NOV 15/GOLD DOWN $4.70 TO $1468.00//SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TO $17.00//SMALL DROP IN COMEX AND SILVER OI BUT WE STILL HAVE QUEUE JUMPING IN BOTH METALS//DAVE KRANZLER GIVES THE DEFINITIVE COMMENTARY RE THE PLEDGED GOLD SITUATION AT THE COMEX: A MUST READ….//HONG KONG IN A MESS AS THEIR LIQUIDITY IS DRYING UP (AND POSSIBLY THEIR GOLD?)//VENICE FLOODED FOR THE 2ND DAY OUT OF THE LAST 3 DAYS: TOTALLY UNPRECEDENTED//ESTIMATES FOR 4TH QUARTER USA GDP FALTERS BADLY GOING INTO THE NEGATIVE//USA INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION COLLAPSES//MORE SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT//

November 15, 2019 · by · in Uncategorized · 1 Comment

GOLD:$1468.00 DOWN $4.70    (COMEX TO COMEX CLOSING)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silver:$17.00 DOWN 6 CENTS  (COMEX TO COMEX CLOSING)

Closing access prices:

 

 

 

 

Gold :  $1468.00

 

silver:  $16.98

 

COMEX DATA

JPMorgan has been receiving gold with reckless abandon and sometimes supplying (stopping)

today RECEIVING:  17/44

 

EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: NOVEMBER 2019 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 1,471.800000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 11/14/2019 DELIVERY DATE: 11/18/2019
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED
____________________________________________________________________________________________
657 C MORGAN STANLEY 1
661 C JP MORGAN 17
737 C ADVANTAGE 34 18
905 C ADM 9 9
____________________________________________________________________________________________

TOTAL: 44 44
MONTH TO DATE: 1,549

we are coming very close to a commercial failure!!

 

 

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR  NOV CONTRACT: 44 NOTICE(S) FOR 4400 OZ (0.1368 tonnes)

TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED SO FAR:  1549 NOTICES FOR 154900 OZ  (4.818 TONNES)

 

 

 

SILVER

 

FOR NOV

 

 

9 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 45,000  OZ/

 

total number of notices filed so far this month: 526 for 2,630,000 oz

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Bitcoin: OPENING MORNING TRADE :  $ 8645 UP 1 

 

 

 

Bitcoin: FINAL EVENING TRADE: $ 8472 down 175

 

 

 

Let us have a look at the data for today

 

 

Let us have a look at the data for today

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IN SILVER THE COMEX OI FELL BY A TINY  SIZED 436 CONTRACTS FROM 221,685 DOWN TO 221250 DESPITE THE 12 CENT GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX. WE MUST HAVE HAD A SMALL AMOUNT OF BANKER SHORT COVERING.

TODAY WE ARRIVED CLOSER TO  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:,

FOR NOV 0,; DEC  2765 AND ZERO FOR ALL  OTHER MONTHS  AND THEREFORE TOTAL ISSUANCE  2765 CONTRACTS. WITH THE TRANSFER OF 2765 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 2765 EFP CONTRACTS TRANSLATES INTO 13.83 MILLION OZ  ACCOMPANYING:

1.THE 12 CENT GAIN IN SILVER PRICE AT THE COMEX AND

2. THE STRONG AMOUNT OF SILVER OUNCES WHICH STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE LAST 12 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.

2.660 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR SILVER IN JUNE//

22.605 MILLION OZ  STANDING FOR JULY

10.025   MILLION OZ INITIAL STANDING IN AUGUST.

43.030   MILLION OZ INITIALLY STANDING IN SEPT. (HUGE)

7.665     MILLION OZ INITIALLY STANDING IN OCT

YESTERDAY SILVER HAD A GOOD DAY WHEREBY THE BANKERS DID NOT EVEN TRY TO COVER THEIR MASSIVE SHORTFALL.  THEY AGAIN USED HUGE COPIOUS NON BACKED PAPER IN THEIR  UNSUCCESSFUL ENDEAVOUR TO WHACK SILVER’S PRICE ( IT ROSE 12 CENTS ). OUR OFFICIAL SECTOR/BANKERS HOWEVER WERE AGAIN UNSUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO FLEECE  SILVER LONGS AS THE TOTAL GAIN IN OI ON BOTH EXCHANGES TOTALED A STRONG 2329 CONTRACTS. OR 11.65 MILLION OZ..THE RAID BY OUR BANKERS FAILED AS THEY COULD JUST NOT COVER ANY OF THEIR HUGE SHORTFALL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

27,034 CONTRACTS (FOR 11 TRADING DAYS TOTAL 27,034 CONTRACTS) OR 135.17 MILLION OZ: (AVERAGE PER DAY: 2457 CONTRACTS OR 12.28 MILLION OZ/DAY)

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE HUGE SUPPLY THIS MONTH IN SILVER:  SO FAR THIS MONTH OF NOV:  135.17 MILLION PAPER OZ HAVE MORPHED OVER TO LONDON. THIS REPRESENTS AROUND 19.31% 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:          1889.97   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

JUNE 2019 , TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE:                                               265.38 MILLION OZ

JULY 2019   TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE:                                                175.74 MILLION OZ

AUG. 2019  TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE;                                                 216.47 MILLION OZ

SEPT 2019 TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE                                                  174.900 MILLION OZ

RESULT: WE HAD A TINY SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 436, DESPITE THE 12 CENT GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX /YESTERDAY... THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A  HUGE SIZED EFP ISSUANCE OF 2765 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) .

 

TODAY WE GAINED A STRONG SIZED: 2329 TOTAL OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES: 

i.e 2765 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS HEADED FOR LONDON  (EFP’s) TOGETHER WITH DECREASE OF 436  OI COMEX CONTRACTS. AND ALL OF THIS  DEMAND HAPPENED WITH A 12 CENT GAIN IN PRICE OF SILVER AND A CLOSING PRICE OF $17.06 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. 1.108 BILLION OZ TO BE EXACT or 158% of annual global silver production (ex Russia & ex China).

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

IN SILVER,PRIOR TO TODAY, WE  SET THE NEW COMEX RECORD OF OPEN INTEREST AT 244,196 CONTRACTS ON AUG 22.2018.  AND AGAIN THIS HAS BEEN SET WITH A LOW PRICE OF $14.78.  

 

.

 

ON THE DEMAND SIDE WE HAVE THE FOLLOWING:

  1. 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 2.660 MILLION OZ//JULY 22.605 MILLION OZ; AUGUST 10.025 MILLION OZ/ SEPT 43.030 MILLION OZ//OCT: 7.665 MILLION OZ//   
  2.  THE  RECORD WAS SET IN AUGUST 22/2018:  244,196 CONTRACTS,  WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78//.
  3. 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 COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A GOOD SIZED 1788 CONTRACTS, MOVING SLIGHTLY AWAY FROM OUR PREVIOUS TIME RECORD  OF 716,593 SET THURSDAY NOV 14/2019. THE LOSS IN COMEX OI SURPRISINGLY OCCURRED WITH A  $10.00 PRICING GAIN WITH RESPECT TO COMEX GOLD PRICING// TODAY// / THE OPEN INTEREST AT THE GOLD COMEX RESTS TONIGHT  AT 714,805….

 

 

 

 

 

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A CONSIDERABLE SIZED 5148 CONTRACTS:

NOV 2019: 0 CONTRACTS, DEC>  73762 CONTRACTS; FEB: 1386 AND ALL OTHER MONTHS ZERO.  The NEW COMEX OI for the gold complex rests at 714,805,,.  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  A GOOD GAIN IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 3360 CONTRACTS: 1788 CONTRACTS DECREASEDAT THE COMEX  AND 5148 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS  TOTAL OI GAIN OF 3360 CONTRACTS OR 336,000 OZ OR 10.45 TONNES.  YESTERDAY WE HAD A GAIN OF $10.00 IN GOLD TRADING….

AND WITH THAT GAIN IN  PRICE, WE  HAD A GOOD GAIN IN GOLD TONNAGE OF 10.45  TONNES!!!!!! THE BANKERS/OFFICIAL SECTOR WERE SUPPLYING INFINITE SUPPLIES OF SHORT GOLD COMEX PAPER WITH RECKLESS ABANDON. THE BANKERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO LOWER GOLD’S PRICE (UP $10.00). THEY WERE ALSO UNSUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO FLEECE GOLD LONGS FROM ANY THE GOLD ARENA. 

 

 

THE SPREADING LIQUIDATION OPERATION IS NOW OVER FOR SILVER..AND WE WILL NOW MORPH INTO AN ACCUMULATION PHASE OF SPREADING CONTRACTS FOR GOLD.  THEY WILL ACCUMULATE CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF THE CONTRACTS AND THEN LIQUIDATE ONE WEEK PRIOR TO FIRST DAY NOTICE

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE NEWCOMERS HERE IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HOW THE CROOKS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING LONGS IN THE SPREADING ENDEAVOUR;

MODUS OPERANDI OF THE CORRUPT BANKERS AS TO HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR SPREAD OPEN INTERESTS:

. 

 

 

AS I HAVE MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS COMMENTARIES:

 

 

“AS YOU WILL SEE, THE CROOKS WILL NOW SWITCH TO GOLD AS THEY INCREASE THE OPEN INTEREST FOR THE SPREADERS. THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD 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 NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF OCT HEADING TOWARDS THE  ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF OCTOBER FOR GOLD.

AS I HAVE MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS COMMENTARIES, HERE IS THE BANKERS MODUS OPERANDI:

YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST  STARTS TO RISE IN THIS NON ACTIVE MONTH OF NOV BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN GOLD WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (DEC), 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 NOV : 111,321 CONTRACTS OR 11,132,100 oz OR 346.26 TONNES (11 TRADING DAY AND THUS AVERAGING: 10,129 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE STRONG SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS :  THIS MONTH IN 11 TRADING DAYS IN  TONNES: 346.26 TONNES

TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2018, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 3555 TONNES

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 346.26/3550 x 100% TONNES =9.78% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION

 

ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2019 TO DATE:     5437.79  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

JUNE 2019 TOTAL ISSUANCE:                   642.22 TONNES

JULY 2019: TOTAL ISSUANCE:                    591.56 TONNES

AUG. 2019 TOTAL ISSUANCE:                    639.62 TONNES

SEPT 2019 TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE              509.57 TONNES

OCT 2019 EFP ISSUANCE                           497.16 TONNES

 

WHAT IS ALARMING TO ME, ACCORDING TO OUR LONDON EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE IS THAT THESE EFP’S ARE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WHAT ARE CALLED SERIAL 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 GOOD SIZED DECREASE IN OI AT THE COMEX OF 1788 DESPITE THE  PRICING GAIN THAT GOLD UNDERTOOK YESTERDAY($10.00)) //.WE ALSO HAD  A GOOD SIZED NUMBER OF COMEX LONG TRANSFERRING TO LONDON THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE: 5148 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 5,148 EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED, WE  HAD A GOOD SIZED GAIN OF 3360 CONTRACTS IN TOTAL OPEN INTEREST  ON THE TWO EXCHANGES:

5148 CONTRACTS MOVE TO LONDON AND 1788 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX. (IN TONNES, THE GAIN IN TOTAL OI EQUATES TO 10.53 TONNES). ..AND THIS GOOD INCREASE OF  DEMAND OCCURRED DESPITE THE STRONG GAIN IN PRICE OF $10.00 WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING AT THE COMEX.

THE COMEX IS NOW UNDER FULL ASSAULT WITH RESPECT TO GOLD AND SILVER.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we had:  44 notice(s) filed upon for 4400 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 DOWN $4.70 TODAY//(COMEX-TO COMEX)

no change in gold inventory today

NOV 14/2019/Inventory rests tonight at 896.77 tonnes

 

 

SLV/

 

WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TODAY: 

 

no change in silver inventory at the slv

 

/INVENTORY RESTS AT 376.648 MILLION OZ

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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 FELL BY A TINY SIZED 436 CONTRACTS from 221,685 DOWN TO 221,250 AND FURTHER FROM A  NEW COMEX RECORD.  THE LAST RECORDS WERE SET  IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD TO THAT 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  2 YEARS AGO.  THE PRICE OF SILVER ON THAT DAY: $17.89.

 

 

 

 

EFP ISSUANCE: 

OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS  AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:

 FOR NOV. 0; FOR DEC  2765:    AND ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 2765 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON.  IF WE TAKE THE OI LOSS AT THE COMEX OF 436  CONTRACTS TO THE 2765 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S,  WE OBTAIN A STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 2329 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS. THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES: 10.45 MILLION 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  NOW 2.660 MILLION OZ FOR JUNE WITH JULY AT 22.605 MILLION OZ AUGUST AT 10.025 MILLION OZ//  SEPT: 43.030 MILLION OZ///OCT: 7.665 MILLION OZ//

 

 

RESULT: A TINY SIZED DECREASE IN SILVER OI AT THE COMEX DESPITE THE 12 CENT GAIN IN PRICING THAT SILVER UNDERTOOK IN PRICING// YESTERDAY. WE ALSO HAD A STRONG SIZED 2765 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)FRIDAY MORNING/ THURSDAY NIGHT: 

SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 18.53 POINTS OR 0.64%  //Hang Sang CLOSED UP 2.97 POINTS OR 0.01%   /The Nikkei closed UP 161.77 POINTS OR 0.71%//Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP .85%

/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP  at 7.0085 /Oil DOWN TO 56.67 dollars per barrel for WTI and 61.93 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED MOSTLY GREEN//  ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP // LAST AT 7.0085 AGAINST THE DOLLAR. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP ON THE DOLLAR AT 7.0074 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 STRONGER AGAINST USA DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST THE DOLLAR /TRADE DEAL NOW DEAD..TRUMP  RAISED RATES TO 25%

 

3A//NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

 

3b) REPORT ON JAPAN

3C  CHINA

i(China/USA

China is furious that the USA is supporting the Hong Kong citizens in its protestations against Mainland China

(zerohedge)

ii)CHINA/USA

What a joke! stocks and yuan surge on another Kudlow positive trade headline claiming that a deal is close
(zerohedge)

iii)The real problem in China, its huge $40 trillion and a lot of new debt is simply of poor quality and notproducing. This is dangerous for China and for that matter, the rest of the world(zeorhedge)

iv)A good look at China’s internal problems..Chinese hospitals begging nurses for loans to stay afloat

(Mish Shedlock/Mishtalk)

v)Hong Kong’s Justice Minister takes a fall after meeting pro democracy protesters in London. China demands an investigation.

(zeorhedge)

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

Italy/Venice

For the second time this week, high tides has flooded venice

(zerohedge)

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

 

6.Global Issues

a)Russia states that the BRICS are seeking a common non dollar payment system i..e their own SWIFT system.\This will be dagger into the heart of the USA dollar hegemony

*(zerohedge)

b)Storm clouds forming over the entire globe as we witness freight volumes go negative for the 11th straight month. Today it is the all important Cass Freight index which is collapsing

(Mish Shedlock/Mishtalk)

c) Bill Blain

funny today

7. OIL ISSUES

 

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES

Meet the new leader of Bolivia

(zerohedge)

9. PHYSICAL MARKETS

 

 

i)The following gives a super explanation of the tripling of London gold that is used as collateral at the comex.  Now the CME allows warrants  (registered gold) to be used instead of the preferred cash. This is why the open interest is rising as the crooks need to stem the rising demand for gold itself

a must read…

Dave Kranzler/IRD/GATA

ii)Serbia buys 9 tonnes of physical gold.

(Bloomberg/GATA)

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

MARKET TRADING//USA

a)Market trading/LAST NIGHT/USA

 

b)MARKET TRADING/USA/AFTERNOON

ii)Market data/USA

i)Retail sales growth drops dramatically

(zerohedge)

ii)Import export prices collapse meaning inflation is nowhere in sight but that China is sending its deflation to the the uSA and the rest of the world.

(zerohedge)

iii)This is a hard data report and a very important one at that. Today industrial production plunges the most in 10 years.  The USA economy is imploding

(zerohedge)

iii) Important USA Economic Stories

i)This will be far reaching:   the health care industry will be forced to disclose its secret insurance rates etc..what they pay for drugs and other services.

(zerohedge)

ii)Q4 GDP crashes with estimates coming in below zero at -.4%

(zerohedge)

iii)The SEC is now investigating the WeWork as its bonds rash to record lows

(zerohedge)

iv) Swamp commentaries)

i)The inside story on the Ukraine mess and how Hunter Biden and Devon Archer took Burisma to be of influence in the new Ukrainian corrupt government.

(David Stockman)

ii)Rand Paul initiates a Senate vote to compel Hunter Biden and Eric Ciarmella (the whistleblower) to testify

(Watson/Summitnews)

iii)RIDICULOUS! ROGER STONE CONVICTED OF LYING ABOUT 2016 WIKILEAKS

(ZEROHEDGE)

v) King report/Courtesy of Chris Powell of GATA which includes the major swamp stories.

 

LET US BEGIN:

 

 

Let us head over to the comex:

 

THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A GOOD  SIZED 1788 CONTRACTS TO A LEVEL OF 716,112 DESPITE THE GAIN OF $10.00 IN GOLD PRICING WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S // COMEX TRADING. WE MUST HAVE HAD SOME COMEX BANKER SHORT COVERING.

WE ARE NOW IN THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF NOV..  THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED GOOD SIZED  TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS., THAT IS 5186 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED:

 FOR NOV; 0 CONTRACTS: DEC: 3762; FEB 1386 CONTRACTS   AND  ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE:  5148 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: 3360 TOTAL CONTRACTS IN THAT 5148 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE LOST A GOOD SIZED 1788 COMEX CONTRACTS. 

THE BANKERS SUPPLIED THE NECESSARY AND INFINITE AMOUNT OF SHORT PAPER IN GOLD.  THE BANKERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE WITH THE RAID INITIATED, AS IT ROSE BY $10.00. HOWEVER, JUDGING BY THE STRENGTH IN GAIN OF OUR TOTAL OI CONTRACTS, THEY WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN THE ENDEAVOUR TO FLEECE ANY UNSUSPECTING LONGS. 

 

NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES ::  3360 CONTRACTS OR 336,000 OZ OR 10.45 TONNES.

We are now in the active contract month of NOV.  This month is generally the poorest delivery month of the year as must players prefer to go straight to the big active delivery month of December. Today we have 91 contracts still standing for a LOSS of 166 contracts. Yesterday we had 207 notices served upon so we have another whopper of a gain of 41 contracts or an additional 4100 oz will stand as these guys refused to morph into London based forwards as well as negating a fiat bonus. We again have queue jumping by the bankers/official sector in their attempt to find physical metal on this side of the pond.

 

The next active delivery month after NOV is the  active contract month of DECEMBER. Here we saw a LOSS OF 13,134 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 356,391.  The next non active January contract month saw it’s OI fall by 136 contracts down to 334.

The December contract is highly elevated and  we should have a whopper of an amount standing for metal.

 

 

 

 

TODAY’S NOTICES FILED:

WE HAD 44 NOTICES FILED TODAY AT THE COMEX FOR  4400 OZ. (0.1368 TONNES)

 

 

 

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And now for the wild silver comex results.

