Gold Bullion ETF and Fund Drains From the Beginning of 2013 - Comex Registered at 69 to 1

"We must always tell what we see.  Above all, and this is more difficult, we must always see what we see."

Charles Péguy

The first chart below shows the amount of gold that has been taken out of the vaults of various funds and ETFs since the beginning of this year.

The number in black is the total number of tonnes that have been removed from their vaults, presumably to be sold off into the market, most likely heading for points East based on the import export data which we have seen.

The number in red is the percent decline in the fund or ETF total inventory this year.

The more I look into this, the more I see the fingerprints of a few Western bullion banks, with their activities centered in New York and London, with some minor involvement from the Swiss.

Physical supplies are a bit thin. That seems to be clear from various analyses of flows of gold from West to East.   Even with the steep price declines in silver, there is absolutely nothing comparable to this happening with the silver ETFs and Funds.

I read a bank analyst opinion today that the declines in gold bullion inventory show 'investor disenchantment' with gold bullion.   That might be more credible if the supplies of bullion held in these funds were not primarily determined by bullion banks, who are also playing the markets for their own books.

I am fascinated at the apparent repeal of the law of supply and demand.

The lack of reform in the financial system is strangling the real economy, and perverting the minds and hearts of weaker willed men and women who destroy their own selves in the service of 'easy money.'

One wonders where the gold will be obtained when this trend reverses. Venezuela seems to be willing to swap its sovereign wealth into the market. Germany and a few other countries are already there.

Weighed and found wanting.

Stand and deliver.

As always, this data is supplied by master data wrangler Nick Laird at Sharelynx.com.

 This comes from a much larger chart of almost every major gold bullion publicly disclosed vault. I carve out those with major holdings and present them individually on the chart above. The master chart provides the 'big picture' and includes vaults with little activity, such as the Central Fund and the Sprott Fund.

Here is the chart in which Nick shows all 'transparently held' gold and silver in these public funds and ETFs as a single total. Compare gold to silver which is shown just below it.

For those who have expressed an interest here is the latest potential 'Owners Per Ounce' for gold bullion that is deliverable at these prices at the Comex. The figure in the first chart above is for total gold in all Comex warehouses, both deliverable and that which is in customer storage at one of their accredited vaults, but is not for sale.

There has been a sizable drain out of the Comex warehouses in general. I wonder why?

I think the reasons that these things are happening are not all that mysterious, but rather are easily understandable once you can see them for yourselves. The problem is getting some people to see what they in fact are seeing.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Comex Option Expiration Overnight Antics

Gold took a big overnight hit in the futures, which was probably a pre-emptive effort to shake out a few more weak hands ahead of this afternoon's option expiration for gold and silver.

The metals actually finished fairly well, given that this is a very light trading week even by our unusually light trading volumes.

There was a little inflow to the Comex metals warehouses.

As you can see from the metals calendar below, the December contract makes its debut towards the end of this week.  Let's see if December will live up to its title as an active month.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

Stocks had a bit of a drifting bias for this holiday shortened week.

We can expect most of the adults to hit the roads tomorrow afternoon, trying to run ahead of the storm expected to be sweeping into the northeast.

Have a pleasant evening.

Bill Moyers: Zombie Politics and Casino Capitalism

Henry Giroux speaks with Bill Moyers about the madness of the Anglo-American system.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Comex Option Expiration on Monday

"I have enormous belief in the power of a simple, honorable soul."

James Joyce in a letter to Nora

There was very minor shuffling of bullion around the warehouses yesterday. November is a dull month for deliveries.

As a reminder this coming Monday the 25th will be an option expiration for precious metals on the Comex.

November has been a paper games snoratorium. December could be much more interesting.

Thank you to the many people who responded with good wishes and prayers for Joanie. Some of their own stories were very moving. It was surprising how many were from Europe and Canada. I would estimate I had about 120 very positive responses and only one not so positive. And I am very sure many took action, but did not write about it. That is how most people do their duties and obligations as they see them, quietly and unassumedly.

