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Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen:
Here are the following closes for gold and silver today:
Gold: $1209.60 up $8.60 (comex closing time)
Silver: $16.58 up 16 cents (comex closing time)
In the access market 5:15 pm
Gold $1209.60
silver $16.58
The two big stories which will shape the paper world are the Greece crisis and the Ukraine crisis. Germany seems to have many doubts that Greece will carry out the reforms it promised and today, the BILD newspaper was urging parliamentarians to vote against the deal. Late in the day, we were told that Greece may default next week on the money it owes the IMF as the ECB refuses to let the country raise the treasury bill limit. This will be very interesting to watch!!
In the Ukraine, hyperinflation is getting a strong foothold. The Hryvnia in the black market is fetching 44 UAH to the dollar. Most of the retail stores have no goods to sell. The amount needed by the Ukraine has now surpassed 40 billion dollars. The IMF has now a dual problem: Greece and the Ukraine may default next week. How on earth can European sovereigns cough up the money that is owed to all of these institutions?
We have many stories on these two fronts for you tonight.
And now for gold/silver trading today.
Gold/silver trading: see kitco charts on right side of the commentary.
Following is a brief outline on gold and silver comex figures for today:
The gold comex today had a good delivery day, registering 95 notices served for 9500 oz. Silver comex registered 3 notices for 15,000 oz .
Three months ago the comex had 303 tonnes of total gold. Today the total inventory rests at 259.32 tonnes for a loss of 44 tonnes over that period.
In silver, the open interest fell by 3,149 contracts as Wednesday’s silver price was down by 24 cents. The total silver OI continues to remain relatively high with today’s reading at 163,527 contracts. The front month of March contracted by only 13,581 contracts with only 1 day before first day notice.
Also the entire silver complex has not collapsed yet as is their usual procedure when we approach the first day notice for an active contract month. We had 3 notices served upon for 15,000 oz.
In gold we had a fall in OI even though gold was up by $4.10 yesterday. The total comex gold OI rests tonight at 396,876 for a loss of 2431 contracts. Today we had 37 notices served upon for 3700 oz.
Today, no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory at 771.25 tonnes
In silver, /SLV we had no changes in inventory to the SLV/Inventory 325.734 million oz
We have a few important stories to bring to your attention today…
Let’s head immediately to see the major data points for today
.
ting.
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 2431 contracts today from 399,307 down to 396,876 as gold was down by $4.10 yesterday (at the comex close). The big February contract month is now off the board. The next contract month of March saw it’s OI fall by 158 contracts down to 444. The next big active delivery month is April and here the OI fell by 2895 contracts down to 261,261. The estimated volume today (which is just comex sales during regular business hours of 8:20 until 1:30 pm est) was awful at 88,653. The confirmed volume yesterday ( which includes the volume during regular business hours + access market sales the previous day) was poor at 116,735 contracts even with mucho help from the HFT boys. Today we had 95 notices filed for 9500 oz.
And now for the wild silver comex results. Silver OI fell by 3,149 contracts from 166,676 down to 163,527 as silver was down by 24 cents with yesterday’s trading. The bankers are still not able to shake many silver leaves from the silver tree. We did not get our usual collapse in OI as we enter first day notice. The non active contract month of February is now off the board. The next big active contract month is March and here the OI fell by only 13,581 contracts down to 11,004. First day notice for the gold and silver February contract months is tomorrow, Feb 27.2015 or 1 trading day away. The March OI is still extremely high and we will probably have around 25 to 30 million oz stand on first day notice. The estimated volume today was poor 33,131 contracts (just comex sales during regular business hours. The confirmed volume yesterday was excellent (regular plus access market) at 97,775 contracts. We had 3 notices filed for 15,000 oz today.
February final standings
Feb 26.2015
Gold
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz
nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz
32.15 1 kilobar (Manfra)
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory in oz
nil
Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz
80,375.000 oz 2500 kilobars (JPMorgan,Scotia)
No of oz served (contracts) today
95 contracts (9500 oz)
No of oz to be served (notices)
96 contracts (9600 oz)
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
1174 contracts(117,400 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month
Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month
276,660.1 oz
Today, we had 0 dealer transactions
we had 0 dealer withdrawals:
total dealer withdrawal: nil oz
we had 0 dealer deposits:
we had 1 customer withdrawals
i) Out of Manfra: 1 kilobar or 32.15 oz
total customer withdrawal: 32.15 oz
we had 0 customer deposits:
total customer deposits; nil oz
We had 3 adjustment
i) Out of HSBC: 3,890.346 oz was adjusted out of the dealer and this landed into the customer’s account at HSBC.
ii) Out of Manfra: 2,462.505 oz was adjusted out of the dealer and this landed into the customer’s account at Manfra
iii) Out of Scotia: 9907.043 oz was adjusted out of the customer and this landed into the dealer account at Scotia.
