Jim Rickards: Japan’s Taking the World Down With Them!

Japanese Stocks Halted; Plunge 1500 Points To Close Down 7.3% – Biggest Drop In 26 Months!

• Japanese Stocks Halted; Plunge 1500 Points To Close Down 7.3% – Biggest Drop In 26 Months! 
  by Tyler Durden, www.zerohedge.com
  UPDATE 1: They are panicking… BOJ injected 2 trillion yen ($19.4 billion) into the financial system to stem volatility following a circuit breaker in JGB futures trading.
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  UPDATE 2: Nikkei 225 is now down 1500 points from its highs and down 1150 (over 7%) from yesterday’s close
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  All the time it is just the quadrillion JPY second-largest bond market in the world that is experiencing volatility on an unprecedented scale, the BoJ and her partners in crime are more than willing to ‘officially’ say “please do not worry.” But when the equity market – that barometer of everything good and holy about Abenomics starts to crater, you can bet the excuses will come fast and furious. Today’s drop of over 1500 points (over 9%) from the earlier highs is the largest drop for the Nikkei 225 since March 2011. The Nikkei 225 just lost the all-powerful 15,000 level and is suffering another VaR shock with a 6-sigma move today. In fact given the price levels this drop is on par with the post-Lehman moves in 2008. The question now (with US equity futures also fading fast -20 points and JPY crosses getting hammered) is how will the Japanese risk appetite for peripheral European crap hold up with this crimping in their plan as Japanese bonds and stocks dump?The Nikkei 225 is down 7% (1000 points) from its earlier highs…
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Will Japan Trigger a Global Financial Meltdown?

• Will Japan Trigger a Global Financial Meltdown? 
  by Phoenix Capital Research, via http://www.zerohedge.com/ 
  Japan’s bond market is officially losing control. We have definitely taken out the multi-year trendline here, making a new high higher after a higher low. This is BAD news as it indicates that Japan’s bond market could be entering a cyclical downturn.
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  If this happens then the great global bond market rig of the last five years is coming to an end. Most analysts have been ignoring bonds because stocks are at record highs.
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  BIG MISTAKE.
  As Japan has indicated, when bonds start to plunge, it’s not good for stocks. Today the Japanese Bond market fell and the Nikkei plunged 7%. The entire market down 7%… despite the Bank of Japan funneling $19 billion into it to hold things together.
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  This is what it looks like when a Central Bank begins to lose control. And what’s happening in Japan today will be coming to the US in the not so distant future.
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  If you think the Fed is not terrified of this, think again. The Fed has pumped over $1 trillion into foreign banks, hoping to stop the mess from getting to the US. As Japan is showing us, the Fed will fail.

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What’s Fueling The Stock Market?

• US money supply is surging once again! It is the setup for inflation –> hyperinflation!
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• What’s Fueling The Stock Market?
  by http://truthingold.blogspot.ca/ 
  (Hint: It isn’t fundamentals)
  The run-up in the stock market  (the SPX for purposes of this article) has been nothing short of  stunning. Since hitting a sell-off bottom on October 4, 2011, the SPX  has run-up a nearly non-stop 47.8%. In just the last month, the SPX has  run up 7.5%. This is in the face of deteriorating economic indicators  and declining corporate revenues. The stock market has for sure taken  most observers and professionals by surprise, except for maybe the most  passionate “perma-bulls.”
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  Given this incredible move higher in  stocks, I wanted to investigate a couple of possibilities for what is  fueling this near-parabolic stock rally. Based on what I’ve been able to come up with, it’s pretty clear that stocks are rocketing higher on Fed fuel and not fundamentals. But don’t take it from me, it seems that  some high profile billionaire investors are unloading their big  positions, especially anything related to consumption:  Billionaires Are Dumping Stocks.  Let’s take a look “under the hood” of the economic and financial system and see if we can figure out why.
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  While Bernanke was giving his report on the economy and monetary policy to  the Joint Economic Committee of Congress today, in which he pretty much  laid to rest any fears that the Fed would “taper” its monetary policy  and bond purchase program anytime soon, I decided to look into some of  the Fed’s monetary data as reported on the  St. Louis Fed website.  Specifically I wanted to look at the Adjusted Monetary Base, which is  the sum of the currency in circulation plus the commercial bank reserves held at the Fed, because this monetary account is the one directly  affected by the QE program.
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  Here’s the most current snap-shot of the Monetary Base going to back to 1984, when the data-series began: (top of post)
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  Close to $2.8 trillion in money has been printed and used to purchase assets  from the banking system, ranging from highly distressed toxic waste to  short-term Treasury notes. Next I decided to “blow up” the chart  above and look at just the last twelve months and compare it to the same time period for a chart of the S&P 500:
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The Coming Collapse Of The Petrodollar System!