I enjoyed the notes, every one. Certain ones stick in your mind. There was a fellow who said he had not prayed since he was a young boy, but that he would try to do it for Joanie. What was that song in the video? One way or another, I'm going to find you, I'm going to get you, one way or another, I'm going to win you...

And there was a lovely couple who take care of their autistic granddaughter who had some very insightful comments to make about love and family. And another fellow just today who had a beautiful story to tell about his own special boy, 'Jogi.'

I thank you for all you do for the least of these. These things matter. And they give us hope.

There are so many wonderful stories of the gentle, honorable people of this world.  But they are often overlooked in these times of selfishness and arrogant greed.  Like the seeds of Spring they endure, and will bloom again to bring back life to a world that has been ravaged by the cold winter winds of our hardened hearts.

Have a pleasant weekend.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - What Us Worry?

Complacency reigns. Bearishness is quite low.

Have a pleasant evening.

Thursday Evening: We Are Slow To Master the Great Truth

Ite ad Joseph

“We are slow to master the great truth that even now Christ is, as it were, walking among us, and by His hand, or eye, or voice, bidding us to follow Him. We do not understand that His call is a thing that takes place now. We think it took place in the Apostles' days, but we do not believe in it; we do not look for it in our own case.

God's presence is not discerned at the time when it is upon us, but afterwards, when we look back upon what is gone and over. The world seems to go on as usual. There is nothing of heaven in the face of society, in the news of the day.

And yet the ever-blessed Spirit of God is there, ten times more glorious, more powerful than when He trod the earth in our flesh.

God beholds you. He calls you by your name. He sees you and understands you as He made you. He knows what is in you, all your peculiar feelings and thoughts, your dispositions and likings, your strengths and your weaknesses. He views you in your day of rejoicing and in your day of sorrow. He sympathizes in your hopes and your temptations. He interests Himself in all your anxieties and remembrances, all the risings and fallings of your spirit.

He encompasses you round and bears you in His arms. He notes your very countenance, whether smiling or in tears. He looks tenderly upon you. He hears your voice, the beating of your heart, and your very breathing. You do not love yourself better than He loves you. You cannot shrink from pain more than He dislikes your bearing it; and if He puts it on you, it is as you would put it on yourself, if you would be wise, for a greater good afterwards.

There is an inward world, which none see but those who belong to it. There is an inward world into which they enter who come to Christ, though to men in general they seem as before. If they drank of Christ's cup it is not with them as in time past. They came for a blessing, and they have found a work.

To their surprise, as time goes on, they find that their lot is changed. They find that in one shape or another adversity happens to them. If they refuse to afflict themselves, God afflicts them.

Why did you taste of His heavenly feast, but that it might work in you—why did you kneel beneath His hand, but that He might leave on you the print of His wounds?

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission -- I may never know it in this life but I shall be told it in the next.

I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught.

I shall do good, I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments.

Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.

He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about.

He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me -- still He knows what He is about.

Let us feel what we really are--sinners attempting great things. Let us simply obey God's will, whatever may come. He can turn all things to our eternal good. Easter day is preceded by the forty days of Lent, to show us that they only who sow in tears shall reap in joy.

Contemplate then yourself, not as yourself, but as you are in the Eternal God. Fall down in astonishment at the glories which are around you and in you, poured to and fro in such a wonderful way that you are dissolved into the Kingdom of God.

The more we do, the more shall we trust in Christ; and that surely is no morose doctrine, that leads us to soothe our selfish restlessness, and forget our fears, in the vision of the Incarnate Son of God.

May the Lord support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.

Then in His mercy may He give us safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at last.”

John Henry Newman

This is a collection of quotations from J. H. Newman woven into a whole cloth by Jesse as a young man for The Friends of Newman, and the invisible community of the mind and the Spirit.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Gold Is Moving From West to East

There were minor movements in and out of the Comex warehouses today, but nothing of consequence.

Intraday commentary here.

Gold is moving from West to East. There is something going on behind the scenes.

