Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen:
Here are the following closes for gold and silver today:
Gold: $1208.10 up $18.40 (comex closing time)
Silver: $16.36 down 92 cents (comex closing time)
In the access market 5:15 pm
Gold $1209.30
silver $16.51
For the past two days, we have seen a lot of important stories on two fronts:
i) The Greek crisis
ii) the failed Ukrainian ceasefire.
We have multiple stories on both fronts to keep you up to date on these very important developments.
We also have an update on the west coast freighter backlog which may cripple the USA economy
Gold/silver trading: see kitco charts on right side of the commentary.
Today, we really had no change with respect to the Greek situation.
Following is a brief outline on gold and silver comex figures for today:
The gold comex today had a poor delivery day, registering 0 notices served for nil oz. Silver comex registered 0 notices for nil oz .
Three months ago the comex had 303 tonnes of total gold. Today the total inventory rests at 256.51 tonnes for a loss of 47 tonnes over that period.
In silver, the open interest fell slightly by 21 contracts despite the fact that Friday’s silver price was up by 50 cents. The total silver OI continues to remain relatively high with today’s reading at 171,015 contracts. The bankers refuse to add more non backed silver paper.
We had 0 notices filed for nil oz
In gold we had another surprisingly fall in OI even though gold was up $6.40 yesterday. The total comex gold OI rests tonight at 384,240 for a loss of 2,481 contracts. Today we had 0 notices served upon for nil oz. We are also coming pretty close to rock bottom OI gold support being around 359,000.
Today, we had no changes with respect to inventory at the GLD/Inventory 768.26 tonnes.
In silver, /SLV no change in of silver inventory to the SLV/Inventory 320.327
We have a few important stories to bring to your attention today…
Let’s head immediately to see the major data points for today
.
First: GOFO rates: the crooks are no longer reporting.
Let us now head over to the comex and assess trading over there today.
Here are today’s comex results:
The total gold comex open interest fell by another 2481 contracts today from 386,721 all the way down to 384,240 even though gold was up by $6.40 on Friday (at the comex close). We are now in the big delivery month of the active February contract and here the OI fell by 50 contracts from 651 down to 601. We had 36 contracts served upon on Friday. Thus we lost 14 contracts or an additional 1400 oz will not stand for delivery for the February contract. The next contract month of March saw it’s OI fall by 148 contracts down to 1012. The next big active delivery month is April and here the OI fell by 2,472 contracts down to 257,281. The estimated volume today (which is just comex sales during regular business hours of 8:20 until 1:30 pm est) was poor at 102,829. The confirmed volume on Friday ( which includes the volume during regular business hours + access market sales the previous day) was also poor at 102,831 contracts even with much help from the HFT boys. Today we had 0 notices filed for nil oz.
And now for the wild silver comex results. Silver OI surprisingly fell by a tiny 21 contracts from 171,036 all the way down to 171,015 even though silver was up by 50 cents on Friday. The bankers are still not able to shake any silver leaves from the silver tree and thus the reason for continuous raids by the bankers. I guess the CME needs to resort to another silver margin hike as this would be the only way to shake some longs to depart. We are now in the non active contract month of February and here the OI rose by 20 contracts rising to 56. We had 0 notices filed on Friday so we gained 20 silver contracts or an additional 100,000 oz of silver will stand for delivery in this February contract month. The next big active contract month is March and here the OI fell by only 2,902 contracts down to 73,641. First day notice for the gold and silver February contract months is on Friday, Feb 27.2015 or 8 trading days away. The March OI is extremely high. The estimated volume today was huge at 51,368 contracts (just comex sales during regular business hours. The confirmed volume on Friday was excellent (regular plus access market) at 62,620 contracts. We had 0 notices filed for nil oz today.
February initial standings
Feb 17.2015
Gold
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz
nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz
16,075.000 oz (Scotia/500 kilobars
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory in oz
nil
Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz
32150.00 oz (1000 kilobars (Scotia)
No of oz served (contracts) today
0 contracts (nil oz)
No of oz to be served (notices)
601 contracts (60,100 oz)
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
586 contracts(58,600 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month
Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month
164,143.3 oz
Today, we had 0 dealer transactions
we had 0 dealer withdrawals:
total dealer withdrawal: nil oz
we had 0 dealer deposit:
total dealer deposit: nil oz
we had 1 customer withdrawals
i ) Out of Scotia; 16,075.000 oz (500 kilobars)
total customer withdrawal: 16,075.000 oz
we had 1 customer deposits:
i) Into Scotia: 32,150.000 oz (1000 kilobars)
total customer deposits; 32,150.000 oz
We had 0 adjustments
Today, 0 notices was issued from JPMorgan dealer account and 0 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equates to 0 contract of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by JPMorgan dealer and 0 notices were stopped (received) by JPMorgan customer account.
