Switzerland

Many analysts believe the officially reported 1,660 tonnes to be an understatement given the enormous volumes of gold that have been passing through Hong Kong - and through Shanghai in more recent years - and the large amounts that have been produced and bought domestically.

It is important to remember that as we have long pointed out two other entities, besides the PBOC, have also been buying gold - the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and the China Investment Corporation (CIC).

In what looked like another successful bid to manipulate the gold market lower, there was massive selling of gold futures contracts - some 700,000 ounces worth of gold futures in mere seconds. The equivalent of one-fifth of a whole day’s trade in a normal session, was sold in a concentrated manner in less than two minutes - pushing prices lower again.

The last time these criteria were met... stocks plunged over 90% over the next 24 months.

The latest ‘Global Precious Metal Roundtable’ was recorded Wednesday and featured Jordan Eliseo of ABC Bullion,  Bron Suchecki of the Perth Mint and Ron Stoeferle of Incrementum and Mark O’Byrne of GoldCore.

 This is the continuation of the trend of China positioning the yuan as global reserve currency ... The Chinese are pushing for full convertibility of the RMB and increasing their gold holdings will create confidence in the fledgling reserve currency and aid them in this regard.

‘Plan B’ Needed As Euro One Recession Away From Implosion - David McWilliams

Western countries are increasingly displaying symptoms of instability as described by Nassim Taleb, the author of the The Black Swan, ever since the publication of an essay written with Gregory Treverton entitled “The Calm Before the Storm.” The wider public and the press seem unjustifiably complacent at this time. It seems likely that the seemingly unending “recovery” is simply the calm before the storm.

• Tsipras Braves Parliament on Aid as Greek Outlook Worsens (BBG)
• European markets rise before Yellen speech, Greek vote (Reuters)
• China’s Growth Beats Economists’ Forecast as Stimulus Kicks In (BBG)
• China stocks drop again, positive data shrugged off (Reuters)
• Yellen intensifies Republican outreach amid Fed probe, Senate bill (Reuters)
• Iran deal holds both promise and peril for Hillary Clinton (Reuters)
• Iranians Party Into the Night as Khamenei Backs Accord (BBG)

“Greeks cannot withdraw cash left in safe deposit boxes at Greek banks as long as capital restrictions remain in place”, Nadia Valavani, a Deputy Finance Minister in Greece told local television station according to a Reuters report.

• Greek lawmakers split over bailout as vote looms (Reuters)
• Greek Bailout Rests on Asset Sale Plan That Already Failed (BBG)
• Greece Needs $25 Billion to Get Through August, Scicluna Says (BBG)
• Tsipras Enters Parliament Den to Sell Aid Deal to Greeks (BBG)
• Greece makes samurai bond repayment (FT)
• Iran, World Powers Have Reached Nuclear Agreement (BBG)
• Janet Yellen’s Fed Flounders in Political Arena (WSJ)

There is democratic capitalism, and there is fascist capitalism. What we have today is fascist capitalism; and the following will explain how it works, using as an example the case of Greece. Simply out - The whole system is a money-funnel, from the public, to the aristocracy.

The Fed’s Stanley Fischer has said that the U.S. was preparing such legislation – after Tucker had indicated that such legislation was in place. The EU is also at an advanced stage in forcing countries to ratify bail-in legislation. The legislation is being devised to protect the larger banks against the interest of both depositors, taxpayers and the wider economy.

This much-needed re-set to an economy that serves the many rather than the few is what the Powers That Be are so fearful of. On the surface, everything still looks remarkably stable in the core industrial economies.  But surface stability is all the status quo can manage at this point, because the machine is shaking itself to pieces just maintaining the brittle illusion of prosperity and order. In effect, the status quo has greatly increased the system's vulnerability, fragility and brittleness--the necessary conditions for catastrophic collapse--all in the name of maintaining a completely bogus facade of stability for a few more years.

Chinese markets bounced last night following drastic intervention by the state when it banned large players from selling their shares in listed companies – arresting the over 30% decline of the past four weeks.