By Bill King

The King Report

M. Ramsey King Securities, Burr Ridge, Illinois

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

https://mramseyking.com/king-report

Once again someone juiced E-Mini S&P Index futures (ESMs) during early European trading Tuesday. The manipulation of ESMs during the wee hours in the U.S. creates the psychology that induces other traders, particularly the momentum investors, to get long for the coming session.

There is a long pattern going back to the 1990s of overnight manipulation of S&P 500 futures to arrest negative sentiment and create a cycle of equity buying that spreads from Europe to the U.S.

... Dispatch continues below ...

The ESM manipulation commenced during the second hour of European trading. ESMs rallied 11 handles within two hours. But that was the top. From 6:53 a.m. ET until the European close, ESMs gyrated wildly with a downward bias until someone juiced ESMs for the European close. ...

It is crystal clear that someone, probably from Team Mnuchin, keeps leaking positive U.S.-China trade stories to The Wall Street Journal. It is evident that the leaks are intended to boost stock prices. Qui bono? ...


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9:34a ICT Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Hugo Salinas Price of the Mexican Civic Association for Silver forecasts this week the future of the U.S. dollar by reviewing its history of steady devaluation.

Salinas Price writes: "The Federal Reserve is in box. It has boxed itself into an insoluble problem. It cannot stop creating more credit, expanding its balance sheet, no matter what Jerome Powell, chairman of the Fed, may say he is doing or going to do. To stop creating more Federal Reserve dollars means only one thing -- total collapse of the whole humongous Federal Reserve dollar scheme."

Salinas Price's commentary is headlined "The Road Ahead for the Dollar" and it's posted at the association's internet site, Plata.com, here:

http://plata.com.mx/enUS/More/374?idioma=2

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org

U.S. Sanctions Venezuela's Government-Owned Gold-Mining Company for Backing Maduro

By Lesley Wroughton, Susan Heavey, and Doina Chiacu

Reuters

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

WASHINGTON -- The United States imposed sanctions on Tuesday against Venezuela's state-run gold mining company Minerven and its president, Adrian Perdomo, accusing them of illicit operations and propping up the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

The announcement comes days after Uganda said it was investigating its biggest gold refinery for importing Venezuelan gold. Washington has imposed half a dozen rounds of sanctions against Maduro and senior Venezuelan officials as it tries to choke off funding to the government. It has warned gold traders not to deal in Venezuelan gold or oil.

... Dispatch continues below ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-usa-sanctions/u-s-...


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Is the World Running Out of Gold?

From Deutsche Welle

Bonn, Germany

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

The murmurs that the world is running out of gold deposits have grown louder in the past two years.

Several experts and industry magnates, including Canadian miner Goldcorp's chairman, Ian Telfer, have forecast a perpetual decline in gold production from its current peak.

Gold production reaching its peak levels is nothing new. The production of the yellow metal has reached its highest levels on at least four occasions in the past before witnessing sharp declines.

... Dispatch continues below ...

"The largest and most prolific reserves have already been found," Matthew Miller, an analyst at CFRA Research, told Deutsche Welle. "Gold miners are struggling to grow reserves in line with their production." ...

"The gold miners realize that the prices of companies are at such attractive levels that it's cheaper to buy gold in the stock market than it is to explore for it," John Ing, a mining analyst at Maison Placements Canada, told DW. ...

"Finding gold is a function of the gold price," Ing said. "There is no shortage of gold in the world but just at this price there is a shortage. It's quite possible that gold will be $2,000 per ounce. Then you will see a rush of exploration and more deposits being found." ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.dw.com/en/is-the-world-running-out-of-gold/a-47974833


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9:50a ICT Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

As usual, governments and their agents are "ferociously" shorting gold futures around another meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, GoldMoney founder James Turk notes this week at King World News. But, Turk adds, gold is basically holding steady and thus building a strong base and showing that it is undervalued ahead of the next financial meltdown. Turk's comments are posted at KWN here:

https://kingworldnews.com/james-turk-check-out-this-spectacular-multi-ye...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org

9:36a ICT Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Economic data suggests that another recession is coming to the United States and the world, the TF Metals Report's Craig Hemke writes today at Sprott Money, adding that this likely will prompt more "quantitative easing" and interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. Last time that happened, Hemke writes, monetary metals prices soared. His analysis is headlined "Ahead of the Fed" and it's posted at Sprott Money here:

https://www.sprottmoney.com/Blog/ahead-of-the-fed-craig-hemke-18-032019....

