This from: ZeroHedge.com
This Is How A Country Ends: Not With A Bang, But A Bailout
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 19:17
Curious how in the New Normal a nation is brought to its untimely end without a single shot being fired? Dimos Dimosthenous, who has worked at the Bank of Cyprus for over 30 years, explains:
"That will be the end. Our jobs, our rights, our welfare funds will be lost and Cyprus will be destroyed."
In short: not with a bang, but a bailout.
- Comments: 313
- Reads: 33,282
Guest Post: Whom To Believe On Gold: Central Banks Or Bloomberg?
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 22:14
Bloomberg
reported recently that Russia is now the world's biggest gold buyer,
its central bank having added 570 tonnes (18.3 million troy ounces) over
the past decade. At $1,650/ounce, that's $30.1 billion worth of gold.
Russia isn't alone, of course. Central banks as a group have been net
buyers for at least two years now. But the 2012 data trickling out shows
that the amount of tonnage being added is breaking records. Based on
current data, the net increase in central bank gold buying for 2012 was
14.8 million troy ounces – and that's before the final 2012 figures are
in for all countries. This is a dramatic increase, one bigger than most
investors probably realize. To put it in perspective, on a net basis, central banks added more to their reserves last year than since 1964.
The net increase – so far – is 17% greater than what was added in 2011,
which was itself a year of record buying. The message from central
banks is clear: they expect the dollar to move inexorably lower. It
doesn't matter that it's been holding up against other currencies or
that the economy might be getting better. They're buying gold in record
amounts because they see a significant shift coming with the status of
the dollar, and they need to protect themselves against that risk. Embrace the messages central bankers are telling us – the ones they tell with their actions, not their words. - Comments: 103
- Reads: 12,399
Apple Cash In, Apple Cash Out - The Full Breakdown
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 21:40
Ever wonder how much iTunes represents of Apple's revenue model? Ever consider just how high the cost of sales is for Apple's products? This beautiful chart from Asymco shows just where Apple's revenues come from and where they are spent for the last quarter....
- Comments: 41
- Reads: 15,054
Guest Post: Post-Cyprus Blues: Confusion And An Erosion Of Faith
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 21:13
The present confusion is legitimate: it is far too early to be projecting much from Cyprus except a continued erosion of faith in Eurozone banks and leadership, and by default, the euro as a placeholder of purchasing power.- Comments: 42
- Reads: 6,254
Q1 2012 Deja Vu: Pension Fund Rebalancing Suggests Window Un-Dressing Could Hurt Stocks
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 20:33
As we previously expected, 2013 has started in a strikingly similar vein to 2012 and 2011 and we are nearing that deja-vu turning point once again. However, the extreme relative outperformance of stocks to bonds in Q1 suggests very sizable quarter-end pension-fund rebalancing flows - and perhaps today's ramp was perfectly presented to enable that into the next two days. UBS expects US defined benefit funds to do sizable Q1 quarter-end rebalancing - anticipating $29-35 billion of equity outflows and perhaps as much as $15-19 billion of fixed income inflows. Equity outflows should be dominated by domestic stocks, with $22-27 billion of large cap and $10-12 billion of small cap sales. Furthermore, reading through the recent 10K statements of large corporate pension sponsors, they note consistent, and growing, interest in liability-driven strategies and even full-blown de-risking - supporting high grade long and intermediate government and corporate bonds. Not only are the flows pointing in a similar direction but the catalysts are lining up too.
- Comments: 33
- Reads: 6,205
Income Growth For Bottom 90% In America Since 1966 Is... $59!
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 19:49
We’ve
all seen these statistics before in one form or another, but David Cay
Johnston does an excellent job going into more detail for us in an
article he published late last month. As he correctly notes, when
things get extreme like this you ultimately end up with extreme social
unrest. Furthermore, as we have pointed out for years and years, this kind of disparity does not happen under free markets with rules and regulations applied equally to all.
