Summarizing the known rigged markets. By process of elimination does that mean Gold and Silver are the only non-manipulated ones?

Following up on yesterday's third post of the day where it was revealled traders at a number of major banks have been manipulating spot foreign-exchange rates for at least a decade, altering the values of trillions of dollars worth of investments, we now have the link to the original Bloomberg News story.

Traders at some of the world’s biggest banks manipulated benchmark foreign-exchange rates used to set the value of trillions of dollars of investments, according to five dealers with knowledge of the practice. 

Employees have been front-running client orders and rigging WM/Reuters rates by pushing through trades before and during the 60-second windows when the benchmarks are set, said the current and former traders, who requested anonymity because the practice is controversial. Dealers colluded with counterparts to boost chances of moving the rates, said two of the people, who worked in the industry for a total of more than 20 years.

It may be difficult to prosecute traders for market manipulation, as spot foreign exchange, the trading of one currency with another at the current price for delivery within two days, isn’t classified as a financial instrument by regulators, said Arun Srivastava.

The behavior occurred daily in the spot foreign-exchange market and has been going on for at least a decade, affecting the value of funds and derivatives, the two traders said. The Financial Conduct Authority, Britain’s markets supervisor, is considering opening a probe into potential manipulation of the rates, according to a person briefed on the matter.

As Zero Hedge notes, as FX trading becomes the latest addition to the "rigged" market column, we now have quite the list of known market manipulation scandals. They are:

• Libor - interest rates (link)
• ISDAfix - swaps (link)
• Platts - oil prices (link)
• WM/Reuters - FX
• High-Frequency Trading - equities (link)

We also know that the Fed and world central banks are engaged in a full blown (and unprecedented) Treasury curve modeling exercise courtesy of both ZIRP (short-end) and QE (long-end), and that courtesy of some $12 trillion in extra liquidity in the past 5 years, stocks are at an artificial "weath effect" sugar high.

Faithful readers will recall that over the past couple of years we spent a considerable number of posts outlining how gold, and particularly silver, are highly manipulated as well.  We received a considerable amount of criticism for that viewpoint.

But as ZH wryly observes:

We can therefore deduce that, following the process of elimination, gold and silver are the only markets that are unmanipulated and where transparent price discovery is allowed to take place without intervention from key players. Sarcasm off.

Exactly.

==================

Email: village_whisperer@live.ca
Click 'comments' below to contribute to this post.

Please read disclaimer at bottom of blog.

Tues Post #3: Bloomberg News - Dealers rigged forex spot benchmarks

MarketWatch is out this evening quoting Bloomberg News that traders at a number of major banks have been manipulating spot foreign-exchange rates for at least a decade, altering the values of trillions of dollars worth of investments.

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Traders at a number of major global banks have been manipulating spot foreign-exchange rates for at least a decade, altering the values of trillions of dollars worth of investments, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing five unnamed dealers. The scheme involves the WM/Reuters Closing Spot Rates, which are used to provide daily benchmarks to value portfolios. However, market participants have been front-running client orders to rig the rates by pushing through trades before and during a 60-second window when the rates are set. British regulators are considering a probe into allegations of this practice, the report said.

You don't say?

Next they'll be discovering that the spot price of Gold and Silver is manipulated too.

==================

Email: village_whisperer@live.ca
Click 'comments' below to contribute to this post.

Please read disclaimer at bottom of blog.

The connection between the manipulation of LIBOR and the manipulation of Gold/Silver raised on CNBC

Yesterday we introduced you to the LIBOR scandal.

What was exposed is the fact that the benchmark interest rate, which is set in London by a small group of relatively unknown individuals... which affects wealth as a benchmark of value around the world... a benchmark tracked by the US Federal Reserve and the financial system, has been exposed to have been subject to manipulation by some of the big Banks, with the silent acquiescence of the government and their central banks.

This, as faithful readers know, is exactly what is alleged to be occurring in the Gold and Silver markets.

And with the revelations by Barclay's of their involvement in LIBOR (a market estimated to be as large as $800 Trillion dollars), how long before it is revealed that the EXACT same manipulation is going on in the Gold and Silver markets?

Today that very topic was raised on CNBC.

Gold and Silver manipulation is no longer the preserve of the tin foil hat brigade.

 ==================

Email: village_whisperer@live.ca Click 'comments' below to contribute to this post.

Please read disclaimer at bottom of blog.