29 July 2015 — Wednesday
YESTERDAY in GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM and PALLADIUM
As I mentioned in The Wrap in yesterday’s column, I wasn’t expecting much price activity as the August gold contract goes off the board this week—and gold’s weak attempt to hit the $1,100 mark twenty-five minutes before the London p.m. gold fix got turned aside. The price didn’t do much after that. The high and low ticks aren’t worth looking up.
Gold was closed in New York yesterday at $1,095.50 spot, up a buck from Monday. Gross volume was 237,000 contracts, but with the roll-overs subtracted out, net volume was only 60,000 contracts.
Silver rallied a bit in Far East trading, but that ended at the London open, with the low of the day coming just before 1 p.m. BST in London—and about thirty minutes before the COMEX open. The subsequent rally, such as it was, got capped the same time as the gold rally, about 9:35 a.m. EDT in New York—and the price chopped sideways from there into the close.
The silver price traded in a 15 cent range all day on Tuesday, so the high and low aren’t worth looking up either.
Silver finished the Tuesday session at $14.685 spot, up 14.5 cents from Monday’s close. Net volume was a very quiet 20,500 contracts.
Platinum didn’t do much either, trading within a ten dollar price range. It finished the day at $983 spot, up two dollars from Monday. The palladium price got bumped up a few dollars in late morning trading in the Far East—and then added a few dollars more once the London p.m. gold fix was out of the way, finishing the Tuesday session in New York at $618 spot, up 8 bucks. Here are the charts.
The dollar index closed late on Monday afternoon in New York at 96.54—and then didn’t do much until mid-morning Hong Kong time. At that point a rally commenced that that topped out at 96.95 a few minutes after 1 p.m. BST in London—which was 8 a.m. in New York. It was all down hill from there, as it finished the Tuesday session at 96.65—up 11 basis points on the day.
And here, once more, is the 6-month U.S. dollar chart for reference purposes.
The gold stocks gapped up a percent or so at the open—and didn’t do much after that, as the HUI closed higher by 0.65 percent.
It was more or less the same action in the silver equities—and Nick Laird’s Intraday Silver Sentiment Index closed higher by 1.26 percent.
The CME Daily Delivery Report showed that 4 gold and 115 silver contracts were posted for delivery within the COMEX-approved warehouses on Thursday. In silver, the three short/issuers were HSBC USA, Scotiabank and JPMorgan out of its client account, with 65, 21 and 29 contracts respectively. The two largest long/stoppers were ABN Amro in its client account—and the CME Group itself with 24 contracts. The link to yesterday’s Issuers and Stoppers Report is here.
The CME Preliminary Report for the Tuesday trading session showed that July gold open interest dropped 49 contracts leaving 4 left to deliver—and as per the previous paragraph, those will be delivered tomorrow. So the July gold contract is done. In silver, July o.i. fell by 5 contracts, leaving 158 still open—and 115 of those are being delivered on Thursday as well, so the rest will be delivered on Friday.
There were no reported changes in GLD yesterday—and as of 7:29 p.m. EDT yesterday, there were no reported changes in SLV, either.
As expected, it was another blockbuster sales day at the U.S. Mint. They sold another 4,000 troy ounces of gold eagles—1,000 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes—and 1,221,500 silver eagles.
Month-to-date the mint has sold a whopping 161,500 troy ounces of gold eagles—27,000 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes—and an eye-watering 5,254,000 silver eagles. Gold eagles sales are already double what they were in January—and silver eagles sales are within 300,000 of January’s 5,530,000.
Over at the COMEX-approved depositories on Monday, they didn’t report receiving any gold, but shipped out 11,542 troy ounces out of Scotiabank’s vault. I shall dispense with the link to this activity.
It was another busy day in silver though, as 594,820 troy ounces were received—and 691,937 troy ounces were shipped out. JPMorgan wasn’t involved in any of this activity. The link to that action is here.
Over at the COMEX-approved gold kilobar depositories in Hong Kong on their Monday, they reported receiving 2,766 kilobars—and shipped out 2,100 kilobars. The link to that activity, in troy ounces, is here.
Before hitting the Critical Reads, I have news regarding Bullion Direct which went Chapter 11 a while back. As expected, Joshua Gibbons was all over this story like a blanket, as he was with Tulving when it went belly up. It’s headlined “Bad News: Stored Metal Nonexistent“—and the link is here. Besides his current comments dated yesterday, Joshua has quite a few entries at this link regarding Bullion Direct if you keep scrolling down. So if the subject interests you, you can gorge yourself.
