Author Archives: count down to zero time
Gold buyers forced to go on waiting list
Investment company Physical Gold said there were waiting lists of three weeks for some coins, and four to six weeks for gold bars. “Previously all would have been available within a few days,” the company said.
The company said that it had seen a 50pc increase in enquiries about purchasing gold and a 35pc increase in sales, with people buying tax-free gold coins. “We are now starting to experience physical gold shortages,” said Daniel Fisher, CEO of Physical Gold.
“In particular there are waiting times on some gold bars and a real difficulty in obtaining mixed year Sovereigns. “However, many clients are willing to ‘do a deal’ and wait for delivery as they want to secure the current price as they feel it will be higher in the near future.”
Gold prices have fallen significantly recently, which may have created some demand. Mr Fisher said his clients had been “waiting in the wings” for the current price adjustment. “Clients who have been ready to pounce have now bought as they realise they are getting good value and the environment for gold is still strong. There are still few decent alternatives to gold as a safe haven asset.”
“Private households worldwide continue to take advantage of the drop, buying precious metals at prices not seen in almost two years,” he said.
The Scoin Shop, which sells gold coins in the Westfield Shopping Centre, said that sales of Kruggerand have increased 468 per cent last week, as investors rush to get the precious metal at what they see as a cheap rate.
Swiss Refiner Delays Hit 5 Weeks On Massive Gold Demand
Today Egon von Greyerz told King World News that delays from Swiss gold refiners have expanded to a stunning 5 weeks. KWN readers need to remember that the Swiss refiners refine over 75% of the world’s gold supply. Greyerz also discussed what is happening with gold demand in other key markets. Below is what Greyerz, who is founder of Matterhorn Asset Management out of Switzerland, had to say in this remarkable interview.
Greyerz: “Eric, the world has no idea what’s going to hit it. The majority of people today in the West are living in debt and have no assets to protect, but for the people with savings and wealth and for the managers of funds, they don’t realize that they have lost 60% to 80% in real terms over the last 13 years.
Not only has cash in the bank gone down by 80% in real terms, which is against gold, but so have stocks, housing, commercial property, and many other assets. So people live under the false illusion that paper money is a true measure of their wealth. As we know, nothing is further from the truth….
20 YEAR METALS TRADER: EVERY METALS TRANSFER REQUEST FROM MAJOR BROKER IS BEING REJECTED MULTIPLE TIMES!
I have been a broker for 20 years. Recently the major broker dealer I work for asked me and my clients to leave due to too high of a concentration in physical metals.
I am now in the process of moving my clients and metals to a new custodian.Here is where things get interesting:Every transfer is being rejected multiple times for the any reason the old major broker dealer can come up with.
More interesting is all, when the old broker dealer finally does transfer the metals to the new custodian, NONE of the bars are the same in weight or serial number as my clients’ statements!
The old broker dealer is having to come to me and my clients with bars of different serial numbers and weight than the one listed on the statements or from old trade confirms.
This mis-match on transfers proves to me that the old broker deal NEVER had the metals and are now having to go acquire them to make good on client transfers.
I am 100% certain that the most of the metals have been removed from the United States, and when the stock market and bond market crashes this fall, all metals in private accounts will either not be there, or confiscated.
Heed this warning people, then end is HERE. [Read more…]
GOLD TRADER: “STOCK MARKET MAY CRASH 10-20% IN NEXT 5-10 DAYS, WILL CREATE SETUP FOR BUBBLE PHASE IN GOLD”
I had the chance on Friday to reconnect with technical gold traderGary Savage, publisher of the “Smart Money Tracker” daily gold market commentary and trading service, which has outperformed most of the world’s hedge funds in 2011 and 2012.
It was a powerful conversation as Gary indicated the S&P 500 isat its most overbought level in nearly 40 years, and may crash 10%-20% within a few trading days as a result. Following this crash, Gary expects a massive central bank monetary intervention to create the “launch pad” for an explosive move higher in gold and gold equities, ushering in the final bubble stage of the bull market.
“We’re at a very important crossroads here,” Gary explained at the beginning of the interview. “The S&P 500 [broke] through 1640…and I expect we’re going to have some kind of crash, or semi-crash over the next 5-10 days…The selling is probably going to get huge…and it [may] take everything [down] with it.”
From Tekoa Da Silva, Bull Market Thinking
When asked why he’s expecting a crash of such magnitude to occur, Gary replied, “If you look at [a] long-term market chart…you can see that at the recent peak, [it] was stretched further above the 200 day moving average then it’s ever been in the last 30 or 40 years. So the forces of regression are going to be extremely powerful…We’re probably going to [cut] right through the 200 day moving average and [it] may make the 2011 correction look small [in comparison].”
