09 August 2016 — Tuesday
YESTERDAY in GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM and PALLADIUM
It was a ‘nothing’s sort of day in gold yesterday — and if JPMorgan et al were active in gold yesterday, it certainly wasn’t as obvious as their handiwork on Friday morning in New York. After getting sold off a few dollars in the first hour after the New York open at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday evening, the gold price rallied quietly until 1 p.m. Hong Kong/Shanghai time on their Monday morning — and then just as quietly got sold down to its low tick of the day, which came at or just after the morning gold fix in London. The subsequent quiet rally lasted until twenty minutes after the London p.m. gold fix — and the price traded with a slight negative bias for the rest of the Monday session in New York.
The low and high and low ticks aren’t worth my effort to look up.
Gold finished the Monday session in New York at $1,335.00 spot, down 40 cents from Friday’s close. Net volume was just over 114,000 contracts — and that includes both October and December’s volume.
Silver did even less on Monday, chopping around unchanged until around 9 a.m. BST in London — and began to edge higher at the juncture. Like gold, its high tick also came at 10:20 a.m. in New York — and from there it was quietly sold off until around 2:45 p.m. EDT in the thinly-traded after-hours market. It traded pretty flat from there into the close.
Like gold, the low and high ticks aren’t worth looking up.
Silver closed in New York yesterday at $19.675 spot, up 2 whole cents on the day. Net volume was just under 36,000 contracts, which was pretty light — and there was only average roll-over volume out of September.
The platinum price chopped mostly around unchanged until just after 12 o’clock noon in Zurich. At that point it began to rally a bit. But shortly before 9 a.m. in New York, some not-for-profit seller stepped it — and the price chopped sideways in a very tight range for the rest of the Monday session. Platinum closed in New York yesterday at $1,148 spot, up 4 dollars on the day.
The palladium price trade at, or just below unchanged until shortly before 11 a.m. Zurich time. It was sold down to its low of the day by shortly before 2 p.m. Europe time, but began to rally the moment that trading began on the COMEX. Then, like gold and silver, it looked like it ran into ‘da boyz’ around 10:20 a.m. in New York as well. It chopped lower for the rest of the Monday session, closing at $691 spot, down 3 bucks from last Friday.
The dollar index closed very late on Friday afternoon in New York at 96.26 — and didn’t do much when trading began at 2:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday afternoon in New York. It sold off a bit in mid-morning trading in the Far East, but didn’t [or wasn’t allowed] to fall below its Friday afternoon low tick in New York. Then around 1 p.m. Hong Kong/Shanghai time the dollar began to work its way higher, although very quietly and slowly, with the 96.47 high tick coming shortly before 11 a.m. in New York, which was shortly before the close in London trading. It chopped lower from there, finishing the Monday session at 96.38 — and up 12 whole basis points from Friday.
Here’s the 3-day dollar index so you can see the Sunday and Monday ‘action’ relative to what happen on Friday.
And here’s the 6-month U.S. dollar index chart which, as you already know, I provide for entertainment purposes only.
The gold stocks opened flat, dipped briefly into negative territory, then rallied smartly from there to their respective high ticks shortly before 11 a.m. EDT, which was when the rally in the dollar index topped out. From there they chopped quietly lower into the close — and the HUI closed up 0.52 percent.
The silver equities followed an almost identical flight plan, except they topped out at precisely noon EDT. Then, like their golden brethren, quietly sold off into the close. Nick Laird’s Intraday Silver Sentiment/Silver 7 Index closed up 1.86 percent. Click to enlarge if necessary.