To calculate the total number of gold ounces standing for the December contract month, we take the total number of notices filed for the month (586) x 100 oz or 58,600 oz , to which we add the difference between the OI for the front month of February (601 contracts) minus the number of notices served today x 100 oz (0 contracts) x 100 oz = 118,700 oz, the amount of gold oz standing for the February contract month.( 3.692 tonnes)
Thus the initial standings:
586 (notices filed for the month x( 100 oz) or 58,600 oz + { 601 (OI for the front month of Feb)- 0 (number of notices served upon today) x 100 oz per contract} = 118,700 oz total number of ounces standing for the February contract month. (3.692 tonnes)
we lost 14 contracts or 1400 oz will not stand in this February contract month.
Total dealer inventory: 804,950.959 oz or 25.03 tonnes
Total gold inventory (dealer and customer) = 8.247 million oz. (256.51) tonnes)
Several weeks ago we had total gold inventory of 303 tonnes, so during this short time period 47 tonnes have been net transferred out. However I believe that the gold that enters the gold comex is not real. I cannot see continual additions of strictly kilobars.
end
And now for silver
February silver: initial standings
feb 17 2015:
Silver
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory
nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
1,222,866.38 oz (Brinks, CNT HSBC)
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
nil
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
nil oz
No of oz served (contracts)
0 contracts (nil oz)
No of oz to be served (notices)
56 contracts (280,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)
384 contracts (1,920,000 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month
4,638,344.1 oz
Today, we had 0 deposit into the dealer account:
total dealer deposit: nil oz
we had 0 dealer withdrawal:
total dealer withdrawal: nil oz
We had 0 customer deposits:
total customer deposit: nil oz
We had 3 customer withdrawals:
i) Out of Brinks: 417,786.17 oz
ii) Out of HSBC: 762,603.900 oz
iii) Out of CNT: 42,476.310 oz
total customer withdrawal: 1,222,866.38 oz
we had 0 adjustments
Total dealer inventory: 67.850 million oz
Total of all silver inventory (dealer and customer) 175.115 million oz
.
The total number of notices filed today is represented by 0 contracts for nil oz. To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in February, we take the total number of notices filed for the month (384) x 5,000 oz = 1,920,000 oz to which we add the difference between the OI for the front month of February (56)- the number of notices served upon today (0) x 5,000 oz per contract = 2,200,000 oz, the number of silver oz standing for the February contract month
Initial standings for silver for the February contract month:
384 contracts x 5000 oz= 1,920,000 oz + (56) OI for the front month – (0) number of notices served upon x 5000 oz per contract = 2,200,000 oz, the number of silver ounces standing.
we gained 100 contracts or an additional 100,000 oz will stand in this month of February.
for those wishing to see the rest of data today see:
http://www.harveyorgan.wordpress.com or http://www.harveyorganblog.com
end
The two ETF’s that I follow are the GLD and SLV. You must be very careful in trading these vehicles as these funds do not have any beneficial gold or silver behind them. They probably have only paper claims and when the dust settles, on a collapse, there will be countless class action lawsuits trying to recover your lost investment.
There is now evidence that the GLD and SLV are paper settling on the comex.
***I do not think that the GLD will head to zero as we still have some GLD shareholders who think that gold is the right vehicle to be in even though they do not understand the difference between paper gold and physical gold. I can visualize demand coming to the buyers side:
i) demand from paper gold shareholders
ii) demand from the bankers who then redeem for gold to send this gold onto China
vs no sellers of GLD paper.
And now the Gold inventory at the GLD:
Feb 17/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory 768.26 tonnes
feb 13. we another another withdrawal f 3.25 tonnes of gold from the GLD/Inventory 768.26 tonnes
Feb 12: we had a withdrawal of 1.8 tonnes of gold from the GLD/Inventory 771.51 tonnes
Feb 11.no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory 773.31 tonnes
Feb 10 no change in gold inventory at the GLD/inventory 773.31 tonnes
Feb 9 no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory 773.31 tonnes
feb 6/ no change in gold inventory tonight/inventory 773.31 tonnes
feb 5. we had another addition of 5.38 tonnes of gold to the GLD/Inventory tonight at 773.31 tonnes
Feb 4/2015; we had another addition of 2.99 tonnes added to the GLD inventory/Inventory tonight 767.93
Feb 3.2015: today a withdrawal of 1.79 tonnes of gold inventory removed from the GLD/Inventory at 764.94
feb 2/ a huge addition of 8.36 tonnes of “paper” gold inventory/Inventory tonight at 766.73 tonnes
jan 30. we had no change in gold inventory/Inventory at 758/37 tonnes
Jan 29/we had an addition of 5.67 tonnes of gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory at 758.37 tonnes
Jan 28/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory at 952.44 tonnes
Jan 27.we had a monstrous “paper” addition of 9.26 tonnes of gold into the GLD tonight/Inventory at 952.44 tonnes
Feb 17/2015 /we had no changes in gold inventory at the GLD
inventory: 768.26 tonnes.
