Jan 23/GOLD UP $5.55 TO $1322.15/SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TO $16.92/GOLD EFP ISSUANCE: 11,759 CONTRACTS/SILVER EFP ISSUANCE: 947/HUGE MOVEMENT OF BOTH GOLD AND SILVER IN AND OUT OF THE COMEX/USA DOLLAR IN TROUBLE AS USA/YEN FALTERS BADLY AND THUS AIDING GOLD/SILVER/FBI LOSES A HUGE NUMBER OF TEXTS FROM OUR LOVE BIRDS AND THIS WILL PROBABLY SECURE AN OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE CHARGE//MANY SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT/

 

 

GOLD: $1332.15 UP $5.55

Silver: $16.92 DOWN 6 cents

Closing access prices:

Gold $1341.60

silver: $17.05

SHANGHAI GOLD FIX: FIRST FIX 10 15 PM EST (2:15 SHANGHAI LOCAL TIME)

SECOND FIX: 2:15 AM EST (6:15 SHANGHAI LOCAL TIME)

SHANGHAI FIRST GOLD FIX: $1344.35 DOLLARS PER OZ

NY PRICE OF GOLD AT EXACT SAME TIME: $1336.30

PREMIUM FIRST FIX: $8.05

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SECOND SHANGHAI GOLD FIX: $1341.61

NY GOLD PRICE AT THE EXACT SAME TIME: $1337.00

Premium of Shanghai 2nd fix/NY:$4.61

SHANGHAI REJECTS NY /LONDON PRICING OF GOLD

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LONDON FIRST GOLD FIX: 5:30 am est $1337.10

NY PRICING AT THE EXACT SAME TIME: $1336.75

LONDON SECOND GOLD FIX 10 AM: $1333.40

NY PRICING AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. $1334.40

For comex gold:

JANUARY/

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR JANUARY CONTRACT: 162 NOTICE(S) FOR 16200 OZ.

TOTAL NOTICES SO FAR: 684 FOR 68400 OZ (2.1275 TONNES),

For silver:

jANUARY

9 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR

45,000 OZ/

Total number of notices filed so far this month: 716 for 3,580,000 oz

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Bitcoin: BID $10,100/OFFER $10,194  DOWN $628 (morning)

 Bitcoin: BID   $10,929/OFFER  $11,029 UP $204.00  (CLOSING/4 PM)

end

Let us have a look at the data for today

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In silver, the total open interest ROSE BY A CONSIDERABLE 2612 contracts from 197,449 RISING TO 200,061 DESPITE YESTERDAY’S  5 CENT LOSS IN SILVER PRICING.  WE THUS HAVE ZERO COMEX LIQUIDATION. HOWEVER, WE WERE AGAIN NOTIFIED THAT WE HAD ANOTHER SMALL SIZED NUMBER OF COMEX LONGS TRANSFERRING THEIR CONTRACTS TO LONDON THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE:  947 EFP’S FOR MARCH AND ZERO FOR OTHER MONTHS  AND THUS TOTAL ISSUANCE OF 947 CONTRACTS. HOWEVER THE MOVEMENT ACROSS TO LONDON IS NOT AS SEVERE AS IN GOLD AS THERE SEEMS TO BE  MAJOR PLAYERS WILLING TO TAKE ON THE BANKS AT THE COMEX. STILL, WITH THE TRANSFER OF 947 CONTRACTS, WHAT THE CME IS STATING IS THAT THERE IS NO SILVER (OR GOLD) TO BE DELIVERED UPON AT THE COMEX AS THEY MUST EXPORT THEIR OBLIGATION TO LONDON. ALSO KEEP IN MIND THAT THERE CAN BE A DELAY OF 24 HRS IN THE ISSUING OF EFP’S.

ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S/SILVER/ STARTING FROM FIRST DAY NOTICE/FOR MONTH OF JANUARY:

35,199 CONTRACTS (FOR 16 TRADING DAYS TOTAL 35,199 CONTRACTS OR 175.995 MILLION OZ: AVERAGE PER DAY: 2347 CONTRACTS OR 11.735 MILLION OZ/DAY)

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE HUGE SUPPLY THIS MONTH IN SILVER:  SO FAR THIS MONTH:  175.995 MILLION PAPER OZ HAVE MORPHED OVER TO LONDON. THIS REPRESENTS AROUND 25.12% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION

RESULT: A HUGE SIZED GAIN IN OI COMEX DESPITE THE 5 CENT GAIN IN SILVER PRICE WHICH USUALLY INDICATES ANOTHER FAILED BANKER SHORT-COVERING. WE ALSO HAD A SMALL SIZED EFP ISSUANCE OF 947 CONTRACTS WHICH EXITED OUT OF THE SILVER COMEX AND TRANSFERRED THEIR OI TO LONDON AS FORWARDS. SPECULATORS CONTINUED THEIR INTEREST IN ATTACKING THE SILVER COMEX FOR PHYSICAL SILVER . FROM THE CME DATA 947 EFP’S WERE ISSUED FOR TODAY  FOR A DELIVERABLE FORWARD CONTRACT OVER IN LONDON WITH A FIAT BONUS. WE REALLY GAINED 3656 OI CONTRACTS i.e. 828 open interest contracts headed for London (EFP’s) TOGETHER WITH A INCREASE OF 2612  OI COMEX CONTRACTS. AND ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WITH THE  FALL IN PRICE OF SILVER OF 5 CENTS AND A CLOSING PRICE OF $16.98 WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING. YET WE STILL HAVE A GOOD AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING AT THE COMEX.

In ounces AT THE COMEX, the OI is still represented by just OVER 1 BILLION oz i.e. 1.0005 BILLION TO BE EXACT or 141% of annual global silver production (ex Russia & ex China).

FOR THE NEW FRONT JANUARY MONTH/ THEY FILED: 9 NOTICE(S) FOR 45,000 OZ OF SILVER

In gold, the open interest SHOCKINGLY FELL AGAIN BY A CONSIDERABLE 13,233 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 573,295 DESPITE THE TINY SIZED FALL IN PRICE OF GOLD WITH YESTERDAY’S TRADING ($0.85). IN GOLD THE LONGS STARTED THEIR MOVEMENT FROM COMEX LONGS OVER TO LONDON BASED FORWARDS THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE.  WE RECEIVED THE TOTAL NUMBER OF GOLD EFP’S ISSUED FOR TUESDAY AND IT TOTALED A GOOD SIZED  11,759 CONTRACTS OF WHICH THE MONTH OF JANUARY SAW 160 ISSUED, FEBRUARY SAW 9499 CONTRACTS,  APRIL SAW THE ISSUANCE OF 1900 CONTRACTS AND FINALLY DEC SAW 200 ISSUED.   The new OI for the gold complex rests at 574,768. ALSO REMEMBER THAT THERE CAN BE A DELAY IN THE ISSUANCE OF EFP’S.  THE BANKERS REMOVE LONG POSITIONS OF COMEX GOLD IMMEDIATELY.  THEN THEY ORCHESTRATE THEIR PRIVATE EFP DEAL WITH THE LONGS AND THAT COULD TAKE AN ADDITIONAL 48 HRS SO WE GENERALLY DO NOT GET A MATCH WITH RESPECT TO DEPARTING COMEX LONGS AND NEW EFP LONG TRANSFERS. DEMAND FOR GOLD INTENSIFIES GREATLY AS WE CONTINUE TO WITNESS A HUGE NUMBER OF EFP TRANSFERS TOGETHER WITH THE MASSIVE INCREASE IN GOLD COMEX OI  TOGETHER WITH  THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF GOLD OUNCES STANDING FOR JANUARY COMEX. EVEN THOUGH THE BANKERS ISSUED THESE MONSTROUS EFPS, THE OBLIGATION STILL RESTS WITH THE BANKERS TO SUPPLY METAL BUT IT TRANSFERS THE RISK TO A LONDON BANKER OBLIGATION AND NOT A NEW YORK COMEX OBLIGATION. LONGS RECEIVE A FIAT BONUS TOGETHER WITH A LONG LONDON FORWARD. THUS, BY THESE ACTIONS, THE BANKERS AT THE COMEX HAVE JUST STATED THAT THEY HAVE NO APPRECIABLE METAL!! THIS IS A MASSIVE FRAUD: THEY CANNOT SUPPLY ANY METAL TO OUR COMEX LONGS BUT THEY ARE QUITE WILLING TO SUPPLY MASSIVE NON BACKED GOLD (AND SILVER) PAPER KNOWING THAT THEY HAVE NO METAL TO SATISFY OUR LONGS. LONDON IS NOW SEVERELY BACKWARD IN BOTH GOLD AND SILVER (BIG RISE IN BOTH GOFO AND SIFO) AND WE ARE WITNESSING DELAYS IN ACTUAL DELIVERIES. IN ESSENCE TODAY WE HAVE A SMALL LOSS OF 1474  CONTRACTS: 13,233 OI CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX AND A GOOD SIZED  11,759 OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. EXPECT HUGE NUMBERS OF EFP’S TO BE ISSUED AS WE APPROACH FIRST DAY NOTICE IN THE GOLD FEB COMEX CONTRACT, WEDNESDAY JAN 31.2018

YESTERDAY, WE HAD 5774 EFP’S ISSUED.

ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S/ GOLD(EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY STARTING WITH FIRST DAY NOTICE: 152.251 CONTRACTS OR 1.5251 MILLION OZ OR 474.37 TONNES (16 TRADING DAYS AND THUS AVERAGING: 9515 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY OR 9515 OZ/DAY)

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE HUGE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS :   SO FAR THIS MONTH IN 16 TRADING DAYS: IN  TONNES: 474 TONNES

TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2017, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 2200 TONNES

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 474/2200 TONNES =  21.54% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION SO FAR IN JANUARY ALONE.

Result: A SHOCKINGLY STRONG SIZED DECREASE IN OI AT THE COMEX DESPITE THE TINY SIZED FALL IN PRICE IN GOLD TRADING ON YESTERDAY ($0.85). WE HAD ANOTHER GOOD SIZED NUMBER OF COMEX LONG TRANSFERRING TO LONDON THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE: 11,759. THERE OBVIOUSLY DOES NOT SEEM TO BE MUCH PHYSICAL GOLD AT THE COMEX AND YET WE ALSO OBSERVED A HUGE DELIVERY MONTH FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER. I GUESS IT EXPLAINS THE HUGE ISSUANCE OF EFP’S…THERE IS HARDLY ANY GOLD PRESENT AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR DELIVERY PURPOSES. IF YOU TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE 11,759 EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED, WE HAD A NET LOSS IN OPEN INTEREST OF 1,474 contracts ON THE TWO EXCHANGES:

11,759 CONTRACTS MOVE TO LONDON AND  13,233 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX. (in tonnes, the LOSS in total oi equates to 4.58 TONNES).  HOWEVER THE LOSS IN OI IS DUE TO THE DELAY IN THE ISSUANCE OF EFP’S WHICH CAN GENERALLY TAKE UP TO AN ADDITIONAL 48 HRS.

we had: 162 notice(s) filed upon for 16200 oz of gold.

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With respect to our two criminal funds, the GLD and the SLV:

GLD

With gold UP $5.55, we had  a huge change in gold inventory at the GLD

Inventory rests tonight: 846.67 tonnes.

SLV/ 

A BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.131 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV INVENTORY/

INVENTORY RESTS AT 313.048 MILLION OZ/

end

First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:

1. Today, we had the open interest in silver ROSE BY A CONSIDERABLE 2612 contracts from 194,808 UP TO 200,061 (AND now A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE NEW COMEX RECORD SET ON FRIDAY/APRIL 21/2017 AT 234,787) DESPITE  THE FALL  IN PRICE OF SILVER TO THE TUNE OF 5 CENTS WITH RESPECT TO  YESTERDAY’S TRADING.   OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE ANOTHER GOOD 947 PRIVATE EFP’S FOR MARCH (WE DO NOT GET A LOOK AT THESE CONTRACTS AS IT IS PRIVATE BUT THE CFTC DOES AUDIT THEM) AND 0 EFP’S FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS .  EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. WE HAD ZERO COMEX SILVER COMEX LIQUIDATION. IF WE TAKE THE  OI GAIN AT THE COMEX OF  2612 CONTRACTS TO THE 947 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S WE OBTAIN A BIG GAIN OF 3559 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS.  WE STILL HAVE A GOOD AMOUNT OF SILVER OUNCES THAT ARE STANDING FOR METAL IN JANUARY (SEE BELOW). THE NET GAIN TODAY IN OZ ON THE TWO EXCHANGES: 17.79 MILLION OZ!!!

RESULT: A GOOD SIZED INCREASE IN SILVER OI AT THE COMEX DESPITE THE TINY FALL  OF 5 CENTS IN PRICE (WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING). BUT WE ALSO HAD ANOTHER 947 EFP’S ISSUED TRANSFERRING COMEX LONGS OVER TO LONDON. TOGETHER WITH THE GOOD  SIZED AMOUNT OF SILVER OUNCES STANDING FOR JANUARY, DEMAND FOR PHYSICAL SILVER INTENSIFIES AS WE WITNESS MAJOR BANK SHORT COVERING ACCOMPANIED BY INCREASES IN GOFO AND SIFO RATES INDICATING SCARCITY.

(report Harvey)

.

2.a) The Shanghai and London gold fix report

(Harvey)

2 b) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe, Goldcore

(Mark O’Byrne/zerohedge

and in NY: Bloomberg

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)Late SUNDAY night/MONDAY morning: Shanghai closed UP 13.49 points or 0.39% /Hang Sang CLOSED UP 138.52 pts or 0.43% / The Nikkei closed UP 8.27 POINTS OR 0.03%/Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED DOWN 0.21%/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed  UP at 6.4032/Oil DOWN to 63.35 dollars per barrel for WTI and 68.47 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN.   ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP AGAINST THE DOLLAR AT 6.4032. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN AGAINST  THE ONSHORE YUAN AT 6.4069//ONSHORE YUAN STRONGER AGAINST THE DOLLAR/OFF SHORE STRONGER TO THE DOLLAR/. THE DOLLAR (INDEX) IS  MUCH WEAKER AGAINST ALL MAJOR CURRENCIES. CHINA IS VERY  HAPPY TODAY.(GOOD MARKETS )

3a)THAILAND/SOUTH KOREA/NORTH KOREA

i)/South Korea/China/USA

China and South Korea are vowing retaliation in Trump’s tariffs on washing machines and on solar panels

 

( zerohedge)

b) REPORT ON JAPAN

This is important:  the Yen goes on a roller coaster ride and finally ends higher  (USA/Yen collapses) on news that inflation may be getting a foothold in Japan.  The fall in USA/Yen (rise in yen value) is great for gold and it follows exactly what Horseman Capital Clark said what happen.  To refresh your memory…for the last 4 to 5 years, Japan and Europe have a low interest rate or zero policy vs the uSA. This forced the huge money flows into the USA and this strengthened the dollar.  Now this is reversing and the money is flowing out of the uSA to Japan and Europe and thus the Yen rises along with the Euro.  This is what is propelling gold.

