Sunday, April 25, 2010

JPM builds massive short silver position in COMEX

http://goldnews.bullionvault.com/gold_gata_cftc_042220102
THERE IS GOOD REASON to question J.P.Morgan's concentrated short position in Comex silver futures, and to investigate allegations that JPM used it to manipulate the silver market, writes Erik Townsend, a private investors currently based in Hong Kong, at FinancialSense.

But the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) has handled this matter poorly by focusing its attention on baseless, unproven conspiracy allegations pertaining to the London gold market (outside CFTC's jurisdiction). GATA should instead focus on the compelling evidence that is directly material to the still-pending CFTC investigation.

What's more, Jeffrey Christian's testimony at the CFTC Hearing has been taken completely out of context, and allegations that it reveals a scandal or revelation are baseless. Despite the best efforts of some responsible journalists including Jim Puplava, others including Tyler Durden (ZeroHedge) and Eric King (King World News) have contributed to the misinformation campaign by promulgating GATA's baseless allegations.

Yes, there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the ratio of "paper gold" to real gold, but they are not the reasons GATA has made so much undue fuss about. They also have nothing to do with leverage. Investors should focus on understanding the inherent risks and limitations of the precious metals investment vehicles. The most popular are reviewed and contrasted below.