| |
 | The Energy Report |
| Small-Cap Oil Company Ready to Break Out |
| Technical analyst Clive Maund discusses why he believes this small energy company that is "off the radar" of most investors is ready to break out.
I recently wrote an alert on Torchlight Energy Resources Inc. (TRCH:NASDAQ):
"The huge short seller who has kept a lid on Torchlight Energy (TRCH on NASDAQ CM, last $1.23) for so long is soon to be annihilated, because the company is doing horizontal Frack drilling with results due out soon that for various reSunday, March 11, 2018 |
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 | Theodore Butler - Butler Research |
| JPMorgan’s Motivation |
| To be sure, there are many who reject, out of hand, my allegation that JPMorgan has accumulated a massive amount of physical silver over the past seven years, amounting to 700 million ounces or more. That’s completely understandable, since I can’t document and point out all 700 million oz and few have taken the time to review the basis of my claim. It doesn’t matter that I first picked up on JPMorgan’s quest to acquire physical silver four years ago, by which time it had already accumulated 300 Thursday, March 8, 2018 |
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| Theodore Butler - Butler Research |
 No Manipulation, After All |
| In the never-ending search to either verify or rebut one’s own findings, I’d like you to consider something different today. I’m going to ask you to set aside my highly specific allegations of wrong-doing in the silver and gold markets, mostly centering on JPMorgan, and focus instead on whether if what I allege is really wrong or even matters much. Even though my allegations are based upon data published by the CFTC and CME Group, I would ask you to put that aside and consider that I may have beThursday, February 15, 2018 |
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| Theodore Butler - Butler Research |
The Last Great Silver Buy  |
| In the annals of silver in the modern age, there have been two well-known instances of very large investor accumulations of the metal. First came the purchase by the Hunt Brothers and their associates in early 1980, followed by the purchase by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, 17 years later. The Hunts were said to control around 100 million ounces of actual metal (plus another 100 million ounces in long paper futures contracts), while Berkshire held as many as 129 million ounces.Now there isFriday, January 12, 2018 |
|
 | FOFOA - FoFOA |
| Happy New Year! |
| 2018
Year of the POP
If you'd like to read "Year of the POP", I'm sure you can guess where it can be found. ;D
At the Speakeasy, we discuss things like bullion, bitcoin, bubbles, banking, and much much more. As I did in Nine, at the ninth anniversary of this blog, and back in May at the second anniversary of the new Speakeasy, I have started a new tradition of sharing samples from the Speakeasy here. For this one, I picked a fun post from back in August. It's about the coat-check room view oTuesday, January 2, 2018 |
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| Theodore Butler - Butler Research |
| A Ten Year Deal |
| Here’s a thought that I fully acknowledge didn’t originate with me, but from a close associate, even though it incorporates many of my findings. If it does come to fruition, I will gladly reveal my associate’s identity to give him his proper due; but in case it doesn’t, I’ll spare him any embarrassment for an incorrect premise. As I think you’ll see, I can’t deny that my friend’s premise seems to tie up all the loose ends about the silver manipulation.In a few short months, we will hit the ten yThursday, December 21, 2017 |
|
 | Dave Kranzler - Sprott Money |
 Bitcoin’s Inconvenient Truths: The Silence Is Deafening - Dave Kranzler  |
| Gold is instantly and optically recognizable as money. You don’t have
to explain it. Bitcoin and Special Drawing Rights (SDR), like a bad
joke, have to be explained. Many “cryptologists” from the start gave up
trying to explain Bitcoin and just sell it as virtual gold, which is de
facto fake gold. – Dan Popescu, investment consultant
Numerous inconvenient truths are conveniently ignored by
Bitcoin/cryptocurrency promoters. Not the least of which is that the
fact that the original conceptThursday, November 30, 2017 |
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| Sprott Money |
| The Debt Bubble Is Beginning To Leak Air - Dave Kranzler |
| "The current state of credit card delinquency flows can be an early indicator of futuretrends and we will closely monitor the degree to which this uptick is predictive offurther consumer distress.” – New York Fed official in reference to rising delinquency rate of credit cards.
The
recent sell-off in junk bonds likely reflects a growing uneasiness in
the market with credit risk, where “credit risk” is defined as the
probability that a borrower will be able to make debt payments. This
past weThursday, November 23, 2017 |
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| Dave Kranzler - Sprott Money |
| The Big Money Grab Is “On” As Middle America Collapses - Dave Kranzler |
| The stock market rejoices the House passage of the tax “reform” Bill
as the Dow shot up 187 points and the S&P 500 spiked up 21. The
Nasdaq soared 1.3%, retracing its 3-day decline in one day. The tax bill
is nothing more than a massive redirect of money flow from the Treasury
Department to Corporate America and billionaires. The middle class will
not receive any tax relief from the Bill but it
will shoulder
the burden of the several trillion dollars extra in Treasury debt that
will be Friday, November 17, 2017 |
|
| Sprott Money |
| The Size Of The Financial Avalanche Coming Grows Larger - Dave Kranzler |
| Inflation vs deflation. The true economic definition of “inflation”
is the rate of increase in the money supply in excess of the rate of
increase in wealth output. Inflation is monetary in nature. Rising
prices are the manifestation of inflation. Someone I follow on Twitter
posted an ingenious example from which to conceptualize the true concept
of inflation using the game of Monopoly:
The players all start out with reasonable
amounts of money to speculate on real estate. As the game proceTuesday, November 14, 2017 |
|
| Dave Kranzler - Sprott Money |
| Gold And Silver: Something Different Is Occurring - Dave Kranzler |
| JP Morgan, at least according to the daily Comex warehouse report,
added over half a million ozs of silver to its “historic” stash of
silver at the Comex:
TF Metals Report.
