~*~Mining and Metals Du Jour~*~

[JD400]

Bitter Sweet Data



Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen !



~Welcome To :

~*~Mining & Metals Du Jour~*~ Graveyard Shift~

Glad To Have You With Us Tonight

MMgys

En Joy

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Feb 6/XIX TERMINATION KNOCKS OUT BILLIONS IN INVESTOR DOLLARS/GOLD DOWN $8.50 TO $1334.70 AND THEN ANOTHER 10 DOLLARS IN ACCESS MARKET TRADING/SILVER DOWN 8 CENTS TO $16.63/SWAMP STORIES: WE NOW HAVE A SECOND DOSSIER AND QUITE POSSIBLY A THIRD DOSSIER TRYING TO DESTROY TRUMP/

February 6, 2018 · by Harvey Organ · in Uncat




GOLD: $1334.70 down $8.50

Silver: $16.62 down 8 cents

Closing access prices:

Gold $1324.75

silver: $16.63

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: $1345.69 DOLLARS PER OZ

NY PRICE OF GOLD AT EXACT SAME TIME: $1343.20

PREMIUM FIRST FIX: $2.49

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SECOND SHANGHAI GOLD FIX: $1345.69

NY GOLD PRICE AT THE EXACT SAME TIME: $1344.25

Premium of Shanghai 2nd fix/NY:$1.44

SHANGHAI REJECTS NY /LONDON PRICING OF GOLD

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LONDON FIRST GOLD FIX: 5:30 am est $1344.65

NY PRICING AT THE EXACT SAME TIME: $1344.25

LONDON SECOND GOLD FIX 10 AM: $1331.40

NY PRICING AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. $1331.10

For comex gold:

FEBRUARY/
NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED TODAY FOR FEBRUARY CONTRACT: 122 NOTICE(S) FOR 12200 OZ.

TOTAL NOTICES SO FAR:1302 FOR 130200 OZ (4.049 TONNES),

For silver:

jANUARY
2 NOTICE(S) FILED TODAY FOR
10,000 OZ/

Total number of notices filed so far this month: 126 for 630,000 oz

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Bitcoin: BID $6300/OFFER $7,370: DOWN $571(morning)
Bitcoin: BID/ $7721/offer $7791: UP $849 (CLOSING/5 PM)

end

Let us have a look at the data for today

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In silver, the total open interest FELL BY CONSIDERABLE 3086 contracts from 209,256 FALLING TO 206,171 DESPITE YESTERDAY’S TINY 7 CENT FALL IN SILVER PRICING. WE HAD CONSIDERABLE COMEX LIQUIDATION. HOWEVER, WE WERE AGAIN NOTIFIED THAT WE HAD ANOTHER HUGE SIZED NUMBER OF COMEX LONGS TRANSFERRING THEIR CONTRACTS TO LONDON THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE: 2732 EFP’S FOR MARCH AND AND 0 EFP’S FOR MAY AND ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS AND THUS TOTAL ISSUANCE OF 2732 CONTRACTS. HOWEVER THE MOVEMENT ACROSS TO LONDON IS NOT AS SEVERE AS IN GOLD AS THERE SEEMS TO BE MAJOR PLAYERS WILLING TO TAKE ON THE BANKS AT THE COMEX. STILL, WITH THE TRANSFER OF 2732 CONTRACTS, WHAT THE CME IS STATING IS THAT THERE IS NO SILVER (OR GOLD) TO BE DELIVERED UPON AT THE COMEX AS THEY MUST EXPORT THEIR OBLIGATION TO LONDON. ALSO KEEP IN MIND THAT THERE CAN BE A DELAY OF 24 HRS IN THE ISSUING OF EFP’S. THE 2732 CONTRACTS TRANSLATES INTO 13.66 MILLION OZ

ACCUMULATION FOR EFP’S/SILVER/ STARTING FROM FIRST DAY NOTICE/FOR MONTH OF FEBRUARY:

14,074 CONTRACTS (FOR 5 TRADING DAYS TOTAL 14,074 CONTRACTS OR 70.370 MILLION OZ: AVERAGE PER DAY: 2815 CONTRACTS OR 14.074 MILLION OZ/DAY)

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE HUGE SUPPLY THIS MONTH IN SILVER: SO FAR THIS MONTH: 70.37 MILLION PAPER OZ HAVE MORPHED OVER TO LONDON. THIS REPRESENTS AROUND 10.00% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION

ACCUMULATION IN YEAR 2018 TO DATE SILVER EFP’S: 305.34 MILLION OZ.

ACCUMULATION FOR JAN 2018: 236.879 MILLION OZ

RESULT: A CONSIDERABLE SIZED LOSS IN OI SILVER COMEX DESPITE THE TINY 7 CENT FALL IN SILVER PRICE. WE HOWEVER HAD A GOOD SIZED EFP ISSUANCE OF 2732 CONTRACTS WHICH EXITED OUT OF THE SILVER COMEX AND TRANSFERRED THEIR OI TO LONDON AS FORWARDS. SPECULATORS CONTINUED THEIR INTEREST IN ATTACKING THE SILVER COMEX FOR PHYSICAL SILVER . FROM THE CME DATA 2732 EFP’S FOR MONTHS MARCH AND MAY WERE ISSUED FOR MONDAY FOR A DELIVERABLE FORWARD CONTRACT OVER IN LONDON WITH A FIAT BONUS. WE REALLY LOST A TINY 354 OI CONTRACTS i.e. 2732 open interest contracts headed for London (EFP’s) TOGETHER WITH A DECREASE OF 3086 OI COMEX CONTRACTS. AND ALL OF THIS HAPPENED WITH THE FALL IN PRICE OF SILVER OF 7 CENTS AND A CLOSING PRICE OF $16.70 WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING. YET WE STILL HAVE A FAIR AMOUNT OF SILVER STANDING AT THE COMEX.

In ounces AT THE COMEX, the OI is still represented by just OVER 1 BILLION oz i.e. 1.030 BILLION TO BE EXACT or 148% of annual global silver production (ex Russia & ex China).

FOR THE NEW FRONT FEBRUARY MONTH/ THEY FILED: 2 NOTICE(S) FOR 10,000 OZ OF SILVER

In gold, the open interest FELL BY A TINY 2385 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 545,893 WITH THE TINY SIZED RISE IN PRICE OF GOLD WITH YESTERDAY’S TRADING ($0.30). IN ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT, WE RECEIVED THE TOTAL NUMBER OF GOLD EFP’S ISSUED FOR TUESDAY AND IT TOTALED A GOOD SIZED 5581 CONTRACTS OF WHICH APRIL SAW THE ISSUANCE OF 5581 CONTRACTS AND JUNE SAW THE ISSUANCE OF 0 CONTRACTS AND THEN ALL OTHER MONTHS ZERO. The new OI for the gold complex rests at 545,893. ALSO REMEMBER THAT THERE WILL BE A DELAY IN THE ISSUANCE OF EFP’S. THE BANKERS REMOVE LONG POSITIONS OF COMEX GOLD IMMEDIATELY. THEN THEY ORCHESTRATE THEIR PRIVATE EFP DEAL WITH THE LONGS AND THAT COULD TAKE AN ADDITIONAL 48 HRS SO WE GENERALLY DO NOT GET A MATCH WITH RESPECT TO DEPARTING COMEX LONGS AND NEW EFP LONG TRANSFERS. DEMAND FOR GOLD INTENSIFIES GREATLY AS WE CONTINUE TO WITNESS A HUGE NUMBER OF EFP TRANSFERS TOGETHER WITH THE MASSIVE INCREASE IN GOLD COMEX OI TOGETHER WITH THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF GOLD OUNCES STANDING FOR FEBRUARY COMEX. EVEN THOUGH THE BANKERS ISSUED THESE MONSTROUS EFPS, THE OBLIGATION STILL RESTS WITH THE BANKERS TO SUPPLY METAL BUT IT TRANSFERS THE RISK TO A LONDON BANKER OBLIGATION AND NOT A NEW YORK COMEX OBLIGATION. LONGS RECEIVE A FIAT BONUS TOGETHER WITH A LONG LONDON FORWARD. THUS, BY THESE ACTIONS, THE BANKERS AT THE COMEX HAVE JUST STATED THAT THEY HAVE NO APPRECIABLE METAL!! THIS IS A MASSIVE FRAUD: THEY CANNOT SUPPLY ANY METAL TO OUR COMEX LONGS BUT THEY ARE QUITE WILLING TO SUPPLY MASSIVE NON BACKED GOLD (AND SILVER) PAPER KNOWING THAT THEY HAVE NO METAL TO SATISFY OUR LONGS. LONDON IS NOW SEVERELY BACKWARD IN BOTH GOLD AND SILVER (BIG RISE IN BOTH GOFO AND SIFO) AND WE ARE WITNESSING DELAYS IN ACTUAL DELIVERIES. IN ESSENCE TODAY WE HAVE A GAIN OF 2324 CONTRACTS: 2385 OI CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX AND A STRONG SIZED 5581 OI CONTRACTS WHICH NAVIGATED OVER TO LONDON.(5581 CONTRACTS EQUATES TO 17.36 TONNES)

YESTERDAY, WE HAD 14,200 EFP’S ISSUED.

