*¤ YESTERDAY IN GOLD & SILVER*
The gold price didn't do a thing in Far East trading until about half-past lunchtime in Hong Kong on their Wednesday. Then, starting at that time, and by around 2:15 p.m. local time, gold had rallied about twenty bucks [the high of the day] before a seller of last resort put in an appearance, and the price began to slide lower from there.
There was a small rally attempt that began very shortly before the 8:20 a.m. EDT Comex open, but that got capped immediately, before getting sold down about fifteen bucks starting around 9:15 a.m. in New York, and after that the gold price didn't do much.
It was another day where the gold price really wanted to fly, but wasn't allowed to.
It closed the Wednesday session at $1,417.80 spot, up $1.80 from Tuesday's close. Volume, net of August, September and October, was around 145,000 contracts. Not overly heavy, but not light volume, either.
It was exactly the same chart pattern in silver, except the Far East rally had more legs, and the high of the day came shortly after 2 p.m. Hong Kong time as well. The rally just before the Comex open also got capped, but the 9:15 a.m. EDT sell-off took the silver price down almost 80 cents in about forty-five minutes. Nothing free market about that.
It should be obvious to anyone that's not willfully blind, that silver would have closed substantially higher if not-for-profit sellers hadn't been lurking at the ready to stop any breakout in its tracks.
Then, like gold, the silver price didn't do much after that take-down, closing the Wednesday trading day at $24.39 spot, down 13 cents from Tuesday. Roll-over volume was very heavy, but net volume was only 18,000 contracts.
Here's the New York Spot Silver [Bid] chart on its own, so you can see the pertinent Comex action in more detail.
The platinum and palladium charts were somewhat similar, with their respective highs coming at 2 p.m. in Hong Kong trading. Then they traded slowly lower before getting sold off at 9:15 a.m. EDT as well. Both metals recovered all their loses and closed in positive territory. Here are the charts.
The *dollar index* closed in New York late on Tuesday afternoon at 81.17 and then traded flat until around 10:20 a.m. in Hong Kong on their Wednesday morning. Then away it went to the upside, with the high tick of the day [81.57] coming a few minutes before 10 a.m. in New York. From there it got sold down into the 5:15 p.m. EDT close, finishing the trading day at 81.44, up 27 basis points.
The 27 basis point "rally" in the dollar index between 9 and 9:45 a.m. EDT was the fig leaf that the sell-off in all four precious metals was hidden behind, and it's a rather tiny fig leaf for the corresponding moves in all four precious metals, particularly silver.
Not surprisingly, the gold stocks opened in positive territory for the second day in a row and for the very same reason, and that was because both gold and silver were in positive territory. But, like Tuesday, a not-for-profit seller put in an appearance around 2:30 p.m. in New York yesterday, and the rest as they say, is history. The HUI finished down another 2.93%.
With the odd exception, every silver company was down on the day, and that included all the shares that make up Nick Laird's *Intraday Silver Sentiment Index*, as it closed down 2.74% yesterday.
(Click on image to enlarge)
The *HUI* has declined over 7 percent in the last two trading days, and Nick's *Silver Sentiment Index* is down exactly 7 percent in the same time period, despite the fact that gold and silver have traded flat to up. There is no chance that free-market forces are behind these moves, plus the other counterintuitive declines we've seen over the last two weeks. Someone is deliberately selling shares during the last hour or so of trading to prevent the *HUI* and *SSI* from breaking out. I have much more on this inThe Wrap.
The CME's Daily Delivery Report for Wednesday showed that 164 gold and zero silver contracts were posted for delivery within the Comex-approved depositories on Friday. The three short/issuers were HSBC USA with 49 contracts, JPMorgan with 45 contracts out of its client account, and Barclays with 68 contracts out of its client account as well. Waiting to scoop up 154 of those contracts was JPMorgan Chase out of its in-house [proprietary] trading account. The link to yesterday's Issuers and Stoppers Report is here.
That should just about do it for the August delivery month, but we won't know for sure until tomorrow's report.
There were no reported changes in either *GLD* or *SLV* yesterday, and no sales report from the *U.S. Mint*, either.
The activity in *gold* on Tuesday within the *Comex-approved depositories* is hardly worth mentioning, as only 610 troy ounces were withdrawn from Brink's, Inc.
It was much busier in *silver*, as 964,373 troy ounces were reported deposited, and 438,474 ounces were withdrawn. JPMorgan was not involved in any of yesterday's silver movement, and the link to that activity is here.
