GOLD: $1324.15 UP $.85 (COMEX TO COMEX CLOSING)
Silver: $14.79 UP 1 CENT (COMEX TO COMEX CLOSING)
Closing access prices:
Gold : 1325.80
silver: $14.83
TODAY’S DOW/NASDAQ RISE WAS CAUSED BY POWELL RELENTING AND STATING THAT HE MAY NEED NEW TOOLS TO FIGHT THE SOFTENING ECONOMY
HE WAS HINTING ON TWO THINGS:
- CUTTING RATES
- USING NIRP AND ZIRP AS WORLD GROWTH CRUMBLES TO NOTHING
GOLD AND SILVER SHOULD HAVE SKYROCKETED ON THIS NEWS BUT WAS HELD BACK BY THE BANKERS
THIS TIME, LOWER RATES WILL NOT HELP THE ECONOMIES OF THE WORLD.
YOUR DATA…
JPMorgan has been receiving gold with reckless abandon and sometimes supplying (stopping)
today RECEIVING 61/358
EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: JUNE 2019 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 1,322.700000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 06/03/2019 DELIVERY DATE: 06/05/2019
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED
____________________________________________________________________________________________
323 H HSBC 217
357 C WEDBUSH 1
435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 350
657 C MORGAN STANLEY 9
661 C JP MORGAN 61
686 C INTL FCSTONE 5 40
737 C ADVANTAGE 2 19
800 C MAREX SPEC 7
905 C ADM 1 4
____________________________________________________________________________________________
TOTAL: 358 358
MONTH TO DATE: 448
NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR MAY CONTRACT: 358 NOTICE(S) FOR 35800 OZ (1.1113 tonnes)
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED SO FAR: 448 NOTICES FOR 44,800 OZ (1.393 TONNES)
SILVER
FOR JUNE
1 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 5,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month: 262 for 1310,000 oz
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Bitcoin: OPENING MORNING TRADE : $ 7956 DOWN 230
Bitcoin: FINAL EVENING TRADE: $ 7650 DOWN 545
end
XXXX
Let us have a look at the data for today
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IN SILVER THE COMEX OI ROSE BY A CONSIDERABLE SIZED 3517 CONTRACTS FROM 209,964 UP TO 213,481 DESPITE THE 19 CENT GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX.( LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADERS HAVE STOPPED FOR SILVER AND IT STOPPED FOR GOLD AS WELL. WE WILL WITNESS A RISE IN THE SPREADERS IN SILVER ONCE WE START TRADING IN JUNE… READY FOR THE FIRST DAY NOTICE JULY CONTRACT.) TODAY WE ARRIVED FURTHER FROM AUGUST’S 2018 RECORD SETTING OPEN INTEREST OF 244,196 CONTRACTS.
WE HAVE ALSO WITNESSED A LARGE AMOUNT OF PHYSICAL METAL STAND FOR COMEX DELIVERY AS WELL WE ARE WITNESSING CONSIDERABLE LONGS PACKING THEIR BAGS AND MIGRATING OVER TO LONDON IN GREATER NUMBERS IN THE FORM OF EFP’S. WE WERE NOTIFIED THAT WE HAD A HUGE SIZED NUMBER OF COMEX LONGS TRANSFERRING THEIR CONTRACTS TO LONDON THROUGH THE EFP:
0 FOR MAY, 0 FOR JUNE, 3658 FOR JULY AND ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS AND THEREFORE TOTAL ISSUANCE 3658 CONTRACTS. WITH THE TRANSFER OF 3658 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 24-48 HRS IN THE ISSUING OF EFP’S. THE 3658 EFP CONTRACTS TRANSLATES INTO 18.29 MILLION OZ ACCOMPANYING:
1.THE 19 CENT GAIN IN SILVER PRICE AT THE COMEX AND
2. THE STRONG AMOUNT OF SILVER OUNCES WHICH STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE LAST NINE MONTHS:
JUNE/2018. (5.420 MILLION OZ);
FOR JULY: 30.370 MILLION OZ
FOR AUG., 6.065 MILLION OZ
FOR SEPT. 39.505 MILLION OZ S
FOR OCT.2.525 MILLION OZ.
FOR NOV: A HUGE 7.440 MILLION OZ STANDING AND
21.925 MILLION OZ FINALLY STAND FOR DECEMBER.
5.845 MILLION OZ STAND IN JANUARY.
2.955 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR FEBRUARY.:
27.120 MILLION OZ STANDING IN MARCH.
3.875 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR SILVER IN APRIL.
18.845 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR SILVER IN MAY.
1.330 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR SILVER IN JUNE//
ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S/SILVER/J.P.MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES, / STARTING FROM FIRST DAY NOTICE/FOR MONTH OF JUNE:
6523 CONTRACTS (FOR 2 TRADING DAYS TOTAL 6523 CONTRACTS) OR 32.615 MILLION OZ: (AVERAGE PER DAY: 3,262 CONTRACTS OR 16.30 MILLION OZ/DAY)
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE HUGE SUPPLY THIS MONTH IN SILVER: SO FAR THIS MONTH OF JUNE: 16.30 MILLION PAPER OZ HAVE MORPHED OVER TO LONDON. THIS REPRESENTS AROUND 2.32% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION (EX CHINA EX RUSSIA)* JUNE’S 345.43 MILLION OZ IS THE SECOND HIGHEST RECORDED ISSUANCE OF EFP’S AND IT FOLLOWED THE RECORD SET IN APRIL 2018 OF 385.75 MILLION OZ.
ACCUMULATION IN YEAR 2019 TO DATE SILVER EFP’S: 921.32 MILLION OZ.
JANUARY 2019 EFP TOTALS: 217.455. MILLION OZ
FEB 2019 TOTALS: 147.4 MILLION OZ/
MARCH 2019 TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 207.835 MILLION OZ
APRIL 2019 TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 182.87 MILLION OZ.
MAY 2019: TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 136.55 MILLION OZ
RESULT: WE HAD A HUGE SIZED INCREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 3658 WITH THE 19 CENT GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX /YESTERDAY... THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A VERY HUGE SIZED EFP ISSUANCE OF 3658 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 (SEE COMEX DATA) . OUR BANKERS WILL RESUME THEIR LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREAD TRADES FOR SILVER ONCE THE JUNE CONTRACT COMMENCES IN EARNEST….
TODAY WE GAINED AN ATMOSPHERIC SIZED: 7175 TOTAL OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES:
i.e 3658 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS HEADED FOR LONDON (EFP’s) TOGETHER WITH INCREASE OF 3517 OI COMEX CONTRACTS. AND ALL OF THIS DEMAND HAPPENED WITH A 19 CENT GAIN IN PRICE OF SILVER AND A CLOSING PRICE OF $14.78 WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING. YET WE STILL HAVE A STRONG AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING AT THE COMEX FOR DELIVERY!!
In ounces AT THE COMEX, the OI is still represented by JUST OVER 1 BILLION oz i.e. 1.067 BILLION OZ TO BE EXACT or 152% of annual global silver production (ex Russia & ex China).
FOR THE NEW FRONT MARCH MONTH/ THEY FILED AT THE COMEX: 1 NOTICE(S) FOR 5,000, OZ OF SILVER
IN SILVER,PRIOR TO TODAY, WE SET THE NEW COMEX RECORD OF OPEN INTEREST AT 243,411 CONTRACTS ON APRIL 9.2018. AND AGAIN THIS HAS BEEN SET WITH A LOW PRICE OF $16.51.
AND NOW WE RECORD FOR POSTERITY ANOTHER ALL TIME RECORD OPEN INTEREST AT THE COMEX OF 244,196 CONTRACTS ON AUGUST 22/2018 AND AGAIN WHEN THIS RECORD WAS SET, THE PRICE OF SILVER WAS $14.78 AND LOWER IN PRICE THAN PREVIOUS RECORDS.
ON THE DEMAND SIDE WE HAVE THE FOLLOWING:
- HUGE AMOUNTS OF SILVER STANDING FOR DELIVERY (MARCH/2018: 27 MILLION OZ , APRIL/2018 : 2.485 MILLION OZ MAY: 36.285 MILLION OZ ; JUNE/2018 (5.420 MILLION OZ) , JULY 2018 FINAL AMOUNT STANDING: 30.370 MILLION OZ ) FOR AUGUST 6.065 MILLION OZ. , SEPT: A HUGE 39.505 MILLION OZ./ OCTOBER: 2,520,000 oz NOV AT 7.440 MILLION OZ./ DEC. AT 21.925 MILLION OZ JANUARY AT 5.825 MILLION OZ.AND FEB 2019: 2.955 MILLION OZ/ MARCH: 27.120 MILLION OZ/ APRIL AT 3.875 MILLION OZ/ A MAY: 18.845 MILLION OZ ..JUNE 1.330 MILLION OZ//
- HUGE RECORD OPEN INTEREST IN SILVER 243,411 CONTRACTS (OR 1.217 BILLION OZ/ SET APRIL 9/2018) AND NOW AUGUST 22/2018: 244,196 CONTRACTS, WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78.
- HUGE ANNUAL EFP’S ISSUANCE EQUAL TO 2.9 BILLION OZ OR 400% OF SILVER ANNUAL PRODUCTION/2017
- RECORD SETTING EFP ISSUANCE FOR ANY MONTH IN SILVER; APRIL/2018/ 385.75 MILLION OZ/ AND THE SECOND HIGHEST RECORDED EFP ISSUANCE JUNE 2018 345.43 MILLION OZ
AND YET, WITH THE EXTREMELY HIGH EFP ISSUANCE, WE HAVE A CONTINUAL LOW PRICE OF SILVER DESPITE THE ABOVE HUGE DEMAND. TO ME THE ONLY ANSWER IS THAT WE HAVE SOVEREIGN (CHINA) WHO IS ENDEAVOURING TO GOBBLE UP ALL AVAILABLE PHYSICAL SILVER NO MATTER WHERE, EXACTLY WHAT J.P.MORGAN IS DOING. AND IT IS MY BELIEF THAT J.P.MORGAN IS HOLDING ITS SILVER FOR ITS BENEFICIAL OWNER..THE USA GOVERNMENT WHO IN TURN IS HOLDING THAT SILVER FOR CHINA.(FOR A SILVER LOAN REPAYMENT).
IN GOLD, THE OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A HUMONGOUS SIZED 11,627 CONTRACTS, TO 476,704 WITH THE $17.50 PRICE GAIN WITH RESPECT TO COMEX GOLD PRICING FRIDAY// YESTERDAY/THE SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS STOPPED AND THESE SPREADING FELLOWS WILL MORPH INTO SILVER ONCE JUNE GETS UNDERWAY. THE GAIN IN OI GOLD CONTRACTS IS REAL AND NOT PUMPED UP BY SPREADING.
THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A STRONG SIZED 12,400 CONTRACTS:
APRIL 0 CONTRACTS,JUNE: 0 CONTRACTS, AUGUST 2019: 12,400 CONTRACTS, JUNE 2020 0 CONTRACTS AND ALL OTHER MONTHS ZERO. The NEW COMEX OI for the gold complex rests at 476,704. 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. . 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 AND WE ARE WITNESSING DELAYS IN ACTUAL DELIVERIES.
IN ESSENCE WE HAVE AN ATMOSPHERIC SIZED GAIN IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 24,027 CONTRACTS: 11,627 OI CONTRACTS INCREASED AT THE COMEX AND 12,400 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN OF 24,027 CONTRACTS OR 2,402,700 OZ OR 74.73 TONNES. YESTERDAY WE HAD A GOOD GAIN OF $17.50 IN GOLD TRADING….AND WITH THAT GAIN IN PRICE, WE HAD A HUMONGOUS GAIN IN GOLD TONNAGE OF 74.73 TONNES!!!!!! THE BANKERS WERE SUPPLYING COPIOUS SUPPLIES OF SHORT GOLD COMEX PAPER.
WITH RESPECT TO SPREADING: WE HAD ZERO ACTIVITY OF THE SPREADERS//
.
FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE IS THE MODUS OPERANDI OF THE CORRUPT BANKERS WITH RESPECT TO THEIR SPREAD/TRADING.
AS I HAVE MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS COMMENTARIES:
“AS YOU WILL SEE, THE CROOKS WILL NOW SWITCHED TO SILVER AS THEY INCREASE THE OPEN INTEREST FOR THE SPREADERS. THE TOTAL COMEX SILVER OPEN INTEREST WILL RISE FROM NOW ON UNTIL ONE WEEK PRIOR TO FIRST DAY NOTICE AND THAT IS WHEN THEY START THEIR CRIMINAL LIQUIDATION.
HERE IS HOW THE CROOKS USED SPREADING AS WE ARE NO INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MAY HEADING TOWARDS THE VERY ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF JUNE.
AS I HAVE MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS COMMENTARIES, HERE IS THE BANKERS MODUS OPERANDI:
YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST IS STARTING TO RISE IN THIS NON ACTIVE MONTH OF MAY BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN SILVER WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (JUNE), AND THAT IS WHEN THE CROOKS SELL THEIR SPREAD POSITIONS BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY. THEY WILL USE THE SELL SIDE OF THE EQUATION TO CREATE THE CASCADE (ALONG WITH THEIR COLLUSIVE FRIENDS) AND THEN COVER ON THE BUY SIDE OF THE SPREAD SITUATION AT THE END OF THE DAY. THEY DO THIS TO AVOID POSITION LIMIT DETECTION. THE LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADING FORMATION CONTINUES FOR EXACTLY ONE WEEK AND ENDS ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.”
ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF MAY : 27,485 CONTRACTS OR 2,748,500 OR 85.48 TONNES (2 TRADING DAYS AND THUS AVERAGING: 13,742 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE STRONG SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 2 TRADING DAYS IN TONNES: 85.48 TONNES
TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2018, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES
THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 85.48/3550 x 100% TONNES =1.32% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION
ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2019 TO DATE: 2363.4 TONNES
JANUARY 2019 TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE; 531.20 TONNES
FEB 2019 TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 344.36 TONNES
MARCH 2019 TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 497.16 TONNES
APRIL 2019 TOTAL ISSUANCE: 456.10 TONNES
MAY 2019 TOTAL ISSUANCE: 449.10 TONNES
WHAT IS ALARMING TO ME, ACCORDING TO OUR LONDON EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE IS THAT THESE EFP’S ARE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WHAT ARE CALLEDRIAL FORWARD CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS AND THESE CONTRACTS ARE LESS THAN 14 DAYS. ANYTHING GREATER THAN 14 DAYS, THESE MUST BE RECORDED AND SENT TO THE COMPTROLLER, GREAT BRITAIN TO MONITOR RISK TO THE BANKING SYSTEM. IF THIS IS INDEED TRUE, THEN THIS IS A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD AS WE NOW WITNESS A MONSTROUS TOTAL EFP’S ISSUANCE AS IT HEADS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE.
Result: A HUGE SIZED INCREASE IN OI AT THE COMEX OF 11,627 WITH THE PRICING GAIN THAT GOLD UNDERTOOK ON YESTERDAY($17.50)) //.WE ALSO HAD A STRONG SIZED NUMBER OF COMEX LONG TRANSFERRING TO LONDON THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE: 12,400 CONTRACTS AS THESE HAVE ALREADY BEEN NEGOTIATED AND CONFIRMED. THERE OBVIOUSLY DOES NOT SEEM TO BE MUCH PHYSICAL GOLD AT THE COMEX. 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 12,400 EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED, WE HAD AN ATMOSPHERIC SIZED GAIN OF 24,027 CONTRACTS IN TOTAL OPEN INTEREST ON THE TWO EXCHANGES:
12,400 CONTRACTS MOVE TO LONDON AND 11,627 CONTRACTS INCREASED AT THE COMEX. (IN TONNES, THE GAIN IN TOTAL OI EQUATES TO 74.73 TONNES). ..AND THIS GAIN OF DEMAND OCCURRED WITH THE RISE IN PRICE OF $17.50 WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING AT THE COMEX. WE HAD ZERO PRESENCE OF SPREADING LIQUIDATION ///TODAY/
we had: 358 notice(s) filed upon for 35,800 oz of gold at the comex.
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With respect to our two criminal funds, the GLD and the SLV:
GLD...
WITH GOLD UP $0.85 TODAY//SEEMS THE BOYS FOUND RELIGION
A MONSTROUS CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A HUGE “PAPER” GOLD DEPOSIT OF 16.44 TONNES. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY THAT THEY FOUND ANYTHING CLOSE TO THIS TONNAGE…THUS IT WAS ONLY A PAPER GAIN.
INVENTORY RESTS AT 759.65 TONNES
TO ALL INVESTORS THINKING OF BUYING GOLD THROUGH THE GLD ROUTE: YOU ARE MAKING A TERRIBLE MISTAKE AS THE CROOKS ARE USING WHATEVER GOLD COMES IN TO ATTACK BY SELLING THAT GOLD. IT SURE SEEMS TO ME THAT THE GOLD OBLIGATIONS AT THE GLD EXCEED THEIR INVENTORY
SLV/
WITH SILVER UP 1 CENT TODAY:
NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV:
/INVENTORY RESTS AT 312.038 MILLION OZ.
end
OUTLINE OF TOPICS TONIGHT
First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:
1. Today, we had the open interest in SILVER ROSE BY A HUMONGOUS SIZED 3517 CONTRACTS from 210,267 UP TO 213,481 AND CLOSER TO THE NEW COMEX RECORD SET LAST IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS SET ON APRIL 9/2018 AT 243,411 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS WITH THE SILVER PRICE AT THAT DAY: $16.53). AND PREVIOUS TO THAT, THE RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED AT: 234,787 CONTRACTS, SET ON APRIL 21.2017 OVER 1 1/3 YEARS AGO. THE PRICE OF SILVER ON THAT DAY: $17.89. AS YOU CAN SEE, WE HAVE RECORD HIGH OPEN INTERESTS IN SILVER ACCOMPANIED BY A CONTINUAL LOWER PRICE WHEN THAT RECORD WAS SET…..THE SPREADERS HAVE STOPPED THEIR LIQUIDATION IN SILVER AND GOLD FOR NOW BUT WILL NOW MORPH INTO SILVER AS THE COMEX SILVER MONTH OF JUNE COMMENCES IN EARNEST..
EFP ISSUANCE:
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
0 CONTRACTS FOR APRIL., 0 FOR MAY, FOR JUNE 0 CONTRACTS AND JULY: 3658 CONTRACTS AND ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 3658 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE OI GAIN AT THE COMEX OF 3517 CONTRACTS TO THE 3658 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S, WE OBTAIN AN ATMOSPHERIC GAIN OF 7175 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS. THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES: 35.875MILLION OZ!!! AND YET WE ALSO HAVE A STRONG DEMAND FOR PHYSICAL AS WE WITNESSED A FINAL STANDING OF GREATER THAN 30 MILLION OZ FOR JULY, A STRONG 7.475 MILLION OZ FOR AUGUST.. A HUGE 39.505 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR SILVER IN SEPTEMBER… OVER 2 million OZ STANDING FOR THE NON ACTIVE MONTH OF OCTOBER., 7.440 MILLION OZ FINALLY STANDING IN NOVEMBER. 21.925 MILLION OZ STANDING IN DECEMBER , 5.845 MILLION OZ STANDING IN JANUARY. 2.955 MILLION OZ STANDING IN FEBRUARY, 27.120 MILLION OZ FOR MARCH., 3.875 MILLION OZ FOR APRIL 18.765 MILLION OZ FOR MAY AND NOW 1.330 MILLION OZ FOR JUNE.
