Fighting Back

Friday, January 25, 2013 at 1:20 pm

If you're depressed and despondent over the price action in the metals, don't be. It's all simple, option expiry nonsense and it will get better next week. Besides, I have some happy news for you today...The Good Guys are fighting back.

You'll recall that late last year, the U.S. District Court in New York dismissed the civil suit for silver manipulation against JPMorgan. At the time, The Court granted the plaintiffs 30 days to re-file. Today, I'm happy to share with you that they, in fact, have re-filed and are quite optimistic about their case going forward.

First up, here's a link to the summary written by Turdville Attorney General CALawyer in the days immediately following the dismissal. You might want to review this again before going forward. http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/4408/guest-post-summary-silver-civil-suit-dismissal-calawyer

Upon receipt of the filing yesterday, I once again sent it off to CALawyer for his opinion. Time was short so he was only able to reply with the email below. We are all in his debt for taking the time to review it. Again, CALawyer, THANK YOU!

Hey Turd:
This is my quick take. I read the Motion for Leave to Replead. It is very standard, and should be granted. Routine pleading, nice summary. The defense will oppose, claiming that even with all the new proposed facts, the new facts do not make a difference and thus, the Motion for Leave to Replead should be denied. It is a very low hurdle for Plaintiffs, and the Motion is almost certain to be granted, based on the new facts from the Proposed Second Amended Complaint. My read of the proposed new complaint is that this should be enough to make out a case. That may or may not be enough to get discovery launched, but the absolute last thing the defense wants is an army of Plaintiff attorney's scouring through the JPM documents. No TBTF bank wants that, ever. I hope, but I do not know, that the court will grant discovery on this based on the showing of alleged facts from the new complaint, though.

For example, look at this new allegation, at paragraph 137. I like this quote a lot:
"e. As a sophisticated and large market participant as well as a
market maker on the London market and clearing member of COMEX, JP Morgan
well knew each of the foregoing facts as they occurred. By selling in the small
COMEX market, JP Morgan knew that it received lesser sale prices because it had a greater depressant effects on prices. Thus, JP Morgan repeatedly and
uneconomically incurred additional transaction costs in order to sell at the lower
prices it caused on COMEX. JP Morgan thereby intentionally acted contrary to the
conduct of a hedger by repeatedly incurring greater transaction costs. It did so in
order to depress prices."

This allegation is tight, and makes out a compelling case, because it finally shows that JPM's behavior is illogical and hence, that leaves only the conclusion that it was manipulating prices. The distinction between the Comex and LBMA as far as price, volume, etc., is critical. Rhetorically, then, the obvious question that is asked, "Why would JPM hold a large short position on Comex to hedge when hedging on Comex cost more than on LBMA?, is then answered: "Because it wanted to manipulate prices despite the costs to do so because it made money from depressing prices, which ultimately means it was not hedging at all, since JPM would not hold a hedge that lost it money when it could hold the same hedge on LBMA without losing money."

I like the substantial allegations at paragraph 137 a lot. This could get real interesting if discovery is allowed.
That decision is the next real test, not the next motion to dismiss.
Thanks for letting me weigh in.
Anytime you need something my friend, just ask.

Sincerely,

CALawyer, Esq. Attorney General de Turdville

OK, with that, the documents to review are below. The have been filed with the court and are fully public. At this point, we'll need to let the process run its course so no need to get carried away today. However, I felt that it was important for you to know that The Good Guys are continuing the fight on your behalf. Wish them well and Godspeed.

FINAL - BRIEF of JPM CIVIL SUIT RE-FILE by Turd Ferguson

Second Amended Complaint in JPM Silver Manipulation Civil Case by Turd Ferguson

Login or register to post comments
51048 reads
Print
Email

TF Metals Report is supported by voluntary subscriptions and donations. DONATE TODAY!

Comments

Blew My Cover

Submitted by Mr. Smith on January 27, 2013 - 10:49am.

DrkPurpleHaze, you are too smart! Blew my cover!

The discussion of Armstrong

Submitted by Keg on January 27, 2013 - 10:51am.

The discussion of Armstrong and others that try to predict the future is interesting.

Let's face it. PMs will take off when higher inflation kicks in. It is inevitable. There is no turning back. Money printing always ends badly. When does that happen is the question.

