Wednesday, May 23, 2012


This Is What European Banks' Loan-To-Deposit Ratios Look Like

For those who feel like spreading rumors about European deposit insurance, please do. But at least have some sense about what it would entail. European banks already have the highest loan-to-deposit loan-to-deposit ratio in the world. This means they are massively more levered, roughly 3x more, the US banks. In other words, deposit "encumbrance" is already absolutely maxed out. Think the ECB can credibly backstop Europe's €11 trillion deposit market, with Germany's agreement? Good luck.






IG 9 trades to JPMorgan seem to indicate 8 billion loss/Another lawsuit for Greece with English law bonds/European bourses hit hard/ Dow rises on rumours of Pan European guarantee on Euros

Harvey Organ at Harvey Organ's - The Daily Gold and Silver Report - 36 minutes ago
Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen: Gold closed down by $30.00 to $1548.10  Silver fell by 51 cents to $27.51. What really stuck out today was the price in the gold and silver shares which have been terribly beaten up over these past few months. Agnico Eagle closed up $2.02 to $39.19 (NYSE), Newmont hit $48.57 up $1.38 and Silver Wheaton rose 95 cents to $26.41.  The HUI index advanced 16.51 more »

 

 

Trader Dan interviewed at King World News on Gold and Gold Stock Action

Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 2 hours ago
Please click on the following link to read my interview with Eric King on the KWN network about today's price action in both gold and the gold shares. *http://tinyurl.com/bvkjsfq* more »

 

Continuous Commodity Index - Fed Operation "Push Down Commodities" Successful

Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 4 hours ago
I have been convinced for some time now that the Fed is growing increasingly concerned about the impact from both the Eurozone and the slowdown in China on the US economy. The swooning equity markets in the US ( the S&P 500 is almost negative on the year as of the low today) are heralding investor fears and uncertainty over when the next round of stimulus might be coming. Yet the Fed continues to remain relatively silent when it comes to committing to any definitive date for another round of bond purchases even as the yield on the Ten Year Note is now close to 1.70%, having clearly... more » 



POMO For The Rest Of Us - A Zero Hedge Initiative

Now that talk of NEW QE is once again all the rage, and with the FOMC's June meeting in less than a month, and since there is nothing that anyone can do, short of a revolution to prevent this (with half the country obese, and the other half hypnotized by the Kardashians or on disability, that ain't happening), it only makes sense to join them since we can't beat them. Which is why we are officially launching the "POMO For The Rest Of Us" initiative. Beginning today, we will collate readers' ideas based on twitter posts with the #POMOList hashtag, which we naturally suggest be addressed to the @FederalReserve twitter account as we wouldn't want the good central planners at the Fed to be unaware of what the general population demands be monetized in the next imminent iteration of an utterly idiotic activity which does absolutely the same as every year before, while hoping for a different result.




Unemployment Insurance Schemes And The Dependency Of Welfare

In the Garden of Eden there is no scarcity.  Food, clothing, and shelter in are abundance.  Resources merely fall from the heavens upon command.  It is economic paradise precisely because economics does not exist.  The universal laws that hold in the world of scarce goods vanquish in the land of the plenty. The vision of Eden is the politician’s main source of employment.  That is, promising to lead the suffering masses toward utopia by government decree makes for great electoral results.  The voting fodder ignorant of economics falls in line to cast a ballot to grant themselves other people’s money.  But of course many voters don’t see it this way.  Their vision of the state is that of Eden.  They see the bureaucrats and enforcers capable of tapping an infinite pot of wealth to pass along prosperity to those subservient enough to put them in office.  This in turn has lead to the establishment of the welfare state and its plethora of entitlement programs. For those who see the modern day welfare state as corrosive to the productive capacity of any given country, no where is this theory more evident than the scheme of unemployment insurance.




As Reality Recedes, Rumor Rampage Returns

Equities and broad risk-assets were generally in sync today until around 1430ET when between rumors of a Euro-wide deposit-guarantee 'scheme' - which we had already dismissed as impossible short-term, very unlikely medium-term, and not a long-term solution to redenomination/insolvency risk - and Kocherlakota's hints as NEW QE if the fiscal cliff arrives - US equity markets took off (as did Gold). S&P 500 e-mini futures (ES) pushed to more than 12pts rich to CONTEXT (our proxy for risk-assets based on TSYs, FX carry, credit, and commodities) on all that hope - stalling at yesterday's late-day heavy volume swing highs. Of course the high-beta momo monkeys were pounced on and AAPL as well as the major financials all popped notably - breaking above yesterday's closing VWAP. Today was a low average trade size day - the lowest in a week (but a relatively high volume day) - after a large average trade size day yesterday which smells like algos pushing to enable larger selling (especially as we expect a denial any moment from Europe). VIX plunged off its highs but closed only marginally down with ES closing very marginally higher on the day - so some context is required to avoid anchoring bias intraday and while TSY yields did pop and EUR rallied after equities got going, they remain notably divergent from that sur-reality. Gold and Silver surged on the QE/EU hopes as well but remain down 2% and 3% on the week.




