Gata Dispatches:" Change you can believe in - if you're an investment bank"

Submitted by cpowell on 06:35PM ET Wednesday, April 29, 2009. Section: Daily Dispatches The accursed power which stands on Privilege(And goes with Women, and Champagne, and Bridge)Broke -- and Democracy resumed her reign(Which goes with Bridge, and Women, and Champagne).-- Hilaire Belloc, "On a General Election."* * *Goldman Sachs Hires Former Frank Aide to Run Washington OfficeBy Chris FratesPolitico.com, Arlington, VirginiaThursday, April 23, 2009http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21602.htmlGoldman Sachs is finalizing a deal to hire Michael Paese to head its Washington office, according to lobbying and company insiders. Paese, now the executive vice president of global advocacy for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, is viewed as "the capstone in an effort to reformulate the Washington office," said a company insider. Paese is a big-name Democrat with deep industry ties and an inside Washington game who had worked for House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass. Paese would replace Ann Costello, a Republican who recently announced she's leaving Goldman to run Bank of New York Mellon Corp.'s global government relations. Mark Patterson, who partnered with Costello to run the office before leaving last year to advise Barack Obama's presidential campaign, is now Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's chief of staff. Paese would join Goldman after a career that has spanned government and the financial services industry. He was executive vice president of Mercantile Bankshares Corp. and worked in various roles at ­JPMorgan Chase and the House Financial Services Committee. "Michael, in a very short time frame, has significantly increased the profile of SIFMA in Washington, made them incredibly effective in a very tough time in the industry," said the Goldman insider. A Goldman spokeswoman declined comment, and Paese did not respond to requests for comment. He'll join a Washington office filled with recent additions. Last summer Goldman picked up Republican Todd Malan, who was president of a trade association representing foreign companies' U.S. subsidiaries, and Democrat Ken Connolly, a veteran of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee who was at the law firm Mintz Levin. "This is a very conscious, long-term effort that is very deliberate and is intended to address this two-pronged need of understanding the political process and understanding our business," said the Goldman insider.
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FORA T.V. Innovation and Opportunity from crisis

FORA T.V. : "THE WORLD IS THINKING"

This is an extraordinary video on a conversation of distinguished personalies- Paul Saffo, Richard Drae,Jonathan wolfson and Drew Endy, about the roots of the crisis and the viability of policies to get out of it.

To wiew it click HERE

Howard Miller Reports From Global Bullion Trading Group

Economy in U.S. Shrank at 6.1% Rate in First Quarter April 29 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy plunged again in the first quarter, capping its worst performance in five decades, reflecting a record slump in inventories and further declines in housing. Gross domestic product dropped at a 6.1 percent annual pace, more than forecast, after contracting at a 6.3 percent rate in the last three months of 2008, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The report, which marked the weakest six months since 1957-58, comes as Federal Reserve policy makers meet for a second day. Smaller stockpiles may set the stage for a return to growth in the second half of the year amid signs Fed efforts to reduce borrowing costs and unclog lending are starting to pay off. The recession persisted even as lower gasoline prices and larger tax refunds helped bring an end to the worst slump in consumer spending in almost three decades. “This is one of those good-bad numbers,” Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. in Holland, Pennsylvania, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Businesses are running about as lean as they possibly can be. It sets up the reality that any sort of increase in demand will cause firms to have to increase production.” As a result, Naroff predicted growth won’t “be nearly as bad in the current quarter, and will probably be reasonably good.” Stocks, Treasuries Stocks rose for the first time in three days as banks rallied, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index up 1.4 percent at 867.4 as of 10:10 a.m. in New York. Treasuries were little changed, with benchmark 10-year notes yielding 3 percent. The median forecast of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected GDP, the sum of all goods and services produced, would shrink at a 4.7 percent pace. Estimates ranged from declines of 2.8 percent to 8 percent. The world’s largest economy shrank 2.6 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. Today’s advance report on GDP is the first of three estimates on first- quarter growth. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, climbed at a 2.2 percent annual pace last quarter, the most in two years. Purchases dropped at an average 4.1 percent rate in the last half of 2008, the biggest slide since 1980. Stockpiles Plunge Companies trimmed stockpiles at a $103.7 billion annual rate last quarter, the biggest drop since records began in 1947. Excluding the reduction, the economy would have contracted at a 3.4 percent pace. “This is the combination you want for a turn in the economy -- better sales and an inventory correction,” John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, North Carolina, said before the report. Companies cut total spending, including equipment, software and construction projects, at a record 38 percent annual pace. Residential construction also decreased at a 38 percent pace last quarter, the most since 1980. One reason for the larger-than-projected decline in GDP was that government slashed spending at a 3.9 percent pace, the most since 1995. The drop reflected cutbacks in defense spending and the biggest decrease in state and local government outlays since 1981. Trade Gap A smaller trade gap added 2 percentage points to growth last quarter. The deficit shrank as imports collapsed at a 34 percent annual pace, the most since 1975, which reflected the reduction in stockpiles. Should the economy shrink again in the second quarter as projected by economists surveyed this month by Bloomberg, the recession that began in December 2007 would be the longest since the Great Depression. Recent announcements by companies including General Motors Corp. indicate that will be the case. GM last week said it will idle 13 U.S. assembly plants for multiple weeks to trim production by 190,000 vehicles from May through July. Sales in its home market fell 49 percent this year through March. General Motors and Chrysler LLC are threatened with bankruptcy as sales have plummeted since credit markets seized last year. Still, data in recent weeks, including signs of stability in home sales, residential construction and consumer confidence, signal the world’s largest economy may shrink at a slower pace. Government Efforts “Most people are saying we could bottom out in the second half of the year, maybe in the third quarter and then see positive growth again,” Christina Romer, the White House’s chief economist, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We’re certainly looking for some positive news towards the end of the year.” Part of the improvement may be due to government efforts to stem the recession. In its last meeting on March 18, the Fed pledged to double mortgage-debt purchases to $1.45 trillion and buy as much as $300 billion in long-term Treasuries. That’s helped bring down rates on mortgages and auto loans. The central bank’s statement today, due at around 2:15 p.m., may acknowledge that the pace of economic decline has moderated in the past six weeks and may reiterate it will keep the benchmark rate low for an extended period and continue to boost its balance sheet to revive lending. The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, which tracks consumer spending and excludes food and fuel costs, rose at a 1.5 percent annual pace last quarter, toward the lower end of central bankers’ longer-term forecasts. Ford Motor Co., working to avoid a federal bailout, is among companies seeing some improvement. The automaker last week posted a first-quarter loss that beat analysts’ estimates. “We’re not quite sure where the bottom is,” Ford’s Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally said in an April 24 Bloomberg Television interview. “But we believe with the stabilization of the banks, freeing up the credit, and the stimulus packages we have, both monetary and fiscal, that we’re going to see an uptick in the third and fourth quarter.”

Forbes.com Alerts: "Americas Most Reputable Companies"

The Reputation Institute just released its annual survey that determines the nation's most respected companies. Google is no longer on top.

To read full story , click HERE

BBC NEWS: "Germany Slashes Growth Forecast"

The German government predicts its economy will shrink by 6% this year, dramtically downgrading its previous forecast. ...



To read full coverage of this report, click HERE

THE EWI INDEPENDENT: Municipal Bonds Another Save-Haven

According to the mainstream experts, all bonds are NOT created equal. There is debt, and then there is government-backed debt. And never the twain shall meet. So, when all asset-backed forms of credit were pulled under by the financial tsunami, the general consensus was to keep moving to higher ground. And don't stop until you hit the Municipal Bond market...

