GOLD:$1552.00 DOWN $26.10 (COMEX TO COMEX CLOSING)

Silver:$17.59 DOWN 9 CENTS (COMEX TO COMEX CLOSING)

Closing access prices

GOLD: 1552.40

SILVER:17.60

COMEX DATA

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

today RECEIVING: 535/819

EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: FEBRUARY 2020 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 1,577.200000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 02/03/2020 DELIVERY DATE: 02/05/2020
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED
____________________________________________________________________________________________
072 H GOLDMAN 21
118 H MACQUARIE FUT 599
355 C CREDIT SUISSE 51
357 C WEDBUSH 1
435 H SCOTIA CAPITAL 114
624 C BOFA SECURITIES 40
657 C MORGAN STANLEY 2 18
661 C JP MORGAN 283
661 H JP MORGAN 252
685 C RJ OBRIEN 15 2
686 C INTL FCSTONE 4 11
690 C ABN AMRO 32 18
732 C RBC CAP MARKETS 3
737 C ADVANTAGE 31 38
800 C MAREX SPEC 14 11
880 C CITIGROUP 35
880 H CITIGROUP 36
905 C ADM 7
____________________________________________________________________________________________

TOTAL: 819 819
MONTH TO DATE: 5,019

we are coming very close to a commercial failure!!

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR FEB CONTRACT: 819 NOTICE(S) FOR 81900 OZ (2.5474 tonnes)

TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED SO FAR: 5019 NOTICES FOR 501900 OZ (15.611 TONNES)

SILVER

FOR FEB

12 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 60,000 OZ/

total number of notices filed so far this month: 121 for 605,000 oz

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Bitcoin: OPENING MORNING TRADE : $ 9101 DOWN 180

Bitcoin: FINAL EVENING TRADE: $ 9203 DOWN 87

Let us have a look at the data for today

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IN SILVER THE COMEX OI FELL A CONSIDERABLE SIZED 1426 CONTRACTS FROM 229,312 DOWN UP 227,886 WITH OUR HUGE 30 CENT LOSS IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX.

TODAY WE ARRIVED FURTHER FROM AUGUST’S 2018 RECORD SETTING OPEN INTEREST OF 244,196 CONTRACTS.

WE HAVE ALSO WITNESSED A LARGE AMOUNT OF PHYSICAL METAL STAND FOR COMEX DELIVERY AS WELL WE ARE WITNESSING CONSIDERABLE LONGS PACKING THEIR BAGS AND MIGRATING OVER TO LONDON IN GREATER NUMBERS IN THE FORM OF EFP’S. WE WERE NOTIFIED THAT WE HAD A STRONG SIZED NUMBER OF COMEX LONGS TRANSFERRING THEIR CONTRACTS TO LONDON THROUGH THE EFP:,

; FEB 0; MARCH: 824 AND MAY: 0 AND JULY: 0 ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS AND THEREFORE TOTAL ISSUANCE 824 CONTRACTS. WITH THE TRANSFER OF 824 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 824 EFP CONTRACTS TRANSLATES INTO 4.120 MILLION OZ ACCOMPANYING:

1.THE 30 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)

7.32 MILLION OZ INITIALLY STANDING IN OCT

2.630 MILLION OZ STANDING FOR NOV.

20.970 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING IN DEC

5.075 MILLION OZ FINAL STANDING IN JAN

1.105 MILLION OZ INITIALLY STANDING IN FEB

MONDAY, AGAIN OUR CROOKS USED COPIOUS PAPER IN ORDER TO CONTAIN SILVER’S PRICE…AND THEY WERE SUCCESSFUL IN KNOCKING THE PRICE OF SILVER DOWN (IT FELL 30 CENTS).. AND, OUR OFFICIAL SECTOR/BANKERS WERE SOMEWHAT SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO FLEECE SOME SILVER LONGS AS THE TOTAL LOSS IN OI ON BOTH EXCHANGES TOTALED A SMALL 602 CONTRACTS. OR 3.20 MILLION OZ…..

A LOT OF EFFORT TO FLEECE A TINY AMOUNT OF SILVER LONGS. SO AGAIN IT SURE LOOKS LIKE WE HAD SOME ATTEMPTED BANK SHORT COVERING WHICH FAILED AGAIN. YOU WILL RECALL THAT FRIDAY’S RAID FAILED MISERABLY. DEMAND FOR PHYSICAL SILVER IS GOING THROUGH THE ROOF.

WE HAVE NOW COMMENCED IN SILVER THE ILLEGAL SPREADING OPERATION. FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS:

SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW STOPPED IN GOLD AS THEY NOW BEGIN TO MORPH INTO SILVER AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW FRONT MONTH WILL BE MARCH.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE NEW, HERE IS THE MODUS OPERANDI OF THE SPREADERS AND THE CRIMINAL ELEMENT BEHIND IT:

THE SPREADING LIQUIDATION OPERATION IS NOW OVER FOR GOLD..AND WE WILL NOW MORPH INTO AN ACCUMULATION PHASE OF SPREADING CONTRACTS FOR SILVER. 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 SILVER AS THEY INCREASE THE OPEN INTEREST FOR THE SPREADERS. THE TOTAL COMEX SILVER OPEN INTEREST WILL RISE FROM NOW ON UNTIL ONE WEEK PRIOR TO FIRST DAY NOTICE AND THAT IS WHEN THEY START THEIR CRIMINAL LIQUIDATION.

HERE IS HOW THE CROOKS USED SPREADING AS WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF MARCH FOR SILVER:

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 FEB .BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN SILVER WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (MAR), 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 FOR EFP’S/SILVER/J.P.MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES, / STARTING FROM FIRST DAY NOTICE/FOR MONTH OF FEB:

2051 CONTRACTS (FOR 2 TRADING DAYS TOTAL 2051 CONTRACTS) OR 10.255 MILLION OZ: (AVERAGE PER DAY: 1026 CONTRACTS OR 5.128 MILLION OZ/DAY)

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE HUGE SUPPLY THIS MONTH IN SILVER: SO FAR THIS MONTH OF FEB: 10.255 MILLION PAPER OZ HAVE MORPHED OVER TO LONDON. THIS REPRESENTS AROUND 1.465% 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 2020 TO DATE SILVER EFP’S: 191.86 MILLION OZ.

JANUARY 2020 EFP TOTALS SO FAR: 181.61 MILLION OZ

FEB 2020 EFP’S TOTAL SO FAR: …… 10.255 MILLION OZ

RESULT: WE HAD A CONSIDERABLE SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OI SILVER COMEX CONTRACTS OF 1426, WITH THE 30 CENT GAIN IN SILVER PRICING AT THE COMEX /MONDAY… THE CME NOTIFIED US THAT WE HAD A VERY STRONG SIZED EFP ISSUANCE OF 824 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 LOST A TINY SIZED SIZED: 602 TOTAL OI CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES:

i.e 824 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS HEADED FOR LONDON (EFP’s) TOGETHER WITH DECREASE OF 1426 OI COMEX CONTRACTS.AND ALL OF THIS DEMAND HAPPENED WITH A 30 CENT FALL IN PRICE OF SILVER AND A CLOSING PRICE OF $17.68 // MONDAY’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. 1.141 BILLION OZ TO BE EXACT or 163% of annual global silver production (ex Russia & ex China).

FOR THE NEW FEB DELIVERY MONTH/ THEY FILED AT THE COMEX: 12 NOTICE(S) FOR 60,000 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 $14.70

ON THE DEMAND SIDE WE HAVE THE FOLLOWING:

HUGE AMOUNTS OF SILVER STANDING FOR DELIVERY (MARCH/2018: 27 MILLION OZ , APRIL/2018 : 2.485 MILLION OZ MAY: 36.285 MILLION OZ ; JUNE/2018 (5.420 MILLION OZ) , JULY 2018 FINAL AMOUNT STANDING: 30.370 MILLION OZ ) FOR AUGUST 6.065 MILLION OZ. , SEPT: A HUGE 39.505 MILLION OZ./ OCTOBER: 2,520,000 oz NOV AT 7.440 MILLION OZ./ DEC. AT 21.925 MILLION OZ JANUARY AT 5.825 MILLION OZ.AND FEB 2019: 2.955 MILLION OZ/ MARCH: 27.120 MILLION OZ/ APRIL AT 3.875 MILLION OZ/ A MAY: 18.845 MILLION OZ ..JUNE 2.660 MILLION OZ//JULY 22.605 MILLION OZ; AUGUST 10.025 MILLION OZ/ SEPT 43.030 MILLION OZ//OCT: 7.665 MILLION OZ// NOV: 2.630 MILLION OZ//DEC: 20.970 MILLION OZ; JAN: 5.075 MILLION OZ.//FEB 1.105 MILLION OZ//
THE RECORD WAS SET IN AUGUST 22/2018: 244,196 CONTRACTS, WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78//.
HUGE ANNUAL EFP’S ISSUANCE EQUAL TO 2.9 BILLION OZ OR 400% OF SILVER ANNUAL PRODUCTION/2017 RECORD SETTING EFP ISSUANCE FOR ANY MONTH IN SILVER; APRIL/2018/ 385.75 MILLION OZ/ AND THE SECOND HIGHEST RECORDED EFP ISSUANCE JUNE 2018 345.43 MILLION OZ

AND YET, WITH THE EXTREMELY HIGH EFP ISSUANCE, WE HAVE A CONTINUAL LOW PRICE OF SILVER DESPITE THE ABOVE HUGE DEMAND. TO ME THE ONLY ANSWER IS THAT WE HAVE SOVEREIGN (CHINA) WHO IS ENDEAVOURING TO GOBBLE UP ALL AVAILABLE PHYSICAL SILVER NO MATTER WHERE, EXACTLY WHAT J.P.MORGAN IS DOING. AND IT IS MY BELIEF THAT J.P.MORGAN IS HOLDING ITS SILVER FOR ITS BENEFICIAL OWNER..THE USA GOVERNMENT WHO IN TURN IS HOLDING THAT SILVER FOR CHINA.(FOR A SILVER LOAN REPAYMENT)

GOLD

IN GOLD, THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST FELL BY A CONSIDERABLE SIZED 4688 CONTRACTS TO 674,129 AND MOVING AWAY FROM OUR NEW RECORD (SET JAN 24/2020) AT 799,541 AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: (SET JAN 6/2020) AT 797,110.

THE CONSIDERABLE FALL IN COMEX OI OCCURRED WITH OUR LOSS OF $5.40 IN PRICING /// COMEX GOLD TRADING// MONDAY// THERE IS NOW , NO DOUBT THAT THE LOSS IN COMEX OPEN INTEREST WAS DUE TO BANKER SHORT COVERING AS PHYSICAL DEMAND IS OVERTAKING THE HUGE INFLUX OF SHORT PAPER. TO FURTHER BOOST OUR CONTENTION ON THIS, THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS WAS ENORMOUS….

THE CME RELEASED THE DATA FOR EFP ISSUANCE AND IT TOTALED A VERY STRONG SIZED 13,162 CONTRACTS:

CONTRACTS, FEB> 0 CONTRACTS; MARCH 00 APRIL: 13,162; JUNE. 0 AND ALL OTHER MONTHS ZERO//TOTAL: 13,162. The NEW COMEX OI for the gold complex rests at 674,129,. 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 VERY STRONG SIZED GAIN IN TOTAL CONTRACTS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES OF 8474 CONTRACTS: 4688 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX AND 13,162 EFP OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON. THUS TOTAL OI GAIN OF 8474 CONTRACTS OR 847,400 OZ OR 26.35 TONNES. MONDAY WE HAD A CONSIDERABLE LOSS OF $5.40 IN GOLD TRADING.

AND WITH THAT LOSS IN PRICE, WE HAD A HUGE GAIN IN GOLD TONNAGE OF 26.35 TONNES!!!!!! THE BANKERS/OFFICIAL SECTOR WERE SUPPLYING INFINITE SUPPLIES OF SHORT GOLD COMEX PAPER WITH RECKLESS ABANDON. THE BANKERS WERE SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO LOWER GOLD’S PRICE (DOWN $5.40). IT SEEMS THAT THEIR ATTEMPT TO FLEECE GOLD LONGS FROM THE GOLD ARENA FAILED AS ALMOST ALL LOSS IN COMEX OI WAS DUE TO BANKER SHORT COVERING AND WE HAD A MASSIVE INCREASE IN EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS (13,162)

ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S GOLD AT J.P. MORGAN’S HOUSE OF BRIBES: (EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF FEB : 29,663 CONTRACTS OR 2,966,300 oz OR 92.26 TONNES (2 TRADING DAYS AND THUS AVERAGING: 14831 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE STRONG SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : THIS MONTH IN 2 TRADING DAY(S) IN TONNES: 92.26 TONNES

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

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 92.26/3550 x 100% TONNES =2.59% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION

ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2019 TO DATE: 662.45 TONNES

JANUARY 2220 TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE; SO FAR: 570.19 TONNES

FEB 2020 TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE SO FAR: 92.26 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 CONSIDERABLE SIZED DECREASE IN OI AT THE COMEX OF 4688 WITH THE PRICING LOSS THAT GOLD UNDERTOOK MONDAY($5.40)) //.WE ALSO HAD A STRONG SIZED NUMBER OF COMEX LONG TRANSFERRING TO LONDON THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE: 13,162 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 TH GOLD COMEX FOR DELIVERY PURPOSES. IF YOU TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE 163,162 EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED, WE HAD A STRONG SIZED GAIN OF 8474 CONTRACTS IN TOTAL OPEN INTEREST ON THE TWO EXCHANGES:

13,162 CONTRACTS MOVE TO LONDON AND 4688 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX. (IN TONNES, THE GAIN IN TOTAL OI EQUATES TO 26.35 TONNES). ..AND THIS HUGE INCREASE OF DEMAND OCCURRED DESPITE THE LOSS IN PRICE OF $5.40 WITH RESPECT TO MONDAY’S TRADING/// AT THE COMEX.

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

GLD...

WITH GOLD DOWN $26.10 TODAY

MY GOODNESS THIS IS STRANGE!!

A CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//

A DEPOSIT OF 9.38 TONNES WITH GOLD DOWN $26.10

MAKES SENSE!

FEB 4/2020/Inventory rests tonight at 912.58 tonnes

SLV/

WITH SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS TODAY

NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV

FEB 4/INVENTORY RESTS AT 362.466 MILLION OZ.

NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//

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 CONSIDERABLE SIZED 1426 CONTRACTS from 229,312 DOWN TO 227,886 AND CLOSER TO OUR 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 3/4 YEARS AGO. THE PRICE OF SILVER ON THAT DAY: $17.89.

EFP ISSUANCE 824

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

FOR FEB. 0; FOR MAR 824: AND MAY: 0; JULY: 0 CONTRACTS AND ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 824 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 1426 CONTRACTSTO THE 824 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S, WE OBTAIN A SMALL LOSS OF 602 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS. THUS IN OUNCES, THE LOSS ON THE TWO EXCHANGES: 3.010 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: 7.32 MILLION OZ//NOV 2.63 MILLION OZ//DEC: 20.970 MILLION OZ//JAN: 5.075 MILLION OZ//FEB: 1.105 MILLION OZ//

RESULT: A GOOD SIZED DECREASE IN SILVER OI AT THE COMEX WITH THE 30 CENT GAIN IN PRICING THAT SILVER UNDERTOOK IN PRICING// MONDAY. WE ALSO HAD A STRONG SIZED 824 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

)TUESDAY MORNING/ MONDAY NIGHT:

SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 36.68 POINTS OR 1.34% //Hang Sang CLOSED UP 319.00 POINTS OR 1.21% /The Nikkei closed UP 112.65 POINTS OR 0.49%//Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP .40%

/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP at 6.9966 /Oil UP TO 57.21 dollars per barrel for WTI and 64.13 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED MIXED// ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP // LAST AT 6.9966 AGAINST THE DOLLAR. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP ON THE DOLLAR AT 6.9946 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

South Korea

This is not only happening in South Korea but all over the world..just in time inventory obstacles are killing global trade

(zerohedge)

3b) REPORT ON JAPAN

3C CHINA

i)CHINA

POBC injected another 500 billion yuan into the markets after an initial 105 billion yuan failed on Monday.

