G0ldfinger

WTF has happened to the gold lease rates? This looks like something serious going on. http://www.kitco.com/charts/g_leaserates.html See also some comments on here: http://goldismoney.info/forums/showpost.ph...;postcount=9766

A broker down under going under since supposedly big margin calls couldn't be met. Let's see whether everyone will get his/her money out. I doubt it. http://www.jsmineset.com/cwsimages/Miscfil..._Australi...pdf

I've said it many times before, and I say it again: these states will burn in financial hell. Include Poland too. http://www.jsmineset.com/cwsimages/Miscfil...954_Iceland.pdf

Imagine, BayernLB holds €32bn in structured products.

Another blow for the USD.

Agreed. The amount of money creation is outrageous, while the central bankers want us to stare like deflation-scared deer into their fantastic above zero interest rates headlights.

BTW, I think the credit crunch is on for good now. More than 1 week ago I signed paper work for an RBS credit that had been advertised to me as being ready to be taken out. I thought it was a more predictable way to short Sterling (and do some GBP-gold carry trade), rather than going on margin. Anyway, seems the whole thing hasn't come through yet, although they told me the money would be on my account within 2 days. My guess is, it won't arrive at all! I don't know for sure yet, since I am away and can't check my mail, but it's suspicious. Well, well, I guess they won't let me do my shorting.

BayernLB's €1.9bn problem has suddenly (and totally unexpected, of course) become a €4bn problem. http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,544056,00.html (in German)

I somewhere have monthly prices in Sterling since Dec. 1952. For a chart see also: http://gold.approximity.com/gold_GBP_monthly_since1952.pdf

Only RK could beat this one. Why on earth did I write my fingers wound on the old gold thread on HPC if these morons come along and short those markets? But then, someone HAS to be on the loser side of all those profitable investments out there.

I spoke to someone from the car industry today. Maybe these are things everyone knows anyway, but here a few things I learned: (1) In catalysts, Palladium can substitute Platinum. However, 2.5-3 times more Palladium than Platinum is needed. Therefore, once the price of Platinum is higher by that rate (as is the case now), car producers might start buying more Palladium. This could soon be the case and could let Palladium surge more. (2) If Russia stops Palladium exports after (1) has occured (they've done that in the past), the price could explode (cartel/mafia like action, similar to South Africa). (3) All car producers seem to be heavily developing electric cars right now (led by Toyota). This could lead to a surge in metals needed in modern batteries, like Cobalt etc. OK, maybe that's all old stuff, but I found the information on Palladium quite useful. I think I'll get some. EDIT: Regarding (3), Hydrogen seems to be out of fashion. In places like California etc. the hope is to fuel these cars with solar power. My opinion is that all this will be good for not only solar energy, but also nuclear power (Uranium). EDIT 2: If electric cars really take over during the next few years, Palladium and Platinum will at some point crash like hell. Maybe that's why those miners in South Africa try to make as much of it as possible right now.

Sorry, had a very busy Easter, and this week is full of work too. So, not much time to post. Next week will be 'better' again.

Greetings from overseas, where at the moment I am trying to help a business that suffers immensely from commodities inflation and a weak US-Dollar. I hope everyone had a nice Easter. Gold back at almost $940 as I am writing. End of the 'correction'? Maybe.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home Yeah. Just use the taxpayers' money. Plenty there.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home Oops. They'll do it again.

It's quite interesting. We have to wait until a few bigger players start taking delivery. Now that physical demand goes up, this could happen sooner rather than later.

The yen mirrors gold. Only the most recent period was a little more extreme in gold.

http://www.247wallst.com/2008/03/sign-of-more-ma.html

Two things: (1) Jim Sinclair created the $887.50 top back in 1980 because he thought that $900 was the 'fair' price given the foreign liabilities of the US. (2) An overshoot can be dramatic. See dotcom.

We won't stay at the normal price or in equilibrium. There is always an over-shoot or under-shoot.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle3593992.ece Major meltdown in progress. Bottom will fall out of house prices.

Oops, RIGHT.

FSN radio show is not online yet.

The Fed's main objective at the moment is to avoid a general stock market panic and a general bank panic. They will do EVERYTHING to avoid this. However, they won't save shareholders of individual stocks, like Bear Stearns. M3 will explode further. Keeping the system afloat means allowing people to take their money off the table (off the subprime/banking table), and putting it somewhere else. The crucial question therefore is: what is this somewhere else? I think the answer is clear: short term it is some short horizon Treasuries, long-term the bull market in commodities outshines everything else.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Asia-...-sinks/286761/0 As has been said many times before, the Asians show a talent for dip-buying. My darn funds are not through yet.