RESULT: A HUGE SIZED INCREASE IN SILVER OI AT THE COMEX WITH THE 19 CENT GAIN IN PRICING THAT SILVER UNDERTOOK IN PRICING// YESTERDAY. WE ALSO HAD A HUGE SIZED 3658 EFP’S ISSUED TRANSFERRING COMEX LONGS OVER TO LONDON. TOGETHER WITH THE STRONG SIZED AMOUNT OF SILVER OUNCES STANDING FOR THIS MONTH, DEMAND FOR PHYSICAL SILVER CONTINUES TO INTENSIFY AS WE WITNESS SEVERE BACKWARDATION IN SILVER IN LONDON.
BOTH THE SILVER COMEX AND THE GOLD COMEX ARE IN STRESS AS THE BANKERS SCOUR THE BOWELS OF THE EXCHANGE FOR METAL
(report Harvey)
.
2 ) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe, Goldcore
(Mark O’Byrne/zerohedge
and in NY: Bloomberg
3. ASIAN AFFAIRS
I)TUESDAY MORNING/ MONDAY NIGHT:
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 27.80 POINTS OR 0.96% //Hang Sang CLOSED DOWN 132.34 POINTS OR 0.49% /The Nikkei closed DOWN 2.34 POINTS OR 0.01%//Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP .01%
/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN at 6.9087 /Oil DOWN TO 52.49 dollars per barrel for WTI and 60.38 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED RED// ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP // LAST AT 6.9087 AGAINST THE DOLLAR. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN ON THE DOLLAR AT 6.9287 TRADE TALKS STALL//YUAN LEVELS GETTING DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO 7:1//TRUMP INITIATES A NEW 25% TARIFFS FRIDAY/MAY 10/MAJOR PROBLEMS AT HUAWEI /CFO ARRESTED : /ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST USA DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST THE DOLLAR /TRADE DEAL NOW DEAD..TRUMP RAISED RATES TO 25%
3A//NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA
b) REPORT ON JAPAN
3 China/Chinese affairs
i)China
In a new report, we find out how China is circumventing the tariffs by exporting to nations not subject to tariffs and then this is re imported back into the USA without the tariffs implemented.
( zerohedge)
ii)Yesterday, Beijing warned students about studying in the USA. Now they take it one step further by issuing an official travel advisory highlighting the risks of traveling in the uSA i.e.” robbery and theft”
( zerohedge)
4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
i)UK
This is a big story!! One of England’s biggest and respected Hedge Fund, Neil Woodford has blocked redemptions from his huge 3.7 billion pound equity income fund after a large investor exodus. He has an extremely high profile as a fund manager. This may scare other funds into an investor exodus.
(zerohedge)
ii)The UK continues to falter as the key retail sales crash by the most on record
Tom Luongo discusses the fact that in Europe the center parties are just not holding power any more
( Tom Luongo)
iv)EU VS USA BANKING SYSTEMS
5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
6. GLOBAL ISSUES
i)AUSTRALIA
Another country shows its true colours after a raid on a News Corp journalist after she reports on government spying on ordinary citizens
(courtesy zerohedge)
ii)Mexico/uSA
Trump’s Mexican tariffs are hurting Constellation Brand’s stock which is mostly made up of Mexican beer. The best sellers are the Corona beer and Modelo and this will make beer move expensive to Americans.
( zero hedge)
iii)The Peso climbs as AMLO supposedly caves into Trump and will crack down on immigration. The problem is that he does not control the cartels
( zerohedge)
iii b)Then after the markets closed, Trump threatens with a New National Emergency to enact the Mexican tariffs
iv)We now have a reading on the entire globe’s PMI and it is at a 7 year low.
( zerohedge)
7. OIL ISSUES
8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES
i)VENEZUELA/
9. PHYSICAL MARKETS
i)James Truk explains how gold and silver have broken out of the downtrends. But most importantly he describes that in the physical market, gold and silver are in strong demand
( James Turk/Kingworldnews)
ii)Our resident expert on Chinese gold demand describes the country is firing on all cylinders with physical gold demand.
iii)Bitcoin rally is nothing by renewed exuberance as speculators bid up the price: nobody is using the coin for spending purposes
iv)Tom Luongo now discusses gold and he is of the belief that gold will shoot up having been repressed by the our banker friends for so long
10. USA stories which will influence the price of gold/silver)
MARKET TRADING//
a)Market trading/early morning/
The algos will look for anything no matter how stupid it is to rank up stocks and whack gold/silver
( zerohedge)
b)LATE MORNING:
ii)Market data
iii)USA ECONOMIC/GENERAL STORIES
( zerohedge)
b)The House Judiciary Committee announces a bipartisan probe into whether large tech companies are suppressing competition
( zerohedge)
c)ILLINOIS’ new 45 billion dollar capital spending binge is exposed
(courtesy Mark Glennon/WirePoints.com)
SWAMP STORIES
a)A judge in the Washington DC district just threw out a lawsuit brought by the House democrats. I guess they fished for the wrong judge…
(courtesy zerohedge)
c)This ought to be good: Christopher Steele has finally agreed to meet IG Horowitz. He decided to meet Horowitz after he was told the report would deeply undermine him. His scope is narrow and he will only answer to questions relating to his involvement with USA intelligence forces.(courtesy zerohedge)
Let us head over to the comex:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A HUGE SIZED 11,627 CONTRACTS TO A LEVEL OF 476,704 WITH THE RISE OF $17.50 IN GOLD PRICING WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY // COMEX TRADING)
WE ARE NOW IN THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF JUNE.. THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A VERY STRONG SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS., THAT IS 12,400 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED:
0 FOR JUNE ’19: 0 CONTRACTS , AUG; 12,400 CONTRACTS: 0 AND ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 12,400 CONTRACTS.
THE OBLIGATION STILL RESTS WITH THE BANKERS ON THESE TRANSFERS. ALSO REMEMBER THAT THERE IS NO DOUBT A HUGE DELAY IN THE ISSUANCE OF EFP’S AND IT PROBABLY TAKES AT LEAST 48 HRS AFTER OUR LONGS GIVE UP THEIR COMEX CONTRACTS FOR THEM TO RECEIVE THEIR EFP’S AS THEY ARE NEGOTIATING THIS CONTRACT WITH THE BANKS FOR A FIAT BONUS PLUS THEIR TRANSFER TO A LONDON BASED FORWARD.
ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED THE FOLLOWING TODAY ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES: 24,027 TOTAL CONTRACTS IN THAT 12,400 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE GAINED A HUMONGOUS SIZED 11,627 COMEX CONTRACTS. NONE OF THE GAIN IN OI WAS DUE TO THE LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADERS. THE BANKERS SUPPLIED THE NECESSARY SHORT PAPER IN GOLD TO CONTAIN THE PRICE RISE.
NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES :: 24,027 CONTRACTS OR 2,402,700 OZ OR 74.73 TONNES.
We are now in the active contract month of JUNE and here the open interest stands at 1762 CONTRACTS as we lost 251 contracts. We had only 32 notices filed yesterday so we lost 219 contracts or 21,900 oz of gold that will not stand for delivery as there appears to be no gold at the comex and thus they morphed into London based forwards (hoping to find the fast vanishing supplies of physical gold over there) as well as accepting a fiat bonus for their effort. The next contract month is the non active month of July and here the OI fell by 172 contracts down to 1387 contracts. The next big active month for deliverable gold is August and here the OI rose by 8891 contracts up to 357,564.
TODAY’S NOTICES FILED:
WE HAD 358 NOTICES FILED TODAY AT THE COMEX FOR 35800 OZ. (1.113 TONNES)
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And now for the wild silver comex results.
Total COMEX silver OI ROSE BY A HUMONGOUS SIZED 3517 CONTRACTS FROM 209.964 UP TO 213,481 (AND CLOSER TO TO THE NEW RECORD OI FOR SILVER SET ON AUGUST 22.2018. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS SET APRIL 9.2018/ 243,411 CONTRACTS) AND TODAY’S HUGE OI COMEX GAIN OCCURRED WITH THE 19 CENT RISE IN PRICING.//YESTERDAY.
WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF JUNE. HERE WE HAVE 5 OPEN INTEREST STAND FOR DELIVERY WITH A LOSS OF 45 CONTRACTS. WE HAD 45 NOTICES FILED ON FRIDAY SO WE GAINED 0 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL NIL OZ OF SILVER WILL STAND AT THE COMEX. NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOLD AND SILVER. WE STILL HAVE SOME PHYSICAL SILVER IN THE PITS AT THE COMEX AND THUS THE COMMERCIALS WILL GO AFTER THAT SUPPLY TO PUT OUT FIRES ELSEWHERE. (WITH GOLD, THERE IS NO SUPPLY LEFT. OUR BANKER FRIENDS ARE IN DEEP TROUBLE WITH RESPECT TO GOLD.)
THE NEXT MONTH AFTER JUNE IS THE ACTIVE MONTH OF JULY. HERE THE OI ROSE BY 1608 CONTRACTS UP TO 152,156. WE GOT ANOTHER 6 CONTRACTS OF OI FOR AUGUST TO STAND AT 11. THE NEXT BIG ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH AFTER AUGUST IS SEPT AND HERE THE OI ROSE BY 1260 CONTRACTS UP TO 26,744 CONTRACTS.
TODAY’S NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED:
We, today, had 1 notice(s) filed for 5,000 OZ for the JUNE, 2019 COMEX contract for silver
Trading Volumes on the COMEX TODAY: 291,020 CONTRACTS
CONFIRMED COMEX VOL. FOR YESTERDAY: 377,976 contracts ( spreading liquidation stopped/now morphed into silver comex accumulation)
INITIAL standings for JUNE/GOLD
June 4/2019
Gold | Ounces |
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz | nil oz |
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz |
4983.405
oz
BRINKS
|
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory in oz | nil
oz
|
Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz |
nil oz
|
No of oz served (contracts) today |
358 notice(s)
35800 OZ
(1.113 TONNES)
|
No of oz to be served (notices) |
1404 contracts
(140,400 oz)
4.367 TONNES
|
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month |
448 notices
44,800 OZ
1.3934 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 |
STILL: NO GOLD ENTERS THE GOLD COMEX
we had 0 dealer entry:
total dealer deposits: nil oz
total dealer withdrawals: nil oz
We had 0 kilobar entries
we had 0 deposit into the customer account
i) Into JPMorgan: nil oz
ii) Into everybody else: 0
total gold deposits: nil oz
very little gold arrives from outside/ nothing arrived today
we had 1 gold withdrawal from the customer account:
Gold withdrawals;
i) We had 1 withdrawal:
out of BRINKS: 4983.405 oz
.
total gold withdrawals; 4983.405 oz
FOR THE JUNE 2019 CONTRACT MONTH)
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 358 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 61 notice(s) was (were) stopped/ Received) by j.P.Morgan customer account and 0 notices by the squid (Goldman Sachs)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the JUNE /2019. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (448) x 100 oz , to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of JUNE. (1762 contract) minus the number of notices served upon today (358 x 100 oz per contract) equals 185,200 OZ OR 5.760 TONNES) the number of ounces standing in this NON active month of MAY
Thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the JUNE/2019 contract month:
No of notices served (448 x 100 oz) + (1762)OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (358 x 100 oz )which equals 185200 oz standing OR 5.760 TONNES in this active delivery month of JUNE.
We lost 219 contracts or 21900 oz will not stand as these guys had to morph into London based forwards looking for real gold as there was none present at the comex in New York. These guys received a fiat bonus for their efforts.
SURPRISINGLY LITTLE TO NO GOLD HAS BEEN ENTERING THE COMEX VAULTS AND WE HAVE WITNESSED THIS FOR THE PAST YEAR!! WE HAVE ONLY 6.233 TONNES OF REGISTERED ( GOLD OFFERED FOR SALE) VS 5.760 TONNES OF GOLD STANDING// THEY SEEM TO BE USING CONSIDERABLE GOLD VAPOUR TO SETTLE UPON UNSUSPECTING LONGS.
OF OPEN INTERESTS FOR THE UPCOMING JUNE 2019 CONTRACT VS JUNE 2018
FOR THE INITIAL JUNE 2018 CONTRACT WE HAD A HUGE 32.152 TONNES STAND. (VS 5.7604 TONNES TODAY/JUNE 2019)
HOWEVER BY MONTH’S END ONLY 21.56 TONNES EVENTUALLY STOOD AS THE REST MORPHED INTO LONDON BASED FORWARDS. AS YOU CAN SEE, THE CROOKS ARE FOLLOWING THE SAME FORMAT OF MORPHING VS LAST YEAR AS ONLY GOLD VAPOUR SEEMS TO BE PHYSICALLY PRESENT AT THE COMEX AND LONGS MUST TRY THEIR LUCK IN LONDON.
IN THE LAST 32 MONTHS 117 NET TONNES HAS LEFT THE COMEX.
end
And now for silver
AND NOW THE DELIVERY MONTH OF June
INITIAL standings/SILVER
Silver | Ounces |
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory | NIL oz |
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory |
621,540.432 oz
CNT
HSBC
|
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory |
NIL oz
|
Deposits to the Customer Inventory |
601,406.106 oz
CNT
DELAWARE |
No of oz served today (contracts) |
1
CONTRACT(S)
(5,000 OZ)
|
No of oz to be served (notices) |
4 contracts
20,000 oz)
|
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) | 262 contracts
1,310,000 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 0 inventory movement at the dealer side of things
total dealer deposits: NIL oz
total dealer withdrawals: nil oz
we had 2 deposits into the customer account
into JPMorgan: nil
*** JPMorgan for most of 2017 and in 2018 has adding to its inventory almost every single day.
JPMorgan now has 149.469 million oz of total silver inventory or 48.80% of all official comex silver. (149 million/307 milli
i)into CNT: 600,435.106 oz
ii) Into Delaware: 932.000 oz
total customer deposits today: 601.406.106 oz
i) out of HSBC: 20,058.210
iii) out of CNT 601,482.222 oz
we had 0 adjustment :
total dealer silver: 87.865 million
total dealer + customer silver: 304.940 million oz
The total number of notices filed today for the JUNE 2019. contract month is represented by 1 contract(s) FOR 5,000 oz
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in JUNE, we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 262 x 5,000 oz = 1,310,000 oz to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of JUNE. (5) and the number of notices served upon today (1 x 5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.
.
Thus the INITIAL standings for silver for the JUNE/2019 contract month: 262(notices served so far)x 5000 oz + OI for front month of MAY( 5) -number of notices served upon today (1)x 5000 oz equals 1,330,000 oz of silver standing for the JN contract month.
WE GAINED 0 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL nil OZ WILL STAND AS THESE GUYS REFUSE TO MORPH INTO LONDON BASED FORWARDS AND THEY ALSO NEGATED A FIAT BONUS. THERE ARE PHYSICAL SUPPLIES OF SILVER AT THE COMEX AND THUS WE WITNESS QUEUE JUMPING IN FULL FORCE. IN GOLD THERE IS NO PHYSICAL OUNCES PRESENT.
TODAY’S NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED:
We, today, had 1 notice(s) filed for 5,000 OZ for the JUNE, 2019 COMEX contract for silver
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TODAY’S ESTIMATED SILVER VOLUME: 96,988 CONTRACTS
CONFIRMED VOLUME FOR YESTERDAY: 127,626 CONTRACTS..(we probably had some spreading activity as they are now starting to accumulate in silver)
YESTERDAY’S CONFIRMED VOLUME OF 127,627 CONTRACTS EQUATES to 638 million OZ 91.14% 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
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NPV for Sprott
1. Sprott silver fund (PSLV): NAV RISES TO -3.73% June 4/2019)
2. Sprott gold fund (PHYS): premium to NAV FALLS TO -1.89% to NAV (june 4/2019 )
Note: Sprott silver trust back into NEGATIVE territory at -3.73%-/Sprott physical gold trust is back into NEGATIVE/
(courtesy Sprott/GATA)
3.SPROTT CEF.A FUND (FORMERLY CENTRAL FUND OF CANADA):
NAV 13.10 TRADING 12.74/DISCOUNT 2.78
END
And now the Gold inventory at the GLD/
JUNE 4/WITH GOLD UP 0.85 TODAY: A MONSTROUS PAPER GAIN OF 16.44 TONNES/GLD INVENTORY RESTS AT 759.65 TONNES
JUNE 3/WITH GOLD UP $17.50 TODAY: ANOTHER BIG CHANGE, A DEPOSIT OF 2.35 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD//
MAY 31/WITH GOLD UP $17.10 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/GLD INVENTORY RESTS AT 740.86 TONNES
MAY 30: WITH GOLD UP $6.40 TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 3.52 TONNES/INVENTORY RESTS AT 740.86 TONNES
MAY 29/WITH GOLD UP $3.90 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 737.34 TONNES
MAY 28/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.50 TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD> A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.47 TONNES/INVENTORY RESTS AT 737.34 TONNES
MAY 24/WITH GOLD DOWN $1.60 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 738.81 TONNES
MAY 23/WITH GOLD UP $11.10 TODAY: A STRANGE WITHDRAWAL OF .88 TONNES FORM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 738,81 TONNES
MAY 22//WITH GOLD FLAT TODAY: WE HAD A GOOD 1.52 TONNES OF GOLD DEPOSIT INTO THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS TONIGHT AT 739.69 TONNES
MAY 21/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.65 TODAY: A SURPRISE 2.00 TONNES WERE ADDED TO THE GLD GOLD INVENTORY//INVENTORY RESTS AT 738.17 TONNES
MAY 20/WITH GOLD UP $1.00 A HUGE 2.96 TONNE DEPOSIT INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 736.17 TONNES
MAY 17/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.70 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 733.23 TONNES
MAY 16/WITH GOLD DOWN $11.50: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.23 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 733.23 TONNES
MAY 15/WITH GOLD UP $1.50 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 736.46 TONNES
MAY 14//WITH GOLD DOWN $5.45 TODAY: STRANGE!! THE CROOKS DECIDED TO DEPOSIT A HUGE 3.23 TONNES INTO THE GLD INVENTORY//INVENTORY RESTS AT 736.46 TONNES
MAY 13/ WITH GOLD UP ANOTHER $15.40 TODAY: STRANGE! A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL OF 6.41 TONNES OF GOLD (TO TAME GOLD’S RISE TODAY)/INVENTORY RESTS AT 733.23 TONNES
MAY 10 WITH GOLD UP $2.15 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 739.64 TONNES
MAY 9//WITH GOLD UP $4.00 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 739.64 TONNES
MAY 8/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.70 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 739.64 TONNES
MAY 7/ WITH GOLD UP $1.80: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 739.64 TONNES
MAY 6/WITH GOLD UP $2.35: ANOTHER WITHDRAWAL OF 5.88 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 739.64 TONNES
MAY 3/WITH GOLD UP $9.35 TODAY: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.17 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 745.52
MAY 2/WITH GOLD DOWN $12.30 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 746.69 TONNES
MAY 1/WITH GOLD DOWN $1.20 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 746.69 TONNES
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JUNE 4/2019/ Inventory rests tonight at 759.65 tonnes
*IN LAST 604 TRADING DAYS: 174.32 NET TONNES HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE GLD
*LAST 504 TRADING DAYS: A NET 8.48 TONNES HAVE NOW BEEN REMOVED FROM THE GLD INVENTORY.
end
Now the SLV Inventory/
JUNE 4/WITH SILVER UP 1 CENT TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 312.038 MILLION OZ//
JUNE 3/WITH SILVER UP 19 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 312.038 MILLION OZ//
MAY 31/WITH SILVER UP 6 CENTS TODAY: A DEPOSIT OF 422,000 OZ INTO THE SLV INVENTORY//INVENTORY RESTS AT 312.038 MILLION OZ/
May 30/WITH SILVER UP 19 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 311.616 MILLION OZ///
MAY 29/WITH SILVER UP 11 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 311.616 MILLION OZ//
MAY 28/WITH SILVER DOWN 23 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 311.616 MILLION OZ//
MAY 24/WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 311.616 MILLION OZ/
MAY 23/WITH SILVER UP 16 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 311.616 MILLION OZ//
MAY 22/WITH SILVER UP 3 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS TONIGHT AT 311.616 MILLION OZ
MAY 21: WITH SILVER DOWN 3 CENTS TODAY: A SMALL CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV; A WITHDRAWAL OF 750,000 OZ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 311.616 MILLION OZ//
MAY 20/WITH SILVER UP 6 CENTS:NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 312.366 MILLION OZ
MAY 17/WITH SILVER DOWN 13 CENTS TODAY: A BIG CHANGES IN SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.185 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV INVENTORY VAULTS:/INVENTORY RESTS AT 312.366 MILLION OZ//
MAY 16/WITH SILVER DOWN 26 CENTS: NO CHANGES IN THE SLV INVENTORY//INVENTORY RESTS AT 315.551 MILLION OZ//
MAY 15/WITH SILVER UP 2 CENTS TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN SLV INVENTORY: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.031 MILLION OZ// THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 315.551 MILLION OZ.
