Baltic Dry Index. 763 +13
LIR Gold Target by 2019: $30,000. Revised due to QE programs.
“Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it.”
Samuel Johnson.
For an update on whether President Obama is a British usurper, scroll down to Crooks Corner. “America’s toughest sheriff” smells a rat.
We open today with a mystery. Was there an explosion in a Saudi oil pipeline or wasn’t there? If there was, was it deliberate or was it accidental? The Saudis themselves say there was no explosion, but then they would say that wouldn’t they. The market itself acted like it semi believes the Saudis. But with Brent crude trading above $125 a barrel again, any western economic recovery is running into very strong headwinds.
Oil leaps to highest level since mid-2008
By Gregory Meyer in New York and Guy Chazan in London March 2, 2012 6:54 am
Oil leapt to the highest level since the market peak of mid-2008 in a frenzy of buying that followed a disputed report of a pipeline blast in Saudi Arabia.
The report, swiftly denied by a Saudi official, was posted on web sites including PressTV, an English-language news channel based in Tehran. Iran is the Saudi kingdom’s main rival in the Middle East oil market, and stands to lose market share as western sanctions increase over its nuclear programme.
Brent crude gained as much as $5.74 to reach $128.40 a barrel, jumping sharply after futures contracts settled late in London. The price was the highest since late July 2008, when crude was in retreat from its all-time high of $147.50.
Prices retreated from their highs in Asian trading on Friday. By 6:30am in London, brent crude was trading at $125.62 a barrel.
Crude has climbed 17 per cent from the start of the year as traders weigh the balance of growing global demand against the prospect of lower supplies from Iran. In euro terms, oil has broken records.
As futures markets neared their daily settlement periods in London and New York, PressTV reported a pipeline explosion took place in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
“This report is completely false,” a Saudi industry official said. He said there had been “no incident whatsoever”.
He said the report of a pipeline explosion was a deliberate hoax put out to move oil markets. “There are certain parties who are upset with Saudi Arabia’s role in the current situation,” the official said.
Iran has warned Saudi Arabia several times over the last two months not to increase its oil production to offset the impact of the US and European sanctions on Tehran´s crude exports. But Riyadh has boosted its own production to 9.7m barrels a day this year, up about 600,000 b/d from a year ago, the US government says.
More
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2285ec12-63ea-11e1-8762-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1nwPP0GNX
Another EU summit, another missed opportunity for the EU to get ahead of the looming Greek default for once. What seems to have been muddled through, Germany will agree to a “temporary” increase in the Euroland rescue fund, but will that be enough of a sop to the G-20 and the IMF, while in return Germany gets to block the release that part of the funding to the Greek government itself, presumably to force the Greeks to impose more of the death spiral on the Greek economy. My take on this is that Greece is much better off defaulting and exiting the euro. Do an Iceland right after the Germans pay off the international creditors. Let Germany take the blame for the brinkmanship gone wrong, and stick it to the other European PIIGS.
Below, 18 days and counting.
"As fewer and fewer people have confidence in paper as a store of value, the price of gold will continue to rise."
Jerome F. Smith
EU finance chiefs give Greece $58bn but stoke fears of default after delaying bail-out decision
European powers approved the release of funds for Greece's international creditors but delayed the decision to bail out Athens until March 12 - perilously close to the country's default deadline.
Ministers released €58bn (£48bn) of cash designated to smooth the €206bn bond restructuring but withheld the remaining €71.5bn allocated to help the Greek government.
Eurozone finance ministers, who met in Brussels ahead of European Union leaders summit on Thursday night, said they would hold a conference call on Friday, March 9 - a day after the bond swap deadline - and postpone a decision until a eurogroup meeting on Monday, March 12.
The delay will push Greece to within eight days of bankruptcy - a move likely to rattle global markets and put eurozone leaders on a collision course with America and China.
World leaders have demanded immediate action to stem the crisis but Athens faces a €14.5bn bond repayment on March 20.
Jean Claude Juncker, head of the group of 17 finance ministers, said in a statement that a "high participation" in the bond swap and a "positive assessment" of the Greek austerity reforms were "necessary conditions" for the disbursement of the rescue package. He added that ministers would also withhold permission for the eurozone bail-out fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), to issue bonds to help Greece until the conditions were met. Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees De Jager said: "We have to wait for PSI [bond swap] before final conclusions"
March 1, 2012, 4:14 p.m. ET
Germany Backs Boost to Rescue Fund
BERLIN—German officials are willing to support at least a temporary increase of the euro-zone's rescue fund, in a sign that the country is yielding to international pressure to bolster Europe's defenses against its debt crisis.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has been reluctant, amid opposition in parliament and within her own center-right coalition, to consider a bigger contribution from Germany.
But a cabinet member, and two of Ms. Merkel's allies in parliament said they would consider measures to temporarily boost the firewall.
Norbert Barthle, a lawmaker for Merkel's Christian Democratic Union who is also the party's budget spokesman, said that a temporary increase is an option and could be accomplished by combining the euro-zone's temporary bailout facility, the European Financial Stability Facility, with the planned permanent facility, the European Stability Mechanism.
The move would increase Europe's firepower to €750 billion from a planned €500 billion.