Total COMEX silver OI fell BY A TINY SIZED 436 CONTRACTS FROM 221,685 DOWN TO 221,250 (AND FURTHER FROM NEW RECORD OI FOR SILVER SET ON AUGUST 22.2018.  THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS SET APRIL 9.2018/ 243,411 CONTRACTS) AND TODAY’S TINY  OI COMEX LOSS OCCURRED WITH A 12 CENT GAIN IN PRICING.//YESTERDAY.

WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF NOV.  HERE WE HAVE 9 OPEN INTEREST STAND FOR DELIVERY WITH A GAIN OF 2 CONTRACTS. WE HAD 7 CONTACTS SERVED UPON YESTERDAY SO WE GAINED 9 CONTRACTS OR 45,000 ADDITIONAL OZ WILL STAND FOR DELIVERY IN THIS NON ACTIVE MONTH.  THE ALSO REFUSED TO MORPH INTO LONDON BASED FORWARDS AS WELL AS NEGATING A FIAT BONUS.

 

AFTER NOVEMBER WE HAD THE VERY ACTIVE CONTRACT MONTH OF DECEMBER. HERE THE OI FELL BY ONLY 7652 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 101,908. THE NON ACTIVE JANUARY CONTRACT MONTH SAW ITS OI RISE BY 15 CONTRACTS UP TO 524.

 

THE DECEMBER SILVER CONTRACT MONTH IN OI IS HIGHLY ELEVATED AND WE SHOULD HAVE A WHOPPER OF AN AMOUNT STANDING FOR METAL.

 

TODAY’S NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED:

 

We, today, had 9 notice(s) filed for 45,000, OZ for the OCT, 2019 COMEX contract for silver

Trading Volumes on the COMEX TODAY: 269,467  CONTRACTS 

 

 

 

CONFIRMED COMEX VOL. FOR YESTERDAY:  372,041  contracts

 

 

 

 

 

INITIAL standings for  NOV/GOLD

NOV 15/2019

Gold Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz
32.151 oz
Brinks
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory in oz nil oz

 

 

 

 
Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz  

nil

 
No of oz served (contracts) today
44 notice(s)
 4400 OZ
(0.1358 TONNES)
No of oz to be served (notices)
47 contracts
(4700 oz)
0.1461 TONNES
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
1549 notices
154900 OZ
4.6812 TONNES
Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month xxx oz

we had 0 dealer entry:

We had 1 kilobar entries

 

 

 

 

total dealer deposits: nil oz

total dealer withdrawals: nil oz

 

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/ Today  zero amount  arrived

 

we had 1 gold withdrawal from the customer account:

i) Out of Brinks 32.151 iz

i kilobar

 

We had 0 adjustment

 

 

FOR THE NOV 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 207 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 141 notice(s) was (were) stopped/ Received) by j.P.Morgan customer account and 0 notices by the squid  (Goldman Sachs)

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the NOV /2019. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (1549) x 100 oz , to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of  NOV (91 contract) minus the number of notices served upon today (44 x 100 oz per contract) equals 159,600 OZ OR 4.9642 TONNES) the number of ounces standing in this  active month of OCT

Thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the NOV/2019 contract month:

No of notices served (1549 x 100 oz)  + (91)OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today 44 x (100 oz )which equals 159,600 oz standing OR 4.9642 TONNES in this  active delivery month of NOV

We GAINED 41 contracts OR 4100 ADDITIONAL OZ WILL STAND AS THESE GUYS REFUSED TO MORPH INTO LONDON BASED FORWARDS AS WELL AS NEGATE A FIAT BONUS

 

 

SURPRISINGLY WE HAVE BEEN WITNESSING NO REAL PHYSICAL GOLD ENTERING THE COMEX VAULTS FOR THE PAST YEAR!! ..ONLY PHONY KILOBAR ENTRIES.… WE HAVE ONLY 27.47 TONNES OF REGISTERED GOLD WHICH CAN SETTLE UPON LONGS.

HERE IS WHAT STOOD DURING THESE PAST 4 MONTHS:  AUGUST 27.153 TONNES

SEPT:      5.4525 TONNES

 

OCT…………………………………………………………………………..     OCT…..   37.99 TONNES

AND NOW NOV……                                                                4.9642 tonnes

 

 

ACCORDING TO COMEX RULES:

FOR A SETTLEMENT YOU NEED A TRANSFER FROM THE DEALER (REGISTERED) ACCOUNT OVER TO AN ELIGIBLE ACCOUNT. FOR THE  ENTIRE MONTH OF AUGUST WE HAD O TRANSACTIONS ON THIS FRONT, IN SEPT, 3 TRANSACTIONS FOR 2.60155 TONNES. IF WE INCLUDE THE PAST FEW DAYS OF SETTLEMENTS WE HAVE 4.127 TONNES SETTLED

IF WE ADD THE FOUR DELIVERY MONTHS: 75.5597

TONNES- 4.128 TONNES DEEMED SETTLEMENT = 71.304 TONNES STANDING FOR METAL AGAINST 27.47 TONNES OF REGISTERED OR FOR SALE COMEX GOLD! THIS IS WHY GOLD IS SCARCE AT THE COMEX.

 

total registered or dealer gold:  1,120,771.939 oz or  34.86 tonnes 
which  includes the following:
a) registered gold that can be used to settle upon: 88,328.30 oz (27.47 tonnes)
b) pledged gold held at HSBC which cannot settle upon:  237,553.645 oz  ( 7,3889 tonnes)
total registered pledged  and eligible (customer) gold;   8,328,649.350 oz 259.05 tonnes
WHY ARE THEY NOT SETTLING?
THE COMEX IS AN ABSOLUTE FRAUD..WE HAVE ZERO SETTLEMENTS.

IN THE LAST 36 MONTHS 103 NET TONNES HAS LEFT THE COMEX.

 

THE GOLD COMEX IS NOW IN STRESS AS
1. GOLD IS LEAVING THE COMEX 
2. GOLD IS LEAVING THE REGISTERED CATEGORY OF THE COMEX.

WHY ARE THEY NOT SETTLING?

 

THE COMEX IS AN ABSOLUTE FRAUD..WE HAVE ZERO SETTLEMENTS.

end

 

end

And now for silver

AND NOW THE  DELIVERY MONTH OF NOV.

INITIAL  standings/SILVER

IN TOTAL CONTRAST TO GOLD, HUGE ACTIVITY IN SILVER TODAY.
NOV 15 2019
Silver Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
 602,361.975 oz
CNT

 

 

 
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
nil oz

 
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
1,699,903.893 oz
CNT
No of oz served today (contracts)
9
CONTRACT(S)
(45,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)
0 contracts
 NIL oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)  526 contracts

2,630,000 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

i)we had  1 deposits into the customer account

into JPMorgan:   nil

 

ii) Into CNT: 1,699,903.893 oz

 

 

 

 

 

 

*** JPMorgan for most of 2017 and in 2018 has adding to its inventory almost every single day.

JPMorgan now has 161.1 million oz of  total silver inventory or 51.10% of all official comex silver. (161.1 million/315.22 million

 

 

 

 

total customer deposits today:  262,760.129  oz

 

we had 1 withdrawals out of the customer account:

 

 

i) Out of CNT:  602,361.975 oz

 

 

 

total withdrawals; 602,361.975  oz

We had 1 adjustment:

out of Delaware

24,535.690 oz was removed from the customer account and this entered the dealer account

 

 

 

total dealer silver:  79.228 million

total dealer + customer silver:  315.582 million oz

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The total number of notices filed today for the NOV 2019. contract month is represented by 9 contract(s) FOR 45,000 oz

To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in NOV, we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 526 x 5,000 oz = 2,630,000 oz to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of NOV. (9) and the number of notices served upon today 9 x (5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

.

Thus the INITIAL standings for silver for the NOV/2019 contract month: 526 (notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for front month of OCT (9)- number of notices served upon today (9) x 5000 oz equals 2,630,000 oz of silver standing for the OCT contract month. 

WE GAINED 9 contracts or an additional 45,000 oz of silver will stand at the comex as they guys refused to morph into London based forwards. For the past several weeks we have been witnessing queue jumping in both gold and silver.

 

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:  THE COMEX IS UNDER ASSAULT FOR BOTH PHYSICAL GOLD AND SILVER WITH SILVER IN THE LEAD BY FAR. DESPITE  MASSIVE RAIDS, LONGS CONTINUE WITH THEIR HUNT AT THE COMEX FOR PHYSICAL METAL.. IT WILL NOT BE LONG BEFORE WE WITNESS A COMMERCIAL FAILURE..STAY TUNED..WE WITNESSED CONSIDERABLE BANKER SHORT COVERING IN SILVER TODAY AND AN ATTEMPTED BANKER SHORT COVERING IN GOLD WITH ZERO SUCCESS.

 

 

TODAY’S NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED:

 

We, today, had 9 notice(s) filed for 45,000 OZ for the OCT, 2019 COMEX contract for silver

 

 

TODAY’S ESTIMATED SILVER VOLUME:  73,505 CONTRACTS (we had considerable spreading activity..accumulation

 

CONFIRMED VOLUME FOR YESTERDAY: 93,773 CONTRACTS..

 

 

 

 

 

YESTERDAY’S CONFIRMED VOLUME OF 93,773 CONTRACTS EQUATES to 468 million  OZ 66.9% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION OF SILVER..makes sense!!

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 FALLS TO -1.85% ((NOV 15/2019)
2. Sprott gold fund (PHYS): premium to NAV FALLS TO -1.07% to NAV (/2019 )
Note: Sprott silver trust back into NEGATIVE territory at +%-/Sprott physical gold trust is back into NEGATIVE/ -1.85%

(courtesy Sprott/GATA)

3.SPROTT CEF.A FUND (FORMERLY CENTRAL FUND OF CANADA):

NAV 14.62 TRADING 14.05///DISCOUNT 3.89

 

 

END

 

And now the Gold inventory at the GLD/

NOV 15//WITH GOLD DOWN $4.70 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 896.77 TONNES

NOV 14/WITH GOLD UP $10.00: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 896.77 TONNES

NOV 13/WITH GOLD UP $9.50 : A SMALL CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF .32 TONNES (PROBABLY TO PAY FOR FEES)/INVENTORY RESTS AT 896.77 TONNES

NOV 12: WITH GOLD DOWN $3.40 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A PAPER GOLD WITHDRAWAL OF 4.10 TONNES///INVENTORY RESTS AT 897.09 TONES

NOV 11/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.70 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 901.19 TONNES

NOV 8/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.50 TODAY: A MASSIVE WITHDRAWAL  OF 13.19 PAPER TONNES OF GOLD  INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 901.19 TONNES

NOV 7/2019 WITH GOLD DOWN $35.55 TODAY: A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 1.47 TONNES FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 914.38 TONNES

NOV 6/2019  WITH GOLD UP $8.70 TODAY: A BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.18 TONNES INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 915.85 TONNES

NOV 5/WITH GOLD DOWN $26.00//NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 914.67 TONNES

NOV 4/WITH GOLD DOWN $0.75 TODAY: A CONSIDERABLE WITHDRAWAL OF .88 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 914,67 TONNES

NOV 1/WITH GOLD DOWN $2.90 TODAY/NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 915.55 TONNES

OCT 31/NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD

OCT.30 WITH GOLD UP 5.50 TODAY: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.93 TONNES FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 915,55 TONNES

OCT 29/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.00 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 918.48 TONNES

OCT 28/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.70 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 918.48 TONNES

OCT 25/WITH GOLD UP $1.40 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 918.48 TONNES

OCT 24/WITH GOLD UP $8.75 TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A PAPER GOLD WITHDRAWAL OF 1.18 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 918.48 TONNES

OCT 23/2016′ WITH GOLD UP $8.40 TODAY: A HUGE PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 4.98 TONNES  IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 919.66 TONNES

OCT 22.WITH GOLD DOWN $0.15: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 924.64 TONNES

OCT 21/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.25//A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE : A MONSTROUS PAPER DEPOSIT OF 6.45 TONNES//GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 924.64 TONNES

OCT 18/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.25 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 918.19 TONNES

OCT 17/WITH GOLD UP $4.00 TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.47 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 918.19 TONNES

OCT 16/WITH GOLD UP $10.25 TODAY//A BIG CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD; A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 2.05 TONNES/INVENTORY RESTS AT 919.66 TONNES

OCT 15//WITH GOLD DOWN$13.25 TODAY: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 921.71 TONNES

OCT 14/2019: WITH GOLD UP $8.25 TODAY//NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 921.71 TONNES

OCT 11/WITH GOLD DOWN $12.90 TODAY NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 921.71 TONNES

OCT 10/WITH GOLD DOWN $10.00 TODAY, A SMALL CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.05 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 921,71 TONNES

OCT.9//WITH GOLD UP $8.90//NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD

OCT 8\WITH GOLD DOWN 35 CENTS //NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD

0CT 7 WITH GOLD DOWN 7 DOLLARS//A BIG CHANGE //A DEPOSIT OF 2.93 TONNES//

INVENTORY RISES TO 923.76 TONNES

 

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NOV 15/2019/Inventory rests tonight at 896.77 tonnes

*IN LAST 706 TRADING DAYS: 39.60 NET TONNES HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE GLD
*LAST 606 TRADING DAYS: A NET 127.45 TONNES HAVE NOW BEEN ADDED INTO  THE GLD INVENTORY.

 

end

 

Now the SLV Inventory/

NOV 15//WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 376.648 MILLION OZ//

NOV 14/ WITH SILVER UP 12 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 376.648 MILLION OZ/

NOV 13/WITH SILVER UP 20 CENTS TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.524 MILLION /INVENTORY RESTS AT 376.648 MILLION OZ/

NOV 12/ WITH SILVER DOWN 10 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 379.172 MILLION OZ..

NOV 11/2019 WITH SILVER DOWN 3 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 379.172 MILLION OZ///

NOV 8/2019 WITH SILVER DOWN 19 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 379.172 MILLION OZ//

NOV 7/WITH SILVER DOWN 57 CENTS TODAY; NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV// SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 379.172

NOV 6/WITH SILVER UP ONE CENT TODAY: A HUGE  CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV; A MASSIVE DEPOSIT OF 2.804 MILLION OZ///INVENTORY REST AT 379.172 MILLION OZ

NOV 5/WITH SILVER DOWN 44 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 376.368 MILLION OZ//

NOV 4/WITH SILVER UP ONE CENT TODAY: A SMALL CHANGE IN INVENTORY AT THE SLV A WITHDRAWAL OF 157,000 OZ TO PAY FOR FEES/INVENTORY RESTS AT 376.368 MILLION OZ//

NOV 1//WITH SILVER DOWN 3 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN INVENTORY AT THE SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 376.525 MILLION OZ

OCT 31//NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY

OCT 30.//WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TODAY NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 376.525 MILLION OZ

OCT 29/WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TODAY: A SMALL  CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV” A WITHDRAWAL OF 400,000 OZ TO PAY FOR FEES/INVENTORY REMAINS AT 376.525 MILLION OZ//

OCT 28/WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 909,000 OZ FROM THE SLV INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 376.925 MILLION OZ/

OCT 25/2019: WITH SILVER UP 16 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 377.834 MILLION OZ//

OCT 24/2019: WITH SILVER UP 22 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 377.834 MILLION OZ/

OCT 23/2019: WITH SILVER UP 9 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 377.834 MILLION OZ//

OCT 22/WITH SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 1.963 MILLION OZ//INVENTORY RESTS AT 377.834 MILLION OZ.

OCT 21/WITH SILVER UP ONE CENT TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 1.222 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV../INVENTORY RESTS AT 379.797 MILLION OZ//

OCT 18/WITH SILVER DOWN 3 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 380.919 MILLION O

OCT 17./WITH SILVER UP 17 CENTS TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 1.87 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV.//INVENTORY RESTS AT 380.919 MILLION OZ//

OCT 16/WITH SILVER UP 4 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 382.789 MILLION OZ//

OCT 15/WITH SILVER DOWN 30 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 2.15 MILLION OZ//. INVENTORY RESTS AT 382.789 MILLION OZ

OCT 14/WITH SILVER UP 18 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 384.939 MILLION OZ

OCT 11/WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 384.939 MILLION OZ//

OCT 10/2016//WITH SILVER DOWN 22 CENTS: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A PAPER DEPOSIT OF 1.443 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 384.939 MILLION OZ

OCT 8/WITH SILVER UP 15 CENTS //NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 383.496 MILLION OZ

OCT 7/WITH SILVER DOWN 6 CENTS A SMALL WITHDRAWAL OF 166,000 OZ/INVENTORY LOWERS TO 383.496 MILLION OZ

 

NOV 15:  SLV INVENTORY

376.648 MILLION OZ

 

LIBOR SCHEDULE AND GOFO RATES:

 

 

YOUR DATA…..

6 Month MM GOFO 1.88/ and libor 6 month duration 1.92

Indicative gold forward offer rate for a 6 month duration/calculation:

G0LD LENDING RATE: – .04

 

XXXXXXXX

12 Month MM GOFO
+ 1.94%

LIBOR FOR 12 MONTH DURATION: 1.97

 

GOFO = LIBOR – GOLD LENDING RATE

GOLD LENDING RATE  = +.03

end

 

 

end

 

PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER STORIES
i) GOLDCORE BLOG/Mark O’Byrne

 

 

ii) Important gold commentaries courtesy of GATA/Chris Powell

The following gives a super explanation of the tripling of London gold that is used as collateral at the comex.  Now the CME allows warrants  (registered gold) to be used instead of the preferred cash. This is why the open interest is rising as the crooks need to stem the rising demand for gold itself

a must read…

Dave Kranzler/IRD/GATA

Dave Kranzler: Did the Comex just create more ‘paper gold’ for price suppression?

Submitted by cpowell on Fri, 2019-11-15 06:03. Section: 

By Dave Kranzler
Friday, November 15, 2019

A mysterious “pledged gold” entry has just showed up on the Comex gold warehouse report. The definition of this new warehouse stock classification for gold is provided in Chapter 7 of the New York Mercantile Exchange rulebook.

In brief, “eligible” gold is a gold bar stored in a Comex vault that meets Comex specifications (quality, size, purity, and brand).

A “registered” gold bar is one that has been designated for delivery and for which a warrant has been issued. This warrant is evidence of and specifies ownership title to the bar. Warrants facilitate the transfer of delivery under a Comex contract.

… 

“Pledged gold” is a bar for which a warrant has been issued but for which the warrant has been placed on deposit at the CME Clearing House as part of a required performance bond.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has its own clearing division through which all trades are confirmed, matched (counterparties being verified), and settled (money changes hands). Each contract has a long and short counterparty.

A clearing member of the exchange is typically a bank, hedge fund, or commercial entity that has been admitted as a clearing member. The clearing mechanism is the “lubricant” that enables any securities exchange to function.

Part of a clearing member’s responsibility is to assume “full financial and performance responsibility for all transactions executed through them and cleared by the CME.” If you execute a trade on the Comex and fail to pay, the firm that took the other side of your trade is on the hook if you don’t pay for the trade. Or if you have elected to take delivery of a gold bar but can’t pay for it, the Comex member that has the other side of your contract is on the hook for the money.