MAY 14/WITH SILVER UP 2 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV. INVENTORY RESTS AT 316.582 MILLION OZ/
MAY 13//WITH SILVE5 DOWN 2 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 316.582 MILLION OZ…
MAY 10/WITH SILVER UP 2 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 316.582 MILLION OZ///
MAY 9/WITH SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 316.582 MILLION OZ//
MAY 8/WITH SILVER DOWN 3 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 316.582 MILLION OZ///
MAY 7/WITH SILVER DOWN 3 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 316.582 MILLION OZ//
MAY 6/WITH SILVER DOWN 3 CENTS WE HAD ANOTHER DEPOSIT OF 891,000 OZ OF SILVER INTO THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 316.582 MILLION OZ/
MAY 3//WITH SILVER UP 34 CENTS TODAY: A DEPOSIT OF 843,000 OZ INTO THE SLV/TOTAL INVENTORY RESTS AT 315.691 MILLION OZ//
MAY 2/WITH SILVER DOWN ANOTHER 13 CENTS, MIRACUOUSLY THE AUTHORITIES ADD 2.869 MILLION OZ OF SILVER BACK INTO THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 314.848 MILLION OZ//
MAY 1/WITH SILVER DOWN 23 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 311.979 MILLION OZ////
JUNE 4/2019:
Inventory 312.038 MILLION OZ
LIBOR SCHEDULE AND GOFO RATES:
THE RISE IN LIBOR IS CREATING A SCARCITY OF DOLLARS BECAUSE FOREIGN EXCHANGE SWAPS (COSTS) ARE SIMPLY PROHIBITIVE
YOUR DATA…..
6 Month MM GOFO 2.13/ and libor 6 month duration 2.46
Indicative gold forward offer rate for a 6 month duration/calculation:
G0LD LENDING RATE: + .33
XXXXXXXX
12 Month MM GOFO
+ 2.24%
LIBOR FOR 12 MONTH DURATION: 2.41
GOFO = LIBOR – GOLD LENDING RATE
GOLD LENDING RATE = +.17
end
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER STORIES
Gold Hits 10 Week High At $1,328/oz as Trade Wars Spur Safe Haven Demand
Gold has consolidated on yesterday’s gains and is marginally higher as risk aversion creeps back into markets. Gold rose 1.5% yesterday to its highest level in more than three months.

Concerns that trade wars look set to escalate globally and fears that President Trump’s threat of tariffs on Mexico will hurt the global economy are spurring safe haven demand.
Gold had a fourth straight session gain yesterday, settling at their highest in more than three months, as investors fled to the safety of havens like precious metals and bonds amid persistent tariff tensions between the U.S. and its global trade partners.
“Gold is looking good here—responding to the rise in economic wars via tariffs to the global economic slowdown,” said Peter Spina, president and chief executive officer of GoldSeek.com.
“Bonds are surging and gold should too … There are good reasons to believe the breakout in gold is developing as we speak and by the end of this year we will see it explode towards $1,400-$1,500,” he told MarketWatch.
News and Commentary
Gold Extends Win Streak to Fourth Day, Ending at More Than 3-month High
Gold Hits 10 Week ‘Peak’ as Trade Fears Spur Safe-haven Interest
Dollar Dips on Increased Expectations of a 2019 Fed Rate Cut
U.S. Manufacturing Activity Grows at Slowest in Two-and-a-half Years: ISM
‘Flight to Quality’ and Gains for Safe Haven Gold – GoldCore
Internet Shutdowns Don’t Make Anyone Safer
Feds Target Four of the Biggest Tech Companies in U.S., and Their Stocks Are Getting Slammed
Goldman Sachs Is Predicting an Escalation of Global Trade Wars
Morgan Stanley Tells Investors to Play Defense as Cycle Indicator Flashes ‘downturn’
This Cycle’s Most Dangerous Bubble, In Three Charts
They Ditched America to Retire by a Lake in Chile on About $3,000 a Month — and Rarely Come Back
LBMA Gold Prices (USD, GBP & EUR – AM/ PM Fix)
03-Jun-19 1313.95 1317.10, 1039.47 1042.35 & 1175.99 1175.38
30-May-19 1276.45 1280.95, 1010.44 1015.920 & 1146.25 1151.70
29-May-19 1283.50 1281.65, 1016.02 1013.27 & 1151.04 1150.67
28-May-19 1283.90 1278.30, 1012.87 1008.20 & 1146.91 1142.29
27-May-19 Closed for UK Holiday
24-May-19 1281.50 1282.50, 1011.36 1011.89 & 1145.92 1145.40
23-May-19 1275.95 1283.65, 1009.79 1015.37 & 1146.19 1152.46
22-May-19 1274.00 1273.80, 1005.44 1008.09 & 1141.12 1141.20

GATA STORIES WITH RESPECT TO GOLD/PRECIOUS METALS.
end
James Truk explains how gold and silver have broken out of the downtrends. But most importantly he describes that in the physical market, gold and silver are in strong demand
(courtesy James Turk/Kingworldnews)
Gold and silver have broken out of downtrends, Turk tells KWN
Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2019-06-03 18:06. Section: Daily Dispatches
2:07p ET Monday, June 3, 2019
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
GoldMoney founder James Turk tells King World News today that physical demand for gold in London is strong,
both gold and silver have broken sharply out of their downtrends, and silver has a lot of catching up to do. His comments are posted at KWN here:
Ronan Manly: China’s physical gold market still firing on all cylinders
Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2019-06-04 00:12. Section: Daily Dispatches
By Ronan Manly
Bullion Star, Singapore
Monday, June 3, 2019
While headlines may be on the Sino-U.S. trade war, China’s gold market continues to fire on all cylinders, with physical gold continuing to flow into, and through, the world’s largest gold hub.
Year-to-date, Chinese wholesale gold demand is on a par with recent years, Chinese central bank gold purchases have officially recommenced after a two-year halt, and gold import data into China is now more transparent than ever before. …
… For the remainder of the analysis:
https://www.bullionstar.com/blogs/ronan-manly/still-firing-on-all-cylind…
Bitcoin rally masks uncomfortable fact: Almost nobody uses it for spending
Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2019-06-04 00:19. Section: Daily Dispatches
By Olga Kharif
Bloomberg News
Monday, June 3, 2019
Bitcoin has a lingering problem that few people are talking about amid the renewed exuberance of the recent price surge.
Hardly anyone is using the world’s largest cryptocurrency for anything beyond speculation.
Data from New York-based blockchain researcher Chainalysis Inc. show that only 1.3 percent of economic transactions came from merchants in the first four months of 2019, little changed over the boom-and-bust cycles of the prior two years.
…
Even though marque companies such as AT&T Inc. now let customers pay with cryptocurrencies, the problem is that few speculators want to use the digital coins to pay for wireless services when the digital asset’s price might surge another 50 percent in a matter of weeks. That has become the main dilemma with the cryptocurrency: Bitcoin needs the hype to attract mass appeal to be considered a viable electronic alternative to money, but it has developed a culture of “hodlers” who advocate accumulation rather than spending. …
… For the remainder of the report:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-31/bitcoin-s-rally-masks…
* * *
Help keep GATA going:
GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:
end
-END-
MY RESPONSE TO NICHOLAS:
|
4:51 AM (0 minutes ago) |
![]() ![]() |
||
|
you are no doubt absolutely correct on this:
Venezuela Defaults on Gold Swap With Deutsche Bank
Venezuela has defaulted on a gold swap agreement valued at $750 million with Deutsche Bank AG, prompting the lender to take control of the precious metal which was used as collateral and close out the contract, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
As part of a financing agreement signed in 2016, Venezuela received a cash loan from Deutsche Bank and put up 20 tons of gold as collateral. The agreement, which was set to expire in 2021, was settled early due to missed interest payments, said the people, who asked not to be named speaking about a private matter.
In the meantime, opposition leader Juan Guaido’s parallel government has asked the bank to deposit $120 million into an account outside President Nicolas Maduro’s reach, which represents the difference in price from when the gold was acquired to current levels. As part of efforts to unseat Maduro, the U.S. and more than 50 countries have recognized Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela even though he still doesn’t control key institutions at home, including the central bank.
“We’re in touch with Deutsche Bank to negotiate the terms under which the difference owed to the central bank will be paid to the legitimate government of Venezuela,” said Jose Ignacio Hernandez, Guaido’s U.S.- based attorney general. “Deutsche Bank can’t risk negotiating with the central bank’s illegitimate authorities,” particularly after it was sanctioned by the U.S. government, Hernandez said.
-END-
Gold Makes Its Grievances Heard
Gold is getting its revenge. Try as he might Mr. Tariff Man can’t dominate all the headlines all the time. Everyone once in a while something more important than the Trump Man-Baby Show should take center stage.
Gold has moved more than $50 in just under three trading sessions, blowing past near term resistance and, more importantly, reminding everyone just how quickly the reserve asset of the world economy can call bullshit on the proclamations and machinations of the morons who think they run the world.
You always know when you’re reaching the end of a bear market.
Last week I tweeted out:
I think we’re reaching Peak Gold Bearishness. If the dollar is an attractive safe-haven asset, which it isn’t, just a necessary evil after a decade of ZIRP, then of course this will weigh on gold. That doesn’t mean demand isn’t there.https://seekingalpha.com/news/3467311-gold-longer-attractive-complacent-market-says-wells-fargo-analyst#email_link …
Gold no longer attractive in complacent market, says Wells Fargo analyst
Gold prices no longer look attractive based on the way the metal has reacted to recent economic events, says Wells Fargo’s John LaForge, noting that gold’s complacent reaction to market volatility is
seekingalpha.com
When an analyst at Wells is looking at the day-to-day ticker of gold looking for silly and binary safe haven arguments to warn people off of gold, I know we’re nearly there.
This isn’t a complacent market. In fact, as I’ve pointed out in the past, it’s an incredibly volatile one.
You don’t have to be a whiz with numbers, or worse a quant working for a central bank, to see the differences here.
And the reason for this massive increase in volatility across all asset classes is Trump’s insistence on tariffs being the cure all for what ails America’s trade ‘imbalances.’
Not convinced by the Dow? How about the change in the U.S. Yield Curve over the past year.
Ain’t convexity a bitch?
For months gold has bided its time, building a stronger and stronger base that, frankly, bad analysts refuse to see. Gold is trapped between falling dollar liquidity and rising distrust of government institutions to contain the chaos.
All of the correlations between gold and interest rates, money supply figures and the rest only function within the parameters of a market convinced of future political stability. Once that future stability begins getting deep discounts by markets and those relationships falter, gold consolidates, bides its time and then pops spectacularly.
It’s pretty simple. U.S. bonds and U.S. stocks have preferentially seen safe haven inflows as traders look for yield in a world of exploding negative yielding debt.
So now, with more than $10 trillion in debt yielding less than gold’s zero percent is it any wonder we’re seeing a move into gold?
This is the gold’s big grievance it has with central bankers. They have tried to maintain confidence for so long by suppressing interest rates and injecting liquidity that doesn’t circulate that its creating the mother of all bases from which gold will break out of soon.
All it took was one economic retard with bad hair and a massive insecurity complex to finally wake the market up to the reality of our predicament.
The Post-Brexit high of $1375 is still in place but look at the defining pattern of this chart… a succession of higher lows with falling volatility. Each bearish impulse is met with more bulls pushing back at higher prices.
2019’s Spring breakdown was only good for around $90 and just over three months. This latest up move may take a while to resolve above that central banker Maginot Line, but it’s coming as surely as Trump will tariff someone else after his twelfth Diet Coke.
Don’t tell me you haven’t been warned.
* * *
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US seeks halt in civil lawsuit accusing JP Morgan of manipulating metals market, citing criminal case
- The U.S. wants a federal judge to halt a civil lawsuit accusing J. P. Morgan of manipulating precious metals markets. The Justice Department cited an ongoing criminal case as its reason for the request.
- A former J. P. Morgan trader pleaded guilty in Connecticut last month to manipulation charges.
- In the guilty plea, the trader said he had learned to make bogus trade orders from senior traders at the bank and that he used the strategy hundreds of times with the knowledge and consent of his immediate supervisors.
CNBC.com
The Justice Department is asking a judge to put the brakes on a civil lawsuit against J. P. Morgan Chase, citing an ongoing probe into a “related criminal case” that involves alleged manipulation of precious metals markets.
The department wants a six-month postponement in the proceedings of the civil lawsuit, which was filed in 2015 by hedge fund manager Daniel Shak and two commodity traders. The government also says it could ask for a longer delay in the case, according to a court filing on Monday.
The move comes days after Shak’s lawyer, David Kovel, sought permission to reopen questioning of two former J. P. Morgan traders and the bank’s current global head of base and precious metals trading.
Kovel, in making the request with the Manhattan federal judge in the civil case, cited last month’s guilty plea by one of those former traders, John Edmonds, in federal court in Connecticut.
Edmonds admitted making bogus bids on precious metals contracts while working at the bank from 2009 to 2015.
Neither J. P. Morgan Chase nor Kovel’s clients have opposed the Justice Department’s request.
In arguing for a delay, the Justice Department said Shak’s lawsuit is “related” to Edmonds’ criminal case and that Edmonds has “pleaded guilty and acknowledged his own participation in such conduct, as well as that of other traders.”
“Edmonds awaits sentencing, but the broader investigation is ongoing,” the Justice Department said. The U.S. wants to delay the civil case “to protect the integrity of its ongoing criminal investigation,” it said.
J. P. Morgan did not respond to a request for comment by CNBC. Kovel declined to comment.
Tuesday night, after this story first was published, Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered the federal prosecutors to explain in detail by Monday why postponing proceedings in the civil lawsuit would not harm those involved, and why reopening questioning “would be detrimental to the Government’s ongoing criminal investigation.”
Englemayer also wrote that he regards Edmonds’ guilty plea “as potentially highly consequential” to the civil case.
In his guilty plea, the 36-year-old Edmonds said he had learned to make bogus trade orders from senior traders at the bank and that he used the strategy hundreds of times with the knowledge and consent of his immediate supervisors. He admitted to working with “unnamed co-conspirators” at J. P. Morgan, according to the Justice Department.
Kovel wants to question Edmonds again as well as Michael Nowak, the bank’s global head of base and precious metal trading, and former J. P. Morgan Chase Managing Director Robert Gottlieb. The three had previously answered questions under oath in the civil case.
Kovel said in court filings that Nowak was the immediate supervisor of Edmonds, while Gottlieb was Edmonds’ mentor.
In his prior deposition, Edmonds said that Gottlieb sat only a “couple feet” away from him for about five years, and that he was “somebody [he] looked up to in the business,” who helped guide and train him.
Nowak is described by Edmonds as his direct supervisor, with whom he would sometimes discuss trading strategies. Nowak was also the person responsible for overseeing the performance and risk of Edmonds’ portfolio, according to the deposition.
Edmonds also stated in his prior deposition that he would enter precious metals trades for both Nowak and Gottlieb, among others.
The civil lawsuit claims Shak and his fellow plaintiffs lost tens of millions of dollars as a result of actions by J. P. Morgan’s traders.
Federal judge tells traders they can combine cases accusing JP Morgan of rigging metals market
- Litigation in a separate civil case has been put on hold until at least May at the behest of the Justice Department, which is investigating a “related criminal case” that involves alleged market manipulation by precious metals traders at J. P. Morgan.
- Judge John Koeltl of the Southern District of New York appointed the White Plains, N.Y., law firm Lowey Dannenberg as interim lead counsel for the proposed class action.
A group of traders from across the U.S. who allege that J. P. Morgan Chase manipulated precious metals markets for years are one step closer to bringing a class action suit against the nation’s largest bank.
Earlier this month, a federal judge said five separate lawsuits making similar allegations against the bank could be combined, potentially including thousands of people who traded in the precious metals market from Jan. 2009 through Dec. 2015.
Litigation in a separate civil case has been put on hold until at least May at the behest of the Justice Department, which is investigating a “related criminal case” that involves alleged market manipulation by precious metals traders at J. P. Morgan.

J. P. Morgan declined to comment on this story.
Judge John Koeltl of the Southern District of New York appointed the White Plains, N.Y., law firm Lowey Dannenberg as interim lead counsel for the proposed class action.
Vincent Briganti, a partner at the firm, filed the first suit seeking class action status in November on behalf of Dominick Cognata, a trader who alleges he suffered losses due to J.P. Morgan’s illegal trading conduct in the silver and gold futures and options markets.
That was after the federal court in Connecticut unsealed a criminal plea agreement by John Edmonds, a former J.P. Morgan metals trader. In his guilty plea, Edmonds, who is 36-years old, admitted that he and other “unnamed co-conspirators” fraudulently manipulated the precious metals markets while they were employed at J. P. Morgan from 2009 to 2015.
Edmonds said he had learned the illegal trading tactics from senior traders, and then used them hundreds of times with the knowledge of and consent of his immediate supervisors.
Briganti’s lawsuit also names John Edmonds and a group of yet-to-be-identified precious metals traders and the bank as defendants.
On Wednesday, the lawyers sent a letter to Judge Koeltl saying they were having difficulty locating Edmonds to serve him legal papers and requested a 30-day extension to do so, which the judge granted on Thursday. Briganti noted that they have been in contact with Edmonds’ attorney in the criminal case. Edmonds’ attorney and Briganti could not be reached for comment.
“We are hopeful that this extension will result in completing service on Mr. Edmonds without formal motion practice and a request for alternative means of service,” Briganti said in the letter.
The next step in the civil case is for the plaintiffs to file an amended class action complaint and set a schedule for defendants to respond.
In addition to the proposed class action, J. P. Morgan also faces a separate civil suit which also accuses the bank of rigging precious metals markets.
end
March 4.2019
Parker City News
JP Morgan faces potential class action lawsuit after guilty pleas by a former metals trader
Traders from across the U.S. are banding together to accuse J. P. Morgan Chase of manipulating precious metals markets for years.
At least six lawsuits, all making similar allegations against the nation‘s largest bank, have been filed in New York federal court in the past month, since federal prosecutors in Connecticut with a former J. P. Morgan Chase metals trader.
The cases could potentially include thousands of people who traded in the precious metals market. The White Plains, N.Y., law firm Lowey Dannenberg is asking the court to combine the cases and name it as the lead.
The law firm‘s commodities group is led by Vincent Briganti, the attorney who filed the first lawsuit on behalf of Dominick Cognata, a New York resident who alleges he suffered losses due to J. P. Morgan‘s trading conduct in the silver and gold futures and options markets.
