Chris Martenson has totally neglected the effect of Iranian oil in the market.

Off Topic:
Further proof Government is INCOMPETENT (? at everything?)
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/02/us/politics/us-doesnt-know-how-many-foreign-visitors-overstay-visas.html?_r=0

Thanks as always guys. 2016 HAS to be the year some of the world’s currencies go belly up. Yes the U.S. dollar has to rescind rates just to give the Democrats a prayer of staying in power. But I still think that whether as a third party or as a Republican Trump will trump the lot of them. QE will continue unabated throughout the coming year. Holders of precious metals will have to continue being patient, while to my mind a global currency reset must be the only way forward. This of course means that everyone (or at least the 97% Al refers to) will be a great deal poorer, even as pensioners take more direct hits with their savings going negative. Further, we need to beware of a year of bank bail-ins – already happening in Greece, Italy, Portugal and I believe now in Canada.
Apart from all that put your trust in God and of course gold!

And may peace and that prosperity which comes through inclining our hearts towards wisdom be with us one and all, Andrew

Beware the Russian rouble. Art Cashin worth a listen.

http://kingworldnews.com/art-cashin-1-2-16/

If it was known just how much money was used in defence of the zero bound in the US to prevent negative rates, the programme of normalizing rates would seem a crackpot fantasy.

Rates on the 3-month treasury bill have declined since the Fed hiked:

http://finance.yahoo.com/bonds

I would say that Rick Rule espousing a theory that is patently untrue is a sign that at least his confidence is already lost.

The Fed does not control rates. The market sets the rate. The Euro wins the battle against the dollar. They have negative rates and a stronger currency.

And there you have it….Carmen Reinhart, one of the most famous economist we all know has just penned a piece warning that significant debt defaults are looming in 2016.

After taking a page from the popular writing of Martin Armstrong who has already been telling us for years that just such an event was preordained according to his cycle theory, we now have one of the mainstream PHD’s coming out and confirming what some of us already knew.

And that is that we are again near the termination point of a major credit cycle that should as usual end in a lot of tears and quite a few broken dreams. So be aware of what’s in your portfolio.

And remember “Gentlemen prefer bonds”! (or not…so be careful out there)

Carmen Reinhart Warns “Serious Sovereign Debt Defaults” Are Looming
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-01/carmen-reinhart-warns-serious-sovereign-debt-defaults-are-looming

Bird,

The decades old credit expansion cycle of exponential growth meeting its well known end with converging deflationary forces and looming bankruptcies across all spectrum’s of industry are sure to put pressure on entire nations as cascading defaults become a reality with enormous feedback loops in contagion.

The surreal interconnectedness of global financial assets and the legacy financial architecture wobbling under the immense pressure of broken currencies, and unsustainable debt burdens is sure to kick off the long awaited awakening by the masses that can no-longer be hid or denied.

Reinhart of course is correct on potential Sovereign Debt Defaults but doesn’t go far enough. The cascade of defaults will reach down into the belly of cities, counties, and states globally.

The dirt that has been swept under the rug for decades will be exposed willingly or by the force of basic mathematics. The big lie is about to be exposed in all its glory and subsequent pain. Greece is going global so buckle up!

V

To all my friends and foes, I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous 2016.

Recap from a previous thread…AVI GILBURT – THU 31 DEC, 2015

Avi writes: I can accept very small price movements being manipulated during off peak hours . . . but I do not accept a 75% movement being manipulated . . . that is called a correction in my book and that is not a result of manipulation. That is the result of non-linear markets.

Al writes: that is what I have said for a long time.
Let me clarify. Of course deep pocketed entities are able to short the markets down and cover at lower prices. That is simply reality.

So you both admit the market is manipulated to a certain extent. We haven’t determined the actual amount of manipulation or the damage done to the market.

The bullion banks & futures market, issue more fractional paper gold than physical metal, no big deal they can cash settle.

