Stocks, Precious Metals Spike On Report Fed Considering "Sterilized" QE
Update: yup. It's Jon "Mouthpiece" Hilsenrath all right. This is nothing but a test to gauge if the market will ramp on the clarification that future QE may be sterilized. If market ramps regardless, the sterilized clause will be ultimately eliminated. Full story link.While we have yet to see the actual report, almost certainly emanating from Jon Hilsenrath, it appears that the QE3 rumormill has started, initially with speculation that the Fed's activity will be merely "sterilized" or more Twist-type purchases, unclear however if in TSYs or also in MBS. Via the WSJ:
- Fed Officials consider "sterilized" option for Future bond buying
- Operation Twist Reprise, QE Other Options For Fed Bond
- Still Unclear Whether Fed Will Launch Another Bond-Buy
by David Levenstein, MineWeb.com:
JOHANNESBURG – Gold prices slipped below $1700 an ounce on Monday after China lowered its economic growth target and data on business activity in the Eurozone showed a contraction in the region. At the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao announced that China’s economic growth target has been revised down to 7.5% for this year while inflation target will stay at 4%. This is the first time since 2005 that China sees its growth at below 8%. The statements made by Wen Jiabo impacted on global equity markets and the price of gold slipped a few dollars an ounce.
Recently, the price of gold was enjoying strong upward momentum. However, this trend quickly reversed when US Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke gave his testimony to the House Financial Services Committee to Congress, last Wednesday.
For several weeks, the Greek debt crisis was the main focus of global markets, but all this seems to have already been forgotten by investors.
Read More @ MineWeb.com
Goldman Is "Bearish By A Thousand Cuts"
While
many look for a specific event (PSI or NFP) to be the catalyst for the
next leg up (or down), Goldman sees several factors at play that could
create a 'sell-off by a thousand cuts', rather than one big flush, as
macro- and micro- news impacts stocks. First, after habitually
delivering better-than-expected news for much of the last several
months, recent data points have not been able to best expectations. Second, cyclical weakness has coincided with oil price rises, and third, Bernanke's recent testimony was a little less unconditionally accomodative than the hoards would have liked.
Decomposing US equity performance into risk-appetite,
growth-expectations, and European-event-risk concerns shows two of the
three rolling over and dragging on stocks since March began. With market
growth views under pressure and signs of frayed data on the edges,
following last week’s marginally disappointing Manufacturing ISM print,
last Thursday Goldman went market neutral as in their words, they are taking 'market signals seriously', as the gap between market growth views and the index itself reached 'wides' reminiscent of 2011.When Things Go Wrong, They Print Money
Admin at Jim Rogers Blog - 35 minutes ago
"Throughout history, when things have gone wrong, they print money: when
they print money, you should own silver, you should own rice, you should
own real assets." - *in ETF Daily News*
Related, ELEMENTS Rogers Intl Commodity Index - Agriculture Total Return
ETN, PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (DBA), iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV)
*Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful
international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New
York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The
Financial Times and is a regular guest on Bloomberg... more »
Video: How to Survive the 'Coming Correction'
Admin at Marc Faber Blog - 39 minutes ago
Related, iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF (EEM), ProShares UltraShort S&P500 ETF (SDS), SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM) *Marc Faber is an international investor known for his uncanny predictions of the stock market and futures markets around the world.*
As US Contemplates Releasing Crude From The Strategic Reserve, China Resumes Building Emergency Inventory
A
tale of two civilizations, one in ascent and one in decline, can
probably be best summarized by how they ration for the future in that
most important of commodities - energy, in this case vis-a-vis the
respective treatment of the strategic oil reserves of China and the US.