A combined case, seeking class action status, would include anyone who purchased or sold futures contracts or an option on NYMEX platinum or palladium or COMEX silver or gold between at least Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2015. The lawyers believe that “at least hundreds, if not thousands” of traders would be eligible to join the case.
Named as defendants in all of the lawsuits are John Edmonds, a 36-year old former metals trader at J. P. Morgan, a group of yet-to-be-identified precious metals traders and the bank.
Edmonds, a New York resident, pleaded guilty in October to one count of conspiracy to defraud the market and manipulate prices of precious metals futures contracts and one count of commodities fraud. In the criminal plea, Edmonds admitted that he and other “unnamed co- conspirators” at J. P. Morgan, fraudulently manipulated precious metals markets from 2009 to 2015, the same time frame covered in the class action suits.
Briganti filed the initial class action on Nov. 7, just one day after the Justice Department unsealed Edmonds‘ plea in the U.S. District Court of Connecticut.
Edmonds admitted in his guilty plea that he deployed the illegal trading scheme hundreds of times with the direct knowledge and consent of his immediate supervisors. Plaintiffs say they have suffered economic injury, including monetary losses, as a direct result of actions by Edmonds and the other unnamed J. P. Morgan metals traders in the futures and options contracts.
One of the suits alleges that “the number of unlawful trades that JP Morgan traders executed in precious metals futures markets is at least in the thousands.”
J. P. Morgan declined to comment. Lowey Dannenberg did not respond to a request for comment by CNBC.
The Justice Department‘s criminal investigation is still ongoing and recently caused a separate related civil case to be put on hold for at least six months while the government continues its investigation. That civil lawsuit, which also accuses J. P. Morgan of rigging the precious metals market, was filed in 2015 by hedge fund manager Daniel Shak and two commodity traders.
After reviewing the details of the plea agreement, David Kovel, the attorney for Shak‘s suit, sought to re- interview Edmonds, along with two other current and former senior traders at the bank. However, the government argued that reopening questioning would be detrimental to the ongoing criminal investigation. The federal judge overseeing the proceedings ordered a six-month stay in the civil case.
Kovel declined to comment.
Edmonds was originally scheduled to be sentenced in Hartford, Conn., on Wednesday, Dec. 19, but a court filing on Nov. 27 shows the sentencing has been postponed until June. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut could not elaborate on why the sentencing was postponed since the court filing is under seal.
-END-
Justice Department stalls another class action in gold market rigging, this one against JPM
Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2019-03-05 14:40. Section: Daily Dispatches
9:47a ET Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
Proceedings in the federal class-action anti-trust lawsuit against JPMorganChase charging the investment bank with manipulating the gold and silver futures markets —
http://www.gata.org/node/18844
— have been suspended for three months at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, just as the department has arranged suspension of proceedings in the class-action anti-trust lawsuit against Deutsche Bank charging similar market manipulation.
…
In both cases the Justice Department has told U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that proceedings would jeopardize its criminal investigation into market rigging, which has been admitted by a former JPMorganChase trader, John Edmonds, who awaits sentencing.
According to court filings, the White Plains, New York, law firm representing the plaintiffs against JPMorganChase, Lowey Dannenberg, concurred in the government’s request to suspend proceedings. The stay is to continue for three months and may be extended.
The Justice Department’s motion, granted by the court on February 26 —
http://www.gata.org/files/JPMorganChaseClassActionStay.pdf
— said “the government is not seeking an open-ended stay that could indefinitely postpone this matter and thus jeopardize the parties’ interests in a timely resolution.” The motion added, “Any developments in the criminal case during the period the consolidated action is stayed may reduce or completely resolve the need to litigate certain issues in the consolidated action.”
Much of the Justice Department’s motion is redacted to conceal from the public evidence still under investigation. Edmonds has said he and other traders manipulated the gold and silver markets for years with the knowledge of their supervisors at JPMorganChase. In its motion to conceal that evidence, also granted by the court on February 26, the Justice Department said disclosure “could lead to destruction of evidence, flight from prosecution, and otherwise interfere with the government’s ability to conduct its investigation”:
http://www.gata.org/files/JPMorganChaseClassActionStaySeal.pdf
Monetary metals investors may be skeptical of the Justice Department’s stalling the Deutsche Bank and JPMorganChase cases, since the department and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission do not seem ever to have responded conscientiously to complaints of gold and silver market rigging until the class actions commenced.
How much time will the court give the Justice Department to delay getting to the bottom of the issue? The court might hasten matters if enough monetary metals mining companies protested the harm done to them and their shareholders by market rigging, but of course most monetary metals mining companies don’t mind at all.
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org
* * *
Gold Sees Biggest Inflow Since Brexit As Investor Exodus Contagion Spreads To Credit
Last week we highlighted a shocking Deutsche Bank report that showed global equity fund outflows over the last 6 months in dollar terms have now been larger than over any prior 6-month period.
As a percentage of AUM, the latest half-year outflows were only exceeded by those seen around the 2008-09 recession and the European financial crisis.
That investor exodus recently spread to the credit markets, with HY funds seeing huge outflows as prices plunged ominously.
With HY credit markets screaming about dead canaries in coalmines…
And now that investor exodus has spread to other segments of the credit markets…
As Bloomberg reports, the biggest leveraged loan ETF, BKLN, had its largest ever daily outflow in the most recent session for which Bloomberg has data…
Additionally, State Street’s High-Yield Muni ETF, HYMB, also saw a record daily outflow on June 3…
“While we’re working through this dual threat of new worries around trade and the re-rating at the front end of the curve, you want to be cautious for credit assets,” Rob Waldner, chief fixed income strategist at Invesco Ltd. said on Bloomberg TV Tuesday.
And where are those de-risked assets seeking safe-havens? Gold!
GLD – the Gold ETF – saw its biggest single-day asset inflow since Brexit yesterday.
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/7 AM EST
i) Chinese yuan vs USA dollar/CLOSED / LAST AT: 6.9087/ GETTING VERY DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO 7:1
//OFFSHORE YUAN: 6.9286 /shanghai bourse CLOSED DOWN 27.80 POINTS OR 0.96%
HANG SANG CLOSED DOWN 132.34 POINTS OR 0.49%
2. Nikkei closed DOWN 2.34 POINTS OR 0.01%
3. Europe stocks OPENED GREEN /
USA dollar index FALLS TO 97.09/Euro RISES TO 1.1261
3b Japan 10 year bond yield: FALLS TO. –.10/ !!!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 107.93/ THIS IS TROUBLESOME AS BANK OF JAPAN IS RUNNING OUT OF BONDS TO BUY./JAPAN 10 YR YIELD IS NOW TARGETED AT .11%/JAPAN LOSING CONTROL OF THEIR BOND MARKET//CARRY TRADERS GETTING KILLED
3c Nikkei now JUST BELOW 17,000
3d USA/Yen rate now well below the important 120 barrier this morning
3e WTI:: 52.49 and Brent: 60,38
3f Gold UP/JAPANESE Yen UP CHINESE YUAN: ON -SHORE DOWN/OFF- SHORE: DOWN
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 DOWN for WTI and DOWN FOR Brent this morning
3i European bond buying continues to push yields lower on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund FALLS TO -.22%/Italian 10 yr bond yield DOWN to 2.49% /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 0.65%…ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD/GERMAN BUND: 2.71: DANGEROUS FOR THE ITALIAN BANKING SYSTEM
3j Greek 10 year bond yield RISES TO : 2.93
3k Gold at $1325.90 silver at: 14.73 7 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $18.50
3l USA vs Russian rouble; (Russian rouble UP 5/100 in roubles/dollar) 65.24
3m oil into the 52 dollar handle for WTI and 60 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 107.93 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 .9926 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF is 1.1176 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 NEGATIVE territory with the 10 year FALLING to –0.22%
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 2.10% early this morning. Thirty year rate at 2.56%
5. Details Ransquawk, Bloomberg, Deutsche bank/Jim Reid.
6. TURKISH LIRA: UP TO 5.8161..
Stocks, Futures, Yields Rebound As Selling Pauses
Global stocks rebounded from Monday’s hammering even as worries about a regulatory crackdown on the world’s internet and social media giants compounded mounting global trade and recession jitters, while interest rates remained just shy of multi-year lows as Treasuries dipped for the first time in a week while the dollar was unchanaged.
Europe’s STOXX 600 index recovered from a weak start, reversing earlier losses of as much as 0.7% led by gains in autos and chemicals shares, but tech stocks remained more than 1% lower after reports the US government was gearing up to investigate whether Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google misused their market power. The Stoxx 600 Automobiles & Parts Index is best-performing as RBC says that it has a more positive bias on the region’s carmakers. BASF (+3%) and Linde (+1.3%) lead gains in chemical stocks.
Earlier, Asian shares dropped as the broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan had ended down 0.3%, catching down to the US tech rout, as communications stocks fell while materials shares gained. Most markets in the region were down. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined for a fifth day in its longest losing streak since April. India’s S&P BSE Sensex Index retreated after reaching a fresh record ahead of the central bank’s rate decision later this week. Emerging-market stocks fell for the first time in three days .
On Monday a combined $85 billion was wiped off Facebook and Google parent Alphabet’s market caps, in the worst rout for the FANG sector in two years…
…which in turn dragged the Nasdaq into correction territory, having lost 10% over the last month.
“That (U.S. investigation) is currently weighing on stocks, but more importantly the market is increasingly pricing in the risk of recession,” said Rabobank senior macro strategist Teeuwe Mevissen. “Sentiment is significantly suppressed.”
Meanwhile, global monetary policy remains in focus this week as the hostile trade rhetoric between the U.S. and China continues. Fed ratesetter James Bullard said on Monday lowering U.S. rates “may be warranted soon”.
Sure enough, after nearly 3 years of resisting any change to its monetary policy, Australia’s central bank cut rates to a record low and on Thursday the European Central Bank is set to detail a fresh dump of cheap money. India is expected to lower its rates too.
After a furious plunge on Monday in a move that left many rates traders shocked, US Treasury yields also rose but remained near recent lows. U.S. 10-year notes yielded 2.0968% after touching 2.06, the lowest since September 2017. All this underlined the scramble to re-price Fed policy and the biggest two-day drop in U.S. two-year Treasury yields since the 2008 crash. The yield curve between three-month and 10-year debt has inverted by as much as 27 basis points, historically a recession signal. More shockingly, the curve between the 3 month and 2 year was the most inverted since the financial crisis.
In FX, the dollar halted a three-day decline and Treasury yields rose as traders awaited clues on monetary policy when Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks later Tuesday. The euro touched its highest level in seven weeks against the dollar before erasing gains after regional inflation data fell slightly short of expectations even as unemployment dropped more than expected. The pound fluctuated after data showed U.K. retail sales in May declined by the most on record.
The AUD/USD advanced briefly after the RBA lowered the cash rate by a quarter-point to 1.25%, citing a need to boost employment and spur inflation. It however surrendered the gain as traders interpreted a move by the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. to reduce its mortgage rate as a signal that the central bank may need to cut rates further to achieve its desired impact on the economy. Additionally, Australia’s central bank chief strongly suggested he could follow up Tuesday’s interest- rate cut with another reduction as he seeks to drive down unemployment and revive inflation.
EM currencies, however, extended gains to a fourth day, the longest rally since March, as the dollar remained subdued while traders await further developments on the trade front. South Africa’s rand fell by more than 1% after reporting the biggest first-quarter GDP contraction since 2009. The Thai baht, Hungarian forint and Mexico’s peso led the charge higher as MSCI’s Emerging Markets Currency Index climbed to a three-week high. The yuan and India’s rupee were outliers on the day. “Markets continued to digest the implications of a potential tariff on Mexican exports to the U.S.,” Guillaume Tresca, a Montrouge, France-based strategist at Credit Agricole SA, said in a note to clients. “The timeline for dialogue and resolution is pretty tight. Depending on the outcome, FX and rates markets could go through another round of correction.”
Finally, the Turkish lira initially dropped, then rebounded even after Turkish President Erdogan repeated that Turkey will not take a step back from the Russian S-400 missile deal.
“Risk aversion has also been seen with the yen carry trade unwinding as the markets comprehend that the U.S. technology containment strategy towards China is unlikely to reverse,” analysts at Jefferies said in a note. “In the short term, positioning has become so bearish that ‘a ceasefire’ could spark a risk rally,” they said.
In overnight geopolitical news, China issued a warning against travelling to the US; subsequently, China’s Foreign Ministry says it is clear that every set-back in US trade talks was due to the US breaking consensus, have resolve and ability to defend their interests and rights. Elsewhere, Commerce Secretary Ross reiterated President Trump’s message that Mexico needs to do more on illegal immigration in a meeting with Mexico’s Economic Minister, while Mexico said without its efforts a further 500k migrants would reach US this year and that they could take several paths if the US goes ahead with the tariffs including asking for help from WTO or implementing its own tariffs on US goods. This is as the WaPo reported that US Congressional Republicans are discussing moves to stop Trump’s tariffs on Mexico.
Finally, oil fell and was hovering on the edge of a bear market after the Wall Street banks raised the specter of a recession, while Saudi Arabia tried to assure investors that OPEC will avert a supply glut. Brent crude futures are now testing $60 per barrel for the first time in four months. It was last down 0.6% at $60.92 per barrel and U.S. crude was down 0.4% at $53.02. In contrast, safe-have gold was up 0.1% at $1,326.47 per ounce, near three-month highs.
Expected data include factory orders and durable goods orders. Tiffany and Salesforce are among companies reporting earnings.
Market Snapshot
- S&P 500 futures up 0.5% to 2,763.00
- STOXX Europe 600 down 0.2% to 369.69
- MXAP down 0.1% to 152.41
- MXAPJ down 0.3% to 499.82
- Nikkei down 0.01% to 20,408.54
- Topix up 0.01% to 1,499.09
- Hang Seng Index down 0.5% to 26,761.52
- Shanghai Composite down 1% to 2,862.28
- Sensex down 0.1% to 40,218.55
- Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.2% to 6,332.36
- Kospi down 0.04% to 2,066.97
- German 10Y yield fell 0.7 bps to -0.208%
- Euro up 0.2% to $1.1259
- Italian 10Y yield fell 10.8 bps to 2.189%
- Spanish 10Y yield fell 1.5 bps to 0.677%
- Brent futures down 0.3% to $61.10/bbl
- Gold spot down 0.2% to $1,323.23
- U.S. Dollar Index up 0.1% to 97.24
Top Overnight News from Bloomberg
- Investors are plowing into Treasuries, favoring shorter maturities in particular, on growing conviction the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year to contain the fallout from trade tensions. Two-year yields sank to their lowest level since December 2017 and have tumbled by more than a quarter- point since the middle of last week
- The Federal Reserve may need to cut interest rates soon to prop up inflation and counter downside economic risks from an escalating trade war, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said
- Yuan watchers arguing that China shouldn’t be scared of the currency breaking 7 a dollar are being emboldened by a former central bank official’s support for their thesis
- Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel won her rattled government some time as her junior coalition partner agreed to remain on board for a while longer despite the turbulent resignation of its chief.
- Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte threatened to resign if the partners in his populist coalition don’t stop posturing, demanding they get to work on new policies to help the country
- Oil edged closer to a bear market collapse as Wall Street banks raised the specter of a recession, while Saudi Arabia tried to assure investors that OPEC will avert a supply glut
- There is no fundamental change in the view that Japan’s economy is gradually recovering, says Taro Aso, assessing the economic outlook in the runup to a planned sales tax hike in October.
- China issued a travel advisory on the U.S. through the end of the year, amid spiraling trade tensions between the two countries
- Donald Trump is expected to wade further into the U.K.’s fraught politics on a visit to London, having already dangled the promise of a trade deal if his hosts push on with Brexit
- Australia’s central bank chief strongly suggested he could follow up Tuesday’s interest- rate cut with another reduction as he seeks to drive down unemployment and revive inflation
Asian equity markets traded subdued after the headwinds from Wall St where tech underperformed and the Nasdaq slipped into a correction as FAANG stocks were hit on reports of the US launching antitrust and business practice probes into the large tech names. ASX 200 (+0.2%) and Nikkei 225 (U/C) were indecisive as strength in mining names and a widely anticipated RBA rate cut helped offset the tech losses in Australia, while trade in Tokyo was relatively uneventful with exporter sentiment dampened by further unfavourable currency flows. Hang Seng (-0.5%) and Shanghai Comp. (-1.0%) weakened as trade tensions persisted as the US accused China of misrepresenting trade talks and placed the blame on Chinese negotiators back-peddling on issues, while the PBoC’s liquidity efforts resulted to a daily net drain of CNY 90bln. Finally, 10yr JGBs were higher and the 10yr yield dropped to the lowest since August 2016 of below -0.10% amid the risk averse tone and as prices tracked the moves in T-notes following the comments from Fed’s Bullard, while 10yr JGB auction results showed higher accepted prices.
Top Asian News
- China to Audit Sanofi, Bristol-Myers in Drugmaker Accounts Probe
- Australia Cuts Key Rate to Record Low, Ending Near 3-Year Pause
Major European indices are now firmer [Euro Stoxx 50 +0.6%] and diverting from the negative overnight session as tech suffered with FAANG stocks underperforming on Wall St. due to reports that the US is launching an antitrust and business practice probe into tech names. While tech names still lag, the sectors has come off of lows as equities have been grinding higher this morning with no significant fundamental drivers behind the move. EU sectors are mixed, with the aforementioned tech sector underperforming on the potential probes into tech names; sector heavyweight SAP (-1.5%) is the notable negative tech stock as it comprises a 27.6% sector weighting, and has over a 10% weighting in the DAX (+0.8%). Elsewhere, other notable movers this morning include Hargreaves Lansdown (-4.2%) at the bottom of both the Stoxx 600 and FTSE 100 (+0.2%), following concern over customer backlash as the Co. had promoted the Woodford fund extensively in-spite of its underperformance, the Co. finally removed the fund from their recommendation list on Monday. Towards the top of the Stoxx 600 rests Telecom Italia (+3.3%) after a filing showed the Co’s CFO purchased 150k ordinary shares. Separately, much of the sessions positive stock activity has been driven by broker moves with the likes of Lagadere (+2.2%), Royal Mail (+3.3%), BMW (+1.9%) and Volkswagen (+2.2%) supported by broker moves.
Top European News
- U.K. Construction Declines at Sharpest Pace in More Than a Year
- ECB Pressured as Euro-Area Inflation Slows More Than Forecast
- Billionaire-Backed Coloplast Said to Mull Urology Asset Sale
- European Tech Stocks Plunge as U.S. Antitrust Sell-Off Spreads
In FX, the Dollar is trying to recover after another bout of post-Bullard selling pressure pushed the DXY through 97.000, albeit marginally and briefly, with the index back above the big figure and now probing fresh highs within a 97.265-96.987 range as certain G10 counterparts succumb to independent bearish impulses. However, Buck bulls and bears will now be focusing on a raft of Fed speakers to see if other members turn more dovish, and in particular Chair Powell.
- AUD/EUR – Both holding up relatively well in the face of seemingly negative factors as RBA Governor Lowe flags further policy easing and a potentially lower than previously forecast OCR by the end of 2019 (was 1% vs the current 1.25% after last night’s 25 bp cut), while Eurozone inflation missed already considerably softer consensus forecasts. Aud/Usd remains firmly above 0.6950 around 0.6975 between 0.6955-93 trading parameters, and Eur/Usd is pivoting 1.1250 where the top of a band of option expiries reside (1 bn from 1.1235), but capped at the 100 DMA (1.1278).
- GBP/CAD/JPY – All a fraction firmer against the Greenback, as Cable straddles 1.2650 and shrugs off another poor UK PMI, but the Pound underperforms vs the Euro on political/Brexit grounds (cross hovering just below 0.8900). Meanwhile, the Loonie is also displaying a degree of resilience in the face of weak crude prices and testing offers/resistance ahead of 1.3400 in a 1.3450-20 band and the Yen extended safe-haven gains through 108.00 to 107.85 before losing some momentum.
