Billionaire Hugo Salinas Price – Central Banks Smashed Gold

Today multi-billionaire Hugo Salinas Price told King World News that central banks were definitely behind the smash in the gold price yesterday. He also said people should ignore it and continue buying gold and silver. But first, here is what Hugo Salinas Price had to say when asked about the plunge in gold yesterday: “I definitely think the central banks were behind it. I look at the graph of the gold price yesterday and when it collapses down $100 in about an hour, that is not natural market action. I think people are getting used to this. This is standard procedure and it doesn’t worry me at all.”

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via My Blog.

Gold Falls 3% in an Hour Following Bernanke Comments, Iran Trading with Bullion as “Universal Currency”

WHOLESALE MARKET Gold Bullion prices dropped 3.2% to $1727 per ounce in less than an hour Wednesday afternoon in London, after US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke appeared before Congress.

Higher gasoline prices are “likely to push up inflation temporarily while reducing consumers’ purchasing power,” Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee.

Bernanke’s comments “eased speculation the central bank is moving closer to providing more monetary stimulus,” news agency Bloomberg reports.

The Fed chairman added however that the Fed’s policymakers judge “that sustaining a highly accommodative stance for monetary policy is consistent with promoting both objectives” of the Fed’s mandate, namely price stability and employment.

Earlier in the day, gold prices hovered around $1785 an ounce Wednesday morning London time, while stocks and commodities were also broadly flat following the European Central Bank’s latest attempt to boost the liquidity held by the continent’s banks.

Silver bullion meantime hit $37.36 per ounce, its highest level since last September, though they too fell following Bernanke’s comments.

“The next target [for silver] is $39.78, the September 2011 high,” says the latest technical analysis from gold bullion dealing bank Scotia Mocatta.

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via Gold Falls 3% in an Hour Following Bernanke Comments, Iran Trading with Bullion as “Universal Currency” – Buy Gold Online with the Bullion Vault – GoldSeek.com.

Silver Surges 4.5% To Over $37/Oz On “Massive Fund Buying”

Silver Surges 4.5% To Over $37/Oz On “Massive Fund Buying”

Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD 1,788.00, EUR 1,329.96, and GBP 1,120.79 per ounce..

Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,774.75, EUR 1,321.48, and GBP 1,120.42 per ounce.

Gold rose 1% in New York yesterday and closed at $1,783.90/oz. Gold rose in Asia to a high of $1,790.16 it’s highest since mid November then edged down. Europe this morning saw sideways trading until unusually volatile trading around the London AM fix saw gold rise from $1785.oz to over $1790/oz at 1030 GMT and then fall quickly to $1783/oz.

Spot silver has gained another 0.5% to $37.05 an ounce, after surging 4.5% yesterday once it rose above resistance at $35.50/oz. Silver reached a 5 month high of $37.21 but remains more than 30% below its nominal high in of April last year of $48.44.

Silver Spot $/oz – (Bloomberg)

Over 800 European banks have taken €529.5 billion from the ECB today after taking €489 billion euros at the first tender in December. The ECB’s 3 year lending is now near 1 trillion euros ($1.35 trillion) and the ECB’s balance sheet looks increasingly precarious.

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via Silver Surges 4.5% To Over $37/Oz On “Massive Fund Buying” | ZeroHedge.

Richard Russell – Gold to Take Out $1,800 as Tangibles Soar

With many high net worth individuals continuing to exit paper money, today the Godfather of newsletter writers, Richard Russell, had this to say about gold, fine jewelry, fine art, the economy and more: “What we’re seeing now is flagrant divergence in the D-J Averages with volume sinking precipitously. This is a dangerous situation — acute divergence in the Averages on sinking volume — not good, not good at all. I feel that low volume in this case is highly significant. It’s as though the very heart of the market is whispering ‘caution,’ as the smart money pulls back on its buying. It’s notable that volume picks up on days when the market is down (a sign of institutional selling).”

