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

[Blockierte Grafik: http://eur.i1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/i/de/fi/fi6.gif]

Yahoo hat die "600 Mio. Tonnen geplanter Bundes Bank Gold Verkäufe" Falschmeldung heute stillschweigend im Laufe des Tages korrigiert.

Jetzt stimmt die Zahl wieder, 600 Tonnen.

Nur, die korrigierte korrekte Zahl von 600 Tonnen wird leider nicht mehr gelesen, oder zur Kenntnis genommen!

http://de.biz.yahoo.com/040419/71/3zopb.html

[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.goldseek.com/news/LemetropoleCafe/lmpc.jpg]

http://www.lemetropolecafe.com

April 20 - Gold $397.40 down $2.60 - Silver $6.92 down 26 cents

Mindless Selling Grips Gold, Silver And Especially The Shares

Zitat

"You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out! ..." President Andrew Jackson: To a delegation of bankers discussing the Bank Renewal Bill, 1832

Another crummy day in Paradise. And I thought yesterday was aggravating.

Gold and silver began to fall out of bed overnight as the euro and pound firmed. By the time Comex opened, they were on the floor. Slower reacting technically oriented funds began dumping their positions, taking gold down $5 and silver down 30 cents. Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Bank were featured gold buyers on the early break with Morgan Stanley showing up on the long side in silver.

After gold held $395, buyers became more aggressive, including some short-term oriented fund traders. However, rallies were short-lived and gold remained under pressure most of the session.

The gold open interest fell 5931 contracts to 260,421.

According to my floor sources, the "right kind of buyers" are stepping up to the plate. They like gold a lot down here.

The euro closed below its 200-day moving average of 118.96 at 118.87 at 3PM, however, it fell even further by 4PM, finishing at 118.46, down 1.51. The dollar finished the day at 90.75, up .64.

Silver was bombed again after recovering somewhat the past few sessions. Funds sold early with Morgan Stanley on the buy side again. However, just as silver was about to take off above $7.04, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and HSBC "collectively" mugged it for a dime and silver never recovered.

The silver open interest fell only slightly to 111,205, down 138 contracts. Silver made a new low close for this correction and has left 4 gaps on the upside. There is a tiny one around $8.20, however, the others are huge. On the way up to $8.46, silver only left a solitary gap, the breakaway one at $5.80. I expect all the upside gaps to be filled.

So what is going on with the precious metals?

Seems more and more apparent to me this is The Gold Cartel’s last hurrah attempt to flush out the gold/silver spec longs and then to turn them into shorts. Based on the biased negative gold articles by Bloomberg/FT, the Welteke/Bundesbank flap, discussion of increased Aussie gold producer hedging etc., it is clear there is a concerted effort by the establishment to trash both gold and silver. My take is that this is their last attempt to turn both markets bearish so The Gold Cartel and friends can cover as much of their shorts as possible before the price of both gold and silver explodes.

Furthermore, I believe the establishment is now slowly coming to terms with what they have done to gold by surreptitiously lending/swapping central bank bullion, which they know they cannot retrieve without all sorts of financial market repercussions, much less driving the price of gold up hundreds of dollars per ounce.

They have never had an exit strategy for what they have done and are now finally grappling with how to handle the problem. My guess also is the real reason Rothschild is leaving the bullion business is they are afraid of coming counterparty defaults which are sure to occur in the future (See Rhalter below). Their leaving solely due to lack of hedging business doesn’t cut it. They were in the gold business for two hundred years before hedging business became a factor in the 1980’s

Most everyone invested in gold, silver and the shares is very demoralized, which is just the way it should be before a market turnaround. Just in, sound familiar:

Hi Bill,

It is tough being a gold bug. The cartel certainly makes it difficult. They are really throwing everything at it now. They've even hired the FT and Bloomberg.

I've never been as discouraged about gold as I am at present but I guess we just need to hang in there.

Rgds,
Mario

You are not alone Mario. This is the Gold Cartel’s game plan and they are carrying it out. This is how it is done. Yet, as John Brimelow brings to our attention, with the cash gold market on fire, The Gold Cartel had better get their job done quickly. It will be very difficult for them to keep gold below $400 for very long with such strong demand for physical around the world.

