Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen:
Here are the following closes for gold and silver today:
Gold: $1166.40 up $2.30 (comex closing time)
Silver: $15.75 down 3 cents (comex closing time)
In the access market 5:15 pm
Gold $1166.90
silver $15.74
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 poor delivery day, registering 0 notices served for nil oz. Silver comex registered 17 notices for 85,000 oz .
Several months ago the comex had 303 tonnes of total gold. Today the total inventory rests at 257.03 tonnes for a loss of 46 tonnes over that period. Lately the removals have been rising!
In silver, the open interest rose by an astonish 2,337 contracts even though Friday’s silver price was down 35 cents. The total silver OI continues to remain relatively high with today’s reading at 166,235 contracts. The front month of March contracted by 5 contracts.
We had 17 notices served upon for 85,000 oz.
In gold we had a huge rise in OI despite the fact that gold was down by $31.80 on Friday. The total comex gold OI rests tonight at 415,370 for a gain of 8,651 contracts. Today, surprisingly we again had only 0 notices served upon for nil oz.
Today, we had a huge withdrawal of 3.48 tonnes of gold at the GLD/Inventory rests at 753.04 tonnes
In silver, /SLV we had no change in inventory at the SLV/Inventory, remaining at 327.332 million oz
We have a few important stories to bring to your attention today…
1. The Greece affair.
On the weekend we outlined to you the fact that the Greek Parliamentarians raided the pension funds in order to pay the iMF. This was done on a Repo transaction. They have to repay the pension accounts in 15 days.
The treasury bills auctioned last week must settle this week. We learned that no foreign accounts wished to purchase or roll their treasuries. In other words, the foreigners do not want to gamble any longer and they want their cash. If the money went to the IMF who is going to pay the sellers of the latest treasury bill auction. Who is going to fund the next 3 weeks of IMF loans due?
Also Greece announced a hair brained scheme to try and collect the 76 billion euros of taxes owed. They are going to hire hourly people for two months wearing a wire trying to catch tax evaders.
Today we learned that the EU totally rejected Greece’s proposals.
So what did they do? They provided fresh new proposals as they desperately need funding (zero hedge and others)
2. First quarter USA GDP growth is heading for 1.2% (zero hedge)
3. Chinese demand for the last reporting week in February came in at 38 tonnes. Total demand for the two months: over 415 tonnes. Total projected gold demand for the quarter: 550 tonnes (Koos Jansen)
4 The Serious Fraud squad is not only looking at British banks with respect to criminal behaviour in how these guys received funds from the B. of E, but also at the B. of E itself if it was complicit in handing over funds in a devious manner!! (UKTelegraph)
5. The contagion with respect to the failure of Austria’s bad bank Hecta, seems to be spreading to other public facilities. Zero hedge describes this as a black swan event. (UKTelegraph)
we have these and other stories for you tonight.
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 rose by a huge 8,651 contracts today from 406,719 up to 415,370 even though gold was down by $31.80 on Friday (at the comex close). We are now in the contract month of March which saw it’s OI lower by 5 contracts down to 148. We had 4 notices filed on yesterday so we gained 1 gold contract or an additional 100 oz will stand for delivery in this delivery month of March. The next big active delivery month is April and here the OI rose by 672 contracts up to 251,675. The estimated volume today (which is just comex sales during regular business hours of 8:20 until 1:30 pm est) was poor at 66,980. The confirmed volume yesterday ( which includes the volume during regular business hours + access market sales the previous day) was good at 239,107 contracts with mucho help from the HFT boys. Today we had 0 notices filed for nil oz.
And now for the wild silver comex results. Silver OI rose by a huge 2337 contracts from 163,898 up to 166,235 with silver down by 37 cents with respect to Friday’s trading. We are now in the active contract month of March and here the OI fell by 5 contracts down to 951. We had 8 contracts served on Friday. Thus we gained 3 contracts or 15,000 oz will stand in this March delivery month. The estimated volume today was poor at 13,020 contracts (just comex sales during regular business hours. The confirmed volume on Friday (regular plus access market) came in at 48,998 contracts which is also quite good in volume. We had 17 notices filed for 85,000 oz today.
