The Other One Percent: Corporate Psychopaths and the Global Financial Crisis

Anyone who has ever worked in a large corporation has seen the empty suits that seem to inexplicably rise to positions of power.  They talk a great game, possessing extraordinary verbal acuity, and often with an amazing ability to rise quickly without significant accomplishments to positions of great personal power, and often using it ruthlessly once it is achieved.

Their ruthless obsession

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Crony Capitalism and More On Modern Monetary Theory

Bernanke and the western Central Banks stepped in to provide a jolt to the paper markets, and of course, the commodity markets including precious metals.

Intraday commentary on this here.






Steve Schwarzman, Chairman (and co-founder with Peter G. Peterson) of Blackstone and a Prince among crony capitalists, was on Bloomberg television today. Blackrock is the world's largest private equity

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

What European crisis? What Bank downgrades? lol

As a reminder, today was the end of the month, and the funds had a lot of catching up to do after one of the worst Thanksgiving week markets on record.

Currency Wars: Fed Acts To "Increase the Availability of Dollars Outside the United States"

Several people have asked what I think about this.

I wrote about this just yesterday.   I could not ask for a better straight man than Ben Bernanke.

"I think the major monetization is already occurring in the Eurodollar markets, and an ongoing stealth bailout of European debt, in order to save the big money center banks at home and broaden the reach of the Dollar.

And this is why the Fed

$500 Million in Missing MF Global Customer Money Found in London and at JPM

As predicted, the London operations of MF Global, the group that received bonuses the day before the bankruptcy filing, was apparently involved with the 'misplacement' of customer account money. And some of that customer money was in the hands of JP Morgan.

Bloomberg
KPMG Recovered $500 Million of MF Global U.K. Client Assets
By Kit Chellel
Nov 29, 2011 2:12 PM ET

MF Global (MF)’s U.K.

S&P Cuts Credit Ratings On 37 Global Banks

If Europe wobbles any harder, the global money center portion of the financial sector may slide into the sea. Or more likely onto the backs of the unsuspecting public.

I will be surprised if they do not try and rally stocks in the face of this to put the brave face on and whistle past the graveyard once again. This is what traders like to do when they have been caught offsides by the news.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - S&P Downgrades the Credit of Most Big US Banks After the Bell

Intraday commentary on gold, silver and the world currency situation here.

American Airlines declared bankruptcy today.

After the bell S&P downgraded JP Morgan, UBS, Wells Fargo, Citi, Goldman, Bank of America et al.

"Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. (C) had long-term credit grades downgraded to A- from A by Standard & Poor’s after the ratings firm

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Bank of America And Citi Credit Ratings Cut After the Bell

American Airlines declared bankruptcy today.

After the bell the credit ratings of Bank of America and Citigroup were cut from A to A- with a negative outlook.

Additional news includes other banks including Goldman, UBS and JP Morgan.

One of my friends remarked during the day that the banks index was lagging badly, but it was not fully reflected in the SP 500 futures. Perhaps now we see

Currency Wars: The Anglo-American Century and Why the Financial Engineers Hate Gold and Silver

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Antoine de Saint Exupéry
'Nominal GDP targeting' is a way of raising the Fed's inflation target without admitting to it explicitly.

Nominal GDP means that one can meet their growth target simply by inflating the money supply to make up the difference between 'real growth' and 'headline growth.' 

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts

After the bell, Fitch reiterated the US AAA credit rating but changed the outlook from stable to negative.

"The Maastricht treaty set a limit of 60% for Government debt as a Percentage of GDP. As of May, 2011 only 4 of the 17 countries in the Euro-zone are below this requirement. The worst violators of the debt limit requirements are probably obvious: Greece at 157.7%, Italy at 120.3%, Ireland

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

A reversal, with a big gap open, that so far has retraced the first Fibonacci level. It needs to do better in order to be counted more than a dead cat bounce given the oversold condition stocks had been in.

The market remains headline driven, and 'skittish' to say the least.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts

Still running short stocks and long bullion.

No real trading today in this thin holiday market.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

Will stocks really fall all the way to the bottom of the channel?

The big support may be a big test. It is obvious on the charts.

Warren Pollock: Open Letter to the CME

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Open Letter to the CME
To: Terrence A Duffy, Chairman CME Group

As illustrated by the failure of MF Global, I am of the opinion that, the CME has not met its basic obligations to the marketplace as a “public fiduciary.”