[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.goldseek.com/news/LemetropoleCafe/lmpc.jpg]

http://www.lemetropolecafe.com

The John Brimelow Report

India buying

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Indian ex-duty premiums: AM $8.13, PM $10.84, with world gold at $400 and $398.30. Far above legal import levels. Monday: AM $10.57, PM $8.86, with world gold at $404 and $405. Also far above legal import levels. The Bears are going to have to supply large amounts of physical to India at current prices.

The Shanghai Gold Exchange also continues to show high premiums to world gold.

Combined yen/$US gold price action moved yen gold down to a 7-week low on TOCOM today. The locals showed limited interest: since Friday open interest rose the equivalent of 871 Comex lots to equal 117 421 Comex lots. Volume today was equivalent to 23,359 Comex contracts. (NY traded 34,926 contracts yesterday: open interest fell a fairly steep 5,931 contracts to 260,421 lots: down over 47,000 (15%) contracts from the peak.)

Zitat

“Gold has tested and held the 396 support level twice this morning. Physical gold demand is very strong at these levels particularly in India, the Middle East and Turkey.” (Mitsui New York comment today)

Clearly on recent downswings, the big liquidation of open interest – after all, a net quantum – happens when the fresh shorts cover, rather than, as popularly envisaged, as longs are forced out. On a conventional technical view, gold is now far less vulnerable – it may even be oversold.

JB

[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.goldseek.com/news/LemetropoleCafe/lmpc.jpg]

http://www.lemetropolecafe.com

CARTEL CAPITULATION WATCH

Markets, being what they are, sure act strangely at times. Alan Greenspan spoke before the Senate Banking Committee this afternoon, said just what you would expect him to say, and the stock market was roiled.

April 20 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the threat of deflation is ``no longer an issue'' for the U.S. and companies appear to have a greater ability to raise prices.

``It is fairly apparent that pricing power is gradually being restored,'' Greenspan said in response to a question on the economy from Senator Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, at a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the banking industry. ``Threats of inflation that were a significant concern last year by all indications are no longer an issue before us. Clearly it is a change that has occurred in the last number of weeks.''

–END-

The DOW sank 123 to 10,314, while the DOG was hit for 42 big ones to 1978. With the macro US financial picture and US geopolitical looking so bleak, it is been hard for me to fathom why the US market was going up anyway. This sell-off cannot have had much to do with what Greenspan said on the surface.

Dave Lewis uses his considerable banking background (including JPM) to give us more appropriate insight into Greenspan’s testimony this afternoon:

Bill,

Let me try my hand at translating a bit of the Chairman's mystical musings.

All told, the available data, industry and supervisory judgments, and the long and successful experience of the U.S. commercial banking system in dealing with changing rates suggest that, in general, the industry is adequately managing its interest rate exposure. Many banks indicate that they now either are interest-rate neutral or are positioned to benefit from rising rates. These views are based partly on specific steps that they have taken to adjust portfolios and partly on judgments about the effects that rising interest rates would have in easing pressure on interest margins. That is, many banks seem to believe that as rates rise--presumably along with greater economic growth--they can increase lending rates more than they will need to increase rates paid on deposits. Certainly, there are always outliers, and some banks would undoubtedly be hurt by rising rates. However, the industry appears to have been sufficiently mindful of interest rate cycles and not to have exposed itself to undue risk.

The first sentence, with its reference to the long and successful experience of the US commercial banking system in dealing with changing rates, tells me Greenspan has a very short and /or selective memory or did he forget 1994, which was but a mere speed bump in the interest rate hiking game, or the 1989-91 credit crunch, which certainly had Chase, Citi, Chemical etc. on the ropes, just to name a few interest rate changing periods within my direct experience.

The second through the fourth sentence suggests: 1) that the banks are at worst interest rate neutral, a very curious position for institutions that borrow short and lend long 2) here's the kicker, that the banks will hike lending rates faster than they will hike deposit rates. Great, in the midst of a jobless, real income declining economy for the average Joe, the banks will now pad their pockets with additional lending profits on your deposits without sharing the wealth. I think we should start calling easy Al by his de facto title, the chief lobbyist for the banking sector, the most protected industry in America.

