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With emerging market currencies collapsing, US equity hopes fading, bond yields tumbling, and 1.4 million people having fallen off the government transfer receipts bandwagon this week; what better way to distract the US public from that awkward reality that it’s all fake…
Well… and of course this.
h/t @RudyHavenstein
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Find out why Singapore is now one of the safest places in the world to store gold in our latest gold guide – The Essential Guide To Storing Gold In Singapore
Today’s AM fix was USD 1,259.25, EUR 920.44 and GBP 757.40 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,244.25, EUR 912.88 and GBP 749.91 per ounce.
Gold fell $28.14 or 2.3% to $1,264.20/oz. Silver slipped 0.31 or 1.6% to $20.04/oz.
Gold has edged higher again today and is set for its fifth consecutive weekly higher close which is bullish from a technical and momentum perspective. Gold is 5.5% higher year to date.
Gold in U.S. Dollars, 30 Days – (Bloomberg)
Speculation the U.S. Fed will again cut stimulus next week and that higher gold prices will limit physical demand is being ignored.
Gold shot up yesterday on poor U.S jobs data and after murmurings that the punitive taxes on gold in India may be reduced. Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi has asked the government to review tough import restrictions on gold, which include a record 10% import duty.
South Africa’s government will chair talks between union officials and the world’s three biggest platinum producers as the strike begins its second day. Nearly 70,000 employees downed tools at Anglo American Platinum Ltd., Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. and Lonmin Plc mines yesterday, where 70% of global platinum is produced. Platinum is 6% higher this month.
Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) contracts rose to their highest since January 6 yesterday, when levels hit an 8 month high. Physical demand in China has fallen from elevated levels but is likely to remain very robust in the coming months.
Some of the world’s growing middle classes and the wealthy are moving their gold away from increasing financial repression in the western world to the Asian capitals of Hong Kong and Asia’s emerging precious metals trade hub, Singapore.
Singapore, Asia’s Emerging Precious Metals Hub, by night
Zurich remains the preferred destination for many western and international investors, both retail and institutional. However, we and other bullion specialists are seeing an increase in clients seeking secure storage in Hong Kong and Singapore.
We concur with the view of many of our American and European clients that storing gold in Perth, Zurich, Hong Kong and increasingly Singapore is safer than in London, New York or elsewhere in the U.S.
Throughout history, gold has flowed to where it is most favourably treated. Today there is a growing move to own gold outside of the massively indebted and nearly insolvent western banking system and sovereigns.
Singapore is fast positioning itself as Asia’s global precious metals hub. In large part, this is due to Singapore’s very dynamic economy, Singapore fast becoming one of the world’s leading financial capitals, and the government’s support to position Singapore as the precious metals hub of the world.
The key requirements allowing Singapore to slowly become a global precious metals hub are many of the key benefits of storing bullion in Singapore today.
They include political and economic stability, very favourable tax treatment of precious metals, world class physical infrastructure and storage infrastructure, being a global transportation hub, hosting leading storage providers, pools of liquidity, refining capacity and government support and sponsorship.
Find out why Singapore is now one of the safest places in the world to store gold in our latest gold guide – The Essential Guide To Storing Gold In Singapore
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via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1hrB1NA williambanzai7
Yesterday’s BofA’s MacNeill Curry warned that once above $1270, gold becomes “explosive” as the squeeze trap slams shut, which explains why the shorts are desperately defending the critical resistance redline. Today, the chief technician of Bank of Countrywide Lynch looks at the two other key correlation pairs: the S&P500 (via the Emini ESH4) and the USDJPY, which by virtue of being the key funding pair determines the price of risk in virtually every corner of the globe. He is not too happy with what he sees.
Here are his thoughts:
On the S&P500: ESH4: From Bullish To Neutral
Anxiety across markets has reached a n/term extreme. The trends of the past few days/weeks are set to correct, but not turn… The break of 1809.50 has invalidated our bullish view, but we ARE NOT BEARISH, JUST NEUTRAL. Going forward, we expect an 1805.75/1846.50 range trade before an eventual resumption of the larger bull trend. Below 1805.75 spells trouble, but bears only gain control on a close below 1767.75. See the chart for equivalent cash levels.