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 95 contract of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by JPMorgan dealer and 95 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 (1174) x 100 oz or 117,400 oz , and that will be the final amount of gold ounces standings.
Thus the final standings:
1174 (notices filed for the month x( 100 oz) or 117,400 ounces standing for the February contract month.
We lost 1 contract or 100 oz that did not stand for delivery.
Total dealer inventory: 810,240.319 oz or 25.20 tonnes
Total gold inventory (dealer and customer) = 8.337 million oz. (259.32) tonnes)
Several weeks ago we had total gold inventory of 303 tonnes, so during this short time period 44 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 final standings
feb 26 2015:
Silver
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory
nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
nil oz
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
nil
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
nil oz ( Scotia)
No of oz served (contracts)
3 contracts (15,000 oz)
No of oz to be served (notices)
3 contracts (15,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)
435 contracts (2,175,000 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month
6,014,677.4 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 0 customer withdrawals:
total customer withdrawal: nil oz
we had 0 adjustments
Total dealer inventory: 67.514 million oz
Total of all silver inventory (dealer and customer) 176.895 million oz
.
The total number of notices filed today is represented by 3 contracts for 15,000 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 (435) x 5,000 oz = 2,175,000 oz and that represents the final amount of silver ounces standing
Final standings for silver for the February contract month:
435 contracts x 5000 oz= 2,175,000 oz
we neither gained nor lost any silver ounces standing in this February contract month.
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 26. no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory at 771.25 tonnes
Feb 25. no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory at 771.25 tonnes
Feb 24.2015: no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory at 771.25 tonnes
Feb 23.2015: no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory at 771.25 tonnes
Feb 20/we had another good addition of 1.79 tonnes of gold into the GLD. Inventory 771.25 tonnes
Feb 19/ a huge addition of 1.5 tonnes of gold into the GLD/Inventory 769.46
Feb 18/ a small withdrawal of .3 tonnes/no doubt to pay for fees/Inventory 767.96 tonnes
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 26/2015 / no change in gold inventory at the GLD/
inventory: 771.25 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 : 771.25 tonnes.
end
And now for silver (SLV):
Feb 26. no change in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory at 725.734 million oz
Feb 25. no changes in silver inventory/SLV inventory at 725.734 million oz
Feb 24.we had an addition of 1.435 million oz of silver to the SLV/SLV inventory at 725.734 million oz
Feb 23 no change in silver inventory/324.299 million oz
Feb 20 no change in silver inventory/324.299 million oz
Fen 19/ we had a huge addition of 4.082 million oz of silver into the SLV/Inventory 324.299 million oz
Feb 18.2015/ no change in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory at 320.327 million oz
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 26/2015 no changes/
SLV inventory registers: 325.735 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)
1. Central Fund of Canada: traded at Negative 6.4% percent to NAV in usa funds and Negative 6.2% to NAV for Cdn funds!!!!!!!
Percentage of fund in gold 61.0%
Percentage of fund in silver:38.6%
cash .4%
( feb26/2015)
Sprott gold fund finally rising in NAV
2. Sprott silver fund (PSLV): Premium to NAV rises to + 3.09%!!!!! NAV (Feb 26/2015)
3. Sprott gold fund (PHYS): premium to NAV falls to +.28% to NAV(feb 26 /2015)
Note: Sprott silver trust back into positive territory at +3.09%.
Sprott physical gold trust is back into positive territory at +.28%
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 Thursday morning:
(courtesy Mark O’Byrne)
“Emperor Has No Clothes” – EU Warns of Debt Dangers Facing Ireland and EU
By Mark O’Byrne February 26, 2015 0 Comments
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- High “structural” unemployment, high levels of public and private debt and a still vulnerable banking sector are weighing on the Irish economy
- Report further casts doubt on the “recovery” narrative being touted by governments, banks and vested interests across the world
- Levels of spin and denial not seen since before the crash of 2008
A report by the EU to be published today reviewing the economies of European countries has identified various problems in the most European economies – including Ireland.
In-depth reviews initiated by the European Commission (EC) found no “excessive macroeconomic imbalances” continue in 16 countries, identified in November as experiencing “macroeconomic imbalances”.
The EC on Wednesday sent a strong signal to Member States to carry out structural reforms and to continue consolidating their public finances.
High unemployment, high debt levels and “residual concerns” in the banking sector pose the greatest risk to Ireland’s economy. The significant dependence of SMEs on bank finance and still very high debt levels were also cited as concerns.
In December, Moody’s warned that Irish and European banks are vulnerable in 2015 due to weak macroeconomic conditions, unfinished regulatory hurdles and the risk of bail-ins according to credit rating agencies.
