Just like every other aspect of the global economy and capital markets, the sudden, rapid moves in every times series are becoming increasingly more pronounced: today’s case in point – consumer credit. Instead of rising by the expected $10.25 billion in June, following the whopper of a May bounce when it grew by $17 billion, in June, credit rose by only $6.46 billion. On the surface this was not a big miss and was the 10th consecutive increase in a row, driven exclusively by non-revolving credit – i.e. student and GM subprime loans. However, looking below the surface shows that following May’s biggest monthly surge in revolving credit since November 2007 (+$7.5 billion), consumers have again expressed a revulsion to credit, with revolving credit sliding by $3.7 billion: this was the biggest monthly contraction in revolving credit since April 2011, and before that since February 2009. Did Americans developed a sudden taste for credit funded consumption in May, only to puke it all up and then some in June? It sure appears that way based on recent retail sales numbers. The July retail sales number will simply confirm if the re-icing of US consumers has continued for another month.
With global stock markets trading higher, today legendary value investor Jean-Marie Eveillard, who oversees $50 billion, told KWN, “In a way one should not confuse fluctuations in financial markets or commodity markets with the end of the world. However, I think there continues to be considerable hope on the part of many investors that the Neo-Keynesian remedies which have been in place will result in a sustainable economic recovery.”
Jean-Marie Eveillard continues:
“There does have to be the realization that the hope of an economic recovery in the Western world will end up being a delusion. Investors and authorities who believe there will be a recovery are deluding themselves. But hey, hope springs eternal.
There is the continued stimulus being provided by the Federal Reserve, and of course some of that newly printed money ends up in the equity markets….
Senator Ron Paul, author of the legislation called Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2012 (HR459) that will subject Ben Bernanke and the privately-owned Federal Reserve Bank to a monetary audit policy has seen much support from his peers on Capitol Hill. The House of Representatives passed 327 – 98 on a vote last week which exceeded the necessary 2/3rd majority.
Bernanke, trying to deter the US Congress from digging into the private matters of the Fed, told House lawmakers that this legislation would allow a “nightmare scenario” of political meddling in monetary policy making. How pretentious of this head of the global Elite banking cartel to say that American representatives would be fumbling idiots meandering about in the matters of private shareholders being forced to disclose their agendas regarding our money system.
Paul, who is pushing for “transparency” in America’s relationship with the Fed, said that Americans are “sick and tired of what happened in the bailout and where the wealthy got bailed out and the poor lost their jobs and they lost their homes.”
Back in March, Bernanke lectured at the George Washington University in a propaganda stunt to reaffirm to the younger generations that the Federal Reserve is necessary and integral to the US monetary future. Bernanke claimed that “a central bank is not an ordinary commercial bank, but a government agency.”
By fabricating the factual need of the Fed as a cornerstone of our currency system, Bernanke tried to coerce the public on the benefits of the Fed. Dennis Kucinich said that “it’s time that we stood up to the Federal Reserve that right now acts like some kind of high, exalted priesthood, unaccountable to democracy.”
Paul wants to show the American public that their hard-earned money is going into off-shore accounts to support the global central banking cartels and fund their agendas. The focus is on the 2007 – 2009 “recession” that has laid the groundwork for hyper-inflation in the near future.
Today acclaimed commodity trader Dan Norcini told KWN, “One spark for gold may be at some point in August we begin to have rumors about what is going to happen at the Jackson Hole meeting. The first round of QE was announced during that Jackson Hole Summit in late 2008. So the upcoming meeting may wind up being very significant when it comes to which direction central planners are going to take.”
Dan Norcini continues:
“You may very well get a lift in gold based on the type of monetary response that may come out of Jackson Hole. The other situation which could escalate and have a huge impact in the key markets, particularly crude oil and gold, is the disintegration that is taking place in Syria.
If the war begins to engulf a broader scope of the Middle-East, bringing Israel and Iran into conflict, that powder keg could create an explosion higher in the price of both crude oil and gold….
Earlier today the Spanish stock exchange was down for nearly 5 hours - the reason is unclear: perhaps as a form of precrime punishment to all those felons who would even consider selling stocks in the future. Now, the SkyNet self-awareness wave goes East just as Japan opens and takes down all Tokyo derivative trading:
Tokyo Stock Exchange Stops Derivative Trades, Cites System Error – BBG
Tokyo Stock Exchange Group stopped trading of Topix futures, JGB futures and options from around
9:20 a.m. because of a systems error.
Co. spokesman Naoya Takahashi spoke in phone interview
In the aftermath a series of events such as the FaceBook IPO collapse, Knight, IBEX, this was only logical and expected. Tomorrow, any stock market that even thinks of a red candle will be halted indefinitely.
I was going to post this into the previous note but then decided that it needed it’s own thread.
The Gold Comex is dying. As we speculated late last year (http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/3120/thought-experiment), confidence in the fairness of the CME and Comex is leading investors and traders worldwide to exit the exchange. Growing awareness of the paper game manipulation is surely affecting things but, in my opinion, the biggest driver of this exodus is the failure of the CME Group to adequately backstop customer accounts following the collapse of MFG last October and PFG last month.
The proof is in the numbers so let’s go back and review some so that we can look at this in the proper perspective.
3/21/09 - QE is just beginning as the world is stabilizing following the events of 2008. Total gold OI is 388,000.
12/30/09 - Gold ends the year near $1100 and the total OI has risen to 491,712.
11/11/10 - Gold is now $1400 and QE2 has just been announced. Total OI is now 644,738.
1/25/11 - We had the huge and strange story about a massive, deferred month hedge being taken off and total OI fell 81,000 contracts in one day to 499,000. Very strange.
With virtually all markets trading higher today, King World News interviewed one of the wealthiest and most street-smart pros in the business, Rick Rule. Rule told KWN we are now at risk of, “… a spectacular collapse of confidence, circa 2008.”
Rule, who is now part of Sprott Asset Management, discussed the enormous problems the West faces. He also spoke about what investors should be doing with their money in this environment, but first, here is what he had to say about the problems the West faces: “We have a serious issue in the United States. At the federal level, the shortfall in the US is $85 trillion and that doesn’t include state and local debt. They are trying to deal with this issue by pumping money into the system.”
Rick Rule continues:
“If we have $85 trillion in net present liabilities at the Federal government level, how is it going to make it better by taking it up to $87 trillion or $88 trillion? I think you see this manifested in the market, Eric. The transaction would seem to be that the Fed, in some way shape or form, adds short-term credit to the banking system, and then convinces the banks to buy government securities.
There are a whole bunch of strange manifestations of this….
