Greece/S and P threatens USA with another downgrade/

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen:

As promised gold and silver languished today with gold falling by $17.10 to $1729.30
Silver fell by 50 cents to $33.67. It was quite clear that the bankers orchestrated their raid starting yesterday. The signal was sent yesterday morning as gold/silver equity shares were pummeled despite the rising price of the metal. The crooks covered many of their shorts today on the equities as the metal fell due their massive supply of non backed paper. These crooks have been performing this collusive trading for almost a decade now and it is getting monotonous. It works quite well when you have the regulators in your back pocket.

Let us head over to the comex and assess the damage today.

The total gold comex OI rose by a tiny 459 contracts despite the huge runnup in the gold price yesterday.
The new total OI rests tonight at 436,061. The front delivery month saw its OI fall from 1063 to 814 for a loss of 249 contracts. Yesterday we had 262 delivery notices filed so for the first time this month we did not have any cash settlements and we gained additional gold ounces standing. The next big delivery month is April and here the OI rose by a little over 2,000 contracts to 240,326. The estimated volume today was luke warm at 144,390. The confirmed volume yesterday was very good at 173,983.

The total silver comex OI continues to rise ever so slowly but firmly in strong hands. Today it rests at 106,008 a gain of 570 contracts from yesterday. The front options expiry month of February saw its OI fall from 53 to 35 for a loss of 18 contracts. However we had 41 delivery notices filed yesterday so we again gained 23 contracts or 115,000 additional silver oz standing. We are now less than 3 weeks away from first day notice in the March silver contract. Here the OI fell slightly down around 1400 contracts to rest tonight at 43,333. No doubt we lost some March players who rolled into the future month of May. The estimated volume at the silver comex today came in at 58,340 contracts. The confirmed volume yesterday registered 64,605 contracts.
Even though HFT players are huge in the silver comex, it looks like we have a few more players playing and quite possibly standing for delivery in the March contract.

MORE

As US and Israel dicker over Iran strike, American airlifts strength to the Gulf

DEBKAfile Special Report February 9, 2012, 5:20 PM (GMT+02:00)

US Air Force airlift over Sinai to the Gulf

 

As the US and Israel carried on bickering over the right time to strike Iran's nuclear sites, their war preparations continued apace. debkafile's military sources report that flight after flight of US warplanes and transports were to be seen this week cutting eastward through the skies of Sinai on their way to Gulf destinations, presumably Saudi Arabia, at a frequency not seen in the Middle East for many years.
The three International Atomic Energy inspectors who spent the last three days of January in Tehran had asked to meet the hitherto invisible head of Iran's nuclear bomb program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, 50, a general of the Revolutionary Guards. The Iranians pretended to be deaf. They also kept the inspectors away from any nuclear installations. A senior Obama administration official termed the visit "foot-dragging at best and a disaster at worst."
debkafile's intelligence and military sources note that without talking to Fakhrizadeh or any of the 600 nuclear engineers and scientists working under him, unless one of them defects, there is no way the West can determine what exactly is going on in Iran's nuclear program stands and which installations have been moved to underground facilities.

MORE

Iran Using Gold, Oil to Pay for Grain

By Valerie Parent and Michael Hogan

February 9, 2012 11:30 AM EST

(REUTERS) -- Iran is seeking to close grain purchases using gold and oil as payment, and has paid in yen for a large volume of wheat in its first deal since western sanctions against Tehran started choking imports of food staples, European wheat exporters said.
Iran bought at least 200,000 tonnes of soft wheat on the world market last week for prompt delivery from private sellers - mostly of Australian origin - but some traders said the United States could possibly account for part of the volume.

New financial sanctions imposed since the beginning of this year to punish Tehran over its nuclear programme have ended up playing havoc with Iran's ability to buy imports and receive payment for key food items.

The sanctions have drastically cut its ability to obtain euro and dollar denominated financing, forcing Tehran to find alternative ways to pay for its imports.

Traders believed the Iranian government had used companies based in Switzerland capable of financing themselves in Asia, and used yen-based contracts to finance the 200,000-tonne deal.

MORE

Ingredients for Inflation: Stirring the Pot

By Dock Treece

Before we begin, a quick note that this week’s article is largely a continuation of musings from last week, entitled Ingredients for Inflation. In that article – which was widely circulated around the internet – we wrote about the coming wave of inflation that will result when the velocity of money accelerates in the US and all the new money printed by the Federal Reserve begins to circulate.

As many are aware, and as we discussed last week, the Federal Reserve has greatly expanded its monetary base over the past several years – mostly in an effort to shore up this nation’s banking sector in response to the financial crisis sparked in 2008.

However, despite the rampant printing of growth – which usually leads to inflation – the impact has been relatively small to date because all this new money has failed to permeate our economy. New dollars haven’t been used to buy houses or TVs or gasoline; but has instead been sitting in the Fed’s digital vault, supporting banks’ weakened balance sheets.

In other words, velocity – or a lack thereof – has kept inflation from running rampant. To borrow a phrase from one of last week’s readers: “If it doesn’t circulate, it can’t inflate.”

Leeb - US Government Desperate & Scared Regarding Gold

Keiser Report - Episode 247

In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host Stacy Herbert discuss the latest discoveries of black holes in the financial universe and the populations growing permanently poorer as a result. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Dr. Yanis Varoufakis about financial horror, a currency from which you can’t escape and the Greek situation.

Jim Rickards: War with Iran and QE3 possibly by this Summer

Silver Update 2/08/12 Extend and Pretend

SilverDoctors: S&P to Downgrade US Again in 6 Months if No Debt R...

SilverDoctors: S&P to Downgrade US Again in 6 Months if No Debt R...: S&P's John Chambers today warned that S&P is likely to downgrade the US further from AA+ in the next 6-24 months depending on the outcome of...

SilverDoctors: S&P Downgrades CME Group to AA- Over MFG Risk

SilverDoctors: S&P Downgrades CME Group to AA- Over MFG Risk: After threatening to downgrade the US again in the next 6-24 months earlier today, S&P tonight downgraded the CME Group from AA to AA-, ou...

SilverDoctors: ALERT: Obama Invokes NDAA, Issues Executive Order ...

SilverDoctors: ALERT: Obama Invokes NDAA, Issues Executive Order ...: **RED ALERT!! President Obama invokes the NDAA, which authorizes the use of military force, and issues an executive order declaring the "t...

SilverDoctors: Gold Capped at $1750 4 Additional Times Today

SilverDoctors: Gold Capped at $1750 4 Additional Times Today: The cartel's firm cap of gold at $1750 remains humorously obvious, as gold has been driven off of $1750 4 times this morning. You can clea...

SilverDoctors: Jim Willie: Gold & Silver Ready to Soar

SilverDoctors: Jim Willie: Gold & Silver Ready to Soar: By Jim Willie, Goldenjackass.com Check out the obvious reversal pattern on the Silver chart in full view. It has a 7-point potential rise,...

Norcini - Continued Dollar Selling to Keep a Firm Bid for Gold

Hathaway - People Are Right to be Scared & Gold is a Necessity