Gold and Precious metals reports - Saturday March 15 , 2014 - Highlights from Ed Steer's always interesting Gold and Silver Report , , news / views touching upon the precious metals .... highlights from from Harvey Organ's closing missive for the week !

http://www.caseyresearch.com/gsd/edition/bundesbanks-president-says-it-aims-to-hasten-gold-repatriation

¤ YESTERDAY IN GOLD & SILVER

For the third day in a row there was a brief rally in gold during morning trading in the Far East, but that didn't get far, and there wasn't much volume associated with it.  From there, the gold price sank to its low of the day, which came an hour before London open.  Once the low was in, gold developed a positive bias that lasted until 11 a.m. GMT in London---and then away it went to the upside until JPMorgan et al put an end to the fun at 9:30 a.m. EDT---the moment that the equity markets began to trade in New York.

For a while, it traded flat, but about 30 minutes before the London close, the HFT boyz showed up and took back virtually very dollar of gains since the 8:20 a.m. EDT Comex open.  But once the New York low was set, the gold price began to rally anew, but never got anywhere near its 9:30 a.m. EDT high.

The CME Group recorded the  low and high ticks at $1,368.20 and $1,388.40 in the April contract.

Gold finished in New York on Friday at $1,382.00 spot, up $10.90 on the day---and well off its high.  Gross volume was around 213,000 contracts, but netted out to 157,000 contracts, which is still pretty chunky.

Here's the New York Spot Gold [Bid] chart on its own so you can see the handiwork of JPMorgan et al.

The silver chart looks the same as the gold chart---complete with the interventions at the same times.

The low and high prices were reported as $21.14 and $21.795 in the May contract---and another trading day when there was an intraday move of more than 3%.

Silver finished the day at $21.46 spot, and well off its high.  Volume, net of March and April, was very decent at 50,500 contracts.

Here's the New York Spot Silver [Bid] chart on its own.  Note the  8:45 a.m. EDT price spike that got hammered flat by the usual not-for-profit sellers.  It's barely visible on the 24-hour chart above, but it's more than obvious on the chart below.  The HFT sell-off into the London close was particularly obvious---and vicious.

Platinum and palladium didn't do much until 11 a.m. GMT in London---and then they took off to the upside, only to run into the same not-for-profit sellers shortly after trading began in New York yesterday morning.  Then they finished the job by selling off both metals for small loses on the day going into the close of London trading.  They were mini versions of what happened to both gold and silver.  Here are the charts.

Copper managed to gain a couple of cents on the day, but is still monstrously oversold.

The dollar index closed on Thursday afternoon in New York at 79.59---and then rose to its 79.69 Friday high by 2 p.m. in Hong Kong trading.  From there, it was all down hill to its 79.34 low shortly after 10 a.m. EDT.  The index recovered a bit from there, but faded a handful of basis points after 2 p.m.  The dollar index finished the Friday session at 79.43---which was down about 16 basis points from Thursday.

***

The CME's Daily Delivery Report showed that 34 gold and 1 silver contract were posted for delivery within the Comex-approved depositories on Tuesday.  All of the above contracts, except for two in gold, were stopped by JPMorgan in its in-house [proprietary] trading account.  The link to yesterday's Issuers and Stoppers Report is here.

Another day---and another deposit into GLD, as an authorized participant added 106,006 troy ounces.  And as of 9:37 p.m. EDT yesterday evening, there were no reported changes in SLV.

While on the subject of SLV, Joshua Gibbons, the "Guru of the SLV Bar List," updated his website with the goings-on within SLV at the close of business on Wednesday---and here's what he had to say:  "Analysis of the 12 March 2014 bar list, and comparison to the previous week's list---No bars were added, removed, or had serial number changes. As of the time that the bar list was produced, it was overallocated 99.8 oz.  All daily changes are reflected on the bar list."  The link to Joshua's website is here.