It won’t help…the virus is still plaguing China and nobody is venturing outside

(zerohedge)

ii)CHINA

Brilliant piece of reasoning from the Chinese as they now strongly believe that 2020 economic growth will be curtailed due to the coronavirus outbreak

(zerohedge)

iii)China

Coronavirus update: China’s Xi warns the outbreak threatens stability

(zerohedge)

IV)CHINA/MACAU

China orders all casinos to close for two weeks due to the virus outbreak. It will probably be extended if the virus continues to spread in China

(zerohedge)

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

An important read..

The UK will use limited Huawei technology in the building out of the 5 G network. Great Britain will not use Huawei equipment in military and other sensitive areas. The uSA are not very happy about this

(Gatestone)

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

IRAN/SYRIA

the head of Iran’s IRGC operations in Syria vaporized near Aleppo

(zerohedge)

6.Global Issues

i)This is not good: they have discovered that the coronavirus stayed on a doorknob of an infected patient. This means that the virus can live outside the body for days and thus raises huge concerns on transmission

(zerohedge)

ii)We now have 4 plagues marching across Asia

i.Coronavirus

ii) African Swine fever

iii) Bird Flu (H5Ni)

iv) Swine Flu (H1N1)

these are all very good for business…

(Michael Snyder)

7. OIL ISSUES

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES

9. PHYSICAL MARKETS

i)A new book (Rigged) outlines the manipulation in the gold market and gives much credit to the work of GATA folks

(Chris Powell)

ii)Ted Butler takes on the CFTC with another position limit farce

a must read

Ted Butler/GATA)

iii)This ought to go over good with the rest of the world: the uSA finalizes rules to slap duties on countries that undervalue their currencies

(Reuters/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

This is a very important data point (hard data): USA factory orders continue year over year decline

(zerohedge

iii) Important USA Economic Stories

It returns with a vengeance: Term Repo (permanent influx of cash) is oversubscribed. Ladies and Gentlemen, the crooks are running out of cash to be used as collateral in their crooked trades

(zerohedge)

iv) Swamp commentaries)

a)Chaos in Iowa as no results were announced..supporters of Bernie claim that the caucus was rigged aginst him

(zerohedge)

b)Trump slams the Dems for the unmitigated disaster in Iowa..and we want these guys to run the country??

(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 CONSIDERABLE SIZED 4688 CONTRACTS TO 674,129 MOVING AWAY FROM OUR RECORD THAT WAS SET LAST WEEK: {799,541 OI(SET JAN 16/2020)} AND PREVIOUS TO THAT: 797,110 (SET JAN 7/2020). AND THIS LOSS IN OI WAS SET WITH A CONSIDERABLE LOSS OF $5.40 IN GOLD PRICING //MONDAY’S COMEX TRADING//). NOW WE KNOW FOR SURE THAT THE LOSS IN COMEX OI WAS PREDOMINATELY BANKER SHORT COVERING AS SOMETHING AGAIN HAS SCARED THEM TO DEATH. WE KNOW THIS DUE TO THE HUGE NUMBER OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICALS ISSUED AS YOU WILL SEE BELOW!!!

WE ARE NOW IN THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB.. THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A ,GIGANTIC SIZED TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS., THAT IS 13,162 EFP CONTRACTS WERE ISSUED:

FEB: 0; MARCH 00 AND APRIL: 13,162, JUNE : 0 AND ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:

TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 13,162 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: A HUGE SIZED 8474 TOTAL CONTRACTS IN THAT 13,162 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE LOST A CONSIDERABLE 4688 COMEX CONTRACTS. ALL OF THE LOSS IN COMEX OI WAS DUE TO BANKER SHORT COVERING AS THEY ARE NOW IN PANIC MODE.

THE BANKERS SUPPLIED THE NECESSARY AND INFINITE AMOUNT OF SHORT PAPER IN GOLD. THE BANKERS WERE SOMEWHAT SUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE //// (IT FELL BY $5.40). BUT THEY WERE MOST DEFINITELY UNSUCCESSFUL IN FLEECING ANY LONGS, WITH ALMOST ALL OF THE LOSS IN COMEX DUE TO THE HUGE BANKER SHORT COVERING OPERATION..AND IN TOTAL ON THE TWO EXCHANGES, WE GAINED A HUGE SIZED 8474 CONTRACTS ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES….(26.35 TONNES)

NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES :: 8474 CONTRACTS OR 847,400 OZ OR 26.35 TONNES.

COMMODITY LAW SUGGESTS THAT COMMODITY FUTURES OPEN INTEREST SHOULD APPROXIMATE 3% OF TOTAL PRODUCTION. IN GOLD THE WORLD PRODUCES AROUND 3500 TONNES PER YEAR BUT ONLY 2200 TONNES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE WEST (THUS EXCLUDING RUSSIA, CHINA ETC..WHO KEEP 100% OF THEIR PRODUCTION)

THUS IN GOLD WE HAVE THE FOLLOWING: 674,129 TOTAL OI CONTRACTS X 100 OZ PER CONTRACT = 67.41 MILLION OZ/32,150 OZ PER TONNE = 2,096 TONNES

THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST REPRESENTS 2,096/2200 OR 95.30% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION OF GOLD.

We are now in the active contract month of FEB. This month is a very strong delivery month following December and June.

…. Today with respect to our front month of February we had an open interest of 3580 contracts for loss of 1399 contracts. We had 1282 notices served on Monday, so we lost ONLY 117 contracts or 11700 oz will not stand for delivery as these guys morphed into London based forwards and received a fiat bonus for their effort. We generally see a bigger migration over to London at the beginning of the month…so it looks like more guys are staying around on this side of the pond looking for physical metal.

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And now for the wild silver comex results

Total COMEX silver OI ROSE BY A CONSIDERABLE SIZED 1426 CONTRACTS FROM 228,312 DOWN TO 227,886 (AND FURTHER FROM THE NEW RECORD OI FOR SILVER SET ON AUGUST 22.2018 (244,196). THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS SET APRIL 9.2018/ 243,411 CONTRACTS) AND OUR OI COMEX LOSS OCCURRED WITH A HUGE 30 CENT DECREASE IN PRICING/MONDAY.

Let us head over to the comex:

Gold	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory in oz*	nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer* Inventory in oz*	nil oz
Deposits to the Dealer* Inventory in oz*	1500.01 oz Delaware
Deposits to the Customer* Inventory, in oz*	675.15 oz 21 kilobars
No of oz served (contracts) today	819 notice(s) 81900 OZ (2.5474 TONNES)
No of oz to be served (notices)	2761 contracts (276100 oz) 8.587 TONNES
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month	5019 notices or 501900 oz (15.611 tonnes)
Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers* inventory this month*	NIL oz
Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer* inventory this month*	xxx oz

we had 1 dealer entry:

We had 1 kilobar entries

i ) Into Delaware: 1500.01 oz

176,211.457 oz NOW PLEDGED JAN 21.2020/HSBC 5.4807 TONNES

To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the FEB /2020. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (5019) x 100 oz , to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of FEB. (3580 contracts) minus the number of notices served upon today (819 x 100 oz per contract) equals 778,000 OZ OR 24.199 TONNES) the number of ounces standing in this active month of FEB

Thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the FEB/2020 contract month:

No of notices served (5019 x 100 oz) + (3580)OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (819 x 100 oz )which equals 778400 oz standing OR 24.199 TONNES in this active delivery month of FEB. which is a still a great opening for gold // amount standing.

We lost only 117 contracts or 11700 oz left USA shores to visit the Queen in London. They received London based gold forwards as well as accepting a fiat bonus for their travels.

SURPRISINGLY WE HAVE BEEN WITNESSING NO REAL PHYSICAL GOLD ENTERING THE COMEX VAULTS FOR THE PAST YEAR!! ..ONLY PHONY KILOBAR ENTRIES…. WE HAVE ONLY 34.956 TONNES OF REGISTERED GOLD WHICH CAN SETTLE UPON LONGS.

HERE IS WHAT STOOD DURING THESE PAST 7 MONTHS: AUGUST 27.153 TONNES

SEPT: 5.4525 TONNES

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

NOV…… 5.3841 tonnes

DEC…………………………. 45.912 TONNES

JAN…………………… 8.448 TONNES

FEB…………………………………………….. 24.199 tonnes

total: 154.549 tonnes

ACCORDING TO COMEX RULES:

IF WE INCLUDE THE PAST 7 MONTHS OF SETTLEMENTS WE HAVE 20.055 TONNES SETTLED

IF WE ADD THE FIVE DELIVERY MONTHS: 154.901 tonnes

Thus:

154.901 tonnes of delivery –

20.055 TONNES DEEMED SETTLEMENT

=134.865 TONNES STANDING FOR METAL AGAINST 42.149 TONNES OF REGISTERED OR FOR SALE COMEX GOLD! THIS IS WHY GOLD IS SCARCE AT THE COMEX.

WHY ARE THEY NOT SETTLING?

THE COMEX IS AN ABSOLUTE FRAUD..

Silver	Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers* Inventory*	NIL oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory	301,895.740 oz CNT Scotia
Deposits to the Dealer* Inventory*	nil oz
Deposits to the Customer Inventory	1,787,885.860 oz CNT HSBC Scotia
No of oz served today (contracts)	12 CONTRACT(S) (60,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)	100 contracts 500,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts)	121 contracts 605,000 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*

ii) Into CNT: 599,047.220 oz

iii) Into HSBC: 599,334.620

iii) Into Scotia 589,504.030

total dealer silver: 80.148 million

total dealer + customer silver: 322.482 million oz

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TODAY’S ESTIMATED SILVER VOLUME: 29,973 CONTRACTS // ??

CONFIRMED VOLUME FOR YESTERDAY: 93,243 CONTRACTS..

YESTERDAY’S CONFIRMED VOLUME OF 93,243 CONTRACTS EQUATES to 466 million OZ 66.5% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION OF SILVER..

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

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

The previous record was 224,540 contracts with the price at that time of $20.44

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NPV for Sprott

1. Sprott silver fund (PSLV): NAV RISES TO -1.23% ((FEB 4/2019)

2. Sprott gold fund (PHYS): premium to NAV RISES TO -0.37% to NAV FEB 4/2019 )

Note: Sprott silver trust back into NEGATIVE territory at +%-/Sprott physical gold trust is back into NEGATIVE/ 1.23%

(courtesy Sprott/GATA)

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

NAV 15.34 TRADING 15.00///DISCOUNT 2.23

END

And now the Gold inventory at the GLD/

FEB 4//WITH GOLD DOWN $26.10: A VERY STRANGE PHENOMENA: A MONSTROUS DEPOSIT OF 9.38 TONNES//INVENTORY RESTS AT 812.58 TONNES

FEB 3/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.40 TODAY: A SMALL CHANGE: A TINY WITHDRAWAL OF .29 TONNES OF GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 903.21 TONNES( TO PAY FOR FEES LIKE STORAGE INSURANCE ETC)

JAN 31/WITH GOLD DOWN $0.95 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 903.50 TONNES

JAN 30/WITH GOLD UP $13.05 TODAY: A BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A PAPER DEPOSIT OF 4.09 TONNES INTO THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 903.50 TONES

JAN 29/WITH GOLD UP 0.40 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 899.41 TONNES

JAN 28/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.70 TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 1.17 TONNES FROM THE GLD////INVENTORY RESTS AT 899.41 TONNES

JAN 27//WITH GOLD UP $6.15 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 900.58 TONNES

JAN 24//WITH GOLD UP $6.65 TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.76 TONNES INTO THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 900.58 TONNES

JAN 23/WITH GOLD UP $8.90 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 898.82 TONNES

JAN 22/WITH GOLD DOWN $1.00 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A MAMMOTH 19.33 TONNES OF PAPER GOLD ADDED//INVENTORY RESTS AT 898.82 TONES

JAN 21/2010//WITH GOLD DOWN $2.00 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.49 TONNES

JAN 17/WITH GOLD UP $9.60 TODAY: A BIG CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: ANOTHER PAPER DEPOSIT OF 1.17 TONNES//INVENTORY RESTS AT 879.49

JAN 16//WITH GOLD DOWN $3.00 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 3.80 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD./INVENTORY RESTS AT 878.32

JAN 15/WITH GOLD UP $9.55 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 874.52 TONNES

JAN 14/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.00 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 874.52 TONNES

JAN 13/WITH GOLD DOWN $8.75 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 7.6 TONNES OF GOLD WHICH WAS USED IN THE RAID TODAY////INVENTORY RESTS AT 874.52 TONNES

JAN 10/WITH GOLD UP $5.80 TODAY:NA HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 4.69 TONNES//INVENTORY RESTS AT 882.12 TONNES

JAN 9/WITH GOLD DOWN $5.50 TODAY: NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 886.81 TONNES

JAN 8/WITH GOLD DOWN $14.10 TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 9.37 TONNES FROM THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 886.81 TONNES

JAN 7/WITH GOLD UP $7.00 A GOOD INVENTORY PAPER DEPOSIT OF 0.88 TONNES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 896.18 TONNES

JAN 6/WITH GOLD UP #15.40 NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 895.30 TONNES

JAN 3/WITH GOLD UP $24.60: A BIG CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.05 TONES INTO THE GLD../INVENTORY RESTS AT 895.30

JAN 2/2020//WITH GOLD UP $5.20: NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD//INVENTORY RESTS AT 893.25

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FEB 4/2019/Inventory rests tonight at 912.58 tonnes

*IN LAST 755 TRADING DAYS: 24.87 NET TONNES HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE GLD

*LAST 655 TRADING DAYS: A NET 142.19. TONNES HAVE NOW BEEN ADDED INTO THE GLD INVENTORY.

end

Now the SLV Inventory/

FEB 4//WITH SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY//SLV INVENTORY RESTS AT 362.66 MILLION OZ//

FEB 3/WITH SILVER DOWN 30 CENTS TODAY; A SMALL DEPOSIT OF 560,000 OZ INTO SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 362.466 MILLION OZ/

JAN 31/WITH SILVER UP 5 CENTS TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV; A WITHDRAWAL OF 840,000 OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 361/906 MILLION OZ//

JAN 30/WITH SILVER UP 47 CENTS TODAY: A BIG CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A PAPER DEPOSIT OF 1.027 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 362.746 MILLION OZ

JAN 29/WITH SILVER UP 2 CENTS TODAY: A BIG CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A PAPER DEPOSIT OF 1.587 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV///INVENTORY RESTS AT 361.719 MILLION OZ//

JAN 28//WITH SILVER DOWN 59 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 360.132 MILLION OZ

JAN 27//WITH SILVER DOWN 3 CENTS TODAY: A SMALL CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 327,000 OZ INTO THE SLV..//INVENTORY RESTS AT 359.805 MILLION OZ//

JAN 24//WITH SILVER UP 27 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE PAPER DEPOSIT OF 5.975 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 359.805 MILLION OZ//

JAN 23/WITH SILVER UP ONE CENT TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 353.830 MILLION OZ..

JAN 22/WITH SILVER DOWN ONE CENT: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.027 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 353.830 OZ

JAN 21/WITH SILVER DOWN 24 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 354.437 MILLION OZ//

JAN 17/WITH SILVER UP 12 CENTS TODAY: A SMALL WITHDRAWAL OF 420,000 OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 354.437 MILLION OZ.

JAN 16/WITH SILVER DOWN 2 CENTS TODAY: A CONSIDERABLE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 840,000 OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 354,857 MILLION OZ//

JAN 15/WITH SILVER UP 21 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 355.697 MILLION OZ//

JAN 14/WITH SILVER DOWN 23 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 355.697 MILLION OZ//

JAN 13/WITH SILVER DOWN 10 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 1.261 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 355.697 MILLION OZ//

JAN 10/WITH SILVER UP 16 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 356.958 MILLION OZ//

JAN 9/WITH SILVER DOWN 24 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV: A PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 3.268 MILLION OZ////INVENTORY RESTS AT 356.958 MILLION OZ///

JAN 8/WITH SILVER DOWN 21 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 360.226 MILLION OZ//

JAN 7.//WITH SILVER UP 23 CENTS TODAY: ANOTHER MASSIVE PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 1.214 MILLION OZ IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 360.226 MILLION OZ..

