GOLD: $1329.95 UP $0.90

Silver: $16.63 UP 15 cents

Closing access prices:

Gold $1324.50

silver: $16.50

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: $XXXX DOLLARS PER OZ

NY PRICE OF GOLD AT EXACT SAME TIME: $XXXX

PREMIUM FIRST FIX: $xxx

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SECOND SHANGHAI GOLD FIX: $XXXX

NY GOLD PRICE AT THE EXACT SAME TIME: $xxx

discount of Shanghai 2nd fix/NY:$

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LONDON FIRST GOLD FIX: 5:30 am est $1328.60

NY PRICING AT THE EXACT SAME TIME: $1328.75

LONDON SECOND GOLD FIX 10 AM: $1339.85

NY PRICING AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. $1340.30

For comex gold:

FEBRUARY/

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR FEBRUARY CONTRACT: 0 NOTICE(S) FOR nil OZ.

TOTAL NOTICES SO FAR:1784 FOR 178400 OZ (5.5489 TONNES),

For silver:

FEBRUARY

76 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR

380,000 OZ/

Total number of notices filed so far this month: 386 for 1,930,000 oz

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Bitcoin: BID $10,971/OFFER $11,050: DOWN $203(morning)

Bitcoin: BID/ $10,379/offer $10,499: DOWN $811  (CLOSING/5 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 HUGE SIZED 3777 contracts from 199,852  RISING TO 203,629 DESPITE  YESTERDAY’S 29 CENT LOSS IN SILVER PRICING. SHOCKINGLY WE HAD ZERO COMEX LIQUIDATION. HOWEVER, WE WERE AGAIN NOTIFIED THAT WE HAD ANOTHER FAIR SIZED NUMBER OF COMEX LONGS TRANSFERRING THEIR CONTRACTS TO LONDON THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE:  1293 EFP’S FOR MARCH AND AND 28 EFP’S FOR MAY AND ZERO FOR ALL  OTHER MONTHS  AND THUS TOTAL ISSUANCE OF 1321 CONTRACTS.  WITH THE TRANSFER OF 1321 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. THE 1321 CONTRACTS TRANSLATES INTO 6.605 MILLION OZ DESPITE  WITH THE CONTINUAL DROP IN OPEN INTEREST IN SILVER AT THE COMEX.

ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S/SILVER/J.P.MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES, / STARTING FROM FIRST DAY NOTICE/FOR MONTH OF FEBRUARY:

40,269 CONTRACTS (FOR 15 TRADING DAYS TOTAL 40,269 CONTRACTS OR 201.345 MILLION OZ: AVERAGE PER DAY: 2685 CONTRACTS OR 13.423 MILLION OZ/DAY)

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE HUGE SUPPLY THIS MONTH IN SILVER:  SO FAR THIS MONTH:  201.345 MILLION PAPER OZ HAVE MORPHED OVER TO LONDON. THIS REPRESENTS AROUND 28.77% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION

ACCUMULATION IN YEAR 2018 TO DATE SILVER EFP’S:  449.88 MILLION OZ.

ACCUMULATION FOR JAN 2018: 236.879 MILLION OZ

RESULT: A HUGE SIZED GAIN IN OI SILVER COMEX DESPITE THE  29 CENT GAIN IN SILVER PRICE.  WE ALSO HAD A GOOD SIZED EFP ISSUANCE OF 1321 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 1321 EFP’S  FOR  MONTHS MARCH AND MAY WERE ISSUED FOR TODAY  FOR A DELIVERABLE FORWARD CONTRACT OVER IN LONDON WITH A FIAT BONUS.   WE GAINED  5098 OI CONTRACTS i.e. 1321 open interest contracts headed for London (EFP’s) TOGETHER WITH A INCREASE OF 3777  OI COMEX CONTRACTS. AND ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WITH THE FALL IN PRICE OF SILVER OF  29 CENTS AND A CLOSING PRICE OF $16.48 WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING. YET WE STILL HAVE A FAIR 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. 1.0195 BILLION TO BE EXACT or 146% of annual global silver production (ex Russia & ex China).

FOR THE NEW FRONT FEBRUARY MONTH/ THEY FILED: 386 NOTICE(S) FOR 380,000 OZ OF SILVER

In gold, the open interest  FELL BY AN SURPRISINGLY SMALL 7921 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 528,154 DESPITE THE HUGE FALL IN PRICE OF GOLD WITH YESTERDAY’S TRADING ($24.15). HOWEVER, IN ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT, WE RECEIVED THE TOTAL NUMBER OF GOLD EFP’S ISSUED FOR WEDNESDAY AND IT TOTALED AN HUGE SIZED  13,134 CONTRACTS OF WHICH  APRIL SAW THE ISSUANCE OF 13,134 CONTRACTS AND  JUNE SAW THE ISSUANCE OF 0 CONTRACTS AND THEN ALL OTHER MONTHS ZERO.    The new OI for the gold complex rests at 530,573. ALSO REMEMBER THAT THERE WILL 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 FEBRUARY 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 DESPITE YESTERDAY’S TRADING IN GOLD,  WE HAVE A GAIN OF 5213  CONTRACTS: 7921 OI CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX AND A HUGE SIZED  13,134 OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON.(5131 oi gain in CONTRACTS EQUATES TO 15.95 TONNES) AND ALL OF THIS GAIN HAPPENED WITH A MONSTROUS RAID AND A FALL IN PRICE OF $24.15

YESTERDAY, WE HAD 6434 EFP’S ISSUED.

ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY STARTING WITH FIRST DAY NOTICE: 172,222 CONTRACTS OR 17,222,000  OZ OR 535.67 TONNES (15 TRADING DAYS AND THUS AVERAGING: 11,481 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY OR 1,148,100 OZ/ TRADING DAY)

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE HUGE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS :   SO FAR THIS MONTH IN 15 TRADING DAYS: IN  TONNES: 535.67 TONNES

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

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 535.67/2200 x 100% TONNES =  24.34% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION SO FAR IN FEBRUARY ALONE.

ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2018 TO DATE:  1169.08 TONNES

ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S FOR JANUARY 2018: 653.22  TONNES

Result: A  GOOD SIZED DECREASE IN OI AT THE COMEX WITH THE HUGE FALL IN PRICE IN GOLD TRADING YESTERDAY ($24.15).  HOWEVER, WE HAD ANOTHER GOOD SIZED NUMBER OF COMEX LONG TRANSFERRING TO LONDON THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE: 13,134 CONTRACTS AS THESE HAVE ALREADY BEEN NEGOTIATED AND CONFIRMED.   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 13,134 EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED, WE HAD A NET GAIN IN OPEN INTEREST OF 5213 contracts ON THE TWO EXCHANGES:

13134 CONTRACTS MOVE TO LONDON AND  7921 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX. (in tonnes, the GAIN in total oi equates to 16.21 TONNES).

we had: 0 notice(s) filed upon for NIL oz of gold.

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

GLD

WITH GOLD UP $0.90 /NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/

Inventory rests tonight: 827.79 tonnes.

