As everyone knows, and as we showed yesterday [5]in our infographic du jour, Wall Street manipulates everything, EVERYTHING [5].... except gold. Which is why were absolutely floored by what just flashed on Bloomberg:
- GOLD BENCHMARKS SAID TO BE UNDER REVIEW BY U.K. AS PROBE WIDENS
More from Bloomberg: "The FCA review is preliminary and hasn’t risen to the level of a formal investigation, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. The person declined to say which gold benchmarks were under scrutiny. One of the key benchmarks is the London gold fixing, which determines the spot price for physical gold and is set twice daily by a panel of five banks."
No. That's not true. That's impossible.
Nobody has ever, ever manipulated gold in the history of St. Wall Street. After all, why else would the CFTC and Alexander Godunov [6]repeat, year after year, that unlike every other product, gold has never been manipulated.
Then again, we aren't holding our breath until this probe finds that the biggest manipulators in the gold market are central banks themselves nothing.
As for everything else [5]....
Foreign Exchanges
Regulators are looking into whether currency traders have conspired through instant messages to manipulate foreign exchange rates. The currency rates are used to calculate the value of stock and bond indexes.
[7]
Energy Trading
Banks have been accused of manipulating energy markets in California and other states.
Libor
Since early 2008 banks have been caught up in investigations and litigation over alleged manipulations of Libor.
[8]
Mortgages
Banks have been accused of improper foreclosure practices, selling bonds backed by shoddy mortgages, and misleading investors about the quality of the loans.
[9]