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Have you seen what the price of silver has been doing? On Monday, it exploded past 20 dollars an ounce, and as I write this article it is sitting at $20.48. Earlier today it actually surged above 21 dollars an ounce for a short time before moving back just a bit. In late March, I told my readers that silver was “ridiculously undervalued” when it was sitting at $15.81 an ounce, and that call has turned out to be quite prescient. The Friday before last, silver started the day at $17.25 an ounce, and it is up more than 18 percent since that time. Overall, silver is up more than 30 percent for the year, and that makes it one of the best performing investments of 2016. So what is causing this sudden surge in the price of silver? This is something that we will discuss below…

This sudden spike in the price of silver has definitely caught a lot of analysts off guard. Some are suggesting that the fact that the Fed is now less likely to raise rates after the Brexit and the fact that the dollar has been slipping a bit lately are the primary reasons for silver’s rise…

This isn’t a gradual increase either. It’s an explosive growth spurt. Just three months ago silver had reached an 11 month high. Now silver prices have reached a 23 month high. Several factors appear to be influencing these gains, including a weakening dollar, and the fact that the Fed may cut interest rates in light of the Brexit vote.

Personally, I don’t buy those explanations.

To me, the continuing implosion of major banks over in Europe is the main factor that is driving investors to safe haven assets such as silver.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“This Is A Scary Time” – CEO Explains The Single Biggest Reason Why People Are Buying Gold And Silver

May 16, 2016

“This Is A Scary Time” – CEO Explains The Single Biggest Reason Why People Are Buying Gold And Silver

We can talk about technical charts, supply and demand fundamentals, and price manipulation, all of which point to significant increases in the value of gold and silver for the foreseeable future.

But according to Golden Arrow Resources CEO Joseph Grosso, who is credited with the discovery of the largest silver deposit in history, the single biggest reason that retail investors, institutional players and governments around the world are gobbling up physical precious metals, resource stocks and ETF’s at unprecedented levels is that they are scared to death of the state of the global economy and where it will go next.

Like an expecting father waiting for five years to see a baby being born, we are at the inception of a mining economy… There is a pause, a slight pause towards the U.S. dollar and that pause is allowing the oldest currency in the world, gold and silver [to rise] and that is now in favor.

…Because there is fear. When there is fear, that’s when gold does best.

… Right now, this is a scary time… People want to hop out [of traditional assets] and find safety in precious metals.

In the following interview with SGT Report the level-headed Grosso explains that there is still hope for America and the U.S. economy, but there will be a lot of pain before it gets better, the consequence of which is an environment that has historically boded well for precious metals as safe haven assets.

(Watch at Youtube)

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Fresh Mainstream Nonsense on Gold Demand

May 16, 2016

Fresh Mainstream Nonsense on Gold Demand

They Will Never Get It…

We and many others have made a valiant effort over the years to explain what actually moves the gold market (as examples see e.g. our article “Misconceptions About Gold”, or Robert Blumen’s excellent essay “Misunderstanding Gold Demand”). Sometimes it is a bit frustrating when we realize it has probably all been for naught.

Gold bars are displayed at a gold jewellery shop in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh Gold wants to know what it has done now… Photo credit: Ajay Verma / Reuters

This was brought home to us again in a recent missive posted at Kitco, which discusses an RBC research note on gold. In a way, it is actually quite funny. The post at Kitco is titled “Gold’s ‘One-legged’ Rally Is Cause of Concern”.

We can assure you it is not of “concern” to us. But we did wonder why the rally was supposedly “one-legged”, so we decided to read on.

Here is what RBC has decided was worth sharing in its new research report:

Despite gold’s impressive run up so far this year, analysts at RBC Capital Markets are concerned by the “one-legged” nature of its rally. In a research report Friday, commodity strategists for the bank noted that gold’s 2016 upswing has been mainly driven by investors, while other sources of demand haven’t followed through.

“In fact, investment demand seems to be the only leg driving this one-legged rally. For us to turn positive, we would need to see this strength replicated elsewhere,” they said. “Investor sentiment has turned amid a flight to safety, but that seems to be the only sentiment that has in fact shifted.”

(emphasis added)

Color us completely flabbergasted. What “others sources of demand” apart from investment demand are supposedly needed to produce a rally in gold and make it two-legged or maybe even three-legged?

