Precious Metals

Because nothing says dump gold and silver like an aggressively escalating currency war...

The bottom line is that unfortunately for the BTFDers, with the Fed no longer giving explicit buy signals with the "considerable time" language struck, and with an implicit economic upgrade suggesting a rate hike is still on the table, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to frontrun the Fed's "wealth creation" intentions.

With all eyes firmly focused on the words "patient" on rate hikes, "considerable" period of lower rates, and "transitory" oil-driven deflation, The FOMC did not disappoint

• *FED REPEATS IT CAN BE PATIENT IN STARTING TO RAISE RATES, ECONOMY HAS BEEN  `EXPANDING AT A SOLID PACE'
• *FED CITES `STRONG JOB GAINS' AND LOWER UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
  
• *FED SAYS INFLATION EXPECTED TO DECLINE FURTHER IN NEAR TERM

So shrugging off the global tumult, The Fed appears set to raise rates no matter what to remove themselves from the corner they are stuck in, wary of what they can do when the next 'event' hits home.

Pre-FOMC: S&P Futs 2024.50, Gold $1286, 10Y 1.778%, EURUSD 1.1339, Dec15 ED 99.285. Full redline below.

While all the algos are programmed and set to scan today's FOMC statement for whether both "patient" and "considerable time" are still there (as it did last time when it supposedly sent a pseudo-hawkish message while telling Virtu and Getco to buy, buy, buy), the market is torn between the trends observed in recent days: on one hand finally succumbing to the adverse impact of USD strength, which overnight also saw the Singapore Dollar admit defeat in the ongoing currency wars, is crushing both revenues and EPS, as well as outlooks, for the bulk of US companies, even as millennials - long since given up on buying a house - allocate their meager savings to the annual incarnation of Apple's flagship product as seen in yesterday's record, blowout numbers by AAPL which is up 8% in the premarket and sending Nasdaq futures soaring compared to the stagnant DJIA or S&P. And then there is Europe where the mood is decidedly sour this morning, with Greece imploding on fears Tsipras really means business and concerns the Greek "virus" may spread to other peripheral nations whose bonds have also seen a lack of a bond bid this morning.

Three masked men smashed an SUV into the front-windows of The Wells Fargo Museum in San Francisco's financial district at around 230am Tuesday, making off with 10 ounces of "historic gold nuggets." As AP reports, robbers in Northern California have targeted precious metals in museum displays before and the tactics of the heist have marked other recent robberies in the area. The men escaped in a second vehicle, according to KGO, and the vehicle reportedly headed east across the Bay Bridge. Local coin dealers said the robbers may have difficulty selling the nuggets unless they melt them down. No dollar bills, Euros, or Japanese Yen notes were stolen during the robbery.

Since the end of The Federal Reserve's money-printing machinations (otherwise known as QE3), something odd has happened to global asset markets. US equity markets have suddenly stopped going up, bonds have soared, and physical demand for precious metals is bleeding back into the paper-pricing markets. Furthermore, the ubiquitously suppressed volatility across every asset class has slowly but surely started to decompress.

Overnight, there was much commotion in the precious metal space when, out of the blue, the IMF reported that months after announcing it had unexpectedly repatriated over 120 tons of gold from the NY Fed, the Netherlands had also purchased some 10 tons of gold in the open market, taking its total to 622 metric tons, the highest since 2007, a period in which it had been unchanged for 8 years. Except... Moments ago Bloomberg blasted something even more unexpected. Namely that the "Dutch Central Bank Says It Did Not Increase Gold Holdings"!

Silver just got monkey-hammered below $18 - on no news catalyst - as for the 4th time today, it appears the triangle of doom between precious metals, USDJPY, and US equities is initiated to ensure Greek fears do not harm wealth creation... Today's weapon of choice in the levitation is "most shorted" stocks - which have been squeezed up over 1% since the open, dragging the indices higher with them...

Because nothing says sell precious metals in huge size like another central bank printing a trillion dollars... No apparent catalyst is clear though we note Treasury yields also started to tumble and EURCHF jumped 60 pips at the same time.

There are many ways in which our corrupt governments, and the Corporate media (which acts as their parrot) seek to undermine and persecute those who acquire and hold precious metals. Two of their most-loathsome habits concern precious metals and taxation.

"My belief is that the big surprise this year is that investor confidence in central banks collapses. And when that happens — I can’t short central banks, although I’d really like to, and the only way to short them is to go long gold, silver and platinum... that’s the only way. That’s something I will do."

The Bundesbank, Germany’s powerful central bank, announced very publicly this morning the further repatriation of some of it’s gold being held in foreign locations – namely in Paris and New York with the Bank of France and the Federal Reserve.

Following last week's Swiss stock market massacre as a result of a central bank shocker, and last night's crack down by Chinese authorities, it almost appears as if the global powers are doing what they can to orchestrated a smooth, painless (as much as possible) bubble deflation. If so, what Draghi reveals in a few days may truly come as a surprise to all those- pretty much everyone - who anticipate a €500 billion QE announcement on Thursday.

When fiat currencies fail, one of the only things of value left standing will be hard assets that are needed by individuals for everyday needs. The paper promises will dissolve along with the public confidence in the banking system. Everything works until it doesn’t. This is especially true for ponzi schemes and fiat currencies. Don’t be the last one holding paper when chaos strikes. You may live to regret it.