If one offered investors a fat tail put option that never decays or expires, costs about -1% pa to carry, has no counter party risk & no chance of ever becoming worthless, there would be a line out the door. But when one explains that this option is physical gold… no interest.
– S. Mikhailovich
Jim,
Now the price will need to increase.
Dave
The Staggering Amount Of Gold & Silver Investment Since The 2008 Financial Crisis
March 26, 2019
By the SRSrocco Report,
While the demand for precious metals is certainly off its highs from prior years, investors would be quite surprised by the astonishing amount of physical gold and silver investment since the 2008 financial crisis. Only by comparing the gold and silver investment demand to the prior decade, can we truly understand how the precious metals market has changed, and probably forever.
Now, before I get into the information, I wanted to say a few things about precious metals sentiment and the disillusionment, and at times, the outright disgust, by a percentage of former gold and silver investors. I am not going to name any names, but rather focus on the inability of these individuals to CONNECT THE DOTS in regards to the disintegrating Global Financial Ponzi Scheme.
The Currency’s and the Precious Metals are the Crisis!
March 26, 2019
Great and Wonderful Tuesday Morning Folks,
Today Gold is being attacked because it is the barometer of the world’s economy and the money printing cartel is yelling loudly that all is well with the trade now at $1,312.50, down $10.10 and at the low of $1,312.10 with the high at $1,323. Silver is following along with its trade at $15.43, down 13.7 cents and as usual, right beside that London Bop low at $15.42 with the high at $15.56. Today London has another solution excuse, and May be only good for a day, with the US Dollar trading flat to lower with the value now pegged at 96.025. It too is trading down 4.3 points with the high at 96.115 and the low at 95.94. All this was done way before 5 am pst and the Comex Nap Time Open. In Venezuela, Gold is now pegged at 13,108.59 an ounce, losing almost all of yesterday’s gains by dropping 48.94 Bolivar with Silver losing .999 Bolivar (again a perfect measure) overnight helping to prove the point that the currency markets and the precious metals are the crisis.
March Silver’s Delivery Cycle is just about over with the total count still stuck at 44 Demands for Physical and with a Volume of 1 up on the board so far this morning, proving a drop of 1 with an actual count of 2 being posted yesterday before the close. Silver’s Overall Open Interest continues to expose the over-leveraging that apparently must be “secretly” legal since it’s always ignored by the regulators with the count now at 193,504 Overnighters, gaining 2,589 more shorts over Friday and Monday to stay the price from the buyers as we wait for more news from the Morgue Report the DOJ investigators have found in the international precious metals manipulations scheme.
Jim,
The country has wasted how much time and energy on this investigation? Can we now move on to important issues.
Dave
Caitlin Johnstone Rages: “Mock The Russiagaters. Mock Them Ruthlessly”
March 23, 2019
Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,
The Robert Mueller investigation which monopolized political discourse for two years has finally concluded, and his anxiously awaited report has been submitted to Attorney General William Barr. The results are in and the debate is over: those advancing the conspiracy theory that the Kremlin has infiltrated the highest levels of the US government were wrong, and those of us voicing skepticism of this were right.
The contents of the report are still secret, but CNN’s Justice Department reporter Laura Jarrett has told us all we need to know, tweeting, “Special Counsel Mueller is not recommending ANY further indictments am told.” On top of that, William Barr said in a letter to congressional leaders that there has been no obstruction of Mueller’s investigation by Justice Department officials.
Today’s writing will be review of something Jim has talked about MANY TIMES going all the way back to 2004-05. Back then (and ever since) he stressed a couple of items pertaining to those of you who own stocks. His advice was centered on “you” and how to protect yourselves. The entire concept was simple, DO NOT let your broker hold your shares of ANY stock you hold unless you are very actively trading.
He suggested this for two separate but connected reasons. First, if your broker holds your shares and the broker goes belly up, good luck in getting access to your shares. You would probably eventually get access but it may take years as your broker goes through the bankruptcy courts. Can you imagine owning shares in a company that explodes in value but you do not have access to selling ANY of the shares?…Not even an odd lot to buy food with! This is no joke nor a crazy hypothetical, you should have learned back in 2008 just how close to this reality we came. Shares either in hand or held at your transfer agent are the best way to “GOTS” (get out of the system).