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February 28, 2012

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Living In A QE World | The Big Picture

All Central Bank Balance Sheets Are Exploding Higher, Or Engaged In QE

The degree to which central banks around the world are printing money is unprecedented.

The first eight charts below show the balance sheets of the largest central banks in the world. They are the European Central Bank (ECB), the Federal Reserve (Fed), the Bank of Japan (BoJ), the Bank of England (BoE), the Bundesbank (Germany), the Banque de France, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) and the Swiss National Bank (SNB). Noted on the charts are significant events or growth rates.

Shown is the size of each respective balance sheet in its local currency. Note that all are exploding higher as every chart goes from the lower left to the upper right. Most are still making new all-time highs. If the basic definition of quantitative easing (QE) is a significant increase in a central bank’s balance sheet via increasing banking reserves, then all eight of these central banks are engaged in QE.

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via Living In A QE World | The Big Picture.

Turk: ‘silver price at $68-70 in two-to-three months’

At long last: the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has deemed Greece to be in “selective default”. The European Central Bank has temporarily suspended the use of Greek bonds as collateral. However, stocks have been moving higher in trading this morning following the vote in the German Bundestag yesterday to authorise the new 130 billion-euro Greek bailout deal agreed by finance ministers last week. The markets have after all had months to come to terms with the idea of Greek bankruptcy.

Moreover, as Jim Sinclair points out at JSMineSet.com: “Only the International Swaps and Derivative Association opines on what is a default as it applies to credit default swaps. S&P carries no power over the performance (or lack thereof) of CDSs.” It is this uncertainty about whether CDS written on Greek debt can be honoured that still has the serious potential to spook investors.

Many of you are by now likely sick to the back teeth with the Greek debt crisis, and the reams of ink that has been spilt by journalists and market analysts on this issue (not least at this website). But this column urges you all to read Detlev Schlichter’s cogent analysis of Greece’s problems, and the bigger picture surrounding the debates about austerity, debt, monetary union and the eurozone. Commenting on the now conventional wisdom that returning to the drachma would help Greece, Detlev notes:

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via Turk: ‘silver price at $68-70 in two-to-three months’.

Eric Sprott: Silver Will Become a Currency Again

With the Greek crisis nearing a climax, The Doc spoke with Eric Sprott of Sprott Asset Management this week to discuss the Euro debt crisis, silver fundamentals, and the recent PSLV follow-on offering.

When asked about his recent efforts to convince silver mining companies to save in silver rather than cash or treasuries Eric responded:

I think we have a bit of a voice in the silver market, and the reason for the letter was just the simple analysis that the paper traders were determining the price…and why should you physical silver producers let that happen?

And that was the primary thing- would you guys please think about what’s happening in your silver market! Plus the fact that it got bombed last year, and are you just going to sit back and lose $25 an ounce that you might otherwise be making, or are you ready to take a stand here? The other very easy argument for me, is when you have your money in a bank, you get no return. You essentially have no return. In fact I think it was expressed very well by the gentleman that runs UC Resources that you actually get a negative return at the end of the year because inflation’s higher than the return you’re getting on your money! I happen to be of the view that having money in the bank is a dangerous thing!

And you know they keep bailing out the banks all the time such as the recent G6 announcement that we’ll give unlimited loans to banks: well, they had to give unlimited loans to banks, because there were some banks that were on the brink! That tells you that it’s risky having money in a bank! So not only do you have to accept the risk, you get a negative return!

Why don’t you believe in your own product that also has been a currency and also will become a currency?

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via SilverDoctors: Eric Sprott: Silver Will Become a Currency Again.