We have not seen a time in history where almost every country is printing money and incurring debt that will never be paid. Those in control have managed superhuman can kicking. When will they have to pay higher interest rates to finance the debt? The USD cannot collapse until there is an acceptable alternative.

Armstrong, Sinclair, Sprott, Turk, and all the rest do not know when this happens. They are only making guesses. Educated guesses but still a guess. Your guess is just as likely to be correct as theirs. I have heard Sprott say the he never thought it could go on this long. That he was surprised by the low interest rates bond holders are willing to accept.

Here is my prediction. Those that prepare will be better off than those that do not. Keep stacking my friends.

Bank of Dave

Submitted by 57Goldtop on January 27, 2013 - 11:16am.

Thanks for posting. I sprayed this around Bay street this morning.

It's probably like garlic to a vampire.

Pulled from 0 Hedge

Submitted by Revelation on January 27, 2013 - 11:16am.

Scenario (Financial False Flag) something to think about...low probability events can and do occur...

"A It is a Thursday afternoon, mid April, and you are driving home from work. Your wife calls you and asks you to stop at the supermarket for a few items. As you are getting the bread and milk, a disturbance begins at the front of the store. As you approach the check-out, you realize that the lines are way too long, and there are several people complaining. From the dialogue you realize that the Credit/Debit system is down. The store manager is trying to keep people calm, while on the phone with the company that services the card-reader system for electronic payments.

Now, a new line is forming at the ATM machine in the store, people shoving and yelling. Apparently, folks went to the ATM so they could pay for their items with cash and get home. Strangely, the ATM is giving out too much money – double, to be exact. Suddenly, everyone wants to be in that line… a fight breaks out, and the front of the store becomes mayhem. You quickly pay for the items you have, going through the express checkout, thanking God that you have cash in your wallet, and get the heck out of the store.

By the time you get home, a story is breaking on the news – the same strange events are happening all over the state. Credit/Debit systems down, and most ATMs not functioning, while others are dispensing “free” money. Later in the evening, you hear that there have been multiple shootings at ATMs in the area, as people fight over the free money coming out of them… flash mobs are reported at some of the grocery and electronics stores in the city where you work.

By morning, the news is all about hackers that have broken into the ATM network, and how the banks have had to shut the ATMs down to prevent further losses. There are images on the TV of growing lines at the banks, as people must go to a bank to get cash, in our previously ‘cashless’ society. Later in the day, you hear that there are now fights breaking out at banks as people tire of the long lines, and become fearful…because bank branches are running out of cash. That afternoon, a grocery store downtown gets flash-mobbed for the third time, only this time the activities go beyond plain theft – an all-out riot erupts because people cannot get what they want, the shelves having been emptied by the previous flash-mobs.

On the drive home from work, you hear that several banks have closed branches early because they ran out of physical money. One of the branches was vandalized by people who had been waiting when the branch ran out of cash and closed up – smashed windows, smashed ATM machine, and several injured people taken to hospitals…several people were arrested, but the police are reviewing the security videos and “expect to make more arrests in the case.” That evening the news announces that these things are happening all over the country, and that looting and rioting have begun in several major cities. When bed time comes, you decide to get your pistol out of the safe and keep it by the bed, over your wife’s objections… “just in case.”

You wake up on Saturday morning to a different world – several of your neighbors have been burglarized, and the news is full of riots, robberies, and car-jackings. The mayors of several major cities have declared a state of emergency, and are urging people to stay home and lock their doors. The world seems to have come un-hinged. Your wife is no longer objecting to your pistol being ready at hand.

One of your friends owns the hardware store downtown, and he calls around 11am to ask if you need any shotgun shells, or other ‘security supplies’ – he says that he has a few boxes of 12ga. put aside, and the rest have all been sold. He also says that people have been buying plywood, screws, nails, steel bars, and anything else they can get to protect and reinforce their homes – he warns you that he expects to sell out of many supplies today. He has talked to many people that morning, he is clearly worried. He says one customer told him that he has a brother who lives in Philadelphia who had just called him, and said that there were rioters in the streets there, and that the local news showed pictures of some of them who were carrying guns and waving islamic flags.