March initial standings
March 9.2015
Gold
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz
nil
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz
125,067.600 oz (Scotia)
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory in oz
2000.00 oz (Brinks)
Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz
nil oz (JPMorgan/Manfra)
No of oz served (contracts) today
0 contracts (nil oz)
No of oz to be served (notices)
148 contracts (14,800 oz)
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
5 contracts(500 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month
114,790.651 oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month
150,156.5 oz
Today, we had 1 dealer transactions
total Dealer withdrawals: nil oz
we had 1 dealer deposit
i) Into Brinks 2000.00 oz??? (how could this be possible???)
total dealer deposit: 2000.00 oz
we had 1 customer withdrawals
i) Out of Scotia: 125,067.600 oz
total customer withdrawal: 125,067.600 oz
we had 0 customer deposits:
total customer deposits; nil 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 contracts 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 March contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (5) x 100 oz or 500 oz , to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of March (148) and the number of notices served upon today (0) x 100 oz equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the initial standings for gold for the March contract month:
No of notices served so far (5) x 100 oz or ounces + {OI for the front month (148) – the number of notices served upon today (0) x 100 oz} = 15,300 oz or .4758 tonnes
we lost 1oo gold ounces standing in this March contract month.
Total dealer inventory: 656,644.474 oz or 20.424 tonnes
Total gold inventory (dealer and customer) = 8.263 million oz. (257.02) tonnes)
Several weeks ago we had total gold inventory of 303 tonnes, so during this short time period 46 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
March silver initial standings
March 9 2015:
Silver
Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory
nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
550,818.19 oz (HSBC,Scotia)
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
nil oz
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
nil oz
No of oz served (contracts)
17 contracts (85,000 oz)
No of oz to be served (notices)
934 contracts (4,670,000)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)
1690 contracts (8,450,000 oz)
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month
1,640,008.7 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 adjustment
Total dealer inventory: 68.855 million oz
Total of all silver inventory (dealer and customer) 178.035 million oz
.
The total number of notices filed today is represented by 17 contracts for 85,000 oz. To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in March, we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at (1690) x 5,000 oz = 8,450,000 oz to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of March (xx) and the number of notices served upon today (17) x 5000 oz equals the number of ounces standing.
Thus the initial standings for silver for the March contract month:
1690 (notices served so far) + { OI for front month of March( 951) -number of notices served upon today (17} x 5000 oz = 13,120,000 oz standing for the March contract month.
we gained 3 contracts or 15,000 oz will not stand for delivery in March.
for those wishing to see the rest of data today see:
http://www.harveyorgan.wordpress.com orhttp://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:
March 9/ we had another huge withdrawal of 3.38 tonnes of gold from the GLD, no doubt heading for Shanghai/Inventory 753.04 tonnes
March 6/we had a huge withdrawal of 4.48 tonnes of gold from the GLD/inventory rests tonight at 756.32/Also HSBC is getting out of the gold business in London and is giving up all of its 7 vaults.
March 5 no change in gold inventory at the GLD/760.80 tonnnes
March 4/ no change/inventory 760.80 tonnes
March 3 we had another 2.69 tonnes of gold withdrawn from the GLD. Inventory is now 760.80 tonnes.
March 2 we had 7.76 tonnes of withdrawal from the GLD today and this physical gold landed in Shanghai/Inventory 763.49 tonnes
feb 27.2015 no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory at 771.25 tonnes
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
March 9/2015 / we lost 3.48 tonnes of gold from the GLD/
inventory: 753.04 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 : 753.04 tonnes.
end
And now for silver (SLV):
March 9/ no change in silver inventory at the SLV/327.332 million oz
March 6: huge addition of 1.34 million oz of silver into the SLV/Inventory 727.332 million oz
March 5 no change in inventory/725.992 million oz
March 4 a slight reduction of 126,000 oz of silver/SLV inventory at 725.992 (probably to pay for fees)
March 3 a small deposit of 328,000 oz of silver into the SLV/Inventory at 726.118 million oz.
March 2/ no change in silver inventory tonight; 725.734 million oz
Feb 27.2015 no change in silver inventory tonight: 725.734 million oz
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
March 9/2015 no change in silver inventory at the SLV/ SLV inventory rests tonight at 327.332 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 9.2% percent to NAV in usa funds and Negative 9.3% to NAV for Cdn funds!!!!!!!
Percentage of fund in gold 61.5%
Percentage of fund in silver:38.1%
cash .4%
( March 9/2015)
Sprott gold fund finally rising in NAV
2. Sprott silver fund (PSLV): Premium to NAV rises to + 2.03%!!!!! NAV (March 9/2015)
3. Sprott gold fund (PHYS): premium to NAV falls to -.16% to NAV(March 9 /2015)
Note: Sprott silver trust back into positive territory at +2.03%.