The registered vaults at the GLD will eventually become a crime scene as real physical gold departs for eastern shores leaving behind paper obligations to the remaining shareholders. There is no doubt in my mind that GLD has nowhere near the gold that say they have and this will eventually lead to the default at the LBMA and then onto the comex in a heartbeat (same banks).
GLD : 768.26 tonnes.
end
And now for silver (SLV):
Feb 17 no changes in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory at 320.327 million oz
Feb 13 no change in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory at 320.327 million oz.
Feb 12 no change in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory at 320.327 million oz
Feb 11 no change in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory at 320.327 million oz
Feb 10 no change in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory at 320.327 million oz
Feb 9 no change in silver inventory/SLV inventory at 320.327 million oz
Feb 6 no change in silver inventory/SLV’s silver inventory at 320.327 million oz.
Feb 5.we had no change in silver inventory/320.327 million oz/
Feb 4/we had a small withdrawal of 136,000 oz of silver from the SLV vaults/Inventory/320.327 million oz
feb 3.2015: we had a good addition of 1.149 million oz of silver inventory/inventory 320.463 million oz
Feb 2 no change in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory at 319.314
million oz.
jan 30 no change in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory at 319.314
million oz
Jan 29/no change in silver inventory/SLV inventory at 319.314 million oz
Jan 28/no changes in silver inventory/SLV inventory at 319.314 million oz
Jan 27/no change in silver inventory/SLV inventory at 319.314 million oz
feb 17/2015 we had no change in silver inventory/
SLV inventory registers: 320.327 million oz
end
And now for our premiums to NAV for the funds I follow:
Note: Sprott silver fund now for the first time into the negative to NAV
Sprott and Central Fund of Canada.
(both of these funds have 100% physical metal behind them and unencumbered and I can vouch for that)
Central fund figures not available tonight:
1. Central Fund of Canada: traded at Negative 5.9% percent to NAV in usa funds and Negative 5.8 % to NAV for Cdn funds!!!!!!!
Percentage of fund in gold 61.4%
Percentage of fund in silver:38.1%
cash .5%
( feb17/2015)
2. Sprott silver fund (PSLV): Premium to NAV rises to + 3.91%!!!!! NAV (Feb 13/2015)
3. Sprott gold fund (PHYS): premium to NAV rises to -.06% to NAV(feb 17 /2015)
Note: Sprott silver trust back into positive territory at +3.91%.
Sprott physical gold trust is back into negative territory at -.06%
Central fund of Canada’s is still in jail.
end
And now for your most important physical stories on gold and silver today:
Early gold trading from Europe early Tuesday morning:
(courtesy Mark O’Byrne)
NSA Trojan Firmware Widespread, U.S. International Tech Reputation May Suffer. Tech Privacy has Been a Myth. A New Stone Age Beckons
By admin February 17, 2015 0 Comments
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MARKET UPDATE
Today’s AM fix was 1,221.75 USD, 1,072.56 EUR and 793.86 GBP per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,233.50, EUR 1,81.12 and GBP 801.91 per ounce.
The U.S. market was closed yesterday for a national holiday.
New NSA spying scandal emerges, highlighting the scale of cyber wars
- Agency can access hard-drives made by major U.S. producers
- Computers in over 30 countries, including NATO allies, were hacked
- Iran and Russia were main targets
- Revelations may impact technology sector in the U.S. as institutions around the world seek alternatives
Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based cyber security firm whose report into international hacking was previewed by the New York Times Yesterday, has exposed that the NSA has had the capacity to snoop on most U.S.-made computers since 2001.
The report claims that the NSA attained access to “firmware” code from all the major Western computer manufacturers – which runs every time a computer is switched on – and figured out how to lodge malicious software in the code.
The terminology may be foreign to you but imagine if you will what your world would be like if the digital records of your wealth and property titles simply vanished or became corrupted. Imagine the screen just going dark. It sounds alarmist but that is exactly the sum total of the high stakes games now being played out by the world’s superpowers – you and I are the pawns.
The global economy is thoroughly integrated and processes and knowhow are increasingly delivered on distributed architecture made up of lattices of public and private networks. This approach has wonderful benefits and can deliver scale and flexibility and speed in equal measure. But therein lies the risk, the physical spying infrastructure with engineered back doors must remain hidden in order to be effective and useful to the spies who placed them there. What the intelligence community has done has created the mother of all “single point of failures” and the potential for calamity and social disintegration is almost too great to countenance. They assume that with adequate controls these systems can be kept safe and used effectively. They said the same about nuclear procurement and weaponised viruses.
The fact is that in time marketable information will always eventually leak and be traded. Enemy interests would likely, as a priority action, seek to seize control of this infrastructure and either use it to attack American interest and allies or exploit its data collection capabilities – perhaps they already do. Remember, Snowden was a contractor and the access he had was incredible. The sheer arrogance of what they have done is staggering.
Reuters reports
Kaspersky’s reconstructions of the spying programs show that they could work in disk drives sold by more than a dozen companies, comprising essentially the entire market. They include Western Digital Corp, Seagate Technology Plc, Toshiba Corp, IBM, Micron Technology Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.