The report conflicts with the narrative put forth by the government and by economists working in the banking and finance sector and by other vested interests that the worst is over and Ireland is “in recovery.”
Ireland has been “in recovery” despite no notable decline in debt levels, no notable decrease in full time unemployment, an acceleration in home foreclosures, and public services like healthcare deteriorating in an unprecedented crisis.
The same narrative is being spun across Europe where the public is told that the “green shoots” of spring are here. Meanwhile state assets are flogged to favored corporations and the public are forced to pay stealth taxes and forced to pay again for utilities already provided for through taxes.
The ECB is about to begin an enormous money-printing scheme to kickstart the economy despite the fact that the same strategy failed in Japan and has yet to bear fruit in the U.S. Except in that it bolstered the stock markets which was of little consequence to much of the wider public but, oddly, happened to benefit the financial and banking sector enormously, once again.
Money printing is not the practice of a healthy economy. Money printing is an act of total desperation. Neither Ireland, nor anywhere else in the over-indebted Western world is “in recovery”. But it looks like wealth will continue to be extracted from the public on the pretext of recovery for as long as the charade can continue.
The report advises the Irish government to take “decisive action” to address the imbalances. We wonder what action the EU thinks is open to the government. High unemployment and private debt is not going to be eased by any government initiative other than lowering taxes.
Public debt problems can only be eased by raising taxes. Given that the entire banking system is insolvent the only action open to the government is to throw its weight – and our money – behind the banking system.
The report adds that Irish Water, the company overseeing the privatization of the water that Irish people already pay for through high taxes, may not pass a test by Eurostat, the EU statistics agency, to keep it off the government books.
This will put pressure on the government to cut other services, already woefully inadequate, to meet troika requirements on public spending.
Most likely undiscussed in the EU report is the role it has played in Ireland’s long, drawn-out recession. High taxes in Ireland are stifling economic activity and the ability of households to pay their debts.
These high taxes are a direct result of EU institutions bullying the Irish government into taking losses made by large European banks onto the back of Irish taxpayers.
While Ireland, the EU and the western world are in serious crisis one would never suspect as much when listening to the pronouncements of government officials, banks and other vested interests.
The cosy narrative of “recovery” should not be rocked by little boys pointing out “the Emperor has no clothes”!
The levels of spin and denial are reminiscent of the run-up to the 2007 crisis. We and many others were ignored for highlighting the dangers facing the Irish and global economy then and are being ignored again now.
When the inevitable occurred the same “experts” who ridiculed us insisted that nobody could have foreseen the crisis. The same looks likely to happen again.
We may be wrong this time – we seriously doubt that though.
However, prudence would dictate that the warnings of those with a proven track record – and who are not part of the political and financial establishment that bankrupted this country – should be carefully considered.
Must-read guide and research on bail-ins here:
Protecting Your Savings In The Coming Bail-In Era
MARKET UPDATE
Today’s AM fix was USD 1,220.00, EUR 1,073.66 and GBP 785.58 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,206.50, EUR 1,062.06 and GBP 777.99 per ounce.
Gold rose 0.37% percent or $4.40 and closed at $1,204.60 an ounce on yesterday, while silver surged 1.79% percent or $0.29 closing at $16.54 an ounce.
Gold prices are up 1.3% in early European trade, pushing above the $1,218 per ounce mark. Gold snapped four days of losses yesterday and appears to be basing at the $1,200 level. Support was seen here in recent days despite the absence of Chinese demand.
Spot gold was up 1.1 percent at $1,217.95 an ounce in early London trading, after hitting a session high of $1,219.90.Singapore gold had threaded water prior to slight gains towards the end of the session. On the Comex, U.S. gold for April delivery climbed 1.3 percent to $1,217.40 an ounce.
Silver was up 1.6 percent at $16.78 an ounce. Spot platinum rose 1.5 percent at $1,185.99 an ounce, and palladium climbed 0.6 percent at $808.75 an ounce earlier touching $814.35 an ounce, its highest since January 14th.
Chinese buyers were notably active in both gold and silver overnight in Asia, MKS said in a note this morning. Premiums on the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) remained firm around $4-$5 an ounce over the global spot price.
China’s gold imports from Hong Kong rose in January from the previous month, data showed today, reflecting increased demand ahead of the Lunar New Year. Net gold imports from Hong Kong climbed to 76.118 tonnes last month from a three month low of 71.381 tonnes in December.
Palladium hit its highest since mid-January this morning at $814.35/oz. Resistance is seen at its 200-day moving average at 814.40 and a close above this level could see a very sharp move to the upside.
