Precious Metals

We dont have real time pricing on spam, but luckily we do on gold and silver. And to all those who BTFD in the past 2 weeks as we suggested, congratulations. Next up: another futile CME margin hike which will do nothing but confirm that a standalone gold standard is imminent.

Do Zero Hedgers agree?

One picture explains so much. One is the Comex Gold contract, the other is the Hong Kong traded one. One bid is above the other's ask.

When it comes to precious metals, an often discussed topic is whether one should own precious metal stocks or the actual physical metals. Here's some things to ponder if you are considering placing money into either.

Let's ask the question. Why does one own metals' stocks? Answer? Because you expect metal prices to rise. Any answer you give after this, takes second place, third, fourth, whatever!

My name is Grant Williams and I’m a precious metals bug.

There. I’ve said it.

It feels good to get that off my chest.

Of course, those amongst you who have been riding alongside me these past few years probably already had a sneaking suspicion that was the case and, I imagine, several more of you are now tutting, rolling your eyes and muttering “I KNEW it. Where’s that ‘Unsubscribe’ button?” (bottom of the last page – no offence taken). Well today, we’re going to talk about precious metals again I’m afraid, but in a broader sense if that helps at all. For readers who are over the whole precious metals thing, there’s a nice cartoon on the last page and you’ll find several stories about alternate subjects scattered throughout pages 7 to 15). For those of you still reading at this point, join me inside the recesses of my mind. Please keep your hands and arms inside the carriage at all times.

The only things that are doing well are the stock and bond markets. But the markets and the economy are totally different things – except, over a very long period of time, there's no necessary correlation between the economy doing well and the market doing well. My view is that the market is as high as it is right now – with the Dow over 12,000 – solely and entirely because the Federal Reserve has created trillions of dollars, as other central banks around the world have created trillions of their currency units. Those currency units have to go somewhere, and a lot of them have gone into the stock market. As a general rule, I don't believe in conspiracy theories, and I don't believe anything's big enough to manipulate the market successfully over a long period. At the same time, the government recognizes that most people conflate the Dow with the economy, so it is directing money toward the market to keep it up. Of course, the government wants to keep it up for other reasons – not just because it thinks the economy rests on the psychology of the people, which is complete nonsense. Psychology is just about the most ephemeral thing on which you could possibly base an economy. It can blow away like a pile of feathers in a hurricane

Well, those devious gold bugs and sound money advocates are at it again! They had the audacity to produce economic analysis that consistently outshines and embarrasses mainstream Keynesian pundits. They had the nerve to expose the seedy underpinnings of the private Federal Reserve. They even had the gall to bring the long established short manipulations of metals markets by global banks like JP Morgan and HSBC into the light of day, where anyone whose head was not buried in the dark recesses of their own colon could see and say “My god! There really is an organized cabal against gold and silver!” But if you thought all that was outrageous, these people, who promote the insane notion that our currency should actually be backed by tangible wealth and should be under the control of the voting public instead of some unaccountable parasitic corporate central bank, have now brought state legislators into the mix! The return to sound money has begun…

Gold ticked lower momentarily to $1,417.63/oz on the open in Asia prior to rising to over $1,432/oz where determined sellers sold aggressively, sending gold back down to near Friday's closing price on the London AM Fix (see chart). Silver also rose initially prior to determined selling. Ordinarily, last week's lower silver and gold weekly close would lead to further momentum-driven liquidation but these are no ordinary times. The catastrophe in Japan is already leading to safe haven demand for gold. Premiums for gold bars in Tokyo rose to their highest level since February. Overnight, gold bars were quoted at a premium of $1 an ounce to the spot London prices in Tokyo, up from zero last week and a discount of 50 cents two weeks ago. In Japan, panic buying and stocking up with essentials such as food and gasoline has seen shortages developing, prices rising sharply and concerns of inflation. A bullion dealer in Tokyo said that premiums were higher as the Japanese market is a bit tight on gasoline, so there are inflation risks."

A secondary reason for Silver outperformance is its pricing: at $36 per ounce, buying Silver is much more affordable than Gold which costs $1,400 per ounce. Consequently, Silver is a kind of “poor man’s” inflation hedge and so is profiting from an influx of orders from those who are growing increasingly worried about inflation but cannot afford to buy an ounce of Gold.

As the world continues to burn, gold hits a new all time high of $1,437 as silver is en route to pass $36. Whatever shorts did not cover on Friday night are strongly urged to postpone their "market top" speculation until another day. Elsewhere Bernanke is still confused by what the relentless march to daily all time highs in gold means...

After a two month delay, gold is about to take out it all time high, silver has just passed $34.50, and, shockingly, the dollar is down as the Chairsatan drones on.

Coghlan Capital today announced the launch of MetalsTrades, a unique service for gold and silver traders and investors. In addition to intraday traders this specialist service is ideally suited for traders or institutions that have or are looking to establish core positions in gold or silver and would like to hedge or capitalize on intraday moves in these highly volatile instruments. The service provides access to real-time calls and commentary from well known metals trader, Andrew Maguire.

Silver and particularly gold rose sharply on the release of the higher than expected UK inflation data. It showed that UK inflation quickened to 26 month highs at 4.0%. Currency debasement and higher food and energy prices are leading to an inflation surge in both developed and emerging markets. The Chinese inflation data appears to be even more misleading and manipulated than that in western economies. Many governments are attempting to manage consumers perceptions regarding the significant increase in the cost of living as fiat currencies are debased. Silver is now less than 2% from its 30 year nominal high of $31.25/oz seen at the start of the year and looks set to challenge and surpass this level in the coming days due to continued robust physical demand (both investment and industrial) and the fact that the futures market is seeing some big money go long again after the recent correction. Silver remains in backwardation with spot trading at $30.68/oz while the July 11 contract trades at $30.55/oz and the December 14 at $30.40/oz.

Traders take note. The inflation trade is back in full effect. It is overstretched in some areas, but that state can last quite a while. And we you consider the idiocy coming our of the Fed (QE 3!?!?!) and the ECB, it’s not surprising. Until someone reigns these lunatics in, commodities will be ramping higher, trumping even stocks’ performance.

Doug Kass appeared on CNBC today and attempted to present a bearish case on gold (along with his 3rd, or is that 33rd, case for a market top...) based on a verbatim recitation of half of Howard Marks' letter that we posted as a must read over the weekend. Naturally, had he recited the other half, he would have had to defend a diametrically opposing view, as that is the difference between great minds, who present both sides to the argument, and, well, everyone else. Nonetheless, we thank the bottom and top-ticker for offsetting some of the fervor his far more amusing boss at theStreet has imparted on gold, and which we find extremely worrying, as any time Cramer stands behind an asset, it is time to sell, no matter how much we like it. That said, and since we enjoy providing Doug and others with reading material for their "original" content for the next time they appear on CNBC, here is an excerpt from Bert Dohlmen's latest letter which explains not only why gold is an "investment for the ages" but also ties it in with the much discussed here topic of commodity manipulation: a far more important concept that we are surprised receives far less attention on such momentum chasing shows as Fast Money.