Each clearing member is required to post a performance bond, a specified minimum amount of funds or collateral value that functions as a reserve to reinforce a clearing member’s obligation to guarantee the trades the clearing member executes. Think of this as a margin requirement.

A warrant that has been issued, which signifies titled interest in a gold bar, can now be used as collateral for the performance bond requirement. A warrant used this way is the “pledged gold” in the warehouse report. The gold bars connected to a warrant being used as collateral cannot be used to satisfy contract delivery requirements of the entity using the warrant as collateral. But the gold connected to warrants is still counted as part of the Comex gold stock.

Additionally, Comex clearing members can use what is called “London gold” as performance bond collateral. The CME rulebook does not define “London gold.” Presumably these are the standard 400-ounce London Bullion Market Association bars stored in a London vault.

But the term “London gold” remains unexplained and nebulous, and recently the CME tripled the amount of “London gold” that can be used by a clearing member as performance bond collateral, increasing it to $750 million from $250 million.

Why has the exchange tripled the amount of “London gold” that can be submitted as performance bond collateral and included Comex gold bar warrants as assets considered acceptable collateral?

As has been well documented, the open interest in Comex gold contracts has just reached a record high. The current open interest, more than 716,000 contracts, is 85 times greater than the “registered” gold stock on the exchange and almost nine times more than the total amount of gold in Comex vaults, including “pledged gold.”

As a technical matter “pledged gold” should not be considered part of warehouse stock because it cannot be delivered. The financial risk assumed by the Comex CME clearing members escalates with each new contract of open interest, especially to the extent that the open interest is “uncovered,” meaning the Comex lacks enough gold to bear the risk of a delivery default.

For this reason the size of the performance bond posted by each clearing member increases pro-ratably with the rising value of the gold contract open interest. (That is, clearing members that process an increased amount of contracts require higher margin deposits.)

This raises the question of the quality of “London gold” as collateral. The issue with “London gold” is whether the gold is verifiably sitting in a London vault or if the posting bank — for example, HSBC — even has legal title to the bar.

Hypothecation is when a bank borrows a gold bar held in its custody for a client, a bar owned by someone else, and uses that bar for another purpose like a delivery requirement or perhaps for posting it as collateral on the CME.

What process is in place to verify that the bank has the right to use that bar, or to verify that the bar even exists?

Even if the entity posting “London gold” as collateral may have some type of documentation showing rights to the bar in London, that bar may have been borrowed — that is, hypothecated by the London vault custodian and sent to Asia or India to satisfy a delivery requirement.

Keep in mind that the Bank for International Settlements now allows “gold receivables” to be counted as gold in custody. This hypothecated bar may exist only as a receivable entry on the books of the London vault operator.

Finally, there is the question of big bank liquidity. The “repo” and money printing recently undertaken by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reflect a liquidity squeeze in the banking system. I would prefer to receive cash as collateral against a performance bond if I were in the business of extending credit for trading activities. Anyone with a brokerage account is required to use cash as margin equity. Try using a piece of paper that says you have titled interest in a gold bar.

It’s quite possible that the ongoing squeeze in big bank liquidity has forced the CME to triple the amount of “London gold” said to be available to the exchange and to include Comex gold warrants as acceptable collateral in lieu of requiring cash or Treasury bonds. This is the only way the CME could present the appearance of financial integrity and security with respect to the soaring gold contract open interest — open interest that is created by bullion banks and hedge funds and that bears almost no relation to the underlying stock of physical gold — to help contain the gold price.

The timing of the expansion of the collateral package is curiously correlated directly with the rapid escalation in gold contract open interest and the recent liquidity squeeze in the banking system.

The tripling of the use of “London gold” and the inclusion of warrants as collateral suggest that the CME and its Comex are preparing to allow an even greater expansion in Comex gold open interest to increase the ability of Comex banks to engage in gold price manipulation. Why else would the CME allow the open interest in gold contracts to dwarf the actual physical gold in Comex vaults?

Ultimately, the use of “London gold” and Comex warehouse warrants expands the fractional-reserve gold banking system and further weaponizes “paper gold” in support of the longstanding bullion bank and central bank campaign to suppress the gold price.

—–

Dave Kranzler operates Investment Research Dynamics in Denver.

* * *

and then Dave Kranzler adds the following; to which he is absolutely correct.  There is no physical gold holding up these transactions because all of it has been hypothecated:

Dave Kranzler…

The more I think about this, the more I believe they keep piling cards on top the house with nothing below (physical) to support the potential claims on gold represented by the derivatives. We don’t even know if the warrants that HSBC has pledged as collateral – $340mm worth – are backed by gold legally owned by HSBC or if they’ve hypothecated customer gold with those warrants – i.e. the warrants legally belong to someone else. It’s piling even more paper on top of the futures short interest etc.

One of these days someone is going to ask for a delivery that can’t be made. i.e. this plays out the way we have always thought it would play out – it’s just taking a lot longer than we ever thought it could. I think the big spike up in open interest is an indicator that we’re getting closer to the end but there’s no way we can forecast when this hits the wall.

***

This gets more complicated by the month.

As made mention in front of the CFTC nearly a decade ago, the custodian of the gold EFT is HSBC, which was the largest gold short at the time and the custodian of the silver EFT was JP Morgan, the largest silver short at the time. My notion back then was they were up to no good.

That notion has only been reinforced over all these years.

Dave with a retort:

Re: HSBC – I hadn’t noticed until Hemke sent me the vault reports yesterday that HSBC was only bank to use the pledged category. When I pull up the report I usually look just at the totals. Anyway, he posted something on his subscription site about the possibility of HSBC being in a tight liquidity position and that part of the motive for the tripling of Londan gold + warrant inclusion was a quasi stick save of HSBC. Anyway, I wrote this up this a.m. and had him post it in his subscription site – I think there’s validity to the idea:

I hate to admit it but I woke up thinking about the HSBC thing. I had forgotten they were the custodian of the largest Comex vault. I think the use of the pledged gold category as collateral for the required performance bond validates your theory on HSBC’s financial condition.

The ability to use London gold and Comex gold warrants as collateral was tripled from $250 million to $750 million effective November 4th. By November 6 business days later HSBC has used $340 million, or 45.3%, of this collateral limit. It seems more than coincidental that HSBC took advantage of this new rule allowance so quickly after it was put into effect.

I see it as a low grade bail-out of HSBC analogous to the Fed’s low grade bail-out of the big banks with the repo QE. It also flags HSBC as the largest trader in the COT category that designates the % of the long and short contracts held by the 4 largest traders on the Comex. Assuming HSBC’s short position was largely put on a lower gold prices – which is likely – it’s probably getting hammered with a mark to market loss on that short.

Here is the issue that need to be answered but likely never will. Is any portion of the warrants the HSBC pledged as collateral attached to gold that does not belong legally to HSBC? Likely all of it in my opinion. In all probability, HSBC is using gold that does not belong legally to the bank for collateral purposes. That’s outright hypothecation. I wonder if the vault agreement signed by the vault operators allows them to hypothecate gold held in the vault and not owned by the bank.

Now here’s where it gets even more interesting. Assume HSBC is short those warrants pledged as performance bond collateral and the price of gold moves a lot higher. HSBC technically is now getting killed being short collateral it pledged for its own liability that it doesn’t own. How does it “remedy” this? It uses an EFP or PNT using London gold. Bing that HSBC is the GLD vault operator, this London gold EFP/PNT would likely use GLD vault gold that may or may not have been hypothecated

This makes sense? HSBC is likely getting financially squeezed to a major extent on its Comex futures short position and the CME bailed it out by changing the collateral and performance bond margin rules.

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:

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To contribute to GATA, please visit:

http://www.gata.org/node/16

END

Serbia buys 9 tonnes of physical gold.

(Bloomberg/GATA)

Serbia buys 9 tonnes of gold to heed president’s crisis advice

Submitted by cpowell on Thu, 2019-11-14 18:52. Section: 

By Gordana Filipovic
Bloomberg News
Thursday, November 13, 2019

Serbia’s central bank bought 9 tonnes of gold in October, raising its reserves of the precious metal on the advice of President Aleksandar Vucic.

The biggest former Yugoslav republic is following Hungary and Poland, where officials boosted gold reserves in 2018 to create a bulwark against crisis. Central Bank Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic, a member of Vucic’s Progressive Party, said the October 9-11 purchases raised the bank’s gold holdings to 10% of total reserves and made good on a suggestion from the president in May.

… 

We have completed gold purchase transactions and Serbia is safer today with 30.4 tons of gold worth around 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion),” Tabakovic told reporters in Belgrade today. “For now, we have no plans to buy more.” …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-14/serbia-buys-nine-tons…

* * *

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:

http://www.gata.org

To contribute to GATA, please visit:

iii) Other physical stories:

Nicholas Biezanek
5:56 AM (1 hour ago)
to William, me

Hi Bill/Harvey,

I note that, true to form,Larry Kudlow tweeted last night that he was ‘on the short strokes’. This vague , vulgar meaningless utterance may indicate nothing more than Stormy Daniels is back in town (despite Kudlow’s admitted heart condition).Global markets will,nevertheless, probably levitate even more into the stratosphere and conveniently ignore the probable imminent passing of a Sino relationship wrecking motion condemning the current response of the Honk Kong authorities.

 

Dave Kranzler posted an interesting ,informative article suggesting that recent changes to the Comex rules may be seeking to retain some semblance of credibility in Comex structures as the Open Interest inexorably marches onwards towards a million contracts (which would be 3,110 tonnes). Just to refresh eveyrbody’s’ memories,the COMEX since 12th July up to 13th November 2019 has recorded NIL deliveries from the registered inventory category and has only physically delivered 4.45 tonnes of gold from its eligible gold inventory (after excluding 2.21 tonnes from the calculation which left the HSBC depository on 9th October and entered the JP Morgan depository on the same day.),Whilst 29.64 tonnes (net) has been reclassified between eligible and registered (but same depository) inventory categories in this 125 day period,this merely represents relatively meaningless paper entries. THE COMEX DOES NOT DO PHYSICAL.PERIOD.

 

Dave Kranzler also mentioned that COMEX clearing members can now pledge up to $750 million of ‘London Gold’ as contributing towards satisfying overall performance bond collateral requirements .Oh no! Surely not another category of claims on the LBMA’s physical vaults! As at 31st July 2019,the LBMA disclosed net of BOE (4,971 tonnes) and GLD (897 tonnes at 14th November 2019) only 1,943 tonnes of net residual loco London Gold.This relative puny amount of 1,943 tonnes is all that is left to satisfy the claims of all other non GLD ETF vault holdings stored in loco London and the delivery obligations for all allocated gold LBMA claims. If I estimated the total claims of all allocated gold holders at the LBMA as (say) 100,000 tonnes, all you could respond is that the true figure may be less (or more) . This figure is one of the world’s most closely guarded secrets.

 

In his latest blog, J.Johnson records that congressman Alex W. Mooney has called attention to the fact that EFP’s (exchange for physical) transfers may cause a systemic issue as settlement obligations have been transferred to European markets. EFP transfers totaled 7,310 tonnes in 2018 and YTD 5,222 tonnes (combined 12,532 tonnes-data per Harvey Organ). EFP transfers are clearly at the very heart of maintaining one of the greatest ever frauds perpetrated against humanity.Mr. Mooney. You are very wrong .EFPs will (not may) cause a systemic issue. Please continue to pursue you questions but also be very,very careful  and avoid all grassy knolls.

Regards

NICHOLAS

 

Due to the criminal conviction of trader Edmonds, the USA prosecution is seeking to halt the civil lawsuit. I was misinformed: all discoveries in a civil suit are public and because of that, the prosecution gives the defendants the right to plead the 5th if their testimony incriminates them
(courtesy zerohedge/Chris Powell)

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.
| 

A sign of JP Morgan Chase Bank is seen in front of their headquarters tower in New York.

Amr Alfiky | Reuters
A sign of JP Morgan Chase Bank is seen in front of their headquarters tower in New York.

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.

A federal judge tells traders that they can combine cases (with the other 6 banks) as they accused JPMorgan of rigging the precious metals market
(courtesy CNBC)

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.

71671201

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

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: 

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

* * *

Your early FRIDAY 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: 7.0085/ GETTING VERY DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO 7:1

//OFFSHORE YUAN:  7.0074   /shanghai bourse CLOSED DOWN 18.53 POINTS OR 0.64%

HANG SANG CLOSED UP 2.97 POINTS OR 0.01%

 

2. Nikkei closed UP 161.77 POINTS OR 0.70%

 

 

 

 

3. Europe stocks OPENED MOSTLY GREEN EXCEPT LONDON/

 

 

 

USA dollar index DOWN TO 98.12/Euro RISES TO 1.1034

3b Japan 10 year bond yield: FALLS TO. –.07/ !!!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 108.71/ 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:: 56.87 and Brent: 61.93

3f Gold DOWN/JAPANESE Yen DOWN CHINESE YUAN:   ON -SHORE UP/OFF- SHORE: UP

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

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

3h Oil 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 RISES TO -.34%/Italian 10 yr bond yield DOWN to 1.29% /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 0.45%…ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD/GERMAN BUND: 1.53: DANGEROUS FOR THE ITALIAN BANKING SYSTEM

3j Greek 10 year bond yield RISES TO : 1.55

3k Gold at $1465.30 silver at: 16.90   7 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $18.50

3l USA vs Russian rouble; (Russian rouble UP 15/100 in roubles/dollar) 63.81

3m oil into the 56 dollar handle for WTI and 61 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 108.71 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 .9905 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF is 1.0931 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 RISING to –0.34%

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 1.84% early this morning. Thirty year rate at 2.31%

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

6.  TURKISH LIRA:  UP  TO 5.7464..

S&P Futures Soar Above 3,100 On Trade Deal Optimism

After several days without soothing trade deal commentary by Trump et al, US-China trade deal “optimism” stormed back on Thursday evening after upbeat trade deal comments from Trump’s top economic advisor Larry Kudlow sent US equity futures, European bourses and Asian markets higher, even as the escalating wave of global protests from Hong Kong to Chile hints that it will all end in tears and guillotines.

US equity futures rose to a new all time high above 3,100, with E-mini S&P and Nasdaq futures rising +0.3% and +0.4%, respectively..

… while Europe’s main bourses followed Asia and Wall Street higher after White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said on Thursday that the U.S. and China were getting close to an agreement and were talking every day.

“We’re getting close,” he told an event at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. “The mood music is pretty good, and that has not always been so in these things.” This sentiment was echoed by Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross on Friday morning who told Fox Business that the trade deal will be done in “all likelihood.”

The comments kept alive hopes that MSCI’s 49-country world index and Europe’s STOXX 600 could both avoid their first weekly falls since the start of October, but others had little chance.  Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index fluctuated as the prospect of a money laundering scandal widening weighed on bank shares; the index was up as much as 0.6% before dipping into negative territory in late morning trading only to erase the drop of as much as 0.2% to trade little changed with tech shares, miners and chemical companies the best performers, while personal-and-household goods shares and banks were the worst.

Earlier in the session, Asian stocks advanced led by technology firms, as optimism grew for Beijing and Washington to close an initial trade deal. Most markets in the region were up, with South Korea and Australia leading gains. The Topix climbed 0.7%, recovering from its biggest two-day decline in six weeks, as electronic companies offered strong support. However, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.6%, a fresh three month low, dragged down by PetroChina and Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine. Chinese blue-chip shares ended the day down 0.75% and 2.4%, their biggest fall since August.

On Friday, the PBoC offered CNY 200bn of one-year loans to banks today while keeping the interest rate unchanged at 3.25%. The addition of liquidity comes after weaker than expected economic data released yesterday. The PBoC said along with the injection that liquidity in the banking system is at a “reasonable, sufficient” level as the operation offsets companies’ need for funding to pay tax. Meanwhile an additional CNY 40bn also got released into banks today as a previously-announced reduction to banks’ reserve ratios by the PBoC came into effect.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed little changed to cap its worst week since early August, down 4.7%, as protesters continued to block roads in the city. India’s Sensex rose, heading for a third week of gains, amid hopes that borrowing costs will drop further.

Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital in Sydney, likened regional markets’ bullish reaction to positive trade news to being in a relationship with an alcoholic, driven by entrenched hopes for recovery.

“Markets want to believe that there will be some sort of resolution to this issue, some sort of lasting truce at least, even though the experience of the last 18 months doesn’t give a lot of cause for comfort,” he said. However, Oliver said weaker Chinese and U.S. economies as well as the U.S. presidential election next year put pressure on both sides to come to an agreement

In rates, higher U.S. Treasury yields also illustrated the risk-on tone in the Asian session, with the 10-year yield rising to 1.848% from a US close of 1.815% on Thursday. The two-year yield rose to 1.6101% from 1.593% on Thursday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the risk of the U.S. economy facing a dramatic bust is remote. Borrowing costs also inched up in Germany and France on Friday, but were set for sizeable weekly declines, in contrast to southern European countries that have come under heavy selling pressure again this week. Germany’s 10-year Bund yield was at -0.33% off more than one-week lows hit on Thursday. But it is down 8 bps on the week, set for the biggest weekly fall since mid-August. Dutch 10-year bond yields are down 7 bps this week, and French yields are 5 bps lower,.

Data on Thursday had showed Germany’s economy grew just 0.1% in the third quarter, with consumer spending helping the country to avoid a mild contraction and a technical recession of two quarters of economic shrinkage. “In general, there has been risk aversion in recent days and a shift to core bond markets from the periphery,” said Daniel Lenz, a rates strategist at DZ Bank.

In geopolitics, North Korea government reportedly warned South Korea of a last chance to remove their facilities before they demolish joint resort buildings near the border. Elsewhere, Turkish Vice President says Faith Drilling Ship has commenced operations off the coast of Northern Cyprus.

In commodity markets, crude prices rebounded after sliding Thursday on rising U.S. crude inventories. WTI crude was 0.44% higher at $57.02 a barrel, while Brent crude added 0.37% to $62.51 per barrel. Gold retreated from gains that had been prompted by trade uncertainty. Spot gold was last trading at $1,463.90 per ounce, down 0.48%.

In FX, the safe-haven yen weakened, with the dollar rising 0.17% to buy 108.57 yen; the USD/JPY gained for the first time in six days, advancing on demand from fast money accounts after Kudlow’s comments. The euro was barely changed at $1.1023 while exporters bought the Australian and New Zealand dollars following Kudlow’s remarks. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals was off just 0.02% at 98.143.  Fierce anti-government protests in Chile gave its currency its worst week since 2011 with a 7% plunge.