On USDJPY: Bearish $/¥.
Stay bearish $/¥. As we highlighted yesterday (Liquid Technical Alert: Stay bearish $/¥ 23 January 2014), bounces remain corrective and temporary. Our initial downside target is the 200d, at 99.97, but this should only be a temporary stopping point. Medium-term targets are seen to the Jun’13/Apr’13 lows, at 93.79/92.57, before greater signs of stabilization and a resumption of the LONG-TERM uptrend toward 124/147 (to be fine-tuned).
Finally, gold – redux: Gold upside continues – watch 1270
Gold continues to trade bullishly. Yesterday’s price action formed a Bullish Outside Bar on daily charts and NOW it is testing pivotal resistance at 1270. A close above should be the catalyst for short squeeze higher, exposing the confluence of resistance between 1362/1394.
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1mQLsOD Tyler Durden
Yesterday’s BofA’s MacNeill Curry warned that once above $1270, gold becomes “explosive” as the squeeze trap slams shut, which explains why the shorts are desperately defending the critical resistance redline. Today, the chief technician of Bank of Countrywide Lynch looks at the two other key correlation pairs: the S&P500 (via the Emini ESH4) and the USDJPY, which by virtue of being the key funding pair determines the price of risk in virtually every corner of the globe. He is not too happy with what he sees.
Here are his thoughts:
On the S&P500: ESH4: From Bullish To Neutral
Anxiety across markets has reached a n/term extreme. The trends of the past few days/weeks are set to correct, but not turn… The break of 1809.50 has invalidated our bullish view, but we ARE NOT BEARISH, JUST NEUTRAL. Going forward, we expect an 1805.75/1846.50 range trade before an eventual resumption of the larger bull trend. Below 1805.75 spells trouble, but bears only gain control on a close below 1767.75. See the chart for equivalent cash levels.
On USDJPY: Bearish $/¥.
Stay bearish $/¥. As we highlighted yesterday (Liquid Technical Alert: Stay bearish $/¥ 23 January 2014), bounces remain corrective and temporary. Our initial downside target is the 200d, at 99.97, but this should only be a temporary stopping point. Medium-term targets are seen to the Jun’13/Apr’13 lows, at 93.79/92.57, before greater signs of stabilization and a resumption of the LONG-TERM uptrend toward 124/147 (to be fine-tuned).
Finally, gold – redux: Gold upside continues – watch 1270
Gold continues to trade bullishly. Yesterday’s price action formed a Bullish Outside Bar on daily charts and NOW it is testing pivotal resistance at 1270. A close above should be the catalyst for short squeeze higher, exposing the confluence of resistance between 1362/1394.
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1mQLsOD Tyler Durden
If, as we are constantly told by the mainstream media, equity market performance is all that matters in the real world, then the following chart from The Economist should provide much food for thought for those praying at the altar of the elites in Davos. Despite hanging on their every word as if handed down by The Oracle herself, ‘companies that regularly attend Davos’ have dramatically underperformed the broad market… so, in the modern parlance of ‘stocks are all that matters’ – Davos attendees are less smart than the average business manager (and perhaps less smart given the costs of attendance for this lack of edge).
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1hrwAlN Tyler Durden
Spain’s unemployment rate hit 26% again this week. Despite Rajoy’s please for people to believe things are getting better, that the crisis is over (even as Draghi proclaims it otherwise and Axel Weber warns it is still festering), Spanish local ex-pat newspaper “The Local” has uncovered seven statistics that will help you understand just how serious the situation is. What is perhaps even more surreal is that in a year in which the economy supposedly grew, they depleted their pension reserve fund by 15%…
So apart from that, here is how bad it really is in Spain…
New unemployment figures from Spain’s National Statistic Institute (INE) show that recent macroeconomic improvements in Spain are yet to create new jobs.
