London Trader - Fed’s Global War Against Gold Escalating

"With many global investors still rattled by the price action of gold and silver, today King World News interviewed the “London Trader” to get his take on these markets. Here is what the source had to say: “Gold was trashed on Monday, while the Fed minutes essentially said nothing. When a central bank coordinates that kind of attack, it’s war, of course it’s war. This type of action is coordinated by Bernanke and the Fed and executed by the bullion banks. It’s actually laughable if anyone thinks that was a legitimate selloff, on what was, in reality, no news.”

The London Trader continues:

“No legitimate market participants were really selling. Sure there were some stops that were taken out, but it was the bullion banks that came in with their selling and this was what suddenly created the air pockets.

There is massive sovereign physical buying going on right now. Interestingly, the sovereign buying is being swamped by paper selling. Sovereign buyers are aggressively buying tonnage every day at these levels. You have to remember their goal is to pick up physical and get rid of dollars. Nothing has changed. 

Interestingly, the Asian buyers have figured out the algorithms, like breaking an enemy’s code in war, and they are using the algorithmic trading to get the best prices each day for physical gold at these levels. The trading is just taking place at lower levels because these bullion banks and the Fed, which manage the price of gold, get overzealous in their price fixing.

But there will be a huge price to pay for their activity..."

at http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/4/5_London_Trader_-_Feds_Global_War_Against_Gold_Escalating.html

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Gold paper to physical ratio is a stunning 100:1, 2012 will be the year of delivery

"If gold traders of the futures markets need any more convincing to invest in physical gold, Ned Naylor-Leyland has one- the paper to physical ratio. Simply put- the number of open positions for just 1 bar of gold.
Ned Naylor-Leyland is the investment director at Cheviot Asset Management

In an interview with CNBC, Ned says that there is about a 100 open positions in the gold paper market for just 1 bar of physical gold. “The numbers are pretty frightening”.

This means that there are a 100 people who have electronically “bought” gold but there is just 1 bar of gold. Need any more reason to switch to physical.

Ned goes on to add that he believes 2012 will be the year of delivery. As people start to realize the importance of owning gold, more and more investors will put their money in the physical gold.

When asked about if he thinks the gold market is manipulated, Ned states that he believes the gold market is rigged and that investors are currently running scared from the paper markets after the MF Global fiasco resulted in millions of dollars of client assets vanishing into the unknown."

at http://www.commodityonline.com/news/gold-paper-to-physical-ratio-is-a-stunning-1001-2012-will-be-the-year-of-delivery-44631-3-44632.html

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Warren Pollock: Overall Derivative Market Contracts - Warning Signs

"I have spoken before about the fallacy of netting and the danger of instability in the derivatives market.

Critical Mass: The Mispricing of Derivatives Risk and How the Financial World Ends

Here is Warren Pollock's take on this and on the recent contraction in nominal value of the global derivatives market.

"Ponzi schemes can go on for a long time under the mask of expansion; these frauds blow up during a contraction of new money being input into them.

Such may be the story of credit derivatives as we see a working contraction in the notional value of these instruments as reported by the comptroller of the currency. In simple terms the number of these instruments has gone down to a mere 240 Trillion!

The premise for this ponzi is the concept of netting whereby risks off offset on paper under the false justification that positions can become risk neutral. In this ponzi scheme the efficacy of the netting process has magically risen from 50% or so to an astounding 92.2%.. This means that the reported risk of 240 Trillion is only 8% of the notional amount.

In less insane times the notional risk was reduced to a mere 50% through the netting process. Even with 8% risk not covered by netting the liabilities of JPM and others are far greater than their assets under management. The problem being that JPM's assets are secured by its liabilities and the liabilities of banks tend to be YOUR Savings.

With changes to Safe Harbor rules the government is not only facilitating fraud with these netting assumptions but they are also putting your savings at risk by giving the coverage of derivatives priority should there be a dispute. This very issue is being worked out presently with MF Global."

at  http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2012/03/warren-pollock-overal-derivative-market.html

Manipulation of the "Paper Gold" Market The Value of "Worthless" Paper Gold versus Physical Gold

"We have been in and around the gold markets for 53 years and conditions have certainly changed, driven mainly by market manipulation of all markets as a result of the Executive Order, which created the “President’s Working Group on Financial Markets.” Those who doubt that are either on the government payroll one way or the other, or you are just too dumb to understand what is really going on. In spite of these machinations and ignorant naysayers the bull markets in gold and silver are still alive and well. What you are seeing are paper markets and the use of derivatives to effect short-term pricing, especially when negative events are about to occur.

Those events are aided by naked shorting and illegal concentration in both gold and silver and the shares. Mind you, this is being done in a market to control it and in addition government and central banks relish stomping gold and silver into the ground. For years they hid what they were doing. Today their manipulations are in your face. These dramatic forced price falls are fortunately accompanied by heavy buying by China, Russia, India and others.

