The GraveYard Shift

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Mountain High Data

"the corks" ~*~Mining & Metals Du Jour~*~ #1 Worldwide

MMgys

Top Of Morning To Ya !
Wishing you All a Wonderful Day ! Hi everybody

Thanks to All !

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Nov 8/Gold rallies $8.35 to close at $1283.75 and silver was up 16 cents to $17.11/India is back with respect to gold demand as officially they import close to 900 tonnes (with smuggling over 1000 tonnes)/Tax reform looks dead in the water/USA to remove detente with Cuba/
November 8, 2017 · by harvey organ -uncat



GOLD: $1283.75 UP $8.35

Silver: $17.11 UP 16 cents

Closing access prices:

Gold $1281.50

silver: $17.03

SHANGHAI GOLD FIX: FIRST FIX 10 15 PM EST (2:15 SHANGHAI LOCAL TIME)

SECOND FIX: 2:15 AM EST (6:15 SHANGHAI LOCAL TIME)

SHANGHAI FIRST GOLD FIX: $1285.90 DOLLARS PER OZ

NY PRICE OF GOLD AT EXACT SAME TIME: $1277.60

PREMIUM FIRST FIX: $8.30(premiums getting smaller)

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SECOND SHANGHAI GOLD FIX: $1285.00

NY GOLD PRICE AT THE EXACT SAME TIME: $1279.00

Premium of Shanghai 2nd fix/NY:$6.00 PREMIUMS GETTING smaller)

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LONDON FIRST GOLD FIX: 5:30 am est $1282.25

NY PRICING AT THE EXACT SAME TIME: $1280.85???

LONDON SECOND GOLD FIX 10 AM: $1284..00

NY PRICING AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. 1285.10 ??
For comex gold:
NOVEMBER/

NOTICES FILINGS TODAY FOR OCT CONTRACT MONTH: 7 NOTICE(S) FOR 700 OZ.

TOTAL NOTICES SO FAR: 973 FOR 97,300 OZ (3.026TONNES)
For silver:
NOVEMBER
1 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR
5,000 OZ/
Total number of notices filed so far this month: 864 for 4,320,000 oz

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Bitcoin: BID $7481 OFFER /$7505 UP $365.00 (MORNING)
BITCOIN CLOSING; BID $7319 OFFER: 7344 // UP $204.00

end

Let us have a look at the data for today

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In silver, the total open interest FELL BY A CONSIDERABLE 5170 contracts from 208 ,500 DOWN TO 203,330 WITH YESTERDAY’S TRADING IN WHICH SILVER FELL BY A RATHER LARGE 27 CENTS. THE CROOKS WERE SOMEWHAT SUCCESSFUL IN COVERING SOME THEIR MASSIVE SILVER SHORTS. YESTERDAY WE NO DOUBT HAD SOME OF OUR NEWBIE SPEC LONGS WERE STOP LOSSED OUT OF THEIR CONTRACTS TO WHICH OUR BANKERS DUTIFULLY COVERED.

RESULT: A GOOD SIZED DROP IN OI COMEX WITH THE CONSIDERABLE 27 CENT PRICE FALL. NEWBIE SPEC LONGS WERE AGAIN STOP LOSSED OUT OF THE SILVER ARENA TO WHICH ARE BANKERS DUTIFULLY COVERED.

In ounces, the OI is still represented by just OVER 1 BILLION oz i.e. 1.016 BILLION TO BE EXACT or 145% of annual global silver production (ex Russia & ex China).

FOR THE NEW FRONT OCT MONTH/ THEY FILED: 1 NOTICE(S) FOR 5,000 OZ OF SILVER

In gold, the open interest SURPRISINGLY FELL BY A TINY 584 CONTRACTS DESPITE THE GOOD SIZED FALL IN PRICE OF GOLD ($4.75) WITH YESTERDAY’S TRADING . The new OI for the gold complex rests at 536,843. NEWBIE LONGS RE-ENTERED THE ARENA TO WHICH THE BANKERS DUTIFULLY SUPPLIED THE NECESSARY SHORT PAPER..OUR BANKERS WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN COVERING ANY GOLD SHORTS.

NO EFP’S WERE ISSUED FOR THE NOVEMBER CONTRACT MONTH.

Result: A GOOD SIZED INCREASE IN OI WITH THE FALL IN PRICE IN GOLD ($4.75). WE HAD MINIMAL BANK SHORT COVERING AS WE HAD NEWBIE LONGS RE-ENTERING THE GOLD COMEX AREA TO WHICH OUR BANKERS DUTIFULLY SUPPLIED THE NECESSARY SHORT PAPER.

we had: 7 notice(s) filed upon for 700 oz of gold.

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

GLD:

A huge change in gold inventory at the GLD/ a withdrawal of 1.18 tonnes

Inventory rests tonight: 843.09 tonnes.

SLV

TODAY WE HAD NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV

INVENTORY RESTS AT 318.074 MILLION OZ

end

.

First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:

1. Today, we had the open interest in silver FELL BY A LARGE 5,170 contracts from 208,500 DOWN TO 203,330 (AND now A LITTLE FURTHER FROM THE NEW COMEX RECORD SET ON FRIDAY/APRIL 21/2017 AT 234,787) WITH THE CONSIDERABLE FALL IN SILVER PRICE (A DROP OF 27 CENTS). OUR BANKERS WERE MILDLY SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO COVER SOME OF THEIR SILVER SHORTS. NEWBIE LONGS IN SILVER EXITED THE ARENA AS THEY WERE STOP LOSSED OUT OF THEIR CONTRACTS BY THE BANKERS.

RESULT: A GOOD SIZED DECREASE IN SILVER OI AT THE COMEX WITH THE 27 CENT FALL IN PRICE (WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING). OUR BANKER FRIENDS WERE MILDLY SUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO COVER SOME OF THEIR HUGE BURGEONING SILVER SHORTS . . . NEWBIE LONGS EXITED THE SILVER ARENA AS THEY WERE STOP LOSSED OUT OF THEIR LONGS TO WHICH OUR BANKERS DUTIFULLY COVERED THEIR SHORT PAPER.

(report Harvey)

.

2.a) The Shanghai and London gold fix report

(Harvey)



2 b) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe, Goldcore

(Mark O’Byrne/zerohedge

and in NY: Bloomberg
3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)Late TUESDAY night/WEDNESDAY morning: Shanghai closed UP 1.89 points or .06% /Hang Sang CLOSED DOWN 86.74 pts or 0.30% / The Nikkei closed DOWN 23.78 POINTS OR 0.10%/Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP 0.03%/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP at 6.6288/Oil DOWN to 56.93 dollars per barrel for WTI and 63.48 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED RED . ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP AGAINST THE DOLLAR AT 6.6288. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED WEAKER TO THE ONSHORE YUAN AT 6.6356 //ONSHORE YUAN STRONGER AGAINST THE DOLLAR/OFF SHORE WEAKER TO THE DOLLAR/. THE DOLLAR (INDEX) IS WEAKER AGAINST ALL MAJOR CURRENCIES. CHINA IS VERY HAPPY TODAY.
3a)THAILAND/SOUTH KOREA/NORTH KOREA

i)North Korea//South Korea
b) REPORT ON JAPAN
c) REPORT ON CHINA
4. EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
i)GERMANY/DEUTSCHE BANK

Not good for the world’s largest derivative bank: their trading revenue drops 30% and now in a desperate scramble for profit they are trying to ramp up their loan business to which there is nobody

( zerohedge)



ii)England/BREXIT

Bankers warn that thousands of jobs will leave Great Britain if their Brexit solution is not forthcoming.

( zerohedge)
5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS

i)IRAN/SAUDI ARABIA/USA

Iran slams Saudi Arabia on the ballistic attack on the Saudi Airport. They claim Iran had nothing to do with it.

( zerohedge)

ii)LEBANON

A must read…the real reason for the Saudi conflicts in the middle east: gasoline as Saudi is desperate to stop Iranian gas coming from Qatar through Syria onto Lebanon and then through Europe. Saudi must stop the Shiite crescent and that is why they enlisted the help of Israel who will side with them along with the USA

( Golem/XIV/blog)

iii)Now we find the real motive behind the Saudi purge: 800 billion USA in confiscated assets

( zerohedge)
6 .GLOBAL ISSUES


7. OIL ISSUES

USA oil production jumps to record highs; Oil falls

( zerohedge)
8. EMERGING MARKET
9. PHYSICAL MARKETS

i) interesting: “buy bitcoin” overtakes “buy gold” on online searches

( GATA/Bloomberg)

ii)Bitcoin rises above 7500.00 / Goldman Sachs claims it may go higher. Bitcoin has no underlying value and eventually it will go to its intrinsic value and that is zero. However I point out the rise in price and you can visualize that gold will rise to bitcoin’s value or greater once manipulation ends

( zerohedge)
iii)Bitcoin then explodes northbound to $7900.00
(courtesy zerohedge)

iv)India is now heading for importation of 900 tonnes of gold. This is official gold and does not include smuggled gold which is somewhere around 150 to 200 tonnes

( Lawrie Williams/Sharp’s Pixley)
10. USA stories which will influence the price of gold/silver

i)Now the senate is considering a one year delay in the cutting of the corporate rate to 20%. The markets do not like this and down goes the dollar ”

( zerohedge)

ib)Markets do not like this: Another delay on the tax bill as it will not be released on Thursday. Mnuchin admits that the Corporate tax cut delay in implementation is likely. My bet: nothing gets passed.

