As for the recent decline in gold and silver, Sprott says that he thinks it “was engineered because when you look at the physical aspects of gold, they seem totally different than the paper aspects of gold.  The major dealers, who have now massively covered their short positions, orchestrated the takedown in the face of fundamentals that were just screaming to buy gold and silver.”

Related Links:

MarketWatch/Dow Jones:  Gold futures bounce 1.1% higher as dollar weakens, silver gains 2.5%; Comex gold rebounds to end wild week up 0.5%

Trader Dan:  Gold continues its bounce

Gold Scents:  Major long-term bottoms are forming in gold and silver

KWN:  Ben Davies- The gold & silver liquidation is over; Peter Schiff – The market rollover, QE3 bottom & gold

Forbes:  Gold sets for rally as Bernanke Fed and ECB rev up the printing press

Bloomberg:  China’s appetite for gold:  Interview with GoldCore’s Mark O’Byrne

Frank Holmes/GoldSeek:  How gold demand remains resilient; Whales in the gold market

SilverSeek:  Dramatic turnaround for silver?

Silver Vigilante:  Video:  Bill Murphy & David Morgan @ The Money Show in Las Vegas

Eric Parnell:  Stocks:  One more flicker before the lights go out

AP/DeutscheWelle: Germany says reports that Merkel suggested Greek referendum on euro ‘untrue’

Phoenix Capital Research:  I just got back from the EU… and it’s worse than you imagined

Financial Times/WSJ:  JPMorgan unit has $100 billion of risky bonds; loses could total $5 billion

Jesse’s Café Américain:  Jim Rickards on JP Morgan’s trading (gambling) loss

The Golden Truth/CNET:  Facebook’s IPO; After the hype, a ho-hummer

“Since yesterday we have seen more interest come through from physical buyers,” said one trader quoted by Reuters, who reasoned that “there is more upside than downside risk for gold at the moment as the political situation is very jittery with tension in Iran and economic problems, especially in the euro zone. People will want to buy physical gold again. Those who went out since December are now waiting for prices to stabilize before getting in again.”

Related Links:

Trader Dan:  Bonds singing “Anticipation“!

Zero Hedge/KWN:  Flight from risk: Treasury plummets to record low yield as gold surges

Jesse’s Café Américain:  Market technicals: SP500, gold, silver, VIX

CNBC/Minyanville:  Gold claws out of bear market; Gold’s plunge ends with a bang, and maybe more

Active Investor:  Silver prices get their snapback rally

CNN Money/GoldMoney:  Greece downgraded deeper into junk; Massive ECB intervention looming

SafeHaven:  When will the flight out of euros benefit gold and silver prices?

Metallwoche:  Egon von Greyerz: Gold? Just keep cool!

BBC/Bloomberg:  World Gold Council:  Chinese gold demand hits record; China may surpass India as biggest gold market; WGC report

GoldMoney:  Asian gold:  Michael Checkan explains how it works

Reuters:  Turkish gold sales to Iran soar as sanctions bite; Iran attack decision nears, Israeli elite locks down

Alt-Market:  How the U.S. dollar will be replaced

Business Insider:  How Ron Paul became a revolution

NY Times/IFR:  JPMorgan’s trading loss is said to rise at least 50%; Investment unit played by different high-risk rules

Daily Reckoning:  “Jon Corzine – What’s going on?“

And before April’s FOMC meeting minutes revealed that “several” Fed policy makers were open to more easing if the economy faltered, as opposed to a “couple” in March, Jim Sinclair reiterated his prediction of “QE to infinity,” pointing out that “The Fed has never failed a sitting administration in its history. The Fed is not going to fail the sitting administration in this election year.”

Related Links:

Trader Dan:  Why the delay from the Fed in announcing additional stimulus measures

TF Metals Report/Financial Sense:  Additional covert QE on the way?; Richard Russell:  The quiet revolt against the dollar

Bloomberg:  Gold eclipsed by dollar haven as Goldman sees rally

Forbes: Stocks and gold should rally post-Facebook IPO

Yahoo Finance!:  Gold slides to new 2012 low:  Buying opportunity or bull market breakdown?

