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Gold Breaches $1590 after Weidmann Says “Eurozone Crisis Not Over”, Chinese Physical Demand “Supporting Gold Right Now”

London Gold Market Report

from Ben Traynor

BullionVault

Tuesday 12 March 2013, 08:15 EST

 

Gold Breaches $1590 after Weidmann Says “Eurozone Crisis Not Over”, Chinese Physical Demand “Supporting Gold Right Now”

 

AFTER trading sideways for several sessions, gold bullion jumped above $1590 an ounce for the first time this month Tuesday morning in London, in what analysts called a “technical” move after gold broke through a key level following remarks from Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann.

 

“We see support at [...]

PREPARE For 90% Correction? Currency War Escalating But Inflationary Targets Will Fail – World Stuck In Deflationary Super-Cycle And There’s A “Financial Catastrophe On The Horizon

Jens Weidmann warns of currency war risk

Loading central banks with more tasks and pressing them to pursue more aggressive monetary policies could risk a round of competitive devaluations, European Central Bank policymaker Jens Weidmann said on Monday, citing pressure on the Bank of Japan.

Weidmann is the latest in a string of policymakers worldwide to warn of the threat of a “currency war” as central banks pump out cash to support [...]

Bundesbank’s Jens Weidmann: If a central bank can potentially create unlimited money from nothing, how can it ensure that money is sufficiently scarce to retain its value?”

Ongoing grand plans to flood the economy market with money have reminded Bundesbank’s Jens Weidmann of the scene in the play Faust – when the devil (Mephistopheles) ‘disguised as a fool’, convinces an emperor to issue large amounts of paper money – which solves the kingdom’s financial problems in the short-term but ends rather badly in rampant inflation.

As The Telegraph notes, without specifically mentioning Mario Draghi’s bond-buying programme, he said: “If a central bank can [...]

LIVE WEBCAST: DRAGHI PRESS CONFERENCE

DEVELOPING:

Draghi: Growth is expected to remain weak

Draghi: “governing council today decided on modalities for undertaking outright monetary transactions. OMTs. In secondary markets.”

DRAGHI SAYS GOVERNMENTS MUST BE READY TO ACTIVATE EFSF, ESM

DRAGHI SAYS ECB TOOK DECISION ON COLLATERAL

ECB CUTS 2012 GDP FORECAST TO -0.4% FROM -0.1%

Draghi: ECB inflation forecast 2012 2.4-2.6% 2013 1.3-2.5%, higher than June forecast

DRAGHI SAYS IMPORTANT FOR BANKS TO BOOST RESILIENCE IF NEEDED.

Draghi : ECB can undertake outright [...]

Spain’s Capital Flight Now Worse Than Asian Financial Crisis

The flight of capital from Spain is now worse than what Indonesia, one of the hardest hit countries during the Asian financial crisis, experienced in the late 1990s, according to analysis by Nomura.

On a three-month rolling basis, portfolio and investment outflows from Spain totaled 52.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), (that’s) more than double the outflows from Indonesia, which reached 23 percent of GDP at the time [...]

RTRS: Bundesbank chief Weidmann considered quitting over ECB bond buying paper

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/30/idINL6E8JUJBA20120830

Weidmann says vielleicht RT @TheStalwart: It sounds like Jens Weidmann will not be quitting, but still, fascinating.

http://www.twitter.com/FGoria

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann makes the cover of Der Spiegel, repeating his usual arguments against ECB purchases of sovereign debt.

Jens Weidmann makes the cover of Der Spiegel

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,ausg-6128,00.html

* German central bank concerned at ECB’s changing role

* Says bond proposal looks like printing cash to fund govts

* Interview published ahead of Sept. 6 ECB meeting

FRANKFURT, Aug 26 (Reuters) – The head of Germany’s Bundesbank stepped up his opposition to the European Central Bank’s latest moves to battle the euro zone’s debt crisis on Sunday, saying that plans to buy bonds [...]