By Saturday evening the insanity has infected the city nearest you, about 20 miles away, and there is a constant stream of reported rioting, looting, and shootings on the TV news. Your neighbor is a police officer in town, and he comes over to talk to you briefly before heading in for a shift – he says that his department has been told that they may have to send officers to assist in the city, and asks if you can you keep an eye on his family during his shift overnight? What can you say but “of course I will”…and think to yourself, “it’s not like I was going to get any sleep anyway.” Before heading out, he hands you his police scanner, quickly shows you how to use it.

Overnight, you hear gunshots in the distance…once, then again, then several more times. Gunshots and sirens, and the squawk of the scanner as each event is assigned to a unit. As the night wears on, you think back on the conspiracy theories you have heard over the years, but always dismissed as the ramblings of people living on the edge, with too much time on their hands – restless chatter of New World Order, global banking cabals, communist infiltration, etc. As much as you still don’t buy into the ranting of the “tinfoil hat brigade”, you have to wonder if the hackers who did this actually knew what they would be causing, or whether they were just trying to steal money? Morning approaches, and you realize that the police are sounding rather frustrated – there have been over 50 break-in calls since 11pm, but no one has been arrested. It is as though the police are being sent on wild goose chases. You drift off to sleep wondering, “Dozens of businesses broken into tonight, and a number of houses too, but no arrests, except for one drunk driver. How can that be?”

With daylight, your neighbor returns, but he is not happy, and neither are you when you hear the news – he and most of his squad have been assigned to assist the department in the city for a shift – he is home to grab the bag which is packed with his riot gear and other “special equipment”. He reminds you that his wife has a pistol, knows how to use it. “She also has the keys to my gun safe” he says. Both of you have to look away from the other at that moment – what it suggests about the future is just too ugly to think about, yet it can’t be avoided. He thanks you again for helping him out, and drives away.

Days later, the banks are still not open, the grocery stores are all looted and shut down, the gas stations are all empty, and your life has been reduced to shifts of community-watch duty. Armed raids by gangs are being reported everywhere, including your small town, and there are reports of huge packs of urban residents walking and driving out into the suburbs looking for food and refuge – everything on the news is about violence.

When your police officer neighbor returns (after nearly 4 days) and warns your neighborhood watch that a large mass of people is less than 2 miles up the road, looting and destroying people’s houses. He also tells you that many of the police are exhausted and walking off the job, as he did, to go home and protect their families, because there is just no managing the amount of violence which is happening. “It’s just plain crazy out there – people robbing and killing each other 24/7", he says, “and even with 4 cops in a cruiser, we’re not safe to go in and break things up. A lot of cops have been injured, some killed. It was just time to get out…to get home before I got hurt on the street. We need to get prepared – those people are coming, and they are crazy hungry!”

That afternoon, the mob of people is spotted coming up the road towards your neighborhood, now less than 1/2 mile away. Some are on foot, but they also have some cars and pickup trucks – there must be over 200 of them. Those that don’t have guns are carrying shovels, axes, sticks… in your neighborhood, everyone has been preparing since your neighbor brought home the warning. You have sent several boys out as runners to alert folks in near-by neighborhoods that danger is coming. Every gun is in someone’s hands. Your men have also pulled axes, shovels, and other tools from their sheds to be used as fighting tools, and you have a rudimentary plan -

You have 6 veterans with combat experience, and they each have a rifle and a pistol, plenty of ammo. They will go out and engage the mob just past the edge of the neighborhood, and will attempt to keep them on the main road, to divert them past your sub-division. The rest of your men are assembling along the two entrances to the neighborhood, a few houses back from the main road – they are preparing to make a massed defense against the coming mob, if they cannot be diverted by your advanced force. You have positioned vehicles, trailers, and brush in the roads to stop the mob’s vehicles, as well as providing some additional cover for your defense force. Meanwhile, the moms are gathering the children, the sick, and the old into a small cluster of houses in the center of your subdivision. They are also pulling the food and other resources out of the most vulnerable homes. Hopefully, the combination of high resistance and little/no rewards will keep the mob moving past your neighborhood… The unspoken fact weighs heavily on your group – if there are 250 in the mob, then you are outnumbered nearly 2:1, making a head-on fight a truly horrific ordeal. A painful silence has settled over everyone as you make your final preparations.

