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Daily Dispatches

New York Sun: Groupthink makes the Fed look like the old Soviet central bank

Section: Daily Dispatches

From the New York Sun
Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Economist Judy Shelton has a crackerjack column in tomorrow's Wall Street Journal on the lack of intellectual and policy diversity at the Federal Reserve. 

She points out that during the entire term of Chairman Jerome Powell and his predecessor, Janet Yellen, not a single dissenting vote was recorded among the governors. 

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Craig Hemke at Sprott Money: Comex gold delivery update

Section: Daily Dispatches

12:50a ET Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

The TF Metals Report's Craig Hemke, writing this week at Sprott Money, shows how the New York Commodities Exchange's gold futures market, previously almost entirely a derivatives operation, has been required to make huge deliveries of metal over the last year, totaling many times the amounts of gold delivered on the exchange in previous years.

Now, as a result, Hemke concludes, "Comex gold is subject to the same pressures and squeeze potential as Comex silver."

Chicago says goodbye to CME's last commodity trading pits

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Isis Almeida and Kim Chipman
Bloomberg News
Tuesday, May 4, 2021

It's the end of an era for open-outcry commodities trading, made famous by the film "Trading Places" with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd.

The CME Group Inc. said today that its last few remaining pits in Chicago, where agricultural commodities options traders still yelled their bids, will close permanently. Futures transactions had already been fully replaced by electronic trading, while options pits had been active until March 2020, when Covid-19 measures forced them to be closed. ...

Yellen sees no inflation problem after rate hike comments roil Wall Street

Section: Daily Dispatches

By David Lawder and Ann Saphir
Reuters
Tuesday, May 4, 2021

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday she sees no inflation problem brewing, downplaying earlier comments that rate hikes may be needed to stop the economy overheating as President Joe Biden’s spending plans boost growth.

The initial comments made by Yellen, a former Federal Reserve chair, deepened a sell-off in tech stocks and pushed longer-dated Treasury yields higher.

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Arkansas ends sales taxes on gold and silver; more states may follow

Section: Daily Dispatches

By JP Cortez
Money Metals News Service
Money Metals Exchange, Eagle, Idado
Monday, May 3, 2021

By signing sound money legislation today, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has officially ended sales taxation on gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bullion and coins, thereby setting an example for legislators in New Jersey, Maine, Ohio, and Tennessee, who are considering similar measures in their own states.

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Venezuela nearly triples its minimum wage as hyperinflation enforces poverty

Section: Daily Dispatches

But though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy. ...

-- http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_copybook.htm

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Venezuela Raises Minimum Wage in Fourth Year of Hyperinflation

From Reuters
Monday, May 3, 2021

The Venezuelan government increased the monthly minimum wage by 289%, an official said on Saturday, moving from the equivalent of 64 U.S. cents to about $2.40 at the exchange rate estimated by the country's central bank.

Israeli investors can now trade on Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange

Section: Daily Dispatches

By Shoshanna Solomon
The Times of Israel, Jerusalem
Sunday, May 2, 2021

The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange said Sunday it has received a permit from the Israel Securities Authority that will allow qualified Israeli stock market traders and investors to become members of the exchange and to use its trading services and platforms.

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Chris Marcus: Why did CFTC help suppress silver futures prices?

Section: Daily Dispatches

8:21p ET Sunday, May 2, 2021

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver):

In an open letter to the acting chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Rostin Behnam, published tonight, Chris Marcus of Arcadia Economics asks for an explanation of a comment Behnam made on March 18 that seemed to applaud and implicate the commission in the suppression of silver futures prices.

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Deepest backwardation since 2007 shows world is short of commodities

Section: Daily Dispatches

Fortunately there's still plenty of gold and silver -- as long as no one takes delivery

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By Gerson Freitas Jr. and Michael Roschnotti
Bloomberg News
Friday, April 30, 2021

For an idea of exactly how strong the fundamentals are for commodities such as metals, agriculture, and oil today, consider this: These markets are now showing the steepest backwardation in more than 14 years.

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