The last sentence reminds me that but a few short years ago the Fed Chairman was the premier pied piper of the new economy. Look back at his speeches in the late 90s and 2000 and you will see the word technology featured prominently. Yes, technology assisted productivity was the wave of the future, until it all went pear shaped during 2000. Methinks easy Al's forecasting skills haven't changed much over the past few years. He thought Tech was it (Nasdaq 5000 to 2000, oops), he recently thought the economy was nearing deflation (Oil etc. at record highs, oops) and now he would have you believe that the banks haven't exposed themselves to undue risks. I guess we'll call that last one begging an oops.

regards

Dave Lewis
http://www.chaos-onomics.com

Meanwhile, the economic news out of Germany was disappointing:

April 20 (Bloomberg) -- German investor confidence fell for a fourth straight month in April, further evidence a recovery in Europe's biggest economy is failing to gain momentum.
The ZEW Center for European Economic Research's index of institutional investor and analyst sentiment fell to 49.7, the lowest since July, from 57.6 in March. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected a drop to 57. The index, which has a long-term average of 34.4, touched a 42-month high in December.
``A lot of people fear economic growth will weaken,'' said Ralph Solveen, a senior economist at Commerzbank AG, who expected the index to fall to 45. ``Compared to the world economy, Germany will have a very weak recovery.'' –END-

But, there is no inflation:

WLM WLM raises polyester staple fiber prices by 10-12% (7.76)
The increase follows an increase of 8-10% that was effective with shipments on 2/15. WLM cites increased raw material costs

30 KFT KFT says it will pass higher commodity costs through to consumers through price increases -- conf. call (31.39)

GATA’s Mike Bolser:

Hi Bill:

The Fed took no action today April 20th 2004. This caused the repo pool to slip a bit to $31.33 and supports my assessment that the Fed is satisfied that the DOW will track flat to up for a while.

Shorting the DOW stocks is a very risky venture these days as the Fed has a booster rocket fuelled with repos under them. I have no information about whether the NASDAQ or other indexes are similarly managed however, I believe they are sympathetically linked so if the Fed controls one, it controls the other.

Recall that the control isn't direct. It's more like an adjustable bias, sometimes gentle, sometimes very strong and always several layers removed from the public eye. Indeed, if you desire useful investment information regarding the forces that move markets you must look away from the visible indicators because those oft-touted metrics (interest rates, earnings etc.) have become unreliable. It's a mutated market, warped by government intervention and it can't react in a classical fashion.

This is why conventional technical analysis has not delivered for its ever faithful supporters. Many contrarian funds that predicted a DOW fall are hurting and left to scratch their heads over its seemingly unstoppable rise. In a manipulated market the indexes move when the paper wielding controllers want them to move.

The limit comes when un printable commodities such as gold become scarce due to official central bank selling. For example, we see recently that Albania and the United Arab Emirates have been coerced into selling the last of their gold bullion. They join a long list of countries like Portugal and Romania (they each still retain some bullion) that have sold off their gold.

Given the dire budget deficit straights into which US finance has entered, these vault-draining acts are, in a real sense, delusional. What magic tooth fairy will rescue the US from its imbalance of trade? What white knight will rescue investments diluted in arising sea of fiat money? Iraq's oil? For openers the law of unintended consequences is in play as the economic world is interconnected. That interconnection will yield a backlash more than sufficient to off-set any putative Iraq oil gains. The best-laid plans of the Fed aren't good enough to thwart the forces of price discovery.

As gold is hammered by more official central bank selling today an extraordinary buying opportunity presents itself...but only to those who choose to see it. In purchasing gold you are placing your faith in the ultimate corruption of governments...a bet that has historically never lost.
Mike

And again with this report just in:

Hi Bill:

The DIVG held its ground at 349.50 today, a surprising outcome given the cartel's hammering on gold and silver. I opined last week that the DIVG's points would cluster around 353. With about a week to go in the normal DIVG cycle the points are falling at 350. I'm not giving up on 353 though so we yet may see a higher DIVG with points around 358 or so to yield a 353 net cluster average.

In any event examine the almost perfect linear trace of the DIVG's 200-day moving average:

http://www.pbase.com/gmbolser/interventional_analysis.

This DIVG pattern, combined with the three previous defended "tops" simply cannot be the result of random market operations. The gold cartel is blaring at us, "We have capitulated at the former defense level of 323". "We can't accept the losses sustained down there and we are going higher AS A GROUP". They are telling us that the DIVG itself has now been adjusted to deliver a smoothly rising DIVG 200-day ma by varying the gold price and the MCDI.

