractual agreement and the prospectus specifically states that no one can have access legally to the subcustodian vaults. Here is the latest inspection report from Inspectorate, the inspection firm: LINK This particular report describes the semi-annual random sample audit.
This is great that an inspection firm goes into the HSBC vault and samples the bars for authenticity and serial numbers, but what about the bars that are at the subcustodians? And you are asking me to believe that Inspectorate counts all 104,325 bars (the number of bars that would be in the vault as of 8/26) and verifies serial numbers and stamps and reconciles them with the Custodian's records? I refuse to believe that. I would bet that the annual audit is another statistical sample BECAUSE no one is allowed to have access to the subcustodian vaults. In fact, now that I think about it, there have been articles in the recent past which have demonstrated dozens of inconsistencies at GLD and SLV between the actual serial numbers on many of the bars and records kept by the Custodian of each Trust.
But there's so much more if you listen to both parts of the interview. Let's get the basics out of the way. Jason Touissant is the Managing Director the GLD Trust and a principle executive officer of the World Gold Trust Services, the sponsor of the GLD Trust. All of this information can be gleaned from the GLD 10-K, which I've linked here: GLD 10-K
Note that on page 76, as Jeff Nielson picked up on from the BNN interview, that NO officers and directors of the World Gold Council or of the GLD Trust own ANY shares. No insiders own shares. Why would that be the case? If GLD is as good as owing physical gold, and is fully backed by physical gold, why would Toussaint admit to owning his own physical gold, but not express confidence in the fund that he oversees by owning some the stock in GLD? We would NEVER own any mining stocks in our fund in which insiders did not own a meaningful amount of shares. In fact, with our junior mining stock holdings, insiders typically own 10-20% of the company.
Now let's get to other interesting aspects of the interview that Nielson did not cover. At the 4:25 mark in Part 2, Toussaint makes the statement that the bar auditor of GLD audits the bars twice a year and physically handles each of the bars once per year. HOWEVER, the auditor, Inspectorate, only looks at the bars in the HSBC vault. As per the prospectus, HSBC has subcustodians with which there is no formal contractual agreement and the prospectus specifically states that no one can have access legally to the subcustodian vaults. Here is the latest inspection report from Inspectorate, the inspection firm: LINK This particular report describes the semi-annual random sample audit.
This is great that an inspection firm goes into the HSBC vault and samples the bars for authenticity and serial numbers, but what about the bars that are at the subcustodians? And you are asking me to believe that Inspectorate counts all 104,325 bars (the number of bars that would be in the vault as of 8/26) and verifies serial numbers and stamps and reconciles them with the Custodian's records? I refuse to believe that. I would bet that the annual audit is another statistical sample BECAUSE no one is allowed to have access to the subcustodian vaults. In fact, now that I think about it, there have been articles in the recent past which have demonstrated dozens of inconsistencies at GLD and SLV between the actual serial numbers on many of the bars and records kept by the Custodian of each Trust.
Finally, Toussaint makes the statement that the bars are held in allocated form, meaning that within HSBC's vault, all of the GLD bars are placed in a separate holding area and the shareholders of GLD have direct claim to those bars. If HSBC blows up, something that is within the realm of possibilities, the GLD Trust gold is not part of HSBC's asset/liability list. HOWEVER, the prospectus specifically states that gold which is being transported in and out of the vault and the gold which is being held for redemption by an authorized participant exchaning a minumum of 10,000 shares for bars in the Trust, sit in unallocated form. And the bars at the subcustodian are in unallocated form.
The significance of this is that if HSBC blows up, any unallocated bars become part of the claim of the general creditors to the HSBC bankruptcy proceedings, and the GLD Trust has to stand in line with all of the other unsecured creditors to receive payment, if any, on its claims. The Prospectus specifically states that, in the event of an HSBC bankruptcy, unallocated bullion bars could result in material loss to the Trust.
