Baltic Dry Index. 1027 +15
LIR Gold Target by 2019: $30,000. Revised due to QE programs.
“Privately,
U.S. officials say they believe Beijing authorities made the call to allow
Snowden to leave. In doing so, the Chinese may have simply been passing along a
"hot potato," that could have grown into a diplomatic spat.”
Reuters.
Well they ought to know, the NSA is listening in on their
phone calls and reading their emails. Want to know which horse the Queen’s
going to ride today, just ask the spooks at the NSA and GCHQ. For more on
Snowdonia and world reaction, scroll down to Crooks Corner and the new lawless
age we now live in. Flash drive time in the Pentagon apparently, but not to
worry, its only for systems administrators like Snowy.
With rock, roll,
and crash, now back in favour thanks to the wisdom of Chairman Bernanke last
week, a panicky BIS in Basel is now waiting for the next shoe to drop. Run do
not walk to the bunker. There’s a real chance of a Black Monday shaping up. The
next Lehman is out there and doesn’t the BIS know it. Meanwhile it’s only a
matter of time before the Greek
government falls and we start 2008-2009 all over again.
Stay long physical
precious metals taking advantage of the newly deep discounted prices. In
trouble at the mine, if precious metals prices fall much further, much of South
Africa’s mining industry will have to shut down. If so, add the RSA to the
likes of Turkey and Brazil. And watch
out for India too. Suddenly this summer looks to reprise 2008. Bunker time at
least for today.
When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't
adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.
Confucius.
BIS fears fresh bank crisis from global bond spike
Soaring bond yields across the world threaten trillion of dollars in losses for investors and a fresh financial crisis unless banks are braced for the shock, the Bank for International Settlements has warned.
The Swiss-based institution said losses on US Treasury securities alone will reach $1 trillion if average yields rise by 300 basis points, with even greater damage in a string of other countries. The loss could range from 15pc to 35pc of GDP in France, Italy, Japan, and the UK. “Such a big upward move can happen relatively fast,” said the BIS in its annual report, citing the 1994 bond crash.“Someone must ultimately hold the interest rate risk. As foreign and domestic banks would be among those experiencing the losses, interest rate increases pose risks to the stability of the financial system if not executed with great care.”
The warning comes after US Federal Reserve set off the most dramatic spike in US borrowing costs for over a decade last week with talk of early exit from quantitative easing (QE), sending tremors through the global system.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries has jumped 80 basis points since the Fed began to talk tough two months ago, closing at 2.51pc on Friday.
The side-effect has been a run on emerging markets, a reversal of hot-money inflows into China, and fresh debt jitters in Portugal, Spain, and Italy. Nomura said the US yield spike threatens to “expose the cracks in Europe once again” and short-circuit the US housing recovery.
More
ECB's Weidmann warns, 'don't count on low rates forever'
BERLIN |(Reuters) - Euro zone states and the private sector should not count on the current phase of low interest rates continuing forever, European Central Bank policymaker and the head of Germany's Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, told a German newspaper on Sunday.
Weidmann also reiterated criticism of the ECB's vow to buy up the bonds of struggling euro zone states and said that markets had overlooked the fact that ECB President Mario Draghi had said that the bank would operate within its mandate - meaning there would be restrictions on the bond buys.
Asked by Sueddeutsche Zeitung whether Europe could afford rising interest rates at the moment, Weidmann replied: "Neither states nor the private sector should expect the current phase of low interest rates to continue permanently."
"They must be able to service their debt in a normal interest rate situation too."
Weidmann, an ECB governing council member, said euro zone states' debt problems should not lead the ECB to hesitate about tightening monetary policy if needed.
More
Asian Stocks Drop on China Outlook, Extending Decline
By Adam Haigh - Jun 24, 2013 5:19 AM GMT
Asian stocks declined, with the benchmark regional index heading
toward the worst monthly loss in a year, as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its
growth forecast for China amid concern a cash crunch at banks in the world’s
second-largest economy. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s largest lender, lost 2.4 percent in Hong Kong, having risen just one day in June. BHP Billiton Ltd., the No. 1 mining company, declined 3 percent, dragging Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lower. AMP Ltd. tumbled 11 percent, heading for its biggest slide in 4 1/2 years, after Australia’s biggest life insurer and pension manager said it expects profit will fall as much as 16 percent
The
MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 1.2 percent to 126.18 as of 12:18 p.m. in Hong
Kong. Two shares fell for every one that advanced. The measure declined 2.3
percent last week amid concern that Federal Reserve stimulus measures for the
U.S. economy are nearing an end and that interbank lending in China is
worsening.
