September 19, 2010

James Turk: The battle for $21 silver begins

GoldMoney founder James Turk, editor of the Freemarket Gold & Money Report and consultant to GATA, says the silver price chart has nearly completed a three-year accumulation pattern with $21 as the crucial resistance level. Turk expects silver to vault higher when $21 is breached. His commentary is headlined "The Battle for $21 Silver Begins" and you can find it here:
James Turk-The Battle for $21 Silver Begins

August 30, 2010

Gene Arensberg: Something changed in silver market last week

"Silver turned in an “outside reversal” Tuesday, August 24 (which happened to coincide with COT reporting cutoff day), and in the process it surged up and out of the wide triangular consolidation which, as regular readers know, we have been following here at Got Gold Report all along. An outside reversal occurs when the trading breaks below the previous day’s lows and then reverses to close higher than the previous day’s high. Outside reversals often, but not always, mark significant turning points and technically minded traders view such action as a more bullish event...."

Gene Arensberg's weekly "Got Gold Report" concentrates on silver and he writes that something changed in the silver market last week, starting with silver's "outside reversal" day on Tuesday, and it looks bullish.
Arensberg's commentary is headlined "Focus on Silver" and you can find it at the Got Gold Report Internet site HERE

August 9, 2010

James Turk: Is silver ready to move higher?

GoldMoney founder James Turk, editor of the Freemarket Gold & Money Report and consultant to GATA, observes in commentary today that silver has been appreciating just as much as gold has over the last nine years and may be an even better buy now for investors who are prepared to deal with its greater volatility. Turk's commentary is headlined "Is Silver Ready to Move Higher?" and you can find it at the GoldMoney Internet site here:
James Turk: Is silver ready to move higher?

May 15, 2010

Doubts about gold ETFs broadcast today on two major networks


Within a half hour of each other today the leading business television networks in North America reported doubts that gold exchange-traded funds either have the gold they claim to have or can get enough real gold to meet likely demand.
The first doubt was expressed on CNBC in the United States, where market analyst Rick Santelli comments at 5:30 into this segment:
The second doubt was expressed on BNN in Canada, where reporter Niall McGee commented at length:
There seems to be growing consensus in favor of what GATA long has been urging gold and silver investors to do: to take possession of their metal or make certain that any custodian has got it in allocated and audited form, especially since the custodians of the largest gold and silver ETFs are also the biggest gold and silver shorts, a grotesque and unacknowledged conflict of interest:
CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

April 24, 2010

Ted Butler: Worst is over for gold and silver

In his weekly interview with Eric King of King World News, silver market analyst Ted Butler remarks that "the worst is behind us" for gold and silver investors dealing with the recent decline in prices; that the big silver short, JPMorgan Chase, is not increasing its short position in silver; and that investors should get out of "pooled" and unallocated gold and silver accounts and shift to accounts that identify their gold and silver bars by hallmark and serial number. The interview is not quite 13 minutes long and you can find it at the King World News Internet site HERE

April 11, 2010

New York Post: Trader blows whistle on gold, silver price manipulation


Trader Blows Whistle on Gold and Silver Price Manipulation

By Michael Gray
New York Post
Sunday, April 11, 2010

There is no silver lining to the activities of JPMorgan Chase and HSBC in the precious-metals market here and in London, says a 40-year veteran of the metal pits.

The banks, which do the Federal Reserve's bidding in the metals markets, have long been the government's lead actors in keeping down the prices of gold and silver, according to a former Goldman Sachs trader working at the London Bullion Market Association.

Maguire was scheduled to testify last week before the Commodities Futures Trade Commission, which is looking into the activities of large banks in the metals market, but was knocked off the list at the last moment. So he went public.

Maguire -- in an exclusive interview with the Post -- explained JPMorgan's role in the metals pits in both London and here, and how they can generate a profit either way the market moves.
"JPMorgan acts as an agent for the Federal Reserve; they act to halt the rise of gold and silver against the US dollar. JPMorgan is insulated from potential losses" on their short positions "by the Fed and/or the US taxpayer," Maguire said.

In the gold pits, Maguire sees HSBC betting against the precious metal's price without having any skin in the game in the form of a naked short.

"HSBC conducts an ongoing manipulative concentrated naked short position in gold. Silver is much easier to manipulate due to its much smaller [market] size," Maguire added.

"No one at JPMorgan is familiar with Andrew Maguire," said Brian Marchiony, a company spokesman. HSBC declined to comment.

Also during the CFTC hearing, Jeff Christian, founder of the commodities firm CPM Group, said that the LBMA, the physical delivery market for gold and silver in the UK, has been using leverage, which is another way to depress the price of gold and silver.

