Thai Guru's Gold und Silber ... (Informationen und Vermutungen)

14:01Fed's Beige Book reports that economy expanded at a moderate pace through 2/28
The Beige Book for the 3/22 meeting says that the economy expanded in all districts, and that prices for consumer goods were mixed but relatively flat. The report appears to be little change from recent Beige Books. Seeing little movement in stocks or bonds on the report.
* * * * *

Gold demand news … The Gold Cartel’s worst nightmare – coming drainage of physical gold supply:

Jewellers spot gold in mainland
JIANG JINGJING,China Business Weekly staff
2005-03-09 09:43

"No diamond rings, no marriages."

That is how jewellery industry insiders describe the sector's market potential in China.

The jewellery sector has experienced double-digit growth which has coincided with the growth in China's economy and the rise in people's living standards in recent years.

Jewellery firms, from both the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, are seizing every opportunity to reinforce their positions in the market.

Chow Tai Fook, the largest jewellery producer in Hong Kong, plans to open 100-120 outlets in the Chinese mainland this year.

Chow Sang Sang, another famous Hong Kong brand, plans to open 40-60 outlets.

3D-Gold Jewelry said it plans to own 1,000 stores in 100 cities. The firm has opened 200 outlets in the past five years.

-END-

Rhody with some insight on the rigging:

Good morning Bill:
I had an interesting time at the PDAC in Toronto yesterday. I met many interesting people, did a little mineral specimen swapping, and renewed acquaintances. The presentations were excellent. For the first time, gold and silver advanced strongly while I was at the PDAC, in contrast to all past years when both metals were tanked.

Lease rates were not roiled yesterday, but they are this morning. Silver rates advanced strongly across all terms, implying capping efforts today.

Gold remains in backwardation right out to the six month term but at low rates. This also implies major leasing to cap gold spot prices with central banks opening the lease spigots full to provide cheap liquidity. The parallel between the lease rate curve inverted to cool down the gold market even as rates overall remain low and the tendency toward an inverted yield curve in the bond market to control inflation is obvious. Just as lease rates in the bullion markets are low, so are interest rates in the paper debt markets.

Artificially low rates in both bullion and paper debt markets imply financial instability.
Regards, Rhody.

http://www.kitco.com/market/lfrate.html

Houston’s Dan Norcini was kind enough to send his insightful commentary on the CRB and gold to us. It shows you in stark detail the degree to which The Gold Cartel has rigged the gold market. AND, allow me to add, the central banks probably have less than half the gold in their vaults than they had when the CRB was last above 300.

Bill and Jesse:
Take a look at these monthly closing price CRB levels and the monthly closing spot gold price to see the actual numbers were gold should conceivably be trading at a bare minimum. The months listed below are the only time when the CRB was above the 300 level. The lowest gold price was 591.30 and that occurred as the CRB was definitely on the way down due to the spike in interest rates brought about by Volcker to knock it down. Every other time the CRB had a handle of "3" in front of it, gold was over $600/ounce.

Today's close on the CRB was 309.25 - London PM spot Gold price - 437.25 (New York Comex $441.10) - depending on how you measure it; gold should be anywhere from $591/ounce - $647/ounce, and that does not even include adjusting it for the dollar's loss of purchasing power in the last 25 years.

............................CRB.......Spot Gold

6/30/1980
286.40
647.4

7/31/1980
302.30
619.7

8/29/1980
308.40
635

9/30/1980
319.40
671.5

10/31/1980
327.10
636

11/28/1980
334.80
624.6

12/31/1980
308.50
591.3

Absolutely pathetic isn't it?
Dan

The spin coming from the establishment on the inflation front is out of control and emanates from almost all quarters. I caught CNBC briefly and heard one economist (Yardeni) say how the surge in commodity prices was terrific for US financial markets and our economy as it reflected surging growth around the world. Then, this similar commentary from the New York Times:

Published Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Surging Prices for Commodities Reflect Global Growth

By JONATHAN FUERBRINGER
New York Times

Commodity prices are nearing record highs - but there may be less to worry about than investors think.