ACCUMULATION OF EFP’S/ GOLD(EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL) FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY STARTING WITH FIRST DAY NOTICE: 48,993 CONTRACTS OR 4,899,300 OZ OR 152.38 TONNES (5 TRADING DAYS AND THUS AVERAGING: 9799 EFP CONTRACTS PER TRADING DAY OR 979,900 OZ/DAY)

TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA AS TO THE HUGE SIZE OF THESE EFP TRANSFERS : SO FAR THIS MONTH IN 4 TRADING DAYS: IN TONNES: 152.38 TONNES

TOTAL ANNUAL GOLD PRODUCTION, 2017, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD EX CHINA EX RUSSIA: 2200 TONNES

THUS EFP TRANSFERS REPRESENTS 152.38/2200 x 100% TONNES = 6.90% OF GLOBAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION SO FAR IN FEBRUARY ALONE.

ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S YEAR 2018 TO DATE: 804.69 TONNES

ACCUMULATION OF GOLD EFP’S FOR JANUARY 2018: 653.22 TONNES

Result: A SURPRISING A FAIR SIZED DECREASE IN OI AT THE COMEX DESPITE THE RISE IN PRICE IN GOLD TRADING YESTERDAY ($0.30). IT IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT MANY OF THE DEPARTED COMEX LONGS RECEIVED THEIR PRIVATE EFP CONTRACT FOR EITHER APRIL OR JUNE. WE HAD ANOTHER GOOD SIZED NUMBER OF COMEX LONG TRANSFERRING TO LONDON THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE: 5581 AS THESE HAVE ALREADY BEEN NEGOTIATED AND CONFIRMED. THERE OBVIOUSLY DOES NOT SEEM TO BE MUCH PHYSICAL GOLD AT THE COMEX AND YET WE ALSO OBSERVED A HUGE DELIVERY MONTH FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER. I GUESS IT EXPLAINS THE HUGE ISSUANCE OF EFP’S…THERE IS HARDLY ANY GOLD PRESENT AT THE GOLD COMEX FOR DELIVERY PURPOSES. IF YOU TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE 5581 EFP CONTRACTS ISSUED, WE HAD A NET GAIN IN OPEN INTEREST OF 2385 contracts ON THE TWO EXCHANGES:

5581 CONTRACTS MOVE TO LONDON AND 2385 CONTRACTS DECREASED AT THE COMEX. (in tonnes, the GAIN in total oi equates to 7.22 TONNES).

we had: 122 notice(s) filed upon for 12,200 oz of gold.

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

GLD

STRANGE, WITH ALL OF TODAY’S TURMOIL: No change in gold inventory at the GLD/

Inventory rests tonight: 841.35 tonnes.

SLV/

NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/ WITH ALL OF TODAY’S TURMOIL AND WHACKING OF SILVER

/INVENTORY RESTS AT 314.045 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 CONSIDERABLE 3086 contracts from 209,256 DOWN TO 206,170 (AND now A LITTLE FURTHER TO THE NEW COMEX RECORD SET ON FRIDAY/APRIL 21/2017 AT 234,787) WITH THE SLIGHT FALL IN PRICE OF SILVER (7 CENTS WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING). OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE ANOTHER GOOD 2732 PRIVATE EFP’S FOR MARCH AND 0 EFP CONTRACTS OR MAY (WE DO NOT GET A LOOK AT THESE CONTRACTS AS IT IS PRIVATE BUT THE CFTC DOES AUDIT THEM) AND 0 EFP’S FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS . EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. WE HAD ZERO COMEX SILVER COMEX LIQUIDATION. IF WE TAKE THE OI LOSS AT THE COMEX OF 3086 CONTRACTS TO THE 2732 OI TRANSFERRED TO LONDON THROUGH EFP’S WE OBTAIN A TINY LOSS OF 354 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS. WE STILL HAVE A GOOD AMOUNT OF SILVER OUNCES THAT ARE STANDING FOR METAL IN JANUARY (SEE BELOW). THE NET LOSS TODAY IN OZ ON THE TWO EXCHANGES:1.77 MILLION OZ!!!

RESULT: A CONSIDERABLE SIZED DECREASE IN SILVER OI AT THE COMEX DESPITE THE TINY SIZED FALL OF 7 CENTS IN PRICE (WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING). BUT WE ALSO HAD ANOTHER GOOD 2732 EFP’S ISSUED TRANSFERRING COMEX LONGS OVER TO LONDON. TOGETHER WITH THE GOOD SIZED AMOUNT OF SILVER OUNCES STANDING FOR FEBRUARY, DEMAND FOR PHYSICAL SILVER INTENSIFIES AS WE WITNESS MAJOR BANK SHORT COVERING ACCOMPANIED BY INCREASES IN GOFO AND SIFO RATES INDICATING SCARCITY.

(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 MONDAY night/TUESDAY morning: Shanghai closed DOWN 116.8 points or 3.35% /Hang Sang CLOSED DOWN 1,649.80 or 5.12% / The Nikkei closed DOWN 1071,84 POINTS OR 4.73%/Australia’s all ordinaires CLOSED DOWN 3.23%/Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) closed UP at 6.2740/Oil DOWN to 63.57 dollars per barrel for WTI and 66.69 for Brent. Stocks in Europe OPENED DEEPLY IN THE RED . ONSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN AGAINST THE DOLLAR AT 6.2740. OFFSHORE YUAN CLOSED DOWN AGAINST THE ONSHORE YUAN AT 6.2879//ONSHORE YUAN A LOT STRONGER AGAINST THE DOLLAR/OFF SHORE A LOT STRONGER TO THE DOLLAR/. THE DOLLAR (INDEX) IS MUCH STRONGER AGAINST ALL MAJOR CURRENCIES EXCEPT THE YUAN. CHINA IS NOT TOO HAPPY TODAY.(STRONGER CURRENCY BUT WEAK MARKETS THROUGHOUT THE GLOBE )




3a)THAILAND/SOUTH KOREA/NORTH KOREA

i)North Korea
b) REPORT ON JAPAN
3 c CHINA

Asian stocks last night, a sea of red



( zerohedge)
4. EUROPEAN AFFAIRS

i)Both the ECB and the White House concerned with yesterday market crash

( zerohedge)

ii)An excellent commentary on the state of affairs inside Germany. Yesterday we brought you Mish Shedlock’s take and it parallels Luongos. If there is no coalition, that should be the top in the price of the Euro



(courtesy Tom Luongo)
5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
6 .GLOBAL ISSUES
7. OIL ISSUES

Oil and gasoline rise after a bigger than expected crude draw



( zerohedge)
8. EMERGING MARKET
9. PHYSICAL MARKETS

i)Despite the fall in Bitcoin, we have been witnessing a huge increase pf Bitcoin ATM”s

( zerohedge)

ii)Mike Kosares on the roll of gold with the dollar in free fall

( Mike Kosares/GATA)

iii)This will be the death knell of cryptocurrencies as the CFTC are demanding more oversight

( Reuters/GATA)
10. USA stories which will influence the price of gold/silver

i)LAST NIGHT/EVENING TRADING

I will try and keep this simple: XIV is the “short” vehicle for volatility. In other words traders who think that everything is normal short the VIX ( = XIV) as they believe the market is complacent. However the shear panic of the losses yesterday caused severe panic as they tried to get out of their losing XIV trades. In an unbelievable event, the vehicle disintegrated by a monstrous 90% causing heart failure for our shorts and a massive increase of ambulance visits to their local hospitals. Any drop of greater than 80% causes a “termination event”

( zerohedge)
ii)Last night: the big bank in trouble as they were long volatility:
Not sure if the entire 550 million loss is the bank itself or its client
( zerohedge)

iii)And true to form, Credit Suisse terminates its XIV contract

( zerohedge)

iv)Early this morning: 6 am
trading halted due to termination event
( zerohedge)

v)7:30 AM THIS MORNING:

The volatility index surges above 50 indicating trouble for the markets today.

(zerohedge)

vi)My goodness: this was a huge deficit recorded in the USA trade balance of -53.1 billion dollars The imbalance was both with China and Europe and it worsened from last month. For the year the trade imbalance was 566 billion dollars or an increase of $61.2 billion dollars. This will cause a further revision in G4 GDP was at last reporting was a gain of only 2.5%

( zerohedge)

vii)Troubles for Newsweek continues as they fire their top editors and many of their staffers are told to pack up and head home

( zerohedge)



viii)Trump creates a national vetting centre to allow for the free flow of information on immigrants wishing to enter the USA
( zerohedge)

viii b) Trump ready to shutdown government as he threatens Schumer over immigration laws( zerohedge)

viii b)Job openings continue to decline and that confirms a labour market slowdown(courtesy zerohedge)

ix)SWAMP STORIES

The House intelligence committee votes to release the Democratic response to the Nunes memo. It has been leaked that there is nothing in the democratic memo.