June gold, daily. You poor one-legged thing! – click to enlarge.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“China Yuan Gold Fix Is Part Of A Planned Shift From Dollar”: China’s Bocom

April 20, 2016

“China Yuan Gold Fix Is Part Of A Planned Shift From Dollar”: China’s Bocom

China’s shift to an official local-currency-based gold fixing is “the culmination of a two-year plan to move away from a US-centric monetary system,” according to Bocom strategist Hao Hong. In an insightfully honest Bloomberg TV interview, Hong admits that “by trading physical gold in renminbi, China is slowly chipping away at the dominance of US dollars.” Gold, silver, and petroleum “are the three USD-based commodites that China wants most control of” according to Hong but “gold in particular is one of the commodities that China is hoarding very hard.”

Finally, as Hong explains above, for those who suggest that China will never dump Treasuries or ‘hurt’ the dollar, since they hold so much dollars on their balance sheet, things are chganging rapidly – “The gold reserve on the China balance sheet has almost doubled since 2009. By holding gold, and moving away from a US-dollar centric system, we actually require less US dollars.”

Mobs of Angry Investors Fight Market Rigging, Maul Deutsche Bank in Class-Action Lawsuit, other Banks Next

April 18, 2016

Mobs of Angry Investors Fight Market Rigging, Maul Deutsche Bank in Class-Action Lawsuit, other Banks Next

Since none of the criminal bankers responsible end up in prison…

Prior to last week, Deutsche Bank made headlines for a string of huge losses and massive exposure to risky derivatives. The last time the firm’s shares traded at prices this low, the world was in the midst of 2008’s financial apocalypse.

Deutsche Bank didn’t need more bad news, but a group of investors who brought suit against the massive German bank for cheating them by rigging the London “fix” price for gold and silver certainly must be smiling. Last week, the bank offered to settle their class action suit for an undisclosed amount.

Perhaps more importantly, DB promises to provide evidence to help the plaintiffs in their suit against the other banks who participated in manipulating the fix: Bank of Nova Scotia, Barclays, HSBC and SocGen. In a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni, the plaintiff’s attorney said, “In addition to valuable monetary consideration, Deutsche Bank has also agreed to provide cooperation to the Plaintiffs, including the production of instant messages and other electronic communications, as part of the settlement.”

If the information DB provides is incriminating, as the plaintiff’s expect, it won’t be the only recent example of bankers getting caught talking smugly amongst themselves about swindling investors and clients. A year ago Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays, and RBS pled guilty to criminally rigging the foreign exchange markets following the leak of some embarrassing communiques.

That case rested, in large part, on logs from an exclusive chat group participants dubbed “The Cartel.”

Here is a good example of the type of conversations contained in those logs. The banker representing Barclays “mentors” another member:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Deutsche Bank Admits It Also Rigged Gold Prices, Agrees To Expose Other Manipulators

April 14, 2016

Deutsche Bank Admits It Also Rigged Gold Prices, Agrees To Expose Other Manipulators

Well, that didn’t take long.

Earlier today when we reported the stunning news that DB has decided to “turn” against the precious metals manipulation cartel by first settling a long-running silver price fixing lawsuit which in addition to “valuable monetary consideration” said it would expose the other banks’ rigging having also “agreed to provide cooperation to plaintiffs, including the production of instant messages, and other electronic communications, as part of the settlement” we said “since this is just one of many lawsuits filed over the past two years in Manhattan federal court in which investors accused banks of conspiring to rig rates or prices in financial and commodities markets, we expect that now that DB has “turned” that much more curious information about precious metals rigging will emerge, and will confirm what the “bugs” had said all along: that the precious metals market has been rigged all along.”

This was confirmed moments ago when Reuters reported that Deutsche Bank has also reached a settlement in US litigation alleging the bank conspired to fix gold prices. In other words, hours after admitting it was rigging the silver market, it did the same for gold.

Some more headlines from Reuters:

Reaches settlement in U.S. litigation alleging it conspired to fix gold prices.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers, in filing, say Deutsche Bank has signed a settlement term sheet
Plaintiffs’ lawyers say are negotiating formal settlement agreement that would be presented for judge’s approval later
Plaintiffs’ lawyers say settlement contemplates a monetary payment by Deutsche Bank
Gold settlement follows similar accord involving alleged silver price-fixing that was disclosed on Wednesday

Most importantly, as the actual settlement reveals, Deutsche has agreed that in addition to once again providing “valuable monetary consideration” which will be paid into a settlement fund, that like in the silver settlement it will provide “cooperation in pursuing claims against the remaining Defendants.“

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Deutsche Bank Confirms Silver Market Manipulation In Legal Settlement, Agrees To Expose Other Banks

April 14, 2016

Deutsche Bank Confirms Silver Market Manipulation In Legal Settlement, Agrees To Expose Other Banks

Back in July of 2014, we reported that in an attempt to obtain if not compensation, then at least confirmation of bank manipulation in the precious metals industry, a group of silver bullion banks including Deutsche Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia and HSBC (later UBS was also added to the defendants) were accused of manipulating prices in the multi-billion dollar market.