Some Hope For Dell Longs...


In the aftermath of last night's Dell cataclysm, we would like to cheer up any remaining bulls - below we present at least one bullish perspective from the inimitable Whitney Tilson who has a $21-$29 price target (and owned 768K shares of stock). Ignore that the stock is down 20% since the reco, and 33% from recent highs: it takes special skill to discover "pent up value."




The Ultimate "Buffett-Black-Swan" Short

We are always on the look-out for low-cost long-vol trades with lots of convexity (large upside, low downside). We think we've found the 'ultimate' black-swan trade. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought Burlington Northern and implicitly assumed its debt which caused the company's CDS to collapse (risk to plunge dramatically as one would expect) to extremely low levels of insurance cost of only 15bps (or only $15,000 per year to protect $10,000,000 of debt - while gaining or losing ~$5,000 per bps shift in BNI's risk). However, as risk has picked up in the last week or so, BNI's CDS has risen by 7bps (just under 50%) to 22bps and looks set to go even wider if Buffett's Big Bullish 'Bernanke' Bet doesn't pay off. Buying BNI protection at 22bps seems like the ultimate cheap expression of the "All aboard the 'I wrote billions of naked puts just before 2008 market crash' train" trade.




Norcini – Central Bank Gold Buyers Battling Hedge Funds Today

With gold coming off the lows of an earlier plunge, today King World News interviewed Dan Norcini. Norcini told KWN the bounce occurred today because of “central bank buying.” Norcini also said, “Hedge funds are battling the Eastern Central banks which are the physical buyers.” He also sent over an extremely important chart which correlated gold in December 2008 vs today. But first, here is what Norcini had to say about the extraordinary volatility in the key markets: “The ratio spread trade, where the hedge funds had been buying bullion and shorting the mining shares, it looks like that’s in the process of being reversed. We’ve been seeing a steady improvement in the HUI (Gold Mining Index) to gold ratio over the last week, where the shares have actually gained ground vs the bullion.”
Dan Norcini continues @ KingWorldNews.com







Europe One Nation (Under Germany)

By John Mauldin, The Market Oracle:
For this week’s Outside the Box I want to share with you a singularly interesting conversation between Niall Ferguson and Ben Laurance, in the Sunday Times of London. What really grabbed me about it was the way Niall goes right out on a limb and yet makes such a convincing case that, when push really comes to shove, Germany will bite the federalist bullet, because it’s overwhelmingly in their interest to maintain a united eurozone.
“I am not a federalist,” says Ferguson. “But the costs of the single currency disintegrating are really so high and would impact so many people, that the only responsible thing for me to do is to argue urgently for the next step to a federal Europe. I see no alternative at the moment that isn’t a great deal worse.”
And the other option? “On the other hand — and this is the message to Angela Merkel — to use George Bush’s phrase: this sucker’s going down. We’ve reached that point.”
Read More @ TheMarketOracle.co.uk




The US Treasury Prize, the Euro’s Demise, and Facebook Lies w/ Paul Craig Roberts

from CapitalAccount:

As an informal summit of European leaders has observers seeking signs of the eurozone’s direction…look at the market: German 30-year bonds tumbled to below 2 percent for the first time ever. Meanwhile, for the privilege of lending your money to the German government for 2-years you get paid a stunning…wait for it…0%. These rates aren’t suppressed by QE or ZIRP like in the US. They are a fear gauge as people run to there perceive safety of Europe’s largest and strongest economy.
And according to media reports the guessing game is underway for who will replace Timothy Geithner as US Treasury Secretary. You may be asking yourself why anyone would want to try and tackle the trillion dollar budget deficit, overhaul the tax structure and catch flack for a flailing economic recovery for a salary 115 times less than their private sector equivalent of Jamie Dimon. So are we. We’ll ask former assistant secretary of the treasury, Paul Craig Roberts if he thinks that this public service is actually a private gain…a one-way ticket to a massive private sector payoff.
Also, in the wake of Facebook’s flop of an IP, we see small investors suing, regulators subpoenaing, and US lawmakers searching for answers. Retail investors for one, are asking if they were fleeced.




DAVID ICKE – THIS WORLD IS UTTERLY INSANE!!! (Viewer Discretion Advised)

from Jay4Louise9:





LaRouchePAC: The British-Rothschild Empire VS. YOU

from laroucheyouth:

What is the intention behind the current drive towards potentially thermonuclear warfare between U.S. / NATO and Russia, and China? The British imperial post-Cold War doctrine is in a clash with (your) human scientific and artistic sovereignty.