Daily and Weekly Updates Here
end
for your interest
(courtesy Chris Powell/GATA)
Dollar Vigilante cites GATA in review of complaints about gold market rigging
Submitted by cpowell on Wed, 2015-02-25 21:47. Section: Daily Dispatches
4:45p ET Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
In a review of complaints of manipulation of the monetary metals markets, Justin O’Connell of the Dollar Vigilante cites GATA Chairman Bill Murphy’s “groundbreaking” testimony to a hearing held by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2010. O’Connell’s commentary is headlined “A Brief Recent History of Precious Metals Manipulation Investigations” and it’s posted at the Dollar Vigilante here:
https://www.dollarvigilante.com/blog/2015/2/25/precious-metals-manipulat…
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
end
Koos Jansen on how gold was traded in secret:
(courtesy Koos Jansen)
Posted on 26 Feb 2015 by Koos Jansen
1973 EU CB’s Traded Gold In Secret At Free Market Price
Another piece of the puzzle
The more I read about it the more clear it becomes that the euro, at first a monetary block in Europe, was spawned right after the US abandoned gold in 1971. The European Community (EC) block was the biggest threat for the US hegemony in the seventies, if Europe would unite it could break the USD. Europe’s aggregated gold reserves were (and still are) greater than US holdings, a crucial reserve asset when fully utilized.
Soon after the inception of the Bretton Woods system in 1944 the US needed to suppress the price of gold because they printed far more dollars than they had gold to back it up, finally the suppression failed in 1968 when the London Gold Pool collapsed. What followed was a two-tier system; monetary gold was valued at a fixed price far below the free market price of gold.
The two-tier system created by the American monetary wizards was anything but sustainable; foreign central banks could buy gold at the US Treasury for dollars at a discount, subsequently selling the gold on the free market for a higher price, though the agreement was central banks would not trade with the private market.
Because the dollar was overvalued (against gold) European central banks exchanged billions of dollars for thousands of tonnes of gold, draining US gold reserves.
In 1958 the UK exchanged $900,000,000 dollars for 799 metric tonnes of gold at the US Treasury. From January to March 1965 France pulled 428 tonnes from the US, from April to June 1971 France got out 251 tonnes.
That’s when Nixon temporarily suspended convertibility of dollars into gold on August 15, 1971.
Next up for the US was to completely remove gold from the international monetary system. Having the dollar as the sole monetary anchor would ensure the US from world domination. Europe, on the other hand, tried to re-introduce gold into the system at the free market price.
In the next quotes we can read how Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor and Secretary Of State at the time, was discussing the matter with his team.
Mr Enders to Mr Kissinger about the proposal (re-introduction of gold) from Europe (EC).
…Mr. Enders: Both parties [US and EC] have to agree to this. But it slides towards and would result, within two or three years, in putting gold back into the centerpiece of the system—one. Two—at a much higher price. Three—at a price that could be determined by a few central bankers in deals among themselves.
…They would determine the value of their reserves in a very small group.
Mr Kissinger: And we would be on the outside.
Mr. Enders: The policy we would suggest to you is that, (1), we refuse to go along with this—
…Secondly, Mr. Secretary, it does present an opportunity though—and we should try to negotiate for this—to move towards a demonetization of gold, to begin to get gold moving out of the system.
…It’s against our interest to have gold in the system because for it to remain there it would result in it being evaluated periodically. Although we have still some substantial gold holdings—about 11 billion—a larger part of the official gold in the world is concentrated in Western Europe.This gives them the dominant position in world reserves and the dominant means of creating reserves. We’ve been trying to get away from that into a system in which we can control—
…If they have the reserve-creating instrument, by having the largest amount of gold and the ability to change its price periodically, they have a position relative to ours of considerable power.
… I think we should look very hard … at very substantial sales of gold—U.S. gold on the market—to raid the gold market once and for all.
The US was against any form of European monetary cooperation. The next quotes are from a phone call between Kissinger and Under Secretary Simon:
K: … I’ve just been called to the President. Let me tell you — Shultz has sent me a copy of the cable that Volker gave him – that Volker sent him about the interventions, and he has asked for my views. I basically have only one view right now which is to do as much as we can to prevent a united European position without showing our hand.
S: Okay. Well, I interpret that as less intervention, which is a good idea, and I think George will be very happy with that comment. Do as much as we can to prevent a unified European position.
K: I don’t think a unified European monetary system is in our interest. I don’t know what you think for technical reasons, but these guys are now helping to put it to us.
In this political battle the US and Europe remained on speaking terms (both not showing their hand). But the EC was occasionally poking the US; if necessary they would trade gold in secret at the free market price.