To read full coverage of this report, click HERE

Howard Miller Reports From Global Bullion NET:

Good afternoon everyone, The metals ended the trading day broadly lower for the reasons discussed this morning, but also in the aftermath of better than expected U.S. economic data and anxiety over tomorrow's Fed interest rate decision....While rates are not expected to change; traders stepped to the sidelines just in case the Fed gives us another big monetary surprise like the last meeting.......As a result..Silver lost 46 cents to $12.50......Gold was down $13.00 to end the New York trading day at $894.00.....Palladium finished at $219.00 down $9.00......Platinum fell by $47.00 to $1093.00.....Volume was moderate ......Crude Oil recovered some of it's early session losses after Consumer Confidence clocked in at a much better than expected level of 39.2....The Street expected to see a reading of only 29.9.....Crude recovered to $49.26 off only 88 cents per barrel....Swine Flu continued to dominate thinking.......Today's other report; the Case Shiller Home Price Index showed a slight improvement in the rate of price decline for U.S. housing....We got a reading of -18.63...Wall Street was looking for a decline of 18.7.....A non event......Currency traders ignored today's data pushing the Euro to $1.3115 up 90/100ths of a U.S cent......Remember the Fed speaks tomorrow.......As for stocks; they shook off early session losses in the wake of the Consumer Confidence numbers lifting the Dow by 34 points with two hours left in the trading day.....As for tomorrow the calendar holds the results of the Fed Open Market Committee meeting (FOMC) along with the Weekly Oil Inventories.....Due to a scheduling conflict ; I may not be available to send out tomorrow's morning Silver and Gold update....It's still up in the air....Howard

Gata Dispatches: " J.S. Kim.- Central Banks are full disinformation on Gold"

Submitted by cpowell on 05:53AM ET Tuesday, April 28, 2009. Section: Daily Dispatches 8:48a ET Tuesday, April 28, 2009Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:In commentary posted today at Seeking Alpha, market analyst J.S. Kim, editor of the SmartKnowledgeU investment letter, notes the disinformation distributed about gold by central banks. Kim speculates that China's announcement last week that it has accumulated 1,054 tonnes of gold reserves is disinformation too -- that China actually has accumulated much more gold than that. Kim's commentary is headlined "World Gold Markets: How Lack of Transparency Translates into Poor Analysis" and you can find it at Seeking Alpha here:http://seekingalpha.com/article/133504-world-gold-markets-how-lack-of-tr...CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/TreasurerGold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
* * *Help keep GATA goingGATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:http://www.gata.orgTo contribute to GATA, please visit:
http://www.gata.org/node/16Contact GATAinfo@gata.org
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee
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Forbes.com Alerts:"Final Glance: Finance companies"

AP associated Press .-Shares of some top finance companies were down at the close of trading:

To read full coverage of information, click HERE

Forbes.com Alerts:How to rescue Capitalism

Credit analyst Janet Tavakoli explores the roots of the financial crisis and calls for investigations, prosecutions and regulation.

To read full coverage of this storey, Click HERE

Forbes.com Alerts:"Reports: Sumitomo likely to buy Japan Citigroup"

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. has emerged as the most likely candidate to buy Citigroup Inc.'s Japanese brokerage unit after offering the highest bid worth $5 billion, reports said Saturday.

Toread full report, click HERE

From the Desk of Nick Nicolaas: "Adam Hamilton Newsletter"

Our Friend Nick Nicollas sent us the following e-mail


Dear Friends,
Adam Hamilton has posted his weekly Zeal Intelligence Newsletter on the Mining Interactive Website. Click here:

http://www.mininginteractive.com/releases/zeal/zeal20090424.pdf

Have a great weekend and - - - Stay Tuned!!

Regards,
Nick L. Nicolaas Mining Interactive “Ahead of the Pack”

http://www.mininginteractive.com/Suite 500 -
Park Place666 Burrard StreetVancouver BCCanada V6C 3P6

e-mail: nick@mininginteractive.com
Tel: +1 (604) 657-4058Fax: +1 (604) 685-1631

Roger Conrad's Utility Forecaster

The Leverage Crisis Revisited: April 17, 2009-->By Roger S. Conrad



to read full article, click HERE

Forbes.com Alerts:" Markets Brief"

Treasury: Banks Need More CapitalCarl Gutierrez, 04.24.09, 02:40 PM EDT
Banks are stressed about their tests but the markets are holding up fine.

For full coverage click Here

Howard Miller's Report: From Global Bullion Trading Group:

This is the trancripts of Howard Miller at the close of the Bullion Markets


Good afternoon everyone, Silver and Gold finished the day and week on a strong note aided by today's sagging Dollar.....Silver was up 15 cents at $12.90......Gold gained $9.00 to $911.00.....Palladium closed with a gain of $1.00 at $235.00.....Platinum slipped $2.00 ending the day at $1181.00.....Volume was light and orderly.......Over in the currencies the Euro kept it's head of steam against the Dollar for reasons mentioned this morning.....Last on the Euro $1.3259 up 1.82 cents against our Greenback....Traders continue to anxiously await for news out of the G7 meeting......Crude oil rallied 1.82 per barrel on today's strong than expected stock market and for technical trading reasons.....Last on Oil $51.41......As for the Dow; it's up 121 points with financial stocks surprisingly stable in advance of today's bank stress test data....Better than expected U.S. economic data also helped to push stocks higher.......We will get a good understanding of the method and parameters being used by the government in assessing the financial health of our banks after 2 pm eastern today.........As for today's economic data; Durable Goods clocked in with a smaller than expected decline of .8%.....But; as predicted we got a negative revision to last month's data......New Home Sales were reported at better than expected 356,000 units with a positive revision to last month.....As for next week the calendar begins on Tuesday with a fresh look at Consumer Confidence.....With two hours left in the trading day for stocks ; that's it.... Have a good week-end.....Howard

Howard Miller's Report: From Global Bullion Trading Group:

Good morning everyone, Gold is trading $8.00 higher this morning on nervousness over today's G-7 meeting in Washington.....The group of 7 largest industrialized nations will be discussing the future of the Dollar as the main global currency....China has already made it clear that it intends to reduce exposure to our Greenback....Adding pressure on the Dollar is the looming specter of the U.S. bank stress tests.......As a result we have the Euro surging by 1.71 U.S cents to $1.3248.....Gold jumped to $910.00.....The other metals are steady with Silver up 2 cents at $12.77......Palladium and Platinum have both edged up $1.00 to $235.00 and $1184.00 respectively.....In energy trading we find Oil changing hands 53 cents higher at $50.15 per barrel....Traders will keep a wary eye on Crude now that it once again broken through the psychological $50 level......U.S. stocks ended the day up 70 Dow points and appears to be headed for a 32 point higher open today.....Traders are viewing today with mixed emotions as they await today's final batch of economic data and reflect on mixed signals out of Detroit.. Rumors are swirling all over Wall Street that Chrysler is within a week of bankruptcy; while Ford Motors reported a much smaller loss than had been feared.....Ford reported a loss of 75 cents per share compared with Street expectation of $1.19 loss....Meanwhile GM has temporarily shut down 19 assembly plants in an effort to reduce expenses and lower vehicle inventories....As for today's economic data; Durable goods are expected to show a decline of 1.5% compared to last month's surprising jump of 5.1%....Do not be surprised if last month's number is revised lower....The final report of the week will come in the form of New Home Sales for March.....The Street is looking for signs of stabilization with a number of 337,000 units...That would be unchanged from the February level and a mild positive for the trading community.....On the geo-political front the U.S called for Pakistan to move against the Taliban as continues to grow in power and geographical control.....Let's see how the day plays out.....That's it......Howard

Forbes.com Alerts: "Labor Department of Statistics urges lower unemplyment fees"

AP Associated Press.- The U.S. Department of Labor will launch a national education program to help jobless workers avoid fees while collecting unemployment benefits through bank-issued debit cards.

To read full coverage of this information, click HERE

From the Desk of Nick Nicolaas:! Mining Interactive Announcement"

Please find below an announcement of our friend Nick Nicolaas






Mining Interactive is pleased to announce the newest addition to our Client Companies: Oremex Resources Inc. TSXv - ORM; Frankfurt – OSI (WKN# A0B 9GN); Pinksheets – ORXRF Developing Silver Resources in Mexico

Share Information - as April 17, 2009•Shares Issued and Outstanding 50,39 million•Options Outstanding 4.84 Million•Warrants Outstanding 6.60 million•Fully Diluted 61.84 million•Last Trade $ 0.12 (April 17, 2009)•Quoted Market Value $6.04 million.

