The Art of Money Laundering

Meyer Lansky… one of the most successful money launderers in modern history. He schemed, siphoned and skimmed money from illegal gains in the casino business and filtered $1 billion through Swiss banks, Hong Kong businesses and shell companies in the Caribbean.

He even bought an offshore Swiss bank to launder his money.

He was never caught, and his methods formed what’s considered modern-day laundering. Here’s how he did it.

From Meyer Lansky: The Shadowy Exploits of New York’s Master Manipulator

At first, Meyer funneled much of the money into legitimate and quasi-legitimate businesses in the United States. Many other crime bosses had done the same, more as a front than to hide income from the tax man. Real estate, food processing and distribution, garment production and restaurants were popular choices… None of this was enough; the enormous amount of money coming in outstripped their means to secrete it…

What Meyer did was find a new home for dirty money — the anonymous, numbered Swiss bank account. From there, dirty money could be used as collateral for legitimate bank loans, and the cash from the loans could then be funneled back into investment in the United States.

To be clear, this isn’t a step-by-step guide to breaking the law… It’s actually a case study in how to turn cash into something that actually has value.

Because today’s “money launderers” understand that cash itself is a liability. Today’s launderers take advantage of cheap credit to buy things like real estate.

Take South African billionaire Nathan Kirsh, whose net worth is about $5.1 billion. He spends his time hopping around his 86 Restaurant Depots and 10 Jetro Cash & Carry stores mostly on the East Coast of the United States.

His company’s EBITDA margins are twice that of Costco, and he actually owns most of the land his stores are on.

And here’s how he’s turning cheap cash into real money. From Bloomberg:

He raised $1 billion in a private debt placement in April as yields on U.S. corporate bonds fell and used the proceeds to repay short-term debt and pay a one-time dividend to Jetro shareholders…

The billionaire is using some of the cash to buy property, which he said is a hedge against global inflation. He controls about 70% of the Jetro and Restaurant Depot warehouses, as well as residential and commercial real estate in the U.S., the U.K., South Africa and Australia.

“Our business in the U.S. is a big business that throws off cash, and we strip that cash,” Kirsh said in London. “I just don’t want that money lying around. We are certain that inflation isn’t going away, so it’s smart to be borrowing cheaply and putting it into real assets.”

And he’s not the only one taking advantage of today’s cheap credit. Banks that park their cash with the Federal Reserve can borrow cheaply and turn around and make loans that rake in 10 times the interest.

It’s simple math… low-hanging fruit, if you will. But loans aren’t quite real assets…

But Kirsh has the right idea. Cash that just sits around could lose a lot of its value — especially as the Fed keeps the pedal to the metal with its easing programs.

And there’s always the potential for borrowers to default.

With such cheap credit, though, the risk is small… But turning that cheap credit into something of real value is the best way to hold on to your wealth.

Real assets can be better than a bank full of money, and Kirsh is the perfect example of how to make real assets work for you. His investments in commercial real estate have all been successful, and his 42% stake in Abacus Property Group, an Australian REIT, has increased its value by 50% since 2009.

I’m not telling you to go out and invest in real estate — though if you have the means to borrow cheaply and get into a property with growing returns, that doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me (and I’ll be heading to Nicaragua later this month to find some prime properties that fit that bill).

I’m telling you to start analyzing your portfolio… Your whole portfolio, not just the one you hold with your broker. What does your savings account look like? How much do you own on your home? Did you loan money to your brother for his small business?

Everything counts… and the more you know the real value of your assets, the better off you are when the value of your cash takes a nosedive.

It’s time to start laundering that cash. Find real assets that you can park your wealth in and generate actual returns.

Happy Investing,

Sara

P.S. I recently found 3 unique ways to launder your cash into real assets…and right now a strange glitch keeps these real assets artificially cheap. Here’s the rest of the story…

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Article brought to you by Inside Investing Daily. 