The price of gold mysteriously declines before NFP, Fed meetings and holidays most of the time.

The price of gold is hammered when the London monkey’s show up to work at 03:00am ET.

No one claims the price of gold is manipulated all the time. There is a strange relationship between the $gold price and Japanese Yen algos.

Is it a fair market for producers, mine workers and investors, if the trend is extended to satisfy the bullion banks & Crimex’s fleecing of spectulators on a regular basis?

Thanks for confirming it is not a freely traded market and certain parties are able to fleece other market participants. It’s just part of the market, so to speak.

Human Rights the US & Britain could care less

http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/jan/02/middle-east-condemns-saudi-execution-of-shia-cleric-live

PUTIN names US as security threat .

Spock posting on GoldTent has the following challenge (opportunity).
Maybe the KER crowd can nominate PM companies that fit the criteria:

Begin quote ————-
I am seeing some unbelievable value in the small and micro cap pm companies. looking at one today as we kick off 2016….each share gets the cash in treasury for less than 50c in the dollar. the proven resources are for free worth $1 billion at current market prices, or 20 times the share price. no debt. fully funded and financed.

I hope to have a dozen or so, similar to this over the next few weeks.

I am adding a small cap gold and silver company category to the matrix.

The criteria for inclusion are:

1. Advanced stage explorer with compliant defined mineral resource
2. Preferably with a mine under development, or a bankable feasibility completed
3. Cashed up with sufficient cash to see it through at least the next 12 months
4. No significant debt or derivative debt on the books
5. Sound management with a good track record (no dodgy operators).
6. No skeletons in the cupboard!

Editor’s Note :
(Spock will be posting these in his Mining Matrix at the Rambus Chartology Forum ..subscription required )

This is where the big bucks can be made folks. to be frank i am getting tired of trading these general market etfs where the odds are stacked against you all the time by the wall street crowd. time to move out of their sandpit where they have no influence. go to where the sector has been written off as dead. there are infinitely better pickings in the mid small and microcap miners right now.

This will be my focus now for 2016. I want to make another fortune. and i can think of no better place to start than where the blood is in the streets, where resouces are for free, and cash can be bought for cents on the dollar.
Caveat :
I am not a gold bug and have never owned the metal. besides that is not where the value lies. frankly I dont care about the gold price too much. but if I can buy cash for a big discount and get company gold resources for free, thats a great deal. its a bit like a receivers auction where we are the only bidders and there is no reserve price. money from heaven !

Spock…Trade Well and Prosper

—————– end quote

Listened this morning to a fellow named Bernstein on a PBS financial show. Found his comments interesting. He suggests that Vance-Eaton believes the $ will stay relatively strong and the Yen & Euro will continue their slow declines. He likes selected stocks in each area but stressed currency hedging. He thinks the US consumer is still the market most world manufacturing will aim to please. China is maintaining itself with the Gov’t buying lots of output and storing it since they really can’t handle the social effects of closing thousands of factories. In this environment, it seems to me deflation on a world scale will continue unabated. We may be the recipient of ‘cheap things’ but I can’t understand how that is going to be good for this country. Most have ‘too many things’ now and lots of it is purchased with debt. How can that continue to go on with no downside?

I can’t answer that question Silverdollar

Gold is about to underperform silver for probably the next 2 to 2.5 years:
http://schrts.co/fwxXje
Check out the monthly TRIX.

A mean reversion is coming:
http://www.mining.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/gold-eagle-barisheff-chart-gold-fed-debt.jpg

Note that the chart is a year old and gold is another $150+ lower while the debt is higher.

Some interesting occurrences are taking place and/or about to take place.

(A) All of the emerging markets look like they have bottomed.
(B) Shipping companies and the BDI look like they have bottomed.
(C) Commodities ( not PMs and Oil ) have bottomed.
(D) Brent crude and WTIC are close to parity.
And…(E) the euro looks like it’s going to drop like a rock next week, while the dollar looks like it’s going up a bit. It looks like the euro and dollar will hit parity next week at or near 1.00

Oh yea, the stock exchange gets an (F).