Oremex Resources Inc. is a Vancouver based Resource Company actively developing two of its six silver mineral properties in the State of Durango, Mexico. The “Tejamen” project is Oremex's most advanced project. Oremex has 100% ownership of Tejamen. The Mexico head office is located at Nuevo Ideal in the State of Durango – a community near Tejamen. Oremex received two NI 43-101 compliant Reports in April & October 2006. The Reports indicate that the Tejamen project can support a 10,000 tonne per day open pit mining operation, and has an inferred mineral resource of 50.8 million ounces of silver in 22.6 million tones grading a silver-equivalent of 69.8 grams per tonne. The Company believes that there is substantial opportunity to add ounces through additional drilling. Oremex has no outstanding legal or creditor issues. On April 1, 2009, Oremex appointed Mr. Michael Smith, President & CEO. Mike is a very accomplished and skilled professional, specialized in mine development and formerly Chief Mine Geologist at Barrick Gold Corp's (TSX:ABX) flagship Goldstrike Mine to lead the Company in the development of its Tejamen project in Mexico. Mike Smith: “I believe the Oremex assets in Mexico have tremendous value and I am especially excited about the prospects to develop the Tejamen silver deposit. The NI-43101 technical reports completed to date indicate a robust open-pitable and heap-leachable silver resource of roughly 50 million ounces of contained silver. We will be very active in the short term toward feasibility studies to convert resources to reserves.”
Click here to view recent interview with Mike Smith

2009 Development (Action) Plan for Tejamen: Establish a Mexican Advisory Committee to improve action on matters of business, government, and social responsibility Implement and complete a feasibility study Diamond Drilling 8,500 metres Reversed Circulation Drilling 32,700 metres Post Drilling: Revise reserve calculations Rock mechanics to maximize the slope angle of the pit – optimize pit design Break rocks with a ‘ripper' vs. explosives Hydrological studies to design a dewatering system for the pit Metallurgical test work to optimize the recovery process Secure legal permits If you would like any additional information on Oremex Resources, please send an email confirmation, at your soonest possible convenience, to: denis@mininginteractive.com and I will make the necessary arrangements or should you prefer to speak with me directly, please call me at 778-968-2555. Denis LangIR AssociateC: (778) 968-2555
Mining Interactive Corp.Suite 818 – 475 Howe StreetVancouver, BC V6C 2B3
Mining Interactive Corp. is a local Vancouver company that assists small and medium-cap companies in the Mining and Energy sectors to achieve optimum share value for shareholders. To raise the awareness of the benefits of investing in junior mining companies, and create a market for clean mining technology. Mining Interactive and its principal, Nick Nicolaas have been in the mining and energy industry for 40 years. Using this experience, exposure, and contacts, Nick has been the facilitator of a number of financings both in the mining, and oil and gas industries. Mining Interactive ability to introduce new companies or those seeking equity financings, to key players in the investment, mining and energy communities is a unique and a valuable asset to our Client Companies. We are believers in the leverage that could many-fold in exploration companies and the importance of financing them adequately. Mining Interactive has a good record of accomplishment and although we know times are tough now, good people and good projects will always be able to attract money. We are dealmakers and firmly stand behind each of our Client Companies. Their focus is in Gold, Silver, Base Metals, and Energy and consequently we have a vision for each of our Client Companies.

Forbes.com Alerts: "Another Chinese Fib: 6.1% Growth"

Another Chinese Fib: 6.1% Growth. On the economy, Beijing fakes the facts.
To read full story , click HERE

FT.com Global Perspective

Ft.com Glogal Perspective Brings us the following information:
-Pandit pledges to stay on at Citi
- Tesco annual profits top £3bn
-Bank cutbacks aid hedge funds.... and much more.

To read full coverage of these news, click HERE

From The Desk Of Nick Nicolaas:"(FDNN) Alert 58

. I am very sorry for the delay of the information our friend Nick Nicolaas sent us, but I had problems with my system.
FGC BOLSA,
Fernando Guzmán Cavero


April 21, 2009
Post Mortem Examination #1
Martin Armstrong's Turnaround Date of April 20, 2009(Please note: Armstrong's Economic Model acts like an indicator, not a market timing device)
The worst of the Banking Crisis is NOT overandYou've got to be in Hard-Assets - - - to win It!!
Yesterday's numbers at the close: DJIA7,841.73-289.60-3.56%Nasdaq1,608.21-64.86-3.88%S&P 500832.39-37.21-4.28%Global Dow1,442.12+0.46+0.03%Dow Utilities328.39-4.48-1.35%NYSE5,220.12-260.48-4.75%AMEX1,355.87-38.79-2.78%Russell 2000452.49-26.88-5.61%Semcond240.19-14.62-5.74%Gold future887.50+19.60+2.26%30-Year Bond3.69%-0.10-2.59%10-Year Bond2.84%-0.09-2.97%

Dear Friends:
These are pretty big negative numbers across the board on a day where most of the technical pundits called for the Dow and S&P to be up and to expect selling in Gold and Silver but - - - exactly the opposite happened. Something is not right within the Obama kingdom - - - but what?? I got a feeling that the following is probably correct and that is why we are seeing an early exit by those in the know. In any event us underlings may find out if the following is correct by May 4th!
This From: Mark Kellstrom of Strategic Energy Research yesterday(http://www.strategicenergyresearch.com/)
The Turner Radio Network has obtained "stress test" results for the top 19 Banks in the USA. The stress tests were conducted to determine how well, if at all, the top 19 banks in the USA could withstand further or future economic hardship. When the tests were completed, regulators within the Treasury and inside the Federal Reserve began bickering with each other as to whether or not the test results should be made public. That bickering continues to this very day as evidenced by this "main stream media" report. The Turner Radio Network has obtained the stress test results. They are very bad. The most salient points from the stress tests appear below. 1) Of the top nineteen (19) banks in the nation, sixteen (16) are already technically insolvent. 2) Of the 16 banks that are already technically insolvent, not even one can withstand any disruption of cash flow at all or any further deterioration in non-paying loans. 3) If any two of the 16 insolvent banks go under, they will totally wipe out all remaining FDIC insurance funding. 4) Of the top 19 banks in the nation, the top five (5) largest banks are under capitalized so dangerously, there is serious doubt about their ability to continue as ongoing businesses. 5) Five large U.S. banks have credit exposure related to their derivatives trading that exceeds their capital, with four in particular - JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, HSBC Bank America and Citibank - taking especially large risks. 6) Bank of America`s total credit exposure to derivatives was 179 percent of its risk-based capital; Citibank`s was 278 percent; JPMorgan Chase`s, 382 percent; and HSBC America`s, 550 percent. It gets even worse: Goldman Sachs began reporting as a commercial bank, revealing an alarming total credit exposure of 1,056 percent, or more than ten times its capital! 7) Not only are there serious questions about whether or not JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs,Citibank, Wells Fargo, Sun Trust Bank, HSBC Bank USA, can continue in business, more than 1,800 regional and smaller institutions are at risk of failure despite government bailouts! The debt crisis is much greater than the government has reported. The FDIC`s "Problem List" of troubled banks includes 252 institutions with assets of $159 billion. 1,816 banks and thrifts are at risk of failure, with total assets of $4.67 trillion, compared to 1,568 institutions, with $2.32 trillion in total assets in prior quarter. Put bluntly, the entire US Banking System is in complete and total collapse. More details as they become available. . . . . . UPDATE 0147 HRS EDT Monday, April 20, 2009 -- For those who may be skeptical about the veracity of the stress test report above, be reminded that only last Sunday, April 12, this radio network obtained and published a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Memo outlining their concerns that returning US military vets posed a domestic security threat as "right wing extremists." That memo, available here, is marked "FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY" and contained strict warnings that it was not to be released to the public or to the media. We obtained it and published it days before other media outlets. That DHS report appeared on this blog at least two full days before the story was picked up by The Washington Times, and virtually every other US media outlet. Details of certain aspects of the stress test reported above have now been CONFIRMED through REUTERS News service when they disclosed the risk-capital percentages publicly on April 6, 2009 at this link. Further, todays Wall Street Journal (April 20, 2009) is confirming at this link that lending by the largest banks has DECREASED 23% since the government began the T.A.R.P. program, causing many in Congress to ask where the money has actually been going. Apparently, it has been going into propping-up the failing banks instead of out in loans to the public. Additional details and proofs are forthcoming . . . . . continue to check back on this developing story. From: http://turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com/
END
Also yesterday from: Mark Kellstrom - Strategic Energy Research “One involved market participant we speak with on the Debt side has commented that the Government could push the tests to the negative side to simultaneously support the success of the PPIP program by, in effect, forcing greater Bank participation and we forwarded one article this morning that claims the results of the Bank stress test were very negative [see above]. However, on the negative article, one client already points out that this news source can be unreliable at best and the source is a far right activist that some could deem a “crackpot”. From the looks of it, he may be right and we do not endorse the conclusions of the story but we note that these concerns may keep the market range bound for now until the true results of the Bank stress tests are revealed. In the next two weeks we will know. Further, we had an interesting conversation over the weekend with the Chief Executive of a Regional Bank about the TARP funds. This Bank took the TARP funds although not required on the Administration's encouragement and notes that the funds have proven expensive. This bank would like to return the funds but the process is involved and requires an application. In the meantime, this CEO remains concerned that the Government, from which Officials check in often, will push the Bank to make loans that the Bank otherwise might not pursue. May we live in interesting times.”
END Yes, it seems the other shoe is ready to hit the floor! To assist FDNN in making the case for Hard-Assets, here is today's missive, directly from the silver fields in northern Idaho, USA by my favourite, no-holds-barred, say-it-the-way-it-is and from-the-heart scribe David Bond:
Click here for David Bond's “A Loverly Day in the Neighbourhood”
I totally agree with David Bond that blue-chip silver companies are totally underpriced and should be accumulated or added to during the summer doldrums. FDNN ofcourse, being biased, will be buying more Oremex (TSXv-ORM) and Tumi Resources (TSXv-TM) during the summer months (see: http://www.mininginteractive.com/) because, quoting David Bond “even as it [the sun] rises on an Asia that understands that metals win all wars and that silver and gold keep score, and the companies who mine and look for silver have their sunshine day a-coming.” You've got to be in Hard-Assets - - - to win It!!
As always - - Stay Tuned!!
Regards,
Nick L. Nicolaas
Mining Interactive "Ahead of the Pack"

Investor Guide Stock Of The Day:New York Times Reports 74.5 Million Loss"

Investors Guide Stock of the Day informs a loss of 74.5 million in the unespected report of the New York Times.