• The Coming Collapse Of The Petrodollar System! 
  by Andrew McKillop, http://www.zerohedge.com/ 
  PETRODOLLAR WAR
  The theory of Petrodollar Warfare can be attributed to US analyst and author William R Clarke, and his 2005 book of that title which interpreted the US-UK decision to invade Iraq in 2003. He called this an “oil currency war”, but the concept of the petrodollar system and petrodollar recyling dates back to the eve of the first Oil Shock in 1973-1974. The role of the petrodollar system as a driving force of US foreign policy is explained by analysts and historians as basic to maintaining the dollar’s status as the world’s dominant reserve currency – and the currency in which oil is priced.
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  The term “petrodollar warfare” as used by William R. Clark says that major international war, legal or not, was seen as justified to protect the petrodollar system. Over and above the loss of human life, the combined costs of the Afghan and Iraq wars for the US are controversial like the interpretation of these wars as “oil wars”, but analysts like Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes put the total combined war cost at above $4 trillion. This can be compared with – and totally dwarfs – the annual cost of US oil imports, which are now sharply declining on a year-in year-out basis as domestic shale oil output ramps up, and US oil demand stagnates.
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  Clarke’s theory, like the explanation of the role and power of the “petrodollar system” depends on two basic drivers. Most major developed countries rely on oil imports, which are purchased using dollars, so they are forced to hold large stockpiles of dollars in order to continue importing oil. In turn this also creates consistent demand for dollars, and prevents the dollar from losing its relative international monetary value, regardless of what happens to the US economy.
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Disappearing Gold Inventories, Financial Collapse & The FedRes!

• Disappearing Gold Inventories, Financial Collapse & The FedRes! 
  by www.kingworldnews.com
  Today outspoken Hong Kong hedge fund manager William Kaye spoke with King World News about disappearing gold inventories, financial destruction and the Fed.  Kaye, who 25 years ago worked for Goldman Sachs in mergers and acquisitions and who is the founder of Pacific Group, had this to say in part I of an extraordinary written interview series which will be released today.
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  Kaye: “Stocks in our opinion have been driven higher by all of this cocaine from the Fed and the other central banks.  So we live in this financial Potemkin village in which stocks are overpriced.  I can’t give you a date as to when they will collapse, but I can tell you with great certainty that they will.
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  Bonds are widely overpriced with the obvious reason that the Fed itself is 70% of the US Treasury market.  So stocks and bonds are overpriced and everyone is printing money.  Just in the last week the ECB lowered rates and told you in the narrative they would lower them further….
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Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, Former Asst. US Treasury Secretary: FedRes Desperate To Stop Collapse!

• Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, Former Asst. US Treasury Secretary: FedRes Desperate To Stop Collapse! 
  by www.kingworldnews.com
  Today King World News was given exclusive permission to publish an extraordinary piece by former US Treasury Official Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, which warns that the Fed is now acting out of desperation in an attempt to prevent a total collapse of the financial system.  Dr. Roberts also discussed the Fed’s continued intervention and shorting in the all-important gold and silver markets. Below is a portion of this tremendous piece that KWN was given exclusive rights to publish by Dr. Roberts: 
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  ROBBER BARONS ARE STEALING PENSIONS, BANK DEPOSITS AND DEMOCRACY !
  By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, April 24 (King World News) 
  “The real concern about US bank deposits is that they are denominated in US dollars, and the supply of new dollars has been increasing by about $1,000 billion per year for the last several years.  The demand for dollars has not been increasing by the same amount.  Indeed, as more and more countries implement measures to settle their trade balances in their own currencies, the demand for dollars is falling. 
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  When the supply increases and the demand falls, the price falls.  The exchange value of the dollar in terms of other currencies has escaped sharp declines because of the dollar’s traditional role as world reserve currency and safe haven and because the sovereign debt crisis in Europe has caused flight from the euro to the dollar.  The Japanese, the Saudis and the oil emirates have large dollar holdings and no interest in destabilizing the dollar. 
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  The Chinese (who also have large holdings) attitude toward the dollar could be adversely affected by Washington’s aggressive “Pivot Asia” policy of surrounding China with military bases. 
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  Nevertheless, the world is watching, and the world sees only feeble efforts by Congress and the White House to balance the $1,000 billion annual operating deficit, a deficit that will rise if the economy turns down.  The world sees the monetization of $1,000 billion in Treasury debt and the banks’ mortgage-backed derivatives per year.  The question is unavoidable:  Who wants to hold dollars and dollar-denominated financial assets when the dollar faces such obvious exchange-rate risk?
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Gregory Mannarino: The Coming Global Debt Collapse of Biblical Proportions Will Kill Millions!