A Kaspersky spokesman, Costin Raiu said “There is zero chance that someone could rewrite the [hard drive] operating system using public information,” indicating that the NSA was given the sensitive code by manufacturers.
Over 30 countries were targeted, including NATO allies. Britain, France, Belgium and Germany all had systems violated.
The revelations that telecommunications systems were infiltrated in Germany will likely be met with interest in that country, following previous revelations that the NSA had tapped the cell phone of Angela Merkel.
Both Iran and Russia experienced a high level of NSA hacking, along with China, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Syria and Mali.
In Iran, a full range of systems were were targeted, including those of the government, diplomatic and energy agencies, finance, telecommunications and research institutions and universities.
Russia’s military was targeted as were the energy sector and research and medical sectors among others.
The NSA declined to comment on the allegations. Reuters was able to get confirmation of the revelations from former NSA employees.
It is too early at this point to speculate on the implications of the report. It may be that the story will simply fade away. Or, as is often the case, it may be the tip of the iceberg with further, more damaging details to follow.
“Kaspersky on Monday published the technical details of its research, a move that could help infected institutions detect the spying programs, some of which trace back as far as 2001,” the Moscow Times reports.
The revelations may have a negative impact on the U.S. technology industry. China has already been drafting regulations, requiring bank technology suppliers to submit their software code for inspection.
Why on earth would a foreign marketplace import American technology if they know that there is a very good chance the technology will be countermanded and the data use against the owner? It is akin to wheeling in a Trojan horse when actually knowing what lays hidden inside.
Ultimately this strategy could serve to severely hobble the American tech industry, the American economy and ultimately American jobs. This is an example of shortsighted leadership, militaristic thinking. The supporters will argue that industrial data can be traded and used to give U.S. companies a leg up on foreign competitors and perhaps this is true, but such help would be very time sensitive and probably slow in propagating given the speed of commercial development.
The case for low tech, old fashioned bullion ownership has never been stronger and if this story does not give you serious pause for thought …well not much else will!
In previous updates we have detailed the threat that cyber-terrorism and cyber-warfare poses to western economies and to the western way of life. The Kaspersky report shows how pervasive the activity is.
The potential of the rivals of the West to collapse the western currency system – and with it savings and pensions – is real. Gold is not subject to to cyber warfare and will protect its owners from cyber warfare-induced currency crises.
Breaking News and Updates Here
end
(courtesy David Stockman/Egon von Greyerz and Andrew Maguire/Kingworldnews/Eric King/GATA)
Stockman, von Greyerz, and Maguire at King World News
Submitted by cpowell on Fri, 2015-02-13 20:59. Section: Daily Dispatches
3:58p ET Friday, February 13, 2015
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
At King World News, former U.S. budget director David Stockman reviews the evidence that central banks are losing control of the markets:
http://kingworldnews.com/david-stockman-world-central-banks-edge-despera…
Swiss gold fund manager Egon von Greyerz concurs:
http://kingworldnews.com/man-predicted-collapse-euro-swiss-franc-time-ru…
And metals trader Andrew Maguire reports that gold-buying governments continue to exploit the price smashes in the London market:
http://kingworldnews.com/andrew-maguire-sovereigns-buying-massive-tonnag…
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
end
(courtesy Chris Powell/GATA.Ronan Manly)
Ronan Manly: How the IMF got its Nagpur vault and gave up on Shanghai
Submitted by cpowell on Sat, 2015-02-14 02:04. Section: Daily Dispatches
9:05p ET Friday, February 13, 2015
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
In the second installment of his series about the gold vaults of the International Monetary Fund, gold researcher and GATA consultant Ronan Manly explains how Nagpur, India, got on the list and how Shanghai, China, came off it. Manly’s report is headlined “The IMF’s Gold Depositories — Part 2: Nagpur and Shanghai, the Indian and Chinese Connections” and it’s posted at Bullion Star here:
https://www.bullionstar.com/blog/ronan-manly/imfs-gold-depositories-part…
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
end
(courtesy John Embry/Kingworldnews/GATA)
At KWN, Embry notes laughably counterintuitive action in monetary metals
Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2015-02-17 20:00. Section: Daily Dispatches
3p ET Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
Sprott Asset Management’s John Embry today discusses with King World News the laughably counterintuitive action in the monetary metals — their getting smashed down in the New York futures market “in the face of a news backdrop that should be sending them up sharply.” Embry’s interview is excerpted at the KWN blog here:
http://kingworldnews.com/50-year-veteran-says-paul-craig-roberts-right-w…
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
For your interest
(courtesy GATA)
Caliphs are long gone but their money is still pretty good
Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2015-02-17 19:50. Section: Daily Dispatches
Divers in Caesarea Find Largest Treasure of Gold Coins Ever Discovered in Israel
From the Jerusalem Post
Jerusalem, Israel
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Divers-in-Caesarea-find-largest-treasur…
The largest treasure of gold coins discovered in Israel was found in recent weeks on the seabed in the ancient harbor in Caesarea National Park, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said on Tuesday.