Sprott physical gold trust is back into negative territory at -.16%
Central fund of Canada’s is still in jail.
end
And now for your more important physical gold/silver stories:
Gold and silver trading early this morning
(courtesy Mark O’Byrne)
Currency Wars Continue As IMF Concedes End To Dollar Hegemony
By Mark O’Byrne March 9, 2015 No Comments
Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on linkedinMore Sharing Services0
- Dollar has declined as reserve currency over past decade from 70% of global reserves to 61%
- Chinese yuan is growing in stature as international currency
- IMF deputy director calls for de-dollarization in emerging markets
- Many countries have begun de-dollarizing
- BRICS development bank – rivaling the IMF and World Bank – is now operational
Currency wars and the growing trend away from dollar dominance in international finance, particularly in emerging markets, was highlighted in an interesting CNBC article this morning entitled “Is the Dollar Losing its Clout Among EMs?”
It refers to the deliberate and stated policy of “de-dollarisation” around the world, the decline in the use of the dollar in international trade and as a reserve currency and the emergence of the new BRICS bank.
The article quotes best-selling author and Pentagon insider, Jim Rickards. Rickards says that the status of the dollar as a reserve currency is still solid despite its decline over the past decade and despite the rise of other currencies in international transactions.
“The dollar is declining as a trade currency, but it remains strong as a reserve currency. Right now, it’s around 61 percent of global reserves, versus 70 percent over a decade ago” he said.
Meanwhile, figures from the BIS and SWIFT show that the yuan is now among the top ten traded currencies in the world. While this is significant it should be seen in the context that the dollar still being used in 80% of global trade.
Chinese ambitions in this area are clear, however. China is negotiating currency settlement deals in local yuan with many of its trading partners. Zero Hedge ran an article last week on a billboard advertisement in Bangkok from the Bank of China declaring the RMB to be “the world currency”.
“And it’s true,” they added, “the renminbi’s importance in global trade and as a reserve currency is increasing exponentially, with renminbi trading hubs popping up all over the world, from Singapore to London to Luxembourg to Frankfurt to Toronto.”
Last month the Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, Japan’s Naoyuki Shinohara, openly stated that emerging markets in Asia should begin the process of de-dollarisation “to mitigate against external shocks and constraining the central bank’s ability as lender of last resort.”
This is interesting as the IMF has historically been one of the main agents of dollar hegemony. We believe it demonstrates the level of risk now extant in the system that the IMF should be promoting a move away from the dollar, possibly towards Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).
China and Russia have negotiated currency arrangements excluding the dollar in recent years. Kazakhstan has also explicitly announced a process of de-dollarization, in an attempt to bolster the local currency, the tenge.
Russia is in negotiations with India and Egypt to settle their trade in local currencies.
The BRICS development bank is now operational which will see countries who avail of it repaying loans probably in yuan, given that China provides over 40% of the funding. It will act as a rival to the IMF which may explain why the IMF is taking a more inclusive approach to currency reserves.
Currency wars are set to intensify and competitive currency devaluations accelerate. When that happens, gold will again become an important monetary and geo-political asset for central banks and a vital safe haven asset for investors and savers.
Updates and Award Winning Research Here
MARKET UPDATE
Today’s AM fix was USD 1,173.75, EUR 1,077.97 and GBP 776.86 per ounce.
Friday’s AM fix was USD 1,196.50, EUR 1,090.60 and GBP 787.85 per ounce.
Gold fell 2.7% percent or $32.30 and closed at $1,165.70 an ounce Friday, while silver slid 2.1% or $0.34 to $15.87 an ounce. Gold and silver finished down for the week -3.75% and -4.22% respectively.
Gold for immediate delivery rose and then dropped back as the U.S. dollar’s rally and Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report increased speculation that the U.S. Fed will raise interest rates sooner rather than later.
Spot gold climbed 0.5 percent to $1,173.26 an ounce in late morning trading in London. It fell nearly 2.7 percent on Friday, its biggest one day drop since Oct. 1, 2013.
On Friday, the yellow metal reached its lowest price since December 1st, at $1,163.45 per ounce just after the U.S. nonfarm payrolls were released. The U.S unemployment rate reached its lowest level since 2008.
Asian premiums on the SGE have climbed to between $5 and $6 this morning up from $4 to $5 in the prior session.
Silver for immediate delivery fell to its lowest in 8 weeks at $15.69 an ounce in earlier trade before trading up 0.1 percent at $15.92. Palladium was up 0.5 percent at $819.75 an ounce, while platinum fell to $1,145.95 an ounce reaching its lowest price since July 2009.
end
Demand for gold in the last week of February amounted to 38 tonnes of gold. It looks like the first two months for gold will see a demand of 415 tonnes. Demand for the first quarter: 550 tonnes
(courtesy zero hedge)
Posted on 8 Mar 2015 by Koos Jansen
How The World Is Being Fooled About Chinese Gold Demand
Kindly note the pattern
There is a story being told to the masses about Chinese gold demand that is grossly incorrect. The huge discrepancy between numbers from the World Gold Council (WGC) and actual gold demand is so wide yet cunningly hidden I must conclude there is essential information about physical gold demand deliberately kept privy.
