US Debt Level Versus the Price of Gold In Dollars

Another interesting chart from Nick Laird, the data wrangler at Sharelynx.com.

Switzerland Leads In Gold Sales Among Central Banks Since 1993

Although they are still among the top ten in total gold holdings, Switzerland has been one of the largest sellers of gold among official entities since 1993.

 

It is no surprise then that some of the people of Switzerland have taken to a referendum to provide their opinions on this to the Swiss National Bank.

 

With regard to the second chart, personally I do not believe that the World Gold Council estimates are correct for China at all, and probably Russia.

 

Source: Wikipedia, Gold Reserve

Fed Earmarked Gold Holdings Continued to Decline In October

Nemo debet esse judex in propria causa.

Earmarked gold at the Federal Reserve dropped 42 tonnes for the month of October as foreign countries repatriate their gold.

Despite these declines the Fed's earmarked holdings are quite substantial to say the least.  

One has to wonder why the German people are not able to get back their gold for seven years. 

Why would the US raise such a fuss about returning it, if they still have over 6,000 tonnes of other people's gold in their accounts?

Are they 'managing' this gold held in custody?  Are they receiving and sharing returns from it? Or is it just idly sitting their in storage?

Is it all still physically there, and unemcumbered by multiple claims?

Something does not quite add up.   Let's check the latest audit.  The Fed does not allow itself to be subject to independent audits.   They demand our trust.

"Justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done."

They are independent of the law, and beyond good and evil.

Related: Simon Johnson, The Federal Reserve's Escape From New York

China Takes Out Another 52.5 Tonnes of Gold For the Week Through Shanghai

 

Week by week, month by month, physical gold is flowing from West to East.

 

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - 1812 Overture

"He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and nearly all that is undetected in this great city.

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Final Problem

"Du sublime au ridicule, il n'y a qu'un pas."

“From the sublime to the ridiculous, there is only one step."

Napoleon Bonaparte, On his retreat from Russia to Paris in 1812

Gold and silver got mugged in very quiet trading for the end of the month, with most traders off on holiday.

If anyone was short gold or silver, their end of month results looked quite a bit better after today. So like the retailers they had their 'Black Friday.'

Paper covers rock. Who's got the scissors?

The Swiss will be voting on their referenda on Sunday. Among these are the gold referendum.

Next week is the Non-Farm payrolls for November.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - The Proud Never Give Thanks

US equities were a bit off today, and volatility was ticking higher, as markets were open for a half day of light holiday trading. 

Thus ended the amazing streak of new highs, at least for today.

There was no significant economic news released.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Now Thank We All Our God

"A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves."

Henry Ward Beecher

 

The joyfulness of simplicity is a folly to the world, but the charism of a loving God to His people.

 

Gold and silver were both flat in lackluster trade today, as the US markets were simply going through the motions in holiday trade and ahead of a few real world events.

OPEC will be meeting this weekend to consider the dropping price of oil. It is clear that the Saudis are producing at a higher than usual manner, and as you may recall I have speculated that this is part of a ploy with the US to hamper Russia, but to also send a price gut check to the shale oil producing crowd.

The Swiss will be having their gold referendum on Sunday, 30 November and it will be interesting to see how that turns out.

And finally we are now switching to the December contract, and what may prove to be a more active month in the paper markets.

Have a pleasant weekend. See you Sunday evening.

 

 

 

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Miles Gloriosus

Stocks were drifting today in very light holiday trade, further dampened by foul weather in the NYC metro area.

The economic news this morning was quite poor, and lending some credence to the somewhat artificial nature of the GDP revision higher from earlier this week.

US markets will be effectively closed for the rest of the week, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Have a pleasant weekend.

 

 

 

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Refreshing Resilience

Gold and silver held their prices well today with silver actually gaining some ground. Not bad for the day after a Comex option expiration.

This Friday the December contract becomes active on first notice, so we might see some changes in open interest.

Not much to report in the delivery category, but the Comex warehouse show the continued drip, drip of bullion out of their domains.

There is a nor'easter moving up the eastern seaboard now that will be arriving in the New York metropolitan area tomorrow morning.  It will be bring snow to the western and northern suburbs, which may dampen an already quiet trading day before the four day holiday weekend.

 

Goldman, HSBC, and BASF have been accused of rigging the price of platinum and palladium.  Gold and silver must be the only two global markets that haven't been rigged, if one is to believe that sort of thing.

 

But we know that they have been, and continue to be.  And that there will be consequences.

 

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

 

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Big Wheel Keep On Turning

The GDP estimate came in on the high side revision today showing what a marvelous recovery we are enjoying.

Too bad not much else is showing growth. Maybe this is one of those recoveries that is localized to the well-to-do.

The market is drifting higher on low volumes, and do not expect tomorrow to be much different 'unless something happens.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Quiet Options Expiration on the Comex

Today was the last option expiration for 2014 Comex precious metal options.

Gold and silver were under slight pressure most of the day, but closed largely unchanged. Gold was down about five dollars while silver was up a penny.

Let's see how the trade winds down this week.

A nor'easter is expected to work its way up the east coast of the US this week. There is some uncertainly but we may be seeing a substantial winter storm in the New Jersey-New York-New England area on Wednesday, so I would expect the adults to leave on Tuesday for a long holiday weekend. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the biggest travel day of the year.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

 

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

Lack of hard economic data and a light holiday week trade had stocks drifting with an upward bias.

The second estimate of 3Q GDP will be given tomorrow.

The grand jury decision in the police shooting of Michael Brown should be released shortly.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

China SGE Gold Withdrawals For Week 52 Tonnes

The Shanghai Gold Exchange withdrawals were 52.26 tonnes for the week ending 14 November.

To put this into perspective, there are a total of 27 tonnes of gold bullion in the registered 'deliverable' at these prices category in all the Comex warehouses now. 

 

That's only a few days supply work in Shanghai.  

 

The point of this, of course, is that as a price discovery mechanism the Comex hardly merits the title anymore relative to the new physical markets in Asia since so little bullion is actually changing hands and being withdrawn, and their leverage is so high. 

 

Compared to China it is like a game of Liar's poker.  And how apt that comparison might be.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Comex Option Expiration Monday

 We Do Not Give Thanks.  We Always Deserve More.

Next week will be a short trading week because of the US Thanksgiving holiday.

Monday will be the last Comex option expiration for the year, for the December contract. We may wish to brace for shenanigans.   We are reaching a more critical point in the markets, but do not, absolutely do not, expect this to be easy.  

 

The big changes come when we least expect them, and then as a thief in the night.  Betting on short timeframes with leveraged bets is a losing trade 99 times out of 100.  And if you hit it big one time, you may chase that adrenalin high again and again, until you are exhausted by the time things really break your way.

Gold and silver continue to dribble out of the Comex warehouses. For a quiet month we saw a bit of gold taken out of New York.

There was some very interesting news today.  I featured both items.

 

As it turns out while Germany was waiting and the Swiss are considering their decision, the Dutch managed to quietly, some say secretly, repatriate a good chunk of their gold from New York back to Amsterdam.   From their glory days roaming the world the Dutch understand that possession is nine-tenths of the law.

We also heard Senator Carl Levin criticize the Federal Reserve for enabling the Banks obtrusive entry into the commodity markets, where they were faced with a candy store of opportunities to manipulate prices, obtain inside information, and to basically fill their own greedy pockets by using subsidized funds from the Fed. 

Levin may as well have turned to his colleagues on the Hill and shamed them as well.

Until there is reform, there will be no recovery.

 

Nobody wins unless everybody wins. 

Have a pleasant weekend.