Baltic Dry Index. 823 -06 Brent Crude 62.49
LIR Gold Target in 2019: $30,000. Revised due to QE programs.
“The problem with fiat money is that it rewards the minority that can handle money, but fools the generation that has worked and saved money.”
“Adam Smith” aka George Goodman.
The big news this week and probably next, is tiny Greece, (2 % of EU GDP,) being forced out of the Eurozone by Germany and the ECB. After effectively bailing out German and French banks back in 2010 via loading up Greece with unrepayable debt, the troika placed Greece into bone crushing austerity, but without any possibility of devaluation relief. Five years on, the Greek government has finally had enough, although not apparently the Greeks, with early polling showing a majority likely to vote yes to troika’s latest austerity proposal next Sunday, although by then that result might be moot. A yes vote might allow a defaulted Greece to somehow remain in the Eurozone, America’s preferred option, albeit only on Germany’s harsh dictated terms, but no one in Europe seems to be listening very much to Uncle Scam anymore.
Below, the latest from the wealth and jobs destroying, dying monetary union, that was supposed by now to have toppled “King dollar.” Stay tuned to media for more on the massive car crash of continental European vanity. If this is what happens in the monetary union when a minnow crashes out, just wait for the fun and games when, France, Italy or Spain crash out.
“We
all know what to do, but we don’t know how to get re-elected once we have done
it.”
Jean-Claude Juncker. Failed Luxembourg Prime Minister and
ex-president of the Euro Group of Finance Ministers. Confessed liar. EC
President.
Greece Closing Banks as Expiring Bailout Spurs Withdrawals
June 28, 2015 — 7:02 PM BST Updated on June 29, 2015 — 12:28 AM BST
Greece moved to avert the collapse of its financial system, shutting lenders
and imposing capital controls as of Monday, a measure that will deepen the
recession and risk driving the nation toward an exit from the euro.The move to husband resources followed the breakdown of aid talks with the international creditors late Friday and the European Central Bank decision to freeze its lifeline to Greek banks. On the streets, lines at ATMs and gas stations signified how daily life was about to be disrupted.
With cash flooding out at a record pace and its financial backstop gone, Greece would become the second euro-area country, after Cyprus in 2013, to declare a bank holiday and impose capital controls. European officials, meantime, discussed quarantining Greece from the rest of the currency bloc, while keeping it from spinning out of the euro’s orbit.
“A very dark day for Greece,” Nicholas Economides, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, said by telephone. “The Greek economy, already at standstill, will go to deep freeze.”
The euro fell in Asian trading, sliding 1.5 percent to $1.0996 at 02:15 a.m. in Athens. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the steps were recommended by the Bank of Greece in a meeting Sunday afternoon of the country’s financial-stability authority.
“In the coming days, what’s needed is patience and composure,” Tsipras said in a televised statement. “The bank deposits of the Greek people are fully secure. The same applies to the payment of wages and pensions -- they are also guaranteed.”
More
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-28/greece-closing-banks-as-expiring-bailout-spurs-withdrawal-wave
ECB Freezes Greek Emergency Bank Aid as Referendum Looms
June 28, 2015 — 1:49 PM BST Updated on June 28, 2015 — 5:51 PM BST
The European Central Bank froze the level of emergency aid available to
Greek banks in a move that threatens to cripple the country’s financial system
after a flood of ATM withdrawals.
The Governing Council agreed on Sunday to cap the amount of cash
available at the level set in its previous decision on Friday, it said in a
statement. One euro-area official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the
ECB views the funds as insufficient for lenders’ requirements and that Greece
will need to call a bank holiday before branches open on Monday.
The ECB also said it can use all tools available to protect the euro
area, in a sign officials are now shifting focus to the potential fallout as
Greece veers closer to a financial collapse. With Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
pledging a July 5 referendum on bailout terms previously proposed by creditors,
a debt default and potentially an exit from the single currency are becoming
increasingly likely.
Morehttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-28/ecb-freezes-greek-emergency-bank-aid-as-referendum-raises-risk
Stock Traders Face Sucker Punch After Week of Greek Optimism
June 28, 2015 — 4:28 PM BST Updated on June 28, 2015 — 11:15 PM BST
For Europe stock traders who went all-in last week speculating on a
Greek resolution, it’s time to rethink the strategy.
U.S. stock-index futures tumbled, and gains that pushed the Euro Stoxx
50 Index up 4.8 percent, including the largest one-day rally in three years,
are at risk after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he would put terms of the
Greek bailout to voters. A Capital Markets Commission official said the Athens
Stock Exchange will remain shut on Monday.