Let’s go back to April 2013; the price of gold made a nosedive, which spawned an unprecedented physical buying spree across the globe, most notably in China. Withdrawals from the vaults of the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), that equal Chinese wholesale demand, closed at 2,197 metric tonnes December 31, 2013, up 93 % y/y.
However, the WGC (the global authority on gold) initially stated Chinese consumer gold demand had reached 1,066 tonnes in 2013, an astonishing 1,131 tonnes less than wholesale demand. In the China Gold Association (CGA) Gold Yearbook 2013 it was disclosed China had net imported 1,524 tonnes and domestically mined 428 tonnes. Without counting scrap supply this adds up to 1,952 tonnes; adding scrap total supply has been well over 2,000 tonnes. It’s impossible consumer demand was only 1,066 tonnes.
Finally the WGC admitted their initial estimate of 1,066 tonnes of Chinese gold demand was grossly understated. By email they wrote me on February 12, 2015:
Dear Mr Jansen,
Thank you for emailing the World Gold Council, we apologize that your previous enquiry was missed.
Our figure for Chinese consumer demand in 2013 has since been revised upwards to 1,311.8 tonnes from the original figure of 1,066 tonnes published in the full year 2013 Gold Demand Trends report.
That’s an increase of 23 % by the largest physical buyer on the planet. Although still far from actual demand, 23 % is quite a revision. Was there an official press release from the WGC to inform the world on this revision? No (I’ve asked the WGC, but I got no reply). Did the mainstream media properly cover the 23 % revision? Not that I’m aware of.
Actual Chinese gold demand 2013 has been knavishly hidden from the masses (99 % of the financial industry copies WGC numbers).
In 2014 the WGC again grossly understated Chinese gold demand. SGE withdrawals accounted for 2,102 tonnes, though the WGC stated Chinese consumer demand was only 814 tonnes. Again, a gap of more than 1,100 tonnes.All arguments the WGC has brought up to explain the surplus in the Chinese gold market can only make up about 15 % of the gap (gold-for-gold supply and stock movement change).
For 2014 grossly understating Chinese gold demand wasn’t enough for the Council to distract the world’s eye from China’s gold hunger; more was needed. By a few tonnes the WGC put India’s consumer gold demand ahead of China. In their Gold Demand Trends Full Year 2014 Indian demand is disclosed at 843 tonnes, transcending Chinese demand (814 tonnes) by 29 tonnes, just enough. Most media simply copied these numbers and are stating India is now the world’s largest gold consumer – no critical thoughts added. In my opinion this is the biggest fallacy in finance of our time.
In 2014 China imported at least 1,250 tonnes and domestically mined 452 tonnes. According to GFMS scrap supply was 182 tonnes, adding up to total supply at 1,884 tonnes. But, we’re supposed to believe India is the largest gold consumer on earth at 843 tonnes? Yes.
I’m open minded towards the possibility there is an agenda that is allowing China to buy as much gold for as little fiat as possible to make them accumulate whatever necessary before a monetary reset. I see no other explanation for the events unfolding in front of our eyes.
Can you imagine what would have happened to global gold sentiment if the WGC had disclosed 2013 Chinese demand at 2,100 tonnes and 2014 Chinese gold demand at 1,850 tonnes? Sentiment would have been influenced to say the least.
As I wrote in my first post on why SGE withdrawals equal Chines wholesale demand September 18, 2013:
If you think about it, the redistribution of gold is the only logical thing to happen given the state the world economy is in. … gold has to go to China in order to equalize the chips.
More Awareness About Chinese Gold Demand
Luckily my camp is growing. More and more analysts are using SGE withdrawals as a proxy for Chinese wholesale demand instead of inaccurate WGC data. CNC Asset Management wrote in a newsletter September 25, 2014:
To understand China’s real physical gold demand, investors should simply look at the weekly withdrawals from Shanghai Gold Exchange vaults. We visited the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) in May and talked to the senior executives of the exchange. After reviewing the exchange’s trading mechanism, we are of the view that the weekly withdrawal figures provide a much more accurate data series that reflects China’s aggregate wholesale demand in a timely way.