SLV/

WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS TODAY: 

A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/A DEPOSIT OF:1.226 MILLION OZ OF SILVER

/INVENTORY RESTS AT 315.271 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 HUGE 3777  contracts from 199,730 UP TO 203,629 (AND now A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE NEW COMEX RECORD SET ON FRIDAY/APRIL 21/2017 AT 234,787) DESPITE  THE HUGE SIZED FALL  IN PRICE OF SILVER  (29 CENTS WITH RESPECT TO  YESTERDAY’S TRADING).   OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE ANOTHER GOOD 1293 PRIVATE EFP’S FOR MARCH AND 28 EFP CONTRACTS OR MAY  (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 SOME COMEX SILVER COMEX LIQUIDATION. IF WE TAKE THE  OI GAIN AT THE COMEX OF  4092 CONTRACTS TO THE 1321 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S, WE OBTAIN A GAIN OF  5098  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:  25.49 MILLION OZ!!!

RESULT: A STRONG SIZED INCREASE IN SILVER OI AT THE COMEX DESPITE THE HUGE SIZED FALL OF 29 CENTS IN PRICE (WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING ). BUT WE ALSO HAD ANOTHER GOOD 1321 EFP’S ISSUED TRANSFERRING COMEX LONGS OVER TO LONDON. TOGETHER WITH THE GOOD  SIZED AMOUNT OF SILVER OUNCES STANDING FOR FEBRUARY, 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 TUESDAY night/WEDNESDAY morning: Shanghai closed /Hang Sang CLOSED UP 558.26 POINTS OR 1.81% / The Nikkei closed UP 45.71 POINTS OR 0.21%/Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP 0.03%/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP at 6.3415/Oil DOWN to 61.48 dollars per barrel for WTI and 65.14 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED DEEPLY IN THE RED  .   ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED XXX AGAINST THE DOLLAR AT XXX. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED XXX AGAINST  THE ONSHORE YUAN AT XXX//ONSHORE YUAN /OFFSHORE YUAN NOT TRADIN

3a)THAILAND/SOUTH KOREA/NORTH KOREA

b) REPORT ON JAPAN

3 c CHINA

4. EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

6 .GLOBAL ISSUES

7. OIL ISSUES

i)There is a huge shortage of Frac sand which is in integral part of the shale production. It is hard and made up of round particles and is very porous..ideal for fracing

so we now have two fold problems

1. shortage of rail cars to transport shale

2. shortage of frac sand.

( Nick Cunningham/OilPrice.com)

iii)Both oil and gasoline rebound after a surprise drawdown

(courtesy zerohedge)

8. EMERGING MARKET

9. PHYSICAL MARKETS

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

v)More volcanic activity underneath Yellowstone.  They have experienced 200 earthquakes in the past 10 days as the ring of fire awakens

( zero hedge)

( Brandon Smith/Alt-Market.com)

b)Tom Fitton is President of Judicial Watch and he has been tenacious in getting documents via Freedom of Information.  He has penned an op-ed:  what is the FBI hiding in its war to protect James Comey

a must read..

( Tom Fitton)

c)Trump’s 3 logical questions for Jeff Sessions
( zerohedge)

 PRELIMINARY COMEX VOLUME FOR TODAY: 193,506 contracts

CONFIRMED COMEX VOL. FOR YESTERDAY:  400,031 CONTRACTS

comex gold volumes are RISING AGAIN

Here is a summary of the latest gold trading volumes at the Comex per year

certainly the introduction of EFP’s has certainly had an effect:

Trading Volumes on the COMEX

Meanwhile, gold-trading volumes on the COMEX have never been higher:

end

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And now for the wild silver comex results.

Total silver OI ROSE  BY A HUGE SIZED 3777  CONTRACTS FROM 199,752 UP TO 203,629 DESPITE YESTERDAY’S HUGE SIZED  29 CENT FALL IN TRADING).   HOWEVER,WE WERE ALSO INFORMED THAT WE HAD ANOTHER GOOD SIZED 1293 EMERGENCY EFP’S FOR MARCH ISSUED BY OUR BANKERS (WITH 28 EFP CONTRACTS FOR MAY 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: 1321.   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 OBVIOUSLY HAD NO LONG COMEX SILVER LIQUIDATION BUT A HUGE SIZED GAIN 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 5098  SILVER OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS:

3777 CONTRACT GAIN AT THE COMEX COMBINING WITH THE ADDITION OF 1321 OI CONTRACTS NAVIGATING OVER TO LONDON.

NET GAIN TWO EXCHANGES: 5098 CONTRACTS 

We are now in the poor non active delivery month of FEBRUARY and here the front month LOST 1 contracts LOWERING TO  76 contracts.  We had 1 notices filed upon yesterday so we GAINED 0 contract or NIL ADDITIONAL oz will  stand for delivery at the comex

The March contract lost 8769 contracts DOWN to 63,249

April GAINED 15 contracts UP to 165 .

.

We had 76 notice(s) filed for 380,000 OZ for the FEBRUARY 2018 contract for silver

For FEBRUARY:
Today, 0 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 0 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 0 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 FEBRUARY. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (1784) x 100 oz or 178,300 oz, to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of FEB. (1131 contracts) minus the number of notices served upon today (0 x 100 oz per contract) equals 291,500 oz, the number of ounces standing in this active month of FEBRUARY

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

No of notices served (1784 x 100 oz or ounces + {(1157)OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (0 x 100 oz )which equals 291,500 oz standing in this active delivery month of February (9.066 tonnes). THERE IS 12.52 TONNES OF REGISTERED GOLD AVAILABLE FOR DELIVERY SO FAR.

WE LOST 26 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 2600 OZ WILL NOT  STAND IN THIS ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEBRUARY.

THE COMEX IS NOW UNDER STRESS AS THE REGISTERED GOLD FALLS BELOW 13 TONNES AS WELL AS HUGE NUMBER OF TONNES LEAVING THE CUSTOMER ACCOUNT

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IN THE LAST 17 MONTHS 70 NET TONNES HAS LEFT THE COMEX.

end

And now for silver

AND NOW THE DECEMBER DELIVERY MONTH

FEBRUARY FINAL standings

we had one inventory movement at the dealer side of things

i) Into dealer Brinks: 505,458.01 oz

total inventory movement dealer: 505,458.01 oz

we had 2 inventory deposits into the customer account

i) into J.P.MORGAN:409,630.740 oz  ***

ii) Into Delaware: 1054.400 oz

total inventory deposits: 410,685.140 oz

*** JPMorgan is continually adding to its inventory almost every single day.

JPMorgan now has 136 million oz of  total silver inventory or 55% of all official comex silver.

we had 2 withdrawals from the customer account;

iii) Out of Brinks:: 75,670.470 oz

ii) Out of CNT:: 81,142.525 oz

total withdrawals;  290,227.110  oz

we had 1 adjustment

i) Out of Scotia:  996,251.200 was removed from the customer account and this lands into the dealer account of Scotia

total dealer silver:  45.329 million

total dealer + customer silver:  246.872 million oz

The total number of notices filed today for the FEBRUARY. contract month is represented by 76 contract(s) FOR 380,000 oz. To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in FEBRUARY., we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 386 x 5,000 oz = 1,930,000 oz to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of FEB. (76) and the number of notices served upon today (76 x 5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

.