Monetary Policy Week in Review – Nov. 10, 2012: Uneven global growth in evidence; 2 c.banks cut, 8 banks on hold

By Central Bank News

    Last week in monetary policy 11 central banks decided on interest rates, with two banks cutting rates (Poland and Kenya), eight keeping rates unchanged and Serbia again raising its rate in its quest to beat back inflation.
    The asymmetrical pace of economic growth across the world was striking, with central banks in Asia and South America keeping rates on hold and looking forward to stronger growth, while Europe’s economy continues to decelerate and the outlook is weak.
    The Reserve Bank of Australiasaid recent data on the world economy was slightly more positive, the Bank of Korea saw exports stabilizing while consumption and investment was picking up, and the Central Reserve Bank of Peru said its economy was stable and growing at a rate that is close to its full potential.
     Bank Indonesia reported “buoyant domestic demand,” while Bank Negara Malaysia saw “sustained expansion in domestic activity.” 
    Meanwhile in Europe, the National Bank of Poland said it was now clear that the economy was slowing down considerably and it was increasingly worried about a “protracted economic slowdown.” 
    And the European Central Bank saw no signs of economic improvement the rest of this year and expects next year’s growth momentum to remain weak, with risks still on the downside.
    Even the Bank of Russia, which is eager to defend its inflation-fighting credentials, struck a more dovish tone, saying inflation expectations had now moderated and it was keeping an eye on the impact of its surprise rate hike in September.
    The Bank of England didn’t expand its asset purchase program, probably a reaction to an economic rebound in the third quarter, and possibly a sign that it is less pessimistic about growth prospects.
LAST WEEK’S (WEEK 45) MONETARY POLICY DECISIONS:

COUNTRYMSCI  NEW RATE    OLD RATE    1 YEAR AGO
AUSTRALIADM3.25%3.25%4.50%
POLANDEM4.50%4.75%4.75%
KENYAFM11.00%13.00%16.50%
SOUTH KOREAEM2.75%2.75%3.25%
INDONESIAEM5.75%5.75%6.00%
MALAYSIAEM3.00%3.00%3.00%
EURO ZONEDM0.75%0.75%1.25%
UNITED KINGDOMDM0.50%0.50%0.50%
PERUEM4.25%4.25%4.25%
SERBIAFM10.95%10.75%10.00%
RUSSIA EM8.25%8.25%8.25%
NEXT WEEK (WEEK 46) only five central banks are scheduled to review monetary policy, including Morocco, Sri Lanka, Iceland, Croatia and Latvia.

COUNTRYMSCI   DECISION     RATE    1 YEAR AGO
MOROCCOEM13-Nov3.00%3.25%
SRI LANKAFM16-Nov7.75%7.00%
ICELAND14-Nov5.75%4.75%
CROATIAFM14-Nov6.25%6.25%
LATVIA 15-Nov2.50%3.50%

The Hong Kong Dollar: If This Red Flag Goes Up, Buy it

By MoneyMorning.com.au

History says paper currencies always die.

In today’s Money Weekend we’ll suggest a possible candidate for destruction and why you should keep an eye on it.

If you think we’re talking about the Iranian rial, we’re not. Although the Hanke-Krus Hyperinflation Index recently added the Iranian rial to its hyperinflation list.

Iran is obviously a story at the centre of mainstream news lately.

But we’re actually thinking about something closer to home – the Hong Kong dollar (HKD).

Here’s why…

The Most Expensive Houses in the World

If you think buying a house in Australia is expensive (we do), check out Hong Kong. ‘The Hong Kong government’s toughest efforts yet to curb a growing asset bubble in the city’s property market probably won’t be the last as record-low mortgage rates drive demand for the world’s priciest homes,’ reported Bloomberg last week.

The article quotes a study done last September that puts Hong Kong home prices 65% above Tokyo, the second most expensive place to buy a home in the world.

Hong Kong recently slapped a 15% tax on foreign buyers to try and cool its real estate market. But what Hong Kong really needs to do to snap off its rampant property bubble is to raise interest rates to increase the cost of borrowing.

That’s too bad, because Hong Kong’s monetary policy is determined by the US Federal Reserve.

The Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US dollar, and has been since 1983. Maintaining the peg amongst the Fed’s policy of ‘quantitative easing’ has unleashed inflation in Hong Kong. If the US Fed drops interest rates and prints money, Hong Kong has to follow suit.

There’s no relief in sight either.

