~*~Mining and Metals Du Jour~*~

[JD400]

LME hopes gold futures contract will be blueprint for reform
Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2017-07-17 10:51. Section: Daily Dispatches

By Henry Sanderson
Financial Times, London
Monday, July 17, 2017

The London Metal Exchange is looking to its first gold futures contract in 30 years as a blueprint for an overhaul of the 140-year-old exchange, which has been struggling in the face of fierce competition and tough market conditions.

The LME's gold futures contract saw good volume in its first week of trading, with a total of 25,590 lots, or more than 2.5 million troy ounces of the metal traded, surprising many who thought the contract would fail to gain traction. In contrast, a London-based contract launched in February by CME Group has barely traded.

The LME's gold offering contains many of the features that the exchange hopes it can roll out across its market-leading copper, aluminium, and nickel contracts as it strives to maintain its dominance in global metals trading. ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.ft.com/content/88d77534-6a07-11e7-bfeb-33fe0c5b7eaa

http://www.gata.org/node/17515

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Avery Goodman: Bullion banks closed huge number of short positions last week
Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2017-07-17 16:49. Section: Daily Dispatches

12:52p ET Monday, July 17, 2017

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Examining the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's reports, securities lawyer and market analyst Avery Goodman writes today bullion banks continue to close huge volumes of short positions in the monetary metals that they have been carrying for years. If the bullion banks know what they're doing, Goodman writes, this foretells a major rise in metal prices in coming months. Goodman's analysis is headlined "Bullion Banks Closed a Huge Number of Short Positions Last Week" and it's posted at his internet site here:

http://averybgoodman.com/myblog/2017/07/17/gold-bullion-banks-close-huge...

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BNP Paribas fined $246 million over currency manipulation
Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2017-07-18 02:43. Section: Daily Dispatches

By Jesse Hamilton
Bloomberg News
Monday, July 17, 2017

BNP Paribas SA agreed to pay $246 million to settle Federal Reserve claims that the bank failed to keep its currency traders from using electronic chatrooms to manipulate prices, the U.S. central bank said in a statement today.

The Fed said the Paris-based lender's deficiencies -- which also led to a $350 million settlement in May with the New York Department of Financial Services -- constituted unsafe and unsound practices and ordered the bank to improve its oversight and internal controls over foreign-exchange trading.

BNP Paribas was among several global banks that have faced billions in fines, regulatory sanctions, and legal challenges over the use of chatrooms to influence currency rates, and some of the individuals involved were the targets of criminal prosecutions. ...

... For the remainder of the analysis:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-17/bnp-paribas-fined-246...