It happens under totalitarian societies, whether fascism, communism
or crony capitalist corporatism (which is the model in the USA). It only
happens when a very small oligarch class takes over the political
process of a nation and then uses it to game the system.- Comments: 99
- Reads: 12,707
For High Yield Bonds, Is "Frothy" The New "Irrational Exuberance"
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 18:47
Barclays index of high yield bond total returns is now 63% higher that its pre-crisis peak. This compares to an equivalent total return index for the S&P 500 was only 12% (and it has yet to break the October 2007 highs). These numbers are astronomical in the face of micro- and macro-fundamentals and while equity markets remain the policy tool du jour for the central planning elite, it appears they are perhaps starting to become a little concerned that driving all the retiring boomers 'safe' money into risky bets may not end so well. Just as Alan Greenspan stepped on the throat of equity markets with his now infamous 'irrational exuberance' speech, we wonder, as Bloomberg notes, if last night's speech to the Economic Club of New York by Bill Dudley is the new normal equivalent, as he noted, "some areas of fixed income - notably high-yield and leveraged loans - do seem somewhat frothy," just as we warned here. With the high-yield index trading at 5.56% yield - the lowest in over 25 years and loans bid at 98.27 (the highest since July 2007), perhaps he is right to note, "we will need to keep a close eye on financial asset prices."
- Comments: 28
- Reads: 5,268
Santelli Stunned: It's Better To Be On Disability Than Work Minimum Wage
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 18:09
The sad truth in the USA, as we explained in great detail here,
incentives to 'work' are increasingly non-existent. Thanks to a
never-ending stream of benefits from the great and powerful Oz, as
CNBC's Rick Santelli notes, Disability payments (of which there are 14 million people covered in the US - none of which count towards the unemployment rate)
pay around $13,000 per year (versus $15,000 for minimum wage work).
However, Santelli exclaims, the people on disability get healthcare; and
this program costs the US $300 billion per year. Is it any wonder that
only 1% of those who were on disability in Q1 2011 have left? Santelli
comments, "I'm not saying there aren't people that are on disability
that shouldn't be, but much of it is illnesses like back pain... it's a
judgment call," adding that, "without incentives, large issues go ...totally unfixed."- Comments: 187
- Reads: 17,894
Guest Post: 'Available'
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 17:27
It is clear now that we must have been wrong about the economy. No
more proof is needed than the fact the Dow has gone up 1,500 points.
Everyone knows the stock market reflects the true health of the nation – multi-millionaire Jim Cramer and his millionaire CNBC talking head cohorts tell us so. Ignore
the fact that the bottom 80% only own 5% of the financial assets in
this country and are not benefitted by the stock market in any way. It is time to open your eyes and arise from your stupor. Observe what is happening around you. Look closely. Does the storyline match what you see in your ever day reality?
It is them versus us. Whether you call them the invisible government,
ruling class, financial overlords, oligarchs, the powers that be,
ruling elite, or owners; there are powerful wealthy men who call the
shots in this global criminal enterprise. No amount of propaganda can cover up the physical, economic, social, and psychological descent afflicting our world. There’s a bad moon rising and trouble is on the way.- Comments: 147
- Reads: 15,108
Student Loan Defaults Soar By 36% Compared To Year Ago
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 16:46
The growing debacle that is the US student loan bubble - nearly the same size and severity as the Subprime crisis at its peak- has been painfully dissected on
these pages in the past, so at this point the only thing remaining is
to keep track of the bubble growing exponentially in real time as it
hits all time records, and eventually pops. Helping us to track the
realtime growth is the latest data from Equifax, via Reuters, which
confirms what everyone knows: things in student bubble land are getting
worse by the minute. Much worse, because in just the first two months
of 2013, banks wrote off $3 billion of student loan debt, up
more than 36 percent from the year-ago period, as many graduates remain
jobless, underemployed or cash-strapped in a slow U.S. economic
recover. - Comments: 80
- Reads: 10,944
Another Dow All-Time High But Bonds/Credit/Banks Ain't Buying It
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 16:10
Wealth
levies and a European banking system collapsing; dismal capital goods
new orders; a miss for new home sales and Richmond Fed; almost the
lowest volume of the year in stocks, and Treasury bonds trading at their lowest yield since the Cyprus debacle started
- a perfect recipe to try a run to all-time closing highs in the
S&P 500. The previous high close (not intraday) was 1565.17 on
10/09/07 and we missed it by less than 2 points today. What has taken us
to these new post-Cyprus highs, safety - Staples, Healthcare, and
Utilities (up 1-3% since 3/15 Cyprus). Banks remain battered
with C, GS, and MS all down 5-6%. Treasuries and corporate bonds
reflected a considerably different perspective on risk-appetite to
stocks today. While the USD largely flatlined, with JPY weakening,
EURJPY (and WTI it seems) led stocks higher on dismal volume. Gold, silver, and copper flatlined (following the USD's lead) but the disconnect between VIX/Stocks and Bonds/Credit
was extreme by the close. VIX remains 1.5 vols higher than it was when
stocks were last here and the protection bid in credit markets (and low
volume in stocks) suggests equity algos simply forgot that Europe opens again in 8 hours.- Comments: 64
- Reads: 9,313
Expect These Eight Steps From The Government’s Playbook
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 15:55
To
anyone paying attention, reality is now painfully obvious. These
bankrupt, insolvent governments have just about run out of fingers to
plug the dikes. And history shows that, once this happens, governments fall back on a very limited playbook...- Comments: 108
- Reads: 31,152
Bob Janjuah Tactical Short But "We Are Not There Yet" For The Big One
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 15:32
Following Nomura's Bob Janjuah's 'wine into water... are we there yet?'