You might remember we mentioned what US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in Tokyo last month. He was responding to accusations that he was hurting foreign countries. If you don’t remember, here it is again:


‘Of course, an alternative strategy – one consistent with classical principles of international adjustment – is to refrain from intervening in foreign exchange markets, thereby allowing the currency to rise and helping insulate the financial system from external pressures.’

Bernanke wants to cheapen the US dollar relative to other currencies to boost American exports. Bernanke has already said he will keep interest rates at a record low until at least 2014. This helps the American government finance its 16 trillion dollars deficit.

We doubt Bernanke had Hong Kong specifically in mind when he spoke in Tokyo. But a side effect of Bernanke’s money printing is it destabilises other economies like Hong Kong. So how long can the peg between the Hong Kong and US dollar hold?

Probably not long. That means the Hong Kong dollar would start to rise against the US dollar.

Perhaps the Hong Kong Monetary Authority would peg the HKD to something else to stop it appreciating too far. But what? There isn’t much choice.

Switching Teams

It doesn’t take much imagination to work out that Bernanke’s tactics will drive Hong Kong into further integration with mainland China. After all, Hong Kong is a ‘special administrative region’ of the Chinese mainland, and half of Hong Kong’s trade is with China.

The CIA world Factbook says, ‘Hong Kong has also established itself as the premier stock market for Chinese firms seeking to list abroad. In 2011 mainland Chinese companies constituted about 43% of the firms listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and accounted for about 56% of the Exchange’s market capitalization.’

With figures like that, the peg to the US dollar is starting to look pretty outdated.

If the peg breaks, a free-floating HKD would appreciate on the back of Hong Kong’s strong economy.

But it’s not crazy to think at some point the Hong Kong dollar might be abolished completely and replaced with the Chinese remnimbi (RMB). It’s an idea that’s been around for a while, but hasn’t really worked out yet because China has not internationalised the RMB.

But the argument for the Hong Kong dollar as an attractive foreign currency play stands over the long term. If some sort of peg with the RMB is established, the tailwind of a rising remnimbi (when it eventually floats) could take it much higher. If the HKD is abolished completely, it’s a backdoor way to bet on the remnimbi rising.

It’s a gamble of course, but you’d think Bernanke just increased the odds with QE3.

Identify Long Term Trends to Profit

All this tells us the currency market will be much more important for investors to watch for the foreseeable future. Shifting global capital and central bank money printing is bound to cause serious fireworks that effect asset values worldwide.

That means you should be on the right side of the flow of money. The Hong Kong dollar might be a way to profit from this type of trade. There isn’t an ETF for the HKD, so the only way is to open a bank account holding cash.

We know, it sounds complicated and a hassle, but it’s an idea worth exploring.

This is a similar theme to something our mate Nick Hubble wrote in his recent report. His view is that the key to safeguarding a comfortable retirement is to position your portfolio for key money trends that develop over time.

He has plenty of his own ideas worth reading, so check them out. They’re immediately actionable.

But another take is to investigate adding exposure to a foreign currency to your portfolio. It’s a solid diversification move.

You don’t have to open a foreign currency account. You can buy foreign shares, ETFs of foreign stock markets, or even trade commodities. All offer various ways of getting exposure to another currency.

Callum Newman
Co-Editor, Scoops Lane

The Most Important Story This Week…

Most balanced super funds over the last ten years have barely managed to beat the return from a simple term deposit. But with interest rates falling, retirees that rely on fixed income are getting little help from the Reserve Bank. So if cash doesn’t pay, what do you do? Nick Hubble’s job is to solve that problem. As editor of the new Money for Life newsletter, he’s already on the case – see what he says in How to Retire Rich, Happy and Free From Money Worries

Highlights in Money Morning This Week…

Nick Hubble on Super Fund Results: Whoopdeedoo: ‘If all this seems like pointless number fiddling, you’re onto something. After tax and inflation, are you really achieving much with any of these investments? Just like anything in life, you don’t get paid for doing nothing. It just doesn’t make sense. There is one exception though. You can get paid for doing nothing if you own something that does the work for you. And pays you the income it earns.’