( zerohedge)
x)Senator Grassley releases a second dossier underwritten by Cody Shearer, a Clinton hatchet man. This dossier was fed to Obama State Department and then onto Christopher Steel and this made its rounds back to the FISA court. This false document had similar false narrative on Russian collusion. Also in this report, Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch reports that there was a third dossier bandied about originated in the State dept under John Kerry and this 3rd dossier also contained many false and fallacious statements
( zerohedge)
x) part B

Nunes: a clear link has formed between the Democrats and Russia and how they tried to influence the election of 2016. Here zero hedge also discusses the origins of the second dossier from the Obama State dept. under John Kerry and how the dossier got to Steele who then used to spy on the Trump team through the FISA warrants

(courtesy zerohedge)

x) Part C
Steele fails to show up in a London court appearance after the USA senate under Grassley gave a criminal referral’
( zerohedge)

xi)Trump lawyer have advised Trump not to be interviewed by Mueller. Lawyer Ty Cobb explains that Mueller will not risk a showdown in the Supreme Court

( zerohedge)
Let us head over to the comex:

The total gold comex open interest SURPRISINGLY FELL BY 2385 CONTRACTS DOWN to an OI level 545,893 DESPITE THE TINY SIZED FALL IN THE PRICE OF GOLD ($0.30 LOSS WITH RESPECT TO YESTERDAY’S TRADING). WE HAD SOME COMEX GOLD LIQUIDATION. HOWEVER THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED ANOTHER STRONG COMEX TRANSFER THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE AS THESE LONGS RECEIVED A DELIVERABLE LONDON FORWARD TOGETHER WITH A FIAT BONUS. WE HAD A GOOD SIZED 5581 EFP’S ISSUED FOR APRIL AND 0 EFP’s FOR JUNE AND ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS: TOTAL 5581 CONTRACTS. THE OBLIGATION STILL RESTS WITH THE BANKERS ON THESE TRANSFERS. ALSO REMEMBER THAT THERE IS NO DOUBT A HUGE DELAY IN THE ISSUANCE OF EFP’S AND IT PROBABLY TAKES AT LEAST 48 HRS AFTER LONGS GIVE UP THEIR COMEX CONTRACTS FOR THEM TO RECEIVE THEIR EFP’S AS THEY ARE NEGOTIATING THIS CONTRACT WITH THE BANKS FOR A FIAT BONUS PLUS THEIR TRANSFER TO A LONDON FORWARD… THE COMEX IS NOW AN ABSOLUTE FRAUD!!

ON A NET BASIS IN OPEN INTEREST WE GAINED TODAY: 3,196 OI CONTRACTS IN THAT 5581 LONGS WERE TRANSFERRED AS FORWARDS TO LONDON AND WE LOST 2385 COMEX CONTRACTS.

NET GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES: 3196 contracts OR 319600 OZ OR 9.94 TONNES,

Result: A GOOD SIZED DECREASE IN COMEX OPEN INTEREST DESPITE THE TINY LOSS IN YESTERDAY’S GOLD TRADING ($0.30.) WE HAD SOME COMEX GOLD LIQUIDATION. TOTAL OPEN INTEREST GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES: 3,196 OI CONTRACTS..

We have now entered the active contract month of FEBRUARY where we lost 450 contracts to 1789 contracts. We had 431 notices filed upon yesterday, so we lost 19 contracts or 1900 oz will not stand in this active contract month of February AND THESE WERE MORPHED INTO LONDON BASED FORWARDS.

March saw a LOSS of 18 contracts DOWN to 2077. April saw a LOSS of 2135 contracts DOWN to 39,.342. MARCH BECOMES THE FRONT MONTH FOR GOLD

We had 122 notice(s) filed upon today for 19600 oz
PRELIMINARY COMEX VOLUME FOR TODAY: 438,427 contracts
CONFIRMED COMEX VOLUME FOR YESTERDAY: 314,189

comex gold volumes are RISING AGAIN

Here is a summary of the latest gold trading volumes at the Comex per year

certainly the introduction of EFP’s has certainly had an effect:
Trading Volumes on the COMEX

Meanwhile, gold-trading volumes on the COMEX have never been higher:

end

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And now for the wild silver comex results.

Total silver OI FELL BY A CONSIDERABLE 3086 CONTRACTS FROM 209,256 DOWN TO 206,170 DESPITE YESTERDAY’S TINY 7 CENT LOSS. WE WERE ALSO INFORMED THAT WE HAD ANOTHER GOOD SIZED 2732 EMERGENCY EFP’S FOR MARCH ISSUED BY OUR BANKERS (WITH 0 EFP CONTRACTS FOR MAY AND ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS) TO COMEX LONGS WHO RECEIVED A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON: THE TOTAL EFP’S ISSUED: 2732. THE SILVER BOYS HAVE STARTED TO MIGRATE TO LONDON FROM THE START OF DELIVERY MONTH AND CONTINUING RIGHT THROUGH UNTIL FIRST DAY NOTICE JUST LIKE WE ARE WITNESSING TODAY. USUALLY WE NOTED THAT CONTRACTION IN OI OCCURRED ONLY DURING THE LAST WEEK OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH AS WE HAVE JUST SEEN IN GOLD TODAY. THIS PROCESS HAS JUST BEGUN IN EARNEST IN SILVER STARTING IN SEPTEMBER 2017. HOWEVER, IN GOLD, WE HAVE BEEN WITNESSING THIS FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS. NICK LAIRD WAS KIND ENOUGH TO SUPPLY US THE TOTAL FOR 2017 GOLD EFP’S AND IT WAS 6600 TONNES FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. WE OBVIOUSLY HAD CONSIDERABLE LONG COMEX SILVER LIQUIDATION AND A TINY SIZED LOSS IN TOTAL SILVER OI. WE ARE ALSO WITNESSING A FAIR AMOUNT OF SILVER OUNCES STANDING FOR COMEX METAL IN THIS NON ACTIVE JANUARY AS WELL AS THAT CONTINUAL MIGRATION OF EFPS OVER TO LONDON. ON A PERCENTAGE BASIS THERE ARE MORE EFP’S ISSUED FOR GOLD THAN SILVER. ON A NET BASIS WE LOST 354 SILVER OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS:

3086 CONTRACT LOSS AT THE COMEX COMBINING WITH THE ADDITION OF 2732 OI CONTRACTS NAVIGATING OVER TO LONDON.

NET LOSS TWO EXCHANGES: 354 CONTRACTS

We are now in the poor non active delivery month of FEBRUARY and here the front month GAINED 11 contracts UP TO 12 contracts. We had 0 notices filed upon yesterday so we GAINED 11 contracts or 55,000 ADDITIONAL oz will stand for delivery at the comex

The March contract lost 5973 contracts DOWN to 121,017

April gained 11 contracts up to 22.

.

We had 2 notice(s) filed for 10,000 for the FEBRUARY 2018 contract for silver
INITIAL standings for FEBRUARY

Feb6/2018.
Gold Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz
32,436.833 oz
HSBC
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory in oz nil oz
Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz
nil
No of oz served (contracts) today
122 notice(s)
12200 OZ
No of oz to be served (notices)
1667 contracts
(166,700 oz)
Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month
1424 notices
142,400 oz
4.429 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
we had 0 kilobar transaction/
We had 0 inventory movement at the dealer accounts
total inventory movement into the dealer accounts: nil oz
we had 1 withdrawals out of the customer account:
i) out of HSBC:
we had 32,436.833 oz of gold transferred out of HSBC
total withdrawal: 32,436.833 oz
we had 0 customer deposit
total deposits: nil oz
we had 2 adjustments
i) Out of HSBC: 20,233.450 oz was adjusted out of the dealer and into the customer account of HSBC. this usually leads to a settlement of gold at the comex
total registered or dealer gold: 387,695.824 oz or 12.05 tonnes
total registered and eligible (customer) gold; 9,329,119.323 oz 290.17 tones

For FEBRUARY:
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 122 contract(s) of which 113 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 7 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 FEBRUARY. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (1424) x 100 oz or 142,400 oz, to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of FEB. (1789 contracts) minus the number of notices served upon today (122 x 100 oz per contract) equals 309,100 oz, the number of ounces standing in this active month of FEBRUARY

Thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the FEBRUARY contract month:

No of notices served (1424 x 100 oz or ounces + {(1789)OI for the front month minus the number of notices served upon today (122 x 100 oz )which equals 309,100 oz standing in this active delivery month of February (9.6143 tonnes). THERE IS 12.05 TONNES OF REGISTERED GOLD AVAILABLE FOR DELIVERY SO FAR.

WE LOST 19 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 1900 OZ WILL NOT STAND BUT THEY WILL JOIN OTHER LONGS AS THEY HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED TO A LONDON BASED FORWARD THROUGH THE EFP ROUTE.

THE COMEX IS NOW UNDER STRESS AS THE REGISTERED GOLD FALLS BELOW 13 TONNES.

