Renminbi

Gold has meaning to China in the same way that gold has meaning (or should have meaning) to Western investors. Not as an inherent store of value or some timeless monetary standard... but as a symbol of failed confidence in Western central bank control over market outcomes. To both investors and China, gold is an insurance policy against Western central bankers losing control of their massive monetary policy experiment. The difference is that China has the power to do something about it.

Felix Zulauf, James Montier and David Iben: Three legendary investors share their views on financial markets. Everything is pricey ("we will continue to swim in a sea of liquidity; but there might be other events and developments that may not be camouflaged by liquidity which could cause a change of investor expectations.") the European periphery is a bubble ("The Euro crisis is not over...the European economies are not going to change for the better for years to come despite all the cheating and breaking of laws"), Value investors need to venture to Russia ("when you look at today’s opportunity set, you’re left with a set of assets where nothing looks attractive from a valuation point of view") or buy gold mining stocks (" The down cycle could be much bigger than anybody believes if the market realizes that all the actions taken in recent years do not work.") Summing it all up, "there is no question that [sovereigns] lack the fundamental economic base to finally service their debts," trade accordingly.

• Bond Anxiety in $1.6 Trillion Repo Market as Failures Soar (BBG), as reported first by Zero Hedge
• As Food Prices Rise, Fed Keeps a Watchful Eye (WSJ)
• Yellen’s Economy Echoes Arthur Burns More Than Greenspan (BBG)
• Draghi’s $1.4 Trillion Shot: Silver Bullet or Misfire? (BBG)
• Israel's Netanyahu phones father of murdered Palestinian teen (Reuters)
• Ukraine says forces will press forward after taking rebel stronghold (Reuters)
• Goldman Sachs Brings Forward Rate Forecast as Treasuries Drop (BBG)... you mean rise?
• Super typhoon takes aim at Japan (Reuters)
• Kidnapped Nigerian girls 'escape from Boko Haram abductors' (Independent)
• Merkel says U.S. spying allegations are serious (Reuters)

To complete the French triple whammy offensive against the US Dollar this weekend (first, French central banker Noyer suggesting de-dollarisation; second, French oil major Total's CEO "seeing no reason for the Petrodollar"), French finance minister Michel Sapin says "now is the right time to bolster the use of the euro" adding, more ominously for the dollar, "we sell ourselves aircraft in dollars. Is that really necessary? I don’t think so." Careful to avoid upsetting his 'allies' across the pond, Sapin followed up with the slam-dunk diplomacy, "This is not a fight against dollar imperialism," except, of course - that's exactly what it is... just as it was over 40 years ago when the French challenged Nixon.

Not even we anticipated this particular "unintended consequence" as a result of the US multi-billion dollar fine on BNP (which France took very much to heart):

• NOYER: BNP CASE WILL ENCOURAGE ‘DIVERSIFICATION’ FROM DOLLAR

And, the biggest irony of all is that in "punishing" France for dealing with Russia, that core country of the Eurasian alliance of Russia and China, the US just accelerated the graviation of France (and all of Europe) precisely toward Eurasia, and away from the greenback.

• Obama Decries Big Bonuses at Bank Trading Desks as Risky  (BBG)
• India central bank seeks to swap gold to improve reserves quality (Reuters)
• There goes Q3 GDP: Arthur Strengthens to Become First Atlantic Hurricane (BBG)
• Airports Serving U.S. Tighten Checks on Stealth-Bomb Threat (BBG)
• Fear, cash shortages hinder fight against Ebola outbreak (Reuters)
• Brent Declines as Libya Rebels Say Ports Are Open (BBG)
• Shiites Train for Battle in Iraqi Holy City (WSJ)
• Dimon’s Cancer Has 90% Cure Rate With Demanding Therapy (BBG)
• Goldman says client data leaked, wants Google to delete email (Reuters)
• ECB Watchers in the Dark Look to Draghi for Illumination (BBG)

In a QE dominated world - in the Golden Age of the Central Banker - renminbi strengthening has been an unmitigated disaster. Chinese political stability depends on the actual production of actual things by actual people working in actual factories, and the prospects for that real economic growth are made significantly worse the longer the West persists in favoring financial asset inflation and the ossification of a low-growth status quo. While the West may be able to accept, even celebrate, unlimited private wealth – China cannot. Not if it wants to remain a politically unified Great Power. We think this is just the start of a multi-year weakening of the renminbi, a sea change in Chinese monetary policy that will inevitably create broad political tensions with the US and make Japan’s devaluation/inflation course infinitely more difficult to achieve.