While higher commodity prices have often been a worrisome portent of inflation, those concerns have been overshadowed by the other significance of the rise - that economic growth is picking up in areas around the world.

Some analysts also say that the impact of these higher commodity prices on inflation will be muted.

The rise "reflects booming activity in the Asian developing world and on balance, that means the global economy is doing better than we thought," said Robert J. Barbera, chief economist at ITG/Hoenig.

Yet after a closely watched index of commodities rose to a 24-year high yesterday, doubts about this upbeat interpretation emerged in the markets. As the prices of crude oil, home heating oil and copper, all components of the commodity index, neared their record highs, the stock market slumped and Treasury prices fell, sending yields higher…

The CRB/Reuters index of 17 commodities climbed 1.1 percent, to 312.65, not far from its 314.50 high in January 1981. In the last year, the index has risen 15 percent, with most of that coming in the last month….

Still, for investors, the rise in commodity prices, especially for industrial materials, is positive right now because it is a sign that the global economy is healthy, which is good for the American economic recovery.

As for their inflationary impact, Mr. Barbera, the economist, argues that it should be much weaker than in the past. One reason for this, he said, is that the industrial commodities are being used in low-wage countries, like China and others in Asia, to make products that can sell for less elsewhere in the world, mitigating the inflationary pressure.

To support his argument, he notes that the prices of consumer goods, excluding food and energy, have climbed just 0.9 percent in the last 12 months through January. In that same time period, the CRB/Reuters index of raw industrial commodities has climbed 4.8 percent.

"So the inflation link is tenuous at best," he said. "I don't see the big inflation associated with this."

-END-

Which brings us back to rigging the gold price. If the price of gold were screaming right now, the pundit on CNBC and this New York Times reporter would be forced to sing a different tune.

The third rule of the low-lifes in The Gold Cartel is after they cap the market like they did today, they take gold down in the ACCESS market to influence trading. Like yesterday, they are at it again as I go to print. Gold is down $1.40. So far all that happened today, which should have sent the gold price through the roof, gold is up a net of 30 cents. The "SCANDALE" grows like Pinocchio’s nose.

The gold shares sold off as they usually do late in the day. The XAU ended only .56 higher to 102.83, while the HUI dropped from 227.18 at its high to close at 224.72, up only 1.01.

While a very aggravating day, the big picture scenario for the Mount St. Helen’s gold and silver volcano to blow sky high continues to electrify the skyline. The bums are in big trouble. One of these days in the near future, they are going to get theirs – in spades!

Gold, silver and the shares remain THE historic investment opportunity of a lifetime.

GATA BE IN IT TO WIN IT!

MIDAS

Appendix

Thanks to so many who took the time to email Bloomberg’s Caroline Baum. This retort came in last night to Café member Brad T:

"did you folks just have a convention or something? i got about 6 notes from
conspiracy theorists in succession. go feed off one another."

MANY more of you emailed today, including me with a copy to Bloomberg’s gold reporter, Claudia Carpenter (no response as of yet, of course):

March 9, 2005

Dear Ms. Baum,
You are a highly regarded journalist and I assume a staunch believer that we have a free press in America. That is not the case when it comes to the gold market. You trivialize six years of documented evidence by GATA that the gold market is managed in clandestine fashion to the detriment of our so-called free markets - and to the benefit of the major bullion banks in the US. You do so without knowing the facts.

I realize you have much on your plate and don't have time to deal with all those facts. However, if you are so sure of yourself, why won't you, or Bloomberg, let what GATA has discovered be presented to your readership, along with dissenting views? I wrote the following in my commentary at http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/ last evening which covers eminent financial market people around the world who say GATA is correct.

Would you at least take the time to see who they are and respond to GATA's challenge?

All the best,

BILL MURPHY
CHAIRMAN
GOLD ANTI-TRUST ACTION COMMITTEE

March 8

After many of the mainstreamers in the gold industry, my biggest beef is with the US financial press and those in our government running around the world promoting democracy when we don’t even have a FREE financial market press in the US, nor do we have FREE financial markets. This particular rant touches on the lack of free press and I am going to focus on a highly regarded Bloomberg journalist, Caroline Baum, and Bloomberg itself.

