Physical Gold Withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange and The New Silk Road

"Time is coming when markets search frantically for physical collateral to find that paper far exceeds underlying collateral for several metals and other resources.    I am warning that when markets fall in sustained negative response to bursting bubbles, widespread deleveraging will reveal insufficient hard collateral underlying traded asset-backed securities.  The words rehypothecation and hyper-rehypothecation may be rediscovered or remembered again, forgotten somehow during much of decade since the Great Financial Crisis."

Harald Malmgren


"Gold has 'worked' down from Alexander's time.  When something holds good for two thousand years I do not believe it can be so because of prejudice or mistaken theory."  

Bernard M. Baruch

One might wonder why these countries are steadily acquiring such enormous inventories of gold bullion.

And they might even notice that since around 2008 the central banks of the world have become net buyers of gold, after many years of managed selling.

Gold is flowing from West to East, and into strong hands and official vaults as security against a changing monetary landscape.  And except for the occasional use of subtrefuge and force, it will not return to the public markets anywhere near to these current valuations.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Gathering Storm - King Dollar, La Douleur du Monde

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains.  It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

C.S. Lewis


"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

Psalm 27

Stocks moved sideways today.

Gold and silver both rallied strongly overnight and in the morning.

They both fell to a much stronger dollar in the afternoon.

Next week will be the FOMC meeting and the week after that the G20 meeting in Osaka.

Both events, along with the simmering geopolitial climate in the Mideast and South America, will most likely have a strong effect on the markets.

There will be a stock market option expiration next Friday.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Lead Kindly Light

Lead, kindly Light, amidst the grey and gloom
The night is long and I am far from home
Here in the dark, I do not ask to see
The path ahead— one step enough for me
Lead on, lead on, kindly Light.

I was not ever willing to be led
I could have stayed, but I ran instead
In spite of fear, I followed my pride
My eyes could see, but my heart was blind
Lead on, lead on, kindly Light.

And in the night, when i was afraid
Your feet beside my own on the way
Each stumbling step where other men have trod
Shortens the road leading home to my God,

Lead on, lead on,
My God, My God,
Lead on, lead on, kindly Light.

Audrey Assad, based on The Pillar of the Cloud by J. H. Newman

Stocks went sideways for the most part today, as risks in the world seemed to weigh on the markets.

Gold and silver caught a bid, with gold sticking a close over 1340.

The US has charged Iran with the attacks on the two Japanese tankser in the Strait of Hormuz, while the prime minister of Japan was meetin with them in Tehran. No evidence was provided.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The King In Yellow

"To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing seems pure. Their very minds and consciences are corrupted.  They profess to know God, but they deny him by their actions.  They are disobedient and unfit for any good work."

Titus 1:15-16


"Money, again, has often been a cause of the delusion of the multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper."

Charles Mackay


“'The ambition of Caesar and of Napoleon pales before that which could not rest until it had seized the minds of men and controlled even their unborn thoughts,' said Mr. Wilde. 'You are speaking of the King in Yellow,' I groaned, with a shudder."

Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

Stocks attempted to rally but failed, again, for the third day.

They must gather themselves together and go forward, or risk falling back to test the lows.

Gold and silver were up slightly, as was the Dollar.

The markets seem to be betting heavily on a Fed rate cut.

It will be interesting to see how they react if they do not get this, or assurances of a near term cut, next week at the FOMC meeting.

Have a pleasant evening.