This fragile equities market plays a key role in determining gold’s next move according to Gary, in that, “When it breaks, the Fed is going to freak out, [and] they’re going to double, triple, and quadruple down on QE to try and pump stocks back up, [and] that liquidity…[is] going to find something else…I don’t believe it’s going to pump up a double parabola in stocks…[It’s] going to look for something that’s undervalued…and that right now is commodities in general, more specifically—gold.”
As to the consequences of gold being driven down so far when compared to this blow-off in equities, Gary stated that, “Regression to the mean not only works on the upside, but also on the downside, and gold is in the mirror position of the stock market—it’s stretched extremely far below the 200 day moving average. So when [the] regression occurs, it’s going to be an extremely violent move back towards the 200 day moving average, and like I said, I think what will trigger this [move in gold], will be the stock market crash, the Fed, and the central banks’ response to [the] unraveling…[it’s] what I imagine would happen before the bubble phase begins.“
When asked about the small signals investors should look for in gold and gold equities to identify an early start to the bubble move, Gary said, “At some point the selling exhausts…and [when] the liquidity starts to flow into that area…value investors [start] coming in, and then you start to get these 5%-6% days, and [the] next thing you know you’ve got an 11% week, and then the momentum starts to shift and then you get a buying panic into the area where people are making money…So I think we have a [perfect] setup for the bubble phase in gold.”
As a final comment Gary advised further patience in holding gold equities, saying, “They may temporarily follow [the market] down, but they’re going to rebound out of that extremely violently, and leave the stock market in the dust.“
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This was another powerful interview with one of the world’s most successful gold traders, and is required listening for investors looking to profitably trade this gold bull market.
To listen to the interview, click the following link and/or save to to your desktop:
The Comex Confirms That Its Gold and Silver Inventory Reports Are Fraudulent-end game approaches
As things go from bad to worse politically for Barrack Obama and the US government things are hotting up at the comex well they have finally come clean the emperor has no clothes, although the emperor has been a Laughing stalk for his naked ness many years now they have admitted it publicly what happens next is it gold to the moon. I think Jim willies take a few years ago is the best scenario that the comex wont die a death of a thousand cuts it will just fade into insignificance(like the country itself is now). With out and out in your face fraud now a daily occurrence in the banking industry with no one with even a remote chance of going to jail and insider selling at the NY stock exchange all time highs and the public being told that everything is fine(and some of them are starting to believe this nonsense)it wont be long now before everything crashes and were faced with another world war. During the second world war Germany like Iran now was forced to buy everything with gold. It wont be a case of making money it will be a case of if you have Gold or not. Got gold anyone.
story below
“The information in this report is taken from sources believed to be reliable; however, the Commodity Exchange, Inc. disclaims all liability whatsoever with regard to its accuracy or completeness. This report is produced for information purposes only.” – disclaimer now posted on the Comex gold and silver daily warehouse stock report as of Monday, June 3, 2013.
Well now. How would you like to get your bank statement in the mail from JP Morgan or Bank of America and see this disclaimer added at the bottom:
“The information in this account statement is taken from sources believed to be reliable; however, JP Morgan Chase & Co. disclaims all liability whatsoever with regard to its accuracy or completeness. This account statement is produced for information purposes only.”
How would feel about that? That’s pretty much the equivalent of what the attorneys for the CME/Comex have done by adding the statement at the top to their daily gold and silver warehouse stock reports. That disclaimer was not in Friday’s warehouse stock report, it was on yesterday’s (kudos to the commenter “anonymous” who discovered this).
The common reaction would be to ask “why now?” But we already know the answer to that question. I’ve suspected for a long time that the Comex vault operators lease out a substantial portion of the gold and silver bars that they keep in both the “registered” and “eligible” account designations. It would be easy income for JP Morgan, a bullion bank who actively engages in gold leasing, to lease out the majority of the bars it stores for delivery – “registered” – and for investors who have taken delivery but keep their gold/silver in JPM’s Comex vault – “eligible.” After all, in any given delivery month, less than 1-2% of the open interest ever stand for delivery, making it very easy for a Comex vault operator to earn extra income by leasing out gold and silver that it knows it will never be required to produce for delivery.
I am willing to bet a very large amount of money that this disclaimer was put on the warehouse reports starting yesterday as a result of the large amount of gold bars that has been physically removed from Comex vaults, and specifically from JP Morgan’s “eligible” account, since the beginning of the year. This means that it is highly likely that a significant portion of the remaining gold and silver sitting in Comex precious metals vaults – especially JPM’s – has been been hypothecated in some form.