It has been 6 days since the ATM machines went down, 4 days since the last grocery store and gas station in town closed, and now you are preparing to fight your first battle against a mob of hungry, violent looters. Another mob has already arrived downtown, and you hear on the scanner that the police and fire department are very busy. You know that help will not be coming, because you have called to tell the dispatcher what is happening, to ask for help, but all he could say was that, “there are no officers available right now. I hope your plan works…”

- – - Here, I will end the story, because what happens next cannot be told in a dignified fashion. In that clash lives are lost on all sides, and many are injured. There are no winners in this combat, only those who survived. The most profound impact is that, in less than the space of an hour, the hope of a return to normal life is destroyed for over 100 families in that neighborhood. War has touched them in their hearts, in their homes, and it has put their community to the test of fire. Those who survive have a chance to rebuild, but they have all been forever changed.

In such a scenario, the majority of Americans would either be the suburban defenders, or would be part of the mob. After such an event, our nation would be forever changed – grossly factionalized, and the gaping wound in our national consciousness cauterised by the violence. Thus wounded, we would be even more sensitive to subsequent events – a second disruption would move even faster than the first, with violence and looting coming within minutes, not hours or days. Our enemies all know this – they consider it a tool for their use against us. We must not be ignorant of the dangers we face…"

Mike Maloney's Jan alert?

Submitted by Groaner on January 27, 2013 - 11:20am.

I have to admit for all the people who have a vested interest in pumping up gold and silver (KWN) since they sell it, he's probably the most well presented of the bunch. Makes a lot of sense.He thinks we are very close to a turning point. Metals could drop a bit more but with all the central bank buying and the Fed does not have the gold to deliver, buy on the open market?, this is a super positive to the metals price. Interesting he says he buys 90% silver and 10% gold. What I found disturbing is he thinks the government will tax the snot out of bullion sales, capital gains.. You can't win can you.. The cruel master to us slaves will never change. Sick of it!

Armstrong? Not sure about him and his predictions. Still trying to make a name for himself? Him and Larry Edleson has been calling for a major correction for a couple of years now.. If you followed him you lost real big.

Oh yeah, haven't heard from good old Clive Maund lately? He's probably been wrong too, and doesn't want to show his face..

I just hoped we hold $1640 levels..and a last resort 1626..

PurpleHaze 0936A

Submitted by Texas Sandman on January 27, 2013 - 11:25am.

Thanks for all the pretty charts. I prefer to operate on the KISS principle (MACD trending with seasonal bias) because you can get analysis paralysis from all those pretty lines. But still, it's nice to look at that fancy stuff from time to time.

ying/yang...yen/yuan

Submitted by DrkPurpleHaze on January 27, 2013 - 11:30am.

I saw TF's link a couple threads ago regarding this and checked it out. I also remember about 2 1/2 years ago reading the initial mention of this at MarketWatch and the date being mentioned back then was 2015/16.

Since that time I've considered it a 'countdown' of sorts and in my mind the public stopwatch has officially started counting down with the recent MSM press on this future event that won't seem like much to most people but will in fact cause some very competitive ripples across the FX markets.

I see the wild card in this still being the Yen and it's status from now until that time to see where it still fits in as far as strength/weakness against other currencies and then the yuan. At some point the yuan overtakes the yen and fills in that FX gap that is in motion right now.

Bank of England ready to set up first G7 yuan swap

The Bank of England is prepared in principle to become the first G7 central bank to enter into a foreign exchange swap agreement with China, opening the door to another substantial step in moves to liberalize the yuan currency.

The bank’s executive director for banking services, Chris Salmon, told a meeting of senior bankers in London that the move was aimed at underpinning a developing offshore market in yuan trade out of London that Britain is keen to encourage.

Read More http://stratrisks.com/

keg

Submitted by Urban Roman on January 27, 2013 - 11:33am.

"The USD cannot collapse until there is an acceptable alternative. "

Oh, come on. It doesn't depend on the absence of an alternative.

It will collapse when the empire can no longer afford to defend it. It will collapse when the political power center that issues it collapses.