----Goldman Sachs lowered its estimate for 2013 Chinese gross domestic product to 7.4 percent from 7.8 percent, citing weaker economic indicators and tightening of financial conditions, according to a report today from economist Li Cui.
The Hang Seng Finance Index, a gauge of Chinese banks listed in the Hong Kong, headed for a fifth day of losses, retreating 1.6 percent. ICBC sank 2.4 percent to HK$4.51. Bank of China Ltd. fell 1.3 percent to HK$3.03 and China Construction Bank Corp. dropped 1.4 percent to HK$5.12.
More
India Funding Strain Grows as Fed Outlook Hurts Rupee
By Kartik Goyal - Jun 24, 2013 7:32 AM GMT
India faces growing strain
to fund the widest current-account deficit in major Asian nations after the
rupee slid to an all-time low on concern the U.S. will curb monetary stimulus
as its economy improves. The deficit narrowed to $21 billion last quarter, from $32.6 billion or a record 6.7 percent of gross domestic product in October to December, the median of 10 estimates shows in a Bloomberg News survey before data due June 28. The Reserve Bank of India estimates the sustainable level at 2.5 percent of GDP.
The
rupee touched the weakest level versus the dollar on June 20
after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S.
Bernanke said the U.S. central bank will probably taper bond purchases this
year if the American economy performs as it projects. The potential for reduced
stimulus exposes emerging nations from India to Indonesia and Brazil to the
risk of capital outflows.
More
In other EU news, Britain and China agree a swap
line as part of the process of bringing the Yuan into reserve currency status,
probably replacing the deadly euro. France opens up heavy fire on the EU’s King
Barroso the First. Euros anyone?
Money is a guarantee that we may have what we want
in the future. Though we need nothing at the moment it insures the possibility
of satisfying a new desire when it arises.
Aristotle.
But he wasn’t talking about fiat money.
News Release - People’s Bank of China swap line
22 June
2013
Governor
Zhou Xiaochuan and Governor Mervyn King have signed an agreement to establish a
reciprocal 3‑year, sterling/renminbi (RMB) currency swap line. The maximum
value of the swap is RMB 200bn. The swap line may be used to promote
bilateral trade between the two countries and to support domestic financial
stability should market conditions warrant.
Commenting,
the Governor of the Bank of England said: “It is a testament to the
outstanding working relationships between the Bank of England and the People’s
Bank of China (PBoC) that this swap line has now been signed. The
establishment of a sterling/renminbi swap line will support UK domestic
financial stability. In the unlikely event that a generalised shortage of
offshore renminbi liquidity emerges, the Bank will have the capability to facilitate
renminbi liquidity to eligible institutions in the UK. On behalf of the
Bank, I am grateful to Governor Zhou and the staff at the PBoC, with whom it
has been a pleasure to work.”
More
French minister says EU's Barroso fuelling far-right
ARIS |(Reuters) - French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg accused European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Sunday of fuelling far-right and populist movements in Europe as EU institutions failed to defend the interests of ordinary people.
His comments came just before France's conservatives narrowly saw off a challenge from the far-right National Front to win a by-election in the southern French constituency of Villeneuve-sur-Lot. President Francois Hollande's Socialists had already been eliminated in the first round.
"The European Union is paralysed. It does not respond to any of people's aspirations in the industrial, economic or budgetary fields and in the end it provides a cause to all the anti-European parties," Montebourg told France Inter radio.
"Mr. Barroso is the
fuel of the French National Front, that's the truth. He is the fuel of Beppe
Grillo," he said, referring to the leader of the populist 5-Star Movement
which won a quarter of the vote in Italy's February election.
----"This Brussels disease is going to be deadly for
Europeans," Montebourg said of Barroso's position.
Increased wages, higher pensions, more unemployment
insurance, all are of no avail if the purchasing power of money falls faster.
Bernard M. Baruch
At the Comex silver depositories Friday final figures were: Registered 41.40 Moz,
Eligible 122.58 Moz, Total 163.98 Moz.
Crooks and
Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally
doubled over.
Today, more on our lawless age. An outlaw outs the
illegality that the Lords of the Universe imposed on everyone after 9/11. Out
went the US Constitution and the concept of innocent until proven guilty. In
came, spying on everyone, blackmail, torture, and extra-judicial murder. Out
went the rule of law that took centuries to achieve, in came too big to fail
and too big to jail banksterism. Only the little people now pay taxes. If you’re Google, Amazon, Apple and their
ilk, cooperating with the illegal spymasters trolling of usable dirt on all,
take a walk on paying taxes. Welcome to the west’s version of Putin’s Russia.