Here's the list of reading material for you today, and I'm happy to say that it's not an overly long list.
*¤ CRITICAL READS*
-U.S. Bank Legal Bills Exceed $100 Billion-
The six biggest U.S. banks, led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp., have piled up $103 billion in legal costs since the financial crisis, more than all dividends paid to shareholders in the past five years.
That’s the amount allotted to lawyers and litigation, as well as for settling claims about shoddy mortgages and foreclosures, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The sum, equivalent to spending $51 million a day, is enough to erase everything the banks earned for 2012.
The mounting bills have vexed bankers who are counting on expense cuts to make up for slow revenue growth and make room for higher payouts. About 40 percent of the legal and litigation outlays arose since January 2012, and banks are warning the tally may surge as regulators, prosecutors and investors press new claims. The prospect is clouding outlooks for stock prices, and by some estimates the damage could last another decade.
No surprises here. This particular cost of doing business is pretty steep when you're a crook, but it's just another business expense. This Bloomberg news item was posted on their Internet site around 10 a.m. MDT...and I thank reader Ken Hurt for today's first story. It's *worth reading*.
Read more...
-JP Morgan "London Whale" fines may hit $600 million-
The Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission, the CFTC, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority are still conducting investigations into JP Morgan’s handling of the episode.
Discussions between the bank and various agencies involve collective penalties of roughly $500 million to $600 million as part of a “global” settlement, although the total could change slightly, these people said.
Not all agencies have agreed to their final numbers, one of these people added.
U.S. and U.K. officials for months have been considering the possibility of a global settlement that would resolve all the probes at once, said another person familiar with the matter. Exact terms aren't known and no final decisions have been reached. Government officials believe the wide-ranging pact could be agreed to as soon as the fall, this person said.
This news item was posted on the efinancial.com Internet site yesterday...and it's courtesy of reader M.A.
Read more...
-Currency Spikes at 4 p.m. in London Provide Rigging Clues-
Recurring spikes in currency market pairs over the last two years look like attempts by big currency dealers to rig financial benchmarks much as the LIBOR interest rate benchmark has been manipulated, Bloomberg News reports.
Maybe Bloomberg will get around to the gold market in another decade or so. Plenty of documentation of gold market rigging, underwritten by Western central banks, long has been delivered toBloomberg by GATA.
This *very long* Bloomberg article, filed from London, was posted on the their website late Tuesday afternoon MDT. I thank Chris Powell for the first two paragraphs of introduction above...and reader 'Tom in Bangkok' for sending the story our way.
Read more...
-Russian rocket engine export ban could halt U.S. space program-
Russia’s Security Council is reportedly considering a ban on supplying the US with powerful RD-180 rocket engines for military communications satellites as Russia focuses on building its own new space launch center, Vostochny, in the Far East.
A ban on the rockets supply to the US heavy booster, Atlas V, which delivers weighty military communications satellites and deep space exploration vehicles into orbit, could impact NASA’s space programs – not just military satellite launches.
An unnamed representative of Russia’s Federal Space Agency told the Izvestia newspaper that the Security Council is reconsidering the role of Russia’s space industry in the American space exploration program, particularly the 2012 contract to deliver the US heavy-duty RD-180 rocket engines.
Say what? The Russians provide the rocket motors for some U.S. military space flights? You couldn't make this stuff up. ThisRussian Today story was posted on their website late Tuesday afternoon Moscow time...and I thank reader Bob Visser for bringing it to our attention.
Read more...
-Angela Merkel: Greece should never have been allowed in the euro-
The German leader’s outburst came as she attempted to prove to voters she maintains a tough stance on struggling euro countries, just a month before facing key elections.
“Greece shouldn’t have been allowed into the euro,” Ms Merkel told around 1,000 supporters of her Christian Democratic Union in Rendsburg on Tuesday.
“Chancellor Schroeder accepted Greece in [in 2001] and weakened the Stability Pact, and both decisions were fundamentally wrong, and one of the starting points for our current troubles.”
This article was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site late on Tuesday evening BST...and it's Roy Stephens first offering in today's column.
Read more...
-The erosion of southern Europe-
In the past year or so, the backlash against austerity in Southern Europe has resulted in policy shifts, which, in turn, have supported greater stability, less severe contractions and an improved sentiment across the region. None of these gains indicate a major turnaround, but alleviation of single-minded austerity measures that have added to European challenges.