SilverSeek:  Backwardation in both gold and silver

The Gold Report:  Analyst:  Opportunity in silver, the devil’s metal

Arabian Money:  Gold and silver still the best protection against the derivatives blow up that started with JPMorgan’s loss

Zero Hedge:  In historic move, Japanese pension fund switches to gold for first time ever

GATA:  Asset managers:  Central banks aim to redistribute gold and push it way up

Wall St. Cheat Sheet/Golden Truth:  What are hedge funds doing with gold?; Soros quadruples his investment in gold

Globe & Mail:  Top hedge fund manager:  Buy bullion, not gold stocks

MarketWatch/Azizonomics:  Germany will blink and won’t let Greece exit euro; The fabled Greek mega-bailout

Spiegel:  Germans fret about their foreign gold reserves

GoldMoney:  Ronald Stöferle and Alasdair Macleod on German gold, European elections, and precious metals price action

Ted Butler, who recently offered a tutorial on how Comex gold and silver trading works, wrote in a commentary last weekend to paid subscribers:  “One thing that I hope everyone realizes is that we have not declined in gold or silver prices for any reason other than to enable the commercial controllers on the Comex the opportunity to buy as many gold and silver contracts as possible.  The data indicate that these commercials are doing just that, in spades.

In watching the daily price action I have been muttering many things to myself, not the least of which has been the phrase, ‘slicing the salami.’  That’s the term that my good friend and mentor Izzy [Friedman] and I have used to each other over the years to describe one of the commercials’ favorite tricks against the technical funds.  It involves the deliberate setting of a series of new price lows to lure the technical speculators into selling (both long liquidation and new short selling).  Nothing encourages technical selling more than the establishment of a series of new price lows (or buying into new price highs).  It’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull.  Once this process is complete, you are invariably left with an important price bottom.  I haven’t talked with Izzy lately, but I’m sure he would agree that the commercials sliced the salami recently in silver and gold like never before.

The changes in this week’s COT report for gold and silver were spectacular, as they should have been given the price action.  If you have to endure the financial pain from the endless slicing of the salami, the reward should be a commensurate improvement in the market structure.”

Related Links:

MarketWatch:  Gold settles at 2012 low as dollar gains on Greece; silver down 1%

Jesse’s Café Américain:  Gold & silver charts:  More liquidation on Greece and Facebook

GoldSeek/P. Radomski:  What will happen to Greece and gold?; Political and economic factors bode well for gold

SilverSeek:  Is fear of deflation sapping gold and silver?

WSJ:  Price is right for Fed to come on down with stimulus

Bullion Bulls Canada/Jim Cook:  Gold losing battle vs. U.S. dollar in 2012; Doom of the dollar

Peter Grandich/Wealth Cycles:  Gold bears:  Put your money where your mouth is; Safeguarding your precious metals

KWN:  Paul Brodsky – The paralyzing fear among investors today; James Turk – Expect tremendous chaos, Europe deteriorating rapidly

Mineweb/GoldCore:  A shift in Indian gold buying patterns?; Bundesbank confirms German gold held by Fed, BOE and Banque De France

Frank Holmes:  Looking to China to fire up its economy

Perth Mint:  Bron Suchecki:  IMF to buy gold? Not

ChrisMartenson.com:  Acknowledging the arrival of Peak Government

Zero Hedge:  Jim Rogers: A must-see rebuttal to the ‘normal’ CNBC hopium

Reuters/Washington’s Blog: The core problems with JPMorgan’s failed trades

Jim Rickards/Forbes:  Why JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon should resign; More bad news for JPMorgan as FBI gets involved

The Golden Truth:  It’s simple – Think like a criminal

With gold and silver both closing at multimonth lows on Monday, Dan Norcini points out that the “Gold’s move down towards $1550 has in the past attracted very substantial central bank gold buying. Hopefully this will remain the case as the market is now pushing towards the lower band of an eight month long trading range.”