It's still my opinion that SLV is owed many millions of ounce of silver, as there hasn't been a deposit made in that ETF since February 26.  But the price activity over the last trading week certainly indicates that some is owed.

The U.S. Mint had a sales report yesterday.  They sold 3,000 ounces of gold eagles and another 755,000 silver eagles.  They also sold 8,700 one ounce platinum eagles as well.  Month-to-date, silver eagle sales continue their torrid pace.  For March so far, the mint has sold 9,500 troy ounces of gold eagles---5,500 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes---and 2,300,000 silver eagles.  Based on these sales, the silver/gold sales ratio works out to 153 to 1.

Year-to-date the mint has sold 10,825,000 silver eagles.  Simply amazing!  The question still remains unanswered as to who is buying all these silver eagles, because I know for a fact it isn't John Q Public.

Over at the Comex-approved depositories in gold on Thursday, they reported receiving a tiny 405 troy ounces---and shipped out 35,284 troy ounces.  Virtually all of the activity was at Canada's Scotiabank.  The link to that activity is here.

In silver, there was nothing reported received, but 432,578 troy ounces were shipped off for parts unknown.  Most of the action was at the CNT Depository---and the link to that action is here.

The Commitment of Traders Report ended up being not as bad as expected.  The reason I suspect that it's better than expected is because all the price/volume data from Tuesday's big rally didn't make it into the report.  And if that's the case, then it sets up next Friday's COT Report to be even uglier than I mentioned in this column yesterday.

Anyway, yesterday's report showed that the Commercial net short position in silver actually declined by 2,135 contracts, or 10.7 million ounces of silver.  The total Commercial net short position now sits at 188.2 million troy ounces.  I guess this improvement shouldn't come a surprise considering the terrible price action in silver compared to gold.

Ted Butler said that the reduction all came through the raptors [the Commercial traders other than the Big 8] buying around 2,000 long contracts.  Ted pegs JPMorgan's short-side corner in the Comex silver market as unchanged from last week---still around 18,000 contracts---and just under 17% of the entire Comex futures market in silver.

Just some simple math shows that the 18,000 contracts that JPMorgan's holds short, represents almost 50% of the entire net short position of the Commercial category of the COT Report---and the other 42 traders in the Commercial category hold the other 50% divided up between them.  How outrageous can you get?

Not surprisingly, the Commercial net short position in gold showed a deterioration, as the Commercial net short position increased by 4,218 contracts, or 422,000 troy ounces of gold.  The Commercial net short position in that metal now stands at 12.54 million troy ounces.

Ted says that JPMorgan did all the selling, as they sold about 6,000 contracts of their long-side corner into the rally during the reporting week.  Their long-side corner in gold is now around 4.7 million ounces, which is a hair under 15% of the entire Comex futures market in gold.  Hidden in the COT Report for gold was the fact that the 8 largest Commercial traders holding short positions actually covered about 2,600 of those short contracts during the reporting week.  Ted says that these 8 traders have been quietly reducing their short position in the Comex gold market since sometime in January.  Heading for the exits while hiding behind JPMorgan's skirt as the long seller of last resort, perhaps.

Anyway, when all is said and done with this report, there weren't really big changes in either direction in either metal.  But unless we have big sell-offs on Monday and Tuesday of next week, it's a safe bet that next Friday's COT Report is one that I'm already dreading.

Here's a chart that Nick Laird sent our way in the wee hours of this morning.  It's the Global Indices graph---and if it doesn't want to make you sell at the open on Monday, I don't know what will.

*** 

Non redundant news and views , emphasis on the PMs .....

