Central Banks

"There are four indicators today which show as clearly as anything can be shown the state of our global debt-based monetary and financial system. Any one of them alone should be all the evidence one needs that the system is unsustainable. Put them together and much more than the canary is singing."

In the off case that this weekend's Italian bailout rumor roundup does nothing to quell the ongoing European collapse, the status quo is already working in diversion Plan B. Enter the Arab Leage and the announcement that it has approved sanctions against Syria, including an asset freeze and an embargo on investments, effective immediately. And while the screenplay is for now a carbon copy replica of what happened in Libya, with the imposition of a "No Fly Zone" over Syria as reported previously as the most likely next step, what is unique is the response that will follow from not only Syria, but Iran (which followed in Russian footsteps and announced it would attack NATO member Turkey missiles if provoked) as well as Russia and China, all of which have made it clear that any unilateral, US/Europe-backed agression against Syria will not stand. BBC reports: "League foreign ministers adopted the unprecedented sanctions at a meeting in Cairo by a vote of 19 to three. The move came after Syria refused to allow 4,000 Arab League monitors into the country to assess the situation on the ground. Syria, one of the founder members of the Arab League, condemned the sanctions as a betrayal of Arab solidarity. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem accused the league of seeking to "internationalise" the conflict." We expect developments to move quickly at this point as the chaos in the developed world is hitting a fever pitch and the only logical outcome is some "localized" regional warfare here and there.

It's good to be nobody or not so good, because even though nobody took precautions, nobody ultimately took the hit.

Market participants continue to be surprised by gold’s continuing weakness and some are even questioning gold’s safe haven status. However, the fundamentals of broad based global physical demand remain very sound as evidenced by the central bank gold buying data today. Russia bought 19.5 metric tons of gold in October bringing their total gold reserves to 871.1 tons according to IMF data released today. Belarus increased holdings by 1 ton, Colombia by 1.2 tons, Kazakhstan by 3.2 tons and Mexico by 0.9 ton, the data show. Germany reduced reserves by 4.7 tons and Tajikistan cut reserves by 0.4 ton, the data show. Thus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Belarus and Mexico added a combined 25.7 metric tons of gold to reserves in October, after gold prices corrected from record highs...Might Russia and China use gold in order to undermine U.S. political and economic dominance? There is certainly the possibility that they may use gold as a geopolitical weapon against the U.S. and as a way of furthering their growing global political and economic aspirations. Putin's endorsement in 2005 of the Russian Central Bank's plans to diversify the Russian reserves out of fiat currencies and debt instruments and into gold bullion was seen by some as as much a political act as an economic one.

stock market and otherwise

If a ballistics expert were so poor at his job that his artillery routinely fired missiles into the sea or, worse still, at his own men, he would soon be removed from office. He might perhaps be purged more dramatically, pour encourager les autres. No such logic would seem to apply, however, in either politics or economics in the west, where discredited practitioners of failed theories are allowed to pontificate and spend into absurdity. We cannot say with certainty what was spooking European investors prior to last week’s make-or-break summit (the 14th such “crisis summit” in 21 months), but it seems plausible to argue that they were concerned about an unsustainable build-up of credit, credit risk and leverage. Happily, those concerns have now been put to rest, because the Euro Zone’s leaders have pledged more credit, more credit risk, and more leverage. To put it another way, President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel have bought more time, albeit time paid for with yet more borrowed money. A three ring circus of blind, incontinent clowns would have more class.

All you need to read.

In the aftermath of today's so-called failed 10 Year Bund auction, the number of explanations seeking to goal seek some preconceived theory as to what happened has soared with justifications ranging from the amusing to the bizarre to the outright ridiculous. Here is the bottom line: "failed" Bund auctions, in which the Buba (Bundesbank or the German monetary authority) steps in to "retain" an unbid for amount and hit a maximum issuance happen all the time. In fact literally all the time as the inset chart shows. Such is the Buba charter - some European countries fail to issue the maximum amount (such as Spain and Italy in the past week), others see the central banks filling the demand. This has nothing to do with implicit or explicit monetization (because if it did then every Primary Dealer takedown in a US Treasury auction would also constitute monetization), or with some opaque negative repo prevention scheme (incidentally negative repo rate in the US bond market happen all the time - see here for instances in just the last week). It has everything to do with lack of demand at a given price. Nothing more, nothing less. And while it is intriguing to fabricate complex theories about broken secondary conduits or what have you, the explanation is far simpler. As SocGen puts it: "The fact that the Buba was forced to retain the biggest share of the sale in recent memory (see chart) is clearly a sign that some investors are no longer showing up or have started to buy considerably less, preferring other fixed income or alternative safe havens." No need to conceive an explanation where simply supply and demand will suffice. And in this case there was not enough demand at prevailing yields. And that in itself is the most ominous explanation because as SocGen concludes, "certain investors are starting to overlook the eurozone altogether". Lastly, for those who look at things only from a theoretical standpoint and forget there is an actual market, the direct implication is that Euro Country X spreads to Bunds just collapsed. And presto - with one "failed auction, European periphery, and that now includes France, Balgium and Austria, all suddenly look much better. Never waste a crisis...

