David’s Commentary:
Since the election, I have spoken to a few of my friends and family. That group includes die-hard conservatives and liberals. No one is happy about the results. The liberals wanted to make a more dramatic statement in the House and they wanted to take control of the Senate. The conservatives are in morning because they lost the House, but at least they believe they can get one or two more appointments to the Supreme Court. I say, anything that causes gridlock is a good thing. My hope is that the stock market reacts by pulling back – hard. The only winners I care about are gold and silver.
Who is behind the manipulation of the gold and silver market?
Ted Butler says it’s JPM. Bill Murphy says it’s the Fed and Treasury. Doug Casey says people like Murphy and Butler wear tin hats and that there is no manipulation. I remember a meeting I had with Bill Fleckenstein several years ago. He said, “David, to the traders, gold and silver are just ‘things.’ They have no special meeting. There is no manipulation, they are just trading like any commodity, like orange juice or oil. I say, who cares. The 11-year bull market in precious metals (2000 – 2011) evolved in spite of the “who or what”. Demand for the physical metal will levitate the price. The traders will jump in and add fuel to the price rise.
When considering manipulation of gold and silver on the Comex, there is evidence that it takes place. In today’s newsletter there is an article on Zero Hedge that gives an example, and there are numerous cases of JPMorgan and friends paying large fines for price setting and manipulation of metals and currencies. For me the question is not “if” manipulation takes place. It is more about “why” it takes place. If it is purely for profit, as Fleckenstein believes, that is one thing. If it is for political reasons and encouraged by the Fed and the Treasury, that is another.
I have known Bill Murphy and Chris Powell for nearly 20 years. We are a GATA supporter and I have had a subscription to the LeMetropole Café since its inception. If you want to understand GATA’s take on the manipulation of gold and silver, check out the following, the speech that Bill Murphy gave at the recent New Orleans Investment Conference. It is worth your time.
2018 New Orleans Investment Conference
GATA’s Past and Gold/Silver’s Future
Hello Everyone!
Thanks for taking the time to come by on a bustling Friday night in New Orleans.
What to bring your way of new interest this year was the most puzzling for me than at any other time over the past two decades when first preparing this presentation. Very little has changed over the past year for the precious metals camp except that The Gold Cartel has stepped up their lockdown of the gold/silver markets in the most forceful of fashions. So I thought it might be best to go over the past years and what it ought to portend in the future for gold/silver investors.
Zero Hedge
JPMorgan Gold-Spoofer Admits “Manipulating Precious Metals Markets” For Years
There was a time when the merest mention of gold manipulation in “reputable” media was enough to have one branded a perpetual conspiracy theorist with a tinfoil farm out back. That was roughly coincident with a time when Libor, FX, mortgage, and bond market manipulation was also considered unthinkable, when High Frequency Traders were believed to “provide liquidity”, or when the stock market was said to not be manipulated by the Fed, and when the ever-confused media, always eager to take “complicated” financial concepts at the face value set by a self-serving establishment, never dared to question anything.
David’s Commentary:
The following article by Justin Spittler makes perfect sense to me. But where we differ is he is talking about gold “as an investment.” We distinguish between “investment gold,” i.e. mining shares – and a core position in physicals, which is not an investment, it is “your financial insurance,” and is held in your portfolio as a hedge against falling paper assets and troubled times.
Casey Daily Dispatch
This Myth About Gold Could Be Costing You Serious Money
By Justin Spittler, editor
Forget what you know about interest rates and gold.
…Specifically, the idea that high rates hurt gold.
That’s a myth… one that could cost you serious money in the months ahead.
More on that in a second. But first, let me tell you why many investors believe high interest rates are bad for gold. It’s a simple idea really.