Because while all the rage in D.C. political gab in recent weeks has
been whether the US will allow a release of oil from the SPR, just to
appease those Obama voters who actually have a job and have to take a
car to get to it, things over at America's nemesis in civilizational
conflict are diametrically opposite. As Bloomberg reports, China has "started
filling its emergency petroleum reserve at Lanzhou in the nation’s
northwest, according to an official at the nation’s largest crude
producer." Unlike the US, where everything is now a function of
market liquidity, evil speculators, and political ambitions (rest in
peace supply and demand), China is completely ignoring all the day to
day mundane drivel, and is doing what is right - which is to make sure
it is prepared for an "eventuality" in the crude supply. Said
eventuality is 100% guaranteed to happen if the Panetta-McCain is given a
green light to allow the liberation of Iranian crude to finally
proceed following years of foreplay.Greek UK-Law Bond Arbitrage Hits Record
If
one chart was worth a thousand words, it is the difference in 'value'
between strong and weak covenant bonds in Greece. Since we first
brought this 'arbitrage' to the market's attention back in mid January, explaining the subordination impacts
of the ECB and the legal implications of bonds issued under various
law-regimes, the spread between English-Law (strong) and Greek-Law
(weak) bonds has widened dramatically and today reaches a new high. Ignoring accrued interest for simplicity, investors
are willing to pay over EUR46 for the strong UK protection relative to
less than EUR20 for weak Greek protection for similar maturity bonds. It seems some bondholders are very much set not to partake of the Troika Greek's generous offer.Oil Implications And Fed Policy
Oil
is battling hard with Greece to top the tail-risk-du-jour in financial
markets recently. As Credit Suisse notes, the US economy so far seems
to have shrugged it off as 'gasoline-sensitive' economic data for Feb
have ignored the price rise for now. The extreme (warm) weather may be shielding the economy from the effect of these higher energy costs, as are consumers habituation with relatively high prices, and while CS remains more sanguine than us on energy's negative impulse they
set forth some useful implications (rules-of-thumb) for what oil means
for gas prices, headline inflation, real disposable income, and GDP
growth pointing to $150 Brent as a critical threshold for the economy
(or equivalently $4.50 retail gasoline prices). Of course, Fed policy
precedents and implications are necessarily situational as the hope for
this being a 'temporary' situation but the circular reaction to the
consequences of any growth drag will merely exacerbate the situation. Was
Bernanke's recent less unconditional dovishness an implicit effort to
'tighten' expectations and manage the war-premium out of oil prices? Guest Post: Our "Let's Pretend" Economy: Let's Pretend Student Loans Are About Education
We have a "let's pretend" economy: let's pretend the unemployment rate actually reflects the number of people with full-time jobs and the number of people seeking jobs, let's pretend the Federal government borrowing 10% of the GDP every year is sustainable without any consequences, let's pretend the stock market actually reflects the economy rather than Federal Reserve monetary intervention, and so on. We also have a "let's pretend" education/student-loan game running: let's pretend college is "worth" the investment, and let's pretend student loans are about education. There are three dirty little secrets buried under the education/student-loan complex's high-gloss sheen: 1. Student loans have little to do with education and everything to do with creating a new profit center for subprime-type lenders guaranteed by the Savior State. 2. A college diploma's value in the real world of getting a job and earning a good salary in a post-financialization economy has been grossly oversold. 3. Many people are taking out student loans just to live; the loans are essentially a form of "State funding" a.k.a. welfare that must be paid back. We've got a lot of charts that reflect reality rather than hype, so let's get started. Despite all the bleating rationalizations issued by the Education Complex, higher education costs have outstripped the rest of the economy's cost structure. Funny how nobody ever asks if there is any real competitive pressure in the Education Complex; there isn't, and why should there be when students can borrow $30,000 a year?
The
Pan Asia Gold Exchange (PAGE) – was to represent real price discovery
and that is yet to happen. The first move to smother the exchange was by
an increase of holdings in the endeavor. This move was to stop them
from constructing their own platform rather than buying an existing
platform. Due to that move shareholders rose from 10% to 25%. That
brought in additional directors whose job it obviously was to stop the
fully allocated spot contract. One of these directors was a US banker
who has worked for the Federal Trade Commission, the Sloan Foundation at
MIT and whose wife is a member of the CFR, the Council on Foreign
Relations. Thus, nothing is going to happen to this venture until next
year for a variety of reasons. Fortunately a new exchange is on the way
to replace PAGE, which we will fill you in on in a few months. Once
underway it will first trade silver. The Chinese regional exchange
recently phased out of gold trading and is setting up to trade silver in
the domestic currency – the RMB. Accounting will take place monthly and
will be held in private facilities, not with bullion banks. That way
they cannot illegally hypothecate the silver. No 350 to 1 leverage. Only
trading for cash delivery. In the final analysis this new vehicle will
be out of the hands of the illuminists – it will function far better and
draw major international players.