Kris Sayce on Tell the RBA to Shove It…Invest Without Taking Big Risks: ‘It’s easy for the RBA to tell investors to take more risks when their own savings are unaffected by lower interest rates. But for you as a regular investor…someone who doesn’t have psychotic dreams of reaching the top rungs of government and bureaucracy…you do have to think about your investments and your returns.’

Murray Dawes on Forget the US Election, This Stock Market Event is the One to Watch For: ‘But what about the idea that the stock market does better depending on which party wins the White House? If you want to trade stocks on the back of the US election outcome then stop. You should keep reading today’s Money Morning before you punt your retirement savings using that strategy…’

Bryon King on What’s Happening in the Real World of ‘Gold and Oil’: ‘Long term, I foresee a very strong “Northern European” currency – deutsche mark redux – backed at least in part by a fortress full of gold. Come to think of it, that’s sort of how Germany looked 100 years ago, just before World War I. Back then, the Germans had a fortress full of gold at Spandau, near Berlin. The gold was literally their “war chest”.’


The Hong Kong Dollar: If This Red Flag Goes Up, Buy it

US delays start of Basel III bank rules, no new date set

By Central Bank News

    The United States has delayed indefinitely the implementation of new tougher banking standards, known as Basel III, beyond the internationally-agreed date of January 1, 2013.
    Under Basel III, banking regulators worldwide would have raised capital charges around three times and imposed stricter supervision, especially on major banks such as Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase, to prevent a repeat of the 2008 global financial crises.
    Although Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors, including those from the U.S., agreed to implement Basel III only last week, there has been increasing pressure to delay the start due to the complexity of the rules and the cost to banks at a time of weak global economic growth.
     The Federal Reserve issued its version of the Basel III rules in June and asked for comment. Today it said that many bankers had told it they were concerned they would be subject to the new capital rules “without sufficient time to understand the rule or to make necessary systems changes.”
    “In light of the volume of comments received and the wide range of views expressed during the comment period, the (U.S. federal banking) agencies do not expect that any of the proposed rules would become effective on January 1, 2013,” the Federal Reserve said.

    The Federal Reserve added the U.S. took seriously its commitment to implementing Basel III and was working “as expeditiously as possible to complete the rulemaking process.” It did not give a new target date for implantation.
    Aware of the major impact the new banking rules would have, global banking supervisors had set a rolling timetable for implantation, starting with 2013 when regulations should be in place, through January 2019 to allow banks to slowly meet the standards.
     But it had become increasingly clear that many countries were behind the timetable and this would subject major global banks to an uneven playing field.  
    Some US and UK government officials, including Thomas Hoenig, who retired from the Federal Reserve in April and joined the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Bank of England’s Andrew Haldane, had called for a delay and redrafting of the Basel rules as they were too complicated.
    On Oct. 31, the Financial Stability Board (FSB), which monitors international financial regulation, said that only eight of 27 countries had issued their regulations, and this meant that it was highly probably that only six of 28 global systemically important banks would be subject to Basel III in January 2013.
   

JCPenney is Toast: Wal-Mart Wins Among Retailers

By The Sizemore Letter

Here is a headline that should come as no surprise to anyone: “JCPenney (NYSE:$JCP) Turnaround in Doubt as Sales Plummet,” CNBC, November 9, 2012.

Big shock.  JCPenney has been a company struggling to find direction for the past twenty years.  The company is a “tweener” that had a hard enough time competing with the likes of Wal-Mart (NYSE:$WMT) and Target (NYSE:$TGT) on the low end and with Dillard’s (NYSE:$DDS) and Macy’s (NYSE:$M) at the mid-range price point before the internet revolution.  But now that the company has to compete with established internet retailers like Amazon.com (Nasdaq:$AMZN) and every up-and-coming online retailer as well.

To put it bluntly, JCPenny is toast.  For a long-term play almost guaranteed to make money, you could consider shorting it and waiting for it to eventually go belly up.  But that’s not what I want to discuss today.  Instead, I want to recommend that readers pick up shares of Wal-Mart.

Consumer sentiment is improving—Reuters reports that it just hit a five-year high—yet with the dreaded fiscal cliff looming in the wake of the presidential election, I expect consumer to be looking for bargains in their Christmas shopping this year.