If This Continues The Currencies Will Literally Collapse!!

Fiat currencies Titanic is destined for destruction!

• If This Continues The Currencies Will Literally Collapse!! 
  by www.kingworldnews.com
  With global markets under pressure, today acclaimed commodity trader Dan Norcini warned King World News that if the current central bank policy of manipulation continues, confidence in the currencies is literally going to collapse.  Norcini also spoke about the gold and silver markets and provided an astonishing chart that all KWN readers globally must see.  Below is what the acclaimed trader had to say.
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  Norcini: “If what we are currently witnessing continues, confidence in the currencies will collapse.  St. Louis Fed Member James Bullard said today, ‘Inflation is running low.  I’m getting very concerned about that.  If inflation gains continue to go down I would be willing to increase the pace of the purchases of bonds that the Fed is now engaged in.’
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  This is exactly what the Bank of Japan has been saying, Eric.  This is why they have declared an all-out war against the deflationary forces which have had a grip on their economy for over 20 years now….
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  But if the central banks’ answer continues to be buying more and more bonds and printing vast sums of money to accomplish that, at some point a trigger event will occur and confidence will be lost in those currencies and they will literally collapse.  That is the scenario we are now facing because of the reckless behavior of central planners.
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Rick Rule: Extreme Nervousness in Regards to Collapse! Gold Silver a Must !

• Rick Rule: Extreme Nervousness in Regards to Collapse! Gold Silver a Must ! 
  by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 
  Precious metal expert Rick Rule is not worried about the recent smack down in gold and silver prices.  Rule is motivated by wealth protection.  So, the price decline is a “nonevent.”  Rule asks, “What are the alternatives?  Perhaps you’d like to buy a 30-year U.S. Treasury, something Jim Grant famously described as a return-free risk.”  Rule thinks the financial world is far from healthy and says, “I have extreme nervousness in regards to a collapse. . . . The only way we could avoid collapse is if we inflate away the net present value of our obligations.  In both sets of circumstances, I am personally more comfortable owning precious metals than not.” 
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  Cyprus is a stunning example of why people should store some wealth in precious metals.  Rule contends, “If you were a Cypriot citizen and you had stored your wealth in gold and silver as opposed to having your money on deposit in a Cypriot bank, the Cypriot banking crisis, for you, would be interesting but not relevant.”  If there is war in Korea, Rule predicts, “If a nuke goes off on the Korean Peninsula, the first move in precious metals would be down. . . . The second move would be higher.  I also believe precious metals would hold their value over time UNLIKE most other asset classes.”  Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with Rick Rule, Chairman and founder of Sprott USA.

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Is It Beginning? Biggest JGB Price Collapse In Over 10 Years Triggers TSE Circuit Breakers!!!

Now that is a stunning reversal!!

• Is It Beginning? Biggest JGB Price Collapse In Over 10 Years Triggers TSE Circuit Breakers!!! 
  by Tyler Durden, www.zerohedge.com
  Just over 4 hours ago we discussed the stunning collapse in 10Y Japanese bond yields. Since then – things have taken a very dramatic turn for the worse for bonds. 10Y JGB yields have exploded higher. The move from 32bps to 65bps triggered circuit breakers on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in JGB Futures trading as JGB prices plunged by their largest amount since September 2002. We can only imagine there is liquidations galore occurring given the massive outsize moves we are seeing in Japanese bonds, stocks, FX, swaps, and CDS. Did the BoJ just lose control? Is the BoJ losing control?

