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CARTEL CAPITULTATION WATCH
The DOW action is feeble. The PPT is huffing and puffing to little avail. All rallies failed today. After two downers in a row and a lousy week, it only managed to gain 8 to 10,047. The DOG continues to roll over and closed on its lows at 1879, down 7.
It’s Groundhog Day too when it comes to US economic reports. TWO MORE came in weaker than expected:
08:30 August Durable Goods reported (0.5%) vs. consensus (0.3%); ex-transportation 2.3% vs. consensus 0.8%
Prior Durable Goods reading revised to 1.8% from 1.6%; ex-Trans. revised to 0.0% from (0.2%).
* * * * *
10:00 August Existing Home Sales reported 6.54M vs. consensus 6.63M
Prior reading unrevised from 6.72M.
* * * * *
The Swiss gold sale press release was bullish this morning because they declared for the first time that when their 1300 tonne tranche is completed early next year, they will be done:
Zurich, 24 September 2004
Press release
Last tranche of gold sales
In spring 2000, the National Bank began selling that part of the gold reserves no longer required for monetary policy purposes. The sales — which will total 1,300 tonnes — have to date been effected according to the agreement on gold sales concluded between 15 European central banks in September 1999. This agreement will expire on 26 September 2004. The National Bank has so far sold 1,170 tonnes of gold.
It will put the remaining 130 tonnes of gold on the market by the end of March 2005. The sales will be carried out under the new agreement between the central banks agreed upon in March 2004 and scheduled to enter into force on 27 September 2004. The National Bank will adhere to its proven strategy of conducting the sales in regular transactions with prime institutions with which it already maintains business relations.
The sale of this last tranche concludes the National Bank’s move to sell gold holdings no longer required for monetary policy purposes. The National Bank has no plans for any further gold sales at this juncture.
-END-
Citibank has been a prominent member of The Gold Cartel over the years. They have now been banned from bond auctions in Japan for a month due to their duplicitous behavior. They should be banned from the US gold market for the same reason, along with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase.
9/24 Japan bans Citibank from bond auctions
TOKYO - Problems at Citibank mounted on Wednesday when it was barred from participating in Japanese government bond (JGB) auctions, a development that could further undermine its reputation in the country.
Japan's finance ministry said it would ban Citibank from participating in JGB auctions from Sept 29 onwards. The exclusion comes after the Financial Services Agency (FSA) last week ordered the bank to close its private banking business for a year.
Last Friday, the FSA said it was handing out the unusually severe punishment because the bank had failed to screen its clients properly or to take adequate measures against money-laundering.
An official in the finance ministry's bond division said on Wednesday night that the decision to exclude Citibank from the bond auctions was a direct consequence of last week's FSA penalties. He said the ban was likely to last at least one month, more severe than the standard punishment.
-- Financial Times
Houston’s Dan Norcini in an email back to me after my expressing the following to him on the gold market action this morning: "Blatant and disgusting. The only people who care or say anything about this nonsense is our camp and we get ridiculed."
Yes indeed Bill - that is what is so pathetic. I have really come around to the view that the average American (and I am including many of the self-appointed, so-called "experts" who make up the advisers in the gold community as well as the financial world at large) have completely lost the ability to make rational, sound and intelligent judgments. Perhaps it is the modern day education system which was foisted upon the public beginning in the early 1900's but we now have a generation here in America which simply cannot think clearly and has lost all capacity for unbiased, critical analysis.
To watch this day in and day out as many of us do and to witness the market reactions to various stimuli and other inputs and to observe the near total disconnect from economic reality is simply like entering some sort of carnival mirror hall where everything is distorted. Those who continue to deny official sector intervention into the markets, and I am going to be very blunt here, have forfeited any right to respect among thinking people. Quite simply - they are intellectual morons and should be treated as such. It is their comments and opinions that should be ridiculed and their persons treated with the scorn and contempt that is due to such mental pygmies.
What I have learned over the years is that given the choice, the vast majority prefer to believe a delusion rather than to embrace truth. History also confirms this. You will find that those who challenged the status quo were always held up to ridicule because they dared to take on an accepted "truth" (think Copernicus and Galileo for instance). When they brough forth convincing evidence to not only refute the contemporary view but to also establish the truth, then it was that the arsenal of the truth haters was unleashed against them. Today's world is no different than yesterday's world because human nature never changes in spite of technological advancement or acquisition of knowledge. Men, when confronted with proof of an assertion that upsets their cherished notions, prefer to initially dismiss it outright. Failure to stop the spread of the new idea then results in ad hominum attacks which attempt to ridicule the character of the one attacking the sacred cow.