From Wikileaks:
1973 November 21, 16:14
1. IN A CONVERSATION WITH ECON MIN, FREYCHE, ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT POMPIDOU, SAID GOF FULLY UNDERSTANDS OUR VIEWS ON PURCHASES OF GOLD BY CENTRAL BANKS AT A PRICE ABOVE THE MONETARY PRICE. FREYCHE SAID THAT, ALTHOUGH THERE ARE PRESSING TECHNICAL REASONS WHY THE CENTRAL BANKS OF THE EC MIGHT WANT TO BUY AND SELL GOLD AMONG THEMSELVES AT A PRICE ABOVE THE MONETARY PRICE, THE GOF AS WELL AS ITS EC PARTNERS WERE VERY RELUCTANT TO DO THIS, PRIMARILY BECAUSE THEY
CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL PAGE 02 PARIS 30004 211932Z
HAD NO DESIRE TO TAKE A STEP WHICH MIGHT BE INTERPRETED AS AN ATTEMPT TO CREATE A MONETARY BLOCK IN OPPOSITION TO OR RIVALRY WITH THE U.S. IN OTHER WORDS, HE SAID, FRANCE WAS HOLDING BACK FROM SUCH A DECISION BECAUSE OF A DESIRE TO DEMONSTRATE GOODWILL TOWARD THE U.S. NONETHELESS, HE CONTINUED, THE EC MIGHT EVENTUALLY BE FORCED TOTAKE THIS STEP. SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT OF ITALY’S RESERVES AND 40 PERCENT OF FRANCE’S WERE IN GOLD. IT WAS WELL KNOWN THAT NEITHER ITALY NOR FRANCE WAS WILLING TO PART WITH ANY OF THIS GOLD AT THE MONETARY PRICE WHEN THIS PRICE WAS SO MUCH LOWER THAN THE FREE MARKET PRICE. THUS, A LARGE PART OF THE RESERVES OF THESE TWO COUNTRIES WAS IN EFFECT FROZEN AND COULD NOT BE USED IN THE SETTLEMENTS AMONG THE “SNAKE” COUNTRIES REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN THE SNAKE.THIS, OF COURSE, WAS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY ITALY HAD SO FAR BEEN UNWILLING TO ENTER THE SNAKE. IF THIS PROBLEM BECAME SERIOUS ENOUGH SO THAT THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANKS FELT OBLIGED TO BEGIN EXCHANGING GOLD AMONG THEMSELVES AT A PRICE ABOVE THE MONETARY PRICE, FREYCHE SAID THAT THIS DECISION WOULD NOT BE TAKEN WITHOUT FULL PRIOR CONSULTATION WITH THE U.S. AUTHORITIES. HE ALSO SAID THAT EXCHANGES OF GOLD AT SUCH A PRICE WOULD BE RESTRICTED TO EC CENTRAL BANKS AND IT WAS POSSIBLE THAT THE PRICE AT WHICH THESE TRANSACTIONS WOULD BE CARRIED OUT WOULD BE KEPT SECRET.
2. COMMENT: FREYCHE’S CONCILIATORY ATTITUDE ON THIS MATTER IS WELCOME. NONETHELESS, WE BELIEVE, PARTICULARLY IN VIEW OF THE MANY PUBLIC STATEMENTS BY SENIOR FRENCH OFFICIALS ON RIGHT TO BUY AS WELL AS SELL GOLD AT MARKET PRICE, THAT FRANCE’S OBJECTIVE CONTINUES TO BE PRESERVATION OF SIGNIFICANT ROLE FOR GOLD IN MONETARY SYSTEM AND, IN THAT PERSPECTIVE, TO OBTAIN AGREEMENT WITH EUROPEAN PARTNERS TO SELL GOLD IN INTRA-EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS AT VALUE NEAR TO MARKET PRICE. THIS BEING THE CASE, FREYCHE’S ASSURANCE NO SUCH DECISION WOULD BE REACHED WITHOUT PRIOR CONSULTATION WITH U.S. IS IMPORTANT AND USEFUL. IRWIN
CONFIDENTIAL NNN
(h/t @mortymer001)
Previously released historic documents
1970 February 24, Washington DC, US. Pompidou and Nixon
1971, October 28. Phone call between Nixon and Kissinger on gold
1971, December 13 & 14, Azores. Negotiations between Kissinger and Pompidou about the value of currencies and gold
1971, December 13, negotiations between Nixon, Pompidou and Kissinger about the value of currencies and gold
1973, March 14, Kissinger and Simon telephone conversation
1973, May 18, Paris, France. Meeting Kissinger And Pompidou on value of gold
1974, March 6, Washington, US. Note From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Finance and Development (Weintraub) to the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Monetary Affairs (Volcker): GOLD AND THE MONETARY SYSTEM: POTENTIAL US–EU CONFLICT
1974, April 22 & 23, Zeist, The Netherlands. Meeting European Ministers Of Finance On Gold
1974, April 25. Minutes of Secretary of State Kissinger’s Principals and Regionals Staff Meeting on gold
1976, October 29, Wikileaks: PBOC focused on gold & SDR’s
Koos Jansen
E-mail Koos Jansen on: koos.jansen@bullionstar.com
end
(courtesy Chris Powell/GATA)
U.S. government is authorized to rig all markets in secret, GATA secretary tells KWN
Submitted by cpowell on Thu, 2015-02-26 19:39. Section: Daily Dispatches
2:42p ET Thursday, February 26, 2015
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
Western governments are legally authorized to rig all markets in secret and as a result investigations of market rigging by the investment houses central banks use as intermediaries are not likely to produce anything, your secretary/treasurer tells King World News in an interview today.