Expected data include retail sales and industrial production. J.C. Penney is set to report results

Market Snapshot

  • S&P 500 futures up 0.3% to 3,106.00
  • STOXX Europe 600 up 0.4% to 405.98
  • MXAP up 0.5% to 164.30
  • MXAPJ up 0.5% to 524.48
  • Nikkei up 0.7% to 23,303.32
  • Topix up 0.7% to 1,696.67
  • Hang Seng Index up 0.01% to 26,326.66
  • Shanghai Composite down 0.6% to 2,891.34
  • Sensex up 0.3% to 40,424.28
  • Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.9% to 6,793.72
  • Kospi up 1.1% to 2,162.18
  • German 10Y yield rose 1.1 bps to -0.34%
  • Euro down 0.05% to $1.1016
  • Italian 10Y yield rose 7.9 bps to 0.977%
  • Spanish 10Y yield fell 0.5 bps to 0.452%
  • Brent futures down 0.8% to $61.77/bbl
  • Gold spot down 0.5% to $1,464.02
  • U.S. Dollar Index little changed at 98.20

Top Overnight News from Bloomberg

  • White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said negotiations over the first phase of a trade agreement with China were coming down to the final stages, with the two sides in close contact
  • Germany will maintain its disciplined approach to spending as lawmakers look set to confirm the government’s balanced budget for 2020, despite calls for fiscal stimulus to boost the country’s slowing economy
  • Global oil markets are likely to remain “calm” next year as soaring production outside OPEC and high inventories keep consumers comfortably supplied, the International Energy Agency said
  • Hong Kong revised down its estimate for economic growth this year as political unrest grips the city, with the government now forecasting the first annual contraction since the global financial crisis a decade ago
  • China lifted its four-year-old ban on U.S. poultry shipments, a small sign of trade-deal progress at a time when agriculture purchases have become a sticking point in negotiations
  • Chinese President Xi Jinping called an end to violence Hong Kong’s “most urgent task,” as a scuffle involving the city’s justice minister and the second protest-related death in a week heightened tensions in the paralyzed financial center
  • Boris Johnson made a pitch for votes in “overlooked” towns with a promise to revive high streets through tax breaks for local businesses and reopening provincial railway lines, while the main opposition Labour Party pledged to roll out free full-fiber broadband for all with a plan that includes nationalization of BT Group Plc’s Openreach unit
  • Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says short-term interest rates are back under control. Not everyone’s convinced with evidence traders expect pressure to build in the weeks ahead
  • Reserve Bank of New Zealand Assistant Governor Christian Hawkesby said February is a “live” interest-rate decision but there would need to be a material change in the economic outlook to warrant a rate cut

Asia equity markets traded mostly higher as sentiment remained at the whim of the temperamental trade rhetoric with risk appetite spurred after White House Economic Adviser Kudlow suggested they are getting close to an agreement and the sides were on the short strokes of a phase 1 deal, and although Kudlow noted US President Trump was not yet ready to sign off, his comments were at a sharp contrast to prior reports the trade teams were struggling to complete a deal. ASX 200 (+0.9%) and Nikkei 225 (+0.7%) are positive with Australia underpinned by the recent increase in rate cut bets after chances for a cut next month more than doubled to 29% according to ASX 30-Day Interbank Cash Rate Futures and with its implied yield curve heavily leaning towards a cut at the subsequent meeting in February, while a deluge of earnings has been a key driver in Japan alongside tailwinds from a weaker currency. Hang Seng (U/C) and Shanghai Comp. (-0.6%) were mixed as Hong Kong attempted some composure from this week’s protest-triggered declines, although the mainland was somewhat unconvinced by the conflicting trade headlines, as well as the PBoC’s tepid actions in which it skipped reverse repos and instead opted for its medium-term lending facility, albeit at half the amount of the prior operation. Finally, 10yr JGBs were choppy as they initially extended above the 153.00 level although prices then reversed from intraday highs amid the positive risk tone and after a relatively light BoJ Rinban operation for just JPY 130bln in longer-dated JGBs.

Top Asian News

  • Hong Kong Poll Shows 80% Supports Setting Up Independent Inquiry
  • IHH’s Fortis Takeover Halted After Contempt of Court Ruling
  • Arcelor Wins Approval to Complete $5.8 Billion Essar Deal

Major European Bourses (Euro Stoxx 50 +0.5%) are modestly in the green, albeit off highs amid tailwinds from encouraging US/China trade comments from White House Economic Advisor Kudlow overnight, albeit upside may be capped by earlier FT reports that China’s stance is jeopardising chances of a final Phase One agreement being reached in the coming days. DAX Dec’ 19 futures for now sit well within this week’s range, appearing bound by 13140-13300 parameters for now. The sector performance table is reflective of the markets tentative risk-on tone; Materials (+0.6%) and Tech (+0.6%) lead the way, while Utilities (+0.1%) and Consumer Staples (-0.2%) lag. Energy (-0.2%) is lower and weighed by lower crude prices. In terms of stock specific news; Whitbread (+2.9%) is the top Stoxx 600 gainer, buoyed by an upgrade to overweight from equalweight at Barclays. Closely behind is Subsea 7 (+4.0%), higher on the news of a potential merger agreement with Saipem (+1.3%). Elsewhere, Orange (+2.1%) is on the front foot on reports that the Co. intend to split its mobile towers into a separate company to capitalise on investor interest, boosting its valuation by up to EUR 10bln. ArcelorMittal (+1.4%), meanwhile, is firmer on the news that is has secured approval from the highest Indian court regarding the completion of the Essar Steel takeover for USD 5.8bln. In terms of the laggards; Elekta (-13.2%) sunk after a downgrade at SEB Enskilda. Similarly, Uniper (-1.6%) was pressured by a downgrade at SocGen. BT (-2.4%), meanwhile, managed to pare the worst of early losses, triggered by jitters over UK Opposition Labour Party proposals to nationalise the company as part of a push to provide free full-fibre broadband to the whole of the UK.

Top European News

  • SEB Bank Falls Most in a Decade Amid Money Laundering Report
  • EU Bank Takes ‘Quantum Leap’ to End Fossil-Fuel Financing
  • German Stimulus Craved by ECB Probably Hinges on Job Losses
  • Germany Sticks to Debt-Free Budget Despite Calls for Stimulus

In FX, trade developments set the stage for the European session thus far as participants balance mixed newsflow, with sources cited by the FT noting that China is jeopardising chances of an imminent Phase One deal whilst NEC Director Kudlow stated that the two sides are ever closer to an accord. Nonetheless, DXY remains contained within a tight band thus far (98.12-23), albeit closer to the top of the range and in anticipation of further clarification. The Yuan meanwhile has derived modest impetus on the back of Kudlow, which saw USD/CNH retest 7.000 to the downside overnight, but the pair has drifted off lows and almost back to pre-Kudlow levels with participants sceptical amid conflicting reports.

  • AUD, NZD, CAD – The high-beta currencies have unwound some of its Kudlow-induced APAC gains in which the Aussie climbed to a whisker away from 0.6800 vs. the Buck, whilst its Kiwi counterpart edged towards 0.6400 before fading gains. The antipodeans meander just below the respective round figures but have drifted lower in recent trade as the Buck prints fresh session highs and again the currencies await clarity on the status of US-Sino talks. The Loonie meanwhile saw a more pronounced move overnight amid the risk-driven pop higher in the crude complex in which USD/CAD tested 1.3220 to the downside (ahead of its 50 DMA at 1.3208) before advancing back up towards the half-figure in early European trade with around USD 1.2bln of options expiring between strikes 1.3240-50.
  • CHF, JPY – Despite the pull-back in high-betas, the overnight softness in the safe haven FX has persisted, although more-so as the Greenback gains traction in early trade with USD/JPY eclipsing its APAC high of 108.62 with the next level to the upside the round 109.00 which coincides with its 200 DMA. The Franc meanwhile has reclaimed 0.99+ status against the Buck and resides near the top of the range alongside its JPY counterpart with the next level to the upside its 50 DMA at 0.9923.
  • EUR, GBP – Sterling remains little moved on the day amid a lack of fresh catalysts on the UK election front and with little action derived by news that the European Commission has opened a legal case against the UK for failing to name a new EU Commissioner as its hands are tied by the general election. Cable remains modestly softer within a 1.2868-86 band, albeit closer to the bottom of the range and at the whim of the USD. Meanwhile, EUR/USD remains flat intraday and closer to the bottom of today’s 1.1030-15 band as in-line final EZ CPI figures unsurprisingly did little to excite traders. It’s worth noting a hefty EUR 1.2bln expiring at strike 1.1000 at today’s NY cut which may see a gravitation of price depending on news-flow.

In commodities, Crude markets are lower during early Friday trade after unwinding gains from the positive US/China trade comments from White House Economic Advisor Kudlow since the arrival of European participants as traders balance hot and cold trade news. Brent Jan’ 19 futures have now fallen below support in the form of yesterday’s USD 62.15/bbl low, with WTI Dec’ 19 futures following and also breaking below yesterday’s low at USD 56.64/bbl. In terms of crude specific news; in its monthly oil report, the IEA maintained its forecast for oil demand growth for 2019 and 2020, at 1mln BPD and 1.2mln BPD respectively. Moreover, the report highlighted that Global oil supply rose 1.5mln BPD in October as Saudi Arabian production returned to normal and on increases from Norway, Canada and the US. Meanwhile, OPEC crude oil production was 29.9mln BPD at 101 mln BPD, with world oil supply was 1.2 mb/d below year-ago levels with OPEC down 2.5 mln BPD. As a reminder, yesterday OPEC also maintained its forecast for global oil demand growth for 2019 and 2020 at at 980k BPD for 2019 and 1.08mln BPD for 2020. Earlier in the week, the US EIA cut its forecast for 2019 oil demand growth 90k BPD to a 750k BPD increase but raised its 2020 forecast by 70k BPD to an increase of 1.37mln BPD. Looking ahead, US Retail Sales, NY Fed Manufacturing, Industrial Production and Import Prices populate an otherwise modest data docket, while traders will as always have their ears to the ground for further US/China trade updates. In terms of the metals; Gold is on the back foot amid the market’s lukewarm risk tone and a stronger Dollar and is consolidating around the USD 1465/oz mark. Meanwhile, Copper, which has been on the back foot in recent days, appears to be have stabilised, with support at the USD 2.615/lbs level (23 October and yesterday’s lows) providing a floor for the time being.

US Event Calendar

  • 8:30am: Retail Sales Ex Auto and Gas, est. 0.3%, prior 0.0%; Retail Sales Ex Auto MoM, est. 0.4%, prior -0.1%
  • 8:30am: Empire Manufacturing, est. 6, prior 4
  • 8:30am: Import Price Index ex Petroleum MoM, est. 0.0%, prior -0.1%; Import Price Index YoY, est. -2.2%, prior -1.6%
  • 8:30am: Export Price Index MoM, est. -0.1%, prior -0.2%; Export Price Index YoY, prior -1.6%
  • 9:15am: Industrial Production MoM, est. -0.4%, prior -0.4%; Manufacturing (SIC) Production, est. -0.7%, prior -0.5%
  • 10am: Business Inventories, est. 0.1%, prior 0.0%

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

Until I acquired a dog and three kids in the last 5 years it’s fair to say that emotional responses weren’t a big part of my life. Nowadays though, my eyes well up when I hear about dogs that get lost or mistreated, children that get hurt or upset, and other such sad news. Yesterday I even had to fight back the tears when I saw the annual institution that is the John Lewis Xmas advert. Every year our biggest department store in the U.K. issues a heartstrings tugging song and story about Xmas. This year’s (spoiler alert) is about an ugly baby dragon who gets hounded out of town for not being able to control his fire breathing tendencies (he accidentally melted the town’s ice rink for one). He was very sad and locked himself away to hide until a young girl takes pity on him and tries to befriend him and gets him to come back. He eventually does and becomes a hero by lighting the town’s Xmas pudding. The little girl was thrilled. Yes this made me shed a tear. Or maybe that was the REO Speedwagon cover for the soundtrack.

Maybe for next month’s survey I’ll add a question asking for your favourite Xmas song. On that a reminder that we published our first monthly survey (link here ) yesterday with 700 responses. So many thanks. The interesting highlights were that those replying were more optimistic on the S&P 500 over 3 months than 12 months with 54% expecting it to be higher in the former period against 40% over 12 months. Perhaps the fact that 96% of those in the US thought a Warren Presidential win would be negative for the S&P 500 helped that. 79% of US respondents thought Donald Trump would win the 2020 US election though. Also only 21% thought the global economy was improving (44% deteriorating)in spite of the fact that only 14% thought that the trade war would re-escalate from here. 54% thought the US recession risk was 30% or below over the next 12 months with only 14% scoring it above 60%. There was a bias for higher German yields but lower US yields and a higher EURUSD. There were only 5% who thought European inflation would be over 2% in the next 3-5 years. Less than 1% thought the Labour Party would win an outright majority in next month’s UK election. These are the brief highlights. See the full survey for much more.

We also published a new Corporate Tax note aimed at our Corporate Clients where we highlighted the contrast between precarious state finances and healthy company balance sheets. The headline tax rates they pay have almost halved in rich countries over the last three decades. The conditions appear set for an inflection point over the medium term. Politicians with higher corporate taxes in their sights are gaining in popularity – Elizabeth Warren in the US is just one example. Meanwhile, the incoming President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, says she will target firms that “play our tax system.” Also key will be the OECD’s proposals for global tax coordination which it aims to have approved in 2020. They include calls for a minimum corporate tax rate and will lower the incentive for countries to ‘compete’ with each other on corporate tax rates. As a result, it will become easier, both politically and practically, for countries to raise corporate taxes without having to worry about scaring away future investment. Please see the link here for more details.

Turning to yesterday’s market action now. The biggest catalyst was once again the trade war. Shortly after the EMR went to print yesterday, China’s Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said that “China has stated that the trade war has begun with tariffs and should end with removing tariffs. To remove existing additional tariffs is an important condition for reaching a deal.” This encouraged the belief that China’s negotiating stance is for a rollback of existing tariffs, rather than just a delay of pending ones. If agreed, this would presumably be a more positive outcome for markets, but it will also be harder to finalise. Nevertheless, late US session breaking headlines suggested that the two countries held a deputy-level call yesterday, which ended up boosting risk assets into the New York close.

After the US close, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said of trade negotiations with China that, “We are in communication with them every single day right now,” while adding, “we are coming down to the short strokes,” and a deal is “close” but “it’s not done yet”. However, late yesterday evening the FT carried a report saying that getting the “Phase One” agreement across the line remains difficult as China has still not offered enough concessions on “stronger language” on intellectual property and forced technology transfer while is also refraining from agreeing to written numerical targets for a planned ramp-up in purchases of US agricultural products. The article suggests that this makes it difficult for the US to justify a rollback in tariffs on Chinese goods. Similarly, Bloomberg also ran a story saying that a US demand that China spell out how it plans to reach as much as $50 bn in agricultural imports annually has been one sticking point. The report further added that the US officials have proposed that China provide them with monthly, quarterly and annual targets for purchases. Bloomberg also reported that China has also taken actions that could signal imports of US farm goods are in jeopardy if talks sour as it is now delaying the unloading of US soybeans at its ports which could slow down further purchases. So it seems like there are still matters yet to be resolved.

In other news, the PBoC offered CNY 200bn of one-year loans to banks today while keeping the interest rate unchanged at 3.25%. The addition of liquidity comes after weaker than expected economic data released yesterday. The PBoC said along with the injection that liquidity in the banking system is at a “reasonable, sufficient” level as the operation offsets companies’ need for funding to pay tax. Meanwhile an additional CNY 40bn also got released into banks today as a previously-announced reduction to banks’ reserve ratios by the PBoC came into effect.

Asian markets are trading largely higher this morning with the Nikkei (+0.74%), Hang Seng (+0.26%) and Kospi (+0.82%) all up while the Shanghai Comp (-0.12%) is down. The Japanese yen is -0.16% this morning while the onshore Chinese yuan is up +0.17% to 7.0086. Elsewhere, futures on the S&P 500 are up +0.35% while yields on 10y USTs are up +2.5bps after a big rally yesterday (see below).

Before all this the S&P (+0.09%%) finished near the highs for the session and inched to a new record high, though the NASDAQ (-0.04%) and the DOW (-0.01%) declined. All the indices were well off their earlier lows of as much as -0.45% though. Trade-sensitive stocks underperformed, with the Philadelphia semiconductor index down -0.30%, and the S&P 500 autos index down -0.67%. Europe missed out on the late rally, with the STOXX 600 ending the session down -0.36%. Some additional cheer was provided by Walmart, America’s largest employer, whose earnings beat expectations with adjusted EPS of $1.16 (vs. $1.09 expected). Oil prices had been trading up +1.17% but higher-than-expected US inventories data sparked a reversal with it ending -0.40%.

There was a broad flight to safety yesterday, with 10yr Treasuries -6.7bps to 1.819bps, their third consecutive rally, while 10yr bunds (-5.1bps), OATs (-3.6bps) and gilts (-5.1bps) also made gains. Other safe havens also benefited, with gold +0.51% rising for a third successive day, while the Japanese Yen (+0.37%) and the Swiss Franc (+0.15%) were up against the US dollar. Sovereign bonds in the periphery sold off however, with Italy seeing the most dramatic moves as yields rose +8.0bps and the spread over bunds increased +13.1bps, both reaching their highest levels since August. This was a theme across the periphery yesterday, with sovereign debt in Spain, Portugal and Greece all losing ground.

Meanwhile, Fed Chair Powell testified again to Congress, but he stuck diligently to his recent message and most of the focus was instead on the cascade of other Fed speakers yesterday. Evans, Kaplan, Evans, Bullard, Williams, and Clarida all spoke. They were mostly consistent with what we have heard before, but our economists noted that there is now an apparent divergence between the core leadership of the committee (Powell, Clarida, Williams), and some of the regional presidents. The leadership have emphasised weak inflation and downside risks, while many regional presidents have resisted rate cuts, and some only endorsed them on the condition that Powell also send a hawkish signal at the press conference. The fact that they still cut rates indicates that a) Powell and the leadership was able to convince the committee to go along with his preference, and b) Powell’s hawkish-leaning press conference likely overstates his own views, which are in fact probably more dovish.

In Europe, data showed the German economy avoided a technical recession in Q3, with an unexpectedly positive +0.1% GDP reading (vs. -0.1% contraction expected), following the -0.2% contraction in Q2. This echoes some other positive surprises from recent German manufacturing data recently, such as September’s better-than-expected factory orders out last week. The fact that the economy didn’t fall into recession means that the pressure for German fiscal stimulus is likely to diminish further for now, and finance minister Olaf Scholz said yesterday at a Bloomberg News event that there wasn’t a reason for doing fiscal stimulus because the German economy wasn’t in a crisis.

Elsewhere in Europe, Q3 GDP data from the Netherlands also surprised to the upside, with a +0.4% expansion (vs. +0.3% expected) and in terms of the Euro Area as a whole, data confirmed the initial estimate that the economy grew by +0.2% in Q3, with the year-on-year reading revised up a tenth from the initial estimate to +1.2%.

Wrapping up the rest of the data, UK retail sales fell -0.1% (vs. +0.2% expected), while US initial jobless claims rose to 225k (vs. 215k expected), their highest level since June but perhaps partly influenced by recent Californian fires. The 4-week moving average rose to 217k, its highest level since July. Finally, US PPI rose by +0.4% (vs. +0.3% expected) in October, with the core measure rising +0.3% (vs. 0.2% expected), which nevertheless failed to arrest the decline in yields. There was some chatter about healthcare costs starting to consistently overshoot now as opposed to the opposite in recent years.