It won’t be a dull January And 2016.
Happy New Year!!

Unless gold drops below $1000 I am sticking with 3x miner ETFs. Pulled down 6-16% last year on DUST, NUGT, JNUG, JDST. Buy on technicals and ride with a .25 to $1 stop. Ring the often.

Ring the register often.

Al: What a great way to start the year! Very high caliber guests, excellant questions. Keep up the good work.

Bob

A mighty new upleg for gold in 2016….? At least according to Adam Hamilton.

http://news.goldseek.com/Zealllc/1451581624.php

Thanks for the weekend show as usual guys
Cheers

Something to think about as we enter 2016:

Unprofitable Servants

Gary North – December 31, 2015
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So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do (Luke 17:10).
The words of Jesus are not palatable to the self-proclaimed autonomous man. Jesus, to use the vernacular, never gave man a lot of slack. Man is put in his proper place by the teachings of the gospel. Until man knows what he is in the eyes of God, he can never understand who he is. What the best of autonomous men are, Jesus said, are unprofitable servants.

He introduced this message with an example. Assume that you have hired a full-time servant to work for you. One of his tasks is to plow the field. Another is to serve you your evening meal. He knows he is to do both. Which of you, Jesus asks, allows the servant to go eat dinner as soon as he comes in from the field? Will you not rather say to him, “Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shall eat and drink” (v. 8)?

What is His point? Simple: God is the Master; we are His servants. Does the master “thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him?” Jesus asks. Obviously not, He summarizes (v. 9). He has done well only when his work is completed, and his reward is food and drink. But he must finish his work before he gets his reward. The master is not required to delay his feast until the servant has satisfied his desires. He was hired to do a job; the mere completion of the assigned task is not some great achievement which automatically calls forth the master’s rejoicing. How much less cause for the master’s rejoicing and congratulations is the completion of half the assigned task.

Paul used similar language in describing the ethical rebellion of both Jews and Gentiles: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10-12). What man faces is condemnation: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

Both Jesus and Paul were reminding their listeners and readers that man is not washed clean by the good works he performs. There is nothing wrong with good works, just as there is nothing wrong with the servant’s completing the first part of his assigned task. God does not rejoice at our good works, however, just because we have done them. We have already come so far short that our half-completed works do not impress Him. Where is the master’s meal? What are we doing, sitting down and eating our meal when the master goes hungry? Who do we think we are? More to the point, who do we think the master is? Who do we imagine that we are dealing with? A person like ourselves? Another slave who also has not completed his tasks and is equally under condemnation?

The typical response of the man who hears of his own shortcomings before God, and of his need for repentance, is this one: “Well, I’m no worse than most everyone else.” This may well be true. He is no Hitler, no Stalin. But in this case, there is no safety in numbers. He is not going to get lost in the crowd because of his average performance. The whole crowd is headed for disaster.

God’s Bottom Line

It is not so strange that so many of the parables are economic in their format. Men respond to what they understand, and most men understand something about economics. They understand the difference between profit and loss. “More” is preferable to them than “less.”

Had Adam performed his task of dominion satisfactorily, he would have “broken even.” God gave him life and a world to conquer; then He gave him a wife to assist him–his own servant. Children were also expected: additional servants, who would eventually become independent servants under God (Gen. 2:24). God would have received the rate of return on His “investment” that He had planned. Adam, in this sense, would have become a profitable servant. Anything short of Adam’s complete performance had to be classified as unprofitable. The day Adam rebelled was the day that God’s “rate of return” on Adam fell into the loss column. Adam did not possess any resources independently; he could not “make it up” to God, even if he had chosen to do so.

