Before I begin, I want to repeat a now famous quote
authored by GATA's Co-founder, Chris Powell, who, in commenting on the
"odd behavior of markets," penned the following:
"THERE ARE NO MARKETS ANYMORE; JUST
INTERVENTIONS." (Chris Powell, 2008, Washington Conference)
After what seems like a lifetime of serial denial by the
MSM, of total head-turning by regulators, of behind-the-back snickering by
financial commentators, and of in-your-face continued manipulation by the
bullion bank behemoths, Reuters has finally reported an event that
might-repeat-MIGHT be a game changer for those involved in silver trading and
investments. At 7:09 last evening, it was reported that "Deutsche Bank
to settle U.S. silver price fixing litigation," which is a staggering
admission of that very criminality of which I have been ranting, writing and
opining for years now. Read the actual report here.
What is way more significant than a diseased,
derivative-addled, sovereign-debt-impoverished institution admitting to defrauding
us of hundreds of millions of dollars through price-rigging, Deutsche Bank
have named two other institutions as co-conspirators in the fraud, HSBC and
that venerable Canadian "Big Five" bank, The Bank of Nova Scotia.
Being a Canuck, I find it at once both infuriating and thrilling that a
member of one of the most notorious cartels in global financial history
("The Big Five Canadian Banking Cabal") has been NAMED in the
settlement. Mysteriously absent, of course, are JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs,
for the reason that by way of settlements, JPMorgan is the undisputed king of
criminal activity, so to think that they were absent from this massive,
multi-decade HEIST is simply illogical at best and naïve at the core.
From a personal standpoint, I am luxuriating in the
knowledge that GATA's Bill Murphy and Chris Powell (as well as all of we the
card-carrying members of the tinfoil hat brigade) have been vindicated in the
sense that the Doug Casey's of the world can no longer stare into a webcam
while pumping newsletter subscriptions and deny the presence of intervention
and manipulation in the metals markets. The Bart Chiltons and the Gary
Genslers all owe Bill and Chris a) a huge apology and b) a big fat cheque for
the money that they have liberated from the GATA founders and its members.
Sadly, for those out there that are shopping for new cars in anticipation of
receiving a settlement from Deutsche Bank, you better be looking at the 2025
model year. However, from a trading perspective, the DB settlement is going
to, at the margin, relieve the pressure that has been exerted on silver
prices for at least since April 2014. It also serves to cement my thoughts
that the Gold-to-Silver Ratio ("GTSR"), currently at 76:1, is
headed to 50:1 and remains a truly generational buying opportunity.
So ,now that the Cretins have been outed and now that we
KNOW that the precious metals markets are seriously "rigged," does
it give us cause to rejoice in higher prices? Well, of course not, as can be
seen from Goldman Sachs' recent $5.2 billion SEC settlement, which has
resulted in a) no indictments of senior Goldman officials, and b) damage to
shareholders. You will further note that not one Goldman executive was fined;
it was the shareholders of GS that paid the fine. In similar fashion,
Deutsche Bank has rallied nearly 10% since Tuesday and none of the DB senior
execs are being fingered. Accordingly, today's $20 slam in gold and $.135 hit
in silver reflects the brazenly "business as usual," laissez-faire
attitude of the crime-committers as they mark down metals prices with
reckless abandon and total impudence.
Thanks to a progressively rising open interest in Crimex
paper gold, the bullion banks have been able to dampen all speculative demand
in the past week and with price being pressured today, it is a strong
probability that tomorrow's COT will show deterioration, mainly in gold. (The
silver COT could easily see further improvements on last week's stunning
turnaround in the commitments of the big silver players.) For now, however,
the NYSE Arca Gold BUGS Index (HUI) trades mainly off gold, and with gold
down over $20 going into NFP "Freaky Friday," I would have to
remind everyone of what I said back in late February, "I am not a bear
but make no mistake-I look for a bone-jarring correction starting in
March-April that will singe the eyebrows." If we get a friendly number
tomorrow, these master manipulators could give gold the type of
"nudge" that could have it under $1,200 by 9:00 a.m..
As for the miners, it is unfathomable that the HUI has
had only two down days in a row since Jan. 19. We saw new highs in the HUI to
nearly 210, and since I started getting cautious at 170, I left a great deal
of profit on the proverbial table. However, every major NEW bull market,
especially one that has been absent for as long as the Golden Bull was,
absolutely MUST have that initial blow-off that crushes the late-comers and
sends people scurrying to the sidelines. If tomorrow is a third down day and
is a crusher, I believe it will continue until mid-late June with many former
gold bulls sporting no facial hair and singed eyebrows while waving the
American flag on the Fourth.
Tomorrow will be an extremely interesting event and I
believe a clue to the next $50 move in gold. So hats off and glasses raised
to the U.S. Justice Department that just secured a settlement from a non-U.S.
bank that undoubtedly contributes zero to either the Republican or Democratic
parties while turning a blind eye to the criminal interventions still going
on around 24/7.
Hail Deutsche Bank! Stepping up next to the Window of
Shame: Scotiabank and HSBC!
Originally trained during the inflationary 1970s, Michael Ballanger is a graduate of Saint Louis University where he earned a
Bachelor of Science in finance and a Bachelor of Art in marketing before
completing post-graduate work at the Wharton School of Finance. With more
than 30 years of experience as a junior mining and exploration specialist, as
well as a solid background in corporate finance, Ballanger's adherence to the
concept of "Hard Assets" allows him to focus the practice on
selecting opportunities in the global resource sector with emphasis on the
precious metals exploration and development sector. Ballanger takes great
pleasure in visiting mineral properties around the globe in the never-ending
hunt for early-stage opportunities.