Perhaps this is why no World Gold Council officers and directors, and specifically Jason Toussaint, the Managing Director of the GLD Trust for the WGC, do not own any personal shares of GLD. They know the Golden Truth.
The significance of this is that if HSBC blows up, any unallocated bars become part of the claim of the general creditors to the HSBC bankruptcy proceedings, and the GLD Trust has to stand in line with all of the other unsecured creditors to receive payment, if any, on its claims. The Prospectus specifically states that, in the event of an HSBC bankruptcy, unallocated bullion bars could result in material loss to the Trust.
Perhaps this is why no World Gold Council officers and directors, and specifically Jason Toussaint, the Managing Director of the GLD Trust for the WGC, do not own any personal shares of GLD. They know the Golden Truth.
Remember, this is real 400 oz. gold bars:
This is NOT:
AS per 10-K effective date September 30 , 2011 , Item 12 is unchanged.......
http://www.silverdoctors.com/jim-sinclair-cartel-shorts-are-a-managed-spread-position-banks-flipping-to-naked-long-will-propel-gold-to-12400/
JIM SINCLAIR: CARTEL SHORTS ARE A MANAGED SPREAD POSITION, BANKS FLIPPING TO NAKED LONG WILL PROPEL GOLD TO $12,400!
Submitted by SD Contributor http://www.silverdoctors.com/cartel-again-attempting-to-smash-silver-under-32-50/#more-15718
( silver driven this morning as low as 32.30 , gold as low as 1733 - same game day after day )
CARTEL AGAIN ATTEMPTING TO SMASH SILVER UNDER $32.50
The paper dump on gold and silver continues early in Friday’s Asian session, as the cartel attempts to extend today’s Globex sell-off. The in-progress raid has stalled once again at $32.60 in silver, and just above $1735 in gold.
http://www.caseyresearch.com/gsd/edition/billionaire-frank-giustra-gold-mother-all-bubbles-which-why-you-should-buy-it
¤ YESTERDAY IN GOLD AND SILVER
Thursday was another day where the gold price didn't do much of anything. The difference between the high and lows ticks was only about thirteen bucks or so, with the low coming shortly after trading began on the Comex in New York. Not much to see here.
Gold closed at $1,741.60 spot...down $8.30 on the day. Volume was around 112,000 contracts.
It was pretty much the same price action in silver. The high [around $33.35 spot] came at 10:00 a.m. Hong Kong time...and the Comex low, like gold, came at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time right on the button. After that low was in, silver climbed to its New York high by 12:10 p.m....and then got sold off to its absolute low of the day...$32.60 spot...which came at precisely 3:00 p.m. in the thinly-traded New York electronic market
Gold closed at $1,741.60 spot...down $8.30 on the day. Volume was around 112,000 contracts.
From there, it rallied a hair into the close...finishing the Thursday session at $32.82 spot...down 38 cents on the day. Volume was pretty light at 33,500 contracts.
The dollar index opened at 79.08 on Wednesday evening in New York, then flopped around that value up until noon in New York yesterday. At that point a rally of sorts developed...and by shortly after 3:00 p.m. Eastern time, the index was up to 79.40. From there it traded sideways into the close. The dollar index closed up 26 basis points, finishing the Thursday trading day at 79.34.
***
The CME's Daily Delivery Report showed that only 4 silver contracts were posted for delivery on Monday. As I said in this space yesterday, unless a surprise buyer shows up demanding a big chunk of Comex silver or gold, it should be pretty quiet for deliveries between now and the end of October.
There were no changes in GLD reported yesterday but, surprisingly enough, SLV reported that an authorized participant deposited 871,612 troy ounces of silver.
After Wednesday's big sales report, there was no report from the U.S. Mint on Thursday.
There was a fair amount of activity over at the Comex-approved depositories on Wednesday. They reported receiving 1,496,888 troy ounces of silver...and shipped 806,112 ounces of the stuff out the door. The link to that activity is here.