JAN 6/WITH SILVER UP 3 CENTS TODAY: NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 361.440 MILLION OZ///

JAN 3/2020//WITH SILVER UP 12 CENTS TODAY: ANOTHER HUGE PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 1.176 MILLION OZ IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV//INVENTORY RESTS AT 361.440 MILLION OZ///

SINCE DEC 23 WE HAVE HAD A 94 CENT GAIN CORRESPONDING TO A 2.39 MILLION OZ OF PAPER WITHDRAWALS..AN ABSOLUTE FRAUD!

JAN 2/2020/WITH SILVER UP 12 CENTS TODAY: A HUGE PAPER WITHDRAWAL OF 1.214 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV INVENTORY: INVENTORY RESTS AT 362.616 MILLION OZ

LIBOR SCHEDULE AND GOFO RATES:

YOUR DATA…..

6 Month MM GOFO 1.78/ and libor 6 month duration 1.72

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

G0LD LENDING RATE: – .06

XXXXXXXX

12 Month MM GOFO
+ 1.85%

LIBOR FOR 12 MONTH DURATION: 1.77

GOFO = LIBOR – GOLD LENDING RATE

GOLD LENDING RATE = -.07

end

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

ii) Important gold commentaries courtesy of GATA/Chris Powell

Ted Butler takes on the CFTC with another position limit farce

a must read

Ted Butler/GATA)

Ted Butler: Another position limits farce from the CFTC

Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2020-02-03 23:33. Section: Daily Dispatches

6:34p ET Monday, February 3, 2020

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

The futures market position limits just adopted by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission are useless and will do nothing to curb market manipulation, silver market analyst and rigging whistleblower Ted Butler writes today.

But Butler adds that he is confident that the manipulative shorts in the monetary metals markets will be driven beyond their own limits.

His commentary is headlined “Another Position Limits Farce” and it’s posted at GoldSeek’s companion site, SilverSeek, here —

http://silverseek.com/commentary/another-position-limits-farce-17833

— and at 24hGold here:

http://www.24hgold.com/english/news-gold-silver-another-position-limits-…

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

Another Position Limits Farce

Theodore Butler

February 3, 2020 – 11:08am

Let me turn to the January 31 historic passage of the new proposed position limit regime as voted on by the CFTC. As I believe most regular readers are aware, the issue of position limits has been a singular concern of mine for decades, one to which I have devoted more attention and effort than I can describe. How could it not be, since the establishment and enforcement of legitimate speculative position limits is the one sure preventive measure against undue concentration and manipulation in silver? In terms of the issue of legitimate position limits, suffice it to say that not only have I been there and done that, I got every postcard and tee shirt possible.

Only because the issue of position limits is so important will I describe the particulars of what the CFTC just passed, but I doubt I’ll bring up the issue again. Certainly, I have no intention of getting involved in the open public comment period this time as I did ten years ago. Back then, at least 5000 of the 15,000 public comments that were submitted petitioned the agency to set a speculative position limit of no more than 1500 contracts (7.5 million oz) for silver, instead of the wacky formula the CFTC proposed that resulted in limits back then of three to four times as large. In other words, the agency ignored the plurality of public opinion. Of course, this is somewhat moot, since no position limits were ever established, despite the clear mandate of congress and its passage into law.

This time, the proposed formula for position limits is even more ridiculously large; at current total open interest levels in silver, the new formula would call for a limit of around 9500 contracts, or 47.5 million oz (and around 20,000 contracts+ in gold). As I’ve previously explained ad infinitum, the whole purpose of speculative position limits is to limit speculators’ positions, so that they don’t artificially affect prices. If limits are set so high, they can’t limit anyone. One example I’ve used is that setting speculative position limits so high would be ineffective and self-defeating, like setting a 75 MPH speed limit in grade school zones.

To be sure, legitimate hedgers can get exemptions from position limits, but how many legitimate hedgers need to hedge more than 47.5 million oz of silver? There is only one silver miner (and silver miners are the most logical of silver short hedgers) that produces more than 47.5 million oz of silver annually. Any silver mine producer should be allowed, if it so chooses, to sell and lock in a year’s worth of production (although shareholders would likely protest), but why should any speculative clown that comes along be allowed to buy or sell such large quantities? And just because a clown speculator may be in the form of a bank, should it be allowed to sell short such quantities?

By the way, I had to hunt down the exact formula that the Commission was proposing and only found it in the official posting in the Federal Register for combined non-spot month limits. The proposed formula certainly wasn’t in the public fact sheet provided by the agency, which strikes me as deliberately misleading, since this is the key fact. The formula is 10% of the first 50,000 contracts of total open interest and 2.5% of open interest above that amount. While many point to the record total open interest in COMEX gold and silver futures, the CFTC found a way, with this formula, to use the excessive open interest to encourage manipulation and excessive speculation. Talk about a three card monte scam.

In the case of silver, the formula would amount to a speculative position limit of 9548 contracts based on the total open interest of 231,933 contracts as of the current COT report. That’s the equivalent of 47.7 million ounces of silver. That’s a far cry from 1500 contracts and is the equivalent of a 120 MPH speed limit in a school zone. For gold, the formula would call for a speculative position limit of 21,638 contracts at Tuesday’s 715,539 contracts of total open interest. Thanks for nothing.

https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8112-20 (click on Proposed Rule: Position Limits for Derivatives to get the official entry in the Federal Register – page 14)

One sure sign that the agency was up to no good by setting position limits so high is that both Democratic commissioners voted against adopting this rule. Commissioner Dan Berkovitz, in particular, is an old (legitimate) position limits advocate, dating back to the days before he was General Counsel at the agency when position limits were first mandated by Dodd-Frank. In addition to the excessive amount of position limits proposed, he also dissented from allowing the CME Group to assume even greater authority on deciding what was legitimate in terms of hedge exemptions. As a standing commissioner, Berkovitz can hardly be expected to bad- mouth fellow commissioners, but I face no such restrictions. The commissioners that voted in favor of position limits are low-down, dirty rotten scoundrels out to do the CME’S bidding. (As a reminder, the CME is interested in increasing excessive speculation, as it helps its bottom line).

While I have tried to spare no quarter in lambasting the just-passed proposed position limit regime, please be sure there is plenty more I can say that is negative and can come up with nothing positive. Now please allow me to explain why this whole attempt by the CFTC on position limits, even if weren’t as utterly defective on its face as it is, amounts to a wasted exercise, worthy of no one’s attention. I don’t want to overuse my quota of clichés today, but the agency’s attempt at instituting position limits makes the rearrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic look like a productive activity.

Just like moving chairs around a stricken and sinking ship serves no real purpose, neither does the CFTC’s approval of position limits – because the damage has already been done. We already have the highest levels of concentration on the short side in COMEX silver and gold futures in history and enacting even legitimate position limits would be too late at this point (to say nothing of the illegitimate limits actually proposed). The whole and sole purpose of position limits is to prevent manipulation and undo market concentration. But enacting position limits, even of the legitimate variety, is way too late once manipulation and concentration already exist. It’s like passing a law that icebergs aren’t allowed to collide with ships after the collision has occurred.

In particular, what makes the passage of position limits so looney at this point is that it can’t possibly undo the predicament of the 7 big shorts. Now maybe the big shorts can still succeed in rigging prices sharply lower and in getting big selling from the traders which are long, but position limits have nothing to do with that. I don’t think the CFTC can dictate only that the big longs must reduce positions, while the even larger shorts don’t have to reduce positions.

In silver, the 4 biggest longs are not that much above proposed position limits and well-below the level of contracts held by the biggest shorts. Besides, the 7 big shorts’ problems are here and now, while it will be many months before the proposed limits are enacted, if ever. Changes in position limits are as much a help to the big shorts at this point as would be a rope thrown to a drowning man not attached to anything. The big shorts need relief and they need it now, not the lip-service of some pie-in-the-sky and ineffective help months from now. Now maybe the big shorts succeed, yet again, in rigging a price smash, but that has nothing to do with position limits. It’s too late for position limits to undo what has already been done.

I don’t know what the big shorts’ breaking point is, but I’m fairly certain there is such a point. Back in June I commented (but did not predict) that if gold rose $100, the big shorts would be in the red for $2.2 billion, based upon their then-current short position. Now I can assert (not necessarily predict) that if gold rises $50 from yesterday’s close $1588), the 7 big shorts (excluding JPMorgan) will be out an additional $1.4 billion (27.5 million oz times $50), even if silver doesn’t move at all. That would make the open and unrealized loss to the 7 big shorts a nice, round $7 billion, or $1 billion on average to each trader. If that occurs, will that be the breaking point? I don’t know, but unless these guys got some secret offsetting hedge that no one can substantiate, they will be that much closer to panicking – or at least that seems to be my most reasonable conclusion.

Having been a position limits advocate and maven for decades, I fail to see how anything the agency just approved does the big shorts (or anyone else) even the hint of good. I’m sure much will be written about the proposed position limits in the immediate future, but I strongly doubt I will be adding to that commentary after today. How much time can someone spend on the farcical?

end

A new book (Rigged outlines the manipulation in the gold market and gives much credit to the work of GATA folks

(Chris Powell)

New book, ‘Rigged,’ credits GATA as it explains currency market manipulation

Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2020-02-04 03:16. Section: Daily Dispatches

10:17p ET Monday, February 3, 2020

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Our friend the veteran journalist, editor, and writer Stuart Englert has just published a book about the manipulation of the monetary metals markets — “Rigged: Exposing the Largest Financial Fraud in History” — in which he extensively credits GATA’s work.

The book is available for $14.99 (or $6.99 in Kindle format) from Amazon —

https://www.amazon.com/Rigged-Exposing-Largest-Financial-History/dp/1651…

— but for an additional $3 and a penny, you can get an autographed copy from Englert himself by contacting him at srenglert@comcast.net.

end

This ought to go over good with the rest of the world: the uSA finalizes rules to slap duties on countries that undervalue their currencies

(Reuters/GATA)

U.S. finalizes rule to slap duties on countries that undervalue currencies

Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2020-02-04 03:26. Section: Daily Dispatches

By Andrea Shalal
Reuters
Monday, February 3, 2020

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Commerce Department today finalized a new rule to impose anti-subsidy duties on products from countries that it has determined undervalue their currencies against the dollar, including potentially China.

The move could provide a fresh irritant in U.S.-China trade talks just weeks after the world’s two largest economies signed a Phase 1 trade agreement, and comes a day after Beijing accused Washington of spreading fear about the fast-spreading coronavirus that originated in China.

…

In theory the new rule would allow the Commerce Department to impose duties on China, even though the U.S. Treasury Department recently removed its designation of China as a currency manipulator as part of the Phase 1 trade deal.

Commerce said it would generally rely on the Treasury’s expertise in determining undervaluation, but the two processes could come to different conclusions since they resulted from different statutes. The draft rule was first published in May. …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-currency/u-s-finalizes-rule…

* * *

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with great GATA-label wine

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* * *

Support GATA by purchasing
Stuart Englert’s “Rigged”

“Rigged” is a concise explanation of government’s currency market rigging policy and extensively credits GATA’s work exposing it. Ten percent of sales proceeds are contributed to GATA. Buy a copy for $14.99 through Amazon —

https://www.amazon.com/Rigged-Exposing-Largest-Financial-History/dp/1651…

— or for an additional $3 and a penny buy an autographed copy from Englert himself by contacting him at srenglert@comcast.net.

* * *

Join GATA here:

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InterContinental Hotel, Singapore
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* * *

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

iii) Other physical stories:

Hi Bill/Harvey,

The CME provides daily, monthly and YTD delivery reports.These are all total propaganda.The data in this propaganda bears absolutely no relationship to the daily reports of inventory movements at the individual depository level.For the last 6 months of 2019, I established from a download of every single inventory report that the ratio of EFP transfers for gold was 1 tonne of physical delivery for every 110 tonnes of EFP transfers and for silver was one troy ounce for every 20 ounces of EFP transfers.

Let us now have a look at January 2020 data. Only 1.6 tonnes of gold was physically withdrawn from the combined registered and eligible categories of COMEX gold for all depositories.There were about 570 tonnes of EFP transfers in January 2020 so the ratio is an absurd 356. In respect of silver,5.79 million ounces were withdrawn from the combined categories of silver inventory (45% of this total was withdrawn from the CNT depository,24% from Nova Scotia and 20% from HSBC and only 11% from the other 7 depositories).There were about 182 million ounces of EFP transfers in January 2020 so the ratio is more than 31.

The LBMA total loco London vault holdings of physical gold as at 31^st October 2019 were just released. As usual there was no material month on month fluctuation.Ronan Manly recently published a detailed analysis of residual LBMA loco London vault gold holdings after adjustments for BOE gold and all ETF funds domiciled in London.There is little more than 1,000 tonnes of residual LBMA gold available to satisfy all combined allocated and unallocated liabilities.Paul Mylchreest recent published an eloquent claim that only 5% of LBMA gold trading is ever settled by delivery, but don’t be surprised if the true figure is far less than 1% .EFP transfers since January 2018 now total 14,088 tonnes in respect of gold and 5.294 billion ounces in respect of silver.Draw your own conclusions since my thoughts contain some expletives.Never fall into the trap of believing that the ‘p’ in EFP stands for physical; only last week Bill Fleckenstein stated in an interview that there was no deliberate chronic manipulation of precious metal prices and I don’t want you to end up as clueless as that.

Unfortunately my internet access will not be 100% . from today, so January 2020 will be the last month for performing this analysis. The CME wants all users to rely solely on the propaganda that it disseminates and controls,(refer above), and hence the daily inventory reports are not archived and are only available on the day of publication.

Regards

Nicholas

END

https://www.jsmineset.com/2020/02/04/precious-metals-continue-to-be-pressed-lower/

On Tue, Feb 4, 2020 at 7:34 AM

Precious Metals Continue To Be Pressed Lower

Great and Wonderful Tuesday Morning Folks,

Gold is being hammered upon with the trade at $1,571.90 down $10.50 after being knocked down to $1,569.10 with the high to beat at $1,584.50. Silver is doing the opposite (ok, not leading Gold lower this time), with the trade up 1 penny at $17.68, recovering from the low at $17.61 with the high to beat at $17.770. The US Dollar may be getting all this support from the printing going on in other nations with the trade now valued at 97.735, up 11 points after it reached 97.81 with the low at 97.635. Of course, all of this happened before 5 am pst, the Comex open, the London close, and as China starts to close down some gambling hubs that do not include the exchanges tied to every other global exchange (keeping watch).

In Venezuela, Gold’s value now sits at 15,699.35 Bolivar, giving the buyer a 149.85 discount from yesterday’s quote with Silver at 176.579 Bolivar losing 1.248 since yesterday morning. Argentina’s Peso now has Gold’s value pegged at 94,974.24 showing the gains in currency against a 470.76 A-Peso loss in product value with Silver at 1,068.43 Pesos proving a 4.57 loss. The Turkish Lira now has Gold trading at 9,403.36 as it too shaves off 75.23 T-Liras with Silver doing the same, taking away 0.799 in value with the price set at 105.749 Lira.

February’s Silver Delivery count now sits at 112 contracts waiting for receipts to be delivered between here, the British island, or somewhere in between, and with a Volume of 32 up on the board so far today with no prices or trading range posted. The demand count fell by 9 from yesterday with Monday’s Volume reaching 15 with the trading range unchanged from yesterday’s write up. Silver’s Overall Open Interest continues lower with this morning’s count at 228,264 Overnighters proving a reduction of 1,215 Obligations.

February Gold’s Delivery requests show a count of 3,584 demands proving a reduction of 1,395 receipts during yesterday’s activity with this morning’s trading range between $1,577.70 and $1,563.20 with the last trade, of course, at the low and with a Volume of 56 posted so far this morning. Gold’s Overall Open Interest continues to contract as well with the count now at 675,623 Overnighters proving a reduction of 3,495 paper contracts used to contain the price, as we wait for more data surrounding all things political, financial, airborne, and viral.

Last night’s show didn’t go so well for any of the participants (except Trump) as the computer errors were many, the claims of winning equal to the errors, and now the idea some democrats might want to consider demanding a paper ballot instead of letting computers do the counting with their past few years of accusations that “Russia, Russia, Russia”, is interfering with everything on the internet. Will the party’s friends in media now claim that Russia helped Trump win in Iowa? Waiting for it, or the idea of a total flip, from the “hanging chads” to trusting computers to do the counting because they are accurate “towards” a (de)fault, and now back to paper?. Stay Tooned for more comedy, because the race towards a distant second place during the 2020 election is heating up!