What is the rational economic response to an asset that is losing money? Sell it, if possible; scrap it, if there is no secondary market. Just melt it down for scrap. Junk it. The longer you use an asset that is producing losses, the more you lose from your capital base. You cannot “make it up on volume” if it costs you three ounces of gold per transaction to bring in two ounces. The more transactions, the greater your losses. Six thousand years of Adam’s heirs, all of them performing at varying rates of loss, would not only not “make up the original loss”, such a continued operation of the “business” would multiply the losses. This is why God told Adam that on the day of rebellion, Adam would surely die. The old investing rule must be honored: cut your losses, and let your profits run!

Did God fail to honor this principle? No, He honored it completely. But why did He allow Adam and Adam’s race to multiply His losses? Because God had a way of getting Adam’s race back into the “expected rate of return” category. He had a way to compensate Himself for the losses incurred as a result of Adam’s poor performance, and once this payment was made, to return the servants to the profit column. The compensating balance was paid by Jesus Christ.

“And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). In other words, Jesus was a profitable servant in the eyes of God. Thus, through a substitution of Christ’s death for the death of Adam’s heirs, God allows a transfer of capital to the heirs. They are placed, as Adam was before his rebellion, in positions of servitude, but profitable servitude. They become servants who are still at work in the fields, or feeding the cattle, and who have not yet come in to fix the master’s meal at the end of the day. Their work is still before them, but it has not yet become unprofitable by their failure to perform a particular assignment. God is still earning a positive rate of return on His investment.

The multiplication of the Second Adam’s race is now positive. Not to use the entrepreneur’s terminology, “God can make it through volume.” However, we must not forget that God is self-contained, self-sufficient, and in need of nothing from us; His own glory is self-sufficient. God possesses, as Cornelius Van Til says, a full bucket. He does not need man to fill it higher. Yet man is to glorify God, and history does have meaning. If it didn’t, God would not have bothered to send Christ to redeem history and restore redeemed mankind to profitability. He would not have bothered to call Noah to build an ark; He would simply have wiped the slate clean, acknowledging that all of mankind was a waste, a source of endless losses. So there is a dilemma here, which Van Til calls the full-bucket dilemma. God does not really need mankind to make Him wealthy; He does not really have to “get a rate of return” on His “investment” in mankind. God is not going to the poorhouse if His investment goes sour. Yet He did not want this investment to go sour; He sacrificed His Son in order to keep it from going sour.

God Loves His Servants

Men love their wives and children, even though wives and children are functionally subordinate as helpers to the male heads of households. The people of God are described as the bride of God in both the Old and New Testaments, and also as God’s son (Ex. 4:22). So the relationship between God and His people is a master-servant relationship, but also a husband–wife relationship and a father-son relationship. There is a deeply personal bond between God and mankind. All men are God’s children, for all men are of one blood (Acts 1 7:26), but some of the sons are disinherited, while the others are adopted (John 1:12). But this deep personal bond does not deny the master-servant relationship, which Jesus specifically described as an investor-capital asset relationship.

God was well pleased with His Son. Because of this deep personal bond between them, the sacrifice had real meaning. God was not simply punishing a profitable servant; He was punishing His own Son. The Son’s love for the other servants, who were deserving of destruction in the scrap heap, led to His settling the accounts of those servants.

We dare not pass over the investment aspects of the history of salvation. God does want a return on His investment. He wants the world subdued to His glory by His servants. This was His plan from the beginning. Satan’s efforts did involve economics: turning potentially profitable servants into a loss-producing asset in God’s portfolio. Satan realized that God was determined to see the earth subdued by man, and as a rebel, Satan sought to thwart the plans of his Enemy. Satan is a destroyer, the one who sows tares in the field of God, in an attempt to destroy the harvest (Matt. 13:24-30; 36-43). He seeks to reduce the value of God’s portfolio to zero, if possible, or better yet, into a debt position. Satan would be delighted to be able to haul God into bankruptcy court–with Satan as the judge, jury, and enforcer.