All the elitists are doing is giving long-term investors an opportunity to purchase both metals at prices far below their real value. Official government inflation figures say gold should be selling at about $2,500 an ounce. Real inflation statistics would have gold selling today at almost $9,000. Such deliberate under pricing is accompanied by financial chaos in Europe and England, high oil prices that reflect the possibility of conflict in the Middle East, the results of $1.4 trillion in loans to 800 European banks, England on the edge of bankruptcy and the continual quantitative easing and things such as Operation Twist by the Federal Reserve. The official government line on statistics is all lies. We see one research report after another pandering to these falsities, which is next to worthless. The professionals and investors continue to use these bogus figures and continue to lose money in the process.

There are few sellers in the physical gold and silver markets. The selling takes place in the paper markets. Demand worldwide for these metals as a store of value has never been stronger. Buyers are countries and flight capital from the Middle East and Asia. The traffic is very intriguing. In China the government promotes gold ownership and has thousands of outlets across the country, as does CIBC. They are called gold savings accounts. Just the opposite is true in the US, UK and Europe, where violation of privacy and freezing or confiscation of assets is possible.

Last year demand for gold rose 20% worldwide and it could top $100 billion in 2012. We are seeing major demand as well for Europe as the euro zone deteriorates without a solution in sight.

We have already seen shortages of 1/5 and ¼ ounce coins from time to time as Europeans gobble them up. These developments are reflections of the ongoing financial problems facing the US, UK and England. Those problems are recognized worldwide and thus, we have massive gold off take by many countries. In tandem all countries are running deficits and it is getting worse not better. The attitude is print money like everyone else is and buy gold at cheap prices. There has to be a lesson to be learned when US dealers go to European wholesalers and get little or no new product. At retailers product offerings are even slimmer..."

at http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29947

An Annotated Paul Brodsky Responds To Bernanke's Latest Attempt To Discredit Gold

"Last week, Bernanke's first (of four) lecture at George Washington University was entirely dedicated to attempting to discredit gold and all that sound money stands for. The propaganda machine was so transparent that it hardly merited a response: those away from the MSM know the truth (which, simply said, is the "creation" of over $100 trillion in derivatives in just the first six months of 2011 to a record $707 trillion - how does one spell stability?), while those who rely on mainstream media for the news would never see an alternative perspective - financial firms are not among the top three sources of advertising dollars for legacy media for nothing. Still, for those who feel like the Chairman's word need to be challenged, the following extensive and annotated reply by QBAMCO's Paul Brodsky makes a mockery of the Fed's full on assault on gold, and any attempts by the subservient media to defend it. To wit: "Has anyone asked why so many powerful people are going out of their way to discredit an inert rock? We think it comes down to maintaining power and control over commercial economies. After professionally watching Fed chairmen cajole, threaten, persuade and manage sentiment in the markets since 1982, we argue this latest permutation is understandable, predictable and, for those willing to bet on the Fed’s ultimate success in saving the banking system (as we are), quite exciting.... Gold is no longer being ignored and gold holders are no longer being laughed at. “The Powers That Be” seem to have begun a campaign to discredit gold."

From QBAMCO

BB Gun

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

at http://www.zerohedge.com/news/annotated-paul-brodsky-responds-bernankes-latest-attempt-discredit-gold

The Bull Market in Gold and Silver Prevails

"We have been in and around the gold markets for 53 years and conditions have certainly changed, driven mainly by market manipulation of all markets as a result of the Executive Order, which created the “President’s Working Group on Financial Markets.” Those who doubt that are either on the government payroll one way or the other, or you are just too dumb to understand what is really going on. In spite of these machinations and ignorant naysayers the bull markets in gold and silver are still alive and well. What you are seeing are paper markets and the use of derivatives to effect short-term pricing, especially when negative events are about to occur. Those events are aided by naked shorting and illegal concentration in both gold and silver and the shares. Mind you, this is being done in a market to control it and in addition government and central banks relish stomping gold and silver into the ground. For years they hid what they were doing. Today their manipulations are in your face. These dramatic forced price falls are fortunately accompanied by heavy buying by China, Russia, India and others. All the elitists are doing is giving long-term investors an opportunity to purchase both metals at prices far below their real value. Official government inflation figures say gold should be selling at about $2,500 an ounce. Real inflation statistics would have gold selling today at almost $9,000. Such deliberate under pricing is accompanied by financial chaos in Europe and England, high oil prices that reflect the possibility of conflict in the Middle East, the results of $1.4 trillion in loans to 800 European banks, England on the edge of bankruptcy and the continual quantitative easing and things such as Operation Twist by the Federal Reserve. The official government line on statistics is all lies. We see one research report after another pandering to these falsities, which is next to worthless. The professionals and investors continue to use these bogus figures and continue to lose money in the process..."

at   http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29885

WALL STREET CONFIDENCE TRICK: How "Interest Rate Swaps" Are Bankrupting Local Governments

"Far from reducing risk, derivatives increase risk, often with catastrophic results. — Derivatives expert Satyajit Das, Extreme Money (2011)

The “toxic culture of greed” on Wall Street was highlighted again last week, when Greg Smith went public with his resignation from Goldman Sachs in a scathing oped published in the New York Times. In other recent eyebrow-raisers, LIBOR rates—the benchmark interest rates involved in interest rate swaps—were shown to be manipulated by the banks that would have to pay up; and the objectivity of the ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association) was called into question, when a 50% haircut for creditors was not declared a “default” requiring counterparties to pay on credit default swaps on Greek sovereign debt.