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XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

IN THE LAST 17 MONTHS 64 NET TONNES HAS LEFT THE COMEX.

end
And now for silver
AND NOW THE DECEMBER DELIVERY MONTH
FEBRUARY FINAL standings
feb 6 2018
Silver Ounces
Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory nil oz
Withdrawals from Customer Inventory
44,797.320 oz
HSBC
Malca
Deposits to the Dealer Inventory
nil
oz
Deposits to the Customer Inventory
781,102.170 OZ
CNT
Delaware
No of oz served today (contracts)
2
CONTRACT(S)
(10,000 OZ)
No of oz to be served (notices)
10 contracts
(50,000 oz)
Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) 126 contracts

(630,000 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

we had no inventory movement at the dealer side of things

total inventory movement dealer: nil oz

we had 2 inventory deposits into the customer account

i) into CNT: 599,344.35 oz

ii) into Delaware: 181,757.820 oz

total inventory deposits: 781,102.170 oz



we had 2 withdrawals from the customer account;

i) out of HSBC: 20,050.180 oz

ii) out of Scotia: 24,747.190 oz

total withdrawals; 44,797.320 oz

we had 0 adjustment



total dealer silver: 43.080 million

total dealer + customer silver: 248.788 million oz

The total number of notices filed today for the FEBRUARY. contract month is represented by 2 contract(s) FOR 10,000 oz. To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in FEBRUARY., we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 126 x 5,000 oz = 630,000 oz to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of FEB. (12) and the number of notices served upon today (2 x 5000 oz) equals the number of ounces standing.

.

Thus the INITIAL standings for silver for the FEB contract month: 126(notices served so far)x 5000 oz + OI for front month of FEBRUARY(12) -number of notices served upon today (2)x 5000 oz equals 680,000 oz of silver standing for the FEBRUARY contract month.

WE GAINED 11 CONTRACTS OR AN ADDITIONAL 55,000 OZ WILL STAND AT THE COMEX

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ESTIMATED VOLUME FOR TODAY: 85.186

CONFIRMED VOLUME FOR YESTERDAY: 152,793 CONTRACTS

YESTERDAY’S CONFIRMED VOLUME OF 152,793 CONTRACTS EQUATES TO 763 MILLION OZ OR 109.1% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION OF SILVER

COMMODITY LAW SUGGESTS THAT OPEN INTEREST SHOULD NOT BE MORE THAN 3% OF ANNUAL GLOBAL PRODUCTION. THE CROOKS ARE SUPPLYING MASSIVE PAPER TRYING TO KEEP SILVER IN CHECK.

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

1. Sprott silver fund (PSLV): NAV RISES TO -2.24% (FEB 5/2018)
2. Sprott gold fund (PHYS): premium to NAV RISES TO -0.65% to NAV (FEB 5/2018 )
Note: Sprott silver trust back into NEGATIVE territory at -2.24%-/Sprott physical gold trust is back into NEGATIVE/ territory at -0.65%/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)

3.SPROTT CEF.A FUND (FORMERLY CENTRAL FUND OF CANADA): NAV FALLS TO -3.62%: NAV 13.85/TRADING 13.20//DISCOUNT 3.62%

END

And now the Gold inventory at the GLD/

Feb 6/AGAIN VERY STRANGE: WITH TODAY’S TURMOIL, THE CROOKS DID NOT ADD ANY GOLD INVENTORY INTO THE GLD/INVENTORY REMAINS AT 841.35 TONNES

Feb 5 Strange,with all of today’s turmoil, the crooks at the GLD decided to add zero ounces into GLD inventory/inventory rests at 841.35 tonnes

Feb 2/no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory rests at 841.35 tonnes

Feb 1/with gold up by $8.00/the crooks decided not to add any new physical gold metal into the GLD./inventory rests at 841.35 tonnes

Jan 31/with gold up $3.15 today, GLD shed another 5.32 tonnes of gold from its inventory/inventory rests at 841.35 tonnes

jan 30/with gold down by $4.85/GLD shed another 1.47 tonnes of gold from its inventory/inventory rests at 846.67 tonnes

JAN 29/with gold down $11.25, the GLD shed 1.18 tonnes of gold/inventory rests at 848.14 tonnes

jan 26/2018/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/inventory rests at 849.32 tonnes

jan 25/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/inventory rests at 849.32 tonnes

Jan 24/A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 2.65 TONNES OF GOLD INTO GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 849.32 TONNES

Jan 23/NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY DESPITE GOLD’S RISE/INVENTORY RESTS AT 846.67 TONNES

Jan 22/a huge deposit of 5.71 tonnes of gold despite a drop in price/inventory rests at 846.67 tonnes. In 3 trading days, the GLD has added 17.71 tonnes/the bankers are now in trouble!!

Jan 19/no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory rests at 840.76 tonnes

Jan 18/SHOCKINGLY A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 11.80 TONNES WITH GOLD DOWN ALMOST $12.00/INVENTORY RESTS AT 840.76

Jan 17/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/inventory rests at 828.96 tonnes

Jan 16/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 828.96 TONNES

Jan 12/no changes in inventory at the GLD despite the rise in gold price/inventory rests at 828.96 tonnes

Jan 11/ANOTHER IDENTICAL WITHDRAWAL OF 2.95 TONNES FROM THE GLD INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 828.96 TONNES

Jan 10/with gold up today, a strange withdrawal of 2.95 tonnes/inventory rests at 831.91 tonnes

Jan 9/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory rests at 834.88 tonnes

Jan 8/with gold falling by a tiny $1.40 and this being after 12 consecutive gains, today they announce another 1.44 tonnes of gold withdrawal from the GLD/

Jan 5/NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 836.32 TONNES

Jan 4/2018/no change in gold inventory at the GLD/Inventory rests at 836.32 tonnes

Jan 3/a huge withdrawal of 1.18 tonnes of gold from the GLD/Inventory rests at 836.32 tonnes

Jan 2/2018/no changes in gold inventory at the GLD/inventory rests at 837.50 tonnes

Dec 29/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.50 TONNES

Dec 28/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.50 TONNES

Dec 27/NO CHANGES IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/ INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.50 TONNES

Dec 26/no change in gold inventory at the GLD

Dec 22/ A DEPOSIT OF 1.48 TONNES OF GOLD INTO GLD INVENTORY/INVENTORY RESTS AT 837.50 TONNES

Dec 21' NO CHANGE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT THE GLD/INVENTORY RESTS AT 836.02 TONNES

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Feb 6/2018/ Inventory rests tonight at 841.35 tonnes

*IN LAST 320 TRADING DAYS: 99.80 NET TONNES HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE GLD
*LAST 254 TRADING DAYS: A NET 57.51 TONNES HAVE NOW BEEN ADDED INTO GLD INVENTORY.

end

Now the SLV Inventory

Feb 6/WITH ALL OF TODAY’S TURMOIL/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 314.045 MILLION OZ/

Feb 5/ we had HUGE change in silver inventory at the SLV/ A DEPOSIT OF 1.131 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV/Inventory rests at 314.045 million oz/

Feb 2/we lost 982,000 oz from the SLV inventory /inventory rests at 312.914 million oz/

Feb 1/no change in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory rests at 313.896 million oz/

Jan 31/ no change in inventory at the slv in total contrast to gold/inventory rests at 313.896 million oz/

Jan 30/no change in inventory/SLV inventory rests at 313.896 million oz/

Jan 29/no change in inventory/SLV inventory rests at 313.896 million oz/

Jan 26.2018/inventory rests at 313.896 million oz

Jan 25/with silver up today and yesterday, the SLV could only muster a gain of 848,000 oz

Inventory rests at 313.896 oz

jan 24/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY DESPITE THE GOOD ADVANCE IN PRICE/INVENTORY RESTS AT 313.048 MILLION OZ/

Jan 23/ANOTHER HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.131 MILLION OZ OF SILVER DESPITE THE TINY LOSS/THE CROOKS ARE USING THE INVENTORY TO RAID ON SILVER.

JAN 22.2018/with silver down by 5 cents/ the crooks at the SLV liquidate 1.321 million oz of silver/inventory rests at 314.179 million oz/

Jan 19/ no changes in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory rests at 315.500 million oz/

jan 18/A WITHDRAWAL OF 848,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 315.500 MILLION OZ/

Jan 17/no changes in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory rests at 316.348 million oz/

Jan 16/NO CHANGES IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 316.348 MILLION OZ

Jan 12/no changes in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory rests at 316.348 million oz/

Jan 11/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 316.348 MILLION OZ/

Jan 10/with silver up again, we had a huge withdrawal of 1.227 million oz from the SLV/inventory rests at 316.348 million oz

Jan 9/a withdrawal of 848,000 oz from the SLV/Inventory rests at 317.575 million oz/

jan 8/no change in silver inventory at the SLV/Inventory rests at 318.423 million oz/

Jan 5/DESPITE NO CHANGE IN SILVER PRICING, WE HAD A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 2.026 MILLION OZ/INVENTORY RESTS AT 318.423 MILLION OZ.