Add to this conclusion the recent Financial Times anti-gold, childish tantrum, Weltke's departure and your European central bank feedback and we have one of the most extraordinary gold buying opportunities that I can remember.
Mike

Chuck checked in early:

Obviously we are close to the tipping over. Realistically, we must allow for 195 or so in the HUI, but it looks like the interest rates are ready to jack up here. All in all, it is scary.

I can't believe how many unfilled gaps we have on the golds from the top of their moves in December. Let's see if the 200 moving average kicks in here. Chuck

Quote of the day in London’s Independent:

Brigadier Nick Carter said it could take British troops between two and 10 years to restore long-term stability, under the authority of an Iraqi police force acceptable to all rival factions within the country.

"We are in cloud-cuckoo land if we think we are going to create overnight a police force that is accountable to the population," the officer told The Scotsman newspaper. "We have to build solid foundations now for the longer term."

-END-

Houston’s Dan Norcini:

Hey Bill:

Not much to say except that the unthinking masses still do not get it that the dollar rally is temporary and that Sir Alan with his "no more deflation talk" today has just taken the punch bowl away from the party and spelled the end of the easy money days. Not that any of us who were watching what the Fed was doing to the money supply were ever in doubt that the deflation talk was nothing but a smokescreen in the first place for them to print money like it was going out of style. No currency in history has ever been systematically debauched like the Fed has done with the dollar and not had it result in inflation rearing its ugly head. Tragically, there are still many who believe the deflation talk nonsense.

The simple truth is that the stock market is in serious trouble and is breaking down technically. Bonds look like they have been beaten with an ugly stick. The way I see it, re-fi's have one last burst as holders of adjustable rate mortgages rush to lock in and then that gig is up. No more fuel for the consumer spending fire from that quarter. So what now? Order up some more credit cards and run those to the hilt? I don't think so. After all, how many credit cards can the average family run to the max at the same time?

The simple truth is that the consumer is tapped out and rising prices for necessities such as food, energy, and housing along with other costs such as insurance premiums and deductibles and college tuition costs, etc., not to mention state and local property taxes have placed enormous strains on household budgets and thus directly affected disposable income. We saw that with last's release of the CPI and the Real Wages numbers both of which were going in the opposite directions.

Greenspan and company have now done to this market what might be referred to as forcing them to go "cold turkey". Look for the withdrawal symptoms to begin manifesting in earnest as the bond vigilantes return in force and shove long term rates abruptly higher and the broad market indices begin to turn over. It is going to be interesting to see how the unwinding of the "carry trade" is going to affect the various market sectors as huge sums of money now begin to transition accordingly.

The S&P 500 turned over today and smashed thru last week's recent floor signaling that we are headed down to test the late March lows near 1087. Failure to hold that level will send the S&P down to the 1030-1050 area. Looks to me like the bear has awakened from hiberation just in time for the warm weather of spring and summer compliments of Greenspan and his bunch of sycophants at the Fed. I can say one thing - if Greenspan's talk of "no more deflation" sends the stock markets off the cliff and the bonds following after them and President Bush manages to get re-elected in spite of it, mark my words, HE IS GONE AS FED CHAIRMAN. The younger Bush well can remember what Greenspan did to his father's re-election chances back in 1992 with his interest rate policies. The current President prizes loyalty but he also does not forget his enemies either. In toying with the interest rates at this particular time of year, Sir Alan is seemingly preparing his own swan song especially if rising interest rates knock the housing sector off the wall and into the toilet. I personally despise the man and would be glad to see him go. The only problem is we will get someone just as bad and that brings no comfort whatsoever.

Judging from the reaction of both gold and silver in the after market hours on the Access, the witless mob has broken loose and escaped out of the nut house and is looking to lynch both the precious metals as they rush to embrace the dollar once again. Someone really needs to put a lasso on these people, handcuff them and lock them back up for their own good.

Seems like some never learn....

Best
Dan Norcini
dnorcini@earthlink.net

Yesterday’s email from Jaz was one of the most important I ever received in that it confirmed most of what GATA has discovered over the years – from someone who has never heard of GATA. Two of the key points mentioned:

*The europeans have probably lent out 80% of their central bank gold holdings, which is entirely consistent with GATA’s findings.

*For anyone to publicly discuss this issue is a career-ending move, which means anyone who tells the gold truth will be fired and left with nowhere to go.

