Another failed raid/gold and silver hold

Harvey Organ, Tuesday, March 29 2011

Another failed raid/gold and silver hold

 

I'm back,  only needed to have one stent opened up in my heart, and am now good to go for a few years...

 

Guest Post: The Decline Of The American Saver And The Economy

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/29/2011 14:31 -0400

In the most recent release of the Personal Income and Disposition report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis the headline numbers were seemingly very good with personal consumption expenditures up 0.7% and personal incomes rising 0.3%. Unfortunately, that is about where all the good news ended...The problems that exist today are a function of America, as a whole, losing sight of what brought this country to its feet. A generation of savers and investors (individuals that took capital and built something with it) has turned into a generation of gamblers and speculators in many regards trying to build wealth through service based programs and financial transactions that generate little or no economic throughput. The end result will be a malaise of economic growth into the future plagued by higher levels of real unemployment, a weaker financial system as 78 million baby-boomers become net capital extractors and higher interest rates and inflation caused by excessive liquidity and theoretical monetary policy.

 

Massive Raw Gold Shortage In China - Supply And Demand Crunch Looms

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/29/2011 08:31 -0400

Asian demand is especially strong in the increasingly important China. The Chinese strong cultural affinity and love affair with gold (primarily due to a distrust of Chinese paper money) shows no signs of abating. Indeed, it may be accelerating as was seen in the recent figures from the Shanghai Gold Exchange and customs in China and now reports (including from CNTV – the national TV station of the People's Republic of China) of shortages of raw gold or unrefined gold. China, now the largest producer of gold in the world is seeing its gold mines struggle to cater for surging Chinese demand. The raw gold trade has been growing by up to 30% per annum and demand has leapt in recent months leading to a developing raw gold shortage in China. The industry in China expects only 27,000 tonnes of raw gold can be delivered this year. That is way below the estimated demand of 50,000 tonnes. A potential supply shortage of 23,000 tonnes of gold is a large amount of gold in the small gold bullion market which is tiny versus equity, bond and derivative markets. It is infinitesimal when compared to the $4,000 billion a day traded in currency markets. 

 

 

 

 

China's Dagong Sees No Threat Of Fed Monetization Ending, Believes "World Credit War" Is About To Escalate

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/29/2011 15:13 -0400

Starting to get doubts about QE3? Don't tell that to the official Chinese rating agency Dagong, who in traditional uber-pragmatic fashion, has the following summary observation on US monetary policy, and any imaginary changes thereto: "The second round quantitative easing policy ongoing in the United States can not change its weak domestic demand in the short term. In fact, it can only lower the interest rate of US Treasuries so as to maintain stable interest rate in the capital market in the long term, playing the indirect role of clearing some obstacles for a stable recovery. However, the plan of purchasing 600 billion US dollar Treasury bonds can not realize its predicted goal; and therefore, the United States will hardly change its predetermined monetary policy in 2011." What does this mean for China and the rest of the world: "The continuous implementation of such unconventional monetary policy in the United States will lead to the escalation of world credit war and inflict greater losses for related parties in the world credit system." Any questions?

 

 

 

 

Government Responds to Nuclear Accident by Trying to Raise Acceptable Radiation Levels and Pretending that Radiation is Good For Us 

Guardian Reports Core At Reactor 2 May Have Melted To Concrete Floor, Radioactive Lava Next?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/29/2011 15:54 -0400

And another update from Fukushima on its route to the concrete dome, irradiated ground water, and a 100 km "no live zone" from the Guardian: "The radioactive core in a reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor, experts say, raising fears of a major release of radiation at the site. At least part of the molten core, which includes melted fuel rods and zirconium alloy cladding, seemed to have sunk through the steel "lower head" of the pressure vessel around reactor two, Lahey said. "The indications we have, from the reactor to radiation readings and the materials they are seeing, suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel in unit two, and at least some of it is down on the floor of the drywell," Lahey said. "I hope I am wrong, but that is certainly what the evidence is pointing towards." But there is good news: "It won't come out as one big glob; it'll come out like lava, and that is good because it's easier to cool." Well that's a load off.

Simon Black On Another Form Of Inflation

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/29/2011 19:33 -0400

Sticker shock in grocery store checkout lines and gas pumps around the western world is starting to set in. At this point, you have to be living under a rock to not notice that prices of goods and services around the world are increasing substantially. Much of the blame for rising prices has rightfully been levied on the uncontrolled expansion of central bank balance sheets-- the US Federal Reserve, for example, created more money in the last two years than it had created in the previous 200. Rejecting reject the possibility that any of this money could impact consumer prices is just intellectually dishonest. There is another factor, however, that weighs heavily on inflation, and it is seldom discussed in this context: taxes. 

 

 

 

Unmanipulated US "Misery Index" Hits All Time High

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/29/2011 18:08 -0400

While everyone knows that the CPI in the US is manipulated beyond repair (a topic far too broad to be discussed here suffice to say that as disclosed previously true inflation in the US is currently runrating at over 8%), inflation as actually represented by US consumers and reported by Zero Hedge earlier, in the form of the 1 year inflation expectation index of the Conference Board lack of confidence index, is near all time highs. So if one takes this data series and adds to it the narrow unemployment definition (U3) one would get an adjusted Misery Index for US citizens (using inflation expectations instead of manipulated CPI). As the chart below shows, the Misery Index, which is merely inflation plus unemployment, constructed as such, would now be at an all time high. Hardly in keeping with Bernanke's wealth effect prerogative, but surely in line with record food stamp usage reported month after month. That said, the silver lining to that particular mushroom cloud is our confidence that as the bulk of Americans live in record "misery", they will be comforted to know that their 20 shares of NFLX are trading at a four digit EPS multiple. And the other good news is that we have the Brits beat again: whereas the US is at a record, the UK is merely at a 20 year high, proving once again that only the US never does anything half-assed.

MVOLNYE INDEX GP LOL

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/29/2011 16:10 -0400

If one central bank ramps up the wannabe Zimbabwe stock market to infinity and absolutely nobody is there to hear the sonic boom, did the central bank really pull a Gideon Gono? 

 

 

 

 

 

Latest Insider Selling To Buying Ratio: 18x

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/29/2011 11:57 -0400

Corporate insider appear to have moderate their relentless dumping of stock. After selling around have a billion in stock each week, corporate executives and officers, sold only $185 million worth of S&P 500 stock in the week ended last Friday per Bloomberg. The biggest selling was in the stock of HJ Heinz ($39 million), Pall ($20 million), and First Solar, Cisco and Priceline in 3rd, 4th and 5th positions (not all that surprisingly). As for buying, it continues to be lethagic and is rescued each week by the 10b-5 buying in Titanium Metals stock which accounted for 70% of last week's 10 million in purchases (one of the 8 transactions that comprised insider buying). Look for tomorrow's ICI number to see if domestic outflows have extended to a 4th consecutive week now that retail has once again lost its appetite for top ticking the market.