To read full coverage of this report click HERE

Today's Crisis is a Photograh of 29: By Fernando Guzmán Cavero

Today’s Crisis is a Photograph of the crash of 29: By Fernando Guzmán Cavero

Why of the current economic and financial crisis? The crash in the global economy is now mired, without having a clear picture of the magnitude of the consequences, whose roots are exactly the same as the crisis of 29: the lack of state real control to avoid designed schemes to inflate the prices of securities listed in the New York Stock Exchange,plus a lack of supervision of commercial banks credit among others. Since that experience, the USA started to search an answer to explain the crisis and began to re-think about the limits the free enterprise economic system should have. Something must be done to prevent abuses the imperfect markets have, was one voice; and mostly heard from those responsible of the development of the crisis. The following step was to begin establishing a series of controlling norms with the purpose prevent that few astute and powerful persons do not profit of thousands of thousands of people who believed in their proposals to invest in overvalued assets. The Securities and Exchange act of 1933, is the beginning of a continuous institutions established to prevent financial fraud.

The Great Depression according to Jim Powell does not have to do with immoral investments bankers and other financial advisors who traded stocks with insider information and structured schemes well known in our days, to increase artificially the stock prices. The article of Mr. Powell is a response to Adam Cohen:: ”Nothing to fear: FDR’s inner circle and the hundred days that created Modern America, Adam Cohen, Penguin,352.His argument, as Opposed to Cohen point of view, who praised Roosevelt’s New Deal, is basically the following:: “The main reason people lost money in the stock market was not in fact fraud. Rather, stock prices went down principally in response to Federal Reserve efforts to curb speculation. Unit Banking laws contributed to bank failures, by preventing them from opening branch offices to diversify deposits bases and loan portfolios”…… In the same manner he argues with Cohen, saying: Cohen also praises the Agricultural Adjustment Act for destroying, raising farm prices and farm income. Yet he ignores the effect it had on three-quarters of Americans who were not farmers they were consumers ,millions of them poor who had to lay out more money for food and clothing.(Cotton was among the crops destroyed.) Nor does Cohen acknowledge that from the beginning farm subsidies always went disproportionately to big farms, since the subsidies were paid on a per acre basis. He does not seem to consider FDR’s National Recovery Administration adversely affected farmers by establishing cartels that fixed prices above market level, requiring farmers for the supplies there needed.” Let me make some important precisions with regard to the statement, which attributes: Unit Banking laws, to failures in the banking system.

This statement is partially true, because not all the states banned branches. However, those which allowed branches, had less failures than those which prohibited them, see Wheelock 1995, Mitchener 2000, 2004. This is consistent with the diversification hypothesis, but not necessarily undoubtedly.



According to Mark Carlson and Kris James Mitchener; Calomiris and Mason (2000) and Carlson 2004 found out, precisely the opposite conclusion: bank with branches were more likely to fail than those called unit banks. The reason lays on the strategy pursued: ones emphasized in diversification, while the others privileged the reduction of reserves (see: Branch Banking, Bank Competition and Financial Stability; Mark Carlson and Kris James Mitchener).It is also very interesting, Jim Powell’s opinion regarding the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Powell, wanders the validity of such a state depending Agency, Organization or institution, that acted, if I well interpret him, as convened to its principal authorities power status. The numbers are the least important arguments; accountants can explain you, how hide or inflate personal or Corporations income. The arguments that state employees are paid at the expense of taxpayers is the neo classical, argument, which fails to be reasoned by the heavy it is and falls by its own weight. Never to say, that something had to be to be done and will have to be done now; where competition is not perfect and abuses arising from private monopolies are worst in last instance than those arising from arbitrary state policies. Are not both, the same photograph in different scenarios of the same lack of solidarity with the poorest people in this inhuman world? That is not the point Mr. Powell, the problem goes beyond which system of production of goods and services is better. I do believe that the human beings are walking around a circle since Marx and Adam Smith or Adam Smith and Marx, immersed in byzantine discussions. I wonder whether the debate should not start on the reflection of the anti-values that had conquered us since the biblical story of Cain and Abel. Are we going to open our eyes and recognize that the first matter is ethical, as to whether the natural resources of our planet could supply the needs that its human race demands (of all and not only of a few privileged), leaving around two thirds of human beings on the margin of its own existence. .If we do not start a new debate, with a different benchmark than the proposed, I will have to say:

“SEE YOU LATER ALLIGATOR; SEE YOU IN A WHILE CROCODILE”

FT.com :" global Prespective"

From FT.com

To read full commentary click HERE

Forbes.com Alerts: "Flood of earnings will test market's 6-week run"

AP Associated Press :An intense week of earnings reports will tell whether Wall Street can extend its rally to a seventh week - or see its gains pop like a bubble.

to read full story , click HERE

From The Desk Of Nick Nicolaas: "FDNN #72 - Copper Standard World Currency and Buying Hard-Assets Now"

Some Friday afternoon thoughts from FDNN
China and Buying Hard-Assets???

Dear Friends:


Now that the Chinese are using their hoard of US Treasury Bills to buy, according to the London Daily Telegraph dated April 15, 2009 *, and hoard the metals instead and thus are cornering the commodity metals market I wonder what the manipulative effect will be on the rest of the world economies. Perhaps this may potentially and eventually to be no different than the Hunt bothers scenario? It probably will be that “those that have the metals control the world-economy”.



Watch out USA, your excessive issuing of treasury bills, that you thought was only worthless paper, to the rest of the world may now come to bite you in the posterior. Wait for the rest of the world economies to wake up and convert that worthless paper into Hard-Assets and stockpile them as well. * London, April 15, 2009Excerpts from the Daily Telegraph China's State Reserves Bureau (SRB) has instead been buying copper and other industrial metals over recent months on a scale that appears to go beyond the usual rebuilding of stocks for commercial reasons. Nobu Su, head of Taiwan's TMT group, which ships commodities to China, said Beijing is trying to extricate itself from dollar dependency as fast as it can. and Beijing may yet buy gold as well, although it has not done so yet. The gold share of reserves has fallen to 1pc, far below the historic norm in Asia. But if a metal-based currency ever emerges to end the reign of fiat paper, it is just as likely to be a "Copper Standard" as a "Gold Standard".


Click here for the full April 15, 2009 Daily Telegraph article
For now, listen to the music and - - - be in Hard-Assets to Win It!


Regards,
Nick L. Nicolaas
Mining Interactive "Ahead of the Pack"

MiningInteractive Videos

Stay tuned for the most recent updates on leading junior exploration companies through the MiningInteractive Video & Radio Interviews.
Mining Interactive Web Site

For more information contactMining Interactive Corp."Ahead of the Pack"

Nick L. Nicolaas(604) 657-4058

nick@mininginteractive.com

FGC BOLSA :Two Forbes Alerts to Think

A few minutes ago we recieved two forbes alerts wich, tell us the contradictory stcck gains and the reality of the crisis. On one side Forbes brought us the after hours market update under the title of " Dow gains continue" at 8:02 p.m. At 9:06 another alert tells now regulators shut down two more banks, boosting the number of this year banks failures to all last year's failures

FGC BOLSA

From The Desk Of Nick Nicolaas: "Adam Hamilton e-letter"

Our friend Nick Nicolaas sent us the following email about Adam Hamilton weekly e-letter:

Dear Friends:

