From Ed Steer:

In early Monday morning gold trading in the Far East, the price did exactly what one would expect...it started climbing steadily. But, as one would also expect, someone was there to make sure that the rally didn't get out of hand to the upside. Gold and silver prices showed every sign of going parabolic shortly after Hong Kong opened...so a not-for-profit seller showed up. The top for gold was in during the usual time period...between 2:00 a.m. NY time and the opening of the London gold market. Gold followed the same pattern as Friday...selling off all day until London closed. Silver was similar, but began to recover in price after the London p.m. gold fix.

Gold open interest on Friday fell a respectable 5,382 contracts...and silver o.i. slid another 2,067 contracts...which is more than respectable. The JPMorgan/HSBC USA really are getting blood out of a stone. This down-side price pressure on gold and silver can't...and won't...last much longer.

In a Reuters story posted at mineweb.com, I see that Russia's Polymetal is forecasting a cut in silver production for 2008/09 if the prices continue at these levels. In GLD there was a decrease of 20,000 ounces, which is nothing...and there was no change in SLV. And...for those of you who are interested...I was interviewed by Al Korelin of Korelin Economics yesterday, and the link is here.

I picked up a little tidbit over at Bill Murphy's lemetropolecafe.com that I want to share with you today. For most of you, the name Hugo Salinas Price won't mean a thing...so let me enlighten you. For starters, he's one of Mexico's most well know public figures...and he's a multi-billionaire to boot. His chain of appliance stores in Mexico is one of the major distributors of the 1 oz. silver Libertad coin. He also gets to talk about silver all he wants on his own Mexico-wide television network. This is the e-mail he sent to Mr. Murphy yesterday. You can read into it whatever you want..."Hi Bill! Our central bank has informed us as of this morning, that they will only be able to supply us with 60,000 "Libertad" ounces from here to December 2008. Banco Azteca has in stock only 15,000 ounces at this time. Banco Azteca has been selling 60,000 ounces a month in August and in September. Question: How is it possible that a country which is either No. 1, or No. 2 (Perú sometimes exceeding Mexican production) cannot supply silver coin? Question: Is there some sort of agreement at high level, to restrict the amount of silver coin that the population can obtain? Question: Does this measure go beyond the scarcity of silver at the present "paper price" of silver, to a deliberate restriction of silver coins to be placed in the hands of the public? This restriction on supply on the part of the Banco de México, which mints the "Libertad" ounce, is disturbing to say the least. Will keep you posted." Hugo

After a busy news-filled weekend, I have three stories for you today. The first is from James Turk over at goldmoney.com. He has made note of the new highs that gold is making in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. The commentary is entitled "Gold's New Record" and the link is here.

The second story is from GATA's secretary treasurer, Chris Powell...who reports on a surprising turn of events at the annual fall dinner meeting of the Committee for Monetary Research and Education. It's well worth the read...and the headline says it all..."Economist Mundell says China should buy all IMF Gold". The link is here.

And lastly, silver analyst Ted Butler and his mentor Izzy Friedman have commentary that's also worth your time. The title of Ted's portion is "The Silver Rush is On" and the link is here.

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke

I see in a Reuters story that SEC Chairman Christopher Cox has called on Congress to pass legislation that would make so-called credit default swaps more transparent, including requiring that dealers in over-the-counter swaps publicly report their trades and the trades' value…"our markets function best when they are highly transparent," while credit default swaps have "operated in the shadows," with "no public discourse nor any legal requirement for these contracts to be reported to the SEC or any other agency." Well, Mr. Cox...can you throw the Comex silver and gold markets into that legislation at the same time? And the sooner the better, too!

See you tomorrow.

Casey Research correspondent-at-large Ed Steer is a keen observer of the financial scene and a board member of GATA.org.