Ronan Manly

“Houston, we have a Problem”: 85% of Silver in London already held by ETFs.

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• Ronan Manly
• 21 Comments

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While many eyes were on the mammoth iShares Silver Trust (SLV) last week, that is only part of the picture, as there are 14 other silver-backed ETFs which claim to store their silver in London.

Between them SLV and these other ETFs hold over 85% of all the silver in the LBMA London vaults. Which means that a few more days of very strong inflows into silver ETFs will create a... Continue Reading

The Silver Squeeze vs Wall Street Corruption

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• Ronan Manly
• 10 Comments

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In unprecedented fashion, a #SilverSqueeze movement has rapidly grown to take on the financial establishment in the 'paper' silver markets of London and New York.

But if it is to have any chance of success, this #SilverSqueeze movement must attack the Achilles heel of the bullion banks. That Achilles heel is the availability of physical silver. Continue Reading

Dawn of Bitcoin price discovery 2009 – 2011: The very early Bitcoin exchanges

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• Ronan Manly
• 1 Comments

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With the rapid proliferation of crypto exchanges and decentralized finance on the blockchain, it’s hard to believe that the first Bitcoin exchanges didn’t even exist less than 12 years ago.

From New Liberty Standard to Bitcoin Market to Mt. Gox, this article uses website archives to take a look back at the pioneering exchanges of 2009-2011, their founders and connections... Continue Reading

The Staggering Levels of Real “Inflation-Adjusted” Gold and Silver Prices

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• Ronan Manly
• 12 Comments

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While the world is fixated with nominal price changes in gold and silver, it is real (inflation-adjusted) prices of the two metals which are arguably more important.

Even when using the rigged CPI data of the US Government, nominal gold and silver prices in US dollars are currently far below their real (inflation-adjusted) all time highs.

But when using the more... Continue Reading

Behind the Headlines of Record Gold Stocks in London Vaults

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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According to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), there are now record gold stocks of 9450 tonnes held in the London vaults.

While trumpeting record gold holdings may grab headlines, it’s a misleading claim if, as appears to be the case, only a tiny fraction of these total gold holdings are available to ‘back-up’ the gigantic fractionally-backed LBMA paper gold... Continue Reading

2020: Stellar year for bullion coin sales by the major national Mints

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• Ronan Manly
• 0 Comments

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2020 was a remarkably strong year for gold and silver bullion coins sales by the US Mint, Perth Mint and Royal Canadian Mint.

Gold sales increased by a massive 500% at the US Mint and more than doubled at the Perth Mint and Royal Canadian Mint. Silver sales doubled at the US Mint while the Perth Mint boosted silver sales by 42%. Continue Reading

As 2020 comes to a close, Gold and Silver record best year since 2010

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• Ronan Manly
• 1 Comments

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Both gold and silver put in very strong performances in 2020, with the gold price in US dollars rising by over 25%, gold’s best annual return since 2010. The silver price rise in US dollars was even more impressive in 2020, ending the year nearly 48% higher, also silver’s best performance since 2010.

With Bitcoin’s price rise again in the headlines, some may ask why gold... Continue Reading

GLD 10-K omits BoE gold holdings data, GLD CFO left 1 day before financial year-end

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• Ronan Manly
• 7 Comments

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As the latest SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) annual 10-K statement hits the tape, there are a number of troubling developments which should concern the SEC and GLD investors alike. These include:

Why the GLD Sponsor CFO resigned on 29 September 2020, one day before financial year end of 30 September.

Why the latest GLD 10-K withholds data on how much gold the GLD held at the... Continue Reading

In Delusional Push, LBMA Threatens to Blacklist Entire Gold Trading Centres

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• Ronan Manly
• 10 Comments

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In a startling overstep of its remit, the bullion bank consortium, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), under cover of the OECD and a group of NGOs, has just launched a campaign against the independence of gold trading centres around the world, threatening to blacklist any market which fails to follow an LBMA set of recommendations about gold sourcing.