For anyone who has witnessed what happened with MF Global and the illegal hypothecation of customer assets, a situation in which JP Morgan is/was inextricably tied, if you believe that Wall Street is willing to hypothecate the sacred customer accounts but would not hypothecate or lease out Comex gold, then you are either tragically naive or terminally ignorant.
To make matters even worse, I just looked up the Comex warehouse rules with regard to storage and guarantee requirements, and there is not any requirement that Comex vault operators establish “allocated” accounts for the individual customers who have taken delivery – theoretically – of gold or silver from the Comex and chose to “safekeep” it in a Comex vault. Here’s the link the to rules: Comex Storage Rules
Yes, insurance is required, but there will come a time – likely sooner than most think – when there will be a rush by Comex vault customers to take delivery of the metal they have been ambivalently assured is sitting in a Comex vault. Unfortunately for them, they will receive a notice that will say “see the disclaimer on our website, check’s in the mail.”
ALERT NOT ENOUGH GOLD FOR ALL
| Picture: bullionstreet.com |
A few days ago the finance minister of India, P Chidambaram, asked the citizens of his country that contained his “uncontrolled passion” for gold , and instead, save in traditional financial instruments. “Have faith in our financial sector,” he said, hoping to stop acquiring it.
He accuses her growing consumption is affecting the current account deficit of the country, and soon to be launched offered “lucrative” bond options indexed to inflation, as an alternative. Failure guaranteed.
It may be recalled that India along with China, are the largest consumers of this metal in the world, a situation that at least the Indian authorities do not like at all.
Chidambaram’s frustration, is paradigmatic.
Many politicians and central bankers around the world, principally in the U.S. Federal Reserve, must be feeling like himself.
All actions, therefore, are designed to reinforce at any cost, the predominant role of their respective currencies, so you understand exactly why the Fed, the main currency station “backup”, is the most active in this matter.
If that means you have to knock the gold price certainly will by all means possible. And it does. The ideal way is selling large amounts of “gold” role in the futures market through their brokers, “Bullion Banks”. Simple as that.
In this regard, the well-oiled propaganda machine anti gold, is bearing fruit among many investors ‘sophisticated’ and academics with doctorates, but does not seem to be having a lot of echo in people, maybe more by intuition than knowledge, continue to do correct treasuring the king of metals silver and his partner.
This phenomenon is occurring across the globe. In this blog, in previous installments have realized punctual deoro demand growth and physical silver .
According to the World Gold Council, in the first quarter of 2013 the aggregate demand of jewelery, bars and coins just had its biggest expansion in India, with a growth of 27%, while in China and the United States climbed 20% over the same period last year.
In Mexico, during April, also exploded dramatically appetite for the now famous silver ounce Libertad .More and more examples of this kind abound in all latitudes.
Sure Chidambaram and many others like him, he has no idea that the gold does not obey the classical laws of supply and demand.
Why not explain why people keep looking at golden metal, even though its price in rupees, of course, has plummeted. Not know then that sometimes higher prices not only bring no more supply, but even the contract, by the resistance of their holders to part with it in the midst of a crisis.
Nor quotes a trend downward as the current one away to investors in value, but on the contrary, makes them run more gold than withdrawn from circulation . In the end, what will remain the holders of “gold” and “silver” paper?
So the recent news regarding a negative sentiment towards gold, which is in five-year high, they should not be seen as a negative but a positive signal: does a bull market ends higher when pessimism prevails?
It’s the opposite. gusts bubbles upward and end when optimism has convinced everyone that “this time is different” and that a given market will continue to rise.
We are not currently in gold, but in the main markets . Perishes as always, forget the old contrarian investor rule: be greedy when others are fearful, and trembling with fear when others are greedy.
Much should say critics of the king of metals, the fact that in London, as reported by the expert James Turk, delivery times of large volumes-from three to five tons, are delaying more than usual, the typical T +2 (two days after payment) to T +5 (five days later).
As if that were not enough, the best gauge of scarcity is in the gold market, still happening: the phenomenon of “backwardation” .
This happens when the spot price (spot) is higher than the price for future delivery. Typically, the opposite happens: it is cheaper now to buy gold tomorrow.
Why is the “backwardation” ? Because marketers know that is a very bad time to sell , and given the scarcity of stock, buyers are willing to pay higher premiums jangling metal today that promise to deliver a morning, even cheaper.
Surely this will put more than one nervous, especially if you have your bars or coins in the possession of third parties or in the banking system , even those who have it in Switzerland.