- CHF/NZD – The major ‘laggards’ with the Franc stalling ahead of 0.9900 and Kiwi also finding it tough to breach a round number at 0.6600 vs its US rival as the Aud/Nzd cross rebounds from pre-RBA levels amidst general Aussie short covering and profit taking.
- EM – Contrasting fortunes for the Lira and Rand, as Usd/Try retreats further from 6.0000 towards 5.8100 in spite of more talk from Turkish President Erdogan about the merits of Russia’s S-400 system over the US F-35 alternative that could trigger sanctions. However, Usd/Zar has rallied over 1% to just shy of 14.6500 in wake of significantly weaker than expected SA GDP data.
In FX, the energy market continues to be pressured as the ongoing trade concerns dampens global demand output, with WTI (-0.6%) and Brent (-0.6%) on the backfoot in early European trade following on from a lacklustre Asia-Pac session. News-flow this morning has largely been from the OPEC front in which a letter showed that Iran opposes delaying the OPEC meeting to July, whilst Algeria and Kazakhstan have also told OPEC that the early July dates are unsuitable. This comes amid split views as to whether the OPEC/OPEC+ meeting should be at the end of June or in early July (touted dates July 3rd/4th), which Russia is in favour for. Furthermore, sources stated that Russian production this month fell to 10.87mln, down from the prior month’s 11.11mln BPD which was reported via the Energy Ministry. Finally, traders will be eyeing tonight’s API data for any signs of a short-term catalyst, with the street looking for headline inventories to draw by around 1.8mln BPD. Elsewhere, gold (Unch) is choppy and largely unchanged intraday as the yellow metal gave up its gains as the Buck recovered. Meanwhile, copper is little changed as the weaker Dollar countered the soured risk sentiment. Finally, Zinc prices dropped to six-month lows overnight amid a deterioration of the global outlook, with the recent China PMIs pointing to growth of just 4.5%-5%, according to CapEco.
US Event Calendar
- 10am: Factory Orders, est. -0.95%, prior 1.9%; Factory Orders Ex Trans, prior 0.8%
- 10am: Durable Goods Orders, prior -2.1%; Durables Ex Transportation, prior 0.0%
- 10am: Cap Goods Orders Nondef Ex Air, prior -0.9%; Cap Goods Ship Nondef Ex Air, prior 0.0%
DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
It looked like we were going to get an up day to start the week yesterday but the rally stalled in the US session as large-cap names dragged down the major indices. The S&P 500 ended -0.29%, despite the fact that 72% of companies in the index advanced on the day, only the eighth day this year where the index ended lower despite the majority of names rallying. The -7.51% and -6.11% moves for Facebook and Alphabet outweighed their smaller peers (a mere $85bn of lost market cap between the two), as the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department reportedly opened investigations into the two companies respectively. The NASDAQ and NYFANG indexes accordingly fell -1.61% and -3.54% to their lowest levels since February and January, respectively, though the Philly semiconductor index outperformed tech peers by advancing +0.33%.
Meanwhile, in rates, treasuries continued their seemingly relentless rally, boosted by softer data and Fedspeak which raised the expectations for near-term policy easing. Ten-year yields fell another -4.7bps (but up +3.4bps this morning) while 2-year yields dropped -8.0bps (up +5.9bps this morning), taking their two-session move to -22.1bps and their 5-day move to -32.4bps. Both are the sharpest such drops since 2008. Futures markets last night priced a fairly startling 68bps of cuts this year. The front-end rally also continued to support the yield curve, with the 2y10y curve steepening +3.4bps to 23.4bps (+21.3bps this morning) – so that’s one silver lining to this whole episode. In Europe, Bunds did hit an intraday low of -0.221% before ending at 0.201% while the euro was a little bit stronger at $1.1242. Elsewhere HY credit spreads were +12bps wider in the US while oil prices fell -1.21%.
The data was the main talking point yesterday following the final PMI revisions in Europe and then the ISM manufacturing in the US. We’ll touch on the details further down but in short there wasn’t a great deal of change in Europe but in the US we saw a 31-month low for the ISM which was slightly tempered by better under-the-hood component details. That in itself causes some problems for markets though as it creates a bit more of a headache for the Fed as they battle with increasingly aggressive market pricing which has completely shifted towards more than two rate cuts this year and almost four over the next 12 months.
Turning to yesterday’s Fedspeak, the highlight was a series of comments from St. Louis Fed President Bullard, who is a voter this year, who said that “a downward policy adjustment may be warranted soon.” That’s the first time this year that an official has directly called for a rate cut. Bullard noted that “the direct effects of trade restrictions on the US economy are relatively small, but the effects through global financial markets may be larger.” He also conspicuously used the word “now” with regards to policy easing, which raises the odds that he votes for a rate cut as soon as this month’s meeting. Separately, Richmond Fed President Barkin also referenced tariff uncertainty as a potential headwind, though he stopped short of talking about interest rate cuts.
Overnight, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned China’s human rights record as we hit the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square incident. He said “We urge the Chinese government to make a full public accounting of those killed or missing to give comfort to the many victims of this dark chapter of history,” in a statement issued at 12.01am Beijing time. Elsewhere, negative rhetoric around the US-China trade war continued with the US Treasury Department and the Trade Representative office saying that its ‘disappointed’ that China is misrepresenting trade talks while saying that the US positions in negotiations have been ‘consistent’ while China ‘back-pedaled’. The joint statement also added that the Chinese have used the ‘White Paper’ and recent public statements to “pursue a blame game misrepresenting the nature and history of trade negotiations between the two countries.” Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported (citing sources) that the Congressional Republicans, worried about the possible economic fallout from President Trump’s plan to impose a tariff on Mexico, are considering whether to revive a resolution of disapproval over the national emergency declaration that underpins Trump’s justification for the tariffs. The action would also stop the president from spending billions on a border wall without congressional approval.
This morning in Asia markets are largely heading lower with the Shanghai Comp (-0.84%) and Hang Seng (-0.33%) trading down while the Nikkei (-0.01%) and Kospi (+0.02%) are trading flattish after erasing earlier losses. Elsewhere, futures on the S&P 500 are up +0.14% though. WTI oil prices are down -0.17% this morning, bringing the four day decline to -10.11%, despite Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih saying yesterday that he was committed to doing whatever it takes to stabilize markets.
In other news, President Trump yesterday called on the UK to throw off the “shackles” of European Union membership and strike a free-trade deal with the US. Trump tweeted, “Big Trade Deal is possible once UK gets rid of the shackles,” and “Already starting to talk!” Elsewhere, French President Emmanuel Macron reinforced his hardline stance on Brexit, saying Brexit must happen at the end of October and there should be no more extensions. Meanwhile, the UK’s former foreign secretary Boris Johnson launched his leadership campaign yesterday, saying the U.K. must leave the bloc in October, with or without a deal.
Back to the details of yesterday’s data, where the May ISM manufacturing in the US hit a new 31-month low of 52.1 (vs. 53.0 expected) – down -0.7pts from April. The good news was that both the new orders (+1.0pt to 52.7) and employment (+1.3pts to 53.7) components improved. Even the prices paid component bounced +3.2pts to 53.2. How much of the latest tariff escalation is in the data however remains to be seen. In the meantime a quick refresh of our equities versus ISM regression shows that the US equities are around 5% ‘cheap’ given that markets have fallen more than the data has. Indeed the equity market-implied ISM is actually now below 50 at 49.8. However for this to be a buying opportunity you have to believe the ISM will settle at these levels over the summer in the face of rising trade tensions. That data followed a small -0.1pt downward revision to the rival Markit PMI release to 50.5 while elsewhere construction spending was flat, versus expectations for a slight rise, though the prior month was revised higher leaving the overall trend roughly neutral.
In Europe, the final manufacturing PMI for the Euro Area was unrevised at 47.7 which means it is -0.2pts down from April and 0.2pts higher than the March lows. Our economists did highlight that there were some green shoots of optimism in the details with the new orders subindex up more than +2pts in the past two months (albeit still at a lowly 46.6) while there were similar moves in both output and the new export order series.They also noted that new orders-to-inventories difference, which tends to lead the headline and output indices, is back to August/September 2018 levels – still negative but signalling that we are perhaps past the trough in the manufacturing PMI. The question though is whether a genuine recovery of the manufacturing sector can be expected especially now the trade war has been reignited. Meanwhile, at a country level Germany and France were unrevised at 44.3 and 50.6 respectively while a big drop for Spain (-1.7pts to 50.1) was partly offset by a +0.6pt advance for Italy to 49.7. Greece (-2.2pts to 54.2) was another country that deteriorated however it is only behind Hungary (57.9) at the top of the EU ranks now. Our regression of European equities versus PMIs now has the STOXX fairly valued but equity markets in France, Italy and Spain all slightly cheap. Only Germany appears expensive on this measure due to how low the German PMI is relative to history. However these are a very broad guide and work best for general market valuations especially when there are big outliers. It’s hard to say there are at the moment. On our measure most global equity markets price in high 40s on the manufacturing PMIs/ISM, and in the US we are still above this and therefore cheap, whilst in Europe we are generally at that level or a bit lower.
Here in the UK, the latest PMI reading of 49.4 was a little worrying, printing -2.6pts lower than expectations and also -3.7pts below the April level. It’s worth flagging that rising stockpiles had been behind some of the recent manufacturing resilience in the UK so it isn’t a huge surprise to now see this filter out and therefore the UK start to catch down to the rest of Europe. It’s worth noting also that the last time the UK PMI went sub-50 was in 2016 and when the BoE last cut rates. One ray of positivity came from Sweden’s manufacturing PMI which came in +2.7pts better than expected at 53.1. Sweden, as a highly cyclical economy, has tended to lead the rest of Europe, so its bounce could be cause for optimism moving forward.
In other news, our economists in Germany published their views on the surprising weekend resignation of SPD party leader and chief whip Andrea Nahles over the weekend. They note that the implications are clearly negative, and go as far as saying that it is hard to see how the Groko might still be in place at the end of the year given the current dynamics in the SPD. They highlight that if the SPD pull out of the coalition, then snap elections are most likely as the Greens rejected joining the government on the basis of the 2017 election results. The Greens currently score around 20% in the polls giving them a much stronger weight in a possible future conservative-green government. See more in our colleagues’ report here .
To the day ahead now, which this morning includes the advanced May CPI report for the Euro Area where the consensus expects a +0.9% yoy core reading compared to +1.3% in April. We’ll also receive the April unemployment rate while data in the US this afternoon includes final durable and capital goods orders revisions for April, as well as April factory orders data. Away from that the Fed’s Williams is due to speak just after lunch before the two-day Fed conference gets underway including opening remarks from Powell at 2.55 pm BST.
3. ASIAN AFFAIRS
I)TUESDAY MORNING/ MONDAY NIGHT:
SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 27.80 POINTS OR 0.96% //Hang Sang CLOSED DOWN 132.34 POINTS OR 0.49% /The Nikkei closed DOWN 2.34 POINTS OR 0.01%//Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP .01%
/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed DOWN at 6.9087 /Oil DOWN TO 52.49 dollars per barrel for WTI and 60.38 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED RED// ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP // LAST AT 6.9087 AGAINST THE DOLLAR. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN ON THE DOLLAR AT 6.9287 TRADE TALKS STALL//YUAN LEVELS GETTING DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO 7:1//TRUMP INITIATES A NEW 25% TARIFFS FRIDAY/MAY 10/MAJOR PROBLEMS AT HUAWEI /CFO ARRESTED : /ONSHORE YUAN TRADING ABOVE LEVEL OF OFFSHORE YUAN/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST USA DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING WEAKER AGAINST THE DOLLAR /TRADE DEAL NOW DEAD..TRUMP RAISED RATES TO 25%
3 a NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
3 b JAPAN AFFAIRS
3 C CHINA/CHINESE AFFAIRS
China
In a new report, we find out how China is circumventing the tariffs by exporting to nations not subject to tariffs and then this is re imported back into the USA without the tariffs implemented.
(courtesy zerohedge)
Shocking New Report Exposes How Chinese Companies Are Dodging US Tariffs
While the US trade deficit declined only marginally in March, we posited that the unexpectedly large decline in the US-China bilateral trade deficit might be of greater interest to both the Trump Administration and the general investing public because – as both Zero Hedge and Bloomberg argued – it is an unequivocal sign that President Trump is, in at least one respect, “winning” the trade war.
In March (the most recent month for which data are available), the bilateral trade gap shrank to just $20.75 billion, the lowest level since March 2014.
All told, official US data showed that official Chinese exports to the US tumbled by $15.2 billion, or 12%, in the late January-March quarter of 2019 on an annualized basis.
Since these data were collected before President Trump raised tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods in the latest round of trade-war escalation, the conventional wisdom would dictate that the bilateral deficit will probably continue to improve, as US companies source their goods from other foreign markets, or – as President Trump would undoubtedly prefer – opt to manufacture them in the US.
And while that may or may not turn out to be true, Nikkei Asia Review raised questions about whether these data accurately reflect the impact of the tariffs on Chinese exporters – and, by extension, the Chinese economy – with an explosive report published Monday describing how Chinese exporters are using intermediaries to get around the tariffs.
In an analysis of data from the US International Trade Commission and the International Trade Center, Nikkei revealed that while exports of machinery, electrical equipment and some other products impacted by tariffs have reflected particularly sharp declines, shipments of these goods from China to the US via Vietnam, Taiwan and Mexico actually rose during this period, a sign that exporters are rejiggering their supply chains to compensate for the US tariffs.
Of course, Chinese companies have other ways of compensating for American tariffs. President Trump railed against China’s “subsidizing” of goods to keep them competitive in American markets. Washington has repeatedly criticized Beijing for unfairly subsidizing state-backed companies, and although the Treasury once again declined to name China a currency manipulator, the weakness in the Chinese yuan has also elicited criticism.
China is subsidizing its product in order that it can continue to be sold in the USA. Many firms are leaving China for other countries, including the United States, in order to avoid paying the Tariffs. No visible increase in costs or inflation, but U.S. is taking Billions!
But Nikkei’s calculations suggest that the tariffs are being offset, at least in part, by exports to Vietnam, Mexico and Taiwan, much of which are then routed to the US.
Five key items which have suffered the biggest declines were analyzed: machinery and parts; electrical equipment and parts; furniture; toys; and automotive equipment and parts.
In the case when China’s exports to the U.S. are classified in accordance with customs codes, the volume of products including machinery and parts, and electrical equipment and parts, slumped conspicuously.
In the first quarter of this year, exports of machinery and parts plunged by $5.77 billion from a year earlier, while exports of electrical equipment and parts plummeted by $4.46 billion year-on-year.
With the exception of toys, four of these five items have become subject to three rounds of punitive import tariffs imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
While exports of the five items from China to the U.S. between January and March declined by 16%, equivalent to a value of $12.2 billion, exports from China to developing countries and from developing countries to the U.S. have generally climbed. Exports via Vietnam, Taiwan and Mexico have increased particularly steeply.
In January-March 2019, exports of the five items from China to Vietnam rose by $1.5 billion, or 20%, while exports of the five items from Vietnam to the U.S. surged by $2.7 billion, or 58%.
In the same three-month period, exports of the five items from China to Taiwan increased by $1.4 billion, or 23%, while such exports from Taiwan to the U.S. expanded by $2.0 billion, or 31%.
Exports from China to the U.S. via Mexico also increased. Mexico’s exports to the U.S. surpassed those of China to become the biggest source in March.
Here’s a breakdown of the chart:
To be sure, the tariffs have also created opportunities for other Southeast Asian nations to export goods to the US that hey hadn’t previously.
Since the U.S. first slapped punitive tariffs on a broad range of imports from China, the six major Southeast Asian nations and Taiwan have started shipping nearly 1,600 new categories of products to the U.S. that they had never exported to America before.
Of these new U.S.-bound exports, about 1,000 items, or over 60% of the total, are on Washington’s blacklist.
These exports amounted to some 30 billion yen ($277 million) during the period from July 2018 through March 2019. The amount is likely to keep growing if the U.S.-China trade spat continues.
With all of this in mind, slumping Chinese factory output would suggest that tariffs are having an impact. But as time passes and supply chains are reorganized, Chinese exporters might bounce back, with most of the impact negated.
When this happens, will the Trump Administration abandon the strategy of hiking tariffs (something markets would probably celebrate) and opt instead for another retaliatory strategy (like, say, ending the student visa program fro Chinese students?).
4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
i) UK
This is a big story!! One of England’s biggest and respected Hedge Fund, Neil Woodford has blocked redemptions from his huge 3.7 billion pound equity income fund after a large investor exodus. He has an extremely high profile as a fund manager. This may scare other funds into an investor exodus.
(zerohedge)
It Begins: Multi Billion Hedge Fund Blocks Redemptions
In a moment of financial serendipity, earlier today we tweeted that as a result of the sudden collapse in the market’s most crowded positions (which as we noted over the weekend, now face the biggest risk of a wipe out), “hedge fund redemption requests re-emerge.”
It turns out we were very much spot on, because just a few hours later, the Financial Times reported that Neil Woodford, the UK’s equivalent of David Tepper, has blocked redemptions from his £3.7bn equity income fund after serial underperformance led to an investor exodus, “inflicting a serious blow to the reputation of the UK’s highest-profile fund manager.”
The freeze on redemptions, exactly five years after Woodford opened his eponymous fund management group, underlines his increasingly precarious position. It follows a steady stream of investor outflows, which have occurred each month for two years, with the fund shrinking by two-thirds to £3.7bn since a peak of £10.2bn in May 2017.
The severity of this latest hit to the hedge fund industry can not be underscored enough. The FT quoted a veteran fund manager who has known Woodford for more than 20 years, who said that “this is one of the bigger events for the UK asset management industry of the last decade. A bonfire of reputation and a terrible moment for investor confidence.”

The freeze, also known as a redemption gate, which usually is implemented during times of market turmoil to avoid a catastrophic liquidation of assets as investors panic, was introduced after Kent County Council, a longstanding backer of Woodford since his days as a star fund manager at Invesco Perpetual, asked for the return of approximately £250 million. While the freeze prevents the withdrawal of capital over the short term, it also stops new investors from putting money into the fund.
In a statement, Woodford Investment Management said it had “come to the conclusion it is in the best interests of all investors in the fund to suspend the issue, cancellation, sale, redemption and transfer of shares in the fund”. It also said it was taking the step to “protect the investors in the fund” by giving Woodford time to sell unlisted and illiquid stocks and buy more liquid investments that could be sold to meet redemptions.
The massive redemption request capped a four week period in which “Woodford had struggled to keep up with an average of £10 million flowing out of the fund every business day.” Adding insult to injury, the shares of construction group Kier, one of the fund’s main holdings, plunged 40% after a profit warning on Monday.
What it really meant is that it was on the verge of collapse and any further redemptions would merely accelerate the fund’s liquidation, resulting in a potentially systemic collapse.
The gating of the fund is reminiscent of the action taken by UK property funds in the wake of the UK’s Brexit vote, when funds – including Standard Life – froze redemptions to stem the exodus of money.
According to the FT, Link, Woodford’s authorized fund manager, must review the fund’s suspension every 28 days and inform the Financial Conduct Authority of the results of the review. In reality, discussions with the FCA are likely to take place more frequently, especially as investors in other funds once again freak out wondering just what is going on.
Speaking of the UK’s top financial regulator, the FCA said it was “aware of this situation and in contact with the firms involved to ensure that actions undertaken are in the best interests of all the fund’s investors”.