There is also another reason to not let your broker hold your shares. When you first purchased your stock, you “bought” it which means you were “demand”. In a real world of supply and demand, your purchase acted to push the stock up. If you leave your stock with your broker, especially in a margin account, your broker will lend these shares out to short sellers who will sell the stock and negate your demand. In effect, your broker via lending the shares will negate your purchase and to put it bluntly, TRADE AGAINST YOU!
Legally, your broker cannot lend shares that are not in a margin account, or in a retirement account. We have seen just in the last few days where brokers are requesting clients with retirement account to borrow their shares. THIS IS 100% illegal! The only way to assure your bought and paid for shares are not used against you is to either hold them in physical form or have the transfer agent hold them, end of story.
Now, why do we remind you of this now? Because many of you own TRX and other mining shares. There are some very large short positions broadly across the mining share spectrum. We also believe there is a large “naked” and thus illegal short position that is prevalent. As we told you on this weekend’s call, Jim checked with two separate clearing facilities and found they are offering 72% and 95% to holders of TRX to lend their shares. If you wanted to borrow IBM or Apple, it might cost you 5-6%. There is NO REASON to offer such unbelievable terms unless someone is very short and needs shares to cover the position?
Bluntly, there has been a concerted effort to damage the mining industry via short sales to depress share pricing. Financing has been nonexistent since 2011 and depressing share prices has worked to make it difficult to finance via the equity markets. The good news is that gold and silver have bottomed (along with the mining shares) and these short positions are beginning to hurt. The old saying “he who sold what isn’t his’n, buys it back or goes to prison” truly applies here!
Bottom line? If you own TRX or other mining shares (including physical gold and silver), DO NOT hold these at a broker because as sure as the Sun will rise tomorrow, your broker will lend to short sellers what you fully bought and paid for if you let them. Help yourself and help the industry by not giving them ammo that you paid for to shoot holes in your investments!
I will be travelling for the rest of the week so there will not be a writing from me later in the week. I will be checking in and posting items of interest. I will be spending the day Wednesday with Jim as it is his birthday. He is smiling ear to ear with the action in TRX and eagerly awaiting drill results. He has put his life, heart, soul and net worth into this project, don’t help short sellers impede his efforts…get your SHARES OUT OF THE SYSTEM!
Standing watch,
Bill Holter
Holter-Sinclair collaboration
Bill Holter’s Commentary
Very interesting!
Federal Regulator: Wall Street Stock Trading Plunged 88.6 Percent in Q4
March 24, 2019
Pam Martens
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal regulator of national banks, which includes the largest banks on Wall Street, quietly issued its quarterly report on trading in cash instruments and derivatives on Friday. The report contained a shocker: stock (equity) trading had plunged 88.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 versus the fourth quarter of 2017 on a consolidated basis at the bank holding companies, which includes the results of their commercial and investment banks. Equally stunning, stock trading was down an even more staggering 91.7 percent from the third quarter of 2018. (See chart above from the report.)
This bombshell statistic is something that we have not heard a peep about from either the Wall Street banks on their earnings calls or the business media.
In fact, Wall Street banks have been telling business media that their trading pain in the fourth quarter came from fixed income (bond) trading. The media reports now read like something from Alice in Wonderland when compared to the OCC report.
Reuters reported on February 25, 2019 that while Wall Street banks overall did better than their European counterparts “The biggest losers, however, were the divisions that trade fixed income, currencies and commodities…However, equity trading picked up, particularly for Wall Street banks, where revenue rose 10 percent.” That statement contrasts with this statement in the OCC report: “The quarter-over-quarter decrease in trading revenue was across all instrument categories with the largest decrease due to equity trading.”
Bill Holter’s Commentary
J.Johnson’s Latest.
It’s cheaper to borrow next year than right now!
March 25, 2019
Great and Wonderful Monday Morning Folks,
Gold gives us an early morning pre-sunrise smile with the trade up $5.10 at $1,317.40 and close to the high of $1,318.90 with a low at $1,310.60. Silver is equally as strong with its price now at $15.53 up 12.3 cents and right beside its high of $15.54 with the low at $15.385. This week’s currency activity is still all about British and American politics with the US Dollar now at 96.12, down 3.1 points after reaching a height of 96.19 before heading lower with the low to beat at 95.99. Of course all of this was done way before 5 am pst and before the Comex Openings tranquilizing dart hits our collective asses once again. Venezuela’s current Gold price is now at 13,157.53 Bolivar gaining 54.93 over the weekend with Silver’s price now at 155.106 gaining .749 Bolivar.
