Long-time readers know I “cut my teeth” in the Precious Metals sector as a daily contributor, circa 2003-10, to the GATA website; then, as now, for free. GATA, led by the indomitable Bull Murphy and Chris Powell, has not only been a shining beacon of truth for nearly two decades, but started the movement to expose the hideous, illegal suppression that has irreversibly harmed Precious Metal investors, miners, and the global economy at large. Through GATA, I have made more good friends, and close colleagues, than any other organization in my 25-year professional career – including Andy and David Schectman, who “discovered” me there. Many are “household names” in the Precious Metal community; and unquestionably, a highlight of my life was being specifically praised by “Admiral Sprott” at the 2011 GATA conference in London, where he was the keynote speaker.
I’ve been through thick and thin with this group, many of whom are still active contributors to the cause. And amongst my fondest “GATA memories” are the annual “MOTY” awards put together by the late, great Adrian Douglas, to “salute” those who most egregiously circumvent Precious Metals truth. I’ll let you research what it stands for; but let’s just say it’s not a compliment – as exemplified by the two “winners” I can recall, Dennis Gartman and Jeffrey Christian. Hey, everyone’s entitled to their opinion – but when “opinion” treads on fact, you’re fair game in the court of public opinion. And particularly in the “long and strong” Precious Metal community, which is forced to endure more lies, propaganda, and misinformation than any in the history of investing.
Fast forward to today, where truth warriors like GATA – and the Miles Franklin Blog -continue to rail against those whose agendas don’t necessarily gibe with the dissemination of pure, unadulterated truth. And never more so in the gold and silver pits, where the war between monetary reality and those attempting to promulgate history’s largest, most destructive fiat Ponzi scheme is amidst an offensive as “economically bloody” as Antietam, Somme, Stalingrad, “the Bulge,” and Huế combined. Which ultimately, will turn out as successfully for gold bulls as the rebels at Yorktown, and as miserably for the “powers that be” as Napoleon at Waterloo.
Unfortunately, it’s “insiders” that typically inflict the most damage to the cause – for a range of reasons ranging from the obvious to the opaque. I’m not here to philosophize on such trivialities, or to single out individuals whose “work” is detrimental to our just – and most importantly, winning – cause. However, I think it’s constructive to bring to your attention a “MOTY-worthy” headline yesterday – per above, from a PM “insider” – who suggested yesterday’s gold weakness was due to a “lack of fresh, bullish news.”
Considering the source, I was not surprised, as it emanated from an organization which, contrary to its mission statement, has been decidedly anti-gold from the day I came across it 14 years ago. In fact, its previous “face of the firm” was nominated for multiple “MOTY” awards himself; and likely, was its “winner” on at least one occasion. However, even for me, who has seen every imaginable method to smear Precious Metals since becoming a devotee in 2002, this headline affected me to the core.
The reason being, that anyone with even a modicum of experience in financial markets – let alone, heavily manipulated ones like “futures” markets; which the CME, operator of the COMEX, all but admitted to yesterday – knows “fresh, bullish news” is not required to sustain prices on a daily basis. To that end, I didn’t realize there was a “statute of limitations” on good news; which fallaciously assumes that any news that emerges, good or bad, is immediately, instantaneously discounted into prices. Conversely, government-supported markets like the “Dow Jones Propaganda Average”; U.S. Treasury bonds; and recently, crude oil, arent’ “allowed” to decline even when “fresh, bearish news” emerges, even when it showers us on a 24/7 basis. Not even when such markets have historically weak fundamentals and high valuations – as opposed to gold and silver, which have historically strong fundamentals, and low valuations. Heck, the “next Lehman” itself, Deutsche Bank – which last month, admitted to illegally suppressing Precious Metal prices – had its credit rating downgraded this morning by Moody’s, for the second time this year, to just two notches above junk. And yet, it’s stock price is up!
Regarding the “lack of fresh, (gold) bullish news,” this inane description of the day’s events – ignoring the tell-tale Cartel algorithms that “manage” PM trading every day, week, and month – it apparently did not consider the very factors I was simultaneously discussing, such as “a recessionary cliff-dive of Japanese PMI, export, and import data…plummeting Chinese credit creation… and the lowest European PMI reading in 16 months.” And this, before the “unexpectedly” weak U.S. manufacturing PMI reading of 50.5 was published; i.e., its lowest reading since 2009, featuring these quotes from Markit, the organization that published it…
“The survey is signaling that manufacturing will act as a drag on economic growth in the second quarter, leaving the economy once again dependent on the service sector, and consumers in particular, to sustain growth.”
“Output is falling for the first time since the height of the global financial crisis, with factories hit by slowing growth of order books and falling exports.”
“Backlogs of work are also dropping at the fastest rate since the recession, meaning firms will be poised to cut capacity unless inflows of new work start to pick up again.”
“The survey’s employment gauge is in fact already running at a level consistent with a further reduction in the official measure of factory payroll numbers.
“Any uplift in prices was largely due to higher commodity prices, notably oil. Core price pressures look to have been once again subdued by weak demand.”
Surely, this is “fresh, bullish news” for gold – given that the self-admittedly “data dependent” Fed said it would only raise rates in June, if incoming data suggests a pickup in economic activity. Heck, even San Francisco Fed President John Williams, who last week was tasked with starting “Operation June Rate Hike Propaganda Storm” a week ago, at a press conference yesterday, said this when asked about the Fed’s June intentions…
“I don’t know what we’ll do.”
Let’s face it, what’s going on now – into this morning, as the Cartel’s “Sasquatchian footsteps” couldn’t be more evident – is the long-awaited liquidation of speculative positions in the paper markets; as sadly, the “commercials” did in fact win this battle, en route to the aforementioned Waterloo that awaits them. That said, those holding physical metal as long-term savings – as protection, and insurance, against the mathematically certain collapse of fiat currencies worldwide – didn’t “lose” anything this week, other than their tempers, at watching the Cartel again gain the short-term upper hand. Moreover, the lower prices caused by the “FOMC Minutes attack,” and subsequent paper liquidation, will only cause demand for actual, physical demand to rise; yet again, shortening the timeline of inevitable Cartel destruction, and liberation of economic suppression worldwide. Hopefully, you will not look this gift horse in the mouth!