Here's a chart that Washington state reader S.A. stole from somewhere. It shows how well gold has performed, in percent, against the five indexes shown below over the last forty years. We've still got miles to go in this bull market.
There were no changes in GLD reported yesterday but, surprisingly enough, SLV reported that an authorized participant deposited 871,612 troy ounces of silver.
After Wednesday's big sales report, there was no report from the U.S. Mint on Thursday.
There was a fair amount of activity over at the Comex-approved depositories on Wednesday. They reported receiving 1,496,888 troy ounces of silver...and shipped 806,112 ounces of the stuff out the door. The link to that activity is here.
Here's a chart that Washington state reader S.A. stole from somewhere. It shows how well gold has performed, in percent, against the five indexes shown below over the last forty years. We've still got miles to go in this bull market.
***
news items of note....
Pimco: The U.S. will get downgraded
Pimco has seen enough of the federal government's "fiscal theatre" and now says the U.S.'s credit rating will inevitably be slashed, Bloomberg's Tracy Withers reports.
The U.S. will get downgraded, it’s a question of when,” Withers quotes Scott Mather, Pimco’s head of global portfolio management, as saying. “It depends on what the end of the year looks like, but it could be fairly soon after that.”
This very short item was posted on the businessinsider.com website early yesterday morning...and I thank Robert Wangnick for our first story of the day. The link is here.
The U.S. will get downgraded, it’s a question of when,” Withers quotes Scott Mather, Pimco’s head of global portfolio management, as saying. “It depends on what the end of the year looks like, but it could be fairly soon after that.”
This very short item was posted on the businessinsider.com website early yesterday morning...and I thank Robert Wangnick for our first story of the day. The link is here.
Europe Banking Supervisor Plan ‘Illegal’
A plan to create a single euro zone banking supervisor is illegal, according to a secret legal opinion for EU finance ministers that deals a further blow to a reform deemed vital to solving the bloc’s debt crisis.
A paper from the EU Council’s top legal adviser, obtained by the Financial Times, argues the plan goes “beyond the powers” permitted under law to change governance rules at the European Central Bank.
The legal service concludes that without altering EU treaties it would be impossible to give a bank supervision board within the ECB any formal decision-making powers as suggested in the blueprint drawn up by the European Commission.
This story was first posted in the Financial Times, but was then picked up byCNBC...and posted on their website in the wee hours of yesterday morning Eastern time. I thank Donald Sinclair for bringing this story to our attention...and the link is here.
A paper from the EU Council’s top legal adviser, obtained by the Financial Times, argues the plan goes “beyond the powers” permitted under law to change governance rules at the European Central Bank.
The legal service concludes that without altering EU treaties it would be impossible to give a bank supervision board within the ECB any formal decision-making powers as suggested in the blueprint drawn up by the European Commission.
This story was first posted in the Financial Times, but was then picked up byCNBC...and posted on their website in the wee hours of yesterday morning Eastern time. I thank Donald Sinclair for bringing this story to our attention...and the link is here.
EU leaders agree 'fiscal facility’ plan with eye on budget union
Europe's leaders agreed on Thursday to plans for a “fiscal facility” to help eurozone countries cope with shocks, opening the door to partial budgetary union.
The joint fund is to go far beyond crisis firefighting or enforcement of fiscal discipline on states in trouble. EU documents describe it as a fiscal buffer to offset the booms and busts caused by the EMU’s one-size-fits-all interest rates, along the lines of America’s system of fiscal transfers to depressed regions.
“All other monetary unions have built-in mechanisms that allow them to absorb asymmetric regional shocks in a much smoother and automatic way,” it said.
Mats Persson, from Open Europe, said the plan aims to “soften German resistance to the idea of a joint back-stop”. For Berlin, it is preferable to eurobonds, or money-printing by the European Central Bank.