Doug Noland: A "Truman Show" World

Financial Times (Miles Johnson): “In 'The Truman Show', the late nineties Hollywood film, the eponymous character lives a seemingly charmed world, snuggled comfortably into an American suburbia of white picket fences and crisply cut lawns. But gradually Truman starts to notice something is not quite right. He is actually trapped inside a film set controlled by hidden directors, and discovers to his horror that he is the unknowing star of the world’s most popular reality TV show. The question some of the world’s biggest hedge funds are starting to ask is whether overly placid investors will also wake up to discover they are living in a ‘Truman Show market’ - where central bankers’ ultra loose monetary policy has manufactured a fake reality that is bound to end. For Seth Klarman, the manager of the $27bn hedge fund the Baupost Group who recently coined the analogy in a letter to clients, investors have been lulled into a false sense of security that is creating an ever greater risk of a sharp correction. ‘All the Trumans – the economists, fund managers, traders, market pundits – know at some level that the environment in which they operate is not what it seems on the surface,’ Mr Klarman wrote. ‘But the zeitgeist is so so damn pleasant, the days so resplendent, the mood so euphoric, the returns so irresistible, that no one wants it to end.”

I love Seth Klarman’s “Truman Show” analogy – one that has surely secured a place in market lore. This line of analysis becomes only more pertinent with serious risks unfolding in China and the Ukraine. The securities markets have been so unbelievably “pleasant, the days so resplendent, the mood so euphoric, the returns so irresistible, that no one wants it to end.” And when they inevitably falter, protracted Bubbles tend to end with a bang.

There is today a not insignificant probability that the situation in Ukraine spirals out of control – with unforeseeable financial, economic and political ramifications. I would argue years of uncontrolled central bank inflationism have played an integral role in today’s highly unstable backdrop. At the same time, all the central bank liquidity ensures that markets are priced for the “Truman Show” World as opposed to the less-than-“resplendent” real world.

I believe few recognize the degree to which central bank liquidity and assurances coupled with speculative finance on an unprecedented worldwide scale, have distorted markets, spending, incomes, asset prices, economies, wealth distribution and societies at all corners of the globe. The World is simply not as perceived in today’s “Truman Show.” The more sophisticated speculators appreciate this and, perhaps, have begun to take some risk off.

Doug's weekly Credit Bubble Bulletin is always a must read---and I thank reader U.D. for sending it our way.

China's Li Keqiang warns investors to prepare for wave of bankruptcies

China is braced for a wave of industrial bankruptcies as its slowing economy forces companies with sky-high debts to the wall, the country's premier has said.

Premier Li Keqiang told lenders to China's private sector factories they should expect debt defaults as the world's second largest economy encounters "serious challenges" in the year ahead.

Speaking after the annual session of the national people's congress, Li Keqiang said: "We are going to confront serious challenges this year and some challenges may be even more complex." He told lenders to China's private sector factories they should expect debt defaults.

This very interesting news item appeared on theguardian.com Internet site late on Thursday evening GMT---and it's something I found in yesterday's edition of the King Report.  It's not only interesting, it's worth reading.

China's Credit Nightmare Explained In One Chart

Everyone knows that after years of kicking the can and resolutely sticking its head in the sand, China is finally on the verge, if hasn't already crossed it, of a major credit event, confirmed by the first ever corporate bond default which took place a week ago. Few, however, know just why China is in this untenable position. If we had to select one data point with which to explain it all, it would be the following: just in the fourth quarter of 2013, Chinese bank assets rose from CNY147 trillion to CNY151.4 trillion, or, in dollar terms, an increase of almost exactly $1 trillion!

By comparison, US bank assets in the same period rose by just over $200 billion, a number which consists almost entirely of the reserves injected by the Fed.

And if we had to show it in one chart, it would be the following comparison of total Chinese and US bank assets: the two lines shown below are on the same axis, and at the end of 2009, the US had just a fraction more assets than China. Since then the US has added $2.3 trillion in bank assets, exclusively thanks to the Fed's reserve creation. As for China... total bank assets more than doubled from $11.5 trillion to a record $25 trillion! This is a number that is nearly double that of the US, and represents a pace of $3.5 trillion per year - or nearly four concurrent QEs - a rate of "financial asset" addition five times greater than in the US!