In a statement, Woodford Investment Management said it had “come to the conclusion it is in the best interests of all investors in the fund to suspend the issue, cancellation, sale, redemption and transfer of shares in the fund”.
It said it was taking the step to “protect the investors in the fund” by giving Woodford time to sell unlisted and illiquid stocks and buy more liquid investments that could be sold to meet redemptions.
Woodfore’s fund said it would write to investors when dealing was to be resumed and keep them informed “about the suspension, including its likely duration”.
Last week, the Financial Times revealed that Woodford’s flagship equity income fund shrank by £560 million in less than four weeks.
The company has also undertaken a series of complex deals in order to reduce the balance of illiquid, unquoted holdings in his open-ended funds, which have proved contentious as investors have tried to exit the vehicle.
The decision to gate investors would immediately have far-reaching consequences on the UK asset management ecosystem: Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s largest “fund supermarket” and a huge supporter of Woodford, said it would be removing both Woodford Equity Income as well as Woodford Income Focus from its best-buy Wealth 50 list in a blow to the manager which assures further redemptions when the fund resumes trading, putting its survival into question.
The decision also reveals signs of contagion with Woodford’s other funds. His £500m Income Focus fund, designed to deliver high income, has not stopped trading but lost almost 20% in the past 12 months in total return terms.
Worse, with investors now barred from pulling their money from one of the largest funds, they will now scramble to redeem whatever they still have access to, creating a toxic spiral which likely culminate with the fund’s termination.
Indicatively, Hargreaves accounts for £2 billion of Woodford’s total £10 billion in assets under management (a number which will shortly be far smaller) and promotes his flagship fund on its Wealth 50 list, which is used as a resource for customers choosing which funds to buy.
The company is also in talks with the UK financial regulator, Mr Woodford and the fund administrator. The administrator will now set a price for the suspended fund which appears in six of Hargreaves’ own portfolios and which will continue trading during the suspension.
Mark Dampier, head of research at Hargreaves said: “It can’t stay on the Wealth 50 if it’s no longer trading.”
Putting it mildly, Emma Wall, head of investment analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown said: “We are advocates of long-term investing and think Woodford’s multi-decade track record remains compelling — but we don’t underestimate the disappointment investors must feel with Woodford’s recent performance.”
But what is most bizarre about this latest hedge fund fiasco is that the gating takes place with global markets still just shy of all time highs. One can only imagine what will happen to the rest of the sector if the current swoon accelerates and drops another 5%, 10% or more, sending other hedge funds scrambling to liquidate their own holdings of the most crowded stocks. Those who succeed to sell first, they just may survive to fight another day.
But the bigger concern is whether this gating by one of the UK’s most iconic hedge funds sparks a redemption frenzy, first in England, and then, across the globe in what may soon become a rerun of the redemption panic that struck in December, resulting in the first S&P bear market since the financial crisis. Only this time, we doubt the market will recover just minutes after triggering the infamous -20% threshold.
UK Retail Sales Crash By Most On Record
“The risk of further job losses and store closures will only increase,” warned Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), after reporting U.K. retail sales declined by the most on record in May, with sluggish growth in online sales and Brexit-related uncertainty taking a toll.
Bloomberg reports that total sales fell by 2.7%, the biggest drop since at least 1995 when excluding any distortions caused by the timing of Easter.
While some of the drop can be accounted for by comparing to last year — when sales were boosted by sunshine, the World Cup and a royal wedding — political and economic uncertainty played a significant role, the British Retail Consortium and KPMG said.
On a like-for-like basis, sales decreased by 3% from a year earlier, and online sales of products apart from food grew just 1.5%, an all-time low, the BRC reported.
Of course, economic uncertainty over Brexit is blamed (along with political uncertainty) by BRC but comparisons to last year may be distorted further by the fact that 2018’s sales were boosted by sunshine, the World Cup and a royal wedding.
So while Corbyn and the conservatives continue to battle (with Farage adding his own flavor to the mix), and the central bank backing away from discussions of rate-hikes (to temper any no-deal Brexit-fueled inflation), the nation’s core is collapsing.
Finally, we return full circle to BRC boss Helen Dickinson what is needed…
“With retail conditions the toughest they have been for a decade, politicians must act to support the successful reinvention of our high streets and local communities.”
More government intervention of course!! One wonders whether hard, soft, or no Brexit would make any difference now…
END
Tom Luongo discusses the fact that in Europe the center parties are just not holding power any more
(courtesy Tom Luongo)
The Center Isn’t Holding In Europe
Authored by Tom Luongo via The Strategic Culture Foundation,
If there is one big takeaway from the recent European Parliamentary elections it is that centrist parties which stand for nothing in particular represent a lot fewer people. From both the ‘left’ and the ‘right’ the center lost ground across Europe.
The Euroskeptics got a lot of press in the run up to these elections and the final result was pretty much in line with expectations, with a couple of exceptions. The pro-EU left lost a lot more ground in Sweden than expected but the Dutch People’s Party were rejected thoroughly in the Netherlands.
Otherwise the polls were mostly in line with the results. And while the early spin tried to put a brave face on results in the U.K. and France Marine Le Pen outpolling sitting president Emmanuel Macron just two years after he beat her in the presidential election is notable.
The results in the U.K. were a microcosm of the trends we’re seeing across Europe. The major parties, both campaigning from the center, lost the confidence of the people on both sides of the divisive Brexit argument.
Those that want Brexit in no uncertain terms bolted to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party while those fed up with Labour’s indecision on not only Brexit but a host of other issues bolted for the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.
And a lot of those seats that would have went to the Social Democrats via Labour in the European Parliament now belong to Guy Verhofstadt and ALDE.
But the U.K. isn’t alone in this splitting along ideological lines. Germany has seen the collapse of the Social Democrats give spark to the Greens there as well. The Greens outpolled Angela Merkel’s Grand Coalition partners by more than five points, coming in 2nd behind the CDU/CSU with 20.5%.
And this is the takeaway. Governing from the center by trying to mask what the EU actually is versus what it was sold as isn’t working. Merkel had to ‘un-retire’ as leader of the CDU to stop the bleeding, thinking she’d weathered the worst of the storm posed by Euroskeptics like Alternative for Germany, who regressed from their 2017 election result with 11%.
The strong performance in countries that are pro-EU by parties that want more integration of Europe, as represented by the gains of ALDE and the Green alliances, was offset by a harder, more confrontational brand of Euroskepticism as represented by Brexit, Hungary’s Fidesz and Italy’s Lega.
Matteo Salvini’s Lega and Nigel Farage’s Brexit are now the best represented parties in the European Parliament. Both are on a collision course with EU leadership intent on squashing both of them.
The full results weren’t even reported officially, and European President Donald Tusk was out in the media calling “Brexit the vaccine for Euroskepticism.” This is him doubling down on the fear tactics of what will happen to anyone who dares think about trying to leave the EU.
The problem for Tusk, of course, is that the political establishment in the U.K. is fraying badly and will not be able to hold onto power through the end of the year.
With this disastrous result one would expect the Tories to dissolve government out of shame, similar to what Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (not a guy with an ounce of shame, mind you) did after losing to New Democracy.
But that won’t happen. And it is obvious why. Brussels and Westminster are still scheming to scuttle Brexit and blunt the rise of Farage from riding a sovereigntist wave into 10 Downing Street later in the year.
Because Labour was so thoroughly rebuked after leader Jeremy Corbyn was suckered into backing a second referendum he doesn’t dare call for a No-Confidence Vote against the government as there’s little chance of him winning a General Election with anything other than an unworkable coalition.
There will be, however, a challenge to his leadership in the near future as the political class in London have been itching to get rid of Corbyn and put one of Tony Blair’s hand-picked globalists back in charge.
A drubbing like Labour just took should be all the impetus they need to pull the plug.
For now, we’ll have to sit through a ridiculous glamour party as the Tories try to figure out who wants to captain its Titanic with an iceberg dead ahead set for impact on Halloween.
But since these elections didn’t end up with an upside surprise for the Euroskeptic parties overall, the usual suspects in Brussels will wrongly take that as a vote of confidence to thwart any reforms to their European project.
Tusk’s statement was aimed directly at his own Polish government as well as Salvini in Italy and Viktor Orban in Hungary. The EU’s counterattack already began for Italy with the EU threatening to fine Italy $4 billion it doesn’t have for violating budget rules. This came one day after Salvini was handed a loaded gun by voters to oppose EU austerity.
Germany voted for Merkel et.al. to stay the course if not accelerate the program and Italy voted otherwise.
This is a perfect example of why, ultimately, the EU is an unworkable project that should never have been allowed to get to this stage of political integration. Had it simply stayed a free-trade zone like what is on offer in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) it would have been successful.
But that was never the agenda. The agenda was always to create a transnational superstate with no regard for the will of the people it governed. And for years these people were lied to about what the EU was and what its goals were.
And now that they see it some have embraced it and others have rejected it.
That’s why the center can no longer hold and why in the very near future mere anarchy will be loosed upon it because of the hubris of those who wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Blain: “This Is Crazy”
Blain’s Morning Porridge, submitted by Shard Capital’s Bill Blain
An Angel who not so much as Fall, as saunter vaguely downwards…”
This is crazy. Some analysts are predicting 3 Fed eases by year end. Australia and New Zealand have cut rates. German yields are now negative 0.21%. Nothing screams recession more loudly!
The market is discounting US rates 70 bp lower. Everyone is listening for what the Fed says next, and it’s a Fed heavy schedule of speakers this week. Fed Head Jerome Powell could firm the tone when he speaks later today, but we’ve already had a former hawk, Lael Bullard warning “downward policy may be warranted”.
What’s really happening? A pre-emptive Fed getting ready to mitigate the negative effects of Trump’s trade twitter war on the economy? Or does the real data really suggest the last thing the US needs is further monetary distortion from overly low rates, and what’s really happening is the Fed pandering to a wobbly stock market? Massive deflationary risk somewhere down the timeline?
The stock analysts are loving it. They see lower rates driving renewed upside – they don’t care about the long-term distortions! All they want is a schweet short-term hit of rate ease to put stocks back into the stratosphere.
When bonds are yielding very little (I was going to say the square root of nothing, but one investment banking pedant sent me pages of maths y’day explaining why that isn’t a good metaphor), then it stimulates dangerous yield tourism. Low rates encourage bad things – like corporates to overleverage themselves to mount stock buybacks with debt – which increases executive bonuses but doesn’t build new factories or infrastructure. The end-result is a more distorted market reliant on lower for ever rates to stop the bubble bursting.
Short-term, its great. Fill your boots with stocks. Long-term…. Be very aware it is not real.
Perhaps the bubble is fraying in the tech sector. Yesterday’s news about anti-trust investigations into names like Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon and others might have been a light bulb moment – but its been enough to remind investors of regulatory risk as the US agencies divvy up names to attack!
Instead of dwelling on the distortions of the Anglo-Saxon markets, lets take a look at Europe. If you really want a disappointing stock to follow, then try Germany’s “leading” bank. It’s so bad, I thought I’d find Neil Woodford listed among the largest holders of the stock!
As Deutsche Bank tumbles to new lows – dragging other lame European banks in its plummeting wake, you have to wonder where it ends? It’s getting embarrassing – you almost wish they’d do the honourable thing. But no, the CEO, Christian Sewing is coming back with yet another plan to cut headcount in rates and equity trading to restore profitability by the end of July.
The cost of CDS protection has rocketed, but I’m actually surprised the bank’s CoCos aren’t lower given Deutsche’s previous history of pleasing investors when its missed calls! I’m afraid DB looks, smells and feels like a complete FUBAR. I’m awarding Bloomberg a “No-Sh*t Sherlock” for pointing out investors are frustrated at its 90% decline since the Global Financial Crisis. NSS!
But its not just Deutsche. Right across the whole European Banking sector the names honk and are spiralling lower in a sea of red. European banks – you’d have to be daft to buy them… yet more than a few stockpickers say… “they will represent value, soon!” Anything – with the possible exception of DB – has value when it is cheap enough.
When I were young… European banks dominated the league tables for bank lending, IPOs and Eurobonds. Today, they are practically absent. Why have the Americans thrived while Europe has rotted? It’s a question of environment and oversight. The US authorities aggressively dealt with banks during the crisis. Lehman demonstrated they were serious. They forced banks to accept recapitalisations and the banks responded by paying back as quickly as they could. And the banks were encouraged to go out and starting banking again.
In Europe, the banking crisis came later, and the banks never so thoroughly cleansed and reinvented themselves. Their underlying weakness was considered a secondary aspect of the European sovereign debt crisis. Free TLTRO money from the ECB kept them afloat, but primarily allowed them to stabilise spiralling European sovereign debt markets. But… there was no rebuild, and no reinvention of banking. European banks remain essentially national banks, meaning post-crisis austerity kept them from any kind of stable recovery, and unable to really address ongoing bad lending.
We all know the European banks’ obvious problems. They are getting spanked by low interest rates, falling bond yields, and rising trade war threats. But it’s a more complex story; rising regulatory costs and compliance will soon exceed 10% of revenues across Europe dismal banking scene. The fact most European banks trade below asset value hints that we don’t believe where the banks value these assets. No surprise. Banks holding assets in basket case countries – yes, I am thinking of Italy – remain vulnerable. Deutsche is the worst – trading at 18% of book value. Isn’t Germany supposed to be Europe’s economic hot spot?
Years of ultra-low and negative European banks has done nothing to improve credit quality. Instead, its enabled Zombie borrowers to survive for longer, meaning any recovery is likely to trigger a normalisation in default rates. And European banks are still plagued by high NPLs.
It’s not just Deutsche. The WSJ recently pointed out that the eight largest European banks have triple the assets, but are worth less than JP Morgan! Italian banks are massively exposed to Italian debt – and there isn’t any way that’s a positive. Even decent names like BBVA and Santander are getting caned – they had the good sense to seek earnings outside Europe, but this week are pulled down by their Mexican affiliations.
Where do we think European banks are going? They are burdened with an overbanked market, aging systems, a lack of resources to digitise and re-invent their services, and there are still no signs of any European banks emerging as cross border champions. European banking union is another EU initiative that seems to have drowned in the sea of bureaucracy that sinks everything. Governments still see their duty as protecting national banking champions. There is repeated regulatory failure; Danske Bank in terms of money laundering and the collapse of Spanish and Italian banks doesn’t help. No European banks are expanding, building market share. Instead they are all and have been retrenching.
If I could think of something positive to say about Europe, But I really can’t….
end
This is very bothersome to the ECB. They need inflation of 2% to allow sovereign debts to slowly wither away. They are only achieving one percent and thus they must undergo another round of QE
(courtesy Reuters)
ECB
Inflation’s decline puts pressure back on ECB
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Euro zone inflation fell more than expected last month, adding to worries about weak price pressure and reinforcing the case for more stimulus by the European Central Bank.
With growth slowing as a global trade war heats up, major central banks appear to have given up plans to tighten policy and investors now expect them to provide even more stimulus.
Inflation in the 19 countries sharing the euro fell to 1.2% in May from 1.7% in April, below expectations of 1.3% and more than reversing a one-off surge related to the timing of Easter.
In a more worrisome sign, the ECB’s preferred measure, underlying inflation — excluding volatile food and energy prices — fell to 1.0% from 1.4% a month earlier, indicating that a long-projected pick-up has still not begun.
With the data suggesting more ECB support may be coming, bond yields dropped further on Tuesday, moving toward record or multi-year lows.
The 10-year Germany bond fell to minus 0.21%, within sight of Monday’s record low. The 30-year French bond fell about four basis points to 1.19%, its lowest since late 2016.
Bank shares rose, partly on expectations the ECB would need to give the euro zone economy a boost and provide banks with cheap funding.
The ECB targets inflation at just below 2%, but it has undershot that since 2013, raising fears that such a persistent miss could permanently lower inflation expectations, making weak price growth self-perpetuating.
Minutes of the ECB’s last meeting showed growing concern about weakening inflation expectations, which raises pressure on policymakers to provide further stimulus.
But the bank has already exhausted much of its firepower. Although it has plenty of tools left, they lack the potency of earlier measures, such as massive asset purchases or rapid rate cuts.
The ECB’s next move, expected at Thursday’s meeting, will be to provide banks with new longer-term refinancing operations or TLTROs, — loans at super low, probably negative interest rates.
“Today’s drop in core inflation … will only add to the case for a dovish outcome while our measures of inflation expectations continue to drift lower,” Pictet Wealth Management strategist Frederik Ducrozet said. “We expect TLTRO to be priced at a negative rate of -0.20%, or lower.”
Lending data suggests the availability of funding is not an issue for now, but the weak inflation reading and slowing growth are likely to persuade policymakers to price the loans under generous terms.
But the ECB may hold off on other easing measures for now. Growth is holding up, wages are rising, credit growth remains robust and unemployment reached a 10-year-low of 7.6% in April.
Still, more support may be needed before summer is over. A trade war is sapping confidence, Italy is again quarreling with the European Commission, German industry continues to post dismal figures, stocks are tumbling and the threat of a hard Brexit looms.
Markets have already pushed out expectations for a rate increase into 2021 and some are even pricing in a rate cut. That move is still unlikely, since the ECB’s key rate is already at a record low of minus 0.4%
To maintain credibility, the ECB’s next move then may be to adjust its forward guidance and formally delay any rate increase. It now foresees steady rates until next year.
-END-
5.RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
END
6.GLOBAL ISSUES
AUSTRALIA
Another country shows its true colours after a raid on a News Corp journalist after she reports on government spying on ordinary citizens
(courtesy zerohedge)
Aussie Feds Raid News Corp Journalist’s Home After Government Spying Exposé
Australian federal police officers are raiding the home of News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst over an April, 2018 story accusing the government of radical new espionage powers allowing the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to monitor citizens for the first time, according to the Daily Telegraph (via the Herald Sun).
Ms Smethurst, the political editor for News Corp Sunday titles includingThe Sunday Telegraph, was at home preparing to leave for work this morning when several Australian Federal Police officers arrived with a warrant from an ACT magistrate giving them authority to search her home, computer and mobile phone.
Ms Smethurst complied with the warrant and is presently waiting for the raid to be completed. She has declined to answer questions apart from confirming her identity. –Herald Sun
Smethurst’s article revealed that the emails, bank accounts and text messages of Australian citizens could be secretly accessedby government spies without a trace under the proposal, as long as the Defense and Home Affairs ministers approved the plan.
The raid comes three weeks after the federal election returned the Morrison government to power, leaving Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton at the helm.
Ms Smethurst’s original story included images of top-secret letters between the secretary of Home Affairs, Mike Pezzullo, and his counterpart in Defence, Greg Moriarty, outlining a plan to potentially allow government hackers to “proactively disrupt and covertly remove” onshore cyber threats by “hacking into critical infrastructure.” –Herald Sun
Current Australian law prohibits the ASD from spying on citizens – a power left to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the country’s domestic spy agency.
Smethhurst revealed that Dutton and former Defense Minister Marise Payne had reviewed the proposal, however it had not moved beyond that stage to be formally presented to the government
end.
Mexico/uSA
Trump’s Mexican tariffs are hurting Constellation Brand’s stock which is mostly made up of Mexican beer. The best sellers are the Corona beer and Modelo and this will make beer move expensive to Americans.
(courtesy zero hedge)
7 OIL ISSUES
8. EMERGING MARKETS
INDIA
Your early morning currency/gold and silver pricing/Asian and European bourse movements/ and interest rate settings TUESDAY morning 7:00 AM….