While Spain has now clocked up two consecutive quarters of fragile growth, the INE data — based on a quarterly survey of 65,000 homes nationwide known as the EPA — shows the country’s unemployment climbed back up to 26.03 percent at the end of 2013, up from 25.98 percent three months earlier.
Here The Local provides seven statistics that highlight the extent of Spain’s unemployment problem.
1) Spain has now seen six straight years of job destruction. Some 198,900 jobs disappeared in Spain last year, and 3.5 million have vanished since the country’s crisis began in 2008.
2) There are 1,832,300 households in Spain where nobody has a job. That is 1.36 percent more than a year earlier.
3) Some 686,600 households in Spain have now income at all — not even social security. That is twice the figure seen in 2007, or before the crisis struck.
4) More than 3.5 million in Spain have been out of work for at least a year — that 61 percent of all people who currently find themselves without work in the country.
Some 2.3 million people have been out of work for at least two years.
5) Spain’s new jobs are of poor quality. The number of ongoing positions in Spain fell by 269,000 in 2013 while the number of temporary contracts rose by 81,300.
6) Some 69,000 found work in 2013, but unemployment actually rose in the final three months of the year.
This is because the number of ‘active’ people in Spain — those working, or seeking employment — actually fell by 267,900 last year, leaving a smaller pool of people fighting for the same jobs.
Many people — especially those in the 16–35 age group — have simply given up looking for work, or have left the country to look for work elsewhere. They are therefore no longer included in the official figures.
7) Working Spaniards put in 5.86 million hours of overtime every week from October to December, up 18.4 percent on a year earlier.
A total of 57.7 percent of those hours, or 3.38 million a week are unpaid. This is equivalent to 146,500 new jobs, says Spain’s La Voz de Galicia newspaper.
Of course, the emerging market contagion spreads quickly from Latin America to Spain and is alreeady impacting their banks…
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1hrwyKF Tyler Durden
Spain’s unemployment rate hit 26% again this week. Despite Rajoy’s please for people to believe things are getting better, that the crisis is over (even as Draghi proclaims it otherwise and Axel Weber warns it is still festering), Spanish local ex-pat newspaper “The Local” has uncovered seven statistics that will help you understand just how serious the situation is. What is perhaps even more surreal is that in a year in which the economy supposedly grew, they depleted their pension reserve fund by 15%…
So apart from that, here is how bad it really is in Spain…
New unemployment figures from Spain’s National Statistic Institute (INE) show that recent macroeconomic improvements in Spain are yet to create new jobs.
While Spain has now clocked up two consecutive quarters of fragile growth, the INE data — based on a quarterly survey of 65,000 homes nationwide known as the EPA — shows the country’s unemployment climbed back up to 26.03 percent at the end of 2013, up from 25.98 percent three months earlier.
Here The Local provides seven statistics that highlight the extent of Spain’s unemployment problem.
1) Spain has now seen six straight years of job destruction. Some 198,900 jobs disappeared in Spain last year, and 3.5 million have vanished since the country’s crisis began in 2008.
2) There are 1,832,300 households in Spain where nobody has a job. That is 1.36 percent more than a year earlier.
3) Some 686,600 households in Spain have now income at all — not even social security. That is twice the figure seen in 2007, or before the crisis struck.
4) More than 3.5 million in Spain have been out of work for at least a year — that 61 percent of all people who currently find themselves without work in the country.
Some 2.3 million people have been out of work for at least two years.
5) Spain’s new jobs are of poor quality. The number of ongoing positions in Spain fell by 269,000 in 2013 while the number of temporary contracts rose by 81,300.
6) Some 69,000 found work in 2013, but unemployment actually rose in the final three months of the year.
This is because the number of ‘active’ people in Spain — those working, or seeking employment — actually fell by 267,900 last year, leaving a smaller pool of people fighting for the same jobs.
Many people — especially those in the 16–35 age group — have simply given up looking for work, or have left the country to look for work elsewhere. They are therefore no longer included in the official figures.