Six years ago this coming June, Bloomberg gold reporter Claudia Carpenter came to a luncheon GATA gave in New York in which I explained to the attendees what GATA uncovered and what we had to say. The word GATA has not been mentioned once before then, or since, by Bloomberg. Not mentioned once even though we have received focused commentary on us by:

*Oleg V. Mozhayskov, Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, who bluntly brought GATA to the attention of the mainstream gold world. Mozhayskov delivered the keynote address at the London Bullion Dealers Conference in Moscow on June 4th 2004. His speech was delivered in Russian. The only words he mentioned in English were Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (or GATA).

*Sprott Asset Management in Toronto, which released its own publication in August 2004, "Not Free, Not Fair: The Long-Term Manipulation of the Gold Price," confirming GATA's work.

*Eckart Woertz, vice president of CFC Securities in Dubai, for the Gulf Research Center, who just last week published a study, "The Role of Gold in the Unified Gulf Cooperation Council Currency," by his research foundation in Dubai. The report endorsed the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee's findings that Western central and commercial banks have rigged the gold market and have much less gold than they claim to have and so are vulnerable to rising demand for gold.

Yet, not one word from Bloomberg, who wouldn’t even mention our GATA African Gold Summit in Durban, South Africa, attended by 5 sub-Saharan gold producing nations, the SA Reserve Bank, trade unions, SA gold producers, etc. The South African Broadcasting Company featured us two days running. Bloomberg? Nothing!

***

The Korelin Economics Report Discusses Putting Recent Gold Price Levels into Inflationary Perspective with Neil McMillan

http://www.kereport.com

Neil McMillan, President of gold producer Claude Resources (AMEX "CGR" and TSE "CRJ"), joined Paul and I on the latest edition of The Korelin Economics Report. Our discussion with Neil gave credence to the argument that gold could very easily be trading in the four figure range sooner rather than later. This becomes apparent when one adjusts the 1980 price of gold for inflation and brings it up to the present day. If you missed the show last weekend, check out our segment with Neil by going to http://www.kereport.com and clicking on Segment 5.

In another segment, we continued our discussion of the effect of Petrodollars on decisions within the international community with Jim Willie of The Hat Trick Letter. Jim brought out some thought provoking ideas, which could explain political relationships around the world and their effects on commodity pricing. Jim’s discussion gave us serious thought about what Bill Murphy and the folks at GATA have to say about gold price manipulation. We will be taking this up with Bill on next week’s show.

Jay Taylor discussed Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker’s recent candid statements concerning the U.S. economy in another segment of the show. If you think that everything is coming up rosy in the financial world, listen to what Jay has to say.

We also followed up last week’s report on Northern Dynasty Minerals with Lawrence Roulston. Great timing as Lawrence alerted listeners to the new resource estimate of Northern Dynasty just shortly after the press release came out. Lawrence began following this company before anyone else so we feel that has the best ideas to share with our listeners as to its future potential.

Paul and I wrapped up the show with a discussion of two new debt "opportunities" available to consumers. Listen to this segment and perhaps you, like other listeners, will send us an e-mail to thank us for keeping you out of them.

* * * * * * *

Alexander Korelin is the co-host of The Korelin Economics Report along with Paul Warren. This program is syndicated nationally on Talkstar and can also be listened to on the Internet by going to http://www.kereport.com and clicking on "recent programs". Guests pay no fees to appear on the program and neither Mr. Korelin nor Mr. Warren own any stock in the companies discussed unless it is fully disclosed.

March 10 – Gold $442.10 up 40 cents – Silver $7.48 down 11 cents

Why The Historic Gold/CRB Comparison To Today Is So Important

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth - not going all the way, and not starting...Buddha

GO GATA!