I have a very decent number of stories again today, but most of them are about Puerto Rico, Greece and Turkey—and the final edit is yours once more.
CRITICAL READS
U.S. consumer mood darkens, home price growth stalls
U.S. consumer confidence suffered its biggest blow in four years in July on a less upbeat jobs outlook, while home appreciation in major cities stalled in May, suggesting a spring pause in housing demand.
The disappointing data comes as Federal Reserve policymakers meet to consider whether the U.S. economy is strong enough to warrant an end to the Fed’s near zero interest rate policy, perhaps as soon as September.
The Federal Open Market Committee, the U.S. central bank’s policy-setting group, is meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Conference Board, an industry group, said on Tuesday its index of consumer attitudes fell to 90.9 this month from a downwardly revised 99.8 in June. It fell far short of a forecast reading of 100.0.
This Reuters story, filed from New York, showed up on their Internet site at 3:32 p.m. EDT yesterday afternoon—and is courtesy of Patricia Caulfield. The headline used to read “U.S. consumer mood sours, home price growth stalls“.
From rents to haircuts, Americans start to feel price hikes
Apartment rents are up. So are prices for restaurant meals, haircuts, gym memberships and a cup of coffee.
For American consumers who have become used to flat or even falling prices for several years, an unfamiliar sight has emerged in many corners of the economy: Inflation is ticking up.
The price increases remain modest. And in many cases, they’re canceled out by price declines for other items that are keeping overall inflation historically low.
Yet the stepped-up price tags for a range of consumer items are the largest since the Great Recession ended six years ago. They actually reflect a healthier economy: Many businesses have finally grown confident enough to pass their own higher costs on to consumers without fear of losing customers. Employers have added nearly 5.6 million jobs the past two years, allowing more people to absorb higher prices.
Well, dear reader, whoever wrote this AP story was either on drugs or asked to write it this way. Inflation is the result of currency debasement—and the only surprise is that it hasn’t shown up sooner and/or more aggressively. This article was posted on the finance.yahoo.com Internet site Tuesday afternoon EDT—and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for sending it our way.
How Much Worse Can the Junk-Bond Sell-Off Get?
It was the kind of rout that bottom fishers a few months ago apparently didn’t think was possible.
For example, in March, coal miner Peabody Energy had issued 10% second-lien notes due 2022 at 97.5 cents on the dollar. Now, these junk bonds are trading at around 49 cents on the dollar, having lost half their value in four months, and 17% in July alone, according to S&P Capital IQ’s LCD HY Weekly. Yield-hungry fund managers that bought them at issuance and stuffed them into their bond funds that people hold in their retirement accounts should be sued for malpractice.
Among the bonds: Cliffs Natural Resources down 27.6%, SandBridge down 30%, Murray Energy down 21.2%, and Linn Energy down 22.3%, according to Bloomberg.
For example, Linn Energy 6.25% notes due in 2019 were trading at 78 cents on the dollar at the beginning of July and at 58 on Friday, according to LCD. There was bloodshed beyond energy, such as AK Steel’s 7.625% notes due in 2021. They were trading at 62 cents on the dollar, down 22% from the beginning of July.
“The performance is a disappointment to investors who purchased about $40 billion of junk-rated bonds from energy companies this year, thinking that the worst of the slump was over,” Bloomberg noted.
Well, dear reader, if interest rates do rise, all bonds are going to get slaughtered. Some kind reader sent me this story on Monday, but I deleted it because I just didn’t have space for it. Now Brad Robertson sent it our way. It’s dated from Sunday—and showed up on the wolfstreet.com Internet site. It’s worth reading.
Puerto Rico’s Debt Debacle: 3 Stories
1. The Puerto Rico Debt Crisis, Explained: The Huffington Post 2. Hedge funds tell Puerto Rico: lay off teachers and close schools to pay us back: The Guardian 3. Lew Warns That Puerto Rico Crisis Could Get Costly for U.S.: Bloomberg
All three of the above stories are courtesy of Patricia Caulfield, for which I thank her
Eurozone members should have right to go bankrupt, leave the bloc – German ‘wise men’
A German government economic panel of ‘wise men’ says the eurozone needs a mechanism that’ll allow troubled economies to leave the currency as a last resort, and free taxpayers in creditor countries from paying the debts of “uncooperative” members.