I’m Buying Silver

from Liberty Blitzkrieg
As of a few minutes ago, I put in my largest order for physical silver since 2010. I am not trying to be a hero or call the bottom, but because many people do ask me for my opinion on the precious metals I decided to make the buy public. The rationale for me is extremely simple. First, I find silver under $30/oz to be a total steal as I expect it to trade well into the hundreds of dollars an ounce in the years ahead. Furthermore, I think the Central Planners of the world will be forced to act sooner rather than later. As someone that did the vast majority of his buying years ago, I have been much more patient with my buys in the last few years. I suspect there are many others out there just like me. The minute these markets turn they will be in there bidding for physical silver, which I believe cannot be bought in serious size. The market will turn hard and fast. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.
Oh and of course, by buying silver I mean physical and I’m taking delivery.
Best,
Mike
Read More @ LibertyBlitzkrieg.com




National Security Threat: Over 1 Million Counterfeit Chinese Parts Discovered In Defense Department Supply Chain

by Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan:
While America’s surveillance infrastructure turns inwards to identify domestic terror threats to the homeland such as those people who have guns, ammunition, food reserves or pay cash for their purchases, a shocking new report from Congress suggests that legitimate national security threats from foreign governments have been all but ignored by those agencies tasked with providing for the defense of the American people.
The year long investigation by the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services found that counterfeit parts from our nation’s largest financial benefactor are flooding into critical military defense systems that include everything from special operations helicopters and surveillance planes, to missile guidance and global positioning systems.
Read More @ SHTFPlan.com




More details emerge in Obama’s secret dealings with Big Pharma during health care overhaul

by Ethan A. Huff, Natural News:
The bipartisan Congressional committee currently investigating the secret dealings between the Obama administration and Big Pharma prior to the passage of the massive health care overhaul is set to release pertinent new details as to what these dealings entailed. In a recent memorandum, the committee unveils the names of some of the key figures involved with these secret negotiations, and promises to release even more shocking details in the coming weeks.
Addressed specifically to the Republican members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the memo explains a little bit more about how the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a powerful lobbying group that represents the drug and biotechnology industries, colluded with the federal government to make the terms of Obamacare as favorable to drug companies as possible. Both the federal government and PhRMA secretly agreed to abide by certain undisclosed commitments to one another as part of the passage of the bill, the details of which largely remain hidden from public view.
Read More @ NaturalNews.com



The importance of dollar-priced oil for the US and its implications for gold

by Julian Phillips, www.GoldForecaster.com / www.SilverForecaster.com
A break in the link between the dollar and the oil price could well hurry gold’s emergence into the monetary system Julian Phillips says.
JOHANNESBURG (Gold Forecaster) –
There was much more to Hilary Clinton’s China and India trip than meets the eye. It was an acid test of the power of the U.S. to press its political will upon the world. The issue at hand was the U.S. trying to halt sales of Iranian oil worldwide and to offer India the same amount of oil from other sources. Supplies from Saudi Arabia to replace Iranian oil were already in the market place. The halting of the Iranian oil from the market would have lost 3 million barrels a day, but it seems Saudi oil capacity has added that much. The oil price before the visit was over $100 a barrel; today it stands at $92.49 a barrel. In the first week of May, crude oil supplies climbed by 1.9 million barrels per day to 377.8 million barrels per day, a rise not seen in more than 21 years! We’re led to believe that supplies remain at high levels.
The last fortnight in the oil markets was one of great pertinence to gold, a week in which the oil price fell 10%. It seems that the extra supply coming from Saudi Arabia is not compensating for Iran’s oil but now coming in addition to it -hence the fall to almost lower than break-even point for the oil producers. Unless, either Saudi Arabia withdraws this extra supply or China and India accede to Clinton’s requests, the oil price will remain at these levels or fall lower.
Dollar Oil Price is the ‘Vital Interest’
Read More @ MineWeb.com




Could the Pending JP Morgan Bankruptcy Spark a Military Crackdown in the United States?

from Silver Vigilante:
In 2010, Jamie Dimon might have had an idea of his banks’ decline in the face of the crisis facing the global economy. The banking system had already collapsed, only to be spared by guaranteed indemnification on the backs of future generations. In front of Veterans Day 2010, Dimon sent a message to all of JPMorgan’s US employees.
Dimon wrote:
This month, colleagues around the world will commemorate those who have served their country. Some call it Remembrance Day or Armistice Day.
In the U.S., we set aside November 11 as Veterans Day in honor of their service and their sacrifices.
Here at JPMorgan Chase, we are marking this solemn occasion by expanding our efforts to support and recruit veterans of the U.S. armed forces.
We all owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to our veterans, whose selfless service has kept us safe. I am proud to announce this special initiative—it is, quite simply, the right thing to do.
Read More @ SilverVigilante.com




DARPA developing ‘on-demand production’ of genetically engineered bio-products

from, Activist Post
The Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) – often described as the mad scientist research arm of the Pentagon due to their fantastical projects like weaponized hallucinations, dirt cheap miniature spy computers, increasingly lifelike humanoid robots and more – is now in the process of developing a kind of factory for man-made organisms.
Their new program, called “Living Foundries,” was originally announced last year and aims to create a type of assembly line for genetically engineered products – assumedly for military applications since that is what DARPA is all about.
DARPA recently announced eight research awards totaling some $15.5 million in funds as part of this initiative including:
Read More @ Activist Post


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