Every phone call,

email and internet

click stored by '

state spying' databases

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/
newstopics/politics/lawandorder/
6533107/Every-phone-call-email
-and-internet-click-stored-by-state
-spying-databases.html




UK: Financial Mess Isn't Even at the End of the Beginning

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

I thought you might like to read the New York

Stock Exchange Midday Report to listed companies.

Please pay attention t the last note with the smaller

dot before it.

Apparently management has not yet realized that

equity strength is a direct result of the dollar’s

poor action as well as a few trillion in liquidity

injections.

NYSE MAC DESK MID-DAY MARKET

UPDATE:

DOW 10,275 (+27 points), S&P500 1096

(+3 points), Crude $78.85/barrel (-$0.20)

MARKET DRIVERS: {3 Drivers today: 1)

“Fed-speak”. 2) New lows for the dollar 3)

Strong Chinese economic numbers…}

Several Fed officials yesterday, (including

Dallas Fed President Fisher last night),

talked about either the lack of inflation or

implied that monetary policy will remain

easy for some time. Predictably, the Dollar

Index is hitting new lows, commodities and

commodity stocks are again up.

These days, we watch Chinese Industrial

Production as closely as U.S. Industrial

Production…the Chinese October IP was

up 16.1% (a 19-month high). Japanese

Machine Orders were also up over 10 percent..

UPS CEO, Scott Davis, told Reuters that volumes

will turn positive next year as the economy

improves, and that he will increase shipping

prices as well. Fedex also announced that

they would increase prices earlier.

Gold has jumped to another record

high. (What else is new…)

Barrick shuts hedge book as world

gold supply runs out
Global gold production is in terminal

decline despite record prices and

Herculean efforts by mining companies

to discover fresh sources of ore in

remote spots, according to the world’s

top producer Barrick Gold.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International

Business Editor
Published: 7:20PM GMT 11 Nov 2009

Aaron Regent, president of the Canadian

gold giant, said that global output has been

falling by roughly 1m ounces a year since

the start of the decade. Total mine supply

has dropped by 10pc as ore quality erodes,

implying that the roaring bull market of the

last eight years may have further to run.

"There is a strong case to be made that we

are already at ‘peak gold’," he told The Daily

Telegraph at the RBC’s annual gold

conference in London.

"Production peaked around 2000 and it

has been in decline ever since, and we

forecast that decline to continue. It is

increasingly difficult to find ore," he said.

Ore grades have fallen from around 12

grams per tonne in 1950 to nearer 3 grams

in the US, Canada, and Australia. South

Africa’s output has halved since peaking

in 1970.

The supply crunch has helped push gold to

an all-time high, reaching $1,118 an ounce

at one stage yesterday. The key driver over

recent days has been the move by India’s

central bank to soak up half of the gold being

sold by the International Monetary Fund. It

is the latest sign that the rising powers of

Asia and the commodity bloc are growing

wary of Western paper money and debt.

More…

California Controller: Overview of
the Commercial Property Markets
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Buried in the California Controller’s

November analysis is a guest article:

Overview of the Commercial Property

and Capital Markets with Implications

for the State of California by Dr.

Randall Zisler. (ht picosec)

Here are some excerpts:

Whereas excessive and imprudent

leverage fed the bubble, deleveraging

not only popped the bubble, but, in the

process, destroyed record amounts

equity and debt. Most deals financed

with high leverage from 2005 to the present

are under water. The equity is gone and the

debt, if it trades at all, trades at a deep discount

to face value. Most leveraged equity invested

in real estate has evaporated since property

prices, if marked to market, have fallen

30% to 50%.

The chart [right] shows overall U.S. property

total returns, quarterly (at annual rates)

and lagging four quarters. This appraisal-based,

lagging index shows sharp negative returns

exceeding the deterioration of the RTC

(Resolution Trust Corp.)
period of the early 1990s. (See Chart 1.)

Second quarter 2009 returns indicate the

possibility that total returns, while still

negative, may have hit a point of inflection.

We expect that property values in many

sectors, especially office, retail, and

industrial, will likely deteriorate further

in 2010 with improvement beginning

sometime in 2011.

More…