We now know that the Retail Apocalypse took another trip downhill during the all-important holiday season. December reports show retail sales declined more in one month than they have since … the Great Recession. Notice what a common refrain that comparison has become.
The plunge in data was so severe and unexpected by many that some question the Census Bureau’s credibility; but other big financial institutions are revising their outlooks substantially based on the data.. Full Story
The parabolic rise in stock prices since Christmas is nothing more than a bear market, short-covering squeeze triggered by direct official intervention in the markets in an attempt to prevent the stock market from collapsing. This is why Powell has reversed the Fed’s monetary policy stance more quickly than cock roaches scatter when the kitchen light is turned on. But when 7 million people are delinquent on their car loan and retail sales go straight off the cliff, we’re at the point at which stopping QT re-upping QE won’t work. The stock market will soon seek lower ground to catch down to reality. This “adjustment” in the stock market could occur more abruptly most expect. Full Story
As much as I’ve pointed out the manipulative effect of the concentrated short position over the years, I have been just as consistent in providing the one sure cure or remedy, namely, position limits. This is the issue that the CFTC and CME Group have stalled on for years. The issue is clear - for decades a handful of large traders (mostly banks) have conspired to manipulate silver prices by selling short massive quantities of COMEX futures contracts in any amount necessary to cap prices until prices fell under the weight of the excessive short selling. For the past 11 years, JPMorgan has been the ringleader, back stopper and main beneficiary of the manipulation, greatly expanding its unfair advantage by conniving to accumulate physical silver at depressed prices over the past 8 years. Should the Justice Department, and its Antitrust Division, fail to act against this crime, the conspiring manipulators will have pulled off the financial crime of all time. Full Story
By: Richard (Rick) Mills, Ahead of the herd - 14 February, 2019
It’s a question well worth considering because we are the lemmings rushing headlong over a cliff to certain destruction. We don’t claim to have all the answers, but part of the problem lies in how we address sustainability. We talk of sustainable resource extraction on a very micro level, without thinking about the macro, the global picture. We have caused extinction of countless species through destruction of their environment. Yet we have learned nothing about saving ourselves from the same fate. Full Story
Theodore Butler writes a $400 newsletter on silver. He is considered by many to be the world’s foremost authority on silver. Eighteen years ago he predicted that silver would go up ten times, which it did. We caught up with him at his home in Florida.
Q: As the world’s leading silver bull, are you expecting fireworks in silver? A: More so than ever.
Q: You know of course that a lot of people who own silver have grown impatient. What do you say to them? A: I feel the same impatience, however my expectations are based upon an extremely bullish set of facts. Impatience has nothing to do with it. Full Story
But what kind of jewelry should you get your spouse or partner? You may have seen stories about how yellow gold jewelry—as opposed to white and rose gold, not to mention silver and platinum—began to fall out of favor in the 1990s, the attitude being that it was “tacky” or “old fashioned.” Personally, I don’t believe it’s ever fallen out of fashion, but we have been seeing its popularity gain additional ground lately. Look no further than Menē, the revolutionary 24-karat jewelry company that’s disrupting the industry.
Much of the renewed interest in yellow gold jewelry is thanks to Prince Harry, who presented Meghan Markle with a gold engagement ring in late 2017. Speaking to the BBC, the prince said that choosing yellow gold was a no-brainer. Full Story
By: Gary Christenson, The Deviant Investor - 13 February, 2019
COMEX (Paper silver and gold): They buy and sell hundreds of paper silver and gold ounces for every physical ounce traded. The paper commitments may default someday.
Avoid the COMEX circus. Buy physical silver and gold bullion, not the paper stuff. If you don’t have physical possession, you may own paper, not bullion. Full Story
By: Stefan Gleason, Money Metals - 13 February, 2019
Socialist Venezuela’s economic collapse and hyperinflationary spiral serves as a warning for American investors. It’s what can happen when a government spends perpetually beyond its means and refuses to face reality.
Despite a U.S. economy that appears relatively strong and stable on the surface, its foundation is beginning to crack under the pressure of a $22 trillion (and growing) debt load.
Both Republicans and Democrats are to blame for that. But rising pro-socialist sentiment within the Democrat Party could turn our current debt danger into a clear and present disaster. Full Story
GATA's old friend B.L. has forwarded the text of an excellent letter he has e-mailed to a monetary metals mining company in which he long has been invested, asking whether the company will ever respond to the growing number of disclosures of manipulation of the gold and silver markets. Full Story
Over the centuries, a number of innovations have emerged that disrupted and forever changed how we explore and mine for gold and other metals. Think dynamite, or the steam engine.