This short Zero Hedge piece from yesterday was sent to us by Ulrike Marx---and the charts are worth the trip.

Alasdair Macleod: The bursting of China's credit bubble

China remains the big gold story, GoldMoney research director Alasdair Macleod writes yesterday, not just because Chinese people recognize gold as the best money but also because the credit and currency collapse under way in China will drive wealth out of uneconomic assets and into the monetary metal.

Macleod's commentary is headlined "The Bursting of China's Credit Bubble" and it's posted at GoldMoney's website.  It falls into themust read category as well---and it's another item I found in a GATA release from yesterday.

Four King World News Blogs

1. Egon von Greyerz: "The Death of the Dollar and Gold's Rise"  2. Eric Sprott [#1]: "Billionaire Sprott Looking to Sue Banks For Gold Manipulation"  3. Eric Sprott [#2]: "Gold To See Powerful "Golden Cross" Within Days"  4. Eric Sprott [#3]: "The Single Greatest Danger Facing the World Today"

Bundesbank's president says it aims to hasten gold repatriation

The head of Germany's Bundesbank has attacked Chancellor Angela Merkel's reform agenda, warning that changes to the labour market and the coalition’s softer tone on the country’s trade surplus risk weakening the eurozone's economic powerhouse.

Jens Weidmann, the president of the central bank and a former adviser to Ms Merkel, on Thursday said that the introduction of a minimum wage and attempts to cut the retirement age of some workers could damage the labour market. But his sharpest rebuttal was reserved for the coalition's more conciliatory stance on the German trade balance.

Mr. Weidmann also said that the Bundesbank would step up efforts to repatriate half its gold reserves that it has built up through its trade surpluses at overseas central banks to Frankfurt, with the rest remaining in New York and London. In a nod to the public support for the move, the Bundesbank president quoted Goethe's Faust: "The lure of gold has power over all."

This is three paragraphs from a story that appeared in theFinancial Times yesterday---and if you want to read the rest, you'll have to sign up at the FT's website, but it's free.  However, I've read the entire article already---and you've already read the most important part.  The actual FT headline reads "Bundesbank President Attacks Angela Merkel's Policies"---and I found it embedded in a GATA release.

UBS discloses it is reviewing its precious metals business

The Swiss bank UBS said on Friday that it was conducting an internal review of its precious metals business amid expanding regulatory investigations into potential manipulation of interest rates and the price of commodities and currencies.

In its annual report released on Friday, UBS said that it had been conducting a review of its foreign exchange operations, including its precious metals business. The bank said it was cooperating with regulators, noting in its review that "a number of authorities also are reportedly investigating potential manipulation of precious metal prices."

Also on Friday, Hong Kong's banking regulator found that traders at UBS tried to rig the Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate over a four-year period but ultimately had no impact on how the local benchmark interest rate was set. As a result, the regulator did not fine the bank.

This news item showed up on The New York Times website yesterday---and it's worth reading.  It's another article I found posted on the gata.org Internet site yesterday.

Koos Jansen: Abandoning gold standard enriched financial class

Gold researcher and GATA consultant Koos Jansen reported yesterday that Chinese gold demand for the first 10 weeks of the year has reached 454 tonnes, which would put it on a pace to claim most of the world's annual gold production. Jansen observes that abandonment of the gold standard resulted in a vast transfer of wealth from the working class to the financial class, but then wasn't that the objective?

Jansen's commentary is posted at his Internet siteingoldwetrust.ch---and it's another article I found over at thegata.org Internet site yesterday.  I thank Chris Powell for wordsmithing "all of the above."

Bruised gold miners start hedging output, in a limited way

Increasing numbers of gold miners, battered by last year's drop in bullion prices, are selling planned output forward to help shore up their finances for stormy times, but these hedges are only for the short term.

Large miners and their shareholders typically rail against the practice of forward sales because locking in prices ahead of production closes off opportunities to benefit from a rise in the metal's value.