More recently MarketWatch published SGE withdrawals and its significance, and Dr. Martin Murenbeeld, Chief Economist at Dundee Capital Markets, wrote in his newsletter on February 2015:
It follows from this opaque picture of Chinese supply and demand that some observers, including ourselves, have decided Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) deliveries data provides the best window on what might be happening on the demand side in China. (There are a number of observers who have noted the widely circulated estimates of gold demand are woefully inaccurate, precisely because these data are so significantly lower than SGE deliveries data.)
Latest data from the SGE shows withdrawals in the five days around Lunar Year (February 16, 17 and Feb 25, 26, 27) accounted for 38 tonnes. With two days left in Feb (27,28) total Q1 SGE withdrawals will most likely surpass 415 tonnes. However, don’t expect Chinese gold demand published by the WGC in a few weeks to be be anywhere near these figures.
Koos Jansen
E-mail Koos Jansen on: koos.jansen@bullionstar.com
end
For your interest…
(courtesy zero hedge)
North Korean Diplomat Caught Smuggling 27 Kilos, Or $1.7 Million, In Gold
To some, gold is merely a tradition; to others, such as the first secretary of the North Korean embassy in the capital of Bangladesh, it is one of the easiest ways to smuggle $1.7 million. Or at least should have been on paper. Instead, what happened on Thursday night when Son Young-nam landed in Dhaka on a flight from Singapore, carrying a ridiculous amount of physical gold and hoping to get through customs without a glitch due his diplomatic status, things went downhill fast.
According to the BBC reports, Young-nam’s baggage was searched and almost 27 kilos, or 59 pounds, of gold bars and ornaments were recovered.
Initially the diplomat refused to allow customs officers and police to examine his luggage. “He insisted that his bags cannot be scanned because he’s carrying a red passport and he enjoys diplomatic immunity,” Moinul Khan, head of Bangladesh’s customs intelligence department told AFP.
Then “after more than four hours of drama, he gave inand we found gold bars and gold ornaments weighing 26.795kg (59lb), which is worth 130 million taka.” Or about $1.7 million dollars.
The customs head said the diplomat was told that more than 2kg of gold could not be brought into the country. Which means that now that the gold, nearly $2 million of it, now belongs to the great Bagladeshi void, after it was confiscated and the diplomat was released under the Vienna Convention.
Bangladeshi authorities have said they plan to prosecute Mr Son.
Khan added: “It’s a clear case of smuggling. We believe he would have sold the gold to a local criminal racket. He is being used as a carrier.”
And while the North Korean diplomat is the clear loser in this case, it is far more likely that the gold ultimately belonged to someone far closer to Kim Jong-un, if not the “fearless leader” himself. As WSJ adds:
Sales of gold have long been an important source of funds for the North Korean regime, which has been largely cut off from the global financial system by sanctions imposed to curb its nuclear-weapons program.
Kim Kwang-Jin, a former banker for the Pyongyang regime, said North Korea could have been moving the precious metal in an effort to find buyers.
A man who answered the phone at the North Korean Embassy in Singapore and declined to give his name said he had “no idea” about the gold shipment and hadn’t heard of Mr. Son.
A police official said four North Korean diplomats came to the airport seeking Mr. Son’s release.
The problem for North Korea is that its traditional gold-smuggling routes may be about to close up, leaving the nation unable to “liquify” its gold holdings:
North Korea has previously sold gold bullion in the Singapore market, he said. But tighter restrictions imposed by the city-state on sales of precious metals, stones and other valuable items last year have made it harder.Singapore’s new rules, intended to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, require dealers to submit a report to the government for any transaction worth over about $14,000.
Gold sales help provide funds used by North Korean leaders to ensure the loyalty of senior officials by providing them with a comfortable lifestyle, according to high-level defectors. Choi Kun-Chol, a former senior North Korean official who worked at the state’s main gold-trading business, told the Journal last year that sales of gold from North Korean mines has fallen from a peak of around 10 tons in the late 1980s to around four tons in more recent years.
Unfortunately for Mr. Son, who has now made the fatal error of being caught, his fate is now assured and the diplomat will promptly be “disappeared” never to be heard from again. Because in North Korea, $1.7 million is a vastamount, in whatever denomination.
As for the winners, they are clearly the Bangladeshi customs agent: “official figures show customs officers have seized nearly 1,000kg of gold in the past 22 months, at Bangladesh’s two international airports.”
Incidentally, for every North Korean diplomat whose gold contraband is caught, 9 others manage to sneak through.
Gold smuggling through the Dhaka airport has risen sharply in recent months, with large quantities seized. In February, officials discovered 61 kilograms of gold in the toilet of a Bangladeshi aircraft.