The attack is... Continue Reading

QE and Stimulus set to continue even with a Trump win

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• Ronan Manly
• 0 Comments

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If the US presidential election is contested, appealed, and its outcome challenged, this will create near term market uncertainty, volatility and unrest. But whoever the victor, Fed QE and US government stimulus spending will continue, amid the associated destruction of the dollar and economy. All of which is gold price positive. Continue Reading

Guest Post: Robert Pringle’s Comments on the 1999 UK Gold Sales

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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A recent gold related article from newspaper ‘The Telegraph’ revisited the infamous United Kingdom gold sales of 1999 which were conducted under Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time Gordon Brown.

This article prompted Robert Pringle, founder of Central Banking Publications, first executive director of the Group of 30, and former head of World Gold Council's public policy... Continue Reading

Revolving Door at the SPDR Gold Trust – 6 CFOs since 2014

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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Since 2014, there have been a staggering six Chief Financial Officers in charge of accounting at the world’s largest gold-backed ETF, the famous NYSE listed SPDR Gold Trust (GLD).

Specialists in recruitment, sell-side analysts, and human resources academics all agree that high CFO turnover is something that raises red flags in corporate environments. It is also something... Continue Reading

Planned in Advance by Central Banks – A 2020 System Reset

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• Ronan Manly
• 15 Comments

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In January 2013, Germany’s Bundesbank announced that the deadline for its substantial gold repatriation plan was the year 2020. Two years later in 2015, the Austrian central bank in a similar move said that it too had a 2020 deadline for its gold repatriation operation.

Were these central banks inadvertently revealing that 2020 would usher in a monetary reset? Fast forward to... Continue Reading

Deutsche trader under DoJ prosecution, was a long time director of London Gold and Silver Fixings

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• Ronan Manly
• 10 Comments

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Another month, another US court case involving precious metals traders from the big banks being prosecuted for manipulating gold and silver prices.

This time it is traders from Germany’s Deutsche Bank being prosecuted by the US DoJ. But one important point that the media has missed is that one of these traders was a director of the critically important London Gold and Silver... Continue Reading

London gold vault Bait-and-Switch as LBMA prepares bigger changes

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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Claiming a sudden need for increased transparency, the Bank of England and LBMA in London have now moved from reporting gold and silver vault inventories on a 3 month lagged basis to a 1 month lagged basis.

However, there is more to this move than meets the eye, and the change looks to be part of a regulatory concession before rolling out COMEX contract delivery using metal... Continue Reading

LBMA-COMEX collusion intensifies as CME approves 267 LBMA gold and silver bar brands

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• Ronan Manly
• 9 Comments

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A few weeks ago, in a very stealthy manner, CME Group in coordination with the LBMA, massively expanded the lists of approved gold and silver bar brands that can be delivered against the flagship COMEX GC 100 gold and SI silver contracts.

While this signals gold and silver bar delivery constraints at the COMEX, that is only half the story, as the real intention of these changes... Continue Reading

GLD continues to source gold at the Bank of England, at an escalating rate

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• Ronan Manly
• 15 Comments

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The latest SEC filing by the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) released this week contains the bombshell detail that the world’s largest gold-backed ETF is increasingly resorting to sourcing gold bars at the Bank of England. At least 70 tonnes of gold and possibly up to 150 tonnes.

With GLD and its custodian HSBC resorting to such tactics and interfacing with the murky world of central... Continue Reading

The Sustainability of this Gold Bull Market compared to 2011

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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After rising rapidly to the $2070 range, the US dollar gold price has now corrected sharply . What took nearly 2 weeks to go up, has now unwound in a matter of 3-4 days. But sometimes this is the nature of corrections, sharp and extreme.

Corrections are healthy and form stronger support. Markets never continually move in one direction. Over 12 years ago, famous gold guru Jim... Continue Reading

Gold and Silver Roar Higher: The Canaries in the Coal Mine

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• Ronan Manly
• 7 Comments

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In what is a memorable week for gold and silver prices, the US dollar price of gold is approaching an all time high, while the price of silver has surged this week by over 18%.

The current price action in gold and silver is igniting investment interest in everything from gold and silver mining shares to precious metals ETFs, while in the physical bullion markets, savers and... Continue Reading

Rising gold prices attract global and local attention, including in Vietnam

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• Ronan Manly
• 0 Comments

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Zing News, one of Vietnam’s leading news and media platforms, this week published an article examining the reasons behind the strong upward move in the gold price and its sustainability, quoting extensively from BullionStar's input.