Read More @ GoldSeek.com
from TSAOutOfOurPants:
Read More @ GoldSeek.com
from GoldCore:
Gold’s London AM fix this morning was 1682.50 USD, 1278.69 EUR and 1068.53 GBP per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,685.60, EUR 1,282.24 and GBP 1,068.26 per ounce.
Gold fell $31.20/oz or 1.8% in New York yesterday and closed below the $1,700/oz level at $1,674.10/oz. Gold has traded in a range between $1,670/oz and $1,680/oz in Asia and early European trading and is now trading at $1,677.40/oz.
Support is at the 200-day moving average at $1,677/oz and below that between $1,650/oz and $1,660/oz. A more severe sell off could see gold fall to $1,600/oz and then to $1,500/oz but this is unlikely given continuing strong demand especially from Asia.
Read More @ GoldCore.com
Gold’s London AM fix this morning was 1682.50 USD, 1278.69 EUR and 1068.53 GBP per ounce.Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,685.60, EUR 1,282.24 and GBP 1,068.26 per ounce.
Gold fell $31.20/oz or 1.8% in New York yesterday and closed below the $1,700/oz level at $1,674.10/oz. Gold has traded in a range between $1,670/oz and $1,680/oz in Asia and early European trading and is now trading at $1,677.40/oz.
Support is at the 200-day moving average at $1,677/oz and below that between $1,650/oz and $1,660/oz. A more severe sell off could see gold fall to $1,600/oz and then to $1,500/oz but this is unlikely given continuing strong demand especially from Asia.
Read More @ GoldCore.com
Giving
peace a chance in tackling Syria and Iran may be on President Obama’s
mind – but that’s not the case for some of his senior compatriots in
Congress. John McCain’s call for airstrikes against Assad is not the
first time the veteran senator has chosen troops over talks. Kristine
Frazow reports from Washington.
Still think your vote counts?
Don’t Trust Electronic Voting Machines
from ArabianMoney.net:
The
central banks of the world can counter a depression by printing money
and know the quantity of money printed but they cannot predict where
that money will go. Inflation increases the gap between the rich and
poor, and makes life very tough for investors.
This is the broad thesis that legendary investor Dr Marc Faber presented at the Hedge Funds World conference in Dubai this morning. He went so far as to blame social and political phenomena like the Arab Spring on the divisive effect of inflation produced by money printing.
Money printing side-effects
Higher food and energy prices are directly linked to the central bank policies to counter the global financial crisis, he said. This is arguably the root cause of the Arab Spring protests, revolutions and civil wars and so the divisive impact is clear.
Read More @ ArabianMoney.net
The
central banks of the world can counter a depression by printing money
and know the quantity of money printed but they cannot predict where
that money will go. Inflation increases the gap between the rich and
poor, and makes life very tough for investors.This is the broad thesis that legendary investor Dr Marc Faber presented at the Hedge Funds World conference in Dubai this morning. He went so far as to blame social and political phenomena like the Arab Spring on the divisive effect of inflation produced by money printing.
Money printing side-effects
Higher food and energy prices are directly linked to the central bank policies to counter the global financial crisis, he said. This is arguably the root cause of the Arab Spring protests, revolutions and civil wars and so the divisive impact is clear.
Read More @ ArabianMoney.net
by Stephen Lendman:
European/American austerity assures a 1% wealth grab at the expense of all others.
Prioritizing banker payments causes debt bondage, human misery, economic wreckage, and eventual collapse. What can’t go on forever, won’t. It’s not rocket science. It’s fact.
Economies thrive on productive economic growth. It includes public sector infrastructure investment in transportation, research and development, roads and bridges, education, healthcare, and other vital areas. Sacrificing it for bankers and other vulture investors causes Greek-type crises.
Read More @ SJLendman.Blogspot.com
European/American austerity assures a 1% wealth grab at the expense of all others.Prioritizing banker payments causes debt bondage, human misery, economic wreckage, and eventual collapse. What can’t go on forever, won’t. It’s not rocket science. It’s fact.
Economies thrive on productive economic growth. It includes public sector infrastructure investment in transportation, research and development, roads and bridges, education, healthcare, and other vital areas. Sacrificing it for bankers and other vulture investors causes Greek-type crises.
Read More @ SJLendman.Blogspot.com
[Ed. Note: Related... and also, YouTube has put an age restriction on this video. Censorship anyone?]
from TSAOutOfOurPants:
from DollarVigilante.com:
Last week, in the article, “The Death of Privacy“,
I stated that I wouldn’t care much about privacy if it wasn’t for
government. One reader wrote in and stated that I should also be
worried about privacy or someone could “steal my identity”.