But nowhere is the gold smuggling problem worse than in India, where the local government has made importing of gold virtually impossible over the past 2 years, forcing the locals to an unprecedented array of gold smuggling techniques, forcing the government to think outside of the box how to catch said smugglers. Recall:
In a sign of the times, whistleblowers who help bust illegal gold shipments can get a bigger reward in India than those who help catch cocaine and heroin smugglers.
“There has been a several-fold increase in gold smuggling this year after restrictions from the government, which has left narcotics behind.”
In June, a passenger flying from Dubai was caught at New Delhi airport with about 755 grams (1.7 lbs) of solid gold staples painted grey. Officials stopped the man because the cardboard boxes he was carrying were stapled far more than seemed necessary.
In an effort to change that, Mumbai customs offers a reward of up to 50,000 rupees per kg of bullion seized for informers in gold smuggling cases. Cocaine and heroin informers get only up to 40,000 rupees and 20,000 rupees respectively.
At least we now know where Varoufakis got his idea topay tourists to become “wired” tax spies working for the insolvent Greek government.
end
Grant Williams of Hmm fame talks with Lars Schall:
THE MATTERHORN INTERVIEW – March 9, 2015:
Grant Williams
“Grant Williams – The low price of precious metals suits Russia well, for now”
PODCAST INTERVIEW: In this 15 minute interview Lars Schall talks to Grant Williams about the Achilles’ heel of COMEX, that could in theory be exploited by Russia to create some financial havoc in the U.S. They also discuss the strength of the US dollar and whether there is a correlation between a strong US dollar and a weak oil price.
https://goldswitzerland.com/grant-williams-the-low-price-of-precious-metals-suits-russia-well-for-now/
end
Ed Steer: Gold manipulation — the ‘London bias’ — 1970-2014
Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2015-03-09 15:44. Section: Documentation
11:45a ET Monday, March 9, 2015
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
GATA board member Ed Steer, editor of Casey Research’s Gold and Silver Daily letter, today publishes a detailed report on the suppression of gold prices in the London market for most years from 1970 through last year even as world gold prices were rising generally.
After presenting a chart of the price suppression, Steer writes:
“The overt market price suppression of the 1960s during the days of the London Gold Pool turned into the covert price-suppression scheme you see here. For those looking for the proverbial smoking gun of the gold price management scheme, it’s staring them in the face in this one chart.
“And without doubt, it was — and still is — being carried out by the covert and collusive actions of organizations such as the Bank for International Settlements, the Federal Reserve, the Exchange Stabilization Fund, and the U.S. Treasury Department. I’m sure it would be safe to include, at times, the central banks of England, France, Germany, and perhaps Switzerland. In recent years it may also have come to include the People’s Bank of China.”
Steer’s report is headlined “Gold Manipulation: The ‘London Bias,’ 1970-2014″ and it’s posted at Casey Research here:
http://www.caseyresearch.com/articles/gold-manipulation-the-london-bias-…
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
end
(courtesy John Embry/Eric King/Kingworldnews/GATA)
Little about the markets makes sense anymore, Embry tells KWN
Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2015-03-09 16:27. Section: Daily Dispatches
12:25p ET Monday, March 9, 2015
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
Markets don’t make sense anymore, from counter-intuitive price movements to phony economic data, Sprott Asset Management’s John Embry tells King World News today. Embry says he’s sticking with gold and silver. An excerpt from the interview is posted at the KWN blog here:
http://kingworldnews.com/terrifying-world-bubbles-geopolitical-chess-mov…
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
This is the only gold central banks will let go up
Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2015-03-09 00:51. Section: Daily Dispatches
Flipping a Coin: Rare U.S. Coin Market Hits Records
By Patricia Reaney
Reuters
Sunday, March 8, 2015
NEW YORK — A rare five-dollar gold piece and a prized silver dollar each could fetch $10 million or more in upcoming auctions, making the American rare coin market as attractive, though not nearly as glamorous, as fine art.
Sales of rare U.S. coins reached a record of nearly $536 million last year, and now collectors are turning to the D. Brent Pogue Collection, which could boost it higher.
Gathered over more than 30 years by Texas property developer A. Mack Pogue and his son, D. Brent, it is considered the most valuable collection of federal American coins dating from the 1790s to the late 1830s in private hands.
An 1822 Half Eagle five-dollar gold piece, one of only three known to exist, and an 1804 Silver Dollar dubbed the “King of American Coins” are expected to be among the top lots when the collection is sold in a series of auctions in New York beginning in May and continuing into 2017.