Euro/USA 1.1261 UP .0015 REACTING TO MERKEL’S FAILED COALITION/ REACTING TO +GERMAN ELECTION WHERE ALT RIGHT PARTY ENTERS THE BUNDESTAG/ huge Deutsche bank problems ///ITALIAN CHAOS /AND NOW ECB TAPERING BOND PURCHASES/JAPAN TAPERING BOND PURCHASES /USA RISING INTEREST RATES /FLOODING/EUROPE BOURSES /GREEN
USA/JAPAN YEN 107.93 DOWN 0.113 (Abe’s new negative interest rate (NIRP), a total DISASTER/NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT .11% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…
GBP/USA 1.2689 DOWN 0.0025 (Brexit March 29/ 2019/ARTICLE 50 SIGNED/BREXIT FEES WILL BE CAPPED/BREXIT EXTENDED TO OCT 31/2019//
USA/CAN 1.3423 DOWN .0013 CANADA WORRIED ABOUT TRADE WITH THE USA WITH TRUMP ELECTION/ITALIAN EXIT AND GREXIT FROM EU/(TRUMP INITIATES LUMBER TARIFFS ON CANADA/CANADA HAS A HUGE HOUSEHOLD DEBT/GDP PROBLEM)
Early THIS TUESDAY morning in Europe, the Euro ROSE BY 15 basis points, trading now ABOVE the important 1.08 level RISING to 1.1261 Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED DOWN 27.80 POINTS OR 0.96%
//Hang Sang CLOSED DOWN 132.34 POINTS OR 0.49%
/AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0.09%// EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL GREEN
The NIKKEI: this TUESDAY morning CLOSED DOWN 2.34 POINTS OR 0.01%
Trading from Europe and Asia
EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL RED
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang Sang CLOSED DOWN 132.34 POINTS OR 0.49%
/SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 27.80 POINTS OR 0.96%
Australia BOURSE CLOSED UP 0.09%
Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED DOWN 2.34 POINTS OR 0.01%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE RED
Gold very early morning trading: 1326.25
silver:$14.72
Early TUESDAY morning USA 10 year bond yield: 2.10% !!! UP 2 IN POINTS from MONDAY’S night in basis points and it is trading WELL ABOVE resistance at 2.27-2.32%.
The 30 yr bond yield 2.56 UP 2 IN BASIS POINTS from MONDAY night.
USA dollar index early MONDAY morning: 97.09 DOWN 5 CENT(S) from MONDAY’s close.
This ends early morning numbers TUESDAY MORNING
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx6
And now your closing TUESDAY NUMBERS \12: 00 PM
Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 0.72% DOWN 4 in basis point(s) yield from YESTERDAY/
JAPANESE BOND YIELD: -.10% DOWN 1 BASIS POINTS from YESTERDAY/JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/56
SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 0.67% DOWN 2 IN basis point yield from YESTERDAY
ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.52 DOWN 12 POINTS in basis point yield from YESTERDAY/
the Italian 10 yr bond yield is trading 185 points HIGHER than Spain.
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: FALLS –.21% IN BASIS POINTS ON THE DAY//
THE IMPORTANT SPREAD BETWEEN ITALIAN 10 YR BOND AND GERMAN 10 YEAR BOND IS 2.73% AND NOW ABOVE THE THE 3.00% LEVEL WHICH WILL IMPLODE THE ENTIRE ITALIAN BANKING SYSTEM. AT 4% SPREAD THERE WILL BE A HUGE BANK RUN…
END
IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES FOR TUESDAY
Closing currency crosses for TUESDAY night/USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM
Euro/USA 1.1238 DOWN .0008 or 8 basis points
USA/Japan: 108.23 UP .190 OR YEN DOWN 19 basis points/
Great Britain/USA 1.2677 UP .0013 POUND UP 13 BASIS POINTS)
Canadian dollar UP 24 basis points to 1.3420
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The USA/Yuan,CNY: AT 6.9079 0N SHORE (UP)..GETTING DANGEROUS
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: 6.9254 (YUAN UP)..GETTING REALLY DANGEROUS
TURKISH LIRA: 5.7826 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WISH.
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield closed at -.10%
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 2 IN basis points from MONDAY at 2.13 % //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic USA 30 yr bond yield: 2.59 UP 3 in basis points on the day
Your closing USA dollar index, 97.30 UP 15 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: 12:00 PM
London: CLOSED UP 29.49 0.41%
German Dax : CLOSED UP 176.36 POINTS OR 1.51%
Paris Cac CLOSED UP 26.80 POINTS 0.51%
Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 94.80 POINTS or 1.05%
Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 355.18 POINTS OR 1.79%
WTI Oil price; 53.38 12:00 PM EST
Brent Oil: 61.70 12:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN / ROUBLE CROSS: 65.24 THE CROSS LOWER BY 0.05 ROUBLES/DOLLAR (ROUBLE HIGHER BY 5 BASIS PTS)
TODAY THE GERMAN YIELD FALLS TO –.21 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, 4:00 pm/and 10 year USA interest rate:
WTI CRUDE OIL PRICE 4:30 PM : 53.57//
BRENT : 61.95
USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: … 2.12… VERY DEADLY// AND INDICATIVE OF A HUGE RECESSION COMING UPON US//AND BOND MARKET DID NOT BUY THE DOW RISE!
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 2.60..VERY DEADLY/ AND INDICATIVE OF A HUGE RECESSION COMING UPON US://BOND MARKET DID NOT BUY THE DOW/NASDAQ RISE
EURO/USA 1.1253 ( UP 8 BASIS POINTS)
USA/JAPANESE YEN:108,14 UP .105 (YEN DOWN 11 BASIS POINTS/..
USA DOLLAR INDEX: 97.11 DOWN 3 cent(s)/
The British pound at 4 pm Britain Pound/USA:1.27000 UP 37 POINTS
the Turkish lira close: 5.7786
the Russian rouble 65.09 UP 0.19 Roubles against the uSA dollar.( UP 19 BASIS POINTS)
Canadian dollar: 1.3395 UP 46 BASIS pts
USA/CHINESE YUAN (CNY) : 6.9097 (ONSHORE)/we need to watch these levels/anything greater than 6.95 will be deadly./
USA/CHINESE YUAN(CNH): 6.9210 (OFFSHORE) we need to watch these levels/anything greater than 6.95 will be deadly/
German 10 yr bond yield at 5 pm: ,-0.21%
The Dow closed UP 512.40 POINTS OR 2.06%
NASDAQ closed up 194.10 POINTS OR 2.65%
VOLATILITY INDEX: 16.97 CLOSED UP 1.89
LIBOR 3 MONTH DURATION: 2.479%//
FROM 2.502
And now your more important USA stories which will influence the price of gold/silver
TRADING IN GRAPH FORM FOR THE DAY//
Dollar Dumps, Yields Jump On Biggest Stock Short-Squeeze In 5 Months
Worst Is First! What goes down, must go back up, right? Perhaps it’s better not to play…
play…
Chinese stocks were weak overnight, led to the downside by the tech-heavy Shenzhen Composite..
Chinese stocks were weak overnight, led to the downside by the tech-heavy Shenzhen Composite…
And Europe is doing the exact opposite again – soaring for the second day in a row…
Nasdaq managed to get back to even, erasing yesterday’s tech wreck…Trannies soared over 3.5% today, Small Caps up almost 3%!! And the late-day melt-up sent S&P back above 2800. The Dow ended the day up 511 points!
This doesn’t feel sustainable…
And just like that the S&P 500 retakes 2800…
Nasdaq was the most oversold before the open since the Dec lows…
S&P pushed back above the 200DMA…
This is the best day for stocks in 5 months, on the back of the biggest short-squeeze since the first week of 2019…
Volume was below average.
FANG Stocks bounced today but only recovered 50% of their last few day’s losses…
Semis soared (2nd best day of year) filling the gap back to May 23rd…
Financials spiked most in 5 months, but struggled to break resistance from last week…
While equity vol is elevated, FX vol is deadstick as bond vol explodes…
Treasury yields surged on the day, with 30Y notably underperforming and running higher (in yield) on the week
Note we started the day aggressively oversold in yields…
With a steepening in the curve, 3m10Y erasing yesterday’s flattening (but remains inverted)
Note, at the longer-end, 2s30s now at 14-month highs…
The Dollar index tumbled to 3-week lows – down 4 days in a row – erasing all gains since the May FOMC meeting…
The Mexican peso rallied today but only retraced 50% of the Trump tariff drop…
Rather oddly, the dollar was weak as market-implied rate-change expectations shifted more hawkishly, despite all the chatter from various Fed heads…
But rate-cut expectations for September have soared to 89%!!! (NOTE: in early November, the market was 89% sure that The Fed would be hiking rates in September)
Bitcoin was beaten like a rented mule again…
As all cryptos extended overnight losses…
Commodities were all higher today as the dollar dropped…
Gold managed to hold on to gains (in USD and CNY) amid all the chaos today…
Oil also gained on the day amid the dollar dump (ahead of tonight’s inventory data)…
Finally – one word – fun-durr-mentals…
end
i) Market trading/ Early morning
The algos will look for anything no matter how stupid it is to rank up stocks and whack gold/silver
(courtesy zerohedge)
Stocks Spike As China Says Differences With US Should Be “Resolved Through Dialogue”
US stocks futures spiked just before 8 am Eastern Time on Tuesday after the Chinese Ministry Commerce struck an unexpectedly conciliatory tone, saying it believed trade differences should be “resolved through dialogue.”
- CHINA HOPES U.S. TO STOP WRONG DOINGS,MEET CHINA HALFWAY:MOFCOM
- CHINA COMMERCE MINISTRY SAYS THE DIFFERENCES AND FRICTIONS BETWEEN CHINA AND THE U.S. SHOULD BE RESOLVED THROUGH DIALOGUE AND NEGOTIATIONS
This was a marked departure from rhetoric bashing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a travel advisory warning about the risks of traveling in the US.
Nasdaq futures shot higher, setting the stage for an even more robust recovery after the index tumbled into correction territory on Monday.
To be sure, Washington and Beijing have tried this approach before (remember the ‘trade truce’ that now seems like a distant memory?). The approach worked until a deal was reportedly imminent, at which point Beijing reneged on all of its agreements.
Dovish Powell Slams Yields, Dollar As He Opens The Door For More “Unconventional” Measures
One day after James Bullard opened the door for the “patient” Fed to start cutting rates and sending yields and the dollar sliding, moments ago the Fed Chair doubled down on dovishness when in a speech delivered to the Chicago Fed, Powell confirmed the Fed’s openness to cut interest rates if necessary, stating that the Fed’s unconventional tools are now conventional and will “likely be needed in some form in the future” as he pledged to keep a close watch on the escalating trade war between the US and some of the world’s largest economies.
Sparking a renewed dovish kneejerk reaction was Powell’s flashing red headline that the Fed will “act as appropriate” to sustain the expansion, while affirming the the Fed is closely monitoring implications of trade negotiations for the US economic outlook as the “Fed does not know how or when trade issues will be resolved.” Here is the key segment from his speech:
“I’d like first to say a word about recent developments involving trade negotiations and other matters. We do not know how or when these issues will be resolved. We are closely monitoring the implications of these developments for the U.S. economic outlook and, as always, we will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion, with a strong labor market and inflation near our symmetric 2 percent objective.”
In a surprising twist, Powell said that with the economy growing, unemployment low and inflation stable “it’s time to rethink long-run strategies.” Powell also hinted that both QE and ZIRP, and perhaps NIRP are on deck, stating that interest rates so close to zero “has become the preeminent monetary policy challenge of our time,” and admitting that “perhaps it is time to retire the term ‘unconventional’ when referring to tools that were used in the crisis. We know that tools like these are likely to be needed in some form in the future.” And the clearest hint that the Fed is preparing for a deflationary tide was Powell’s preview that “the next time policy rates hit the lower bound – and there will be a next time – it will not be a surprise.”
But wait, there’s more, because in the clearest indication that the Fed is panicking about losing control over inflation expectations, Powell said that “my FOMC colleagues and I must—and do—take seriously the risk that inflation shortfalls that persist even in a robust economy could precipitate a difficult-to-arrest downward drift in inflation expectations.”
Translation: not only is the Fed ready to cut rates, but it may take “unconventional” tools during the next recession, i.e., NIRP and even more QE.
Powell also acknowledged that the Fed has now lost control of the dot plot, saying: “Unfortunately, at times the dot plot has distracted attention from the more important topic of how the FOMC will react to unexpected economic developments. In times of high uncertainty, the median dot might best be thought of as the least unlikely outcome.”
So perhaps it is time to call it the anti-dot plot?
Referring to “trade negotiations and other matters,” the Fed Chair said that “we do not know how or when these issues will be resolved.”
As Bloomberg notes, Powell’s speech was dedicated to the Fed’s yearlong goal of reviewing its monetary policy strategies, tools and communication practices. “With the economy growing, unemployment low, and inflation low and stable, this is the right time to engage the public broadly on these topics.”
Curiously, just hours before Powell’s speech, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans brushed aside the idea the Fed needed to cut rates in response to market pressure, in a surprisingly hawkish speech.
Powell, however quickly reversed the market sentiment, and his clearly dovish turn sent both the dollar…
… and 10Y yields sharply lower…
… before both rebounded to pre-comment levels in a kneejerk reaction which we doubt will be sustained.
Chinese Media Dashes Trade-Deal Hope: “China Softening Stance Is Useless Speculation”
With the Nasdaq having retraced all of yesterday losses on the heels of a comment this morning from China’s Commerce Ministry that the China, U.S. trade dispute should be solved through dialogue which should be based on mutual respect and benefit, China’s Global Times just tweeted:
“China softening the stance? This is a useless speculation. Beijing is willing to negotiate but now is very much convinced fair talks are impossible without a thorough fight. The Chinese realized they were a bit naive before, believing trade talks can yield good results.“
So what happens now?
END
ii)Market data/
The poor PMI figures mirror perfectly USA factory orders and it shows the slowest growth since the Trump election\\(courtesy zerohedge)
US Factory Orders Slowest Growth Since Trump Elected
Following its surprising bounce in factory orders in March, April was expected to see contraction (echoing the collapse in PMIs) and it did (dropping 0.8% MoM) and durable goods orders tumbling 2.1% MoM in their final April print.
Factory Orders were revised lower for March (from +1.9% to +1.3%) which prompted April’s 0.8% decline to look slightly better than the expected 1.0% decline.
Ex-Transports, factory orders rose just 0.3% MoM in April and new orders ex-defense for April fall 0.9% after rising 0.5% in March.
However, away from the noise and oscillation of the monthly data, year-over-year, US Factory Orders grew at just 1.0% – the slowest rate of growth since Trump was elected.
And judging by PMIs, this is about to get a lot worse.
end
iii)USA ECONOMIC/GENERAL STORIES
The House Judiciary Committee announces a bipartisan probe into whether large tech companies are suppressing competition
(courtesy zerohedge)
House Panel Launches Bipartisan Probe Of Big Tech’s Power
After a bloodbath in tech stocks today, driven by FTC/DoJ investigation headlines, the House Judiciary Committee has just piled on, announcing a bipartisan probe into whether large tech companies are suppressing competition.
“The Antitrust Subcommittee will conduct a top-to-bottom review of the market power held by giant tech platforms. This is the first time Congress has undertaken an investigation into this behavior,” the Judiciary Cmte says in statement.
The probe will focus on 3 main areas:
- Documenting competition problems in digital markets
- Examining if dominant cos. are engaging in anti-competitive conduct
- Assessing whether existing antitrust laws, competition policies and current enforcement levels are adequate to address these issues
So far the market is not happy…
WaPo reports that Rep. David Cicilline (R.I.) said the investigation won’t target one specific tech company, but rather focus on the broad belief that the “Internet is broken,” he told reporters. In doing so, he pointed out problematic practices at tech giants such as Google, which has faced sanctions in Europe for prioritizing its services in search over rivals, and Facebook, which Cicilline criticized for cloning and acquiring competitors to ensure its continued dominance in social networking. Amazon and Apple also could figure into the committee’s early plans, he said, cautioning the goal is a broader look at the industry.
“In a lot of ways, there was a reluctance in the early days of the Internet to interfere,” the Democratic lawmaker said.
“It was creating so much value in the lives of people that [some felt] you should get out of the way and allow it to flourish.”
“Over time,” Cicilline continued, “people have recognized there are some real dangers here.”
Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said in a statement:
“The open internet has delivered enormous benefits to Americans, including a surge of economic opportunity, massive investment, and new pathways for education online, but there is growing evidence that a handful of gatekeepers have come to capture control over key arteries of online commerce, content, and communications.”
“The Committee has a rich tradition of conducting studies and investigations to assess the threat of monopoly power in the U.S. economy.”
“Given the growing tide of concentration and consolidation across our economy, it is vital that we investigate the current state of competition in digital markets and the health of the antitrust laws.
Well those hearings should be yet another circus, especially coming just after Google Cloud’s outage crushing online commerce for hours yesterday.
As Roger McNamee – an early investor in Apple, Facebook, and Google and a former adviser to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg who has since become a critic of the companies – noted earlier in the day, “The Internet platforms have operated with impunity since their founding, producing horrific outcomes for democracy, public health, privacy, and competition.”
END
This is a biggy!! Druckenmiller is one smart cookie. When Trump was elected on Nov 8.2016 he went all in. He is a person to whom we must listen: he just dumped all of his stocks and he placed all of his assets into treasuries as he expects all interest rates and he means all interest rates around the world to go to zero
(courtesy zerohedge)
Druckenmiller Dumps All His Stocks, Piles Into Treasuries Expecting Rates To Hit Zero
Somewhere, Albert Edwards is doing a victory lap. Little by little, the SocGen strategist’s “IceAge” thesis, which sees US 10Y Treasury rates eventually catching down to Bunds and JGBs by hitting 0% and going negative thereafter as a deflationary singularity grips the entire world, is materializing.
On Monday, the market found a newfound appreciation for Edwards’ gloomy perspective, as September eurodollars soared 14.5 ticks following Bullard comments greenlighting a Fed rate cut. The EDM9-EDZ9 has plunged, more than doubling in just a few days as low as -0.485 bps today, in a move that shocked rates traders and left them speechless as the market is now pricing in a 60% chance of two cuts or more by September.
But it’s no longer just Albert who sees a deflationary tsunami flooding over the US. The grouchy permabear was joined by billionaire Stan Druckenmiller, who said he could see the Fed funds rate going to zero in the next 18 months if the economy softens, and that he recently piled into Treasuries as the U.S. trade war with China escalated.
“When the Trump tweet went out, I went from 93% invested to net flat, and bought a bunch of Treasuries,” Druckenmiller said Monday evening quoted by Bloomberg, referring to the May 5 tweet from Trump which threatened an increase in tariffs on China and which sparked the most vicious bout of trade-war related selling yet. Explaining his decision, Druck said that it’s “not because I’m trying to make money, I just don’t want to play in this environment.”
Incidentally, for those confused what going from 93% invested to flat means, the answer is he liquidated his entire equity book.
In an interview by Key Square Capital Management founder Scott Bessent at The Economic Club of New York, Druckenmiller went against conventional, and Beijing, wisdom which believes that Trump will capitulate ahead of the 2020 elections, and said that at the moment he doesn’t see Trump giving China room for negotiation because the president sees tariffs as a winning strategy for the 2020 election. That, of course, could change if the economy and markets get weaker, he said.
“If you can analyze Donald Trump more power to you. I’ve been more wrong footed by this guy, and shame on me”, Druckenmiller summarized his feelings toward Trump.
At the same time, as we noted earlier when we pointed out that several of Druckernmiller’s key warning indicators are flashing an “amber alert”, while the former chief strategist for George Soros wouldn’t say whether the U.S. is headed for a recession, he said he sees “many warning signs” adding that he was concerned that Trump may have broken a fragile economy going into the next election and assumes he won’t be re-elected in 2020.