Welcome to the 21st century. Who sins more, the outlaw whistleblower
or the outlaw regime that trashed rule of law and turned everyone into spied on
serfs to be exploited by the ruling elites?
"When
a President does it, that means that it is not illegal."
President
Barrack Hussein Obama, with apologies to “Tricky Dicky.”
Snowden's Hong Kong lawyer says HK government asked him to leave city
HONG KONG
| Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:14pm EDT
(Reuters)
- A Hong Kong lawyer representing ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden said on
Monday that a middle man claiming to represent the Hong Kong government told
Snowden that he should leave the city.
Legislator
Albert Ho told reporters he was approached by Snowden several days ago, and
that Snowden had sought reassurances from the Hong Kong government on whether
he would be able to leave the city freely, if he chose to do so.
Ho,
however, said that an individual claiming to represent the Hong Kong government
had subsequently indicated to Snowden that he was free to leave the city and
should do so.
"By
going through not entirely legal avenues, and using a person whose identity
isn't entirely clear to tell him (Snowden) that the government wants him to
leave. This is a highly unusual action."
"The
tragic lesson of guilty men walking free in this country has not been lost on
the criminal community."
Richard M. Nixon.
Snowden expected to fly to Cuba, U.S. urges his detention
MOSCOW/HONG KONG |(Reuters) - Fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden is expected to try to fly to Cuba on Monday while he waits to hear if Ecuador will grant him asylum, so far eluding Washington's efforts to extradite him on espionage charges.
In a major embarrassment for U.S. President Barack Obama, an aircraft carrying Snowden landed in Moscow on Sunday from Hong Kong after the Chinese territory allowed him to leave despite requests from Washington that he be arrested.
The White House said it expected the Russian government to send Snowden back to the United States. It had also lodged "strong objections" to Hong Kong and China over the decision to allow Snowden, who exposed secret U.S. government surveillance programs, to flee.
"We expect the Russian Government to look at all options available to expel Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged," said Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council.
Obama had been trying to reset ties with Russia and build a partnership with China, but the leaders of both countries were willing to snub the American president in a month when each had held talks with Obama.
Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino, on a trip to the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, said Snowden had sought asylum in his country. He declined to say what the Ecuadorean government would do, but added the request would be analyzed with a "lot of responsibility".
----A State Department official
said Washington had told countries in the Western Hemisphere that Snowden
"should not be allowed to proceed in any further international travel,
other than is necessary to return him to the United States".
----China Foreign Ministry, however, expressed "grave concern" over Snowden's allegations that the United States had hacked into computers in China, saying it had taken up the issue with Washington.
The
statement came after Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper quoted
Snowden as offering new details about U.S. surveillance activities.
These
included accusations of U.S. hacking of Chinese mobile phone firms and the
targeting of China's elite Tsinghua University, the alma mater of many of
China's top leaders including President Xi Jinping.
The Obama
administration has previously painted the United States as a victim of Chinese
government computer hacking.
----Ecuador has been sheltering the founder of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, at its London embassy for the past year.
The New
York Times quoted Assange as saying in an interview that his group had arranged
for Snowden to travel on a "special refugee document" issued by
Ecuador last Monday.
U.S.
sources said Washington had revoked Snowden's passport. The New York Times said
his passport was annulled a day before he left Hong Kong to try to thwart his
escape.
More
"What
do I care about the law ? Hain't I got the power."
Snowy,
with apologies to Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Pentagon flash drive ban has many exceptions
WASHINGTON |(Reuters) - The Pentagon has granted many exceptions, possibly numbering in the thousands, to allow staff members who administer secure computer networks to use flash drives and other portable storage devices, department spokesmen say.
The exceptions to policies barring the use of such devices could make it easier for rogue employees to remove sensitive documents. But officials say waivers go to people who update software and run helpdesk services for the Pentagon's vast computer network and are needed to run the system efficiently.
The U.S.
government's handling of sensitive documents has come under scrutiny since
Edward Snowden, a systems administrator for a contractor with the National
Security Administration, copied classified materials at a Hawaii installation
and leaked them to the news media.
Snowden
used a simple flash drive to store the materials, according to a government
source close to the investigation.
More
Honesty is the best policy.
Benjamin
Franklin
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished May:
DJIA: +142 Up. NASDAQ: +144 Up. SP500: +177 Up. The Fed’s
Final Bubble continues. But hurricanes and tornadoes appear. Getting out first
beats getting out last.
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