At the COMEX close Gold gets whacked  for 5 dollars.

Oil surges 5 percent on options expiry; bounce seen fleeting

By Samantha Sunne

NEW YORK (Reuters) – World oil prices had their biggest surge in two-and-a-half years on Wednesday, rebounding from a nearly six-year low as traders turned away from the bearish pressures of a worldwide glut to cover themselves on expiring options.

U.S. and Brent crude staged blistering $2 rallies in the final half-hour of trade as dealers with options exposure scrambled to square their positions. Oil had earlier traded steady to lower following data showing that U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose far more than expected last week.

Most dealers saw the late-day rebound as a temporary correction in the seven-month slump that wiped more than 60 percent off of oil prices, reluctant to call the bottom of a rout that has repeatedly defied forecasts of a floor.

“(With the) velocity of the downward trend that we’ve been in, you can expect to see violent snapbacks,” said Tariq Zahir of Tyche Capital.

Even so, there were growing signs that low prices were finally beginning to slow the unrelenting growth in U.S. oil production, a key factor for markets as OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia refrains from cutting output despite a growing glut.

North Dakota’s chief oil regulator said he expects production to be steady until mid-year and could decline in the third quarter. And the closely watched Brent/WTI spread settled at 16 cents, matching its narrowest level since 2010 as traders scrambled to buy benchmark U.S. crude for storage.

Brent crude rose $2.10, or 4.5 percent, to settle at $48.69 a barrel, in its strongest daily percentage gain since June 2012. The benchmark hit a low of $45.19 on Tuesday, the lowest since March 2009, amid increasing U.S. stocks and a continuing global supply glut.

U.S. crude oil settled at $48.48 up $2.59, or 5.6 percent, the biggest gain since August 2012. U.S. gasoline futures lead the charge, rising more than six percent due to falling refinery rates.

“The options expiry is definitely the main reason for the big rally just before the close. A lot of shorts are so deep into their put options, the only way to exit their position is to buy back futures,” said Oliver Sloup, director of managed futures at iitrader.com LLC.

U.S. government data showed crude stocks rose 5.4 million barrels, more than 10 times what analysts had expected. Inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for the U.S. futures contract, rose 1.8 million barrels.

Oil prices were under pressure early in the day after the World Bank lowered its 2015 and 2016 world economic growth forecasts, reinforcing worries about sluggish demand growth in the oversupplied energy markets.

While few dealers were prepared to say the long decline has ended, some were starting to cautiously look upward.

“I do think that the market is primed to test resistance near $50,” said John Saucer, vice president of research and analytics at Mobius Risk Group. It would be a “big psychological boost” if the market manages to close above that on Thursday.

(Additional reporting by Ed McAllister in New York; Libby George and Himanshu Ojha in London, Henning Gloystein and Florence Tan in Singapore Editing by Marguerita Choy, Christian Plumb, Jonathan Leff and Gunna Dickson)

Russia Cuts Off Gas Supply via Ukraine.

Gas prices rise in London

Bulgaria reaches ‘crisis’ point

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1106382

has attempted to sell off into the triangle twice and have failed at the trend line and rallied. A weekly close above $1240 would be very friendly.

also, on the weekly chart, some of the moving averages are crossing over to the upside indicating a change in trend to the upside.

rno

“Is the Gold Train now a Bullet Train?”
Only on EXTREMELY rare occasions, apparently.  Feels like we’re on a slow train to nowhere, most times.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=505197

Amazon offered free shipping or up graded on some December shipments during the last two weeks of December …what they forgot to tell  you was.

On your Credit Card Statement they billed you for a MEMBERSHIP FEE for $99.00 ..

Check  DEC Jan,Feb Statements  to be sure !

Go to your Amazon Web site and opt out if you dont want it.  They wont give you any problem !

but if you dont you automatically opted  IN !

I do need to clarify that they offered me an upgrade to 2 day delivery guranteed  ,instead of usuall postal time of 1 week free during the last weeks of DEC.

It came in 5 days anyway ! Never mentioned anything about membership !

Prior to this no problem..!  $99.00 was a surprise !

‘Evening Friends

Keep Stacking ………

Winedoc

PS:  other clips could be adult only … but funny 🙂

True Gold Temporarily Suspends Operations at Karma

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/true-gold-temporarily-suspends-operations-194700547.html

A spin on Gordon Gecko “Greed is good”.

A theory something like this; the reason the $US is the world reserve is because we have the most gold.

Inflation is coming (not really, a ruse to defeat ravages of deflation) and we are therefore revaluing our 8048 tonnes from $42.22 to xxxx.xx (balance sheet magic) and buying as much as possible.

Bang, instant inflation and no more cheap barberous relic for China, Russia and India.