Elaborating, your secretary/treasurer recalls the single hearing given to GATA consultant Reginald Howe’s gold market-rigging lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Boston in November 2001, at which an assistant U.S. attorney asserted that the U.S. government has the power under the Gold Reserve Act of 1934 to rig the gold market through intervention by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Exchange Stabilization Fund, a hearing about which your secretary/treasurer reported here:
http://www.gata.org/node/4211
The Treasury Department acknowledges its authority for secret market rigging here:
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/international/esf/pages/esf-inde…
The interview’s excerpt is posted at the KWN Internet site here:
http://kingworldnews.com/terrifying-interview-2015/
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
end
(courtesy Bill Holter/Miles Franklin)
All In!
Before getting to the topic of “all in!”, I have a story for you which may be of interest. All the way back in 2002, I travelled out to Colorado Springs for the shareholder meeting of a very small and obscure royalty company named Golden Cycle Gold. While there, we did a tour of the Cripple Creek mine and its operations. The nearby town, Victor, looked nearly like a ghost town 30 miles off the beaten path. The only industry was the mining operation and a little bit of tourism. During my trip, I met a long time Director of the Golden Cycle Gold Company, “Frank,” he had a different view of economics than almost anyone I knew. He believed the U.S. was bankrupting the country with armaments manufacturing, just as did the old Soviet Union and that the U.S. would eventually meet the same economic fate during a currency collapse of the dollar, as had happened to the ruble. ..
Frank and I spent almost two days together and I furiously picked his brain. He was a fountain of information as I learned more about the mining industry from him than any other source. He said; ” gold was an immutable object,… it didn’t do anything,… it just sat there….. it was just one ounce of gold,… it was paper money that historically depreciated in terms of the yellow metal.”
Frank was drawn to the Golden Cycle Company by a statement made by famous financier Charles Allen of Allen &Co., who said: “If monetary conditions were right, the Company could make stock market history,”
(the Allen family had escaped Europe just prior to the worst of the Holocaust and understood the value of gold money).
As time would have it, the Company was sold. He said; never ever did anyone ever believe the conditions we are witnessing today could have been extended into the hereafter, with printing press money, without a major economic collapse and depression. Symbols for the theft of the public’s buying power by banks, such as QE, were not even part of the financial lexicon. The only analogy he knew had relevance to today’s financial situation was during the days of John Law and Fiat Money in France in the 1700’s… He now says; “Those conditions, or happenstance, so well understood by Charles Allen, exist today, ….. for Gold and Gold shares to make market history,……. (in this poker game of International Finance), he says; ALL IN!
After the first day in the field, we met for dinner and a few beers (where we met a 6′ 9” Australian with long blonde hair who put Rambo’s physique to shame …turned out he was an international (legal) arms dealer!). This is where I first heard of the concept “re set”. He talked about gold demand outstripping supply, manipulation and many other topics which I was aware of but only scratching the surface at that point. The biggest thing he talked about was “collateral”, or lack of it. He posited the system was nearly at full margin in a sane world, the only two outcomes could be some of the debt being cleansed, or exactly what followed. Namely interest rates being crushed with anything and everything not nailed down being used as collateral for margin. In retrospect, he was early but very correct how this would all unfold.
The reason I relate this story is because back then I needed something or someone to “strengthen my knees”. Gold and silver would get smashed when logic said otherwise. Very little information was available on the internet to that point other than a few websites including GATA. Jim Sinclair had just begun posting for another website and had not even gotten his own up and running. Back in those days, the biggest shot of adrenalin was when John Embry who worked for a mainstream Canadian bank wrote publicly about blatant manipulation. John’s writing was sorely needed by the gold community to confirm their thought process. It is in good part this very reason I began to write in 2007, to hold shaky hands and to calm the fearful. Most of all after this trip, many of my thoughts were confirmed and cemented. To Frank, my mentor, I owe a huge debt of gratitude!
As for my topic “all in”, should you be? My answer to this is to be as fully invested in precious metals assets as you are comfortable with. Please understand this, because central banks, sovereign treasuries and behemoth financial institutions are already “all in and then some” with their support of paper assets …when the dam breaks you will most probably not have the chance to go “further in” with precious metals. Bad money will chase good money into hiding and be met with “not for sale” signs.