Here in the UK the Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage didn’t back down from his stance of putting forward a candidate in every Labour-held seat. While he’s said the Brexit party won’t stand in the seats the Conservatives won at the last election, this means that they will still be standing in the seats the Conservatives need to win from Labour in order to win an overall majority in Parliament.

Staying with politics, in the US presidential race the Democratic primary field got another candidate yesterday with the entrance of Deval Patrick, a former governor of Massachusetts. It comes ahead of today’s deadline to file for the New Hampshire primary, which is the second state to hold its primary after Iowa. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she thinks a finalised deal on the new NAFTA, named USMCA, is “imminent” and suggested it could pass before year-end.

Finally in Chile, the peso fell -0.88% to another record low against the dollar yesterday, as the currency fell for a 6th successive session amidst widespread unrest that has seen the government supporting a rewrite of the country’s constitution. The move brings the Peso’s losses to -6.55% this week so far. The central bank did announce a $4bn swap program that will continue until January 9 the previous evening, but this failed to stem the decline. Meanwhile, the central bank said overnight that it is widening the list of eligible collateral on repo operations and is also increasing the frequency of FX swap auctions while also suspending sales of short-term PDBC bills at least until December 8.

To the day ahead now, data releases from Europe include the final October CPI and core CPI readings for the Euro Area, as well as Italy’s final October CPI reading. From the US, we have the November Empire State manufacturing survey, along with October’s retail sales, industrial production and capacity utilisation. From central banks, the ECB’s Mersch, Weidmann and Costa will be speaking today.

 

3A/ASIAN AFFAIRS

I)FRIDAY MORNING/ THURSDAY NIGHT: 

SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 18.53 POINTS OR 0.64%  //Hang Sang CLOSED UP 2.97 POINTS OR 0.01%   /The Nikkei closed UP 161.77 POINTS OR 0.71%//Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP .85%

/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP  at 7.0085 /Oil DOWN TO 56.67 dollars per barrel for WTI and 61.93 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED MOSTLY GREEN//  ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP // LAST AT 7.0085 AGAINST THE DOLLAR. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP ON THE DOLLAR AT 7.0074 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 STRONGER AGAINST USA DOLLAR/OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING STRONGER AGAINST THE DOLLAR /TRADE DEAL NOW DEAD..TRUMP  RAISED RATES TO 25%

 

 

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

South Korea

 

b) REPORT ON JAPAN

 

3 C CHINA

China/USA

China is furious that the USA is supporting the Hong Kong citizens in its protestations against Mainland China

(zerohedge)

China Is About To Get Angry: US Senate To Vote Show Of Support For Hong Kong Protesters

As noted moments ago, futures ramped to new record highs rising above 3,100 following a quote from top Trump advisor Larry Kudlow, who has figured out that he gets most bang for the buck in juicing futures when liquidity is virtually nil, around 8pm or so, when he told reporters that Phase One of the China deal is “down to the short strokes”, adding that “we are in communication with them every single day right now”, and repeating that “a deal is close”, even if “it’s not done yet.”

And yet, while such Deal On/Deal Off market manipulation is nothing new and has been going on for over a year and a half, there is the possibility that China is about to be royally pissed off, if not by Trump for whom a China (non) “deal” is critical to pushing the market to all time highs just before the 2020 presidential election and thus will not dare to anger Xi Jinping over the ongoing fiasco that is Hong Kong, then by the Senate, which is preparing for quick passage of legislation to show support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong by placing the city’s special trading status with the U.S. under annual review.

According to Bloomberg, the Senate is set to bring the bill to the floor under an expedited process that would allow for quick passage unless there is an objection, according to the lead sponsor, Republican Senator Marco Rubio. And since it is unlikely anyone will object, the bill is expected to pass as early as next week.

“The world witnesses the people of Hong Kong standing up every day to defend their long-cherished freedoms against an increasingly aggressive Beijing and Hong Kong government,” Rubio said. “Now more than ever, the United States must send a clear message to Beijing that the free world stands with Hong Kongers in their struggle.”

 

Rubio and Democratic co-sponsor, Senator Ben Cardin, have garnered broad bipartisan support for their bill, including from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, who has pressed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for a swift vote. Rubio and McConnell met late Wednesday to hash out a way forward for the legislation, which would also levy sanctions on people the president finds responsible for human rights violations.

“The world needs to see that the United States will stand up and tell the Chinese Communist Party that what they are doing to the people of Hong Kong is wrong,” Risch said in a statement. “The U.S. stands with the people of Hong Kong, and I look forward to continuing to work with Senate leadership and my colleagues across the aisle to move this bill swiftly.”

While it is unclear what the Senate’s vote will achieve, besides potentially removing any hope for even a “phase one” deal, Hong Kong has been paralyzed since Monday morning, when a demonstrator was shot during protests.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg notes that the White House declined to comment Thursday when asked whether Trump would sign it into law; a veto by Trump would indicate that for all the belligerent posturing, Trump and Xi have long since reached an agreement behind the scenes, whereby China “folds” to Trump’s demands, while Trump refuses to intervene in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act would require the State Department to certify at least once a year whether Hong Kong should keep its special status under U.S. law. This legislation is slightly different from the version passed by the House of Representatives, which means the two bills would have to be reconciled and passed by both chambers before going to President Donald Trump.

Predictably, on a day when China’s president Xi said that “stopping the storm and restoring order” in Hong Kong is the most urgent task for Hong Kong, once again raising the possibility of military intervention by the PLA, the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday warned of retaliation if the measure passes Congress, adding that China will take resolute measures to safeguard its interests, and repeating that the US should immediately stop interference in Hong Kong issues.

END
Liquidity in Hong Kong disappears as capital flight accelerates.  Hong Kong has been a strong place to keep your gold.  It stands to reason that HSBC’s pledging of gold could be due to many removing their gold and placing it in Switzerland or other safe places.
(zerohedge)

Hong Kong Liquidity Crisis Near Decade Highs As Capital Flight Accelerates

As Hong Kong’s protest-pummeled streets increasingly resemble a warzone, and its economy collapses, there is another, very ominous signal coming from the banking system.

As Bloomberg reports, cracks are starting to emerge in Hong Kong’s currency and money markets, as traders speculate the local dollar’s resilience to increasingly violent protests won’t last.

While Hong Kong stocks were already showing pain…

 

Source: Bloomberg

Now, liquidity conditions in the FX market are the tightest since the late 1990s, or the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.

Source: Bloomberg

An increase in this gauge – resulting from a short-term drainage of cash – coupled with a weaker spot rate “signify an increase in risk-aversion to Hong Kong dollar assets,” Chun Him Cheung, a strategist at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note.

Additionally, signaling as the chart below shows that traders are aggressively betting on notable weakness in the Hong Kong Dollar in the short-term…

Source: Bloomberg

Amid all of this liquidity chaos, the one-month Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate (HIBOR) soaring 100bps this week to hit 2.75% on Thursday, not too far off a decade-high of 2.99% marked in July when protesters occupied the city’s legislature.

Source: Bloomberg

Some have suggested that this sudden cash shortage is due to Alibaba Group’s $13.4 billion Hong Kong listing hoovering up cash temporarily:

“Timing wise, it’s not good for the liquidity to get sucked out of the system as there’s a bit of capital outflow happening due to the protests,” said a Hong Kong-based senior banker at a European bank, who asked not to be identified.

However, the move has been going on for months as the protests escalated and given the massive divergence between US-HK borrowing rates (and the huge implicit carry that would provide), it is shocking that the HKD remains so weak…

Source: Bloomberg

In fact, this divergence is a strong signal that this liquidity crisis much more about capital flight (and total risk aversion) than any short-term cash needs for an IPO.

“In contrast with the situation in July, August, the Fed has already cut twice but local rates are driving higher still. Capital outflow concerns seem pretty severe,” said Ken Cheung, chief Asian FX strategist at Mizuho Bank.

While, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority is desperately attempting to play down any fears of a run, saying in late October that there was no obvious capital outflow from its banking system, the above shifts in the short-term money-markets suggests otherwise, and Goldman Sachs has estimated that Hong Kong may have lost as much as $4 billion in deposits to rival financial hub Singapore between June and August alone.

The aggregate balance, a gauge of banks’ cash balances with the HKMA, is down 87% from its 2015 high of HK$426 billion.

Source: Bloomberg

If nothing else, this is a massive distraction for Xi and he purportedly attempts to squeeze Trump in the trade deal discussions.

end

CHINA/USA
What a joke! stocks and yuan surge on another Kudlow positive trade headline claiming that a deal is close
(zerohedge)

Stocks, Yuan Surge After Yet Another Kudlow Trade Headline Claiming “Deal Is Close”

Algos have gone full retard…again.

In an exact mirror of yesterday’s idiocy – by which a series of headlines raise doubts about the US-China trade deal, spark a rapid plunge in stocks which is instantly bid into the US cash market close and then ramped even higher as Japan opens on the back of “trade deal is close” comments from someone in the US administration – US equity futures and offshore yuan are spiking tonight…

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow tells reporters:

“We are in communication with them every single day right now,” referring to U.S. talks with China trade negotiators over a phase one trade pact.

“We are coming down to the short strokes,” Kudlow adds noting that a deal is “close…it’s not done yet.”

 

And for the 51,289,932nd time, algos panic buy futures!!

Dow futures are now over 200 points off the intraday lows – on nothing at all!

Offshore Yuan is also following a similar pattern…

Source: Bloomberg

For some context, The Dow is now over 1800 points higher since Trump said “phase one” of the deal was complete and Offshore Yuan is 15 handles stronger… oh yes and The Fed’s balance sheet is $280 billion bigger, which is of course all that matters…

Source: Bloomberg

As one veteran trader exclaimed, “this is becoming f**king ridiculous.”

Stalingrad & Poorski@Stalingrad_Poor

Never gets old https://twitter.com/Stalingrad_Poor/status/1012409637784584193 …

Stalingrad & Poorski@Stalingrad_Poor

Last few months:
Trade War On
Trade War Off
Trade War On
Trade War Off
Trade War On
Trade War Off
Trade War On
Trade War Off
Trade War On
Trade War Off
Trade War On
Trade War Off
Trade War On
Trade War Off
Trade War On
Trade War Off

View image on Twitter

Well, to be honest, it does!

END

The real problem in China, its huge $40 trillion and a lot of new debt is simply of poor quality and not producing. This is dangerous for China and for that matter, the rest of the world

(zerohedge)

Forget GDP: Here Is The Scariest Data From China

Yesterday, shortly before China’s data deluge, we reported that a Beijing-based think tank became the first Chinese economic research institute linked to the government to predict that China’s economic growth rate will slow below 6.0% next year. Specifically, The National Institution for Finance and Development (NIFD) on Wednesday said that China’s economic growth rate will slow to 5.8% in 2020 from an estimated 6.1% this year, a number which is already quite ambitious, not to say artificially goalseeked.

“The economic slowdown is already a trend,” said former central bank adviser Li Yang, who heads the institute that is affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). “We must resort to deepened supply-side structural reform to change it or smooth the slowdown, rather than solely rely on monetary or fiscal stimulus.”

The problem is that even a sub-6% number is wildly optimistic and misrepresents the true state of China’s economy considering that back in August, Fathom Consulting calculated that growth in the second largest economy had already shrunk to 4.6% and was declining.

Source: Bloomberg

Of course, shortly thereafter China released its latest retail sales, fixed investment and industrial production data, all of which missed badly and worse, the data showed the weakest retail sales growth since 2003 and weakest Fixed-Asset Investment growth since 1998.

Source: Bloomberg

However, while the slowdown in China’s economy has been widely telegraphed for years, a more ominous development is taking place in China’s financial system, which at roughly $40 trillion is not only nearly double the size of that of the US, but is the world’s biggest. It is here, that one find not only an escalating loss of faith by the market, but confirmation that China’s all important credit channel is increasingly clogged up, if not outright broken.

Following the Q3 earnings releases from Chinese banks, Saxo Bank’s Peter Garnry has updated his market cap to total assets ratio for the four largest commercial banks in China. What he found is that the ratio hit a new all-time low of 5.8% in Q3 as total assets grew an annualized 8% in Q3 while market cap of the four banks declined.

This means that Chinese investors – who happen to know best what is truly going on behind the scenes – are not valuing these new assets as high quality, and the most likely dynamic in China right now is that the current credit expansion is just offsetting the surge in bad loans, whose real amount Beijing is naturally keep under wraps. The net effect is zero credit transmission to the real economy in China constraining economic growth, which in a time of collapsing total social credit…

… and virtually non-existent credit impulse…

… simply means that the country that in 2008 pulled the world out of a global depression, will not be able to do so again.

END

A good look at China’s internal problems..Chinese hospitals begging nurses for loans to stay afloat

(Mish Shedlock/Mishtalk)

Red Ponzi Panic: Chinese Hospitals Begging Nurses For Loans To Stay Afloat

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

Speculative loans in China are souring rapidly. Ruzhou, a city of one million people provides examples.

Struggling to keep its economy growing, the city of Ruzhou spent big, but is now asking its health care workers for cash to stay afloat.

 

Michael Pettis@michaelxpettis

Great piece. The problem isn’t incompetent officials: the problem is unrealistically high GDP growth targets that clearly cannot be met except by borrowing and overbuilding (and, of course, capitalizing investment losses that should be expensed).https://nyti.ms/2WXXwFA

A sports stadium built during an era of big spending in Ruzhou, China, is now part of a mostly unused e-commerce center.

How Bad Is China’s Debt? A City Hospital Is Asking Nurses for Loans

The city of Ruzhou spent big, then used its health care workers to raise money, as local governments look for ways to keep the economy going.

nytimes.com

Begging Nurses for Money

The New York Times asks How Bad Is China’s Debt?

Ruzhou, a city of one million people in central China, urgently needed a new hospital, their bosses said. To pay for it, the administrators were asking health care workers for loans. If employees didn’t have the money, they were pointed to banks where they could borrow it and then turn it over to the hospital.

Ruzhou is a city with a borrowing problem — and an emblem of the trillions of dollars in debt threatening the Chinese economy.

Local governments borrowed for years to create jobs and keep factories humming. Now China’s economy is slowing to its weakest pace in nearly three decades, but Beijing has kept the lending spigots tight to quell its debt problems. Increasingly these deals are going sour, as they did in Ruzhou, and the loans are going unpaid. Lenders have accused three of Ruzhou’s hospitals and three investment funds tied to the city of not paying back their debts.

Local officials have long used big spending to keep the economy growing. Ruzhou is home to a number of white-elephant projects, including a stadium and sports complex turned e-commerce center, now largely unused. A shantytown redevelopment project, begun four years ago to give rural residents new homes, has been slowed for lack of money, locals said.

Doctors and nurses at the traditional Chinese medicine hospital complained to one local state-owned newspaper that they were being ordered to give between $14,000 and $28,000. At Ruzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital, nurses and doctors were told they had to invest between $8,500 and $14,000, according to government online forums and state media.

Ruzhou officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Two employees of The New York Times who traveled to the city were briefly held by the police and forced to leave.

Tip of the Iceberg

Ruzhou has several hospitals in trouble, an unused sports stadium, a cultural complex in shambles, and a failed shantytown project.

Play this same scene throughout China.

It’s everywhere.

Nobody is quite sure how big the problem might be. Beijing says the total is about $2.5 trillion. Vincent Zhu, an analyst at Rhodium Group, a research firm, puts the figure at more than $8 trillion.

Factor in the world’s worst air pollution and water supplies you would have to be crazy to drink from.

Yet, US hyperinflationists think the dollar will collapse to nothing, Chinese debt somehow doesn’t matter, China will soon rule the world, and the yuan will displace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

I suggest Forget the Yuan: King Dollar is Here to Stay for quite some time.

The yuan is not even close to competing with the dollar for at least six reasons.

Meanwhile, Chinese growth is hugely overstated and its massive debt problem little understood.

END

Hong Kong’s Justice Minister takes a fall after meeting pro democracy protesters in London. China demands an investigation.

(zeorhedge)

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

Italy/Venice

For the second time this week, high tides has flooded venice

(zerohedge)

Italy Declares State Of Emergency As Record Flooding In Venice Worsens

After “apocalyptic” flooding brought the city of Venice “to its knees” on Wednesday, Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte declared a state emergency, giving Venice access to millions in disaster recovery money to help repair the damage from what appears to be the second-worst round of flooding in 50 years.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte declared a state of emergency for the city of Venice late Thursday due to exceptionally high tides – rising to 71 inches above their benchmark on Wednesday, the highest in half a century. On Friday morning they were 61 inches above normal, according to Bloomberg.

At one point, a classic Banksy mural of a refugee in a life jacket became almost halfway covered by floodwaters.

 

Banksy mural partially submerged in Venice

As the flooding worsened, Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro blamed the flooding on climate change, while some pointed to political failures and corruption.

According to local data initially reported by Italy’s ANSA newswire, Venice suffered its second exceptionally high tide in a week on Friday, with waters rising 154 centimeters – or 61 inches – above their benchmark.

The historic city, which was constructed on a network of canals between hundreds of small islands in the Adriatic sea, was still reeling from the 187-centimeter tide it recorded on Wednesday, the highest in half a century.

Bracing for Friday’s tide, Brugnaro closed St. Mark’s Square after the 11th century basilica there flooded. The city’s water buses, known as vaporetti, were suspended because of the rising tide, and schools were also closed. He has blamed the floods on climate change, while Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio has raised the issue of political corruption as a factor in the flooding.

“Venice is the victim of climate change and corruption,” Italy’s Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi Di Maio said Thursday in Washington, according to Ansa. “I don’t know which is worse, but Venice is suffering from both.”

Though waters have been rising in Venice in recent years, flooding of this magnitude is rare, and typically only happens once a decade.

The chart below should illustrate just how rare this is. Instances of water rising more than 150 centimeters above the benchmark are rare and usually occur about once in a decade, not twice within a week.

Early Wednesday, about 50% of the city had been reported flooded by the unusual tide, and some reports into overnight Wednesday say the city was as much as 85% under water.

Di Maio also spoke about the mobile dams which are currently under construction to protect the Venice lagoon from these rising tides. The project is called MOSE, and it’s already well over its budget of 5.5 billion euros and counting, it’s believed that the devices won’t be ready until at least 2022 (if Venice isn’t entirely underwater before then).

The project, which has been plagued by technical failures, is now under investigation by the Judiciary.

end

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

 

6.Global Issues

Russia states that the BRICS are seeking a common non dollar payment system i..e their own SWIFT system.\This will be dagger into the heart of the USA dollar hegemony

*(zerohedge)

Russia Says BRICS Seeking Common, Non-Dollar Payment System

The fracturing of the global economy and de-dollarization appear to be full-steam ahead.

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, simplified as BRICS, are five emerging national economies that are developing a new universal payment system to challenge the US’ SWIFT international payment network, a Russian official was quoted by Reuters on Thursday.

Russia’s de-dollarization effort has gained momentum in the last several years, in line with President Putin’s commitment to reduce the country’s vulnerability to the continuing threat of US sanctions. But it’s not just Russia who wants to lessen their dependence on dollars for trade, it’s the entire economic bloc. 

