Daily Dispatches

7:43p ET Thursday, January 11, 2007

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Gold and GATA sympathizers in Western Australia are invited to the second local GATA lunch -- to be held at noon Monday, January 22, at the Subiaco Hotel at the corner of Hay Street and Rokeby Road in Perth. It is being organized by David Evans (david.evans@sciencespeak.com) and he'll post a "GATA" sign near the hotel entrance to make it easy to find our group. RSVPs are helpful but not crucial.

Iran Begins to Feels
the Financial Squeeze

By Michael Connolly
The Wall Street Journal
Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Evidence appears to be growing that Iranian firms are feeling the pinch of the U.S.-led drive to have banks curtail transactions with Iran's state-controlled banks. Iranian banks and companies, for instance, are now having to put up large deposits -- as high as 100% -- in foreign banks to get them to issue letters of credit for foreign transactions.

From Interfax News Service
Monday, January 10, 2006

http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/26.html?id_issue=11657879

MOSCOW -- A total of 42 commercial banks signed contracts to buy 161.9 tonnes of gold from producers in 2006, a source at the Gokhran precious metals and gemstones repository told Interfax.

Not all of the gold will have been delivered by the end of last year, so there could be some discrepancy between the amount of gold ordered and actually received, the source said.

By Rich Miller and Jesse Westbrook
Bloomberg News Service
Tuesday, January 9, 2007

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aMFZqx2S1aWg&refer=us

U.S. and European regulators, turning a spotlight on one of Wall Street's most profitable businesses, are conducting a joint probe into whether banks and securities firms set strict enough limits on loans to hedge funds.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Financial Services Authority in London met last month with some of the biggest lenders to the hedge-fund industry, seeking information on how they decide the amount of collateral required, SEC Commissioner Annette Nazareth said in an interview in Washington. Swiss and German authorities were also involved.