Silver Rises to New Nominal 30-Year High of $34.44/oz; Italian Banks Want Protection of Gold Reserves

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/01/2011 08:45 -0500

Silver has risen another 1.4% today to a high of $34.44/oz and above the 31-year interday high of $34.33/oz reached last Tuesday (February 22nd). Silver is higher in all currencies this morning, especially the Japanese yen. The news that Saudi Arabia may be sending tanks to crush anti-government protests in Bahrain saw buying of silver, gold and oil. The backwardation and news regarding delays and difficulty of securing silver bullion in volume including the Royal Canadian Mint having difficulty sourcing physical bullion from bullion banks suggest that silver could soon break out and move sharply higher. The moves in silver have been greeted with the usual silence by mainstream financial media with little or no coverage or fanfare about the record highs. Indeed, only those who peruse the specialist press and make it their business to inform themselves about silver, would even be aware of the record highs. 

 

 

 

Silver Hits Fresh Post Hunt Brother High Of $34.43 On News Saudi Has Sent Tanks To Bahrain

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/01/2011 07:12 -0500

If RIA Novosti's update on the Middle East escalation is correct, the Middle East's worst kept secret, that Saudi Arabia would interfere militarily in Bahrain before the country fell, has just been confirmed. From RIA: "Saudi Arabia has sent dozens of tanks to Bahrain, where anti-government protests continue for about two weeks, Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper said on Tuesday. Eyewitnesses reported seeing "15 tank carriers carrying two tanks each heading towards Bahrain" along the 25-km King Fahd causeway, which links the small island nation of Bahrain to Saudi Arabia." And while nobody expects the DXY to do much if anything on this news, now that the dollar is irrelevant in the FX realm, the same can not be said about silver. Silver just hit $34.43 minutes ago, the highest print in the last 31 years.

Italian Banks Pushing For Mark-To-Market To Benefit From Surging Price Of... Gold

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/01/2011 08:53 -0500

The world has officially gone insane. After making a mortal enemy out of Mark to Market and halting it pretty much everywhere as an indicator of true asset value, Italian banks are now aggressively urging to implement Mark to Market to take advantage of surging prices in, get this, gold! From the FT: "Italian banks, which by a quirk of law are shareholders in the country’s central bank, are lobbying to have their stakes in the Bank of Italy marked-to-market on the back of surging gold prices in an attempt to ease regulatory pressure on them to raise capital in advance of this summer’s stress tests." You can't make this up: basically the world financial mafia says Mark to Myth when prices are low, and Mark to Market (on selected assets) when prices surge to a record.

Saudi Arabia Will Let Oil Reach $120, As Truth Behind Saudi Motives Is Exposed

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/01/2011 09:07 -0500

All those naively hoping that Saudi Arabia has suddenly developed some altruistic bent and will act against its own interest by increasing excess production (which according to Jim Rogers it simply does not have), to keep oil prices lower, are advised to reevaluate. According to CBS, citing "the conclusion of an internal report prepared by a major investment firm based on information from its extensive and knowledgeable contacts within OPEC" Saudi Arabia won’t take "significant steps to bring down the price of crude oil until Brent, the grade traded most on the open market, reaches $120 a barrel, about 8 percent above current levels." More from CBS: "In the report, which was made available to MoneyWatch on the condition that the firm not be named because briefings with its contacts are off the record, the OPEC sources reiterate their earlier analysis of the oil market, which has proven to be on the nose. They contend that the delicate political situation  across the Middle East and North Africa - including the fragile state of affairs within Saudi borders - is preventing the kingdom from doing the sensible economic thing and increasing production to keep prices under control." Which simply means that Rogers and all those doubting the veracity of Saudi's motives, not to mention the kingdom's rhetoric that it has boosted output to over 9 million bbls/day, have been correct, and the supply/demand dynamics of the stock market have been largely unchanged since Libya took over 1.6 million barrels of oil from the market.

US Department Of Truth Goes Full Retard After ISM Employment Index Prints At Highest Since 1973

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/01/2011 10:21 -0500

The total farce that is US diffusion index data continues, with the manufacturing ISM printing at 61.4 on expectations of 61.0, and compared to 60.8 previously. Contrary to what the respondents actually said (see below) there was not one adverse thing to be gleaned from the ISM data. In fact, the data is now so unbelievably ridiculous that the Employment Index came at 64.5, the highest since 1973! And this as the country sees roughly 17% in U-6 underemployment, and the number of Americans on food stamps, well over 40 million, is at an all time record. This lunatic number inspired the ISM's Ore to say that "Employment looks fantastic" even though in the next sentence he confirms that "many US companies are in a margin squeeze." Um, psychotic medications much? The US Department of Truth has now gone full retard.

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Iran Deploys Security Forces In Advance Of Popular Protests