As for inflation, we shall only have that when the newly printed money is spent and injected into the hinterlands. Right now the trillions being printed are locked into a fed-treas-tbtf circle-jerk. And despite the best efforts of the political class to abandon all shreds of legitimacy, we shall not have hyperinflation until that lack of legitimacy has been clearly demonstrated to the lumpenproles. That day shall come, of course, but not this week.

The recent trend I see that is most bullish for PMs is the repatriation of "owned" gold to the various sovereign parties around the world who previously left it in the US for "safekeeping".

Texas Sandman

Submitted by DrkPurpleHaze on January 27, 2013 - 11:34am.

Thanks for the chart

Yep, those charts are eye-pleasing and I wish I was a chartist like some of you folks are that provide them on here so that I could provide my own.

I absolutely (all of us do) appreciate the folks who go out of their way to share them with the community here.

China is building a new deep-sea mining base

Submitted by DrkPurpleHaze on January 27, 2013 - 11:41am.

China is building a new deep-sea mining base conveniently near the military’s naval fleet

China announced today that a multi-million dollar deep-sea base will be built off its eastern coast in 2013. The project, worth an estimated 495 million yuan (about $80 million), is said to be for the purpose of mining for rare metals and natural gas deposits in the ocean bed.

What officials did not mention is that the base is just miles from the headquarters of China’s North Sea Fleet, in the coastal city of Qingdao (aka Tsingtao, where the beer gets its name). Qingdao lets out into the Yellow Sea, an area that includes North and South Korea and Japan and poses what some analysts say is one of the world’s worst security dilemmas.

Read More http://stratrisks.com/

Damn, CBS really upped their ant-gun game

Submitted by opticsguy on January 27, 2013 - 11:52am.

the had some professor on who talked for 5 minutes about how the constitution is worthless and should be abolished. Then Feinstein was on, normal crap there. Then they had the NYPD commissioner, who said that he wants all handguns banned, also.

Perhaps Mr. NYPD doesn't know the history of why NY has a firearms ban in the first place, so that the cops could split the loot with the street thugs back in the Tammany Hall days.

Northern Morocco choke point?

Submitted by DrkPurpleHaze on January 27, 2013 - 11:54am.

China, Russia, U.S. raise Mediterranean naval focus

Like several other key ports in the region – including Piraeus in Greece and Naples in Italy – it is now partially owned by China. The state-owned Cosco Pacific holds 20 percent the terminal, helping make it one of the dominant – if not the dominant – Mediterranean port operators.

Cosco stresses that it is a purely commercial venture and many analysts agree. But few doubt that Beijing has made a wider geopolitical decision to become much more involved in the region. For the last two years, the People’s Liberation Army Navy has sent one or more warships through the Suez Canal to visit southern European ports, the furthest its fleet has ever operated from home.

Read More http://stratrisks.com/geostrat/10530

Besides the Sinai, Istanbul Turkey's position is another regarding the Black Sea.

By necessity, I use something

Submitted by Texas Sandman on January 27, 2013 - 11:54am.

By necessity, I use something a bit fancier for day trading when I do it (I did on Friday, as you can see).

But for the longer term, really something very simple works just fine as I've shown. I always trade in the direction of my longer term position, which meant I passed on some very good short sale set-ups, but I don't want to upset my longer term holding or be out of position if there are any upside surprises, which is the surprise I would expect at this time. The early afternoon became reasonable for long side scalps in my view as the cumulative market delta started trending higher.

A decent one earlier in the day also

Submitted by Texas Sandman on January 27, 2013 - 11:59am.

I have to say it...

Submitted by Bollocks on January 27, 2013 - 12:10pm.

How dumb can you be to let off fireworks indoors? That's just insane.

Other nightclub fires

2009: Santika Club, Bangkok, Thailand - sparked by fireworks; 66 killed
2009: Lame Horse Club, Perm, Russia - sparked by fireworks; 150 killed
2004: Cromagnon Republic Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina - flare starts fire which kills 194
2003: The Station, Rhode Island, US - sparked by fireworks; 100 killed

Patrancus is right about DC.

Submitted by Puck T. Smith on January 27, 2013 - 12:13pm.

Patrancus is right about DC. I see it every day. Pretty little 20 somethings--male and female--who spent more on what they are wearing today than I spend on clothes in a year. BMWs, Mecedes, Lexii?, big honking SUVs with tinted windows, most with at least one Obama sticker; they pay more in a couple of months of payments than I spent to buy by car. Cops with flack vests, motorcades--"Make way, make way, nobles passing through!" It is a zoo.