If you want to gather honey, don’t kick over the beehive. This was how Dale Carnegie titled the first chapter of his 1936 personal development masterpiece—How to Win Friends and Influence People. But based on the way the US is acting, you’d think they were test-driving an entirely different manuscript - How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. Between FATCA and the BNP debacle, it appears politicians fail to realize how important the US banking system is to holding together the US economy. With all of its debt and all of its money printing, the US banking system was one of America’s last economic competitive advantages; but now we are going to see more and more foreigners curtailing their use of the US banking system... and by extension... the dollar. Without that mass of people to export dollars to, inflation will really kick in back home.

The proof is clear. According to SWIFT, China’s renminbi is now the second most used currency in the world for global trade settlement, putting it ahead of even the euro. It’s happening. And based on the data, it’s completely obvious (as we continued to chronicle) to just about everyone but the US government. However, we were still surprised to see an article in the Financial Times’ banking intelligence subsidiary (‘The Banker’) entitled "The US’s dollar domination is coming to an end." This reality has become obvious to just about everyone... Reserve currencies come and go. So will the dollar. This is nothing new.

Something very dramatic happened overnight when, in a little noticed statement, Gazprom's CFO Andrey Kruglov uttered the magic words:

• GAZPROM READY TO SETTLE CHINA CONTRACTS IN YUAN OR RUBLES: CFO

In other words just as the US may or may not be preparing to export crude - a step which would weaken the dollar's reserve status as traditional US oil trading partners will need to find other import customers who pay in non-USD currencies - the world's two other superpowers are preparing to respond.

Following the initial de-dollarization meeting, there has been a slew of anti-dollar moves around the world (including Gazprom's shift of 90% of its clients to non-dollar payments). However, on the heels of the "anti-dollar alliance" discussions yesterday, DW reports that China would start direct trade between the renminbi and the British pound on Thursday. China's Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) confirmed Sterling and yuan would be directly swapped without using the US dollar as an intermediary.

Copper, Iron Ore, Rebar, Rubber, and now Cotton are all at multi-year lows as the Qingdao CCFD ponzi probe continues to broaden to all the commodities we warned about previously. As CottonCN reports, the probe's increased uncertainty and scrutiny of shipments may hurt imports of of cotton in the form of consignment sales, as international traders delay shipments or deliveries to wait for clear policies as authorities continues their investigation. Even soybeans and palm oil have been on a notably downswing since the probe intothe collateral evaporation started. Then comes the news that Chinese commodities trading firm CITIC admission that over half  of its 220,000 tonnes of alumina are missing. This is far from over...

• Iraqi Drama Catches U.S. Off Guard (WSJ)
• Al-Qaeda Offshoot on NATO Border Threatens Turkish Rally (BBG)
• It's just the snow, people: U.S. Economic Recovery Looks Distant as Growth Lingers (NYT)
• Freed Taliban leaders may remain in Qatar beyond one-year travel ban (Reuters)
• BNP Paribas Executive Chodron de Courcel to Quit Post (WSJ)
• Greenmail is back (WSJ)
• Facebook Places Multiple Bets to Win Messenger Wars (BBG)
• ECB easing to benefit Ukraine, Russia corporate bonds (Reuters)
• Rome Shows the World How Not to Run Bike-Sharing Program (BBG)

In order to back the dollars now in circulation and on deposit -- about $2.7 trillion -- with the approximately 261 million ounces of gold believed to be held by the U.S. government, gold prices would have to rise as high as $10,000 an ounce. Who said gold is not money?

The biggest news in the sage surrounding Chinese evaporated collateral troubles at Qingdao, which as noted is merely the 3rd largest Chinese port, is that this scandal has now spread to a second Chinese port: Penglai, which is also located in the Shandong province. Putting some size numbers for context: Qingdao's copper inventory is about 50,000 tons, compared to 800,000 tons in Shanghai, analysts say. There's "little evidence" for now that traders in Shanghai fraudulently have pledged collateral to banks, said Sijin Cheng, an analyst with Barclays Research in Singapore. Little evidence will become "lots" in the coming days when we expect more "discoveries" at all other bonded warehouses as the relentless inflow of commodities finally reverses and the beneficiaries finally demand possession. As everyone who has followed even the simplest Ponzi schemes knows, this is the part of the lifecycle when many tears are shed by most.