( zerohedge)

ii)Michael Snyder reports that Bricks and mortar retail store closing have now hit a new record high. West coast homelessness skyrockets

( Michael Snyder/Economic Collapse Blog)

iii)Quite a statistic: 1/3 of all students attending college drop out and many of those default on their student loans

( zerohedge)

iv)Maui/Hawaii:

Citizens in Maui are outraged at a huge 52% spike in pension contributions to the public pension employee system after the government raised property taxes by a huge 30 million dollars

( zerohedge)

v)Repealing Obamacare individual mandate would save the USA $338 billion due to less subsidies. However they need to find more money elsewhere to fund the tax cuts. This will not happen:

( zerohedge)

vi)This sure looks like political sabotage as Hillary’s Fusion GPS operative met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya one hour before and one hour after the Trump Jr meeting

( zerohedge)

vii)CUBA/USA
the White House is now moving to formally reverse the Obama Era detente with Cuba which will again restrict USA citizens from visiting the island
(courtesy zerohedge)
Let us head over to the comex:

The total gold comex open interest SURPRISINGLY FELL BY A TINY 584 CONTRACTS UP to an OI level of 536,843 WITH THE GOOD SIZED FALL IN THE PRICE OF GOLD ($4.75 RISE IN YESTERDAY’S TRADING). SOME NEWBIE LONGS AGAIN ENTERED THE GOLD ARENA WITH THE BANKERS REGRETTABLY SUPPLYING THE NECESSARY PAPER AS THEY COVERED A MINIMAL AMOUNT OF THEIR HUGE SHORTFALL.

NO EFP’S WERE ISSUED FOR NOVEMBER YESTERDAY.

Result: a SURPRISE TINY DECREASE IN OPEN INTEREST DESPITE THE CONSIDERABLE FALL IN THE PRICE OF GOLD ($4.75.) WE HAD MINIMAL BANKER SHORT COVERING. NEWBIE LONGS AGAIN ENTERED THE GOLD ARENA EMBOLDENED DUE TO GLOBAL TENSIONS ESPECIALLY IN SAUDI ARABIA. OUR BANKER FRIENDS REGRETTABLY HAD TO SUPPLY THE NECESSARY SHORT PAPER AS THEY WERE TOTALLY UNSUCCESSFUL IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO COVER ANY GOLD SHORTS.

.



We have now entered the NON active contract month of NOVEMBER.HERE WE HAD A LOSS OF 104 CONTRACT(S) DOWN TO 84. We had 110 notices filed YESTERDAY so surprisingly we again gained 6 contracts or 600 additional oz will stand for delivery in this non active month of November. TO SEE BOTH GOLD AND SILVER RISE IN AMOUNT STANDING (QUEUE JUMPING) IS A GOOD INDICATOR OF PHYSICAL SHORTNESS FOR BOTH OF OUR PRECIOUS METALS.

The very big active December contract month saw it’s OI LOSE 13,115 contracts DOWN to 345,546. January saw its open interest rise by 147 contracts up to 589. FEBRUARY saw a gain of 10,817 contacts up to 125,397.

.

We had 7 notice(s) filed upon today for 700 oz
VOLUME FOR TODAY (PRELIMINARY) NOT AVAILABLE

CONFIRMED VOLUME YESTERDAY: 353,759
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And now for the wild silver comex results. Total silver OI FELL BY a CONSIDERABLE 5170 CONTRACTS FROM 208,500 DOWN TO 203,330 WITH YESTERDAY’S 27 CENT FALL IN PRICE. WE HAD MILD BANKER SHORT COVERING AS THE CROOKS STOP LOSSED SOME OF SILVER LONGS OUT OF THEIR CONTRACTS WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING…. WE MAY HAVE HAD SOME SILVER EFP’S ISSUED FOR DECEMBER, BUT I DOUBT IT..JUST LONGS HIT WITH STOP LOSSES!! .
The new front month of November saw its OI fall by 7 contracts and thus it stands at 3. We had 7 notices served YESTERDAY so we gained 0 contracts or an additional NIL oz will stand in this non active month of November. After November we have the big active delivery month of December and here the OI FALL by 7,093 contracts DOWN to 131,204. January saw A GAIN OF 6 contracts RISING TO 745.

We had 1 notice(s) filed for 5,000 oz for the OCT. 2017 contract
INITIAL standings for NOVEMBER

Nov 8/2017.
Gold Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz
29,312.128
oz
BRINKS
JPMORGAN
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory in oz nil oz
Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz
86,974.222 oz
Scotia
No of oz served (contracts) today

7 notice(s)
700 OZ
No of oz to be served (notices)
77 contracts
(7700 oz)
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
973 notices
97300 oz
3.026 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
Today we HAD 0 kilobar transaction(s)/
WE HAD nil DEALER DEPOSIT:
total dealer deposits: nil oz
We had nil dealer withdrawals:
total dealer withdrawals: nil oz
we had 1 customer deposit(s):
i) Into Scotia: 86,974.222 oz
total customer deposits 86,974.222 oz
We had 0 customer withdrawal(s)
total customer withdrawals; nil oz
we had 0 adjustment(s)
For NOVEMBER:

Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from JPMorgan dealer account and 0 notices were issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equates to 7 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 4 notice(s) was (were) stopped/ Received) by j.P.Morgan customer account.
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To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for the NOVEMBER. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (973) x 100 oz or 97300 oz, to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of NOV. (84 contracts) minus the number of notices served upon today (7 x 100 oz per contract equals 105,000 oz, the number of ounces standing in this NON active month of NOV

Thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the NOVEMBER contract month:
No of notices served (973) x 100 oz or ounces + {(84)OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (7) x 100 oz which equals 105,000 oz standing in this active delivery month of NOVEMBER (3.265 tonnes)
SOMEBODY AGAIN IS IN GREAT NEED OF PHYSICAL GOLD.
WE GAINED 6 ADDITIONAL CONTRACTS OR 600 OZ OF ADDITIONAL GOLD STANDING FOR METAL AT THE COMEX
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME EVER THAT WE HAVE WITNESSED CONSIDERABLE QUEUE JUMPING IN GOLD AT THE COMEX. SILVER’S QUEUE JUMPING STARTED IN MAY 2017 AND HAS NOT LET UP ONCE COMMENCED.
.
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Total dealer inventory 553,576.101 or 17.218 tonnes (dealer gold continues to disappear)
Total gold inventory (dealer and customer) = 8,771,477.277 or 272.82 tonnes

I have a sneaky feeling that these withdrawals of gold in kilobars are being used in the hypothecating process and are being used in the raiding of gold!
The gold comex is an absolute fraud. The use of kilobars and exact weights makes the data totally absurd and fraudulent! To me, the only thing that makes sense is the fact that “kilobars: are entries of hypothecated gold sent to other jurisdictions so that they will not be short with their underwritten derivatives in that jurisdiction. This would be similar to the rehypothecated gold used by Jon Corzine at MF Global.

IN THE LAST 14 MONTHS 82 NET TONNES HAS LEFT THE COMEX.
end
And now for silver
AND NOW THE NOVEMBER DELIVERY MONTH
NOVEMBER INITIAL standings
Nov 8/ 2017
Silver Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory nil
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
603,004.662 oz
CNT
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
nil oz
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
nil
oz
No of oz served today (contracts)
1 CONTRACT(S)
(5,000,OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)
2 contract
(10,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) 864 contracts

(4,320,000 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 xx oz
today, we had 0 deposit(s) into the dealer account:
total dealer deposit: nil oz
we had nil dealer withdrawals:
total dealer withdrawals: nil oz
we had 1 customer withdrawal(s):
i) Out of CNT: 603,004.662 oz
TOTAL CUSTOMER WITHDRAWAL 603,004.662 oz
We had 0 Customer deposit(s):
***deposits into JPMorgan have stopped again
In the month of March and February, JPMorgan stopped (received) almost all of the comex silver contracts.
why is JPMorgan bringing in so much silver??? why is this not criminal in that they are also the massive short in silver
total customer deposits: nil oz

we had 0 adjustment(s)
The total number of notices filed today for the NOVEMBER. contract month is represented by 1 contracts FOR 5,000 oz. To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in NOVEMBER., we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 864 x 5,000 oz = 4,320,0000 oz to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of NOV. (3) and the number of notices served upon today (1 x 5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.



.

Thus the INITIAL standings for silver for the NOVEMBER contract month: 864 (notices served so far)x 5000 oz + OI for front month of NOVEMBER(3) -number of notices served upon today (1)x 5000 oz equals 4,330,000 oz of silver standing for the NOVEMBER contract month. This is EXCELLENT for this NON active delivery month of November.
We gained 0 contracts or an additional NIL oz will stand for metal in the non active delivery month of November.
AS I MENTIONED ABOVE, WE HAVE BEEN WITNESSING QUEUE JUMPING IN SILVER FROM MAY 1 2017 ONWARD. IT IS NOW COMFORTING TO SEE CONSIDERABLE QUEUE JUMPING OCCURRING CONTINUALLY IN GOLD FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE RECORDED TIME AT THE GOLD COMEX!!(1974). QUEUE JUMPING CAN ONLY OCCUR ON PHYSICAL METAL SHORTAGE.