It was the Greek debt crisis that stressed the need for urgent reforms in the eurozone, the German government’s panel of five independent economic advisers said, Reuters reports.
“To ensure the cohesion of monetary union, we have to recognize that voters in creditor countries are not prepared to finance debtor countries permanently,” said Christoph M. Schmidt, chairman of the council, in the report published Tuesday and obtained by Reuters.
The long negotiations over Greek debt have made the experts debate the eurozone structure that allows entry, but doesn’t allow a country to leave. Even though the ‘wise men’ say that the union should remain intact, acknowledge that an ‘out’ mechanism should exist, even though as an “utterly last resort.”
This news item put in an appearance on the Russia Today website at 11:48 a.m. Moscow time on their Tuesday morning, which was 4:48 a.m. EDT in Washington. It’s the first offering of the day from Roy Stephens.
Eurozone Crisis: A Disaster Waiting to Happen
The current crisis in the Eurozone, which has thrown Greece into disarray, was a disaster waiting to happen, according to many economists, one of whom told Sputnik the currency is inherently unstable.
As talks over a third bailout for Greece begin Tuesday, many economists are watching with a sense of foreboding amid a dismal forecast outlook for the Eurozone from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which said the euro area “remains vulnerable to shocks”.
The IMF said medium-term prospects are less bright. “Several factors cloud the outlook for growth over the next five years,” said Mahmood Pradhan, mission chief for the euro area. “These include high unemployment, especially among the youth; large corporate debt; and, rising non-performing loans (NPLs) in the banking system.”
This news item appeared on the sputniknews.com Internet site at 4:06 p.m. Moscow time [EDT+7 Hours] on their Tuesday afternoon.
The Grecian Kabuki Theatre: 5 Stories
1. Greece Starts Bailout Talks With Dispute on Up-Front Actions: Bloomberg 2. Debt conundrum to keep Greek banks in months-long freeze: Reuters 3. Migrants left looking for shelter as Greece struggles in crisis: Reuters 4. Greek debt crisis demonstrates perils of lending to your euro friends: The Guardian 5. The Greek Warrior — How a radical finance minister took on Europe—and failed: The New Yorker
All five of the above stories are courtesy of Patricia Caulfield—and I thank her on your behalf.
Turkey, the Kurds—and the Islamic State: 6 Stories
1. Turkey’s Shift on the Syrian War – Editorial: The New York Times 2. Turkey’s messy war in the Middle East, explained: The Washington Post 3. Turkey’s Erdogan: peace process with Kurdish militants impossible: Reuters 4. Turkey joined the fight against Islamic State, but not for the reasons you think: Reuters 5. Turkey says Kurdish peace process impossible as NATO meets: The Guardian 6. Turkey on path of war – with Islamic State or Kurds?: TASS
Story #6 is courtesy of Roy Stephens—the rest I thank Patricia Caulfield for sending our way.
China Stocks Extend Rout as Traders Lose Faith in State Support
Chinese stocks fell in volatile trading, extending the biggest one-day loss since 2007, as concern grew unprecedented government intervention will fail to shore up equities.
The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.7 percent to 3,663 at the close, after sinking as much as 5.1 percent and gaining 1 percent. About three stocks slid for each one that rose. Energy and technology shares slumped, while brokerages led an advance by financial companies. The gauge tumbled 8.5 percent on Monday amid concern a three-week rally sparked by unprecedented government intervention is unsustainable.
Chinese traders reduced leveraged stock bets on Monday by the most in two weeks as the stock plunge erased $613 billion in value. The securities regulator assured investors in a statement after the market closed the government hasn’t withdrawn support for equities.
“Confidence is very weak and the market will probably still seek a lower level of support,” said Wu Kan, a Shanghai-based fund manager at Dragon Life Insurance Co., which oversees about $3.3 billion. “If the market falls to or approaches the previous low, the government will take further rescue measures.”
This Bloomberg news item showed up on their website in the wee hours of Tuesday morning Denver time—and once again I thank Patricia Caulfield for sending it our way.
Why it’s a bad idea for China to prop up its stock market
China’s pledges to prop up the stock market are unwise. It didn’t have to be this way – if only the country’s authorities had been able to resist the lure of inflating asset prices. That’s a challenge few governments have met.
After the benchmark Shanghai Composite index fell 8.5 percent on July 27, the main stock regulator announced it would continue to support the market. Such twitchiness is astonishing. Dark talk of “malicious shorting” adds to the air of a government on the back foot.