That was particularly pertinent during the 2001-2012 gold bull run, when prices swept from around $260 an ounce to a record $1,920.30 in late 2011.

But last year, a 28 percent dive in bullion prices caught producers by surprise, putting balance sheets under stress.

This must read Reuters piece, filed from London, was posted on their Internet site during the New York lunch hour yesterday---and I thank Ulrike Marx for today's final story.

¤ THE WRAP

They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for ones country. But in modern war there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason. - Ernest Hemingway: "Notes on the Next War: A Serious Topical Letter" first published in Esquire (September 1935)

Another day---and another major intervention in the bullion market by JPMorganet al.  One can only fantasize on how high precious metal prices would have risen if the usual sellers of last resort hadn't intervened when they did.  The intervention was so egregious, that no one could have possibly missed it---and I'll spare you the usual Stevie Wonder joke at this point.

Eric Sprott mentioned the upcoming "golden cross" as the 50 day moving average crosses above the 200-day moving average.  As you can see from this chart, the 50 day hasn't been above the 200 day m.a. for a bit more than a year, but it looks like it will make it this time.  Let's hope it stays here.

While I'm at it, here's the 3-year chart for silver:

Along with the situation in the Ukraine/Crimea, there's also the little matter of the FOMC meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday of this coming week.  One has to wonder why they bother meeting at all anymore, as what they decide is not only irrelevant; but the economic, financial and monetary situation is now completely out of their control.  Anyway, it's in our faces now, so we'll see what happens when the smoke goes up the chimney on Wednesday afternoon.  However, events prior could certainly trump whatever happens at this meeting.

I'm somewhat at loss as to what to write at this point, as events in the Ukraine and surrounding area are rapidly spinning out of control.  And whether that's by chance or by design, it will only take a small error in judgement by some of the West's sociopaths with their fingers in the pie over there, to make things turn ugly---and deadly, in a very short period of time.  There are no "cooler heads" at the moment, except for maybe Putin, and it will be interesting to see how he responds to whatever dictates come out of the West in the next 48 hours or so.

But whatever happens regarding the Ukraine during the next few days, will most certainly change the world as we know it, forever.

Before heading off to bed, here's another chart that Nick Laird sent my way.  It's the "Total PMs Pool" graph updated with the current data---and all the traces are pointing in the right direction.

I await the Sunday evening open in New York with great interest.

I'm done for the day---and the week.

Beware the Ides of March!

See you on Tuesday.

and some add ons.......

http://harveyorgan.blogspot.com/2014/03/march-142014gld-has-gold-inventory.html

Friday, March 14, 2014

March 14.2014/GLD has gold inventory advance by 3.29 tonnes/SLV remains constant/gold and silver advance today/gold up for 5 consecutive days/Crimea referendum on Sunday/

***

Comex gold/ contract month

March 14.2014   the March delivery month.

Gold	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz	nil
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz	35,284.838 (HSBC,Scotia)
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory in oz	nil
Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz	405.128 (HSBC,Scotia)
No of oz served (contracts) today	0  (nil oz)
No of oz to be served (notices)	143  (14,300 oz)
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month	10  (800 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawals  of gold from the Dealers inventory this month	1399.97 oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month	126,841.25 oz

****

What happened to Ukraine's gold?

(courtesy Dave Kranzler/the Golden Truth)

The Big Lie + What Happened To Ukraine’s Gold?

March 14, 2014Uncategorized

The Big Lie is that Central Banks don’t care about gold.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Ben Bernanke more than once claimed that he didn’t understand gold.   When Ron Paul asked Bernanke in front of Congress why Central Banks own gold if it’s irrelevant, Bernanke flippantly suggested that it was out of tradition.   In both cases Bernanke was lying and he knew it.