The CME Daily Delivery Report showed that 267 gold and 61 silver contracts were posted for delivery within the COMEX-approved depositories on Wednesday. In gold, the two short/issuers of note were S.G. Americas and International F.C. Stone, with 201 and 45 contracts out of their respective client accounts. The long/stoppers were “all the usual suspects” that we’ve come to know and love lately: JPMorgan with 177 for its ‘client’ account, plus 5 contracts for itself. In distant second was MacQuarie Futures once again with 49 contracts for its own account. In silver, International F.C. Stone was the only short/issuer worth noting with 51 out of its client account. Canada’s Scotiabank stopped 36 contracts — and Morgan Stanley and ADM stopped 11 contracts apiece in their respective client accounts. The link to yesterday’s Issuers and Stoppers Report is here.
The CME Preliminary Report for the Monday trading session showed that gold open interest in August dropped by 237 contracts, leaving 2,501 still left, minus the 267 mentioned in the previous paragraph. Friday’s Daily Delivery Report showed that 395 gold contracts were posted for delivery today, so that means that 395-267=128 gold contracts were added to the August delivery month. August silver o.i. actually increased by 7 contracts, leaving 247 still open, minus the 61 mentioned above. Friday’s Daily Delivery Report showed that 1 lonely silver contract was posted for delivery today, so that means that 7+1=8 silver contracts were added to the August delivery month.
September open interest in gold fell by 333 contracts, leaving 5,928 still around — and October’s o.i. in gold dropped by 165 contracts, leaving 48,060 still open.
Not surprisingly, considering Friday’s price action, there was a big withdrawal from GLD yesterday, as an authorized participant took out 209,980 troy ounces. There was a deposit in SLV yesterday and, without doubt, this was done to cover an existing short position in SLV shares. The amount involved was 950,010 troy ounces.
There was a sales report from the U.S Mint yesterday, which is only the second one this month so far. They sold 11,500 troy ounces of gold eagles — 1,500 one-ounce 24K gold buffaloes — and 110,000 silver eagles.
There was a very decent amount of in/out movement in gold at the COMEX-approved depositories on Friday, as 121,834 troy ounces were reported received — and 81,982 troy ounces shipped out for parts unknown. The 8,000.000 troy ounces received at Brink’s, Inc. was most likely in 10 troy ounce bar form — and the 49,832.500 troy ounces deposited at Canada’s Scotiabank worked out to 1,550 kilobars using the U.S./British kilobar weight of 32.150 troy ounces. All of the ‘out’ activity was at Manfra, Tordella & Brookes, Inc. — as 81,982.500 troy ounces/2,550 kilobars left their depository. A link to all this activity is here.
In silver, there was 608,280 troy ounces received — and all of that amount went into JPMorgan’s vault — and the 610,600 troy ounces shipped out, came from the CNT Depository. The link to that activity is here.
It was pretty quiet over at the COMEX-approved gold kilobar depository in Hong Kong on their Friday, as only 446 kilobars were received — and 93 shipped out. All of the action was at Brink’s, Inc. as per usual — and the link to that, in troy ounces, is here.
Here is the first of two charts that Nick Laird passed around on Saturday. This one shows Chinese gold imports through Hong Kong in July. For that month, Nick says the amount was 70 tonnes. Click to enlarge.
The second chart shows the Weekly Transparent Gold Holdings in all published repositories, mutual funds and ETFs as of the close of trading on Friday. Nick’s comments in the covering e-mail said “It was another big week of inflows – 1.5 million troy ounces worth $2 billion.” Click to enlarge.
I have a decent number of stories for you today — and I hope that there a few in here that you think worth reading.
CRITICAL READS
Stocks a Screaming Buy in Fed Model That May Never Prove Right
It’s getting harder for bulls to justify the lofty valuations in U.S. stocks, and one of the last arguments left, that equities are actually cheap when compared against bonds, is increasingly being called into question.
While companies may be priced high relative to items such as sales and earnings, the values placed on fixed-income assets are much loftier. That’s important because the two markets used to move in lockstep, from the early 1980s through the internet bubble. Since then, the two have diverged, with one bullish conclusion being that equities have room to soar about 40 percent before catching up to the historical relationship.