Thus the INITIAL standings for silver for the FEB contract month: 386(notices served so far)x 5000 oz + OI for front month of FEBRUARY(76) -number of notices served upon today (76)x 5000 oz equals 1,930,000 oz of silver standing for the FEBRUARY contract month. 

WE GAINED 0 CONTRACT OR AN ADDITIONAL NIL OZ WILL  STAND AT THE COMEX

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ESTIMATED VOLUME FOR TODAY: 110,101 CONTRACTS

CONFIRMED VOLUME FOR YESTERDAY: 152,370 CONTRACTS

YESTERDAY’S CONFIRMED VOLUME OF 152,370 CONTRACTS EQUATES TO  761 MILLION OZ OR 108% 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 FALLS TO -2.35% (FEB 21/2018)
2. Sprott gold fund (PHYS): premium to NAV FALLS TO -0.64% to NAV (FEB 20/2018 )
Note: Sprott silver trust back into NEGATIVE territory at -2.35%-/Sprott physical gold trust is back into NEGATIVE/ territory at -0.64%/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 -3.00%: NAV 13.68/TRADING 13.24//DISCOUNT 3.00.

END

And now the Gold inventory at the GLD/

FEB 21/ WITH THE 90 CENT GAIN WE HAD ANOTHER DEPOSIT OF 3.15 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS TONIGHT AT 827.79 TONNES

Feb 20/WITH GOLD DOWN BY $24.25, THE CROOKS DECIDED THAT THEY HAD BETTER RETURN (DEPOSIT) 3.34 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS TONIGHT AT 824,64 TONNES

Feb 16/WITH GOLD UP BY 25 CENTS, THE CROOKS DECIDED AGAIN TO RAID THE COOKIE JAR BY WITHDRAWING 2.36 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 821.30 TONNES

Feb 15/NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 823.66 TONNES

Feb 14/AN ADDITIONAL OF 2.95 TONNES OF GOLD INTO GLD WITH THE HUGE GAIN OF 27.40 IN PRICE/INVENTORY RESTS AT 823.66 TONNES

Feb 13/WITH GOLD UP $3.40 WE HAD NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY REMAINS AT 820.71 TONNES

Feb 12/STRANGE!!WITH GOLD RISING BY 12.00 DOLLARS, THE CROOKS DECIDED AGAIN TO WITHDRAW 5.6 TONNES OF GOLD FOR EMERGENCY USE ELSEWHERE/INVENTORY RESTS AT 820.71 TONNES

Feb 9/AGAIN WITH HUGE TURMOIL ON THE MARKETS, THE CROOKS WITHDREW 2 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 826.31 TONNES

Feb 8/DESPITE THE GOOD GAIN IN PRICE FOR GOLD TODAY/THE CROOKS REMOVED .96 TONNES FROM THE GLD INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 828.31 TONNES

FEB 7/AN UNBELIEVABLE 12.08 TONNES WAS REMOVED BY THE CROOKED BANKERS AND THIS GOLD WAS USED IN THE ASSAULT THESE PAST FEW DAYS/INVENTORY RESTS AT 829.27 TONNES

Feb 6/AGAIN VERY STRANGE: WITH TODAY’S TURMOIL, THE CROOKS DID NOT ADD ANY GOLD INVENTORY INTO THE GLD/INVENTORY REMAINS AT 841.35 TONNES

Feb 5  Strange,with all of today’s turmoil, the crooks at the GLD decided to add zero ounces into GLD inventory/inventory rests at 841.35 tonnes

Feb 2/no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory rests at 841.35 tonnes

Feb 1/with gold up by $8.00/the crooks decided not to add any new physical gold metal into the GLD./inventory rests at 841.35 tonnes

Jan 31/with gold up $3.15 today, GLD shed another 5.32 tonnes of gold from its inventory/inventory rests at 841.35 tonnes

jan 30/with gold down by $4.85/GLD shed another 1.47 tonnes of gold from its inventory/inventory rests at 846.67 tonnes

JAN 29/with gold down $11.25, the GLD shed 1.18 tonnes of gold/inventory rests at 848.14 tonnes

jan 26/2018/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/inventory rests at 849.32 tonnes

jan 25/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/inventory rests at 849.32 tonnes

Jan 24/A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 2.65 TONNES OF GOLD INTO GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 849.32 TONNES

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

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Feb 21/2018/ Inventory rests tonight at 827,79 tonnes

*IN LAST 328 TRADING DAYS: 113.36 NET TONNES HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE GLD
*LAST 258 TRADING DAYS: A NET 43.95 TONNES HAVE NOW BEEN ADDED INTO GLD INVENTORY.

end

Now the SLV Inventory

FEB 21/WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS TODAY, WE HAD A GOOD SIZED INVENTORY ADDITION OF 1.226 MILLION OZ/INVENTORY RESTS AT 215.271 MILLION OZ/

Feb 20/NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 314.045 MILLION OZ

Feb 16/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 314.045 MILLION OZ/

Feb 15/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 314.045 MILLION OZ/

Feb 14./NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY DESPITE THE HUGE RISE IN PRICE/INVENTORY RESTS AT 314.045 MILLION OZ

Feb 13./NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY TODAY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 314.045 MILLION OZ/

Feb 12/AGAIN, WITH TODAY’S HUGE RISE IN SILVER PRICE, IN TOTAL CONTRAST TO GOLD: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 314.045 MILLION OZ/

Feb 9/AGAIN WITH TURMOIL ON THE MARKETS, STRANGELY IN TOTAL CONTRAST TO GOLD: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 314.045 MILLION OZ/

Feb 8/DESPITE THE TURMOIL TODAY AND A PRICE RISE: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 314.045 MILLION OZ/

FEB 7/no change in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory rests at 314.045 million oz/

Feb 6/WITH ALL OF TODAY’S TURMOIL/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 314.045 MILLION OZ/

Feb 5/ we had HUGE change in silver inventory at the SLV/ A DEPOSIT OF 1.131 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV/Inventory rests at 314.045 million oz/

Feb 2/we lost 982,000 oz from the SLV inventory /inventory rests at 312.914 million oz/

Feb 1/no change in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory rests at 313.896 million oz/

Jan 31/ no change in inventory at the slv in total contrast to gold/inventory rests at 313.896 million oz/

Jan 30/no change in inventory/SLV inventory rests at 313.896 million oz/

Jan 29/no change in inventory/SLV inventory rests at 313.896 million oz/

Jan 26.2018/inventory rests at 313.896  million oz

Jan 25/with silver up today and yesterday, the SLV could only muster a gain of 848,000 oz

Inventory rests at 313.896 oz

jan 24/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY DESPITE THE GOOD ADVANCE IN PRICE/INVENTORY RESTS AT 313.048 MILLION OZ/

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/

Feb 14/2017:

Inventory 315.271 million oz

end

HUGE SCARCITY OF GOLD IN LONDON AS THE GOLD LENDING RATE SURPASSES 2.23%

6 Month MM GOFO

Indicative gold forward offer rate for a 6 month duration

+ 1.86%

12 Month MM GOLD LENDING RATE
+ 2.23%

GOFO = LIBOR – GOLD LENDING RATE

GOFO =  2.408 – 2.23  = .178

GOLD IS SCARCE.

end

Major gold/silver trading /commentaries for WEDNESDAY

GOLDCORE/BLOG/MARK O’BYRNE.

