David Morgan & Jeffrey Christian discuss the Silver Manipulation Story

Silver market gurus David Morgan & Jeffrey Christian discuss the silver manipulation story on Business News Network.....view video

HSBC Sued for Alleged Silver Conspiracy

From Reuters.com:

* Hundreds of millions in illegal profit alleged

* Triple damages sought in one of two lawsuits

* CFTC proposed new tools to thwart price manipulation (Adds adviser comment, details)

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, Oct 27 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) were hit with two lawsuits on Wednesday by investors who accused them of conspiring to drive down silver prices, and reaping an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal profits.

The banks, among the world's largest, were accused of manipulating the market for COMEX silver futures and options contracts from the first half of 2008 by amassing huge short positions in silver futures contracts that are designed to profit when prices fall.

"Defendants reaped hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions of dollars in profits" from the conspiracy, one of the complaints said.

The respective plaintiffs, Brian Beatty and Peter Laskaris, each said they traded COMEX silver futures and options and contracts, and lost money because of the alleged manipulation.

Beatty lives in Connecticut and Laskaris in New York, court records showed. The lawsuits seek class-action status, damages that may be tripled and other remedies. The defendant banks are major participants in the silver market.

JPMorgan declined to comment. An HSBC spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

The lawsuits were filed one day after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission proposed regulations to give it greater power to thwart traders who try to manipulate prices.

The CFTC began probing allegations of silver price manipulation in September 2008.

"Going back to the early 1980s, silver has been an extremely volatile market," said Bill O'Neill, managing partner at Logic Advisors, an Upper Saddle River, New Jersey investment firm specializing in commodities. "I often describe it as a speculative playground. You have to be a big boy to play."

FRAUD, DEVIOUSNESS ALLEGED

Only once in its 36-year history has the CFTC successfully concluded a manipulation prosecution, in a 1998 proceeding concerning prices for electricity futures.

Speaking on Tuesday, Chairman Gary Gensler said the proposed regulations would give the regulator greater power to police "fraud-based manipulation.".......read on

Marc Faber - QE2 to Drive Commodites & Gold Higher

China is Key to Next Rally in Gold Prices

From FT.com:

The recent gold price rally is the first stage of a multi-year bull market that will drive the gold price to at least $2,000 an ounce by 2015. A mixture of economic factors and innovations in how institutions can purchase the metal have moved prices. But the biggest driver of gold prices is yet to come.

First, a recap of the factors that have taken gold prices to current levels.

The economic causes centre on monetary policy and the risk of inflation. Some industrial countries are striving to devalue their currencies and will use monetary policy to support the goal. Japan recently spent $24bn on unsterilised intervention trying to weaken the yen. The policy succeeded, albeit briefly. In 2003-04, Japan spent more than $350bn on intervention and could easily do so again. This policy would increase dollar liquidity while nurturing more monetary growth in Japan itself.

The Federal Reserve has been dropping ever-bigger hints that it will embark on further quantitative easing. A significant policy move will trigger immediate selling of the dollar, and could set the stage for competitive devaluations elsewhere......read on

The Keiser Report - Savers vs. Speculators