March Silver Deliveries seemed to have frozen on Friday with today’s early morning count being the same as Friday’s, 45 contracts waiting for receipts, with zero Volume up on the board. Silver’s Overall Open Interest is showing a very slight drop in OI with the count losing only 140 overnighters so far bringing the total to 190,915 obligations.
Another emerging market currency took a stab at going lower with the nation of Turkey now blaming JP Morgan for the Lira’s Worst Slide Since the 2018 Crash sending Gold back up to its earlier heights under the Lira, proving the emerging markets failing currencies are gaining momentum as nation after nation turns itself upside down in uncontrollable debt against its natural resources and those with the digital print controls. What else is new?
Bill Holter’s Commentary
Can a snake eat its own tail?
Over $10 Trillion In Debt Now Has A Negative Yield
March 25, 2019
NIRP is back.
On Friday, when Germany reported disastrous mfg and service PMI prints, the 10Y German Bund finally threw in the towel, with the yield sliding back under zero for the first time in three years. When that happened, and when the 3M-10Y yield curve inverted in the US right around that time, just over $400 billion in global debt changed the sign on its yield from positive to negative.
As a result, the total notional of global negative yielding debt soared on Friday, rising above $10 trillion for the first time Since September 2017, and which according to Bloomberg has intensified “the conundrum for investors hungry for returns while fretting the brewing economic slowdown.”
Bill Holter’s Commentary
The bank index has crashed 10% in the 2 1/2 days of trading after the Fed meeting…wasn’t the Fed about as dovish as possible? Washington, we have a major problem!
U.S. Runs Largest Monthly Budget Deficit On Record In February
March 22, 2019
The numbers: The federal government ran a budget deficit of $234 billion in February, the Treasury Department reported on Friday, the biggest monthly shortfall on record.
It was wider than the $215 billion recorded in February 2018, as spending rose 8% while receipts climbed 7%. Previously, the largest monthly deficit was $231.7 billion in February 2012.
The release of the February figures was later than normal due to the 35-day shutdown that ended Jan. 25.
What happened: Total spending was $401 billion in February while the government took in $167 billion.
Drivers of spending in February included agriculture and transportation programs. The Treasury said individual withheld and payroll taxes climbed 5% in the month. Refunds dropped 10% in February, a month in which the Congressional Budget Office notes the share of total refunds paid varies from year to year.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
QE TO INFINITY.
The Fed Has Given Up: Get Ready for More QE
March 21, 2019
The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously to keep the federal funds rate unchanged. Overall, the FOMC signaled it has made a dovish turn away from the promised normalization of monetary policy which the Fed has promised will be implemented “some day” for a decade. Although the Fed began to slowly raise rates in late 2016 — after nearly a decade of near-zero rates — the target rate never returned to even three percent, and thus remains well below what would have been a more normal rate of the sort seen prior to the 2008 financial crisis.
Jim,
As I have said in the past hope is not a strategy.
Dave
Pompeo: God May Have Sent Trump To Save Israel From Iran
March 22, 2019
Is an apocalyptic war on Iran by the US and Israel coming, driven by American Evangelical “rapture” theology of end times prophecy? Pompeo’s latest suggestion that God “raised Trump for such a time as this” doesn’t bode well for the region, or at least for those who hope to avoid a WWIII scenario. Apparently, Pompeo truly believes that Trump was sent by God to save Israel, and that the Golan is to be the first US bestowed “gift” bringing the world closer to “end times” fulfillment.
While on his multi-country tour of the Middle East on Thursday, the US secretary of state responded to a question from the Christian Broadcast Network’s Chris Mitchell during a press conference in Jerusalem, who asked, “could it be that President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace?”
Pompeo responded, “As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible” in agreement with the bizarre question. Crucially, this came the same day Trump tweeted his intention for the US to formally recognize full Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. This after Syria previously warned Israel its continued unlawful occupation of the long disputed territory would lead to war.