GOLD/SILVER

 GoldCore

Bitcoin or British Pound ‘Pretty Much Failed’ As Currency?

21, February

– Bitcoin has ‘pretty much failed’ as a currency says Bank of England Carney
– Bitcoin is neither a store of value nor a useful way to buy things – BOE’s Carney
– Project fear against crypto-currencies or an out of control investing bubble?
– Bitcoin will likely recover in value but is speculative and not for widows and orphans
– British pound has been a terrible store of value – unlike gold
– Pound collapsed 30% in 2016 and down 11.5% per annum versus gold in last 15 years
– Fiat currency experiment may fail and dollar set to lose reserve currency status

Gold in GBP 10 Years

Sputniknews.com interview GoldCore

Sputnik: After a significant fall in the currency during December and January, Bitcoin is showing signs of a recovery in value. Could we see the coin regain value pre-2018 levels?

Mark: Yes, it’s quite possible, given the state of markets these days with the amount of liquidity that’s sloshing around the financial system due to QE and ultra loose monetary policies.

So the short answer is yes we could. But nobody has a crystal ball and nobody knows for definite. I think it’s quite interesting from a speculation point of view and I think that’s how some of the smart money around the world is seeing it — as an interesting speculation. However, it is very high risk, people need to be aware of that and it’s not for ‘widows and orphans’.

Given the degree of volatility we’ve seen in recent weeks and the massive 60% collapse we saw and also the huge risks we see with the various crypto exchanges around the world. The risk is Bitcoin’s volatility itself but also the intermediate risk and the counterpart risk behind how you own that bitcoin with exchanges having been hacked and subject to fraud.

Sputnik: Are these recent comments from Carney another attempt of asserting elements of ‘project fear’ against potential crypto-investors or a stark statement of an out of control investing bubble?

Mark: I think it’s a bit of both. I think there is a bit of an element of project fear and a lot of the central banks seem to feel threatened by Bitcoin but at the same time I think the wider cryptocurrency marketplace has been showing signs of an out of control bubble.

The cryptocurrencies – most of them, and there’s hundreds of them, were surging in value going up ten, fifty, a hundred times in value … some of them. Bitcoin, Ethereum and one or two others have real world applications, but who’s to know which cryptos will survive?

Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, said they have not been a medium exchange and that’s true for a period of time now. And that’s the real vision of Satoshi Nakamoto, the Founder of Bitcoin, so it’s not a medium exchange now and it’s not showing the characteristics of storing value in recent weeks, but who’s to know? History will tell us in time whether Bitcoin does become a store for value … and it possibly could. It’s hard to know – at this stage as there is a degree of volatility that suggests that it won’t be but who knows … there are so many variables and this may change over time.

Sputnik: Back in January, we were seeing a lot people who invested in Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies actually sell and re-invest in fiat depressed currencies like Gold and Silver. Are we seeing a return of traditional assets?

Mark: There definitely was a move and we saw that ourselves, I think the smarter people in the cryptocurrency space realized the gains we were seeing were oversized and we were therefore due a sharp correction. Some of those guys were diversifying into Gold and Silver, the two primary precious metals which have a proven store of value over time with a huge amount of research behind them, showing that they are hedges and a store of value.

I think this trend will continue due to the degree of volatility we’re seeing in markets and also the big risks that are out there in terms of things like Brexit and the Trump presidency. There is a lot of political and economic uncertainty out there which will lead to an increased demand for gold.

Ultimately, Gold is a reliable store of value as fiat currencies haven’t been a store of value for some time.

Mark Carney is now presiding over The Bank of England and sterling itself has been a terrible store of value. Sterling fell 30.2% in 2016 alone after the Brexit vote and that’s a massive fall in the value of sterling in one year. Over the last 15 years sterling was down 11.4% per annum against gold (see table above).

Gold has clearly shown its characteristics as a way to protect yourself as a true store of value against devaluation of fiat currencies. Fiat currencies lose their value over time.

There have been many reserve currencies throughout history. If you go back to 1450, it was the Portuguese who had the reserve currency of the world. It was then the Spanish, then the Dutch, then the French, then England during the British Empire and finally, more recently we have the American Dollar as the reserve currency of the world.

The dollar and the degree of debt that Trump is running up is out of control. Trump is running up a 1 trillion-dollar plus deficits now so I think there is a real risk that the dollar and other fiat currencies are going to be further debased in the coming years.

It’s for this reason that so many techies and investors believe in Bitcoin, because they think it will act as a hedge against this risk in the same way that gold does. I think that this has yet to be seen. It may well do, but there is no guarantee because there are so many variables.

Sputnik.com interview transcript here

News and Commentary

Gold prices inch down as dollar strengthens (Reuters.com)

Asia Stocks Track U.S. Futures Down; Dollar Steady (Bloomberg.com)

Zimbabwe Plans Gold, Tobacco Diaspora Bonds as Bank Rules Change (Bloomberg.com)

Congress sets sights on federal cryptocurrency rules (Reuters.com)

Morgan Stanley Says Stock Slide Was Appetizer for Real Deal (Bloomberg.com)

Source: MarketWatch

US Treasury Posts Gigantic $1.16 Trillion Shortfall in Fiscal 2017, Hilariously Points out “Where We Are Headed” (WolfStreet.com)

London’s Housing Boom Is Over, Rightmove Says (Bloomberg.com)

How One of the Most Profitable Trades of the Last Few Years Blew Up in a Single Day (Bloomberg.com)

World Embraces Debt At Exactly The Wrong Time (DollarCollapse)

Gold: Another Month, Another Test Of Key Resistance – But This Time With A Difference (GoldSeek.com)

Gold Prices (LBMA AM)

20 Feb: USD 1,337.40, GBP 955.97 & EUR 1,083.83 per ounce
19 Feb: USD 1,347.40, GBP 961.10 & EUR 1,085.47 per ounce
16 Feb: USD 1,358.60, GBP 964.61 & EUR 1,086.47 per ounce
15 Feb: USD 1,353.70, GBP 962.21 & EUR 1,084.45 per ounce
14 Feb: USD 1,330.75, GBP 959.74 & EUR 1,077.77 per ounce
13 Feb: USD 1,329.40, GBP 955.04 & EUR 1,077.61 per ounce
12 Feb: USD 1,321.70, GBP 955.19 & EUR 1,077.45 per ounce

Silver Prices (LBMA)

20 Feb: USD 16.57, GBP 11.85 & EUR 13.42 per ounce
19 Feb: USD 16.72, GBP 11.92 & EUR 13.46 per ounce
16 Feb: USD 16.84, GBP 11.97 & EUR 13.49 per ounce
15 Feb: USD 16.83, GBP 11.98 & EUR 13.49 per ounce
14 Feb: USD 16.58, GBP 11.97 & EUR 13.43 per ounce
13 Feb: USD 16.61, GBP 11.94 & EUR 13.46 per ounce
12 Feb: USD 16.43, GBP 11.86 & EUR 13.39 per ounce