Silver Price Could Double by Year End

Feb 19, 2012 – 08:54 AM

By: Jason_Hamlin

Were you cursing at your computer screen when silver nearly tripled during the short 9 months from September 2010 to May 2011? Silver at $20 seemed like an insurmountable threshold for quite some time. This caused many silver investors to give up just prior to the ascent, completely missing the ride towards $50. I believe silver is about to offer a similar ride. While it is unlikely to match the 180% advance mentioned above, look for silver to make new highs in the coming months, with the potential to double to $65 by year end.Following the record gains in silver during late 2010 and early 2011, the metal crashed towards $25 and has since rebounded to around $33. Investor sentiment has crashed along with it. The threat of Euro nations defaulting, banks announcing they are, well, bankrupt, and a series of other factors have scared away many of the Johnny-come-lately silver bulls.I think too many investors are underestimating the power of the central banks. While I agree they are running out of options, it seems that their ability to kick the can down the road has yet to expire. Given that the United States is heading into election season and President Obama is in full campaign mode, I expect the administration to pull out all stops in order to continue the illusion of economic prosperity a while longer. Every economic fire of consequence is being extinguished with fresh liquidity, more funny money or new legislation. In case you missed it, QE3 has been in full force for quite some time, albeit executed in a somewhat stealth manner.

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via Silver Price Could Double by Year End :: The Market Oracle :: Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting Free Website.

It’s An Era Of ‘Work Til You Drop’ For Boomers

By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — When Paula Symons joined the U.S. workforce in 1972, typewriters in her office clacked nonstop, people answered the telephones and the hot new technology revolutionizing communication was the fax machine.Symons, fresh out of college, entered this brave new world thinking she’d do pretty much what her parents’ generation did: Work for just one or two companies over about 45 years before bidding farewell to co-workers at a retirement party and heading off into her sunset years with a pension.Forty years into that run, the 60-year-old communications specialist for a Wisconsin-based insurance company has worked more than a half-dozen jobs. She’s been laid off, downsized and seen the pension disappear with only a few thousand dollars accrued when it was frozen.So, five years from the age when people once retired, she laughs when she describes her future plans.”I’ll probably just work until I drop,” she says, a sentiment expressed, with varying degrees of humor, by numerous members of her age group.Like 78 million other U.S. Baby Boomers, Symons and her husband had the misfortune of approaching retirement age at a time when stock market crashes diminished their 401 k nest eggs, companies began eliminating defined benefit pensions in record numbers and previously unimagined technical advances all but eliminated entire job descriptions from travel agent to telephone operator.At the same time, companies began moving other jobs overseas, to be filled by people willing to work for far less and still able to connect to the U.S. market in real time.

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via Insurance News – It’s An Era Of ‘Work Til You Drop’ For Boomers.

18 Statistics That Prove That The Economy Has Not Improved Since 2008

Has the economy improved since Barack Obama became the president of the United States? Of course not. Despite what you may be hearing in the mainstream media, the truth is that when you compare the U.S. economy on the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated to the U.S. economy today, there is really no comparison. The unemployment crisis is worse than it was then, home values have fallen, the cost of health insurance is up, the cost of gas is way up, the number of Americans living in poverty has soared and the size of our national debt has absolutely exploded. Anyone that believes that things are better than they were when Barack Obama was elected is simply being delusional. Yes, things have stabilized somewhat and our economy is not in free fall mode at this point. But don’t be fooled. This bubble of false hope will be short-lived. The problems we are seeing develop in Europe will erupt into another full-fledged global financial crisis and economic conditions in the United States will get even worse. When that happens, what possible ” economic solutions” will Barack Obama have for us? We never even came close to recovering from the last great financial crisis, and now something potentially even worse is staring us in the face. This is not a great time to have a total lack of leadership in Washington.

The following are 18 statistics that prove that the economy has not improved since Barack Obama became the president of the United States….

#1 Today there are 88 million working age Americans that are not employed and that are not looking for employment. That is an all-time record high.

#2 When Barack Obama was elected, the percentage of unemployed Americans that had been out of work for more than 52 weeks was less than 15%. Today, it is above 30%.

#3 There are 1.2 million fewer jobs in America today than there were when Barack Obama was inaugurated.

#4 When Barack Obama first took office, the number of “long-term unemployed workers” in the United States was approximately 2.6 million. Today, that number is sitting at 5.6 million.

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via 18 Statistics That Prove That The Economy Has Not Improved Since Barack Obama Became President.