note in February, the market has followed his script almost perfectly
with a continued push to new highs and a small sell-off that was bought
excitedly. While he remains convinced that "in terms of positioning and
sentiment, we are 'not there yet'," for his 50% S&P 500 plunge; he
does believe Q2 will see a 5-10% dip to 1450 as the shambolic policy responses to Cyprus and the 'cat' that #DieselBoom
'let out the bag' add to increasingly weak global growth data. While
this dip will also likely be bought, the bearded bear expects the
market's comeuppance to arrive late 2013.- Comments: 45
- Reads: 14,144
Cypriot Youth Rise Up In Pictures: "They Just Got Rid Of All Our Dreams"
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/26/2013 - 14:52
There is a reason we think of youth unemployment as the 'scariest' thing in Europe as we have discussed here and here. After a few months of relative calm, it appears the youth are once again finding their hopes dashed and are protesting. As Reuters reports, thousands of students and bank workers protested in the Cypriot capital Nicosia today. "They've just gotten rid of all our dreams, everything we've worked for, everything we've achieved up until now, what our parents have achieved," is how one young protester exclaimed his feelings, as a bank worker added, "we are scared." It appears President Anastasiades comment that, "the agreement we reached is difficult but, under the circumstances, the best that we could achieve," is not reassuring an increasingly volatile people.
This from: SilverDoctors.com
USMint Sells Another 1 Million Silver Eagles, Set to Place 3rd Consecutive Monthly Sales Record!
US Mint Update By SRSrocco:The US Mint has just updated March Silver Eagle sales for the first time since 3/21.
THURSDAY LAST WEEK = 2,438,000
TODAY = 3,356,500
March US Mint silver/gold sales ratio: 60/1!
In the wake of the Cyprus banking collapse, the US MINT HAS SOLD NEARLY 1 MILLION OUNCES OF SILVER IN 4 DAYS!! [Read more...]March US Mint silver/gold sales ratio: 60/1!
10 Lessons Cyprus Is Teaching The World About Money & Gold
The
Cypriot case is all over the place, in all types of media. However, it
is amazing how the following simple facts remain underexposed. It is one
thing to look at the news; it is another thing to look at the learning
that comes out of the news.For those who are willing to see, here is what Cyprus is teaching the whole world about money, the debt crisis and gold. [Read more...]
Peter Schiff: The Fed Won’t Stop The Monetary Heroin Until We Die Of An Overdose
Source: Banzai7
i.e. QE TO INFINITY until the dollar collapses into hyperinflation!
Schiff’s full interview is below: [Read more...]
Italians Value Gold Reserves – EU Deposits To Flow To Gold
A survey for the World Gold Council found that just 4% of people in Italy would back plans to sell the nation’s gold reserves according to Bloomberg.Some 52% of citizens and 61% of business people would support the use of the nation’s gold reserves to reduce debt costs, the World Gold Council said. The study by Ipsos MORI surveyed 1,009 Italian citizens aged 16-70 and 300 business leaders.