In Vietnam, which has a very strong tradition of gold ownership and use of physical gold in transactions, the Zing News digital newspaper has... Continue Reading

COMEX New York vaults add 730 tonnes of gold since the end of March

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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Triggered by a COMEX-Spot spread blow out in the wake of a delivery failure in gold Exchange for Physical (EFP) transactions, an unprecedented 730 tonnes of gold has flowed into COMEX gold vaults between 24 March and 30 June, mostly into the vaults of JP Morgan and Brink's.

The chain of events can be traced back to the LBMA rush on 24 March to “facilitate physical delivery of... Continue Reading

Central banker Musical Chairs at the LBMA – Fed exits, Banque de France joins

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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As a former Banque de France central banker joins the board of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) as an “Independent” director, replacing a former New York Federal Reserve central banker who also served on the same board as an “Independent” director, we must ask ourselves why have these central bankers so much interest in gold and the LBMA.

Particularly as the... Continue Reading

The Curious Case of COMEX Gold Deliveries in April and June

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• Ronan Manly
• 9 Comments

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The unprecedented shock which London and New York gold markets experienced beginning 23-24 March left a lot of fallout in its wake, from bullion banks scrambling to secure physical gold to send to New York, to deteriorating liquidity in both the COMEX and London markets.

Yet three months on from the detonation whose blast waves were felt on both sides of the Atlantic, the... Continue Reading

Amid London gold turmoil, HSBC taps Bank of England for GLD gold bars

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• Ronan Manly
• 5 Comments

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There is something broken in the London gold market and the evidence points back to HSBC, both in physical and paper gold. During April, HSBC began turning to the Bank of England gold vaults to source at least 45 tonnes of gold for the world’s largest gold-backed ETF, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD). Did HSBC run out of gold in its own secretive London vault?

Now it emerges that... Continue Reading

LBMA Gold Price benchmark ignoring market conditions, short-changing investors

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• Ronan Manly
• 11 Comments

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While media focus has recently been on the current gold price dislocation between London spot and COMEX New York futures, there is another persistently large discount that so far has evaded the spotlight. That is the twice daily LBMA Gold Price benchmark.

By ignoring the much higher COMEX gold futures prices while setting the LBMA Gold Price auction starting price, the auction... Continue Reading

US Mint closes West Point, adding to American gold bullion coin shortage

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• Ronan Manly
• 1 Comments

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The US Mint has just implemented an indefinite shutdown to its West Point Mint facility due to a surge in coronavirus cases in Orange County New York where the West Point Mint is located.

As the only production facility for the famous American gold Eagles and American gold Buffalo bullion coins, the West Point shutdown puts a further strain on an already constrained supply... Continue Reading

COMEX Bombshell – Most eligible vaulted gold has nothing to do with COMEX

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• Ronan Manly
• 10 Comments

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A newly discovered document from COMEX operator CME to the CFTC contains a full-scale admission that much of the ‘eligible gold inventory’ in COMEX New York vaults is held by long-term holders and cannot be included in deliverable supply.

The COMEX concedes that eligible gold should therefore have a 50% haircut applied. With this bombshell admission, it means there is far... Continue Reading

Bullion Bank Nightmare as LBMA-COMEX Spread Blows Up Again

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• Ronan Manly
• 5 Comments

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As the saga of the large price differential continues to persist between COMEX gold futures prices and London gold spot prices, it is obvious that all is not well with the bullion banks in the paper gold markets.

And this is despite statements galore from the LBMA and COMEX and the launch of a new gold futures contract. The underlying problem seems to be the LBMA gold market... Continue Reading

LBMA and COMEX try to Reassure the Market – Twice in One Week

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• Ronan Manly
• 1 Comments

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In the space of a week, the bullion bank dominated LBMA and CME(COMEX) in an air of panic, have issued not one, but two rushed out statements to try to placate the global gold market.

In the modern gold market this is unprecedented. While LBMA-CME claim that physical gold stocks in London and New York are at healthy levels, the reality is far more concerning. Continue Reading

COMEX can’t find a 400 oz bar for its new 400 oz gold futures contract

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• Ronan Manly
• 8 Comments

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As the LBMA and CME scramble to keep the paper gold show on the road and monopolise gold price discovery, they have now launched a new gold futures contract which is deliverable using 400 oz gold bars.