 

a must view

 

( zerohedge)

3 c CHINA

4. EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

i)Germany

 

Not good:  a small German city of Cottbus has now banned all new refugees from entering the city as violence escalates.  The migrants were joined by neo Nazi groups as they plunger the city

 

( zero hedge)

ii)ItalyThis is an excellent commentary from Tom Luongo as he handicaps the upcoming election in Italy.We have a new party, Lega Norda with 20% of the vote and a Euroskeptic. This party is joining forces with Berlusconi and together they will try and eventually free Italy from its monstrous debt and give Germany the thumbs down.

a must read..

( Tom Luongo)

 

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

6 .GLOBAL ISSUES

7. OIL ISSUES

Late in the day, both oil and gasoline slide at a huge crude inventory build. It must be the huge amount of shale production that is coming on stream

( zerohedge)

8. EMERGING MARKET

9. PHYSICAL MARKETS

Mike Kosares will start a free daily letter analyzing the gold and silver markets

( Mike Kosares/USAgold.com)

10. USA stories which will influence the price of gold/silver

i)Soft data Richmond Mfg Index suffers its biggest 2 month drop since 2006

( zerohedge)

ii)SWAMP STORIES

a)The Dept of Justice now begins a probe on the missing anti Trump FBI texts after learning that the Inspector General Horowitz does not have been. The FBI claims that it is a Samsung problem but the problem only exists for the phones of Strzok and Page. Imagine if you or are being audited by the IRS and we state:”sorry, but all my records have been destroyed”.  We would certainly face an obstruction of justice.

 

This is one complete farce..

( zerohedge)

b))Our two famous FBI agents (love birds) discussed a “secret society” to undermine Trump

( zerohedge)

c)Far from wrapping up the probe, Mueller continues his attack and this time he has brought in Jeff Sessions for questioning.  His only angle now is obstruction of justice and that has already been refuted by Comey

what a farce..

( zerohedge)

d)May 19/2017 text from Strzok to his love bird agent: “there is no Trump collusion with Russia”

( zerohedge)

e)Comey’s chief of Staff, Rybicki, the guy who worked on the Clinton exoneration letter quits one week after his congressional testimony..probably thrown under the bus for what he said

( zerohedge)

f)Mueller wants to question Trump but that would not be good for Trump.  He should seek just written answers to questions( zerohedge)

 

iii)I guess to save face, Schumer withdraws his border wall funding offer to Trump and that pretty well guarantees another shutdown in two weeks.  However by then we will be coming up with a debt ceiling issue and that is when all the fireworks commence.
(courtesy zerohedge)

iv)David Stockman comments that the top 1% of the richest people on earth garneredd 82% of the wealth created in 2017

( David Stockman)

Let us head over to the comex:

The total gold comex open interest SHOCKINGLY FELL BY A CONSIDERABLE 13,233 CONTRACTS DOWN to an OI level of 573,295 DESPITE THE TINY  FALL IN THE PRICE OF GOLD ($0.85 LOSS WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING).   WE HAD CONSIDERABLE COMEX GOLD LIQUIDATION AS THE LONGS HAVE STARTED ON THE MIGRATION INTO LONDON BASED FORWARDS THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE.   THE BANKERS ISSUED ANOTHER STRONG COMEX TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS. THE CME REPORTS THAT A GOOD SIZED 160 CONTRACTS FOR JANUARY, 9499 EFP’S WERE ISSUED FOR FEBRUARY , 1900 EFP’s  FOR APRIL, AND 200 FOR DECEMBER:  TOTAL  11,759 CONTRACTS. THE OBLIGATION STILL RESTS WITH THE BANKERS ON THESE TRANSFERS. ALSO REMEMBER THAT THERE CAN BE A DELAY OF UP TO 48 HRS AFTER LONGS GIVE UP THEIR COMEX CONTRACTS AS THEY ARE NEGOTIATING A PRIVATE EFP CONTRACT WITH THE BANKS… THE COMEX IS NOW AN ABSOLUTE FRAUD!!

ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE LOST TODAY: 1,474 OI CONTRACTS IN THAT 11,759 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE LOST 13,233 COMEX CONTRACTS. NET LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES: 1,474 contracts OR 147,400  OZ OR 4.5874 TONNES

Result: A  SURPRISING AND STRONG  DECREASE IN COMEX OPEN INTEREST DESPITE THE TINY FALL IN YESTERDAY’S GOLD TRADING ($0.85.) WE HAD CONSIDERABLE COMEX GOLD LIQUIDATION.  TOTAL OPEN INTEREST LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES: 1474 OI CONTRACTS..

We have now entered the active contract month of JANUARY. The open interest for the front month of JANUARY saw it’s open interest RISE by 110 contracts RISING TO 185.  We had 50 notices served upon yesterday so we GAINED 160  contracts or an additional 16,000 oz of gold will  stand AT THE COMEX in this non active month of January AS QUEUE JUMPING RETURNS WITH A VENGEANCE.

FEBRUARY saw a LOSS of 64,018 contacts DOWN to 226,529.  March saw a GAIN of 189 contracts UP to 805.  April saw a GAIN of 47,427 contracts UP to 227,410.

We had 162 notice(s) filed upon today for 16200 oz

 

PRELIMINARY VOLUME TODAY ESTIMATED;  410,638

FINAL NUMBERS CONFIRMED FOR YESTERDAY:  454,555

comex gold volumes are RISING AGAIN

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And now for the wild silver comex results.

Total silver OI ROSE BY A CONSIDERABLE 2612  CONTRACTS FROM 197,449 UP TO 200,061 DESPITE YESTERDAY’S TINY  5 CENT FALL.  WE WERE ALSO INFORMED THAT WE HAD ANOTHER SMALL SIZED 947 EMERGENCY EFP’S FOR MARCH ISSUED BY OUR BANKERS (AND ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS)  TO COMEX LONGS WHO RECEIVED A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON: THE TOTAL EFP’S ISSUED: 947.   THE SILVER BOYS HAVE STARTED TO MIGRATE TO LONDON FROM THE START OF DELIVERY MONTH AND CONTINUING RIGHT THROUGH UNTIL FIRST DAY NOTICE JUST LIKE WE ARE WITNESSING TODAY. USUALLY WE NOTED THAT CONTRACTION IN OI OCCURRED ONLY DURING THE LAST WEEK OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH AS WE HAVE JUST SEEN IN GOLD TODAY. THIS PROCESS HAS JUST BEGUN IN EARNEST IN SILVER STARTING IN SEPTEMBER 2017. HOWEVER, IN GOLD, WE HAVE BEEN WITNESSING THIS FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS. NICK LAIRD WAS KIND ENOUGH TO SUPPLY US THE TOTAL FOR 2017 GOLD EFP’S AND IT WAS 6600 TONNES FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR.  WE HAD  ZERO LONG COMEX SILVER LIQUIDATION AND A GOOD SIZED RISE IN TOTAL SILVER OI. WE ARE ALSO WITNESSING A FAIR AMOUNT OF SILVER OUNCES STANDING FOR COMEX METAL IN THIS NON ACTIVE JANUARY AS WELL AS THAT CONTINUAL MIGRATION OF EFPS OVER TO LONDON. ON A PERCENTAGE BASIS THERE ARE MORE EFP’S ISSUED FOR GOLD THAN SILVER.  ON A NET BASIS WE GAINED 3559 SILVER OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS:

2612 CONTRACT GAIN AT THE COMEX COMBINING WITH THE ADDITION OF 947 OI CONTRACTS NAVIGATING OVER TO LONDON.

NET GAIN TWO EXCHANGES: 3559 CONTRACTS

We are now in the poor non active delivery month of January and here the OI LOST 18 contracts FALLING TO 15.  We had 19 notices served upon yesterday, so we GAINED 1 contract or an additional 5,000 oz will stand for delivery  AT THE COMEX  AND QUEUE JUMPING CONTINUES

February saw a GAIN OF 1 OI contracts RISING TO 159. The March contract GAINED 1564 contracts UP to 139,819.

We had 9 notice(s) filed for NIL 45,000 for the January 2018 contract for silver

INITIAL standings for JANUARY

Jan 23/2018.

Gold Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz
 139,006.487 OZ
brinks
HSBC
includes 3,000 kilobars
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory in oz nil oz
Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz
42,553.475 oz
(arrived from Brinks)
No of oz served (contracts) today
162 notice(s)
16200 OZ
No of oz to be served (notices)
23 contracts
(2300 oz)
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
684 notices
68400 oz
2,1275 tonnes
Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month xxx oz
we had 1 kilobar transaction/
We had 0 inventory movement at the dealer accounts
total inventory movement into the dealer accounts:  nil oz
we had 2 withdrawals into the customer account:
i) out of HSBC:: 96,453.0000 oz  (3000 kilobars)
ii) Out of Brinks:  42,553.487 oz and this withdrawal was sent to JPMorgan
total withdrawal: 139,006.487  oz
we had 1 customer deposit
i )Into JPMorgan: 42,553.475 oz and this arrived from Brinks with a little evaporation.
total deposits:  42,553.475 oz oz
we had 0 adjustments
total registered or dealer gold:  586,501.473 oz or 18.242 tonnes
total registered and eligible (customer) gold;   9,217,447.482 oz 286.70 tones

For JANUARY:
Today, 160 notice(s) were issued from JPMorgan dealer account and 0 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equates to 162 contract(s) of which 3 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 17 notice(s) was (were) stopped/ Received) by j.P.Morgan customer account.

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To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the JANUARY. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (684) x 100 oz or 68400 oz, to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of JAN. (185 contracts) minus the number of notices served upon today (162 x 100 oz per contract) equals 70,700 oz, the number of ounces standing in this active month of JANUARY

Thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the JANUARY contract month:

No of notices served (684 x 100 oz or ounces + {(185)OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (162 x 100 oz which equals 70,700 oz standing in this active delivery month of JANUARY (2.199 tonnes). THERE IS 18.245 TONNES OF REGISTERED GOLD AVAILABLE FOR DELIVERY SO FAR.

WE gained 160 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 16000 OZ WILL STAND IN THIS NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF JANUARY AS QUEUE JUMPING INTENSIFIES

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ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOR JANUARY 2017, THE INITIAL GOLD STANDING: 3.904 TONNES STANDING

BY THE END OF THE MONTH: FINAL: 3.555 TONNES STOOD FOR COMEX DELIVERY AS THE REMAINDER HAD TRANSFERRED OVER TO LONDON FORWARDS.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I have a sneaky feeling that these withdrawals of gold in kilobars are being used in the hypothecating process and are being used in the raiding of gold!
The gold comex is an absolute fraud. The use of kilobars and exact weights makes the data totally absurd and fraudulent! To me, the only thing that makes sense is the fact that “kilobars: are entries of hypothecated gold sent to other jurisdictions so that they will not be short with their underwritten derivatives in that jurisdiction. This would be similar to the rehypothecated gold used by Jon Corzine at MF Global.

IN THE LAST 14 MONTHS 68 NET TONNES HAS LEFT THE COMEX.

end

And now for silver

AND NOW THE DECEMBER DELIVERY MONTH

DECEMBER FINAL standings

Jan 23 2018
Silver Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
 3,706,018.404 oz
Brinks
DELAWARE
CNT
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
nil
oz
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
 2,229.975.110 oz
JPMORGAN
Brinks
CNT
Scotia
No of oz served today (contracts)
9
CONTRACT(S)
(45,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)
6 contracts
(30,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) 716 contracts

(3,580,000 oz)

Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month

we had no inventory movement at the dealer side of things

total inventory movement dealer: nil oz

we had 4 inventory deposits into the customer account

i) JPMorgan continues to add silver to its inventory:

Deposit:  1,024,517.000 ??? oz

ii)Into Brinks: 5054.65 oz

iii) Into CNT: 600,874,830 oz

iv) Into Scotia: 599,529.230 oz

total inventory deposits: 2,229,975.110 oz

we had 3 withdrawals from the customer account;

i) Out of CNT: 809,637.67 oz

ii) Out of Delaware:  4854.60  oz

iii) Out of Brinks; 2,891,526.134 oz

total withdrawals;  3,706,018.404 oz

we had 0 adjustment

total dealer silver:  45.461 million

total dealer + customer silver:  246.54 million oz

The total number of notices filed today for the JANUARY. contract month is represented by 9 contract(s) FOR 45,000 oz. To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in JANUARY., we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 716 x 5,000 oz = 3,580,000 oz to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of JAN. (15) and the number of notices served upon today (9 x 5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

.

Thus the INITIAL standings for silver for the JANUARY contract month: 716(notices served so far)x 5000 oz + OI for front month of JANUARY(15) -number of notices served upon today (9)x 5000 oz equals 3,610,000 oz of silver standing for the JANUARY contract month. This is VERY GOOD for this NONACTIVE delivery month of JANUARY.  WE GAINED 1 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 5,000  OZ WILL  STAND FOR DELIVERY IN THIS NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF JANUARY AS QUEUE JUMPING CONTINUES AS WE PROCEED TO MONTH’S END.

ON FIRST DAY NOTICE FOR THE JANUARY 2017 CONTRACT WE HAD 3.790 MILLION OZ STAND.

THE FINAL STANDING: 3,730 MILLION OZ

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I almost fell from my chair:  we received volumes at the comex and they were on time

ESTIMATED VOLUME FOR TODAY: 86,349

CONFIRMED VOLUME FOR FRIDAY:   60,061 CONTRACTS

YESTERDAY’S CONFIRMED VOLUME OF 60,061 CONTRACTS EQUATES TO  300 MILLION OZ OR 42.9% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION OF SILVER

COMMODITY LAW SUGGESTS THAT OPEN INTEREST SHOULD NOT BE MORE THAN 3% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION. THE CROOKS ARE SUPPLYING MASSIVE PAPER TRYING TO KEEP SILVER IN CHECK.