But God is not in debt. He does not need “leverage” in order to produce a profit. He is not using OPM (other people’s money). And because of the death of His Son, God is earning a positive return on His investment. What has happened is this: Satan has put himself in the position as administrator or trustee of a portion of God’s portfolio. Specifically, God has transferred to Satan the loss-producing portion, namely, all those unprofitable servants, those disinherited sons. These are Satan’s troops (to switch to a military analogy). These are Satan’s borrowed assets, which he is allowed to invest during his period of borrowed time. They produce losses. Satan is the debtor who will be hauled, on judgment day, into bankruptcy court. He is the ultimate unprofitable servant, the archetype of all indebted servants who cannot pay their masters when the accounts fall due (Matt. 18:23-35).

There is a very clever scene in a comedy film, “Bedazzled,” in which the Satan figure brings a Faust figure into his establishment. The man (Dudley Moore) has sold his soul to the Devil (Peter Cook). Cook escorts Moore down the stairs into a shabby-looking place that is a kind of cheap restaurant, bar, and bordello. Cook introduces Moore to all of Cook’s employees. The main ones turn out to be the “seven deadly sins.” Anger is some loudmouth who is trying to start a fight. Sloth is asleep. Cook, as the Devil figure, remarks to Moore: “I just can’t get decent help. It must have something to do with the wages I pay.” Sadly, contemporary theologians lack the theological insight of a pair of British comedians.

Are We Profitable Servants?

We have to take the words of Jesus seriously. He was criticizing the Pharisees and self-righteous people who thought that all their holy works would save them from the wrath of the Master. He called them unprofitable servants because they did not understand how much was really expected of them, how far short the best of them came, and how much in need of “an injection of new capital” their accounts as servants really were.

Was Jesus criticizing the performance of His own servants? No. He was showing them that if they trusted in the spiritual capital delivered to them by their father Adam, then they were nothing short of bankrupt, and nothing they could earn would ever settle the account. They were too far in debt. On the other hand, they can get their personal accounts into a positive position if they operate in terms of the balance sheet delivered to the by the Second Adam. They are no longer “in the hole” financially when they can present Christ’s balance sheet to God. Their own efforts now become positive. Without this transfer of capital, they cannot even meet the interest payments on the debt they owe to God. The debt will simply get larger, no matter what they do, just as Satan’s debt is building up relentlessly. Satan has no intention of paying off the debt, of course; but good intentions of rebellious men, in time and on earth, still are not enough. They may not be “in the hole” financially to God as much as Satan will be, but they will be in the eternal hole with Satan because none of them has a penny to his name.

So we are profitable servants today, if we operate with the balance sheet given in grace by Christ to His people. Despite our losses from time to time, despite our own mismanagement of funds, through His grace, the losses will not be counted against us. At worst, we will come into heaven with a “zero balance” in our account (1Cor. 3:15). No servant wants a zero balance, and all should strive to build up spiritual capital, but there is no way that we can get into the debt column again. Christ has paid that debt forever.

This should reduce our fear of failure. We need not bury our talents in the ground in fear of the Master. We can speculate–not speculate wildly, but do our best to predict the future, and invest in terms of our convictions. We can take risks and bear uncertainty in order to make a better world. The Satanists can gamble, creating statistically guaranteed long-term losses for the sake of “an exciting game.” They gamble their substance on the turn of a card or the throw of the dice, in games rigged against them. We overcome uncertainty and earn profits by forthrightly dealing with the world in terms of God’s law. The world is “rigged” in favor of God’s law and those who operate in terms of His law. The universe is rigged against Satan and his followers, and they know it, but they play on, as gamblers play on, knowing they will eventually go bankrupt if they play the game long enough. Their end is sure, and so is ours. They do not know how far “in the hole” they will be when their time is up, and we do not know how many talents we will have remaining, but we know this much: we will not be in the hole. We are therefore not to dig holes for out talents (Matt. 25:24-30). Exercising dominion is not gambling, and gambling is not exercising dominion.