It’s a measure of how rapidly sentiment has shifted that the latest
breakdown followed a week in which Greek shares posted their biggest increase
since 2008, rising 16 percent. Six days ago, investors were celebrating signs
the impasse was breaking as European policy makers said reforms submitted by
Tsipras were a positive step.
“I would not be surprised if we see some selling pressure in equities,”
said Manish Singh, head of investments at Crossbridge Capital in London.
“Financials, particularly those in the periphery, and peripheral equities are
most at risk.”
Morehttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-28/stock-investors-face-sucker-punch-after-week-of-greece-optimism
U.S. urges Europe, IMF to reach a deal to keep Greece in euro zone
WASHINGTON
|
Top U.S. officials waded in at the weekend to try to help resolve
Greece's financial woes, urging Europe and the International Monetary Fund to
come up with a recovery plan that keeps the country in the euro zone.
In a series of separate phone calls on Saturday to IMF Managing Director
Christine Lagarde and the finance ministers of Germany and France, Treasury
Secretary Jack Lew urged them to "find a sustainable solution that puts
Greece on a path toward reform and recovery within the Eurozone,"
according to a Treasury Department statement on Sunday about the calls.
Lew noted it is "important for all parties to continue to work to
reach a solution, including a discussion of potential debt relief for
Greece," in the run-up to a planned July 5 referendum in Greece on the
terms of a bailout, said the statement, provided by a spokesperson.
Greece is facing a looming Tuesday deadline on a 1.6 billion euro
payment due to the IMF. Earlier Sunday, Greece announced it will impose capital
controls and keep its banks shut on Monday, after international creditors
refused to extend the country's bailout.
Lew also underscored the need for Greece to adopt "difficult
measures to reach a pragmatic compromise with its creditors," the Treasury
statement said.
The Treasury spokesperson said senior department officials have also
been in regulator communication with Greece and that Lew had spoken to Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras "multiple times" over the past two weeks.
The department has urged Greece to work closely with its international
partners on planning for a bank holiday and capital controls, the spokesperson
said.
President Barack Obama spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on
Sunday about the Greek situation.
More
While the focus is rightly on Greece and Europe today and for the foreseeable future, in America it looks better and better for an interest rate rise in September. Since that event would likely cause a wild stampede from Uncle Scam’s bonds, ending the Great Bond boom of 1982 to 2015, it will be interesting to see who tries to exit this summer ahead of the stampeding herd. Of course, the Fedster’s are terrified of attempting an interest rate hike, even one as meaningless as mere quarter of one percent from zero. Ending ZIRP starts the multi-year bond bear market, that ends the Great Nixonian Error of fiat money. While Uncle Scam looks to tighten, the Middle Kingdom is headed the other way to try head off a stock market repeat of NASDAQ 2000.
Federal Reserve primed to raise rates as the US engine roars back into life
Central bank watchers believe strong jobs data this week will all but confirm a US rate rise this September
Strong US jobs growth will open the door for the Federal Reserve to raise its interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis, official data is expected to confirm this week.Figures released on Thursday are likely to show that the American economy added a further 230,000 jobs in June, all but confirming that the world’s biggest economy is booming again, experts say.
The swift pace of hiring follows a bumper month in May – when 280,000 jobs were created – and take the unemployment rate 0.1 percentage point lower to 5.4pc in June.
Analysts at UBS said: “Although there is some month-to-month volatility in the unemployment rate, the trend is firmly downward.” The Swiss bank expects unemployment to drop to 5pc in the final quarter of the year, and to 4.6pc a year later.
The jobs data will pave the way for the Federal Reserve to increase its rates from the emergency levels of the past six years. Central bank watchers now believe that a rate rise could come in September.
More
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11703213/Federal-Reserve-primed-to-raise-rates-as-the-US-engine-roars-back-into-life.html
China Cuts Interest Rates to a Record Low After Stocks Slump
June 27,
2015 — 10:30 AM BST Updated on June 27, 2015 — 12:26 PM BST
hina’s central bank cut its benchmark lending rate to a record low and
lowered reserve-requirement ratios for some lenders after stocks plunged and
local government bond sales drained liquidity.In the fourth reduction since November, the one-year lending rate will be reduced by 25 basis points to 4.85 percent effective June 28, the People’s Bank of China said on its website Saturday. The one-year deposit rate will fall by 25 basis points to 2 percent, while reserve ratios for some lenders including city commercial and rural commercial banks will be cut by 50 basis points, according to the statement.