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said, “increasing non-market risks of the global payment infrastructure” is behind the push to develop a new international payment system for BRICS peers.

 

“An efficient BRICS payment system can encourage payments in national currencies and ensure sustainable payments and investments among our countries, which make up over 20% of the global inflow of foreign direct investment,” Dmitriev said.

Dmitriev said BRICS peers have also been discussing a new common cryptocurrency for mutual payments as another workaround to the dollar.

He said Russia had made a considerable effort over the last several years to reduce dollars in foreign trade. In the last several years, Russian foreign trade payments in dollars have dropped to 50% from 92%, while rouble transactions have jumped from14% to 3%, he added.

On Wednesday, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Vladimir Kolychev was quoted by Reuters as saying the Russian sovereign wealth fund will reduce US Dollars and is studying whether it should add Chinese yuan.

Last month, Russian Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin told the Financial Times that the country would continue down the path of de-dollarization and begin trading some oil transactions in Euros and roubles.

Russia’s desire to abandon the dollar is a trend that continues to flourish — now it appears BRICS peers could be following down the same path. This will certainly irritate Washington. 

END

Funny! enjoy

Blain: There Is Too Much Money Pushing up Prices, And It All Ends With A Guillotine

Blain’s Morning Porridge, submitted by Bill Blain of Shard Capital

“Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!”

As it’s a Friday I am contractually entitled to have a rant and whine about whatever I want to write about. Which, today, isn’t really the cut and thrust of markets.

To be brutally frank – we all know what the problems are: Too much money in the markets pushing up the prices of market assets. The fact is too much of that too much money is owned by too few people who use their too much money to buy all these financial assets. These too few people who own all the financial assets get richer everyday as their too much money makes their too many financial assets even more valuable. And these too few people get even richer by getting even more too much money to put into the already too expensive financial markets by “persuading” central banks to keep rates low, to buy financial assets through QE, and get their in-the-pocket politicians to enact tax cuts so their too much money is even more too much money…

With me so far??

Meanwhile, politicians pay for the too much money they give to too rich people, by taking it away from the much more numerous too many too poor people through Austerity. The too many people who don’t have any assets and owe any money they have to the people who have too much money and too many assets – aren’t happy. They blame society, they blame governments and as they get even more unhappy they get angry. These too poor too angry people then get very angry and start blaming people, which is what is happening across the globe.

Still there?…

Ultimately, it gets messy.  The too many poor people set up a very sharp razor in the centre of a square in the capital of their country and start teaching the too few people with too much money and too many assets, that these are essentially worthless if their heads are cut off…

You get the drift?

I could go on, but I think I’ve said enough about UK, US, European or anywhere else’s politics, trade wars, or pondering why bond yields are too low and stock prices too high, why unicorns are doomed, why everything is pants and everything is marvelous, or other such fripperies like rising income inequality or the iniquity of the Gig Economy.

END

Storm clouds forming over the entire globe as we witness freight volumes go negative for the 11th straight month. Today it is the all important Cass Freight index which is collapsing

(Mish Shedlock/Mishtalk)

Recession Warning: Freight Volumes Negative YoY For 11th Straight Month

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

The Cass Freight Index once again warns again of economic contraction.

Donald Broughton, founder of Broughton Capital and author the Cass Freight Index says the index signals contraction, possibly by the end of the year.

That’s just one one month away.

Six Key Points

  1. With the –5.9% decline in October, following the string of declines in May through September (ranging from -3.0% to -6.0%), we repeat our message from the previous five months: the shipments index has gone from “warning of a potential slowdown” to “signaling an economic contraction.”
  2. We acknowledge that: all of these negative percentages were against tough comparisons (some extremely tough), and the Cass Shipments Index has gone negative before without being followed by a negative GDP. However, demand is weaker across almost all modes of transportation, both domestically and internationally.
  3. Several key modes, and key segments of modes, are suffering material increases in the rates of decline, signaling the contraction is getting worse********.**
  4. We know that freight flows are a leading indicator, so by definition there is a lag between what they are predicting and when the outcome is reported. Nevertheless, we see a growing risk that GDP will go negative by year’s end.
  5. The weakness in spot market pricing for many transportation services, especially trucking, along with recent airfreight and railroad volume trends, heightens our concerns about the economy. Weakness in commodity prices, and the ongoing decline in interest rates, have all joined the chorus of signals calling for an economic contraction.
  6. The Index on a 2-year percentage change basis went negative (-0.1%). This suggests that the great surge of 2018, or ‘Trump bump’ as it was characterized by many, has now been completely erased at least from a freight flow perspective, as measured by the volume of freight bills paid by Cass.

Storm Clouds

  • With China, the world’s second largest economy (even though the latest headlines and tweets keep suggesting there will be a resolution). Tariffs have throttled export volumes in many areas of the U.S. economy, most notably agriculture exports and other select raw materials. We maintain hope that there will be a resolution; that there will be a trade deal because both China and the U.S. have to reach one. But the Asian airfreight volumes continue to suggest a growing risk that one or more of the Asian economies (China, South Korea, Singapore) is already sliding into recession. The current civil unrest in Hong Kong only increases the risk of an economic contraction and is consistent with the popular reaction of citizens who are more challenged/not as prosperous as is commonly believed.
  • With Mexico. The threat of tariffs, and then the recension, sent shock waves through many supply chains. Border transit times going Northbound and Southbound have gone from less than 30 minutes to more than two days in some cases. Even before the tweets about tariffs, border inspections had become increasingly more stringent. Mexico is our third biggest trading partner, and over 80% of their exports are to the U.S. Disruptions in trade between our countries are harmful to our economy and capable of producing a recession in Mexico. Risk has gotten worse.
  • Autos and Housing: Consistent with disappointing housing starts (down -1.3% YTD) and lackluster auto sales (down as much as -4.8% in April and -1.6% YTD), spot pricing in transportation has declined dramatically. Especially in trucking, spot pricing has reached levels below contract that will drive weakness in contract pricing and eliminate, or at least significantly reduce, all capital investment other than maintenance cap ex. This puts further downward pressure on growth in coming periods.

Shipments

Eurozone Airfreight

“Airfreight volumes in Europe continue to suggest that the region’s economy continues to cool.”

Asia Pacific

Airfreight volumes in Asia suggest that the region is on the verge of, or is already entering, a recession. As we’ve highlighted before, when trade tariffs slow the rate of growth for our global trading partners, it poses a real threat to the U.S. rate of economic growth.”

Shanghai

“The inbound volumes for Shanghai plummeted and then stayed weak. This concerns us since it is the inbound shipment of high value/low density parts and pieces that are assembled into the high-value tech devices that are shipped to the rest of the world. Hence, in markets such as Shanghai, the inbound volumes predict the outbound volumes and the strength of the high-tech manufacturing economy.”

Cass Shipments vs GDP

“At first glance, the GDP for the 1st through 3rd quarter seems very inconsistent with overall freight volumes. Using the Cass Shipments Index as a predictive proxy, we did not expect the GDP to be as strong as the reported 3.1% in Q1, or 2.0% in Q2, or even 1.9% in Q3. As we have already explained, dissecting the contributing factors explains much of the disparity, and should point out that freight flows are a leading indicator. It often takes two to three quarters for the trends in freight to become reported economic statistics.”

“Based on the trend since the beginning of the year, but especially the data over the last six months, the Cass Shipments Index continues to signal that the economy is beginning to contract and that the GDP could go negative, or at least come close to being negative, in Q4’19 and or Q1’20.”

Cass vs Jerome Powell’s Bernanke Moment (Just Yesterday)

Jerome Powell may have had his “Bernanke Moment” today in Congress.

Powell told Congress “Day of Reckoning” Far Off and “there’s nothing that’s really booming now that would want to bust.”

Uh… What about the stock market?

Powell’s testimony today sounds exactly like Bernanke’s proclamation to Congress right before the Great Recession, “there is no national housing bubble to bust.”

Recession Signals

In case you missed it, that is two recession signals today, one from Cass and one from Powell.

Here is a third: Good Reason to Expect Recession: Greenspan Doesn’t

Meanwhile, please note, 4th-Quarter GDP Forecasts Off To Weak Start.

end

7. OIL ISSUES

 

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES

Meet the new leader of Bolivia

(zerohedge)

Dems Aren’t Going To Condemn This Trump-Putin Cooperation

Independent journalist David Mizner notes “Dems aren’t going to criticize this Trump-Putin cooperation” as Moscow has now recognized Jeanine Añez as Bolivia’s self-declared interim president until the protest-wracked South American nation’s next elections.

This came two days after Washington did the same, with Acting Assistant Secretary for US Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Michael Kozak being the first to announce Tuesday, “Acting Senate Presidetn Anez has assumed responsibilities of Interim Constitutional President of Bolivia.”

Kozak added, “We look forward to working with her and Bolivia’s other civilian authorities as they arrange free and fair elections as soon as possible, in accordance with Bolivia’s constitution.” And on Wednesday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also congratulated Añez as Evo supporters clashed in the streets with riot police.

 

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted in RIA Novosti news agency as saying, “Russia will perceive Mrs. Añez as Bolivia’s leader, but only until the elections.”

This despite Ryabkov expressing that Russia views the series of events which led to President Evo Morales’ ouster as tantamount to a state coup. He said Moscow “took into account that there was no quorum in the parliament at the time of her confirmation in this position.”

Interestingly, it appears Russia is taking a route of pragmatic acquiescence, perhaps given Evo is already in Mexico where he was provided political asylum, and Bolivia’s army is now firmly in support of Anez. In the case of socialist Venezuela, it must be remembered, where the US recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido as ‘interim president’ and has led failed coup efforts, Russia has firmly stuck by President Nicolás Maduro.

In the NOW

✔@IntheNow_tweet

Clashes between police and demonstrators have spilled out onto the streets of La Paz

Embedded video

Former president Morales was quick to respond from his place of asylum in Mexico that Añez is a “coup-mongering right-wing senator” and said his supporters’ attempts to access the Senate had been denied. Morales also called the series of events which led to his rapid ouster at the start of the week “the sneakiest, most nefarious coup in history.”

Meanwhile security forces have vowed to take back the streets, deploying heavily in the administrative capital of La Paz, where throngs of angry Morales supporters squared off against police. The US embassy has evacuated all non-essential personnel according to reports, as pro-Evo socialist demonstrators have vowed to reject the “right-wing coup”.

The White House had been quick to issue a statement on Morales’ ouster, describing it as a “significant moment for democracy in the Western Hemisphere”.

On Thursday Añez took the further provocative move of declaring that Evo Morales would not be welcome in any new elections, which she would like to see held soon. Morales’ Movement for Socialism (MAS) party would be allowed to participate, but “They should start searching for a candidate,” she said, according to Reuters.

 

END

 

Your early morning currency/gold and silver pricing/Asian and European bourse movements/ and interest rate settings FRIDAY morning 7:00 AM….

Euro/USA 1.1034 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 EXCEPT LONDON

 

 

USA/JAPAN YEN 108.71 UP 0.215 (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 1.2477   DOWN   0.0005  (Brexit March 29/ 2019/ARTICLE 50 SIGNED/BREXIT FEES WILL BE CAPPED/BREXIT EXTENDED TO OCT 31/2019//

USA/CAN 1.3240 DOWN .0009 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  MONDAY morning in Europe, the Euro ROSE BY 15 basis points, trading now ABOVE the important 1.08 level FALLING to 1.1219 Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED DOWN 18.53 POINTS OR 0.64% 

 

//Hang Sang CLOSED UP 2.97 POINTS OR 0.01%

/AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0,85%// EUROPEAN BOURSES GREEN EXCEPT LONDON

 

Trading from Europe and Asia

EUROPEAN BOURSES GREEN EXCEPT LONDON 

 

 

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang Sang CLOSED UP 2.97 POINTS OR 0.01%

 

 

/SHANGHAI CLOSED DOWN 18.53 POINTS OR 0.64%

 

Australia BOURSE CLOSED UP .85% 

 

 

Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 161.77  POINTS OR 0.07%

 

 

 

INDIA’S SENSEX  IN THE GREEN

Gold very early morning trading: 1464.50

silver:$16.86-

Early FRIDAY morning USA 10 year bond yield: 1.84% !!! UP 2 IN POINTS from THURSDAY’S night in basis points and it is trading WELL BELOW resistance at 2.27-2.32%.

 

The 30 yr bond yield 2.31 UP 2  IN BASIS POINTS from THURSDAY night.

USA dollar index early MONDAY morning: 98.12 DOWN 4 CENT(S) from THURSDAY’s close.

This ends early morning numbers FRIDAY MORNING

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx6

And now your closing FRIDAY NUMBERS \1: 00 PM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 0.37% DOWN 1 in basis point(s) yield from YESTERDAY/

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: -.07%  DOWN 1   BASIS POINTS from YESTERDAY/JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/56

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 0.44%//UP 2 in basis point yield from yesterday.

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD:1,24 DOWN 8 points in basis points yield from yesterday./

 

 

the Italian 10 yr bond yield is trading 157 points higher than Spain.

 

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: RISES TO –.33% IN BASIS POINTS ON THE DAY//

THE IMPORTANT SPREAD BETWEEN ITALIAN 10 YR BOND AND GERMAN 10 YEAR BOND IS 1.87% 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 FRIDAY

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

Euro/USA 1.1045  UP     .0025 or 25 basis points

USA/Japan: 108.85 UP .351 OR YEN DOWN 35  basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.2898 UP .0016 POUND UP 16  BASIS POINTS)

Canadian dollar UP 19 basis points to 1.3231

 

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The USA/Yuan,CNY: AT 7.0094    ON SHORE  (UP)..GETTING DANGEROUS

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE:  67.0061  (YUAN UP)..GETTING REALLY DANGEROUS

TURKISH LIRA:  5.7392 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WISH.

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield closed at -.07%

 

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 1 IN basis points from THURSDAY at 1.84 % //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic USA 30 yr bond yield: 2.31 UP 1 in basis points on the day

Your closing USA dollar index, 98.03 DOWN 13  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 FRIDAY: 12:00 PM

London: CLOSED UP 4.49  0.56%

German Dax :  CLOSED UP 48.83 POINTS OR .37%

Paris Cac CLOSED UP 34.11 POINTS 0.58%

Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 81.890 POINTS or 0.89%

Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 87.35 POINTS OR 0.37%

 

 

 

 

 

WTI Oil price; 57.18 12:00  PM  EST

Brent Oil: 63.27 12:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN /   RUBLE RISES:    63.75  THE CROSS LOWER BY 0.21 RUBLES/DOLLAR (RUBLE HIGHER BY 21 BASIS PTS)

 

TODAY THE GERMAN YIELD RISES  TO –.33 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 :  57.80//

 

 

BRENT :  63.38

USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: … 1.83…plus one basis point

 

 

 

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 2.31..plus one basis point

 

 

 

 

 

EURO/USA 1.1052 ( UP 33   BASIS POINTS)

USA/JAPANESE YEN:108.78 up .283  (YEN down 28 BASIS POINTS/..

 

 

USA DOLLAR INDEX: 97.99 DOWN 18 cent(s)/

The British pound at 4 pm   Britain Pound/USA:1.2901 UP 19  POINTS

 

the Turkish lira close: 5.7458

 

 

the Russian rouble 63.72   UP 0.24 Roubles against the uSA dollar.( UP 24 BASIS POINTS)

Canadian dollar:  1.3227 UP 23 BASIS pts

USA/CHINESE YUAN (CNY) :  7.0084  (ONSHORE)/

 

 

USA/CHINESE YUAN(CNH): 7.0048 (OFFSHORE)

 

German 10 yr bond yield at 5 pm: ,-0.35%

 

The Dow closed UP 222.93 POINTS OR 0.80%

 

NASDAQ closed UP 61.81 POINTS OR 0.73%

 


VOLATILITY INDEX:  12.06 CLOSED DOWN .99

LIBOR 3 MONTH DURATION: 1.904%//libor dropping like a stone

 

USA trading today in Graph Form

Stocks Jump To Record Highs As Bond Yields, Economic Data Dump

Ugly retail sales and dismal industrial production capped a gravely disappointing week for US macro data, tumbling into the red for the first time in 3 months…

Source: Bloomberg

As four GDP-tracking estimates came down an average 0.43-pp between last Friday and today.

And by the end of the week, stocks had pushed to record highs and Treasury yields had collapsed to two-week lows (an implied 500-Dow-point divergence)…

Source: Bloomberg

How will that end?

Dow led on the week as multiple “trade deal is close” comments juiced the markets again and again (Trannies lagged)…

Source: Bloomberg

Chinese stocks were ugly this week…

Source: Bloomberg

European stocks were more mixed with Spain lower and the rest marginally higher…

Source: Bloomberg

The US equity market open appears to be a very bullish event…

Vol was crushed at the close to force The Dow to close above 28,000 for the first time…

In the US, defensives dominated the market gains…

Source: Bloomberg

Healthcare surged to new record highs on President Trump’s statement…

Source: Bloomberg

Short squeeze after short squeeze were ignited this week on the heels of various “trade deal is close” bullshit headlines…

Source: Bloomberg

The S&P is now at its most overbought since late April…

Source: Bloomberg

Buybacks continue to dominate…

Source: Bloomberg

VIX continued its collapse this week…

..crashing to an 11 handle…

…and sending the term structure to its steepest since just before the VIXmageddon as XIV imploded…

Source: Bloomberg

But that doesn’t stop the world and their pet rabbit shorting vol – to yet another new record short (5th week in a row)…

Source: Bloomberg

Credit markets continue to decouple from stocks…

Source: Bloomberg

Especially in CLO-land…

Source: Bloomberg

Treasury yields all tumbled on the week with the short-end underperforming…

Source: Bloomberg

This was the biggest weekly yield compression since September…

Source: Bloomberg

The Dollar ended the week lower (with the last two days saw the biggest drop in a month)

Source: Bloomberg

Yuan ended the week marginally lower (but rebounding back above the Yuan fix overnight)…

Source: Bloomberg

Cryptos all drifted lower this week after a big surge last weekend…

Source: Bloomberg

Gold and Silver both rallied this week while copper dropped (and crude played insane ping pong on trade/OPEC headlines)…

Source: Bloomberg

WTI continues to swing between rails in a tight range…

 

 

Notably, precious metals rallied this week amid the biggest outflows since Dec 2016…

 

 

And finally, amid all the political circus this week, President Trump’s approval rating surged to a 5-week high…

Source: Bloomberg

And in case you wondered why stocks just keep rising despite dismal earnings and deteriorating macro data…

Source: Bloomberg

It’s simple – the Fed is expanding its balance sheet at the fastest pace since the very peak of QE3 money-printing…

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

MARKET TRADING//USA

a)Market trading/LAST NIGHT/USA

 

b)MARKET TRADING/USA/AFTERNOON

Stocks Are Soaring As Bond Yields & The Dollar Dump

US equity markets continue to melt-up this morning, extending gains from Kudlow’s trade deal comments last night…

 

But bonds ain’t buying it…

 

Source: Bloomberg

And the dollar is dumping to one-week lows…

 

Source: Bloomberg

FOMO forever!!

end

ii)Market data/USA

Retail sales growth drops dramatically

(zerohedge)

Consumer Loses Faith As Annual Retail Sales Growth Slows Dramatically

While Chinese retail sales grew at the slowest pace since 2003 and US consumer comfort has plunged recently, US retail sales were expected to rebound in October after September’s slide, but the picture is more mixed.