But, believe it or not, there is a little remnant of a private market. The man I work for has taken his company from about ten or fifteen people when I started to almost a hundred in seven years. Along with their families, he is probably helping almost five hundred people live a decent life without a handout from the state. Sure, some of our customers are government agencies and K Street law firms, but they don't get any breaks. They pay the same as our private market customers. You give us the money, we'll pass your packets and make sure your calls go through.

What a strange and wonderful world.

Premiums

Submitted by Harald on January 27, 2013 - 12:15pm.

I've bought a few coins on Ebay, proofs, numismatics, stuff I couldn't get through the regular channels but I can't understand why people will pay more for an eagle than they can get it for at Provident or Goldmart. If they're thinking there is no record, they are being terrible naive, there's always a record. Also, better chance of getting stiffed on Ebay. That said, a lot of people buy on Ebay and they are paying those prices. It indicates something just don't know what it is. Maybe when people decide they want something they bid more than they normally would, get caught up in the action so to speak. At least Ebay is as close to an open marketplace as there is.

I started a spreadsheet a while ago tracking the premiums for various coins at Apmex and I decided to update it yesterday.

Since last August the premium for gold eagles (Specifically one gold eagle.) went up $6.00 which is normal up and down but a silver eagle premium went from $4.53 to $5.43 which is as high as I've seen it. About a 20% jump. As usual, Provident is about a buck cheaper but unfortunately I decided, quite some time ago to track on Apmex. Just picked one out of thin air, I was just curious. I would guess Provident increased their's some too. Goldmart is where I usually buy, they're charging only $34.74 for a new silver eagle which is about a buck cheaper than Provident and if the order is more than $7500.00 shipping is free.

Incidentally, the premiums on certified St Gaudens and certified Morgans has doubled since August. Numismatics are very volatile to say the least.

If only we could outlaw stupidity

Submitted by Texas Sandman on January 27, 2013 - 12:17pm.

>How dumb can you be to let off fireworks indoors? That's just insane.<

If we outlawed stupidity, maybe we would have a different president.

The mind boggles.

I bought some coins on ebay

Submitted by Texas Sandman on January 27, 2013 - 12:22pm.

>I've bought a few coins on Ebay, proofs, numismatics, stuff I couldn't get through the regular channels but I can't understand why people will pay more for an eagle than they can get it for at Provident or Goldmart.<

When I started loading up on double eagles back in 2008-9, I did some of my purchases on ebay. One time, I got a coin that was inferior to anything I had in my collection with spots, etc. I was convinced whomever graded the thing at PCGS must have been on drugs that day since it was labeled as a mid uncirculated grade. And there was something funny about the holder it came in with divets around the edges, so it didn't stack with the rest of my PCGS coins. Fortunately there was a refund privilege (the only way I'll do it on ebay), so I sent it back with a caustic note for refund.

Some time later, I was doing a web search and came upon a demonstration of counterfeit chinese holders... Yup. That's what it was!

You need to be very careful even buying PCGS or NGC graded coins on ebay.

These days, I pretty much stick to teletrade or heritage auctions for my numismatics. You pay a bit more with the buyer's fee, but at least in my experience they won't try to rip you off there.

"Fighting Back"

Submitted by ClinkinKY on January 27, 2013 - 12:53pm.

This PSA is being attacked by the "Progressives" in Milwaukee. Good to see that even the Sheriffs are starting to "get it".

Kudos!

Submitted by Texas Sandman on January 27, 2013 - 1:02pm.

That clip should be played on NATIONAL tv.

Back on 9-2011...The Yuan / 2015

Submitted by DrkPurpleHaze on January 27, 2013 - 1:25pm.

Whether it's 2015, 2016 or 2017 etc...it'll come come quicker than it sounds.

I recall an older brief article (that I alluded to earlier) when the first telegraphing of the yuan trading freely in London was first mentioned by China and London. Nonetheless everyone here knows by this point what's coming once it starts trading. Will it be gold implied by that point is my basic question?