A group of divers from the diving club in the harbor reported the find to the IAA whose officials then went with the divers to the location with a metal detector and uncovered almost 2,000 gold coins from the Fatimid period (11th century CE) in different denominations: a dinar, half dinar, and quarter dinar, of various dimensions and weight.
Kobi Sharvit, director of the Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority said there is probably a shipwreck near the find of an official Fatimid treasury boat which was on its way to the central government in Cairo after collecting taxes. Sharvit said the coins were meant to pay the salaries of the Fatimid military garrison which was stationed in Caesarea, or in the alternative the coins belonged to a large merchant ship.
Sharvit said the divers, Tzvika Feuer, Kobi Tweena, Avivit Fishler, Yoav Lavi and Yoel Miller, were model citizens for reporting the treasure to the IAA.
“They discovered the gold and have a heart of gold that loves the country and its history,” he said.
The Law of Antiquities provides for a punishment of up to five years in jail for the illegal removal or sale of antiquities.
The IAA reported that the earliest coin exposed in the treasure is a quarter dinar minted in Palermo, Sicily in the second half of the ninth century CE. Most of the discovered coins belong to the Fatimid caliphs Al-Ḥākim (996–1021 CE) and his son Al-Ẓāhir (1021–1036), and were minted in Egypt and North Africa.
The Fatimids, who came from North Africa, developed the ancient city of Caesarea and other coastal cities in the area.
Robert Cole, an expert numismaticist with the IAA said the coins are in an excellent state of preservation, and despite the fact they were at the bottom of the sea for about a thousand years, they did not require any cleaning or conservation intervention from the metallurgical laboratory.
“Several of the coins that were found in the assemblage were bent and exhibit teeth and bite marks, evidence they were ‘physically’ inspected by their owners or the merchants,” Cole said.
end
(courtesy GATA)
Gold lures Turkish savers looking for security
Submitted by cpowell on Sun, 2015-02-15 16:18. Section: Daily Dispatches
By Agence France-Presse
via Al Arabiaya, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Sunday, February 15, 2015
ISTANBUL, Turkey — From the outside, it looks like any other automatic bank machine on the streets of Istanbul. But rather than notes, this one distributes small pieces of gold.
Gold is hugely prized in Turkey not just for ornamentation or investment by banks but as a secure way for private individuals to hold their savings.
Many people in Turkey — which has one of the lowest private savings rates among major economies — keep gold as security for a “rainy day” rather than products offered by banks.
According to estimates, Turks hold some 3,500 tonnes of gold. Banks have sought to capitalise on the tradition by offering accounts denominated in gold.
“We were thinking about putting all that gold back into the financial system somehow, so we decided to create gold accounts for our clients,” said Seda Yilmaz, marketing manager of the Kuveyt Turk Bank, the first to do so, in 2007. “So we bought one kilo of gold, and the demand on the first day was three kilos. It was a very good decision, so we decided to move ahead.”
Eight years on, Kuveyt Turk manages 200,000 gold accounts with different products allowing sales by cheque, bank transfer, or mobile phone. …
… For the remainder of the report:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/business/economy/2015/02/15/Gold-s-spark…
end
(courtesy Washington Post/GATA)
In EPA’s expected ‘veto’ of Pebble Mine in Alaska, foes see a vein of overreach
Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2015-02-16 13:34. Section: Daily Dispatches
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post
Sunday, February 16, 2015
Just north of Iliamna Lake in southwestern Alaska is an empty expanse of marsh and shrub that conceals one of the world’s great buried fortunes: A mile-thick layer of virgin ore said to contain at least 6.7 million pounds — or $120 billion worth — of gold.
As fate would have it, a second treasure sits precisely atop the first: the spawning ground for the planet’s biggest runs of sockeye salmon, the lifeline of a fishery that generates $500 million a year.
Between the two is the Obama administration, which has all but decided that only one of the treasures can be brought to market. How the White House came to side with fish over gold is a complex tale that involves millionaire activists, Alaska Natives, lawsuits, and one politically explosive question: Can the federal government say no to a property owner before he has a chance to explain what he wants to do? …
… For the remainder of the report:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/internal-memos-spu..
end
(courtesy London’s Financial times)
The more central banks suppress interest rates, the more they’ll suppress gold
Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2015-02-16 17:55. Section: Daily Dispatches
‘Financial repression’ can work only if it’s comprehensive. No escape from the fiat system can be allowed.
* * *
Negative Rates to Shake Up Financial System, Experts Say
Ralph Atkins and Elaine Moore
Financial Times
Monday, February 16, 2015
LONDON — Falls in European interest rates into negative territory could profoundly affect the workings of the financial system and there is little chance of benchmark borrowing costs rising in the year ahead, top investment managers and strategists have warned.
