by Mish Shedlock, Mish Talk:
Existing home sale declined for the third month. It’s just a start of what’s coming.
The National Association of Realtors reports Existing-Home Sales Retract 2.4% in April
Report Highlights
by Ronan Manly, BullionStar:
On Tuesday 17 May, the central bank of Portugal brought a group of Portuguese reporters and photographers on a visit to its gold vault located in a high security compound in a town called Carregado, about 30 minutes drive north-east of Portugal’s capital Lisbon.
The Portuguese central bank, known as “Banco de Portugal”, boasts significant gold reserves, and claims to hold 382.6 tonnes of gold, a figure which puts in in 6th place among European central bank gold holders, only behind Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, and in 14th place on a global basis.
by Peter Schiff, Schiff Gold:
This analysis focuses on gold and silver physical delivery on the Comex. See the article What is the Comex for more detail.
Silver is wrapping up May which is a major month contract on the Comex. Delivery volume has been falling and resumes the downward trend that has been ongoing for a year. As the chart below shows, December and March now appear to be anomalies rather than a change in trend (for now).
by Harvey Organ, Harvey Organ Blog:
GOLD UP $7.75 TO $1844.20//SILVER DOWN 20 CENTS TO $21.69//PLATINUM UP $15.10 TO $965.95/PALLADIUM DOWN $56.10 TO $1959.15//COVID UPDATES/ VACCINE IMPACT//CHINA TO BUY CHEAP RUSSIAN OIL FOR ITS RESERVES AND NO DOUBT WILL PAY FOR IT WITH GOLD//RUSSIAN ROUBLE HITS A 7 YEAR HIGH//RUSSIA NOW CUTS OF FINLAND FROM ELECTRICITY
by Ted Butler, Silver Seek:
A month ago, silver and gold prices looked ready to surge higher, with silver prices at $26 and gold pressing on $2000 and with just about every commentator calling for a significant breakout to the upside. The only “fly in the ointment” was a quite negative market structure on the COMEX, which indicated the commercial traders were way too short and the managed money traders were already way too long to allow for a price surge higher. Sure enough, the commercials prevailed (as they always have) and instead of prices climbing, they got smashed lower.
by Dave Kranzler, Investment Research Dynamics:
“We’ve seen a downturn in the price as expressed in the paper derivatives precious metals’ price. There hasn’t been any large scale physical selling of gold or silver. Coin dealers sell gold and silver on a daily basis to retail buyers and the bullion banks broker bullion from major gold bullion producers into the countries that are buying – India, Russia, China, etc – but I have not heard of any entity that owns a large amount of gold say ‘we have to sell 100 tonnes gold, bid wanted in comp…”
by Jim Rickards, Daily Reckoning:
I don’t believe many people grasp the enormity of the global food crisis we’ll be facing in the months ahead. But the world could be on the verge of a massive humanitarian crisis. Let’s dive in…
The supply chain collapse preceded the war in Ukraine, but the war has only intensified the problems. You can see it with your own eyes when you walk into a supermarket and find long stretches of empty shelves in stores that used to be chock-full of food and other merchandise.
by Steve Brown, The Duran:
A subject you won’t hear much about – or anything about — in the western media, is about Ukraine’s gold. Since fiat and its derivatives rule the day, the popular belief is that gold is mainly a ‘quaint artifact’ of the past and plays no role in geopolitics. The foregoing is of course a totally incorrect CNBC-type take, as most popular beliefs are, so it’s no surprise that no mainstream commentator will address the subject of Ukraine gold. But gold is still a primary source for financial collateral among sovereigns. To put that another way, gold reserves may be a major contention between belligerents when those reserves are substantial and at stake.
by Mish Shedlock, Mish Talk:
The advance retail sales reports by the commerce department were stunning. Reports by Target and Walmart strongly suggest something else.
Target Stock Sinks 25% on Earnings Miss, High Costs
The Wall Street Journal reports Target Stock Sinks 25% on Earnings Miss, High Costs
Target Corp shares tumbled after the retailer posted lower quarterly earnings and said it would absorb higher costs this year rather than raise its prices.
by Harvey Organ, Harvey Organ Blog:
GOLD CLOSED UP $24.20 TO $1841.95//SILVER CLOSED UP 34 CENTS TO $21.89//PLATINUM CLOSED UP $27.05 TO $938.90//PALLADIUM CLOSE UP $7.65 TO $2015.25//COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR MAY RISES BY A HUGE QUEUE JUMP TO 25,400 OZ: NEW STANDING 19.079 TONNES//SILVER ALSO INCREASES BY 40,000 OZ: NEW STANDING 27.95 MILLION OZ//SEEMS THAT PORTUGAL HAS 1/2 THEIR OFFICIAL RESERVES AT THE BANK OF ENGLAND AND THAT GOLD MAY BE COMPROMISED//COVID UPDATES RE THE GLOBE//VACCINE INJURIES/VACCINE MANDATE//5 COUNTRIES NOW HAVE CASES OF MONKEY POX//QUEBEC THINKS THAT THEY HAVE 27 CASES//BRIT MISERY INDEX WORST SINCE MARG. THATCHER//EUROPE AUTO SALES DOWN 20% IN APRIL//RUSSIA VS UKRAINE: MORE AZOVS SURRENDER//EXISTING HOME SALES PLUMMET TO LEVELS LAST SEEN TWO YEARS AGO
by Wolf Richter, Wolf Street:
“Recent stock market volatility” catches some of the blame.
Pieces of evidence are lining up in increasing density. The number of potential future homebuyers that need a mortgage has been thinning out for months. Today, another milestone: Applications for mortgages to purchase a home dropped 12% from the prior week and were down 15% from a year ago.
by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:
This is starting to get really bad. By now, you have probably heard that the stock market crashed again on Wednesday. The carnage was immense, and the big names on Wall Street are deeply concerned about what will happen next. But this wasn’t supposed to happen. After falling for six weeks in a row, this was supposed to be the week when stock prices finally bounced back. Needless to say, that isn’t what we are witnessing. In fact, we just witnessed the worst day for the Dow since the early days of the COVID pandemic…
by Hrvoje Morić, The Hrvoje Morić Show:
GUEST OVERVIEW: Bill Holter writes and is partnered with Jim Sinclair at the newly formed Holter/Sinclair collaboration. Prior, he wrote for Miles Franklin from 2012-15. Bill worked as a retail stockbroker for 23 years, including 12 as a branch manager at AG Edwards. He left Wall Street in late 2006 to avoid potential liabilities related to management of paper assets. In retirement he and his family moved to Costa Rica where he lived until 2011 when he move back to the United States. Bill was a well known contributor to the ‘Gold Anti Trust Action Committee. (GATA) commentaries from 2007~ present.