“These two coins in particular, we think, have a possibility of being up around that $10 million mark,” Brian Kendrella, the president of Stack’s Bowers Galleries, told Reuters. …
… For the remainder of the report:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/08/us-auction-coins-idUSKBN0M40IE…
end
Banking, currency risks argue for monetary metals, Sprott tells Future Money Trends
Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2015-03-09 01:06. Section: Daily Dispatches
9p ET Sunday, March 8, 2015
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
In an interview with Dan Ameduri of Future Money Trends, Sprott Asset Management founder Eric Sprott says banking system risk and currency volatility risk argue strongly for owning hard assets like the monetary metals. Gold demand has increased so much, Sprott adds, that only central banks can be filling it. But he acknowledges that big investment houses with access to essentially infinite money can push all futures markets around at will in the short term. GATA’s work is cited. The interview is a half-hour long and can be heard at You Tube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyFHUlhHowE
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
end
Another outstanding piece from Bill HOlter tonight:
(courtesy Bill Holter/Miles Franklin)
Being “polite”…?
I had planned to write about the recent news Andrew Maguire relayed regarding HSBC allegedly closing their seven London gold vaults. I am putting this on hold because other than his word and Gerald Celente’s comments on same, I cannot find any public information confirming this. I will say, if this turns out to be true then the end game has arrived in full force for several obvious and some not so obvious reasons. Stay tuned as we hopefully get some sort of confirmation one way or the other shortly to which I will comment.
With that said, some who know me personally will say I am a very “blunt” person. I am sure there are some who would go so far as to describe me as not “polite” or even being rude. These descriptions may be true but what is important to me is this, no one is able to call me a liar or a cheat. I have always done business on a word or handshake and even in today’s fraudulent and litigious world much prefer this method. I try to call a spade a spade and guess sugar coating things is not a strong suit. Maybe “brutally blunt” is a good description? One thing for sure is this, “blunt” is not a characteristic commonly found in neither diplomats nor the elites.
The topic for today is about the elites and what they consider “proper etiquette”. For hundreds of years, the elites have led the general population into booms and busts in all things imaginable. They buy into crashes and sell into booms, as well they should. The elites help fan the flames of greed and fear hoping to “leave no one behind”. Each and every cycle the sheep get sheared as sure as the sun will rise and the elites profit from it. It is my belief the elites send very subtle messages to signal what they are doing or planning.
These messages are understood by their brethren and even by some of the very astute born into the sheep class. You see, the elites like to be “polite” and believe it is poor etiquette or “form” as they would say, to lead someone to slaughter without at least some warning.
This past week we heard from Allen Greenspan and Lord Rothschild. Allen Greenspan has been on tour for close to a year if will and telling some truth. He is hawking his latest book but occasionally comes out with some kernels of truth. If you recall, he spoke last October in New Orleans and I reported on it at the time. My thought then as it is now, he is simply trying to scrub and polish his legacy by being on the record now. The following is a link to an interview doneFriday with CNBC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Iup05yEKmCI
Mr. Greenspan was unusually blunt in this interview. What he said here is not much different than what he has been saying recently, namely productivity is stagnating or even decreasing. What he did add was his belief that lower Fed interest rates have raised PE ratios which will be reversed when interest rates begin to rise again. He left no one wondering his position after saying “we can’t argue that we are extremely overvalued in the market place”. Is he being “polite” by warning people of what he sees coming? Again, I do not think so, but he does want a clean legacy!
Next, we were also starkly warned last week by Lord Rothschildhttp://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-05/lord-rothschild-warns-investors-geopolitics-most-dangerous-wwii . This warning in my opinion had a different motivation. The Rothschilds are a very private family and we almost never hear anything from them so I was pretty shocked to read this. In my opinion, this was the most elite family being “polite” and offering a warning to anyone willing or smart enough to listen. He spoke of unthinkable economic and financial “things”. He talked about risk, lack of economic growth and horror of horrors, “debasement of currencies”. He said “we are faced with a geopolitical situation as dangerous as any since WW II”! I cannot disagree with much of anything he said. The warning given was unmistakable and could have been written by some blogger such as myself except for the eloquence.
I ask you this, why would you not believe what either of these two men have said? They both used well thought out and solid logic. Both of their messages parallel each other and both speak to “risk” at elevated or unprecedented levels. Neither has been known to be a chicken little or alarmist (though Greenspan may have been silenced after his “irrational exuberance” speech”). Another commonality is both are plugged in at the very highest reaches of “banking”. Did either of them just wake up one morning and “go off the reservation” on a humanitarian tangent? No, they are telling you the truth in my opinion for their own reasons… selfish or not.