Headline retail sales rose 0.3% MoM (better than expected +0.2%) but core retail sales rose only 0.1% MoM (worse than the +0.3% expected).

Source: Bloomberg

The modest rebound was led by sales gains for auto dealers and gas stations, though declines in categories including clothing and furniture stores tempered the advance.

The report also included some signs that may point to consumers running out of steam, with seven of 13 major categories dropping.

Categories higher:

  • Motor vehicle and parts dealers: 0.5%
  • Food and beverage stores: 0.5%
  • Gasoline stations: 1.1%
  • General Merchandise stores: 0.4%
  • Nonstore retailers (online): 0.95

Categories lower:

  • Furniture and home furnishing stores: -0.4%
  • Electronics and appliance stores: -0.5%
  • Clothing and accessories stores: -1.0%
  • Sporting goods, hobby and book stores: -0.8%
  • Miscellaneous store retailers: -0.6%
  • Food service and drinking places: -0.3%

But on a year-over-year basis, retail sales growth is slowing drastically…

Source: Bloomberg

It appears the consumer is losing faith…

Source: Bloomberg

While Fed Chair Powell reiterated this week that the labor market is strong, following an October jobs report that showed payroll gains intact and the jobless rate still near a half-century low, it appears all is not goldilocks in consumer spending land.

end

Import export prices collapse meaning inflation is nowhere in sight but that China is sending its deflation to the the uSA and the rest of the world.

(zerohedge)

Import/Export Prices Plunge Most In 3 Years – So Much For Trump Tariff Inflation Terror

Import and Export prices fell significantly more than expected in October.

  • Import prices -0.5% MoM (-0.2% exp)
  • Export prices -0.1% MoM (-0.1% exp)

Not an inflationary picture…

Source: Bloomberg

And on a year-over-year basis, the deflationary impulses continue with both import and export prices plunging at their fastest pace in over 3 years…

Source: Bloomberg

And all of this is coming as China exports the most deflation since June 2007…

So much for the terror of Trump’s tariffs driving drastic inflation in American consumer prices?

end
This is a hard data report and a very important one at that. Today industrial production plunges the most in 10 years.  The USA economy is imploding
(zerohedge)

US Industrial Production Plunges Most Since March 2009

After contracting YoY in September for the first time since President Trump was elected, analysts expected a further decline but October’s 0.8% collapse in Industrial Production is the worst since March 2009…

Additionally, the year-over-year decline accelerated to -1.13%, the worst since Oct 2016…

Source: Bloomberg

Manufacturing output fell 0.6 percent in October to a level 1.5 percent lower than its year-earlier reading – the weakest since Dec 2015…

Source: Bloomberg

Mining output moved down 0.7 percent in October following a similarly sized decline in September, but the index for mining was still 2.7 percent higher than its year-earlier level. The output of utilities fell 2.6 percent in October; a decrease in the output of electricity more than offset an increase in the index for natural gas utilities.

And finally, The Dow INDUSTRIALS has entirely decoupled from INDUSTRIAL production in America…

Source: Bloomberg

Thank you Fed.

end

NY Empire State factory index sluggish for sixth straight month in November

Nov 15, 2019 8:37 a.m. ET

Empire State index little changed at 2.9 from 4.0 in October

MarketWatch

A worker sews U.S. military uniforms in the Queens borough of New York, U.S., on Wednesday, April 3, 2019.

The numbers: The Empire State business conditions index moved down 1.1 points to 2.9 in November, the New York Fed said Friday. Economists had expected a reading of 5.0, according to a survey by Econoday. Any reading above zero indicates improving conditions.

What happened: The new orders index edged up 2 points to 5.5. The shipments index fell 4 points to 8.8. Inventories declined. The unfilled orders index was negative for the sixth straight month. Optimism about six- months ahead remained subdued.

Big picture: Manufacturing is stuck in a rut, hit hard by President Trump’s international trade policies, the slowdown in global economic growth and the strong U.S. dollar. The Empire index has been soft for six months. Economists look at the Empire index to get an early read on the national ISM factory index, which has been below 50, the break between contraction and expansion, for three months.

END

iii) Important USA Economic Stories

The inside story on the Ukraine mess and how Hunter Biden and Devon Archer took Burisma to be of influence in the new Ukrainian corrupt government.

(David Stockman)

David Stockman Exposes The Ukrainian Influence-Peddling Rings, Part 1

Authored by David Stockman via AntiWar.com,

Last night we heard some knucklehead on the War Channel (CNN) braying about Ukraine as a vitally important “ally and strategic partner”. The implication, of course, was that the Donald’s attempted squeeze play on its new President was dangerously undermining national security.

What unadulterated tommyrot!

The safety and security of the American homeland has absolutely nothing to do with it. That’s because Ukraine is a no count, strategically irrelevant patch of earth that was long ago ruined by the old Soviet Union, and thereafter turned into an economic trainwreck by its own corrupt oligarchs – along with plenty of help from Washington interventionists.

 

The latter spent the post-Soviet years fomenting “color revolutions” and attempting to steer its politics toward the west and NATO membership. But when the Ukrainian people elected a pro-Russian president in 2010 and all efforts to bribe and bully him westward failed, Washington instigated, funded and instantaneously recognized an illegal putsch on the streets of Kiev in February 2014.

That blatant, unprovoked assault on a sovereign nation, in turn, set in motion a destructive civil war internally; a dangerous and utterly unnecessary politico-military confrontation with Russia on its own doorstep; and, now, a hysterical campaign by the House Dems and their Deep State allies to impeach a duly-elected American president for the sin of wading into the very cesspool of corruption that the Washington establishment itself foisted upon this hapless, $150 billion sliver of a failed state and crippled economy.

The latest dispatch from the Wall Street Journal on the stench wafting westward from Kiev reveals more about the rotten foundation of UkraineGate than its authors probably understood.

Burisma Holdings’ campaign to clean up its image in the West reached beyond the 2014 hiring of Hunter Biden, son of the then-U.S. vice president, to include other well-connected operatives in Washington, according to officials in both countries and government records.

The Ukrainian company, owned by tycoon Mykola Zlochevsky, also hired a lobbyist with close ties to then-Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as a consulting group founded by top officials in the Clinton administration that specialized in preparing former Soviet-bloc countries to join NATO (Blue Star Strategies).

Soon the efforts bore fruit. With the help of a New York-based lawyer, Mr. Zlochevsky’s U.S. consultants argued to Ukrainian prosecutors that criminal cases against the company should be closed because no laws had been broken.

Burisma later became a sponsor of a Washington think tank, the Atlantic Council, whose experts are often cited on energy and security policy in the former Soviet Union.

Simple translation: Zlochevsky was an ally, officeholder (minister of ecology and natural resources) and inner-circle thief in the ousted government of Viktor Yanukovych. He therefore needed to powder the pig fast and thoroughly in order to hold onto his ill-gotten billions.

Mykola Zlochevsky, former employer of Hunter Biden and current partner of the Atlantic Council

So he hired the best Washington influence peddlers that money could buy under the circumstances. First up was Hunter Biden, because his old man was running point on what amounted to the puppet government Washington had installed in Kiev, and Devon Archer, because he was a former bundler for former Senator (and then Secretary of State) John Kerry.

But so as to leave no stone unturned, Zlochevsky also had Burisma hire another Washington influence peddler just one month after Biden the Younger joined the board in April 2014. Again, according to the WSJ, the additional lobbyist firepower came from one,

David Leiter of Washington lobbying firm M.L. Strategies….. Mr. Leiter was John Kerry’s chief of staff when Mr. Kerry was a U.S. senator from Massachusetts….According to disclosure records, Mr. Leiter, who also had worked for the Energy Department, lobbied on behalf of Burisma on “promoting transparency and good corporate governances” at both chambers of Congress, the State Department, the Treasury Department, the Energy Department, and US AID.

Needless to say, only in Imperial Washington would all the above named arms of the US government care a whit about “transparency and good governance” at a two-bit gas producer in Ukraine. During 2018, for example, the company produced the trivial sum of 1.3 BCF of natural gas and booked revenues of just $400 million – a rounding error in just about any energy market that matters.

But as it happened, Washington was calling the shots in Kiev, and Burisma needed its government licenses and gas concessions. So the lobbying happened on the banks of the Potomac where the real power was actually exercised.

Finally, the Clinton wing of the Washington racketeering system had to be covered, too – hence the above mentioned Blue Star Strategies. And the bolded sentence from the WSJ story quoted below tells you all you need to know about its business, which was to “….help former Soviet countries prepare for NATO consideration”.

That’s right. With the Soviet Union gone, its 50,000 tanks on the central front melted-down for scrap and the Warsaw Pact disbanded, the rational order of the day was to declare “mission accomplished” for NATO and effect its own disbandment.

The great parachuter and then US president, George Bush the Elder, could have actually made a jump right into the giant Ramstein Air Base in Germany to effect its closure. At that point there was no justification for NATO’s continued existence whatsoever.

But the Clinton Administration, under the baleful influence of Washington busybodies like Strobe Talbot and Madeleine Albright, went in just the opposite direction. In pursuit of Washington’s post-1991 quest for global hegemony as the world’s only superpower and putative keeper of the peace, they prepared the way for the entirety of the old Warsaw Pact to join NATO.

So doing, however, they also laid the planking for a revival of the cold war with the Kremlin. As the father of containment and NATO during the late 1940s, Ambassador George Kennan, observed at the time, the Clinton Administration’s policy of expanding NATO to the very doorstep of Russia was a colossal mistake.

It not only violated Bush the Elder’s pledge to Gorbachev at the time of German reunification that NATO would not be expanded “by a single inch to the east”, but also set Washington on a confrontation path with the rump state of Russia that posed no threat whatsoever to America’s homeland security.

Moreover, in the case of Ukraine specifically, it had not simply been a Warsaw Pact “captive nation” like Poland or the Czech Republic. It had actually been an integral component of the old Soviet Union, and before that a vassal and sometimes province of Czarist Russia.

As the 1897 map below indicates, what is today Ukraine barely even existed as an independent state (dark yellow area) during the final centuries of the Russian Empire; and the Russian-speaking regions in what is today eastern Ukraine (yellow area on the map) had actually been known as “New Russia” owing to the Czarist policy of settling Russians there to provide a bulwark against encroachments by the Ottoman Turks.

Indeed, Crimea (orange area) had been actually purchased from them by Catherine the Great in 1783 to complete the Russification of the region north of the Black Sea. It had never been even remotely a part of Ukraine until its mainly Russian-speaking population was transferred to the Soviet Socialist Republic of the Ukraine by Khrushchev in 1954 as a reward to his Ukrainian compatriots for their support during the post-Stalin struggle for power in Moscow.

Moreover, the Ukrainian Soviet Republic, which had been largely incorporated by Moscow in 1923, had a modern bloody history that was always a civil war waiting to happen.

To wit, western Ukraine had sided with the Nazi and Hitler’s Wehrmacht as it brutally made its way through Ukraine to the siege of Stalingrad during WWII, while eastern Ukraine had lined up with the Red Army during its equally bloody campaign of destruction and revenge as it chased the defeated Nazi army back to Berlin after 1943.

So the very idea that Ukraine should be induced to join NATO was beyond the pale – and most especially after Washington had recruited modern-day political descendants of the WWII pro-Nazi brigades to replace the Yanukovych government in March 2014. Washington’s obtuseness to this history reflected pure imperial arrogance.

What is worse, of course, is that no count apparatchiks from the Clinton machine – Sally Painter and Karen Tramontano – had cashed in on this madness by setting up a practice in helping Washington to meddle in places where not an iota of homeland security was at stake.

Image result for 19th century map of the Ukraine as part of czarist Russia

As the Wall Street Journal noted, Blue Star Strategies had no compunction about using its Clinton and Biden connections in behalf of Burisma – notwithstanding the odor of oligarchical corruption which surrounded it,

Blue Star Strategies, which has been lauded in the West for its work to help former Soviet countries prepare for NATO consideration. Its founders: Sally Painter, a senior adviser to the Commerce Department in the Clinton administration, and Karen Tramontano, a deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House.

At about the time of Mr. Shokin’s dismissal, Blue Star helped Burisma hire lawyer John D. Buretta, who argued before prosecutors in Ukraine that cases against Burisma should be closed, according to one Ukrainian official and others familiar with the matter.

“I thought I was meeting someone who was going to help with the investigations, and all he wanted to talk about was why they should be closed,” said one former Ukrainian prosecutor who met with Mr. Buretta.

So that’s how the Imperial City rolls. People make policies which extend the Empire while in office – as did these Clintonistas with the NATO expansion project – and then cash-in afterwards by peddling influence in the corridors of the beltway on behalf of Washington’s newly acquired vassals and supplicants.

In this case, all roads lead to the Atlantic Council, which is the semi-official “think tank” of NATO in Washington and is infested with Russophobes and Clinton/Biden operatives. The latter, of course, make a handsome living peddling anti-Putin propaganda – the better to grease the Washington purse strings for unneeded military spending and foreign aid, security assistance and weapons sales to the “front line” states allegedly in the path of Kremlin aggression.

In fact, so-called think tanks like the Atlantic Council are thinly disguised lobbying arms for both the Empire’s foreign supplicants as well as the U.S. agencies which feed them. Thus, in the racketeering wards of the Imperial City weapons contractors and foreign purchasers make common cause. So do the dispensers and recipients of foreign aid, security assistance and the multitude of Washington propaganda programs run through the State Department, Endowment for Democracy, Board for International Broadcasting and countless more.

In fact, the network of one hand washing the other is so pervasive and massive that it is not surprising that foreign policy and national security have become one giant racket enveloped in a bipartisan consensus in favor in intervention and meddling in the fairest parts of the planet.

The entire Ukraine intervention project, for instance, has been heavily choreographed by the Atlantic Council, which in turn derives its ample funding from virtually all parties – domestic and foreign – to the Empires far flung rackets.

Thus, US government contributors include the Pentagon, the U. S. State Department, the US Air Force, the US Navy, the Air Force Academy, the US Army War College, National Endowment for Democracy and even NATO itself.

Then there is an endless litany of foreign governments and quasi-official institutions including the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and embassies, foundations and sovereign funds representing Denmark, South Korea, Australia, Japan, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Romania, Netherlands, Hong Kong and countless more.

Not surprisingly, the roster of military/industrial/intelligence contractors and international energy and financial institutions runs on for pages. It includes Chevron, HSBC Holdings, BP America Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Raytheon, United Technologies, Boeing, ExxonMobil, Textron, Statoil, Bank of America, ConocoPhillips, JPMorgan and dozens more.

Also, amply represented in its contributor lists are other foreign policy advocacy and funding institutions including The Wallenberg Foundations, the Soros Open Society Foundations, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Arabia Foundation, Center for International Strategic Studies, the Starr Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation etc.

Finally, there is an endless list of everyone and their brother who does business in Washington lead by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation. The latter is the influence peddling front of Ukraine’s leading billionaire who essentially stole much of its iron and steel industry after the Soviet Union collapsed and has been a leading funder of the Clinton Foundation ($6 million) and various Russophobe think tanks in addition to the Atlantic Council.

But that additional list also includes such odds and sots as Facebook, Inc., Google, Inc., Squire Patton Boggs, Starbucks Coffee Company, Twitter, McKinsey & Company, CNN and dozens more.

So it is not surprising that Burisma quickly put its money where its spotted reputation could be cycled through a refurbishment process at the Atlantic Council. Indeed, in an extensive expose, Max Blumenthal noted exactly hour the Atlantic connection came about:

Even with Hunter Biden on his company’s board, Zlochevsky was still seeking influential allies in Washington. He found them at the Atlantic Council in 2017, literally hours after he was cleared of corruption charges in Ukraine.

On Jan. 19, 2017 – just two days after the investigation of Zlochevsky ended – Burisma announced a major “cooperative agreement” with the Atlantic Council.

The deal was inked by the director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia program, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine named John Herbst.

Since then, Burisma helped bankroll Atlantic Council programming, including an energy security conference held this May in Monaco, where Zlochevsky currently lives.

The story actually gets even more convoluted from there as we will essay in Part 2.

As it turns out, virtually the entire caste of whistleblowers and Deep State testifiers now being called before the Impeachment Tribunal were in one way or another organized, financed or sponsored by the Atlantic Council.

*  *  *

David Stockman was a two-term Congressman from Michigan. He was also the Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan. After leaving the White House, Stockman had a 20-year career on Wall Street. He’s the author of three books, The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed, The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America and TRUMPED! A Nation on the Brink of Ruin… And How to Bring It Back. He also is founder of David Stockman’s Contra Corner and David Stockman’s Bubble Finance Trader.

END

This will be far reaching:   the health care industry will be forced to disclose its secret insurance rates etc..what they pay for drugs and other services.

(zerohedge)

In Shock To $3.5 Trillion Healthcare Industry, Trump Admin Will Force Hospitals To Disclose “Secret” Insurance Rates

In a move that will send shockwaves across the $3.5 trillion US healthcare industry, on Friday the Trump administration unveiled a plan that would – for the first time – force hospitals and insurers to disclose their secret negotiated rates, the WSJ reported.

In hopes of bringing some transparency and openness to a pathologically opaque industry, one which many have blamed for being behind the explosion in US underfunded liabilities to more than $100 trillion, administration officials said the final rule will compel hospitals in 2021 to publicize the rates they negotiate with individual insurers for all services, including drugs, supplies, facility fees and care by doctors who work for the facility. The White House would also propose extending the disclosure requirement to the $670 billion health-insurance industry. Insurance companies and group health plans that cover employees would have to disclose negotiated rates, as well as previously paid rates for out-of-network treatment, in computer-searchable file formats.

As the WSJ notes, the proposal covering insurers is the newest part of the price-disclosure initiative, and would include the private-employer market, where about 158 million people get their health insurance. Insurers and group health plans would have to put the negotiated rates into a file that third-party developers could incorporate into shopping tools. As with hospitals, insurers will have to create a web-based tool for beneficiaries that discloses the list price, the negotiated rate, cost sharing, and the amount left on a plan deductible, as well as allowable out-of-network rates.

The requirements, which are more far-reaching than industry leaders had expected, could upend commercial health-care markets, which are rife with purposefully complex systems of hidden charges and secret discounts which enable the fleecing of either end users or chronically  underfunded government healthcare programs. The price-disclosure initiative has become a cornerstone of the president’s 2020 re-election health strategy, despite threats of legal action from industry.

“Right now there is too much arbitrage in the system,” a senior administration official said in an interview Thursday with The Wall Street Journal. “There are a ton of vested interests who will oppose this. We expect to get sued. We’re really goring people’s oxes.”

Hospitals and insurers typically treat specific prices for medical services as closely held secrets, with contracts between the insurers and hospital systems generally bound by confidentiality agreements. Policy makers, employers and patients are often unable to see clearly which hospital systems and doctor practices are driving high costs.