The problem for investors is that values have diverged for so long now that it’s possible something has fundamentally changed — and that may keep stocks from rallying as much as they would otherwise. While companies have benefited from low interest rates and slowing inflation the past three decades, the worry now is whether it’s become too much of a good thing.
“We have very low inflation or deflation and that means continued investment in fixed income, but not great prospects for earnings growth or stocks,” said Jason Brady, a portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, which oversees about $60 billion. While the comparison worked in the past, it breaks down when “it’s clearly part of the design of central banks to push rates down below what would be a natural level,” he said.
This Bloomberg article was posted on their website at 10:00 p.m. Denver time on Sunday evening — and it was subsequently updated at 6:05 a.m. Monday morning MDT. There’s a 4:24 minute video clip embedded as well. I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for the first of two stories in a row. Another link to this news item is here.
Bond Market’s Big Illusion Revealed as U.S. Yields Turn Negative
For Kaoru Sekiai, getting steady returns for his pension clients in Japan used to be simple: buy U.S. Treasuries.
Compared with his low-risk options at home, like Japanese government bonds, Treasuries have long offered the highest yields around. And that’s been the case even after accounting for the cost to hedge against the dollar’s ups and downs — a common practice for institutions that invest internationally.
It’s been a “no-brainer since forever,” said Sekiai, a money manager at Tokyo-based DIAM Co., which oversees about $166 billion.
That truism is now a thing of the past. Last month, yields on U.S. 10-year notes turned negative for Japanese buyers who pay to eliminate currency fluctuations from their returns, something that hasn’t happened since the financial crisis. It’s even worse for euro-based investors, who are locking in sub-zero returns on Treasuries for the first time in history.
This is the second Bloomberg offering in a row from Elliot Simon. There’s a 3:50 minute video clip embedded in this one as well. It appeared on their Internet site at 2:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon Denver time — and it was updated at 9:00 a.m. MDT yesterday morning. Another link to it is here.
Janet Yellen: 21st-Century Houdini — Jim Rickards
Harry Houdini was the greatest escape artist of the 20th century. He escaped from specially made handcuffs, underwater trunks and once escaped from being buried alive. Now Janet Yellen will try to become the greatest escape artist of the 21st century.
Yellen is handcuffed by weak growth, persistent deflationary trends, political gridlock and eight years of market manipulation from which there appears to be no escape. Yet there is one way for Yellen and the Fed to break free of their economic handcuffs, at least in the short run. Yellen’s only escape is to trash the dollar. Investors who see this coming stand to make spectacular gains.
Yellen and the Fed face as many constraints as Harry Houdini in trying to escape a potential collapse of confidence in the U.S. dollar and a possible sovereign debt crisis for the United States. Let’s look at some of the constraints on Yellen — and the possible “tricks” she might use to escape.
The first and most important constraint on Fed policy is that the U.S. economy is dead in the water. Quarterly GDP figures have been volatile over the past three years, with annualized real growth as high as 5% in the third quarter of 2014 and as low as minus 1.2% in the first quarter of 2014. We have not seen persistent growth or a definite trend — until now. Finally, there is a trend, and it’s not a good one.
This commentary by Jim showed up on the dailyreckoning.com Internet site last Friday — and it’s definitely worth reading. I thank Jim Gullo for pointing it out. Another link to this article is here.
New York, Other States Reach $100M Settlement With Barclays Bank
Barclays Bank has agreed to pay $100 million to 43 states and the District of Columbia to settle allegations it improperly set key interest rates almost a decade ago, affecting payments on investments.
Monday’s settlement includes $93.5 million in restitution and costs of the investigation led by the New York and Connecticut attorneys general.
Authorities said that during the global financial crisis from 2007 to 2009 the British bank lowered rates to avoid the appearance that Barclays was in financial trouble. They also said that from 2005 to 2009 Barclays traders requested rates to benefit their trading positions.
Barclays, which cooperated with the probe, is the first of several banks under investigation by the states to resolve claims, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said. It was among a panel of 16 banks that made submissions that were supposed to reflect borrowing rates for the London Interbank Offered Rate for the U.S. dollar.