The lawsuit, which was originally filed in a New York district court by veteran litigator J. Scott Nicholson, a resident of Washington DC, alleged that the banks, which oversee the century-old silver fix manipulated the physical and COMEX futures market since January 2007. The lawsuit subsequently received class-action status. It was the first case to target the silver fix.

Many expected that this case would never go anywhere and that the defendant banks would stonewall indefinitely: after all their legal budgets were far greater than the plaintiffs.

Which is why we were surprised to read overnight that not only has this lawsuit against precious metals manipulation not been swept away, but that the lead defendant, troulbed German bank Deutsche Bank agreed to settle the litigation over allegations it illegally conspired with Bank of Nova Scotia and HSBC Holdings Plc to fix silver prices at the expense of investors, Reuters reported citing a court filing by law firm Lowey.

Terms were not disclosed, but the accord will include a monetary payment by the German bank.

It goes without saying, that there would have been neither a settlement nor a payment if the banks had done nothing wrong.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Precious Metals Conspiracy

April 11, 2016

The Precious Metals Conspiracy

Tricky and Dangerous Assumptions

For at least a few weeks now, we have noticed a growing drumbeat from a growing corps of analysts. Gold is going to thousands of dollars. And silver is going to outperform. Reasons given are myriad. Goldman Sachs apparently said to short gold, so if one assumes that the bank always advises clients to take the other side of its trades — a tricky and dangerous assumption at best — then one should buy gold.

Goild conspiracy A metallic conspirator and his flying factotum… Image via sceptic.com

Then there’s the change in ETFs, for example the Sprott Physical Silver Fund has had inflows and Sprott bought more silver. And there’s currency wars, money printing, negative interest rates, etc. Most of these stories are based in fact (well except the belief that Goldman’s research is always wrong).

However, they have little to do with the price of gold. The money supply has grown steadily since 2011 while the prices of gold and silver have not. Hell, the money supply has been growing since forever. And the price of gold has gone up as well as down.

Something tells us that this effort to draw in buyers is concerted. Certainly there has been an 8.4% increase in silver held in trust for SLV. This is the result of relentless buying of SLV shares. When buyers push up the price of SLV relative to the price of silver, that creates an arbitrage opportunity for Authorized Participants.

They buy silver metal, create SLV shares, and sell the newly issued shares. They can do that as much as they want while there’s a profit to do so. But of course this pushes down the price of SLV until it is very close to the price of silver. SLV is somewhere between metal and futures. It can be a speculative play on price, but it’s bought with less leverage and it can also be a long-term holding for many people.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

CEO Keith Neumeyer Warns: “There’s Going To Be a Major Revolt… We’re Going To See Riots”

April 10, 2016

CEO Keith Neumeyer Warns: “There’s Going To Be a Major Revolt… We’re Going To See Riots”

With negative interest rates now the order of the day in much of the Western world, it’s only a matter of time before financial institutions start charging American depositors for the privilege of keeping their money safe in the U.S. banking system.

And according to Keith Neumeyer in his latest interview with SGT Report, that could spell disaster for socio-economic stability. Neumeyer, who is the CEO of one of the world’s top primary silver producers First Majestic Silver and the Chairman of mineral bank firm First Mining Finance, says that should The Fed and government policy makers implement negative interest rates and continue on their current course of bailing out big business while impoverishing average Americans, we could well see riots in the streets.

Negative interest rates are a way that governments are trying to tax the people… it’s going to start with big corporations that have a lot of cash sitting around in the banks and then it’s going to trickle down to the average person on the street… the people that get hurt are the small investor… the people that could least afford it… the retired people that rely on their interest on their savings that they expected to have… this is all changing… the world is changing…

I think there’s going to be a major revolt… If we actually do see negative interest rates in North America… we’re going to see riots.