Looking at other asset classes, Druckenmiller said that while Treasuries have become less interesting amid the furious rally in recent days, they remain “the best game in town” if the economy deteriorates, and certainly if rates tumble another 2% to zero or below. “Gold’s not bad either,” he added.
As we reminded readers earlier today, last December Druckenmiller warned that trading conditions could worsen, and that while the indicators he historically used were not red yet…
… they were deep inside amber territory. Alongside former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, Druck also urged the Federal Reserve not to raise rates in December, and while central bank did not follow his advice that time, it has since kept interest rates steady and may cut rates as soon as the June meeting which is suddenly seen as “live.”
Below, courtesy of Bloomberg, are some other highlights from the interview of the hedge fund legend whose average returns of 30% over three decades, speaks for itself:
- No impeachment: It would “be crazy” at this point to try to remove Trump through impeachment or the 25th amendment, because it would take too long and “the country would go through hell. It doesn’t make sense”
- Major shake-out in the hedge fund industry is coming: “There’s probably five to 10 people, women and men, who are worth more than their fees now,” he said. “There are still going to be superstars, but we need to get back to maybe 200 or 300 from 4,000” funds.
- Staying away from bitcoin: He wouldn’t be short or long Bitcoin, as he doesn’t understand why it’s a store of value. “I don’t think I’m a neanderthal, which is what I’ve been called when I’ve said I didn’t want to own Bitcoin.”
Druckenmiller’s parting words were the most memorable. Responding to a question from the audience if the Fed is going to use negative rates, here’s what Druckenmiller said:
“They’re going to do the works. Stuff that I thought was brilliant in 2009 and should be used once every 50 years is now being discussed as part of the toolkit even for like a recession. I can easily see 2 Years easily going to zero, and I would say the odds are very high they would cut 50 to a 100 bps in the next year.Everything I see out of central banks globally is radical policies ahead.”
end
(courtesy Mark Glennon/WirePoints.com)
Illinois’ Reckless $45 Billion Capital Spending Binge Exposed
Authored by Mark Glennon via WirePoints.com,
“Here’s one conclusion — the Illinois Legislature either has no real grasp of the financial situation in this state or simply doesn’t care. It is our suspicion that too many legislators simply don’t understand the financial reality the state and city face.”
– “Champaign News Gazette Editorial, June 2, 2019
When Governor Pritzker announced a $41.5 billion capital spending plan a couple weeks ago we thought it was surely just a pie-in-the-sky first offer – that economic realities and unpopular tax hikes needed to fund so massive a plan would chop it down to something reasonable.
Silly us. The plan has now increased to $45 billion.
To get a sense of the enormity of that number, consider that it’s over twice the state’s combined annual revenue from personal and corporate income taxes. It dwarfs all recent capital spending programs. The Illinois Jobs Now capital plan under Governor Pat Quinn was for $18.0 billion in new projects and $11 billion of reappropriations from previous years. Governor George Ryan’s Illinois FIRST was for $12 billion. The Build Illinois program under Governor Jim Thompson was $2.3 billion.
We understand the case for a capital program of some kind, but this is madness. A spending binge so massive, prepared by proven incompetents and dumped on the General Assembly along with thousands of pages of other budget and spending matters inevitably will be loaded with pork and waste.
Even on sensible projects, spending will be excessive thanks to the absurd “prevailing wage” rules that govern all of it. They drive costs far beyond what the private sector pays, which we’ve documented often. The average, total, full-time-equivalent compensation under our prevailing wage laws, including benefits, for all job categories over all counties is $119,000. Public unions effectively set those numbers. Their power is unchallenged in Springfield, which largely accounts for this capital bill.
How will Illinois pay for this? That’s not entirely clear since nobody has had a chance to fully digest the legislation and disclosures so far have been horrible – cherry-picked numbers given to reporters. The only good news is that the federal government apparently will reimburse Illinois for about $10 billion of the $45 billion (though Illinoisans pay part of that, too).
According to a Chicago Sun-Times summary, Illinoisans will see the state’s tax on gasoline doubled; higher vehicle registration fees; an increase in video gaming terminal taxes; charges on sports wagering revenue; license fees from casino and sports betting; a tax on parking garages and lots; removal of the sales tax exemption on traded-in property valued above $10,000; and an increase on the cigarette tax by $1 per pack. Cook County municipalities would be allowed to add a 3-cent tax on top of the state-issued motor fuel tax. However, the latest version of the bill apparently eliminated a real-estate transfer tax increase, a $1-a-ride fee for ride-sharing services and a tax on cable and streaming video services, which were in the initial proposal.
Much of it will also come out of the state’s general fund, putting more pressure the already desperate situation there. And, no, that won’t be fixed by a new progressive income tax. Revenue from that has already been spoken for elsewhere several times over.
One way or another, though the tax increases may not yet be clear, the bill will have to be paid.
Where will the money be spent? According to a Capitol Illinois News summary, the plan would allocate $33.2 billion for transportation projects including roads and bridges, $3.5 billion for education infrastructure projects, $4.3 billion for state facilities, $1.2 billion for environmental conservation projects, and $420 million for broadband expansion and $465 million for health care and human services facilities.
We will have much more to say on this, the budget and the rest of this legislative session as facts become available. It will take time for much of what was done to be exposed.
END
SWAMP STORIES
A judge in the Washington DC district just threw out a lawsuit brought by the House democrats. I guess they fished for the wrong judge…
(courtesy zerohedge)
Judge Tosses Border Wall Lawsuit Brought By House Democrats
A Washington DC district court judge tossed out a lawsuit brought by House Democrats seeking to halt President Trump’s reallocation of funds for a southern border wall.
Judge Trevor McFadden ruled that the matter is fundamentally political and Democrats lack standing to bring a legal case.
In February, Trump declared a national emergency over the flood of migrants at the southern border which have overwhelmed the US immigration system. Shortly after, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other House Democrats filed their lawsuit, claiming that Trump was “stealing from appropriated funds” and would be in violation of the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution. The politicians contended that this constituted an “institutional injury” to the separation of powers.
McFadden, a Trump appointee and former DOJ official, disagreed – writing in his opinion: “This case presents a close question about the appropriate role of the Judiciary in resolving disputes between the other two branches of the Federal Government. To be clear, the court does not imply that Congress may never sue the Executive to protect its powers,” adding “The Court declines to take sides in this fight between the House and the President.“
“This is a case about whether one chamber of Congress has the “constitutional means” to conscript the Judiciary in a political turf war with the President over the implementation of legislation. … [W]hile the Constitution bestows upon Members of the House many powers, it does not grant them standing to halt the Executive Branch into court claiming a dilution of Congress’s legislative authority.The Court therefore lacks jurisdiction to hear the House’s claims and will deny its motion.”
— Judge Trevor McFadden
BREAKING: Judge REJECTS Democrat effort to stop Trump’s use of emergency powers for Wall
And @willchamberlain is right yet again https://www.axios.com/judge-trump-border-wall-national-emergency-e71d8249-98e2-4653-9b4a-b8c47133d7a3.html …
Judge rejects Democrats’ effort to block Trump’s use of emergency powers for border
The judge ruled that one chamber of Congress cannot sue the executive branch.
axios.com
Attorney Will Chamberlain, co-founder of Human Events, suggested in January that Trump declare a national emergency at the southern border – and broke down why Democrats would lose a challenge over lack of standing.
4 months ago
Understanding Standinghttps://www.pscp.tv/w/b8WzRDUzMzM2OTR8MVlxR29yVmFrclFLdoP46I_YT_b84nTvj4bCW7l5pPTFOXeC7e4iUmpN1dCY …
Will Chamberlain @willchamberlain
Understanding standing – why the courts would have trouble stopping Trump if he declared a national emergency
pscp.tv
McFadden’s opinion focused on two guiding Supreme Court rulings he called “lodestars,” a 2015 case between the Arizona State legislature and the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, and the 1997 case Raines v. Byrd.
“Read together, Raines and Arizona State Legislature create a spectrum of sorts,” McFadden wrote. “On one end, individual legislators lack standing to allege a generalized harm to Congress’s Article I power. On the other end, both chambers of a state legislature do have standing to challenge a nullification of their legislative authority brought about through a referendum.”
But, McFadden quickly distinguished the Arizona State Legislature case, which found institutional standing for legislators only in a limited instance. The Arizona case, the judge noted, “does not touch or concern the question whether Congress has standing to bring a suit against the President,” and the Supreme Court has found there was “no federal analogue to Arizona’s initiative power.” –Fox News
McFadden also noted that Democrats still have the power to modify or even repeal an appropriations law if they wish to “exempt future appropriations” from the Trump administration.
“Congress has several political arrows in its quiver to counter perceived threats to its sphere of power,” wrote McFadden. “These tools show that this lawsuit is not a last resort for the House. And this fact is also exemplified by the many other cases across the country challenging the administration’s planned construction of the border wall.”
“The House retains the institutional tools necessary to remedy any harm caused to this power by the Administration’s actions. Its Members can, with a two-thirds majority, override the President’s veto of the resolution voiding the National Emergency Declaration. They did not. It can amend appropriations laws to expressly restrict the transfer or spending of funds for a border wall under Sections 284 and 2808. Indeed, it appears to be doing so.”
As noted by Fox News, McFadden’s ruling contrasted with an injunction issued by Obama-appointed US District Court Judge Hawyood Gilliam last week, who blocked the Trump administration from using the reallocated funds for specific areas in Arizona and Texas.
Attkisson: 10 Questions I’d Ask Robert Mueller (If I Were Allowed)
Authored by Sharyl Attkisson, op-ed via The Hill,
Most of now-former special counsel Robert Mueller’s public statement to the press last week seemed to fall under the category of “Fair enough.” After all, the man did nearly two years of work, he kept largely silent throughout, and he alternately was called a hero or a dog.
So the day Mueller resigns, he chooses to make a fairly brief statementputting a button on all of it, and at the same time declining to take any questions, before gliding back into private life.
But there’s at least one comment Mueller made that nags at me. It’s when he said, “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”
Mueller must have had his reasons for shading his commentary in that way rather than in the other direction: If they’d found adequate evidence to implicate Trump in a crime, or even “collusion,” they would have said that, too.
The statement Mueller chose to give carries with it an implication that his team looked for evidence of President Trump’s innocence but simply could not find it. With that in mind, I thought of a short list of questions I’d like to ask Mueller, if ever permitted to do so:
- What witnesses did you interview and what evidence did you collect in an attempt to exonerate Trump or prove him not guilty? (I believe the answer would be, “None. It’s not the job of a special counsel or prosecutor to do so.” Therefore, was Mueller’s comment appropriate?)
- Does it concern you that the FBI claimed “collection tool failure” in stating that 19,000 text messages between former FBI employees Lisa Page and Peter Strozk had been deleted and were unavailable for review by the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general? Is it worth investigating how the inspector general was able to recover the messages, when the FBI said it could not? Does the FBI lack the technical expertise, or the will? Isn’t it a serious issue that should be addressed, either way?
- Along the same lines, do you think it strange or inappropriate that the DOJ wiped text messages between Strzok and Page from their special counsel cell phones? The deletions happened shortly after they were ejected from the team and before the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General could review them — at a time when all had been informed that their actions were under review. Did technicians attempt to recover the messages? Were the circumstances of the deletions thoroughly investigated?
- When did you first learn that the FBI and DOJ signed off on and presented unverified, anti-Trump political opposition research to a court to get wiretaps on an innocent U.S. citizen? Doesn’t this violate the strict procedures enacted while you were FBI director, intended to ensure that only verified information is seen by the court? Who will be held accountable for any lapses in this arena?
- Do these issues point to larger problems within our intelligence community, in terms of how officials operate? Does that put you in a position where there’s a conflict of interest since you were in charge of the FBI when prior surveillance abuses were identified by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court? Did you consider disclosing this potential conflict and stepping aside, or referring any issues that overlap with your interests?
- What steps did you take after Strzok and Page were exposed, to try to learn if other investigators on your team likewise were conflicted? Did you take action to segregate the work of these agents and any potential biases they injected into your investigation and team? Wasn’t their behavior a beacon to call you to follow an investigative trail in another direction?
- Did you become concerned about foreign influence beyond Russia when you learned that a foreign national, Christopher Steele, claimed to have obtained opposition research from Russian officials connected to Putin — and that the FBI and DOJ presented this material to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain wiretap approvals?
- Were you aware that some Democratic Party officials acknowledged coordinating with Ukraine in 2016 to undermine Trump and his associates and to leak disparaging information to the news media?
- Is it true that you applied for the job as FBI director but Trump rejected you, the day before then-Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed you as special counsel to investigate Trump? Does that put you in a potentially conflicted position?
- Do you think Donald Trump is guilty of a crime? If so, then do you believe he is perhaps the most clever criminal of our time since he was able to conceal the evidence despite all the government wiretaps, investigations, informants, surveillance and hundreds of interviews spanning several years?
Clearly, Robert Mueller hopes he has closed the book on his public statements about his investigation. If he has his way, he will not discuss the case further on the record. But his parting shot raised plenty of questions.
END
This ought to be good: Christopher Steele has finally agreed to meet IG Horowitz. He decided to meet Horowitz after he was told the report would deeply undermine him. His scope is narrow and he will only answer to questions relating to his involvement with USA intelligence forces.
(courtesy zerohedge)
Steele Cuts Deal; Will Discuss Trump Sex Dossier With DOJ Inspector General
Former MI6 agent Christopher Steele has finally agreed to meet with US officials to discuss his relationship with the FBI, and the now-infamous dossier of unfounded claims against Donald Trump which he assembled on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
The 54-year-old Steele has agreed to meet with investigators from the US Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), according to The Times of London, after a former US official told Politico that the OIG report would “try to deeply undermine” Steele.
The news marks a 180-shift in Steele’s past refusals to engage with US authorities. In April, Politico reported that Steele would not meet with the OIG to assist them with their investigation, while just last week, Reuters reported that he wouldn’t meet with US attorney John Durham, who was handpicked by AG William Barr to review the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.
Steele, a MI6 Russia specialist for more than two-decades, has worked with the FBI as a confidential source since 2010. According to the report, he will retain the services of a top American attorney if the interview goes ahead, and is only willing to discuss the narrow scope of his dealings with US intelligence. Steele also wanted US officials to seek the approval of the British government.
Of note, the Steele dossier was referred to as “Crown material” in emails between US intelligence officials.
That said, a senior source told The Times: “As far as we are aware, no request has been made to HMG [Her Majesty’s government] on this matter. Any decision to co-operate would be a matter for Mr Steele as this relates to issues arising many years after he left government employment.”
Last year Mr Steele, who runs a corporate intelligence company, was named as the author of memos containing unsubstantiated allegations that the Kremlin held sexually lurid information about Mr Trump.
Mr Steele’s dossier led to an FBI inquiry, which became a two-year investigation presided over by the special counsel Robert Mueller. That found that figures in the Trump campaign team expected to benefit from Kremlin activities but cleared Mr Trump of liaising with Russia. –Times of London
In his dodgy dossier – a collection of 17 memos, some of which used Kremlin sources – Steele claimed that the Trump campaign was part of a “well-developed conspiracy of co-operation” with the Russian government in an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2016 US election. Steele claimed that the Kremlin was blackmailing Trump with a video of him encouraging prostitutes to urinate on a bed once used by former President Obama.
Steele’s work was commissioned by opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was in turn paid by lawyers for the Clinton campaign and the DNC
SWAMP STORIES/KEY STORIES/KING REPORT
(COURTESY OF CHRIS POWELL/GATA)
WSJ: FTC Gets Jurisdiction for Possible Facebook Antitrust Probe
The Federal Trade Commission already has been investigating Facebook for privacy violations
The Federal Trade Commission will lead any antitrust investigation into Facebook Inc. under an arrangement that gives the Justice Department chief oversight of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, as the U.S. government gears up for scrutiny of the country’s major tech companies over competition concerns.
The FTC secured the rights to begin a potential investigation of Facebook and whether it has engaged in unlawful monopolistic practices as part of an agreement that allowed the Justice Department to take the reins in a Google… https://www.wsj.com/articles/ftc-to-examine-how-facebook-s-practices-affect-digital-competition-11559576731
With the US government targeting Google (over the weekend) and now Facebook, traders dumped FANGs and ESMs. The Street wonders which tech is next. Perhaps, peak uber-tech is in the books.
Fed’s Bullard Says Rate Cut May Be Needed ‘Soon’
St. Louis Fed Prez Bullard has repeatedly appeared to verbally intervene when stocks are tumbling. On October 16, 2014, with US stocks tumbling, Bullard did his first verbal intervention. Bullard asserted that the Fed should continue QE beyond its scheduled October 2014 end due to the stock market decline.
Bullard’s surprise suggestion of continuing QE lifts markets May 16, 2014
The Federal Reserve should consider extending its bond-buying program beyond October due to the market selloff to see how the U.S. economic outlook evolves, said James Bullard, the president of the St. Louis Fed… https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bullards-surprising-suggestion-to-continue-qe-lifts-markets-2014-10-16
-END
FBI Failed to Document Four Clinton Witness Interviews. Barr Should Reopen Clinton Probe.
Judicial Watch also discovered among the 218 pages of emails between former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and his paramour former FBI Attorney Lisa Page that then FBI General Counsel James Baker had instructed “FBI officials to expedite the release of FBI investigative material to Hillary Clinton’s lawyer, David Kendall in August 2016. Kendall and the FBI’s top lawyer discussed specifically quickly obtaining the “302” report of the FBI/DOJ interview of Mrs. Clinton.”…
@paulsperry_: Mueller wasn’t just investigating alleged espionage, he was investigating Trump’s anti-globalist foreign policy, witnessed by Mueller’s strange months-long probe of the Center for the National Interest, which advocates for a non-interventionist foreign policy based on realism
Justice Department fails to comply with court order to release transcripts of Michael Flynn’s conversations with Russian ambassador – Prosecutors also failed to release an unredacted version of portions of the Mueller report related to Flynn that the judge had ordered be made public…
Now, it’s up to Judge Sullivan to respond to the DoJ’s intransigence.
OAN’s @ChloeSalsameda: The House Judiciary Committee… will hold a series of hearings, beginning next week, on the Mueller report. A number of witnesses, including former White House Counsel John Dean, are expected to testify. [Dean speaking is tantamount to Monica Lewinsky speaking.]
China warns students, academics to consider risks of studying in U.S. [How many are spies?]
A few weeks ago, we published information about Mitch McConnell and his wife’s familial connection to China. We opined that Mitch was unhappy with Trump and his hardline on China trade abuses.
NYT: A ‘Bridge’ to China, and Her Family’s Business, in the Trump Cabinet
Elaine Chao has boosted the profile of her family’s shipping company, which benefits from industrial policies in China that are roiling the Trump administration…
Ms. Chao is the top Trump official overseeing the American shipping industry, which is in steep decline and overshadowed by its Chinese competitors. Her efforts on behalf of the family business — appearing at promotional events, joining her father in interviews with Chinese-language media — have come as Foremost has interacted with the Chinese state to a remarkable degree for an American company…
A gift to Ms. Chao and Mr. McConnell from her father in 2008 helped make Mr. McConnell, the Republican majority leader, one of the richest members of the Senate. And three decades worth of political donations have made the extended family a top contributor to the Republican Party of Kentucky, a wellspring of Mr. McConnell’s power… https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/02/us/politics/elaine-chao-china.html
The NYT should do a story on how much Sen. Feinstein’s hubby has made with China since the mid-90s.
@AP: A senior No Korean official who had been reported as purged over the failed nuclear summit with Washington was shown in state media enjoying a concert alongside No Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
-END
WELL THAT ABOUT DOES IT FOR TONIGHT
I WILL SEE YOU WEDNESDAY NIGHT.
HARVEY