****************
Biblical Economics Today Vol. 6, No. 2 (February/March 1983)

Wow, Bobby all a bit heavy for the new year!! Although theologically (at one level) your exegesis is correct, at another level as I say it’s way too heavy and depressing, if not somewhat distorted. Do I believe that we’re saved through grace (namely that of Jesus Christ)? Yes. Do I believe that there’s a place called heaven and hell? Again, yes. But the word ‘salvation’ or that of Jesus as ‘Saviour’ means the giver of life…not that we’re irretrievably damned for all time if we hedge our bets about Him. The same with life after death…heaven and hell can begin right here, and surely for those in hell they too deserve some measure of pity/compassion? For did not the Church Father Origen say ‘in the end even devils will be saved’?
Whatever our take on religion so often we make scripture fit our own pre-conceived tenets, and I find that not just boring but dangerous. Texts out of context invariably become pretexts. For just as a Muslim can find bits in the Koran to justify the murder of ‘infidels’, so Christians can do the same with the Bible. All scriptures are rife with paradox and contradictions.
So sorry, but however kindly meant your long piece did little for me. Worse, it was bereft of any humour!

Blessings, Andrew

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

The greatest scandal in gold is yet to come and it is not the Comex on paper but at your trusted place of storage. Read your customer papers and read the entire prospectus for GLD. Where exactly did you say your physical is? Are you in for a surprise?

On The Trail Of Dubai’s Stolen Gold: A Robbed Client Breaks The Silence, And A Fascinating Detail Emerges
Tyler Durden on 01/01/2016 18:43 -0500

On Christmas Day, 2015, we told our readers the fascinating tale about the Turkish-Iranian gold smuggling ring – perhaps the biggest and most brazen in history, one which lasted for years, which saw billions in gold transported out of Turkey and into Iran to allow Tehran to circumvent the western financial sanctions using gold as a medium for bater, and which was all made possible thanks to the tiny Emirate of Dubai.

Especially for Irish Tony – New high for silver 2016…! Very best, A

http://tunein.com/radio/Financial-Survival-Network-p415063/

Al- comment not moment..

Another great KER show and blog:

I just wanted to take a moment and say that I really appreciate everyone’s comments on the KER site. This has been one of my favorite sites to visit for years due to the hard work from Big Al & Cory and the wonderful people that circulate through and orbit the site. 🙂

THANKS to all the main contributors on this site in the past like Dr. Richard Postma, Chris Temple, Rick Ackerman, Gary Savage, Avi Gilburt, Jay Taylor, LPG, Peter Boockvar, Dan Oliver, Craig Hemke, Dan Kurz, Glen Downs, Jeff Deist, Bob Moriarty, Brien Lundin, Michael Belkin, Valentin Schmid, Grant Williams, Bill Holter, Chris Martenson, Peter Hug, Adrian Day, Gary Christenson, Jayant Bhandari, Bob Loukas, Gwen Preston, Dudley Baker, Peter Brandt, Sean Brodrick, Trader Vic, David Morgan, Rick Rule, Brent Cook, Jeff Clark, Stewart Thomson, Jeffery Kern, James Turk, Peter Schiff, Louise Yamada, Byron King, Doug Casey, George Gero, John Kaiser, Eric Coffin, Collin Kettell, Marin Katusa, Axel Merk, and all the other interesting guests and mining CEOs you bring on the show.

Big Al – [some people that have interesting perspectives in conjunction with the above list could be: Morris Hubbartt, Martin Armstrong, Adam Hamilton, Clive Maund, Jordan Roy-Byrne, Gary Wagner, Frank Holmes, Jim Rogers, Jim Wyckoff, David Gurwitz, the Aden Sisters, Lance Roberts, Bob Hoye, Mickey Fulp, or Tiho Brkan over at shortsideoflong)