Whether to sell Italy’s national gold reserves is an interesting question. A perhaps as interesting question and more important question in the light of the Troika expropriation of bank deposits is will Italians begin to diversify some of their savings in Italian banks into gold bullion?
The answer is almost certainly yes and the recent trickle of Italian money flowing into gold bullion, including into vaults in Switzerland, is likely to become something far more substantial in the coming weeks.
Capital flows out of periphery European banks and into gold has been quite low up until now but with deposits not safe now in the European Union that is likely to change and gold is likely to be one of the beneficiaries of the huge uncertainty that the Troika has managed to create about the banks in many European countries. [Read more...]
European Parliament to Push for Eurozone-wide Bail-in Resolution For All Depositors Over €100,000!
Per Reuters, the European Parliament has just officially announced what ECB head DieselBOOM said did not say yesterday, which caused the market to roll over yesterday-
that Cyprus is indeed a Eurozone wide template, and the Eurozone has
full intentions of following the bail-in model throughout the rest of
the PIIGS nations’ debt crises going forward! [Read more...]
David Morgan: The Fiat Iceberg Emerges in Cyprus
In
this interview with Ellis Martin, David Morgan reviews a prediction he
made a month ago to subscribers of The Morgan Report. “Not to belabor
Banking 101, but our quote from Eric Sprott is correct. From
a legal and financial accounting standpoint, the term “deposit” is used
by the banking industry in financial statements to describe the
liability owed by the bank to its depositor, and not the funds that the bank holds as a result of the deposit, which are shown as an asset of the bank. (It is now the bank’s money, not yours.)”The iceberg commeth in Europe and Cypress is just the tip of this Titanic ride. [Read more...]
A Letter from Cyprus: Economy Shutting Down, Going CASH ONLY!
An
SD reader has submitted a boots on the ground report on the escalating
crisis in Cyprus, as the entire Cypriot economy is now on the verge of
collapse:Nowhere in Cyprus accepts credit or debit cards anymore for fear of not being paid, it is CASH ONLY. Businesses have stopped functioning because they cannot pay employees OR pay for the stock they receive because the banks are closed.
If the banks remain closed, the economy will be destroyed and STOP COMPLETELY. Looting, robberies and theft are already on the rise.
If the banks open now, there will be a massive run on the bank, and the banks will FAIL loosing all of its deposits, also causing an economic crash. [Read more...]
Ted Butler: The Good, the Bad, & The Ugly of Silver Manipulation
Submitted by Ted Butler:I’ll save the good for a moment, but the bad and the ugly seem to permeate the silver and gold and other markets. On Wednesday, I mentioned that one reason gold and silver failed to move higher after the Cyprus news was such a rally would have interfered with a planned takedown in copper, platinum and palladium, which was evident on Monday and Tuesday. For the record, there was the expected substantial commercial buying in copper and platinum, a bit less in palladium. My point is that commercial positioning on the NYMEX/COMEX is the strongest short term price influence, way ahead of anything else, including actual news and developments in the real world of supply and demand. This is so contrary to commodity law that I believe the regulators must be thought of as corrupt.
Even worse is that silver (and gold) investors seem to be confronted on a daily basis with the proposition that the US Government is working against the interests of silver investors. While every conceivable effort is undertaken by the USG to help push bond, equity and real estate markets higher, there appears to be an effort to depress silver prices that goes beyond ugly. [Read more...]
Gold Bank Run Begins? Dutch Bank ABN Amro Halts Physical Gold Delivery!
*BreakingThe Cyprus/ Eurozone crisis has just intensified, as Dutch Bank ABN Amro has sent a letter to clients this weekend informing them that they will halt extradition and physical delivery of their clients’ gold holdings effective April 1st!
No worries however, Amro ensures its clients that there is no need to panic or do anything rash (such as remove your phyzz prior to April 1st:
We ensure that we have your investments in precious metals now the new way to handle and administer
Forget traditional imminent deposit bank runs in Cyprus, has a physical gold bank run begun?
[Read more...]