This is bullish for low-cost internet retailers, of course.  Yet with Amazon.com and other major online players now forced to levy sales taxes, the cost differential with “bricks and mortar” retailers isn’t as wide as it used to be.

And this brings me back to Wal-Mart.  In addition to running the largest chain of retail stores in the world by sales, Wal-Mart is aggressively jumping into Amazon’s territory with an expanded online presence.  It may be years before Wal-Mart is able to effectively compete with Amazon in the online sphere, but Wal-Mart’s massive physical presence does give it one unique advantage over Amazon that I expect to be significant over time: the avoidance of shipping costs.  As an example, I recently dropped several hundred dollars buying my son a tree house.  Wal-Mart’s price was roughly equal to Amazon’s, yet I was able to save nearly $300 in shipping costs due to my option of picking up the boxes at my local store (alas, it has been two weeks and I am still trying to assemble the @#$&ing thing, but that is another story for another article).

Wal-Mart trades for 13 times next year’s expected earnings and yields a reasonable 2.2% in dividends.  I consider this a stock that you can buy and hold for at least the next 1-5 years.

Disclosures: Sizemore Capital is long WMT. This article first appeared on TraderPlanet.

SUBSCRIBE to Sizemore Insights via e-mail today.

The post JCPenney is Toast: Wal-Mart Wins Among Retailers appeared first on Sizemore Insights.

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Yen Drops Prior To Japan GDP Data

By TraderVox.com

Tradervov.com (Dublin) – The Japanese currency dropped against most of its counterparts prior to the release of GDP data next week expected to show the country’s economy contracted in the third quarter. This has added to speculations that Japanese economy is lagging behind major economies such as US and China.

The yen pared a two-day gain against the euro after reports from China showed that the country’s industrial production was more than expected. The Australian dollar strengthened as Asian stocks improved in the market. Euro’s advance was limited as European Union officials were reported to have indicated that funds for Greece might take some time before they are made available.

Huns Kunnen, the chief economist in Sydney at St. George Bank Ltd, predicted that the Japanese currency will continue to weaken. He noted that the Japanese economy is troubled and there is no domestic impetus to push the demand for the yen. The market is expecting the Japanese gross domestic product to have contracted by 3.4 percent in the third quarter. The data will be released on November 12.

Masashi Murata, a Tokyo-based currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co, the three major currencies, the dollar, euro and yen, are at a stand-off and there might lack a clear gainer as the Japanese economy is on a downward trajectory. Recent data from China indicated that industrial production in the country added 9.6 percent, higher than the market expectation of 9.4 percent. Retails sales also gained more than expectation, coming in at 14.5 in October. The market was expecting a 14.4 gain.

The yen dropped against the euro by 0.3 percent to 101.62 at the close of trading yesterday in London. It dropped by 0.1 percent against the dollar to trade at 79.53 yen. The 17-nation currency advanced against the dollar by 0.2 percent to trade at $1.2777. The Australian dollar advanced by 0.2 percent against the greenback to exchange at $1.0426.

Disclaimer
Tradervox.com is not giving advice nor is qualified or licensed to provide financial advice. You must seek guidance from your personal advisors before acting on this information. While we try to ensure that all of the information provided on this website is kept up-to-date and accurate we accept no responsibility for any use made of the information provided. Opinions expressed at Tradervox.com are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Tradervox.com or its management. 

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Russia holds rate, keeps eye on impact of last rate hike

