The latest from Dan Norcini, ...
China news roils Gold but dip buyers emerge
Thursday, June 26, 2014
I was wondering when we were going to start seeing and hearing the various FOMC governors after Janet Yellen's now famous comments the other week; comments which launched the entire commodity sector, including gold, higher. You might recall she gave the impression, or at least the market interpreted it this way, that interest rate hikes were off the table anytime soon.
Enter Fed Governor Lacker from Stage Right - His comments during a Q&A noted that he expects the Fed will need to raise interest rates in 2015, although he did say that he ffelt "low interest rates are appropriate given current economic conditions". He also stated that the "precise timing of interest rate hikes will be tricky".
He noted that "stronger inflation data in recent months have not been entirely noise". He also stated that "inflation is firming more quickly than expected but remains below the Fed's 2.0% target".
The big line, at least in my view, was the one, " the Fed may need to raise rates even without a substantial acceleration in economic growth". That one seemed to garner the most attention.
He did note, by the way, that he expected the Q2 GDP to bounce back to 2.25%-2.50%. We will see about that.
Those comments seemed to add some pressure on the gold market when they surfaced on the newswires. (UPDATE - Fed Governor Bullard has just now come out and is speaking).
Gold was already seeing some light selling pressure from two other developments related to Asian physical demand.
The first of these was chatter about the Indian monsoon season which some are viewing as off to a weak start. The idea is that a early and strong monsoon season is necessary for good crop yields there. Since the bulk of Indian gold purchases are made from those engaged in small scale agriculture, any problems with the harvest tend to negatively impact overall Indian gold demand. While it is too early to state dogmatically that the harvest there will not be as strong as might normally be looked for, traders are watching for any sign of lull in demand from this key gold buying region.
Also, and this one seemed to be a bit more of a factor than the above, news out of China reached the market this morning that officials there had uncovered approximately $15.2 billion in loans that are tied to potentially illegal gold-financing deals. The report noted that banks in China have already begun more closely scrutinizing these gold-backed loans and have been cutting back on letters of credit to gold processors.
It is worthwhile to note that the article goes on to say that Goldman Sachs estimates that since 2010, metal-backed loans have been used to bring some $110 billion into China.
Think of these loans as a sort of carry trade - the borrower obtains a letter of credit by a Chinese bank which is secured by gold located in a bonded warehouse either on the mainland or in Hong Kong. The borrower then uses that letter of credit to secure a US Dollar loan from an offshore bank. That money is then converted to renminbi which is then used to invest in a higher-yielding financial instrument there on the mainland. The profit is made in the difference gained on the investment and the interest paid on the loan.
The concern here, not only for gold, but also for copper, is that any tightening of these letters of credit will crimp demand for the metal. If the banks are not going to provide letters of credit, then the ones using the gold as collateral are not going to need it, cutting into future demand. Also, while we are not there yet, some fear the possibility of these loans being called as a result of officials' actions to put an end to the double and triple counting of the same gold. If that were to happen, the spread trade would be unwound. The investment on the mainland would be sold, the money raised would be converted from renminbi to US Dollars, the US Dollar loan would be repaid, and conceivably, the gold which was purchased in the first place to secure these loans, would no longer be necessary and would thus be sold.
It is also interesting to learn that at current gold prices, the amount of gold is 11.5 million troy ounces, according to a report from Dow Jones. In a very interesting way of looking at the sum involved, their sources estimate that on a global scale, it would be the 11th largest gold reserve in the world, just behind Portugal's stash of 12. million ounces and just ahead of the UK's 9.975 million.
No wonder the gold market is noticing this!
The usual "we have never seen a story concerning gold that we could not spin to make it bullish" website somehow manages to contort this story as friendly! Just use common sense and do not get lost in the weeds with their "logic" and you will see what it is that has been lurking out there in the minds of metals traders. They are understandably nervous about this.
Recently the dovish statements by Yellen and by her counterpart Carney over at the BOE, have seemed to outweigh any concerns from these China developments, ( let's also not forget that horrific Q1 GDP reading ) but they are lurking in the background and should be closely watched. I should note here that most analysts, still expect Chinese gold demand to remain strong; however, if, and this is a big, "IF", Western-oriented investment demand were to lag for any reason, any curtailment in gold demand from China would become more significant.
Counterbalancing this bearish news for gold was the Fed's favorite inflation indicator - the Personal Consumer Expenditures index - reading. It rose to 1.8%, the highest reading in 19 months!
It's funny isn't it? - I was bewailing the lack of Western-origin gold demand when gold was moving lower, as evidenced by the reported GLD holdings, for the reason behind the lackluster gold performance. While this was occurring Asian demand was carrying the water in the gold market. Now we have the exact reverse! Western-oriented investment interest in gold is picking up somewhat while Asian demand is beginning to lag! This means that gold is now dependent on buying coming out of the West instead of the East to keep it supported! One thing never changes- the fact that markets are always changing!
The Western-oriented demand is tied to both inflation concerns and uneasiness over the equity markets in the face of sluggish economic growth. Wouldn't it be something if we watched gold move higher at the Comex during the late European and New York trading sessions only to weaken during the Asian trading hours! Talk about a change of pace!
Shifting a bit to the technical side of things - gold continues to fail near key overhead resistance centered around $1320, gold is stymied here at the resistance zone noted. Dip buyers are coming in however. Bulls need to take the price through this level rather soon however or the stale longs are going to bail out. Depending on whether or not they can hold the price above $1300, we could see another drop towards $1280. A strong, sustained push through $1320 should allow the market to make a run at $1340.
The mining shares remain well bid which is a comfort to the bullish cause in gold.
The yield on the Ten Year Treasury note is hovering just above the 2.5% level |