Even the newest of Café members (the ones paying attention to the markets) have to now realize why GATA continues to make a fuss about the rigging of the gold price. Rarely in a one week period has The Gold Cartel’s price manipulation been so blatant this many days in a row. Each time you think it can’t get worse, it does.

It is important to keep in mind the richest and most powerful people in America are stealing from you in violation of every principle our country is supposed to stand for. Not only are they insulting you and swiping your money, these Orwellian bums are easing our once great country down a very dark path.

Last night was wild. Naturally, the cabal goon squad took gold down as usual in the Kangaroo trading hours. This time to the tune of $2. Then, out of nowhere, the dollar was slaughtered on this comment:

Dollar Declines After Koizumi Says Japan May Diversify Reserves

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar dropped against the euro and the yen in Asia after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Japan ``in general'' needs to consider diversifying the investment of its foreign reserves.

The dollar weakened to $1.3438 against the euro at 11:26 a.m. in Tokyo from $1.3392 late yesterday in New York, according to electronic currency-dealing system EBS. Against the yen it fell to 103.85 from 103.93. –END-

Good grief. Should the Japanese become leery of funding our growing debt in the US, interest rates will go through the roof. There is NO WAY that would not occur. Not only was the dollar battered, the bonds also tanked on the news. However, gold was not allowed to go up on the session. All rallies were stopped cold by the same crooks. The fact that the euro was up over .60 meant nothing. Once again we see how the key to gold is NOT what the dollar does. It is what the corrupt cabal is able to pull off versus a surging physical gold market.

Well, the financial brass in Japan must have croaked after hearing of their Prime Minister’s comment. As in the case of the Koreans, they must have received phone calls from the US Treasury within minutes to retract the truth and start lying like the US does in order to stop a run on the dollar and bonds. Voila, shortly thereafter:

Japan repeats no plan to switch reserves to euro

TOKYO, March 10 (Reuters) - Japan reiterated on Thursday that it has no plan to divert its huge foreign currency reserves out of dollars and into euros, playing down earlier comments by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

"We have no plan to change the composition of currency holdings in the foreign reserves and we are not thinking about switching dollar reserves to euro holdings," a senior finance ministry official told Reuters.

He said Koizumi's earlier comments on the need to have diversity in the reserves were referring to general issues such as having diversity in asset types among each currency composition in the reserves by considering its stability, liquidity and profitability. –END-
03-09-05 2204ET

Japan MOF Tanigaki: Must Be Very Cautious On FX Reserves

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said Thursday that the government must be very cautious when discussing the issue of the nation's foreign exchange reserves portfolio.

"With (foreign exchange) reserves this large, we must consider various factors, and we must take serious consideration of the markets as well," Tanigaki told reporters after an Upper House budget committee session.

"We have been very cautious in the decisions we have taken on foreign exchange reserves," he added.

Tanigaki was speaking shortly after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told a parliamentary committee that in general, it is better to diversify investments.

The finance minister said the prime minister's remarks may have been taken as meaning there has been a change in Japan's policy regarding foreign reserves...

-END-

Forget what the Asians are putting out for public consumption. What is key in my book is all the smoke coming out of Asia. The original comments re the dollar by the Koreans and Japanese were no accident. A blind man can see where the dollar is headed. The only question is how the Asians reduce their dollar holdings, when, and how to do so in a manner which doesn’t spook the entire world financial system. You can be sure this is just what they are planning to do to some degree and, regardless of their modus operandi, it IS GOING to have a major impact on US financial markets the rest of this year.

There was no point in watching gold today as I knew it had NO CHANCE of going up much. Not after the way the crooks have been going after it. An atom bomb could go off and it wasn’t going to go up during this trading session. Meanwhile, the CRB rose ANOTHER 1.45 to 315.15 - led by soybeans, coffee and OJ – for the zillionth day in a row. Look at these charts. One moon shot after another:

April CRB
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/RB/45

May soybeans
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/SB/55

March OJ
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/OJ/35

March coffee
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/CF/35

But, there is no inflation!