Earlier this morning the anti-gold brigade was foaming in the mouth on the news that the German central bank had for the first time in a year sold gold. As it turns out they were half right: the bank indeed sold gold: a 'whopping' 150,000 toz or about $250 million worth... But not in the open market, and not even to natural buyers of physical like Sprott and everyone else not infatuated with voodoo theories of infinite repoability of debt. They sold it to the German ministry of Finance... to mint commemorative coins. Coins which we are now confident will be promptly mopped up by the general public. Following the sale Germany will be left with a modest 109,194,000 troy ounces, enough to allow the country to gladly tell Europe to do some anatomically impossible things and to fall back to a hard asset baked currency if and when it should so desire.

This will probably piss off everybody in big banking, mainstream media and inter-marital analyst relations. I still want to be invited to ALL of the Wall Street Christmas parties, though :-)

Gold is lower in all major currencies today except euros with euro gold having risen 0.25% to EUR 1,263/oz. The euro came under pressure due to the surprise collapse in new Eurozone industrial orders which led to Germany failing to get bids for 35% of bunds offered. The German 10-year bund yield rose sharply from 1.92% to over 2.06%. This is one of Germany's worst auctions since the launch of the Euro with the Bundesbank having to pick up nearly 40% of the 6 billion euros on offer. The German auction in turn led to further weakness in European equity markets. Asian equity indices followed US equities lower after news of a new US bank stress test and then the poor Chinese manufacturing data. Gold will be supported at these levels as the euro zone debt crisis continues to degenerate with the periphery increasingly affecting the core – leading to contagion. The bond auction in Germany is a disaster. If Germany has to buy its own bonds, it is frightening to think how other European nations, including France, will fare at bond auctions in the coming weeks. Gold remains possibly the most under-owned asset in the world, and definitely the most infrequently and poorly covered in the mainstream media.

This white paper is a thorough analysis of the current economic situation and what are the most likely outcomes. The result is that the U.S. will be joining the rest of the world in an economic decline. This is not a new recession but a continuation of the existing one. Many of the data reports from the government, especially GDP, are grossly misleading and paint a hopeful but false picture of what is happening. We give our forecast for the next six months.

Though late to the party as usual, the proverbial man on the street – along with members of mainstream media and Wall Street heavyweights – is finally waking up to the decade-long, 700% increase in the price of gold, joining a growing buzz around the monetary metal. From questions whether gold is in a bubble to predictions that soaring prices are just around the corner, one thing is clear: a new phase of awareness for gold is upon us. How far might it move before these troubling times are over?

While the FOMC Minutes have not yet been officially released by the Fed, it appears someone has broken the embargo. Here are the headlines.

• A FEW FOMC MEMBERS BELIEVED OUTLOOK MAY WARRANT MORE EASING
• FED OFFICIALS AGREED TARGETING NOMINAL GDP NOT ADVISABLE
• A FEW FOMC MEMBERS FAVORED TIME PERIOD FOR INTEREST-RATE PLEDGE
• A FEW FOMC MEMBERS BELIEVED OUTLOOK MAY WARRANT MORE EASING
• A FEW FOMC MEMBERS FAVORED TIME PERIOD FOR INTEREST-RATE PLEDGE
• FED OFFICIALS BACKED IDEA OF OFFERING MORE DATA ON RATE PATH
• US RECOVERY SUBJECT TO SIGNIFICANT DOWNSIDE RISKS

In other news - nothing substantially different from the statement or the conference that followed.

Scaremongering aside, the demise of the euro does not end European integration. It only means that which is unsustainable has been relinquished and a return to stability is finally possible. So the euro is doomed. Toast. History. This will lead to:

1. The end of civilization
2. The end of European integration
3. The start of new Dark Ages
4. The return to a sustainable reality

The correct answer is 4. The euro was an unsustainable, self-destructing extension of the integration that has long simplified trade, travel and work throughout the EU (European Union).