Yields, which move inversely with prices, have this year dropped below zero on a rapidly expanding range of European governments’ bonds — and even some corporate bonds. The declines, which are driven by the European Central Bank’s “quantitative easing,” mean historically low borrowing costs. But senior finance experts interviewed by the Financial Times saw worrying side-effects.
“This could be the makings of a completely new environment for global bond markets,” said Andrew Milligan, head of global strategy at Standard Life Investments, at the FT’s debt capital markets conference in London. “If it actually becomes permanent … there could be some very significant capital flows.” …
Negative interest rates mean investors, in effect, pay to lend their money. Jerome Booth, former head of research at Ashmore Group, said: “It is perfectly acceptable for a government to try to get a negative yield — it sounds a good deal. The problem is: Why would investors do it?”
The ECB’s action has forced countermoves by central banks outside the eurozone. Danish and Swedish five-year bond yields ended last week at minus 0.48 per cent and minus 0.04 per cent.
Neil Williams, group chief economist at Hermes Investment Management, said: “It smacks, surely, of the first signs of what you could call a currency war. Not all central banks can push their currency down sufficiently to stoke up demand . … I am not so sure it is the solution.”
Some $2 trillion of European government bonds over more than one year’s maturity have negative yields, according to JPMorgan.
Yields are also negative on Swiss government bonds, and this month turned negative on some euro-denominated debt issued by Nestle, the Swiss food manufacturer.
… For the complete report:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b3bda780-b39f-11e4-9449-00144feab7de.html
end
(courtesy UK Telegraph/Crictlow/GATA)
Russian oil exec gets it: Futures markets aren’t manipulated — they ARE the manipulation
Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2015-02-16 18:55. Section: Daily Dispatches
Rigged, Manipulated, and Opaque: The $3 trillion Oil Market Needs Reform
By Andrew Critchlow
The Telegraph, London
Sunday, February 15, 2015
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/1141468…
Igor Sechin is an uncompromising figure. The head of Russian energy giant Rosneft and right-hand man of President Vladimir Putin launched an extraordinary attack on the entire global system for the supply, pricing and control of the world’s energy resources during the recent IP Week gathering in London.
According to Mr Sechin, energy markets are being manipulated by a powerful alliance of forces, from Washington to Riyadh and Vienna, which present a long-term risk to the global economy.
In his speech last week to executives from the cream of the world’s energy companies, he took aim at the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), the US Department of Energy and the specialist energy media, which ultimately determine how much we pay for a gallon of petrol when filling up, or for our quarterly electricity bill.
Of course, Mr Sechin’s hyperbole must be taken with a pinch of salt.
Russia’s economy is feeling the brunt of the oil-price war effectively launched by Opec last November when the cartel decided to keep its production quotas unchanged at 30m barrels per day (bpd) — roughly a third of global supply.
The move was largely orchestrated by Saudi Arabia and a clutch of its close Gulf Arab allies within the Vienna-based grouping; it sent oil markets into freefall within seconds of the 12 oil ministers leaving the secretariat, which sits a short walking distance away from the city’s grand Liechtenstein Palace.
Opec had “lost its teeth,” growled Mr Sechin in Russian last week, and had essentially conspired with the US and European powers to drive the oil price artificially lower in a unilateral economic assault on Russia and Iran.
But he didn’t stop there. America, he said, was “protectionist” by maintaining a crude oil export ban since the 1970s, which he argued was distorting global markets.
However, the real “haymaker” punch he aimed at the global energy system came with the accusation that oil futures markets in London and New York, which set the price of the world’s most vital energy commodity, are essentially being rigged by a feral cabal of speculators and traders.
“We need to control the influence of financial players,” he said. And it’s not just the perfidious “barrow boy” traders who are destabilising world energy markets, according to Mr Sechin; the specialist media which help to formulate prices are also in on the act.
Although Russia’s top energy executive — a central figure in the Kremlin — was certainly playing to the crowd, he also has a point.
Global energy markets are a complete mess and impossible to decipher for anyone other than the most expert of hydrocarbon aficionados.
The world’s population is expected to have grown by another 1.1bn by 2025 but we are unlikely to have found a viable alternative to fossil fuels by then.
So the chaos that is the entire hydrocarbons ecosystem, from supply through to trading, poses a real systemic risk to global growth.
To begin with, control and regulation of global oil and gas reserves is entirely unfit for purpose. More than 60pc of the world’s remaining hydrocarbons is tightly controlled by national governments in the Middle East, which are inclined either to use their vast energy reserves as a political weapon, or restrict access to private companies.
Opening up some of the world’s largest oil fields in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait to international companies would reduce significantly the overall cost of energy for consumers, while still guaranteeing that these countries have a steady and lucrative stream of oil revenues for decades to come.
With the world expected to need to require another 21m bpd of crude oil by 2040, the existing organisational structures that bind the energy industry together are beginning to fragment.
Opec, which has been the dominant force in the global energy system for the past 50 years, is beginning to disintegrate as the vested interests of its various members are increasingly no longer served by its collective authority.