Most of you know GATA put out a press release today on Dan Norcini’s outstanding CRB/gold work presented in last evening’s MIDAS. Reuters picked it up for a change. Bloomberg ignored it, naturally. I also sent my Wednesday commentary around the internet to give Dan’s revelations as much exposure as possible.

What Dan has brought to our attention is a BIG DEAL for many reasons. First, let me step back in time. I first became interested in gold when I met my friend Frank Veneroso at the Miami airport in January 1996 as he was passing through on the way back from South America. He had just finished a bullion report in which he stated that on a commodity basis alone the fair price of gold was $600. At the time it was trading around $390. This caught my attention. Not long after, gold was shooting up, to $417 as I recall, when The Gold Cartel went into action to bury the price. The cabal went after it with a vengeance from that point on for some time, eventually taking it all the way down to $252.

I was not a happy camper. At first, I kept thinking how could Frank be so wrong? I had seen him nail market after market over the years; including bonds, copper, cattle, the US stock market, etc. Anyway, I figured he would be right sooner or later. Usually is, so I stuck with it.

Naturally, that is one of the fascinations I have with what Dan brought to our attention:

.........................CRB.......Spot Gold

6/30/1980

286.40

647.4

7/31/1980

302.30

619.7

8/29/1980

308.40

635

9/30/1980

319.40

671.5

10/31/1980

327.10

636

11/28/1980

334.80

624.6

12/31/1980

308.50

591.3

Why is this such a big deal? The way I see it:

*For years I have been yapping in my MIDAS commentary that the fair price of gold is north of $600 per ounce. Part of my reasoning was from what Frank wrote nearly a decade ago about the commodity case for gold alone (not including any extra investment demand). This CRB/gold report establishes another obvious reason why the price of gold should be north of $600.

*GATA has accumulated volumes upon volumes of various bits of evidence which all lead to the same conclusion: the gold market is rigged by a Gold Cartel. We also know how they have done it via their flooding the market with central bank gold, lent/swapped out in surreptitious fashion. While this evidence would be strong enough for a prosecutor to get a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt if it were a capital murder case, much of that evidence is complicated and very detailed. It is difficult for many to wade through. However, this simple historic comparison of gold to the CRB and their relationship now says it all. Anyone can easily comprehend something is very wrong here.

The ONLY logical explanation is the price of gold is unnaturally low and artificially suppressed by some force.

*The more people who see this historic CRB/gold comparison the better because it will cause them to ask for an explanation from the retards in the mainstream gold analyst world. Of course, any explanation other than the gold price is rigged will make no sense, which will lead to GATA, which can lead to The Gold Cartel being found out by the entire investment world. Once this happens, checkmate. The bums will be carried out on GATA’s stretchers.

For example, it will create queries such as what Dan N brings to our attention:

That GATA release sure is making the rounds Bill. That's good news for us.

I have been thinking a lot about the inflation factor. Some of the commentary I have been reading attempts to adjusts the current CRB index reading with the 1980 levels and basically says that it really is not all that high when inflation is factored in, just like the story I just sent you about gasoline prices.

The problem with that argument, the way I see it, is twofold. First - why then has gold not reflected an inflation adjusted price itself in today's dollars? That would easily put it over $600 or higher. Four hundred dollar an ounce gold in today's dollars is probably something like $200-$250 in 1980 dollar terms. Secondly - if inflation is that big of a problem that the dollar has lost so much of its purchasing power since then, why hasn't gold, which is the ultimate inflation hedge and store of value risen to compensate for the debauching of the dollar and traded considerably higher than its 1980 levels?

Let those brainiacs figure that one out.
Dan

US gasoline price breaks $2 a gallon, AAA says

NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - The average price American drivers pay for a gallon of regular gasoline rose above $2.00 on Thursday for the first time since autumn, the AAA motor club said.

The average price at the pumps for regular gasoline across the U.S. rose to $2.003 a gallon from the $1.993 a gallon on Wednesday, according to AAA.

That's about a nickel below AAA's highest recorded price of $2.054 posted on May 26, 2004.