Of coarse no more Comex or TBTF banks either. Pick your poison…

That’s probably a requiremt to hold a job with them lol

Russia has pulled itself out from the petrodollar.

http://zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-14/russia-just-pulled-itself-out-petrodollar

to comex gold which is UP $3 as I write…too bad Doug Kass’s 2015 call for gold got so much publicity–the FILTH  noted it and are trying to negate it’s impact

Why not raise GOLD PRICES to fantastic levels  so we can take advantage of those nasty Russians and Chinese  and make them  PAY through the Nose ?  They seem to have an unquenchable desire for Gold  …you got to take advantage of them    ?   MAKE THEM PAY ….WHY NOT ?  they are willing buyers !     Obama are you listening ! MAKE those RUSSIANS PAY    ! They are making a fool of you ,offering such LOW PRICES for GOLD!

Do you want to look like a FOOL ?

designed to Punish Private Sector business and at their expense make it seem reasonalble to RAISE TAXES on Oil  so Government can continue its SPEND,TAX, ELECT POLICIES in effect since FDR !    It also creates a scrapegoat …Putin …to make it pallatable since russians dont vote in the US.

and any “Blowback” can be blamed on those being demonized !

Thank you for kind words.

Yes I try to… but too often I stumble, on that narrow path called “Thoughtfulness”.

My utmost to you,

NEMO

Why not pass LAWS making it illegal for any Government employee,Federal Reserve employee from manipulating Market prices of Commodities ,Gold Silver ,and Food under penalty of never holding another job in Government or Federal Reserve and loss of Government Pension .?

says SCRAP the IRS and that a good start ! Then go on to the Fed …..These Low interest rates are causing a STRONG Dollar for political purposes its a position thats not Natural …A strong dollar should go with Higher interest rates as that would indicate a strong economy.Therefore a strong Dollar is not Helping the Citizenry at all,its stifiling job growth causing un-employment ! Its making imports more expensive instead of cheaper because we are not EARNING anything and you cannot buy anything because you dont have a JOB ! It dosent matter if imports are CHeaper if you dont have a JOB !

Has anybody seen imported CARS go down because if it ? Why aren’t cars imported 1/2 the price of domestic made ?  The Govey wont let it happin !

Has anybody heard of taxes going down because of the High Dollar ?  Have gasoling taxes gone down because of the high dollar and lower  prices of OIL ?  NO! The opposite .! The Government is the enemy of the People ! We need to DEVALUE the Dollar NOW !   Get exports UP ,Lower the cost of our LABOR !  Create JOBS !   Lower interest hurts SAVERS ,HURTS RETIREES making paupers of them that saved for retirement by giving them zero interest and Punish them for SAVING !   The Gubberment steals their Savings ! ,increases SS payments then takes it away with Medical increases .

The increases it gives excludes higher costs for Food !     Low interest helps GOVERNMENT spending increase  by making it look less costly !

The Gubberment saves itself telling the people to “EAT CAKE” if they cant afford bread !

WE need to CUT Government Pensions so “THEY “will not profit while we PAY the price ! They need to be on SS,and Medicare so they will not seperate thenselves from the LAWS they PASS !   This Congress needs to SLASH and BURN any Government policy ,Government Pension and Medical privledge that gives thenselves protection from the Laws they PASS !

but my stocks are completely asleep. insane

person with a mind open to hearing different viewpoints. I too liked this item by Orlov. Ever since our son loaned us his copy of Orlov’s “Five stages of Collapse”, I have taken careful note of what Orlov has to say. Best to you for 2015/ Equiz

I’m quite impressed with your do it yourself store in your yard and how your constantly improving it. Guess it’s starts where you put more money into it than you get out of it that discourages people but it didn’t discourage you and it’s growing perhaps into a self sustaining garden. I thought of that many moons ago visiting Indian reservations with friends. Instead of eating all that dough although they could make good dough products out if it they have land grow corn vegetables potatoes et all use it.

Like Scruffy mentions diets and things like diabetes were occurring. As generations evolve from common foods that were once ” no other choice from gov doles farming them into reservations no longer free to hunt or gather fruits of earth  became a way of life and affecting their health and Heath care was failing them or could not undo the damage of that diet. It’s not bread alone but how much compared to other things as man can’t live by bread alone. I don’t think the Gov wanted them to live long then anyways. Now it’s happening to everyone as prices for eating healthy are too high and beside work are not getting enough exercise and if you don’t use those calories they’ll store in your body. Now with instant everything with women working they used to burn calories cooking then cleaning with now with instant foods dishwashers less to clean up esp at night before bed even less calories being used.

appears to be trying to bottom. Currencies usually take a little more time to make a turn.

rno

I see two probs for PM stox, the long Au/Short PM stox Spreaders are useing the rally to sell more and Arb Algo’s are selling PM stox against the SM as well on every SM uptick.

Plus someone is sitting on NEM tdy….you can see their games by watching Nem, GG and Gdx, they all closed @ 2050 last night, Nem is way down GDX unch and GG way up…..why there is no news etc

Grandmaster Putin’s Golden Trap

http://www.gold-eagle.com/article/grandmaster-putins-golden-trap

That is one excellent and informative article, Scruffy, thanks for posting.

The problem with Palladium is that Rusia is the largest producer….so the Scum are kicking it etc. But with Copper pukeing there are more than likely a few big funds dumping any metals etc

It is a very tight mkt, Russia can withold supplies at any time and kill any shorts…..which I’m sure they will do at some point.