Our society depends on “basic finance” to provide “utility functions” such as banking, hedging, insurance, and/or capital formation. Presently,

Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1942 Thanksgiving Proclamation - Kipling's Caution to the Empire

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord."
Across the uncertain ways of space and time our hearts echo those words, for the days are with us again when, at the gathering of the harvest, we solemnly express our dependence upon Almighty God.

The final months of this year, now almost spent, find our Republic and the nations joined with it waging a battle on many fronts for the preservation

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Post Option Expiration Gut Check Doesn't Stick

US stock markets went out on their laws, roiled by a failed bond auction in Germany.

Gold and silver received their traditional post option expiration smackdown, designed to pry any new futures position out of the hands of any specs who happened to have held in-the-money calls after yesterday.

The US will be closed tomorrow, and staffed by junior employees on Friday. So eyes will be on the

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Out on the Lows

A failed bond auction in Germany cast a pall over the holiday markets in the US.

Stocks went out on their lows in thin trading.

Pigs 'R' Us - The Wall Street Groupon IPO

And it is...

When I play cards with the little girls, they make up new rules on the fly and sometimes cheat outrageously, palming cards and sneaking money from my pile of coins, so that we all laugh about it. They know that I know, and that I am being tolerant. They enjoy sneaking up on me, and jumping out of cupboards and behind doors. And I always act surprised, but never am.

After all,

CME Boosts MF Global Guarantee - Corzine & Gensler Called to Testify At House Hearing

It is good to hear of the increasing likelihood that the customers will be repaid. It may take some time for full repayment.

It is also good that Corzine, Gensler et al. are being asked to appear before the Congress. The article does not mention subpoenas, or whether the testimony will be sworn.

The facts of the case will most likely be buried under a smokescreen of 'accounting errors' and

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Bounce Back from the Smackdown

Silver would not be denied.

Keep an eye now on the December delivery process in the metals at the Comex.

All eyes on Europe and the US financials.

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

Light volumes. Some recovery from the daily low on the Fed minutes.

This gave a little cheer to a market that was digesting a weaker than expected GDP number.

The adults have left the building for the holiday.

All eyes on Europe.

Bank of America was warned by its regulators to stiffen up its assets.

The futures finally closed at 1180.75 which is important support.

JPM to Buy MF Global's Stake in the London Metals Exchange

JP Morgan to buy MF Global stake in LME
By Douwe Miedema
LONDON Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:55am EST


(Reuters) - U.S. investment bank J.P. Morgan (JPM.N) is set to announce it has bought a 4.7 percent stake in the London Metal Exchange for 25 million pounds ($39.1) from defunct U.S. brokerage MF Global, a person familiar with the situation said.

An announcement could come as early as this week, the

The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble and Petition the Government

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.



First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the

Tavakoli: MF Global Revelations Keep Getting Worse

“The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”

John Adams
MF Global is one of the most outrageous and brazen abuses of customers by Wall Street insiders that I have ever seen.

That it has been receiving so little attention by the mass media

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - December Option Expiration Tomorrow

"Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy."

J. Pierpont Morgan
As you may recall I warned several times over the past two months that this option expiration would get 'hit' because December is a big delivery month.

And so it has.

I am going to reset the upward curve on the gold daily chart to wherever this

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Much Ado About Nothing

“The boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the Treasury.”

John Maynard Keynes, 1937

Light volumes and the markets were in the profit-taking mood on the back of JPM's slam on metals.

Anyone who was surprised in the least by the Super-Committee's inability to reach a deal should not be allowed to roam about without a chaperone, as they might hurt themselves.

The whole point

Bernanke For A Day

The San Francisco Fed has provided us an online game that is presumably meant to be instructional as well as 'fun.'

After a few tries to test out its assumptions, I have been able to 'win it' pretty regularly, winning being defined as appointed to another term. It is very one dimensional so it gets old rather quickly.

One is hit with various oil and currency and fiscal shocks and surprises,

Trustee Says MF Global May Have Stolen $1.2 Billion in Customer Funds

"The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague."

Napoleon Bonaparte

Ironically a reader sent me their analysis yesterday that showed that the losses were $1.2 Billion. The twist here is that the Trustee may be accruing those losses to the customers even where there is some discretion.