We’re waiting for more incubation information regarding China’s pandemic and praying they are able to contain it, as the international spread still seems to be gaining momentum. What we want to see is a reduction, which can only occur after a peak. So, keep that smile on your face, a prayer for all, and a positive thought in the head no matter what, and as always …

Stay Strong!

Johnson

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.

Dawn Giel | Dan Mangan

Published 3:33 PM ET Tue, 20 Nov 2018 Updated 10:32 AM ET Wed, 21 Nov 2018CNBC.com

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.

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: Daily Dispatches

9:47a ET Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Proceedings in the federal class-action anti-trust lawsuit against JPMorganChase charging the investment bank with manipulating the gold and silver futures markets —

http://www.gata.org/node/18844

— have been suspended for three months at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, just as the department has arranged suspension of proceedings in the class-action anti-trust lawsuit against Deutsche Bank charging similar market manipulation.

…

In both cases the Justice Department has told U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that proceedings would jeopardize its criminal investigation into market rigging, which has been admitted by a former JPMorganChase trader, John Edmonds, who awaits sentencing.

According to court filings, the White Plains, New York, law firm representing the plaintiffs against JPMorganChase, Lowey Dannenberg, concurred in the government’s request to suspend proceedings. The stay is to continue for three months and may be extended.

The Justice Department’s motion, granted by the court on February 26 —

http://www.gata.org/files/JPMorganChaseClassActionStay.pdf

— said “the government is not seeking an open-ended stay that could indefinitely postpone this matter and thus jeopardize the parties’ interests in a timely resolution.” The motion added, “Any developments in the criminal case during the period the consolidated action is stayed may reduce or completely resolve the need to litigate certain issues in the consolidated action.”

Much of the Justice Department’s motion is redacted to conceal from the public evidence still under investigation. Edmonds has said he and other traders manipulated the gold and silver markets for years with the knowledge of their supervisors at JPMorganChase. In its motion to conceal that evidence, also granted by the court on February 26, the Justice Department said disclosure “could lead to destruction of evidence, flight from prosecution, and otherwise interfere with the government’s ability to conduct its investigation”:

http://www.gata.org/files/JPMorganChaseClassActionStaySeal.pdf

Monetary metals investors may be skeptical of the Justice Department’s stalling the Deutsche Bank and JPMorganChase cases, since the department and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission do not seem ever to have responded conscientiously to complaints of gold and silver market rigging until the class actions commenced.

How much time will the court give the Justice Department to delay getting to the bottom of the issue? The court might hasten matters if enough monetary metals mining companies protested the harm done to them and their shareholders by market rigging, but of course most monetary metals mining companies don’t mind at all.

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

* * *

Your early TUESDAY morning currency, Asian stock market results, important USA/Asian currency crosses, gold/silver pricing overnight along with the price of oil Major stories overnight/7 AM EST

i) Chinese yuan vs USA dollar/CLOSED / LAST AT: 6.9966/ GETTING VERY DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO 7:1

//OFFSHORE YUAN: 6.9966 /shanghai bourse CLOSED UP 36.68 POINTS OR 1.34%

HANG SANG CLOSED UP 319.00 POINTS OR 1.21%

2. Nikkei closed UP 112.65 POINTS OR 0.49%

3. Europe stocks OPENED ALL GREEN/

USA dollar index UP TO 97.92/Euro FALLS TO 1.1044

3b Japan 10 year bond yield: RISES TO. –.05/ !!!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 109.13/ 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:: 50.96 and Brent: 54.80

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 -.41%/Italian 10 yr bond yield UP to 0.96% /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD UP TO 0.27%…ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD/GERMAN BUND: 1.36: DANGEROUS FOR THE ITALIAN BANKING SYSTEM

3j Greek 10 year bond yield RISES TO : 1.18

3k Gold at $1566.75 silver at: 17.70 7 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $18.50

3l USA vs Russian rouble; (Russian rouble UP 36/100 in roubles/dollar) 63.31

3m oil into the 50 dollar handle for WTI and 54 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 109.13 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 .9691 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF is 1.0704 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 –0.41%

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 1.58% early this morning. Thirty year rate at 2.06%

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

6. TURKISH LIRA: UP TO 5.9788..

Mania Returns, Futures Soar After China Halts Selloff

It was scary for a few moments: after the PBOC expanded its massive liquidity bazooka on Tuesday with another gargantuan injection of 400 billion yuan net with reverse repos, marking the largest single-day addition since January 2019, Chinese stocks initially tumbled as much as 3%, but then the cavalry, or rather China’s “National Team” stepped in, and the Shanghai Composite bounced hard…

… halting its selloff and ultimately closing at session highs, up 1.3%, while the blue-chip CSI300 rebounded 2.6% after a near 8% slide on Monday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1.2% even as Hong Kong reported the second foreign Coronavirus death outside of the mainland, after a 39-year old man died.

In an effort to halt the plunge, China’s state-backed Securities Times published an op-ed on Tuesday to call on investors not to panic. That followed moves by China’s securities regulator on Monday to limit short selling and stop mutual fund managers selling shares unless they face investor redemptions.

The apparent success of China’s liquidity bazooka – even as China’s economy has suddenly ground to a halt – was enough for traders across the globe who were nervously watching if Beijing, which has so far failed to contain the coronavirus epidemic to at least contain the selloff, and algos flooded markets with buy orders, resulting in a sea of green across the world…

… and S&P futures which have not only defended the critical level of 3,254 where gamma flips negative as discussed yesterday…

… but have now almost closed the Friday plunge gap, even after disappointing earnings results from Google parent Alphabet, which missed on both on revenue and operating profit.

Commenting on the move, Nomura quant Masanari Takada said “This is just a typical reversal after a big fall. Vague concerns about (the) …virus are still weighing on U.S. stocks” although one would be hard pressed to see just where these concerns were on Tuesday morning.

MSCI’s world index rose 0.4%, led by gains in South Korea and Australia, the biggest leap in commodity-focused stocks in over three months, even as oil – which has emerged as the last unmanipulated indicator of the global economy – traded near 13 month lows.

European stocks surged by 1.4% led by the region’s heavyweight FTSE in London as it enjoyed both the mining rally and a tumble in the pound caused by renewed worries about Britain’s post-Brexit trade relations with the EU.

Yet despite the return of euphoria on Tuesday, the coronavirus outbreak continued to generate headlines with Hong Kong reporting its first coronavirus death – the second fatality outside mainland China – as the overall death toll reached 427.

“At the start to the week there was a fear that when China reopened there would be further disruption to the markets … (but) investors are tentatively going back into risk,” said Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi strategist Lee Hardman.

“Given the extent of the shutdowns in China as well as the rapid rise in the virus that is likely to continue through March or April, a significant hit to China and regional growth is very likely,” said JPMorgan economist Joseph Lupton. “We would assume that in addition to bridging any funding stresses, fiscal policies will need to be ramped up to support growth once the contagion gets under control.”

Yet the market rebound was only a part of the story: the real highlight is the Volkswagen-like short squeeze that is taking place in Tesla, which has soared by as much as $120 overnight, hitting a ridiculous $888 (so far) pre market high, after trading in the mid-$500s less than a week ago.

While the move is clearly a continuation of the historic squeeze that has crushed any residual shorts in the name, and may be an attempt by Musk, who has pulled his borrow, to put prominent Tesla short David Einhorn out of business, it was assisted by Ron Baron speaking on CNBC, and predicting that Tesla revenue will hit $1 trillion in ten years. In short, Tesla is the new Volkswagen… and bitcoin. Is this surge real? Well if it is was, Tesla would be selling stock here and prefund itself for the next decade. That it isn’t, tell you all you need to know.

As mania returned to stock markets, safe havens were sold off, and 10Y Treasury yields jumped from yesterday’s lows, rising from 1.52% to 1.58%. The dollar firmed to 109.04 yen from an overnight low of 108.30, while the euro faded a fraction to $1.1059 but remained well within recent snug ranges.

In FX, the Bloomberg dollar index edged lower and Scandinavian currencies recovered ground in a rebound for riskier assets. The euro steadied around 1.1050 against the dollar while Treasuries extended declines, underperforming bunds, as the haven bid continues to be unwound. The pound recovered amid better-than-forecast construction data after touching its lowest since late December on pessimism about trade negotiations between Britain and the European Union; money-markets pared bets on BOE easing. The Australian dollar advanced after the central bank held rates at 0.75%, signaled economic improvement and kept virus fears in check. “In the short term, the bushfires and the coronavirus outbreak will temporarily weigh on domestic growth,” RBA said in statement. The Chinese yuan rallied and rose back above 7.00 vs the USD, as the central bank set the currency’s reference rate at 6.9779 per dollar, stronger than the currency’s official close on Monday.

In commodities, oil staged a modest rebound, one day after entering a bear market and dropping to the lowest in more than a year on worries about the impact of the coronavirus on demand. Brent crude added 0.8% to $54.90 a barrel, while WTI gained 1.1% to $50.67. A swath of commodities from copper to iron ore joined oil in the dumpster amid fears the drag on Chinese industry and travel would sharply curb demand for fuel and resources. The Dalian Commodity Exchange’s most-traded iron ore futures contract, expiring in May, slumped as much as 6.1% to 569.50 yuan a tonne, its lowest since Nov. 12. Spot gold was off at $1,572.41 per ounce, from a top of $1.591.46, as the dollar firmed and safe haven demand waned a little.

In other news, China Business Times cited analysts note “China is unlikely to urge the US to delay the execution of phase one trade deal. Though the outbreak of coronavirus will postpone China’s planned purchase of US goods in Q1” “China can scale up the purchase during the rest of the year to make up for the void”.

There was also the Iowa primary caucus debacle: as reported earlier, Democratic Iowa caucuses results were delayed due to quality checks amid inconsistencies and Iowa Democrats were said to be undecided if they will release caucus results on Monday night; results are expected to be released tonight. According to US Senator Sanders’ press release, Sanders is on track to win the Iowa Caucus with 29.66% of the votes, Buttigieg 24.59%, Warren 21.24%, Biden 12.37%, Klobuchar 11.00% [This is incomplete data and represents 40% of precincts in Iowa]

Expected data include factory and durable-goods orders. ConocoPhillips, Ferrari, Chipotle, Ford, Gilead, Snap, and Disney are reporting earnings

Market Snapshot

S&P 500 futures up 1.2% to 3,284.50
MXAP up 1.1% to 166.47
MXAPJ up 1.7% to 537.87
Nikkei up 0.5% to 23,084.59
Topix up 0.7% to 1,684.24
Hang Seng Index up 1.2% to 26,675.98
Shanghai Composite up 1.3% to 2,783.29
Sensex up 2.3% to 40,788.46
Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.4% to 6,948.70
Kospi up 1.8% to 2,157.90
STOXX Europe 600 up 1% to 415.92
German 10Y yield rose 3.6 bps to -0.406%
Euro down 0.03% to $1.1057
Italian 10Y yield rose 1.6 bps to 0.785%
Spanish 10Y yield rose 2.9 bps to 0.271%
Brent futures up 0.8% to $54.87/bbl
Gold spot down 0.7% to $1,566.32
U.S. Dollar Index little changed at 97.88

Top Overnight News from Bloomberg

The U.K.’s beleaguered construction industry saw some relief last month as the general election paved a way to Brexit. IHS Markit’s index of building activity rose to 48.4, from 44.4 in December, although it remained below the 50 threshold that indicates expansion for a ninth month
The Turkish central bank has kicked off its biggest government debt buybacks in over a decade, helping fill a void left by foreigners and adding momentum to the developing world’s strongest bond rally this year
AllianceBernstein Holding LP, a powerhouse in fixed-income trading, is now allowing other investors to piggyback on its prowess. Through a new outsourcing service, the $600 billion asset manager will execute other buy-side firms’ bond trades
The global stash of gold in exchange-traded funds has risen to a record after a long run of accumulation that’s been given added impetus in recent weeks by the fall-out from the widening coronavirus crisis
Oil climbed to $51 a barrel in New York as officials from OPEC+ gathered on Tuesday for an urgent meeting to assess the impact of the coronavirus on global demand, and how the group should respond.

Asia-Pac equity markets traded higher after following suit to Wall St peers which were encouraged by China’s support measures and strong US data. The rebound extended into the region in which the Shanghai Comp. (+1.3%) recovered initial losses of more than 2.0% on aggressive bargain buying after having opened at its weakest in almost a year and following the 7.7% sell-off yesterday. The PBoC also continued to supply liquidity through CNY 500bln of reverse repos, while the Hang Seng (+1.2%) was lifted on the improved risk sentiment and after Q4 GDP showed a narrower than expected contraction which effectively overshadowed Hong Kong’s first coronavirus related death. ASX 200 (+0.4%) and Nikkei 225 (+0.5%) were kept afloat albeit with less conviction amid the RBA rate decision where the central bank kept rates unchanged and disappointed those anticipating a more dovish tone, while Tokyo sentiment contained by recent currency strength although firm gains were seen in Panasonic shares after it reported an increase in 9-month net and that its battery JV with Tesla turned profitable. Finally, 10yr JGBs and T-notes were subdued as the recovery in stocks sapped demand for safe havens which saw the former gap below the 153.00 level, with mixed 10yr JGB auction results also adding to the humdrum price action for JGBs.

Top Asian News

Thailand Says It’s Now Confirmed 25 Novel Coronavirus Cases
Virus Puts China’s Main Economic Goals on a Collision Course
Asia Faces Rate-Cut Pressure to Curb Fallout From Virus
China Adds Market Support With More Cash, Strong Yuan Fix

A solid day of gains for the European equity-space thus far [Eurostoxx 50 +1.3%] following on from Mainland China’s rebound from the prior sessions near 8% losses. Sectors are mostly in the green and reflect risk appetite as cyclicals outperform defensives. The energy sector is the main gainer amid the rebound in the complex – with materials also bolstered by a rebound in copper prices; Glencore (+4.5%), Antofagasta (+3.6%) and BHP (+2.8%) are among the top FTSE 100 winners. In terms of individual movers, BP (+4.6%) extended on gains seen at the open amid favourable earnings. On the flip side, Pandora (-4.4%) and Micro Focus (-16%) plumbed the depths and remain the Stoxx 600 laggards post earnings. Elsewhere, SGS (-4.7%) shares suffer after Von Finck family sold some CHF 2.3bln worth of shares in the Co.

Top European News

Pandora Drops After 2020 Guidance Disappoints Analysts
U.K. Construction Slump Eases After Election Breakthrough
Czech Government Sees GDP Growth Quickening to 2.2% in 2020
Carlsberg Warns on Coronavirus After Posting Record Earnings

In FX, a firmer start to the session for the broad Dollar and Index in a continuation of yesterday’s momentum, although with some support derived from Sterling’s slip below 1.3000 vs. the Buck. State-side, Democratic Iowa caucuses results were delayed to later today due to discrepancies, although an incomplete poll released by Sanders party (representing only 40% of Iowa precincts) show Sanders (29.66%) and Buttigieg (24.59%) leading whilst Klobuchar (11.00%) tails, followed by Biden (12.37%) . DXY remains north of its 100 DMA ~97.84 with the index eyeing 98.000 to the upside for potential resistance. In terms of the docket, Factory Orders and Durable Goods revisions are due just after the US cash open and US President Trump’s State of Union address will be closely watched overnight (0200GMT).

