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Daily Dispatches
IMF would sell gold because European central banks won't anymore
Submitted by cpowell on Wed, 2007-01-31 21:50 Section: Daily DispatchesBy Michael Kosares
Centennial Precious Metals, Denver
www.USAGold.com
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
I don't think we are going to see any sale of gold by the International Monetary Fund. It looks like the Central Bank Gold Agreement's inability to reach the 500-tonne quota for the 2006 agreement year (only 350 tonnes were sold) left more of an impression than any of us realized.
The IMF's Committee of Eminent Persons, which interestingly included the head of the Chinese central bank and former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, is saying essentially that the IMF "could" supply the shortage left if the Central Bank Gold Agreement can't meet the 500-tonne allotment in the future. This translates to market neutral because, theoretically, whether the IMF sold gold or not, no more than 500 tonnes would go on the market over the CBGA year.
Venezuela gets a fuhrer
Submitted by cpowell on Wed, 2007-01-31 20:30 Section: Daily DispatchesChavez Gains Free Rein in Venezuela
By Fabiola Sanchez
Associated Press
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070201/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_chavez;_...
CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez was granted free rein Wednesday to accelerate changes in broad areas of society by presidential decree, a move critics said propels Venezuela toward dictatorship.
Jim Sinclair: Any IMF sales will be great for gold
Submitted by cpowell on Wed, 2007-01-31 17:06 Section: Daily DispatchesFrom Jim Sinclair's MineSet
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Dear Mr. Sinclair:
Can you comment on the Bloomberg article about the possible gold sales by the International Monetary Fund? It sounds innocuous enough and the experience of 1976-80 certainly does not cause any alarm, but you know better than I what the perception and effect on the price of gold from this article would be given the people making the recommendation and the actuality if it comes to pass.
Central banks must be running low: IMF talks gold sales again
Submitted by cpowell on Wed, 2007-01-31 15:59 Section: Daily Dispatches3:57p ET Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
The central banks must be running low on gold, for today the International Monetary Fund piped up with another gold-selling scheme, maybe because the IMF's 3,217 tonnes of gold can be considered the gold of no one in particular and so may be easier to part with.
Just perfectly, the IMF committee whose report recommends selling gold was chaired by Andrew Crockett, president of JPMorgan Chase International, the great gold shorter for the central banks and formerly director general of the Bank for International Settlements, the great coordinator of the central bank gold-price suppression scheme, as acknowledged in June 2005 by the BIS' own William S. White, head of the bank's monetary and economic department:
Mining giants indignant that someone else should rape and pillage Africa
Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2007-01-30 23:22 Section: Daily DispatchesBy David Robertson
The Times, London
Monday, January 29, 2007
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9072-2571763,00.html
The world's largest mining companies are turning to the UN and the World Bank in an attempt to prevent China freezing them out of Africa, The Times has learnt.
The heads of more than a dozen mining companies representing assets of more than $700 billion (£357 billion) met in secret at the World Economic Forum at Davos last week.
Central banks can't determine how much leverage is out there
Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2007-01-30 22:35 Section: Daily DispatchesAfter the Flood:
How Central Banks Fret
About Failures
Once Liquidity Dries Up
By John Plender
Financial Times, London
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/539c92d0-b006-11db-94ab-0000779e2340.html
In September 1998 Bill McDonough, the then president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, corralled representatives of 14 leading banks into the Fed's offices at 33 Liberty Street in Manhattan's financial district and urged them to bail out the ailing Long-Term Capital Management hedge fund. It was a classic central banker's response to a potential systemic crisis.
Ted Butler: Buyer beware
Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2007-01-30 16:12 Section: Daily Dispatches4:08p ET Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
Silver market analyst Ted Butler's latest commentary warns against buying silver in pool or certificate accounts that offer no assurance of having real metal behind them in the crunch. His commentary is headlined "Buyer Beware" and you can find it at GoldSeek's companion site, SilverSeek, here:
Falling yen sparks carry trade alert
Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2007-01-30 08:46 Section: Daily DispatchesBy Gillian Tett and Peter Garnham
Financial Times, London
Monday, January 29, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ft/20070130/bs_ft/fto012920071956112665;_ylt=AvN...
The yen hit a four-year low against the US dollar on Monday, intensifying fears that the rising level of currency-based "carry trades" by hedge fund investors could jolt markets if these positions were suddenly unwound.
Hedge-fund hardball: How Amaranth was devoured by its banker, MorganChase
Submitted by cpowell on Tue, 2007-01-30 01:06 Section: Daily DispatchesHedge-Fund Hardball
Amid Amaranth's Crisis,
Other Players Profited
Goldman Offered Deal;
J.P. Morgan Balked,
Then Did One Itself
By Ann Davis, Gregory Zuckerman, and Henny Sender
The Wall Street Journal
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
When Amaranth LLC collapsed in the fall, after swiftly losing more than $6 billion, it was the biggest hedge-fund failure ever. Now as investors slowly get back what's left of their money, it's becoming clear the debacle also had some big winners: other players in the high-stakes energy market who profited from a crippled rival's travails.
Ron Struthers: New commodities index is a lie
Submitted by cpowell on Mon, 2007-01-29 21:05 Section: Daily Dispatches8:50p ET Monday, January 29, 2007
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
Ron Struthers, editor of Struthers' Resource Stock Report, reports that the new Reuters/CRB commodities price index, introduced in July 2005, shows a plunge in commodity prices even as a calculation of the index according to its former parameters shows a steady increase continuing. The new index, Struthers writes, "has only one purpose and that is to mislead the investment community. It is simply another tool in the Fed/government's chest for the management of economic data."