Ironically just a few days ago we showed why “US Healthcare Costs Are Exploding“, and the primary culprit was soaring insurance and medical care service fees. If there is one thing that could potentially put a dent in this exponential surge, it is the elimination of all the various secret price deals and arrangements.

Why is transaprency good? Because as studies have shown, consumers are often required to pay more out of pocket when they don’t have the price information they need to comparison shop. Employer health-plan deductibles are outpacing wage growth and have risen to an average $1,655 for a single plan, according to a September survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Workers on average pay $6,015 toward the cost of their coverage.

Taken together, the WSJ notes, “the price-disclosure initiatives could reshape the $3.5 trillion health-care industry.”

The good news: the much needed transparency finally may bring some – literal – price discovery to what has traditionally been the most opaque, and lucrative, sector for the aging and chronically obese US population. The bad news: as Trump is going against trillions in vested interests, expect even more “whistleblowers” to emerge from the sector that has chronically been the biggest lobbyist of Washington…

… doing their best to bring the president down.

Meanwhile, as Americans lament soaring prices of, well, everything, after shelter and rent costs, the second biggest drain of US household income and savings is insurance premiums.

end
Q4 GDP crashes with estimates coming in below zero at -.4%
(zerohedge)

Q4 GDP Crashes: US Economy Growing At Slowest Pace In 4 Years

Following a burst of poor US economic data, including today’s disappointing retail sales and dismal industrial production, the US economic surprise index has slipped back into the negative after peaking in late September.

This slowdown in high frequency economic indicators has not been lost on strategists, and in just the past week, tracking estimates for Q4 GDP have tumbled by over 0.4% in just the past week, with both the Atlanta Fed and New York Fed now expecting a sub-0.40% GDP print in the current quarter.

If one focuses on just the two popular Fed nowcasts, that of the Atlanta and New York Feds…

… US GDP in Q4 is set to print at the lowest level in 4 years at around 0.35%, and would be only the fifth time in 42 quarter since the Q3 2009 exit from recession when US growth has risen by less than 0.5% Q/Q.

 

Source: Reuters’ Jeoff Hall

We only bring this up to point out that the S&P500, which is printing at all time highs well above 3,100, is clearly no longer reliant on the US economic outlook, even if US GDP is now expected to print dangerously close to contraction due to a sharp slowdown in household spending, capex, residential investment and inventories.

So what does matter, if it’s not the market, or earnings which as we pointed out previously are not only negative for Q3 but also just turned negative for the 4th quarter according to consensus sellside estimates, suggesting a technical earnings recession awaits?

The answer: the Fed’s balance sheet, which has increased by $288 billion in the past two months, a faster rate of increase than that observed during QE3.

Just remember, it’s not QE4… it’s NOT QE, or wait, it is QE but if you call it that, confidence that the economy is recovering may disappear (especially when GDP is set to grow at 0.4%), and investors may ask what the true price of equities would be if it wasn’t for, what else, the Federal Reserve.

end
The SEC is now investigating the WeWork as its bonds rash to record lows
(zerohedge)

WeWork Bonds Crash To Record Lows As SEC Inquiry Looms

WeWork Companies, Inc. May 01, 2025 <WECMC 7.875% May’25> bond price crashed to a record low Friday of 74.750 cents on the dollar following a new report from Bloomberg, citing sources, that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating the workspace sharing company for possible rule violations.

The SEC’s enforcement division is allegedly investigating WeWork’s disclosures to investors around the time it filed an S1 in August and other filings around its attempted IPO in September.

As a result of the inquiry, WeWork has lawyered up with a top Wall Street firm as it expects to face controversy surrounding the company’s collapse in valuation.

WeWork is now valued at $8 billion, has lost approximately 83% of its value in the last 12 months when it was valued at $47 billion in 4Q18.

The SEC’s investigation shouldn’t be shocking to anyone, considering the company neglected to tell investors in the S1 that it needed to IPO before it would run out of cash.

Sources told Bloomberg it wasn’t entirely clear what precisely the SEC was examining for wrongdoing. 

 

iv) Swamp commentaries)

Rand Paul initiates a Senate vote to compel Hunter Biden and Eric Ciarmella (the whistleblower) to testify

(Watson/Summitnews)

Rand Paul To Initiate Senate Vote To Force Hunter Biden Impeachment Testimony

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

Senator Rand Paul threatened Thursday to trigger a vote that would force Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, to testify as a witness to the impeachment trial against President Trump.

“I believe very strongly the president should be able to call his own witnesses,” Paul told reporters.

“The rules that are put forward will be amendable, so yes I will consider strongly that the president should get his full due process, which to me means bringing in his own witnesses.” the Senator added.

Paul made the comments despite Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calling for Republicans to avoid asking for testimony that could trigger a clash with Senate Democrats.

Hunter Biden would be made to provide details of his time working at a Ukrainian energy company, should Paul go ahead with the process and it succeed with a majority in the Senate.

According to reports, the younger Biden was paid $83,333 monthly as a board member of Burisma Holdings, a prominent Ukrainian gas firm marked by allegations of corruption, while his father was vice president.

Joe Biden was a leading figure in forcing out former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin as he was investigating Burisma. Biden bragged at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting last year that he had threatened to withhold $1 billion in aid unless the prosecutor was fired.

Paul has routinely defended Trump on the impeachment front, noting that the President “has every right to withhold aid” to Ukraine if he believes there is corruption at play in the country.

Senator Rand Paul

✔@RandPaul

So Ukraine says no quid pro quo but we’re supposed to believe Adam Schiff? https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/top-ukraine-official-says-us-diplomat-never-conditioned-military-aid-on-biden-investigations?_amp=true#click=https://t.co/24OA7LSzNv …

Ukraine Latvia

Top Ukraine official says US diplomat never conditioned military aid on Biden investigations

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland never linked military aid to Ukraine on whether the foreign government launched investigations into the energy company Burisma, according to a…

washingtonexaminer.com

Paul also named the so called ‘whistleblower’ this week, saying that CIA officer Eric Ciamerella is a “person of interest” who should be brought before Congress as a “material witness” in the impeachment inquiry.

“I think he is a person of interest in the sense that he was at the Ukraine desk when Joe Biden was there, when Hunter Biden was working for the Ukrainian oligarch. So simply for that alone, I think he’s a material witness that needs to be brought in.” Paul said.

END

RIDICULOUS! ROGER STONE CONVICTED OF LYING ABOUT 2016 WIKILEAKS

(ZEROHEDGE)

Roger Stone Found Guilty Of Lying About 2016 Leaks

Longtime GOP operative and Trump associate Roger Stone was found guilty on seven counts related to lying about upcoming WikiLeaks releases during the 2016 US election, along with obstruction and witness tampering.

After a trial that spanned just over a week, a federal court jury in Washington, D.C., convicted Stone on five felony counts of lying to investigators, one of obstructing a congressional probe and one of witness tampering.

The charges against Stone were brought by Robert Mueller and handed off to career federal prosecutors in Washington after the special counsel’s Russia probe ended this spring. –Politico

The counts, via the Washington Examiner(January):

  • Count One alleges that Stone obstructed the House committee’s investigation by denying he had emails and other documents about WikiLeaks-related contacts. During his House testimony, Stone was asked if he had “emails to anyone concerning the allegations of hacked documents … or any discussions you have had with third parties about [WikiLeaks]?” Stone answered that he did not, when in fact he had a bunch of emails and other communications. The obstruction charge also alleges Stone attempted to prevent Credico from testifying or tried to convince him to testify falsely.

Counts two through six concern specific statements to the House committee. Count Two is based on Stone’s assertion that he did not have emails.

  • Count Three alleges that Stone lied when he said that Credico was his only “go-between” to Assange, when in fact, Stone was also in contact with Corsi for that purpose. “At no time did Stone identify [Corsi] to [the House] as another individual Stone contacted to serve as a ‘go-between,'” the indictment says.
  • Count Four alleges that Stone lied when he said he did not ask Credico to communicate anything to Assange, when in fact Stone asked both Credico and Corsi to get in touch with Assange “to pass on requests … for documents Stone believed would be damaging to the Clinton campaign.”
  • Count Five alleges that Stone lied when he told the House that he and Credico did not communicate via text message or email about WikiLeaks. Stone told the committee the two talked over the phone, when in fact, according to the indictment, “Stone and [Credico] … engaged in frequent written communications by email and text message.”
  • Count Six alleges that Stone lied when he testified that he had never discussed his conversations with Credico with anyone at the Trump campaign, when in fact, “Stone spoke to multiple individuals involved in the Trump campaign about what he claimed to have learned from his intermediary to [WikiLeaks].”
  • Count Seven is a witness tampering charge, alleging that Stone tried to convince Credico to take the Fifth or to lie to the House committee.

***

Darren Samuelsohn

✔@dsamuelsohn

Replying to @dsamuelsohn @joshgerstein

here’s my verdict form. will try to report count by count.

View image on Twitter

493

Twitter Ads info and privacy
323 people are talking about this

Darren Samuelsohn

✔@dsamuelsohn

 · 
Replying to @dsamuelsohn @joshgerstein

They are now polling the jury. Stone watching with one hand in pocket. Glasses on.

Darren Samuelsohn

✔@dsamuelsohn

Jackson tells Stone and his lawyers to take a seat. She thanks the jury.

Developing…

end

v) King report/Courtesy of Chris Powell of GATA which includes the major swamp stories.

Global Debt Surges above $250 Trillion as U.S., China Lead Way

Global debt hit a fresh record above $250 trillion in the first half of 2019, with China and the U.S. accounting for more than 60% of new borrowing, the Institute of International Finance said.

    Borrowing by governments, households and non-financial business now accounts for more than 240% of the world’s gross domestic product, and it’s growing faster than the global economy, the Washington-based IIF said in a report published Thursday…

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-14/global-debt-surges-above-250-trillion-as-u-s-china-lead-way

WaPo: Justice Dept. watchdog won’t let witnesses give written feedback on report about FBI Russia probe, sparking fears of inaccuracy [Someone with a problem leaked/complained to the WaPo.]

@ChuckRossDC: Good indicator [above WaPo story] that the FISA report is bad for some ex-FBI officials. On the bright side, at least most of them work at CNN, where they can defend themselves

Ukraine Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko destroyed Dems and MSM’s impeachment narrative.

Taylor: “The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone, asking Ambassador Sondland about ‘the investigations,'” Taylor, the chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Kiev… “Ambassador Sondland told President Trump that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward.”…

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/impeachment-hearings-david-holmes-bill-taylor-staffer-who-overheard-trump-ask-about-investigations-set-to-appear/

U.S. envoy Sondland did not link Biden probe to aid: Ukraine minister   5:09 AM CT Thursday

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said on Thursday that U.S. ambassador Gordon Sondland did not explicitly link military aid to Kiev with opening an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Interfax Ukraine reported…

     “Ambassador Sondland did not tell us, and certainly did not tell me, about a connection between the assistance and the investigations. You should ask him,” Prystaiko said about Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union…

    Taylor said a member of his staff had overheard a July 26 phone call between Trump and Sondland in which the Republican president asked about investigations into the Bidens, and Sondland told him that the Ukrainians were ready to proceed… [Not true!  Taylor said ‘investigations’, no mention of Biden]

     “Yes, the investigations were mentioned, you know, in the conversation of the presidents. But there was no clear connection between these events…

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-impeachment-ukraine-idUSKBN1XO1HK

The NYT, WaPo and most other MSM outlets ignored Prystaiko’s quid pro quo nullification.

GOP @RepMarkMeadows: This is where we’re at with impeachment: Democrats think they have a new “smoking gun” because a [Taylor] staffer [David Holmes] may have overheard a phone call in a restaurant [in Ukraine].  We’re 11 months before an election, and that’s a potential key piece of their case.  Seriously.

An ambassador with distinct and admitted foreign policy differences with his boss, the president, is now claiming that a phone call occurred which a staff member of his overheard both sides of, in a restaurant, four months ago, and no one was told about that call until last Friday. Not even Taylor.  That means either the staffer lied, covered it up, forgot about it, or it never happened at all. All are equally plausible at this point…  https://dailycaller.com/2019/11/14/kassam-impeachment-hearings/

A reason for Schiff’s covert Star Chamber: @IvanPentchoukov: Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt [late 2015] hatched the plan to withhold sovereign loan guarantees from Ukraine to force the firing of Viktor Shokin, the country’s top prosecutor, according to George Kent’s closed-door testimony.

https://twitter.com/IvanPentchoukov/status/1194974810411065345/photo/1

Toensing and DiGenova Say Schiff Witness George Kent Blocked Them from Investigating Corruption in Ukraine – George Kent blocked them from speaking to officials in Ukraine when they traveled their earlier this year to investigate corruption…

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/11/toensing-and-digenova-say-schiff-witness-george-kent-blocked-them-from-investigating-corruption-in-ukraine-video/

[Falsely accused Russian spy/honey pot] Svetlana Lokhova @RealSLokhova: Ukraine’s dire economic situation, corruption and lack of legal structures made it an ideal playground for money laundering by politicians/businessmen and black operations by intelligence services.

How bad was Schiff’s impeachment hearing on Wednesday?  The House Majority Leader stated yesterday that Trump should be impeached over his foreign policy in Syria!  You can’t make this up!

GOP @RepJeffDuncan: Hearing that @LeaderHoyer just told a group of Members on the floor that regardless of Ukraine, @POTUS should be impeached for his Syria decision. Wait: we are going to impeach Presidents over differences in foreign policy now?

The reaction to Schiff’s poor hearings also enfolded Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Lindsey Graham: I Will Call Adam Schiff to Testify in the Senate

https://truepundit.com/lindsey-graham-i-will-call-adam-schiff-to-testify-in-the-senate/

GRAHAM: ‘I’m Over with This, It’s a Joke, We’re Not Going to Impeach this President’

https://hannity.com/media-room/grahams-stand-im-over-with-this-its-a-joke-were-not-going-to-impeach-this-president/

Last evening, Nancy Pelosi said she is upholding the Constitution and Trump should prove his innocence.

@paulsperry_: Dems are flailing again over impeachable offenses. They can’t land on one. Now according to Pelosi, it’s “bribery.” Bless her heart. She’s got it backwards. The bribery the framers viewed as impeachable offense referred to a president TAKING a bribe from foreign power for a favor

Chicago Tribune’s @John_Kass: “Hearsay can be much better evidence than direct (testimony),” said U.S. Rep. Michael Quigley at #ImpeachmentHearings Really? Well some guy just told me he heard at City Hall, Quigley used to peek out from Chicago Ald. Bernie Hansen’s back pocket like a frightened baby kangaroo

Another reason that Bill Taylor might be friendly with the ‘get Trump’ cabal: Benghazi

From 2011 to 2013, Taylor was the Special Coordinator for Middle East Transitions in the U.S. State Department, appointed by the Secretary of State[Hillary] to ensure that American support for the countries of the Arab revolutions was coordinated and effective; in this post, Taylor coordinated aid and support to Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria… [The Benghazi attack occurred on September 11, 2012.]

https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/post/address-ambassador-william-b-taylor-jr-us-institute-peace-crisis-ukraine

When Taylor was Special Coordinator for Middle East Transitions in the U.S. State Department, Hillary and Obama facilitated the overthrow of Gaddafi and tried to overthrow Assad in Syria by running arms out of Benghazi to rebels.  The rebels included elements of Al Qaeda and ISIS.  A covert US operation to retrieve some of those arms, notably Stingers and SAMs, was then instituted.

Documents Released by Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office Reveal MILLIONS Funneled to Hunter Biden and the John Kerry Family – According to counter intelligence in Latvia around $4 million was obtained by Burisma Holdings Limited which was then transferred to Hunter Biden and Devon Archer…Burisma Holdings then sent $3.5 million via Morgan Stanley to Hunter Biden and the John Kerry family…   https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/11/huge-exclusive-bombshell-documents-released-by-ukrainian-general-prosecutors-office-reveal-millions-funneled-to-hunter-biden-and-the-john-kerry-family/

Trump impeachment hearings are a joke — but the damage to the country is real

Trump has no chance of getting a trade deal done — or any deal for that matter — with other governments when foreigners think there is even a tiny chance he’ll lose his job. What’s going on in Washington right now is a disgrace. What it is doing to the country isunconscionable.  https://trib.al/ATO9sl5

After Trump met with Turkey strongman Erdogan on Wednesday, Erdogan stated that he had given documents to Trump about conspirators that staged the coup against him.  Speculation about the contents of the documents is fascinating.

Turkey’s Erdogan Provided President Trump Documents on Terrorist General Flynn Wrote about Connected to Obama and the Clinton Foundation!

    Erdogan stated yesterday that he flew to the US and hand delivered documents to President Trump regarding terrorist Gulen, whom General Flynn reported was protected by Obama and who donated to the Clintons… https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/11/general-flynn-gets-justice-turkeys-erdogan-provided-president-trump-documents-on-terrorist-general-flynn-wrote-about-connected-to-obama-and-the-clinton-foundation/

@NicAtNigh: The failed coup in Turkey was orchestrated by the same elements behind the Yanukovych coup in Ukraine

@RealSaavedra: Ocasio-Cortez says that Democrats’ push for impeaching Trump is about uniting the different factions of the Democrat Party, adding: “this is about preventing a potentially disastrous outcome from occurring next year.” [2020 Elections]

Babylon Bee [parody site]: ‘We Don’t Need to Look into the Bidens’ Corruption,’ Insists Rep. Schiff while Attempting Jedi Mind Trick

https://babylonbee.com/news/you-dont-need-to-look-into-the-bidens-corruption-insists-rep-schiff-while-attempting-jedi-mind-trick

end

Let us close out the week with this commentary courtesy of Greg Hunter

(Greg Hunter/USAWatchdog)

Dem Impeachment Disaster, No Cut Fed, Financial Warnings

By Greg Hunter On November 15, 2019

The first public hearing for President Trump’s impeachment was billed as a blockbuster, but in reality, it was a huge dud. As a matter of fact, it was a disaster for Adam Schiff and the Democrats. The so-called star witnesses called by the Democrats looked stupid when they admitted they had no firsthand knowledge, depended on hearsay and could not articulate an impeachable offence committed by the President. This is not a real impeachment but rather a Deep State operation to get rid of a President calling attention to fraud and corruption.

The Federal Reserve told Congress this week that there would be no more rate cuts. Earlier this year, the Fed reversed course and started cutting rates, and now it has come to a screeching halt to more rate cuts. Why?

There are some big financial names warning that there is big, and I mean very big, trouble on the horizon for the global economy. The U.S. has been in the longest expansion in history, and what is going to happen when the party stops? How will the debt, which has exploded in the last 11 years of expansion, get paid? The short answer–it won’t.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he talks about the top stories in the Weekly News Wrap-up.

(YouTube did not monetize this video–Again!)

-END-

Well that is all for today

I will see you Monday night.

 

One comment

  1. duanne · · Reply→

    The Repo issue is JPM cuz IMO the words gotten out they have not one oz. of the 675 million oz of silver its all sold off to China and India…Gone Poof!! JPM’s credit risk is thru the roof without anything as collateral.

    Like

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