The record level of silver open interest is 234,787 contracts set on April 21./2017 with the price at that day at $18.42
The previous record was 224,540 contracts with the price at that time of $20.44

end

NPV for Sprott 

1. Sprott silver fund (PSLV): NAV RISES TO -1.36% (Jan 22/2018)
2. Sprott gold fund (PHYS): premium to NAV RISES TO -0.44% to NAV (Jan 22/2018 )
Note: Sprott silver trust back into NEGATIVE territory at -1.36%-/Sprott physical gold trust is back into NEGATIVE/ territory at -0.44%/Central fund of Canada’s is still in jail but being rescued by Sprott.
Sprott WINS hostile 3.1 billion bid to take over Central Fund of Canada

(courtesy Sprott/GATA)

3.SPROTT CEF.A FUND (FORMERLY CENTRAL FUND OF CANADA): NAV FALLS TO 2.85%: NAV 13.90/TRADING 13.56//DISCOUNT 2.85%

MAKES NO SENSE!!

END

And now the Gold inventory at the GLD/

Jan 23/NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY DESPITE GOLD’S RISE/INVENTORY RESTS AT 846.67 TONNES

Jan 22/a huge deposit of 5.71 tonnes of gold despite a drop in price/inventory rests at 846.67 tonnes. In 3 trading days, the GLD has added 17.71 tonnes/the bankers are now in trouble!!

Jan 19/no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory rests at 840.76 tonnes

Jan 18/SHOCKINGLY A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 11.80 TONNES WITH GOLD DOWN ALMOST $12.00/INVENTORY RESTS AT 840.76

Jan 17/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/inventory rests at 828.96 tonnes

Jan 16/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 828.96 TONNES

Jan 12/no changes in inventory at the GLD despite the rise in gold price/inventory rests at 828.96 tonnes

Jan 11/ANOTHER IDENTICAL WITHDRAWAL OF 2.95 TONNES FROM THE GLD INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 828.96 TONNES

Jan 10/with gold up today, a strange withdrawal of 2.95 tonnes/inventory rests at 831.91 tonnes

Jan 9/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory rests at 834.88 tonnes

Jan 8/with gold falling by a tiny $1.40 and this being after 12 consecutive gains, today they announce another 1.44 tonnes of gold withdrawal from the GLD/

Jan 5/NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 836.32 TONNES

Jan 4/2018/no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory rests at 836.32 tonnes

Jan 3/a huge withdrawal of 1.18 tonnes of gold from the GLD/Inventory rests at 836.32 tonnes

Jan 2/2018/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/inventory rests at 837.50 tonnes

Dec 29/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.50 TONNES

Dec 28/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.50 TONNES

Dec 27/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/ INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.50 TONNES

Dec 26/no change in gold inventory at the GLD

Dec 22/ A DEPOSIT OF 1.48 TONNES OF GOLD INTO GLD INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.50 TONNES

Dec 21′ NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 836.02 TONNES

Dec 20/DESPITE THE GOOD ADVANCE IN PRICE TODAY/THE CROOKS RAIDED THE COOKIE JAR TO THE TUNE OF 1.18 TONNES/INVENTORY RESTS AT 836.02 TONNES

Dec 19/NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.20 TONNES

Dec 18 SHOCKINGLY AFTER TWO GOOD GOLD TRADING DAYS, THE CROOKS RAID THE COOKIE JAR BY THE SUM OF 7.09 TONNES/INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.20 TONNES

Dec 15/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY/RESTS AT 844.29 TONNES.

Dec 14/a good sized gain of 1.48 tonnes of gold into the GLD/inventory rests at 844.29 tones

Dec 13/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/inventory rests at 842.81 tonnes

Dec 12/SURPRISINGLY NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 842.81 TONNES

Dec 11/SURPRISINGLY NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD DESPITE THE CONSTANT RAIDS ON GOLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 842.81 TONNES

Dec 8/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 842.81 TONNES

Dec 7/A BIG WITHDRAWAL OF 2.66 TONNES FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 842.81 TONNES

Dec 6/No changes in GOLD inventory at the GLD/Inventory rests at 845.47 tonnes

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jan 19/2018/ Inventory rests tonight at 846.67 tonnes

*IN LAST 313 TRADING DAYS: 94.48 NET TONNES HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE GLD
*LAST 247 TRADING DAYS: A NET 62.83 TONNES HAVE NOW BEEN ADDED INTO GLD INVENTORY.

end

Now the SLV Inventory

Jan 23/ANOTHER HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.131 MILLION OZ OF SILVER DESPITE THE TINY LOSS/THE CROOKS ARE USING THE INVENTORY TO RAID ON SILVER.

JAN 22.2018/with silver down by 5 cents/ the crooks at the SLV liquidate 1.321 million oz of silver/inventory rests at 314.179 million oz/

Jan 19/ no changes in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory rests at 315.500 million oz/

jan 18/A WITHDRAWAL OF 848,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 315.500 MILLION OZ/

Jan 17/no changes in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory rests at 316.348 million oz/

Jan 16/NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 316.348  MILLION OZ

Jan 12/no changes in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory rests at 316.348 million oz/

Jan 11/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 316.348 MILLION OZ/

Jan 10/with silver up again, we had a huge withdrawal of 1.227 million oz from the SLV/inventory rests at 316.348 million oz

Jan 9/a withdrawal of 848,000 oz from the SLV/Inventory rests at 317.575 million oz/

jan 8/no change in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory rests at 318.423 million oz/

Jan 5/DESPITE NO CHANGE IN SILVER PRICING, WE HAD A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 2.026 MILLION OZ/INVENTORY RESTS AT 318.423 MILLION OZ.

Jan 4.2018/a slight withdrawal of 180,000 oz and this would be to pay for fees/inventory rests at 320.449 million oz/

Jan 3/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 320.629 MILLION OZ.

Jan 2/WITH SILVER UP DRAMATICALLY THESE PAST 4 TRADING DAYS, THE FOLLOWING MAKES NO SENSE: WE HAD A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.83 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV

INVENTORY RESTS AT 320.629 MILLION OZ/

Dec 29/no changes in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory rests at 323.459 million oz/

Dec 28/DESPITE THE RISE IN SILVER AGAIN BY 13 CENTS, WE LOST ANOTHER 1,251,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SILVER.

Dec 27/WITH SILVER UP AGAIN BY 17 CENTS, WE LOST ANOTHER 802,000 OZ OF SILVER INVENTORY/WHAT CROOKS/INVENTORY RESTS AT 324.780 MILLION OZ/

Dec 26/no change in silver inventory at the SLV./Inventory rests at 325.582

Dec 21/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 326.227 MILLION OZ/

Dec 20/INVENTORY REMAINS CONSTANT AT 326.337 MILLION OZ (COMPARE WITH GLD)

Dec 19/SILVER INVENTORY REMAINS CONSTANT AT 326.337 MILLION OZ

Dec 18.2017//SILVER INVENTORY CONTINUES TO REMAIN PAT./INVENTORY REMAINS AT 326.337 MILLION OZ/

INVENTORY RESTS AT 326.337 TONNES

Dec 15/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 326.337 MILLION OZ/

Dec 14/a small withdrawal of 377,000 oz and that usually means to pay for fees./inventory rests at 326.337 million oz/

Dec 13/no change in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory rests at 326.714 million oz/

Dec 12/WOW!ANOTHER STRANGE ONE: SILVER HAS BEEN DOWN FOR 10 CONSECUTIVE DAYS, YET THE SLV ADDS ANOTHER 1.415 MILLION OZ TO ITS INVENTORY. IN THAT 10 DAY PERIOD, SLV ADDS 9.584 MILLION OZ/

INVENTORY RESTS AT 326.714 MILLION OZ

Dec 11/WOW!! ANOTHER STRANGE ONE: SILVER DESPITE BEING DOWN FOR 9 CONSECUTIVE TRADING DAYS ADDS ANOTHER 944,000 OZ TO ITS INVENTORY. FROM NOV 30 UNTIL TODAY SILVER HAS BEEN DOWN EVERY DAY. HOWEVER THE INVENTORY OF SILVER HAS RISEN 8.169 MILLION OZ.

Dec 8/A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 2.642 MILLION OZ/INVENTORY RESTS AT 324.355 MILLION OZ/

Dec 7/strange!! with the continual whacking of silver, no change in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory rests at 321.713

Dec 6/no change in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory remains at 21.713 million oz.

Jan 23/2017:

Inventory 313.048 million oz

end

6 Month MM GOFO
Indicative gold forward offer rate for a 6 month duration

+ 1.78%
12 Month MM GOFO
+ 2.15%
30 day trend

Major gold/silver trading /commentaries for TUESDAY

GOLDCORE/BLOG/MARK O’BYRNE.

GOLD/SILVER

Government Shutdown Ends – Markets Ignore Looming Debt and Bond Market Threat

Government Shutdown Ends – Markets Ignore Looming Debt and Bond Market Threat For Now

– U.S. Senate pass a temporary spending plan through Feb. 8 to end shutdown
– Markets shrug off both government shutdown and re-opening
– Markets, government and media ignoring worsening US debt position
– Gold responding positively to U.S. dysfunction, rising US Treasury yields & weaker dollar
– U.S. government national debt is $20.6 trillion and increasing rapidly

– ‘Bonds, like men, are in a bear market’ – Bill Gross

Editor: Mark O’Byrne

Investors “irrational exuberance” continues after the largely unexpected U.S. government shutdown saw stocks continue on their merry way higher. After the government shut down, U.S. stocks rose and as the U.S. government reopened, U.S stocks rose again.

During the shutdown there had been little reaction from the markets, although gold did tick up on the back of a weaker dollar. The US dollar index struggled to steer clear of a recent three-year low against a basket of currencies and the  yield on the 10-year Treasury hit its highest since level since September 2014.

This is not surprising when one considers that in the previous two government shutdowns, markets also remained calm.

This is the twentieth US government shutdown in forty years.

This latest one was priced in long before it happened. Look how (little) markets have reacted to other events which were so expected to tip them over the edge: since Trump’s win – the S&P 500 is up 35% since that fateful day.

The 2013 shutdown? Sure, it initially triggered a sharp fall in the S&P 500 but it more than recovered by the time the shutdown came to an end. In fact, U.S stocks ended 2013 with near 30% gains.

Upon the announcement of the latest shutdown deal U.S. stocks advanced as each of Wall Street’s main indexes touched a record intraday level.

Debt ceiling can be moved but not ignored

Just like the other shutdowns markets were practically yawning at this latest display of dysfunction by the US government.

But this one should have been different. Previously we have not seen a US debt position in such bad shape nor have previous shutdowns happened on the brink of a U.S. bond bear market.

Currently, the U.S. government national debt is $20.6 trillion and increasing rapidly. The Federal Debt Ceiling was extended by Trump in December once again. Despite this increase it will need more borrowing authority to keep operating past April.

For now, the government have merely patched over a big hole which will still be there in February when the short-term deal ends and certainly in April when the cash runs out.

Should the markets begin to connect another possible government shutdown and a default then investors will begin to feel nervous which bodes well for gold.

The last time we saw a debt-ceiling and government showdown risk come together was in 2011. This prompted rating agency Standard & Poor’s to strip the US of its top-notch AAA-rating.

In order to avoid this happening again Congress may raise the debt ceiling before it becomes a binding constraint in the next round of negotiations. Once again kicking the can down the road and storing up much more financial pain for the U.S. in the medium and long term.

What happens if they don’t raise the debt ceiling? The U.S. could default on debt payments and bond yields would surge causing the cost of borrowing to soar as government debt loses its sterling credit rating.

The Bond Bear is circling

Bond yields are, listening to many commentators, nothing to be concerned about. However, some of the smartest money in the bond market is now warning. ‘Bond king’ Bill Gross believes the bond bear market is here and we should all be prepared.

As stated at the beginning, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury was at its highest level in three years, yesterday.

Earlier this month Gross told clients he expected the 10-year yield to rise above 2.75% by the end of this year. Last Friday, the 10-year Treasury yield was up 4 basis points at 2.65%. A bond-bear market would be signalled, according to Gross, when 10-year yields persistently above 2.4%.

These jumps are not particularly significant in the long-term, however for the US economy they could be damaging. The Treasury yield’s move out of a lower long-term range may lure money away from the stock market. It also could mean higher borrowing costs for U.S. companies.

The 10-year itself is important to pay attention to, because it influences so many business and consumer loans, including mortgages.

Generally increased US Treasury yields give investors two signals: the first, that the demand for US Treasuries is falling and secondly that that a higher inflationary environment is just around the corner which would mean higher interest rates and increased stock market volatility.

Bond investor Jeff Gundlach has previously highlighted a breakthrough of 2.63% as the point in which we may see a bond ‘sell-off’. As Zerohedge remind us, Gundlach has been calling out higher bond-yields for a while, as copper has broken out relative to gold:


Bond traders generally may not be so concerned with the US government shutdown affecting yields (for now), what they are concerned with is that the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan could be more aggressive about ending monetary stimulus than previously assumed.

They are also looking at the impact of Trump’s tax package. As Gross pointed out the US economy could grow at a 5% annualized rate for several quarters as Trump’s tax cuts and resulting deeper budget deficits began to feed into growth and up pressure on inflation.

As MarketWatch summarised:

A 5% growth rate would suggest a 3.60% yield on the 10-year Treasury note in 2018, Gross said, based on his observation that since the financial crisis in 2007-2009, the yield for the benchmark bond sat on average 1.40 percentage points below GDP growth.

Overall a bond bear market is excellent news for gold and we are beginning to see this already with gold over 2% higher year to date and nearly 8% higher since the Fed in mid December.

Gold to thrive on US dysfunction, fiscal uncertainty and Trump

Ultimately, despite a seemingly ‘meh’ response from the market, everything that is happening in the US (and wider global economy) is excellent news for gold.

The precious metal thrives on the uncertainty surrounding high government debt in the short-term and benefits from its long-term damage which leads to more money-printing (the Fed creating dollars and buying Treasuries).

Arguably one of the most interesting things to watch following this shutdown will be any damage to Trump’s reputation. He won the election on the promise of his skills as a deal-maker. This is yet another blow to whatever reputation he had in this regard.

Trump’s lack of ability to make a deal does not bode well for the vital negotiations that will be coming up for both the debt ceiling and the next government shutdown. In all likelihood they will be causing problems in tandem.

If Trump is not able to secure a deal this will be bad news for the U.S. economy and the markets are unlikely to take it so well. However, even if Trump is able to somehow bypass this economic fallout it does not mean that the situation has been solved.

Bond yields are likely to continue rising and the dollar is vulnerable.  Smart money investors are slowly losing confidence in the paper assets and fiat currencies that have been pumped and debased – particularly in the last decade.

The arrival of the bond bear market and the complacency of the markets regarding the debt ceiling and still surging U.S. national debt is a signal that gold is ready to resume its bull market.