Despite the shift from the conservative Sarkozy to the socialist François Hollande, the competitiveness of France continues to erode. While Paris is slowly moving toward reforms, it is lingering in contraction and can hope for weak growth in 2014, at best.
Italy has been ridden by contraction for nine consecutive quarters. Enrico Letta’s government has been strong enough to stay in power, but too weak to achieve major changes. The more flexible approach to austerity across the Eurozone has benefited Italy and may allow Rome’s exit from the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) in 2014. But Italy suffers from structural challenges, which translate to continued decline of industrial production and the end of the Letta government by 2014.
And the list goes on. This op-ed piece, filed from Brussels, was posted on the euobserver.com Internet site early yesterday morning Europe time...and it's *worth reading*. It's the second contribution in a row from Roy Stephens.
Read more...
-Financial Times: "World Is Doomed To An Endless Cycle Of Bubble, Financial Crisis And Currency Collapse"-
Nearly five years ago, when we first started, and said that the world is doomed to an endless cycle of bubble, financial crisis and currency collapse as long as the Fed is around, most people laughed: after all they had very serious reputations aligned with a broken and terminally disintegrating economic lie. With time. some came to agree with our viewpoint, but most of the very serious people continued to laugh. Fast forward to last night when we read, in that very bastion of very serious opinions, the Financial Times, the following sentence: "The world is doomed to an endless cycle of bubble, financial crisis and currency collapse." By the way, the last phrase can be written in a simpler way: hyperinflation.
So OK then: we are happy to take that as an indirect, partial apology by some very serious people. Partial, because the piece's author, Robin Harding, doesn't explicitly come out and state that this cycle of boom and bust is a direct function of ever encroaching central-planning being handed over to a few economists with zero real world experience, whose actions result in ever more devastating blow ups once the boom cycle shifts to bust. Instead, it is their admission that this is what the world has come to. But, being economists, they naturally fail to see that it is all due to them. Instead, just like pervasive market halt, flash crashes, and everything else that now dominates a broken New Normal, this cycle which eventually culminates with currency collapse, or said otherwise, hyperinflation.
And finally, on that other topic, gold and systemic stability, here is what the FT has to say: A stable international financial system has eluded the world since the end of the gold standard.
This Financial Times commentary is posted mostly in the clear in this Zero Hedge piece from yesterday...and it's *worth your time*. I thank Manitoba reader Ulrike Marx for sharing it with us.
Read more...
-Emerging market rout is too big for the Fed to ignore-
The U.S. Federal Reserve has told Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe to drop dead.
This has the makings of a grave policy error: a repeat of the dramatic events in the autumn of 1998 at best; a full-blown debacle and a slide into a second leg of the Long Slump at worst.
Emerging markets are now big enough to drag down the global economy. As Indonesia, India, Ukraine, Brazil, Turkey, Venezuela, South Africa, Russia, Thailand and Kazakhstan try to shore up their currencies, the effect is ricocheting back into the advanced world in higher borrowing costs. Even China felt compelled to sell $20bn of US Treasuries in July.
"They are running down reserves by selling US and European bonds, leading to a self-reinforcing feedback loop," said Simon Derrick from BNY Mellon.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard chimes in on the currency problems of the world's emerging markets. This territory has already been covered by others, including Jim Rickards...but Ambrose puts his spin on things in this story posted on The Telegraph's website yesterday evening. I thank Ulrike Marx for her second contribution in a row to today's column...and it's *worth the read*.
Read more...
-William Hague plays down imminence of Syria attack as the U.N. seeks more time-
Speaking after a meeting of Britain's National Security Council, the British foreign secretary said the UN security council should "shoulder its responsibility" over Syria; if it failed to do so, however, Britain and and its allies would act on their own.
"This is the first use of chemical warfare in the 21st century," he said. "It has to be unacceptable. We have to confront something that is a war crime, something that is a crime against humanity."
Britain and the other four permanent members of the security council have begun talks in New York on a resolution proposed by Britain that would authorise the use of military force in Syria as a response to its use of chemical weapons last week.
Russia and China are firmly opposed to a security council resolution allowing force, and British government officials admit their initiative is likely to fail. But Labour said on Wednesday it would not support the government in Thursday's Commons vote unless ministers had tried to win security council agreement.
