JPMorganChase And HSBC Allegedly Manipulated Precious Metal Markets
Silver nugget. Photo: Jurii (CC)
“The conspiracy and scheme was enormously successful, netting the defendants substantial illegal profits” in the billions of dollars … JPMorgan and HSBC together “controlled over 85 percent the commercial net short positions” … William D. Cohan writes in the New York Times:
As Americans know all too well by this point, commodity prices — for corn, wheat, soybeans, crude oil, gold and even farmland — have been going through the roof for what seems like forever. There are many causes, primarily supply and demand pressures driven by fears about the unrest in the Middle East, the rise of consumerism in China and India, and the Fed’s $600 billion campaign to increase the money supply.
Nonetheless, how to explain the price of silver? In the past six months, the value of the precious metal has increased nearly 80 percent, to more than $34 an ounce from around $19 an ounce.…
What Do You Want Coins To Be Made Out Of?
Hurry and respond before the April 4 deadline! The U.S. Mint wants the public’s thoughts and suggestions regarding what metals to use for producing the currency of the future. Personally, I’m pulling for tungsten, or anything that glows in the dark, really.
The United States Mint today announced that it is requesting public comment from all interested persons on factors to be considered in conducting research for alternative metallic coinage materials for the production of all circulating coins.
These factors include, but are not limited to, the effect of new metallic coinage materials on the current suppliers of coinage materials; the acceptability of new metallic coinage materials, including physical, chemical, metallurgical and technical characteristics; metallic material, fabrication, minting, and distribution costs; metallic material availability and sources of raw metals; coinability; durability; sorting, handling, packaging and vending machines; appearance; risks to the environment and public safety; resistance to counterfeiting; commercial and public acceptance; and…
Gold Posts Biggest One-Day Loss Since 2008
You can almost predict the oft-repeated explanations the pundits offer up every time the precious metals behave irresponsibly.
- The trouble with being a contrarian is that you can never be quite contrarian enough. We began having doubts about the ‘feds inflate…gold soars’ hypothesis last year. It was too easy…too obvious. And if it were that easy to inflate a nation’s currency, how come the Japanese couldn’t get the hang of it in the ’90s?
- Inflation, yes…but not for a while. And gold? Well, we are in it for the long run. In the short run, anything could happen.
- To clarify our view on gold, The Daily Reckoning is not bearish on the metal. It is not bullish on the metal either. It is buggish. We are gold bugs. In the long run, gold will retain its value. Since that’s all we ask of it, we are always satisfied. Even if it is down…
Silver, But No Silver Lining
By Robert Singer
The end of our consumer society is on the horizon, which should be no surprise to anyone who took Economics 101. Do we really expect to spend our way out of this mess by buying and selling each other useless cheap stuff from China?
As the financial collapse gathers steam, gold and silver oracles like Butler, Friedman, Morgan and Turk who have been predicting for years the launch of the price of silver to the moon will see their prophecy fulfilled, but a celebration is not in order.
Being wealthy during the last 60 years of unprecedented prosperity at the expense of the Third World and the environment is one thing, but profiting from a bull market in silver when millions of hungry Americans are living in tent-cities next door is quite another.
A default at the Comex that will ignite the explosion in the price of silver and gold is…