Related Content

Gold Price Should Go Higher On Global Risks and Trump Presidency – Capital Economics

Trump or Clinton Are “Positive For Gold” – $1,900/oz Possible by End of Year

Can Trump Avoid Debt Crisis ? “Extremely Unlikely”

News and Commentary

Gold steady on weak dollar; stocks surge as U.S. government shutdown ends (Reuters.com)

Asian Stocks Reach Fresh Record High; Oil Climbs (Bloomberg.com)

U.S. Stocks Gain as Senate Votes to End Shutdown (Bloomberg.com)

Demand for UK property fell more than seven per cent last year (CityAM.com)

McVitie’s Digestives packets to shrink by seven biscuits due to rising costs post-Brexit (Standard.co.uk)


Russian Gold Reserves (Source Zero Hedge)

Central Bank Of Russia Adds A Record 223 Tons Of Gold In 2017 (ZeroHedge.com)

As Asia takes over gold trade, World Gold Council considers standard for kilo bars (Reuters.com)

Are investors selling gold to buy bitcoin? (MarketWatch.com)

Will Regulations Cripple Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies in 2018? (Fool.ca)

The Gold Cartel, GATA and Hollywood Sex Scandals (LeMetropoleCafe.com)

Gold Prices (LBMA AM)

23 Jan: USD 1,337.10, GBP 959.10 & EUR 1,091.74 per ounce
22 Jan: USD 1,334.15, GBP 959.12 & EUR 1,087.87 per ounce
19 Jan: USD 1,335.80, GBP 960.17 & EUR 1,087.74 per ounce
18 Jan: USD 1,329.75, GBP 961.14 & EUR 1,088.40 per ounce
17 Jan: USD 1,337.35, GBP 969.45 & EUR 1,092.48 per ounce
16 Jan: USD 1,334.95, GBP 970.38 & EUR 1,091.32 per ounce

Silver Prices (LBMA)

23 Jan: USD 16.98, GBP 12.19 & EUR 13.87 per ounce
22 Jan: USD 17.04, GBP 12.25 & EUR 13.90 per ounce
19 Jan: USD 17.04, GBP 12.27 & EUR 13.89 per ounce
18 Jan: USD 17.09, GBP 12.31 & EUR 13.96 per ounce
17 Jan: USD 17.21, GBP 12.49 & EUR 14.10 per ounce
16 Jan: USD 17.10, GBP 12.43 & EUR 13.99 per ounce


Recent Market Updates

– The Next Great Bull Market in Gold Has Begun – Rickards
– Gold Bullion May Have Room to Run As Chinese New Year Looms
– Digital Gold Flight To Physical Gold Coins and Bars
– Gold and Silver Bullion Are Only “Safe Investments Left” – Stockman
– Silver Prices To Surge – JP Morgan Has Acquired A “Massive Quantity of Physical Silver”
– London Property Crash Looms As Prices Drop To 2 1/2 Year Low
– Gold Bullion Up 1% In Week, Heads For 5th Weekly Gain As Bonds Sell Off
– Gold Prices Rise To $1,326/oz as China U.S. Treasury Buying Report Creates Volatility
– Gold Hits All-Time Highs Priced In Emerging Market Currencies
– World is $233 Trillion In Debt: UK Personal Debt At New Record
– 10 Reasons Why You Should Add To Your Gold Holdings
– Spectre, Meltdown Highlight Online Banking and Digital Gold Risks
– Palladium Prices Surge To New Record High Over $1,100 On Supply Crunch Concerns

janskoyles

end

Mike Kosares will start a free daily letter analyzing the gold and silver markets

(courtesy Mike Kosares/USAgold.com)

USA Gold’s Mike Kosares starts free daily letter on gold and silver markets

 Section: 

12:25p ET Monday, January 22, 2018

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Mike Kosares of USA Gold in Colorado, whose commentaries GATA often calls your attention, today starts a free daily letter analyzing the gold and silver markets and related markets. The headline of the first edition is “Does It Matter If the U.S. Government Shuts Down?” and it’s posted at USA Gold here:

http://www.usagold.com/cpmforum/

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org

END

 

This makes sense: the World Gold Council is now considering using the standard kilobars for settlement.  London uses the 400 ounce “London Good Delivery Bar” whereas Asia used the kilobar which is 32.15. oz.  The fineness in London is .995.  In Shanghai and the rest of Asia: .9999

(courtesy zerohedge)

As Asia takes over gold trade, World Gold Council considers standard for kilobars

 Section: 

By Pratima Desai
Reuters
Monday, January 22, 2018

LONDON — The World Gold Council is studying the creation of a global standard for gold kilobars so they can be deployed as collateral in futures markets and potentially encourage demand, sources close to the matter said.

Kilobars — 1 kilogram gold bars — dominate Asian trade but a lack of transparency about their origin and the absence of a global standard hinders their use on exchanges elsewhere.

Clearing houses, some of which allow bullion to be used as collateral on futures markets, might accept such bars if they all met a set of internationally recognized criteria.

London Metal Exchange clearing arm LME Clear cannot accept the kilobars used in Asia because they differ from London Good Delivery standard bars, typically around 400 ounces, as specified by the London Bullion Market Association. …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gold-standard-kilobars-exclusive/excl…

END



Your early TUESDAY morning currency, Asian stock market results,  important USA/Asian currency crosses, gold/silver pricing overnight along with the price of oil Major stories overnight/9 AM EST

 

i) Chinese yuan vs USA dollar/CLOSED UP AT 6.4054 /shanghai bourse CLOSED UP AT 45.14 POINTS 1.29% / HANG SANG CLOSED UP 537.29 POINTS OR 1.66%
2. Nikkei closed UP 307.82 POINTS OR 1.29% /USA: YEN FALLS TO 110.51

3. Europe stocks OPENED GREEN EXCEPT PARIS   /USA dollar index RISES TO 90.51/Euro FALLS TO 1.2237

3b Japan 10 year bond yield: FALLS TO . +.076/ GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION !!!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 110.51/ THIS IS TROUBLESOME AS BANK OF JAPAN IS RUNNING OUT OF BONDS TO BUY./JAPAN 10 YR YIELD FINALLY IN THE POSITIVE/BANK OF JAPAN LOSING CONTROL OF THEIR YIELD CURVE AS THEY PURCHASE ALL BONDS TO GET TO ZERO RATE!!

3c Nikkei now JUST BELOW 17,000

3d USA/Yen rate now well below the important 120 barrier this morning

3e WTI:: 63.83  and Brent: 69.27

3f Gold UP/Yen UP

3g Japan is to buy the equivalent of 108 billion uSA dollars worth of bond per month or $1.3 trillion. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion usa./“HELICOPTER MONEY” OFF THE TABLE FOR NOW /REVERSE OPERATION TWIST ON THE BONDS: PURCHASE OF LONG BONDS AND SELLING THE SHORT END

Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and by 2018 they will have 25% of all Japanese debt. Fifty percent of Japanese budget financed with debt.

3h Oil UP for WTI and UP FOR Brent this morning

3i European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund FALLS TO +.559%/Italian 10 yr bond yield DOWN to 1.912% /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 1.381%

3j Greek 10 year bond yield FALLS TO : 3.79?????????????????

3k Gold at $1337.00 silver at:16.97: 6 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $18.50

3l USA vs Russian rouble; (Russian rouble DOWN 4/100 in roubles/dollar) 56.52

3m oil into the 63 dollar handle for WTI and 69 handle for Brent/

3n Higher foreign deposits out of China sees huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/

JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 INITIATES NIRP. THIS MORNING THEY SIGNAL THEY MAY END NIRP. TODAY THE USA/YEN TRADES TO 110.51 DESTROYING JAPANESE CITIZENS WITH HIGHER FOOD INFLATION

30 SNB (Swiss National Bank) still intervening again in the markets driving down the SF. It is not working: USA/SF this morning 0.9618 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF is 1.1775 well above the floor set by the Swiss Finance Minister. Thomas Jordan, chief of the Swiss National Bank continues to purchase euros trying to lower value of the Swiss Franc.

3p BRITAIN VOTES AFFIRMATIVE BREXIT/LOWER PARLIAMENT APPROVES BREXIT COMMENCEMENT/ARTICLE 50 COMMENCES MARCH 29/2017

3r the 10 Year German bund now POSITIVE territory with the 10 year FALLING to +0.559%

The bank withdrawals were causing massive hardship to the Greek bank. the Greek referendum voted overwhelming “NO”. Next step for Greece will be the recapitalization of the banks and that will be difficult.

4. USA 10 year treasury bond at 2.630% early this morning. Thirty year rate at 2.895% /

5. Details Ransquawk, Bloomberg, Deutsche bank/Jim Reid.

(courtesy Jim Reid/Bloomberg/Deutsche bank/zero hedge)

S&P Futures Suddenly Slide Amid Growing Trade War Fears

After earlier tracking the latest daily rally in global equities amid surging investor optimism, rising earnings and a spending bill to end the U.S. government shutdown which saw Asian stock hit new all time highs, US futures encountered an unexpected air pocket, with the E-mini sliding as much as 10 points from session highs.

asd

There was no immediate catalyst for the move although the previously noted sharp  move lower in the USDJPY, which dropped below 110.40 after trading above 111 following Tuesday’s BOJ announcement, may have been a factor behind the move.

asd

Furthermore, as some trading desks point out, this latest risk off move is not unique to USDJPY, with US yields dipping lower, gold popping while S&P futs, which seemed to lead the move, slipped to $2831 at time of print.

What caused risk sentiment to sour abruptly?

It is unclear, but two possible triggers have been discussed: first, Trump announced tariffs on imported solar panels and washing machines late Monday. While the sectors are not of huge economic significance, it has since sparked concerns that more protectionist moves could follow. Additionally, a tsunami alert has been issued for entire West Coast of US after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake was recorded in the Gulf of Alaska at 04:31 EST.

For those who missed it, the US imposed a 30% tariff on solar imports to the US and approved safeguard tariff action on imported washing machines. This resulted to various comments from other nations including China which said it was dissatisfied with the tariffs on US solar imports. Furthermore, Mexico said it regretted that it was not excluded from the measures, while South Korea stated it is seeking to reinstate tariffs on US products and have asked WTO to stop trade concessions

The news followed the reopening of the US government, when first the US Senate voted 81 vs. 18 to pass the stop gap spending bill to reopen government and fund it through to February 8th, followed by the House which also voted 266 vs. 150 for the 3-week stop gap measure which President Trump later signed to end the shutdown.

As Bloomberg notes, investors will be closely watching how markets respond to Trump’s import tariffs. Any positive impact from his signing of a temporary government spending bill that ended a three-day partial shutdown appears to have faded, perhaps because the deal simply delayed tough decisions for a few weeks

And while the aftershock from the quake will come and go, concerns about a growing trade war are only just beginning.

The shockwave from the steep drop in the ES and USDJPY has moved to Europe where the Stoxx 600 is up less than 0.1%, trimming earlier advance of as much as 0.4%, mirroring the US move: European banks erased earlier advance of as much as 0.4%, while miners are worst performers among European sectors following the overnight rout in iron ore. The Stoxx 600 basic-resource index slides 1.8%, most in 2 months and halting a 3-day winning streak, as copper, iron prices drop.

Earlier, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index advanced an eighth day, helped by stronger oil prices. West Texas crude futures climbed toward $64 a barrel, buoyed by forecasts for a record run of declines in U.S. crude stockpiles.

As reported earlier, the BoJ kept policy unchanged as expected in which QQE with YCC was maintained and NIRP held at -0.10%.  The decision on YCC was made by 8-1 vote with Kataoka the dissenter again and the central bank also extended the deadline for its loan program by 1yr. BoJ commented that inflation is likely to continue increasing to 2% target but  risks to prices tilted to the downside and that inflation expectations have been more or less unchanged, while the central bank affirmed all forecasts for Real GDP and Core CPI. BoJ Governor Kuroda says day-to-day JGB buying operations do not indicate future course of monetary policy and is closely watching FX markets.

As described earlier, the reaction to the BOJ statement sent the USDJPY on a tubulent stop hunt first lower, then higher, and finally lower again.

In macro and FX, the dollar found early strength from BOJ Governor Kuroda’s comments that policy makers aren’t at a stage to consider reducing monetary stimulus and reversed its Asia session drop. Even though the yen managed to eventually recover its losses, the greenback stayed generally stronger against G-10 in European session before fading to flat as U.S. govt. reopens and administration enacts selected import tariffs.

European euphoria continued, with the German ZEW Survey handily beating expectations while the current conditions index hit a record high as optimism prevails in Germany.

  • ZEW Economic Sentiment (Jan) 20.4 vs. Exp. 17.8 (Prev. 17.4)
  • ZEW Current Conditions (Jan) 95.2 vs. Exp. 89.8 (Prev. 89.3).

asd

 

Commenting on the ZEW, CapEco notes that “January’s rise in ZEW investor sentiment confirms that investors are upbeat about Germany’s economic prospects despite the recent rise in the euro. The increase in the headline Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI), from +17.4 to +20.4, more than reversed the previous month’s fall and was far stronger than the consensus expectation of a rise to +17.8. What’s more, the current conditions jumped to a record high of 95.2, leaving it far stronger than the previous record of 91.5. The historic relationship between the ZEW ESI and annual GDP growth is very loose, but for what it’s worth January’s rise leaves the ESI pointing to growth of around 2%.”

Elsewhere, in rates, TSYs rally and the curve flattened, with US 10Y yield back below 263bps level. Peripheral EGBs well supported, led by Spain despite expected large 10y syndication.

The combination of higher prices and the prospect of a more investor-friendly government is making Chile’s mining industry hopeful of a resumption in large projects after years of cost cutting. As a result iron ore futures sank by the most this year while copper declined 1%: it may have much more to drop.

Scheduled earnings include Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Verizon and Texas Instruments. Economic data include Richmond Fed Manufacturing Survey for January.

Bulletin headline Summary from RanSquawk

  • US Senate passes stopgap spending bill to reopen the government.
  • Bank of Japan keeps monetary policy instruments, while tweaking language on inflation.
  • Looking ahead, highlights include API crude oil inventories.