(Watch At Youtube)

The Fed has lost credibility. And that has left the average person on the street with an air of uncertainty and concern over the stability of the system.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Jim Rickards: The New Case For Gold

April 4, 2016

Jim Rickards: The New Case For Gold

A powerful set of arguments for owning the yellow metal

Monetary expert Jim Rickards returns this week to share the insights from his latest work The New Case For Gold, a detailed and highly-researched study of the fundamentals likely to drive the price of gold bullion in the years to come.

Rickards is quite confident that the price is going higher — much higher in fact — as the current world fiat currency regimes falter, to be replaced by ones backed (at least in part) by bullion.

On the way to that outcome, expect the price to be subjugated to the interests and aims of the largest players on the geopolitical chessboard:

Is there gold price manipulation going on? Absolutely; there’s no question about it. That’s not just an opinion.

I spoke to a PhD statistician who works for one of the biggest hedge funds in the world. I can’t mention the name but it’s a household name, you would know the fund. This guy is a PhD statistician. He looked at COMEX opening prices and COMEX closing prices for a 10-year period and he was dumbfounded. He said…This is the most blatant case of manipulation I’ve ever seen. He said if you went into the aftermarket, bought after the close and sold before the opening every day, you would make risk-free profits. He said statistically that’s impossible unless there’s manipulation going on.

I spoke to Professor Rosa Abrantes-Metz at the New York University Stern School of Business. She is the leading expert on globe price manipulation. She actually testifies in some of these gold manipulation cases that are going on. She wrote a report reaching the same conclusions. It’s not just an opinion, it’s not just a deep, dark conspiracy theory. Here’s a PhD statistician and a prominent market expert lawyer, expert witness in litigation qualified by the courts, who independently reached the same conclusion.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Fixing the Silver Fix : the Corruption Continues

March 31, 2016

Fixing the Silver Fix : the Corruption Continues

My name is Tommy Flanagan, and I’m a member of Pathological Liars Anonymous. In fact…I’m the president of that organization. Yeah, that’s who I am.

I didn’t always lie. No, I used to tell the truth. Then one day I told a lie, and I got away with it. Yeah, I told my parents that I had a brother that they had never met…

-Jon-the-Liar Lovitz, The Johnny Carson Show, March 28, 1985

As the character Jon Lovitz explained on The Johnny Carson Show, lying is habit-forming. If perpetuated, it becomes compulsive conduct. Lying is a form of deviant behavior that (in the eyes of the liar) makes problems go away. Of course such problems never disappear permanently, because a lie can never solve anything. At some point the problem resurfaces, and because it never was addressed, often the problem has grown even larger.

The response from the liar is to tell another lie. But, because the problem is now almost inevitably larger, the new lie tends to be bigger or worse than the original. The process repeats. As the lies become larger and more numerous, eventually some of the new lies begin to openly contradict the old lies.

At this point, the proverbial “jig is up” for the liar. At least that is how things are supposed to work, as illustrated by the fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Which brings us to the “silver fix.”

The most obvious starting point is a question: why do we need a “silver fix”? In an era of electronic, instantaneous communication, and with (supposedly) “free and open markets,” why do we need someone to tell us what the price of silver is supposed to be at a particular moment in time? Why can’t market participants simply observe for themselves the current spot-price in our “free and open markets”?

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Two Worlds of Precious Metals: East and West – Jeff Nielson

March 17, 2016

The Two Worlds of Precious Metals: East and West – Jeff Nielson

For five thousand years, gold and silver have been humanity’s premier form of money; real money, not the faux-money manufactured by our central banks. During that same period of time, these metals have been our premier instruments of wealth preservation and therefore our “safe havens.”

There is nothing accidental about this phenomenon. Gold and silver have obvious aesthetic appeal. Indeed, silver is actually the more brilliant of the two metals. It is their aesthetic appeal that makes these metals “precious.” But more than simply their aesthetic appeal, they are also (relatively) rare.

If diamonds were as common as pebbles, it would be impossible to impress one’s potential bride-to-be with such stones, even in a setting of gold. Diamonds have their value, both real and sentimental, not only because of their aesthetic qualities but also because of their perceived scarcity.

The situation is the same for gold and silver. If gold and silver were as common as iron, zinc, or even copper, they would not be coveted as greatly, regardless of their aesthetic appeal, because of their abundance. It is the qualities of being “rare” and “precious” which are essential in order for any commodity to be considered a suitable currency. It is these properties that make a commodity a source of value. There will always be demand for these metals; therefore, they will always have value. For these reasons, gold and silver preserve and protect wealth.