Recent Market Updates

– Bank Bail-In Risk In European Countries Seen In 5 Key Charts
– US-China Trade War Escalates As Further Measures Are Taken
– Gold Up 3.8% In Week – If Closes Above $1,360/oz Will Be Biggest Weekly Gain In Nearly 2 Years
– Is The Gold Price Heading Higher? IG TV Interview GoldCore
– Global Debt Crisis II Cometh
– Sovereign Wealth Funds Investing In Gold For “Long Term Returns” – PwC
– Bitcoin and Crypto Prices Being Manipulated Like Precious Metals?
– “This Is Where They Completely Lost Their Minds” – Hussman
– Brexit Risks Increase – London Property Market and Pound Vulnerable
– Peak Gold: Global Gold Supply Flat In 2017 As China Output Falls By 9%
– Crypto Currency Backlash Sees Flight From Cryptos and Bitcoin
– Gold Rises As Global Stocks Plunge and Bitcoin Crashes 70%
– Shrinkflation Intensifies – Stealth Inflation As Thousands of Food Products Shrink In Size, Not Price

Mark O’Byrne

Executive Director

END

The reason gold had to be smashed yesterday:  the USA (as I indicated to you yesterday) sold a massive 179 billion dollars worth of treasuries

(courtesy Harris/Bloomberg/GATA)

No wonder gold had to be smashed today

Submitted by cpowell on Wed, 2018-02-21 00:17. Section: Daily Dispatches

U.S. Floods the Market with $179 Billion of Debt in Just One Day

By Alex Harris
Bloomberg News
Tuesday, February 20, 2018

The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday sold $179 billion of securities as it works to rebuild its cash balance, with yields at its auctions of three- and six-month debt rising to levels unseen since 2008.

The government began at 11:30 a.m. New York time by auctioning $51 billion of three-month bills at a yield of 1.64 percent, 6 basis points more than similar-tenor debt sold on Feb. 12, and $45 billion of six-month bills at 1.82 percent.

Its $55 billion sale of four-week notes at 1 p.m. had a yield of 1.38 percent, with a gauge of demand known as the bid-to-cover ratio falling to 2.48, the lowest level since 2008. The first coupon offering of the week, a $28 billion auction of two-year notes, yielded 2.255 percent, the highest in almost a decade. …

The $258 billion slate of U.S. auctions set for this week is helping to push up the rates investors demand. Concerns about the U.S. borrowing cap had forced the Treasury to trim the total amount of bills it had outstanding, but with the latest debt-ceiling drama over, the government is now busy ramping up issuance. …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/u-s-sells-bills-at-hi…

end

LAWRIE WILLIAMS: Russia now World no. 5 national gold holder – but is it?

Russia adds a considerable 19.7 tonnes to its official reserves which now stand at 1857. tonnes.

(courtesy Lawrie Williams/Sharp’s Pixley)

The day has come. Russia, which added 19.7 tonnes of gold to its forex reserves in January is now officially the world’s fifth largest national holder of gold as reported to the IMF. This latest figure moves it ahead of China, which has not reported any increases in its gold reserves since October 2016, in terms of reported official gold holdings.

The Russian reported total is now 1,857 tonnes as against China’s 1,842.6 tonnes, still well short of the U.S., German, Italian and French totals, but closing the gap as neither the USA, or big European gold holders have changed their reported holdings for a number of years now. It should be recognised that none of these are audited figures and the IMF relies on the levels of gold holdings as reported to it as being genuine. We have often stated that we do not believe the Chinese figures as reported, but then, in reality, one should perhaps also cast doubts on the veracity of other reported figures too – especially in relation to available gold given that, under the IMF’s reporting rules, gold which has been leased, or swapped, is allowed to remain in the official holding figure. It is known that some central banks have participated in gold leasing, or gold swap arrangements, but do not tend to report the amounts involved. The sizes of individual countries’ gold holdings have an overtly political agenda.

Regardless, we suspect the real Chinese gold reserve is considerably larger than stated and thus Russia’s position as the World No. 5 national holder of gold is perhaps unlikely with China, in reality, actually still in 5th place – or possibly even higher up the table!

Table: World Top 10 National Gold Holders*

Rank	Country	Tonnes
1	United States	8,133.5
2	Germany	3,373.6
3	Italy	2,451.8
4	France	2,436.0
5	Russia	1,857.0
6	China	1,838.8
7	Switzerland	1,040.0
8	Japan	765.2
9	Netherlands	612.5
10	Turkey	564.8

Source: IMF, Lawrieongold.com
*As reported to IMF.  Russian figure as reported by central bank

As can be seen from the above table, Russia still has a long way to go before catching France and Italy in the size of its gold reserve, but at the current rate of reserve growth could be there in a little over 2 years. Given the growth in its domestic gold production, from which it is believed to source most of its reserve gold, that is not an unrealistic target.

But the enigma is China. Apart from a 15-month period leading up to the yuan’s (renminbi’s) acceptance as a constituent of the IMF’s Special Drawing Right basket of currencies, China resolutely insisted on non-reporting of monthly increases in its gold reserve figure. Instead it would announce big increases in its holdings at five or six year intervals. It very much looks as if it is returning to this policy having not announced any increase in its gold reserve for 15 straight months – yet is understood to be a firm believer in the size and value of its gold holdings in any future global economic re- alignment, as is Russia.

In both China’s and Russia’s cases, building gold reserves as an integral, and growing, part of their forex reserves may also be in order to reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar and dollar related financial instruments in their reserves. There certainly seems to be a degree of growing U.S. economic hostility towards both nations and should this lead to a cutting off of some key financial dollar-related elements – such as access to the SWIFT global interbank system, controlled by the U.S. and its allies – then this diversification of reserves makes a lot of sense. Both Russia and China have been setting up an alternative to SWIFT which is just about ready to go live if needed.

https://www.sharpspixley.com/articles/lawrie-williams- russia-now-world-no-5-national-gold-holder-but-is- it_277004.html

-END-

---

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)Late TUESDAY night/WEDNESDAY morning: Shanghai closed /Hang Sang CLOSED UP 558.26 POINTS OR 1.81% / The Nikkei closed UP 45.71 POINTS OR 0.21%/Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP 0.03%/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP at 6.3415/Oil DOWN to 61.48 dollars per barrel for WTI and 65.14 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED DEEPLY IN THE RED  .   ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED XXX AGAINST THE DOLLAR AT XXX. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED XXX AGAINST  THE ONSHORE YUAN AT XXX//ONSHORE YUAN /OFFSHORE YUAN NOT TRADING

3 a NORTH KOREA/USA

/NORTH KOREA

 

3 b JAPAN AFFAIRS

c) REPORT ON CHINA

4. EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

Italy

In Italy, Tax evasion is considered a sport.  Now the Italian government has introduced a new automated tax snitch program trying to get at tax cheats.  Originally they had a program which highlighted if you spent too much one expenses that you had evaded taxes. Now a new program: if you do not access your bank account often enough, or save too much, you are targeted

a good one…

(courtesy Simon Black/SovereignMan)

Meet The Italian Government’s Orwellian New Automated Tax Snitch

Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

By the end of the 3rd century AD, the finances of ancient Rome were in terminal crisis.

Years and years of debasing the currency had resulted in severe hyperinflation– a period of Roman history known as the Crisis of the Third Century (from AD 235 through AD 284).