Biggest price drop in JGB Futures in over 10 years!!

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Bob Moriarty: The First Crack In The Bond Market Is A Fact !

• The First Crack In The Bond Market Is A Fact! 
  by http://goldsilverworlds.com/ 
  This article is the result of an interview with Bob Moriarty (editor and founder of 321gold.com) and reflects his thoughts on the Cypriot case.
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  There are two main issues in the Cypriot banking crisis. The first one is related to the general principle of loans: it is axiomatic that all loans get paid either by the borrower or by the lender. This is the fundamental relationship that anyone has with the bank. When you deposit money into the bank, in your mind it is your money. In the bank’s mind, and from a legal point of view, it is a loan to the bank. If the bank makes foolish investments and loses money [including (y)ours], someone has to pay it.
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  “Cyprus made us clear that our money on the bank is not our money, it is the bank’s money.”
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  In the case of Cyprus, the losses of the banks were first attributed to the shareholders, then the bondholders, finally the people who had loaned money to the bank. Which foolish investments did the Cypriot banks make? Simple, they were in Greek bonds. As we all know Greek bonds have lost 90% of their value (despite sky high interest rates). Here it gets really interesting. The shareholders and the bondholders of insolvent banks never lost a cent because governments have bailed them out. For the very first time now, they have been wiped out. That is a catastrophic moment for the banking system. Bank A loans money to bank B in the form of a bond, bank B loans money to bank A in the form of a bond. That is the keystone of the whole banking system. It is a zero sum game until one of the counterparties is not able to meet its obligations. It’s no longer an interest rate risk, it is now a counter-party risk.
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  In Cyprus, for the very first time counterparties have been wiped out. Once this gets rolling, it is able to start an avalanche. When people will look back to history there will be two moments that mark the big financial and banking collapse. The first one is late June of 2007 when two Bear Stearns hedge funds collapsed. The second one will be March of 2013 when Cypriot banks closed in an unprecedented bank holiday, and for the first time counterparties have been wiped out. It is almost a sure thing that the latter will cause a cascading effect because all banks are linked to each other via bonds. As the banking system has become so complex lately (to the extent that it is almost not possible to understand it anymore), the cascade will hit pretty hard and fast.
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  There could be bank runs in other countries because Cyprus has shown the world that money at the bank is at risk. But that is not the key risk we are facing. The main risk is the unsecured money. In the US there is $10.9 trillion of debt which is insured by an FDAC fund of $32 billion. This is ludicrous. The insolvency of the whole debt based system is the main risk right now. That means that for every $100 on deposit under FDIC insurance, only $.30 is there to back it in case of a bank failure.
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  “There is more debt in the world than there are assets to pay, so somebody has to pay for the debts.”
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  We are back at June 2007
  After 2008, the banks have accumulated more debt. Going back to the first point (all loans get paid, either by the borrower either by the lender) it implies that someone will turn up for this excessive debt. The day of reckoning can be delayed, but it cannot be avoided.
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  When Bear Stearns hedge funds went under, because of subprime mortgages, nobody could pretend that there was no problem. Similarly, the bankruptcy in Cyprus is the first crack and maybe the most important one. Nobody can ignore the debt problem as from now on. In that respect, Japan is a story that is much worse. Governments have a vested interest in lying to the public. For the public to understand, they need to look at all the information that is laying out there. The highest level piece of information is that there are $648 trillion dollars in derivatives out there in a $64 trillion dollar global economy. What does it tell you? Take a moment to reflect this.
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Jim Willie: USDollar – Ring Fenced & Checkmate!