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org

By Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala

Reuters

Monday, March 18, 2019

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania -- Tanzania has ordered all mineral-producing regions in the East African nation to set up government-controlled trading centers by the end of June, accelerating efforts to curb illegal exports of gold and other precious minerals.

The trading centers will give small-scale miners direct access to a formal, regulated market where they can directly trade their gold. They currently struggle to access formal gold dealers, who are mostly based in the capital, Dar es Salam, and major towns.

... Dispatch continues below ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tanzania-mining/tanzania-sets-up-mine...


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10:45a ICT Monday, March 18, 2019

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Swiss gold fund manager Egon von Greyerz, writing at King World News, wonders if the infamous Ides of March have been postponed from the 15th to the 29th, when the United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the European Union and when the "Basle 3" standards take effect, elevating gold to a "Tier 1" asset for banks, an asset equivalent to cash and government bonds.

Von Greyerz's commentary is headlined "Have the Ides of March Been Delayed?" and it's posted at KWN here:

https://kingworldnews.com/greyerz-have-the-ides-of-march-been-delayed/

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org

By Nathan Lewis

Forbes.com, New York

Saturday, March 16, 2019

As we continue to enjoy the "Yellen gold standard," now in its Powell phase -- who knows how long it will last? -- let's look at why the gold standard system worked so well for so many centuries, including nearly two centuries of U.S. history before the rupture in 1971, during which time the United States became the wealthiest country in history.

In 1971 the economist Arthur Laffer -- at the time the chief economist of the Office of Management and Budget -- was asked what he thought the consequences would be of Nixon's "closing of the gold window," which effectively ended the Bretton Woods period when the dollar's value was fixed at $35 per ounce of gold.

... Dispatch continues below ...

But why? Why is it that the collective intelligence (let's be generous) of today's central bankers, and indeed all the central bankers since 1971, cannot outperform a yellow rock? This probably strikes some as bizarre, but it has always been thus. ...

... For the remainder of the commentary:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanlewis/2019/03/16/why-gold-is-still-th...


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By Tanisha Heiberg and Mfuneko Toyana

Reuters

Friday, March 15, 2019

RUSTENBURG, South Africa -- South Africa's labor court has rejected a request by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union to hold an industry-wide strike covering the platinum and gold sectors, Anglogold Ashanti, Anglo American Platinum, and Lonmin said today.

The union has been on strike at Sibanye-Stillwater's gold operations since mid-November in a pay dispute. It wanted to extend the strike to at least 11 other mining firms including Anglo American's gold and platinum operations, Harmony Gold, and Lonmin.

... Dispatch continues below ...

In a written judgment, labor court judge Connie Prinsloo said an extended strike would put the entire economy at risk. ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-mining-strike/south-african-c...


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Infamous Liberty Dollar Is Back

Company Announcement

via PRLog, Austin, Texas

Thursday, March 14, 2019

LIVE OAK, Florida -- The original silver-backed Liberty Dollar is available again.

Kathy Hicks of Live Oak, with her husband, Wayne, have revived it through the new Liberty Dollar Network, which encourages sound-money supporters to exchange their U.S. dollars, which are secured by the government's promise to pay, for silver-backed Live Oak Liberty Dollars. These are 100-percent backed by and exchangeable for silver bullion stored in an independently operated audited vault.

... Dispatch continues below ...