This news item was posted on the guardian.co.uk Internet site very early yesterday evening BST...and it's another offering from Roy Stephens.
Read more...
-Egyptian and Arab democracy üeber alles?-
Insanity has been described as constantly repeating the same mistake and expecting a different outcome. That characterization sadly applies to U.S. attitudes and policies toward much of what is happening in Egypt and the Arab and Islamic worlds.
The Americans have been there before, often supporting what is mistakenly regarded as the triumph of some sort of democratic movement over a failing regime that ultimately proves highly destructive to U.S. interests.
U.S. policy must be aimed first and foremost at preventing Islamic radicalism from exploding the region. Hence, for the time being, army control of Egypt must be tolerated.
In Syria, the aim must be to limit the violence and not favor either the Assad regime, however distasteful, or the opposition that is increasingly dominated by radicalism. The danger and test is whether the broken U.S. system of government can accept such a non-ideological and rational approach to policy.
This commentary by Harlan Ullman was posted on the UPI website yesterday...and is another story courtesy of Roy Stephens.
Read more...
-igel Farage Warns "Military Intervention In Syria Could Lead To Something Far Bigger"-
While Nigel Farage personal view that it is 'probable' that Assad did what the US and British are accusing him of, he notes "it is not absolutely certain," and before we go to war, "we must have absolute proof and certainty." Commenting on the British and US seeming enthusiasm for another Middle Eastern 'war', Farage provides a few minutes of common sense in this brief clip when he notes that Europe remains split - though "moral outrage" at the accusations will likely mean they support the attacks (adding that "moral outrage alone is not enough to warrant attacks.").
The UKIP leader then warned that "military intervention in Syria could lead to something far bigger, and even more worrying than we are seeing at the moment." Finally, Farage notes that "whenever we get involved in the Middle East, we tend to make things worse, not better," and as ghastly as the actions being committed are, there is nothing the British (or American) military can do to make things better.
This 5:13 Russia Today video clip is embedded in this short Zero Hedge news item from yesterday...and I thank Ulrike Marx for sending it.
Read more...
-Analysis: China has much at risk but no reach in Middle East-
The worsening Syria conflict has exposed an uncomfortable truth behind China's cherished policy of non-interfe Reported by Proactive Investors 11 hours ago.
The gold price didn't do a thing in Far East trading until about half-past lunchtime in Hong Kong on their Wednesday. Then, starting at that time, and by around 2:15 p.m. local time, gold had rallied about twenty bucks [the high of the day] before a seller of last resort put in an appearance, and the price began to slide lower from there.
There was a small rally attempt that began very shortly before the 8:20 a.m. EDT Comex open, but that got capped immediately, before getting sold down about fifteen bucks starting around 9:15 a.m. in New York, and after that the gold price didn't do much.
It was another day where the gold price really wanted to fly, but wasn't allowed to.
It closed the Wednesday session at $1,417.80 spot, up $1.80 from Tuesday's close. Volume, net of August, September and October, was around 145,000 contracts. Not overly heavy, but not light volume, either.
It was exactly the same chart pattern in silver, except the Far East rally had more legs, and the high of the day came shortly after 2 p.m. Hong Kong time as well. The rally just before the Comex open also got capped, but the 9:15 a.m. EDT sell-off took the silver price down almost 80 cents in about forty-five minutes. Nothing free market about that.
It should be obvious to anyone that's not willfully blind, that silver would have closed substantially higher if not-for-profit sellers hadn't been lurking at the ready to stop any breakout in its tracks.
Then, like gold, the silver price didn't do much after that take-down, closing the Wednesday trading day at $24.39 spot, down 13 cents from Tuesday. Roll-over volume was very heavy, but net volume was only 18,000 contracts.
Here's the New York Spot Silver [Bid] chart on its own, so you can see the pertinent Comex action in more detail.
The platinum and palladium charts were somewhat similar, with their respective highs coming at 2 p.m. in Hong Kong trading. Then they traded slowly lower before getting sold off at 9:15 a.m. EDT as well. Both metals recovered all their loses and closed in positive territory. Here are the charts.
The *dollar index* closed in New York late on Tuesday afternoon at 81.17 and then traded flat until around 10:20 a.m. in Hong Kong on their Wednesday morning. Then away it went to the upside, with the high tick of the day [81.57] coming a few minutes before 10 a.m. in New York. From there it got sold down into the 5:15 p.m. EDT close, finishing the trading day at 81.44, up 27 basis points.