But according to the COMEX gold vault inventory report, there are no 400 oz gold bars in any of the COMEX approved vaults in New York. Is this yet again a giant smokescreen by... Continue Reading

LBMA colludes with the COMEX – To lockdown the global gold market?

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• Ronan Manly
• 6 Comments

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With extreme demand and supply shortages in the physical gold market, it was only a matter of time before the paper gold markets in London and New York would come under strain. That time is now.

With the spot price of gold lagging the price of COMEX gold futures for the third day running, the LBMA is now colluding with the COMEX on bailing out bullion banks. But who is bailing... Continue Reading

In gold market coverage, Reuters confuses key points on demand, supply and pricing

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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Unprecedented demand for physical precious metals. Unprecedented supply chain delays in the precious metals supply chain. Real and present disconnects between the physical gold price and the prices set by COMEX/LBMA.

In theory you would think that this is all great material for reporters covering the latest developments in the physical gold market in Asia. Maybe for some, but... Continue Reading

Will Gold be the Last Man Standing as Perfect Storm hits Markets?

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• Ronan Manly
• 3 Comments

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The turmoil engulfing financial markets is unprecedented in its breath and intensity. You might call it a perfect storm. In such an environment, no asset class has been immune. But will gold be the last man standing? Continue Reading

Physical Gold Demand at Record Levels, Paper Gold Price Disconnect

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• Ronan Manly
• 20 Comments

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As global stock markets reeled last week on continued newsflow around the coronavirus, the US dollar gold price made a seven-year high early in the week, only to fall sharply on Friday.

But with this ‘gold price’ derived on the COMEX gold futures market, it is detached from the reality of the current strong demand that BullionStar is seeing for physical gold. Continue Reading

China’s gold market not immune to a wider downturn

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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From quarantined cities to lower consumer demand, from reduced flight traffic to closed frontiers and boarders, the economic shock to the domestic Chinese gold market caused by the outbreak of the coronavirus should not be underestimated.

While we can't examine much live data from the Chinese gold market right now, we can review Chinese gold market activity up to the end of... Continue Reading

German Government Escalates its War on Gold

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• Ronan Manly
• 9 Comments

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In a brazen attack on precious metals and economic freedom, the German government has just introduced draconian new rules on buying precious metals.

Brought in with zero evidence under the guise of money laundering prevention, short term it created panic gold buying by Germany’s population but long term it's a continuation of the all too familiar statist war against gold and... Continue Reading

LBMA claims record amount of gold in London’s vaults

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• Ronan Manly
• 12 Comments

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This week the LBMA in London claims that a record 8,228 tonnes of gold is held in the London vaults, vaults which include those at the Bank of England and the commercial vaults of such bullion banks as JP Morgan and HSBC.

But beyond the headline figure, how much of this gold is available to underpin the gargantuan daily trading volumes of the London gold market? Very little as... Continue Reading

Quantum leap for banks as ABN AMRO questions gold price discovery

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• Ronan Manly
• 5 Comments

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In a quantum leap for an investment bank to make, Dutch bank ABN AMRO has just gone on record questioning if a world with two gold prices would be better, one price that would reflect trading of real physical gold, and the other which would represent paper and synthetic gold products.

Although a welcome step from the Dutch bank, it fails to acknowledge the structural forces... Continue Reading

Behind enemy lines – Military use of gold coins as emergency money

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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Gold is and always has been universal money that can be used anywhere and is accepted everywhere. The world’s elite military detachments know this, which is why they issue their troops and pilots with gold coins and other gold bullion items for use as emergency money when they go behind enemy lines. Continue Reading

Polish central bank airlifts 8000 gold bars (100 tonnes) from London to Warsaw

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• Ronan Manly
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The Polish central bank has just succeeded in extracting 100 tonnes of its gold from the Bank of England in London, and this gold now rests safely back in Warsaw in the vaults of the National Bank of Poland.