The new version of the Liberty Dollar is backed by pure .999 fine silver valued at US$25 per ounce. The valuation is set higher than the current price of silver because, as Kathy Hicks, president of the Liberty Dollar Network, explains, "You can't base a currency on the market value of a commodity, because the price changes daily. The new Liberty Dollar is based on a reasonable future valuation that gives Members and Merchants a greater trading value. When the price of silver rises, the current $25 silver base will raise all existing currency to a higher valuation, increasing its purchasing power." ...

... For the remainder of the announcement:

https://www.prlog.org/12759472-infamous-liberty-dollar-is-back.html


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Italy Eyes Loans from China's Development Bank for 'Belt and Road Initiative' Projects

By Davide Ghiglione, Rachel Sanderson, and James Kynge

Financial Times, London

Friday, March 15, 2019

Italy is considering borrowing from China's Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as part of plans to become the first G7 country to endorse Beijing's contentious "Belt and Road" global investment programme.

The two countries are planning to "explore all opportunities for co-operation" in Italy and "third countries," according to the five-page draft accord obtained by the Financial Times. The wide-ranging agreement would span areas including politics, transport, logistics, and infrastructure projects.

... Dispatch continues below ...

The draft shows that Italy is in advanced talks with China and resisting pressure from Washington and Brussels to drop those discussions at a time of rising concerns over Beijing's ambitions and potential security threat. ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.ft.com/content/29f4814c-467e-11e9-a965-23d669740bfb


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By Tian Chen

Bloomberg News

Thursday, March 14, 2019

This round of currency intervention in Hong Kong is far from over.

That's according to analysts, who are watching the interplay between the amount of money in the city's financial system and local borrowing costs. Shorting the Hong Kong dollar will remain profitable until the latter starts to go up sharply, and the monetary authority will spend at least another HK$50 billion (US$6.4 billion) defending the peg before that happens, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch and OCBC Wing Hang Bank Ltd.

... Dispatch continues below ...

At the heart of the analysts' calculus is a call on how low the city's aggregate balance can go before banks start feeling a funding squeeze. ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-15/hong-kong-seen-spendi...


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11:47a ICT Friday, March 16, 2019

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Hugo Salinas Price, president of the Mexican Civic Association for Silver, this week was interviewed by Russian bullion dealer and gold advocate Dmitry Balkovskiy, proprietor of Goldenfront.ru, discussing government interventions against gold, destruction of the dollar-based financial system by President Trump, Russia's increasing recognition of gold's monetary functions, and his philosophy of life and his history in business and monetary metals causes. Salinas Price calls himself "a gold bug from way back" and explains why.

The interview is a half-hour long and can be viewed at YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8qeM6KXZZA

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org

Venezuela's U.S.Invasion: The Dollar Takes Hold

From Agence France-Presse

via France24, Paris

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

https://www.france24.com/en/20190313-venezuelas-us-invasion-dollar-takes...

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro may be fiercely opposed to the "imperialist" United States. But in one regard, a U.S. invasion is already happening: the dollarization of his South American country.

Dollar bills are mixed in with wads of the near-worthless bolivar in markets. Long lines form for an opportunity to buy dollars. Shops offering scant and desperately sought basic items are increasingly demanding dollars as payment.

... Dispatch continues below ...

But with an unprecedented power blackout since last week, electronic transactions were knocked out, and Venezuelans turned to the only option left: the greenback.

"There was no power, and when it did come back, we had connection problems with the card terminals and the banks. People turned up with dollars, and from there you do a deal," the owner of a Caracas bakery, Martin Xabier, told AFP.

"Everybody is doing that around here," he explained, indicating his working-class district of Catia in the capital's west and a line of a dozen people outside his shop.

... Cash is king

In the more upmarket eastern district of Altamira, another line stood in front of a small grocery store that did business behind a locked security grate.

"We only take cash, people! Bolivares or dollars!" the manager declared.

An old woman started crying. "I don't have anyone to send me dollars. What can I do?" she said, saying she was there to buy milk for her grandson and the bolivares she had were insufficient.

In a market in the nearby neighborhood of Chacao, the dollar ruled supreme.

