It’s early Monday morning, and I have LOTS to speak about. However,
I could not forsake my spiritual side if I ignored yesterday’s passing of Pat
Conroy – in my view, one of America’s greatest writers. An “army brat”
that wound up in South Carolina at age 16, and never left until passing at
70, his brand of colorful, imaginative, and horrifyingly truth-inspired
novels are amongst the most impactful I’ve read – from the Great Santini;
to the Lords of Discipline; the Prince of Tides; and perhaps
his best, Beach Music; Pat Conroy unquestionably shaped a small part
of what I am. In South Carolina, Pat Conroy is as iconic and beloved as
Stephen King in Maine, Bob Marley in Jamaica; and heck, John Elway here in Denver.
May god bless Pat Conroy’s soul, for providing such happiness and
introspection to so many millions, the world round.
Back to the equally horrifying financial world we live in, China
apparently “disappointed” at its National People’s Congress this weekend by
“only” forecasting the exact same, egregiously manipulated GDP “growth” as a
year ago. I mean, think about the utter carnage of the Chinese – and
global – economy in the past year; and consider how comical it is that, on
the very day that yet another massive Chinese capital outflow was
simultaneously announced, its government actually thinks people believe its
economy is growing at “6.5%-7.0%”; when in reality, “growth” is closer to negative
6.5%-7.0%. Then again, today’s data fudgers, like its market
manipulators, have in their desperation, lost all sense of tact and
subtlety. And none more than the kings of data manipulation, the
U.S. BLS. To that end, even I was flabbergasted in reading this
must read article on how the NFP payroll report is fabricated calculated;
which, once and for all, will make any remaining “recovery” sympathizers
raise the white flag.
You know what? The heck with the “rest of the world”; as frankly,
there’s no real need to reiterate the political, economic, and social horrors
every day. I’m sure I can take a day off from listing and commenting on
them all; as tomorrow, they’ll still be there, and far worse. To that
end, let’s focus entirely on the topic I – and most of you – care most about,
precious metals. Which, per the title of yesterday’s Audioblog, “the
day the (dollar-priced) gold ‘bear market’ died”, are merely in the first
inning of an “extra-inning” rally that, in my view, will last for years to
come. To be ultimately characterized, I might add, by the inevitable
supply shortages that will prevent 95%+ of the world’s population from
protecting themselves from the hyperinflationary end game of history’s
largest, most destructive fiat Ponzi scheme.
To that end, long-time readers know that – likely more than any person on
the planet, I have been documenting the Cartel’s daily machinations; 1) for
posterity, and 2) to identify “tells” that their historic price suppression
scheme is failing. And despite raging fundamentals for years on end, it
has not been until recent weeks that I have become truly convinced that the
Cartel’s end game has become as imminent as it is inevitable.
For example, I have been monitoring “Sunday Night
Sentiment” caps and/or attacks for close to five years – particularly
since the April 2013 “closed door” meeting between Obama and the top “TBTF”
bank CEO’s, immediately before the “alternative
currency destruction” gold and silver raids that commenced the past three
years’ price plunge. Not to mention, the run
on physical metal that threatens to destroy the Cartel in short
order. To that end, for a brief second, I thought that, after 135 such
raids in the past 141 weeks, we might actually have a significant PM surge on
a Sunday night. Let alone, following Friday afternoon’s egregious,
desperation “cap and attack,” following the historic news that the IAU
physical gold ETF was suspending share issuance due to demand so massive, it
has increased the gold hoard it (supposedly) acquired over the past ten
years, by 25% in the past two months alone!
As you can see above, the Cartel wasn’t defeated last night – in calling
in the cavalry, via prototypical “Cartel Herald”
algorithm – to make it 136 of 142 Sunday Night Sentiment attacks.
However, in what is, in my view, a clear signal of incremental Cartel
weakness, they failed to prevent PMs from surging at the “2:15 AM” open of the
London paper pre-market session for the third straight day – after
doing so at the “sixth sigma” rate of 610 of the previous 696 sessions.
Unquestionably, this is the first such three-day streak in at least three-plus
years; which, given the collapsing state of the global economy, and surging
PM demand, couldn’t be a bigger ”tell” if it tried.
To that end, not only has gold come within spitting distance of Friday’s
highs; but silver has surpassed them; whilst platinum, the “forgotten
Precious Metal” I wrote of on January 4th, when it traded all
the way down to $840/oz, just surged past $1,000/oz – likely, to never
materially fall below that level again. Disclosure – I added to my
platinum holdings this weekend, via Australian Platypus coins; as well as the
gold “Roaring Grizzly” and silver Cougar Predator coins Miles Franklin
continues to “pound the table” on, per thisarticle
I wrote two weeks ago.
However, the ultra-encouraging “news” of the day comes not from the PM
markets themselves, but their de facto “leader” – who, in my view, is
stronger, and more powerful than ever. Who is, of course, the great
Eric Sprott – who back in January 2012, I deemed “Admiral Sprott.”
In that article, I espoused how “due to Sprott’s access to capital,
devotion to Precious Metals, and savvy business decisions, his firm has
become a force to reckon with, as well as himself personally.”
Correct on all fronts, and particularly regarding the powerful firms he has
built both in Canada and in the U.S. – the latter, via the fine people at
Sprott Global, run by the equally powerful PM-advocate, Rick Rule.
Actually, the principal catalyst for writing it was the powerful surge in
prices catalyzed by the massive physical buying of the newly formed PHYS and
PSLV closed-end bullion funds – the latter of which, in my view, was the
single largest catalyst for silver surging from $23/oz at the time of its IPO
in October 2010, to its temporary peak of $50/oz in April 2011, just
before the infamous “Sunday
Night Paper Silver Massacre.” In other words, the institutional silver
market was so tight, even a marginally large incremental buyer was enough to
take prices 150% higher.
Only NOW, the silver market is dramatically tighter; with demand far higher,
inventories far lower; and production, care of years of Cartel
suppression and an imploding global economy, having peaked. And per the
extremely prescient article I wrote two weeks ago, “institutional
gold and silver demand, the final piece of the puzzle” – JUST BEFORE
FRIDAY’S HISTORIC IAU ETF NEWS – institutional PM demand has returned with a
vengeance, which is why the PHYS (gold) fund’s price has risen back to net
asset value; whilst PSLV’s (silver) has surged back to a 3% premium.
In other words, PSLV is getting very, very close to announcing what in my
view may be the largest secondary offering of its kind EVER. Which,
when it occurs, I assure you will have a major positive impact on
silver prices; just as, “coincidentally,” it’s about to follow gold’s “golden
cross” last week (50 DMA crossing above its 200 DMA) with one of its own.
To that end, in Sprott’s must listen weekly wrap-up with Craig Hemke of TF
Metals, at the 7:00
minute mark he is asked about this very topic – to which, he noted that
such a deal(s) is(are) getting close. Better yet, Sprott Asset
Management is holding a conference call on Wednesday morning at 9 AM EST
(register here)
to discuss the market for PHYS, PSLV, and the SPPP physical platinum and
palladium trust.
In other words, institutional gold and silver demand is back, stronger
than ever. And fittingly, it may well be “Admiral Sprott” himself –
having led our “tiny band of rebels” on an Alamo-like stand for the past
decade, who catalyzes the end game of the rapidly dying gold (silver, and
platinum) Cartel!