Adam Hamilton has posted his weekly Zeal Intelligence eLetter on the Mining Interactive Website and for those of you that do not have the time to read it all I have taken out some paragraphs which we feel are a must read for those that are in pain from the losses they may have incurred since last year and are now scared to get back into the market. We too had losses and feel your pain. Some of those losses we took in order to have some cash on hand but mostly our losses were on paper. We now will use our cash this summer to average down on some of our paper losses, especially in the hard-assets e.g. gold, silver, Uranium, Base metals, Oil & Gas. In any event this is no time to turn Ostrich!
Adam Hamilton: “And those who face these tough times head-on, learning and growing, have a vastly higher probability of emerging successful than the cowering Ostrich Investors. At Zeal, we study all the markets but our primary focus is on commodities stocks. Despite the turmoil the stock panic caused, all over the world people are striving diligently for higher standards of living for their families. This will require huge amounts of raw materials, far more than the world has ever seen before. Commodities producers are thriving in this environment. They have rallied mightily since 2001 when I started writing about the new secular commodities bull , they rallied strongly between November 2008 and March 2009 when general stocks fell, and they will rally in the future as the best is yet to come. If you are scared, and have bought into the Ostrich Fallacy of ignoring your investments, dust yourself off and get back in the game. Sure, the challenges are great today, but so are the opportunities. And only by understanding the markets can you ever hope to thrive in them. For about the price of a single lunch each month, you can subscribe to our acclaimed Zeal Intelligence monthly newsletter. We'll help grow your knowledge at a deep level, positioning you for future investment success. Subscribe today! The bottom line is we've just experienced a rare stock-market panic, but the world hasn't ended. Fear got out of hand but it is already abating. Today's economic data merely shows a recession, but stock prices are discounting a full-blown depression. Gradually they will climb higher to reflect a much-less-dire economic reality. And a new cyclical bull is being born, which happily coincides with a post-panic year likely to see huge gains anyway. Being stressed is no excuse to shirk your financial stewardship duties. The solutions to any problems aren't found by ignoring them, by hiding like an ostrich, but by facing them head-on. Learn about the markets, grow your investing wisdom and knowledge. Never surrender. Your future wealth is defined by your decisions today, and the Ostrich Investors are squandering incredible opportunities.
Click here for the full article Zeal Intelligence eLetter
Remember Friends - - - you have to be in it to win it!

Have a great weekend and - - - Stay Tuned!!

Regards,
Nick L. Nicolaas Mining Interactive “Ahead of the Pack”

www.mininginteractive.comSuite 500 -
Park Place666 Burrard StreetVancouver BCCanada V6C 3P6
e-mail: nick@mininginteractive.com
Tel: +1 (604) 657-4058Fax: +1 (604) 685-1631

GATA Dispatches: "William Pesek; China isn't the only currency manipulator"

Submitted by cpowell on 06:51PM ET Thursday, April 16, 2009. Section: Daily Dispatches Geithner's Biggest Problem is Dollar, Not ChinaBy William PesekBloomberg NewsFriday, April 17, 2009http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_pesek&si...It's a bit rich for U.S. politicians to berate Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for not labeling China as a currency manipulator. Perhaps Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, hasn't seen a newspaper in the last 12 months. With near-zero interest rates, the likely issuance of trillions of dollars of government debt and massive taxpayer-funded bailouts, the U.S. will soon make China look like a manipulation piker. Memo to Graham and his ilk: Your economy has lost any moral high ground as it drags the world down with it. That will be even truer as the dollar eventually pays the price for ultra-loose monetary and fiscal policies. And it will. Sure, China manipulates the yuan. Everyone knows that, including Geithner; he said so during his January confirmation hearing. It's also widely recognized that a stable yuan is propping up the U.S. financial system. Its $2 trillion of reserves are a direct result of China manipulating the yuan. Geithner's climb-down from the manipulator charge is about pragmatism. He is aware of the fragility of international support for the dollar. "I do not look for an immediate collapse," says Hans Goetti, chief investment officer at LGT Bank in Liechtenstein (Singapore) Ltd. "I am bearish longer term as the Fed will continue with their demolition job on their balance sheet." The key distinction may be motive. China micromanages its currency on purpose to help exporters. The U.S.'s manipulation may be inadvertent. The end result will be the same. ... China's Obsession At the moment, China's obsession with a competitive exchange rate is more of a plus for the U.S. than a minus. It's not as if Detroit automakers will sell more cars to Chinese consumers if the yuan strengthens. A stronger yuan in this global climate would be a setback to the third-largest economy. It is easy to forget in this Group-of-Seven world that China's economy is now bigger than Germany's and the U.K.'s. Even if many regard low-income China as the world’s factory floor, its importance as a national economy has ballooned. China is far from a perfect locomotive, but it is among the very few we have today. The U.S., the traditional engine, is stuck in reverse. So, it is hard to keep a straight face when politicians such as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, say China must "continue reforms." ... Wrong Messenger Right message, wrong messenger. The International Monetary Fund can call on China to modernize its financial system, free its currency, or trade more fairly. The U.S., with its dollar-printing campaign, "buy American" provisions in stimulus bills, and deepening recession, can't make such requests. Nor can the U.S. offer many lessons on transparency these days. Those protesting around the U.S. on April 15, tax day, were livid about politicians spending their future. No issue has enraged taxpayers more than American International Group Inc. getting $183 billion of public money and then passing chunks of it to Wall Street's elite, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. One reason that China's reserves madden U.S. politicians is the perception that the Asian nation is somehow rich. Yes, China's massive reserves are a nice thing to have as global markets tank. Yet all those dollars on China's national balance sheet are more of a weakness than a strength. Nobel laureate Paul Krugman calls it "China's dollar trap." The point is that China's recent call for an alternative to the dollar was as much a cry for help as an economic-policy suggestion. China would lose big-time if the dollar collapsed. ... Dollar's Woes The argument by China, Russia, and Arab states to move away from the dollar deserves attention. First things first, though. The focus must be on stabilizing a global system that, for better or worse, is anchored by the dollar. Once things simmer, a new framework can be hammered out. The battle may soon be more about saving the dollar than scrapping it. The Federal Reserve's move to cut interest rates to near zero and pump tidal waves of liquidity into markets hasn't sent the dollar into freefall yet. More Fed liquidity and government borrowing are likely. Once the U.S. begins to recover, the historic steps that such an outcome required can't be good for the dollar. Not that the U.S. would mind a weaker dollar, so long as the move is orderly. You didn't see many signs of panic in 2008 when the dollar was falling. Most economies in recession would welcome a more competitive exchange rate. The risk, though, is that the dollar's drop will be a sharp one and spook markets. Bulls argue that if you don't like the dollar, what else are you going to buy? It's a fair question. The yen? The Swiss franc? The euro? All of these options have their own problems. Yet it's worth noting that the U.S., with its fast-growing debt burden, couldn't join the euro area even if it wanted to. The U.S. is actively paving the way for a falling currency. Just because China does it on purpose doesn't mean the U.S. won't be more successful at it in the long run. -----William Pesek is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
* * *Help keep GATA goingGATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:http://www.gata.orgTo contribute to GATA, please visit:
http://www.gata.org/node/16Contact GATAinfo@gata.orgGold Anti-Trust Action Committee7 Villa Louisa RoadManchester, Connecticut06043-7541 USA
www.gata.org

GATA Dispatches: "Obama's Wall Street ties doom bank rescue, Stiglitz says"

