Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Mon 07.07.2008
ETF Securities physical gold ETF holdings soar 15 pct ETF Securities said on Monday the amount of bullion backing its Physical Gold exchange-traded fund PHAU.L rose 15 percent last week to a record 1.459 million ounces. The rise reflected gains across its physically backed precious metal exchange-traded commodities, with its platinum and palladium ETFs extending last week's gains to new records and silver holdings rising by 1 percent. The fund's Physical Platinum ETF PHPT.L holdings rose 3.5 percent to 407,000 ounces, a new all-time high, while its Physical Palladium ETF PHPD.L grew by 6.5 percent to a record 247,000 ounces. ETFs, which issue securities backed by physical stocks of a particular metal, have represented a major source of new demand for precious metals in recent years.
Final Globalization Of The US Banking System By The Federal Reserve We live in a globalized world-a world without barriers or borders, which means every aspect of our economic structure has to change. A private corporation, we call the Federal Reserve, controls the majority of our monetary system. To understand the new set of powers being advanced by the U.S. Treasury Department to the Federal Reserve, we first must recognize that the Federal Reserve Act passed in 1913 never gave them (the Feds) total power over our economy. To appreciate the importance of what is currently taking place, we must first realize that as a private corporation, the Federal Reserve is not required to make public who sits on their board of Directors nor who or what banks and corporations hold stock in their private company. Additionally, they are not required to publish an annual report, and I am told, they pay no taxes. So why is it that the American people cannot forgive themselves the interest on their debt? It is because it is owed to a private corporation!
The Shrinking Influence of the US Federal Reserve Humiliation for Mr. Dollar: Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Bank, faces a general investigation by the International Monetary Fund. Just one more example of the Fed losing its power. The United States Federal Reserve Bank, or Fed, seems as much a part of America as Coca-Cola or Pizza Hut. But at least one difference has become apparent in recent days. While the pizza chain and soft-drink maker are likely to expand their scope of influence in the age of globalization, the US central bank is finding that its power is shrinking. No Fed chief in US history has been forced to submit to the kind of humiliation that Ben Bernanke is facing. This is partly down to circumstances. Inflation is going up and up, and this year's average will likely top 4 percent. But this time Mr. Dollar is also Mr. Powerless. He can raise interest rates in the fall, or he can pray, which would probably be the better choice. At least prayer would not prevent the US economy from growing, a highly likely outcome if interest rates go up.
Retail Property Has Worst Second Quarter in 30 Years U.S. store closings and cutbacks turned the second quarter into the worst for strip mall owners in 30 years, as budget-conscious consumers flocked to low-cost warehouse-style grocery centers, according to a report by real estate research firm Reis. Strip malls, which are usually anchored by grocery or drug stores, saw average vacancies spike 0.5 percentage points to 8.2 percent, a level unseen since 1995, according to the report released on Monday. Vacancies at regional malls rose 0.4 percentage points to 6.3 percent, the highest level since the first quarter of 2002, according to the preliminary results. "They definitely came up weaker than our expectations and we've been pretty bearish on our outlook for retail for some time," Reis Chief Economist Sam Chandan said. "In the market in general there have been a lot of store closings."
GM Mulls Thousands of Job Cuts, Sale of Brands: WSJ General Motors, the No. 1 automaker in the U.S., is planning to cut thousands of white-collar jobs and is considering whether it should sell or stop production of more of its brands, The Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter. Both moves are part of a broader re-evaluation of the company's strategy and of its ability to meet an internal projection of returning to profitability in 2010, the people told the paper. The job cuts are likely to be approved when GM's board of directors meets in early August, the people said. The reductions would be in addition to earlier announced cuts. Management may also present the board with options for raising additional cash, they told the paper.
Merrill raids its rainy-day fund Merrill Lynch & Co., faced with mounting losses from the credit fallout, is doing the equivalent of borrowing against its 401(k). The nation's biggest brokerage reportedly is close to selling its stake in Bloomberg L.P. and BlackRock Inc. amid a cash crunch. Merrill is expected to report a $6 billion write-down, exceeding analysts' expectations, when it reports second-quarter earnings next week. Though Merrill could raise up to $17 billion from the sale of those stakes, it's likely only to sell a fraction of that in order to value its existing stakes. Merrill carries Bloomberg at zero. If it sells part of it, it can hold the rest on its books at a value set by the sale price. Still, any sale represents a significant blow to the firm. The Bloomberg stake has been paying returns to Merrill and a sale will not only eliminate that boost to the bottom line, but require additional taxes.
Financial market losses could top 1,600 billion dollars: The global report financial crisis could lead to losses of 1,600 billion dollars for financial institutes, according a report in the Swiss Sunday newspaper SonntagsZeitung. It quoted a confidential study by the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates as saying losses for banks holding risky assets could be four times greater than the 400 billion dollars previously estimated. The hedge fund expressed doubts that the financial institutes would be able to drum up enough funds to cover the losses, something it said could exacerbate the crisis. Bridgewater, one of the world's biggest hedge funds, based its calculations on the state of risky debt-based US assets, such as mortgages, credit and credit card demands. The value of such risky assets is 26,600 billion dollars, according to the hedge fund. The losses would amount to 1,600 billion dollars if these assets were valued at market rates and not in the form of securitization, the newspaper said.
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