“Another licensing fee” as Elliot Simon put it in his covering e-mail — and that’s what it is. Why is nobody going to jail? This AP story, filed from Albany, N.Y., was picked up by the abcnews.go.com Internet site at 2:48 p.m. on Monday afternoon EDT. Another link to it is here.
Memo to the Donald: 10 Great Deals to Save America — David Stockman
……Unfortunately, it is too late to reverse the tidal wave of system failure that has been brewing for three decades now. It will soon end in a speculator implosion.
Whether that crisis commences before November 8th or soon thereafter is largely immaterial. If the Trump campaign has the good sense to focus on the gathering economic storm clouds, it’s the one thing that could catalyze an out-with-the-bums uprising across Flyover America on Election Day.
So let us reiterate our thesis even more vehemently. The idea that the American economy has recovered and is returning to an era of healthy prosperity is risible establishment propaganda. It’s the present day equivalent of the Big Lie. It’s the reason why Hillary Clinton’s campaign to validate and extend the current malefic Wall Street/Washington regime is so reprehensible.
In fact, the natural post-recession rebound of the nation’s capitalist economy has already exhausted itself after 84 months of tepid advance. Now, the massive headwinds of towering public and private debts, faltering corporate investment and productivity, Washington-based regulatory and tax-barriers and the end of an unsustainable central bank fueled global credit, trade and investment boom are ushering in a prolonged era of global deflation and domestic recession.
Indeed, the only thing that has really recovered from the epochal breakdowns of 2008-2009 is the stock market averages which are now at levels 3X the March 2009 bottom. But as detailed in Chapter 3, the market’s current lofty valuation is an utterly artificial fiction of Bubble Finance.
David sounds a lot like Doug Noland here. This is an another excerpt from his book — and it put in an appearance on his website yesterday. It’s very much worth your while — and another link to it is here. It comes courtesy of Roy Stephens.
Cuba: The Rebirth of a Nation — Jeff Thomas
Regular readers of this publication will be familiar with my frequent comments that all countries have a shelf life – that they experience a slow rise, typified by a strong work ethic and a free-market philosophy, which results in a highly productive country. That productivity later results in a high level of sympathy for the disadvantaged, which political leaders turn into a justification for government largesse. That, in turn, results in a population that grows complacent and eventually apathetic, culminating in a decline into totalitarianism.
This pattern has existed for thousands of years. Sometimes, the process is a slow one, as in ancient Rome; sometimes, it can take place over mere decades.
In commenting on the EU, U.S., Canada, etc., I’ve often described my view that these jurisdictions are in the latter stages, just prior to totalitarianism. In making this comment, I offer the reminder that, at any time in history, there are countries at every stage of development. For those who think internationally, the goal is to exit from a country if it’s in the death throes of complacency/apathy and to seek another home that’s in its ascendancy.
On rare occasion, we witness a country that’s right at the birth stage, or possibly the rebirth stage. At present, we have an excellent example in Cuba, a country that’s been famously in the totalitarian stage for over half a century, due to a collectivist political regime.
This very excellent — and very interesting — commentary by Jeff Thomas was posted on the internationalman.com Internet site yesterday — and is certainly worth reading if you have the interest. Of course it ends in another infomercial, so be prepared. Another link to it is here.
Brexit was nothing compared to what’s coming — Jim Rogers
The last two months alone have seen Britain leaving the European Union, terror attacks, cop killings, Deutsche Bank nearly collapsing, the German long term interest rates set at negative, to name a few.
But over the next couple of years, it’s going to get a whole lot worse. As economies worsen, there will be more social unrest, more angry people, and crazier politicians. Somebody will try to come along on a white horse to save us all, but she usually makes it worse.
Are we at a point right now where it feels like it’s accelerating. People all over are very unhappy about what’s going on. If you read history, there are a lot of similarities between now and the 1920s and ’30s. That’s when fascism and communism broke out in much of the world. And a lot of the same issues are popping up again.