Jens Weidmann – the man with the key to Mario Draghi’s handcuffs

Draghi may be willing to do ‘whatever it takes’ to save the euro, but Weidmann is a vocal and stubborn opponent

He has but one vote among the 23 on the policy-making governing council at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. But Jens Weidmann knows that some votes are more equal than others.

“I certainly would not say that we are just one of 17 central banks [in the eurozone],” the head of Germany’s [...]

Germany warns ECB on rescue plan

(Financial Times) – The head of Germany’s Bundesbank has warned the European Central Bank against straying beyond its remit, as the bloc’s central bankers gathered on Wednesday night to discuss a possible plan to re-start intervention in government bond markets.

Jens Weidmann, Bundesbank president, said the ECB’s independence “requires it to respect and not overstep its own mandate” to guard against inflation.

Policy makers “overestimate the central bank’s possibilities” when calling on the [...]

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has indicated his displeasure at Mr. Draghi’s rhetorical push for ECB intervention

With Mario Draghi clearly indicating that he wants to reactivate the ECB’s Securities Markets Program last week, fixed-income investors are betting big that the European Central Bank will insert itself back into the bond-buying business at this Thursday’s meeting.

They’re getting ahead of themselves.

ECB President Draghi faces numerous obstacles before representatives of the all-important German Bundesbank will support an SMP restart with their votes on the ECB’s governing council. Not least [...]

Draghi Said to Hold Talks With Weidmann on ECB Bond Purchases

Draghi Said to Hold Talks With Weidmann on ECB Bond Purchases

By Jana Randow and Matthew Brockett

 

European Central Bank  President Mario Draghi will hold talks with Bundesbank President  Jens Weidmann in the coming days in an effort to overcome the biggest stumbling block to a new raft of measures including bond purchases, two central bank officials said.

 

Having secured the backing of governments in Spain, France and Germany, Draghi is now seeking [...]

ECB Weidmann: Urge Spain to Take Bailout for Country, Not Just Banks

The Spanish government should take a bailout for the country as a whole, not just its embattled banks, as this would be well-received in the bond markets, European Central Bank Governing Council member Jens Weidmann argued in a newspaper interview pre-released Friday.

In a summary of an interview published on Germany’s Boersen-Zeitung web page, Mr. Weidmann said “bank balance sheets are always also a reflection of an economy as a whole.” [...]

EZ running out of options

The European Central Bank is almost out of conventional policy options and will have to turn to measures it finds deeply unpalatable if the euro zone crisis intensifies, or watch the bloc slide towards the abyss.

By cutting its main interest rate by a 1/4 point to a record low 0.75 percent on Thursday and reducing the rate it pays on overnight deposits to zero, the ECB has almost exhausted its normal ammunition. [...]

Germany are by far the most exposed to Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy, with outstanding loans worth €323bn

German lenders will be among the biggest beneficiaries of a Spanish bank bailout, with rescue funds helping to ensure they get paid back in full for poor lending decisions made in the run-up to the financial crisis, and helping politicians in Berlin avoid a politically sensitive bank bailout of their own.

German lenders were among Europe’s most profligate before 2008, channelling the country’s savings to the European periphery in search of [...]

Blackmail Fail? DEADLOCK LOOMS IN ITALY As Monti Threatens Resignation, Berlusconi Wants Euro Exit And Merkel Hardens Position!!!

Merkel Hardens Position

The EU summit is a day away and pre-summit bickering is so intense that it will be difficult if not impossible to get any major agreements.

Two days ago, in a speech in German parliament, Bloomberg reportedMerkel Hardens Resistance to Euro-Area Debt Sharing

Monti Lashes out at Germany

In response his own falling support as much as his displeasure with Merkel, Monti lashes out at Germany ahead of summit

Italy’s technocratic prime [...]