The 27 basis point "rally" in the dollar index between 9 and 9:45 a.m. EDT was the fig leaf that the sell-off in all four precious metals was hidden behind, and it's a rather tiny fig leaf for the corresponding moves in all four precious metals, particularly silver.
Not surprisingly, the gold stocks opened in positive territory for the second day in a row and for the very same reason, and that was because both gold and silver were in positive territory. But, like Tuesday, a not-for-profit seller put in an appearance around 2:30 p.m. in New York yesterday, and the rest as they say, is history. The HUI finished down another 2.93%.
With the odd exception, every silver company was down on the day, and that included all the shares that make up Nick Laird's *Intraday Silver Sentiment Index*, as it closed down 2.74% yesterday.
(Click on image to enlarge)
The *HUI* has declined over 7 percent in the last two trading days, and Nick's *Silver Sentiment Index* is down exactly 7 percent in the same time period, despite the fact that gold and silver have traded flat to up. There is no chance that free-market forces are behind these moves, plus the other counterintuitive declines we've seen over the last two weeks. Someone is deliberately selling shares during the last hour or so of trading to prevent the *HUI* and *SSI* from breaking out. I have much more on this inThe Wrap.
The CME's Daily Delivery Report for Wednesday showed that 164 gold and zero silver contracts were posted for delivery within the Comex-approved depositories on Friday. The three short/issuers were HSBC USA with 49 contracts, JPMorgan with 45 contracts out of its client account, and Barclays with 68 contracts out of its client account as well. Waiting to scoop up 154 of those contracts was JPMorgan Chase out of its in-house [proprietary] trading account. The link to yesterday's Issuers and Stoppers Report is here.
That should just about do it for the August delivery month, but we won't know for sure until tomorrow's report.
There were no reported changes in either *GLD* or *SLV* yesterday, and no sales report from the *U.S. Mint*, either.
The activity in *gold* on Tuesday within the *Comex-approved depositories* is hardly worth mentioning, as only 610 troy ounces were withdrawn from Brink's, Inc.
It was much busier in *silver*, as 964,373 troy ounces were reported deposited, and 438,474 ounces were withdrawn. JPMorgan was not involved in any of yesterday's silver movement, and the link to that activity is here.
Here's the list of reading material for you today, and I'm happy to say that it's not an overly long list.
*¤ CRITICAL READS*
-U.S. Bank Legal Bills Exceed $100 Billion-
The six biggest U.S. banks, led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp., have piled up $103 billion in legal costs since the financial crisis, more than all dividends paid to shareholders in the past five years.
That’s the amount allotted to lawyers and litigation, as well as for settling claims about shoddy mortgages and foreclosures, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The sum, equivalent to spending $51 million a day, is enough to erase everything the banks earned for 2012.
The mounting bills have vexed bankers who are counting on expense cuts to make up for slow revenue growth and make room for higher payouts. About 40 percent of the legal and litigation outlays arose since January 2012, and banks are warning the tally may surge as regulators, prosecutors and investors press new claims. The prospect is clouding outlooks for stock prices, and by some estimates the damage could last another decade.
No surprises here. This particular cost of doing business is pretty steep when you're a crook, but it's just another business expense. This Bloomberg news item was posted on their Internet site around 10 a.m. MDT...and I thank reader Ken Hurt for today's first story. It's *worth reading*.
Read more...
-JP Morgan "London Whale" fines may hit $600 million-
The Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission, the CFTC, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority are still conducting investigations into JP Morgan’s handling of the episode.
Discussions between the bank and various agencies involve collective penalties of roughly $500 million to $600 million as part of a “global” settlement, although the total could change slightly, these people said.
Not all agencies have agreed to their final numbers, one of these people added.
U.S. and U.K. officials for months have been considering the possibility of a global settlement that would resolve all the probes at once, said another person familiar with the matter. Exact terms aren't known and no final decisions have been reached. Government officials believe the wide-ranging pact could be agreed to as soon as the fall, this person said.
This news item was posted on the efinancial.com Internet site yesterday...and it's courtesy of reader M.A.
Read more...
-Currency Spikes at 4 p.m. in London Provide Rigging Clues-
Recurring spikes in currency market pairs over the last two years look like attempts by big currency dealers to rig financial benchmarks much as the LIBOR interest rate benchmark has been manipulated, Bloomberg News reports.