Brexit could be a triggering moment. This is another step in an ongoing deterioration of events. It’s also an important turning point because it now means the central banks are going to print even more money. That may prop the markets up in the short term.
This commentary by Jim appeared on the dailyreckoning.com Internet site on Sunday — and the article was picked by the businessinsider.com website. It’s already had 140,000+ hits — and another link to it is here. I thank Brad Roberson for sharing it with us.
Barclays: There is nothing left to fight the coming economic storm
The ability of policymakers to stimulate economic growth is dwindling rapidly, and both central banks and governments around the world are running out of options, according to new research from analysts at Barclays.
In Barclays’ Global Economics Weekly note, subtitled “Diminishing policy power,” analyst Christian Keller argues that the ability of central banks or governments to fix things through fiscal or monetary stimulus if the world faces an “adverse shock” to its economy is “increasingly exhausted.”
Since the financial crisis, central banks around the world have embarked on unprecedented levels of loose monetary policy, cutting interest rates and launching huge packages of quantitative easing to try to facilitate inflation and economic growth.
The level of easing is such that, as Bank of America Merrill Lynch noted on Friday, central banks have now cut interest rates 666 times since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. The Bank of England’s cut to 0.25% from 0.5% on Thursday is the latest.
This item showed up on the businessinsider.com Internet site in the wee hours of Monday morning EDT — and it comes courtesy of Fred Estlin. Another link to it is here.
Washington Slap Down: Turkey Turns to Moscow for Help — Mike Whitney
“Turkey is slowly leaving the Atlantic system. That is the reason behind this coup. That is the reason why NATO is panicking. This is much broader and much bigger than Erdogan. This is a tectonic movement. This will affect Turkish-Syrian relations, Turkish-Chinese relations, Turkish-Russian relations and Turkish-Iranian relations. This will change the world.” — Yunus Soner, Deputy Chairman Turkish Patriotic Party
“It is becoming clear that the attempted putsch was not just the work of a small clique of dissatisfied officers inside the armed forces; it was rather the product of a vast conspiracy to take over the Turkish state that was decades in the making and might well have succeeded.” — Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch
On August 9, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg The two leaders will discuss political developments following the recent coup-attempt in Turkey, tourism, and the launching of Turkstream, the natural gas pipeline that will transform Turkey into southern Europe’s biggest energy hub.. They are also expected to explore options for ending the fighting in Syria. Putin will insist that Erdogan make a concerted effort to stop Islamic militants from crossing back-and-forth into Syria, while Erdogan will demand that Putin do everything in his power to prevent the emergence of an independent Kurdish state on Turkey’s southern border. The meeting will end with the typical smiles and handshakes accompanied by a joint statement pledging to work together peacefully to resolve regional issues and to put an end to the proxy war that has left Syria in tatters.
All in all, the confab will seem like another public relations charade devoid of any larger meaning, but that’s certainly not the case. The fact is, the normalizing of relations between Russia and Turkey will foreshadow a bigger geopolitical shift that will link Ankara to Tehran, Damascus and other Russian allies across Eurasia. The alliance will alter the global chessboard in a way that eviscerates the imperial plan to control the flow of energy from Qatar to Europe, redraw the map of the Middle East and pivot to Asia.
That strategy will either be decimated or suffer a severe setback. The reasons for this should be fairly obvious to anyone who can read a map.
This commentary by Mike falls into the absolute must read category, even if you’re not a serious student of the New Great Game. I thank Larry Galearis for finding it for us — and another link to this must read article is here.
First Majestic’s Keith Neumeyer: “Silver Mines and Silver Are Way Rarer Than People Actually Think”
Mike Gleason: It is my privilege now to bring in Keith Neumeyer, Founder and CEO of First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG), one of the top silver mining companies in the world. Keith has an extensive background on the resource and finance sectors and has also been an outspoken voice about concerns of distortions in the futures markets pricing for silver. It’s a real privilege to have him back on with us again.