Interest rate swaps are less often in the news than credit default swaps, but they are far more important in terms of revenue, composing fully 82% of the derivatives trade. In February, JP Morgan Chase revealed that it had cleared $1.4 billion in revenue on trading interest rate swaps in 2011, making them one of the bank’s biggest sources of profit. According to the Bank for International Settlements:

[I]nterest rate swaps are the largest component of the global OTC derivative market. The notional amount outstanding as of June 2009 in OTC interest rate swaps was $342 trillion, up from $310 trillion in Dec 2007. The gross market value was $13.9 trillion in June 2009, up from $6.2 trillion in Dec 2007.

For more than a decade, banks and insurance companies convinced local governments, hospitals, universities and other non-profits that interest rate swaps would lower interest rates on bonds sold for public projects such as roads, bridges and schools. The swaps were entered into to insure against a rise in interest rates; but instead, interest rates fell to historically low levels. This was not a flood, earthquake, or other insurable risk due to environmental unknowns or “acts of God.” It was a deliberate, manipulated move by the Fed, acting to save the banks from their own folly in precipitating the credit crisis of 2008. The banks got in trouble, and the Federal Reserve and federal government rushed in to bail them out, rewarding them for their misdeeds at the expense of the taxpayers..."

at   http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29907

From The Archives - Bunker Hunt And 'Silver Thursday'

"Back in May of last year, just after the now historic silver slamdown of "Silver Sunday" on May 1, 2011, when the metal imploded by nearly 20% in the span of seconds, a move that some considered 'normal', primarily the CFTC, we presented the extended biopic of the infamous "Silverfinger": Bunker Hunt, who attempted to corner the silver market, and succeeded, if only briefly. Today, courtesy of Grant Williams, we have dredged up the following clip from the archives, which is a 10 minute overview of just how there is really nothing new ever in the silver market, bringing up memories of Silver Thursday, March 27, 1980, and raising questions whether last year the move in precious metals was not due to the same attempt to corner the silver and gold markets as happened 30 years prior. A far more important question perhaps is how was it that tried a redux of the Hunt brothers (and Warren Buffett of course), and when will someone take their place next?

And for those who may not have seen it the first time around, here is a repost of our original article from April 2010, "A Deep Insider's Walkthru To Silver Market Manipulation"

A second whistleblower speaks. As the topic of physical delivery has gained prominent attention recently, it is crucial to complete the circle and show how this weakest link in the PM market is (ab)used by the big boys: Phibro and Warren Buffet. Pay particular attention to the analogues between the methods employed in the 90's commodity market and how the PM (and equity) market is being gamed currently. And to think that each new generation of traders believes it has discovered something new..."

at http://www.zerohedge.com/news/archives-bunker-hunt-and-silver-thursday

The Crazy Things That One Whistleblower Says Are Happening At JP Morgan Will Blow Your Mind

"Rampant silver manipulation? Rampant gold manipulation? Rampant LIBOR manipulation? Hiding MF Global client assets? These are all happening at JP Morgan according to an open letter reportedly written by an anonymous employee of the firm. The whistleblower also warns of a "cascading credit event being triggered" by derivatives related to Greek government debt. Unlike Greg Smith at Goldman Sachs, this whistleblower has chosen to remain anonymous for now. According to the letter, the whistleblower is still an employee of JP Morgan and has not resigned..."

at http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-crazy-things-that-one-whistleblower-says-are-happening-at-jp-morgan-will-blow-your-mind

Currency Wars: Are American Derivatives Dealers Leaving Europe?

"At the request of CME Clearing Europe Limited (CMECEL), pursuant to Section 7 of the Commodity Exchange Act, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an Order on March 13, 2012, vacating the registration of CMECEL as a derivatives clearing organization.
Is the European leadership doing something behind the scenes to clamp down on the rampant speculation and fraud in the paper derivatives market that has almost wrecking their economy?
Probably too good to be true.
But I am also thoughtful about the recent moves in Germany and Switzerland to audit and even repatriate their gold from the States where much of it has been kept in trusting custody these many years, fearing that perhaps it has been re-hypothecated.
All a part of the currency war, perhaps. And it is notoriously hard to see what's what when the fog of war descends..."

at http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article33612.html