I responded, please, steal it! You think it is fun being handcuffed every time I go to the US? If anyone wants to be Jeff Berwick, please, go right ahead!
It is crucial, however, to retort the reasons government say they need to invade and attack financial privacy of individuals. Because none of the purported reasons have any basis on which to stand.
In the year 2000, Ron Paul said, sarcastically:
Read More @ DollarVigilante.com
I told you this 3 years ago...
Austerity not working−more money printing on the way
from FinancialSense.com:
Jim welcomes back to Financial Sense Newshour Bud Conrad, Chief Economist at Casey Research LLC. Bud believes the US will opt for inflation (more money-printing) as the only way to deal with its massive and compounding debt.
As well as being chief economist for Casey Research, Bud is also author of the book Profiting from the World’s Economic Crisis. Bud holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Yale and an MBA from Harvard. He has held positions with IBM, CDC, Amdahl, and Tandem. Currently, he serves as a local board member of the National Association of Business Economics and teaches graduate courses in investing at Golden Gate University. Bud, a futures investor for 25 years and a full-time investor for a decade, is also a regular lecturer for American Association of Individual Investors. In addition, he produces original analysis for Casey Research, including unique charts and research on the economy and investment markets. Bud’s commentary may be found in The Casey Report every month.
Click Here to Listen to the Interview
Last week, in the article, “The Death of Privacy“,
I stated that I wouldn’t care much about privacy if it wasn’t for
government. One reader wrote in and stated that I should also be
worried about privacy or someone could “steal my identity”.I responded, please, steal it! You think it is fun being handcuffed every time I go to the US? If anyone wants to be Jeff Berwick, please, go right ahead!
It is crucial, however, to retort the reasons government say they need to invade and attack financial privacy of individuals. Because none of the purported reasons have any basis on which to stand.
In the year 2000, Ron Paul said, sarcastically:
Read More @ DollarVigilante.com
I told you this 3 years ago...
Austerity not working−more money printing on the way
from FinancialSense.com:
Jim welcomes back to Financial Sense Newshour Bud Conrad, Chief Economist at Casey Research LLC. Bud believes the US will opt for inflation (more money-printing) as the only way to deal with its massive and compounding debt.
As well as being chief economist for Casey Research, Bud is also author of the book Profiting from the World’s Economic Crisis. Bud holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Yale and an MBA from Harvard. He has held positions with IBM, CDC, Amdahl, and Tandem. Currently, he serves as a local board member of the National Association of Business Economics and teaches graduate courses in investing at Golden Gate University. Bud, a futures investor for 25 years and a full-time investor for a decade, is also a regular lecturer for American Association of Individual Investors. In addition, he produces original analysis for Casey Research, including unique charts and research on the economy and investment markets. Bud’s commentary may be found in The Casey Report every month.
Click Here to Listen to the Interview
European stockmarkets plunged as Greece threatened its international creditors with a default.
by Louise Armitstead, Telegraph.co.uk:
Bourses across Europe shed more than 3pc each as Greece said it was ready to impose the €206bn restructuring on bondholders who do not vote for it by the 8pm GMT deadline on Thursday.
After a meeting in Frankfurt on Tuesday, the Greek Debt Management Agency “confirmed” that, if a majority of bondholders agree to the deal, it “intends… to declare the proposed amendments effective and binding on all holders”.
Traders took the statement as a warning that Greece was expecting to use the Collect Action Clauses (CACs) to force through the deal. Rating agencies have warned that the retrospective measure, which was approved by Greek politicians last month, would constitute a sovereign default – the first in the eurozone’s history.
Read More @ Telegraph.co.uk
Dear CIGAs,
With gold and silver plunging, along with stock markets and crude oil, today King World News interviewed legendary Jim Sinclair’s chartist Dan Norcini. Norcini told KWN what we are seeing today in the gold and silver markets is not what most people think: “People will tend to blame this takedown in gold and silver on the bullion banks. Interestingly, I don’t think that’s the case this time, Eric. I think what happened last Wednesday was bullion bank selling related to central bank intervention, when we had that big takedown, which was timed with Bernanke’s Congressional testimony.”