Analysts skeptical about yuan convertibility

Officials also reportedly back London as offshore yuan trading hub

September 08, 2011|V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Skepticism greeted news reports that China will make the yuan fully convertible by 2015 on Thursday, with analysts saying the nation’s financial system was not ready for the currency to be allowed to trade freely so soon.

The doubts were raised after Chinese officials reportedly told European Union business officials that the yuan, also known as the renminbi, will achieve full convertibility by 2015, according to Bloomberg News and CNBC.

“Full convertibility would require both that the renminbi first appreciates to around its fair market value and that the government is comfortable allowing conditions in its banking sector and financial markets to be dictated in part by foreign investors. Neither seems likely,” said Mark Williams, Chief China economist at Capital Economics in a note following the reports.

News reports, meanwhile, also cited People’s Bank of China Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan as saying on Wednesday that there was no specific timeline for making the yuan convertible. Zhou, however, said the offshore yuan market was “developing faster than what we had imagined,” according to the Bloomberg report.

China currently restricts the yuan’s availability beyond its borders and allows the U.S. dollar (US:USDCNY) to only trade in a narrow range around a reference rate set daily by the PBOC. On Thursday, the reference rate was set at 6.3889 yuan to a dollar.

But the country’s officials have expressed a willingness to internationalize the currency. For a few quarters now, they have been allowing the use of the yuan for settling trade and have been gradually enabling increased availability of the currency in Hong Kong — a special administrative region of China that has its own government and legal system.

China’s currency policy has also been a frequent source of friction with the nation’s international trading partners, including the U.S., which say an artificially weaker yuan gives the Asian country an unfair trade advantage. China has been allowing the yuan to rise against the dollar since the middle of 2010, however, largely to ease inflationary pressures at home.

More scepticism on London as hub

Meanwhile, a Financial Times report on Wednesday separately cited unnamed U.K. government officials as saying that China has for the first time given its formal backing to moves by British banks to develop London also into an offshore trading center for the yuan, or CNY...

http://articles.marketwatch.com/2011-09-08/investing/30744091_1_yuan-zhou-xiaochuan-chief-china

ASEs - Tulving

Submitted by So It Goes on January 27, 2013 - 1:28pm.

Tulving now has monster boxes of 2013 ASEs for $2.99 over spot.

That is the highest premium I have ever seen from him.

http://tulving.com/goldbull.html

FWIW - I think this is a data point confirming that supply is tight for physical metal.

some Willie......

Submitted by maravich44 on January 27, 2013 - 1:31pm.

sorry...if already posted. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/trunews/2013/01/25/trunews-january-25-2013

Time to ban

Submitted by Urban Roman on January 27, 2013 - 1:39pm.

... something. Do we need a nightclub ban or a fireworks ban?

Or, Darwin Awards could be passed out.

Response to: I have to say it...

Good Morning, Good Morning

Submitted by Dagney Taggart on January 27, 2013 - 1:40pm.

Lovely day and a lovely evening. I have a little bit of time to relax and reflect this morning so my first comment is for you, opticsguy:

So should it be legal then to pound that professor's face for even talking? Sounds like it. He obviously has forsaken his God-given right to express his opinion, or live in peace for that matter.

PS To Urban Roman: That CBS professor comedian from opticsguy's comment is in need of one.

I carry a gun even when I'm

Submitted by Harald on January 27, 2013 - 1:53pm.

I carry a gun even when I'm just walking the dogs. I used to think it would be a hassle, but it's second nature to me now.

Now, if I could just remember to bring my phone with me.

@ Harald

Submitted by ClinkinKY on January 27, 2013 - 1:58pm.

I carry a gun even when I'm

Submitted by Harald on January 27, 2013 - 12:53pm.

I carry a gun even when I'm just walking the dogs. I used to think it would be a hassle, but it's second nature to me now.

Now, if I could just remember to bring my phone with me.

-------------------------------------------------

I'll call and remind you...oh, wait

NGC and PCGS

Submitted by Harald on January 27, 2013 - 2:05pm.

NGC and PCGS numbers can be checked for validity at their respective websites. Have to register but it's free. I've seen ones that don't check out from time to time at coins shops. NGC even has a phone app, not sure about PCGS. Handy for checking when you're at the shop...if I could just remember to bring my phone with me.