The easing follows the biggest two-week plunge in the stock market since December 1996 and a four-week rise in money-market rates as lenders hoard cash. While industrial production and retail sales stabilized in May, investment slowed further -- a sign of weakness in infrastructure spending that policy makers are keen to reverse.
“The central bank doesn’t want a panic caused by the stock rout to spread,” said Shen Jianguang, chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. “That would lead to financial instability.”
Premier Li Keqiang has set a growth target of about 7 percent for 2015, which would be the slowest annual expansion since 1990. Policy makers are juggling the need to keep growth from slipping too far with plans to press ahead with reforms.
PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan’s latest move adds to a global wave of
monetary easing. South Korea and New Zealand are among the latest to lower
their key rates as China’s weakness combined with domestic dynamics to argue
for further stimulus.
The Shanghai Composite Index sank 7.4 percent on Friday, taking its
decline from its June 12 high to 19 percent, on the cusp of a bear market.
Morehttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-27/china-cuts-interest-rates-reserve-ratio-in-bid-to-stem-slowdown
But today we end with European news. Below, the United States of Europe that was supposed by the Bilderbergers to supplant the despised U.S.A.
Mont Blanc controversy: French suffer a fit of pique as Italy's Prime Minister 'reclaims' Europe's highest mountain
Sunday 28 June 2015
With the Italian-French diplomatic row over migrants still simmering,
the Alpine neighbours have found something else to bicker about: who owns Mont
Blanc – or Monte Bianco – Europe’s highest mountain?
Since the Italian Republic was formed 150 years ago, France has claimed
that three of the principal peaks on the Mont Blanc massif, Dôme du Goûter,
Punta Helbronner and the tallest, Mont Blanc itself at 4,810m (15,781ft), are
in its territory. This has always been disputed by Italian mountaineers. And
the row has flared up once again with a proprietorial appearance by Italian
Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, at one of the disputed points last week to mark
the opening of a new €138m (£97.8m) Italian cable car, with suggestions
that French officials had snubbed the event.
According to Google Maps, the three peaks are entirely in French
territory, with the French-Italian border curving south at the summit. Thus the
very top would form part of the French town of Haute-Savoie of Saint Gervais
Les Bains, and not the Italian resort of Courmayeur.
Other sources vary on where the border lies on the Mont Blanc massif
between Italy and France. Some textbooks list Monte Bianco di Courmayeur, a
summit not far from Mont Blanc, as Italy’s highest point, and French and Swiss
maps also show this to be the border.
But others insist that the border crosses Mont Blanc itself. Locals in
Courmayeur recently stepped up claims that the summit is shared by both nations
and that, as a result, 400,000 square metres of Europe’s highest ground should
be given back to them.
Upping the tensions, said La Stampa newspapers, were reports of a
reverse offensive by the French. Italian mountain guides claim that at the
nearby peak of Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo, French bulldozers have pushed
the border stone 150m into Italian territory.
Laura and Giorgio Aliprandi, two leading Italian cartographers, said in
the newsletter of the Italian Alpine Club that the summit was shared. They
noted that two French experts, Sylvain Jouty and Hubert Oudier, in their 1999
Dictionnaire de la montagne, agreed with them, saying that “the border must
logically be on summit”.
----Mr Renzi would no doubt agree. He
referred to the border dispute during his visit to the new cable car that lifts
sightseers 3,462m up to the peak at Punta Helbronner. He referred to the
project, which was constructed by 500 workers in temperatures as low as –30C,
as “the eighth wonder of the world”.
“We haven’t invaded France,” Mr Renzi said, both acknowledging the
altercation and denying suggestions that Italy might have got ahead of itself
by building the spectacular observation deck in the disputed zone. That did not
stop a French journalist present at the inauguration from asking Mr Renzi what
he thought about the conspicuous absence of French officials at the event.
Morehttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mont-blanc-controversy-french-suffer-a-fit-of-pique-as-italys-prime-minister-reclaims-europes-highest-mountain-10351349.html
"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
At the Comex silver depositories Friday
final figures were: Registered 57.87 Moz, Eligible 125.00 Moz, Total 182.87
Moz.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally
doubled over.