One would think that the customers should be paid first out of all MF Global creditors. But I

Net Asset Values of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds

Tomorrow is Comex Options Expirations for Gold and Silver.

Someone remarked this morning that the monied interests seem to be increasingly brazen in their actions.

I have had the opportunity to discuss these things with people more experienced than myself over the years. Before he passed on, a fellow Republican and economist Pierre Rinfret and I had a number of conversations about this.   We

Update on MF Global: Interview with James Koutoulas of he Commodity Customer Coalition

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

Edmund Burke
James Koutoulas is CEO of Typhon Capital Management and recently founded the Commodity Customer Coalition (CCC), comprised of over 7000 customers of MF Global. As an attorney and spokesperson for the CCC, Koutoulas has an inside persective on the legal

James Turk Interviews Eric Sprott About Gold and Silver

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Brother, You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

"In a society built largely on confidence, with real wealth expressed more or less inaccurately by pieces of paper, the entire fabric of economic stability threatened to come toppling down."

New York World, October 25, 1929


"In economics, things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could."

Rudy Dornbusch
Next week is a

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

Some decent swings but overall a quiet stock option expiration today.

Next week is a holiday shortened week in the US.

It will be marked by a metals option expiration on the Comex, and the results of the Congressional 'SuperCommitte' on the US budget deficit.

Headline risk from Europe is very high.

US Corporate Taxes As a Percent of Corporate Profits

"Once upon a time, the corporate income tax generated a significant share of tax revenues; now, it’s bumping along in the 2%-of-GDP range. Yes, the marginal rate of corporate income tax is high, at 35%. But US companies are extremely good at not paying that.

But at least we know the aggregate amount that corporations pay in taxes. What we don’t know — because they won’t say, and no one’s

Poll Results: What People Are Thinking

These are the top six themes from our poll.

There was a huge drop off in votes after number six.

There was a pleasant understanding of the role of money and corporations in the readers' selections.

Gold Daily And Silver Weekly Charts

"Never argue with a fool, because they will only drag you down to the level of stupidity, and then beat you with their experience."

Michel de Montaigne
Today was December Option Expiration Metals Takedown Part Deux. As you know the actual expiration will be next Tuesday.

The pampered princesses of Bloomberg TV spent most of the morning alternatively frothing and tittering about the protesters

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

Tomorrow is option expiration on stocks.

The sell off today seemed a little 'technical' to me. Although the symmetrical triangle has broken to the downside, I don't count it ahead of an option expiration unless they can take it and book it into the weekend and hold it on Monday.

Next Tuesday is metal expiration on the Comex.

Net Asset Value of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds

The December Option Expiration on the COMEX is next week.

US trading will be thin in the holiday shortened week.

Change is in the air. But the biggest changes come slowly, over a long priod of time, and then suddenly make themselves known when the truth is revealed.

I am showing the NAVs and their premiums in the morning and in the afternoon.

Even yesterday some of the premiums were

MF Global: Customers Appeal an Apparent Conflict of Interest With the Bankruptcy Trustee

It's the scandal that keeps on giving.

A party associated with The MF Global Customer Coalition has sent a letter to Judge Glenn asking him to reverse the appointment of James Giddens as Trustee for the MF Global Bankruptcy case.

Apparently Mr. Giddens law firm's largest customers and his own clients in other matters are J.P. Morgan and Price Waterhouse.

J. P. Morgan at least has enjoyed a

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Swan Dive on a Statement of the Obvious

The market was running the usual daily routine, with stocks grinding higher and gold under pressure, but in the last hour Fitch came out and warned of US bank exposure to Eurozone debt, and stocks folded quickly, and took gold and silver down with them.

The US dollar was remarkably lacksadaisical. Option expiration in the metals is next week. And it is a holiday shortened week in the States

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Headline Risk

It had appeared that we would see the usual routine, a low opening and a steady grind higher all day as the wiseguys bought the dip, and 'tried to take it up' as they like to see.

However, headline risk reared its ugly head to hammer stocks to their lows in the final hour of trading as Fitch Ratings warned of Eurozone exposure in US banks.

This market is thin. That means that there are few

US Federal Prosecutions For Financial Fraud In the Obama Administration Fall to 20 Year Lows

The declines in US Federal prosecutions for financial fraud  that began under G.W. Bush have followed that down trend that in the first three years of the Obama Administration. That might make more sense if Obama had not been elected as a reform president in response to one of the greatest financial frauds in American history. 