"We could think about boosting both [facilities] for a transition period in order to have a bigger volume at our disposal," Mr. Barthle said. "But we oppose raising the ESM volume permanently."
Michael Meister, deputy parliamentary floor leader and finance expert of Merkel's CDU party, said he would support such a move, depending on the outcome of the debt restructuring in Greece and bond auctions in Italy and Spain.
"The force of the ESM might have to be increased," Mr. Meister said. "I can imagine to use remaining funds from the ESM or to increase the cash contributions into the ESM."
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In related news, when is a Greek default not a default? Awnser: when the International Swaps and Derivatives Association under pressure from its members says it isn’t. So what is the point of buying rigged insurance protection that doesn’t pay out?
"For more than two thousand years gold's natural qualities made it man's universal medium of exchange. In contrast to political money, gold is honest money that survived the ages and will live on long after the political fiats of today have gone the way of all paper."
Hans F. Sennholz
March 1, 2012, 3:35 p.m. ET
Greek Debt Deal Won't Trigger Payouts, for Now
Owners of insurance-like contracts designed to protect against potential losses on Greek sovereign debt won't receive payouts, at least for now, even though the country took steps in its restructuring in recent days that could force private creditors to accept losses on the face value of their bonds, a committee of dealers and investors decided.
Thursday's decision marks the first time the panel of experts has held a vote on whether compensation is owed to holders of the credit-default swap protection on Greece.
The 15-member panel, convened by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, a financial trade group, voted unanimously that a credit event hasn't occurred in relation to two questions submitted anonymously by market participants earlier this week.
The committee noted, however, that the situation with Greece is "still evolving" and that even though it has ruled Greek CDS won't be triggered at this time, there is nothing stopping the same committee from forcing payouts from sellers of Greek CDS at a later date.
More
While the ECB floods the world with a trillion new euro loans, against collateral ranging from Italian bus tickets to future receipts of McDonald burger sales in France, worry is rising that perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea. Of the trillion a “mere” 550 billion euro was actually new money it’s believed. The other 450 billion went in rollovers according to some estimates. You’ve got to love this sort of clarity, the ECB issues over a trillion of shiny new electronic euro, and there’s no real accounting just a plethora of estimates where it went and why.
"Gold bears the confidence of the world's millions, who value it far above the promises of politicians, far above the unbacked paper issued by governments as money substitutes. It has been that way through all recorded history. There is no reason to believe it will lose the confidence of people in the future."
Oakley R. Bramble
MoreCrooks and Scoundrels Corner.
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally doubled over.
It doesn’t look good for President Obama, says “America’s toughest sheriff” Joe Arpaio. There’s “probable cause” that President Obama is a British, Kenyan, or Indonesian usurper. The President’s birth certificate is likely a forgery. He exists, but who is he really and shouldn’t be President of Kenya rather than POTUS, President of the United States. I suspect that in an election year we are in for a whole lot more fun and games on this issue. Perhaps even the bouffant Donald Trump might like to embarrass himself again.
“Rather fail with honour than succeed by fraud.”
Sophocles
CERTIFIGATE
Sheriff Joe: 'Probable cause' Obama certificate a fraud
Team wants investigation elevated to criminal-forgery probe – person of interest ID'd
The investigative team has asked Arpaio, who is at a news conference in Phoenix live-streamed by WND TV that began at 3 p.m. Eastern time, to elevate the investigation to a criminal probe that will make available the resources of his Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
The posse says it has identified at least one person of interest in the alleged forgery of Obama’s birth certificate.
Arapaio, known for his strict enforcement of immigration laws, commissioned the investigative team after local citizens presented him with a petition expressing concern that Obama might not be eligible for Arizona’s presidential ballot.
----The posse, comprised of former law enforcement officers and lawyers with law enforcement experience, has interviewed dozens of witnesses and examined hundreds of documents. It also has taken numerous sworn statements from witnesses around the world.
Mike Zullo, Arpaio’s lead investigator, said his team believes the Hawaii Department of Health has engaged in a systematic effort to hide from public inspection any original 1961 birth records it may have in its possession.
“Officers of the Hawaii Department of Health and various elected Hawaiian public officials may have intentionally obscured 1961 birth records and procedures to avoid having to release to public inspection and to the examination of court-authorized forensic examiners any original Obama 1961 birth records the Hawaii Department of Health may or may not have,” Zullo said.
The investigators say the evidence contained in the computer-generated PDF file released by the White House as well as important deficiencies in the Hawaii process of certifying the long-form birth certificate establish probable cause that a forgery has been committed.
The investigation was launched after 250 members of the Surprise, Ariz., Tea Party, presented a signed petition to Arpaio in August 2011 asking him to undertake the investigation.
The Tea Party members petitioned under the premise that if a forged birth certificate was used to place Barack Obama on the 2012 Arizona presidential ballot, their rights as Maricopa County voters could be compromised.
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished February:
DJIA: +106 Down. NASDAQ: +108 Down. SP500: +78 Down. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the stock market was rigged. Old indicators no longer reflect the actuality in the market. High frequency front running perhaps? Ebenezer Squid taking candy from babies?
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