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| Image: Telegraph.co.uk |
Egon von Greyerz specialist reports that more and more customers will report that Swiss banks argue all sorts of excuses not physically show the bars, and impose arbitrary caps francs, the withdrawal of the same.
Goldcore announced that Jean Hilgers, director treasurer of the National Bank of Belgium, said that 25 tons of gold, about 10% of its reserves, are given on loan to the “Bullion Banks”, which due to the fractional reserve system that operate, exponentially expanding the supply of “gold” role, with the consequent impact on the price.
History repeats itself in more and more central banks do not publicly, but whose end can be summarized as follows: the gold that exists in reality, not enough for all who believe have it, you better claim it soon .
European Banking – It Is Getting Scary
The past week was not only characterized by US equity markets making one all-time high after another. Much less excitement was associated with one frightening message after another related to the state and prospects of the (European) banking sector.
On Thursday, Reuters announced that G7 finance chiefs are coming together to discuss a bank reform push. We do not know the real agenda and underlying motives of the G7 meeting but put in our own simple words: this stinks. Reuters writes: “Some of the world’s most powerful finance chiefs will meet on Friday and Saturday to try to speed up banking and finance reforms, with Cyprus’ near meltdown fresh in their minds.” Today, Saturday May 11th, a reaction appeared on Reuters in which the German finance minister points to Japan being the big risk. Weren’t the talks supposed to be about the banking reform in Europe? Apparently there is something worse going on which is revealed by the title of the piece euro zone crisis no longer main risk to the global economy. So we were correct when we wrote back in February that the currency war had officially started with Japan’s announcements about their monetary stimulus.
Earlier this week, Iris Times wrote that Ireland which has the presidency of the European Council, will propose the ‘bail-in’ of large depositors in case of European bank collapses. “Discussions on the controversial bank resolution regime, which is likely to see savers with deposits over €100,000 “bailed in” as part of future bank wind-downs, are due to intensify this week in Brussels, ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, which will be chaired by Minister for Finance.”
The following quote proves there is almost a full consensus among European leaders about the bail-inconfiscation of its citizens. A German site reported the following (translated):
Part of the ECB, the EU and central banks agree when it comes to depositors’ role in saving the European banks. Jörg Asmussen (…) made clear in the EU Parliament they will “obtain” access to savings accountholders.
Based on the lessons learnt from Cyprus, Asmussen believes “we urgently need a European framework for the operation of financial institutions.” This framework should contain some rules related to refinancing of banks by their depositors. Asmussen points to bail-in rules, the possible confiscation of assets and preferred creditors.
So we should have had trust in Mr. Dijsselbloem’s statement when he said that Cyprus was a template for the future, although he admitted the day after not knowing what the word “template” means (source). Good citizens should have confidence (emphasis added) in their leaders, right?
On a more serious note now. All the evidence is there. Cyprus was indeed a “pilot” to determine the resistance against a bail-in from savers. Apparently the reaction of the Cypriot people and savers in the rest of the world, was too weak. The path of less resistance was the most likely one for decision makers.
This is truly frightening. Up until this point the suspicion was too high to ignore but still – let’s be honest – we all somehow hoped this was not true. So far our hope.
Now this brings up the question what exactly is going wrong with the banking system. It is a fact that banks can borrow at almost zero percent interest from the central bank and lend out at 4 to 8 percent (applies for most loans). Apparently this cannot make up for the damage. It is a fact that banks had got unprecedented amounts of liquidity to recapitalize themselves. It did not bring a solution neither. So then what is the real problem?
Clearly the core business of banks (i.e., creation of credit) is not growing. Rather, in Europe and the US, it seems like particularly private sector credit is contracting. Only the US has a small growth in credit their expansion (although apparently driven by consumer loans and car loans according to Zerohedge).
EASTERN HEMISPHERE PHYSICAL GOLD BUYING IS GOING TO BE THE FEDERAL RESERVE’S WATERLOO! Dollars for gold which side of the fence would you like to be on
Connecting all the dots, there is no question in my mind that the big price smashing of gold in mid-April was an operation designed to shake loose enough 400 oz. gold bars out of GLD in order to satisfy the enormous delivery demands coming from Asia, India and even within Europe. GLD is the only possible source of above-ground 400 oz. gold bars that could be used to satisfy this enormous demand for physically deliverable bars.
At some point, and probably sooner than most people are willing to believe, this physical demand is going to force an upward “explosion” of the paper derivatives being used to hold down the spot price right now.
