SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Friday the 13th

The markets were skittish a bit before the weekend, although VIX shows that complacency is still the order of the day.

There are some interesting cross currents between tech and the financials.

We should hear something about the taper from the Fed at their meeting this month.

Have a pleasant weekend.

A Shocking Allegation From Andrew Maguire: CFTC Must Respond Publicly, Or Answer To Congress

Andrew Maguire,  a British national who had testified before the CFTC in a public forum about the manipulation of silver a few years ago, has leveled a serious charge against the bank JP Morgan in a King World News interview.

Maguire says that he knows that two JPM employees have come forward as whistle blowers, and have sought legal aid and protection, alleging that they have testimony and evidence that J P Morgan has willfully manipulated the gold and silver markets.

I do not know Andrew Maguire. I do not know if what he is saying is accurate or not.

But this ought not to be a matter of 'belief' or uncertainty.   It is a matter of evidence and law and there are people in Washington who are paid to be informed about this on the public's behalf.

After the stunning scandal that emerged in the wake of Bernie Madoff's confessing to one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history, it came to light that the SEC had long been suppressing investigation into allegations of his crimes, and was ignoring evidence which had been supplied to them over a period of years by Harry Markopolos.

And now we have what could be a similar situation. 

Andrew Maguire claims that he has supplied evidence of market manipulation to the CFTC for some years, and further and even more damningly, two JPM employees have come forward and made similar allegations, with evidence that says they are correct.

I think it is not possible for the CFTC and the Obama Administration to continue to ignore such public allegations. The CFTC may use the shield of an 'ongoing investigation' since they have been looking into charges about this matter in the silver market going on five years now.  They have missed the date by which they promised results.

To continue to ignore this widespread and public questioning of the integrity of the markets that affect the whole world is not acceptable.

I am a little surprised that the appropriate committees in Congress have not invited Bart Chilton and chairman Gary Gensler to appear before them, and ask if they have any such evidence, and if these allegations are substantial.   Would this be Darrell Issa's Committe on Reform or the Banking Committee of which Senator Elizabeth Warren is a member.

Here is Congressman Darrell Issa's contact information:

DC Phone: 202-225-3906
DC Fax: 202-225-3303
Contact Representative Issa: http://issa.house.gov/contact/contact-me

Here is Senator Elizabeth Warren's contact information:

DC Phone: 202-224-4543
DC Fax: 202-228-2072
Contact Senator Warren: http://www.warren.senate.gov/?p=email_senator

Since JP Morgan has been under investigation for manipulation in the energy markets, and since there have been repeated scandals in the willful manipulation by banks and traders in LIBOR and key derivatives metrics, I think that this cannot be dismissed out of hand as a conspiracy. If there is evidence the people deserve to know it.

I suggest that you contact your Congressmen and Senators asking them to support such an inquiry.   You can find your congressional contact information here.

If you are not a US citizen, I suggest you contact your domestic representative and/or the US embassy in your country and express your concern over these charges.  Or perhaps you can drop an email to Senator Warren who seems to take these sorts of issues very seriously. At the least they could send a letter to the commissioner on behalf of the public and ask about this for the record.

Here is the link to Maguire's charges.  You may wish to include this link in your message.

Morgan Whistleblowers Allege Bank Manipulates Gold and Silver

In a stunning development, two JP Morgan whistleblowers have confessed that the bank manipulates the gold and silver markets. This is truly a shocking admission by the courageous JP Morgan whistleblowers. In a blockbuster King World News interview, London metals trader Andrew Maguire told KWN that the two JP Morgan employees came directly to him with hard evidence that the bank was actively manipulating the gold and silver markets.

This is a truly catastrophic event for JP Morgan, which up to now has denied manipulating these markets. Below Maguire takes KWN readers around the world on a trip down the rabbit hole as he discusses how he led the two JP Morgan employees to turn over the evidence to a law firm which specializes in high profile whistleblowers, and also to the CFTC. According to Maguire, the CFTC has virtually buried this information. Is this a cover up, or the next LIBOR scandal about to be exposed? Below is what Maguire had to say in this blockbuster interview...

Moyers: Andrew Bacevich On US Policy in the Mideast and Syria

I found this to be interesting. I have not encountered Mr. Bacevich and his ideas before.

Andrew J. Bacevich is Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University.

He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1969 and served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War, serving in Vietnam from the summer of 1970 to the summer of 1971. Later he held posts in Germany, including the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment; the United States; and the Persian Gulf up to his retirement from the service with the rank of Colonel in the early 1990s.

Bacevich conceived The New American Militarism not only as "a corrective to what has become the conventional critique of U.S. policies since 9/11 but as a challenge to the orthodox historical context employed to justify those policies."

He holds a Ph.D. in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University, and taught at West Point and Johns Hopkins University before joining the faculty at Boston University in 1998.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Here Comes the Twitter IPO After the Bell

Just when you think that they cannot do anything more foolish, there they go again.

Some joker dumped 2000 contracts on the gold market in the quiet, early morning trade and took it down so hard the market hit limits and halted.   Cat burglars wearing bell suits and clown shoes.  The rest of the day was about the same.

Here is James McShirley's count of the at market mayhem:

2:55 AM: 4,330 contracts dumped, gold smashed $10.70
8:31 AM: 2,842 contracts dumped, gold smashed $ 5.60
9:00 AM: 2,595 contracts dumped, gold smashed $ 2.00
9:01 AM: 2,768 contracts dumped, gold smashed $ 3.00

Blatant frauds will continue until confidence and support for the status quo and markets return.

They just do not get it. 

After the bell the news that Twitter is filing its IPO came out.  Goldman Sachs will be the lead underwriter.  That ought to help support the equity market until they squeeze that one out.

Let's see if the statistics from the COMEX tell us something interesting tonight, other than they were selling more gold that they don't have and probably can't get.

PostNote:  there was no movement of bullion in or out of the COMEX warehouses yesterday.

I have to say, though, that analyzing US metals market data is starting to be like analyzing Bernie Madoff's quarterly returns to get a sense for fair market value performance.  Or counting cards in a game of three card monty.

How are the mighty fallen.

Have a pleasant evening.