Maybe Bloomberg will get around to the gold market in another decade or so. Plenty of documentation of gold market rigging, underwritten by Western central banks, long has been delivered toBloomberg by GATA.
This *very long* Bloomberg article, filed from London, was posted on the their website late Tuesday afternoon MDT. I thank Chris Powell for the first two paragraphs of introduction above...and reader 'Tom in Bangkok' for sending the story our way.
Read more...
-Russian rocket engine export ban could halt U.S. space program-
Russia’s Security Council is reportedly considering a ban on supplying the US with powerful RD-180 rocket engines for military communications satellites as Russia focuses on building its own new space launch center, Vostochny, in the Far East.
A ban on the rockets supply to the US heavy booster, Atlas V, which delivers weighty military communications satellites and deep space exploration vehicles into orbit, could impact NASA’s space programs – not just military satellite launches.
An unnamed representative of Russia’s Federal Space Agency told the Izvestia newspaper that the Security Council is reconsidering the role of Russia’s space industry in the American space exploration program, particularly the 2012 contract to deliver the US heavy-duty RD-180 rocket engines.
Say what? The Russians provide the rocket motors for some U.S. military space flights? You couldn't make this stuff up. ThisRussian Today story was posted on their website late Tuesday afternoon Moscow time...and I thank reader Bob Visser for bringing it to our attention.
Read more...
-Angela Merkel: Greece should never have been allowed in the euro-
The German leader’s outburst came as she attempted to prove to voters she maintains a tough stance on struggling euro countries, just a month before facing key elections.
“Greece shouldn’t have been allowed into the euro,” Ms Merkel told around 1,000 supporters of her Christian Democratic Union in Rendsburg on Tuesday.
“Chancellor Schroeder accepted Greece in [in 2001] and weakened the Stability Pact, and both decisions were fundamentally wrong, and one of the starting points for our current troubles.”
This article was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site late on Tuesday evening BST...and it's Roy Stephens first offering in today's column.
Read more...
-The erosion of southern Europe-
In the past year or so, the backlash against austerity in Southern Europe has resulted in policy shifts, which, in turn, have supported greater stability, less severe contractions and an improved sentiment across the region. None of these gains indicate a major turnaround, but alleviation of single-minded austerity measures that have added to European challenges.
Despite the shift from the conservative Sarkozy to the socialist François Hollande, the competitiveness of France continues to erode. While Paris is slowly moving toward reforms, it is lingering in contraction and can hope for weak growth in 2014, at best.
Italy has been ridden by contraction for nine consecutive quarters. Enrico Letta’s government has been strong enough to stay in power, but too weak to achieve major changes. The more flexible approach to austerity across the Eurozone has benefited Italy and may allow Rome’s exit from the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) in 2014. But Italy suffers from structural challenges, which translate to continued decline of industrial production and the end of the Letta government by 2014.
And the list goes on. This op-ed piece, filed from Brussels, was posted on the euobserver.com Internet site early yesterday morning Europe time...and it's *worth reading*. It's the second contribution in a row from Roy Stephens.
Read more...
-Financial Times: "World Is Doomed To An Endless Cycle Of Bubble, Financial Crisis And Currency Collapse"-
Nearly five years ago, when we first started, and said that the world is doomed to an endless cycle of bubble, financial crisis and currency collapse as long as the Fed is around, most people laughed: after all they had very serious reputations aligned with a broken and terminally disintegrating economic lie. With time. some came to agree with our viewpoint, but most of the very serious people continued to laugh. Fast forward to last night when we read, in that very bastion of very serious opinions, the Financial Times, the following sentence: "The world is doomed to an endless cycle of bubble, financial crisis and currency collapse." By the way, the last phrase can be written in a simpler way: hyperinflation.
So OK then: we are happy to take that as an indirect, partial apology by some very serious people. Partial, because the piece's author, Robin Harding, doesn't explicitly come out and state that this cycle of boom and bust is a direct function of ever encroaching central-planning being handed over to a few economists with zero real world experience, whose actions result in ever more devastating blow ups once the boom cycle shifts to bust. Instead, it is their admission that this is what the world has come to. But, being economists, they naturally fail to see that it is all due to them. Instead, just like pervasive market halt, flash crashes, and everything else that now dominates a broken New Normal, this cycle which eventually culminates with currency collapse, or said otherwise, hyperinflation.