Dan Norcini continues:
“That did get the ball rolling, but once these guys create enough downside momentum and downside support levels are breached, the bullion banks don’t have to do any selling. At that point, the hedge funds and algorithms start to do the selling for them.
On a day like this, I expect the bullion banks to be covering shorts. They are buying back some of their shorts they put on at higher levels. We’ve had a decade now to see their modus operandi and this has been the pattern. We’ve seen downdrafts in gold and silver accompanied by sharp reductions in open interest and short covering from commercials.
If past patterns hold true, and I’m sure it will, we will see sharp hedge fund liquidations on the long side being met by bullion banks buying or short covering. Remember, the bullion banks were big sellers up at the highs….
Click here to view the full interview on KingWorldNews.com…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Greece steps up pressure in uncertain bond deal March 6, 2012 1:35 PM
ATHENS, Greece — Greece stepped up the pressure on its private creditors Tuesday to sign on to a crucial bond swap without which the country will default on its debts this month, but which some investors fear may prove unsuccessful.
Holders of Greek government bonds have until Thursday night to sign up to the deal, which aims to wipe more than billion ($139 billion) off the country’s overall debt by exchanging existing bonds for new ones with a face value reduced by 53.5 percent, longer repayment deadlines and lower interest rates.
The success of the swap — called Private Sector Involvement, or PSI — depends on a high participation rate, of which there is no guarantee.
On Monday, a group representing private holders of Greek government bonds said a dozen banks, insurers and investment funds — including German insurer Allianz, French bank BNP Paribas, Germany’s Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank — will participate in the swap.
But many more will need to sign up by Thursday for Greece to avoid default.
More…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Illinois state ‘on brink of collapse’ By Hal Weitzman in Chicago and Nicole Bullock in New York
Illinois’ financial problems are forcing it to choose between its pensions and its teeth.
Governor Pat Quinn says the state needs to face its “rendezvous with reality” and tackle its dysfunctional budget habits. Top of the list, Mr Quinn says, is to slash spending on Medicaid, a federal programme that provides healthcare to poor Americans.
To save a system he says is “on the brink of collapse”, Mr Quinn proposes cutting $2.7bn from Illinois’ $11.5bn Medicaid bill. Few would dispute that the state needs to change its behaviour. Last year, Illinois underfunded Medicaid by $2bn as it struggled with debts totalling more than $280bn, an $86bn hole in its public pension funds and a $9bn backlog of unpaid bills.
The Medicaid tab has grown since the financial crisis, which pushed more people into poverty. In 2007, 2.1m Illinois residents were eligible for the low-income programme. Today, 2.7m qualify – 1.7m of them children, according to the state’s department of healthcare and family services.
More…
Dear CIGAs,
Click chart to enlarge in PDF format.
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by Louise Armitstead, Telegraph.co.uk:
Bourses across Europe shed more than 3pc each as Greece said it was ready to impose the €206bn restructuring on bondholders who do not vote for it by the 8pm GMT deadline on Thursday.
After a meeting in Frankfurt on Tuesday, the Greek Debt Management Agency “confirmed” that, if a majority of bondholders agree to the deal, it “intends… to declare the proposed amendments effective and binding on all holders”.
Traders took the statement as a warning that Greece was expecting to use the Collect Action Clauses (CACs) to force through the deal. Rating agencies have warned that the retrospective measure, which was approved by Greek politicians last month, would constitute a sovereign default – the first in the eurozone’s history.
Read More @ Telegraph.co.uk
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
Dear CIGAs,
On Monday, President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in the White House to discuss how they were going to handle Iran’s nuclear program. I think the meeting was a disaster for anyone who thinks we are on the way to settling the situation with sanctions and diplomacy. The President wants to give sanctions against Iranian banking and petroleum exports a chance to work. They are harsh and getting rougher by the month. Maybe they are working because, just yesterday, the Iranians agreed, once again, to face-to-face negotiations with world powers. Then again, maybe they are not because many suspect the Iranians are stalling for time–again. Talks about Iran’s nuclear program have been on and off since Obama took office.
In Monday’s meeting, Mr. Netanyahu took time to address the President in front of reporters, and I think he was sending a clear message that an attack on Iran was coming. First of all, he said, “For them, (Iran) you’re the great Satan, we are the little Satan; for them, we are you and you are us, and you know something, Mr. President? At least on this last point, I think they’re right. We are you, and you are us — we’re together.” I do not think this was some offhanded throw away comment but a carefully prepared statement the Prime Minister practiced many times before saying. In my mind, Netanyahu was really saying that if Israel attacks Iran, then the U.S. should expect retaliation by Iran. I think the Israeli PM was giving fair warning to America when he said, “We are you, and you are us.”