"Many people are paying with dollars... We need to take cash only and people don't have bolivares. Or if they have them they have to bring the banknotes in a wheelbarrow," said Maria del Carmen Pereira, owner of a half-empty delicatessen.

But Franklin Garcia, who runs a small grocery store in the central La Candelaria neighborhood, said: "We aren't seeing a lot of people, but they are coming with small banknotes, of $10 or $20."

He said that, in any case, he had lost a lot of produce because the blackout ruined food kept in his freezer.

... 'Irreversible' trend

As of today $1 was worth around 3,000 bolivares, of which the biggest denomination was a 500-bolivar bill equivalent to around 17 U.S. cents.

The average Venezuelan salary has sunk to the equivalent of $6 per month. But much food and basic goods are imported, with a chicken for instance costing $3 or $4 in a Caracas supermarket.

The problem for millions of Venezuelans is they have no access to dollars, which is creating "extreme inequality," according to Asdrubal Oliveros, head of the economic analysis firm Econanalitica.

Henke Garcia, head of another firm, Econometrica, said: "Dollarization has to do with inflation, that is the fundamental cause. This traumatic episode (the blackout) might have accelerated its uptake with people more apt to receive payments in dollars. The trend is now irreversible."

... Lines for ice

Electricity supply was nearly back to normal in Caracas by Wednesday, which meant mostly stable but with some interruption. But in western parts of Venezuela, power was still out.

"Here everything is sold in dollars: cheese, bananas, bread, cellphone recharges, ice," said Roxana Pena, a 26-year-old resident in the western oil hub of Maracaibo.

Her city, scene of much looting during the blackout, has witnessed lines of people that stretch for kilometers (miles) to spend $5 to buy blocks of ice needed to preserve fresh food.

"A lot of people don't have anything to pay with," sighed an elderly local, Margara Bermudez.

The United Nations estimates there are 3.4 million Venezuelans who have emigrated since the crisis in their country began. Many of them send remittances to relatives who remain, but substantial numbers of Venezuelans have no such financial lifeline.

Maduro "can't guarantee water or power or medicines," his opposition rival and self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaido, told supporters on Tuesday.

The bolivar "is no longer respectable money, able to buy food," he said.

Maduro accuses Guaido of involvement in the blackout, imputing it to "cybernetic" and "electromagnetic" attacks by the U.S., which is one of some 50 countries recognizing the opposition leader.

Experts, however, believe the energy collapse is the result of mismanagement, corruption, and lack of investment under Maduro's government.


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4:46a TT, Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

USAGold's News & Views letter for March contrasts gold's relative steadiness against the electronic trading that has devoured most other markets. The letter also comments on the implications of the return of "quantitative easing." It's in the clear at USAGold here:

http://www.usagold.com/cpmforum/news-views-march19/

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org

By Steve Forbes

Forbes.com, New York

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

When you exchange a 20-dollar bill for two 10-dollar bills, you don't pay sales tax on the transaction, even though, theoretically, you are "buying" the tens. The notion is preposterous.

Yet if you purchase a gold coin that was created by the U.S. Mint and is legally usable for commercial transactions, in some states you have to pay sales tax on that coin.

... Dispatch continues below ...

Of course, you would never buy a silver dollar from the mint for, say, $35 and then use it to pay for a $1 candy bar, but the point is that such coins are legal tender. ..

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2019/03/12/sales-of-gold-and-si...


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7:30p ET Monday, March 11, 2019

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

GATA board member Ed Steer's Gold & Silver Digest letter for Saturday, headlined "Gold Stopped Cold at $1,300 Spot on Friday," has been posted in the clear at GoldSeek here:

http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1552342271.php

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org

5:21p ET Monday, March 11, 2019

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Drawing on the work of Robert Lambourne, GATA's consultant on the Bank for International Settlements, the TF Metals Report's Craig Hemke notes at Sprott Money today that the recent monthly gold swapping reported by the Bank for International Settlements corresponds almost precisely with the simultaneous draining of gold inventory from the exchange-traded fund GLD.