In 30 years of studying and trading the financial markets, I have never seen contrarian indicators for any market sector flashing as bullishly as they are for gold and silver, which further confirms my view that the metals have bottomed and are getting ready to give those of us who held on the ride of a lifetime.
In over 30 years of studying, researching, trading and investing in the financial markets, I have never seen the contrarian signals flashing as bullishly as they are for gold right now.
It’s really quite astonishing. Especially the degree to which the negative media reports – especially from Bloomberg News and CNBC – are piling up like dead bodies in the aftermath of the Mt. Vesuvius eruption.
I want to “connect some dots” for everyone who has been worried about the rather large liquidation of gold from GLD. In fact, media citations of this gold drain have proliferated like the odor of burning marijuana in the streets of Denver now that pot has been legalized (trust me, it’s everywhere).
But what is really going on? Let’s look “under the hood” at some relevant information that is being left out of a lot of the financial reporting in the U.S
Chinese Gold Imports Soar To Monthly Record On Insatiable Demand
Chinese Gold Imports Soar To Monthly Record On Insatiable Demand
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/08/2013 09:29 -0400
In what must be an inexplicable move to momentum-chasers everywhere, as gold continued to decline in price in March, and long before its targeted smash in April, China was not backing off its gold purchases of the yellow product. Quite the contrary: as export data released by the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Departmentovernight showed, Chinese gold imports in March exploded to an all time record high of 223.5 tons. This follows 97.1 tons in February, and brings the total imports for the first quarter of 2013, or 372 tons, on par with what China imported in the entire first half. It also means that since January 2012, China has imported an absolutely stunning 1,206 tons of gold. Putting this number in context, this is 20% more than the entire reporterofficial gold holdings of 1054 tons, and represents roughly half of the total 2500 tons of gold mined every year (a number which is set to decline as gold miners find current prices unsustainable and are forced to shut down production).
Comparison of Chinese gold imports: 2012 vs 2013:
And sequential change in Chinese gold imports since January 2012 or when the gold fever in China was truly unleashed:
The latest official Chinese holdings:
And if March was a record month for China, we can’t wait for April when prices plunged and when physicalbuyers, who unlike paper momentum chasers buy more then lower the price falls will see the recent take down as a buying opportunity (if they can find physical of course). From Reuters:
Chinese gold imports are likely to swell further after more than doubling to an all time high in March as retail consumers pounced when prices plunged to a two-year low last month.
“Physical demand picked up significantly over the last couple of weeks. Consumers and industrial users tend to see price drops as buying opportunities,” Zhang Bingnan, secretary-general of the China Gold Association, told Reuters.
“Investment demand should continue to stay strong through the rest of the year because of limited investment alternatives,” said Zhang, adding that gold sales and processing volumes both spiked in April.
“April imports will be stronger than March,” said Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong. “The world was buying gold and China was no different at all.”
And therein lies the rub: because if China fails to mask the ongoing soaring hot money inflows as reported earlier, and which amounted to over $180 billion in q1 as reported earlier, just watch as Chinese demand for physical goes truly off the charts.
The rest of the story is well known but here it is from Reuters:
In March, Shanghai gold futures fetched premiums of more than $30 to global prices, making it cheaper to buy the metal overseas.
April could see imports swell further after the drop in international prices spurred frenzied buying in Asia, leading to a shortage of gold bars and coins in Singapore as well as Hong Kong, which is China’s main source for gold imports.
The drop in prices has prompted a gold rush in China, with Chinese shoppers flocking to retailers to buy jewellery and bars.
A spokesman for Hong Kong jewellery chain Chow Tai Fook, the world’s largest jewellery retailer by market value, told Reuters that traffic at its China stores jumped by 50 percent during the May Day holidays.
The surge in Chinese travellers during the three-day May Day holiday also drove gold sales in Hong Kong to rise by an estimated 50 percent, with total gold sales from April 29-May 2 reaching some 40 tonnes, local media quoted Haywood Cheung, president of the Hong Kong Gold and Silver Exchange, as saying.
The jump in Chinese physical demand also prompted some banks to ship in more supplies from London and Swiss vaults, traders said.
What about New York vaults? And specifically the biggest gold vault in the world, located 90 feet below 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza?
Or is there maybe a correlation between the record drawdown in JPM’s commercial holdings and the record break out of Chinese gold fever? We hope to find out soon.
As for the increasingly irrelevant spot price of gold paper derivatives, we can only hope “experts” like Paulson et al can continue their liquidation of gold ETF “holdings” for as long as possible: after all one can buy far more gold more when the price is lower, not higher.
World Gold News 
