I haven’t done this in a while, but for two days in a row, I’m focusing specifically on market manipulation.  Frankly, if I had a better topic to speak of, I’d go with it.  However, in today’s 100% anesthetized market; amidst a historically “dumbed down” population; and AWOL mainstream media; finding material headlines to discuss is becoming more and more difficult.  I mean, it was just two months ago when global stock markets were plunging; currencies and commodities imploding; and fears of the “big one” starting to seriously enter the public’s consciousness.  China’s economic and stock market collapse were front page news, silver shortages reached levels not seen since 2008, and even said “MSM” was starting to hint at reality.  Which sadly, is not only much worse than 2008, but irreversible – no matter how much TARP, QE, ZIRP, and NIRP Central banks attempt, as the ECB may well do on Thursday, as rumor has it they are considering expansion of their historic, open-ended QE program again.

And then, a funny thing happened on the way to oblivion.  I.e., the all-out, unrelenting manipulation of markets that characterizes the only remaining tool in Central banks’ cumulative arsenal started to (temporarily) gain some traction.  And voila!  Two months later, stock markets have recouped much of their losses; investor fear has all but disappeared; silver premiums have started to fade – and this, despite a 12% price surge; and no matter how bad the news – geopolitically, economically, or financially – the markets and media have gone right back to sleep, under the spell of said anesthetized markets.

And man, has the news been bad – from escalating Cold War rhetoric, and violence, in Syria; to plunging junk bond demand; the relentless collapse of global economic data; and barely a bounce in global currencies and commodities – with the world’s most important commodities, WTI and Brent crude oil, still below $46/bbl and $49/bbl, respectively, as I speak.  As for China, its 3Q GDP report this weekend represented its lowest “growth” rate since 2009 –and yet again, I implore you to ignore the fabricated number, and focus on the hideous trend.

As for the United States of “recovery,” – where all pretense of a 2015 rate hike was obliterated by the horrifying September NFP “employment” report – not to mention, an historically dovish September 17th FOMC policy statement, in which Whirlybird Janet actually suggested the possibility of “ZIRP to Infinity” – the economic data could not be worse, no matter how much “statistical lipstick” is applied to the most bloated economic pig in global history.  Heck, the Fed’s own reports estimate 4Q GDP “growth” will be less than 1% – compared to 2.2% per the “Wall Street consensus” – and given the ugly trends of recent weeks, it wouldn’t surprise me if the final number is closer to zero.

Unquestionably, after just two weeks of reporting, the third quarter earnings reports are the worst since the 2008 financial crisis – with essentially all companies reporting weaker than expected earnings, reduced guidance, and in many cases significant layoffs; in sum total, yielding a certainty that yet again, year-over-year earnings will be down.  Caterpillar’s massive layoffs, and Walmart’s horrifying forecast of flat revenues and reduced earnings next year, is just the “tip of the iceberg” – and last night’s IBM earnings catastrophe reinforced this 2008-like trend in spades.  And this, before the impact of the historic commodity crash truly hits balance sheet, income statements – and more importantly, 2016 capital spending plans.  As for Precious Metals demand, suffice to say that whilst commodities, currencies, corporate earnings, and numerous stock markets are on track to end 2015 at ugly, multi-year lows, both gold and silver will unquestionably set new global demand records, amidst plunging worldwide inventories.

Which brings me to yesterday’s hideous, historically blatant market manipulations – coincident, I might add, with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew stating, on CNBC, that the U.S. is headed for a “terrible debt accident” if the so-called “debt ceiling” is not raised before the government runs out of money on November 3rd; i.e., two weeks from now.  Yes, I know.  If there’s one thing governments always get around to doing, it’s borrowing and spending – in unlimited quantities.  That said, the fact that the U.S. is this close to default – with a cantankerous, Speaker-less GOP squarely at odds with a lame duck Democratic President, nothing would surprise me at this point.  And whether the U.S. government defaults on its debt; or raises said “debt limit” by trillions of dollars; such developments could not be more positive for Precious Metals – or conversely, more negative for essentially all financial markets.

Which is why, amidst the aforementioned, hideous Chinese GDP number; plunging oil and commodity prices; Jack Lew’s “terrible debt accident” comments; and unrelentingly bearish, dovish developments, it’s so comical to watch the amount of effort put into suppressing gold and silver.  Which, make no mistake, is currently about one thing, and one thing alone.  I.e., making sure, or better put, attempting to make sure, the 200 DMA’s of $1,176/oz and $15.97/oz that were breached for the first time in five months last week, are turned into “technical resistance levels” before they can be established as “technical support.”