This is the high price of being a free rider. For most of the past three decades, financial markets in China were something to be controlled, or selectively employed to aid the real economy. That displeased foreign banks and investors, but basically kept things stable. Companies funded themselves from profits or bank loans. Equity typically made up less than 5 percent of new financing in any given month.
But the siren song of rising asset prices has proved hard to resist. Politicians sat by over the past five years while the property market blew up into a bubble that still hasn’t fully deflated, basking in the resulting wealth effect. The more recent run-up in stocks is in some ways worse. House prices are hard to gauge definitively, but everyone can read the unambiguous symbol of a plunging bourse.
Well, the U.S. has the President’s Working Group on the Financial Markets, or the Plunge Protection Team, call it what you will. So is this the pot calling the kettle, black? This must read op-ed piece appeared on the Reuters website yesterday sometime—and it’s the final offering of the day from Patricia Caulfield.
Yuan spreads to world’s biggest $15 trillion metals bourse
The London Metal Exchange (LME) on Tuesday started accepting yuan as collateral against contracts after getting permission from the Bank of England.
“The renminbi [yuan – Ed.] is on its way to becoming one of the world’s most widely-used currencies. We are pleased to be able to help our members take advantage of the opportunities arising from the renminbi’s internationalization,” Trevor Spanner, chief executive of LME Clear, said in a statement.
There are now five currencies used at the LME: U.S. dollars, euro, British pounds, Japanese yen and offshore renminbi.
The LME was acquired by Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. (HKEx) for $2.2 billion in 2012, and yuan trading is another stepping stone for China. The country accounts for about 70 percent of iron ore consumption, and more than 40 percent of the demand for copper, aluminum and nickel, according to the data provided by Bloomberg.
This news item was posted on the Russia Today website at 3:08 p.m. Moscow time yesterday afternoon, which was 8:08 a.m. EDT in New York. I thank Roy Stephens for this one. There was also a similar article about this in the Asia Times yesterday. It’s headlined “London Metal Exchange to accept yuan“—and I thank U.K. reader Tariq Khan for pointing it out.
India’s Rajesh Exports acquires Swiss gold refiner Valcambi
Rajesh Exports Ltd., India’s biggest maker and exporter of gold jewelry, said it bought Swiss gold refiner Valcambi SA for $400 million.
The cash purchase of Valcambi from Newmont Mining Corp. helps ensure gold supplies to India, the world’s largest consumer of the metal after China, Bangalore-based Rajesh Exports said in an exchange filing on Monday. Its shares rallied to close at the highest level since at least July 2000.
“On a theoretical basis Valcambi is capable of supplying the entire gold requirement of India,” said Chairman Rajesh Mehta. Credit Suisse Group AG has agreed to fund 30 percent to 35 percent of the acquisition through long-term debt, which Rajesh Exports plans to repay through Valcambi’s future earnings, Mehta said at a news conference in Mumbai.
I saw this gold-related news item on the Sharps Pixley website early Tuesday morning, but I had so many stories in my column yesterday, I passed on it. This Bloomberg piece about it was something I plucked out of a GATA release.
Buy and “Own Krugerrands” Says Legendary Jim Grant
“We are in one of the most radical periods of monetary experimentation in the annals of money”, with a “low probability of a favourable outcome.”
Given the disorder he sees in the world due to monetary experimentation and the very low gold price Grant says,
“You want to have exposure to the reciprocal asset of the paper assets that are the most popular – so gold, to me, is now the conjunction of price, value and sentiment, and I am very bullish indeed.”
When asked how he liked to own gold he said he owned physical, generic, non-numismatic coins – specifically mentioning South African Gold Krugerrands and also mining shares.
Krugerrands, gold eagles, gold maple leafs, kangaroos, philharmonics—it doesn’t matter. Just buy the stuff! This commentary by Jim was contained in Mark O’Byrne’s commentary over at the goldcore.com Internet site yesterday—and It’s courtesy of Roy Stephens. It’s definitely worth reading.
Upticks in Silver Demand Seen in First Half of 2015
Through the first half of this year, silver experienced increased demand for jewelry and important industrial applications, two signals of demand growth for this most versatile of metals.
With almost 60 percent of silver demand tied to industrial use, silver’s role in industrial applications is looking brighter in several important areas. GFMS forecasts a 2 percent growth in industrial applications for silver this year.