ALERT! WSJ is trying to save the markets by spreading rumors!!

via WSJ:

BERLIN—Germany is sending strong signals that it would eventually be willing to back ideas such as joint European bonds or a banking union if European leaders are willing to give up more sovereignty and transfer significant powers over national budgets to Europe, a step that, if embraced, would redesign monetary union and be one of the boldest steps taken by the bloc since the euro was launched.

Europe has been [...]

FT – Eurozone exposures charted (a.k.a. Malta’s sorrow)

From FT:

The little guy always gets ignored, as these charts are from Nomura’s Jens Nordvig and Dimitris Drakopoulos show:

Read more

It’s going to be a rough Monday!

Bundesbank Chief Warns Greece on Rescue Deal

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: May 12, 2012 at 6:10 AM ET

BERLIN (AP) — The head of Germany’s central bank is warning that there would be no basis for further financial aid to keep Greece afloat if the country backs off agreements with international creditors.

The comments by Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann, who is also a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council, came as [...]

Can Monetary Policy Fix Everything? Surely You Jest!

“Monetary policy cannot fulfill each and every market expectation.”

So said the head of the Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann.

Why not, investors want to know.

Mr. Weidmann was talking to The Wall Street Journal. He was explaining why Germany was sticking to its guns. They don’t use that expression in Germany. But you know what he meant.

“The crisis can be solved only by embarking on often-painful structural reforms,” he insisted. “If policy makers think they [...]

ECB’s LTRO Plan Flops As Banks Cut Lending

www.telegraph.co.uk

The European Central Bank (ECB) said loans to the real economy fell in February, scotching claims that radical long-term refinancing operation (LTRO) would stem the crisis.

Open Europe’s Raoul Ruparel said: “The LTRO has succeeded in avoiding a severe funding crunch…[But] it does not tackle the underlying lending risks which the banks are still keen to avoid, particularly with the looming recession in Europe.”

As Spain faces a general strike on Thursday, [...]

If Someone In Europe Owes You Money, You Must Find A Copy Of This Report

This is undoubtedly one of the hottest weekend reads in finance.

Nomura’s Jens Nordvig has written a quietly piece titled Currency risk in a Eurozone break-up – Legal Aspects that for the first time, really looks at the implications of a Eurozone breakup, and what it means to investors who are owed money in Euros.

In other words, if a bank, or a company, or the government in say Greece announces tomorrow that [...]

WEIDMANN SAYS USE OF MONETARY POLICY FOR FISCAL NEEDS MUST STOP

by ZH

Speaking at the EuroFinance conference, the recently chatty Jens Weidmann makes it clear that expecting the ECB to save the day is not a good idea. His comments, via Bloomberg, were enough to crack EURUSD under 1.37 and take EURJPY below Friday’s lows – dragging risk assets lower across the board.

*ECB’S WEIDMANN SAYS ITALY HAS `WORRYINGLY’ HIGH DEBT BURDEN

*WEIDMANN: ECB MUST NOT SOLVE SOLVENCY ISSUES OF STATES, BANKS

*WEIDMANN SAYS [...]

Cotton Inflation Hit H&M – Profit Drops 30%

BY JENS HANSEGARD

Hennes & Mauritz reported a 30% drop in earnings as it decided to absorb rising cotton prices, higher transportation costs and the strength of the Swedish krona rather than passing them on to customers.

While other fashion retailers have been raising prices to offset the steep rise in cotton and other costs, H&M said it’s prepared to take a short-term hit to margins because its [...]

Gold Replacing Dollar as World Reserve Currency?

$105 per barrel oil. Cotton prices at record levels. Food prices at 2008 highs. Typically, such commodity price increases would send central banks running to the U.S. Dollar to secure the value of their savings. After all, the dollar has been the reserve currency since World War I.

But not this time.

Central banks are shedding dollars , reducing their holdings by about $9 billion in previous quarter, according to Nomura Securities’ [...]