During the time of Julius Caesar, for example, the Roman silver denarius coin was nearly 98% pure silver.

Two centuries later in the mid-100s AD, the silver content had fallen to 83.5%.

And by the late 200s AD, the silver content in the denarius was just 5%.

As the money continued to be devalued, prices across the Empire skyrocketed.

Wheat, for example, rose in price by over 4,000% during the first three decades of the third century.

Rome was on the brink of collapse. And when Emperor Diocletian came to power at the end of the third century, he tried to stabilize the economy with his ill-fated Edict on Wages and Prices.

Diocletian’s infamous decree fixed the price of everything in the Empire. Food. Lumber. Salaries. Everything.

And anyone caught violating the prices set forth in his edict would be put to death.

Another one of Diocletian’s major policies was reforming the Roman tax system.

He mandated widespread census reports to determine precisely how much wealth and property each citizen had.

They counted every parcel of land, every piece of livestock, every bushel of wheat, and demanded from the population increasing amounts of tribute.

And anyone found violating this debilitating tax policy was punished with– you guessed it– the death penalty.

Needless to say, Diocletian’s reforms didn’t work.

Every high school economics student knows that wage and price controls don’t work… and that excessive taxation bankrupts the population.

But that doesn’t stop governments from trying the same tactics over and over again.

Fast forward about seventeen centuries and Italy is once again in the same boat.

The Italian government is one of the most bankrupt in the world; its debt level is an unbelievable 132% of GDP– and rising.

In other words, the Italian government’s debt is substantially larger than the value of the entire Italian economy.

It’s almost as bad as Greece, and it grows worse each year as the national government routinely runs budget deficits.

Their only solution, of course, is hiking taxes and increasing regulation… exactly the opposite of what they should be doing.

And, just like the ancient Romans, the government is on a witch hunt for anyone they think (in their sole discretion) might be dodging taxes.

They already have a system in place called the redditometro, an automated tool for the tax authorities to comb through income and expense records of Italian residents.

The algorithm finds anyone whose expenses were higher than his/her income and presumes that s/he has been evading taxes.

The irony here is pretty profound given that the Italian government itself has expenses that are higher than its income.

After all, that’s how it ended up with such a prodigious debt level.

Earlier this month, however, the Italian tax authorities rolled out a brand new tool called risparmiometro. And this one is really insidious.

Risparmiometro goes through ALL financial records – credit card transactions, bank accounts, investment accounts, etc. to determine whether or not someone has too much savings relative to his/her occupation.

Think of the implication.

Under the redditometro system, if you spend too much money, they think you’re evading taxes.

But under the risparmiometro system, if you save too much money, they think you’re evading taxes.

Unbelievable.

But it gets better.

Risparmiometro (the new tool) also looks at bank activity to see how frequently you’re using the account.

And if you’re not using the account frequently enough, the government assumes that it’s because you’re dealing in cash… and evading taxes.

I have no doubt that there’s a substantial amount of tax evasion in Italy.

I spend several weeks in the country every summer, and I see how much people and businesses are suffering.

And they’re definitely coming up with creative ways to survive.

But rather than take the necessary steps to liberate the economy, the government continues to double down on more taxes and more regulation… and then invest their remaining energy to develop new tools to spy on their citizens.

Two key points here:

1) Nearly ALL bankrupt governments invariably resort to this tactic at some point.

2) It’s also a great way to engineer a banking crisis.

Think about it– Italy’s banks are already teetering on collapse. Some have already failed, others are almost there.

If Italians know that the government is spying on every transaction they make (or don’t make), who in his/her right mind would want to keep money in an Italian bank?

Anyone with half a brain will be moving funds to Switzerland or Austria.

Italy’s banks are so fragile, though, that they won’t be able to survive if even a small percentage of their depositors flee.

So as the Italian government rolls out this new tool in the latest campaign of its tax jihad, they’re all but guaranteeing widespread bank failure.

It’s genius.

To continue learning how to legitimately reduce your taxes, I encourage you to download our free Perfect Plan B Guide.

end

Germany

A terrific commentary explaining the background on the German coalition and what to expect in the coming days/months

(courtesy Tom Luongo)

Merkel Is Forming A Coalition With The Wrong Party

Authored by Tom Luongo,

The last time I looked at the miasma of German coalition talks the big takeaway was the mood turning against the Social Democrats (SPD).

Today the latest polling confirms that the more Merkel tries to form a coalition with Martin Schultz and the SPD the more support the coalition loses.

There have been two polls recently, one which grabbed headlines showing that anti-immigration, Eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) is now ahead of the SPD nationally, 16% to 15.5%.  Another has AfD rising two points to 14%, though still four points behind the SPD.

The takeaway from these polls is not whether AfD is or is not more popular than the SPD at this point.  Coupling those results with the surprising rise of Angela Merkel’s Union party by two points in both polls a clear message from the German electorate emerges.

They want a government formed because they are unaccustomed to being without one, but they don’t want another grand collation between Merkel and the SPD.

That is the kind of formless, opinion-allergic government the German people are sick of.  They had that for the past four years and all it got them was more subservience to both Brussels and Washington D.C.

No, since Merkel has staunched the flow of immigrants into Germany – to help her re-election campaign – her leadership is, for now, acceptable to get things done.  But, what the German people are telling everyone is that they want her to shift farther ‘right’ rather than left in order to appease the SPD.

And that means a coalition with AfD, which, of course, is not possible with the current political leadership in Germany.  And that’s why AfD continues to take a larger bite out of the electoral pie.

Don’t Believe the Numbers

A new article over at the American Conservative by Doug Bandow goes into some great detail on the dynamics at play here.  He rightly points out that Germans are unhappy with the current status quo.

While no one doubts Merkel’s leadership, it is in service of a goal that is orthogonal to the desires of Germans.  German rejection of the openly Brussels-First Schultz is prima facia evidence of this.  Having Schultz gain significant concessions from Merkel in coalition talks may be good for SPD politicians in the short run.

They will get to distribute billions in new programs to buy votes with.  But, it will come at the expense of ceding greater control over Germany’s future to Brussels, since Schultz is resolutely in favor of the United States of Europe model for the European Union.

But, at the same time, I feel that Bandow makes the mistake of taking the current polling at its word.  As I said, part Merkel’s support comes from her willingness to form some majority government.

So, if that fails because the SPD rank and file vote against the coalition agreement then don’t expect the 30-32% support for the Union party to hold.  Other polls have shown more than two-thirds of Germans want Mrs. Merkel to step aside as Chancellor.

Bandow’s argument is that Germans won’t get what they want in an new election because the polls indicate similar results to what we’re currently seeing.  I disagree.

Because I don’t feel like the powers behind the scenes in Europe will allow Merkel to step aside.  They will continue to ply false choices to German voters in the hopes that they can create an acceptable outcome.

This was the strategy in 2017, using the already hated Schultz as Merkel’s stalking horse and help her cross the finish line with just enough support to continue as Chancellor.  It nearly worked.  The problem was that AfD and the other minor parties took the SPD’s losses, not the Union.

And that trend is still in place today.