Jan 4.2018/a slight withdrawal of 180,000 oz and this would be to pay for fees/inventory rests at 320.449 million oz/

Jan 3/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 320.629 MILLION OZ.

Jan 2/WITH SILVER UP DRAMATICALLY THESE PAST 4 TRADING DAYS, THE FOLLOWING MAKES NO SENSE: WE HAD A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.83 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV

INVENTORY RESTS AT 320.629 MILLION OZ/

Dec 29/no changes in silver inventory at the SLV/inventory rests at 323.459 million oz/

Dec 28/DESPITE THE RISE IN SILVER AGAIN BY 13 CENTS, WE LOST ANOTHER 1,251,000 OZ OF SILVER FROM THE SILVER.

Dec 27/WITH SILVER UP AGAIN BY 17 CENTS, WE LOST ANOTHER 802,000 OZ OF SILVER INVENTORY/WHAT CROOKS/INVENTORY RESTS AT 324.780 MILLION OZ/

Dec 26/no change in silver inventory at the SLV./Inventory rests at 325.582

Dec 21/NO CHANGE IN SILVER INVENTORY AT THE SLV/INVENTORY RESTS AT 326.227 MILLION OZ/

.

Feb 5/2017:
Inventory 314.045 million oz

end

6 Month MM GOFO
Indicative gold forward offer rate for a 6 month duration

+ 1.71%
12 Month MM GOFO
+ 2.12%

end
Major gold/silver trading /commentaries for TUESDAY

GOLDCORE/BLOG/MARK O’BYRNE.

GOLD/SILVER
Gold Rises As Global Stocks Plunge and Bitcoin Crashes 70%

6, February

– Gold gains 0.6% in USD and surges 1.7% in euros and pounds
– European stocks fall more than 3% at the open after sharp falls in Asia
– DJIA falls 1,175 points, S&P 500 down 4.1% and Nikkei plummets 4.7%
– Gold rises from $1,330 to $1,342, £942 to £960 and €1,067 to €1,085 /oz
– Bitcoin crashes another 10% and has now plummeted by 70% to below $6,000
– Increased risk aversion will drive safe haven demand for gold as its hedging properties are appreciated again

Source: Bloomberg via Mining.com

Gold prices rose today in all major currencies as a rout in global equities prompted investors to seek shelter in safe haven gold.

Spot gold prices were up 0.4 percent to $1,345.00 per ounce this morning in early European trading following Monday’s 0.6 percent gain in dollar terms. Gold saw larger gains in euros, sterling and other currencies as the dollar bounced back after a recent pronounced weakness.

Bitcoin plummeted for a fifth day, dropping below $6,000 and leading other digital tokens lower. A backlash by banks and government regulators against cryptocurrencies is impacting already fragile sentiment due to recent sharp falls.

Yesterday, bitcoin tumbled as much as 22 percent to $6,579. It has lost 70 percent of its value from a record high $19,511 in December. Other crypto currencies also fell sharply on Monday, with Ripple losing as much as 21 percent and Ethereum and Litecoin also weaker – down 16% and 13% respectively.

We believe gold prices may rise further as the global rout in stock markets should lead to a period of risk aversion and a new found appreciation for gold’s hedging and safe haven attributes.

However, as was seen during the ‘Lehman moment’ in 2008, gold could see short term weakness if stock markets continue to crash as speculators see margin calls and some liquidate all futures positions.

The fact that gold made good gains in all currencies yesterday, including the dollar, bodes well for gold and shows there is robust demand and the fundamentals of the gold market are sound. This is more than can be said than the fundamentals of the US economy and indeed of global stock and bond markets.

News and Commentary

Gold rises as equity sell-off spurs safe-haven buying (Reuters.com)

Global Stock Sell-Off Deepens, Yen Gains Haven Bid (Bloomberg.com)

These Charts Show Just How Bad the Selloff in Risk Assets Is (Bloomberg.com)

Bitcoin Tumbles Almost 20% as Crypto Backlash Accelerates (Bloomberg.com)

Monday massacre: Gold price rises as stocks crater (Mining.com)

Why the stock market is selling off, explained (WashingtonPost.com)

4 Takeaways From Monday’s Stock Market Sell-Off (NYTimes.com)

Gundlach: ‘Hard to love bonds at even 3 percent’ yield (Reuters.com)

Why the European sovereign debt crisis is back (CapitalAndConflict.com)

Argument against crypto is getting tired (StansBerryChurcHouse.com)

Gold and Silver Price Riggers Arrested – David Morgan (Youtube.com)

Two Elephants In The Room That The GOP Has Completely Forgotten (DavidStockMansContraCorner.com)

Gold Prices (LBMA AM)

05 Feb: USD 1,337.10, GBP 947.20 & EUR 1,072.49 per ounce
02 Feb: USD 1,345.00, GBP 946.48 & EUR 1,077.61 per ounce
01 Feb: USD 1,341.10, GBP 941.99 & EUR 1,077.98 per ounce
31 Jan: USD 1,343.35, GBP 950.29 & EUR 1,078.98 per ounce
30 Jan: USD 1,345.70, GBP 954.37 & EUR 1,083.56 per ounce
29 Jan: USD 1,348.40, GBP 955.07 & EUR 1,085.46 per ounce

Silver Prices (LBMA)

05 Feb: USD 16.88, GBP 12.01 & EUR 13.56 per ounce
02 Feb: USD 17.14, GBP 12.05 & EUR 13.72 per ounce
01 Feb: USD 17.19, GBP 12.09 & EUR 13.82 per ounce
31 Jan: USD 17.23, GBP 12.17 & EUR 13.84 per ounce
30 Jan: USD 17.30, GBP 12.24 & EUR 13.91 per ounce
29 Jan: USD 17.34, GBP 12.33 & EUR 13.99 per ounce


Recent Market Updates

– U.S. Debt Is “Extraordinarily High” and Are Stock And Bond Bubbles – Greenspan
– Gold Bullion Price Suppression To End? Bullion Bank Traders Arrested For Manipulating Market
– ATMs Hit By Malware “Jackpotting” Attacks That Dispense All Cash In Minutes
– London Property Market Tumbles As Glut of Luxury Apartments Grows To 3,000
– Silver Bullion: Once and Future Money
– Greatest Stock Bubble In History? GoldNomics Podcast Transcript
– Davos – My Personal Experience of the $100,000 Event, $60 Burgers, Massive Inequality and the Blockchain Revolution
– Is This The Greatest Stock Market Bubble In History? Goldnomics Podcast
– Cyber War Coming In 2018?
– Government Shutdown Ends – Markets Ignore Looming Debt and Bond Market Threat
– Global Pension Ponzi – Carillion Collapse One Of Many To Come
– The Next Great Bull Market in Gold Has Begun – Rickards
– Gold Bullion May Have Room to Run As Chinese New Year Looms

Mark O’Byrne
Executive Direct

END



Despite the fall in Bitcoin, we have been witnessing a huge increase pf Bitcoin ATM”s



(courtesy zerohedge)
Bitcoin ATM Installations Skyrocket Throughout Market Correction

While some investors are weathering the crypto storm confidently, many have jumped ship, but one group has proven resilient despite market conditions: Bitcoin ATM providers.



Bitcoin ATM installations Outpacing Traditional ATMs

As CryptoAnswers’ Creighton Piper details, installations have gone parabolic over past weeks/months, as seen below.



Chart courtesy of CoinATMRadar.com via amCharts

136 Bitcoin ATMs (BTMs) were installed during the market pullback alone, bringing the worldwide total to 2177 as tracked by CoinATMRadar.com. On average, 5 BTM locations spring up every day. This is just one more example of how the crypto ecosystem continues to grow, despite depressing market sentiment.

The United States still dominates the BTM industry with 1296 locations nationwide. This is a marked 30% increase since we last covered this development in October 2017. Canada and the UK follow with 340 locations and 109 locations respectively.



Top 5 countries: USA, Canada, UK, Austria, Spain
Bitcoin ATMs Expand Access to Top Cryptocurrencies

BTMs are beginning to pop up everywhere. Las Angeles alone boasts 165 units, and New York has 127. They offer quick, easy access to anyone needing to acquire and use Bitcoin on the fly. Transactions are instant, but this convenience comes at a price. Buying Bitcoin incurs a ~9% fee, while selling fetches a 7% fee.

In addition to Bitcoin, many locations offer Litecoin (905), Ether (332), and DASH (173) as well. Of the 2177 total BTMs, 944 of them offer some sort of altcoin support, and some of them even offer Dogecoin and/or Monero.
Privacy Issues

Until recently, fiat could be converted to crypto with nothing more than cash in your pocket. Personal details were unnecessary, and transactions could be made anonymously. This was great for innocent users to take advantage of, but it also allowed black market operatives easy access. Most BTM manufacturers are beginning to incorporate identification features now to comply with increasing regulation. Operators may opt to disable those features but are often mandated to use them. Some locations are still able to be used anonymously, but generally a phone number is required. BTMs remain the go-to resource for private transactions, however. Exchanges maintain an arsenal of client data, while BTMs do not. They help distance users from centralized banks and exchanges and keep private details safe. Anyone off-put by the phone number requirement can sidestep using a burn phone.
Final Word

Unfortunately, I was not able to find out how much Bitcoin is traded through these avenues compared to LTC, ETH or other offerings. That would be interesting info, as it would represent how raw use cases of top cryptocurrencies are evolving as their networks compete. As BTC network fees escalate out of control, I would imagine ETH and LTC are gaining on BTC in this respect.