In the renewable energy industry sector, the demand for silver by solar panel producers is expected to increase 8 percent to 65 million ounces this year. The rise reflects increased solar cell production and a higher number of installations. The increase is due to the U.S., which had a 76 percent increase in solar installations in the first quarter of 2015 when compared to last year. China and India both have aggressive solar installation plans and are expected help drive this projected growth as well.
Additionally, the silver market is expected to be in a deficit of 57.7 million ounces in 2015, as supply contracts and physical demand grows. This would mark the third consecutive year that the market is in a physical deficit. When the market experiences an annual shortfall from mine supply, users must draw down on above ground stocks, thereby tightening available supply.
This story came from The Silver Institute yesterday—and although they were puzzled at the supply/demand/investment dynamics in the silver market towards the end of the article, the price management scheme on the COMEX by JPMorgan et al was never mentioned, even though they all know perfectly well what’s going on. Roy Stephens found this on the silverseek.com Internet site yesterday—and I thank him for his last contribution to today’s column. It’s a must read.
Florida treasure hunters find $1 million in gold from Spanish boats that shipwrecked 300 years ago
A company dedicated to recouping the valuables on a ship that sank almost 300 years ago after departing Havana made one of the biggest finds so far — recouping more than $1 million worth of gold coins and chains.
Queens Jewels LLC has had the salvaging rights to the 1715 Fleet, a group of Spanish ships that were shipwrecked off the Florida coast on July 31, 1715, since 2010. Since the ship was discovered about 50 years ago divers have discovered about $50 million worth of treasure onboard the ship.
Queens Jewels owner Brent Brisben told the Daily News this discovery, which includes 51 coins and 40 feet of gold chains, is of the biggest single hauls taken from the ship.
This very interesting gold-related story put in an appearance on The New York Daily News website at 4:45 p.m. on Monday afternoon EDT—and the video clip and the five embedded photos, are definitely worth your while. I thank Elliot Simon for sending it along.
Bullion Direct: Bad News — Stored Metal Nonexistent
Two documents were filed on Tuesday, a Declaration of Dan Bensimon—and a Joint Stipulation Regarding Contents of Vault. There is a lot of information in these documents.
Most importantly, they show an inventory of the IDS vault that I calculate as having a value of roughly $633,000, compared to the estimated $20M+ of metal that Bullion Direct stored for customers. The declaration states:
“[Bullion Direct] interpreted the provisions of the Terms of Service agreement such that when a customer placed an order, the precious metal was not actually purchased unless the customer agreed to take actual delivery of the product.”
In other words, when someone bought $10,000 of metal and sent a check for $10,000, Bullion Direct would show the product in your portfolio. But they would not actually buy the metal. There is no sign that any hedging was done, either.
I posted this news item just before the Critical Reads section in today’s column, but after sober second thought, I decided to include it as a stand-alone story in case you missed it. This commentary by Joshua Gibbons, the Guru of the SLV Bar List appeared on his about.ag Internet site yesterday afternoon. It’s definitely worth reading.
44% of June Swiss gold exports to China bypassed Hong Kong — Lawrence Williams
The importance of Hong Kong as a channel for Chinese gold imports continues to diminish with nearly half of Swiss June gold exports going direct to the mainland.
As we have noted here before, there has been an increasing trend for China to import gold directly via its mainland ports of entry rather than via Hong Kong, which makes Hong Kong to China gold export data less and less relevant. So headlines like the recent one from Bloomberg: “China’s gold buying from HK drops to lowest in a year”—and the accompanying ‘analysis’, which puts it all down to lack of mainland China demand, have to be seen in context and as potentially misleading. Firstly June is normally a low month for gold trade in the area, but even so the sentiments expressed in the accompanying article seem to be countered by Shanghai Gold Exchange withdrawal figures. These arerunning exceptionally high for the time of year with 69 tonnes withdrawn from the SGE in the latest week for which stats are available at a time of year when we might normally expect to see withdrawals of 20-30 tonnes.
This commentary by Lawrie appeared on his website lawrieongold.com yesterday morning BST—and it’s worth reading as well.
Gold continues to shine in India, loses sheen in world
World gold demand hit a six-year low in the April-June quarter of the current calendar year on weak demand from China.
A survey conducted by global research firm Thomson Reuters GFMS showed that the world gold demand nose-dived 14 per cent during April-June 2015 at 858 tonnes compared with 1,000 tonnes in the corresponding quarter last year. Gold demand in the April-June 2015 quarter showed a decline of 15 per cent from the previous quarter.