Lambourne reported last week that about 56 tonnes of gold swaps were placed by the BIS in February --

http://www.gata.org/node/18923

-- and Hemke notes today that 57 tonnes of gold were removed from GLD over roughly the same period even as the gold price was rising.

... Dispatch continues below ...

Hemke asks: "Is this possible BIS-GLD connection just another example of bank collusion or is it simply a coincidence of numbers?"

Most likely that will have to remain a question, since the BIS refuses to account for its surreptitious trading in the gold market on behalf of its central bank members:

http://gata.org/node/17793

Of course central banks themselves are as unaccountable as they can be on this point. Indeed, the March 1999 secret report of the staff of the International Monetary Fund confirmed that central banks conceal their gold swaps and leases to facilitate their surreptitious interventions in the gold and currency markets:

http://www.gata.org/node/12016

Hemke concludes, as GATA long has concluded, that investors in the monetary metals should stay away from these particular ETFs, since they probably don't have their investors' interest at heart.

Hemke's analysis is headlined "The BIS and the GLD" and it's posted at Sprott Money here:

https://www.sprottmoney.com/Blog/the-bis-and-the-gld-craig-hemke-11-0320...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org


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5:21p ET Monday, March 11, 2019

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Drawing on the work of Robert Lambourne, GATA's consultant on the Bank for International Settlements, the TF Metals Report's Craig Hemke notes at Sprott Money today that the recent monthly gold swapping reported by the Bank for International Settlements corresponds almost precisely with the simultaneous draining of gold inventory from the exchange-traded fund GLD.

Lambourne reported last week that about 56 tonnes of gold swaps were placed by the BIS in February --

http://www.gata.org/node/18923

-- and Hemke notes today that 57 tonnes of gold were removed from GLD over roughly the same period even as the gold price was rising.

... Dispatch continues below ...

Hemke asks: "Is this possible BIS-GLD connection just another example of bank collusion or is it simply a coincidence of numbers?"

Most likely that will have to remain a question, since the BIS refuses to account for its surreptitious trading in the gold market on behalf of its central bank members:

http://gata.org/node/17793

Of course central banks themselves are as unaccountable as they can be on this point. Indeed, the March 1999 secret report of the staff of the International Monetary Fund confirmed that central banks conceal their gold swaps and leases to facilitate their surreptitious interventions in the gold and currency markets:

http://www.gata.org/node/12016

Hemke concludes, as GATA long has concluded, that investors in the monetary metals should stay away from these particular ETFs, since they probably don't have their investors' interest at heart.

Hemke's analysis is headlined "The BIS and the GLD" and it's posted at Sprott Money here:

https://www.sprottmoney.com/Blog/the-bis-and-the-gld-craig-hemke-11-0320...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org


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By Danielle Bochove

Bloomberg News

Monday, March 11, 2019

Barrick Gold Corp. may have withdrawn its pursuit of rival Newmont Mining Corp., but the hostile-takeover bid did yield a big prize: Control over the largest single gold-mining operation in the world.

Barrick today abandoned its $17.8 billion bid for Newmont, with the two largest gold companies instead announcing a joint venture around their Nevada assets, with Barrick holding sway over 61.5 percent of the operation. Barrick Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow declined to say if control of the venture was his end game all along, but stressed that the final deal offers less “gristle” for investors to chew on than a full merger.

"It's not an easy thing to do, to get past all the different opinions," he said in a telephone interview. "It's a fantastic outcome." ...

...For the remainder of the report:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-11/barrick-ends-hostile-...

By Jeff Cox

CNBC, New York

Sunday, March 10, 2019

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in an interview aired today that he does not think he can be fired by President Donald Trump.

While continuing to avoid direct comment on the president's withering criticism of central bank interest rate policy, Powell told "60 Minutes" that Trump can't remove him from office.

"The law is clear that I have a four-year term, and I fully intend to serve it," Powell told the CBS news magazine show. Asked directly if he thought Trump could fire him, he said, "no." ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/11/fed-chair-powell-the-law-is-clear-trump-...