In the first three years of the Obama Administration, federal

CFTC Commissioner O'Malia Warns of 'Rash Reforms' - "Isolated Incident" - Opposes Position Limits

The CFTC must make haste to prove to the public that MF Global was an isolated incident. It should not become involved in the issues of returning customer funds.

Oh, such wiles are hidden in the voice of reason and 'free market' ideology. Let's not be hasty. After all, it is only customer money, and we are just the regulators responsible for making sure it didn't happen in the first place.

MF Global Customers to Propose Faster Distribution of Funds Than SIPC Trustee

Commodity Customer Coalition
190 South La Salle Street, Suite 3000
Chicago, IL 60603
www.commoditycustomercoalition.org
info@commoditycustomercoalition.org

November 16, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: John L. Roe (jroe@btrtrading.com) 312-933-6564

Commodity Customer Coalition to Object to SIPC Trustee’s Claims Process for MF Global Bankruptcy, Propose Faster Alternative Claims Process

A CFTC Regulatory Change Opened the Door For MF Global Bankruptcy - And Worse

This is a very good analysis of how regulatory capture and the erosion of regulatory oversight opens the door wide for public loss and the defrauding of investors.

And it is also important to remember that in addition to bad investments, the MF Global scandal apparently involves the use of customer funds to meet margin calls for the firm's positions, which is a scandalous theft of funds.  And

MF Global Customer Fund 'Mystery' - Something Nefarious or Illegal Happened

If the customer funds are not returned, and justice is not done, then nothing and no one is safe from rapacious bankers and insiders who decide to seize your funds for themselves.

Anyone who is familiar with the markets and has a shred of decency is absolutely appalled by this outrageous theft from customer accounts and breach of fiduciary trust. And the wall of silence from the financial

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - What Time is the Next Swan? - And a Divertimento

What time is the next swan?

No I am not referring to the famous ad lib from Czech operatic tenor Leo Slezak.
"One of the most famous ad-libs in theatrical history came from the great tenor Leo Slezak. One night, while playing the title role in Wagner's opera Lohengrin, he ran into an unexpected problem. At the end of the opera, a swan appears at the back of the stage, drawing a boat that is to

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

Stocks appear to be coiling for a move.

I am tending to take the short side here, in a paired trade with long gold without leverage. No miners. I adjust the mix intraday to try and capture some of the games as the wiseguys do a wash and rinse with the index.

I do not wish to be caught long until some semblance of order comes to the European debt situation. And not only is it not getting

Pigfest 2011: Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Is Offering To Buy Claims Against MF Global

Bank of America's Merrill Lynch unit is soliciting for the purchase of claims against MF Global.

As you may recall, Bank of America is one of the major creditors of MF Global with JPM, and is reported to be one of the Debtors, along with JP Morgan, involved in the litigation trying to obtain superiority of their claims over customers whose money was taken/lost/stolen by parties unknown for now

The Coalition of Customers of MF Global File a Motion To Release Their Funds

"It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes."

Andrew Jackson
The Coalition of Customers of MF Global filed a motion to turn down JP Morgan's legal maneuver to give the Bank a priority as a Debtor over the Customers whose $633 million in non-cash assets were apparently 'misplaced' by MF Global.  The location of the funds,

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Who and What Is Safe?

With all the insider trading, ponzi schemes, accounting frauds, and misapporpriation of customer assets, investors have to be asking themselves, 'what is the real value of things, what are the hidden risks, and what is really safe anymore?'

So the average person seems to be flocking to US Treasuries, often held for them by brokers. This rush to paper dollars may be the last bubble, the great

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

The overnight rally fizzled badly.

Stocks are struggling here, and on light volumes.

Headline risk remains high despite the improvement in the VIX, which is still rangebound.

Letter of Appeal Being Sent by MF Global Customers to the Congress and CFTC

Attached is a letter being sent by customers of MF Global to their Congressional representatives and the CFTC.

Here is the court filing that caused such consternation.

It is hard not to assume as some have already suggested that this Bank which filed this motion with the court was the recipient of the customer accounts in what appears at least on the surface to be a fraudulent conveyance of

Are BofA and JP Morgan Really Blocking the Return of MF Global Customer Money?

