Monetary Metals Supply and Demand Report: July 7, 2013

The Gold Basis Report is fundamental analysis of gold and silver. The basis is a measure of availability of metal to the market. When the basis is high and rising, then metal is abundant. When the basis falls below zero, and the cobasis rises above zero (gold goes into backwardation) then that means danger (and likely higher dollar prices).

The basis doesn’t measure flows of metal from one corner of the market to the other. We make no assumptions that one side is the “dumb” money and one side is the “smart” money. The basis measures the spread between the spot price and the futures contract price.

Obviously, the recent falling price tells us that demand for gold and silver is lower. But the basis is also falling, and this tells us that those who do buy gold want it now. They are willing to pay a premium to get it now, and don’t want to wait until August for gold or September for silver.

Since gold and silver have huge inventories that are not consumed—they are held for monetary purposes—a sign of scarcity of the monetary metals in the market is a sign that the dollar is moving towards collapse, when gold will no longer bid on it.

One cannot truly understand the gold market in terms of the quantity of dollars, price charts, or by charts of open interest, ETF holdings, COMEX inventories, etc. One must study the basis.

In general, the positive basis (i.e. contango) is disappearing (hence the full name of this report). This is a process of gold withdrawing its bid on the dollar. One cannot understand this if one lives in the dollar bubble, looking at the gold “price” as if it were comparable to the price of Apple shares or crude oil.

The “bull market” in gold and silver is not over. We do not recommend that anyone sell his gold now, unless he is using leverage (and we don’t recommend using leverage). When the gold price rises, we don’t recommend selling then, either. A rising gold price gives only an illusion of profit (and the tax man will take a big piece of that).

We generally prefer to look at the price of the dollar in terms of gold, rather than the price of gold in terms of the dollar. The reason is simple. One can measure a rubber band using a steel tape, but not a steel tape using rubber bands.

The price action this week was incredible again this week. The dollar fell a bit but at the end of the week, rose again almost to the level it had been last week. It now sits at about 25.5mg. Last week was a multiyear high.

The Price of the Dollar

Letter July 7 Dollar in Gold

We believe that the dollar is getting stronger for the simple reason that debtors are being squeezed. They are scrambling to get dollars. It is not just Japan with a collapsing bond market but possibly China as well. If this gets going in any significant way, the price of every asset from copper to real estate in LA could crash.

In this report, we have been tracking the temporary backwardation in both metals. It is like a distortion field; as we move closer to each futures contract expiry, that contract is pulled into backwardation. The bid drops, which causes the basis to fall off the bottom of the chart. This could be due to heavy selling, as naked longs must sell before First Notice Day (since they haven’t got the cash to buy the metal). Their selling, of course, presses down the bid.

But the mechanics of the contract roll does not fully explain the phenomenon. For one thing, the distortion field is wider for silver than for gold. The basis for September silver has been falling in earnest since shortly after the April 15 crash. This shows that scarcity is increasing at the lower price.

Think of temporary backwardation as rot in the heart of a tree. It can spread for years, undermining its integrity. The collapse of the tree at the end is “unexpected”. As the financial system rots, people increasingly discount monetary metals for future delivery. Despite the cost to carry gold, it is cheaper to buy gold for delivery in August than it is now.

You could lock in the price now, and not have to come up with the money for two months. And you are offered a discount to do this. Few people appreciate the significance, just as only a tree surgeon would recognize the rot in the heart of a tree.

The August basis continues to fall, and cobasis is flat to rising. Gold is at its scarcest in a long time. Especially look at the move on Friday! The October cobasis is almost up to zero, backwardation.

Gold Basis and Cobasis

Letter July 7 Gold

Here is the basis chart for September silver. This week, the cobasis did not want to rise further, unlike in gold. Silver is not getting scarcer, at least not the week ending July 5.

Silver Basis and Cobasis

Letter July 7 Silver

Here is the graph showing the ratio of gold to silver. After backing off last week, it was up again this week to about 65.

Our prediction (in a video and articles) was for the ratio to reach at least 60 and maybe 70. At the time, the ratio was 52.

Last week we wrote, “We may be close to the point of calling for the ratio to fall. Although we’re cautious; if something precipitous occurs in China or Japan, then the ratio could go much higher.” This week, there was no follow-through either in the ratio of gold to silver, or in the bases. We shall have to watch this week for further signals. At the moment, we would not bet either on a rise or a fall of the ratio.

Gold to Silver Ratio

Letter July 7 Ratio

 

 

 

3 replies
  1. thinkpeace says:

    Keith,

    Do you think the US government will nationalize the American people’s monetary metals when they loose faith in FRNs?

    I look forward to these reports every Monday morning!

    Thanks in advance.

    ThinkPeace

  2. Rueffallais says:

    Keith,

    You should update this report sooner than later i think, with GOFO going into negative territory and the time increasing while each contract is going into backwardation there is probably something really big coming.
    the probability of the remark herebelow made by thinkpeace is increasing day by day

  3. jmccallum says:

    i tend to agree with Rueffallais

    if the only previous GOFO negatives were

    Y2K, 911 and Lehman

    common sense would tell you that

    There’s somethin’ happenin’ here

    what it is ain’t exactly clear

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