At no time did Netanyahu mention diplomacy or giving more time for sanctions to work. Mr. Netanyahu went on to say, “Israel must reserve the right to defend itself and after all, that’s the very purpose of the Jewish state, to restore to the Jewish people control of our destiny, and that’s why my supreme responsibility as prime minister of Israel is to ensure that Israel remains the master of its fate.” After this meeting, there is no way anyone could be taken by surprise if Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear sites and there is an Israel-Iran War. (Click here to see the complete video of Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments to the President.)
Later, Mr. Netanyahu addressed the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and said, “We waited for diplomacy to work; we’ve waited for sanctions to work; none of us can afford to wait much longer.” Iran has long said its nuclear program is for the peaceful production of energy and has adamantly denied it is working on nuclear weapons. Many in the West do not believe this, including Israel. Netanyahu also said, “Amazingly, some people refuse to acknowledge that Iran’s goal is to develop nuclear weapons. You see, Iran claims that it’s enriching uranium to develop medical research. Yeah, right. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then what is it? That’s right, it’s a duck. But this duck is a nuclear duck and it’s time the world started calling a duck a duck.” (Click here for more on Netanyahu’s AIPAC speech.)
More…
Dear Greg,
Dear CIGAs,
On Monday, President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in the White House to discuss how they were going to handle Iran’s nuclear program. I think the meeting was a disaster for anyone who thinks we are on the way to settling the situation with sanctions and diplomacy. The President wants to give sanctions against Iranian banking and petroleum exports a chance to work. They are harsh and getting rougher by the month. Maybe they are working because, just yesterday, the Iranians agreed, once again, to face-to-face negotiations with world powers. Then again, maybe they are not because many suspect the Iranians are stalling for time–again. Talks about Iran’s nuclear program have been on and off since Obama took office.
In Monday’s meeting, Mr. Netanyahu took time to address the President in front of reporters, and I think he was sending a clear message that an attack on Iran was coming. First of all, he said, “For them, (Iran) you’re the great Satan, we are the little Satan; for them, we are you and you are us, and you know something, Mr. President? At least on this last point, I think they’re right. We are you, and you are us — we’re together.” I do not think this was some offhanded throw away comment but a carefully prepared statement the Prime Minister practiced many times before saying. In my mind, Netanyahu was really saying that if Israel attacks Iran, then the U.S. should expect retaliation by Iran. I think the Israeli PM was giving fair warning to America when he said, “We are you, and you are us.”
At no time did Netanyahu mention diplomacy or giving more time for sanctions to work. Mr. Netanyahu went on to say, “Israel must reserve the right to defend itself and after all, that’s the very purpose of the Jewish state, to restore to the Jewish people control of our destiny, and that’s why my supreme responsibility as prime minister of Israel is to ensure that Israel remains the master of its fate.” After this meeting, there is no way anyone could be taken by surprise if Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear sites and there is an Israel-Iran War. (Click here to see the complete video of Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments to the President.)
Later, Mr. Netanyahu addressed the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and said, “We waited for diplomacy to work; we’ve waited for sanctions to work; none of us can afford to wait much longer.” Iran has long said its nuclear program is for the peaceful production of energy and has adamantly denied it is working on nuclear weapons. Many in the West do not believe this, including Israel. Netanyahu also said, “Amazingly, some people refuse to acknowledge that Iran’s goal is to develop nuclear weapons. You see, Iran claims that it’s enriching uranium to develop medical research. Yeah, right. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then what is it? That’s right, it’s a duck. But this duck is a nuclear duck and it’s time the world started calling a duck a duck.” (Click here for more on Netanyahu’s AIPAC speech.)
More…
Dear Greg,
It is my opinion that Israel will hold the fate of the world in its
hands if it miscalculates the strength of Iran and what true alliances
Israel has.
The alliances being made continually by Iran are far from mundane.
This situation is a major international bag of worms.