Market Snapshot

  • S&P 500 futures down 0.1% to 2,831.00
  • MSCI Asia Pacific up 1% to 185.73
  • MSCi Asia Pacific ex Japan up 0.9% to 605.96
  • Nikkei up 1.3% to 24,124.15
  • Topix up 1% to 1,911.07
  • Hang Seng Index up 1.7% to 32,930.70
  • Shanghai Composite up 1.3% to 3,546.51
  • Sensex up 0.9% to 36,109.21
  • Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.8% to 6,036.96
  • Kospi up 1.4% to 2,536.60
  • STOXX Europe 600 up 0.3% to 403.33
  • German 10Y yield fell 2.1 bps to 0.546%
  • Euro down 0.2% to $1.2238
  • Italian 10Y yield fell 4.0 bps to 1.655%
  • Spanish 10Y yield fell 5.0 bps to 1.343%
  • Brent Futures up 0.5% to $69.36/bbl
  • Gold spot up 0.3% to $1,336.93
  • U.S. Dollar Index up 0.1% to 90.51

Top Overnight news

  • Trump signs stopgap funding bill to end government shutdown
  • Global trade: U.S. imposes tariffs on imported solar panels and washing machines
  • BOJ: holds all policy as expected; tweaks language to say inflation expectations “have been more or less unchanged,” after previously saying they were “weakening”
  • BOJ’s Kuroda: we are not at the point to consider a policy exit; no need to adjust rates because inflation expectations are higher; rinban size adjustments are for operational, not policy, reasons
  • German Jan. ZEW Expectations hits all time high: 20.4 vs 17.7 est; Current Situation 95.2 vs 89.6 est.
  • Earthquake: magnitude 8.0 quake in Gulf of Alaska; Tsunami warning issued for Alaska, a tsunami watch for the U.S. West Coast
  • Greek Prime Minister Tsipras will meet IMF’s Managing Director Lagarde and EU Commissioner Moscovici in Davos, a Greek govt official says
  • The Irish border issue may resurface sooner than U.K. Prime Minister May imagined. While the agreement was designed to prevent a breakdown in talks, serious questions still need to be resolved, according to people familiar with the EU side of the negotiations
  • Activist investor Bill Ackman is cutting 10 employees after assets overseen by his hedge fund firm shrank, according to a person with knowledge of the matter
  • Spain drew more than 45 billion euros ($55 billion) of investor interest for a new 10-year bond, reflecting growing confidence in the nation’s once-rattled economy and strong demand for euro sovereign debt

Asia equity markets took impetus from the record levels seen across all major indices on Wall Street and after the US Congress passed the spending bill to end the government shutdown. ASX 200 (+0.8%) and Nikkei 225 (+1.3%) were positive with Australia led higher by the energy sector as it tracked the outperformance of its counterpart stateside, while Nikkei 225 outperformed to reclaim the 24000 level. Elsewhere, Hang Seng (+1.2%) and Shanghai Comp. (+0.5%) were positive with gambling names underpinned in Hong Kong as Wynn Macau shares surged following strong Q4 results from its parent. Conversely, LG Electronics felt the brunt of trade protectionism measures with losses of as much as 5% in early trade after the US imposed a 30% tariff on solar imports to the US and approved safeguard tariff action on imported washing machines. Finally, 10yr JGBs saw mild upside in the latter half of trade, as participants took comfort from an unsurprising BoJ which kept its bond buying intentions stable and eased
some tapering concerns.

BoJ kept policy unchanged as expected in which QQE with YCC was maintained and NIRP held at -0.10%.  The decision on YCC was made by 8-1 vote with Kataoka the dissenter again and the central bank also extended the deadline for its loan program by 1yr. BoJ commented that inflation is likely to continue increasing to 2% target but  risks to prices tilted to the downside and that inflation expectations have been more or less unchanged, while the central bank affirmed all forecasts for Real GDP and Core CPI. BoJ Governor Kuroda says day-to-day JGB buying operations do not indicate future course of monetary policy and is closely watching FX markets.

Top Asian News

  • Tencent to Back Carrefour China, Challenging Alibaba in Retail
  • World’s Most Overbought Stocks Have Gone 18 Days Without Falling
  • Jakarta Offices Evacuated as 6.1 Magnitude Quake Jolts City
  • India Builder Orbit Aims to End Talks with Bank, Buyers by March
  • Country Garden Cancels 1.8B Yuan Bond Sale on Market Fluctuation

European equity markets rallied in early trade after US Senators agreed a deal to end the government shutdown on Monday. The DAX opened at a new record high with all major European bourses higher. easyJet led the FTSE 100 higher after a strong trading update while Sky shares rose despite the UK regulator saying that the deal with Fox is not in the public interests. However, the CMA proposed remedies to address the concerns and Sky have said it will review its position.

Top European News

  • IG Group Jumps; Cryptocurrency ‘A Significant Growth Driver’
  • Allianz Goes Against the Grain to Buy U.K. Government Bonds

In FX, there was only modest support for the Dollar in wake of the White House funding extension, as Senate approval was only achieved on the proviso that immigration issues will be sorted out by February 8th when the stop-gap bill expires. USD/JPY rebounded above 111.00 with the aid of dovish BoJ policy guidance and tones from the post-meeting press conference, as Governor Kuroda pledged to maintain QQE and YCC until the 2% inflation target is met (forecast by FY 2019/20). However, the headline pair has reversed course with ample supply/offers noted above the figure and currently mid-range ahead of 110.50 support. AUD the worst G10 performer and helping the DXY hold around 90.500 as AUD/USD recoils from 0.8000+ levels towards 0.7950 amidst weaker copper, iron ore and consumer sentiment.  Cross flow also undermining the AUD as it slides below 1.0900 vs the NZD and the Kiwi maintains 0.7300+ status  against the Greenback. Other major USD rivals all softer, with Cable back in the mid-1.3950 area after a spike to 1.4000 (new post-Brexit vote high amidst reports that a Norway style transition deal has been agreed in principle) – little response to much better than forecast UK public finance data. EUR/USD at the lower end of a 1.2225-75 range, eyeing ZEW next, but really the ECB on Thursday, USD/CHF still firmly above 0.9600 and USD/CAD nudging towards 1.2500 within a 1.2400-1.2600 broad recent range as NAFTA talks resume.

In commodities, WTI and Brent crude futures both traded higher as markets continue to digest the recent information regarding upbeat growth and demand outlook vs. fears of an increase in US shale output as prices remain elevated. Barclays have raised their forecasts for Brent after the strong start to the year but still maintain a bearish view in the quarters ahead. Gold and silver were mostly flat while copper declined around 1% as iron ore fell on the Dalian exchange.

Looking at the day ahead, world leaders are due to gather for the annual Davos World Economic Forum. Also worth noting is the scheduled sixth round of NAFTA talks in Montreal. Data highlights in Europe on Tuesday include UK public sector net borrowing data for December and CBI selling prices data for January, the German ZEW survey for January and Euro area consumer confidence reading for January. In the US, the January Richmond Fed manufacturing activity index print is due. The Fed’s Evans is due to make introductory remarks at a conference in the evening. Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Verizon are due to report earnings.

US Event Calendar

  • 10am: Richmond Fed Manufact. Index, est. 18.5, prior 20
  • 10am: Senate Holds Confirmation Hearing for Fed Nominee Goodfriend
  • 6:30pm: Fed’s Evans Makes Introductory Remarks

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

Front row seats have been reserved for the BoJ this morning. As was broadly expected, there was no change in policy rates and asset purchases targets. The BOJ noted inflation expectations have been more or less unchanged, which compares to its previous view that inflation expectations were weakening. They’ve also narrowed the range for expected inflation from 1.1-1.6% to 1.3-1.6% for this year. While this may sound a little hawkish, median inflation forecasts were unchanged at 1.4% for 2018. Governor Kuroda will speak at 3:30pm loca time (6:30 am UK time), so we’ll learn more around any fine tuning of the view just before this note hits your inbox. The YEN is up 0.2% as we type.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets are trading c1% higher. The Nikkei (+1.28%), Kospi (+1.14%), Hang Seng (+1.06%) and China’s CSI 300 (+0.54%) are all up as we type. After the US bell, Netflix’s shares were up c8% after signing up c2m more subscribers than market expectations in 4Q.

Over in the US, the three day partial government shutdown is over for now which helped sentiment towards the end of the US session and in Asia. The Senate (81-18) and then the House have voted (266-150) to extend government funding until 8th February. No formal agreement has been reached on DACA, with Democrats accepting Senator McConnell’s assurance that it is his “intention” to allow a Senate vote on the immigration measure afterwards if a compromise cannot be reached by early February. Elsewhere, House Speaker Paul Ryan has promised House Republicans that they will not be bound by any arrangement reached in the Senate on immigration to reopen the government.

The agreement helped US bourses climb to fresh highs, and was also supported by announced M&As in the healthcare space. The S&P (+0.81%), Dow (+0.55%) and Nasdaq (+0.98%) were all higher. Within the S&P, all sectors excluding materials and industrials were up, with gains led by the telco, energy and consumer discretionary sectors. European markets were broadly higher with the Stoxx 600 up 0.31% to the highest since August 2015. Across the region, the DAX and CAC were both up c0.2%, but the FTSE fell 0.20%. Spain’s IBEX led the gains, closing 1.00% higher.

Over in government bonds, core bond yields were little changed, with UST 10y down 0.9bp, Bunds broadly flat and Gilts up 2.1bp. Peripherals outperformed with yields down 4-5bp, in part as Fitch upgraded Spain’s sovereign rating one notch higher to A-/Stable. This compares to S&P’s current rating of BBB+ but with a positive outlook. The spread between Spain’s 10y bond and Bunds has narrowed to 82bp, the lowest since April 2010.

Turning to currencies, the US dollar index dipped 0.22% while the Euro gained 0.33% and Sterling jumped 0.93% to another fresh post Brexit vote high. In commodities, WTI oil was 1.0% higher, partly supported by OPEC and Russia’s reaffirmation that they will continue with OPEC production cuts until at least the end of the year. Elsewhere, precious metals were broadly flat (Gold +0.16%; Silver -0.02%) and other base metals were little changed (Copper -0.04%; Zinc -0.10%; Aluminium +0.48%).

Also helping sentiment yesterday was news that the IMF has upgraded its forecasts for world economic growth by 0.2ppt to 3.9% for this year and next – the fastest pace in seven years. In the details, about half of the upgrades were due to the US tax cuts, with US GDP growth lifted 0.4ppt higher to 2.7% this year, while the Eurozone is projected to grow 2.2% (+0.3ppt), China to 6.6% (+0.1ppt) and the UK unchanged at 1.5%. Elsewhere, the IMF cautioned that loose financial conditions, rich asset valuations and low bond yields raise the possibility of a market correction and that “a possible trigger is faster than expected increase in advanced economy’s core inflation and interest rates as demand accelerates”. Hence, policy makers should take steps to raise potential growth and increase   resilience to shocks, such as reforms to lift productivity and proactive financial regulations.

Yesterday we also saw the latest CSPP numbers. The net CSPP purchases were €1.34bn last week with net PSPP purchases €3.85bn. The CSPP/PSPP ratio was a whopping 34.9% (19.4% last week, 11.5% before QE was trimmed in April 2017 and 12.7% between April and December after first taper). The highest weekly ratio before this week was 20% last May. So this was an abnormally high week for corporate buying even with the usual volatility in numbers. Our view remains the same – that CSPP won’t be tapered much (if at all) and that the ratio will settle at around 20% in H1.

Elsewhere, President Trump has acted on the recommendations by US trade representatives and has imposed a 30% tariff on imported solar panels for the first year before steadily declining to 15% by the fourth year. Notably, imported residential washing machines will be hit with a 20% tariff on the first 1.2m machines and then up to 50% >1.2m units.

Turning to Brexit, the latest draft EU directives obtained by Bloomberg seems to be broadly similar to an earlier version sighted by the FT. The draft noted “preserving the integrity of the single market excludes participation based on a sector by sector approach…..there can be no cherry picking”. It also reaffirmed that the UK should continue to comply with the Union trade policy during transition and that British ministers will not be able to enter into agreements with non-EU countries to replace the benefits of those lost trade deals unless authorised to do so by the EU. Elsewhere, a poll commissioned by the UK in a changing landscape showed 56% of UK lawmakers believe it was possible to consider that Britain had “really left the EU” even if the country stayed in the single market, although the result was down from 66% a year earlier.

Looking at the day ahead, world leaders are due to gather for the annual Davos World Economic Forum. Also worth noting is the scheduled sixth round of NAFTA talks in Montreal. Data highlights in Europe on Tuesday include UK public sector net borrowing data for December and CBI selling prices data for January, the German ZEW survey for January and Euro area consumer confidence reading for January. In the US, the January Richmond Fed manufacturing activity  index print is due. The Fed’s Evans is due to make introductory remarks at a conference in the evening. Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Verizon are due to report earnings.

 

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)Late MONDAY night/TUESDAY morning: Shanghai closed UP 45.14 points or 1.29% /Hang Sang CLOSED UP 537.29 pts or 1.66% / The Nikkei closed UP 307.82 POINTS OR 1.29%/Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP 0.73%/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed  DOWN at 6.4054/Oil UP to 63.83 dollars per barrel for WTI and 69.27 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL GREEN EXCEPT PARIS.   ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN AGAINST THE DOLLAR AT 6.4054. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN AGAINST  THE ONSHORE YUAN AT 6.4126//ONSHORE YUAN WEAKER AGAINST THE DOLLAR/OFF SHORE WEAKER TO THE DOLLAR/. THE DOLLAR (INDEX) IS  MUCH STRONGER AGAINST ALL MAJOR CURRENCIES. CHINA IS VERY  HAPPY TODAY.(GOOD MARKETS )

3 a NORTH KOREA/USA

NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA/USA

China and South Korea are vowing retaliation in Trump’s tariffs on washing machines and on solar panels

 

(courtesy zerohedge)

 

China, South Korea Vow Retaliation In Trump Trade War

When we reported earlier today  that President Trump lobbed the first real shot in the global (but mostly Asian) trade war when the White House announced it would slap imported solar cells and washing machines with up to 50% tariffs – Trump’s most significant trade action to date, taking direct aim at China and South Korea (full details here)- we said that “we now await China’s (or South Korea’s) response…”

We didn’t have long to wait.

South Korea stormed out of the gate, with Reuters reporting that it will complain with the WTO against the U.S. for imposing anti-dumping duties on Korean washing machine and solar panel makers, a decision Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong called “excessive” and “regrettable.” Kim warned that the US safeguard decision is “excessive” and violates WTO provisions.

As a reminder, the United States will impose a 20 percent tariff on the first 1.2 million imported large residential washers in the first year, and a 50% tariff on machines above that number. The tariffs decline to 16% and 40% respectively in the third year.

The United States has opted for measures that put political considerations ahead of international standards,” Kim said in a meeting with industry officials on Tuesday. “The government will actively respond to the spread of protectionist measures to defend national interests,” he said.

South Korea will also consider discussing steps jointly with other countries subject to the imposition, the trade ministry said, meanwhile the South Korean government said it would help Samsung and LG in finding alternative markets for the sale of washing machines.

Additionally, Bloomberg reports that South Korea will also seek to retaliate in kind by reinstating tariffs on the U.S. in what has been dubbed the “Washing Machine” row. To do that, South Korea asked the World Trade Organization to approve suspension of trade concessions, the trade ministry says in an emailed statement.