Moving 100 tonnes of gold - 8000 central bank gold bars - Poland’s gold repatriation operation involved top secret motorcades, elite police escorts, jumbo jet air... Continue Reading

New COMEX Pledged Gold – Shrinking the Pool of Registered Inventory

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• Ronan Manly
• 2 Comments

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Ever been confused between the COMEX ‘registered’ and ‘eligible’ gold categories on the COMEX New York gold vault reports? You wouldn’t be the first. But now the CME has made it even more complex by introducing a new ‘pledged gold’ category representing COMEX registered gold that has been used as collateral.

But with pledged gold unable to be used for gold futures... Continue Reading

Chinese central bank gold buying – On a need to know basis

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• Ronan Manly
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After announcing gold reserve purchases for ten straight months between December 2018 and September 2019, the Chinese central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has now paused gold buying for October, at least according to latest figures.

But what to make of Chinese official gold buying communication in general? It’s instructive to look at China’s stop-start gold... Continue Reading

The Power of Gold in Times of Crisis

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• Ronan Manly
• 6 Comments

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History is replete with examples of gold being the ultimate asset in times of crisis and emergency, where time and time again, gold comes to the rescue and provides its holders with choice and freedom.

These crisis situations range from fiat currencies collapses, to gold buying safe passage across international borders, from periods in which gold can rescue an entire nation, to... Continue Reading

Wag the Dog – The new COMEX and SGE Gold Contracts

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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In a development whose impact is still unclear, the world’s largest gold derivatives trading venue, the US COMEX, and the world’s largest physical gold trading exchange, the Chinese SGE, have just jointly launched gold derivatives contracts, potentially binding each other into a price feedback loop.

Could this be a case of the massively influential COMEX gold trading now... Continue Reading

LBMA needs reform to serve the physical precious metals market

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• Ronan Manly
• 7 Comments

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The LBMA claims to be the global authority for precious metals, but it is an organization stacked full of bullion banks which trade gigantic volumes of synthetic paper promises, and an organization which does nothing to champion the interests of savers and investors in physical precious metals.

Founded by a group of bullion banks and the Bank of England, the LBMA and its... Continue Reading

LBMA Removes JP Morgan’s Michael Nowak from the LBMA Board

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• Ronan Manly
• 3 Comments

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Earlier this week BullionStar broke the news that the JP Morgan head of precious metals trading, Michael Nowak, who is at the center of the DoJ’s criminal investigation into precious metals market manipulation, was also a current board member of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA).

Following this revelation, we also talked to the Financial Times on Thursday, which... Continue Reading

LBMA Board Member & JP Morgan Managing Director Charged with Rigging Precious Metals

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• Ronan Manly
• 6 Comments

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Michael Nowak, JP Morgan Chase managing director and Board member of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has just been charged by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) with manipulating the prices of precious metals-futures contracts over an 8 year period.

Nowak sits on the LBMA Board along with LBMA chairman Paul Fisher, LBMA CEO Ruth Crowell, and LBMA General Counsel... Continue Reading

Rothschild emerges from the shadows for the Centenary of the London Gold Fixing

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• Ronan Manly
• 5 Comments

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This month marks the centenary of the London Gold Fixing, with events at both Rothschild’s headquarters in the City of London and at the neighboring Bank of England.

Billed as a momentous occasion by the bullion bank-controlled London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), the celebrations gloss over and conveniently forget to mention that the history of the London Gold Fixing is... Continue Reading

Chinese gold imports – Better data, lower inflows, unanswered questions

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• Ronan Manly
• 4 Comments

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Cross-border gold flows into the world’s largest gold market are now available monthly following a recent move by Chinese customs authorities to publish gold imports and exports in an online database.

While China imported 994 tonnes of gold over the first seven months of 2018, the corresponding import figure for 2019 is a lot lower. But why is this? Is it a move by the... Continue Reading

Gold the Ultimate Asset as Fed Joins Race to the Bottom in Global Rates

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• Ronan Manly
• 8 Comments

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The US Federal Reserve has just cut it’s federal funds rate by 0.25%, the first time it has done so in over 10 years.

This change in direction by the central bank of the world’s biggest economy has more to it than the Fed board will say, and the US now rejoins the global central bank game of currency debasement and QE to infinity.

In this environment, gold tends... Continue Reading