9:10p ET Sunday, March 10, 2019

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Barrick Gold's bid to acquire Newmont Mining, Dave Kranzler of Investment Research Dynamics in Denver writes today, likely signals "peak gold" -- a belief that few if any major gold deposits will be found and that acquiring another big gold-mining company is the only way for Barrick to avert resource depletion.

Kranzler's analysis is headlined "Is Barrick Gold Signaling Peak Gold?" and it's posted at IRD here:

http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/is-barrick-gold-signaling-peak-gol...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org

From Money Metals News Service, Eagle, Idaho

Friday, March 8, 2019

CHARLESTON, West Virginia -- Sound-money advocates rejoiced today as the West Virginia legislature overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 502 and sent it to Gov. Jim Justice for his signature.

First passed in the West Virginia Senate unanimously last month, the measure removes state sales taxation of precious metals, specifically on gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bullion and coins.

... Dispatch continues below ...

The Sound Money Defense League helped make the case to West Virginia legislators, explaining why charging sales taxes on money itself is beyond the pale. In effect, those states that collect taxes on purchases of precious metals are inherently saying gold and silver are not money at all. ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2019/03/08/west-virginia-gold-silver-ta...


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From Agence France-Press, Paris

via Yahoo News

Sunday, March 9, 2019

China has gone to great lengths to support its currency and would not devalue the renminbi to spur exports or combat trade frictions, the governor of the central bank said today.

Speaking on the sidelines of China's annual parliamentary session, Yi Gang said Washington and Beijing had discussed exchange rates in recent trade talks and reached a consensus on many "crucial" issues.

... Dispatch continues below ...

"Let me stress here that we will never use the exchange rate for the purpose of competition, nor will we use the exchange rate to increase China's exports or as a tool in handling trade frictions," Yi said. "We have committed not to do this." ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-not-devalue-renminbi-spur-exports-centr...

... For the remainder of the report:

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11:18p ET Friday, March 8, 2019

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Financial analysis published two weeks ago by a major Italian newspaper, Il Sole / 24 Ore (The Sun / 24 Hours), asserted frankly that central banks have been using gold futures and derivatives to suppress the monetary metal's price so they can obtain more of the metal less expensively in advance of its remonetization under new rules promulgated by the Bank for International Settlements to take effect March 29.

Of course the new BIS rules, the "Basel 3" standards, declaring gold in the vault to be a superior asset, equivalent to cash and government bonds, are not news. What's news here is that a mainstream financial news organization has nailed the deception and intrigue of central banks and accused them of rigging the international gold market.

... Dispatch continues below ...

http://www.gata.org/node/11373

Will the gold world really change when the "Basel 3" standards take effect on March 29? GATA always sees possibilities but makes no such prediction. (Given the cowardice and obliviousness of most mainstream financial journalism, your secretary/treasurer is more inclined to the vision of the future expressed in George Orwell's "1984": "a boot stamping on a human face, forever.")

But the report by Il Sole / 24 Ore may give reason for advocates of limited and accountable government, free and transparent markets, and fair dealing among the nations some reason to stick around for another three weeks.

A not entirely ham-handed English translation of the Il Sole / 24 Ore analysis, drawn from Google Translator and your secretary/treasurer's guesses about Italian idiom, is appended.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer

Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
CPowell@GATA.org

* * *

Banks and the Return of the Gold Standard: Gold in Financial Statements Becomes Money

By Alessandro Plateroti

Il Sole / 24 Ore, Milan, Italy

Monday, February 25, 2019

https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/finanza-e-mercati/2019-02-24/banche-rito...

What is happening with world gold reserves?

In the gold market there is a cold war climate: For the first time in 50 years, central banks bought over 640 tons of gold bars last year, almost twice as much as in 2017 and the highest level raised since 1971, when U.S. President Richard Nixon closed the era of the gold standard.

The interesting fact is that the European central banks, together with the Asian ones, have been the most aggressive in their purchases. Is this fear of the euro crisis and currency wars?