Yet while S. Korea flexes its diplomatic muscle, local producers of washing machines – which may see tariffs as high as 50% – tumbled: Woongjin Energy dropped as much as 9.4%, LG Electronics slid 5.1%; Hanwha Chemical dropped 4.3% before rebounding, OCI dell as much as 3.5%, and Samsung SDI was down 1.7%.

sdf

Before markets even opened, companies reacted: the decision means everyone will pay more, Samsung Electronics said on its website according to Bloomberg.

To minimize losses from the US tariffs, LG Electronics is expected open new American plants early and expanding production at existing plants in the country (in other words, Trump may be winning again).

And while S.Korean consumer electronics companies were hurt by Trump’s tariffs, in China it will be the solar  companies that were affected. Here Trump announced a 30% tariff on imported solar cells and modules in the first year, with the tariffs declining to 15% by the fourth year. The tariff allows 2.5 gigawatts of unassembled solar cells to be imported tariff-free in each year.

Beijing was just as quick to respond to Trump’s announcement, warning that China is “strongly” dissatisfied with U.S. tariffs on solar imports. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce added that US tariffs on solar products and washing machines are a misuse of trade remedy measures, and warned that U.S. tariffs will hurt healthy development of its industries and worsen global trade environment

The ministry also said that China hopes the U.S. will show restraint in trade restrictions, although it did not specify what remedy China would pursue in response. We anticipate a proportional tit-for-tat, even though US exports to China are far less relevant to the global trade picture and capital flows than vice versa.

Meanwhile, US companies are already winning: Whirlpool said it’s adding 200 jobs moments after the Trump Administration’s announcement of the tariff of up to 50 percent on large residential washing machines, aimed at penalizing Samsung and LG Electronics.

The new full-time employees will work at a factory in Clyde, Ohio, Whirlpool said on Monday. The American appliance maker also vowed to make broader investments in manufacturing and innovation.

Whirlpool, based in Benton Harbor, Michigan, renewed allegations last year that its South Korean rivals illegally undercut prices on washing machines. In May, it filed a so-called safeguard petition, which is meant to provide help to domestic manufacturers hurt by importers selling products at excessively low levels.

“This is a victory for American workers and consumers alike,” said Whirlpool CEO Jeff Fettig. “By enforcing our existing trade laws, President Trump has ensured American workers will compete on a level playing field with their foreign counterparts, enabled new manufacturing jobs here in America and will usher in a new era of innovation for consumers everywhere.”

Fettig served as a member of the president’s manufacturing council, which however disbanded itself last year after a controversy over Trump’s remarks about a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

As for victorious American consumers, let’s first wait and see just how China and South Korea will respond in what is now clearly a tit-for-tat escalating trade war.

end

 

3 b JAPAN AFFAIRS

This is important:  the Yen goes on a roller coaster ride and finally ends higher  (USA/Yen collapses) on news that inflation may be getting a foothold in Japan.  The fall in USA/Yen (rise in yen value) is great for gold and it follows exactly what Horseman Capital Clark said what happen.  To refresh your memory…for the last 4 to 5 years, Japan and Europe have a low interest rate or zero policy vs the uSA. This forced the huge money flows into the USA and this strengthened the dollar.  Now this is reversing and the money is flowing out of the uSA to Japan and Europe and thus the Yen rises along with the Euro.  This is what is propelling gold.

 

a must view

 

(courtesy zerohedge)

 

c) REPORT ON CHINA

end

4. EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

 

Germany

 

Not good:  a small German city of Cottbus has now banned all new refugees from entering the city as violence escalates.  The migrants were joined by neo Nazi groups as they plunger the city

 

(courtesy zero hedge)

7. OIL ISSUES

Late in the day, both oil and gasoline slide at a huge crude inventory build. It must be the huge amount of shale production that is coming on stream

 

(courtesy zerohedge)

8. EMERGING MARKET

 end

Your early morning currency/gold and silver pricing/Asian and European bourse movements/ and interest rate settings TUESDAY morning 7:00 am

Euro/USA 1.2237 DOWN .0019/ REACTING TO MERKEL’S FAILED COALITION/ SPAIN VS CATALONIA/REACTING TO +GERMAN ELECTION WHERE ALT RIGHT PARTY ENTERS THE BUNDESTAG/ huge Deutsche bank problems + USA election:/TRUMP HEALTH CARE DEFEAT//ITALIAN REFERENDUM DEFEAT/AND NOW ECB TAPERING BOND PURCHASES/JAPAN TAPERING BOND PURCHASES /USA FALLING INTEREST RATES AGAIN/HOUSTON FLOODING/EUROPE BOURSES ALL GREEN EXCEPT PARIS

USA/JAPAN YEN 110.51 DOWN  0.470 (Abe’s new negative interest rate (NIRP), a total DISASTER/SIGNALS U TURN WITH INCREASED NEGATIVITY IN NIRP/JAPAN OUT OF WEAPONS TO FIGHT ECONOMIC DISASTER/

GBP/USA 1.3921 DOWN .0063 (Brexit March 29/ 2017/ARTICLE 50 SIGNED

THERESA MAY FORMS A NEW GOVERNMENT/STARTS BREXIT TALKS/MAY IN TROUBLE WITH HER OWN PARTY/

USA/CAN 1.2477 UP .0025 (CANADA WORRIED ABOUT TRADE WITH THE USA WITH TRUMP ELECTION/ITALIAN EXIT AND GREXIT FROM EU/(TRUMP INITIATES LUMBER TARIFFS ON CANADA)

Early THIS MONDAY morning in Europe, the Euro FELL by 19 basis points, trading now ABOVE the important 1.08 level RISING to 1.2259; / Last night the Shanghai composite CLOSED UP 45.14 POINTS OR 1.29% / Hang Sang CLOSED UP 537.29 POINTS OR 1.66% /AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0.73% / EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL GREEN EXCEPT PARIS  

The NIKKEI: this TUESDAY morning CLOSED UP 307.82 POINTS OR 1.29%

Trading from Europe and Asia:
1. Europe stocks OPENED GREEN EXCEPT PARIS 

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / : Hang Sang CLOSED UP 537.29 POINTS OR 1.66% / SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 45.14 POINTS OR 1.29% /Australia BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.73% /

Nikkei (Japan)CLOSED UP 307.82 POINTS OR 1.29%

INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN

Gold very early morning trading: 1336.50

silver:$16.96

Early TUESDAY morning USA 10 year bond yield: 2.630% !!! DOWN 2 IN POINTS from MONDAY night in basis points and it is trading WELL ABOVE resistance at 2.27-2.32%. (POLICY FED ERROR)/ALSO GETTING DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO 2.70%

The 30 yr bond yield 2.895 DOWN 2 IN BASIS POINTS from MONDAY night. (POLICY FED ERROR)

USA dollar index early TUESDAY morning: 90.51 UP 11  CENT(S) from YESTERDAY’s close.

This ends early morning numbers TUESDAY MORNING

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And now your closing TUESDAY NUMBERS \1 PM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 1.905% DOWN 7  in basis point(s) yield from MONDAY/

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: +.076% DOWN 3/10   in basis points yield from MONDAY/JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 1.358% DOWN 4  IN basis point yield from MONDAY/

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 1.889 DOWN 4  POINTS in basis point yield from MONDAY/

the Italian 10 yr bond yield is trading 53 points HIGHER than Spain.

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: +.561%  DOWN 6/10 IN BASIS POINTS ON THE DAY

END

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IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES FOR TUESDAY

Closing currency crosses for TUESDAY night/USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM

Euro/USA 1.2283 UP.0028 (Euro UP 28 Basis points/ represents to DRAGHI A COMPLETE POLICY FAILURE/

USA/Japan: 110.39 DOWN 0.583 Yen UP 58 basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.3980 DOWN .0004( POUND DOWN 4 BASIS POINTS)

USA/Canada 1.2459 UP  .00206 Canadian dollar DOWN 6 Basis points AS OIL ROSE TO $64.45

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This afternoon, the Euro was UP 28 to trade at 1.2283

The Yen ROSE to 110.39 for a GAIN of 58 Basis points as NIRP is STILL a big failure for the Japanese central bank/HELICOPTER MONEY IS NOW DELAYED/BANK OF JAPAN NOW WORRIED AS AS THEY ARE RUNNING OUT OF BONDS TO BUY AS BOND YIELDS RISE

The POUND FELL BY 4 basis points, trading at 1.3980/

The Canadian dollar FELL by 6 basis points to 1.2459/ WITH WTI OIL RISING TO : $64.45

The USA/Yuan closed AT 6.4047
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield closed at +.076% DOWN 3/10  BASIS POINTS / yield/
Your closing 10 yr USA bond yield DOWN 1 IN basis points from FRIDAY at 2.624% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic USA 30 yr bond yield: 2.894 DOWN 2  in basis points on the day /

Your closing USA dollar index, 90.24 DOWN 16 CENT(S) ON THE DAY/1.00 PM/

Your closing bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates for TUESDAY: 1:00 PM EST

London: CLOSED DOWN 16.29 POINTS OR 0.21%
German Dax :CLOSED UP 95.91 POINTS OR 0.71%
Paris Cac CLOSED DOWN 6.73 POINTS OR 0.12%
Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 25.50 POINTS OR 0.26%

Italian MIB: CLOSED DOWN 53.58 POINTS OR 0.22%

The Dow closed DOWN 3.79 POINTS OR 0.01%

NASDAQ WAS UP 52.26 Points OR 0.71% 4.00 PM EST

WTI Oil price; 64.45 1:00 pm;

Brent Oil: 69.78 1:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE CROSS: 56.43 DOWN 4/100 ROUBLES/DOLLAR (ROUBLE HIGHER BY 4 BASIS PTS)

TODAY THE GERMAN YIELD FALLS TO +.561% FOR THE 10 YR BOND 1.00 PM EST EST

END

This ends the stock indices, oil price, currency crosses and interest rate closes for today 4:30 PM

Closing Price for Oil, 4:30 pm/and 10 year USA interest rate:

WTI CRUDE OIL PRICE 4:30 PM:$64.78

BRENT: $69.82

USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.613%   THE RAPID ASSENT IN YIELD IS VERY DANGEROUS/ANYTHING OVER 2.70% AND THE ENTIRE DERIVATIVES BLOW UP

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 2.892%

EURO/USA DOLLAR CROSS: 1.2298 UP.0042  OR 42 BASIS POINTS

USA/JAPANESE YEN:110.31 DOWN 0.677/ YEN UP 68 BASIS POINTS

USA DOLLAR INDEX: 90.09 DOWN 31 cent(s)/

The British pound at 5 pm: Great Britain Pound/USA: 1.3999 : UP 17 POINTS FROM LAST NIGHT

Canadian dollar: 1.2422 UP 71 BASIS pts

German 10 yr bond yield at 5 pm: +0.561%

END

And now your more important USA stories which will influence the price of gold/silver

TRADING IN GRAPH FORM FOR THE DAY

 

“That Was Easy” Stocks Up, Bonds Up, Gold Up, Crypto Up… Dollar Down Again

Come on now…

 

Nasdaq was the day’s big winner, Dow flatlined…

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD12.jpg

 

Nasdaq was all about NFLX…

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD9.jpg

 

Futures show the chaos best from the shutdown shrug and un-shutdown buying-panic…

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD10.jpg

 

AAPL took another hit this afternoon on a JPM report and FANGs soared… again (after NFLX huge gains)

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD2.jpg

 

VIX rallied overnight but was chaotic for most of the day…then VIX was dumped into the close desperate to keep The Dow green…BUT FAILED

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD13.jpg

 

HYG rallied again today, bouncing up to technical resistance once again…

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD7.jpg

 

As stocks rallied on the day, so did bonds with the short-end outperforming…

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD3.jpg

 

The yield curve steepened modestly – testing 2018 technical support again…

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD14.jpg

 

Another day, another dollar dump after Asia closes…

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD8.jpg

Today was the lowest close for the dollar since Dec 2014.

 

Some early weakness in cryptos was quickly vanquished as Bitcoin bounced off $10,000 to break back above its 100DMA… and Ethereum rallied back above $1000…

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD1.jpg

It seems Bitcoin investors have been rotating back to the other alternative currency…

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD6.jpg

 

Gold jumped notably – to its highest close since 9/8/17… (gold has only seen 4 down days since The Fed hiked in December)

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD4.jpg

 

Silver had a chaotic day – tumbling to its 50DMA before pushing back above its 100- and 200DMA…

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD5.jpg

“Rigged” much?

WTI/RBOB were higher on the day as the dollar drooped ahead of tonight’s inventory data.

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_EOD11.jpg

 

end

Soft data Richmond Mfg Index suffers its biggest 2 month drop since 2006

(courtesy zerohedge)

 

Richmond Fed Suffers Biggest 2-Month Drop Since 2006

In a shocking downside surprise, Richmond Fed’s Manufacturing Survey slumped in January, extending the drop from November’s record high to the biggest 2-month crash since 2006…

From a record-high in Nov 2017, Richmond Fed has collapsed… (the 14 print in January is below the lowest economists’ estimate)

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_rich1.jpg

The number of employees and average workweek plunged as expectations for new order volume in 6 months time tumbled to its weakest since before the election

https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20180123_rich2.jpg

As good as it gets?

 end

SWAMP STORIES

The Dept of Justice now begins a probe on the missing anti Trump FBI texts after learning that the Inspector General Horowitz does not have been. The FBI claims that it is a Samsung problem but the problem only exists for the phones of Strzok and Page. Imagine if you or are being audited by the IRS and we state:”sorry, but all my records have been destroyed”.  We would certainly face an obstruction of justice.

 

This is one complete farce..

(courtesy zerohedge)

DOJ Begins Probe Of ‘Missing’ Anti-Trump FBI Texts, “Will Leave No Stone Unturned”

Following the not entirely surprising news at the end of last week that The FBI “failed to preserve” five months of text messages between various anti-Trump agents, Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed today that the department of justice has launched a full investigation into this debacle.

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Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

More than 50,000 texts were exchanged between the two FBI officials who have come under fire for exchanging anti-Trump messages during the 2016 election.

“The FBI has informed [the Department of Justice] that many FBI-provided Samsung 5 mobile devices did not capture or store text messages due to misconfiguration issues related to rollouts, provisioning, and software upgrades that conflicted with the FBI’s collection capabilities.”

Sessions told Congress today that disgraced FBI agents Strzok and Page sent 50,000 (!) texts to each other, a huge portion of which magically went missing. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/22/questions-grow-over-fbis-missing-strzok-page-text-messages.html 

The #2 counterintelligence official at the FBI sent 50,000 texts to his mistress on an unsecure phone while pretending to be very worried about Russian hacking attempts and “kompromat” on Trump.