Posted without commentary…
Bill
Bill Holter’s Commentary
Ready to find out what “Hot” means when combined with “Inflation”
Good and Wonderful Friday Morning Folks!
Gold continues to go against the short traders as the push for price carries forward its momentum with Gold now at $1,311.90, up $4.60 with the high hitting $1,313.60 and the low at $1,306.50. Silver is hardly up at all with its trade at $15.455, up 1.8 cents with a high at $15.55 and the low right close to the now at $15.435. It seems that since Harvey Organ’s EFP watch of our precious metals futures transfers going to London took away all the trading activity from Comex as we expect another day of sleep once Comex Opens but for now the US Dollar is trading higher at 96.205, up 21.8 points with the high at 96.29 and the low way down at 95.695. That low occurred around 1 am pst, of course the rest of the activity has already occurred way before 5 am pst and the Comex’s (no need to be awake) Open. In Venezuela, Gold’s price is currently set at 13,102.60 Bolivar, losing 32.96 over night with Silver at 154.357, losing .999 Bolivar in value, ironically the exact measure of pure metal inside 1 ounce of real.
March Silver’s Physical Deliver demands got met with a bunch of receipts either here or in London with the total sum dropping 56 obligations, setting today’s starting count at 45 with Zero Volume up on the board so far. The shorts are in the fight of their lives with Silver’s Over All Open Interest gaining more during yesterday’s attempted price push lower, adding an additional 431 more shorts to stay the price, while someone takes away the physicals with today’s Overall total equaling 191,055 overnighters during this weekends “Britain is sick of the MayDay Delay” as the EU supposedly accepts 2 more weeks. We know this term and the game, called Extend and Pretend, and only politicians can do it because of the closed doors they speak behind that the rest of the world is not allowed to hear.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The latest from John Williams’ www.shadowstats.com
– March 20th Federal Open Market Committee Held Interest Rates in Check, Indicating No Rate Hikes in 2019, in Line with Market Expectations
– The Fed Slowed its Pace of Projected Balance Sheet Liquidation
– The FOMC Lowered Its U.S. Economic Projections for 2019 and 2020, Albeit Still With Purportedly Healthy Growth
– The Fed Likely Has an Internal Recession Forecast, But Not One to Be Published, Other Than for an Obvious Coincident or Lagging Circumstance
– Nonetheless the U.S. Economy Is Weakening More Sharply and Quickly Than Acknowledged, Signaling a Formal Recession That was Triggered Directly by Overly Aggressive FOMC Tightening and Rate Hikes of the Last Year or Two
– Latest Indication of an Accelerating Downturn Was In Freight Activity
– Where FOMC Meeting Results Broadly Matched Expectations, Stocks Rallied, Initially, Selling Off by the End of the Day; Gold and Silver Prices Spiked Amidst Heavy U.S. Dollar Selling, Which Also Boosted Oil Prices
– Those Late-Day Market Movements Likely Will Become the Trending Norm, As Evidence of the Deepening, Severe Economic Downturn Mounts Rapidly
“Bullet Edition No. 4”
Bill Holter’s Commentary
I’m not sure I would like to pay for my child’s tuition if they are teaching that Booker T. Washington was America’s first president?
‘American Political Thought’ Course At CU Denver Removes All White Men From Curriculum
March 22, 2019
DENVER — I can clearly recall the first day of class a few semesters ago when I eagerly began a course called “American Political Thought” at the University of Colorado, Denver.
My excitement quickly soured, however, after Professor Chad Shomura explained to the students in the room that most traditional “American Political Thought” courses are too focused on the achievements of white men.
As a consequence, he told us he had removed every single white male and their theoretical perspectives from the entire course curriculum.
This is echoed in the syllabus:
“This course aims to develop an understanding of American political life from the margins. Rather than surveying traditional figures of American political thought, it attends to historically marginalized voices at the crossings of race, gender, sexuality, and nation. It explores issues such as intersectionality, antiblack racism and the American Dream, ordinary life, borderlands and migration, public feelings, mental health, and settler colonialism. The materials we examine also exceed the usual genres of American Political Thought. They include, among other things, poems, an ethnography, academic articles, a novel, and a hacked tarot card set.”