Teil I

[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.goldseek.com/news/LemetropoleCafe/lmpc.jpg]

http://www.lemetropolecafe.com

CARTEL CAPITULATION WATCH

Teil II

Well, here is a wonderful follow-up to that email, one from a European Café member that suggests the ECB is lying, just as the IMF has lied about the true status of central bank gold reserves.

Hi bill,

The story in yesterdays Midas about a Scandinavian central bank was shocking imo. So, it's the right time to keep the pressure on them. That's why I want to share with you the following information. I wanted to wait for the annual reports of the Central Banks of 2003, but my guess now is the time.

Let me first start with an email I send some time ago to the ECB.

Dear mister/miss,

I have a question about gold. I would like to know if the ECB knows what the current amount(ounces) of gold loans and gold swaps are at the local central banks within the Euro zone.
The reason why I ask this question, is that IMF accounting treats the swaps/loans as an asset on the balance sheet of the central banks. In all the balance sheets of the Local Central Banks, the amount of loans/swaps/repo's regarding gold is not specified.

1. Do you know the exact amount of gold loans/swaps/repo for each Local Central Bank.

2. If you do, could u give me the answer to that question?

3. If you don't know it, isn't it something you want to know.

4. Did the ECB ever check the physical amount in the vaults recently?

5. Is the gold given to the BIS or IMF still accounted as an asset on the local balance sheet, or is it withdrawn from the 'goldreserve' amount and stated separately?

Kind regards,

mihaly

There answer was:

Dear Mr,

You might wish to notice that the vast majority of the Eurosystems' NCBs does not actively manage their gold holding and therefore the question of volume of such transactions does not materialise at the level of the ECB.

With regard to the checks of the physical gold holdings, the ECB's financial statement is subject to audit by internal audit, external auditors and the European Court of Audit (ECA), which would apply "existence-checks" to all material asset categories, including gold, on a regular basis.

The amount of gold transferred to the IMF, for example as initial subscriptions, would reduce the gold holding of a central bank. The claim vis-a-vis the IMF as a result of such transfer is reported in the balance sheet of the Euro System under A2.1 "Receivables from the IMF" (see also the descriptions of balances sheet items in Annex IV of the Legal Framework for Accounting and Reporting (ECB/2000/18).

With kind regards,

ECB PRESS AND INFORMATION

The strange thing is that nobody signed the email, just 'ecb press and information'..

The sentence "the vast majority of the Eurosystems' NCBs does not actively manage their gold holding" is well worth checking. So let's check the euro countries(Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain).

Most of the information is from the annual reports(2001 or 2002) of the local central banks.

Austria 317.5 tonnes

Within the permissible framework, the OeNB conducts an active gold policy, reinforcing the effectiveness of its expertise and making considerable additional profit.

This item comprises the OeNB_s holdings of physical and nonphysical gold, which amounted to approximately 347 tons on December 31, 2001.

Moreover, the OeNB reports liabilities outstanding on unmatured gold/interest rate swaps involving 27.9 tons of gold.

The OeNB actively manages a large part of its remaining gold holdings, with a view to gaining additional revenue, but also with a view to keeping abreast of market developments and ensuring adequate flexibility.

So Austria does active manage 'a large part of its gold holdings'.

Belgium 257.8 tonnes

An email from the Belgium Central Bank stated that any information about the goldloans is confidential. Questions from the BNB shareholders about the goldloans/swaps were not answered(confidential). However, last year it was stated during the annual shareholders meeting the there were only a few kilograms left in the vault.

So it is safe to say that Belgium actively manages it's gold.

Finland 49.0 tonnes

In 2001 I asked the Bank of Finland if they had goldloans. They said: "unfortunately we don't have any gold loans at the Bank of Finland, only thing regarding gold is what we have in reserve assets (=gold and gold receivables)."

2002 Annual report:

The Bank’s gold reserves amount to 50 metric tons, half of which is invested. This corresponds to the level at which the Bank of Finland maintained its gold deposits in September 1999, when the Bank of Finland was one of the 15 European NBCs that agreed to restrict their gold sales and deposits.

So Finland does manages 50% of it's gold(25 tonnes) in short term deposist.

France 3,024.8 tonnes

An email I send some time ago stated: "You ask us of the amount of goldloans at the moment. It is not possible to give you this amount, but as we told you before you can have some answers on our website (in the french version)."