ESTIMATED VOLUME FOR TODAY: 32,037
CONFIRMED VOLUME FOR YESTERDAY: 110,833 CONTRACTS
YESTERDAY’S CONFIRMED VOLUME OF 110,833 CONTRACTS EQUATES TO 554 MILLION OZ OR 79.1% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION OF SILVER


Total dealer silver: 43.218 million
Total number of dealer and customer silver: 229.765 million oz
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
end
NPV for Sprott and Central Fund of Canada
1. Central Fund of Canada: traded at Negative 2.3 percent to NAV usa funds and Negative 2.4% to NAV for Cdn funds!!!!
Percentage of fund in gold 62.4%
Percentage of fund in silver:37.3%
cash .+.3%( Nov 8/2017)
2. Sprott silver fund (PSLV): STOCK FALLS TO -1.04% (Nov 8 /2017)
3. Sprott gold fund (PHYS): premium to NAV RISES TO -0.50% to NAV (Nov 8/2017 )
Note: Sprott silver trust back into NEGATIVE territory at -1.04%-/Sprott physical gold trust is back into NEGATIVE/ territory at -0.50%/Central fund of Canada’s is still in jail but being rescued by Sprott.

Sprott WINS hostile 3.1 billion bid to take over Central Fund of Canada

(courtesy Sprott/GATA)
Sprott Inc. to take control of rival gold holder Central Fund of Canada

by THE CANADIAN PRESS

Posted Oct 2, 2017 8:43 am PDT

Last Updated Oct 2, 2017 at 9:20 am PDT

TORONTO – Sprott Inc. (TSX:SII) says it has struck a deal to take control of rival gold-holding firm Central Fund of Canada Ltd. (TSX:CEF.A) after a protracted takeover effort.

Toronto-based Sprott said Monday it will pay $120 million in cash and stock for Central Fund of Canada Ltd.’s common shares and for the right to administer and manage the fund’s assets.

The deal, which requires approval from Central Fund shareholders, would see its class A shareholders transferred to a new Sprott Physical Gold and Silver Trust.

Sprott says the deal would add $4.3 billion to its assets under management, which are focused largely on holding physical precious metals on behalf of clients, and 90,000 investors to its client base.

In March, Sprott tried to go through the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta to allow Central Fund’s class A shareholders to swap their shares to Sprott after the family that controls Central Fund rebuffed their attempt to make a deal.

Last year Sprott took over Central GoldTrust, a similar fund controlled by the same family, after securing support from more than 96 per cent of shareholder votes cast.

END
And now the Gold inventory at the GLD

NOV 8/ANOTHER HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.18 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD DESPITE GOLD’S RISE TODAY. INVENTORY RESTS AT 843.09

Nov 7/a huge withdrawal of 1.48 tonnes of gold from the GLD/Inventory rests at 844.27 tonnes

NOV 6/ a tiny withdrawal of .29 tonnes to pay for fees etc/inventory rests at 845.75 tonnes

Nov 3/no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory rests at 846.04 tonnes

NOV 2/STRANGE!!! WE HAD ANOTHER WITHDRAWAL OF 3.55 TONNES FROM THE GLD DESPITE GOLD’S RISE OF $6.60 YESTERDAY AND $1.55 TODAY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 846.04 TONNES

Nov 1/a withdrawal of 1.18 tonnes of gold from the GLD/Inventory rests at 849.59 tonnes

OCT 31/no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory rests at 850.77 tonnes

Oct 30/STRANGE WITH GOLD UP THESE PAST TWO TRADING DAYS, THE GLD HAS A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.18 TONNES FROM ITS INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 850.77 TONES

Oct 27/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 851.95 TONNES

Oct 26./A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.18 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 851.95 TONNES

Oct 25/NO CHANGE (SO FAR) IN GOLD INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 853.13 TONNES

Oct 24./no change in gold inventory at the GLD/inventory rests at 853.13 tonnes

OCT 23./NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY REMAINS AT 853.13 TONNES

OCT 20/NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/ INVENTORY REMAINS AT 853.13 TONNES

oCT 19/NO CHANGE/853.13 TONNES

Oct 18 /no change in gold inventory at the GLD/ inventory rests at 853.13 tonnes

Oct 17./no change in gold inventory at the GLD/inventory rests at 853.13 tonnes

Oct 16/A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 5.32 TONNES FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 853.13 TONNES

0CT 13/ NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 858.45 TONNES

Oct 12/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 858.45 TONNES

Oct 10/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 858.45 TONNES

Oct 9/ANOTHER DEPOSIT OF 4.43 TONNES INTO GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 858.45 TONNES

Oct 6/A DEPOSIT OF 2.96 TONNES OF GOLD INVENTORY INTO THE GLD/TONIGHT IT RESTS AT 854.02 TONNES

Oct 5/A LOSS OF 3.24 TONNES OF GOLD INVENTORY FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 851.06 TONNES

Oct 4/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 854.30 TONNES

oCT 3/ A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 10.35 TONNES FROM THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 854.30 TONNES

Oct 2/STRANGE/WITH GOLD’S CONTINUAL WHACKING WE GOT A BIG FAT ZERO OZ LEAVING THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 864.65 TONNES
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Nov 8/2017/ Inventory rests tonight at 843.09 tonnes
*IN LAST 267 TRADING DAYS: 97.86 NET TONNES HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE GLD
*LAST 202 TRADING DAYS: A NET 59,42 TONNES HAVE NOW BEEN ADDED INTO GLD INVENTORY.
*FROM FEB 1/2017: A NET 28.31 TONNES HAVE BEEN ADDED.

end
Now the SLV Inventory

NOV 8/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 318.074 MILLION OZ

Nov 7/a huge withdrawal of 944,000 oz from the SLV/inventory rests at 318.074 million oz/

NOV 6/no change in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory rests at 319.018 million oz/

Nov 3/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS TONIGHT AT 319.018 MILLION OZ.

NOV 2/A TINY LOSS OF 137,000 OZ BUT THAT WAS TO PAY FOR FEES LIKE INSURANCE AND STORAGE/INVENTORY RESTS AT 319.018 MILLION OZ/

Nov 1/STRANGE! WITH SILVER’S HUGE 48 CENT GAIN WE HAD NO GAIN IN INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 319.155 MILLION OZ/

Oct 31/no change in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory rests at 319.155 million oz

Oct 30/STRANGE!WITH SILVER UP THESE PAST TWO TRADING DAYS, WE HAD A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.133 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 319.155 MILLION OZ/

Oct 27/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 320.288 MILLION OZ

Oct 26/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 320.288 MILLION OZ/

Oct 25/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 320.288 MILLION OZ

Oct 24/no change in inventory at the SLV/inventory rests at 320.288 million oz/

oCT 23./STRANGE!!WITH SILVER RISING TODAY WE HAD A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.039 MILLION OZ/inventory rests at 320.288 million oz/

OCT 20NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 321.327 MILLION OZ

oCT 19/INVENTORY LOWERS TO 321.327 MILLION OZ

Oct 18 no change in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory rest at 322.271 million oz

Oct 17/ A MONSTROUS WITHDRAWAL OF 3.494 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 322.271 MILLION OZ

Oct 16/ NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV.INVENTORY RESTS AT 325.765 MILLION OZ

oCT 13/ NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 325.765 MILLION OZ

Oct 12/THE LAST TWO DAYS WE LOST 1.113 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 325.765 MILLION OZ

Oct 10/NO CHANGE IN INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 326.898 MILLION OZ/

Oct 9/A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 1.227 MILLION OZ INTO THE INVENTORY OF THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 326.898 MILLION OZ

Oct 6/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY/ INVENTORY RESTS AT 325.671 MILLON OZ

Oct 5/ANOTHER WITHDRAWAL OF 944,000 OZ FROM THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 325.671 MILLION OZ

OCT 4/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 326.615 MILLION Z

Oct 3/A TINY WITHDRAWAL OF 143,000 FROM THE SLV FOR FEES/INVENTORY RESTS AT 326.615 MILLION OZ

Oct 2/NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 326,757 MILLION OZ

Nov 8/2017:
Inventory 318.074 million oz
end

6 Month MM GOFO

Indicative gold forward offer rate for a 6 month duration
+ 1.43%
12 Month MM GOFO
+ 1.65%
30 day trend

end

Platinum Bullion ‘May Be One Of The Only Cheap Assets Out There’
By Mark O’ByrneNovember 8, 2017No Comments

Platinum Bullion ‘May Be One Of The Only Cheap Assets Out There’

Platinum “may be one of the cheap assets out there” and “is cheap when compared with stocks or bonds” according to Dominic Frisby writing in the UK’s best selling financial publication Money Week.



Platinum Bullion in USD (15 years)

Frisby writing in Money Week laments the total absence of value in today’s markets. He then identifies an asset that is both cheap (on a relative basis) and is valuable and the article is well worth a read:

The value investor’s lament – where have all the cheap assets gone?

Every week in MoneyWeek magazine there’s a small column devoted to great investors from the past. You read a bit about who they were, what their circumstances were and what their methodologies were.

Sometimes I’ve heard of them, sometimes I haven’t – but as often as not it seems that they were a value investor of some kind. Value investing is, I suppose, the most basic and instinctive of investing systems. You buy when you deem something to be cheap and you sell when it gets expensive. The principle has been applied for as long as humans have invested money.

And yet it no longer seems to work. In this modern age of suppressed rates, quantitative easing, and easy (if you mix in the right circles) money, nothing is cheap – except money itself.

Value investors have, mostly, been beaten by index trackers, and those who have simply gone long (ideally with as much leverage as possible), have wiped the floor with the prudent. Sensible, disciplined approaches have not worked. The stock market has flown and taken everything with it.

As I went for my daily walk yesterday, I asked myself: “What out there is actually cheap at the moment?”