This concept of “all in” has been personified, only in reverse by the world’s central banks, treasuries and financial institutions. They have created $ trillions upon $ trillions of new currency, they have borrowed even more $ trillions while the institutions play in over a $1 quadrillion casino. Any thing “marginable” has been used and already borrowed against. Interest rates have been crushed to zero and below by the necessity to be able to pay the interest while stock markets float higher with little to no volume as the HFT algos swap some spit back and forth. Real gold and silver have been sold 100 times over and are fictitious in pricing and availability.
If you did not understand the meaning of the above paragraph, I will spell it out. The world is one giant and collective margin call. “Net worths” that are calculated, relied on and believed in today could be seriously cut, wiped out or even become negative overnight. “This can never happen” you say? It already has in many instances for those long euros or short francs on margin …and this was only the tip of the iceberg. Do you suppose some oil traders, or even some drillers and producers have gone belly up? We know they have. EVERYTHING paper has the very same affliction as oil and this FOREX cross, the values are skewed! Not only are they skewed, this has been purposely done. The problem is with the “manner” in how it has been done. Derivatives, or leveraged paper, has been used to paint a picture necessary to retain confidence. As this picture morphs from true realism to more and more abstract, confidence ebbs with it. As more and more financial soldiers fall, other troops begin to worry, drop their arms and turn tail. This is how it works. Panics occur because confidence decreases.
Looking at the real economy, how much more can we expect out of it? Corporations have supplanted small business and in their quest for profits are cutting jobs and expenses to the bone. Can young people afford to buy entry level homes to help push current owners to the next level? Can the working population support a 50% and growing portion who collect benefits? How long can parents support 25 and 30 year old children who cannot afford to provide for themselves? Who will support the parents? It never “was” like this because it could not be, it was not and is not sustainable. What Washington and Wall Street have forgotten is oh so important yet ignored. In order to have truly healthy financial markets, the real economy must function and function well. The real economy is just as far over the cliff as the federal fiscal situation with no one left able to either pass the baton or to save the day.
Let me finish with these thoughts. It used to be the real economy would generate cash flow in excess of what was needed to fund current operations and to pay debt, this is no longer so. The necessary “cash” is now coming from the central banks because the economy is no longer sufficient to do so. This is why it “feels bad” out there, there is little money making it to the streets. Soon it will feel even worse because even with bogus and fudged numbers, an official recession is again arriving. How much further can the central banks go? Further than “all in”? Regards, Bill Holter
end
And now for the important paper stories for today:
Early Thursday morning trading from Europe/Asia
1. Stocks mixed on major Asian bourses / the yen rises to 118.77
1b Chinese yuan vs USA dollar/ yuan slightly strengthens to 6.2586
2 Nikkei up 200.59 or 0.95%
3. Europe stocks all up // USA dollar index up to 94.34/
3b Japan 10 year yield huge fall to .34%/ (Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 118.77/everybody watching the huge support levels of 117.20 and that level acting as a catapult for the markets.
3c Nikkei now above 17,000/
3e The USA/Yen rate still below the 120 barrier this morning/
3fOil: WTI 50.24 Brent: 61.85 /all eyes are focusing on oil prices. This should cause major defaults as derivatives blow up.
3g/ Gold up /yen up;
3h/ Japan is to buy the equivalent of 108 billion usa dollars worth of bonds per MONTH or $1.3 trillion
Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion usa/thus bond purchases of 26% of GDP
3i Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and by 2018 they will have 25% of all Japanese debt. Fifty percent of Japanese budget financed with debt (see Von Greyerz)
3j Oil up this morning for WTI and Brent
3k waiting important USA CPI number
3l Greek 10 year bond yield :8.97% (up 50 basis points in yield)
3m Gold at $1218.00. dollars/ Silver: $16.84
3n USA vs Russian rouble: ( Russian rouble up 1 1/4 per rouble / dollar in value) 60.68!!!!!!. Ukraine’s UAH:28.53 official rate up 5 UAH from Wednesday night/but black market 39.00 to the dollar.
3 0 oil into the 50 dollar handle for WTI and 61 handle for Brent
3p gold reacts to comments by Chinese chairman LI for more fiscal stimulus and dovish comments from Yellen
3Q SNB (Swiss National Bank) still intervening again driving down the SF/window dressing/Swiss rumours of intervention to keep the soft peg at 1.05 Swiss Francs/euro and major support for the Euro.
3r USA justice department investigating 10 major USA banks in the manipulation of gold and silver pricing
3s Negative German 5 year bond yield for first time.