The greatest wealth transfer in generations if not of all time is right in front of us and was spelled out for you by none other than a Rothschild. If what he had said was BS, I would have been all over it but this is not the case. Don’t get me wrong, I know the Rothschilds are behind fractional reserve banking and the central banks themselves. I also believe they know we have reached game over and Exter’s pyramid is beginning to collapse on itself. If you (your family) had massive quantities of gold leading into a new currency regime and was a big if not THE big player at the table, wouldn’t you be more easily accepted by the masses if you could say “but we warned you”? It is “polite form” if nothing else! Regards, Bill Holter
Attachments area
Preview YouTube video greenspan1
greenspan1
And now for the important paper stories for today:
Early Friday morning trading from Europe/Asia
1. Stocks lower on major Chinese bourses/ / the yen falls to 120.95
1b Chinese yuan vs USA dollar/ yuan strengthens to 6.2635
2 Nikkei down 180.45 or 0.96%
3. Europe stocks all down // USA dollar index down to 97.53/
3b Japan 10 year yield .44%/ (Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 120.95/everybody watching the huge support levels of 117.20 and that level acting as a catapult for the markets. the Japanese yield at .44% becoming very ominous
3c Nikkei still above 17,000/
3e The USA/Yen rate now above the 120 barrier this morning/
3fOil: WTI 49.57 Brent: 59.38 /all eyes are focusing on oil prices. This should cause major defaults as derivatives blow up.
3g/ Gold up /yen down;
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 down this morning for WTI and for Brent
3k European bond buying pushes yields lower on all fronts in the EMU
Except Greece which sees its 2 year rate rise to almost 15% /Greek stocks lower by 3%/expect huge bank runs on Greek banks
3l Greek 10 year bond yield :9.41% (down 11 basis points in yield)
3m Gold at $1174.00 dollars/ Silver: $15.90
3n USA vs Russian rouble: ( Russian rouble down 3/4 rouble / dollar in value) 60.96!!!!!!.
3 0 oil into the 49 dollar handle for WTI and 59 handle for Brent
3p higher foreign deposits into China sees risk of outflows and a currency depreciation can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world.
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.
Rumours SNB may cut rates to negative 1.5%
3r Britain’s Serious fraud squad investigating the Bank of England/
(see below)
3s
3t
4. USA 10 yr treasury bond at 2.22% early this morning. Thirty year rate well below 3% (2.80%!!!!)/yield curve flattens/foreshadowing recession
5. Details: Ransquawk, Bloomberg/Deutsche bank Jim Reid
Start Of European QE Upstaged By Greek Jitters; Apple Unveils iWatch
Because as everyone knows, the one main problem facing Europe today is not trillions on non-performing loans, rampant unemployment, deflation, the surge of anti-austerity political parties coupled with rising xenophobia, and broad socio-economic instability, but bond yields which are not negative enough, earlier today first Germany, then Italy, then France were all delighted to announced they have commenced buying sovereign bonds in the open market, culminating with the following tweet by the ECB intern moments ago:
The buying promptly led to Bund yields once again sliding lower, and the 10Y was down -5bps to 0.35%, on its way to -0.20%. Italy’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 1.29 percent. As Bloomberg reports, “The QE purchases are having the expected effect and the market is very positive,” said Michael Leister, a senior rates strategist at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “In the core we’re seeing yields dropping sharply lower led by the ultra-long end so these are very much QE-style moves. Near-term it’s going to stay quite volatile because there are some sellers who did front-run these purchases and now are keen to sell.” Then again, judging by the early reaction in yields, there are more keen buyers and frontrunners than sellers.
Since negative yields across the flat European curve is now just a matter of time, we hope that the millions in record youth unemployed across the continent managed to BTFD in Bunds – this may be all they need to get their lives back in order.
And while the core of Europe was delighted by the start of the latest central bank bond monetization program, one place that felt left out of the punchbowl party was Greece, whose entire curve and especially the short-end was blowing out once more:
09-Mar-2015 04:51 – GREEK BOND YIELDS PUSHING HIGHER; SHORT-END UNDER PRESSURE
09-Mar-2015 04:52 – 2-YR GREECE YIELDS 14.99%; +117BPS – TRADEWEB
09-Mar-2015 04:52 – 5YR GREECE YIELDS 13.04%; +105BPS – TRADEWEB
09-Mar-2015 04:53 – 10YR GREECE YIELDS 9.70%; +38BPS – TRADEWEB
The reason for the latest bout of Greek weakness, which has also pushed Greek stocks lower by 3% this morning, is that as reported here before, the Eurogroup – which is due to meet today to discuss the latest Greek reform proposal and as a result refuse to unlock some €7 billion fu