Gold and silver are both precious and rare, but they are more than that. As metals, they also exhibit uniformity. Once refined, any gold or silver coin is indistinguishable from any other. Conversely, diamonds lack uniformity, therefore they are not a good candidate to be used as “money.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Will Gold and Silver Become the Underground Currencies of the Future?

March 15, 2016

Will Gold and Silver Become the Underground Currencies of the Future?

QUESTION: Martin … the reasoning behind goldbugs … advising people to buy gold to thwart the cashless society that govts will soon impose on us all. Do you think gold and silver will become the underground currency of the alternative economy as people try to get around the official cashless economy or not?

thanks
Regards
P

ANSWER:They probably will to some extent, but it will be very limited. Gold and silver have lost their mobility. You can no longer hop on a plane with a briefcase full of metal. The more likely outcome is that gold and silver will simply be a hedge against government. It is unlikely that everyone will simply be using them at the local Starbucks.

Government will make transactions in gold or silver illegal and equivalent to money laundering. These people are not about to let anything circumvent their dreams. Nevertheless, their plans are by no means sustainable. The more likely outcome will be that they collapse and we move to some new political system. However, keep in mind that this could take until 2032 for a complete reboot.

In France, a train that passes through Switzerland and Liechtenstein is routinely stopped. The French financial police enter and search bags and luggage for valuables. You cannot travel with valuables worth more than $10,000. They will confiscate whatever they can. In Italy, if you look like you have a lot of gold chains on they will pull you over and weigh them.

The likelihood that you will be able to travel with gold is about zero. The likelihood that you will be able to go to the local grocery store and buy food with silver or gold coins is also zero.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Gold is the only sound money

March 12, 2016

Gold is the only sound money

This article notes that the technical situation for the gold price has sharply improved, to the evident surprise of many mainstream analysts. It discusses possible reasons behind the turnaround, and implications for the future.

The technical situation is shown in the chart below.

Golden Cross

A “golden cross”, with the 55 day moving average crossing above the 200 day moving average with both of them on a rising trend, and the share price above both these moving averages, has now occurred. This is generally taken by traders to indicate the bear trend has reversed, and a bull market is now in place.

More interestingly, this change of direction is combined with a bullish pennant pattern, which commenced on 11th February and completed on 3rd March, taking precisely three weeks. This is shown by the dotted lines. The intraday price movements (not shown) conform exactly to the pattern, and the break-out on 4th March saw high volume with an increase to a record amount of outstanding Comex contracts.

The other technical qualifications for a pennant are also fully satisfied. It follows a sharp rise, is a consolidation lasting no more than three or at most four weeks, volume diminished while the pattern played out (taking Comex volumes as proxy), and the break-out was a resumption of the trend. It therefore appears to be a text-book example.

Pennants give us a price objective, which equates to the preceding rise from its breakout point. This yields a minimum price target of approximately $1400, which with pennants can happen quite quickly. And that helps explain, from a purely technical point of view, the seemingly unstoppable strength in the gold price.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

These 7 Things Are Better Than Paper Money In the Bank When the Economy Collapses

March 6, 2016

These 7 Things Are Better Than Paper Money In the Bank When the Economy Collapses

So you’ve done the hard work of getting your finances in order and now you’re looking to invest your hard-earned surplus into things that will protect or grow it.

Keeping your savings as fiat currency in the the banks may not be the safest way to store your wealth. Banks are beginning to give concrete evidence of actually penalizing you for keeping your money with them … and that’s if they don’t outright confiscate it via bank bail-in.

It would be prudent to look at investments that offer the dual purpose of getting around the banking system, while also offering ways to stockpile the tangible items that should fare much better in any economic collapse situation.

Here are seven investments that will hold value far better than cash if the current trends continue.

Food

We are beginning to see in real-real time what a collapse in the food supply could mean. One look at Venezuela should prove that even though most people believe “it could never happen here” or even that they have enough money to get what they need no matter what, this is not the case. Even the supposedly wealthy in Venezuela are waiting in long lines with everyone else.

While things are still relatively stable, it makes sense to build a food stockpile slowly but surely. You can pick up a few key food items each week at the supermarket to build up your food bank without having to spend thousands in bulk food acquisitions. It’s best to keep your storable food bank list simple and concentrate on common foods that you already consume regularly. We wrote an article geared toward foods that have long shelf lives but are also practical for most diets, so please read “10 Best Survival Foods At Your Local Supermarket.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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