Alasdair Macleod: Money Supply Accelerating
The monthly figures for the US dollar components of Austrian, or True Money Supply, for February are now in.The path of least resistance is simply to continue to issue more and more money (so long as it has any purchasing power). The alternative, permitting the collapse of the banking system, businesses and even government itself, is unpalatable. Meanwhile, the dollar has a brief window of zero interest rates before the effect of excessive increases in money quantities on prices graduates from inflating asset values to inflating prices for food, energy and other consumables.
[Read more...]
Cyprus Wealth Grab: The BIG TELL!
By SD Contributor AGXIIK:
I call this THE BIG TELL
If you play Texas Hold’em, you know what big stack, small stack, tells, reading the cards and going ‘all in’ means.
We, the people, are in the BIG GAME. This is the one where you get to play for the entire stack, or nothing, depending on your skills. It’s a winner-takes-all game.
The evil Troika banks, their ghouls, Bernanke, LeGard, Draghi and Merkel the Merciless are dead set on making an example of Cyprus. This is not about the debts owed or the bankrupt banks. It’s about control, controlling the table, going ‘all in’ with a policy of scorched earth and making an example of Cyprus so the PIIGS get the message that they are next. This ‘all in’ message was a warning shot across the bows of the middle stacked plays like Spain and Italy. You are next! We plan to take your stack, your deposits, your pensions, even your livelihoods and lives, and send you to the rail. Get ready.
[Read more...]
I call this THE BIG TELL
If you play Texas Hold’em, you know what big stack, small stack, tells, reading the cards and going ‘all in’ means.
We, the people, are in the BIG GAME. This is the one where you get to play for the entire stack, or nothing, depending on your skills. It’s a winner-takes-all game.
The evil Troika banks, their ghouls, Bernanke, LeGard, Draghi and Merkel the Merciless are dead set on making an example of Cyprus. This is not about the debts owed or the bankrupt banks. It’s about control, controlling the table, going ‘all in’ with a policy of scorched earth and making an example of Cyprus so the PIIGS get the message that they are next. This ‘all in’ message was a warning shot across the bows of the middle stacked plays like Spain and Italy. You are next! We plan to take your stack, your deposits, your pensions, even your livelihoods and lives, and send you to the rail. Get ready.
[Read more...]
Texas to Repatriate Gold From NY Fed? Them’s Fightin Words!
By Bill Holter:There is a bill proposed to the Texas legislature that would allow various state pension plans to invest directly in PHYSICAL Gold.
The proposed bill would create the ability for the state to actually build its own depository where “state sovereign” Gold would be stored. Can you imagine the response out of Washington if a bunch of redneck, backwoods Texans demanded their Gold be delivered? Would Texas receive the same “7 year” waiting period response that Germany received when they requested their bullion be repatriated? The bill would also allow for individuals to eventually store personal Gold in this depository.
If this bill passes, you can pretty much bet that “them’s fighin’ words” will be what we hear out of Washington. I can already see the dust storm coming. Were the federal government to spazz out and declare a confiscation and Texas was sitting on a “hoard” of Gold, this dust storm would be a bunch of military tanks rolling along on their way to make a “withdrawal” from the depository. Say what you will but if you really think about it, other sovereign countries have been invaded and their Gold plundered many times for less. What do you think happened to Saddam & Qaddafi’s gold? [Read more...]
Cyprus, Troika Agree to Bail-in, Bank of Cyprus to See 40% Haircuts for Deposits Over €100,000, Deposits At Other Banks WILL BE WIPED OUT!
*Updated: In response, a bomb has just been detonated at the Limassol branch of the Bank of CyprusMultiple breaking reports indicate that in an early Monday meeting with Lagarde, Draghi, & Von Rompuy, Cyprus’ President Anastasiades has agreed to a Cypriot bank restructuring/ depositor haircut deal in exchange for €10 billion in emergency loans from the ECB.
The deal reportedly will avoid the necessity for any vote by the Greek Parliament, and is far, far, far worse for Cypriot citizens and depositors than the one the Cypriot legislature voted down on Thursday, as the ECB will reportedly be handing out 40% haircuts for depositors with over €100,000 on deposit in the Bank of Cyprus, and deposits over €100,000 at Cyprus Popular bank will be WIPED OUT!!!
Forget haircuts, the Cypriots have just been scalped alive by the ECB & IMF!
[Read more...]
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