In reality, and this is especially true in Europe, behind the great maneuvers with gold reserves there is not only the traditional protective shield against major risks; there is also the call of opportunity. A reminder of which few still seem to know, though the appointment is now a matter of a few weeks: March 29, 2019. The day of judgment for the Brexit will also be the advent for the gold market.

It is not clear whether by choice or by chance, the Bank of International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, called the "central bank of central banks," for its key role in the world financial system, has set an appointment with the story for March 29: Resurrection of the gold standard in the banking world.

For almost 60 years, the gold standard has regulated the convertibility between gold and dollar, engaging the market value. In 1971 it was the American president Richard Nixon, frightened by the bearish pressures that were likely to sink the dollar in the cold war, to cut the cord with gold, decreeing the end of the gold standard.

Now something starts moving in the opposite direction.

... Gold as cash

The Sun / 24 Hours has discovered that among the complex but well-known reforms of the standards for credit and finance from the "Basel 3" plan, there is an accounting alchemy that can turn gold into money on the balance sheets of the large banking groups. From March 29, by decision of the BIS, the gold in the portfolio of commercial and business banks becomes "cash equivalent," an asset equivalent to cash and therefore "risk-free." In fact, it is the first "reassuring of gold" since the time of the Bretton Woods agreement. Technicians call it "gold remonetization," a process that is the reverse of the "demonetization" of gold decided by Nixon.

... Same status as sovereign bonds

The operation of the BIS, as reconstructed by The Sun / 24 Hours, carries the signature of the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bundesbank, the Bank of England, and the Bank of France, the G-5 of the great global monetary powers. In 2016, when the new rules of the banking system included in the "Basel 3" package were defined, the central bankers committee inserted an epoch-making norm that no one, however, has ever openly discussed in public.

In practice, gold in "physical" bullion -- hence not under the "synthetic" form of certificates -- will return to be considered by regulators as the equivalent of the dollar and the euro in asset security, thus eliminating the obligation to weigh the risk for the purpose of capital absorption, as with any other financial asset, excluding (for now) eurozone government bonds.

The turning point is not insignificant for the gold market and for the very role of national gold reserves. The result is significant: With the new rules of Basel 3, gold is given the same status that is now recognized for sovereign bonds on bank balance sheets.

A question therefore arises: Is the promotion of gold the premise for applying a weighting of risk to the government securities held by banks? From the debt crisis, the regulators' objective was in fact two-fold: to require the banking system to hold an adequate equity to cover the risks. In the crosshairs there are mainly the government securities that according to current rules can be held by banks without any impact on their assets. The issue mainly concerns low-rated countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece, which were seen to be special after the debt crisis in 2011.

The banks of these countries, both to increase profitability (carry trade) and to facilitate the issue of public debt in auctions, have the highest amount of government securities in the euro area. And this phenomenon is particularly felt in Italy, where the banking system has 400 billion BTp on the 2.4 trillion of public debt. What would happen then, if it were applied to risk weighting on Italian government bonds as the Basel committee wants?

The consequences depend on the level of risk weighting applied to the Italian government bonds. If it were high, some banks could be forced to replace the securities with other financial assets, including gold, or to proceed with capital increases. At a time when the market is reluctant to buy bank shares, the risk of repercussions on the stability of the banking system could be high. Just look at the credit default swaps (default risk insurance) on Italian banks. According to Bloomberg data, the five-year credit-default swaps of some of the major Italian banks have surged since the spring of 2018, even tripling the value in some cases. It is in this context that the date of March 29 is approaching rapidly.

Countries that have repatriated gold from abroad, regaining control and management, are already protected from the risk of being short of physical gold after March 29 to make available to their banks in case they want to replace sovereign bonds with it. In the arsenal of the system, there is a golden mountain of 33,000 metric tons of gold worth $1,400 billion at the current exchange rate. And that represents 20 percent of all the gold extracted in the world in almost 3,000 years.

As usual, the most forward-looking and prudent countries -- or perhaps the best-informed about the turnaround coming at the end of March -- were Germany, Holland, Austria, France, Switzerland, and Belgium. But Poland, Romania, and Hungary also regained control of gold reserves, increasing their consistency.

