Sunday, December 5, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Gold Demand: ‘Huge Buying from China’
From The Wall St Journal:Data cited Thursday by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency showed that China imported 209.7 metric tons of gold in the first 10 months of the year, a fivefold increase compared with the same period last year.
That surpassed purchases made by ETFs and surprised analysts, who until now had no clear insight into the size of China’s buying.
“Everybody in the gold market knew there was a surge in investment demand, but they didn’t know it was China,” said Jeff Christian, managing director at CPM Group......read in full
Angela Merkel warned that Germany could abandon the euro
From the Guardian:The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has warned for the first time that her country could abandon the euro if she fails in her contested campaign to establish a new regime for the single currency, the Guardian has learned.
At an EU summit in Brussels at the end of October that was dominated by the euro crisis and wrangling over whether to bail out Ireland, Merkel became embroiled in a row with the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, according to participants at the event's Thursday dinner......read on
Friday, December 3, 2010
Gold Imports by China Soar Almost Fivefold as Inflation Spurs Investment
From Bloomberg.com:China’s gold imports jumped almost fivefold in the first 10 months from the entire amount shipped in last year as concern about rising inflation increased its appeal as a store of value, said the Shanghai Gold Exchange.......read on
Weekend chill out
This weekend's chill out is dedicated to the Irish (Eire) school and university leavers hitting the worst job market since the Great Famine. Maybe they best do what my ancestors did and escape to Australia - Tip: don't come by boat, it is not looked on as favourably as it was in the 1850's.
CFTC suspected to unveil position limit plan Dec 16
By Roberta Rampton, silverbearcafe.com:(Reuters) - The U.S. futures regulator intends to unveil on December 16 its long-awaited revised plan to limit speculative positions held by commodity traders, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is grappling with how to set and police the controversial limits. Furthermore, due to its complexity there could be further delays, said another source closely monitoring the issue.
It would be unsurprising if the proposal was postponed until the new year - one of several items that may be delayed as the CFTC races to meet deadlines set under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the industry source said.....read on
US Fed releases bailout details on Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Chase, and Maiden Lane LLC
From the Fed website:Background
In March 2008, The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. (Bear Stearns) was one of the largest securities firms in the country, with reported total consolidated assets of nearly $400 billion. Bear Stearns engaged in a broad range of activities, including investment banking, securities and derivatives trading and clearing, brokerage services, and originating and securitizing commercial and residential mortgage loans. Financial conditions for the firm deteriorated markedly between mid-January and mid-March 2008. On March 13, 2008, Bear Stearns notified the Federal Reserve that it expected that it would not have enough funding or liquid assets to meet its financial obligations the following day and would not be able to find a private-sector source of alternative financing.
The imminent insolvency of Bear Stearns, the large presence of Bear Stearns in several important financial markets (including, in particular, the markets for repo-style transactions, over-the-counter derivative and foreign exchange transactions, mortgage-backed securities, and securities clearing services), and the potential for contagion to similarly situated firms raised significant concern that the stability of financial markets would be seriously disrupted if Bear Stearns were suddenly unable to meet its obligations to counterparties, and the extension of credit allowed for an orderly resolution of the firm.......read on
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)