What gives me comfort is knowing that ultimately truth will prevail. It always has although it seemingly appears to lose on the battlefield for long periods of time. What is taking place behind the scenes in these markets will come to light in a broader fashion in the months and years ahead of us. I can only say that those of us who have had to endure the mocking of the vociferous neanderthals who like drug addicts remain in a state of denial about these things, will be vindicated at the last. I for one think it is a good idea to record the pompous pontifications of those who ridicule the notion of official sector intervention into financial markets. For now their tongues parade through the earth and they glory in their idiocy. A day is coming when we will have the distinct pleasure of observing them choking on the worthless drivel that has proceeded from their lips.
Dan
First problems in Peru for Newmont, now Indonesia:
Indonesian police hold Australian Newmont manager
JAKARTA, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Indonesian police have detained an Australian executive from a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , the fifth employee to be held over pollution allegations, a company spokesman said on Friday.
The unit's American president has also been called in for questioning over accusations the Minahasa gold mine has polluted the waters of Buyat Bay and made people ill.
Denver-based Newmont, the world's largest gold miner, has strenuously denied the accusations by villagers in North Sulawesi province.
The case has alarmed foreign miners over the growing difficulty of doing business in Indonesia's outlying regions. Investment in the sector has slumped over vague regulations, illegal mining and tough environmental rules.
"So far, five of our employees are being detained by the police in Jakarta," said Kasan Mulyono, a spokesman for PT Newmont Minahasa Raya in Jakarta….
-END-
The following tends to corroborate what informed Café sources have been feeding us concerning China:
Good morning Bill
You used to have regular clips of Bob Chapman's "International Forecaster" report in you Midas reports. He disappeared and the reports stopped. He resurfaced about a year ago and publishes a part of his weekly (more or less) report on his website. Part of the report is precious metals; below is an extract which you may find interesting, and may (or not) correlate with what you know.
A news flash on CNBC at 0811, just after the UK market open stated that the Swiss Nat Bank would sell its remaining 130 tonnes of gold (presumably the balance of the total authorised by the 1999 Washington Agreement) by the end of April 2005. Didn't move the gold price at all.
"Last week we reported on the aspirations of the Chinese to get the average Chinese into gold in order to dump dollars and to bring some sanity to its mega-overheated economy and mega-inflation. The Chinese government could very well have been accumulating gold over the past several months, getting rid of dollars in the process, for the eventuality of being a major player in the gold market. Our sources say they have been very big buyers in the New York market, especially on openings when the cartel tries to drive the gold price down almost every day. The Asian markets are too thin to buy in size, so they have to buy in New York.
Rumor has it that China took delivery of 1,000 tons of gold last week."
Best wishes
Ian
More from Ian in England:
Good afternoon Bill
Earlier this afternoon I was on Instant Messenger with a friend of mine who is part owner of firm of trading advisors (who also run their own positions). He is exceptionally smart and has developed a proprietary charting/trading tool. He also makes a lot of money trading and has that rare combination of clarity of thought and lack of emotion when it comes to trading. On top of that he is a nice guy.
My reason for contacting him was to confirm that his chart interface programme was still valid for the new real time data feed I will be using, so I took the opportunity to ask where he thought we are at and where we are going marketwise. Without any prompting on my part his short, succinct answer was:
After the election everyone focuses on US debt, the DIA halves, the US$ falls off the cliff and gold soars.
All the best
Ian
Spot on in my book:
Bill,
The more cockroaches that crawl out of the house of Fannie, the more this situation reminds of the way in which Enron unraveled. I vividly remember shorting Enron in the low 40's, but not expecting it to be the empty shell that it really was. It's stunning to me that there has been no focus on FNM's off-balance-sheet accounting maneuvers, even though the Enron precedence should still be fresh in everyone's mind. The parallel's between ENE and FNM are startling. But what really scares me is the fact that the Company felt compelled to hire Stanley Sporkin and the board felt compelled to hire Warren Rudman. It truly feels to me like the fleas have jumped off the dying dog carcass and vultures are circling. I hope for our economic way of life my instincts are overactive right now, but watch gold/silver do a moon shot if I'm right.