At any rate, the confidence in the BTM market tells a different story than the exchange market. While currencies are subject to FUD and manipulation, ecosystem figures are immune. The best way to gauge the health of crypto in general is to look at real usage, adoption, and infrastructure growth. Fortunately for us all, that continues to be very much a growth story.

END

Mike Kosares on the roll of gold with the dollar in free fall

(courtesy Mike Kosares/GATA)
Mike Kosares: Gold takes center stage in dollar scare

Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2018-02-05 19:31. Section: Daily Dispatches

2:32p ET Monday, February 5, 2018

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

The Trump administration, USAGold’s Mike Kosares writes today, doesn’t want the “strong dollar” policy of previous administrations but a dollar that can be “strategically benign.”

“In its unambiguous ambiguity,” Kosares writes, “the Trump administration has signaled no intention of disrupting any market-generated dollar weakness. It will stand aside.”

This, Kosares concludes, signifies stagflation, which is good for gold.

His analysis is headlined “Gold Takes Center Stage in Dollar Scare” and it’s posted at USAGold here:

http://www.usagold.com/cpmforum/2018/02/05/gold-takes-center-stage-in-do…

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
[e-mail]

END

This will be the death knell of cryptocurrencies as the CFTC are demanding more oversight



(courtesy Reuters/GATA)
U.S. regulators to back more oversight of virtual currencies

Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2018-02-06 03:50. Section: Daily Dispatches

By Michelle Price and Pete Schroeder
Reuters
Monday, February 5, 2018

WASHINGTON — Digital currencies such as bitcoin demand increased oversight and may require a new federal regulatory framework, the top U.S. markets regulators will tell lawmakers at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.

Christopher Giancarlo, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Jay Clayton, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, will provide testimony to the Senate Banking Committee amid growing global concerns over the risks virtual currencies pose to investors and the financial system.

Giancarlo and Clayton will say a patchwork of rules for cryptocurrency exchanges may need to be reviewed in favor of a rationalized federal framework, according to prepared testimony published today. …

… For the remainder of the report:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-bitcoin-congress/u-s-regulator…

END


Your early TUESDAY 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 6.2740 /shanghai bourse CLOSED DOWN AT 116.80 POINTS 3.35% / HANG SANG CLOSED DOWN 1649.80 POINTS OR 5.12%
2. Nikkei closed DOWN 1071.84 POINTS OR 4.73% /USA: YEN FALLS TO 109.00

3. Europe stocks OPENED DEEPLY IN THE RED /USA dollar index RISES TO 89.67/Euro FALLS TO 1.2365

3b Japan 10 year bond yield: FALLS TO . +.078/ (CENTRAL BANK INTERVENTION THIS MORNING) GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION !!!!(Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese yen vs usa cross now at 109.00/ 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:: 63.51 and Brent: 66.69

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 FALLS TO +.664%/Italian 10 yr bond yield DOWN to 1.978% /SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD UP TO 1.420%

3j Greek 10 year bond yield RISES TO : 3.762?????????????????

3k Gold at $1340.60 silver at:16.82: 7 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $18.50

3l USA vs Russian rouble; (Russian rouble DOWN 3/100 in roubles/dollar) 57.34

3m oil into the 63 dollar handle for WTI and 66 handle for Brent/

3n Higher foreign deposits out of China sees huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/

JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 INITIATES NIRP. THIS MORNING THEY SIGNAL THEY MAY END NIRP. TODAY THE USA/YEN TRADES TO 109.00 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 0.9356 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF is 1.1567 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 +0.664%

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 2.6950% early this morning (THIS IS DEADLY TO ALL MARKETS). Thirty year rate at 2.989% /

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

(courtesy Jim Reid/Bloomberg/Deutsche bank/zero hedge)
“Euphoria Turns To Terror”: Dow To Open 750 Points Lower As VIX Eruption Accelerates

Update: VIX SURGES ABOVE 50 FOR FIRST TIME SINCE AUGUST 2015

* * *

It’s a bloodbath, with the Dow set to open 750 points lower “thanks” to the +377 fair value...



… but it could have been much worse, with S&P futures actually trading toward the highs of the overnight session after tumbling an additional 3.5% from Monday’s close, as risk assets around the world crashed then modestly rebounded even as traders remain on edge over what the implosion in the vol complex means for everyone.



World stock markets nosedived for a fourth day running on Tuesday, having seen $4 trillion wiped off from what just eight days ago had been record high values.

“Playtime is officially over, kids,” analysts at Rabobank said. “Rising volatility painfully reminds some investors that one-way bets don’t exist.”

“Since last autumn, investors had been betting on the ‘Goldilocks’ economy – solid economic expansion, improving corporate earnings and stable inflation. But the tide seems to have changed,” said Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

Meanwhile, “The euphoria has turned to terror.”

There was a modest bound in European bourses, which opened sharply lower in the wake of the largest ever point loss in Dow Jones Industrial Average history. London’s FTSE 100 lost 3.5% at the opening bell, with every constituent falling and financial stocks hit hardest. The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 fell 2.2 %, while Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax 30 fell 3.5%, before recouping some losses. As of this writing, core European cash equity markets trade around -1.5%/-2.0%.

In fact, as Bloomberg notes, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index at one point today slumped the most since Brexit, with every industry sector falling as much as 2 percent.

This came after massive falls on Asian bourses. Stocks in Japan and China were the worst hit, with Hong Kong tumbling over 6% in early trading. Japan’s Topix index was down by more than 6%, marking its biggest one-day fall in a year and a half, while Japan’s Nikkei fell over 10% from its Jan 23 high, entering a correction, after plunging as much as 7.1%, triggering JSCC intraday margin call for Japanese index futures.

And while Asian stocks also managed to rebound modestly from overnight lows it was not before the MSCI Asia Pacific index erased 2018 gains, just like the Dow Jones, which is itself on the verge of a -10% correction.

Meanwhile, in some welcome news, there was at least a little normalcy as Treasuries extend their safe-haven rally with 10-year yield down three basis points to 2.68%, while euro-area bonds found support.

The currency market was stock-driven for another day with the dollar turning negative as European equities pared losses and S&P futures traded briefly in the green, although after the Bloomberg Dollar index was modestly in the red, it has since surge higher suggesting things are about to get ugly again.

As Bloomberg notes, major G-10 FX pairs again remain relatively immune to wild equity swings, yuan rallies after PBOC says the market will have a larger role in FX rate; USD/JPY holds close to 109.00. Haven demand eased modestly, with the yen and the Swiss franc turning defensive. The euro moved above the $1.24 handle as short-term accounts closed shorts with a loss. The Aussie remains lower after uneventful RBA policy meeting.

Whipsaw in core fixed income, early trades see fading of rally in UST, Bund and Eurodollar futures before uptick in volatility measures prompts reversal; UST/bund spread wider by 7bps with futures block trades in focus, iTraxx crossover opens sharply wider but settles close to key 260bps level. Bitcoin briefly trades below $6k level.

In the commodities complex, both WTI and Brent crude futures trade lower albeit off worst levels with prices suppressed by the ongoing global risk sentiment; the recovery for WTI has also been stalled by a failure to reclaim USD 64/bbl to the upside with energy newsflow otherwise relatively light ahead of tonight’s API inventories. In metals markets, spot gold (+0.25%) continues to benefit from its safe-haven appeal and the softer USD despite the World Gold Council stating that demand for the yellow metal fell to its lowest level since 2009 during 2017. The Bloomberg Commodity Index is trading 0.2% lower, having pared loss of as much as 0.4% earlier.

But unlike recent days, when attention was on US TSYs and the Dollar, today – and for the coming days – it will be all about the VIX, which extended its advance after Monday’s biggest-ever jump, which sent it higher by 116% on the session, heading for a level not seen since August 2011.

As of 6:39am in New York, the VIX climbed another 24% to 46.37. As discussed last night, the surge in the volatility measure is already claiming casualties, with various VIX-linked ENT set for “termination” and raising questions about the future of exchange-traded products tied to it.



And while we wait for today’s trading session to unfold, here is what else happened overnight.

