Marc Faber on the Financial Survival Network

Let's listen to Marc Faber's view on the Western Economies. He advises us to finally think about what to do when there is a complete credit collapse. You need to buy real assets.

Banks And Their Exposure to the PIIGS

In the news of today, Spain has been in the center spot of attention. Spanish bond yields have been rising quickly and financials have seen weakness in their share price. In this article I want to see which banks have the most exposure to Spain and to the PIIGS in general.

During the stress tests of July 2011 the exposure of 90 banks to the PIIGS countries' government debt was released by the European Banking Authority (EBA).

To find out which banks are exposed to the PIIGS and which banks to avoid, please go to my article here:
Analyzing bank exposure to the PIIGS

Employment Deteriorating for the PIIGS

Since the crisis of 2008, the unemployment rate for the PIIGS has been increasing rapidly. As a consequence, lately investors are putting their hard earned money in more healthy countries like Switzerland and Germany.

Go HERE to read a more in depth analysis on this matter.

U.S. Budget Deficit Worsens

I previously dissected the U.S. deficit HERE. Citing that the U.S. budget deficit is increasing at enormous speeds.

Today, reported on Bloomberg, the U.S. budget deficit widened to almost 200 billion in March. Extrapolation brings us to more than 2 trillion in budget deficits in 2012 compared to 1.4 trillion in budget deficits in 2011.

That's a 40% increase in budget deficit year over year. Hyperinflation is on the horizon.

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-11/u-s-budget-deficit-widened-to-198-2-billion-in-march.html

China Gold Imports from Hong Kong

In December of last year there was a big concern that China would stop importing gold due to lack of demand. This was derived from the fact that gold imports from Hong Kong to China dropped 62% in December 2011. As a consequence, the gold price plunged from $US 1700/ounce to under $US 1600/ounce.

Lately though, the gold imports from Hong Kong to China have stabilized around 40 tonnes/month (Chart 1). This drop of 62% seems to be huge, but when we look at the long term chart the picture is entirely different.

Go HERE to read the entire article.

Copper VS. S&P

Let's bring to mind the amazing correlation between the price of copper and the S&P. When copper rises, the S&P rises and vice versa.

Financials will always be vulnerable and could crash like in 2008, bringing down copper. But don't forget Ben Bernanke. I predict he will initiate QE3 when the stock market falls 10%.

Chart 1: Copper VS. S&P

Sprott PSLV and PHYS premium fall to a record low

Today we record the lowest premium for the Sprott physical silver and Sprott physical gold trust, indicating a disinterest in gold and silver.

The premium for PHYS fell to a record low of 2.33% (Chart 2). The premium for PSLV fell to a record low of 5.86% (Chart 1).

(and if nobody wants it, it's time to buy it)

Chart 1: PSLV Premium (%) (blue) VS Price (USD) (orange)

Chart 2: PHYS Premium (%) (blue) VS Price (USD) (orange)

Marc Faber on the Alex Jones Channel

Another status update on the economy with Marc Faber.

Silver Anomaly

Interesting Silver Glitch. Probably nothing.

Silver Anomaly

Meanwhile we have the dream scenario of every gold bug.

Oil Down 1%
                        =>    Gold Mines Soar
Gold Up 1%

Copper Inventories Rising

With the China PMI indicating a contraction in GDP growth (of which I talked about HERE), another sign has emerged of China slowing down.

The LME Copper Warehouse Stocks Level has started a trend change and is actually rising (Chart 1). This build in inventories is probably indicating a slowing down the economy. A part of this build is due to Chinese markets staying shut for a public holiday on Wednesday 4 April 2012: Qing Ming Festival (清明节). Shanghai reopened on Thursday.

To see my analysis on this trend change go to Copper Demand and the Importance of China.