And with the markets “moving so quickly away from risk and out of basically everything except Treasuries or cash,” he thinks that the Fed “is going to have a major problem on their hands if they do not soon give some sort of signal that they are preparing to act to stem the deflationary decline.”

Norcini also sees China’s lowering of its bank reserve ratio requirements as a sign that it’s “responding to slowing growth there as their export markets are impacted by the woes in the Eurozone and the anemic growth in the US. This is one of the signals that copper has been sending for a while now as it descends in price. Were copper to finally show some signs of a bottom, that would be constructive for silver which is testing chart support down near the $28 level once again.”

Related Links:

Wall St. Cheat Sheet:  Gold and silver decline, dollar higher for 11th consecutive day

Barron’s/Citywire:  Gold goes negative for 2012; Morgan Stanley stays bullish, believes gold may hit $2,175 in 2013

Kitco:  Deutsche Bank:  Commodities outlook mixed for rest of 2010; Precious metals, energy may rise

The Daily Gold/SilverSeek:  Major bottom in precious metals could occur this week; How euro money printing is going to drive up gold and silver prices

BBC/Reuters:  Could the euro survive a Greek exit?; Can Greece even exit the euro zone? Maybe not

The Daily Bell/Yahoo! Finance:  Drop the cash from helicopters!; Frank Holmes:  “When push comes to shove, they’re going to print money“

KWN:  Stephen Leeb:  This is why world markets are incredibly unstable

Zero Hedge:  Meet the latest converted gold bug: The IMF

Alasdair Macleod:  Gold bugs will be vindicated

Mineweb:  HSBC’s James Steel:  Chinese demand, the US election and the outlook for gold over summer

Bullion Vault/GoldSeek:  Gold investment demand in Asia; Frontrunning China’s insatiable demand for gold

Market Oracle:  The yuan, rupee and physical silver demand

The Victory Report:  Richard Russell:  Stay in cash and gold coins

Patrick Heller:  Is US government gold price suppression illegal?

AP:  Gold! Haiti hopes ore find will spur mining boom

In an article on how “Global super-bugs herald age of silver,” Bullion Bulls Canada‘s Jeff Nielson writes that “While the relentless over-use of antibiotics has ruined their effectiveness, other scientists have been systematically designing silver-based applications to protect us from these killers.”

He points out that these applications “are preventative in nature, rather than being treatments for bacterial infections which have already taken root. In other words, silver protects us from bacteria through the creation of silver-based coatings or ionic compounds which can be blended into various (inorganic) substances. Thus we can create anti-bacterial clothing, anti-bacterial upholstery, anti-bacterial plastic and stainless steel surfaces, etc., etc.

Why hasn’t science focused on this approach sooner, rather than its complete over-reliance on antibiotics? Taking the treatment vs. prevention dynamic to an extreme, it’s obviously cheaper and more efficient to treat individual pockets of infection with drugs than to create an entire ‘anti-bacterial world’ around us.  However, antibiotics are neither cheaper nor more efficient when they simply cease to function, bringing us back to silver…”

As Dan Norcini warns, in a blog post and an interview with King World News, that “Deflation scares are back and in a major way,” noted analyst David Rosenberg tells the Financial Times that the U.S. “economic slowdown is already at a train,” and with “vulnerable” equity markets repeating the downturns of 2010 and 2011, he sees “a very good opportunity in gold,” which has “corrected,” and “seems to be off the radar screen right now.”

Rosenberg also says that with gold acting “more and more like a currency,” he looks at it in dollars, “and the volume of dollars is going to go up as we get more quantitative easing.  So I actually think that when we normalize gold value divided by currency in circulation, gold will go to $3,000 an ounce before this cycle is over.”

Related Links:

Reuters/MarketWatch:  Gold posts worst weekly drop this year on euro fears; Gold and silver down 3.7% and 5.1% respectively on week

Kitco:  Metals outlook:  Europe, global economic growth may dominate headlines again next week

Bloomberg:  Gold bulls weakest in month as investors buy dollar

Silver Investing News/Trader Dan:  Silver below $30; Silver chart and comments

Wall St. Cheat Sheet:  Do Eric Sprott and China still believe in gold?