Yuan – A complete reversal from yesterday’s price action and a total wipe-out of the prior session’s losses despite a firmer USD/CNY fixing by the PBoC overnight amid what seems to be a U-turn in sentiment. The CNY finished its domestic session sub-7.00 and with the session’s price action contained within its 100 and 200 DMAs at 7.0210 and 6.9889, similar trade is seen in the offshore. Some have pointed to China’s proactive measures to tackle the outbreak as a potential factor leading the turnaround.
AUD, NZD – The Aussie leads the gains among the G10 in the aftermath of the RBA’s rate decision which proved to be less dovish than some had expected. Rates were left unchanged and the statement largely a copy-and-paste job from the prior meeting, albeit the commentary surrounding the bushfires and coronavirus seemed appeasing – with the Bank stating that effects will “temporarily weigh on growth” and its “too early” to assess the long-lasting impact. AUD/USD was bolstered above 0.6700 on the decision and thereafter hovered just off intraday highs, with the current risk-tone also underpinning the currency. Note: today sees some AUD 1.2bln in options expiring at strike 0.6765 at the NY cut. Meanwhile, Kiwi gleans some support from the risk sentiment, but gains remain capped as the AUD/NZD cross eyes 1.0400 to the upside, having tested the level in earlier trade (vs. low 1.0350)
GBP, EUR – Sterling has seen a mild recovering following its earlier slide below the 1.3000 mark vs. the USD in a continuation of yesterday’s price action. Earlier in the session, Cable took out its overnight low (~1.2980) and the Jan low (1.2955) before printing a fresh 2020 low at 1.2942, with eyes on the Dec low (~1.2895) should the pair breach 1.2900. Cable recouped some losses and is testing 1.3000 to the upside at time of writing. Subsequently, EUR/GBP saw fleeting gains in which in the cross reached a high of 0.8537 (vs. low of 0.8495) ahead of the Jan 20th high of 0.8553. EUR/USD meanwhile remains flat in a tight intraday band of 1.1050-1.1065, with some ~EUR 1bln expiring around strike 1.1030-40.
JPY, CHF – Safe-haven FX conformed to the overall risk appetite with the JPY and CHF the G10 underperformers. USD/JPY just about reclaimed 109.00 to the upside in early trade (vs. low of ~108.60) ahead of its potential resistance at 109.30 (Jan 29th high). The Swiss Franc meanwhile eyes 0.9700 to the upside vs. the USD having printed a low of ~0.9660.
RBA kept the Cash Rate unchanged at 0.75% as expected. RBA reiterated it will ease policy if needed to support sustainable growth and rates are to remain low for an extended period, while it added that low rates are boosting asset prices which should lead to increased spending and that it will monitor developments in labour market. RBA added that wage growth is expected to remain at current levels for some time and the central scenario remains for the Australia economy to grow 2.75% this year, 3.00% in 2021 and underlying inflation is to be close to 2% this year and next. Furthermore, RBA noted that bushfires and coronavirus will temporarily weigh on growth although it is too early to determine how long-lasting impact from coronavirus will be.

In commodities, WTI and Brent front month futures feel some reprieve from the current overall turnaround in risk sentiment and with China’s proactive measures to stem the spread of the virus digested as a market positive. Furthermore, Russia’s Kremlin noted that Moscow is ready to cooperate with OPEC but declined to comment if Russia supports further cuts – which comes after Russian President Putin and Saudi Crown Prince MBS confirmed their readiness to continue cooperation. Regarding yesterday’s sources, which noted that Saudi might be on board for a temporary 1mln BPD cut, analysts at SGH Macro are sceptical as this may mean that the major oil producer could lose market share to the likes of Russia and the US. Moreover, analysts at ING noted that anything beyond a coordinated 500k BPD cut would be hard to achieve as “it becomes questionable who would be able to make significant cuts beyond Saudi Arabia and Russia,” while highlighting that Saudi is over-complying with their current quotas; thus further scope for the Kingdom to cut remains limited. WTI resides just below the USD 51/bbl mark having tested the level to the upside while its Brent counterpart looks at USD 55/bbl, having eclipsed the level in earlier trade. Traders will be monitoring the overall risk sentiment and OPEC jawboning (JTC will convene 4th/5th Feb ahead OPEC on 14th/15th) for any influence on prices ahead of the weekly API release later today. Elsewhere, spot gold is on the back foot due to the aforementioned risk appetite, with prices trading in close proximity to its 21 DMA around USD 1564.50/oz. Copper meanwhile staged an aggressive rebound amid the improvement in the risk tone and as Chinese markets nursed some losses, with prices catapulting to highs above USD 2.56/lb vs. a sub-2.50/lb low. That said, Dalian iron ore futures fell some 2.5% overnight amid delays of construction activities after the Chinese Lunar New Year break.

US Event Calendar

10am: Factory Orders, est. 1.2%, prior -0.7%; Factory Orders Ex Trans, est. 0.1%, prior 0.3%
10am: Durable Goods Orders, est. 2.4%, prior 2.4%; Durables Ex Transportation, est. -0.1%, prior -0.1%
10am: Cap Goods Orders Nondef Ex Air, est. -0.9%, prior -0.9%; Cap Goods Ship Nondef Ex Air, prior -0.4%

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

Well this morning we had cleared the front page for the results of the Iowa Democratic caucus and were ready with expert opinion and interpretations. However the results have been delayed as the party have found ‘inconsistencies’ in the results. At the moment it seems blame is being put on a faulty app/technology rather than anything more sinister but at the time of writing there is no clarity on when the results will be released. Strangely all the candidates have given speeches proclaiming success in various forms without having the results to back them up. Not a great start for the Democratic primaries.

Moving onto Asia, there are now 20,438 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus (up from 17,205 yesterday) while the number of deaths stand at 425 (vs. 361). Hong Kong has also reported a death due to the virus overnight. This marks second fatality outside of mainland China. Meanwhile, the PBoC added CNY 400bn (c. $57 bn) into the banking system today, the largest single-day addition since January 2019, to stabilise the system. As we go to print Bloomberg is reporting that Macau has asked casino operators to suspend operations for half a month showing that the lockdowns are still continuing.

Asian markets are all trading in higher this morning with the Nikkei (+0.50%), Hang Seng (+0.94%), Shanghai Comp (+0.53%), CSI (+1.71%) and Kospi (+1.62%) all up. Chinese stock bourses were down c. -2% after the open but subsequently recouped all of their losses. The Chinese onshore yuan is up +0.36%. Elsewhere, futures on the S&P 500 are up +0.59% despite an overnight earnings miss from Alphabet (more below) and 10y treasury yields are up +2.4bps. Brent crude oil prices are also up +0.73% this morning erasing a small amount of yesterday’s decline.

In our DB Research-led conference call yesterday on the Coronavirus outbreak with Dr Michael Edelstein, Consultant Epidemiologist, Public Health England; he said that he believes that the most likely outcome is a disease that spreads moderately globally and continues to have a low fatality rate, with continued (but limited) trade and travel restrictions by governments. Those monitoring the situation should pay attention to what the rate of spread within other provinces of China is as well as what the spread is to other countries. There was lots more on the call. The replay details can be attained from this document (link here).

DB’s China economist put out another update yesterday (link here). His preliminary assessment, though there is considerable uncertainty, is that it’ll have a 1-1.75 percentage point impact negatively on China’s Q1 GDP growth. But assuming some modest catch-up of production and demand in the subsequent quarters of the year, the full-year impact will likely be limited to 0.2-0.3 ppts.

This morning’s Asian session followed the aftermath of Chinese markets re-opening yesterday after the extended holiday with the CSI 300 closing down -7.88% – its worst daily performance since August 2015. Other global equity markets bounced as the Chinese sell-off was orderly amidst heavy intervention. The S&P 500 (+0.73%) and the STOXX 600 (+0.25%) both advanced also supported by positive data from the PMIs/ISMs on either side of the Atlantic which showed that manufacturing data was steadily improving (more below) before the virus outbreak.

Markets closed off their highs though, seemingly helped by a story (Bloomberg) that Chinese oil demand has fallen 20% on the back of the virus. Brent crude fell -4.20% to hit a one-year low, while WTI (-3.05%) fell below $50/barrel in trading for the first time in over a year as well, and is now down more than 20% from recent highs in early January. According to OPEC officials, Saudi Arabia is likely to continue pushing for production cuts to prop up prices at a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies next Tuesday and Wednesday. Elsewhere in commodities copper fell for a 13th consecutive session as it closed down -0.46%.

Google’s parent company Alphabet reported after the US close yesterday, missing on revenues ($37.6bln vs. $38.4 exp), while still beating on EPS. The company was down over -4% in after-hours trading, after rallying +1.24% with the broader market intraday. Staying on the topic of earnings, see DB’s Binky Chadha’s Asset Allocation note (link here) for a recap of how the US Q4 earnings are progressing so far. He and his team note that while there have been some high profile beats and misses, overall the breadth and size of beats has so far been about average. Margins have surprised negatively, but remain high historically and the decline does not seem to reflect rising wage costs which is the normal culprit.

In fixed income, 10yr Treasury yields reversed much of their earlier sell-off that came after the ISM release (+c.6.5bps at the highs) before falling back to close just +1.5bps higher at 1.522%. 3m10yr continues to be inverted and 30yr yields dipped below 2% (back above in Asia). Similar to the US, European sovereign bond yields fell into the session end, with 10yr bund yields finishing flat on the day. It’s interesting that with US 30yr yields within a handful of bps of their all-time low and 10yrs within 15bps, last week the CBO announced that their forecast for US Debt/GDP by mid-century had risen from around 144% to 180%. So around an extra $13tn dollars of debt at the touch of a button. We put out a very short note out about this yesterday (link here), explaining the jump, and tied it to our view in last year’s long-term study (link here) that financial repression and central bank buying of bonds would likely be here for years and probably decades ahead.

Back to more immediate matters and recalling the data from yesterday now. The ISM manufacturing in the US rose to a 6-month high of 50.9 (vs. 48.5 expected), while the new orders index rose to 52.0 (vs. 47.7 expected), its highest level since May. Meanwhile in Europe, the Euro Area manufacturing PMI was revised up a tenth from the flash reading to 47.9, although it remained in contractionary territory for a 12th consecutive month. The French (51.1) and German (45.3) readings were also revised up a tenth each from the flash reading, while for Italy, where we didn’t have a flash reading to go off, the PMI rebounded to 48.9 (vs. 47.3 expected).

Here in post-Brexit Britain, we got a distinct sense of déjà-vu yesterday as the EU and the UK seemed at loggerheads once again over the negotiations on the future relationship set for this year. The first move came from the EU side, where chief negotiator Michel Barnier unveiled the draft negotiating directives for the negotiations with the UK. The document showed that the EU want commitments from the UK that they won’t seek to undercut the EU, saying that “the envisaged partnership must ensure open and fair competition, encompassing robust commitments to ensure a level playing field. … To that end, the envisaged agreement should uphold the common high standards in the areas of State aid, competition, state-owned enterprises, social and employment standards, environmental standards, climate change, and relevant tax matters.”

Over on the UK side however, Prime Minister Johnson made his position clear, saying in a speech yesterday that there was “no need for a free trade agreement to involve accepting EU rules on competition policy, subsidies, social protection, the environment, or anything similar”. He further said that the UK was seeking a “comprehensive free trade agreement, similar to Canada’s”, and said that if that wasn’t to succeed, then the UK would have a trading relationship with the EU like Australia’s, which has a much more limited “partnership framework” with the EU. The prospect that the UK might not agree to EU demands for a level-playing field, and hence find it harder to reach a free-trade deal this year, sent sterling tumbling yesterday, and the pound ended the day down -1.61% against the US dollar, the weakest performing G10 currency and on the biggest fall in over a year. It’s not clear why this should have been a surprise for currency traders though as yesterday’s news was very well flagged by both sides. For those wanting more on Brexit, we released a new podcast yesterday (link here) with DB’s Brexit analyst, Oliver Harvey, talking to Luke Templeman on my team about the next stage of talks during the transition period.

To the day ahead now, and it’s a lighter one for data with the UK’s construction PMI for January, Euro Area PPI for December and Italy’s preliminary CPI for January. Over in the US, there’ll also be December’s factory orders, the final December durable goods orders reading, along with non-military capital goods orders excluding aircraft. Earnings out include BP and Walt Disney, while there’ll also be President Trump’s State of the Union Address to Congress tonight.

3A/ASIAN AFFAIRS

I)TUESDAY MORNING/ MONDAY NIGHT:

SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 36.68 POINTS OR 1.34% //Hang Sang CLOSED UP 319.00 POINTS OR 1.21% /The Nikkei closed UP 112.65 POINTS OR 0.49%//Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP .40%

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

South Korea

This is not only happening in South Korea but all over the world..just in time inventory obstacles are killing global trade

(zerohedge)

Hyundai, Kia Factories Crippled In South Korea As Part Suppliers In China Remain Closed

A globalized world is full of complex supply chains that wind in and out of countries. When one country goes offline, the chain breaks, and that’s exactly what’s happening in Asia.

Yonhap News reports that Hyundai Motor Co. and its sister Kia Motors Corp. suspended production lines in South Korea after it was hit with a parts shortage from China as the coronavirus outbreak continues to leave entire manufacturing hubs shut down.

Hyundai is expected to close four South Korean plants by Friday.

The plants are expected to reopen on Feb. 10 or 11, but that entirely depends if manufacturing plants, cities, and transportation networks open in China.

“If auto parts factories in China resume operations on Feb. 10 or 11, production losses from lack of parts will be limited,” the spokesman said. However, if the factories in China where Hyundai sources parts from remain closed through early next week, then severe supply chain disruptions will be seen, causing production output to crater in South Korea.

Vice President Ha Eon-tae, head of Hyundai’s main plant, emailed workers at Ulsan plants on Monday, specifying how production suspensions are imminent because part suppliers in China remain closed due to the virus.

According to the local union, Kia, which is 34% owned by Hyundai, has had output reduced in Hwaseong and Gwangju, outside of Seoul, for similar issues.

Hyundai and Kia, together, are the world’s fifth-largest carmaker by sales. If production lines in South Korea are halted and extend past next week, then a slump in economic output could weigh down South Korean 1Q GDP figures.

The fallout from the virus could force investors to reprice growth across the world. This would undoubtedly weigh on risk asset prices that remain near all-time highs.

b) REPORT ON JAPAN

3 C CHINA

CHINA

POBC injected another 500 billion yuan into the markets after an initial 105 billion yuan failed on Monday.

It wan’t help…the virus is still plaguing China and nobody is venturing outside

(zerohedge)

US, China Stocks Surge Higher After PBOC Injects Another 400 Billion Yuan

After yesterday’s net CNY150billion liquidity injection didn’t work (in rescuing stocks), PBOC decided to more than double it tonight and the plunge-protectors injected a net CNY400 billion, sending yuan and US and Chinese equity markets soaring…

The PBOC injected CNY500b with reverse repo (380bn in 7-day repo and 120bn in 14-day repo) and accounting for CNY100bn in maturing repo, that nets to CNY400 billion liquidity injected.

Yuan soared…

The Shanghai Composite exploded higher after opened down over 2%…

And US equity futures are also soaring… even after GOOGL’s collapse after hours…

Plunge… Protected!

CHINA

Brilliant piece of reasoning from the Chinese as they now strongly believe that 2020 economic growth will be curtailed due to the coronavirus outbreak

(zerohedge)

China To Lower 2020 Economic Growth Expectations On Coronavirus Outbreak

It would be challenging for China to falsify 2020 GDP figures between 6% to 6.5% amid economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.

The Communist Party of China had come to grips of a decelerating economy, even before the deadly virus broke out. Officials blamed the slowdown on the trade war last year, and now they’re blaming it on the virus. Party leaders appear to scapegoat everyone but themselves for China’s downturn.

Bloomberg notes that government officials could lower the country’s annual growth target in March from the 6% to 6.5% range, to about 6%.

China has injected tens of billions of dollars into its financial markets and the real economy to prevent a hard landing. People familiar with increased stimulus measures told Bloomberg that deficit spending and issuance of government bonds would be the support tools to cushion the economy, expected to be announced on March 5, or thereabout.

We noted even before the virus outbreak, that China’s credit growth rapidly decelerated to the weakest pace since at least 2017, as a continued collapse in shadow banking, weak corporate demand for credit and seasonal effects all signaled that a massive rebound in China’s economy was unlikely in 1Q20.

Bloomberg Economics said China’s 1Q20 GDP figures could print around 4.5% Y/Y:

“That’s a drop from 6% in the final period of 2019 and the lowest since quarterly data that begins in 1992. Most of China’s provinces said before the virus became widespread, they’re expecting slower economic growth in 2020, with at least 22 out of 31 major cities, provinces and autonomous regions cutting their targets as of January 21, according to their work reports which layout plans for this year.”

The coronavirus shock from China has already sent commodities tumbling; for instance, copper futures are on the longest losing streak since 1986. Dr. Copper suggests China’s economy is headed for a hard landing, along with continued deceleration across the world.

What does this all mean? Well, China was responsible for more than 60% of all new credit created globally in the past decade.