It would be even more interesting to see an actual independent
accounting of that specific metal which would track the serial numbers
on the bars to the legal owner of title.
I’ve been hedged in my mining stock portfolio since early September.
The signal for me to hedge is the reliable Comex bank “net short”
posiSaturday, November 11, 2017 |
|
| Sprott Money |
| “Party Like It’s 1999” (or 2008 or 1987 or 1929) - Dave Kranzler |
| To paraphrase the highly regarded fund manager and notable
bear, John Hussman, you can look like an idiot before a Bubble pops or
after it’s popped.
I guess I’m squarely in the camp of looking like an idiot before the
bubble pops. I might watch “The Big Short Again” for some “moral
fortitude.” With history’s stamp of approval on my side, all I can do is
shake my head and chuckle. As soon as the Dow crossed over 23,000 on
Wednesday, the “experts” on bubblevision began speculating how longThursday, October 26, 2017 |
|
 | Chris Powell - GATA |
| Ted Butler: Fear of silver shorting spurs Scotia to sell its metals division |
| Silver market analyst Ted Butler speculates today that the Bank of Nova Scotia is seeking to sell its metals trading division, ScotiaMocatta, because the bank realizes that the silver shorting business in which the division has specialized is a potentially disastrous liability.
Butler writes: "I think the Bank of Nova Scotia's real motivation for seeking to offload its ScotiaMocatta precious metals unit after 20 years of ownership is liability. It's the fear of what is to become of a major shortTuesday, October 24, 2017 |
|
| Theodore Butler - Butler Research |
| Backing Out |
| News reports this week indicated that the Bank of Nova Scotia (ScotiaBank), Canada’s third largest bank, had put its precious metals operation, ScotiaMocatta, up for sale. Various sources said the unit had been for sale for a year or so and it was thought or hoped that Chinese interests might buy the business. It was also reported that the Bank of Nova Scotia would shrink the unit if no buyer could be found. The impetus for the sale was said to be a scandal involving smuggled gold from South AmeTuesday, October 24, 2017 |
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| Dave Kranzler - Sprott Money |
| Get Ready To Party Like It’s 2008 - Dave Kranzler |
| Apparently Treasury Secretary, ex-Goldman Sachs banker Steven
Mnuchin, has threatened Congress with stock crash if Congress doesn’t
pass a tax reform Bill. His reason is that the stock market surge since
the election was based on the hopes of a big tax cut. This reminds me
of 2008, when then-Treasury Secretary, ex-Goldman Sachs CEO, Henry
Paulson, and Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke, paraded in front of Congress
and threatened a complete systemic collapse if Congress didn’t authorize
an $800Saturday, October 21, 2017 |
|
 | Keith Weiner - Monetary Metals |
Thoughtful Disagreement with Ted Butler  |
| Dear Mr Butler:
In your article of 2 October, entitled Thoughtful Disagreement, you say, “someone will come up with the thoughtful disagreement that makes the body of my premise invalid or the price of silver will validate the premise by exploding.” I will take you up on your request.
You state your case in this paragraph:
“Here are the issues. Silver (and gold) prices are set by paper dealings on the COMEX by a few large speculators (banks and managed money traders), to the exclusion of input fWednesday, October 4, 2017 |
|
| Theodore Butler - Butler Research |
| Thoughtful Disagreement |
| I caught a good interview by Charlie Rose on Bloomberg TV the other night of Ray Dalio, founder and head of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund with some $150 billion in assets under management. Dalio has been making the rounds recently in promoting his new book, “Principles”, in which he lays out his beliefs for the investment business and the business of life. Now in book form, Dalio previously offered his work for free and which was downloaded more than three million times.Monday, October 2, 2017 |
|
| Sprott Money |
| Will The Fed Really “Normalize” Its Balance Sheet - Dave Kranzler |
| To begin with, how exactly does one define “normalize” in reference
to the Fed’s balance sheet? The Fed predictably held off raising rates
again today. However, it said that beginning in October it would no
longer re-invest proceeds from its Treasury and mortgage holdings and
let the balance sheet “run off.”
Here’s the problem with letting the Treasuries and mortgage just
mature: Treasuries never really “mature.” Rather, the maturities are
“rolled forward” by refinancing the outstandinFriday, September 22, 2017 |
|
| Sprott Money |
| The Coming Run On Banks And Pensions - Dave Kranzler |
| “There are folks that are saying you know what, I don’t care,
I’m going to lock in my retirement now and get out while I can and
fight it as a retiree if they go and change the retiree benefits,”
he said. – Executive Director for the Kentucky Association of State Employees, Proposed Pension Changes Bring Fears Of State Worker Exodus
The public awareness of the degree to which State pension funds are
underfunded has risen considerably over the past year. It’s a problem
that’s easy to hidSaturday, September 9, 2017 |
|
| Theodore Butler - Butler Research |
| The Key Test Ahead |
| Before getting into the subject of today’s title, allow me to update a couple of topics previously discussed. Last Wednesday, I offered a review of world silver inventories in which I concluded that there were roughly one billion oz in fully documented inventories of metal in industry standard 1000 oz bars and perhaps another 500 million to one billion additional oz in unverified holdings; making a grand total of 1.5 to 2 billion oz for world silver inventories in, essentially, the only form thaFriday, August 4, 2017 |
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