Finding value has become increasingly difficult

It depends on your valuation matrix, of course, but it’s hard to make the case that stocks are cheap. The Dow, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq – they are all at all-time highs, pretty much. I’m not saying they can’t go higher. But all-time highs is not cheap.

The various FTSE indices are also in record territory, same too France and Germany. Japan is at 20-year-plus highs. On a country-by-country basis you might be able to argue somewhere is cheap – Greece (for a reason) – but it’s hard to say there is real value out there in stocks as an asset.

The same goes for bonds. The yields on government bonds are, except for exceptional cases, minimal. As low as, 2016 excepted, they’ve ever been. Again, yields could fall – bonds could get even more expensive – but you can’t make the case that government bonds are cheap. The same goes for corporate and junk bonds.

In the UK, the real estate market has two sides to it. In places like London, Brighton, Bristol, Oxford or Cambridge, prices bear little relation to local earnings.

Then there are other regions where the 2007 highs were never recovered. You could find value in, say, parts of the Midlands or North Devon. But that’s not the same as being irresistibly cheap. Moreover, the future for UK real estate investing does not look good to me – it seems the government does not want to encourage it beyond owning your own home.

You start looking at other assets: bitcoin and digital assets. Nope. Not cheap. Art. Nope. Not cheap either.

The only asset class that’s cheap right now

About the only assets I can find that are cheap are in the commodities sector. Oil looks reasonable value. I’m writing this piece from Texas, and I can tell you that oil consumption shows no signs of abating.

But the real zinger for me is platinum.

It’s as though the kid at school, who used to get straight As in all his grades and be captain of all the sports teams, has suddenly for no apparent reason, been relegated to the back of the class. He’s politely putting his hand up and saying, “Hey, remember me?” but nobody cares. They’re all ignoring him.

John wrote about this the other week, but it really is striking.

Back in the day, platinum was the star. It was a precious metal, so it would benefit from all the inflation of the 2000s. But it was an industrial metal too, so it would benefit from the industrial expansion. Rare, beautiful, hard to produce. What could possibly go wrong?

The world blows up and gold and silver go to the moon – platinum goes there too. The global economy expands, everybody has more money – one thing they spend their new-found wealth on is platinum jewellery. It’s more precious than gold after all. People start driving more. More cars = more platinum.

Instead, platinum has gone nowhere, and it’s been forgotten.

The body blow seems to have been the Volkswagen scandal. Diesel emissions are greater than stated. The future for diesel cars (which use platinum in their catalytic converters), and thus the future for the precious metal, looks grim.

Meanwhile, the whole “gold as money” narrative has upped sticks and and moved to bitcoin. Central banking works apparently, and so there is no need for precious metals.

And the wealth created by the economic expansion of the past few years has not trickled down into platinum jewellery buying sufficiently to affect the price. The money must have all gone to rich folk who already own platinum!

Any strike or mishap in South Africa that might affect platinum supply (something like 90% of platinum is mined there) has just been met with a global shrug.

Platinum is simply too cheap

Well, let me tell you a thing or two, Mr Market, who doesn’t care about platinum. You’re wrong!

Gold (at around $1,290 per ounce) is now about 40% more expensive than platinum (around $925). That is not normal. Platinum is supposed to be more expensive than gold. Gold is typically 75% of the price of platinum. To redress that balance , platinum should be around $1,600.

Platinum’s cheap little sister palladium (which is a law unto itself) is now more expensive than platinum. Again, that is not normal. It happens every now and then – well, once since 1970, in 2000-2001 – but it is the exception, not the rule. It’s like a BMW – nice, but not that nice – costing more than a Rolls Royce.

Platinum is cheap when compared with stocks or bonds. It is sitting around or just below its cost of production, which is going to strain supply (in fact it already has).

Who cares about platinum? Nobody really. It’s amazing that a metal this embedded in our collective psyche is meeting such apathy.

The chart below shows the platinum price over the last ten years.



You can see the steady decline from 2011 through to 2016, the brief rebound rally, and then further declines. But those further declines have been with much more of sideways bias. In other words, although there aren’t many buyers, the hard selling seems to be done.

I get why nobody is buying platinum – there’s no compelling narrative for it at the moment. There’s no reason to buy it beyond that it’s cheap. But nor is there any real reason to sell it.

There’s often a cycle to bear markets. First you get the hard selling, then you get the forgotten phase – when an asset is simply overlooked. It seems we are in such a phase now.

Although we need not see a huge rise in the near-time, I would say the downside risk here is limited in a way that it isn’t in other asset classes – stocks, bonds, bitcoin – where the downside risk is fairly substantial.

It’s a case of accumulating and sitting patiently. Which is what value investors do.

You can read the full article on Money Week here

Note: The safest ways to own platinum is with platinum coins, platinum bars (delivery and Secure Storage) and platinum certificates all of which are offered by phone by GoldCore. They will be available for online purchase when our new website goes live in the coming days.

News and Commentary

Gold edges higher as dollar slips (Reuters.com)

Stocks Slide, Dollar Gains as Taxes Take Focus (Bloomberg.com)

Wall Street extends losses as financial stocks weigh (Reuters.com)

Gold Imports by India Slump as Inventories Pile Up (Bloomberg.com)

Gold market is moving from West to East – Shanghai Gold Exchange Chairman (Xinhaunet.com)

Centuries of Data Forewarn of Rapid Reversal From Low Interest Rates (Bloomberg.com)

Prepare Your Finances For Interest Rate Rises (MoneyWeek.com)

‘Hyper-Crash’ Is Coming – It’s Not The Everything Bubble, It’s The Global Short Volatility Bubble (ZeroHedge.com)

Explosive Leaked Secret Israeli Cable Confirms Israeli-Saudi Coordination To Provoke War (ZeroHedge.com)

Global Markets Incredibly Inflated & Artificially Manipulated – Marc Faber (USAWatchDog.com)

Gold Prices (LBMA AM)

08 Nov: USD 1,282.25, GBP 976.82 & EUR 1,105.43 per ounce
07 Nov: USD 1,276.35, GBP 970.92 & EUR 1,103.28 per ounce
06 Nov: USD 1,271.60, GBP 969.72 & EUR 1,095.61 per ounce
03 Nov: USD 1,275.30, GBP 976.24 & EUR 1,094.59 per ounce
02 Nov: USD 1,276.40, GBP 965.09 & EUR 1,095.92 per ounce
01 Nov: USD 1,279.25, GBP 961.48 & EUR 1,099.52 per ounce

Silver Prices (LBMA)

08 Nov: USD 17.00, GBP 12.96 & EUR 14.65 per ounce
07 Nov: USD 17.01, GBP 12.95 & EUR 14.70 per ounce
06 Nov: USD 16.92, GBP 12.90 & EUR 14.59 per ounce
03 Nov: USD 17.09, GBP 13.05 & EUR 14.67 per ounce
02 Nov: USD 17.08, GBP 12.98 & EUR 14.66 per ounce
01 Nov: USD 16.94, GBP 12.74 & EUR 14.55 per ounce


Recent Market Updates

– World’s Largest Gold Producer China Sees Production Fall 10%
– German Investors Now World’s Largest Gold Buyers
– Gold Price Reacts as Central Banks Start Major Change
– Why Switzerland Could Save the World and Protect Your Gold
– Invest In Gold To Defend Against Bail-ins
– Stumbling UK Economy Shows Importance of Gold
– Wozniak and Thiel Fuel Bitcoin-Gold Debate: Gold Comes Out On Top
– Russia Buys 34 Tonnes Of Gold In September
– Gold Will Be Safe Haven Again In Looming EU Crisis
– Gold Is Valuable Due to “Extreme Rarity” – Must See CNN Video
– Gold Is Better Store of Value Than Bitcoin – Goldman Sachs
– Next Wall Street Crash Looms? Lessons On Anniversary Of 1987 Crash
– Key Charts: Gold is Cheap and US Recession May Be Closer Than Think

END

Bitcoin Rebounds Back Above $7500 As Goldman Eyes Next Wave Higher

Bitcoin has roundtripped $1200 from record highs near $7600, down to $6900, and back up to $7500 this morning on the heels of renewed interest in China crypto trading and a technical report from Goldman suggesting $7941 as a short-term target.

Quite a move but back to highs…



Two months ago, when Chinese regulator issued the “Seven Regulatory Bodies” Announcement and shut down the Bitcoin trading, the whole world thought that China Bitcoin gates were closing.



As CoinTelegraph notesthough optimists were claiming that Chinese government might free Bitcoin trading under certain circumstances in the future, nobody anticipated that the day is coming this soon.

On Nov. 1, ZB.com, a new cryptocurrency trading platform, began to serve sellers and buyers all over the world, including those in mainland China. ZB.com has become a major trading platform which provides trades of BTC, LTC, ETH, ETC and another major type of cryptocurrencies within a few days.

What’s more, on Nov. 8, it started to accept CNY as a deposit. In other words, the CNY trading market which was closed by the regulators is activated now. The platform only accepts credit cards and debit cards for CNY deposit. WeChat Pay and Alipay are not accepted yet.

Though it’s still too soon to state that Bitcoin trading is freed by the Chinese government, it’s highly likely that the government, instead of banning Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is more interested in regulating the market and supervising the trading. Like it or not, a new era of Bitcoin in China is coming, and law and order might play a more significant role now.