By Central Bank News
    Russia’s central bank held its benchmark refinancing rate steady in October, as expected, saying inflation expectations had eased following its recent rate hike, certain food prices had dropped and there were few upward price pressures from demand.
    The Bank of Russia, which surprised markets by raising rates in September to the current 8.25 percent, said it would continue to keep track of inflation risks and “the consequences of the monetary tightening for the Russian economy” – a statement that indicates the bank is aware that its relatively high interest rates are dampening economic growth.
    The central bank’s statement is less hawkish than last month when it warned that higher food prices were spreading to other segments of consumer prices.
    The central bank also pointed out that the pace of inflation declined in October and early November though it still but remained above the Bank of Russia’s target of 5-6 percent inflation.
    Consumer prices eased to an annual rate of 6.5 percent in October from 6.6 percent in September and the central bank said inflation was estimated at a 6.4 percent rate by Nov. 6, with a stabilization of food prices, the key driver of inflation in recent months.
    It added that the core inflation rate was 5.8 percent in October.
     “Taking into account its influence on economic agents’ expectations, the recent growth in inflation rate remains an important source of inflation risks. Nevertheless, the deceleration of certain food prices growth and the September 2012 hike in the interest rates on the Bank of Russia monetary policy instruments could contribute to the moderation of inflation expectations,” the bank said in a statement after a meeting of its board of directors.
    High inflation has marked Russia’s economy for many years and in the first half of this year it dropped to the 3-4 percent range. But then in June it started accelerating again due to higher grain prices from bad global harvests, prompting the government to sound the alarm and the central bank to raise rates to reinforce its determination to keep inflation under control.
    The central bank said indicators showed that there was a certain slowdown in economic activity in September, with investment growth continuing to decelerate while consumer demand and industrial production growth was largely unchanged. Economic confidence, however, remains positive and credit expansion robust and output remains close to its potential level.
    “Banking credit growth continued to show certain signs of the stabilization. However, the risks of a significant economic slowdown stemming from somewhat tighter monetary conditions are considered minor,” the Bank of Russia said.
    In the second quarter, Russia’s Gross Domestic Product grew by only 0.1 percent from the first quarter, down from a quarterly rise of 0.6 percent, for an annual growth rate of 4.0 percent.

         www.CentralBankNews.info

   

Gold Headed for Weekly Gain “Despite Dollar Strength” as Survey Shows Most Traders Bullish on Gold

London Gold Market Report
from Ben Traynor
BullionVault
Friday 9 November 2012, 07:45 EST

SPOT PRICES in the wholesale gold bullion market traded above $1730 an ounce Friday morning in London, having earlier touched a two-week high, while stocks fell and the Dollar and US Treasury bonds gained, with analysts suggesting weak growth and monetary policy are likely to persist.

Silver bullion traded close to $32.30 an ounce for most of this morning, 4.3% up on the week, while oil and copper prices ticked lower.

“Precious metals continue to push higher, with the rest of the complex being led by gold,” says Marc Ground, commodities strategist at Standard Bank.

“In spite of Dollar strength, the market appears to continue to take comfort from Obama’s re-election and the implied support this gives to continued monetary accommodation from the Fed.”

Heading into the weekend, gold bullion looks set to record its first weekly gain since the start of October, having risen more than 3% since the start of the week.

“Renewed inflows into gold ETFs are responsible for the increase in price,” says a note from Commerzbank, “having totaled 10.5 tonnes in the past three days alone.”

Gold’s 1.7% jump on Tuesday could have been caused by a gold purchase made by the Soros Fund, Standard Bank’s Yuichi Ikemizu writes in his daily ‘Bruce Report’ today, citing a rumor circulating among New York traders.

Gold traders are at their most bullish since August 24, according to newswire Bloomberg, which reports that 25 of 33 analysts polled say they expect gold bullion to rise next week. Friday August 24 saw the first of five consecutive weekly gains for spot gold.

Here in Europe, the European Central Bank is “by and large, done” with assisting Greece, ECB president Mario Draghi told a press conference Thursday.

“On Greece, we certainly cannot do monetary financing,” Draghi said, though he added that the ECB did agree a part of Greek debt restructuring back in February that it will forego profits on holdings of Greek debt bought under its Securities Markets Programme.

“What happens is that these profits naturally accrue to the central banks that are members of the Eurosystem…[who may then] transfer these profits to the governments and then it is up to the governments to decide whether they want to re-use these profits for Greece. And the governments actually committed themselves to do so at that time.”

“Markets continue to trade on a weak note given lingering [US] fiscal cliff concerns and worries about whether Greece will get the funding it needs to meet debt payments” says Nick Verdi, Singapore-based currency strategist at Barclays.

Draghi also answered a series of questions on whether he would like to see Spain request a bailout by saying it is up to the Spanish government and not the ECB. The ECB’s sovereign bond buying program, Outright Monetary Transactions, requires a government to have agreed to an adjustment program before the ECB will buy its bonds in the secondary market.