China, Russia, India and Turkey have been the nations that have bought gold in the last two years more than anyone else, with Moscow having even liquidated its entire portfolio in U.S. government bonds to replace them with precious metal. But the problem is not this; it is the price of gold.

In 2018 as many as 641 tons of gold bars were bought by the monetary authorities of every continent, but above all in Europe, it is the highest level since 1971. The maneuver is unprecedented and should be seen in the phenomenon of repatriation of ingots of state custody. Seven thousand tons of gold reserves were withdrawn by central banks from the coffers of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, while 400 tons were secretly released by the Bank of England.

In recent years, but especially in 2018, a jump in the price of gold would have been the normal order of things. On the contrary, gold closed last year with a 7-percent downturn and a negative financial return. How do you explain this?

While the central banks raided "real" gold bars behind the scenes, they pushed and coordinated the offer of hundreds of tons of "synthetic gold" on the London and New York exchanges, where 90 percent of the trading of metals takes place. The excess supply of gold derivatives obviously served to knock down the price of gold, forcing investors to liquidate positions to limit large losses accumulated on futures.

Thus, the more gold futures prices fell, the more investors sold "synthetic gold," triggering bearish spirals exploited by central banks to buy physical gold at ever-lower prices.

With this system, those looking at gold as a safe haven, like China, India, Russia, and Turkey, have practically doubled their gold reserves in the last five years.

Moscow, to buy gold, has even sold the last 20 percent of the U.S. government bonds it held in currency reserves.

How compatible is such a situation with the duties of correctness and transparency of a central bank? Certainly, the system created by the Anglo-American "Goldfinger" seems to be made for abuses. Who knows what will happen after March 29?


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By Danielle Bochove and Justina Vasquez

Bloomberg News

Thursday, March 7, 2019

A push by the world's biggest gold miners to get even bigger will likely have a knock-on effect among their competitors, adding new vigor to an industry that failed to inspire investor support in 2018.

The megamerger mania now under way for Newmont Mining Corp., Barrick Gold Corp., and Goldcorp Inc. is likely to result in some of their assets being sold, helping to diversify portfolios for other miners and boosting the interest of investors. More importantly, it could force mid-tier companies to team up in order to successfully compete.

... Dispatch continues below ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-07/-dance-partner-hunt-h...


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By Scott Calvert

The Wall Street Journal

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Philadelphia is the first major U.S. city to ban cashless stores, placing it at the forefront of a debate that pits retail innovation against lawmakers trying to protect all citizens' access to the marketplace.

Starting in July, Philadelphia's new law will require most retail stores to accept cash. A New York City councilman is pushing similar legislation there, and New Jersey's legislature recently passed a bill banning cashless stores statewide. A spokesman for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, declined to comment on whether he would sign it. Massachusetts has gone the farthest on the issue and is the only state that requires retailers to accept cash.

... Dispatch continues below ...

Businesses that have gone cashless point to greater efficiency for employees, who don't have to make change or count cash at closing time, and improved safety because workers don't have to carry large bank deposits.

But backers of measures forcing stores to accept cash say they worry about people who don't have credit or debit cards. Supporters also say some consumers prefer to pay with currency for privacy reasons. ...

... For the remainder of the report:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/philadelphia-is-first-u-s-city-to-ban-cashl...


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The news here isn't the tiny increase in China's gold reserves but that the People's Bank of China has announced increases for three months straight after years of reporting no change.

* * *

China's Gold Reserves Continue to Grow in February

From Xinhua News Agency, Beijing

Thursday, March 7, 2019

BEIJING -- China increased its gold reserves for a third straight month in February, data from the central bank showed.

... Dispatch continues below ...

The gold reserves were equivalent to around $79.5 billion, edging up from 79.3 billion dollars in the previous month, the PBOC said.

The latest gold purchase by the world's second-largest economy came at a time when global central banks are hoarding the precious metal. ...

... For the remainder of the report:

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-03/07/c_137876175.htm


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