When the furious Venezuelan Opec veteran Rafael Ramirez stormed out of the organisation’s building in November, after being shot down by his Saudi counterpart Ali al-Naimi, it showed that its members have very little in common other than their oil reserves.
And there also remains the question of actually how much oil Opec does have. Although the group’s headquarters pumps out reams of research and figures, many experts question its veracity and independence.
However, are the US and the so-called non-Opec producers any better?
America’s current shale revolution appears to be just as chaotic and unregulated as the previous booms — dating back to when Edward Drake sank his first well in the backwoods of Pennsylvania in 1859 — which have incidentally ended in bust.
Mr Sechin warned last week that the current shale boom could be another “dotcom bubble” about to burst after drillers, loaded up on risky debt, and hedge funds piled in to make a quick buck over the last five years.
Even Tony Hayward, former chief executive of BP and now head of Genel Energy, had to agree that a liquidity squeeze in the shale fields of Dakota represents a real risk to the market.
However, it is on the trading side that oil markets are perhaps at their most opaque. Although US and European regulators have launched several probes into the way oil is traded, very little tangible change has come from the investigations in terms of lasting reform.
In the European Union, this has even extended to the way in which certain information companies collect price data from trading sources, which is ultimately used to help set benchmarks such as Brent.
Mr Sechin’s solution to the problem of controlling volatile energy markets would be to limit the share of futures trading compared with trading of physical deliveries.
Without an overarching global regulator with teeth and the authority to work across borders, very little of the comprehensive reform that energy markets require will apparently ever happen.
That role could be filled by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), which has just named Fatih Birol as its new executive director.
But the IEA, created in the early 1970s in response to the crisis triggered by the Yom Kippur war, has arguably failed to act as a counterbalance to the power of Opec and an industry that is increasingly out of control.
end
Koos Jansen details how the World Council underestimates China’s gold demand;
(courtesy Koos Jansen/GATA)
Koos Jansen details how the World Gold Council underestimates China’s gold demand
Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2015-02-17 14:48. Section: Daily Dispatches
9:45a ET Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
Gold researcher, Bullion Star market analyst, and GATA consultant Koos Jansen today explains in painstaking detail why he has concluded that China’s effective gold demand is much higher than what the World Gold Council estimates it to be. Jansen’s analysis is posted at Bullion Star here:
https://www.bullionstar.com/blog/koos-jansen/koos-jansen-vs-wgcgfmscpm-u…
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
end
Two back to back important commentaries from Bill Holter:
Here is the first:
How would you know if you are “a crazy”?
During a normal week, easily two or three topics come up which are obvious enough to deserve writing about. Often times, there are too many topics to choose from and several topics need to be written about in one article. Nearly never has a week gone by over the last several years where nothing notable stands out and I get stuck dreaming up what to write about. Every once in a while, a topic will come up where I just have to shake my head and burst out laughing at the same time, today is one of them!
Before I get started I need to frame this piece with a question for you. Have you ever stood all alone on an issue while the vast majority took the other side and mocked you or jeered at you? If you have, then you know it’s a lonely feeling and makes you wonder about yourself. Have you ever wondered if you are crazy? How would you know, REALLY know, if you are “crazy” or not? It’s not as if you could put a thermometer in your mouth or strap on a blood pressure monitor and wait a minute or two to get “the verdict”. Think about this, 600 years ago you were considered crazy if you believed the Earth was actually round. Just 15 years ago you were considered a nut job if you did not own any dot-com stocks. 10 years ago you were completely off your rocker if you believed the real estate market was topping and bankruptcies were sure to follow.
What about now? The good news is this, now we have a “definition” as to whether or not you are “a crazy”! And…courtesy of a coin dealer? Peter Hug, the director of the precious metals division for Kitco has defined for us what “a crazy” is. Mr. Hug commented at a conference last month
http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/12/investing/buy-gold-market-fear/index.html?iid=HP_LN , at least 25% of U.S. gold buyers are “crazies”! So, at least now we know whether we are crazy or not and have a yardstick to measure our sanity!
Seriously, when I first saw the headline, I didn’t know what to make of it. While beginning to read the article and realized the “executive” was Peter Hug, I burst out laughing. I am sure you have personally had an experience where there were just too many thoughts in your mind going in so many different directions regarding the same topic…this is my moment and I can only thank Peter for dropping such a “funny” yet “disparaging” topic in my lap!
So, if you buy gold or even bought gold in the past, you have a better than 25% chance of being “a crazy”. If you have done the math, or not, and come to the conclusion that going further into debt to solve a debt problem won’t work …you are “a crazy”. If you believe that more liquidity will not solve a solvency problem …you are a crazy. If you see 50 million people in the “bread line” via food stamps, your eyes are lyin’ to you. If you see 90 million people drop out of the workforce and conclude something is really wrong, you need Lasik surgery …and you are a crazy. If you leave the supermarket and have to leave some items behind because you didn’t bring enough money …(even though it is the same amount of money you used to bring) and conclude there is inflation, you need new batteries for your calculator!
