Gold price action on Monday looked similar to Friday’s. The bottom for gold in the Far East came shortly after 3:00 p.m. in Hong Kong…rose until shortly after London opened, declined a couple of bucks…but once the London a.m. gold fix was in [10:30 a.m. in London...5:30 a.m. in New York], gold rose to its high of the day shortly after 11:00 a.m. This high [once again over $940] lasted until 9:00 a.m. in New York, shortly after the Comex opened…then it got taken down eight bucks to its low of the day at 10:00 a.m. in New York…which just happens to be the London p.m. fix…3:00 p.m. over there.

From that point it rose right into the Comex close…and was taken down and closed below $940 once again in the electronic market.

Silver’s chart pattern was virtually identical to gold’s.

Everything was swell in gold and silver when I went to bed early on Friday morning. I was hoping that when I got up four hours later, that both metals would be much higher in New York trading. They were…until 8:40 a.m…and that was that. From there, gold and silver basically closed on their lows of the day. And for whatever reason, gold was not allowed to close above $940 again. That’s the third day in a row. Silver however, closed above $14 by a magnificent seven cents!

From the start of the trading day on Friday morning in the Far East…and until noon in New York…the dollar lost about 70 basis points. And from the start of precious metals trading in the Far East, gold and silver basically rose as the dollar fell. That relationship ended almost as soon as the New York bullion banks showed up for work.

The lousy

Everything was swell in gold and silver when I went to bed early on Friday morning. I was hoping that when I got up four hours later, that both metals would be much higher in New York trading. They were…until 8:40 a.m…and that was that. From there, gold and silver basically closed on their lows of the day. And for whatever reason, gold was not allowed to close above $940 again. That’s the third day in a row. Silver however, closed above $14 by a magnificent seven cents!

From the start of the trading day on Friday morning in the Far East…and until noon in New York…the dollar lost about 70 basis points. And from the start of precious metals trading in the Far East, gold and silver basically rose as the dollar fell. That relationship ended almost as soon as the New York bullion banks showed up for work.

The lousy

Gold tacked on about $10 in early Wednesday morning trading in the Far East. But shortly before London began trading, all the those gains began to disappeared. The low for the day was shortly after Comex floor trading started. From there, a spirited rally began, which went vertical right after London closed for the day…but [as always] there was someone standing there with a hammer to make sure that the rally went no further.

Silver was up a dime by 3 p.m. in Hong Kong in their afternoon yesterday…when it, too, began the long decline…with the bottom coming at 9:30 during Comex trading. The rally in silver ran into the same seller as gold…and at precisely the same time…and that was it for the day.

Initially, the precious metals shares held up well despite the onslaught…but the

Gold didn’t do much on Wednesday. It rallied a bit in the Far East and got sold off mid-morning in London. The low of the day [such as it was] came at the London p.m. gold fix at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. The subsequent rally got capped shortly after the price punctured $890…and then proceeded to get sold off [on big volume] right into the Globex close at 5:15 in New York. Total estimated volume was 87,493 contracts…with a switch effect of 5,876.

Silver was similar. A vertical spike at 8:30 a.m. in New York got squashed…and the low of the day was also at the London p.m. gold fix. And, like gold, the subsequent rally got capped at 1:00 p.m. Eastern before getting sold off to almost unchanged. Nothing to see here folks…please move along.

Open interest changes for Tuesday’s Comex trading showed an increase of 1,653 contracts in gold o.i….now

Well, the bottom for gold on Wednesday was about 2:00 p.m. in Hong Kong…1:00 a.m. in New York. From there it rose in fits and starts until the Comex open…where it got sold off for about an hour or so. Then, at precisely 9:00 a.m., away it went to the upside…until it ran into some opposition at the London p.m. fix [3:00 p.m. London...10:00 a.m. New York.] The London close occurred an hour later…and that was obviously it for the day. Volume was extremely heavy…170,000 contracts were traded…and that’s net of what few switches there were.

The silver chart was almost a mirror image of its golden cousin…with the top silver price coming at the close of London trading.

The open interest number for gold on Tuesday was a big surprise. Even though gold rose about $18 on that day, there was actually a decline of 99 contract in open interest to

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Red Alert: Gold Backwardation!!!

– Posted Friday, 5 December 2008

Antal E. Fekete

Gold Standard University Live

December 2, 2008, was a landmark in the saga of the collapsing international monetary system, yet it did not deserve to be reported in the press: gold went to backwardation for the first time ever in history. The facts are as follows: on December 2nd, at the Comex in New York, December gold futures (last delivery: December 31) were quoted at 1.98% discount to spot, while February gold futures (last delivery: February 27, 2009) were quoted at 0.14% discount to spot. (All percentages annualized.) The condition got worse on December 3rd, when the corresponding figures were 2% and 0.29%. This means that the gold basis has turned negative, and the condition of backwardation persisted for at least 48 hours. I am writing this in the wee hours of December 4th, when trading of gold futures has not

Like many people, I have been looking at the price disparity between the market prices of gold and silver bullion (averaging about $1,000 an ounce for gold and $16.50 an ounce for silver) versus the prices of gold and silver futures (about $730 and $8.90 respectively).

I am thinking to myself that I would love to get a piece of that luscious arbitrage action where I buy the gold and/or silver futures at a low price while simultaneously selling the same gold and/or silver bullion at a higher price, telling the buyers that they must pay in advance and then wait up to a few months for me deliver their gold and silver, pocketing a hell of a lot of money on the buy-sell spread and the interest the money earns until the futures contract matures so that I can take delivery and settle up, and then spend the rest of

The commodity “supercycle” isn’t dead, says Justice Litle. Global demand has flat-lined for now, but the fundamental story of emerging market growth has not changed. And low prices are forcing many mines to shut down operations. This means that when demand recovers, it will do so faster than new supplies can reach the market. And that’s when gold will soar past $1,200 an ounce.

More from Justice in Taipan Daily:

Hear ye, hear ye, one and all: The supercycle is dead. Long live the supercycle!

Commodities on the whole have declined nearly 50% from their peak as a result of the credit crisis. This has led some to declare that the “commodity supercycle” – the idea that we are merely in mid-innings of a massive, multi-decade commodity bull market – is defunct too.

I’ll admit it… the