Dave in DC
At least I have a pulse:
Marilyn,
My role is Investor Relations at Radius. Simon Ridgway is currently in the bush in Nicaragua. Sorry your investment hasn't worked out the way you hoped. The Pila / Radius situation was something that had to be addressed at some point. The larger shareholders -many of whom held positions in both Radius and Pila- had made it very clear that they found the situation very confusing. We were under pressure to streamline the companies, cut costs and rationalise the management of the 2 companies. As you are now a Radius shareholder, you can hopefully draw some comfort from the quality of the assets we have. Yesterday's deal with Meridian should give some indication of how good the Radius projects are, and we hope that this will eventually be reflected in the share price. I trust you've had words with your broker.... As for GATA, if I subscribed to their opinions I'd be happy to post the report. Sadly, neither myself nor Simon are particularly convinced by Bill Murphy's rather heated articles. If he was more measured and used less exclamation marks I might have more time for him. And frankly, some of the commentary is too technical by half even for someone with a reasonable understanding of the gold mining business. In short, from our perspective -and granted it might be short sighted- the market will do what the market will do. Our job is to focus on finding the resources that the industry will need tomorrow and not to get caught up in worrying about today's short or long contract trades. Please feel free to call me at any time. I'm happy to talk about Radius and will try to answer any questions you have. regards
Ralph Rushton
VP Corporate Development
Radius Gold Inc.
RalphR@Goldgroup.com
Love Marilyn Guinnane’s continuous efforts. What a dogged spirit1 She can be reached at:
maguinnane@cs.com
Australia’s Sid Reynolds (The Doc) has been one of GATA’s mainstay supporters for many years from Down Under. He has always spoken his mind and done what he could to get out our agenda into the public domain. His summary of GATA’s efforts is posted at The Matisse Table: 10/28 Sid Reynolds - Gold Price Manipulation.
A couple of days ago he sent me the following note in response to recent MIDAS commentaries:
G'day Bill,
I forgot to congratulate you and the boys on the great interview with Jim Puplava. I've forwarded it to many friends.
Your interview also got me thinking...
All this silence from analysts, producers and WGC in response to Embry can't be a coincidence.
-Clearly they aren't brain-dead (too much of coincidence).
-Maybe they're all corrupt, and secretly anti-gold (nah... too much of coincidence... although the jury is still out on WGC and some analysts).
-Maybe the anti-gold crowd are in their ear the whole time, about the "loonies at GATA". That amazing statement by Newmont about Gartman being a respected commentator has me highly suspicious that they are being influenced in some way by people who are anti-gold. But is it possible that the anti-gold crowd, could be in regular contact with all the gold producers? Possible but unlikely, especially since the few who are pro-GATA don't seem to have reported being badgered by the anti-gold mob... else Midas would have reported it.
-I've already stated previously that by elimination the gold producers must be scared (eg reference to latest Harry Potter book where the Wizard media are so scared of return of Dark Lord that they choose to put head in sand and deny its existence). But why are they scared, when GATA and friends regularly speak out?
Re the analysts: who knows, maybe they've been individually
bribed/bullied to avoid GATA
Re WGC: again who knows, but the fact they also rely on GFMS, and still
have some support from heavy hedgers, makes me think these hedgers are in their ear all the time, influencing policy.
3) Re the producers: Now here's an interesting mob. Put yourself in their shoes, if they were to publicly speak out against the US government, the government could life very difficult for them because they are companies (rather than individuals like GATA... well almost) and companies can be given a really hard time. For example, our little old harmless gold stock at Charters Towers wanted a friendly take over of one its existing shareholders (mutually beneficial deal), and ASIC (our equivalent of your SEC), used all sorts of delaying tactics for months - they even have a special takeover panel who investigated the whole deal. All these delays not only irritated our directors, but also irritated shareholders, who took it out on not ASIC, but the hapless directors!... Anyway the point I'm making is that I reckon is that directors of gold producers are terrified of upsetting governments if they publicly criticise them. Sure if they spoke out there might be some run of the gold price, but what's the point if the government then punishes you with never-ending enquiries and delays and even suspending share trading and making up some story to justify it? Gold could double, and the stock price could do nothing.