Before going any further, I do want to point out that Peter Hug works for a coin dealer. This is the same coin dealer who used to employ the infamous Jon “Nitwit” Nadler. Over the years, I have written several pieces about Mr. Nadler and his obviously warped logic. Day after day Jon Nadler was bearish on gold, yet the spokesman for a bullion dealer. He was always front and center, always bearish and like the guy with a sandwich board walking the street in front of the butcher shop …”our beef is spoiled!”. When Jon Nadler finally moved on, I thought Kitco had maybe figured it out? I thought they might have seen it was not such a good idea to have Jane Fonda representing a gun manufacturer …clearly I was wrong!
What Peter Hug has said is SO wrong on so many different levels I am having a hard time writing this. Does he realize he just completely offended over 25% of his audience, his clients!? Does he not understand he actually offended a number probably closer to 100% of his audience? Does he really believe that his “caveat” saying “U.S. customers” will win favor with sane Canadian customers? Does he realize how stupid he sounds by telling people “all is well, nothing to worry about”? Really? Is he saying brilliant Canadian minds like Eric Sprott and John Embry are “crazy” or are they not because they don’t buy odd lots of between 1 and 32 ounces? I have to ask, does he really believe what he is saying? Has he truly done logic regarding the global monetary system and come to the conclusion everything will be OK? Might this actually qualify a “crazy”?
There really was not too much “meat” to the CNNMoney article but it did say “yet inflation is nonexistent, heck, deflation is more of a concern in parts of the world”. I have written on this topic before, “money” is THE best asset class to hold during a deflation. Playing the “deflation card” is just plain wrong and not born out in history, gold’s absolute best performance environment is not inflation, on the contrary, it is deflation. I spelled this out http://blog.milesfranklin.com/mr-deflation-is-delusional many months ago. What the deflationists are missing is that “dollars”, whether they be U.S., Canadian, or the European, Japanese, Brazilian or whatever “type”, are all DEBT based. All currencies on the planet today are “fiat”, none can be considered “money”. The difference between “currency” and “money” is huge in reality, nonexistent however in current thought. This is a true statement and one that apparently only “the crazies” understand!
I asked the question “how would you know if you are crazy”. I would answer this by saying obviously you must be nuts if you employ someone who disparages your products, and worse, your customers. I would ask if it was “crazy” for Canada or mother Britain sell their gold reserves for $300 per ounce or less? This question of sanity has come into my mind many times as I began to build precious metals positions since 1997. Many times and especially in the early years, my position was very “lonely” and took a lot of fortitude to stand tall. I have looked at the “fiat question” from what seems like at least 1,000 different angles and always come up with the same answer, fiat and debt, the current system we live with will mathematically fail. In a nutshell, anyone capable of breathing will admit there is currently a global “debt problem”. If you are able to understand that global currencies themselves are debt based …then making the leap to “debt currencies are at least a part of, if not the core of the problems we have today”.
Mr. Hug claimed that “playing the fear card” works and is used in the U.S., not so much in Canada. I would respond, do I write what I write because a precious metals dealer pays me to? No, I write what I believe and what I have always written since 2007. Miles Franklin pays me because my message and thought process is similar to theirs and I suppose they like my delivery. Would I allow Miles Franklin to publish my work if they did not believe in their own product? Would I ever write anything I do not fully believe? Would I ever call our customer base a bunch of “crazies”? No, no no, one thousand times no! Let me say this, have some people purchased precious metals for the “wrong” reasons? The answer of course is yes they have. Some have bought gold because they believe it will “go up”. This is not the reason to own gold. Do I care if someone buys gold for the wrong reason? Yes and no. Obviously it would be better for an owner to have a full understanding but owning it for the wrong reason will still work financially even if it is a surprise. I guess you could say, saving oneself by mistake is not such a bad thing.
To finish, it is my opinion that anyone who has no precious metals at all is making a huge mistake. Would I call them “crazy”? No, uninformed? Lacking the process called “logic”? Living on the edge of financial destruction? Yes in all cases. The end of the world is not coming (hopefully), the end of the current monetary system and world financial order surely is. The West, led by the U.S. cannot mathematically continue what they are doing. Being in “cash” historically has ALWAYS been the best place to be when the baton is passed from one reserve currency to the next. Historically, THE BEST and purest “cash” has always been gold, this is not crazy …this is fact! Regards, Bill Holter
end
And now the second:
xxxx
Very strange silver and gold?
Very strange happenings in all things financial, perhaps the most strange is located within the COMEX. First, for the last year and a half or more, we watched as gold and silver open interest steadily rises for several months and then suddenly falls in collapse fashion. The rise and collapse in open interest have not been parallel in gold and silver, often times they have been directly inverse as they now are currently. Open interest in gold is currently close to multi year lows while silver’s open interest is near multi year highs. Why is this? Why would these two metals have opposite moves in open interest? Some might say because of “spreading” or ratio trades being long one while short two the other or what have you, I don’t think so.</div