Lately, however, innovation has slowed. Mining companies are in cost-cutting mode, and many producers have favored generating short-term cash flow, often to the detriment of longer-term value. In last year’s “Tracking the Trends” report, Deloitte analysts observed that “miners from 50 years ago would find little has changed if they entered today’s mines, a situation that certainly doesn’t hold true in other industries.” Full Story
After dining on a lunch fit for Elizabethan royalty with Trump, Jerome Powell decided it was a good idea to make an attempt at reflating the stock bubble. After going vertical starting December 26th, the Dow had been moving sideways since January 18th, possibly getting ready to tip over. The FOMC took care of that with its policy directive on January 30th, two hours before the stock market closed. Notwithstanding the Fed’s efforts to reflate the stock bubble – or at least an attempt to prevent the stock market from succumbing to the gravity of deteriorating fundamentals – at some point the stock market is going to head south abruptly again. That might be the move that precipitates the renewal of money printing. Full Story
lint Siegner is a Director at Money Metals Exchange, a precious metals dealer recently named "Best in the USA" by an independent global ratings group. A graduate of Linfield College in Oregon, Siegner puts his experience in business management along with his passion for personal liberty, limited government, and honest money into the development of Money Metals' brand and reach. This includes writing extensively on the bullion markets and their intersection with policy and world affairs. Full Story
While the law firm superintending the Canadian class-action lawsuit against gold and silver market rigging doesn't seem interested in communicating to the public about the case, GATA is reliably informed that the settlement agreement with Deutsche Bank reported today -- http://www.gata.org/node/18857 -- is not the end of the case... Full Story
“Investment in gold now is insurance. It’s not for short-term gain, but for long-term protection. I view gold as the primary global currency. It is the only currency, along with silver, that does not require a counter-party signature. Gold, however, has always been far more valuable per ounce than silver. No one refuses gold as payment to discharge an obligation. Credit instruments and fiat currency depend on the credit worthiness of a counter-party. Gold, along with silver, is one of the only currencies that has an intrinsic value. It has always been that way. No one questions its value, and it has always been a valuable commodity, first coined in Asia Minor in 600 BC.” – Alan Greenspan, former Fed chairman Full Story
As happened with the first housing market crash that began in 2007 but didn’t become widely recognized until mid-2008, the present housing crisis began exploding one story at a time last summer, and this blog was perhaps the first to state that summer’s change was the turning point from decades of ascent into a collapse in housing sales and prices. I said the same thing back in 2007, and people didn’t believe me then either.
The present housing market crash, like the last, was created by the Federal Reserve artificially pressing mortgage rates down, then down further, and then down as deep they dared push for years and years. Falling interest, allowed people with flat incomes to keep purchasing increasingly expensive homes. Since people buy payments more than house prices, housing prices kept rising as payments were kept in line via these artificial interest reductions. Full Story
By: Keith Weiner, Monetary Metals - 11 February, 2019
Last week, in part I of this essay, we discussed why a central planner cannot know the right interest rate. Central planner’s macroeconomic aggregate measures like GDP are blind to the problem of capital consumption, including especially capital consumption caused by the central plan itself. GDP has an intrinsic bias towards consumption, and makes no distinction between consumption of the yield on capital, and consumption of the capital per se. Between selling the golden egg, and cooking the goose that lays golden eggs.
One could quibble with this and say that, well, really, the central planners should use a different metric. This is not satisfying. It demands the retort, “if there is a better metric than GDP, then why aren’t they using it now?” GDP is, itself, supposed to be that better metric! Nominal GDP targeting is the darling central plan proposal of the Right, supposedly better than consumer price index and unemployment (as Modern Monetary Theory is the darling of the Left). Full Story
By: Chris Waltzek, GoldSeek Radio - 10 February, 2019
- Gerald Celente returns from the Trends Research Institute and Globalnomic® Trend Forecaster with key insights. - Venezuela is on the verge of chaos as President Maduro faces a coup and perhaps even pressure from US military forces. - Already over 3 million people have fled the nation. - A key method of transferring their wealth remains gold and cryptos, underscoring the significance of safe haven investing. - Some pundits suggest caution as key BRICS nations also seek maintain oil interests in the country and surrounding nations. - Mr. Celente fears most of S.A. could face implications for the citizens in the region. - The duo concur that the Fed has finished the QT rate hike cycle and will likely return to monetary expansion / QE operations.... Full Story
With only five weeks gone out of the year, it's hard to tell how the year will turn out. The precious metal market feels a lot different now, but that's just the way it appears at the moment. However, I am optimistic. The DoJ is still lurking about over at JPMorgan -- and in case you've forgotten, the DoJ sentencing date of that former JPMorgan precious metals trader has now been pushed back to June 2019.
In gold, there was a big positive surprise, as the commercial traders actually reduced their short position by an eye-opening 23,427 contracts, or 2.34 million troy ounces of paper gold. Both Ted and I were expecting a small to modest increase during that reporting week.
They arrived at that number by increasing their long position by 7,320 contracts -- and they also reduced their short position by 16,107 contracts -- and it's the sum of those two numbers that represents their change for the reporting week...
This seems an odd coincidence. But if the gold swaps were entered with the intent of trying to suppress the price of gold, then perhaps this coincidence does not appear so strange. Perhaps the BIS' counterparty to the swap was prepared to enter the transaction only if it was both entitled to the return of its gold swapped with the BIS but also was protected against a fall in the price of gold for the duration of the swaps.
In itself this unusual transaction does not prove gold price suppression, but it would be consistent with suppression being the underlying reason for the swap. Full Story
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