3t Greek economic minister and energy minister plan to block privatization/(good for them)
4. USA 10 yr treasury bond at 1.95% early this morning. Thirty year rate well below 3% (2.55%!!!!)/yield curve flattens/foreshadowing recession
5. Details: Ransquawk, Bloomberg/Deutsche bank Jim Reid
(courtesy zero hedge)/your early morning trading from Asia and Europe)
Stocks Resume Rise To New Records As US Prepares For First Annual Deflation Since 2009
Following a quiet overnight session in which the main event appears to be a statement by Chinese premier Li for more active fiscal policy, which has pushed the metals complex higher, although technically every other asset class as well, with US equity futures set to open in fresh record high territory, even as 10Y yields around the world continue to decline, attention today will fall on the CPI print due out shortly, because if consensus is correct, January will be the first month this decade when US inflation posts a negative print, mostly due to the delayed effect of sliding commodity prices.
As Deutsche recaps, the most important number today is the headline CPI where the headline YoY rate is predicted to be negative by the market (-0.1%) for the first time since 2009. Over this period the YoY rate stayed negative for 8 months. However before this we hadn’t seen a full year decline since August 1955. So these continue to be unusual times and with very few predicting inflation successfully over the last few months or even years it is hard to say with certainty where the bottom will be and how steep a recovery we’ll see. The Fed are amongst those who have not predicted inflation very well and the main issue with a rate rise this summer is that it appears based on faulty forecasts of a recovery in CPI-measured inflation. In other words, a few months before what may be the first US rate hike for a new generation of traders, the US is set to print its first annual deflation since Lehman, transitory or not.
European equities trade in positive territory with today’s session being particularly light in terms of macro newsflow. Nonetheless, on a sector specific basis, energy names initially led the way higher for Europe after WTI crude futures managed to hold above USD 50bbl after breaking above the handle yesterday. However, heading into the North American crossover, basic material names jumped to the top of the pile as precious metals managed to extend on their recent gains. In fixed income markets, Bunds saw an early bout of strength as European equity futures came off their best levels, with the Mar’15 future printing a fresh contract high in the wake of yesterday’s substantial gains. Elsewhere, Portugal was the latest nation to see their 10yr yield break below 2% for the first time with Italian, Dutch and Irish 10yr paper already printing record lows this week. Nonetheless, volumes for the Bund remain relatively light with participants awaiting key tier 1 data release from the US at 1330GMT.
Hang Seng (+0.5%) and Shanghai Comp (+2.1%) outperformed on speculation of further PBoC easing measures, after Chinese Premier Li called for more active economic policy. However, gains for the Hang Seng were trimmed after S&P lowered their 2015 Chinese GDP growth forecast to 6.9% from 7.1%. Nikkei 225 (+1.08%) posted fresh 15-yr highs underpinned by JPY weakness, of note S&P reduced Japan’s 2015 GDP growth forecast to 0.7% from 1.3%.
Overnight, AUD was dragged lower after Q4 Australian Capex data (Q/Q -2.2% vs. Exp. -1.6% (Prev. 0.2%) saw a 2nd consecutive decline. This prompted markets to push ahead expectations for a 25bps RBA rate cut next week, with odds now at 53% vs. 38% before today’s data. Nonetheless, AUD was granted some reprieve heading into the European open following the upside in metals markets, this also benefited CAD with USD/CAD slipping below 1.2400. Elsewhere, NZD was able to hold onto its gains following its surprise trade surplus, while the fall in US yields saw USD/JPY break below its 50DMA seen at 118.79.
In commodity markets, spot gold has risen throughout the session with the yellow metal breaking above its 100DMA at USD 1216.29/oz as USD continued to weaken in the wake of Fed Chair Yellen’s more dovish than expected 2-day testimony and calls by Chinese premier Li for more active fiscal policy. Subsequently copper traded higher overnight and is on track for its best month in nearly 2½ years, while Dalian iron ore futures were also supported in tandem with the gains seen across metals amid USD weakness. In the energy complex, both WTI and Brent crude futures trade relatively unchanged with WTI managing to hold above the key USD 50/bbl level following yesterday’s DoE inventory report which although showed a larger build than expected, the figure was relatively in-line with the latest API report.
In Summary: European shares are near their session high with the basic resources and chemical sectors outperforming and media, utilities underperforming. The Italian and Spanish markets are the best-performing larger bourses, Swiss the worst. The euro is little changed against the dollar. German 10yr bond yields fall; Spanish yields decline. Commodities gain, with WTI crude, natural gas underperforming and copper outperforming. U.S. jobless claims, continuing claims, Bloomberg consumer comfort, CPI, FHFA house price index, Kansas City Fed index, durable goods orders, capital goods orders due later.
In addition to the inflation data, we’ve got durable goods orders, capital goods order, joble