With a slowdown in the country gaining momentum, creeping economic paralysis unleashed by the coronavirus epidemic, hopes for a rebound in the second-largest economy to rescue the global economy have faded. This could only suggest the world is headed for below-trend growth.

end

China

Coronavirus update: China’s Xi warns the outbreak threatens stability

(zerohedge)

President Xi Warns nCoV Outbreak ‘Threatens Stability’ As Top WHO Official Disputes ‘Pandemic’ Designation

Summary:

Confirmed deaths: 427
Confirmed cases: 20,676
American Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Jetstar close routes to China
Taiwan tightens travel restrictions
WHO infectious hazard chief says outbreak ‘not a pandemic’
Japan says no coronavirus cases confirmed on cruise ship “Diamond Princess”

* * *

No new coronavirus-related deaths were announced overnight, leaving the global fatality toll at 427, with all but two of those deaths occurring in China, according to the South China Morning Post. The total number of confirmed cases is closing in on 21,000, as nearly 200,000 are ‘under observation’ in China.

Yesterday, President Xi convened a second meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s highest governing body. The public meeting marked Xi’s second appearance before the Chinese people since the coronavirus outbreak. According to reports in Chinese state media, Xi declared the outbreak “a major test of China’s system and capacity for governance and we must sum up the experience and draw a lesson from it,” while declaring the outbreak a threat to societal stability. As we reported yesterday, Xi also warned local officials that they would be punished if they failed to suppress the virus, or if they slowed down the government’s efforts to fight the virus for the sake of “formalities” and “bureaucratism,” according to the New York Times.

Already, more than 400 local officials have already officially punished for dereliction of duty, despite complaints from some (including the Mayor of Wuhan) that Beijing tied their hands.

China’s financial ‘support’ of the WHO continued to pay off on Tuesday as the head of WHO’s Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness division said that the nCoV outbreak doesn’t yet constitute a global “pandemic” – directly contradicting the organization’s declaration.

As the world grows increasingly skeptical of the numbers and information coming out of China, Beijing’s NHC said Tuesday that the coronavirus mortality rate would drop further as soon as “suitable treatments” are implemented in Wuhan. What kind of treatments are they talking about? Well, as we’ve repeatedly pointed out, nCoV responds to a cocktail of AIDS drugs (sometimes augmented with typical flu treatments). Some scientists have highlighted certain similarities between HIV and nCoV.

NHC Deputy Director Jiao Yahui said the national fatality rate was just 2.1%, with the vast majority of deaths in Hubei province. Some scientists have projected that the real death rate might be closer to 11%

Especially after Hong Kong suffered its first confirmed fatality due to the coronavirus, marking only the second death from the outbreak outside China. The dead man traveled by train to Wuhan on Jan. 21 before returning to Hong Kong two days later.

Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is legal, shut down its casinos for at least the first half of February.

Though some other provinces are catching up, Hubei remains by far the hardest-hit of China’s 31 provinces. The central Chinese province has lost 414 people, or 97% of the mainland death toll and the mortality rate in Wuhan, the provincial capital, has reached 4.9%, with 313 deaths so far. The mortality rate for Hubei as a whole is 3.1%, the highest of any province in the country.

Since our last check-in, airlines have suspended more routes to China. At least two more Asian airlines – Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific and Japan’s Jetstar – suspended routes to China on Tuesday, joining dozens of other airlines, including almost all of the major American carriers, in suspending passenger travel as demand plummets. Domestic airlines, meanwhile, have been asked by the Party not to cut international flights. American Airlines suspended flights to Hong Kong from Dallas and Los Angeles through Feb. 20.

Taiwan will ban foreigners who have visited or have been living on the mainland over the past 14 days from entering the island, effective Friday. The ban won’t apply to foreigners living in Hong Kong or Macau. On Tuesday, Taiwan’s coastguard stepped up patrols around the resort island of Penghun to stop Chinese fishing boats from “intruding” into Taiwanese territory (and possibly carrying Chinese desperate to avoid quarantine), the SCMP reports.

The decision to tighten restrictions on travelers from the mainland comes after its government condemned Beijing for blocking Taipei from joining the WHO’s anti-epidemic network, which would have allowed Taiwan to access first-hand information about the virus and any suppression efforts that are actually working.

Australia is the latest country to evacuate citizens from Wuhan. Like Japan, the US and the UK, it has forced those rescued into a two-week quarantine.

Japan has quarantined around 3,700 people aboard a cruise ship off the port city of Yokohama after a passenger who departed the cruise at an earlier date tested positive for coronavirus. So far, officials say they haven’t detected any cases of the virus aboard the ship, but tests are ongoing.

According to the Chinese press, a similar scenario is playing out at a mainland port (marking at least the third quarantine of a cruise ship since the beginning of the outbreak).

Chinese press has also reported on cases where individuals resisted a mandatory quarantine. This is a warning to the population as much as anything.

As we’ve repeatedly reported, signs are emerging that a combination therapy involving cocktails of drugs meant for different ailments may be effective in combating the coronavirus outbreak around the world, with different hospitals from Bangkok to Zhejiang reporting cases of patients recovering from the disease, according to SCMP.

MACAU//CHINA

END

CHINA/MACAU

China orders all casinos to close for two weeks due to the virus outbreak. It will probably be extended if the virus continues to spread in China

(zeorhedge)

Macau Orders All Casinos To Close For Two Weeks Over Virus Outbreak

Macau has ordered all casinos to close for the next two weeks as coronavirus confirmed cases and deaths increase in mainland China, according to Bloomberg. The Chinese autonomous region’s new chief executive, Ho Iat-Seng, suspended all 38 casino operations on Tuesday for the next two weeks to limit the spread of the deadly virus.

Macau is the world’s largest gambling hub, has been struggling with declining annual revenue for the last several years as the regional economy stalled. The shutdown will be another blow to the industry and the longest ever period of closure. The second-longest was when a typhoon in 2018 forced a two-day shutdown.

Ho told the territory’s 600,000 residents to quarantine themselves inside their homes and only go outside for essential goods.

Ryan Ho Kilpatrick 何松濤

✔@rhokilpatrick

Macau has passed a law requiring all passengers aboard public transportation to wear face-masks from today to prevent the spread of #2019nC0V, joining Guangzhou.

Hong Kong’s government is still fighting a court appeal to impose a law banning face-masks.https://www.hk01.com/%E7%A4%BE%E6%9C%83%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E/429254/%E6%AD%A6%E6%BC%A2%E8%82%BA%E7%82%8E-%E6%BE%B3%E9%96%80%E4%BB%8A%E5%8D%88%E8%B5%B7%E6%89%80%E6%9C%89%E4%BA%BA%E5%BF%85%E9%A0%88%E4%BD%A9%E6%88%B4%E5%8F%A3%E7%BD%A9%E6%89%8D%E5%8F%AF%E4%B9%98%E6%90%AD%E5%B7%B4%E5%A3%AB …

【武漢肺炎】澳門今午起所有人必須佩戴口罩才可乘搭巴士

「武漢肺炎」蔓延至港澳，澳門至今已有8宗確診個個案，澳門交通事務局今天（3日）宣布，由今天中午12時起，所有乘客須佩戴口罩方可乘搭巴士，否則車長有權拒絕乘客使用巴士服務。

hk01.com

Additionally, he said the city has significantly cut back transportation, and many businesses have shuttered operations after ten confirmed cases of the virus have so far been reported in the town.

Macau casino shares dropped almost 4% Tuesday on the news of a two-week closure. MGM China Holdings Ltd. and Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. were down the most.

“This is indeed an extreme measure. It is unlikely for casino operators to pass all this burden to the staff so that they may bear all the fixed costs and expenses,” said Angela Han Lee, equity analyst with China Renaissance Securities HK. “Near-term profit might fall into negative territory.”

The shutdown comes as casinos have reported the fourth straight month of revenue declines as China’s economy slows.

END

CHINA/FOXCONN/I-PHONES

“The Impact Would Be Big” – Fears Rise Over iPhone Output As China Shutdown Continues

A new report from Reuters details how Foxconn could soon realize a massive production hit and shipment plunge to specific customers, including Apple if factory shutdowns in China persist due to the coronavirus outbreak.

A source told Reuters with direct knowledge of the matter that Foxconn, which makes Apple smartphones, has halted “almost all” of its production in China until Feb. 10. The source added that delays after Feb. 10 could dramatically impact Apple’s iPhone shipments abroad.

The source told Reuters that Foxconn had experienced a “fairly small impact” from the outbreak as it immediately shifted production lines to Vietnam, India, and Mexico.

The source also noted that if Foxconn facilities work overtime, they might be able to make up lost production, but there’s no certainty if that could happen.

Last Monday, we were one of the first to note that Suzhou, one of the largest manufacturing hubs in China, told millions of workers not to return until Feb. 9.

The source said any delays in Foxconn factories after Feb. 10 could disrupt iPhone shipments.

“What we are worried about is delays for another week or even another month. The impact would be big,” the source said. “It definitely will have an impact on the Apple production line.”

There’s a significant concern that iPhone production in Guangdong and Zhengzhou could see extended delays.

“The tricky question is whether we will be able to resume production (on Feb. 10) … It’s up to the instructions given by central and provincial governments.”

Foxconn asked employees in China’s Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak, not to return to factories, according to an internal memo, first viewed Reuters.

Morningstar analyst Don Yew said there should be a limited impact on Foxconn’s supply chain if factories are closed down in Wuhan for an extended period.

The big concern he said, is that if the smartphone manufacturing hub in Guangdong is shut down for an extended period, it would then start disrupting Apple iPhone shipments.

Will it be a supply chain shock in China that reminds everyone how far Apple shares are priced from fundamentals?

Bloomberg macro strategist Mark Cudmore suggested last week that the outbreak in China could be a ‘black swan’ event exposing the fragilities, and vulnerability, of financial markets that long ago de-tethered from any fundamental underpinning.

This could end very badly…

utbreaks have certainly weighed down the regional economy.

Macau decided on Jan. 27 to ban all travelers from Wuhan and Hubei province unless they could provide officials with a health pass showing they were free of the virus.

The virus outbreak is expected to cut growth forecasts for China this quarter and likely into the second. A faltering China would also weigh on growth perspectives across the world.

END

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

An important read..

(Gatestone)

Boris Johnson Must Decide Between Washington And Beijing

Authored by Con Coughlin via The Gatestone Institute,

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to allow the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei access to Britain’s new 5G network has placed unnecessary strain on the transatlantic alliance at a time when it needs to show a united front against Beijing’s global ambitions.

Mr Johnson’s decision to allow Huawei to build parts of the 5G network has been taken in the face of fierce opposition from the Trump administration, which regards the Chinese company a security risk because of its historic links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Donald Trump personally called Mr Johnson to urge the British prime minister not to allow Huawei continued access to Britain’s 5G infrastructure, warning that to do so risked causing a split in transatlantic relations, and might raise questions about Britain’s continued involvement in the elite Five Eyes intelligence-gathering alliance that London has shared with the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand since the end of World War Two.

Instead, following a meeting of Britain’s National Security Council, Mr Johnson announced that Huawei would be allowed to continue working on the development of the 5G infrastructure, albeit with strict conditions being applied on the company’s ability to access those parts of the network linked to Britain’s military, nuclear and intelligence installations.

Mr Johnson has sought to reassure Washington by offering to work closely with the US to develop 5G technology that would “break the dominance” of Huawei, with the aim of ultimately squeezing the Chinese giant out of Britain’s infrastructure.

The depth of Washington’s disappointment with the British decision, however, was reflected in comments made by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who, prior to arriving in London for a two-day visit, said there was still time for Mr Johnson to “relook” at the decision.

American objections about allowing Huawei access to sensitive communications networks in the West stem from ongoing concerns about the company’s ties to the CCP, as well as China’s People’s Liberation Army.

Huawei has been accused of developing sophisticated surveillance technology that has been used in China’s Xinjiang province as part of Beijing’s crackdown against the country’s oppressed Uighur Muslim minority.

Hundreds of thousands of Uighurs are reported to have been detained in makeshift prison camps and subjected to “re-education” programmes by the Chinese government.

Concerns over Huawei’s activities have already persuaded a number of countries, such as India, New Zealand and Australia, to join the US in banning the Chinese firm from their 5G networks. Indeed, Washington’s concerns over Huawei mean the company’s mobile phones are not even allowed onto American military bases.

Mr Johnson’s decision, therefore, will be regarded as a victory for Beijing, and a vindication of its claims that Washington’s campaign against Huawei is driven more by commercial rivalry than genuine concerns about any security threat the firm might pose.

It is for this reason that Mr Johnson would be well-advised to heed Mr Pompeo’s advice and reconsider allowing Huawei access to Britain’s telecoms systems, irrespective of the restrictions the British authorities claim they will impose on the firm’s access to sensitive installations.

In an age when the foremost challenge of the Western democracies is to defend their interests against Beijing’s long-term goal of achieving global dominance, it is vital that they present a united front against the Chinese threat.

Mr Johnson needs to understand that Britain’s interests are best served by maintaining strong ties with Washington, rather than by indulging in dubious business deals with Beijing.

END

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

IRAN/SYRIA

the head of Iran’s IRGC operations in Syria vaporized near Aleppo

(zerohedge)

Head Of Iran’s IRGC Operations In Syria Killed Near Aleppo

Iranian state media sources have reported the death of Asghar Bashpour on the front lines of fighting in Aleppo province, which renewed days ago as Turkish-backed Syrian jihadists poured into the countryside around the major northern city. The Syrian Army has also been on a major offensive against al-Qaeda’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to retake neighboring Idlib province.

Crucially, Bashpour was an elite commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force who is said to have been close to its slain leader Qassem Soleimani. The news was announced by Tehran Radio and then circulated among various Middle East sources, including The Times of Israel on Monday. His death occurred Sunday while reportedly supporting military operations of pro-Assad forces.

*Blurry photo circulating of Iran’s Quds Force senior commander Asghar Pashapour, far left., also with slain Gen. Qassem Soliemani (2nd from right), via IRIB/Al Arabiya.*

Israel has long claimed that Iranian entrenchment inside Syria is ultimately aimed at harming Israeli security and interests. Over the past years the Israeli Air Force has conducted hundreds of incursions and strikes inside Syria, against what Tel Aviv describes as Iranian proxies and troops.

The Times of Israel describes the newly slain Asghar Bashpour and friend of Soleimani as follows:

He is said to have been at the forefront of the Quds Force’s operations against anti-regime rebels in Syria, where Iran has been a key backer of President Bashar Assad since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

Regional sources say he was senior commander in the Quds Force responsible for overseeing all Iran-backed special operations in Syria. State-run IRIB news agency describes that Pashapour was “one of the first to go to Syria with Qassem Soleimani.”

Beirut-based Syrian war monitor al-Masdar News, among few outlets to have sources within the Syrian Army, described that the IRGC elite commander likely died fighting the terrorist group Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP):

The location of Bashpour’s death in Aleppo was not reported; however, it is likely that he was either killed at the IRGC base in Nayrab (southern Aleppo), which has been targeted by militant missiles, or the Khan Touman front, where the jihadist rebels of the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) launched a counter-offensive against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and Local Defense Forces (LDF).

As we detailed earlier, Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have in recent days and weeks mounted new insurgent attacks on the outskirts of the provincial capital city of Aleppo at a moment the Syrian Army has made huge gains into neighboring Idlib.

A key reason Damascus has vowed to retake every inch of Idlib is that for years al-Qaeda has launched terrorist attacks on suburbs of Aleppo from there as civilians and the government attempt to rebuild the largely destroyed urban center.

*Asghar Pashapour, left, a top commander in Iran’s Quds Force.*

This latest renewed fighting in Aleppo appears a concerted effort by Turkey to use its proxy forces to repel and distract the brunt of the Syrian Army offensive on Idlib, considering on Friday President Erdogan warned he’s ready to use military force if Assad doesn’t halt Idlib operations.

On Monday rare direct clashes broke out between the Syrian and Turkish armies which killed an estimated 50 people, including Turkish troops, though the numbers on each side are currently in dispute.

end

6.Global Issues

This is not good: they have discovered that the coronavirus stayed on a doorknob of an infected patient. This means that the virus can live outside the body for days and thus raises huge concerns on transmission

(zerohedge)

Discovery Of Coronavirus On Doorknob Of Infected Patient Sparks Transmission Concerns

Until now, the prevailing conventional wisdom was that China’s coronavirus epidemic, which has spread to over 20,600 people around the globe as of February 3, did so by air or, according to some recent and unconfirmed speculation, human feces. That may be about to change.