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Spinning the Records

The Dow Industrials managed to hang a close over 16,000 which is good for the tourist trade.

There was an analyst named Steve Kuhn who today was suggesting that Progressive Insurance is a short because soon cars will be self-driving and one will no longer have to buy auto insurance because there won't be any more accidents.

While I would certainly welcome such a world, especially since the freeways are too often a hair raising example of why the efficient market theory is hokum, I wonder how such a feat of transformation could be accomplished in a nation that does not seem to be able to find the funding and the will to perform a satisfactory level of highway and bridge maintenance. 

Most of the bridges in the US are over 50 years old, and far too many are substandard.  About half the people are on food stamps and one paycheck away from insolvency.   But soon we'll have self-driving cars everywhere, and accidents will be a thing of the past.  Is this what a national psychotic break looks like?

Have a pleasant evening.

NAV Premiums Of Precious Metal Trusts and Funds - 17,256 Ounces of Gold Leave PHYS

When I did my update today I noticed that the number of ounces held in the Sprott Gold Trust has declined by 17,256 ounces. I believe this is a very recent development. That is over $21.5M in gold bullion that has been redeemed which is a fairly large amount. I don't think it's for Hanukkah gelt.

With these paper price raids on gold, the redemption terms at PHYS must look good compared to the premium one can obtain to physical gold in Asia. Given the integrity of PHYS and the cost and bother of a redemption, it must be due to some significant price differentials. Or someone just sees something coming, and wants to have their gold very close to home, wherever that might be.

There were no changes at the Sprott Silver Trust, except for the usual reduction in cash on hand. The cash levels there are getting down to the point where I suspect that Sprott will consider another shelf offering sometime within the next six months at most.

Gold is flowing from West to East. It is a somewhat unique phenomenon, seen markedly in the ETFs and Funds that hold physical gold. I have not seen anything like it before in my memory.

This drawdown in physical gold inventories in the West is remarkable, especially when compared to the other precious metals and silver.

It seems to me to be a fairly strong indication of a mispricing in the market, most likely caused by the blatant price manipulation we see almost every day on the Comex.

But what is surprising to me is that we see the same kind of antics in the silver price, but the silver inventory is robust and even slightly increasing. I suspect that we are seeing Mideastern and Asian powers gearing up for a big 'currency event.' What exactly it is and when it will happen no one really knows, but when it does happen it will be noticeable, that I can almost guarantee.

When Nick Laird takes a break from the barbie, I will ask him for an update on the ETF drain, probably near the end of November. 

This is going to get interesting. Historic, I suspect.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - A Special Request From Me To You

"The terrible, cold, cruel part is Wall Street. Rivers of (paper) gold flow there from all over the earth, and death comes with it. There, as nowhere else, you feel a total absence of the spirit: herds of men who cannot count past three, herds more who cannot get past six, scorn for pure science and demoniacal respect for the present.

And the terrible thing is that the crowd that fills the Street believes that the world will always be the same, and that it is their duty to keep that huge machine running, day and night, forever."

Federico Garcia Lorca

Gold was hit by an opening bear raid that was fairly obvious, and then was hit again in the afternoon, together with a wash and rinse in equities, based on the Fed minutes from a month ago which reopened the repeated canard of Fed tightening.

There was negligible activity in or out of the Comex bullion warehouses today, typical for non-active month of November.

What can you say about a culture when the word of the year was selfie. And the runner up was twerking.   And there was an excess selfie twerking by the spokesmodels of Wall Street, and the bloviating windbags of Big Money, on the boob tube today. 

Gold is flowing from West to East.

This video below was made by the family of Joan, who accompanied her on a very special 'Make-a-Wish' trip to Rome. Joanie is the angelic looking young lady in the hat. She is being treated at St. Jude Research Hospital for Children for osteosarcoma.

As you know, my way is to rarely ask for anything, and certainly not money.  Your fellowship and occasional thoughts are more than enough. When I write, I write for both you and me. And when we pray, we pray for both another and ourselves. Love is never an exclusive thing, it does not diminish us.  And if we do things with love, they can never be for nothing.

