http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com
http://albertpeia.com/bankstershoardinggold.htm
‘The big banks are breathlessly proclaiming
that now is the time to sell your gold. They are warning that we have now
entered a "bear market" for gold and that the price of gold will
continue to decline for the rest of the year. So should we believe
them? Well, their warnings might be more credible if the central banks of
the world were not hoarding gold like crazy. During 2012, central bank
gold buying was at the highest level that we have seen in almost 50 years.
Meanwhile, insider buying of gold stocks has now reached multi-year highs and
the U.S. Mint cannot even keep up with the insatiable demand for silver eagle
coins. So what in the world is actually going on here? Right now,
the central banks of the world are indulging in a money printing binge that
reminds many of what happened during the early days of the Weimar Republic. When you flood the financial
system with paper money, that is eventually going to cause the prices for hard
assets to go up dramatically. Could it be possible that the banksters are
trying to drive down the price of both gold and silver so that they can gobble
it up cheaply? Do they want to be the ones sitting on all of the
"real money" once the paper money bubble that we are living in
finally bursts?
Over the past few weeks, nearly
every major newspaper in the world has run at least one story telling people
that it is time to sell their gold. For example, the following is from a
recent Wall Street Journal article entitled "Goldman Sachs Turns
Bearish on Gold"...
Another
longtime gold bull is turning tail.
Investment
bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Wednesday that gold's prospects for the year
have eroded, recommending investors close out long positions and initiate
bearish bets, or shorts. The shift in outlook was the latest among banks and
investors who have soured on gold as its dozen-year runup has been followed by
a 12% decline in the last six months.
Goldman
began the year predicting gold would decline in the second half of 2013, but
said Wednesday the drop began earlier than expected and doesn't appear likely
to reverse. Like others, the firm said the usual catalysts that have been
bullish for gold during its run are no longer working.
Major
banks over in Europe are issuing similar warnings about the price of
gold. The following is from a Marketwatch article entitled "Sell
gold, buy oil, Societe Generale analysts say"...
Analysts
at Societe Generale predict in a note Thursday that gold prices will fall below
$1,400 by the year’s end and continue heading south next year.
They
cite two main reasons:
1.
Inflation has so far stayed low and now investors are beginning to see economic
conditions that would justify an end to the Fed’s quantitative easing program.
2. The dollar has started trending higher, which should make gold prices
move lower as the physical gold market is extremely oversupplied without
continued large-scale investor buying.
And
even Asian banks are telling people to sell their gold at this point.
According to CNBC, Japanese banking giant Nomura is another major
international bank that has turned "bearish" on gold...
Nomura
forecast gold prices will fall in 2013, on Thursday, becoming the latest bank
to turn bearish on the precious metal which has been a favorite hedge for
investors who fear aggressive monetary stimulus will lead to rising inflation.
"For
the first time since 2008, in our view, the investment environment for gold is
deteriorating as economic recovery, rising interest rates and still benign
Western inflation (for now) will likely leave some investors rethinking their
cumulative $240 billion investment in gold over the past four years,"
wrote Nomura analysts in a sector note on Thursday.
A
lot of financial analysts are urging people to dump gold and to jump into
stocks where they "can get a much better return". They make it
sound like it is only going to be downhill for gold from here. The
following is from a recent CNBC article entitled "Gold's
'Death Cross' Isn't All Investors Are Worried About"...
Gold
is flashing the "death cross" but the bearish chart pattern is not
the only thing scaring investors.
The
magnetic appeal of a rising stock market has pulled some investment funds away
from the yellow metal. Since the beginning of the year, stocks are up nearly 7
percent and gold is down nearly 6 percent.
But
if gold is such a bad investment, then why are the central banks of the world
hoarding gold like crazy?
According
to the World Gold Council, gold buying by global central banks in 2012 was at
the highest level that we have seen since 1964...
Worldwide
gold demand in 2012 was another record high of $236.4 billion in the World Gold
Council’s latest report. This was up 6% in value terms in the fourth quarter to
$66.2 billion, the highest fourth quarter on record. Global gold demand in the
fourth quarter of 2012 was up 4% to 1,195.9 tonnes.
Central
bank buying for 2012 rose by 17% over 2011 to some 534.6 tonnes. As far as
central bank gold buying, this was the highest level since 1964. Central bank
purchases stood at 145 tonnes in the fourth quarter. That is up 9% from the
fourth quarter of 2011, and the eighth consecutive quarter in which central
banks were net purchasers of gold.
This
all comes on the heels of decades when global central banks were net sellers of
gold. Marcus Grubb, a Managing Director at the World Gold Council, says
that we are witnessing a fundamental change
in behavior by global central banks...