In comparison, Greenspan seemed to have some respect for the laws of economics and – at least that I can recall – never would outright state that gold was not an economic factor.   Greenspan lied as much as Bernanke did about everything else but he never committed himself to lie about gold.  Most of you have probably read Greenspan’s 1966 essay, “Gold and Economic Freedom” (linked).  I have read it several times because it explains as well as anything out there why gold works as a currency and why Government-issued fiat currency does not.

What I find amazing about The Big Lie about Central Banks and gold is that if gold really is considered to be irrelevant, the how come Central Banks – especially the Fed – are so secretive about their gold storage and trading activities?  What’s even more amazing is that no one other than Ron Paul and GATA asks them about this.   Think about it.  GATA spent a lot of money on legal fees attempting to get the Fed to publicly disclose its records related to the Fed’s gold activities.    The Fed spent even more money denying GATA’s quest.  And how come the Fed won’t submit to a public, independent audit of its gold vaults?

This brings me to the issue of the Ukraine’s gold.  According to public records, the Government of Ukraine owns 33 tonnes of gold that was being safekept in Ukraine.   Last week a Ukrainian newspaper reported that acting PM Arseny Yatsenyuk ordered the transfer of that gold to the United States.   The actual report is here:  LINK.   Jesse’s Cafe Americain provided a translated version here:  LINK.

On the assumption that the report is true, and so far I have not seen any commentary or articles suggesting it is not true, the biggest question is, how come the U.S. has absolutely no problem loading up and transporting 33 tonnes of gold from Ukraine to the U.S. but seems to have difficulty loading up and transporting any of Germany’s gold from New York to Berlin?  And how come the U.S. and Ukraine seem to care about that gold at all, if indeed gold is irrelevant?  It would seem that it would be a lot less expensive  and logistically complicated just to have the U.S. military post a few armed guards around the gold if they’re worried about theft.  On the other hand,  I’m sure Putin would be happy to buy the gold from Ukraine.

What makes the story even more interesting is that GATA’s Chris Powell has spent considerable time trying to get an answer to the question of whether or not the U.S. has taken custody of Ukraine’s gold.   When he queried the NY Fed, they responded with:  “A spokesman for the New York Fed said simply: “Any inquiry regarding gold accounts should be directed to the account holder. You may want to contact the National Bank of Ukraine to discuss this report” (LINK).    After trying for two days to get an answer from the U.S. State Department, they finally responded by referring him to the NY Fed (LINK).  

The final piece in verifying that the report is true is deflection from Ukraine.   Mr. Powell has queried the National Bank of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Embassy in DC and the Ukrainian mission to the UN in NYC.  Crickets.  As Chris states the case:   “The difficulty in getting a straight answer here is pretty good evidence that the Ukrainian gold indeed has been sent to the United States.”

Unfortunately, it is likely that the citizens of Ukraine will end up paying the same price for allowing the U.S. to “safekeep” their sovereign gold.  That price is the comforting knowledge that their gold has been delivered safely to vaults in China under U.S./UK bullion bank contractual delivery obligations, where it will be locked away for centuries.

All this skullduggery over a barbarous relic that has been deemed irrelevant by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

***

James McShirley with his analysis of how for many years the afternoon fix on gold was lower than the morning fix.  What is interesting is that in March, the process has been reversed, the afternoon London fix is higher than the morning fix


(courtesy James McShirley/GATA)

James McShirley: The curious case of the PM fix vs. the AM fix

Submitted by cpowell on Fri, 2014-03-14 20:44. Section: Documentation

4:47p ET Friday, March 14, 2014

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Market analyst and GATA consultant James McShirley today notes the long anomalous behavior of the London gold fixing, where for years the afternoon fix was almost always lower than the morning fix, changing only on the eve of investigations of gold market rigging. McShirley writes that his research was inspired by that of GATA consultant Dimitri Speck, author of the gold price suppression expose "The Gold Cartel" --

http://us.macmillan.com/thegoldcartel/DimitriSpeck

-- and the late GATA board member Adrian Douglas, whose study of the London fix four years ago concluded that the fix was the reincarnation of the official gold price suppression mechanism of the 1960s, the London Gold Pool:

http://www.gata.org/node/8919

McShirley writes: "The argument that gold isn't manipulated because if it were, traders would step in and arbitrage the London fixes is easily refuted. In a nut, they do."