Keith, thanks so much for joining us and welcome back.
Keith Neumeyer: Thanks very much. It’s exciting times, obviously, for everyone.
Mike Gleason: Yeah, it certainly is. To start off here, Keith, things are significantly different today here in August compared to where they were back in early February when we talked to you last. Both gold and silver have had fantastic starts to the year. One of the things I asked you when we had you on earlier in the year was whether or not you believed we would finally get some follow through after a good first month of 2016 because that is something we did not get after good starts to the metals in 2014 and 2015. You said it felt like it was different this time around and you were fairly confident and you were dead-on correct. So what’s your take on the first 7 months of the year here… what have been some of the key drivers for the advance in your view… and then how different is the environment today for someone in your position versus say 6 or 8 months ago?
This 29:33 minute audio interview, complete with transcript, put in an appearance on the moneymetals.com Internet site last Friday — and I thank David Caron for passing it around on Saturday. Another link to this interview is here.
The Swiss National Bank’s $1 Billion Gold and Silver Mining Share Portfolio
While holding gold may be anathema to the SNB, they have taken a shine to gold and silver mining shares. According to a recent filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the SNB as of June 30, 2016, owned thirty different mining company shares valued at approximately $1 billion.
Of the $63 billion in equity shares the Swiss National Bank holds, approximately $1 billion are in the form of gold and silver mining shares. Values above are as at August 5, 2016.
The list is quite impressive — and certainly worth a look. It was posted on the smaulgld.com Internet site on Saturday — and I thank Louis Cammarosano for bringing it to our attention.
Short Memories and Silver Shortages
It’s now one year after the 50th anniversary of the official beginning of the great silver shortage. For the outside world, it may very well be the least known.
For the precious metals trading community, it is one of the most ridiculed or outright denied fundamentals of silver.
President Johnson’s speech can be found in full here.
Gresham’s law was already working its way into the system back then. Fifty years ago, bad money was chasing out the good.
A promise was made – and a clear warning: We will fight you if you choose to invest in silver. We will use our stockpile to suppress the price.
A few years later, Nixon shut the international gold window. All that was left of the old Bretton Woods standard ended in yet another default.
Many trillions and more defaults later, not much has changed.
Silver was the lynch pin, gold is “legally” suppressed by the Exchange Stabilization Fund – the real plunge protection team.
As silver and it’s paper derivatives go, so goes the entire façade.
This worthwhile silver-related story showed up on the silver-coin-investor.com Internet site this year sometime, although there is no dateline on the article. John Hathaway sent it to me on Sunday — and I certainly though it worth sharing. Another link to this article is here.
Somehow the case for gold makes it into the Financial Times
Gold prices have rallied more than 30 per cent since the lift-off in U.S. interest rates in December. A sharp reversal in pricing, sentiment and positioning driven by a myriad macro and micro factors has left the gold bears and bulls as polarised as ever.
The bearish camp, which has featured prominent and respected analysts like Goldman Sachs, tends to have a constructive view on the U.S. dollar, the ability to raise interest rates, normalise global monetary policy, and generally a benign view on the global economy and inflationary risks.
The bullish camp, which I subscribe to, tends to have a more pessimistic view on the global economy and the unintended consequences of monetary policy without limits, and sees the recent price action as the beginning of a multiyear bull run in gold.
My view that there is a perfect storm for gold is based on three closely interrelated dynamics, whereby central banks and global markets are both testing the limits of monetary policy and credit markets as well as the boundaries of fiat currencies.
Who would have thunk it? And to top it off, the actual headline to this article reads “The Victory for Gold Bulls Is Only Just Beginning“. The one above is courtesy of Chris Powell. This commentary in the Financial Times of London appeared there on Monday sometime — and it’s posted in the clear in this GATA release. It’s definitely worth reading — and another link to this gold-related news item is here.