Today, one usual suspects comes out talking its
book on Brexit. It would only be news if GE had come out the other way. Saying
that some will be winners and others losers is merely stating the obvious. GE
anticipates that it will be a loser, so what does that say about holding on to
GE stock? As the vote on Brexit gets nearer, I expect the great and the not
quite so good to get shriller and shriller in predicting the sky falling if
Britain exits the EUSSR. The same threats and shrill noise came from the usual
suspects over the dire consequences for GB if it failed to join the now dying
euro. The usual suspects have form, when it comes to trying to panic the UK’s
voters on Europe.
"When it becomes serious, you have to lie"
Jean-Claude Juncker. Failed Luxembourg Prime Minister and ex-president of the Euro Group of Finance Ministers. Confessed liar. EC President.
Jean-Claude Juncker. Failed Luxembourg Prime Minister and ex-president of the Euro Group of Finance Ministers. Confessed liar. EC President.
American behemoth General Electric warns of 'hugely damaging' Brexit
Industrial conglomerate's UK boss says it is 'critical' that UK stays in reformed EU
General Electric, the American industrial giant, has warned of the economic damage that could come from Britain leaving the EU and indicated that it could move some operations abroad if links with the Continent are cut.Mark Elborne, GE’s head of the UK and Ireland, said: “I think that an exit from the EU would be hugely damaging and would cause a lot of difficulties in the short term.”
GE, a $275bn (£175bn) conglomerate whose products range from aircraft engines to oil industry components, wind turbines and healthcare equipment, employs more than 18,000 people in the UK and 40 manufacturing plants. In total, it has 90,000 staff in Europe.
The American institution said it backed attempts by David Cameron to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU. It wants the Brussels to slash red tape and improve cross-border rule. “A reformed Europe is critical to us”, Mr Elborne said.
It comes the week after a group of business leaders and economists said that unless David Cameron is able to secure meaningful change in Brussels, Britain should vote to leave the EU in the upcoming referendum.
GE’s British manufacturing operations were “global centres of excellence for their products”, Mr Elborne said.
He added: “We want to be part of a trading group where we can continue
to benefit from the lack of barriers, we want to benefit from large-scale trade
agreements, the convergence of standards, and we want to be able to operate
seamlessly between our different businesses across Europe.”
GE adds its names to a long list of business figures which have warned
against leaving Europe.
More
"The history of paper
money is an account of abuse, mismanagement, and financial disaster."
Richard M. Ebeling
Solar & Related Update.
With events
happening fast in the development of solar power, I’ve added this new section.
Updates as they get reported. Is converting sunlight to usable cheap AC energy
mankind’s future from the 21st century onwards? A quantum computer
next?
Bill Gates calls for Manhattan Project-style renewable energy drive
Friday 26 June 2015
Governments should invest in research into renewable energy on the same
scale as the Manhattan Project and the Apollo moon missions, Bill Gates has
said as he revealed he planned to double his own investment in green
technologies to nearly £1.3bn.
The world’s richest man told the Financial Times that he had
invested $1bn (about £650m) in companies involved in carbon capture
technologies, next-generation nuclear, new kinds of batteries and other types
of research in the field. And he said: “Over the next five years, there’s a
good chance that will double.”
Mr Gates, the founder of Microsoft, said “great innovation” was still
needed to make energy in a way that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions
significantly.
And this would only be achieved if governments spent tens of billions of
dollars on research and development into new renewables, he said.
“Because there’s so much uncertainty and there are so many different
paths, it should be like the Manhattan Project and the Apollo Project in the
sense that the government should put in a serious amount of R&D,” he told
the FT.
The Manhattan Project was the US research programme that led to the
creation of the first nuclear bombs. It ultimately employed 130,000 people and
cost more than $23bn in today’s prices.
But Mr Gates also suggested savvy private investors stood to make a
fortune in the renewable industry in much the same way as those who picked the
right firms at the dawn of the computer age.
-----Another nascent technology to attract his attention is “solar
chemical”, a kind of artificial photosynthesis that could be used to create
hydrogen for fuel.
And Mr Gates has invested several hundred million dollar in “nuclear
recycling”, which sees reactors powered by waste uranium from existing power
plants as well as their own waste.
“Nuclear technology today is failing on cost, safety, proliferation,
waste and fuel shortage, and so any technology that comes in has to have some
answer to all of those things,” he said.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/bill-gates-calls-for-manhattan-projectstyle-renewable-energy-drive-10346752.html?icn=puff-6
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished May
DJIA: +107 Down. NASDAQ:
+195 Down. SP500: +139 Down.
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