His analysis is headlined "The Curious Case of the PM Fix vs. the AM Fix" and it's posted at GoldSeek here:

http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1394826567.php

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

end




Eric Sprott, being very angry about gold manipulation is thinking of joining the lawsuit on behalf of
Canadians:

(courtesy Eric Sprott/Kingworldnews/Eric Sprott)



also Egon von Greyerz has a discussion with Eric King and he warns to be careful when you value assets in USA dollars:

(courtesy Egon Von Greyerz/Kingworldnews)

Sprott may join manipulation suit; von G says asset gains in dollars are illusory

Submitted by cpowell on Fri, 2014-03-14 20:33. Section: Daily Dispatches

4:30p ET Friday, March 14, 2014

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Sprott Asset Management CEO Eric Sprott today tells King World News that the increasingly public complaints about gold market manipulation have begun to liberate the gold price and he is considering becoming part of a class-action lawsuit against the banks that have been accused of manipulation:

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2014/3/14_Bi...

And Swiss gold fund manager Egon von Greyerz tells King World News that price appreciation in assets demoninated in U.S. dollars are completely illusory, since the dollar long has been declining in value. The world is going to strip the dollar of its role as the world reserve currency, von Greyerz says. His comments are posted at King World News here:

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2014/3/14_Th...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

end


The FDIC is suing the largest banks for suppressing interest rates????

(courtesy Nate Raymond/Reuters/GATA)

Beyond irony: U.S. sues banks for suppressing interest rates

Submitted by cpowell on Fri, 2014-03-14 20:04. Section: Daily Dispatches

U.S. Regulator Sues 16 Banks for Rigging Key Interest Rate

By Nate Raymond
Reuters
Friday, March 14, 2014

NEW YORK -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sued 16 of the world's largest banks on Friday, accusing them of colluding to suppress interest rates.

The lawsuit, filed in the federal district court in New York, was the latest to accuse financial institutions of conspiring to manipulate Libor, or the London Interbank Offered Rate. ...

The banks named as defendants include Bank of America Corp., Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse Group, Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings, JPMorgan Chase & Co., the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, and UBS.

The lawsuit also named the British Bankers' Association, the U.K. trade organization that during the period at issue administered Libor. ...

... For the full story:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/14/us-fdic-libor-idUSBREA2D1KR201...

What on earth was the Bank of England up to?

a superb commentary from Bill Holter

(courtesy Bill Holter/Miles Franklin)

The simplest answer usually IS the answer

We found out yesterday that the Bank of England "shredded" their recordshttp://wallstreetonparade.com/2014/03/bank-of-england-drops-a-bombshell-on-parliament-it-shredded-its-crisis-era-records/ from the "crisis era".  Why did they do this?  Were the folders and papers just stacking up too high and leaving too little room for storage space of their gold bars?  Were the records just SO old that they were collecting dust and becoming a potential mold problem? 

  The Bank of England posts their "minutes" with a 5 year delay, similar to our Federal Reserve.  This inquiry by parliament has come about to look into the Libor scandal of FOREX manipulation.  Logically there will also be an inquiry regarding the "fixing" of the London gold fix.  It was said that once the "minutes" were posted, the recordings themselves get destroyed.  Even an inquisitive child of 5 or 6 years old would ask "but why Daddy?".  Why would the recordings themselves get destroyed?  Why not just be "lazy", not lift a finger and the recordings get to "live" on?  Surely there is some historical value to them?  Think about it, some of THE most "innovative" monetary policy decisions in all of history were decided upon.  Wouldn't historians want to hear "how and why" these particular decisions were made...50 or 100 years in the future (or even today)? 