Mineweb/Forbes:  Calls for Indian gold bonds grow louder; Why gold could be setting up for a killer comeback

The Gold Report:  John Hathaway:  Gold is not a growth industry—it can just pay investors big

KWN:  Ben Davies – 3rd LTRO coming & Fed to power up swap lines

GoldSeek/Spiegel:  Germany’s mixed signals;  Breaking a German taboo:  Bundesbank prepared to accept higher inflation

BBC/PIPA:  Global poll:  Views of Europe slide sharply, while views of China improve

Beacon Equity:  GLD ETF raid imminent as China flushes JP Morgan of physical

Seeking Alpha/Fox News:  JPMorgan Chase $2 billion derivatives loss illustrates toxicity of casino-banking; After the JPMorgan Chase mess, we must bust up the big financial houses

Reuters:  JPMorgan’s Dimon loses clout as reform critic; JPMorgan may tip Wall Street’s hand on Volcker Rule

Zero Hedge:  To Jim Grant the world of finance is nothing but “The Truman Show“

Reuters/Bullion Vault:  Robert Rubin:  The U.S. has an unsustainable & dangerous financial trajectory; 2012 Election:  Obamanomics vs. Romneynomics

A Seeking Alpha post on the degree to which “Asian economies continue to welcome gold and silver,” cites two recent news stories worth focusing on.  One is the Shanghai Futures Exchange launching a silver futures trade, which debuted Thursday, and the other is India deciding to retract its excise tax on gold jewelry.

It goes on to argue that “In today’s markets, especially in the natural resource sector, the smart money is China – with India often being a notable second. So, if price is falling and the smart money remains committed, that’s a simple way of identifying a buying opportunity. And that is clearly the environment we are seeing today, in light of these important news headlines.”

Related Links:

Dow Jones/MarketWatch:  Gold 0.1% higher, ends short of $1,600/oz; silver off 0.2%

Market Oracle:  Gold and silver steady as China spurns euro debt, Greece warned on euro exit

Jesse’s Café Américain:  Accumulation/distribution trends in gold and silver – building the V bottom

Bloomberg:  Goldman stands by gold-rally forecast even as price drops; PIMCO’s Gross says QE3 getting closer as Goldman sees easing

Jim Sinclair:  Time for ‘helicopter money drops‘

Zero Hedge:  How the Fed quietly bought 1,150 S&P points; Marc Faber sees a 1987-like crash approaching

KWN:  Citibank analyst:  Stocks to crater 27%, bonds to rally & gold to remain firm

P. Radomski:  The influence on gold of the general stock market and crude oil

Bullion Vault:  Gold price demand drivers

GATA:  Indian central bank challenged in court to repatriate country’s gold

SafeHaven:  Gold questioning Fed’s effectiveness

WSJ:  Fed foe Ron Paul breakfasts with Bernanke at central bank

The Street:  Ron Paul has a gold ally in the Buffett family

The Victory Report:  Peter Grandich:  Gold and silver get no respect

Reuters:  S & P report:  A $46 trillion perfect credit storm may be brewing

CBS News/Business Insider:  JPMorgan Chase acknowledges $2B trading loss, cites ‘egregious mistakes‘

In analyzing the current “Fickle gold and silver prices,” Mineweb‘s Lawrence Williams concludes “that gold and silver are not through their bull runs yet as the global financial turmoil is far from over.  The current gold (and silver) price hiatus is because many see the Eurozone crisis, which is the most newsworthy at the moment, as deteriorating further, but those fleeing it financially are putting their trust in the US dollar rather than gold.

Given the U.S.’s own economic problems, which are neatly being hidden from public perception in the run-up to this year’s Presidential election, this has to be a pretty shortsighted viewpoint and will surely come to an end before too long.  When it does both gold and silver will likely resume their overall upwards trend – but probably not as rapidly as the major gold and silver bulls would have you believe.”