Additionally Goldman Sachs technical analysis team signals Bitcoin’s next leg is higher to $7941…



It exceeded an equality target from the July low at 6,044. This break indicated potential for an impulsive advance, one that could reach at least 7,941. This is the minimum target for a 3rd of 5-waves up and should therefore be a level from which to watch for signs of a consolidation.

It’s important to emphasize that a stall near 7,941 should be viewed as corrective/counter-trend. A typical 4th wave will often hold ~23.6% of the length of wave 3; which from 7,941 measures out to ~6,767. Given that this is just a 3rd of 5-waves up, the implications are that Bitcoin has potential to run further over time (wave 5 of 5).

View: Next in focus 7,941. Might consolidate there before continuing higher. Consider the pullback corrective against 6,767. Re-assess below 6,042 (38.2%).
end
Bitcoin then explodes northbound to $7900.00
(courtesy zerohedge)
Bitcoin Explodes To $7900 After Hard Fork Suspended

The USD price of Bitcoin just exploded higher – near $7900 – on heavy volume as CoinDesk reports The organizers of a controversial bitcoin scaling proposal are suspending an attempt to increase the block size by way of a software upgrade. Bitcoin is up over 10% today, now up over 650% YTD:



As CoinDesk details, known for its strong early support from bitcoin startups and mining pools, the plan, called Segwit2x, or simply 2x, was to trigger a block size increase at block 494784, expected to occur on or around November 16th.

Understanding Segwit2x: Why Bitcoin’s Next Fork Might Not Mean Free Money

The suspension was announced today in an email, written by Mike Belshe, CEO and co-founder of bitcoin wallet software provider BitGo. One of the leaders of the Segwit2x project, he argued that the scaling proposal is too controversial to move forward.

He wrote:

“Unfortunately, it is clear that we have not built sufficient consensus for a clean block size upgrade at this time. Continuing on the current path could divide the community and be a setback to Bitcoin’s growth. This was never the goal of Segwit2x.”

“Until then, we are suspending our plans for the upcoming 2MB upgrade,” he added.

The note is also signed by companies that originally supported the plan, forged at an in-person meeting in May, including CEO and co-founder Mike Belshe, Xapo CEO Wences Casares, mining pool Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu, Bloq CEO and co-founder Jeff Garzik, Blockchain CEO and co-founder Peter Smith and Shapeshift CEO and founder Erik Voorhees.

The group still has hopes that the block size will be increased further down the line, once there is more agreement from stakeholders.

end

Then for no apparent reason Bitcoin was whacked down to 7100 and then it rebounded again:

Your early WEDNESDAY morning currency, Asian stock market results, important USA/Asian currency crosses, gold/silver pricing overnight along with the price of oil Major stories overnight/9 AM EST

i) Chinese yuan vs USA dollar/CLOSED UP AT 6.6288/shanghai bourse CLOSED UP AT 1.89 POINTS .06% / HANG SANG CLOSED DOWN 86.74 POINTS OR 0.30%

2. Nikkei closed DOWN 23.78 POINTS OR 0.10% /USA: YEN FALLS TO 113.58

3. Europe stocks OPENED RED /USA dollar index FALLSS TO 94.91/Euro DOWN TO 1.1591

3b Japan 10 year bond yield: FALLS TO . +.026/ GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION !!!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 114.07/ THIS IS TROUBLESOME AS BANK OF JAPAN IS RUNNING OUT OF BONDS TO BUY./JAPAN 10 YR YIELD FINALLY IN THE POSITIVE/BANK OF JAPAN LOSING CONTROL OF THEIR YIELD CURVE AS THEY PURCHASE ALL BONDS TO GET TO ZERO RATE!!

3c Nikkei now JUST BELOW 17,000

3d USA/Yen rate now well below the important 120 barrier this morning

3e WTI:: 56.93 and Brent: 63.48

3f Gold UP/Yen 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 +.316%/Italian 10 yr bond yield DOWN to 1.721% /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD UP TO 1.456%

3j Greek 10 year bond yield FALLS TO : 5.092???

3k Gold at $1280.60 silver at:17.05: 6 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $18.50

3l USA vs Russian rouble; (Russian rouble DOWN 10/100 in roubles/dollar) 59.47

3m oil into the 56 dollar handle for WTI and 63 handle for Brent/

3n Higher foreign deposits out of China sees huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation (already upon us). This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/China forced to do QE!! as it lowers its yuan value to the dollar/GOT A GOOD SIZED REVALUATION NORTHBOUND

JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 INITIATES NIRP. THIS MORNING THEY SIGNAL THEY MAY END NIRP. TODAY THE USA/YEN TRADES TO 113.58 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 0.9989 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF is 1.1577 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 POSITIVE territory with the 10 year FALLING to +0.316%

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 2.307% early this morning. Thirty year rate at 2.768% /

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

(courtesy Jim Reid/Bloomberg/Deutsche bank/zero hedge)
Bank Stocks, Dollar Slide Hit By Fresh Tax Reform Doubts


U.S. equity futures are little changed as European and Asian shares retreated, led by sliding bank stocks and a drop in the dollar as doubts over republican tax cuts and ongoing bond curve flattening hurt sentiment and prompted fresh questions over the viability of the US expansion.

Investor concerns also returned to geopolitics as Trump continued his tour of Asia with a mission of rallying the world to stand up to the North Korean threat. Calling out by name Russia and China, he said Wednesday that all responsible nations must join forces to deny Kim Jong Un’s regime any form of support. As Bloomberg reports, Trump is also expected to discuss trade with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. But the biggest overnight catalyst was a renewed fear about the fate of GOP tax cuts, as fresh doubts emerged about tax reform progress after the Washington Post reported Senate Republican leaders were considering holding cuts back by a year, while they are also said to be considering repealing deductions for state and local taxes.

Derek Halpenny, head of research at Mitsubishi UFJ in London told Reuters he was dubious over the progress of the tax cuts program being urged by U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign. “The initial phases of discussions within the House (of Representatives) have brought up a lot of divisions and problems … If the story is true that they’re considering a delay of one year to the corporate tax cut, those big differences will need to be sorted,” he said. Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Prime Partners, said the doubts over the tax issue reinforce the case for some consolidation in the market, which has been fully priced for good news. “It’s something that would impact the domestic stocks in the U.S. and would be a setback for the market in general (and) it’s more than stock specific as people would reassess earnings growth expectations to the downside,” he said.

In addition to hitting the dollar, tax fears also led to renewed flattening in the yield curve, which sent Goldman shares 1.5% lower and weighed the most on the main stock index. The 2s10s curve dropped below 69bps and has now flattened for 8 sessions in a row which is the longest run since November 2015. The 5s30s curve also fell below 79bps and both are at 10 year lows. Clearly rates markets are saying something about the prospect of the tax bill as it stands so it’ll be interesting to see if that changes when we see the Senate version. Ongoing flattening, which precedes an inversion, also implies that investors are expecting a slowdown if not recession.



European bonds were also snared by yield curve flattening, with yields on long-term German bonds falling to two-month lows on Wednesday.

In European equities, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined, with banks underperforming following disappointing results from Credit Agricole SA. European banking stocks were the worst performing sector as share indexes across the continent opened lower, following a poor session for U.S. banks. The two main European banking indices suffered the most, falling 1.1% and 0.9%, respectively, dragging an index of pan-European stocks lower 0.2%.

Elsewhere, in a largely risk-off session seen through the European periphery without a clear catalyst, Spanish bonds led a sell-off, with the 10Y Spain underperforming Italy by 2.5bps as large block trade sent bund futures to session high. European equity markets mirror peripheral underperformance, with smaller Italian banks particularly weak, while Credit Agricole slumped -4.5% after a poor earnings report. The retail sector was supported by Marks & Spencer (+0.9%) after positive trading numbers. In the U.K., Prime Minister Theresa May was weighing whether to fire a member of her cabinet only seven days after her defense secretary quit in a sexual harassment scandal.

Earlier, Asian shares wrung out another decade peak as data showed China’s demand for imports remained buoyant, pushing the MSCI world equity index to a fresh high. Beijing reported imports in October rose 17.2% from a year earlier, beating forecasts of 16%, but export growth was just under estimates at 6.9%. Some more from Goldman on China’s trade numbers:

October exports and imports growth moderate, in line with consensus

Exports growth for China moderated to 6.9% yoy in October from 8.1% yoy in September, and import growth also slowed to 17.2% yoy from 18.6% yoy in September. Both readings are in line with consensus. The moderation in year-on-year growth may be partially due to the mid-autumn festival distortion, though probably to a lesser extent compared to those seen in Korea and Taiwan data. In sequential terms, exports fell 0.1% mom sa non-annualized, down from a modest increase of 0.2% in September. Imports increased by 0.3% mom sa non-annualized, moderating from 2.5% in September. The trade surplus increased to US$38.2bn from US$28.6bn in September.

For exports to major destinations, growth of exports to the EU and Japan improved to 11.4% yoy and 5.7% yoy, from 10.4% yoy and 0% yoy in September, respectively, while that to the US and ASEAN moderated to 8.3% yoy and 10.1% from 13.8% yoy and 10.7% in September.

For commodity imports, the imports growth decelerated both in volume and value terms. Specifically, in volume terms, iron ore imports fell 1.6% yoy, vs. +10.6% yoy in September; crude oil imports grew 7.8% yoy, vs. 11.9% yoy in September; steel products imports contracted 12.0% yoy, vs. +9.7% yoy in September. In value terms, iron ore imports decelerated to 16.9% yoy from 30.2% yoy in September; crude oil imports grew 29.1% yoy, vs. 29.4% yoy in September; steel products imports decelerated to 9.3% yoy, from 28.6% yoy in September.