Submitted by cpowell on 08:41PM ET Thursday, April 16, 2009. Section: Daily Dispatches By Michael McKee and Matthew BenjaminBloomberg NewsThursday, April 16, 2009http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahnPchOxZMh8&refer=h...NEW YORK -- The Obama administration's plan to fix the U.S. banking system is destined to fail because the programs have been designed to help Wall Street rather than create a viable financial system, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said. "All the ingredients they have so far are weak, and there are several missing ingredients," Stiglitz said in an interview. The people who designed the plans are "either in the pocket of the banks or they're incompetent." The Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, isn't large enough to recapitalize the banking system, and the administration hasn't been direct in addressing that shortfall, he said. Stiglitz said there are conflicts of interest at the White House because some of President Obama's advisers have close ties to Wall Street. "We don't have enough money, they don't want to go back to Congress, and they don't want to do it in an open way and they don't want to get control" of the banks, a set of constraints that will guarantee failure, Stiglitz said. The return to taxpayers from the TARP is as low as 25 cents on the dollar, he said. "The bank restructuring has been an absolute mess." Rather than continually buying small stakes in banks, weaker banks should be put through a receivership where the shareholders of the banks are wiped out and the bondholders become the shareholders, using taxpayer money to keep the institutions functioning, he said. Stiglitz, 66, won the Nobel in 2001 for showing that markets are inefficient when all parties in a transaction don't have equal access to critical information, which is most of the time. His work is cited in more economic papers than that of any of his peers, according to a February ranking by Research Papers in Economics, an international database. The Public-Private Investment Program, PPIP, designed to buy bad assets from banks, "is a really bad program," Stiglitz said. It won't accomplish the administration’s goal of establishing a price for illiquid assets clogging banks' balance sheets, and instead will enrich investors while sticking taxpayers with huge losses. "You're really bailing out the shareholders and the bondholders," he said. "Some of the people likely to be involved in this, like Pimco, are big bondholders," he said, referring to Pacific Investment Management Co., a bond investment firm in Newport Beach, California. Stiglitz said taxpayer losses are likely to be much larger than bank profits from the PPIP program even though Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair has said the agency expects no losses. "The statement from Sheila Bair that there's no risk is absurd," he said, because losses from the PPIP will be borne by the FDIC, which is funded by member banks. "We're going to be asking all the banks, including presumably some healthy banks, to pay for the losses of the bad banks," Stiglitz said. "It's a real redistribution and a tax on all American savers." Stiglitz was also concerned about the links between White House advisers and Wall Street. Hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co. paid National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, a managing director of the firm, more than $5 million in salary and other compensation in the 16 months before he joined the administration. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. "America has had a revolving door. People go from Wall Street to Treasury and back to Wall Street," he said. "Even if there is no quid pro quo, that is not the issue. The issue is the mindset." Stiglitz was head of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton before serving from 1997 to 2000 as chief economist at the World Bank. He resigned from that post in 2000 after repeatedly clashing with the White House over economic policies it supported at the International Monetary Fund. He is now a professor at Columbia University. Stiglitz was also critical of Obama's other economic rescue programs. He called the $787 billion stimulus program necessary but "flawed" because too much spending comes after 2009, and because it devotes too much of the money to tax cuts "which aren't likely to work very effectively." "It's really a peculiar policy, I think," he said. The $75 billion mortgage relief program, meanwhile, doesn't do enough to help Americans who can't afford to make their monthly payments, he said. It doesn't reduce principal, doesn't make changes in bankruptcy law that would help people work out debts, and doesn't change the incentive to simply stop making payments once a mortgage is greater than the value of a house. Stiglitz said the Fed, while it has done almost all it can to bring the country back from the worst recession since 1982, can't revive the economy on its own. Relying on low interest rates to help put a floor under housing prices is a variation on the policies that created the housing bubble in the first place, Stiglitz said. "This is a strategy trying to recreate that bubble," he said. "That's not likely to provide a long-run solution. It's a solution that says, 'Let's kick the can down the road a little bit." While the strategy might put a floor under housing prices, it won't do anything to speed the recovery, he said. "It's a recipe for Japanese-style malaise."
* * *Help keep GATA goingGATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:http://www.gata.orgTo contribute to GATA, please visit:
http://www.gata.org/node/16
Contact GATAinfo@gata.org
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee
7 Villa Louisa RoadManchester, Connecticut06043-7541 USA
www.gata.org

Is the S&P 500 running out of gas?

After a spectacular rally from the lows seen last month, the S&P appears to be running into overhead resistance.
Is this the pause that refreshes, or is this the pause that reverses the market back towards the lows?


I have said for some time that I was not that confident that this rally would continue as our long-term “Trade Triangle” remained in a negative mode. In my new video I outline the key areas that I believe will shape this market in the coming weeks and months.
The video features our “Trade Triangle” technology as well as our Fibonacci tools. I will also remind you of a concept that has been around for a while, but one that you might not be aware of: no matter what happens, you are going to see some extraordinary markets and some wonderful opportunities to make money in the next 6-9 months.


Some investors may be hoping for the best, but be prepared as we might see another dive.I highly recommend students of the market to take a few minutes and watch my latest video. Even if you’re a seasoned pro you may find what you see interesting and therefore profitable.
As always, my video come is complimentary with no strings attached.


To view the video , click HERE

Fernando Guzmán Cavero

Forbes.com Alerts.:" The Biggest risk to your Business"

The Biggest Risks To your business And how to minimize them in a bad economy.

To read full Story please click HERE

Forbes.com Alerts: "6 Companies to get $ 9.9 B under US mortgage Programme"

Associated Press
6 companies to get $9.9B under US mortgage programBy MARTIN CRUTSINGER and ALAN ZIBEL , 04.15.09, 05:51 PM EDT .

To read full coverage of story click HERE

GATA Dispatches"Ambrose Evans-Pritcher: A copper standard for world currency?°

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: A 'copper standard' for world currency?
Submitted by cpowell on 02:32PM ET Wednesday, April 15, 2009. Section: Daily Dispatches By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
The Telegraph, LondonWednesday, April 15,2009 :

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/516012...Hard-money enthusiasts have long watched for signs that China is switching its foreign reserves from US Treasury bonds into gold bullion. They may have been eyeing the wrong metal. China's State Reserves Bureau (SRB) has instead been buying copper and other industrial metals over recent months on a scale that appears to go beyond the usual rebuilding of stocks for commercial reasons. Nobu Su, head of Taiwan's TMT group, which ships commodities to China, said Beijing is trying to extricate itself from dollar dependency as fast as it can. "China has woken up. The West is a black hole with all this money being printed.

The Chinese are buying raw materials because it is a much better way to use their $1.9 trillion of reserves. They get 10 times the impact, and can cover their infrastructure for 50 years." "The next industrial revolution is going to be led by hybrid cars, and that needs copper. You can see the subtle way that China is moving into 30 or 40 countries with resources," he said. The SRB has also been accumulating aluminium, zinc, nickel, and rarer metals such as titanium, indium (thin-film technology), rhodium (catalytic converters), and praseodymium (glass). While it makes sense for China to take advantage of last year's commodity crash to restock cheaply, there is clearly more behind the move. "They are definitely buying metals to diversify out of US Treasuries and dollar holdings," said Jim Lennon, head of commodities at Macquarie Bank.

John Reade, metals chief at UBS, said Beijing may have a made strategic decision to stockpile metal as an alternative to foreign bonds. "We're very surprised by Chinese demand. They are buying much more copper than they will need this year. If this is strategic, there may be no effective limit on the purchases as China's pockets are deep." Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank governor, piqued the interest of metal buffs last month by calling for a world currency modelled on the "Bancor," floated by John Maynard Keynes at Bretton Woods in 1944. The Bancor was to be anchored on 30 commodities -- a broader base than the gold standard, which had caused so much grief in the 1930s. Mr Zhou said such a currency would prevent the sort of "credit-based" excess that has brought the global finance to its knees. If his thoughts reflect Communist Party thinking, it would explain the bizarre moves in commodity markets over recent weeks. Copper prices have surged 49 percent this year to $4,925 a tonne despite estimates by the CRU copper group that world demand will fall 15 to 20 percent this year as construction wilts. Analysts say "short covering" by funds betting on price falls has played a role. But the jump is largely due to Chinese imports, which reached a record 329,000 tonnes in February and a further 375,000 tonnes in March. Chinese industrial demand cannot explain this. China has been badly hit by global recession. Its exports -- almost half GDP -- fell 17 percent in March. While Beijing's fiscal stimulus package and credit expansion have helped lift demand, China faces a property downturn of its own. One government adviser warned this week that house prices could fall 50 percent. One thing is clear: Beijing suspects that the US Federal Reserve is engineering a covert default on America's debt by printing money. Premier Wen Jiabao issued a blunt warning last month that China was tiring of US bonds. "We have lent a huge amount of money to the US, so of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets," he said. This is slightly disingenuous. China has the world's largest reserves -- $1.95 trillion, mostly in dollars -- because it has been holding down the yuan to boost exports. This mercantilist strategy has reached its limits. The beauty of recycling China's surplus into metals instead of US bonds is that it kills so many birds with one stone: It stops the yuan rising without provoking complaints of currency manipulation by Washington; metals are easily stored in warehouses, unlike oil; and the holdings are likely to rise in value over time since the earth's crust is gradually depleting its accessible ores.

Above all, such a policy safeguards China's industrial revolution, while the West may one day face a supply crisis. Beijing may yet buy gold as well, although it has not done so yet. The gold share of reserves has fallen to 1 percent, far below the historic norm in Asia. But if a metal-based currency ever emerges to end the reign of fiat paper, it is just as likely to be a copper standard as a gold standard.

* * *Help keep GATA goingGATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:
http://www.gata.orgTo contribute to GATA, please visit:
http://www.gata.org/node/16Contact GATAinfo@gata.org
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee
7 Villa Louisa RoadManchester, Connecticut06043-7541 USA
www.gata.org

FT.com: "Comment"

FT.com - Opinion Uncertainty bedevils the best system Apr 14 2009 23:50 The Future of Capitalism: Unfortunately, there is still no wide understanding among the public of the benefits that can fairly be credited to capitalism and why these benefits have costs. This has left capitalism vulnerable to opponents and to ignorance within the system. Regaining a well-functioning capitalism will require re-education and deep reform, writes Edmund Phelps Read more ».

Charts that talk can help improve your trading

If you’re short on time, but still need to know exactly what the chart is saying, I recommend you watch the video below on a new Talking Chart HERE.