Offcourse I tried to find the numbers, but was not able to find them(my french is not that good).[/b][/color]

No hard evidence….

Germany 3,439.5 tonnes

Our 'friends'….I searched on their site many many times….but my German is not that great.

The annual report from 1998 states:

As in previous years, the gold is valued at its purchase price; consequently, the average value per ounce works out at DM 144. The item ªGoldº also includes claims arising from gold lending operations, which are conducted on a limited scale only.

However, indirect evidence about the swaps was often stated by GATA. So what was their response when I asked if they actively manage their gold holding (like loans, swaps/repo or deposits):

Dear,

Unfortunately we can not reply your question because of the fact that we deal with this topic very carefully.
regards,

DEUTSCHE BUNSDESBANK

Not much hard evidence….but the answer says enough imo. If they didn't, they would probably say it outright(Even if the number was low, like it was in 1998).

Greece 102.2 tonnes

Unable to find anything

Ireland 5.5 tonnes

The Bank holds a small portion of its assets in gold — gold holdings were valued at Euro63.1 million as at end-December 2002. With the exception of coin stocks held in the Bank, gold is held in the form of gold deposits.

Ireland does manages it's gold with deposits(100%).

Italy 2,451.8 tonnes

Unable to find anything

Luxembourg 2.3 tonnes

As at 31 December 2002, BCL holds 365.75 ounces of fine gold amounting to EUR 0.1 million (76 358.757 ounces of fine gold amounting to EUR 24.0 million as at 31 December 2001) and a first rated gold bond issued by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development purchased in 2002 and valued at EUR 24.8 million.

So at the end of 2002 they had 365.75 ounce or 100.000 euro of fysical gold and a gold bond??. Seems like the gold was used as collateral(76.000 ounces left the vault in 1 year and is still accounted in the reserves), and they probably get a nice return from this bond.

Luxenbourg manages its reserves actively.

The Netherlands 800.5 tonnes

They had 60 tonnes left in the vault at the end of 2000. Central Bank president Wellink stated in a Dutch tv program that 1 billion euro of gold was in the vault as of sept/oct 2003.

At the end of 2002 the total gold holdings were valued at almost 9 billion euros. So 11% of the Dutch gold is in de vault….and probably a bit less, since the 1 billion amount was at a higher gold price.

The Dutch central bank actively manages its reserves.

Portugal 517.2 tonnes

We know this story….The Central Bank of Portugal was the only bank breaking down the swap/deposit figures in its annual report. At the end of 2001, they held 1.7 billion at the bank, 533 million euro on deposit and was 3.862 billion swapped. So 71% left there vault.

The central bank of Portugal actively manages its reserves.

Spain 523.4 tonnes

Sales of gold against foreign currency under repurchase agreements are recorded as off-balance sheet items, with no effect on the balance sheet.

…the number of ounces having remained unchanged during the year, except for slight differences arising from deposit and swap transactions.

Decline in the outstanding gold swaps position at year-end –140.46 million euros.

The Spanish central bank actively manages its reserevs.

***
So, "the vast majority of the Eurosystems' NCBs does not actively manage their gold holding", doesn't make that much sense. Maybe their definition is different..:

Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Luxenbourg, The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain have large portions of their reserves on deposit, repoed, swapped or something else, but in any case NOT in their vault.

Then we have Germany, who doesn't want to respond to the questions, but did it in the past on a small level. France is probably active, but looks like a small player. Italy & Greece are not known, since I couldn't find any information.

Greetz
Mihaly
Mr-gold@chello.nl

Good work Mihaly. This adds credence to my notion the establishment central bankers are in a huff trying to figure out how to handle a looming and most serious gold problem.

More on the Rothschild exit:

Bill,

Last week I sure picked an interesting time to take a vacation. I enjoyed reading your take yesterday on the current situation. I have one additional idea in regards to Rothschilds withdrawal from the commodity markets.

First, consider that the House of Rothschild has been rich for centuries. They are born rich, grow up rich and die rich. I have no doubt that they consider themselves to be members of some type of aristocracy. Grubbing for money is certainly not their style and I doubt they would stoop to the legal level of criminal conduct.