Also, I gotta say a big THANK YOU to the whole KER community for all the great information that is shared on this website: Matthew, Frank From Moscow, Bob UK, Birdman, Brian, Gabriel, Chartster, Dragonite, FranSix, mj12, Silverbug Dave, Silverdollar, MACDaddy (Jason), GH, Wiseguy, Glenfidish, Dan from Calgary, Mark Alan, CFS, IrishTony, Nic, Ebolan, Bonzo Barzini,Dick Tracy, Andrew de Berry (Rev), Stewie, Skeeta, Paul L, JayT, Jay, Dai Uy, Chris from Thailand, Chris, Confused, SDMarc, Matt, CMC, BB, Agatha, DGHH, Marc- San Diego, Peter Endres, Peter, MarkedtoFuture, Tad, JMiller, Bobby, Genesys, Wayne, John K, Gator, Mark Gix, Stephan B. Feibish, karl345345, Roboman, BJ, Greg, , JadeHelm, Bill, Jerry C, Irwin, Proud Canuck, Biggus, Bob Grierson, Catfish,R. Hepperla M.D., Sally, Ron, Hal, Lore, Dave, Steven, Tom, and I’m sure I forgot a few folks…..but seriously…..…. Good stuff everyone.

Thank you all for having posted your thoughts on this blog and I appreciate all the insights we get exposed to here. Much love and peace and prosperity in 2016!

Thank you Excelsior. Together we all grow stronger. Very best for 2016.

Gary is correct…

Bank of America Explains How Central Banks Rigged And Manipulated The Market
Tyler Durden’s pictureSubmitted by Tyler Durden on 01/03/2016 10:51 -0500

Bank of America Bank of America Central Banks Volatility

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It used to be the provenance of “conspiracy theorists” – alleging that central banks have manipulated, rigged or otherwise broken the “efficient market.” That is no longer the case.

As we previously showed, now even the big banks admit it.

However, since for some unknown reason the broader media has yet to catch on to this concept which exonerates the “tinfoil” crowd and makes a mockery of the “bull market” of the past 7 years while posing some very troubling questions about how it all ends, here again is Bank of America explaining not only how “central banks have unfairly inflated asset prices” with the “market aware the price of risk is not correct”, but why the biggest risk to the financial system is a “loss of confidence in this omnipotent CB put”

And the cherry on top comes from JPMorgan which declares “Mission accomplished – QE drives up equity valuations”

Sources: “Fragility is the new volatility” by Benjamin Fowler, Global Equity Derivatives Rsch, Bank of America, December 9, 2015; “Eye on the Market Outlook 2016” by J.P.Morgan Private Bank

Hmmm wonder who the ‘protesters’ were……. bb…frank.. shades of ukraine, Syria…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

CNN’s first report on this showed about 25 people parading in an orderly manner on the sidewalks, not even in the road.

Protesters Storm, Set Fire To Saudi Embassy In Iran
Tyler Durden on 01/02/2016 17:03 -0500

Earlier today, Saudi Arabia announced it had staged its largest mass execution in 25 years.

43 al-Qaeda conspirators were killed along with 4 Shiites accused of shooting policemen in the anti-government protests which broke out during the Arab Spring. Among the Shiites killed: prominent cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

His death drew sharp criticism from Iran and Hezbollah with the latter calling the execution a “grave mistake.” Protests erupted in the Qatif district of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province as well as in Bahrain, where hundreds took to the streets, burning tires and braving tear gas fired by police. As we reported earlier today, protesters had also converged on the Saudi embassy in Iran.

Now, in what looks like a repeat of the Iran Hostage Crisis, the protesters in Tehran have reportedly broken into the Saudi embassy and set it ablaze with Molotov cocktails.

“Images shared on social media early on Sunday morning appeared to show Iranian protesters breaking into Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran and starting fires, after gathering there to denounce the kingdom’s execution of a Shi’ite cleric,” Reuters reports. “One photograph, posted on Twitter, showed protesters outside the embassy building with small fires burning inside, while another showed a room with smashed furniture purportedly inside the building.”