Related Links:

Reuters:  Gold falls below $1,600 on euro zone uncertainty; silver off 0.8%

GoldMoney:  Market sell-off testing gold bulls

SafeHaven/Casey Research:  Can gold fall forever?; Gold fund manager John Hathaway calls a market bottom

Bloomberg:  Silver forecasters bullish as funds retreat from slump

SilverSeek:  Ted Butler:  Knowing the game

Silver Coins Today:  American Silver Eagle bullion coin sales retreat in April, but still 5th-best ever April

Avery Goodman:  The outlook for precious metals prices

Zero Hedge:  Eric Sprott on CNBC berates Berkshire’s buffoons and says “all markets are manipulated”; Jim Grant: “The Fed owns the stock market“

GATA/Gary North:  Gold has changed overnight, and likely will again; Why civilized people buy gold

Mineweb:  Buying gold on the ‘Roubini Dip‘

USA Gold:  Extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of machines:  Why gold might be setting up for a big move higher

Resource Investor:  The reasons for investing in physical gold

Seeking Alpha:  Gold mining stocks vs. physical gold bullion; Gold/Silver ratio in an uptrend

Jim Rickards/Azizonomics:  Romney doubles down on Obama’s toxic currency policies; Is China a currency manipulator?   

Daily Reckoning/Zero Hedge:  Bill Gross and others call for QE3; Citi’s Buiter on Plan Z: Unleash the helicopter money

Telegraph/Spiegel:  Why the euro is doomed to fall apart: it was an incredibly stupid idea in the first place; New documents shine light on euro birth defects

With renewed calls for more QE, an argument that “Gold Will Continue to Glitter” references the above chart covering the last two decades to point out that “gold prices have surged in the recent past with the surge in monetary base. Therefore, as long as governments continue to print money, gold will trend up.”

And, as economic and financial problems in both the U.S. and the euorozone continue, “the quantitative easing and the surge in gold prices will also remain prolonged. These factors make a strong case for investment in gold. Furthermore, as central banks look to diversify their reserve holdings, gold is one of the best currency choices (as a store of value). Therefore, from a demand perspective, things are expected to remain robust.”

The author concludes that “I would look at accumulating gold at current levels and adding gold to my portfolio on a further correction as well. If the economic scenario in the U.S. worsens the dollar will strengthen in the near term, leading to some additional correction in gold. However, a subsequent quantitative easing will lead to a renewed rally in the precious metal.”

Related Links:

Reuters:  Gold down 2 percent, breaks below $1,600 on euro fears; silver off 1.8%

Gold Scents/Gold Report:  Gold is at or very near, a long-term bottom; Eric Coffin:  It’s this bad because it’s a bottom

Bullion Vault:  Silver at lowest since January, China should offer key support for gold

Bloomberg:  China’s gold imports jump as country may become biggest user

Zero Hedge/MoneyShow.com:  On buying the commodity dip; Pamela Aden:  Silver’s dips are made for buying

Silver Investing News:  Silver contracts coming to Shanghai Futures Exchange

The Street:  Euro crack up not helping gold – yet

SafeHaven/Arabian Money:  Gold and financial preparedness; Why do investors always take such a short-term view on gold?

Dollar Vigilante:  Bill Gates joins what must be “bash gold” week on CNBC

CNBC/GoldSeek:  Warren who?  Gold bugs still think they have the right idea; Warren Buffet vs. gold and silver…and the winner is…

KWN/Forbes:  John Embry – There is a war going on because fiat money is dying; Dollar not doomed but you’re gonna need more of them

Financial Times/Jesse’s Café Américain :  Iran accepts yuan for crude oil; World markets decouple from U.S. prices in oil

The Hill/Dow Jones:  Lawmakers in tug of war over reforming the Fed; House Republicans criticize Fed for congressional lapses

LA Times/Matt Taibbi:  Ron Paul continues delegate offensive, wins big in Nevada, Maine; Is this the most boring election ever?

CNBC:  Forget the presidential candidates – you can stabilize the debt