Regards,
Jim
Jim
March 7, 2012, at 9:36 am
by Jim Sinclair
Dear Jim,
It is getting a bit taffer (or just MOPE)
Yesterday we had an article in “Bild,” today in “Handelsblatt,” in Germany concerning the German gold reserves. The content of both articles is questioning the Deutsche Bundesbank, because there is no official proof or audit. It is already in a German court to put pressure on the Bundesbank. Now they (the Press) asks why Germany is not taking its gold back home. The Bundesbank denied to answer other than the usual statement to keep the gold in different centres for trade reasons.
Kann die Bundesbank über ihr Gold noch verfügen?
BILD beim Goldschatz der Deutschen in New York
All the best,
CIGA Michael, from Metallwoche.de
Dear Michael,
Is it not silly for Germany not to hold their own gold? You can be sure most of it is at the NY Fed. Maybe a few ounces are located elsewhere.
Jim
Rising Interest Payments Unfolding Like A Slow-Motion Train Wreck
CIGA Eric
Even if we raised taxes to 100% of income and reduced government spending to zero tomorrow, a scenario that would instantaneously organize an angry, pitchfork carrying crowd, it still wouldn’t solve the problem called rising interest rate payments. Friends, this is a slow motion train wreck called rising interest payments will be visited sooner rather than later as capital increasingly rotates from the public to private sector. Centralize governments, motivated almost exclusively by self-preservation of power, will enact capital controls in effort to reverse global capital flows. These controls will proved to be ineffective, but it’s highly likely the public will be the last one’s to know it.
Capital is slowly rotating from public sovereign debt to private sector equities (chart 1) and debt (chart 2). Trend changes from down to up in the charts below illustrates this rotation.
Chart 1: Large Cap Total Return Index (LCSTRI) to Long-Term Government Bonds Total Return Index (LTGBTRI) Ratio and Z Score of Secular Trend
Chart 2: Long-Term U.S. Corporate Bonds Total Return Index (LTCBTRI) to Long-Term U.S. Government Bonds Total Return Index (LTGBTRI)
Headline: Washington’s $5 trillion interest bill
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Interest rates on U.S. bonds may be ridiculously low, but that doesn’t mean the country’s future interest payments on the national debt will be.
Uncle Sam will shell out more than $5 trillion in interest payments over the next decade, according to the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office.
That’s more than half of the projected $11 trillion increase in debt held by the public during that period. Those figures assume that a host of expensive policies such as the Bush-era tax cuts are extended.
Over the decade, more than 14% of all revenue the government is projected to collect will be sucked up by interest payments.
Source: money.cnn.com
More…
by Jim Sinclair
Dear Jim,
It is getting a bit taffer (or just MOPE)
Yesterday we had an article in “Bild,” today in “Handelsblatt,” in Germany concerning the German gold reserves. The content of both articles is questioning the Deutsche Bundesbank, because there is no official proof or audit. It is already in a German court to put pressure on the Bundesbank. Now they (the Press) asks why Germany is not taking its gold back home. The Bundesbank denied to answer other than the usual statement to keep the gold in different centres for trade reasons.
Kann die Bundesbank über ihr Gold noch verfügen?
BILD beim Goldschatz der Deutschen in New York
All the best,
CIGA Michael, from Metallwoche.de
Dear Michael,
Is it not silly for Germany not to hold their own gold? You can be sure most of it is at the NY Fed. Maybe a few ounces are located elsewhere.
Jim
Rising Interest Payments Unfolding Like A Slow-Motion Train Wreck
CIGA Eric
Even if we raised taxes to 100% of income and reduced government spending to zero tomorrow, a scenario that would instantaneously organize an angry, pitchfork carrying crowd, it still wouldn’t solve the problem called rising interest rate payments. Friends, this is a slow motion train wreck called rising interest payments will be visited sooner rather than later as capital increasingly rotates from the public to private sector. Centralize governments, motivated almost exclusively by self-preservation of power, will enact capital controls in effort to reverse global capital flows. These controls will proved to be ineffective, but it’s highly likely the public will be the last one’s to know it.
Capital is slowly rotating from public sovereign debt to private sector equities (chart 1) and debt (chart 2). Trend changes from down to up in the charts below illustrates this rotation.
Chart 1: Large Cap Total Return Index (LCSTRI) to Long-Term Government Bonds Total Return Index (LTGBTRI) Ratio and Z Score of Secular Trend
Chart 2: Long-Term U.S. Corporate Bonds Total Return Index (LTCBTRI) to Long-Term U.S. Government Bonds Total Return Index (LTGBTRI)
Headline: Washington’s $5 trillion interest bill
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Interest rates on U.S. bonds may be ridiculously low, but that doesn’t mean the country’s future interest payments on the national debt will be.