Prices for mid-grade gasoline averaged $2.126 a gallon while drivers using premium to fuel up their cars were paying $2.204 a gallon, according to the survey which is based on daily credit card swipes at more than 60,000 stations around the country.

Recent price rises in gasoline have tracked soaring crude oil costs, as energy demand increased from western countries and the developing giants such as China and India. Crude oil costs account for about half the price of gasoline.

On Tuesday, the U.S. government projected that gasoline prices will hit a new record high this spring, reaching a national monthly average of $2.15 a gallon.

During the busy 2005 driving season, which runs from April through September, gasoline will average $2.10 a gallon, up 20 cents from the same period last year, the Energy Information Administration said in its monthly energy forecast.

While prices are near record levels in nominal terms, they remain
well-below the $3 peak hit in 1981 when adjusted for inflation.

-END-

*You can present the CRB/gold dichotomy to your gold companies and explain to the CEO just how much The Gold Cartel is ripping them off, both the company and their shareholders. If this latest revelation doesn’t wake and shake them up, nothing will. Consider them both hopeless and an of airhead mentality.

I see gold closed up a whopping 40 cents with the CRB up sharply (even with oil DOWN $1.25!) and the dollar slightly lower. The euro rose .31 to 134.31. The gold farce worsens and still the dummies in the mainstream gold world refuse to confront the facts and the truth. They are beyond contempt. The gold open interest rose 5958 contracts to 302,293. Investors, seeing commodity prices go berserk and the dollar and bond market under pressure, are innocently (and rightly so) buying gold which seems a prudent thing to do in this environment, especially since it is under priced by more than $200 per ounce.

However, no matter how much buying shows up, The Gold Cartel sellers say no way is gold going to be allowed to go up because they have rigged the market. After all, they believe they own the Casino and have the right to make their own rules – anti-trust laws and free markets be damned. What a bunch of sickos!

Clearly, the bums are waiting for ANYTHING to go their way for an excuse to take gold down from these levels. Should the dollar hiccup and rally, they will go all out to press the gold price lower, bringing the floor locals as sellers with them as they both attack the specs.

The only chance we have short-term is the buggers get buried because the dollar really tanks and they lose control of their capping for the time being. Tomorrow we have a January trade number which might do it. Expectations are for it to come in around unchanged at the $56.5 billion level. Oil rose during that month and we know the US consumer was piling on more debt via the recent consumer credit number, so one would think we should get a higher number than expected.

Silver was bopped. I have no clue why. The silver open interest rose 1079 contracts to 103,039.

The John Brimelow Report

Why has gold not gone up more?

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Indian ex-duty premiums: AM $6.32, PM $7.71, with world gold at $441.85 and $440.70. Ample, and lavish, for legal imports. The rupee closed at a gold-import facilitating one month high today, amidst reports of continuing strong inflows to the stock market.

Japan continues to stand aside. TOCOM volume fell 56% to equal only 15,002 Comex lots; the active contract fell 1 yen. World gold, however, went out $1.75 above the NY close at $441.75. Open interest edged up the equivalent of 1,039 Comex lots to equal 98,788 NY contracts; Mitsubishi’s data implies that the public added 0.4 tonnes to its long. (NY yesterday traded 57,384 contracts. Open interest leapt another 5,967 lots – 19.2 tonnes – to 302,302.)

Gold rejected a fairly serious effort to break it down in NY yesterday. ScotiaMocatta reports:

"Gold… backed off to 439.80/440.30 by the time New York opened…selling from overseas sources forced the metal to the session low of 438.70/439.20 where funds appeared on the buy side…It appeared as if there were good scale up sell orders in the market, however, constant fund interest managed to take gold to a new high for 2005 of 442.20/442.70 before slipping back to 441.70/442.20at the close."

In the last twelve business days, gold has risen $15.80 ( 3.6%) and open interest has gone up 38,393 contracts – 14.7% or 120.66 tonnes.