Market Snapshot

S&P 500 futures little changed at 2,586.70
STOXX Europe 600 down 0.06% to 394.40
MSCI Asia up 0.1% to 171.74
MSCI Asia ex Japan down 0.04% to 560.49
Nikkei down 0.1% to 22,913.82
Topix up 0.2% to 1,817.60
Hang Seng Index down 0.3% to 28,907.60
Shanghai Composite up 0.06% to 3,415.46
Sensex down 0.6% to 33,180.32
Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.03% to 6,016.27
Kospi up 0.3% to 2,552.40
German 10Y yield rose 0.5 bps to 0.332%
Euro up 0.1% to $1.1601
Italian 10Y yield fell 8.3 bps to 1.437%
Spanish 10Y yield rose 5.0 bps to 1.458%
Brent futures up 0.2% to $63.79/bbl
Gold spot up 0.3% to $1,279.04
U.S. Dollar Index down 0.08% to 94.83

Top Headline News

U.S. Tax: Senate Rep. leaders are considering a delay in corp tax cut by 1-year; would save $100b: Washington Post
Eyeing 2018 Midterms, Democrats Score Wins in Key Governor’s Races
President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing where he’ll meet with President Xi Jinping. Representatives from about 40 U.S. companies are expected to accompany Trump’s trade mission to China and sign deals for billions of dollars
BOJ board member Yukitoshi Funo says the central bank won’t necessarily keep policy the same until 2% is hit
China data: Oct. exports 6.1% y/y vs est. 7%; imports 15.9% y/y vs est. 17.5%; trade balance 245.5b yuan vs 280.5b yuan
Moody’s: Healthy economic growth and synchronized global expansion seen in 2017 likely to continue next year; global sovereigns have stable outlook for 2018
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker suggested he’ll likely support a third 2017 interest-rate increase next month, but said he wants to see signs of inflation moving higher before backing tightening next year; has penciled in three increases for 2018
Catalan separatists missed the deadline to form an alliance to run as a united block, boosting Spain’s chances of restoring some normality to the rebel region
The House tax- writing committee entered its third day of work to hammer out the details of the Republican tax cut plan
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit is held in Danang, Vietnam
Fed’s Harker: Fed on track for Dec. hike; wants to see progress on inflation before 2018 hikes; repeats currently 3 hikes next year are penciled in by him
BOE Agents’ Summary of Business Conditions: pay growth had edged up and now expected to be somewhat higher in 2018; pay settlements expected to be 2.5-3.5% next year vs 2-3% in 2017
API inventories according to people familiar w/data: Crude -1.6m; Cushing +0.8m; Gasoline +0.5m; Distillates -3.1m
China Oct. trade balance: $38.2b sv $39.1b est; Exports 6.1% vs 7.0% est; Imports 15.9% vs 17.5% est.

Asian equities traded mixed with profit taking initially dragging down major bourses, while the rally in commodities ran out of steam. Additionally, US equity futures were also off marginally following reports that Senate GOP is said to consider delaying corporate tax rate cut for a year. ASX 200 (+0.07%) initially pulled away from its recent 10yr high seen yesterday, while Commonwealth Bank shares outperformed after a firm earnings report. Similarly, the Nikkei 255 (-0.1%) also retreated from its recent highs with financials leading the losses, while Toyota shares surged higher after strong earnings. Both the Shanghai Comp (+0.5%) and Hang Seng (+0.3%) moved into positive territory fuelled by tech stocks as shares in China Literature doubled on their debut trading session, in turn shrugging off the Chinese trade data which missed analyst estimates. In credit markets, JGBs have been supported by spill over buying in USTs while the Japanese curve has been noticeably steeper with the short-end yet again outperforming as the 2yr yield falls 1.5bps.

Top Asian News

Thailand Holds Key Rate Near Record Low as Growth Gains Momentum
Bharti Airtel Drops After Qatar Fund Seeks $1.5 Billion Selldown
IPO Fever Hits Hong Kong Market as 1-in-20 People Try to Buy

European equities continue the week’s trade in a subdued fashion, and reside in the marginal green. Utilities outperform, led by EON and SSE, following stela earnings from the latter, leading the FTSE higher. Energy struggles, albeit marginally so as oil markets slow their weekly gains, failing to help boost the sector. We suspected that there was more positive momentum building than any real desire to push prices lower, and that it was probably only a matter of time before the previous 10 year futures high was breached. However, follow-through buying has perhaps not been as strong or pronounced as anticipated (yet), despite reports of some 15k lots purchased from 163.40 (ie a tick above yesterday’s Eurex session peak) to the new 163.51 peak. To recap, 163.69 is the closest bullish objective on some charts, and that would nudge the equivalent yield down to 0.30%, which could be sticky. Elsewhere, and in keeping with the general fixed friendly trend, Gilts have extended gains to 125.67/1.217% in cash terms and T-notes have traded at 125-15/2.31% approx.

Top European News

ABN Amro Falls as Quarterly Net Interest Income Misses Estimates
SSE Leads U.K. Shares Higher on Retail Energy Merger With Innogy
Marks & Spencer Woes Deepen as New Chairman Tightens Hold
Paschi Declines Further as Lending and Commissions Disappoint
Maersk Closer to Drilling Deal After $1.8 Billion Writedown

In FX, markets are likely to await comments from BoE’s Carney and McCafferty, expected both in the early European evening. Cable has seen some marginal downside in early trade, as the majority of FX markets struggle to find any real direction following the lack of impetus from Asia. Sterling has struggled against the EUR in recent trade, edging toward yesterday’s 0.8835 highs. Falling yields have been the theme of recent trade, as the US curve trades around flattest levels since 2007. USD/JPY remains undeceive however, retaining lows around November’s 113.55- 113.70 support range and looking back toward 114.00, with the
large option expires between 113.50 and 114.50 signalling that the pair will remain in a tight range.
The lack of trade is evident of anticipation for the RBNZ later this evening, with rates expected to remain at 1.75%. The implied vol
indicates minimal risk, at the lowest levels of the year, helped by big expiries contacting – 640mln 0.6920-25 and 651mln at
0.6950.

In commodities, WTI and Brent crude futures have retraced from 2y highs, as the bulls take a breather, as the former trades around 57.00/bbl. It has been noted that China Oct crude oil imports have dropped to their lowest levels in over a year. Precious metals have traded largely sideward throughout the European and Asian sessions, as much focus remains on global risk sentiment as Trump continues his tour of Asia.

Looking at what appears to be a fairly light day ahead, BoJ meeting minutes from the October meeting are due this evening while Germany’s Merkel speaks this morning and the BoE’s Kohn speaks around lunchtime. With little in the way of other data, expect the US tax developments to remain a focus along with President Trump’s trip around Asia. Deutsche

US Event Calendar

7am: MBA Mortgage Applications, prior -2.6%

* * *

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

A Happy Trumpiversary to all our readers this morning. Yes, believe it or not, today marks exactly 12 months since the US election on November 8th 2016. A lot has happened in the last year, not least the President increasing his Twitter following by 29,111,914 people, or slightly more than the population of Ghana.

Twelve months on from the election and while markets have been a bit mixed in the last 24 hours it feels like most investors are still somewhat sitting of the sidelines waiting for further developments on tax reform. The general feeling is that we should get the Senate bill on Thursday, which as we noted yesterday will be closely watched given that it’s likely to include some significant differences relative to the House bill. Republican Senator Ted Cruz was reported as saying yesterday that GOP lawmakers need “to do more” than what is on the table so far. In the meantime markups to the House bill continued for a second day yesterday and will likely continue into today also.

As noted above it was a bit of a mixed session for the most part yesterday although US markets did end up closing a bit firmer in the last 30 minutes or so of trading. Indeed after the Stoxx 600 and DAX had closed -0.49% and -0.66% respectively in Europe, the S&P 500 closed broadly flat (-0.02%), not helped by a softer performance for banks. It appears that the latest developments in Saudi Arabia drove the early price action with the Gulf nation expanding its crackdown on anti-corruption.

The news yesterday was that Saudi Arabia had ordered banks to freeze bank accounts for dozens of individuals who have not been arrested. Bloomberg also reported that the Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority had sent a list of hundreds of names to lenders which told them to freeze bank accounts linked or under those names. Later on, Saudi authorities moved to calm concerns and noted that the bank accounts frozen only relate to individual suspects, not of the companies they control.

The most eye-catching move yesterday in markets though was perhaps that of peripheral bond markets. BTPs rallied 8bps yesterday to 1.689% while 10y yields in Spain and Portugal closed 6.1bps and 9.7bps lower respectively – with the latter below 2% for the first time since April 2015. We’ve been scratching our heads a bit to explain the price action. With Treasuries (-0.2bps) and Bunds (-0.8bps) little changed there was some suggestion that the move was a bit of a delayed reaction to the Sicily regional election result on the weekend given the fairly muted price action on Monday. In any case the moves stood out given the relatively benign changes elsewhere. It is however worth noting that yesterday was another day of flattening across the Treasury curve. The 2s10s curve dropped below 69bps and has now flattened for 8 sessions in a row which is the longest run since November 2015. The 5s30s curve also fell below 79bps and both are at 10 year lows. Clearly rates markets are telling us something about the prospect of the tax bill as it stands so it’ll be interesting to see if that changes when we see the Senate version.