Uncle Sam will shell out more than $5 trillion in interest payments over the next decade, according to the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office.
That’s more than half of the projected $11 trillion increase in debt held by the public during that period. Those figures assume that a host of expensive policies such as the Bush-era tax cuts are extended.
Over the decade, more than 14% of all revenue the government is projected to collect will be sucked up by interest payments.
Source: money.cnn.com
More…
Dear CIGAs,
With gold and silver plunging, along with stock markets and crude oil, today King World News interviewed legendary Jim Sinclair’s chartist Dan Norcini. Norcini told KWN what we are seeing today in the gold and silver markets is not what most people think: “People will tend to blame this takedown in gold and silver on the bullion banks. Interestingly, I don’t think that’s the case this time, Eric. I think what happened last Wednesday was bullion bank selling related to central bank intervention, when we had that big takedown, which was timed with Bernanke’s Congressional testimony.”
Dan Norcini continues:
“That did get the ball rolling, but once these guys create enough downside momentum and downside support levels are breached, the bullion banks don’t have to do any selling. At that point, the hedge funds and algorithms start to do the selling for them.
On a day like this, I expect the bullion banks to be covering shorts. They are buying back some of their shorts they put on at higher levels. We’ve had a decade now to see their modus operandi and this has been the pattern. We’ve seen downdrafts in gold and silver accompanied by sharp reductions in open interest and short covering from commercials.
If past patterns hold true, and I’m sure it will, we will see sharp hedge fund liquidations on the long side being met by bullion banks buying or short covering. Remember, the bullion banks were big sellers up at the highs….
Click here to view the full interview on KingWorldNews.com…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Just to keep things interesting. This ought to give the ISDA nightmares.
"Greece’s economic program does not contemplate the
availability of funds to make payments to private sector creditors that
decline to participate in PSI," the agency said.
Greece steps up pressure in uncertain bond deal March 6, 2012 1:35 PM
ATHENS, Greece — Greece stepped up the pressure on its private creditors Tuesday to sign on to a crucial bond swap without which the country will default on its debts this month, but which some investors fear may prove unsuccessful.
Holders of Greek government bonds have until Thursday night to sign up to the deal, which aims to wipe more than billion ($139 billion) off the country’s overall debt by exchanging existing bonds for new ones with a face value reduced by 53.5 percent, longer repayment deadlines and lower interest rates.
The success of the swap — called Private Sector Involvement, or PSI — depends on a high participation rate, of which there is no guarantee.
On Monday, a group representing private holders of Greek government bonds said a dozen banks, insurers and investment funds — including German insurer Allianz, French bank BNP Paribas, Germany’s Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank — will participate in the swap.
But many more will need to sign up by Thursday for Greece to avoid default.
More…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
It is coming. Business is not improving. The subprime loans being
made to boost car sales are going to make great business for the repo
man. Nothing has changed. In fact the problems have multiplied.
Ignore the gold bears. They have been around for 12 years and have
been wrong since day one. They are wrong here – there is no significant
top in gold.
Illinois state ‘on brink of collapse’ By Hal Weitzman in Chicago and Nicole Bullock in New York
Illinois’ financial problems are forcing it to choose between its pensions and its teeth.
Governor Pat Quinn says the state needs to face its “rendezvous with reality” and tackle its dysfunctional budget habits. Top of the list, Mr Quinn says, is to slash spending on Medicaid, a federal programme that provides healthcare to poor Americans.
To save a system he says is “on the brink of collapse”, Mr Quinn proposes cutting $2.7bn from Illinois’ $11.5bn Medicaid bill. Few would dispute that the state needs to change its behaviour. Last year, Illinois underfunded Medicaid by $2bn as it struggled with debts totalling more than $280bn, an $86bn hole in its public pension funds and a $9bn backlog of unpaid bills.
The Medicaid tab has grown since the financial crisis, which pushed more people into poverty. In 2007, 2.1m Illinois residents were eligible for the low-income programme. Today, 2.7m qualify – 1.7m of them children, according to the state’s department of healthcare and family services.
More…
Dear CIGAs,
Click chart to enlarge in PDF format.
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/silver/t24_ag_en_usoz_2.gif)
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