And finally, on that other topic, gold and systemic stability, here is what the FT has to say: A stable international financial system has eluded the world since the end of the gold standard.
This Financial Times commentary is posted mostly in the clear in this Zero Hedge piece from yesterday...and it's *worth your time*. I thank Manitoba reader Ulrike Marx for sharing it with us.
Read more...
-Emerging market rout is too big for the Fed to ignore-
The U.S. Federal Reserve has told Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe to drop dead.
This has the makings of a grave policy error: a repeat of the dramatic events in the autumn of 1998 at best; a full-blown debacle and a slide into a second leg of the Long Slump at worst.
Emerging markets are now big enough to drag down the global economy. As Indonesia, India, Ukraine, Brazil, Turkey, Venezuela, South Africa, Russia, Thailand and Kazakhstan try to shore up their currencies, the effect is ricocheting back into the advanced world in higher borrowing costs. Even China felt compelled to sell $20bn of US Treasuries in July.
"They are running down reserves by selling US and European bonds, leading to a self-reinforcing feedback loop," said Simon Derrick from BNY Mellon.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard chimes in on the currency problems of the world's emerging markets. This territory has already been covered by others, including Jim Rickards...but Ambrose puts his spin on things in this story posted on The Telegraph's website yesterday evening. I thank Ulrike Marx for her second contribution in a row to today's column...and it's *worth the read*.
Read more...
-William Hague plays down imminence of Syria attack as the U.N. seeks more time-
Speaking after a meeting of Britain's National Security Council, the British foreign secretary said the UN security council should "shoulder its responsibility" over Syria; if it failed to do so, however, Britain and and its allies would act on their own.
"This is the first use of chemical warfare in the 21st century," he said. "It has to be unacceptable. We have to confront something that is a war crime, something that is a crime against humanity."
Britain and the other four permanent members of the security council have begun talks in New York on a resolution proposed by Britain that would authorise the use of military force in Syria as a response to its use of chemical weapons last week.
Russia and China are firmly opposed to a security council resolution allowing force, and British government officials admit their initiative is likely to fail. But Labour said on Wednesday it would not support the government in Thursday's Commons vote unless ministers had tried to win security council agreement.
This news item was posted on the guardian.co.uk Internet site very early yesterday evening BST...and it's another offering from Roy Stephens.
Read more...
-Egyptian and Arab democracy üeber alles?-
Insanity has been described as constantly repeating the same mistake and expecting a different outcome. That characterization sadly applies to U.S. attitudes and policies toward much of what is happening in Egypt and the Arab and Islamic worlds.
The Americans have been there before, often supporting what is mistakenly regarded as the triumph of some sort of democratic movement over a failing regime that ultimately proves highly destructive to U.S. interests.
U.S. policy must be aimed first and foremost at preventing Islamic radicalism from exploding the region. Hence, for the time being, army control of Egypt must be tolerated.
In Syria, the aim must be to limit the violence and not favor either the Assad regime, however distasteful, or the opposition that is increasingly dominated by radicalism. The danger and test is whether the broken U.S. system of government can accept such a non-ideological and rational approach to policy.
This commentary by Harlan Ullman was posted on the UPI website yesterday...and is another story courtesy of Roy Stephens.
Read more...
-igel Farage Warns "Military Intervention In Syria Could Lead To Something Far Bigger"-
While Nigel Farage personal view that it is 'probable' that Assad did what the US and British are accusing him of, he notes "it is not absolutely certain," and before we go to war, "we must have absolute proof and certainty." Commenting on the British and US seeming enthusiasm for another Middle Eastern 'war', Farage provides a few minutes of common sense in this brief clip when he notes that Europe remains split - though "moral outrage" at the accusations will likely mean they support the attacks (adding that "moral outrage alone is not enough to warrant attacks.").
The UKIP leader then warned that "military intervention in Syria could lead to something far bigger, and even more worrying than we are seeing at the moment." Finally, Farage notes that "whenever we get involved in the Middle East, we tend to make things worse, not better," and as ghastly as the actions being committed are, there is nothing the British (or American) military can do to make things better.
This 5:13 Russia Today video clip is embedded in this short Zero Hedge news item from yesterday...and I thank Ulrike Marx for sending it.
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-Analysis: China has much at risk but no reach in Middle East-
The worsening Syria conflict has exposed an uncomfortable truth behind China's cherished policy of non-interfe Reported by Proactive Investors 11 hours ago.