  I'm sorry, this smells like rotten monkfish to me!  The ONLY possible reason to destroy recordings (which are presumably on CD's and would not take up too much "space") is to destroy evidence.  The only thing that remains are the "minutes" which are taken and written by a human being...human beings are unfortunately known not to always be 100% truthful.  Recordings don't lie...which is why they need to be destroyed?  Can you only imagine what went on behind the closed doors of the Bank of England?... any more than we can wonder what goes on behind the closed doors of the Fed as we only have "written" descriptions here also. 

  The "Greatest Depression" is not over yet, not even close so why "close the case" so to speak?  The most obvious reason for the recordings to be destroyed is to hide the "truth".  The truth is exactly what would/will blow the financial markets sky high.  Can you imagine what the response would be to a discussion about "how broke" various institutions were/are?   Can you imagine the response by the public hearing first hand with their own ears how "rigged" the markets are...because they HAVE to be?  Can you imagine the panic buying of gold were the clandestine selling to have been spoken about behind the closed British doors?  There was a story a couple of weeks back where Jim Willie suggested that Saudi gold was being sold by the British, can you imagine the market reactions were this to be true and BOE officials heard audibly laughing about it?  And then made public through recordings?... 

  Speaking of the Saudis, they have a 4 day meeting with China that begins todayhttp://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20140313198527 .  What in the world "could" they be talking about?  Could it be so obvious as to the Saudi's supplying oil to China?  Ya' think?  Might they also be discussing "terms of payment"?  Is it possible that Saudi Arabia would gladly accept payment in something other than dollars?  Could they be talking about doing a deal together but Saudi Arabia is worried about U.S. backlash or retaliation and want Chinese "assurances of protection"?  I can come up with any number of speculations on this one, most all of them having at least some tidbit of actual truth.

  This is not a hard one to figure as just 4 months ago Saudi Arabia (and Israel) were on the other side of the table from the U.S. over the Syria situation.  We "blinked" which showed several things to the world.  Because the situation was handled so poorly by president Obama, the world saw us in a very "weak" light.  They also saw us not standing behind our allies of so many years.  If you recall, the Saudis were quite vocal at the time but have since been quiet for the most part.  Why is this?  Because as they said at the time, "we stabbed them in the back"...and now they are getting their ducks in a row to "alter" their business dealings.

  Put these pieces together.  The Chinese have hoarded the "anti dollar", gold.  The Saudis have oil to sell but they are disgruntled with their deal of accepting dollars because we "crossed" them and they are not stupid...they know that we are broke.  The Chinese have a huge appetite for oil and want to cut a deal to provide for their own future supply.  The Saudi Prince Salman is meeting with China's president to discuss "boosting their partnership".  The Saudis are currently accepting a bankrupt currency for a real commodity, THEIR ONLY real commodity export!  So what do we have here?  DING! DING! DING! DING! "Winner, winner, chicken dinner"!!!  The Saudis will cut a deal to supply China with oil in payment of something other than dollars...how hard was that one to figure out?  It is only a matter of time before some deal like this is announced.  The "lights" will then go out on the dollar overnight when this happens.

  Actually, how hard is anything to figure out these days.  Nearly anything that you read in mainstream western press is not true, or at least points you in the wrong direction.  The monetary system is a complete fraud from top to bottom and anything that "the people" are told is usually a misdirection play.  Read, listen and watch with a skeptical eye, use common sense when analyzing information and always remember that the obvious or the simplest answer is usually THE answer.  This is not rocket science, nor is it "conspiracy theory".  This is advice for you to navigate the ability to survive.  There are no "mainstream" entities out there that have your best interests at heart.  You have to make your own decisions and go your own way for your own protection.  Keep it simple and follow your gut instincts even if they are 180 degrees backwards from what the media tries to drum into you 24/7.  I say this because "they" have an agenda...as does your gut instinct, only your "gut" is the pure human nature "agenda" for survival...yours!  Regards,  Bill Holter