Jumping to the overnight news now where most of the headlines are focused on Trump’s address at the National Assembly in Seoul. The President said that North Korea’s Kim has turned the nation into “a hell that no person deserves” and called for more help from Russia and China, noting “…to those nations that choose to ignore this threat…the weight of this crisis is on your conscience”. The words appear in stark contrast to a much calmer rhetoric from Trump about 24 hours ago. The President is scheduled to visit China next where he is due to have a private dinner with President Xi.

Markets in Asia appear to have largely ignored Trump’s comments overnight though with the Kopsi (+0.19%), ASX 200 (+0.13%) , Shanghai Comp (+0.38%) and Hang Seng (+0.30%) up slightly and the Nikkei (-0.19%) currently the only index in the red. After the bell in the US, Snap Inc. dropped 17% following its’ softer than expected 3Q result and that appears to be weighing on US equity futures.

Moving over to the ECB now where there was a bit of interest in a Bloomberg story yesterday which suggested that three significant ECB policymakers had pushed at last month’s policy meeting to link the overall level of monetary stimulus (rather than just asset purchases) with the outlook for inflation. The article highlighted that the three policy makers were Board member Coeure, Bundesbank President Weidmann and Bank of France Governor Villeroy de Galhau. Earlier in the month, Bloomberg reported that Coeure didn’t oppose having an open-ended QE, but hopes “this will be the last extension”.

Staying with the ECB, yesterday we heard from President Draghi who spoke on banks and bad debts. He noted that European banking supervision “has been instrumental in building a stronger banking sector” and while non-performing loan levels have been coming down, from 7.5% of loans in early 2015 to 5.5% now, “the problem is not yet solved”.

Prior to this, ECB board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger noted “I would have liked a clear exit (for QE) and a different decision” in the October ECB meeting, perhaps in part as “for (her) that was ok to say (as) we can…now move gradually… out of non-standard measures, as the monetary policy stance will still be very accommodative and very expansionary”. On inflation, Lautenschlaeger said that “I am very confident that inflation will pick up and that in the medium term… we will achieve our goal”. Elsewhere on banks, she noted profitability is low for many banks and that they need to diversify their sources of revenue and seek a sustainable business model, but “all banks have to adapt to more stringent rules…they come at a cost, but in the long run, their benefits are greater”. Finally, the head of Supervision at the ECB Daniele Nouy noted that 50 banks have discussed their Brexit business relocation plans with authorities in the EU bloc.

Over at the Fed, new Chief of Bank Regulation Randal Quarles didn’t give too much away in his public debut. He noted that in terms of regulation, “everything is up for a fresh look” and that “in a very short period of time”, the Fed will be looking for ways to make the regulatory process more transparent. Further, since starting at the Fed, he has found ‘quite an openness” for “taking a fresh look at regulation”. Elsewhere, Democratic Senator Tester noted members of the Senate Banking Committee are “getting very close” to agreeing on a bill to ease regulation on financial institutions.

Away from the markets, OPEC revealed in its annual report yesterday that it now expects North American shale output to jump to 7.5m barrels per day in 2021, which is c.56% higher than its forecasts made last year, in part as OPEC’s output cuts have supported an oil price recovery that should help the US producers. OPEC and its partners are scheduled to meet on 30th November to decide whether or not to extend the oil production cuts from March 2018. WTI oil dipped -0.26% yesterday and is trading marginally lower this morning.

Before we look at the day ahead, it was a fairly light day for economic data yesterday but for completeness we note that in the US, September JOLTS job openings were in line at 6,093k (vs. 6,075k expected), while consumer credit grew stronger than expected at US$20.8bln (vs. US$17.5bln).

In Germany, the September IP was below expectations at -1.6% mom (vs. -0.9%) and 3.6% yoy (vs. 4.5% expected), with production of capital goods and energy weighing on growth. Notably, growth in 3Q remained reasonably sound at 0.9% qoq. In Europe, both the Eurozone and Italian September retail sales beat expectations, coming in at 0.7% mom (vs. 0.6% expected ) and 0.9% mom (vs. 0.2 expected) respectively. Over in the UK, the October Halifax house price index was broadly in line at 0.3% mom (vs. 0.2% expected) and 4.5% yoy. Elsewhere, BRC reported same-store retail sales fell 1.0% yoy in October, which is the worst result since March.

Looking at what appears to be a fairly light day ahead, BoJ meeting minutes from the October meeting are due this evening while Germany’s Merkel speaks this morning and the BoE’s Kohn speaks around lunchtime. With little in the way of other data, expect the US tax developments to remain a focus along with President Trump’s trip around Asia.
3. ASIAN AFFAIRS

i)Late TUESDAY night/WEDNESDAY morning: Shanghai closed UP 1.89 points or .06% /Hang Sang CLOSED DOWN 86.74 pts or 0.30% / The Nikkei closed DOWN 23.78 POINTS OR 0.10%/Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED UP 0.03%/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP at 6.6288/Oil DOWN to 56.93 dollars per barrel for WTI and 63.48 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED RED . ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED UP AGAINST THE DOLLAR AT 6.6288. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED WEAKER TO THE ONSHORE YUAN AT 6.6356 //ONSHORE YUAN STRONGER AGAINST THE DOLLAR/OFF SHORE WEAKER TO THE DOLLAR/. THE DOLLAR (INDEX) IS WEAKER AGAINST ALL MAJOR CURRENCIES. CHINA IS VERY HAPPY TODAY.
3a)THAILAND/SOUTH KOREA/NORTH KOREA

NORTH KOREA//SOUTH KOREA
3b) REPORT ON JAPAN

3C CHINA REPORT.
4. EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

GERMANY/DEUTSCHE BANK

Not good for the world’s largest derivative bank: their trading revenue drops 30% and now in a desperate scramble for profit they are trying to ramp up their loan business to which there is nobody

(courtesy zerohedge)


What Risk: Deutsche Bank Ramps Up Loans Business In Desperate Scramble For Profit

We have some sympathy for John Cryan, but only to the extent that he has the near impossible task of putting the biggest German bank back on a sound footing regaining market share and generating some elusive revenue growth: a virtually impossible task as long as Europe is choked by NIRP. As we noted two weeks ago, Deutsche’s 3Q 2017 results confirmed that the situation is still getting worse:

Deutsche Bank’s Q3 2017 revenues were €6.78 billion, below market expectations of €6.88 billion. The share price fell 2.7% shortly after the European market open. The problem – like the previous quarter – was a bigger-than-expected drop in trading revenues. Trading revenue was down 30% year-on-year to €1.512 billion versus €2.162 billion in Q2 2017. The challenge for the embattled CEO, John Cryan, is that the trend is still deteriorating. Trading revenues in Q2 2017 fell 18% year-on-year to 1.666 billion euros versus 2.027 billion euros. Earlier this year, Cryan pledged to turnaround the performance of the investment bank as soon as this year.

At the time, we wondered if Cryan’s time wasn’t running out: “The countdown to Cryan’s replacement is ticking ever louder.”

So if you were Deutsche CEO Cryan and you needed revenue growth and you needed it fast, what would you do? One thing is to identify a “hot” sector in capital markets with high margins and go all out for growth, never mind the risk. Which is exactly what Deutsche Bank is doing in the leveraged loan market as Bloomberg implies.

While investors are attracted to the high yields from leveraged loans, investment banks are lured by the fees. “Leveraged finance is juicy, juicy stuff,” said Tim Hall, global head of debt capital markets at Credit Agricole SA until last year. “In corporate banking, it probably hast the best margins.” Yet the fees are lucrative for a reason: banks take the risk that investor appetite for leveraged loans may suddenly disappear before they can sell on the debts. Deutsche Bank lost about 2.5 billion euros on “leveraged loans and loan commitments” in 2007 and 2008 combined, annual reports show. “Anyone getting into this sector today should have a good understanding of where we’re at in the cycle of leveraged loans,” said Knutson. “Are we closer to midnight in terms of the exhaustion of it or are we halfway through?”

So…what is Deutsche doing to generate more revenue in leveraged loans? Here’s Bloomberg:

As John Cryan mulls steps to restore growth at Deutsche Bank AG, he’s counting on U.S. companies’ appetite for ever more debt to help lead the charge. The Frankfurt-based lender added 24 managing directors and directors at its U.S. corporate finance business this year, a record hiring pace, according to Mark Fedorcik, co-head of Deutsche Bank’s global capital markets unit. Among the goals: to become a top arranger of leveraged loans again, the risky debt that has surged amid low interest rates and the prospect of a rollback of post-crisis regulations. “Next year will be a robust one for U.S. leveraged finance and we’re going to capitalize on this,” Fedorcik said in an interview. “It’s an area that we’re going to continue to invest in and regain a top-five position.”

As a result, next year might be a “robust one for leveraged finance”, then again it might not. Still, we know three things about banks’ behaviour:

They are spectacularly “good” at pro-cyclical investment and the leveraged loan market is very “hot”, especially in the US;
Deregulation, which loosens credit standards, always makes banks take more risk, rather than less; and
They never learn from one crisis to the next.

