by Chris Powell, GATA.org:
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
Christian Garcia of GoldSilver.com, who last year publicized the report from the South Carolina state treasurer’s office that cited “artificial price suppression” in the gold and silver markets –
http://www.gata.org/node/11199
– today discloses evidence that the U.S. Mint hedges its silver purchases with bullion banks HSBC and JPMorganChase, giving them valuable and tradeable inside information about metal demand and giving JPMorganChase cover for its assertions that its involvement in the monetary metals markets is entirely a matter of managing client accounts rather than the bank’s own.