So, the more likely outcome is that support for AfD will surge a minimum of three to four points (if not more) as Union support collapses.  This will be a minimum.  If Merkel doesn’t step aside the shift will be bigger, with AfD moving solidly above the 20% mark, taking points from the Union.

The Union Divide

At that point CSU leader and Bavarian Governor, Horst Seehofer, will have a major decision on his hands.  He could split the CDU/CSU at that point and a grand rearrangement of the board could take place.

We’re headed for an iceberg in Italy’s elections, which have tremendous bearing on the German political dynamic.  Germans do not want to bail out Italy or anyone else.  And a result in Italy in two weeks could easily bring a coalition to power hell bent on confrontation with Germany over Italy’s debt situation, which is unsustainable.

As I said a month ago:

So, unless there is the political will to consolidate all of Europe’s debt under one roof, this problem lands squarely at the feet of the ECB, the Bundesbank and the farce that is German politics.

This puts the decision on the Troika – The ECB, The IMF and the European Commission — to bail them out directly or kick Italy out of the euro.  And that’s smart politics.  Make Brussels the bad guy.  And [Lega Nord Leader Matteo] Salvini is already playing that tune perfectly.

If they were all smart, they would have the Lira ready to deploy if things go south.

So, a second round of elections that strengthens the hand of German nationalists is exactly what Merkel and Schultz are trying to avoid with this grand coalition farce.  And the German people are beginning to see things clearly.

end

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

end

6 .GLOBAL ISSUES

Sweden

Interesting:  Sweden is the world’s biggest nation to go cashless.  Now they are worried that the cashless part is going too fast

(courtesy zerohedge)

Swedish Authorities Fear “Negative Spiral” As Society Goes Cashless ‘Too Fast’

In 1660, Sweden’s Riksbank was the first central bank in the world to issue paper currency.

In 2016, Sweden began to accelerate its transition from cash to digital currency.

At the time, Deputy Riksbank Governor Cecilia Skingsley warned:

“We need to do the homework because it’s not an option for the public sector to stay on the sidelines and see the private sector cut off access to central bank money for individuals.”

A year later, in 2017, cash in circulation was plummeting and establishment economists celebrated the battle in the war on cash.

Additionally, Riksbank was actively looking toward cryptocurrencies as potential government-backed money.

But now, in 2018, Swedish officials are worried that too much (or too little in this case) is a bad thing warning:

“If this development with cash disappearing happens too fast, it can be difficult to maintain the infrastructure” for handling cash.

As Bloomberg reports, Sweden is widely regarded as the most cashless society on the planet. Most of the country’s bank branches have stopped handling cash; many shops, museums and restaurants now only accept plastic or mobile payments.

But there’s a downside, since many people, in particular the elderly, don’t have access to the digital society.

“No cash accepted” signs are becoming an increasingly common sight in shops and eateries across Sweden as payments go digital and mobile.

Last year, the amount of cash in circulation in Sweden dropped to the lowest level since 1990 and is more than 40 percent below its 2007 peak. The declines in 2016 and 2017 were the biggest on record.

But the pace at which cash is vanishing has authorities worried.

“One may get into a negative spiral which can threaten the cash infrastructure,” Mats Dillen, the head of the parliamentary review, said.

“It’s those types of issues we are looking more closely at.”

Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves has said Sweden should consider forcing banks to provide cash to customers. In its annual report on Monday, the Riksbank said the question is what role it should play in a future with even fewer cash payments.

“The Riksbank is carefully analyzing this development,” Ingves said.

“Overall, I think we are facing structural changes in areas that have previously been stable. This is a development which will affect all the Riksbank’s departments and we will need to make strategic decisions regarding the way forward.”

If you have any misguided notion that a cashless society is not coming, just keep telling yourself that every time you use a debit card, credit card or your phone for your next purchase. With the elimination of cash we effectively hand over our individual human sovereignty to the banks and the government.

*  *  *

Finally we leave you with Harvard’s latest study on which nations would ‘benefit’ the most from going cashless…

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7. OIL ISSUES

There is a huge shortage of Frac sand which is in integral part of the shale production. It is hard and made up of round particles and is very porous..ideal for fracing

so we now have two fold problems

1. shortage of rail cars to transport shale

2. shortage of frac sand.

(courtesy Nick Cunningham/OilPrice.com)

Frac Sand Shortage Threatens Shale Boom

Authored by Nick Cunningham via OilPrice.com,

Higher drilling costs could threaten the recent surge in United States shale production. 

Halliburton said last week that its earnings could be negatively impacted because of bottlenecks related to the supply of frac sand used in shale drilling. The Wall Street Journal reported that Halliburton’s shares were briefly halted on February 15 after Halliburton’s CFO Chris Weber told an audience at the Credit Suisse Energy Summit that the company’s first quarter earnings could take a hit by a whopping 10 cents per share.

The reason, he said, was because of delays by Canadian rail companies that would slow the delivery of frac sand. Halliburton saw its shares drop by more than 2 percent on a day that saw broader gains to the S&P 500.

Frac sand is integral to growing shale production, increasingly so these days with more and more sand pumped down into a well. Shale drillers have credited the heavy doses of sand with squeezing out more oil and gas from the average well. Demand for frac sand surged from 34 million tons in 2012 to 61.5 million tons in 2014. Consumption fell in the ensuing years as drilling dried up when oil prices collapsed, but frac sand consumption surpassed previous highs in 2017 as drilling resoundingly came back.

In 2018, frac sand demand is expected to top 100 million tons, according to Rystad Energy. “Right now, the market is really stretched thin,” says Thomas Jacob, a senior analyst at IHS Markit, told the FT in December. “Everyone is running at full capacity.”

Much of the frac sand has come from places like Wisconsin, which produces “northern white sand” that is hard and round, helping to create porous fractures in shale wells. It is high quality, but expensive, particularly because it has to be shipped by rail to Texas shale fields. The FT reported that frac sand could cost $120 per short ton on at the Texas well head in 2017, essentially triple what it costs at the mine in the northern U.S.

That led to new investment in frac sand mining in Texas, where “brown sand” could be produced. The quality was not as good, with finer grains, but Texas brown sand could cost a third less than its northern cousin, and it is located much closer to drilling operations.

But as the mines in Texas are still in the process of coming online, the U.S. shale industry’s dependence on far away suppliers continues. And because drilling is ramping up, and the average shale driller is using more proppant than ever before, sand supplies are feeling the strain.

“During the fourth quarter, we also saw cost inflation in sand and trucking. The price of sand escalated over the last few months of 2017,” Jeff Miller, Halliburton’s President and CEO, told investors on an earnings call in January. “[B]ut I believe that increasing sand capacity, particularly from localized mines combined with our supply chain strategy will reduce the cost throughout 2018.”

He went on to try to reassure investors. “Now, these headwinds were anticipated, are transitory, and are not a surprise at this point in the cycle,” Miller said.

The effects could wear off as new mines startup close to the action in the Permian. “We’re using local sand with a few customers in the Permian and I believe this will become an increasing trend as additional capacity is activated. Therefore, sand cost should go down in 2018 as regional sand mines come on line and capacity is increased,” Halliburton’s CEO Jeff Miller said last month. “This will not happen overnight, but we are working with our customers and suppliers to ensure that we can provide desired profit at a reasonable cost.”