More…

The common thyme that I’m hearing from many, as well as contributors to this blog is, that the current fiat debt based system can’t last much longer. Some still believe it will, to their own misgivings. I’ve been watching it unfold with anticipation. The old system is close to being dead, it’s completely run it’s course!

The comments from people saying the Fed and ECB don’t know what they are doing is and always has been comical to me. Everyone knows that the Fed, ECB, BIS and virtually all central banks have private owners…! These private owners have controlled the financial system for hundreds of years….! To think THEY don’t know what they are doing is utterly ridiculous. Janet and Mario are the front spokesman. They take orders from the most wealthy in the world. The very people that government ( all government ) leaders take orders and directives from!
Don’t be disillusioned! The Fed and ECB know exactly what they are doing! Just realize that you/I don’t understand what that is.

China is CRASHING the markets Sunday evening on purpose.

This is China’s plan to stop the West’s financial hegemony and stranglehold on the world.

For those of you who may not have seen it.
A year ending Brent Cook video discussion on the miners from Dec. 31

http://www.bnn.ca/Video/player.aspx?vid=779507

Cheers.

Looks like Rick Ackerman called it right saying we would get a market sell off on the first day of the year. He said it would begin in Asia and migrate to the US (as is often the case) and that seems to be exactly what is happening this morning with the Shanghai getting bloodied first followed by the DAX and EURO STOXX going deeply into the red.

You technical guys will want to check the Shanghai in particular which is now down 10% in as many days and has broken a key support thus confirming its double top. Sub 3000 now looks to be in the cards. We have a correction on our hands over there folks.

This is all about Asia today as the Yen went vertical. Up over a percent already.

And gold and oil caught the updraft and went along for the ride.

Shanghai Composite Exchange 6 month chart.
http://markets.ft.com/research/Markets/Tearsheets/Summary?s=SHI:SHH

Oh my………..gold up $16

Priced in SPY, GDX is up almost 5% this morning. So much for the assumption that falling stocks have to be bad for the miners. Stocks gapped down while the miners gapped up.
GDX:SPY
http://schrts.co/l75BJE

Thanks Matthew. You may have missed the FSN report which seems pretty encouraging.
Very best to you and yours for 2016, Andrew

http://tunein.com/radio/Financial-Survival-Network-p415063/

Thanks M. So can silver top fifty bucks this year?
http://sgtreport.com/page/2/

PS Scroll down to Vision Victory.

Couple of hours later, and the bulls are being herded back in the pen……..Beef jerky.

The SPOCK chart is a favorite of mine. Check to see if any of your favorite miners are on the list, then read about the 4 stages – NOTE: Claude and Richmont are rated as stage 2. Integra Gold may be at the bottom of Stage 1.

http://goldtadise.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/SPOCK-MINERS-4-JAN-16.png

I wonder if DOC bought volatility today? Or maybe he opened a position last week?

MSM tidbit (Note the 1932 reference)

“The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 450 points in mid-morning trade, down more than 2.5 percent, on pace for its largest percent decline on the first trading day of the year since 1932. The Dow also fell below the psychologically key 17,000 level in intraday trade.”

Dow down 439 pts.

More downside for stocks:
http://schrts.co/fzmPJn

Garys right…

The Riksbank still maintains a high level of preparedness to take other monetary policy measures in addition to the currency interventions if this is necessary for inflation to stabilise around 2 per cent. The repo rate could be cut further, the securities purchases could be extended and the Riksbank could lend money to companies via the banks.

Deputy Governor Martin Flodén entered a reservation against the decision. He thought it appropriate to wait before implementing any further monetary policy stimulation and did not consider currency interventions to be a suitable tool to make monetary policy more expansionary in the current situation.
And now, we sit back and wait for some of the “real” central banks to follow suit because this aggression against manipulated asset prices will surely not stand.

The Dow found some support at the 500 day EMA today but I don’t think it’s going to hold. This is not late 2011 all over again.
http://schrts.co/57W2dW