Houston commodities trader Dan Norcini raises an interesting point:

"The months listed below are the only time when the CRB was above the 300 level. The lowest gold price was 591… Every other time the CRB had a handle of "3" in front of it, gold was over $600/ounce…Today's close on the CRB was 309.25 - London PM spot Gold price - 437.25 (New York Comex $441.10) - depending on how you measure it; gold should be anywhere from $591/ounce - $647/ounce.

In essence, something funny has happened to the gold market. And clearly, as the open interest surge demonstrates, a large seller is currently preventing gold from joining the general commodity party. Unfortunately from the seller’s point of view, the doggedly resilient physical market refuses to allow a sentiment-shattering decline. A move to new multi year highs seems inevitable.

JB

CARTEL CAPITULATION WATCH

The DOW rose 46 to 10,852. Liquidity rules the day and the US stock market.

The DOG gave up 2 to 2060.

US economic news:

08:30 Jobless claims for week ended 3/5 reported 327K vs. consensus 310K
Prior week unrevised from 310K.
* * * * *

10:16 US Treasury Secretary Snow reaffirms commitment to strong dollar - Reuters
* * * * *
US Treasury's Snow repeats strong dollar policy

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow on Thursday repeated his support for a strong dollar and said the United States remained the safest place for world investors to put their money.

"The U.S. remains the best, safest, most secure place to invest in the world. That is reflected in the fact that we are the leading reserve currency by far," Snow told a Bloomberg Radio interview.

"We continue to reaffirm, and always will, the strong dollar. It is clearly in the nation's interest," he said.

-END-

This Charlie McCarthy routine of his really becomes more inane by the month. Who is he kidding? The US fiscal situation is DETERIORATING, not improving.

The dollar is an avalanche waiting to happen. The only support for his strong dollar policy is the US rigging the gold price. Snow’s rhetoric is laughable. At least he is consistent.

10:00 Jan Wholesale Inventories reported 1.1% vs. consensus 0.6%
Prior reading was 0.4%.
* * * * *

14:00 Feb. Monthly Budget deficit reported $113.9B vs. consensus $100B
* * * *

U.S. February budget deficit swells to $113.94 bln

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - The United States posted a $113.94 billion February budget deficit, above median Wall Street forecasts and more than the shortfall for the same month last year.

The February deficit, reported on Thursday in the U.S. Treasury Department's monthly budget statement, exceeded the $96.70 billion budget deficit in February 2004. It was the largest deficit on record for the month of February, the Treasury Department said.

Wall Street analysts polled by Reuters had forecast, on average, a $95 billion budget deficit in February, though forecasts ranged from $85 billion to $115 billion. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan budget watchdog, had forecast February's deficit at $115 billion.

-END-

This couldn’t have helped the January trade deficit either:

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- China's export growth gathered pace in the first two months, resulting in a trade surplus for the period, as companies such as Motorola Inc. shipped more mobile phones and other electronics to the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Exports rose 37 percent from a year earlier to $95.3 billion after climbing 33 percent in December, the customs bureau said on its Web site. Imports increased 8.3 percent to $84.2 billion and the trade surplus reached $11.1 billion.

The trade gap, which rebounded from a $7.9 billion deficit a year earlier, is fueling calls for China to revise its decade-old currency peg, which the U.S. and Japan say helps Chinese exporters by keeping the yuan's value artificially low. Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said yesterday that the government is considering dropping the yuan's peg to the dollar in favor of a link to a basket of currencies.

``We are now building China into a manufacturing as well as a research and development base,'' said Christina Li, a Beijing- based spokeswoman for Motorola Inc., the world's No. 2 mobile- phone maker. ``There's a very good talent pool here and the domestic market potential also attracts us.''

For the first two months, exports were expected to rise 33 percent, according to the median forecast of five economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Imports were forecast to climb 19 percent.

Economists tend to look at combined figures for the first two months of the year to allow for distortions caused by changes in the timing of the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday, which fell in February this year and January in 2004.

For February alone, exports rose 31 percent to $44.5 billion and imports dropped 5 percent to $40 billion, today's report showed. The trade surplus for the month was $4.6 billion….

-END-