This Ambrose Evans-Pritchard offering was filed just after midnight BST on their Friday morning...which was 7:00 p.m. Eastern time last night...and long after the previous three stories posted above it. It's a must read, as it's current...and Ulrike Marx pulled it off The Telegraph's website just minutes after it was posted there. The link is here.
The joint fund is to go far beyond crisis firefighting or enforcement of fiscal discipline on states in trouble. EU documents describe it as a fiscal buffer to offset the booms and busts caused by the EMU’s one-size-fits-all interest rates, along the lines of America’s system of fiscal transfers to depressed regions.
“All other monetary unions have built-in mechanisms that allow them to absorb asymmetric regional shocks in a much smoother and automatic way,” it said.
Mats Persson, from Open Europe, said the plan aims to “soften German resistance to the idea of a joint back-stop”. For Berlin, it is preferable to eurobonds, or money-printing by the European Central Bank.
This Ambrose Evans-Pritchard offering was filed just after midnight BST on their Friday morning...which was 7:00 p.m. Eastern time last night...and long after the previous three stories posted above it. It's a must read, as it's current...and Ulrike Marx pulled it off The Telegraph's website just minutes after it was posted there. The link is here.
World's oldest bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena cut to 'junk' by Moody's
The world's oldest bank has been cut to "junk" by Moody's, as the rating agency warned that there was a "material probability" that the lender may need another cash injection from the Italian government.
Monte Paschi was the only Italian lender to fail the European Banking Authority's stress tests and is the first of the five main Italian banks to fall below investment grade.
In a statement, Moody's said that there remained "a material probability" that the bank will need to seek further external support over the rating horizon.
"Given the weak growth prospects for Italy's economy and the EU operating environment, there is a strong probability that the bank would not be able to generate sufficient capital internally to maintain regulatory capital levels," it added.
I posted a story about this bank back in June...and here's an unhappy update. The medieval city of Siena...and her citizens...deserve better than this. This is another story from the telegraph.co.uk website...and I thank Roy Stephens for bringing it to our attention. The link is here.
Monte Paschi was the only Italian lender to fail the European Banking Authority's stress tests and is the first of the five main Italian banks to fall below investment grade.
In a statement, Moody's said that there remained "a material probability" that the bank will need to seek further external support over the rating horizon.
"Given the weak growth prospects for Italy's economy and the EU operating environment, there is a strong probability that the bank would not be able to generate sufficient capital internally to maintain regulatory capital levels," it added.
I posted a story about this bank back in June...and here's an unhappy update. The medieval city of Siena...and her citizens...deserve better than this. This is another story from the telegraph.co.uk website...and I thank Roy Stephens for bringing it to our attention. The link is here.
Corruption Rattles Italians’ Already Shaky Trust in Politicians
A payment of $260,000 to the Calabrian Mafia for 4,000 votes. Procuring prostitutes for the prime minister. The theft in just one region of more than $1.3 million from public coffers. Lavish holidays and fancy dinners, all on the public dime.
Twenty years after Italy’s postwar political order collapsed in a bribery scandal, accusations are again flying in a widening array of new scandals that is further eroding Italians’ already shaky confidence in their politicians. The last round led to the rise of a former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and the question now is what the latest implosion will yield.
“We’re in a moment of transition, which creates anxiety,” said Michele Ainis, a constitutional law professor and political columnist. “Everyone sees that the phase of the Second Republic is finishing, and we don’t yet know what the Third Republic will be.”
In a nod to growing public outrage at political graft, the technocratic government of Prime Minister Mario Monti passed a bill on Wednesday that calls for creating an anticorruption watchdog and increases the penalties for extortion and abuse of office.
This rather long 2-page story showed up on The New York Times Internet site sometime on Wednesday...and I thank Donald Sinclair for sharing it with us. There are no surprises here, as all the PIGS that have a Mediterranean coastline are corrupt to the core...and that includes France. The link ishere...and it's worth your time if you have it.
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