Today I am asking that if I have ever done you any service, any good at all, have helped you to see anything in yourself or in the world that has touched your heart, that you remember Joanie and her family in your prayers, as I will remember you in mine.  

And perhaps you can forward this request to those who are like minded, and would be inclined remember a child and her family in their thoughts and prayers, especially during the coming holiday season. 

In prayer we find not only the grace to care for another who is in God's hands, but to also realize, through their own trials which we willingly share, that we also are in God's hands too. It is better to discover this now, while we are in some better position to act upon it.

I know, like so many others who have seen and who have said so to me, that our society, which is based on greed and the self, is becoming coarse.  And the hearts of many have grown cold, and harsh.  It will get worse before it gets better.   But as Dostoevsky once said, 'If they drive God from the earth, we shall shelter Him underground.'

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Fed Minutes Triggered Wash and Rinse

The market was clicking along, buoyed by weak economic news, until the Fed minutes from a month ago came out, and traders hit the markets on QE taper thoughts, despite what Chairman Ben said yesterday.

I think the corruption of some members of the Fed is unfortunate but inevitable, and sometimes barely hidden by the fig leaf of plausible deniability and the 'scientific objectivity' of economics.

The only possible remedy is a surplus of transparency, and not more secrecy and the centralization of power in the hands of a privileged few.  And where offenses are found, the correction must be swift, and forceful in its example. 

As they used to say, Caesar's wife must be above suspicion.

Have a pleasant evening.

Trickle Down Recovery: Monetary Expansion, Excess Bank Reserves, and Leftovers For Main Street

“Trickle-down theory - the less than elegant metaphor that if one feeds the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.”

John Kenneth Galbraith


"There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below."

William Jennings Bryant


"Gentlemen! I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country.

When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the Bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the Bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin.

Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out, and by the Eternal, (bringing his fist down on the table) I will rout you out!

Andrew Jackson

It is not quite as straightforward as this, but the two charts below help to illustrate a point that the Fed, and the government, are pursuing a 'top down' approach to a recovery from the banking crisis as a matter of policy.

And one of the most consequential flaws in this policy error is that the financial system, and a fiscal policy that largely favors the one percent, are largely unreformed. Big money has thoroughly corrupted the political process.

I cannot tell from the Fed's descriptions whether these excess reserves include any funds which they may have committed to foreign owned banks that are not included within the Fed's definition of their own 'depository institutions.'

The Fed owns this policy error through its own actions, its complacent posture as regulator, and as a thought leader and key influencer for government economic policy. The Fed has not been neutral, and is certainly not blameless. It has been a critical enabler for a financial system that turned predatory under Alan Greenspan.

The Fed has been an aggressive advocate for the policy errors and imbalances that have led to both the tech and housing bubbles, widespread abuses and fraud in the financial system, and for the dangerously unbalanced 'recovery' that we have seen since the last bubble which they have created.

The notion that if you just leave the markets alone they will naturally distribute the fruits of our national labour and resources equitably is a corollary of the 'efficient markets theory.' That is to say, it is a fraud based on an outrageous load of hogwash.

And it is strangling the economy. But the political and privileged class could care less, because they are the primary beneficiaries of the system which they have substantially helped to create over the past thirty years. They are doing very well by it, taking everything that they can carry, bleeding the real economy with loans, frauds, bribes, graft, and fees. And they present the bill to their unfortunate victims by financing their schemes with the people's own money.

The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustainable recovery.

 

JFK's Report To America - Fifty Years Ago

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Artificial Intelligence

Just a little dribble of bullion into the vaults today, and otherwise it truly is an 'inactive month.'

In watching the financial TV spokesmodels, and the hollow men like Bill Gates, I think the word for today is 'banality.'  

The financial class gives 'wasteland' a new dimension in vacuousness. 

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - De Trop

The spokesmodels seemed just desperate and sad today.

Have a pleasant evening.