"Once you have their money, never give it back."

Ferengi, First Rule of Acquisition
Here is a white paper that suggests that JP Morgan and Bank of America are trying to subordinate the customers' claims to their stolen funds and keep them in a pool of money to be distributed to the creditors by the Trustee, without any representation for the customers.  This is said to be the cause of the

Credibility Trap: US Congressmen and Their Staffs Regularly Engage In Insider Trading

These dozen Congressmen are just the ones that would brag about it openly to Jack Abramoff.

Trading in insider information amongst the Congress and their staffs is a form of soft bribery that undermines the character of the legislation, and is a relative side dish compared to the huge amounts of lobbying funds being thrown around by corporate special interests.  And both parties are in on it

CME Group to Provide Funding to SIPC for MF Global Customers

I am glad for any relief that might be coming for the customers of MF Global whose funds are frozen and at risk.

I wonder how extraordinary these measures referenced in this press release really are, and why they had to be extraordinary given the guarantees presented by SIPC and the regulatory responsibilities of the Exchange in the first place.

As I recall the stated reserves of SIPC are

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Rickards and Grant Discuss Money and Gold - Jack Kennedy

Gold and silver rallied back from the bear raid yesterday.

The correlation between metals and stocks is still troubling, but it does provide a ready hedge to bullion positions. This suggests that the metals are rising with liquidity and expectations of money printing, and that short term reductions in liquidity will drive the price lower.

Speaking of gold and money, here is a recent video

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Chart Formations and VIX

There was intraday commentary on the SP 500 chart that shows some important chart formations and levels of support and resistance.

The market rallied today on relief that Italy's bond prices relented somewhat, and consumer confidence came in 'better than expected.'

Volumes were light and the bond market and banks were closed for Veteran's Day.

Keep an eye on the European situation, as it

An Important Formation on the SP 500 Daily Futures Chart

The last few times these symmetrical triangles at rally tops have broken decisively to the downside.

We are in such a formation now. I have marked levels that might be good indicators of a breakout or breakdown and some short term targets.

I think the greater risk is to the downside while the European financial and political situation remains unresolved, but I do not wish to get ahead of this

The Heart of the Beast: The CME Group and the Failure of Financial Self-Regulation

This is a story about the first, albeit selective, potential default in the US by a major clearing exchange in the postwar period. And the cause of it remains a mystery, possibly by intent.

In the essay excerpted below, analyst Ted Butler brings out a key aspect of the failure of MF Global that has received far too little attention.

The self funding by the players of their industry's

MF Global Update - Why the Puzzling Delay and Lack of Disclosure? - JPM Jumping Queue?

Here is what I think and what I hear based on news and information from a variety of sources.

Obviously I cannot know the exact details or all the facts. And this becomes a little more speculative than normal, but that is the consequence of the lack of information and the cover up.

The facts are what the official investigation should uncover. Whether we find out what actually happened is

Curiouser and Curiouser: Missing MF Global Customer Funds May Be 'Massive Ploy'

And it appears that investor outrage is prompting a reaction amongst the regulators, as well it should. It is good to see that the CFTC is taking this seriously, and it is always good to hear from the 'can-do commissioner' Bart Chilton of the CFTC.

And it probably doesn't hurt to have SIPC on the hook for the funds as well.

Jon Corzine is a prominent Democrat who was said to be a candidate to

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Forget MF, Think MMF Variable NAV

A bear raid today ran the stops, and a few miners were selectively taken out and severely beaten down.

But all of it was within the range of the current trends.  So it was easily ignored, except perhaps to round out some positions and add a few less familiar ingredients to the moveable feast of the shorter term portfolio.

I have mixed feelings on silver. I am less constructive of it in the

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

Technical trade off the bottom of the trading range.

Europe is still the driver of the financial markets.

If you think this volatility is bad, wait until next year. It will probably make this trading environment look like a 1950's snoratorium.

People forget, and no where do they forget more quickly than in the swings between greed and fear on Wall Street.

It's Official: Wall Street Firms May Legally Steal From Their Customers - Rationalizations to Follow

...and they may not have to pay them back, even when they are caught. The customers will be expected to 'take one for the team,' and for the good of the system. Confidence and all that.

“This means they can take segregated funds and leverage them to kingdom come. It means nothing is safe.”