7) Working Spaniards put in 5.86 million hours of overtime every week from October to December, up 18.4 percent on a year earlier.
A total of 57.7 percent of those hours, or 3.38 million a week are unpaid. This is equivalent to 146,500 new jobs, says Spain’s La Voz de Galicia newspaper.
Of course, the emerging market contagion spreads quickly from Latin America to Spain and is alreeady impacting their banks…
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1hrwyKF Tyler Durden
After escalating higher and higher in the last few days as the rest of the market slipped further into the red for 2014, the Dow Transports has collapsed 3.25% at this morning’s open – its biggest drop in 9 months. This, along with the plunge in the NASDAQ and Russell has dragged every major US equity index into the red once again for 2014… VIX has spiked to 15.4% – its highest since pre-Taper as JPY carry unwinds drag US equities lower once again… Credit markets have no retraced all post-Taper gains (and stocks are rapidly catching down).
Of course, the driver of the weakness is JPY carry unwinds…
Credit has led the way and now eradicated all gains post-Taper…
Charts:Bloomberg
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1mCaqOS Tyler Durden
On the heels of Shinzo Abe’s seeming hyprocrisy in Davos, commenting that “if peace and stability were shaken in Asia, the knock-on effect for the entire world would be enormous,” while he raises military budget, antagonizes China, and inflames the militaristic fervor in his own nation with war-crime shrine visits, the Chinese have struck back specifically at Abe’s comparison of China and Japan’s present tensions to Germany and Britain’s in 1914… Foreign Minister Wang Yi – writing from the Chinese Embassy in the US, warned:
Adding that, as we warned last night (and described in great detail here), China and the US need to show mutual respect and avoid conflict and confrontation on the matter of Japan.
Yi warns…
Abe stokes the fire further with comparisons to WW1 at Davos… (via NY Times)
Historians and columnists have made comparisons between Britain and a rising Germany in 1914 and the current tensions between Japan and China; a hot topic at the start of the centenary year of World War I.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, in his appearance Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, raised the bar when he agreed with the thesis, saying that he saw a “similar situation” between now and then.
During a discussion with journalists, Mr. Abe said that the strong trade relations between Germany and Britain in 1914 were not unlike the economic interdependence today between Japan and China.
In 1914, economic self-interest failed to put a brake on the strategic rivalry that led to the outbreak of war, Mr. Abe said. He criticized the annual double-digit growth in China’s defense budget, calling it a source of instability in the Pacific region, an implicit comparison to Germany’s rapid build-up of arms before World War I.
And China responds…
Wang Yi: Promote the Settlement of Hot-Spot Issues in the Chinese Way
On January 22, 2014, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, at attendance to the Geneva II Conference on the Syrian issue in Montreux, Switzerland, talked to media about promoting the settlement of hot-spot issues in the “Chinese Way”.
Wang Yi said, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China shoulders responsibilities and obligations in maintaining world peace and stability, and is willing to play a constructive and responsible role in resolving regional hot spot issues. China has always adhered to the following principles in promoting the settlement of the Syrian issue and other hot-spot issues:
First, to firmly uphold the tenet of the UN Charter and the basic norms governing international relations, especially the principle of noninterference in internal affairs.
Second, to insist on promoting the settlement of the regional hot-spot issues under the framework of the UN, including on the basis of the relevant UN resolutions.
Third, to insist on resolving disputes through peaceful means. We oppose the use of force, and disapprove the overturning of legitimate government through illegal approach.
Fourth, to decide China’s position based on the rights and wrongs of things themselves, uphold justice, be objective and balanced, and never take advantage of the hot-spot issues for self interest.
Fifth, to respect the will of the people concerned, and try to guide for settlement acceptable to all parties involved.
The practice of China has its own characteristics. We care more about sustainability, doing things step by step, and fundamentally resolving problems.
This can be called the “Chinese way”.
And indeed – as we warned last night – it seems rhetoric has reached the US…
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1mQy4Kt Tyler Durden