Market Sentiment shifting

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) agreed to pay $60 million to settle class-action litigation by investors who accused the largest U.S. bank of intentionally manipulating prices of precious metals futures and options.

The settlement disclosed on Friday stemmed from sprawling U.S. government investigations into a form of illegal trading in precious metals and U.S. Treasury markets, known as spoofing.

www.reuters.com/business/finance/jpmorga...-lawsuit-2021-11-19/

gold breaking out to higher high. December gold now $1807

Transitory inflation still transitting?

The consumer inflation report for September will be released today at 8:30 a.m. ET. The figure has been coming in at over 5% since June (don't worry it's transitory) and the latest number is anticipated to flare up once again. Economists expect to see a rise of 0.3%, or a 5.3% annualized rate, but even excluding volatile food and energy, core CPI is still forecast to rise 0.3%, or 4% annualized.

Guess what, 5.4%

The annual inflation rate in the US edged up to a 13-year high of 5.4% in September of 2021 from 5.3% in August and above market expectations of 5.3%. Main upward pressure came from cost of shelter (3.2% vs 2.8% in August); food (4.6% vs 3.7%, the highest since December of 2011), namely food at home (4.5% vs 3%); new vehicles (8.7% vs 7.6%); and energy (24.8% vs 25%)

Send them to jail

A federal judge in Chicago said this week four former JPMorgan Chase & Co. employees must face charges including racketeering in a case accusing them of manipulating the prices of precious metals futures.

U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang's ruling Tuesday paves the way for an Oct. 19 trial in the case, which is the U.S. Department of Justice's most aggressive attempt so far to police commodities spoofing, a tactic involving placing orders to move prices and quickly cancelling them.

www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/ex-j...es-judge-2021-08-18/

Excellent interview -Inflation can't be stopped

Gold prices moved higher on Wednesday following dovish commentary from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, which helped ease fears of early tapering even as more inflation data beat expectations.


In comments prepared for an appearance before a House committee, Powell said the US economic recovery still hasn’t progressed enough to begin scaling back the central bank’s massive monthly asset purchases. He added that inflation is likely to remain high in coming months before moderating.

Powell’s comments helped ease concerns that faster-than-predicted US inflation data will see the central bank taper its monetary stimulus earlier than expected.

www.mining.com/gold-price-hits-4-week-hi...ls-dovish-commentary

Good article by Sprott here

www.sprottmoney.com/blog/COMEX-Gold-Into...ig-Hemke-May-19-2021

Inflation just starting.

Inflation in April accelerated at its fastest pace in more than 12 years as the U.S. economic recovery kicked into gear and energy prices jumped higher, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

The Consumer Price Index, which measures a basket of goods as well as energy and housing costs, rose 4.2% from a year earlier. A Dow Jones survey had expected a 3.6% increase. The month-to-month gain was 0.8%, against the expected 0.2%.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core CPI increased 3% from the same period in 2020 and 0.9% on a monthly basis. The respective estimates were 2.3% and 0.3%.

Two distinct clues stand out currently that could point to higher prices…

First, the market has been making higher swing highs with higher lows. Second, the volume on any pullbacks has been very light, whereas the volume on upside has been stronger.

The market, if it does in fact stage a breakout above the $1800 area, it will have carved out a short-term double bottom. This type of chart pattern is reliable and points to upside gains at least the height of the pattern from bottom to swing high, i.e. a $100 rally.

Against the backdrop of improving technicals in the gold market, the yellow metal also enjoys support from fundamental factors such as increasing inflation fears, easy monetary policies, and staggering federal deficits.

www.moneymetals.com/news/2021/04/28/are-...ew-gold-rally-002276

Hungary triples gold reserves to 94.5 tons

www.nasdaq.com/articles/hungarian-centra...n-decades-2021-04-07

Record physical demand for silver and gold

Another risk factor with crypto

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) hit a record high of $60,000 on Saturday, nearly doubling in value this year, as the Beeple NFT sale continued to draw attention to the cryptocurrency, as well as more institutional investment. Prices then pulled back 7% to the $56,000 level on reports that India would propose a law banning cryptos, giving holders of the virtual assets up to six months to liquidate. The bill, one of the world's strictest policies against cryptocurrencies, would criminalize everything from possession, issuance and mining to trading and transferring crypto assets.

Why is India doing this? It's not the first nation to take action against Bitcoin, with similar bans or restrictions seen in countries like China, Pakistan, Russia, Bolivia, North Macedonia and Morocco. There are concerns that Bitcoin's decentralized system will make it more complicated for central banks to create their own CBDCs (central bank digital currencies), as well as worries that cryptos could be used to finance illicit activities. CBDCs are a promising tool that will allow central banks to have real-time data about their economies, offering the ability to track money flows, spending and savings data and what sectors are suffering or doing well. Leaving privacy concerns aside, a central bank could be more informed on monetary policy when armed with that information, while the government could possibly link future stimulus payments, universal basic income or fiscal policy to CBDCs.

Many Americans are unaware that it was illegal to own gold from 1934 to 1974, though the prohibitions were relaxed starting in 1964. A U.S. citizen couldn't own or trade gold anywhere in the world, with exceptions for some jewelry and collector's coins, as the federal government and banks shored up their financial soundness.