Deutsche Bank Records Said to Show Silver Rigging at Other Banks
--Bloomberg December 7, 2016
Eight months after Deutsche Bank AG settled a lawsuit claiming it manipulated gold and silver prices, documents it disclosed as part of the accord provide “smoking gun” proof that UBS Group AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, Bank of Nova Scotia and other firms rigged the silver market, plaintiffs claim.
The allegation came in a filing Wednesday in a Manhattan federal court lawsuit filed in 2014 by individuals and entities that bought or sold futures contracts.
According to the plaintiffs, records surrendered by Deutsche Bank show traders and submitters coordinating trades in advance of a daily phone call, manipulating the spot market for silver, conspiring to fix the spread on silver offered to customers and using illegal strategies to rig prices.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is poised to meet non-OPEC nations in Vienna on Saturday with the hope that they will also agree to follow the cartel and cut supply for the first time since 2008.
At their meeting last month, OPEC pledged to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day (b/d) from January 2017 and the 14-member cartel hopes non-OPEC nations can also agree to limit supply to further prop up oil prices.
"We're hoping for 600,000 (barrels per day to be cut) from non-OPEC (countries) so that is going to be a substantial volume that will bring health back into the market," Khalid Al Falih, Saudi Arabia's minister of energy told CNBC on November 30, the day of the OPEC deal.
Russia has said it is prepared to commit to a 300,000 b/d production cut which should, in theory, mean all of the other non-OPEC countries combined would only have to match Russia's pledge in order for OPEC to hit its target.
However, only five of the 14 non-OPEC oil producing countries have agreed to attend the meeting on Saturday, according to a Reuters report which cited two OPEC sources.
Russia and several other non-OPEC nations pledged to curb oil production next year by more than 600,000 barrels a day at a meeting in Vienna on Saturday, joining forces with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to end a global glut, a delegate familiar with the situation said.
The pact -- the first between the two sides in 15 years -- comes two weeks after OPEC agreed to reduce its own production by 1.2 million barrels a day. It’s unclear whether the non-OPEC cuts include natural declines from countries such as Mexico, or consist entirely of genuine production cuts.
"We managed to gather 25 countries from OPEC and non-OPEC with the idea of stabilizing the oil market and defending a fair price for our commodity," Venezuelan Energy Minister Eulogio del Pino said before the meeting.
Saudis Signal Deeper Cuts After Deal With Non-OPEC Countries
Saudi Arabia signaled it’s ready to cut oil production more than expected, a surprise announcement made minutes after Russia and several non-other OPEC countries pledged to curb output next year.
Taken together, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’s first deal with its rivals since 2001 and the Saudi comments represent a forceful effort by producers to wrest back control of the global oil market, depressed by persistent oversupply and record inventories.
"This is shock and awe by Saudi Arabia," said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects Ltd. in London. "It shows the commitment of Riyadh to rebalance the market and should end concerns about OPEC delivering the deal."
Oil prices have surged more than 15 percent since OPEC announced Nov. 30 it will cut production for the first time in eight years, rising this week briefly above $55. The price rise has propelled the shares of energy groups from Exxon Mobil Corp. to shale firms such as Continental Resources Inc.