Bulletin Headline Summary from RanSquawk

European equities join the global sell-off as markets look to see whether Wall St will endure another day of heavy losses
That said, markets have gradually pared losses throughout the morning as commentators debate whether this is a minor blip or part of a larger correction
Looking ahead, highlights today include Canadian trade, APIs, NZ jobs and a slew of speakers

Market Snapshot

&P 500 futures little changed at 2,608
STOXX Europe 600 down 1.6% to 375.99
MXAP down 3.4% to 173.27
MXAPJ down 3.5% to 568.36
Nikkei down 4.7% to 21,610.24
Topix down 4.4% to 1,743.41
Hang Seng Index down 5.1% to 30,595.42
Shanghai Composite down 3.4% to 3,370.65
Sensex down 1.6% to 34,198.34
Australia S&P/ASX 200 down 3.2% to 5,833.34
Kospi down 1.5% to 2,453.31
German 10Y yield fell 4.8 bps to 0.688%
Euro up 0.3% to $1.2404
Brent Futures down 0.7% to $67.13/bbl
Italian 10Y yield fell 2.4 bps to 1.757%
Spanish 10Y yield fell 2.9 bps to 1.43%
Brent Futures down 1% to $66.93/bbl
Gold spot up 0.3% to $1,343.64
U.S. Dollar Index down 0.1% to 89.48

Top Overnight News from BBG

ECB’s Jens Weidmann says the greatest risk is now to assume that all problems are solved. “Shocks in specific regions or specific sectors of the economy can still put the euro area to an endurance test — despite the progress that has been made in the past years”
RBA leaves interest rates unchanged at record-low 1.5% as seen by all 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg; its chief, Philip Lowe, reinforced that a return of rapid wage growth remains a distant prospect despite strengthening business investment and a hiring bonanza
Germany’s factory orders increased 7.2% y/y in December versus estimate increase of 3.1% y/y; Germany construction PMI rose to 59.8 in January from 53.7 in December
Janus Henderson Group’s return to inflows proved to be short-lived, another sign that active managers have a long way to go before they stop the bleeding; the firm reported $2.9b of outflows in the three months through December, compared with the $700m of net new money it attracted in the three months through September
U.S. House sets Tuesday vote on stopgap spending measure
U.K. January BRC like-for-like retail sales 0.6% vs 0.7% estimate
Kuroda: Carefully watching stock markets; economic fundamentals are firm
RBA leaves rate unchanged; sees low wage growth to continue for a while
Australia December trade balance – A$1.4b vs A$0.2b estimate; Australia December retail sales -0.5% vs -0.2% estimate

Asia stocks continued the global equity sell-off and saw hefty losses across the board, as panic selling rolled over to the region following a slaughtering on Wall St. in which the DJIA (-4.6%) tumbled nearly 1200 points and briefly slipped into correction territory with sell programmes pushing the space lower but closed well off session lows amid a recovered on low volume. ASX 200 (-3.2%) and Nikkei 225 (-4.7%) slumped at the open in which losses in crude weighed on Australia’s energy stocks, while the Japanese benchmark was the worst performer amid JPY strength and with the index in a technical correction. Hang Seng (-5.1%) and Shanghai Comp. (-3.4%) were also heavily weighed amid the ongoing market turmoil and after the PBoC refrained again from liquidity operations. Finally. 10yr JGBs traded higher and tracked the gains in T-notes which were up over a point, as the ongoing stock market sell-off spurred a flight-to-quality and lifted bond across the curve which saw the Japanese 40yr yield drop to its lowest since April last year. Furthermore, today’s 10yr inflation-indexed auction from Japan also attracted stronger demand and higher accepted prices. PBoC skipped open market operations again today for a daily net drain of CNY 80bln. PBoC set CNY mid-point at 6.3072.

Top Asian News

Ex-Goldman Volatility Trader Sees More Blood Before Rout Ends
Kuroda Says 10-Year Yield Target Won’t Change ‘Even a Bit’
Singapore, Malaysia Agree to New Stock Exchange Trading Link
What Global Policy Makers Are Saying About the Stock Slide
Currency Fundamentals Aren’t Shifting Much: FX Macro Ranking
Evergrande January Contract Sales 64.4B Yuan

European equities have kicked the session off on the backfoot (Eurostoxx 50 -1.8%) in a continuation of the sentiment seen late last night on Wall Street and overnight during Asia-Pac trade. There’s been a lack of fresh catalysts in European trade for the sell-off with participants in the region catching up to yesterday’s aforementioned losses; prices have recovered modestly from initial losses but remain markedly lower with all the ten sectors firmly in the red. Losses across all sectors are relatively broad-based with some slight underperformance in financials amid the downtick in yields and a disappointing earnings update from Munich Re (- 3.9%) who sit at the bottom of the DAX. Focus in the financial sector has also been placed on Credit Suisse (-3.7%) who opened with heavy losses (-7.2%) amid fears over declines in the XIV (a product issued by the company). In the Stoxx 600, very few companies trade in the green with Intesa Sanpaolo (+1.7%) a notable exception following their pre-market earnings.

Top European News

ECB’s Weidmann Says Complacency Is Biggest Risk for Euro Area
Freezing Russian Air Hits Europe After Third-Mildest January
AMS Potential Convertible Bond Placement Up to EU600m
Investec’s Koseff, Kantor Step Down After 40 Years at Helm

In currencies, Usd/Jpy and Eur/Jpy are edging higher again as EU cash bourses pare worst losses and flight to quality flow/positioning wanes somewhat. The headline pair has rebounded above 109.00 vs circa 108.50 lows overnight and bids at that level extending down to 108.30, just ahead of strong technical support at 108.28. The cross has traded up to 136.75 from around 134.00 in Asia, as Eur/Usd briefly reclaimed 1.2400+ status and the DXY continues to struggle on recoveries above 89.6000 near term resistance (within an 89.720-370 range). Cable is back below 1.4000 and briefly took out 1.3980 ‘support’ as Sterling succumbs to more UK political/Brexit uncertainty – Eur/Gbp pulling away from 0.8900. Usd/Cad edging back down towards 1.2500 having tested 1.2550+ levels when risk aversion was running rife (Dow crashing almost 1600 points for example). Elsewhere, some marked region-specific divergence in the Aud and Nzd, as the former was hit by disappointing data (weak retail sales and an unexpected trade deficit) plus some RBA concerns about wages, household consumption and the growth/inflation outlook, if the currency appreciates too much. Aud/Usd is now under 0.7900 albeit off 0.7835 lows, while the Aud/Nzd cross has lost the 1.0800 handle and the Kiwi is back above 0.7300 vs the Greenback.

In the commodities complex, both WTI and Brent crude futures trade lower albeit off worst levels with prices suppressed by the ongoing global risk sentiment; the recovery for WTI has also been stalled by a failure to reclaim USD 64/bbl to the upside with energy newsflow otherwise relatively light ahead of tonight’s API inventories. In metals markets, spot gold (+0.25%) continues to benefit from its safe-haven appeal and the softer USD despite the World Gold Council stating that demand for the yellow metal fell to its lowest level since 2009 during 2017. Elsewhere, base metals were seen notably lower overnight in-fitting with the lack of global risk appetite with nickel said to have led the complex lower.

US Event Calendar

8:30am: Trade Balance, est. $52.1b deficit, prior $50.5b deficit
10am: JOLTS Job Openings, est. 5,961, prior 5,879

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

If you turned off your phone after dinner last night in Europe or if you had to leave early in the US you’ll be waking up to an extra-ordinary last hour on Wall Street. In fact the DOW dropped c.800 points in 10 minutes at 3pm NY time to be down -5.87% at the time. The DOW and S&P 500 eventually closing at -4.60% and -4.10% respectively – the worst day since August 2011. 10 yr Treasuries rallied 13.6bps (18bps from the day’s highs) to 2.707% – the biggest rally since June 2016. The biggest talking point though has to be the VIX which saw its biggest daily climb EVER, both in percentage and absolute terms (+116%, +20.0 to 37.32). This was the highest level since August 2015 when the Shanghai Comp.’s c8.5% drop briefly led to a vol spike after their currency devaluation. However before that you’d have to go back to October 2011 to see a higher close. Indeed if we look at the 7,077 trading days since VIX data is available (back to 1990), yesterday’s close would be in the top 96.85% percentile with most of the higher points occurring in 2008/09. Given how many products (including leverage ETFs) that have set up to exploit low vol, yesterday surely would have done some serious damage.

This morning in Asia, markets are extending the US selloff. The Nikkei (-5.23%) is on track for the largest fall since November 2016, while the Kospi (-1.36%), Hang Seng (-4.03%), and China’s CSI 300 (-2.55%) are all down as we type. S&P futures are 1.5% lower. The UST 10y yield is another c2bp lower and the House Republicans will vote later today to extend government funding until 23 March.

Indeed the last few days have really emphasised how easy it would be to get the next financial crisis if inflation really started to misbehave as most of this price action stems from a hint of it. When we published the note of the same name last September, we said the next crisis was inevitable soon and that the most likely cause over the next 2-3 years was if what we called the great withdrawal of unconventional policy coincided with higher inflation, especially given what are still record high levels of global market debts. If higher inflation materialised then central banks would be unable to respond in the way they have done in recent years (and even decades). Our structural view was that the next financial crisis was probably unavoidable before the end of the decade. In our 2018 outlook the base case was higher than expected inflation and yields but a controlled widening of spreads as the year progressed reflecting this and the likely associated higher levels of vol that this would bring. So the price action of the last few sessions is an extreme version of our 2018 view but perhaps more in line with medium term views.

