NAV Premiums of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds - Shaking the Bushes, Selling What They Don't Have

In this case the bushes are the GLD and SLV ETFs, which are getting shaken today to try and shake loose some physical bullion for the hard up COMEX pit crawlers.  

It also will probably shake loose the weak hands and toss up some open interest to lessen the pressures on delivery.

The last time they tried this is did not work out well, because they forget that COMEX is a sideshow to the real precious metals markets which have moved offshore.
 
The gold silver ratio is back up to 60 which is on the high side.

So today we are seeing a bear raid in the metals that started last night.

These guys remind me of the little girls, years ago when they used to dress up like ghosts and jump out at us and say 'boo!'  About the third or fourth time it became a little hard to fake a reaction.

But I don't think the little girls took themselves so seriously as these Wall Street scamps.

Voiceover from Aziz Ansari:  Oh no, the COMEX is selling more gold that they don't even have.  I'm so afraid.

Perhaps this price drop will allow JPM to squeeze some additional bullion out of GLD, which they can add to their stash.

"He who sells what isn't his'n,
Must buy it back, or go to prison."

Daniel Drew

Claims Per Ounce of Deliverable Gold at the COMEX Rise to New High of 57.6

Based on yesterday's activity, the claims per deliverable ounce of gold on the COMEX has risen to a new high of 57.6 contracts per ounce.

As you know it is highly unlikely that all contract holders would ever stand for delivery.

But it is a useful indicator of how the open interest is going relative to available inventory. It suggests that higher prices may be in the offing.

The last two times that we saw these extremes there was a meaningful trend change in the price of gold from lower to higher.  This makes sense because it is higher prices that would cause those who are merely using the COMEX warehouses for storage to offer their bullion for potential sale.

The extremes we are seeing now are quite new since the bull market began back in 2003.

Let's see what happens.   But the message appears to be written on the wall.

Weighed, and found wanting.

Stand and deliver.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Psychopathy Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry

Or even feel sorry for that matter.

Regret and remorse are the stuff of the untermenschen. the ordinary people, as both faith and conscience come from a simple sense of ourselves as we really are, and a redeeming concern for others.

The Recovery™ is proving to be a highly selective experience, and the masters of the universe remain rampant on a field of greed.

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.”

The precious metals market is showing signs of wear.  There is some fairly pointed intraday commentary on that subject here.

Speaking of the importance of the day, it is all too easy to allow a tragedy like 911 to become a mere abstraction or a political symbol.  After all, we are a conceptualizing species, often lost in the heat of the present.  It is surprising how quickly and easily we forget, and stumble, and get our priorities all wrong.  But always so self-importantly. And that is what makes us so funny.

I remember, on that day of momentous events, being amazed at how quickly the class mothers at our grammar school got together to handle the very practical problem of what to do about children who might not have a parent coming to pick them up after school that day.  And it did happen. 

I remember the story of the woman who took one of her husband's suits out of the closet, and laid next to it on the bed, to embrace the last faint smell of him from it, as she gave herself over to her grief.  I am only now beginning to truly appreciate that as the shadows lengthen.

These are the little, human things that form the rich texture and meaning of life.  It is this mere but precious humanity that is so often wholly lost to the self important ego and actions of the ubermenchen, to their everlasting shame, and special place in the hereafter. 

Essere umano, to be human.   Memento mori,  and remember thou art also mortal, arrogant dust.  I think we have forgotten this once again.  Whom the gods would break, they first make mad.

So in keeping with the day, let's all try to remember what is important, and what truly lasts.

"Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things...Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people.  Lacking any other purpose in life, it would be good enough to live for their sake."

Garrison Keillor

Have a pleasant evening.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Madness Rampant On a Field of Blind Arrogance

There was an interesting divergence between the financials and tech today. VIX continued its sharp decline.

This eerily reflects the cognitive dissonance between the frivilous and self-centered land of make believe, and the land of real people and things.

It is a nice emblem for NY-Washington-London metroplex and the rest of the world. It almost reminds one of the relationship between the Capitol and the Districts in The Hunger Games.

It goes without saying that this will end badly, and the collected leadership of the intelligentsia will express complete astonishment and surprise.

There is nothing more fearful to behold than the destructive potential of a bureaucrat or central banker blinded by web of their own willful making.

The fearful madness of bureaucrats and central bankers blinded by a web of their own willful making.