In the meantime, drilling operations could face some obstacles. The WSJ reported that Evercore ISI warned in a research note that “customer frustration is rampant given the impact to production. Most other pressure pumpers will likely see similar headwinds, further hampered by the cold weather Texas experienced in January.” Canadian National Railway Co. said that it halted all new frac-sand shipments for a week in Minnesota and Wisconsin during some brutally cold winter weather

It will be a while before the impact on oil production, if any, becomes clear. But Halliburton’s warnings indicate some near-term problems for shale drillers.

END

Both oil and gasoline rebound after a surprise drawdown

(courtesy zerohedge)

WTI/RBOB Rebound After Surprise Crude Draw

Dollar strength today did not help the energy complex as WTI/RBOB slipped lower into tonight’s API data, but a surprise crude draw sparked a rebound in oil prices after hours.

API

• Crude -907k (+2.9mm exp)
• Cushing -2.644mm
• Gasoline +1.644mm
• Distillates -3.563mm

After 3 weeks of builds, API reports a crude draw this week and notable draw in Distillates inventories also…

OPEC has “taken a lot of production off the table, but it’s just being replaced by U.S. production to a large degree,” Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities USA Inc. in New York told Bloomberg.Cartel members recently sought to reassure investors about their resolve but “the market’s not buying it.”

But prices kneejerked higher after tonight’s API data showed a surprise (small) crude draw…

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THIS HAS NO CHANCE OF SURVIVING:  Maduro launches his oil backed crypto currency

(courtesy zerohedge)

“The Petro Is Born Today” – Maduro Launches Oil-Backed Crypto “For The Welfare Of Venezuela”

More than two months after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced his intention to launch the world’s first state-sponsored cryptocurrency to try and help Venezuela raise some badly needed foreign capital, the Petro – backed by 5 billion barrels of oil that are still waiting to be pumped out of a local oilfield – is now a reality.

Venezuela first tipped its hand at its intentions over the summer, when it appointed what we believe to be the world’s first “superintendent of cryptocurrency.”

The Venezuelan government has been saying for months that the Petro would be available for sale beginning Feb. 20. According to Bloomberg, it’ll be a few weeks – if not months – before we know anything about the cryptocurrency.

Developed in secret, the project was spearheaded by a 27-year-old blockchain engineer who, according to Bloomberg, earnestly believes in the power of crypto to rescue one of the world’s most repressive regimes from one of the worst economic disasters unfolding anywhere…

However, it turns out that the sale is the culmination of months of work, much of it done quietly by top bureaucrats loyal to Maduro. Working alongside them has been a 27-year-old Venezuelan technology entrepreneur named Gabriel Jimenez, who says he’s spent months helping develop the concept of the Petro and remains certain of its power to fix what ails Venezuela. “This is a lot more ambitious than just a cryptocurrency. It’s a project which I, along with a national and international team, have worked arduously to benefit this country,” says Jimenez. He says he hasn’t been paid for his work and will be compensated only in Petros if the token succeeds.

For the past seven months, Jimenez has been part of a government team working in secret in Caracas to study how cryptocurrencies could alleviate some of Venezuela’s deepest problems, including its recent lack of bank notes. Despite importing billions of banknotes, Venezuela’s worthless currency has struggled to keep up with quadruple-figure inflation that values the highest-denominated bill (100,000 bolivars) at just 50 cents. As a result, ATMs are empty across Caracas, and local banks limit customers to withdrawals equivalent to just a few cents a day.

Rather than build their own system from scratch, the Petro is built atop the ethereum blockchain. Venezuela’s petro team reportedly paid a visit to China, where People’s Bank of China is supervising crypto trials of its own.

Maduro’s near-daily updates about the status of the Petro were reportedly a headache for the team of engineers, who had to talk him out of setting the initial price close to the present value of a barrel of oil.

Maduro’s spontaneous, running commentary on the Petro during his near-daily television appearances has caused headaches for the Petro team, which must constantly change the currency’s parameters or speed up work to fit the president’s latest ideas, according to two people with the project. For example, in December, when Maduro announced that virtual exchange houses were in a trial stage, they were just being programmed, two people familiar with the work said.

During a speech in early January, Maduro mentioned a $60 price per Petro, roughly the current value of a barrel of oil. Some on the team disagreed, saying it was too high and warning that early volatility in the currency could bring huge losses to initial buyers. In the end, a series of decreasing discounts was set in place that mean only 24 million Petros (of a total of 100 million) will cost the full price. Under this system, earlier buyers will be rewarded with a better price.

Venezuela also hosted a cryptocurrency forum last year and invited several high-profile cryptocurrency experts. However, all three of the invitees later refused to endorse the government’s “technical specs” for the Petro.

At the event, Evercoin exchange founder Miko Matsumura, digital-currency attorney Carol Van Cleef, and Bitcoin Center NYC founder Nick Spanos praised the idea of an open currency and a transparent marketplace, according to people familiar with the event.

…

Yet afterward, all three stopped short of signing onto the government’s technical specs for the Petro, enshrined in a white paper that has circulated among the top levels of Maduro’s government and has, over time, become more and more a political document infused with socialist doctrine.

To fuel demand, the government guarantees that it will accept the Petro as payment for taxes and fees. It has also said it will seek to promote the Petro abroad.

President Maduro was quoted as saying in a launch announcement:

“Petro is born and we are going to have a total success for the welfare of Venezuela… The largest and most important companies and blockchain in the world are with Venezuela, we are going to sign agreements.”

And it appears the Maduro government was successful in securing buyers. After trip to Dubai, Maduro announced Tuesday that 40 million Petros (out of an offering size of 100 million) had already been placed with institutional investors, leaving the administration wide latitude to offer discounts and other enticements (no word yet on whether Goldman Sachs has already signed on). Members of the public won’t be able to buy their Petros for another month.

While it’s unconventional, after the US adopted a ban on trading in Venezuelan debt in August, the country has been effectively shut out of global debt markets. Some see the Petro as a potentially illegal way to circumvent these restrictions.

Already, US politicians are trying to subject the Petro to the same sanctions affecting other Venezuelan assets. Last month, US Senators Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez urged US Treasury Department Secretary Steven Mnuchin “to outline the department’s enforcement mechanisms and efforts to combat the Maduro regime’s plans to use cryptocurrencies to evade U.S. sanctions.”

“Maduro has proven that he will use every tool at his disposal to perpetuate his authoritarian objectives, including financial lifelines from Russia and China. As such, we are concerned that a cryptocurrency could provide Maduro a mechanism by which to make payments to foreign lenders and bondholders in the United States, actions that would clearly thwart the intent of U.S.-imposed sanctions,” the Senators wrote.

According to Reuters, the Petro has already attracted investments from Turkey, Qatar, Europe and even the US, according to the country’s cryptocurrency regulator (obviously not the most reliable source when it comes to this).

Tsvetana Paraskova, an analyst at oilprice.com, said few expect the Petro to bring real benefits either to Venezuela’s ravaged economy or its people, who are still suffering from a shortage of basic necessities, as the IMF expects inflation to rise 13,000% this year.

END

8. EMERGING MARKET

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

TRADING IN GRAPH FORM FOR THE DAY

HARVEY