Christian said that the LBMA -- the same market Maguire trades in -- has leverage of about 100-1 on the gold bars settled on the exchange. In layman's terms, that means if 100 clients requested their bullion bars be delivered, the exchange could give only one client the precious metal.

The remaining requests would have to be settled for cash equivalent. "That is tantamount to a default on the trade," says Bill Murphy, chairman of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee.

Maguire goes further and calls it a fraud: "If you sell something you do not own, then that is fraud."

Back in 2007, Morgan Stanley agreed to settle a $4.4-million lawsuit brought by precious-metal clients, who alleged that Morgan offered to buy gold and silver and store it for the investors, but never purchased any metal and still charged them storage fees.

Morgan Stanley denied the charges at the time but "settled the case to avoid the cost and distractions of continued litigation," the firm said.

Despite gold's rise each of the last 10 years, Murphy believes the price of gold today would be closer to $2,300 an ounce if the price just moved with inflation.

Maguire believes the price should be even higher given the fear trade that would have sent prices spiking during the financial crisis in 2008-09.

Both precious metals have seen a recent spike since Maguire's e-mails became public. Gold has gained 6.5 percent to close at $1,161.55, while silver has spiked 10 percent to $18.38.

According to the e-mails Maguire sent to CFTC regulators, he was spot-on in his expectations of how the precious metals would trade on release of the January jobs report.

This message is to "confirm that the silver manipulation was a great success and played out exactly to plan as predicted yesterday. How would this be possible if the silver market was not in the full control of the parties we discussed in our phone interview?," Maguire wrote to a staff investigator after the trading day.

CFTC commissioner Bart Chilton said, "I'm appreciative of the information Mr. Maguire provided and I'm glad it was introduced into the investigation."

... High, low silver

The prices of gold and silver have been allegedly suppressed by JPMorgan Chase and HSBC, according to a London whistleblower.

Andrew Maguire, who laid out the banks' plan in e-mails to the CFTC prior to trading on the Comex on Feb. 5.

1.) From: Andrew Maguire

To: Ramirez, Eliud [CFTC]

Cc: BChilton [CFTC]

Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 3:18 PM

Subject: Re: Silver today

Thought it may be helpful to your investigation if I gave you the heads up for a manipulative event signaled for Friday, 5th Feb. Scenario 1. The news is bad (employment is worse). This will have a bullish effect on gold and silver as the US dollar weakens and the precious metals draw bids, spiking them higher. This will be sold into within a very short time (1-5 mins) with thousands of new short contracts being added.

Scenario 2. The news is good (employment is better than expected). This will result in a massive short position being instigated almost immediately with no move up. This will not initially be liquidation of long positions but will result in stops being triggered, again targeting key support levels. Kind regards,

2.) From: Andrew Maguire

To: Ramirez, Eliud [CFTC]

Cc: BChilton [CFTC]; GGensler [CFTC]

Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 3:37 PM

Subject: Fw: Silver today A final e-mail to confirm that the silver manipulation was a great success and played out EXACTLY to plan as predicted yesterday. How would this be possible if the silver market was not in the full control of the parties we discussed in our phone interview? Kind regards,

3.) Andrew T. Maguire

From: Ramirez, Eliud

To: Andrew Maguire

Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 1:29 PM

Subject: RE: Silver today Good afternoon, Mr. Maguire, I have received and reviewed your email communications. Thank you so very much for your observations.

March 30, 2010

CFTC whistleblower Maguire, GATA's Douglas interviewed by King World News

London metals trader and CFTC whistleblower Andrew Maguire was interviewed with GATA board member Adrian Douglas for 40 minutes Tuesday by Eric King of King World News
Maguire explained how he came to complain to the CFTC about silver market manipulation by JPMorgan Chase traders in London and then to Douglas when the CFTC failed to call him to testify at its hearing last week on futures trading in the metals market. 
You can listen to the interview at the King World News Internet site here:



March 22, 2010

Jon Matonis: Hunt Brothers Demanded Physical Delivery Too

Jon Matonis, who describes himself as an economist of the Austrian school living in Gibraltar, has written at his blog, The Monetary Future, a fascinating account of the infamous attempt of the Hunt Brothers to get hold of a lot of silver in 1979-80.
The biggest lesson of the story may be that, then as now, position limits in the U.S. commodity markets are to be applied against longs but not against shorts. Of course that's the big issue underlying the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's hearing on the precious metals futures markets on March 25, and GATA will try to raise it.
Matonis' essay is headlined "Hunt Brothers Demanded Physical Delivery Too" and you can find it at The Monetary Future HERE