Andy Abraham
If you have a commodity account with Wall Street, they may gamble with your money, with

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Psycho Killers Qu'est-ce Que C'est?

I came in to the market with a bias heavily short, on a bet that the resistance on the charts would hold, and the wisequys were doing a classic pump and dump. And so they seem to be.

Gold and silver took a hit that looked like a correction more than anything else, and it provided an opportunity to round up some of the bullion positions while trimming off the shorts.

It is hard to predict the

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Wall Street Goes Bunga Bunga

"Why this resignation [by Berlusconi] without an heir apparent introduced 'certainty' eluded me somewhat.
I suspect that the Wall Street wiseguys are planning their own version of death by bunga bunga for the investing public."

Among the things that the US can no longer afford, at the very top of the list is a parasitic financial community setting up opportunities for looting the public trust

MF Global's Customer Assets - STOLEN - And Nothing You Hold In This System Is Safe

As suspected, MF Global brazenly took liquid assets like Treasuries and warehouse receipts, but not cash which would have been more quickly missed, from customer accounts to post as illegal collateral for emergency funding with a lender who must have known that they were receiving stolen goods.

When things fell apart, the lender simply took the collateral and liquidated it, and kept the money.

Risk Off

From last night:

"Why this resignation [by Berlusconi] without an heir apparent introduced 'certainty' eluded me somewhat.

I suspect that the Wall Street wiseguys are planning their own version of death by bunga bunga for the investing public."

Just another wash and rinse. Key support in the futures has held so far. Wax on, wax off.

Attention:
General Counsel, Chief Executive Officer and

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - La Douleur - Berlusconi Boogie Woogie

It was Risk ON as the markets rallied on news that the Italian PM Signor Berlusconi will be resigning after an austerity vote.

The rumours that he is being recruited as a Republican presidential candidate are probably mistaken, although he would blend.

Why this resignation without an heir apparent introduced 'certainty' eluded me somewhat.

I suspect that the Wall Street wiseguys are

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Risk ON

It was definitely Risk ON as the markets rallied on news that Italy PM Berlusconi will resign after the austerity vote.

Why this is a rationale to take on more risk eludes me, and I tended to view today as what we call 'technical trade.'

The VIX did fall, but is still within a range.

GATA: The Men In the Arena

This is for my friend Bill Murphy, and his colleague Chris Powell, of GATA.

We who invest in precious metals owe them a deep debt of gratitude and respect for their long and sometimes lonely fight, against often fearsome odds and tough criticism, to bring transparency and honesty to the markets.


"Today I shall speak to you on the subject of individual citizenship, the one subject of vital

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts

The metals ripped higher, with gold tearing through key resistance at 1780 and running up to 1800 into the close.

Now that the bulls have stuck a close here, they need to hold it and post a weekly close in the 1780+ area.

If they can do this then the next big trial will come with the December option expirations, barring fresh headline jitters.

As noted on the chart, the last big smackdown

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - No Fear, No Conviction - Flash Ready Market

For all that is going on the complacency amongst the pros is remarkable. There are wild swings in the futures overnight, the markets come in lower each morning during the retail trade, and the wiseguys buy the dip.

No fear. But I wonder how much conviction there is as well.

ICE Follows CME in Lowering Margin Requirements to Mute MF Global Impact

ZeroHedge initially misinterpreted the somewhat vague release from CME, raising an alarm amongst a number of people who sent it to me. And a number of people have since been critical of their mistake, which from what I could see was understandable. The CME release was very misleading.

ZH has since corrected it. And the ICE release makes the exchanges' intentions abundantly clear. When you

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Liberty Without Virtue


"But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint."

Edmund Burke


Bloomberg Magazine Advertisement
GroupOn = LinkedIn?

La la la, whatever. La la la, doesn't matter. As cynical an IPO as seen since 1999 they said today.

Where is the MF Global customer money? First it was

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

As fraudulent enterprises go, the US markets were relatively calm today in the face of uncertainty in Europe and a rather weak Jobs Report.

Perhaps the disconnected nature of the nation's money, its profound alientation with respect to the real economy, is the key to the market's increasingly erratic behaviour, and the remarkable silence of the lambs.





"Resplendent and unfading is wisdom,

CFTC Update on the Investigation Into Manipulation of the Silver Market In Progress Since 2008

The CFTC released a long awaited update on their investigation into the manipulation of the silver market, thereby meeting a key deadline to the public.