As I think about the shortages for delivery that exist in silver and gold (these are legal contracts to deliver, after all), we may have reached the point where a careful cartel participant may feel the LEGAL line of fraud is about to be crossed. How can you make a promise to deliver what you don't have? Of course, if you don't expect anyone to ask for delivery, than the risk is slight. But that is not where we are
now.

I'm sure their own attorneys told them to save their skins and completely cut their ties to the scam. The Rothschilds haven't stayed rich for so long by making of themselves fat targets for avenging lawyers. Whatever the real story is, this is a sign of the strain the cartel is under today.
Peter Rhalter

The gold shares were brutalized, especially after Greenspan spoke. The HUI collapsed 14.36 to 197.36, breaking through all support, and the XAU dropped 5.24 to 89.26. The set up for giant gold and silver moves higher improves by the week. At the moment, hedge funds, et al, are dumping the shares and everything else they can to shore up liquidity and their balance sheets. Mindless selling has the gold share market in a tizzy.

When gold craps out like this, all sorts of emails come my way. One suggested I was nothing but a cheerleader for gold. I plead guilty. It’s true. I think I have called every rally the past three years and missed calling every dip. The reason for that is clear. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I know why the price of gold fell to where it was years ago, why it rallied to these levels, and where it is going. "When" is always the tricky part. Not to be on board when the prices of gold and silver really soar would be a tragedy. Don’t want to take that chance. The upside is too large, the downside not that great. Trading in and out to make a few bucks is not worth the risk to me of being out of position.

It’s no different than what a Warren Buffet would do. Find a compelling investment out of favor, do your homework, and if the homework supports your opinion, jump in and hang on, for years, until that investment plays itself out to where it ought to go. As we all know, hanging on can be the difficult part at times.

My role is not to be an investment advisor, but to report on what is happening in the gold and silver world and deliver Café members as much useful information as possible. At the same time, I don’t mind giving my opinion and mentioning what shares I like and putting my own money in. I have been long the gold/silver shares for years now and continue to add on dips. My positions continue to increase. Days like this are sobering, however, this kind of pain has not lasted for any substantial length of time since gold took out $300.

Time to stay focused on the big picture. Gold is going to $1,000 per ounce plus. Silver to $40 per ounce+. Our REALLY big days and fun are still ahead of us.

GATA BE IN IT TO WIN IT!

MIDAS

Appendix

Bill,

I’m not a Chicken Little "The Sky is Falling" type, but this strikes me as serious. Did an Internet search on this, found nothing. Couldn’t find any news coverage on this other than following article. Not directly precious metals related but still a newsworthy heads-up.
Dick Schurman

Found in today's Philadelphia Inquirer - scary
Agents look for missing tanker truck

FBI and counterterrorism officials said it was stolen in Pennsauken this month.

By Sam Wood and Jennifer Lin
Inquirer Staff Writers
Posted on Tue, Apr. 20, 2004

The FBI and a New Jersey state counterterrorism team are investigating the reported theft of a 44-foot gasoline tanker this month from a Camden County parking lot.

"We don't know what the motive was behind the theft," FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi said. "It could have been stolen by another individual in the fuel-hauling business.

"But we feel it's important to find it, find out who took it, and find out why it was taken."

The chrome-plated tanker, which can hold more than 9,000 gallons, was empty when stolen from the TK Transport Terminal in Pennsauken between April 8 and April 12, Pennsauken Police Capt. Earl Griffin said.

"They didn't notice it missing for a few days," he said.

A woman who answered the phone at TK Transport would not comment.

The tanker, with "TK Transport" in large green letters along its sides, was made in 1996 by Fruehauf and recently refurbished, Griffin said. It bore New Jersey licence plate T852SC.

The New Jersey Office of Counterterrorism sent a notice about the tanker to all law enforcement agencies in the state Wednesday, director Sid J. Caspersen said.

"It's naturally of concern to all of law enforcement when a gas tanker truck goes missing," he said. "Since 9/11, we've known that al-Qaeda has wanted to use those. Al-Qaeda has expressed an interest in a variety of targets around the world, and they've mentioned gas tankers before.

"They've mentioned attacks against gas stations using gas tanker trucks as bombs," he said.

Caspersen noted that in May 2002, a remote-control device was used to explode a tanker truck in Israel's largest fuel depot. No one was hurt, but the Tel Aviv attack underscored terrorists' interest in oil targets, he said.