SLV ETF Shows 4.9 Million Ounce Withdrawal

I was hoping that I would have a reasonable number of stories today. That has turned out not to be the case...as I have a lot.

Over at zerohedge.com, they were quick out of the chute with the silver eagle story...and reader 'David in California' was kind enough to share it with us. The headline reads "US Mint Reports January Silver Sales Hit 26 Year High". Besides the silver eagle story, there is a lot of other interesting material in it as well. I just want to remind you one more time that 1,696,000 of those silver eagle sales were reported on January 3rd...the first working day of the year. It's still my opinion that those sales should have been reported in December. The link to the story is here.

This next story is courtesy of reader Scott Pluschau. It's a story from the Financial Times that has been reprinted at cnbc.com. The headline is no surprise to me...and reads "States Warned of $2 Trillion Pensions Shortfall". It's short...and ugly...and the link is here.

The next item for your reading pleasure is courtesy of Casey Research's own Jeff Clark. The headline reads "Brain Drain: Most College Students Learn Next to Nothing, New Study Says". It's a short story that's posted over at finance.yahoo.com, along with a video clip that runs a bit longer than that...and the link is here.

Here's another zerohedge.com story that's courtesy of reader 'David in California'. This one shouldn't come as much surprise, either. The headline reads "Insider Selling To Buying Ratio: DIV/0, As No Insiders Bought Any Stock In Prior Week". According to Bloomberg, in the week ended January 14th, S&P 500 insiders sold $163 million worth of stock in 54 separate transactions. They bought exactly $0. It's a 30-second read...along with a list of the 54 transactions...and the link is here.

For all of you that are students of technical analysis, here's a piece sent to me by reader "Dharma". It's a short article posted over at decision point.com. The headline reads "Bumpiness Is A Message". As author Tom McClellan says..."Taking the Price Oscillator up to a very high level, or down to a very low level, merits a corrective move to get back to neutral. That's what the Price Oscillator decline since October has been about. The fact that the move up was smooth is a message of power for the bulls. The fact that the Price Oscillator's move down is bumpy is a message of weakness and tentativeness for the bears. The conclusion offered by these two messages is that the gold bulls are the ones really in charge, and that we just have to wait for the corrective period to run its course before that power can be observed in a further up move."

I'm not a big fan of trying to do TA on a rigged market like gold and silver. But, having said that, this report and the chart are well worth your time...and the link is here.

Here's a graph of great interest...and importance. Australian reader Wesley Legrand was kind enough to send it along...and it's well worth looking at, as it's another chart that doesn't need any verbal elaboration from anyone. The title says it all..."U.S. National Debt from 1940 to Present". The year 1971 is pretty easy to pick out...as that was the year that Nixon pulled the pin on the gold standard.

Here are a couple of stories that I pilfered from yesterday's King Report. Both have to do with inflation in Britain...and, by extension, every nation on earth. The first is from The Telegraph...and is headlined "Inflation picks up at British factories". The costs of raw materials at British factories rose at the fastest rate in eight months in December, posing a headache for policymakers tasked with keeping inflation under control. James Turk has a 'red alert' flag out for hyperinflation in Britain as well. The link to the story is here.

The second story on British inflation comes out of the Sunday edition of The Guardian...and the headline reads "Inflation, the old enemy, is back. But this is no time to be frightened"..."Tuesday will bring more gloomy economic news in the wake of rising petrol, energy and food prices. The Bank of England will be under pressure to act to curb inflation; but some believe inaction will be the most courageous choice of all." That means that the Bank of England will have to print money until the presses melt down. It's a longish story...but its a look into everyone's future...and the link is here.

The rest of today's stories are pretty much all gold related. But before I start, here's a graph that Nick Laird over at sharelynx.com sent out last night. And, as it should, the graph looks suspiciously like the U.S. debt chart posted above. This one is entitled "Cumulative Value of Global Gold Production"...and, once again, the title says it all.

The first story is one I lifted from a gata.org release yesterday. MineWeb's Lawrence Williams reviewed the international currency and commodity wars...and concludes that gold is the most likely winner for the long term...as he states "The currency debate is just another element in the rapidly changing global economic power battle, but of all commodities, gold is likely to be the most consistent beneficiary." His commentary is headlined "There's No Substitute for Gold as the World Order Changes"...and the link to the story [which is well worth the read] is here.

The next gold-related story is courtesy of reader Thomas Wilkins and appeared in yesterday's edition of the Financial Times out of London. It's headlined "Brace for a ‘perfect storm’ in gold". Asset managers and central banks are just beginning to re-admit gold back into the select group of prudent asset classes. That this is occurring at a time when what might be seen as the world’s safest financial asset classes may also be its scarcest, suggests interesting times ahead for those who own gold." I'm more than impressed to see such a pro-gold story show up in such an anti-gold newspaper. It's worth your time...and the story is printed in the clear in this GATA release which is linked here.

My last gold-related story is another GATA release with the headline "Alasdair Macleod: The failure of derivatives regulation of precious metals". Alasdair says that the paper shorts will be destroyed "as metal shortages explode the price suppression scheme...and there will be serious consequences to the world financial system." This is worth running through as well...and the link is here.

Lastly today are two links that were sent to me by Australian reader Wesley Legrand that show the devastation from the flooding that has occurred in Brisbane over the last week. As you run your cursor over each photo, you go from the picture of what it looked like before the flooding...to the one where the floodwaters have inundated the area. The photo essays are headlined "Brisbane floods: before and after". The photos are posted over at abc.net.au. Part One is linked here...and Part Two is linked here. It's not a pretty sight.