Turkey to increase gold-storage capacity to become regional hub
Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange Chairman Himmet Karadağ said the gold-storing facilities which would increase Turkey’s current capacity for storage of hidden gold ten-fold with a capacity to hold up to 1,600 tons of gold and silver will soon begin operating near Kuyumcukent in Istanbul. “As in London, where gold bars of foreign countries are kept safe, [Turkey] aspires to have the same capacity [for gold storing] as well,” Karadağ said.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Karadağ emphasized that market capital and the stock exchange should be strengthened in terms of volume and product diversity, including Islamic finance within that scope. The chairman said that establishment of an International Advisory Council is crucial for drawing Gulf capital to Turkey, attracting Islamically sensitive investors and increasing product diversity.
Karadağ noted that they would pave the way for not only participating banks but also non-affiliated banks that stand to benefit from the council, which would set standards to aid in the production of Islamic financial products, as well as conducting audits of those standards.
This gold-related news item, filed from Istanbul, was posted on the dailysabah.com Internet site last Friday. It’s another article that I found on the gata.org Internet site — and another link to it is here. And if you’re not interested in reading the article, you should at least look at the picture.
The PHOTOS and the FUNNIES
I took these photos a week ago yesterday — and with the sun low in the sky, it brought out the richer colours of this white-fronted/speckled goose. How it has managed to survive all spring/summer with a broken wing without falling prey to a fox or coyote, surprises even me. He was sitting in the grass when I arrived — and he was still sitting in the same spot an hour later when I left — about a dozen meters away. I guess he’s used to me by now, as I see him just about every time I visit the spot. The ‘click to enlarge’ feature doesn’t help with these shots.
The WRAP
There’s certainly not much to talk about after Monday’s price action in the precious metals, because there wasn’t any. I got the impression that ‘da boyz’ were around, but they were being very careful as to where they were stepping.
Here are the 6-month charts for all four precious metals — and although there wasn’t much price action like I said, their respective 50-day moving averages continue to move ever higher.
And as I type this paragraph, the London open is less than ten minutes away — and I note that gold traded a few dollars either side of unchanged up until noon Hong Kong/Shanghai time. The some selling pressure showed up — and gold is down almost 4 bucks currently. The same thing happened in silver and at the same time — and it’s down 7 cents the ounce. Ditto for platinum — and it’s down 5 dollars an ounce currently. Palladium was under a bit of selling pressure right from the open in New York at 6:00 p.m. EDT on Monday evening — and its down 5 bucks as well.
Net HFT volume in gold is just under 18,000 contracts, which is very light — and that volume includes both October and December. Silver’s HFT volume sits at 5,400 contracts. The dollar index has been rallying in a very wide range in Far East trading on their Tuesday morning — and is currently up 8 basis points as London opens.
Today, at the close of COMEX trading, is the cut-off for this Friday’s Commitment of Traders Report — and if nothing out of the ordinary to the upside occurs during the Tuesday session, we should see some improvement in the Commercial net short positions in both silver and gold. However, they won’t be enough to make a material difference unless prices get hammered today.
And as I post today’s column on the website at 4:00 a.m. EDT, I see that gold is still down about 4 dollars, silver is down 8 cents, platinum is down 8 dollars — and palladium 6. Net HFT gold volume is just under 23,500 contracts, which is very light — and that volume includes both October and December as before. Net HFT silver volume is around 6,650 contracts, which is pretty light as well, relatively speaking. The dollar index is still rallying in fits and starts — and is currently up 10 basis points.
Although precious metal prices are trending lower, it’s not on a lot of volume, at least not yet, so not much should be read into the current price action.
Place your bets as to what will happen during the remainder of the Tuesday trading session, as I haven’t a clue.
That’s all I have for today — and I’ll see you here tomorrow.
Ed
The post Somehow the Case For Gold Makes It Into the Financial Times appeared first on Ed Steer's Gold and Silver Digest.