Central
banks’ move from net sellers of gold, to net buyers that we have seen in recent
years, has continued apace. The official sector purchases across the
world are now at their highest level for almost half a century.
Meanwhile,
insiders seem to think that gold stocks are actually quite undervalued right
now. In fact, insider buying of gold stocks is now at a level that we
have not seen in quite some time. The following is an excerpt from a
recent Globe and Mail article entitled "Insider
buying of gold stocks surges to multi-year highs"...
The
TSX global gold index has lost about a third of its value over the past two
years. The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange, stock full of gold mining juniors, hit
a multi-year low this month.
Yet,
executives and officers who work within those businesses are showing remarkable
confidence that the sector is poised for better times.
In
addition, the demand for physical silver in the United States seems to be
greater than ever before. According to the U.S. Mint, demand for physical
silver coins hit a new all-time record high
during the month of February.
And
demand for silver coins has not abated since then. Just check out what
has been happening in April so far...
The
US Mint has updated April sales statistics for the first time since last week,
and to no surprise, the Mint again reported more massive sales, with another
833,000 silver eagles reported sold Monday! The April total through 6
business days is now 1.645 million ounces, bringing the 2013 total to a massive
15.868 million ounces. In response to the continued massive demand for
silver eagles, the mint also has begun rationing sales of silver eagles to
primary dealers resulting in supply delays! Just as was seen in January,
tight physical supplies have seen premiums on ASE’s skyrocketing over the
weekend and throughout the day, as ASE’s are rapidly becoming as scarce as 90%!
Something
does not appear to add up here.
I
also found it very interesting that according to Reuters, Cyprus is being forced to sell most
of their gold reserves in order to help fund the bailout of their banking
system...
Cyprus
has agreed to sell excess gold reserves to raise around 400 million euros (341
million pounds) and help finance its part of its bailout, an assessment of
Cypriot financing needs prepared by the European Commission showed.
So
exactly who will they be selling that gold to?
And
I also found it very interesting to learn that Comex gold inventories have been
falling dramatically over the last few months. The following is from a
recent article by Tekoa Da Silva...
A
stunning piece of information was brought to my attention yesterday. Amid all
the mainstream talk of the end of the gold bull market (and the end of the gold
mining industry), something has been discretely happening behind the scenes.
Over
the last 90 days without any announcement, stocks of gold held
at Comex warehouses plunged by the largest
figure ever on record during a single quarter since eligible
record keeping began in 2001 (roughly the beginning of the bull market).
In
particular, something very unusual appears to be happening with JP Morgan
Chase's gold...
JP
Morgan Chase’s reported gold stockpile dropped by over 1.2 million
oz.’s, or rather, a staggering $1.8 billion dollars
worth of physical gold was removed from it’s vaults during the
last 120 days.
So
what does all of this mean?
I
don't know. But I would like to find out. Someone is definitely up
to something.
Meanwhile,
the central banks of the globe seem determined to put their reckless money
printing into overdrive.
For
example, the Bank of Japan actually plans to double the
monetary base of that country by the end of 2014 as a recent Time Magazine article
described...
On
Thursday, the new governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), Haruhiko Kuroda, announced that the central bank would
double the monetary base of the country — adding an additional $1.4
trillion — by the end of 2014 in an attempt to end the deflation plaguing
the economy. To achieve that, Kuroda will buy government bonds and other assets
to inject cash into the economy — what has now become familiar as
quantitative easing, or QE — to bump inflation up to a targeted 2%. The
plan is part of a greater strategy ushered in by new Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe to restart the economy through massive fiscal and monetary stimulus.
It also expands on the efforts by the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and European
Central Bank to stimulate growth and smooth over financial turmoil by infusing huge sums of new money
into the global economy.
Many
in the western world have been extremely critical of this move, but the truth
is that we actually started this "currency war". The Federal
Reserve has been recklessly printing money for years, and even though we are
now supposedly in the midst of an "economic recovery", the Fed is
actually doing more quantitative easing than ever.
Anyone
that thinks that gold and silver are bad investments for the long-term when the
central banks of the world are being so reckless should have their heads
examined.
However,
I do believe that gold and silver will experience wild fluctuations in price
over the next several years. When the next stock market crash happens,
gold and silver will go down. It happened back in 2008 and it will happen
again.
But
in response to the next major financial crisis, I believe that the central
banks of the globe will become more reckless than anyone ever dreamed
possible. At that point I believe that we will see gold and silver soar
to unprecedented heights.
Yes,
there will be huge ups and downs for gold and silver. But in the
long-term, both gold and silver are going to go far, far higher than they are
today.
So
what do you think will happen to gold and silver in the years ahead?
Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below...’