For 2018 it all still rests with inflation. If US inflation is just a bit above expectations this year then our base case is still probably something we feel comfortable with (IG +25bps and HY +100bps over 2018). However if US inflation beats by more, the glue that has held the carry trade – and associated recent multi-year risk rally – will unfold very quickly and the timing of the next financial crisis will be brought forward. The problem is that a number of US labour market statistics look increasingly stretched. So could wages really break out much higher in 2018? One to ponder but Torsten Slok’s latest chart book on the stretched US labour market is useful on this.

For balance, we should say if this fails to lead to US inflation breaking out on the upside then we will almost certainly go back to carry and risk will rally back big time. So inflation is absolute key. If we get through 2018 without some pick up, economists may have to throw out all their inflation/wages models. In listening to one of our US economists Matt Luzzetti last night, he made the point that this recent move will matter in so far as in impacts financial conditions. They have tightened sharply from record easy levels but their analysis suggest that the tightening needs to last for at least 6 weeks for it to impact growth momentum. So we have some time before growth expectations should be materially influenced. Interesting Bloomberg’s March Fed hike calculator went down from 82% to 80% yesterday. Not a big move so far.

Staying with rates, a big difference yesterday was that bonds seemed to benefit from a flight to safety even though they are the root cause of the move. Interestingly DB’s Alan Ruskin has shown that consecutive weeks of higher US bond yields and lower equity prices, have become progressively less common since the 1980s/1990s, and especially since the 2008 financial crisis. Three weeks of equities down, 10y yields up (as we’ve just seen) has not happened for more than a decade. The normal crisis relationship between equities and bonds was restored yesterday.

In Europe, 10y Bunds fell as much as 4.7bps at one stage to 0.715% before paring that move to close just over 3bps lower by the end of play. The Stoxx 600 however tumbled -1.56% and suffered its biggest one day and two day fall (-2.92%) since July 2016, while the six-day tumble of -4.64% is the biggest since June 2016. However this all happened before the bulk of the US sell-off so stand by for a wild ride at the open this morning. It’s worth highlighting that the moves in the last two days have now pushed most major US/European markets into negative territory YTD.

Rounding out the stats for the US, all sectors fell with losses led by the financials, health care and industrials sectors. Wells Fargo dropped 9.2% after the story we discussed yesterday concerning the Fed banning the bank from increasing its total assets beyond their size at the end of 2017 (US$1.95trn) until it cleans up its consumer and compliance issues.

Turning to currencies, the US dollar index gained for the second consecutive day (+0.40%), while the Euro and Sterling fell -0.77% and -1.13% respectively, with the latter weighed down by softer PMI readings. In commodities, WTI oil retreated for the third consecutive day to $63.55/bbl (-0.94%). Elsewhere, precious metals rebounded given the risk off tone (Gold +0.47%; Silver +0.87%) and other base metals were mixed but little changed (Copper +0.92%; Zinc +0.79%; Aluminium -0.24%).

Away from the markets, the ECB’s Draghi seemed relatively dovish on his annual report to the EU parliament. On rates and inflation, he noted that “while our confidence that inflation will converge toward our aim of close to 2% target has strengthened, we cannot yet declare victory”. Further, he added “monetary policy will evolve in a fully data-dependent and time consistent manner” and that “….patience and persistence with regard to monetary policy is still warranted for underlying inflation pressure to build up”. Elsewhere, the Fed’s Kashkari noted in last Friday’s jobs report “we saw a little hint that wages might finally be rising…

but its’ not yet enough”. He added “it could be a blip, but let’s not ignore it”. In Germany, today may be the deciding day for Ms Merkel to form the next coalition government as talks resume at the CDU’s headquarters. The Saxony State Premier Haseloff expects a coalition deal with the SPD today and noted “we’ve covered most topics (with the SPD), just several fundamental questions on health care policy remain”. On the other side, the SPD General Secretary Klingbeil said today “is the decisive day…it’ll be decided whether we successfully close the talks or not”. He added “all of us are willing to get to a solution, but the talks are contentious”.

Now onto some of the Brexit headlines. The EU negotiator Barnier and the UK’s Brexit secretary Davis have met officially for the first time in 2018 but their respective positions seemed broadly unchanged. Mr Davis emphasised that the UK has been “very clear” on what it wants, but Mr Barnier disagreed and noted “the time has come to make a choice” and that barriers to goods and services are unavoidable if the UK leaves the customs union. For now, the EU side “will wait for an official UK position of the government, in the next few weeks”. Elsewhere, the head of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority warned that both sides need to reach a transitional agreement for financial services by March, in part as some derivatives and insurance financial contracts may no longer be “serviceable”.

Before we take a look at today’s calendar, we wrap up with other data releases from yesterday. In the US, the January ISM non-manufacturing index was above market at 59.9 (vs. 56.7 expected) – the highest since 2005. In the details, the employment gauge rose to 61.6 – the strongest since 1997 and the new orders index rose to a seven year high. The final reading of January composite and services PMIs were unrevised at 53.8 and 53.3 respectively. In the Fed’s latest senior loan officers survey, banks reported demand for commercial and industrial loans (C&I) were broadly unchanged but weaker for auto loans and residential mortgages. Looking ahead, the survey found that banks expect to ease standards on residential mortgages and C&I loans, while tightening standards on commercial real estate and credit card loans.

The Euro area retail sales was broadly in line at -1.1% mom (vs. -1% expected), while the February Sentix investor confidence index was slightly lower than expected at 31.9 (vs. 33.2). The final reading of the Euro area January PMIs was revised slightly higher, with the composite PMI up 0.2 to 58.8 to a c11 year high and services PMI up 0.4 to 58. Across the countries, Germany’s composite PMI was revised 0.2 higher to 59 while France was revised down 0.1 to 59.7.

Elsewhere, the flash PMIs for Italy were above market, with the composite PMI at 59 (vs. 57.4 expected) and services at 57.7 (vs. 55.9 expected). In the UK, the flash PMIs were lower than expectations, with the composite PMI at 53.5 (vs. 54.6) and services PMI at 53 (vs. 54.1 expected) – the lowest since September 2016.

Looking at the day ahead, a fairly quiet data day all round with December factory orders in Germany the only release of note in Europe, while in the US the December trade balance and JOLTS job openings data is scheduled to be released. Away from that it’ll be worth keeping an eye on Fed Bullard’s comments when he speaks in the afternoon on the US Economy and Monetary Policy, while the ECB’s Weidmann speaks in the morning. General Motors and Walt Disney are due to report earnings.

Good luck navigating what looks set to be a volatile period for markets.
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Intervention in the Overnight Futures Market Turns the Tide on Stocks' Wild Ride




“In a world where success is the measure and justification of all things the figure of Him who was sentenced and crucified remains a stranger, and is at best the object of pity... Worldly history appeals in its own cause to the dictum that the end justifies the means. The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer


“These people honour me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
they follow rules of their own making.”

Mark 7:6-7


“Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.”

Henri J.M. Nouwen


Stocks were swooning overnight. Early in the morning hours buying started turning the tide, with the SP 500 futures leading the way.

As we know from the past crises and statements, buying the SP 500 futures was the remedy recommended by Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.

But we did have a significant correction, and it may not be over. One day's bounce does not a bull market make.

The problem was that the underpinnings of the market were so thin that it took very little to set the market spinning on a wild ride as volatility, long suppressed, began to revert to the mean.

Trump said he would love to 'shut the government down' if the Democrats do not give him what he wants on immigration, and that 'the world is laughing at the US.' Yep, but maybe not for the reasons he thinks. His act is getting tired.

The Dollar managed to get a little boost higher and hang on to it, but silver and especially gold were methodically sold. Gold was smacked into the close, but bounced back three dollars after the close.

The XIV inverse to volatility ETN, marketed to retail investors by Credit Suisse, was incinerated in the market drop, and is said to be in liquidation. Other funds were suspending redemptions.

Nothing has really changed. Arrogance and a disregard for the proper treatment of risk has once again been reinforced.

I am afraid that this is just a taste things to come.

Have a pleasant evening.

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Thank You Harvey Honored To Post Your Work Man !
https://www.silverdoctors.com/tag/harvey-organ/
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Thank You Jesse http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/
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Thank You GATA http://www.gata.org/
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Thank You from MMgys The Love Network <3
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Visit our Friends at GOLDBUGS INDEX https://investorshub.advfn.com/GOLDBUGS-Gold-Spot-(FOREX-XAUUSDO)-COM-GC-Z15-3386/
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and Thank You All for Being With Us Tonight

Hoping You Have a Good Day <3



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Tucson Gem & Mineral Show Kicks Off This Thursday
Feb.8th

Here's one of 46 shows around town


http://www.tgms.org/calendar/2017/10/17/tucson-gem-mineral-society-present