• Jim Willie’s “Most Important Article Ever”- USDollar: Ring-Fenced & Checkmate! 
  by Jim Willie, GoldenJackass.com, via http://silverdoctors.com/ 
  Editor Note: The following MUST READ Hat Trick Letter is Jim Willie’s self-described “Most Important Article Ever“, following Friday’s release of Willie’s first audio interview on Cyprus.
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  An unstoppable sequence of events has been put into motion finally. The pressure has been building for months. Some themes are plainly evident, except to those who wear rose colored glasses in the US Dome of Perception. The USTreasury Bond will be brought home to the US and British banks, where it will choke its bankers, then be devalued for survival reasons, after a painful isolation. The Chinese and Russians will conspire to finance the Eurasian Trade Zone corridor foundation with USTBonds, held in reserve, put to usage.
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  The British will play a very unusual role, selling out the United States in order to be squires to the Eastern Duo. The process has begun; it cannot be stopped. The events are already being grossly misinterpreted and minimized in the US press, where devoted lapdogs, artistic swindlers, and creative writers prevail. The Paradigm Shift eastward is showing its next face, with a truly massive trade zone for cooperation and reduced cost overhead as the giant foundation. The Untied States for all of its past hegemony and devious manipulations and vicious attacks, will be excluded. The British will assist in the exclusion in order to avoid the Third World themselves. The following blueprint is the result of years of planning, with steady information and hints and confirmations by at least two Hat Trick Letter sources. The sunset of the USDollar has a blueprint. As a personal embroidery, let me state that this article is the most important the Jackass has ever written.
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  USDOLLAR HEGEMONY ENDING
  The alternative system to conducting trade outside the USDollar system has had formative stages since the Lehman Brothers and Fannie Mae collapse. The Eastern trade leaders have been very busy quietly constructing a new system, with almost zero press coverage. They prefer to work in the background. Recent events indicate they have chosen the formal public stages and forums with wider visibility, starting with the February G-20 Meeting in Moscow. The true agenda for G-20 finance ministers was to hatch finally the USDollar alternative.  The sleepy West appears not to be paying much attention. The initiatives to construct alternative platforms were given a major thrust in the last year since the Iran sanctions led by the USGovt banker and their henchmen in London. For the last 20 years at least, trade has followed banking. Nations of the world have been coerced for three decades into holding USGovt debt securities in order to make payment in trade, most notably in crude oil. With the Grand Arab Recycling accord struck by the 1970 decade leaders, the Petro-Dollar was born in return for a fantastic higher oil price. The oil-rich Arab royalty supported the USDollar by recycling trade surplus into USTreasury Bonds. The conventional practice dictated that global banking systems be dominated by USTBonds in reserves, serving as the banking foundation of debt.
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  New chapter to turn. The ongoing endless QE to Infinity has hastened Eastern trade leaders. The near 0% return from USTBond yields has motivated them to seek alternatives. They are horrified by the debasement of their hard-earned reserves, filled to the gills with USTBonds of shrinking value and low yield. The new trade settlement system based in Gold finance will turn the tables, as once more trade is to dictate banking. The combination of central bank hyper monetary inflation, big US bank fraud, security agency $100 bill counterfeit, and rampant criminality in the US financial system has motivated the Eastern nations to act. They have acted. The clear outcome is that the Western banking system will topple, since the East will be shoving the USTBonds back to Anglo-American shores for cemetery treatment. Trade should always dictate banking. The major trade partners no longer want US$-based trade settlement. Watch for the crowning blow in the Saudi response soon, since they always follow the winners.
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Gregory Mannarino: Very Close to Pan-Global Financial Collapse!

• Very Close to Pan-Global Financial Collapse-Gregory Mannarino! 
  by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 
  Financial Analyst Gregory Mannarino says the banking crisis in Cyprus is a signal of what is coming to the rest of the world.  Mannarino says, “People are now going to start losing faith in these institutions.  This cannot stand, and we may be very, very close to the pan-global financial collapse that I believe is coming.”  Mannarino contends, “People do not understand that the debt owed by their nation is their debt.  They own it.  They are going to force people to pay one way or another.  Haircuts are coming for everyone.”  Mannarino contends, “There is a debt war going on right now.”  Think what is happening in Cyprus can’t happen in the U.S?  More than $10.8 trillion in deposits are insured by the FDIC with a $33 billion insurance fund.  Mannarino says, “That’s pretty scary,” and the best way to protect yourself is to “get into real assets . . . there would be no problem if people in Cyprus would have heeded that advice.”  Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with Gregory Mannarino of TradersChoice.net. 

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Gregory Mannarino:The Failing Financial System, Exploding Debt, Gold, And YOU !