As I have said for years – and Michael Ballanger, yesterday – technical analysis is useless in rigged markets; and particularly Precious Metals, which are manipulated more than any other.  Incredibly, this “inconvenient truth” is still not understood by the majority of “black boxes” trading such data.  That said, with each passing day, more and more people, in more and more countries, are starting to see the TRUTH of the matter – such as, for instance, that yesterday’s “negative precious metal events” were nothing more than a desperate government’s manipulative hand.  Which again, is constantly discussed by the Miles Franklin Blog to empower you to see through the mirage, and make investment decisions based on REALITY.

To that end, here’s a few pictures of what was “accomplished” in the past two days, so you can see just how comical the whole charade has become, in both the “Dow Jones Propaganda Average” and paper gold and silver – or as I deemed them earlier this year, the “last to go” markets.  First, the Dow, depicting a perfect “dead ringer” algorithm – of bottoming at 10:00 AM EST, and relentless marching higher throughout the day, ending with a prototypical “hail mary” surge – to positive territory – in the day’s final minutes.

And if you think that’s eerie, take a look at the similarity of Friday’s “variations thereof” algorithm – again, amidst an environment of unrelenting “bad news”…

…to the Dow’s trading patterns of September 30th, October 1st, October 6th, October 7th, October 12th, and October 15th – to name but a few…

As for Precious Metals, what part of Friday’s 3% HUI mining index smash – amidst flat gold and silver prices, and no other market materially budging – could more obviously pre-sage upcoming gold and silver raids, as we have seen time and again for the past 15 years?  And voila, this is what they did Friday afternoon, in a desperate attempt to push gold under said 200 DMA of $1,176/oz in the day’s final half hour.  They just couldn’t have traders reading about a gold “breakout” over the weekend, could they?

As it turns out, that attempt failed, as gold closed just above $1,176/oz, and silver just above its own 200 DMA of $15.97/oz.  Thus, the Cartel “started again” in the week’s wee hours – with their 118th “Sunday night Sentiment” raid of the past 122 weekends; their 531st “2:15 AM” EST attack of the past 607 trading days; and of course, the ubiquitous “Cartel Herald” cap and attack at the 8:20 AM COMEX open.

Which, as it turns out, still wasn’t enough to “break” paper PMs below said 200 DMAs.  So what did the Cartel do – amidst a market defined by nothing but wildly PM bullish news?  Well, they simply launched another HUI raid, pushing it down more than 4% – atop Friday’s 3% plunge – to yet again “signal” its minions of another paper raid.  Which ultimately, they accomplished, if barely so, with the second straight final hour raid.  Again, such action doesn’t “worry” me a bit; as per what I noted before, technical analysis – as well as fraudulent COT trading data, and a slew of other tools used to “scare” gold and silver bulls – is meaningless in a rigged market, utilized solely to influence the diminishing few that haven’t figured it out yet.

And by the way, isn’t it “remarkable” how similar silver’s trading charts look, day after day – particularly around the 12:00 PM EST “cap of last resort” time I identified roughly a decade ago?

And equally “remarkable,” how reliable the Cartel’s COMEX opening paper raids are – whilst the PPT simultaneously gooses stock futures, no matter what the “news” is?

Again, the reason the Miles Franklin Blog spills so much “digital ink” on this topic is to empower you with a vitally important TRUTH you won’t receive nearly anywhere, the world round – with as prolific a quantity as the intensity of its quality.  To that end, all we ask is that you discount all available factors into your due diligence process.  And even if you don’t feel as strongly about the dire economic ramifications of money printing gone wild – such as parabolic Precious Metal price increases – at the least, it will be difficult to refute the evidence that prices are being held at historically undervalued prices, as measured by record high physical demand; record low supply; and the irreversible prospect of dramatically lower production for years to come.

Then again, if a “terrible debt accident” does in fact occur – or for that matter, one of countless potential “black swan” events (including, I might add, the inevitable overwhelming of said manipulation by “Economic Mother Nature” and the “unstoppable tsunami of reality”) you will not likely receive another chance to PROTECT YOURSELF, as you have right now.  Which Miles Franklin has been the business of providing, for 26 years running.