*Worker disinfects the lobby of Beijing West Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 2, 2020*

According to the Global Times, new ways of transmitting the coronavirus have been reported, and virus nucleic acid has been detected outside human bodies, sparking public fears that the virus could be transmitted in unknown and undetected ways. Concerns emerged after scientists found coronavirus nucleic acid on the doorknob of a confirmed Guangzhou-based patient’s house, the first case of novel coronavirus detected outside the human body, Guangzhou Daily reported Monday. The finding was confirmed by China’s Health Commission, which said on Monday that the coronavirus can survive for five days maximum on smooth surfaces under suitable circumstances.

That would mean that mobile phone screens, computer keyboards, faucets and other household objects may indirectly transmit the virus, experts said.

A man from Northeast China’s Jilin Province, who was confirmed with coronavirus infection on Monday, shared his experience, saying he had used the same microphone with another confirmed patient during a meeting in January.

In another case, a 40-year-old man from North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, who lives upstairs of a confirmed patient, was also diagnosed with coronavirus infection on Saturday. Aside from respiratory droplets and contact transmissions, the person has no clear contact histories with people from other cities, patients, or wild animals and has never been to a market, according to the local health authority on Sunday.

Chinese netizens were concerned the patient from Inner Mongolia might have been infected through toilet plumbing or ventilation devices.

Over the weekend, some experts warned that the novel coronavirus could be transmitted through the digestive system as they found 2019-nCoV nucleic acids in patients’ stool and rectal swabs, and health authorities had suggested the central air conditioning system be discontinued if coronavirus patients are found. The case drew attention to a case during the SARS outbreak in 2003 – In Amoy Gardens residential complex in Hong Kong, aerosolized feces spread from floor to floor through plumbing, infecting over 300 people with the virus, reports said.

end

Michael Snyder:

We now have 4 plagues marching across Asia

i.Coronavirus

ii) African Swine fever

iii) Bird Flu (H5Ni)

iv) Swine Flu (H1N1)

these are all very good for business…

(Michael Snyder)

4 Plagues Are Marching Across Asia Simultaneously: Coronavirus, African Swine Fever, H5N1 Bird Flu, & H1N1 Swine Flu

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

The coronavirus outbreak that is raging all over China right now has been making headlines on a daily basis all over the globe, and rightly so. At this point we don’t know if it will ultimately become a horrifying global pandemic that will affect tens of millions of people, but what we do know is that the virus spreads very easily and the number of cases has been rising at an exponential rate. Meanwhile, three other plagues have also been marching across Asia, and most people in the western world don’t even realize that this is happening. What I am about to share with you in this article is quite chilling, and the months ahead will be very dark if these plagues continue to spread.

Long before we ever heard of this new coronavirus, African Swine Fever was devastating pork farms from one end of China to the other. There is no vaccine for “pig ebola”, there is no cure, and once it hits a farm the only thing that can be done is to kill every single pig so that it won’t spread anywhere else. But even though draconian measures have been implemented, it has just kept spreading, and at this point “about two-thirds of China’s swine herd has been lost”…

Video of people fighting over pork at Chinese meat counters will likely become more common as the fallout from the African swine fever outbreak in China progresses.

Brett Stuart, president of the market research and analysis firm Global AgriTrends, estimates that about two-thirds of China’s swine herd has been lost to the disease and contrary to official government reports of recovery, more pigs are dying every day as ASF continues to spread.

Prior to this crisis, approximately half of all the pigs in the entire world lived in China, and they would usually slaughter about 700 million a year. But now pork production has absolutely plummeted, and this is driving pork prices in China through the roof…

In China itself, pork prices are at an all-time high at just under $300 per hundredweight and the country outbids Japan, which is usually the top bidder. Food inflation is soaring and some Chinese people have been unable to buy pork in six months.

Unfortunately, this insidious disease has also been devastating farms in many other nations all over the planet. In particular, Cambodia, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines have been hit particularly hard.

It has been estimated that one out of every four pigs in the entire world has already died, and this crisis is far from over.

Fortunately, African Swine Fever does not affect humans, but this new coronavirus seems perfectly suited to be transmitted from person to person. Johns Hopkins has put up a map that is continually updated, and according to the latest official numbers there are now 14,637 cases and the death toll has risen to 305. But by the time you read this article those numbers are likely to be even higher.

Of course many are extremely skeptical that the official numbers coming out of China are accurate, and this is something that I have written about repeatedly. There have been multiple reports that indicate that China has been falsely categorizing the deaths of many of the victims to keep the death toll down, and it is also suspicious that so many corpses are being taken “directly to the crematorium”…

Radio Free Asia (RFA) has tweeted a disturbing video on its Twitter account on Saturday morning detailing how those who died of coronavirus in Wuhan, the outbreak area in China, were loaded up on a bus and taken “directly to the crematorium.”

RFA said (in a translated tweet): “[Latest Situation of Wuhan Fifth Hospital] Some Wuhan citizens entered Wuhan Fifth Hospital on February 1st and found many patients who died of pneumonia. The corpses were packed directly to the crematorium. Paramedics are busy rescuing the dying patient.”

RFA’s video is in line with our report from Friday that said those who died of the deadly virus were hauled off to a crematorium in Wuhan by Chinese authorities.

At this point we don’t know how bad this outbreak will ultimately become, but we do know that the very first death outside of China has now been confirmed…

The Philippine Department of Health said a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan was admitted on Jan. 25 after experiencing a fever, cough, and sore throat. He developed severe pneumonia, and in his last few days, “the patient was stable and showed signs of improvement, however, the condition of the patient deteriorated within his last 24 hours resulting in his demise.”

The man’s 38-year-old female companion, also from Wuhan, also tested positive for the virus and remains in hospital isolation in Manila.

Meanwhile, there has been a very alarming resurgence of the H5N1 bird flu in China.

According to the Daily Mail, more than 17,000 chickens have been culled in an effort to keep this new outbreak from spreading further…

China has reportedly seen an outbreak of a ‘highly pathogenic’ strain of H5N1 bird flu which has already killed 4,500 chickens.

The outbreak was initially reported at a farm in Shaoyang city in the southern province of Hunan, south of the epicentre of the Coronavirus in Wuhan.

According to the Reuters report, Chinese authorities have already culled 17,828 poultry in the wake of the outbreak.

Unlike African Swine Fever, humans can become infected by the H5N1 bird flu.

And according to the World Health Organization, the mortality rate for human cases is approximately 60 percent.

So let us hope that this current outbreak remains limited to chickens.

Alarmingly, the H5N1 bird flu has also popped up at a facility in India…

Authorities in an eastern Indian state will start culling chickens and destroying eggs from Tuesday to contain a bird flu virus of the H5N1 strain, a government statement said on Monday.

The samples collected from a poultry breeding and research farm of a veterinary college in Odisha state tested positive, the statement said.

We haven’t heard much about the H5N1 bird flu in recent years, but this is an extremely deadly disease, and so we will want to monitor these developments very carefully.

On top of everything else, the H1N1 swine flu is starting to spread once again. In fact, more than 100,000 people in Taiwan “sought medical treatment for flu-like symptoms at hospitals across the country over the past week” and there have been 13 confirmed deaths…

At a time when the world is panicking over a 2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak, the H1N1 flu virus is actually posing a greater threat in Taiwan, claiming 13 lives in the country in just one week, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

At a weekly meeting Friday, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said 116,705 people sought medical treatment for flu-like symptoms at hospitals across the country over the past week, including 61 more confirmed flu cases.

Not too long ago, the H1N1 swine flu caused mass panic all over the globe, and I personally knew someone that was killed by it.

So the truth is that all of these outbreaks are very concerning.

And never before have we seen so many alarming outbreaks occur simultaneously. Could it be possible that we have entered a period of time when mass pandemics are going to become “the new normal”?

Hopefully none of these current outbreaks will end up killing millions of people all over the globe.

But we have been warned for a long time about how vulnerable we are, and the experts assure us that it is just a matter of time before a mass pandemic brings death to every corner of the planet.

end

7. OIL ISSUES

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES

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

Euro/USA 1.1044 DOWN .0018 REACTING TO MERKEL’S FAILED COALITION/ REACTING TO +GERMAN ELECTION WHERE ALT RIGHT PARTY ENTERS THE BUNDESTAG/ huge Deutsche bank problems ///ITALIAN CHAOS /AND NOW ECB TAPERING BOND PURCHASES/JAPAN TAPERING BOND PURCHASES /USA RISING INTEREST RATES /FLOODING/EUROPE BOURSES /GREEN

USA/JAPAN YEN 109.13 UP 0.513 (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 1.3010 UP 0.0013 (Brexit March 29/ 2019/ARTICLE 50 SIGNED/BREXIT FEES WILL BE CAPPED/BRITAIN LEAVES EU/

USA/CAN 1.3280 DOWN .0015 CANADA WORRIED ABOUT TRADE WITH THE USA WITH TRUMP ELECTION/ITALIAN EXIT AND GREXIT FROM EU/(TRUMP INITIATES LUMBER TARIFFS ON CANADA/CANADA HAS A HUGE HOUSEHOLD DEBT/GDP PROBLEM)

Early THIS TUESDAY morning in Europe, the Euro FELL BY 18 basis points, trading now ABOVE the important 1.08 level FALLING to 1.1044 Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 36.68 POINTS OR 1.34%

//Hang Sang CLOSED UP 319.00 POINTS OR 1.21%

/AUSTRALIA CLOSED UP 0,40%// EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL GREEN

Trading from Europe and Asia

EUROPEAN BOURSES ALL GREEN

2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang Sang CLOSED UP 319.00 POINTS OR 0.46%

/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 36.68 POINTS OR 1.34%

Australia BOURSE CLOSED UP. 40%

Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED UP 112.65 POINTS OR 0.49%

INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE GREEN

Gold very early morning trading: 1568.40

silver:$17.67-

Early TUESDAY morning USA 10 year bond yield: 1.58% !!! UP 6 IN POINTS from MONDAY’S night in basis points and it is trading WELL BELOW resistance at 2.27-2.32%.

The 30 yr bond yield 2.06 UP 6 IN BASIS POINTS from MONDAY night.

USA dollar index early TUESDAY morning: 97.92 UP 12 CENT(S) from MONDAY’s close.

This ends early morning numbers TUESDAY MORNING

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And now your closing TUESDAY NUMBERS \1: 00 PM

Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 0.30% UP 3 in basis point(s) yield from YESTERDAY/

JAPANESE BOND YIELD: -.05% UP 1 BASIS POINTS from YESTERDAY/JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/56

SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 0.26%//UP 2 in basis point yield from yesterday.

ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD :.0.95 UP 0 points in basis points yield from yesterday./

the Italian 10 yr bond yield is trading 69 points higher than Spain.

GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: FALLS TO –.41% IN BASIS POINTS ON THE DAY//

THE IMPORTANT SPREAD BETWEEN ITALIAN 10 YR BOND AND GERMAN 10 YEAR BOND IS 1.36% AND NOW ABOVE THE THE 3.00% LEVEL WHICH WILL IMPLODE THE ENTIRE ITALIAN BANKING SYSTEM. AT 4% SPREAD THERE WILL BE A HUGE BANK RUN…

END

IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES FOR TUESDAY

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

Euro/USA 1.1034 DOWN .0029 or 29 basis points

USA/Japan: 109.40 UP .172 OR YEN DOWN 17 basis points/

Great Britain/USA 1.3027 UP .0030 POUND UP 30 BASIS POINTS)

Canadian dollar UP 25 basis points to 1.3270

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The USA/Yuan,CNY: AT 6.9984 ON SHORE (UP)..GETTING DANGEROUS

THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE: 6.9885 (YUAN UP)..GETTING REALLY DANGEROUS

TURKISH LIRA: 5.9702 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WISH.

the 10 yr Japanese bond yield closed at -.05%

Your closing 10 yr US bond yield UP 7 IN basis points from MONDAY at 21.60 % //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%) very problematic USA 30 yr bond yield: 2.07 UP 6 in basis points on the day

Your closing USA dollar index, 97.98 UP 18 CENT(S) ON THE DAY/1.00

Your closing bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates for TUESDAY: 12:00 PM

London: CLOSED UP 112.49 1.55%

German Dax : CLOSED UP 214.41 POINTS OR 1.64%

Paris Cac CLOSED UP 95.85 POINTS 1.64%

Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 145.90 POINTS or 1.55%

Italian MIB: CLOSED UP 369.70 POINTS OR 1.58%

WTI Oil price; 50.61 12:00 PM EST

Brent Oil: 54.91 12:00 EST

USA /RUSSIAN / RUBLE RISES: 62.92 THE CROSS LOWER BY 0.92 RUBLES/DOLLAR (RUBLE HIGHER BY 92 BASIS PTS)

TODAY THE GERMAN YIELD RISES TO –.41 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 : 49.71//

BRENT : 54.03

USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: …1.59 plus 7 basis pts…

USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 2.07 plus 6 basis pts…

EURO/USA 1.1044 ( DOWN 19 BASIS POINTS)

USA/JAPANESE YEN:109.47 UP .854 (YEN DOWN 85 BASIS POINTS/..

USA DOLLAR INDEX: 97.95 DOWN 15 cent(s)/

The British pound at 4 pm Britain Pound/USA:1.3033 UP 36 POINTS

the Turkish lira close: 5.9806

the Russian rouble 63.12 UP 0.56 Roubles against the uSA dollar.( UP 56 BASIS POINTS)

Canadian dollar: 1.328` UP 14 BASIS pts

USA/CHINESE YUAN (CNY) : 6.9984 (ONSHORE)/

USA/CHINESE YUAN(CNH): 6.9909 (OFFSHORE)

German 10 yr bond yield at 5 pm: ,-0.41%

The Dow closed UP 408.22 POINTS OR 1.44%

NASDAQ closed UP 194.57 POINTS OR 2.10%

VOLATILITY INDEX: 13.53 CLOSED DOWN .44

LIBOR 3 MONTH DURATION: 1.741%//libor dropping like a stone

USA trading today in Graph Form

Stocks Shrug Off Global Pandemic Fears As Gold ETF Holdings Hit Record High

Despite GOOGL’s demise, the exuberance in TSLA sent Nasdaq back to record highs today, shrugging off any anxiety over global pandemics, trade collapses, and the second-largest economy in the world basically closed.

But while stocks soared, bonds were not buying it…

Source: Bloomberg

Nor was copper…

Source: Bloomberg

Nor crude (WTI traded back below $50)…

Source: Bloomberg

And finally, Yuan suggests this is far from over…

Source: Bloomberg

But what really matters is this…

Retail is getting sucked back in…

The Investor Movement Index increased to 5.55 in December, up 7.4 percent from its November score of 5.17.

The IMX is TD Ameritrade’s proprietary, behavior-based index, aggregating Main Street investor positions and activity to measure what investors actually were doing and how they were positioned in the markets.

So it’s rug-pulling time for the big boys…

* * *

Another CNY400 Billion net liquidity injection juiced China stocks…

Source: Bloomberg

European markets uniformly soared today extending Monday;s modest gains…

Source: Bloomberg

And US stocks smashed higher at the open and largely trod water (except Nasdaq which kept pushing to record-er highs)…

Nasdaq broke out to new record highs… as if the coronavirus never happened (we’ve seen this pattern before)…

It did seem like Dow 29k was important for Trump ahead of tonight’s SOTU, but once again it just couldn’t get there…

For the second day in a row, a giant squeeze of the shorts at the open…

Source: Bloomberg

While GOOGL stole the headlines with disappointing earnings, it was TSLA that dominated traders’ minds…

Source: Bloomberg

TSLA’s short-squeeze is beginning to be on par with VW’s infamous move in 2008…

Source: Bloomberg

Treasury yields surged today…

Source: Bloomberg

30Y Yields spiked off the 2.00% level…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar held yesterday’s gains back into its tight range…

Source: Bloomberg

Yuan rebounded today after China’s gigantic liquidity injection…

Source: Bloomberg

Cryptos were broadly lower today with the notable outlier of Ripple surging early on…

Source: Bloomberg

Copper was higher today (China liquidity) but PMs and crude were knocked lower…

Source: Bloomberg

Palladium soared today back towards record highs…

Source: Bloomberg

WTI traded down below $50…quite a swing from the Soleimani killing and Iran missile strike highs…

Source: Bloomberg

And while traders show no fear whatsoever piling into the most expensive and most overbought stock market ever, global gold holdings in ETFs has risen to record highs…

Source: Bloomberg

And finally, we note that, just like during The Fed’s Y2K Liquidity splurge, Nasdaq has rebounded right on time…

Source: Bloomberg

It also seems like stocks have come to terms with Bernie getting the nod!!?? Or are they revelling in Iowa’s ‘good start’ at rigging it away from Sanders once again.