November 4, 2011

CFTC Statement Regarding Enforcement Investigation of the Silver Markets

Washington, DC – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today issued the following statement:
“In September of 2008, the Commission announced the

MF Global: $658 Million in Missing Customer Funds Found in Account at JP Morgan - Maybe

Government Of the People, By the People, and For the People
According to Bloomberg, $658.8 Million in what could be the 'missing customer funds' were 'found' today in an account at JP Morgan.

I know how it is.  Sometimes you forget to check your coat pockets and miscellaneous bank statements too. Sloppy bookkeeping. Tsk tsk. Oh well, just an honest mistake, right?

JP Morgan is one of the

The Disappointing Non Farm Payrolls Number: An Early Christmas 'Goose' Stuffed with Baloney

The Birth-Death Model was out of normal to the high side enough to raise a comment. This is shown in the first slide. Lately the BLS statisticians had not resorted to this and had actually been running at estimates a little more to what one might expect in a business slump.

The headline number without the Birth Death model, deseasonalized, showed negative growth.

So the truth is probably that

MF Global: The Mother of All Margin Calls

No, not the credit default implosion of the company itself. This is about the customers whose money was misappropriated.

The treatment of the non-insider investors and speculators by Wall Street is often shameful. This may be one of those times.

I think this has driven some of the recent trading, as the wise guys take advantage of the specs.

Brace for more odd swings in the markets.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - A Pervasive Sense of Disestablishment

"Terror... often arises from a pervasive sense of disestablishment: that things are in the unmaking."

Stephen King
Big up day for the metals.

I do not care for their synchronicity with stocks. So many assets are now correlated to a global reflationary event, and the markets are overly sensitive to headlines. That makes these markets highly dangerous.

What is happening with MF Global and the

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Here Comes Groupon

"The wolf thought to himself: 'What a tender young creature! what a nice plump mouthful.-- she will be better to eat than the old woman. I must act craftily, so as to catch both."

The Brothers Grimm, Little Red Cap

The Wall Street wiseguys are shoving the Groupon IPO out the door tonight I hear.

It *could* do well, but it strikes a kind of a chord for a high water mark in the post 2008

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - La Douleur du Monde

The metals had a nice rally today after the post-option expiration gut check.

Benny cooed some reassuring words but did nothing.  The equity markets rose for lack of anything better to do.

Gold and silver have not yet broken out and set the 'W Pattern' with a strong close above resistance around 1780.

If they can stick a strong close the year end target of 1950 is activated.  Right now I

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Much Ado About Very Little

Benny reassured the markets without really saying anything.

FOMC November Statement - G20 and Greek Debt - Bernanke at 2:15 - NFP Friday

"Everybody was expecting Tim Geithner and Bob Rubin, who's pulling the strings behind the scenes in the Obama Administration, to roll out some kind of IMF funded bailout for Greece in a global reflation. Your audience would love that.

It hasn't manifested itself yet. Supposedly at the G20 meeting next month, Obama was going to declare the jubilee and have the IMF just print money to bail out

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - MF Global Is the Tip of a Pyramid of Lies

"The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts.

For evil to appear disguised as light, as charity, as historical necessity, or social justice is quite bewildering to anyone raised on traditional ethical concepts.

But for the Christian who builds his life on the word of God, it merely confirms the fundamental perversity of evil."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

MF Global,

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - MF Global Admits Taking Customer Funds

Tough down day on the US equity markets.

I have a hunch that the Wall Street crew will circle the wagons, and that MF Global will suddenly 'find' the 700 million or so in customer funds in some misplaced account.

One after another, all will be led down an alley and strangled, for the sake of systemic corruption, starting with the truth.

MF Global Admits Misappropriating (Taking) Customers' Money For Their Own Purposes (Gambling)

Who do they think they are, the NY Fed?

AP
MF Global says it used clients' money
Tue Nov 1, 2011 2:42pm EDT

Nov 1 (Reuters) - MF Global Holdings Ltd ., the futures broker that filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, has admitted to using its clients' money as its financial troubles mounted, AP reported, citing a U.S. official.

An MF Global executive made the admission to federal

Net Asset Value of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds

I would like to know the details of how Sprott Silver is managing its cash, and whether it holds any units of the fund back for occasional cash sales.