 

But, in another comedic twist, when asked Monday whether the FBI “failed to preserve” text message records on similar “Samsung 5” devices belonging to any other FBI officials during that time period, the FBI told Fox News they had “no comment”.

In other words, according to the FBI, it was Samsung’s fault thousands of text message in an especially sensitive period went missing. Incidentally, during the window of missing text messages, a lot happened: Trump took the oath of office; National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, whom Strzok interviewed, was fired; the controversial anti-Trump dossier was published; the president fired FBI Director James Comey; and special counsel Mueller was appointed to investigate Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates during the 2016 presidential election.

Certainly a “very convenient” period of time in which all potentially incriminating text messages would suddenly disappear…

“The loss of records from this period is concerning because it is apparent from other records that Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page communicated frequently about the investigation,” Johnson wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray over the weekend, as we reported previously, requesting more information and questioning whether the FBI had done a thorough search on non-FBI devices belonging to Strzok and Page during that period.

And it was a lot: the two agents exchanged at least 25,000 text message a year or approximately 70 text message per day!

This immediately prompted some to ask just what was the logic:

Sessions told Congress today that disgraced FBI agents Strzok and Page sent 50,000 (!) texts to each other, a huge portion of which magically went missing. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/22/questions-grow-over-fbis-missing-strzok-page-text-messages.html 

The #2 counterintelligence official at the FBI sent 50,000 texts to his mistress on an unsecure phone while pretending to be very worried about Russian hacking attempts and “kompromat” on Trump.

In a statement to Fox News, Sessions said:

“We will leave no stone unturned to confirm with certainty why these text messages are not now available to be produced and will use every technology available to determine whether the missing messages are recoverable from another source.

“If we are successful, we will update the congressional committees immediately.”

Sessions added that:

“I have spoken to the Inspector General and a review is already underway to ascertain what occurred and to determine if these records can be recovered in any other way.”

“If any wrongdoing were to be found to have caused this gap, appropriate legal disciplinary action measures will be taken.

Below is the full statement by the US Attorney General, highlights ours:

“Six congressional committees made a request to the Department ofJustice for FBI text messages between two FBI employees from July 1, 2015 to July 28, 2017, which the Department agreed to produce as quickly as possible. The Inspector General has been reviewing these texts based on “allegations that Department or FBI policies or procedures were not followed…and that certain underlying investigative decisions were based on improper considerations.” The Department of Justice agreed to produce those records as quickly as possible. After reviewing the voluminous records on the FBI’s servers, which included over 50,000 texts, the Inspector General discovered the FBI’s system failed to retain text messages for approximately 5 months between December 14, 2016 to May 17, 2017.

“The Department apprised the congressional committees of the missing text messages on Friday in the transmittal letter when providing the available text messages to them. I have spoken to the Inspector General and a review is already underway to ascertain what occurred and to determine if these records can be recovered in any other way. If any wrongdoing were to be found to have caused this gap, appropriate legal disciplinary action measures will be taken.

“We will leave no stone unturned to confirm with certainty why these text messages are not now available to be produced and will use every technology available to determine whether the missing messages are recoverable from another source. If we are successful, we will update the congressional committees immediately.”

Session’s statement suggests that contrary to earlier disclosures and speculation, the Inspector General was never in possession of the emails. An OIG spokesperson declined to comment to Fox News.

“The claim that five months of critical evidence went missing due to a technical glitch is really hard to take at face value,” a source from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence told Fox News on Monday, leaving the door open for that committee to also launch a formal inquiry with the FBI.

Then there is the question of why did the FBI disclose this gap only now: a source on one committee in receipt of the new text messages told Fox News it was “outrageous” that the FBI had not previously indicated the five-month gap in messages existed. The source said it was incumbent on the FBI to prove that the missing texts do not constitute “obstruction” of congressional oversight or “destruction of evidence.”

As a reminder, last month, the DOJ released hundreds of text messages between Strzok and Page, both of whom served briefly on Mueller’s team, with Page leaving over the summer and Strzok being reassigned late last year to the FBI’s human resources division after the discovery of the exchanges with Page.

Many of the texts revealed a clear anti-Trump and pro-Clinton bias, and included discussions of the Clinton email investigation.

“We need to get to the bottom of it and find out what exactly happened,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Monday on Fox News’ “Outnumbered Overtime.”

Jordan said Monday that the lapse in documents is reminiscent of the mysterious disappearance of emails from former IRS official Lois Lerner during the Obama-era IRS/Tea Party targeting scandal. Lerner’s emails disappeared during congressional investigations.

“The Lerner thing was huge,” Jordan told The Daily Caller. “My gut tells me this is probably bigger.”

So to summarize:

  • IRS emails: missing, and likely deleted
  • Clinton emails: deleted
  • NSA emails: deleted
  • And now, thousands of FBI text messages: deleted

What a farce.

* * *

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said the need for a second special counsel was “abundantly clear now.”

“Unreal. We’ve been asking for the remaining text messages between anti-Trump FBI agents (and former Mueller team members), Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. The FBI now says the texts are ‘missing,’” Meadows tweeted on Sunday. “If it wasn’t already clear we need a second special counsel, it’s abundantly clear now.”

Unreal. We’ve been asking for the remaining text messages between anti-Trump FBI agents (and former Mueller team members), Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. The FBI now says the texts are “missing.”

If it wasn’t already clear we need a second special counsel, it’s abundantly clear now https://twitter.com/byronyork/status/955198096744550400 

Shortly after the news broke, Donald Trump, Jr was drown in, tweeting “The FBI/govt “loss of texts” revelations are crazy. How often can they lose seemingly critical info before Americans realize it’s all a big scam? Lerner, Clinton, FBI etc… Imagine if I tried that??? Why the different standard for them?”

The FBI/govt “loss of texts” revelations are crazy. How often can they lose seemingly critical info before Americans realize it’s all a big scam? Lerner, Clinton, FBI etc…

Imagine if I tried that???

Why the different standard for them?

 

 

END

Our two famous FBI love bird agents discussed a “secret society” to undermine Trump

(courtesy zerohedge)

FBI Agents Discussed “Secret Society” Within DOJ And FBI Working To Undermine Trump

Congressional investigators learned from a new batch of text messages between anti-Trump FBI investigators that a “secret society of folks” within the Department of Justice and the FBI may have come together in the “immediate aftermath” of the 2016 election to undermine President Trump, according to Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) who has reviewed the texts.

zx

The thousands of texts @TGowdySC and I reviewed today revealed manifest bias among top FBI officials against @realDonaldTrump. The texts between Strzok and Page referenced a “secret society.”

The new texts were included in a 384-page DOJ document release to Congressional investigators last Friday – during which Congress was notified in the cover letter that that five months of text messages from December 14, 2016 to May 17, 2017 have gone missing (If only the NSA had copies).

Ratcliffe was joined by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) to discuss the latest developments with Fox News host Martha McCallum, when Ratcliffe said:

What we learned today in the thousands of text messages that weve reviewed that perhaps they may not have done that (checked their bias at the door). There’s certainly a factual basis to question whether or not they acted on that bias. We know about this insurance policy that was referenced in trying to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president.

We learned today from information that in the immediate aftermath of his election that there may have been a secret society of folks within the Department of Justice and the FBI to include Page and Strzok to be working against him.

Rep. Gowdy deflected a question over a second special counsel, but mentioned “a text about not keeping texts,” and “more manifest bias against President Trump all the way through the election into the transition,” and finally Gowdy said he saw a text that “Director Comey was going to update the President of the United States about an investigation” which would have been Obama – and may, Gowdy speculates, have been about the Trump team.

Regarding the “secret society,” Gowdy said “You have this insurance policy in Spring 2016, and then the day after the election, what they really didn’t want to have happen, there is a text exchange between these two FBI agents, these supposed to be fact-centric FBI agents saying, ‘Perhaps this is the first meeting of the secret society.’ So I’m going to want to know what secret society you are talking about, because you’re supposed to be investigating objectively the person who just won the electoral college. So yeah — I’m going to want to know.”

As we have been reporting over the last two days, the FBI “lost” five months of text messages between anti-Trump FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

The explanation for the gap was “misconfiguration issues related to rollouts, provisioning, and software upgrades that conflicted with the FBI’s collection capabilities.

x

The missing texts conveniently span the period between Dec. 14, 2016 and May 17, 2017 – the day Robert Mueller was appointed to take over the FBI’s probe of alleged Trump-Russia collusion, and during the period in which the FBI would ostensibly have been hard at work on their “insurance policy” against a Trump victory – and during the period in which the “secret society” Rep. Ratcliffe referred to would have been hard at work.

A controversy also emerged following the revelation over the missing “textgate” – in that the DOJ’s internal investigative unit, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) wrote a letter in December of last year specifically stating that they had obtained text messages from Strzok and Page covering the “missing” period revealed last Friday. 

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Alas, it appears the Inspector General Michael Horowitz made this statement in error, as Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a Monday statement that Horrowitz was in fact the one who discovered the FBI’s system failed to retain text messages for approximately 5 months,” which was confirmed by Fox News.

A Justice Department spokesperson told Fox News that the Departments Office of Inspector General also does not have any text messages between the two during that time period.

Not to worry – the DOJ, known for its honesty, will leave “no stone unturned.”

 

 

end

 

Far from wrapping up the probe, Mueller continues his attack and this time he has brought in Jeff Sessions for questioning.  His only angle now is obstruction of justice and that has already been refuted by Comey

what a farce..

(courtesy zerohedge)

Sessions Questioned By Mueller In Russia Probe

Far from wrapping up his probe, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team appears to have arrived at the senior tier of President Donald Trump’s advisers early this year. After CNN  reported that Steve Bannon agreed to a voluntary informal interview with Mueller and his team, the New York Times is reporting that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was questioned for several hours last week by Mueller and his team as part of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

However, unlike Bannon, the Sessions interview has a deeper significance: It marked the first time that investigators for the special counsel are known to have interviewed a member of President Trump’s cabinet.

A spokeswoman for Sessions confirmed the story.

 

Sessions

Sessions announced in March that he would recuse himself from all matters related to the 2016 election, including the Russia probe, before appointing Mueller, a former FBI director, to be special counsel in charge of the investigation. Sessions aroused suspicion by neglecting to tell Congress that he met twice with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the campaign.

The NYT previously reported that Trump had lobbied Sessions not to recuse himself. Reports have surfaced in recent months that Mueller is pivoting his investigation to examine reports of obstruction of justice that have already been refuted by fired FBI Director James Comey.

Sessions was also deeply involved in Comey’s firing, which occurred after Trump asked Comey to “let this go” – referring to the DOJ’s investigation of former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.

Sessions was accompanied by Chuck Cooper, a longtime Washington lawyer, to the interview. Mueller has brought charges against Flynn, former Trump Campaign executive Paul Manafort, Manafort’s No. 2 Rick Gates and former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos.

end

 

May 19/2017 text from Strzok to his love bird agent: “there is no Trump collusion with Russia”

(courtesy zerohedge)

“Jaw-dropping” Text Message By FBI Agent Suggests No Trump Collusion With Russia

And the hits just keep on coming.

Just hours after we reported that according to the latest batch of text messages between anti-Trump FBI investigators, a “secret society of folks” within the DOJ and the FBI may have come together in the “immediate aftermath” of the 2016 election to undermine President Trump, another blockbuster text message appears to have emerged.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a radio interview that the FBI’s top agent on the Trump-Russia investigation, Peter Strzok, sent what Johnson called a “jaw-dropping” text message last year that suggests he saw no evidence of Trump campaign collusion.

As first reported by the Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross, in an interview with WISN-Milwaukee radio host Jay WeberJohnson read aloud a May 19, 2017 text that Strzok sent to Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer and his mistress.

As Weber summarized, “Sen Ron Johnson tells me he’s discovered a text from Peter Strzok 2 days after the Mueller investigation in which he questions whether he wants to be part of it because he believes ‘there’s nothing there’. No collusion.”

The Strozk text verbatim on joining the Mueller investigation: May 19th, 2017- ‘You and I both know the odds are nothing. If I thought it was likely, I’d be there no question. I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern that there’s no big there there.’

Here is the “jawdropping” text message that Strzok wrote just two days after Mueller was named special counsel for the Russia Investigation:

You and I both know the odds are nothing. If I thought it was likely, I’d be there no question. I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern that there’s no big there there.

Johnson said that the text referred to the Mueller investigation, which had kicked off two days earlier. Strzok joined that team, but was removed in July after the Justice Department’s inspector general discovered his anti-Trump text exchanges with Page.

As the FBI’s deputy counterintelligence chief, Strzok had been picked in July 2016 to oversee the investigation into possible Trump campaign collusion with the Russian government; in other words the text message came almost one year after the anti-Trump FBI agent had already done preliminary work on whether there was any Trump collusion. Prior to that, he was a top investigator on the Clinton email inquiry.

“I think that’s kind of jaw-dropping,” said Johnson, a Republican, said of the Strzok text.

“In other words, Peter Strzok, who was the FBI deputy assistant director of the counterintelligence division, the man who had a plan to do something because he just couldn’t abide Donald Trump being president, is saying that his gut sense is that there’s no big there there when it comes to the Mueller special counsel investigation,” Johnson explained.

* * *

This particular text message was included in 400 pages of text messages exchanged between Strzok and Page. Lawmakers have started reviewing the trove of documents for evidence of anti-Trump and pro-Clinton bias as part of an ongoing investigation. Yesterday AG Jeff Sessions announced that the DOJ was also beginning an investigation into the months of missing text message that the FBI had failed to preserve.

Johnson also addressed the revelation last Friday that the FBI “failed to preserve” five months worth of text messages exchanged between Strzok and Page. A Justice Department official told Johnson’s committee and five other congressional panels that a “misconfiguration” issue caused “many” FBI-issued mobile devices to not back up to the bureau’s servers.

In a shocking disclosure late last week the FBI said it did not have text messages for Strzok and Page for the period between Dec. 14, 2016 and May 17, 2017 — the day that Mueller was appointed.

Johnson said that Congress needs to see the missing text messages because Strzok and Page were “completely unguarded in their communication.”

“So we’re getting insight into exactly what is happening inside the FBI at the highest levels. And who knows who else they might implicate in terms of corruption,” he said.

Meanwhile the question of just who was obstructing justice – Trump or the FBI and the DOJ – is becoming increasingly more pressing with each passing day.