As Bloomberg explains, Deutsche might be able to tick all three of these “boxes”:

Investment banks have arranged $1.2 trillion of U.S. leveraged loans for clients so far this year, more than any other year since at least 2006 and already 18 percent more than all of 2016, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Adding to the frenzy is the U.S. Treasury Department, which has proposed loosening restrictions imposed on Wall Street banks after the 2008 financial crisis. Some analysts fear this could mean a return to the kinds of high-risk loan deals that saddled lenders — including Deutsche Bank — with billions of dollars of debts they couldn’t sell during the crash.

end

Iran Slams Saudi, US Claims It Ordered Ballistic Missile Attack From Yemen

On Tuesday Iran slammed Saudi and US claims that it was supplying Yemen’s Houthi rebels with advanced ballistic missiles that Saudi Arabia says targeted Riyadh international airport on Saturday – which would be a violation of a UN resolution which ensures conformity to the Iran nuclear deal.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news cited a letter sent to the UN Security Council signed by Iranian ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo, saying that Iran “categorically” rejects Saudi Arabia’s “baseless and unfounded accusations and considers it as destructive, provocative and a ‘threat to use of force”’ against a UN member state in defiance of the UN charter. Iran’s foreign minister further called the Saudi claims “contrary to reality and dangerous”.



Iran’s state-run PressTV file photo purporting to show a missile being fired from the direction of Yemen toward Saudi Arabia earlier during the conflict.

Though Saudi Arabia has mounted an aggressive aerial bombing campaign of deeply impoverished and disease-ridden Yemen for over the past two years, killing and wounding tens of thousands of civilians, it is Iran that is coming under intense pressure this week. Yesterday Saudi Arabia charged its regional rival Iran with “an act of war” while stating through its military coalition executing Yemen operations that, “Iran’s role and its direct command of its Houthi proxy in this matter constitutes a clear act of aggression that targets neighboring countries, and threatens peace and security in the region and globally.”

However, the Iranian ambassador’s letter to the UN responded directly to the charges with, “Such provocative statements by the Saudis are nothing but an attempt to shift the blame and to distract attention from its war of aggression against Yemen.” Other Iranian officials, according to various reports, called the Saudi claims “fake news”.

Saudi Arabia has cast itself as the victim of external Iranian and pro-Shia plotting after its internal weekend of chaos which included a missile attack from Yemen, the deaths of two princes and other high officials within a mere 24 hours, and an aggressive crackdown against dissent in the royal family which saw close to a dozen princes placed under house arrest. While lashing out at Iran’s supposed campaign of destabilization in Yemen and in the region, it appears that the Saudis are set to step up proxy skirmishes with Iran across the Middle East, possibly with the support of regional allies.

Predictably, the US immediately backed Saudi claims of direct Iranian involvement in the Yemeni conflict while citing no specific evidence. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley pointed to a prior missile fired in July which she said was an Iranian Qiam, and likened the previous attack with Saturday’s missile launch, saying it “may also be of Iranian origin,” and added that the ballistic missiles were not “a type of weapon that had not been present in Yemen before the conflict.”

Haley further claimed that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp?s had violated UN resolutions on Yemen and Iran, and said, “We encourage the United Nations and international partners to take necessary action to hold the Iranian regime accountable for these violations.”



Why don’t these congresspeople want to talk about the war in Yemen?

Why is Yemen ignored in US politics? The US itself has been an integral part of the coalition (also including Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Egypt, Sudan, and with the UK as a huge supplier of weapons) fighting Shia Houthi rebels, which overran Yemen’s north in 2014. Saudi airstrikes on the impoverished country, which have killed many thousands of civilians and displaced tens of thousands, have involved the assistance of US intelligence and use of American military hardware.

Regardless of the degree to which Iran may or may not be involved in advising and assisting Houthi rebels, it is astounding that in the rare moments that US officials actually make reference to the humanitarian disaster in Yemen, it is nebulous “Iranian agents” that are blamed even while American and British bombs are dropped from Saudi-piloted jets on a civilian population.

Saudi Arabia has in recent years managed to use the UN to protect and enhance its image when it comes to questions of both domestic human rights abuses and rampant war crimes in Yemen. Absurdly, the autocratic country which has Wahhabi Islam for its official state religion continues to serve its 3-year term on the UN Human Rights Council.

But it appears that for now that the Saudi “but Iran did it” line is enough to satisfy Nikki Haley and the US administration.

END


And now your more important USA stories which will influence the price of gold/silver
TRADING IN GRAPH FORM FOR THE DAY
Junk Bonds Dump To 3-Month Lows Amid Longest Curve Flattening Streak In 6 Years

Ignoring the surge in junk bond risk and collapse of the yield curve, stock investors were overheard saying…"shut up and take my Money !"



The Economy Is Okay?! U.S. Retail Store Closings Hit New Record High As West Coast Homelessness Soars

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

If the U.S. economy is doing just fine, why have we already shattered the all-time record for retail store closings in a single year?



Whenever I write about our “retail apocalypse”, many try to counter my arguments by pointing out the growing dominance of Amazon. And I certainly can’t deny that online shopping is on the rise, but it still accounts for less than 10 percent of total U.S. retail sales. No, something bigger is happening in our economy, and it isn’t receiving nearly enough attention from the mainstream media.

Back in 2008, a plummeting economy absolutely devastated retailers and it resulted in an all-time record of 6,163 retail stores being closed that year.

So far in 2017, over 6,700 stores have been shut down and we still have nearly two months to go! The following comes from CNN…

More store closings have been announced in 2017 than any other year on record.

Since January 1, retailers have announced plans to shutter more than 6,700 stores in the U.S., according to Fung Global Retail & Technology, a retail think tank.

That beats the previous all-time high of 6,163 store closings, which hit in 2008 amid the financial meltdown, according to Credit Suisse (CS).

Just within the last week, we have learned that Sears is closing down another 60 stores, and Walgreens announced that it intends to close approximately 600 locations.

Overall, about 300 retailers have declared bankruptcy so far in 2017, and we are on pace to lose over 147 million square feet of retail spaceby the end of the year.

Oh, but it is all Amazon’s fault, right?

Meanwhile, mainstream news outlets are reporting that homelessness is “exploding” out on the west coast.

For instance, we are being told that there are “400 unauthorized tent camps” in the city of Seattle alone…

Housing prices are soaring here thanks to the tech industry, but the boom comes with a consequence: A surge in homelessness marked by 400 unauthorized tent camps in parks, under bridges, on freeway medians and along busy sidewalks. The liberal city is trying to figure out what to do.

But I thought that the Seattle economy was doing so well.

I guess not.

Down in San Diego, they are actually scrubbing the sidewalks with bleach because the growing homeless population is spreading hepatitis A everywhere…

San Diego now scrubs its sidewalks with bleach to counter a deadly hepatitis A outbreak. In Anaheim, 400 people sleep along a bike path in the shadow of Angel Stadium. Organizers in Portland lit incense at an outdoor food festival to cover up the stench of urine in a parking lot where vendors set up shop.

Over the past two years, “at least 10 cities or municipal regions in California, Oregon and Washington” have declared a state of emergency because homelessness has gotten so far out of control.

Does that sound like a healthy economy to you?

The truth is that the financial markets have been doing great since the last financial crisis, but the real economy has never really recovered in any sort of meaningful way.

With each passing day, more Americans fall out of the middle class, and the homeless populations in major cities all over the nation continue to grow.

We truly are in the midst of a long-term economic collapse, and if we don’t find a way to fix things our problems will just continue to accelerate.

So don’t be fooled by the mainstream media. They may be trying to convince you that everything is just wonderful, but that is not the reality that most people are facing at all.

* * *

Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

END

Pension Panic In Paradise: Maui Residents Outraged Over 52% Spike In Pension Contributions

Earlier this year, Maui County residents in the island state of Hawaii were somewhat less than ecstatic to learn that their property taxes were going to increase by approximately $29.7 million for fiscal 2018. According to County Council member statements at the time, the additional funding was needed to help provide better public services for Maui residents.

That said, fast forward just a few months and it looks like a substantial portion of those tax increases won’t go to provide better public services for Maui residents at all but rather will be plowed into the state’s massively underwater pension fund. As The Maui News points out today, Maui’s contributions to the state Employees’ Retirement System will surge 52% over just the next couple of years…and that’s if everything goes to plan.

“This is a massive, massive increase,” Williams said.

Maui County paid $31 million into the pension fund in fiscal 2017. But now, its payments will increase to approximately $34 million in fiscal 2018, $36 million in fiscal 2019, $42 million in fiscal 2020 and $47 million in fiscal 2021.

This amounts to a total of $36 million in extra payments by Maui County over the next four years alone — and its contributions are set to remain just as high every year afterward.

Williams said the extra payments were needed to help the public pension system avert a crisis in unfunded liabilities, currently estimated at about $12.4 billion.

Meanwhile, as we’ve pointed out multiple times before, the victims of Hawaii’s ponzi failure will inevitably be the kids as funding gets diverted from public schools and into the pockets of a few retired public employees.

Williams is correct that the increased payments will help the state pay down its unfunded liabilities and return to being able to meet its current obligations to state and county employee retirees. But a new crisis has begun — the crisis of taxpayers feeling the pressure to bail out the system.

Williams acknowledged that the counties would be under more financial pressure.

“We know over time it really crowds out other goods and social services that are required, whether it’s education or roads or hospitals, or you name it,” he said. “There are limited revenues available, and these are commitments that have been made and need to be paid.”

But, maybe there’s a better way…we happen to know of a guy who recently paid $100 million for a large chunk of Kauai and is eager to settle a dispute with locals over his massive border wall (see: Protesters Plot “Border Wall” Rally For Tomorrow…At Zuckerberg’s Sprawling $100mm Hawaiian Estate)…perhaps a 1x gift to the Hawaii retirement ponzi is the perfect solution?

END

Well that about does it for tonight

https://www.silverdoctors.com/tag/harvey-organ/

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Thanks Harvey Your the Best <3 Your Outstanding Work !
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