Mike Krieger Sees Widespread Panic 

That’s two press conferences laden with softball questions from “the press” and two epic flops by The Bernank. Two extremely important things that came out of the disaster that was this event yesterday. First, I want to point your attention to the quote I pasted at the top. In response to the question of where The Bernank stood on monetary policy in light of his prior arrogant and cocksure statements a decade earlier about how the Japanese were being too passive in their methods he stated “Well, I'm a little bit more sympathetic to central bankers now than I was 10 years ago.” BINGO. That was far and away the most important thing he said the whole press conference. Why? Well, for several reasons. First, it was pretty much the only spontaneous unscripted thing he said the whole time. Second, because this is him basically admitting that sitting in an ivory tower telling others how to save the free world via monetary policy was a naive and idiotic thing to do (why people still believe in central banking, I mean planning, is beyond me). Talk is cheap and The Bernank now has had time to test his sad statist theories and guess what happened? He failed miserably in front of the entire world. By saying that he is “more sympathetic to central bankers” he is saying that theories are one thing and he now realizes that. This is HUGE. The Bernank has no clothes.

 

 

 

 

The Quiet Setup In Gold

posted by Eric De Groot at Eric De Groot - 37 minutes ago

Money moving against the headlines because it knows that Jim is right. Be prepared for gold to take out $1650 on the upside as magnets at $12,544 come into play. Be prepared for the Inflationary Depression...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Market Surges On Non-News That Greece Has "Reached" An Austerity Plan 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/23/2011 15:08 -0400

Somehow the fact that Greece has "reached" a deal on its austerity plan is supposed to be good for 100 pips on the EURUSD even though this is not news, and has been priced in for a long time. Furthermore it does absolutely nothing to dampen the fear and loathing that this plan will be met by the broader Greek population. But with markets that have absolutely no liquidity and monkeys controlling the buy and sell algos, one can only sit back and laugh. 

 

 

 

 

 

Ron Paul Is Currently Holding A Hearing On Legislation For A Full Audit Of US Gold Reserves, Aka The "Show Me The Tungsten" Bill 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/23/2011 14:32 -0400

Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Ron Paul is currently holding a hearing on legislation calling for a full audit of U.S. gold reserves. H.R. 1495, the “Gold Reserve Transparency Act of 2011,” calls for an audit by the Treasury that gives a full and thorough accounting of the U.S. government’s gold reserves, requiring an inventory and assay of the gold reserves. The Treasury’s audit is subject to independent review by the Government Accountability Office, allowing them access to any pertinent records or locations, including Fort Knox. "The Treasury Department has been less than transparent with the results of its gold audits,” Paul stated. “It is asking the American people to trust that all the gold is there, while not allowing site visits and not publishing all the data it holds on its audits and assays. Since most of this gold was originally seized from the American people in the 1930s, they deserve more transparency than a handful of financial statements." 

 

 

 

 

 

Flip Flop Roundtip: Goldman Cuts Brent Price Target, A Month After Hiking, A Month After Cutting 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/23/2011 14:09 -0400

Uber-Flip flopper extraordinaire Goldman Sachs just cut its Brent target  price a month after hiking its price target to $130, a month after cutting it to $105 (and just as we predicted two hours before the Goldman announcement). The latest number from David Greely: $105-$107/bbl. To wit: "The International Energy Agency announced today that its member countries have agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from their emergency stocks over a period of 30 days. The IEA has coordinated this release, only the third in its history, in response to the ongoing loss of Libyan light sweet crude oil production and the impact that the resulting higher crude oil prices are having on the world economy. We estimate that a 60 million barrel release by the end of July has the potential to reduce our 3-month Brent crude oil price target by $10-12/bbl, to $105-107/bbl. 125/bbl." Full bizarro day report below, although all that matters is that Goldman is buying Brent again, after the "GS vs Client" scorecard now reads 3:0.

Number Of European Banks Resorting To 1 Week ECB Liquidity Jumps To Two And A Half Year High 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/23/2011 13:10 -0400

It is not only the Chinese interbank market that has found itself in a liquidity vacuum. A quick look at recent moves in European overnight lending rates shows that in the past two weeks the key Eonia overnight rate hit a multiyear high of 1.549%, which was rather disturbing because as Reuters points out "Factors related to the end of the first half of the year, when banks tend to lend less as they square up their books, also kept cash prices over two weeks near the European Central Bank's main refi rate of 1.25 percent, money market traders said." Of course, concerns about Greece are a far more prevalent factor in the closed loop that is liquidity evaporation. Which is why the Eonia plunge to 1.091% on Wednesday would have been surprising in isolation, but not if one considers that during yesterday's ECB Main Refinancing Operation (MRO), banks borrowed a whopping €186.9 billion in 7 day funding at a fixed rate of 1.25%. This is €50 billion more than what was borrowed in the past week, and as the chart below shows, is the highest since January when the market was once again concerned about European exposure to Portugal and Ireland (then subsequently forgot all its concerns for about 5 months).

Jon Stewart Explains The Greek Crisis To The Great Unwashed 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/23/2011 12:28 -0400

Tired of highly technical and sophisticated gobbledygook from doomers and other realists, talking about the Greek implosion in terms of CDS, liquidity freeze, Main Refinancing Operations (that is coming in the next post just after this one), FX swaps, contagion, etc? Then here is Jon Stewart to explain the Greek situation to everyone in a few short mintues. The fun starts 2 minutes into the clip. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did Former Richmond Fed President Broaddus Just Give The Go Ahead For QE3? 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/23/2011 12:07

While Bill Gross may be ignored, what a former Fed chairman is saying may be a just a little more important

• BROADDUS SAYS ANY DISINFLATION MAY PROMPT FED TO CONSIDER QE3
• BROADDUS SAYS FED UNDERSTANDING OF INFLATION HAS IMPROVED
• FORMER RICHMOND FED CHIEF BROADDUS SPEAKS ON BLOOMBERG TV

Now what?
(and no, his first name is not Calvin).