A patent is pending on this technology and the users of the Talking Charts have flooded the company with emails and phone calls of praise. The technology reads and analyzes the details of the chart, then dictates the analysis right to you. As an added bonus you’ll hear from 3 different HUMAN voices! No robots here. Just great chart analysis to go along with very powerful charts.
Watch the video below without registration or obligation, just information:
Please click HERE.

Fernando Guzmán Cavero

Forbes.com Alerts: "Wall Street set for modestly lower open"

To read full story , click HERE

From The Desk Of Nick Nicolaas: "Crisis & Opportunity"

CRISIS & OPPORTUNITY
Preamble to Analysis of Martin Armstrong's Turnaround Dateof April 20, 2009

There is a huge demand for financial knowledge and we are now in an information bull market. In fact, we are being bombarded and overloaded with financial information. At the risk of adding to this prevalent information overload, this FDNN letter will, once again, give you our view of “what may the future bring”. Yes friends, I said may and not will, because with so much interference in the markets by governments worldwide, it has become nearly impossible to try and even remotely predict what the future may bring but - - we will try. All of this government interference is in plain view for all of us, who are paying attention, to see. Plus there also is government interference by stealth and therefore not in plain view. Yes indeed, this is a turbulent time to be writing. The disappearance of liquidity in the markets is of great concern to us and consequently, we expect to see record volatility swings in the markets. We at FDNN are not financial advisors however, below under the heading So what will the April 22, 2009 turnaround date bring?, we will give you our opinions as to the future and the importance of being in Hard Assets. In any event the best advice we can give is “pay attention to your investment portfolio yourself and do not leave your financial well being to others and in any event be careful out there”!!
One week to Go to Martin Armstrong's Turnaround-date of April 20, 2009

The Martin Armstrong's Economic Confidence Model turnaround-dates are just date specific caution flags. These flags have proven to be right on the money since 1985 when I first started to pay attention to this Model. Although, these dates are not forecasting impending doom or boom, they have proven to be dates indicating major turnarounds of events.
When the stock market crashed on October 27, 1987 right on 1987.8 (.8 x 365 days) indicated in the Armstrong Model then the Model really got my attention and I have followed it ever since then. To try and predict what MIGHT happen, I assemble current economic information as well as information obtained from free-thinking individuals who have clarity of thought and vision and who base their opinions on thorough research, critical thinking, and fact-based analysis.

Free thinkers such as Ian Woods, a disciple of Ian Notley's Yelton Fiscal Inc.; Doug Casey and his analytical team; James Dines; Richard Russell; Joe Granville; David Morgan, the silver-investor; John Mauldin and technical analysts such as Adam Hamilton and Roger Wiegand. Trying to interpret what each of these turnaround dates may bring is like trying to unlock a mystery. FDNN wrote about Martin Armstrong's turnaround date of February 27, 2007 (2007.16) in its February 18, 2007 Alert #35 “THE BULL STOPS HERE” - - - and exactly on that February 27 date stock markets around the world took a major hit. Some $60 billion was lost on the New York Stock Exchange in a minute. The same thing happened to stock markets around the world. There also were heavy losses in China, Tokyo, India, Sydney, Toronto and London. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 364.35 points, or 2.7% – the biggest drop in three years. The Dow dropped 416.02 points and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 268.80 points. These significant drops right on that turnaround date signaled the beginning of the end and gave all of us lots of heads-up lead time to get our affairs in order. FDNN note: A Resource World article by Ellsworth Dickson in May of 2007 about that February 27, 2007 turnaround date can be viewed here and all historic FDNN letters can be viewed here! In my FDNN Alert #43 dated March 17, 2008 I warned that, based upon the Martin Armstrong turn-around date of March 22, 2008 (2008.225), “the Ides of March” were once again upon us and that they, once again, would change everything (After Julius Caesar's bloody assassination in March of 44 B.C., the Ides of March assumed a whole new identity. The phrase came to represent “a specific day of abrupt change” that set off a ripple of repercussions throughout Roman society and beyond. In Cicero's letters from the months after the Ides of March he even says, 'The Ides changed everything”). We warned FDNN readers that the Financial Tsunami was starting to crest and to be light in the Financial Markets and that for the long term to be in commodity based investments (Hard Assets) and particularly gold and silver which certainly turned out to be the right calls for 2008.

Someone pointed out to me that Martin Armstrong's Date of March 22, 2008 was wrong because the markets did not crash until the fall of 2008 but I will argue that the 2008.225 date was right on the money. Ergo, as in March 44 B.C., - - - it was a specific day of abrupt change. Because precisely on March 22, 2008 the World Order Officially Changed. We explained that World Order Change in our FDNN Alert #44 dated March 31, 2008 when we wrote: “The US FED Low-Dollar Policy (from a High on the US$ Index of over 120 in July of 2001 to 71.82 at today's market close) has Now Resulted in the US Recession and a Major Shift towards Asia; We Already Knew that the Supremacy and the Move from The Western Economies to the Asian Economies were Shifting but, on March 22, 2008 Decisions were Made by Central Banks from 16 Asian Nations and its Governors from the South East Asian Central Banks grouping (SEACEN – Collectively, they manage about US$1 trillion in reserves, according to Bloomberg data) not only Crystallized those Facts but it Confirmed the Date (“Turnaround Date”) on which the NEW World Economy was Firmly Established: - March 24 (Bloomberg) -- Central banks from 16 Asian nations may invest more of their $1 trillion of foreign reserves in the region's debt as Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts reduce returns on U.S. assets. ``This is something that most of us, that are not yet investing in, will be looking at,'' Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco said in a March 23 interview in Jakarta. There can be ``some kind of shift'' to Asian sovereign bonds, Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said in a separate interview on March 22, after a weekend meeting of policy makers from the region (emphasis added by FDNN). Asian countries pummeled by a financial crisis in 1997-98 have spent the past decade hoarding reserves to help protect their economies from external disturbances. A looming U.S. recession means the world's biggest economy may no longer be the best place for the region to invest those funds. FDNN Note: Yes Friends, these Asian Economies are now firmly on record that they will switch and invest in their own economies and NOT in the US economy the New World Order has now been confirmed and in Place! Again quoting Cicero, “The Ides changed everything”. END

Yes, March 22, 2008 changed everything!

How High Can Apple Go

In this short video, I will take a look at Apple, Inc (NYSE_AAPL). I have to admit I love Apple products. I have an iPhone, an iMac and an iPod touch and several other Mac add-ons.

I have always loved their products, but I tend to be fickle with the stock. Thanks to our “Trade Triangle” technology, I have fallen in love all over again with Apple’s stock. I had been looking for this market to move lower based on the economic conditions and the market action, however this proved to be a false indication as Apple has moved to its best levels in quite some time.
I’ve just finished a new video on Apple, my first video on Apple in a while. Take a look and I’ll give you my thoughts and target zones for this very exciting stock.
The world has changed, it is not a buy and hold market anymore. You need to be nimble, trade with a game plan and be disciplined. Those are the key mantras of a successful trader.
As always, this video is with our compliments and there is no need to register to watch.

Please click HERE.

FErnando Guzmán Cavero

GATA Dispatches:"Roundabout Bailout: Fed Pumps Foreign Currency Into U.S. Banks

And... the manipulation continues !!!! with Pumps, Dumbs, and Bumps.... Where do you want to go? or maybe... How far do you want to take us...? The main problem you, World Leaders, have to do is: "THE REVOLUTION OF MORAL PRINCIPLES"::::Obviously not linked to any fundamentalist conception... but of course , and necessarily it is needed to remove the seed. And you guys know ... ¿What?... no! no! no! .... do not let us think you are not smart enough... as the Bumps, Dumbs or do PUMPS to going nowhere. NO! NO! NO! You do not want to be called in such a manner. DO YOU?.. If Ethics is defined, as the reflection of the morale , well, go ahead and read about it... Your well paid advisers, with taxpayers money , I am sure can tell you about it. Or, nowadays, with Internet and thanks to it,just make a search... and you will find the honest,sinners and unscrupulous philosophers... How many of you are ready to start the search... If you are so tired to do it...I make you a bet... O.K.? you will find millions out there or here...I do not know how to express myself .. in this confusion state , status of my mind full of numerical values...*