 

 end
Comey’s chief of Staff, Rybicki, the guy who worked on the Clinton exoneration letter quits one week after his congressional testimony..probably thrown under the bus for what he said
(courtesy zerohedge)

Comey Chief Of Staff Who Worked On Clinton Exoneration, Quits FBI One Week After Congressional Testimony

FBI Director Chris Wray will be replacing his chief of staff over the next few weeks – one week after he testified before House committees in their ongoing probes into the bureau’s conduct while investigating Hillary Clinton’s email case, several sources told CNN on Tuesday.

aa
James Rybicki

James Rybicki – who also served as James Comey’s chief of staff, will be replaced by white-collar lawyer, Zachary Harmon, according to the sources.

“Jim Rybicki notified me last month that he will be leaving the FBI to accept an opportunity in the corporate sector,” said Director Wray, adding “While this is an exciting move for the whole Rybicki family, Jim will be dearly missed by the FBI family — and by me personally. His many years of dedication to the Bureau and (Justice Department), his level-headed judgment and earnest professionalism, and his steady good cheer have been an asset to us all and have contributed greatly to the safety and security of our nation.”

Congressional investigators questioned Rybicki over how the FBI handled the Clinton email investigation last week, according to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), however the closed-door questions were likely designed to avoid overlapping with special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation.

Congressional Republicans had sought Rybicki’s testimony for months on the hope that he can provide key information supportive of President Trump’s decision to fire James Comey, while Democrats have called the GOP investigation an effort to undermine the ongoing Mueller probe.

Last fall, Senate Republicans released a partial transcript of an interview with two FBI officials – one of whom Senators Grassley (R-IA) and Graham (R-SC) believe to be Rybicki. During the interview, investigators were told that Comey decided in early May 2016 to draft his exoneration of Hillary Clinton.

Rybicki, as it turns out, was involved at some level in the crafting of Hillary Clinton’s exoneration – which downgraded Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified information and use of a private server from the legally consequential phrase “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless” – not a legal term of art.

And as we noted in December, the edits to former FBI Director James Comey’s original draft went far beyond what was previously known, as detailed in a letter from Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chairman Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) to FBI Director Christopher Wray, which revealed specific edits made by senior FBI agents to Comey’s draft after Deputy Director Andrew McCabe exchanged drafts of Comey’s statement with senior FBI officials, including Peter Strzok, Strzok’s direct supervisor, E.W. “Bill” Priestap, Jonathan Moffa, and an unnamed employee from the Office of General Counsel (identified by Newsweek as DOJ Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson) – in what would ultimately decriminalize Clinton’s conduct, allowing them to recommend against prosecuting then-candidate Hillary Clinton.

FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and was removed from the Mueller probe after an internal investigation found a trove of anti-Trump text messages between Strzok and his mistress, Lisa Page while they were both investigating Hillary Clinton’s email case.

Last year, the Justice Department sought to block Rybicki from appearing before Congress – defying requests from Senate Judiciary heads Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who were willing to keep the testimony to matters outside the scope of Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation.

The DOJ refused, “consistent with the Department’s long-standing policy regarding the confidentiality and sensitivity of information relating to pending matters” – pointing to the “confidentiality and sensitivity of information relating to pending matters,” as well as the ongoing Mueller investigation.

Tarmac Meeting

Rybicki was also involved in the aftermath of the infamous June 27, 2016 “tarmac” meeting in Phoenix between Bill Clinton and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch – which happened six days before James Comey’s exoneration statement. After the press was tipped off to the clandestine meetup, the FBI engaged in a furious scramble to figure out who leaked word of their sitdown.

Lynch had previously said the meeting was ‘unscheduled’ – described it as an ‘ambush,’ and said that she ‘wouldn’t do it again.’

And in emails obtained by the ACLJ, we learned that Jim Rybicki was involved in the FBI’s damage control efforts.

Per the ACLJ:

On July 1, 2016 – just days before our FOIA request – a DOJ email chain under the subject line, “FBI just called,” indicates that the “FBI . . . is looking for guidance” in responding to media inquiries about news reports that the FBI had prevented the press from taking pictures of the Clinton Lynch meeting. The discussion then went off email to several phone calls (of which we are not able to obtain records). An hour later, Carolyn Pokomy of the Office of the Attorney General stated, “I will let Rybicki know.” Jim Rybicki was the Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor to FBI Director Jim Comey. The information that was to be provided to Rybicki is redacted.

And with that, a swamp creature who would have been central to the FBI’s “secret society” assembled to undermine Donald Trump appears to have been sent down the drain into corporate employment.

END

Mueller wants to question Trump but that would not be good for Trump.  He should seek just written answers to questions

(courtesy zerohedge)

Mueller Wants To Question Trump On Comey, Flynn Firings

Following the news earlier this month that special counsel Mueller is seeking to question President Trump – and following today’s NYT report that Mueller had interviewed AG Jeff Sessions – moments ago the Washington Post reported that Mueller wants to question Trump over his decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey and the departure of former national security adviser Michael Flynn from the White House.

According to two WaPo sources, Trump’s legal team could present conditions for Trump to interview with Mueller’s investigators as soon as next week.

The Post also adds that Trump’s lawyers hope to have Trump answer some of Mueller’s questions in an in-person interview and some in writing.

Within the past two weeks, the special counsel’s office has indicated to the White House that the two central subjects that investigators wish to discuss with the president are the departures of Flynn and Comey and the events surrounding their firings.

Mueller has also reportedly expressed interest in Trump’s efforts to remove Jeff Sessions as attorney general or pressure him into quitting, “according to a person familiar with the probe who said the special counsel was seeking to determine whether there was a “pattern” of behavior by the president.”

Earlier this month, Trump declined to say whether he would grant an interview to Mueller and his team, deflecting questions on the topic by saying there had been “no collusion” between his campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

“We’ll see what happens,” Trump said when asked directly about meeting with the special counsel.

While Trump has told has allegedly told his lawyers that he is not worried about a face to face meeting with the special counsel, some of Trump’s close advisers and friends fear a face-to-face interview with Mueller could put the president in legal jeopardy.

A central worry, they say, is Trump’s lack of precision in his speech and his penchant for hyperbole.

Roger Stone, a longtime informal adviser to Trump, said he should try to avoid an interview at all costs, saying agreeing to such a session would be a “suicide mission.” “I find it to be a death wish. Why would you walk into a perjury trap?” Stone said. “The president would be very poorly advised to give Mueller an interview”, Stone said.

I guess to save face, Schumer withdraws his border wall funding offer to Trump and that pretty well guarantees another shutdown in two weeks.  However by then we will be coming up with a debt ceiling issue and that is when all the fireworks commence.
(courtesy zerohedge)

 

Schumer Withdraws Border Wall Funding Offer, Assuring Another Shutdown

In a move that virtually assures another government shutdown on February 8, Politico reports  that Chuck Schumer has taken his offer for a “spending boost” for Donald Trump’s border wall off the table, a bargaining position that would be a non-starter with the president and Congressional Republicans.

The Senate minority leader, through an aide, informed the White House on Monday that he was retracting the offer he made last week to give Trump well north of the $1.6 billion in wall funding Trump had asked for this year, according to two Democrats. And now they say Trump will simply not get a better deal than that on his signature campaign promise.

Schumer “took it off,” said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat. “He called the White House yesterday and said it’s over.”

In the now-infamous cheeseburger summit last Friday with Trump, Schumer offered a large increase in border wall spending as a condition for a broader deal to help Dreamers. But after that offer was rebuffed — prompting the three-day government shutdown — the president has now “missed an opportunity to get the wall,” one Democratic aide said.

Schumer’s pulling of the “offer” comes after a day of angry accusations by progressive democrats and even Nancy Pelosi accusing Schumer of being a “sellout”, and caving to the White House in agreeing to reopen government.

Meanwhile, key Republicans including Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona – a key GOP immigration negotiator – had already considered using the promise of border wall funding totaling more than $1.6 billion to lure more conservative votes. A Dreamer plan written by a bipartisan group of six senators, including Flake, had included Trump’s $1.6 billion request as part of a broader, $2.7 billion border security package.

“Sen. Schumer’s already indicated that he would go for more. Republicans will go for more,” Flake said. “It’s just how much more we can get from the Democrats.”

Now, they won’t be able to get anything, which means that the Dreamer negotiations go back to square one.

Politico confirms as much, reporting that “Republicans aligned with Trump are unlikely to go for any bill that does not offer a major boost in border wall funding, given the president’s strong feelings about the issue. Moreover, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said he was skeptical of Schumer’s recollection of the meeting and the border wall offer anyway.”

“They claim that some crazy deal was made,” Cotton said of Democrats. “And then when we say no deal was made, they accuse Republicans and the president of reneging.”

Schumer’s gambit appears to be an attempt to get back in the good graces of the progressive wing as “providing border wall money could also push away more liberal Democrats, who prefer to completely restart negotiations rather than start from any existing bill, even a bipartisan one like the proposal written by Durbin and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)”

“Discussions were had coming up to Friday night are interesting for context,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). But now, he said, “we start from a blank sheet of paper.”

Should Schumer refuse to budge, not only does it raise the odds of another government shutdown in 2 weeks, but it also increases the chances of a technical default as Goldman explained earlier today:

the [government reopening] agreement does not resolve the underlying issues that led to the shutdown and therefore simply postpones the uncertainty for a few weeks. A further temporary extension is likely to be necessary after February 8, since it is unlikely in our view that Congress will be able to pass an immigration bill by then and we do not expect congressional Democrats to agree to a long-term spending bill without an immigration agreement.

This raises the probability that an upcoming spending deadline overlaps with the debt limit, which we estimate will need to be raised at some point between late February and late March. While financial markets mostly ignored the shutdown, a disruptive debt limit debate could have a more negative impact.

As expect, there has been no reaction in the market.

end

David Stockman comments that the top 1% of the richest people on earth garneredd 82% of the wealth created in 2017

(courtesy David Stockman)

“Something Is Very Wrong With The Global Economy”: Richest 1% Made 82% Of Global Wealth In 2017

It is appropriate that as the world’s richest and most popular and influential celebrities, thought leaders, economists, pundits and politicians sit down in Davos this week to discuss such topics as wealth inequality and populism, that the global charity Oxfam released its latest annual study which found that global inequality is not only worsening, but 2017 may have been the worst year ever for the split between rich and poor.

There are now 2,043 billionaires worldwide, according to the report titled “Reward Work, Not Wealth.”

“The billionaire boom is not a sign of a thriving economy but a symptom of a failing economic system,” Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima said in a statement.

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In addition to finding that the world’s richest 42 people own the same amount of wealth as the poorest 50% of people worldwide, a number that is fast approaching 4 billion, the report also showed that 2017 saw the biggest increase in the number of billionaires in history, with new ones created at a rate of one every two days. Their  wealth has increased by 13% a year on average in the decade from 2006 to 2015.

In other words, in 2017 the world’s richest one % raked in 82% of the wealth created last year while the poorest half of the population received none, Oxfam said just hours before the world’s elite prepared to mingle at the World Economic Forum in Davos and pretend to care about the plight of the world’s poor.

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Just as concerning – if only in theory – to the fake warriors for wealth and income equality in Davos, is that the three richest Americans have the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the U.S. population. Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett are the three Americans whose combined wealth matches that of the poorest 160 million Americans — about $250 billion.

Only in you get a sign with “private car pick-up” direction alongside the “A day in the life of a refugee” exhibition. @tictoc

Among the other findings: the wealth of the super-rich increased by $762 billion in just 12 months to March 2017 which is enough to end extreme poverty seven times over. Nine out of 10 of the world’s 2,043 billionaires were men.

Separately, chief executives of the top five global fashion brands made in just four days what garment workers in Bangladesh earn over a lifetime.

“The people who make our clothes, assemble our phones and grow our food are being exploited to ensure a steady supply of cheap goods, and swell the profits of corporations and billionaire investors,”said Byanyima.

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According to Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam, the statistics signal that “something is very wrong with the global economy.”

“The concentration of extreme wealth at the top is not a sign of a thriving economy but a symptom of a system that is failing the millions of hard-working people on poverty wages who make our clothes and grow our food,” he said, and while he is right, the rich have little incentive to actually do anything about this record wealth divergence – besides pretending they are horrified by it, of course – at least until more Brexits, and more Trumps emerge, and eventually, a global uprising against the super wealthy.

“Inequality is reaching such extreme levels that it might actually be bad for really wealthy people because it’s slowing down economic growth and leading to political disruption,” said David Hulme, an expert global development at the University of Manchester.

Hulme added that “globally, across the world’s 7.6 billion people, extreme poverty is actually reducing. It’s only when you look at the top group, the richest people, that wealth is concentrating amazingly. Both of those things can happen at the same time.”

Over the next 20 years, the report claims that 500 of the world’s richest people will give $2.4 trillion to their heirs — a sum larger than the GDP of India, which has 1.3 billion people.

The World Inequality Report 2018, a separate report published in December last year, noted that income inequality varies greatly across the world. When defined as the share of total national income accounted for by a nation’s top 10% earners, it is lowest in Europe (37%) and highest in the Middle east (61%). The United States (47%) lags China (41%) and Russia (46%).

* * *

Oxfam said the massive inequality is being driven by factors that include excessive financial returns to company owners and shareholders at the expense of ordinary workers and the rest of the economy; the ability of rich individuals and corporations to use tax havens that allow them to evade or shield trillions of dollars from tax authorities; public policy that permits market conditions that push down wages and infringe on labor rights; and extreme wealth that is inherited, not earned.

Byanyima blamed “tax dodging” as one of the major causes of global inequality and urged leaders to crack down on tax havens and inject money into education, healthcare and jobs for young people.

“[It] reveals how our economies are rewarding wealth rather than the hard work of millions of people,” Byanyima told Reuters, adding “The few at the top get richer and richer and the millions at the bottom are trapped in poverty wages.”

* * *

As noted above, the study was released on the eve of top political and business figures meeting at a luxury Swiss ski resort and private jet parking lot for the annual World Economic Forum, which this year says it will focus on how to create “a shared future in a fractured world”.

“It’s hard to find a political or business leader who doesn’t say they are worried about inequality,” said Byanyima. “It’s even harder to find one who is doing something about it. Many are actively making things worse by slashing taxes and scrapping labor rights.”

END

 

I will  see you WEDNESDAY night

HARVEY

2 comments

  1. Brian O'Malley · · Reply

    The Central Fund of Canada CEF.A, which was taken over by Sprott, now trades on the Canadian market as CEF. Sprott has acknowledged the confusion with various brokers and the fact that they need to address the issue with these brokers to correct the error. I would hope that this Sprott fund would also now be included under the heading “NPV for Sprott’ in your nightly wrap up.

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  2. If you ask me,,, All the paper going to London, is going to end up in Shanghai as deliverables, thereby depleting stock from the Shanghai exchange as the POG & POS take-off.

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