Benchmark yields on 10-Year Spanish government bonds touch a one-month high this morning, a day after Spain auctioned longer-term bonds for the first time in 18 months, according to newswire Reuters.

“The five-year sale was awful,” said one trader, citing a wide discrepancy between the highest yield accepted for the bond and the average yield.

Spain has over €100 billion of debt due to mature next year.

The ECB voted to leave its key interest rate on hold at 0.75% Thursday.

“We have penciled in an interest-rate cut in December,” says Howard Archer, economist at research firm IHS Global Insight.

The Euro fell to a one-month low against the Dollar Friday, while Euro gold prices traded within 2% of last month’s all-time high.

Elsewhere in Europe, German inflation held steady at 2% last month, according to figures published this morning.

Over in China, industrial production grew by 9.6% in the year to October, official figures published Friday show, up on the previous month and a stronger acceleration that most analysts forecast.

Retails sales growth was also stronger-than-expect last month at 14.5% year-on-year – up from 14.2% in September.

“The domestic economy is evolving in a good direction,” China’s central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said Thursday, ahead of the release of the above data.

“The key question for investors,” says Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Lu Ting, “is whether China’s economic growth has truly bottomed out. Based on October data… the answer is firmly yes.”

China’s consumer price index meantime shows inflation fell to 1.7% last month, down from 1.9% a month earlier.

“The October CPI confirms that inflation is currently not a main concern for the government,” says Nomura analyst Zhang Zhiwei.

“Policy easing will likely continue in Q4 to support a growth recovery.”

Chinese gold bullion demand is expected to hit 860 tonnes this year, a 1% increase on 2011, according to Philip Klapwijk, global head of metals analytics at consultancy Thomson Reuters GFMS.

“China will overtake India [this year],” Klapwijk told the online Reuters Global Gold Forum Thursday, “both in overall demand terms and as the world’s largest jewelry market.”

Ben Traynor
BullionVault

Gold value calculator   |   Buy gold online at live prices

Editor of Gold News, the analysis and investment research site from world-leading gold ownership service BullionVault, Ben Traynor was formerly editor of the Fleet Street Letter, the UK’s longest-running investment letter. A Cambridge economics graduate, he is a professional writer and editor with a specialist interest in monetary economics. Ben writes and presents BullionVault’s weekly gold market summary on YouTube and can be found on Google+

(c) BullionVault 2012

Please Note: This article is to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it.

 

Pound Advances against the Euro on BOE Decision

By TraderVox.com

Tradervox.com (Dublin) – The UK currency has advanced against the euroarea currency after the Bank of England decided to refrain from extending asset-buying program and left the interest rates at the lowest level. The pound improved against the dollar after declining yesterday. The improved after the Bank of England MPC decided to keep key interest rate at 0.5 percent.

According to Ian Stannard, who is the head of foreign-exchange strategy in London at Morgan Stanley, stated that the market expectations for asset-purchases were suppressed hence further easing would not have had a profound impact on the economy. He, however, indicated that there is a high possibility of more easing next year.

The pound, which has increased by 1.5 percent this year, advanced yesterday after England’s 10-year gilt advanced by 0.01 percentage points. The currency advanced by 0.2 percent against the euro to trade at 79.74 pence per euro at 12:12 yesterday. The pound had reached its strongest of 79.69 earlier in the day, which was last registered in October 1. The sterling was little changed against the dollar, exchanging at $1.5975. It had earlier dropped to its lowest since October 23 of $1.5930.

According to Alan Clarke, a London-based economist at Scotiabank Europe Plc, the decision to refrain from QE is quite priced in because is a consensus view of the MPC. Kit Juckes, the Head of Forex research in London at Societe Generale SA, also noted that the policy makers have been “pretty outspoken” in stating that the QE will make no changes to the economy for now.

The UK currency is headed for another weekly drop against the dollar, as investors forecast that UK trade deficit narrowed in September. The pound opened the day still down at $1.5982 in London today. This is a 0.2 weekly drop. The pound was trading 79.80 pence per euro today, after appreciating yesterday to 79.61.

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