1929 STOCK MARKET CRASH - PRESENTED IN YOUTUBE, GREAT VIDEO ... COINCIDENCE OF TODAY'S CRASH

*Fernando Guzmán Cavero
http://www.fgcbolsa.blogspot.com/

Submitted by cpowell on 01:34PM ET Friday, April 10, 2009. Section: Daily Dispatches By Ryan GrimHuffington Post, New YorkFriday, April 10, 2009http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/10/roundabout-bailout-fed-to_n_185...The Fed is already printing trillions of U.S. dollars and pumping them into the global economy in an effort to stave off a financial collapse. Now it plans to start injecting foreign currency, too, according to minutes recently released from its March meeting.How the hell can the U.S. Fed do that? Glad you asked.The Federal Reserve engages in so-called swaps with foreign countries, which we first reported here. It uses these swaps to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into foreign central banks while taking foreign currency in exchange.The foreign central banks pass their new U.S. dollars to their foreign financial institutions, while the Fed has kept the foreign currency on its balance sheet and not injected it into the money supply.Now, however, the Fed will be able to take the foreign currency it acquires in these swaps, and rather than hold it on its balance sheet, pass it on to U.S. banks, according to minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's March meeting. These U.S. banks can then use that foreign currency to cover their foreign debts.The Fed governors said, according to the meeting notes, that the measure was only precautionary: "There was no evidence that these institutions were encountering difficulty in meeting foreign currency obligations at this time, but these facilities would be available should pressures develop in the future."The expanded effort is part of a Fed project that has been injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into foreign central banks over the last several months.The committee notes say that the new program will "augment the existing network of central bank liquidity swap lines."The Fed also announced in its minutes that it was approving "additional temporary reciprocal currency arrangements (swap lines) with the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB), the Bank of Japan, and the Swiss National Bank." Extending additional swaps to these central banks raises the question of whether those banks are facing difficulties repaying previous swaps. The European and Japanese economies have been collapsing at a faster rate than the United States' has."It is basically either an extension or increase of the existing lines, and raises suspicion that massive losses have been incurred in the previous round of supposedly 'temporary' swaps, as the return to dollar-supply-normalcy that these geniuses pretended to expect would have happened by now, did not," ventures economist James Galbraith.Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), after reading the minutes, describes the Fed plan as "a massive transfer of wealth from the American people to who knows where," calling it a "round-about bailout."Beyond that, he notes, it's hard to know what to make of the Fed action because of the obscurity of the institution. "The Fed is out of control. If the president tried to do this, Republicans would be calling for his impeachment. But because it's done by the man behind the curtain they call the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, it's supposedly okay," he says, arguing that the founding fathers never intended one man to have so much unchecked power. The obscurity has led economists to wonder about the Fed's true motives.The expansion of Fed power comes amid increasing calls for transparency into the workings of the organization. If the Fed does send foreign currency to U.S. banks, it will be under no requirement to disclose which banks or how much. On Wednesday, Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) called for the GAO to have more authority to investigate the Fed. Grayson says Frank has told him on numerous occasions that Congress needs a better idea of what it is that the Fed is doing.On Wednesday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on the Fed to post its financial transactions online during a conversation with the Daily Show's John Stewart. She plans to address "Fed authority" when Congress returns.* * * From the Fed's minutes:"The Committee also took up a proposal to augment the existing network of central bank liquidity swap lines by adding several temporary swap lines that could provide foreign currency liquidity to U.S. institutions, analogous to the arrangements that currently provide U.S. dollar liquidity abroad. There was no evidence that these institutions were encountering difficulty in meeting foreign currency obligations at this time, but these facilities would be available should pressures develop in the future. The Committee unanimously approved the following resolution: "'The Federal Open Market Committee authorizes the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to enter into additional temporary reciprocal currency arrangements (swap lines) with the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB), the Bank of Japan, and the Swiss National Bank to support the provision of liquidity in British pounds, euros, Japanese yen, and Swiss francs. The swap arrangements with each foreign central bank shall be subject to the following limits: an aggregate amount of up to L30 billion with the Bank of England; an aggregate amount of up to E80 billion with the ECB; an aggregate amount of up to Y10 trillion with the Bank of Japan; and an aggregate amount of up to SwF 40 billion with the Swiss National Bank. These arrangements shall terminate no later than October 30, 2009, unless extended by mutual agreement of the Committee and the respective foreign central banks. The Committee also authorizes the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to provide the foreign currenc ies obtained under the arrangements to U.S. financial institutions by means of swap transactions to assist such institutions in meeting short-term liquidity needs in their foreign operations. Requests for drawings on the central bank swap lines and distribution of the foreign currency proceeds to U.S. financial institutions shall be initiated by the appropriate Reserve Bank and approved by the Foreign Currency Subcommittee.'"-----Ryan Grim is senior congressional correspondent for the Huffington Post.
* * *Help keep GATA going

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:http://www.gata.org

To contribute to GATA, please visit:
http://www.gata.org/node/16

Contact GATAinfo@gata.orgGold Anti-Trust Action Committee

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www.gata.org

Is the British Pound Making a Reversal?

We haven’t looked at the British Pound (GBP) lately, as it has been in its major swing to the downside. The question is, is the British pound ready for a comeback?

In our new video, I delve into the depths of the British Pound, and take you step-by-step into my thought process and why we’re looking at this market right now.
Whether you’re a newbie or experienced trader, I believe you will benefit from this video. In the video we give you specific levels that I’m watching, and target levels that we expect the British Pound could achieve if it breaks over one key psychological level.

As always this video is with our compliments and there is no need to register to watch.
Just make a click HERE

Fernando Guzmán Cavero

The Fibonacci tool fully explained in this video

You may have heard about Fibonacci, the man who discovered a set of numbers who that have a major affect on the market. So who is this Fibonacci fellow, and why are his findings so important in the market place?



The mathematical findings by this thirteenth century Italian man has yielded a useful technical analysis tool which is used in technical analysis and by scientists in a large array of fields. Born Leonardo of Piza, he is better known in the trading community as Fibonacci. Fibonacci’s best known work is Liber Abaci which is generally credited as having introduced the Arabic number system which we use today.
Fibonacci introduced a number sequence in Liber Abaci which is said to be a reflection of human nature. The series is as follows: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 and on to infinity. The series is derived by adding each number to the previous. For example, 1+1=2 , 2+1=3, 3+2=5, 5+3=8, 8+5=13, and so on.

I use the Fibonacci series mainly for retracements (see today’s video of Adam)) and to show me where support and resistance might come into the market. I also use this tool to enter or add onto a position.In my new video, I show you these exact retracements and how they affected the market at that time.

To see Adam Hewison video, click HERE

As Always there is no need to register for this video and of course you can watch it with our compliments today.

Fernando Guzmán Cavero

Double Tops and Pivot Points Explained

This week, I want to share with you a chart pattern that the pro’s use everyday to great effect. The chart pattern we will be looking at, is one of my favorites as it has a high reliability factor.
The chart pattern in this short video is well known inside the professional trading community. However, outside of the pro circle it seems to be shrouded in mystery.

In this new 3 minute video, I peel away the layers of mystery and show you step-by-step how you can personally benefit from this chart pattern that occurs in all time frames.
What’s amazing to me about this chart pattern, is the fact that after over 3 decades of real world trading, it continues to repeat itself.

To view the video of Adam Hewison , click HERE

FT.Com : Markets

The Financial Times gives us its daily articles on markets.

o read full coverage Click HERE

Forbes.com Alerts:"Final Glance: Finance companies"

According to Associated Press:Shares of some top finance companies were mixed at the close of trading.

To read full coverage , click HERE

GATA Dispatches: "Ted Butler : A simple decision about Silver"

Submitted by cpowell on 11:40AM ET Tuesday, April 7, 2009. Section: Daily Dispatches 2:40p ET Tuesday, April 7, 2009Dear Friend of GATA and Gold (and Silver):Silver market analyst Ted Butler writes in commentary posted today at GoldSeek's companion site, SilverSeek, that if you think silver trades in a free market, you shouldn't be buying it, and that if you realize that the silver market in manipulated, you should avoid buying it on margin. Butler's commentary is headlined "A Simple Decision" and you can find it at SilverSeek here:http://news.silverseek.com/TedButler/1239126351.phpCHRIS POWELL, Secretary/TreasurerGold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
* * *Help keep GATA goingGATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at
:http://www.gata.org
To contribute to GATA, please visit:
http://www.gata.org/node/16
Contact GATAinfo@gata.orgGold Anti-Trust Action Committee
7 Villa Louisa RoadManchester, Connecticut06043-7541 USA
www.gata.org

New Dollar Yen Relationship Revealed

I have to admit, I love trading Forex. It’s one of the most exciting and most profitable markets in the world.
In today’s short educational trading video on the dollar/yen (usd/jpy), I explain step-by-step how to analyze the dollar and its relationship to the Yen. I will also show you exactly what I think is happening right now in this relationship. Watch the video and see specific target zones where I think this cross is headed in the future.
Watch it with our compliments. You do not have to register to watch the video.
To view the video, please click HERE
If you have time, let us know what you think on our blog.
All the best,

Adam Hewison
President, INO.com
Co-creator, MarketClub