Jewellery consumption in India rose 2.5 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to 158 tonnes. Retail investment was steady y-o-y at 50 tonnes. However, it surged from the first quarter on buying related to Akshaya Tritiya.
Gross imports in the quarter under review was down to the lowest in five quarters, falling to 183.9 tonnes against 205.4 tonnes last year – showing a y-o-y decline of 10 per cent, the survey revealed.
Gold Field Mineral Services is out spouting half-truths again, as what they’re talking about here is only part of the demand for gold. Nothing is mentioned about the gold that Russia’s central bank or China’s central bank is buying. This version of the GFMS bulls hit appeared on the Business Standard of India website yesterday—and if you do read it, do so with a big grain of salt. It’s a story I lifted from the Sharps Pixley website.
The PHOTOS and the FUNNIES
THE WRAP
More than ever, the prime driving force to the current commodity price downdraft is futures positioning and not some approaching end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it. The good news associated with this is multifaceted. We will see a dramatic upturn in prices most likely very soon. We will see a continued spreading of the word that the COMEX is responsible for illegally setting prices in gold and silver and other commodities and that dissemination of the truth just might transcend to the world of main stream media.
Finally, because this [past] week’s COT report came in just as it should have, I don’t have any ‘splaining’ to do. Gold prices dropped as much as $140 since May 19 because the commercials were successful in tricking managed money traders and other speculators to sell to the commercials more than 110,000 net contracts (11 million oz). In silver the commercials were able to buy more than 50,000 net contracts (250 million oz) by rigging prices $3 lower and inducing technical funds and others into selling on the manipulative downdraft.
This epic COMEX position maneuvering now looking mostly behind us, all that awaits to complete the picture is the upward price snap back dead ahead. Admittedly, it’s hard to imagine potentially historic price rises while those same prices are melting downward on a daily basis. But price is only part of the equation and what causes prices to move is much more important. From where I sit, prices went lower for the COMEX positioning reasons I repeat continuously—and will go higher for the very same reasons. That more see it daily is nothing but good news. — Silver analyst Ted Butler: 25 July 2015
Yesterday’s lack of price action in the precious metals was no surprise to me—and I’m hoping for more of the same as the last week of July draws to a close and the August gold contract goes off the board.
Of course we have to get through the Fed announcement this afternoon, but with the technical funds in the Managed Money category loaded to the gills on the short side in all four precious metals, I can’t see any engineered decline on the Fed “news” taking prices down by much, or lasting long if it does happen.
Here are the 6-month chart for the Big 6 commodities once again—and there were no new lows set yesterday. There were tiny rallies [probably short covering] in both copper and crude oil, but with the critical moving averages where they are, the Managed Money traders are still “all in” on the short side.
And as I type this paragraph, the London open is about fifteen minutes away—and very little is happening with all four precious metal, but all are up a tad from Tuesday’s close in New York. Net gold volume is something less than 8,000 contracts—and the roll-overs out of the August contract are huge already, as all the big traders have to be out by the end of COMEX trading this afternoon—not including those who are standing for delivery of course. Silver’s net volume is microscopic as well, a hair over 2,900 contracts.
The dollar index, which fell as low as 96.50 in morning trading in Hong Kong, began to rally shortly before noon local time—and is currently up 12 basis points.
Well, since we made it through Tuesday unscathed from a price perspective, I await Friday’s Commitment of Traders Report with some interest, as the Sunday evening bear raid in all four precious metals will be included in the data in that report. The cut-off for it was yesterday at the close of COMEX trading in New York. New lows for this move down were recorded in both gold and silver at that time—and it’s this data that both Ted Butler and I will be dissecting the most.
And as I put this up on the website at 4:30 a.m. EDT, I note that there still isn’t much going on in London now that it’s been open for about ninety minutes. With the exception of silver, which is down a few pennies at the moment, the other precious metals are still up a few dollars on the day.
Gross gold volume is a bit under 29,000 contracts, but with the roll-over taken out, net volume is 10,000 contracts, up only 2,000 contracts from when I reported fifteen minutes before the London open. Silver’s net volume is 4,000 contracts—and the dollar index is up 13 basis points, and off its current high tick by a hair. It’s very quiet at the moment.
So here we sit waiting for the Fed “news”—and it really doesn’t matter what it is, because they’re so far behind the curve now that one can only hope that they don’t do more damage than they’ve already done. Jim Rickards was right—they don’t have a clue what to do.
That’s all I have for today—and I’ll see you here tomorrow.
Ed
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