Source: Bloomberg

Business Finance

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

ii)Market data/USA

This is a very important data point (hard data): USA factory orders contineu year over year decline

(zerohedge)

US Factory Orders Continue Year-Over-Year Decline

After Boeing-battered durable goods orders data, but ISM Manufacturing surged by the most in 7 years, all eyes were on December’s Factory Orders data to break the tie on the real state of the US economy.

After a notable down revision for November (from -0,7% MoM to -1.2% MoM), December US Factory Orders rose 1/8% MoM (better than the 1.2% rise expected). That is the biggest MoM jump since Aug 2018.

However, on a year-over-year basis, factory orders remain lower (-0.4% YoY) for the 7 month in 2019…

Source: Bloomberg

For now it seems like the surveys over-reacted, but the overall trend of manufacturing hard data is not at all positive…

Source: Bloomberg

Sorry to say, hard data should trump soft data every time… but that’s not how the algos work.

iii) Important USA Economic Stories

It returns with a vengeance: Term Repo (permanent influx of cash) is oversubscribed. Ladies and Gentlemen, the crooks are running out of cash to be used as collateral in their crooked trades

(zerohedge)

Liquidity Panic Returns: Term-Repo Most Oversubscribed Since Start Of Repo Crisis As Fed Injects $94.5BN

Update: confirming that liquidity is indeed quite scarce to start the month of February, moments ago the Fed also conducted its overnight repo which saw a whopping $64.45BN in liquidity injected…

… and which together with the massively oversubscribed $30BN term repo discussed below, means the Fed has injected $94.45BN in liquidity for today’s market needs.

* * *

After several relatively uneventful reverse-repos to close off the month of January, which saw a gradual decline in submission, February has started off with a bang.

Even ahead of the results of today’s reverse repo, some traders were already closely watching to see how it would play out for one main reason: as we reported on Jan 14, this was the first “tapered” reverse repo, whose aggregate operation limit was shrunk modestly from $35BN to $30BN.

There were also some questions why the repo would be tapered by only $5BN when the Fed repeatedly said the liquidity injection via repo were just a temporary operation (one which ostensibly should have ended soon after the September repocalypse), and yet which to this day continues to be an integral part of the Fed’s balance sheet rebuild.

We got the answer moments ago, when the Fed announced that while the operation went off without a glitch, the demand for Fed liquidity was simply unprecedented, with $59.05BN in securities submitted ($41.75BN in TSYs, $17.3BN in MBS) for the downsized $30BN term repo maturing on Feb 18. As such, the nearly 2.0x submitted-to-accepted ratio made today’s repo the most oversubscribed since the first term repo issued at the depth of the September repo crisis (and not by much), which saw $62BN in submissions for $30BN in liquidity.

Ominously, the massive demand for term repo today means that the liquidity crisis that continues to percolate just below the surface of the market and has clogged up the critical plumbing within the US financial system, is getting worse, not better, and today’s massive oversubscription indicates that one or more entities continues to face a dire shortage of reserves, i.e., cash. As for what they are doing with that cash, one look at Tesla this morning may provide an answer.

iv) Swamp commentaries)

Chaos in Iowa as no results were announced..supporters of Bernie claim that the caucus was rigged aginst him

(zerohedge)

Chaos In Iowa: Thousands Of Furious Supporters Claim Iowa Caucus “Rigged” Against Bernie

Update (0725ET): Tuesday morning has arrived…and still no results.

* * *

Did the Iowa Democratic Party hire Morgan Stanley to build the vote-counting app for its first-in-the-nation caucus? Because last night’s catastrophe made the Facebook IPO look like an organized, orderly market debut.

After the party badly botched the rollout of the results of last night’s Iowa Caucus following “quality control issues” involving the transmission of data from caucus sites to the main reporting headquarters, millions are accusing the Democratic Party of once again trying to rig the nominating contest to favor establishment candidates while undermining the insurgent campaign of ‘Democratic Socialist’ Bernie Sanders.

This technical glitch has led to one of the most electoral catastrophes in recent memory: Roughly 8 hours after results were expected, there’s still nothing, and the entire process has been plunged into chaos. The issue erupted after the Iowa Democratic Party announced late Tuesday that it had found ‘inconsistencies’ in its electronic data, prompting them to audit it against the paper trail, according to NBC News.

Party chair Troy Price said the party is “validating every piece of data we have against our paper trail. That system is taking longer than expected, but it’s in place to ensure we are eventually able to report results with full confidence.”

The state Democratic party’s communications director, Mandy McClure, said on Monday night that there were “inconsistencies” in the reporting of three sets of results. “In addition to the tech systems being used to tabulate results, we are also using photos of results and a paper trail to validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report,” McClure said.

This is simply a reporting issue. The app did not go down, and this is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results,” McClure added.

Needless to say, polls released in recent weeks showed Bernie Sanders surging ahead, cementing him as the front-runner heading into the race. And then this glitch happens, allowing Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Joe Biden to steal the caucus-evening spotlight with the help of their cronies in the media.

After watching Democrats rig the 2016 primary in favor of Hillary Clinton, thousands have taken to twitter to express their frustration. If the caucus was an unmitigated disaster (made even more hilarious by the fact that all of the candidates invested months of their time and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to clinch the all-important first nominating contest), it was also a wellspring for political humor.

The main takeaway: Is it merely a coincidence that this epic confusion emerged after Bernie’s surge in the polls?

Quantian@quantian1

i am available for crisis PR consulting for a reasonable $25,000/month retainer. my advice consists of “don’t name your election transparency consultancy ‘Shadow Inc.’, even if you think the irony is amusing” https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1224567934259015680 …

southpaw@nycsouthpaw

A super PAC launched the app the state party adopted to tabulate the Iowa caucus results? And they named it Shadow? https://twitter.com/teddyschleifer/status/1224567459140620288 …

As millions wonder ‘what the hell happened?’, it appears a reporter with the New York Times has already sussed it out. And if her report is accurate, then instead of blaming the caucus disaster on ‘human error’, they should try ‘rank stupidity’.

While the party blamed the glitch on ‘human error’ (apparently, the party never bothered to train caucus volunteers or do a dry-run of its system) many are accusing the party of more election-rigging skullduggery as twitter sleuths quickly connected the company behind the Iowa Caucus app to Pete Buttigieg. As it turns out, it appears the company that developed the app (or rather, a company linked to the company that developed the app) was paid by the Buttigieg and Biden campaigns.

As the Iowa Caucus devolves into chaotic finger-pointing, markets are rallying (partly because Sanders has been preventing from declaring victory) and millions are wondering: Is this a harbinger for the rest of the process? Are we really heading toward a brokered convention that allows hundreds of super delegates to pretty much pick ‘Mike Bloomberg’ out of a hat.

END

Trump slams the Dems for the unmitigated disaster in Iowa..and we want these guys to run the country??

(zerohedge)

Trump Slams Dems’ “Unmitigated Disaster” In Iowa: “Nothing Works, Just Like They Ran The Country”

President Trump just can’t stop winning.

Not only did Dems fail to win enough Republican votes to call John Bolton to testify at the president’s impeachment trial in the Senate (which so far has attracted a tiny fraction of the attention paid to the Senate trial of former President Clinton), but in one of the greatest unforced errors in American political history, they also botched the Iowa caucus, helping to restore the widespread cynicism that permeated the 2016 contest.

And since Trump isn’t the kind of politician to resist taking a victory lap, he did just that Tuesday morning in a scathing tweet reminding Americans why they shouldn’t trust the Democrats to run the country.

Because the real winners of the Iowa Caucus was…the Republicans?

We suspect we haven’t heard the last about the Iowa caucus (which Trump won handily in 2016) from President Trump’s twitter feed. Tying the Iowa disaster to the botched rollout of the Obamacare exchanges in 2014 is exactly the political narrative that Trump and his team will need to deploy if they want to clinch a second term in November.

END

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

In his closing argument yesterday, Schiff made a new TDS high.

@DailyCaller: Adam Schiff: If Trump isn’t removed he “could offer Alaska to the Russians in exchange for support in the next election or decide to move to Mar-a-Lago permanently and leave Jared Kushner to run the country, delegating to him the decision whether they go to war.”

Chgo Trib’s ace columnist @John_Kass: Adam Schiff, Inspector Javert of Democratic impeachment, formally reveals himself to be a clown.

The Trump Trial closing arguments were largely political pap and recycled calumny. Senators now have 10 minutes each, ‘til Wednesday’s vote, to politicize the trial on the Senate floor.

Lindsey Graham: Senate Intelligence Committee will call Ukraine whistleblower

“The Senate Intel Committee under Richard Burr has told us that they will call the whistleblower… I want to understand how all this crap started,” he added…

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/lindsey-graham-senate-intelligence-committee-will-call-ukraine-whistleblower

@paulsperry_: Republicans are so fatuous. They think that just b/c they have the votes to acquit Trump, they don’t need to fully expose the intelligence ops Schiff & his staff ran against him. But ALL the operatives are STILL in place–at HPSCI, NSC & CIA–& they will cook up ANOTHER operation

Here is a long Twitter thread by ex-military intel officer Roscoe Davis that comprehensively explains why Teams Obama & Clinton went after Gen. Flynn first and then DJT. Davis claims that certain officials conspired to remove DJT appointees from the NSC and other positions and put Obama loyalists in them.

The beginning of the insurance policy was take down Gen Flynn at all costs…Flynn had his list of people he could rely on… and the purge was about to begin in the NSC. The holdovers had to get rid of Gen Flynn and that was the first piece of business in the insurance policy….

Remember the multi-million dollar command post that Obama bought days after leaving the White House minutes away from the Oval Office?… Barry had two T-3 fibers run into this house, put up walls around it, but I’ve yet to ever see the Obamas there?… You never saw them at this house. But who was living in this house? Obama’s longtime consigliere Valerie Jarrett…

Ezra Watnick-Cohen had provided proof of the Obama surveillance to HPSCI Chair @DevinNune. McMaster, however, was desperately working to fire him and replace him with Linda Weissgold. What a damn disaster she was…

McMaster was purging Trump loyalists and replacing them with anti-trumpers. One of the first moves McMaster made was move a former asst to Biden, whose office was next to the VP’s. The assistant was Eric Ciaramella, so McMaster moved him from the Eisenhower Building to the West Wing to McMasters outer office to serve as his “special assistant”…

https://twitter.com/RoscoeBDavis1/status/1224025151374839810

Hillary Clinton ended the practice of humble concessions: Goodwin

That launched the Russia, Russia, Russia hysteria — and it was highly contagious. Some Democrats began to talk of impeaching Trump before he was inaugurated… The minute one effort failed, another began. The pressure on Electoral College electors to switch their votes was succeeded by special counsel Robert Mueller who was succeeded by Ukraine. The allegations changed, but the goal remained the same. And still does… The impeachment dynamics illustrate how far the disease has spread…

Far greater is the cost to the national psyche. Political polarization in Washington is tearing America apart, and the bulk of the blame falls squarely on those who refuse to accept Trump as their president… https://t.co/QbBjMkh5DU

Has the FBI Been Lying about Seth Rich?

The FBI has previously given affidavits that it has no records regarding Seth Rich. A Freedom of Information request to the FBI which did not mention Seth Rich, but asked for all email correspondence between FBI Head of Counterterrorism Peter Strzok, who headed the investigation into the DNC leaks and Wikileaks, and FBI attorney Lisa Page, has revealed two pages of emails which do not merely mention Seth Rich but have “Seth Rich” as their heading. The emails were provided in, to say the least, heavily redacted form… https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/01/the-fbi-has-been-lying-about-seth-rich/

Responding to a FOIA request, the NSA said it won’t release its Seth Rich files (15 documents, 32 pages) due to national security. NSA letter at: http://lawflog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2018.10.04-Letter-from-NSA.pdf

TDS keeps making new highs! The following CNN story is NOT a parody!

Coronavirus task force another example of Trump administration’s lack of diversity

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/30/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-diversity-obama/index.html

Attachments area

Well that is all for today

I will see you Wednesday night.

FEB 4/ANOTHER RAID BY OUR CROOKED OFFICIAL SECTOR/BANKERS//GOLD DOWN $26.10//SILVER DOWN 9 CENTS/ TED BUTLER ON POSITION LIMITS FARCE/// TURMOIL IN IOWA/IT IS BACK: TERM REPO : FED ADDS 94 BILLION IN REPO MONEY///HUGE NUMBER OF CORONAVIRUS STORIES//AND SWAMP STORIES//

NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR FEB CONTRACT: 819 NOTICE(S) FOR 81900 OZ (2.5474 tonnes)

12 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR 60,000 OZ/

Bitcoin: OPENING MORNING TRADE : $ 9101 DOWN 180

Bitcoin: FINAL EVENING TRADE: $ 9203 DOWN 87

Let us have a look at the data for today

3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

3A//NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

3b) REPORT ON JAPAN

3C CHINA

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

6.Global Issues

7. OIL ISSUES

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES

9. PHYSICAL MARKETS

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

Let us head over to the comex:

Trading Volumes on the COMEX TODAY: 182,569 contracts??

CONFIRMED COMEX VOL. FOR YESTERDAY: 331,839 contracts

INITIAL standings for FEB/GOLD

Let us head over to the comex:

And now for silver

AND NOW THE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB.

INITIAL standings/SILVER

ii) Important gold commentaries courtesy of GATA/Chris Powell

Ted Butler: Another position limits farce from the CFTC

Another Position Limits Farce

New book, ‘Rigged,’ credits GATA as it explains currency market manipulation

U.S. finalizes rule to slap duties on countries that undervalue currencies

iii) Other physical stories:

US seeks halt in civil lawsuit accusing JP Morgan of manipulating metals market, citing criminal case

Federal judge tells traders they can combine cases accusing JP Morgan of rigging metals market

Justice Department stalls another class action in gold market rigging, this one against JPM

Your early TUESDAY morning currency, Asian stock market results, important USA/Asian currency crosses, gold/silver pricing overnight along with the price of oil Major stories overnight/7 AM EST

Mania Returns, Futures Soar After China Halts Selloff

3A/ASIAN AFFAIRS

3 a./NORTH KOREA/ SOUTH KOREA

Hyundai, Kia Factories Crippled In South Korea As Part Suppliers In China Remain Closed

b) REPORT ON JAPAN

3 C CHINA

US, China Stocks Surge Higher After PBOC Injects Another 400 Billion Yuan

China To Lower 2020 Economic Growth Expectations On Coronavirus Outbreak

President Xi Warns nCoV Outbreak ‘Threatens Stability’ As Top WHO Official Disputes ‘Pandemic’ Designation

Macau Orders All Casinos To Close For Two Weeks Over Virus Outbreak

【武漢肺炎】澳門今午起所有人必須佩戴口罩才可乘搭巴士

“The Impact Would Be Big” – Fears Rise Over iPhone Output As China Shutdown Continues

4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

Boris Johnson Must Decide Between Washington And Beijing

5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

Head Of Iran’s IRGC Operations In Syria Killed Near Aleppo

6.Global Issues

Discovery Of Coronavirus On Doorknob Of Infected Patient Sparks Transmission Concerns

4 Plagues Are Marching Across Asia Simultaneously: Coronavirus, African Swine Fever, H5N1 Bird Flu, & H1N1 Swine Flu

7. OIL ISSUES

8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES

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

Your closing bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates for TUESDAY: 12:00 PM

Closing Price for Oil, 4:00 pm/and 10 year USA interest rate:

USA trading today in Graph Form

Stocks Shrug Off Global Pandemic Fears As Gold ETF Holdings Hit Record High

Retail is getting sucked back in…

So it’s rug-pulling time for the big boys…

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

US Factory Orders Continue Year-Over-Year Decline

Liquidity Panic Returns: Term-Repo Most Oversubscribed Since Start Of Repo Crisis As Fed Injects $94.5BN

Chaos In Iowa: Thousands Of Furious Supporters Claim Iowa Caucus “Rigged” Against Bernie

Trump Slams Dems’ “Unmitigated Disaster” In Iowa: “Nothing Works, Just Like They Ran The Country”

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