Newsletters, Reports, Updates, and Alerts from a Top Market Timer with 44 Years of Experience

 What is the Plunge Protection Team?

(PPT) is an informal term for the Working Group on Financial Markets. The working group was created in 1988 by then U.S President Ronald Reagan following the infamous October 1987 Black Monday crash. It was formed to re-establish consumer confidence and take steps to achieve economic and market stability in the aftermath of the market crash. The U.S president consults with the team during times of economic uncertainty and turbulence in the markets.

The Working Group on Financial Markets’ informal name “Plunge Protection Team” was coined and popularized by The Washington Post in 1997.

What does the Plunge Protection Team Do?

The Plunge Protection Team was initially formed to advise the president and regulatory agencies on countering the negative impacts of the stock market crash of 1987. However, the team has continued to report to various presidents since that stock market crash and has met various U.S presidents on important financial matters over the years.

The team was believed to be behind the rally in the stock market shortly after a hefty drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) on February 05, 2018. As per some market observers, after the plunge, the market made a smart recovery in the following days, which may have been a result of heavy buying by the Plunge Protection Team.

Who is on the plunge protection team?

The PPT several top government economic and financial officials. The Secretary of the Treasury heads the group, while the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, are also part of the team.

Why is the PPT secretive?

The Plunge Protection Team’s meetings or activities aren’t covered by the media, which gives rise to speculations and conspiracy theories about the team. The probable reason behind the secretive nature of its activities is that it reports only to the president. Some observers opine that the team’s role is not only limited to giving recommendations to the president; rather, the team intervenes in the market and artificially props up stock prices.

Critics claim that the members connive with big banks and profit from stock markets by carrying out trades on different stock exchanges when prices decline. They then artificially prop up the prices as part of their market stabilization efforts and profit from their transactions.

When does/have the PPT meet?

Although very little has come out in the mainstream media about the group’s activities, there have been some instances when the team’s meetings were reported. For example, in 1999, the team proposed to congress to incorporate some changes in the derivatives markets regulations. The last reported meeting of the group, at the time of this writing in June 2022, was in December 2018 when Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin headed the teleconference with the group’s members. Representatives from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Comptroller of the Currency also attended the meeting.

Before the teleconference that took place on December 24, 2018, the S&P 500 and the DJIA had been under pressure for the whole month. But after Christmas, the DJIA and the S&P 500 both recovered and reversed most of the losses in the next few days. Conspiracy theorists attribute the recovery and gains in the indices to the intervention by the Plunge Protection Team.

Final Thoughts

The Working Group on Financial Markets serves an important function: to advise the president on financial markets and economic affairs. Because the exact nature of the group’s activities or recommendations haven't been made public, some critics of the group blame the group for market intervention and artificially propping up stocks’ prices. However, some market observers believe that the team’s quiet activities are excused as it reports directly to the president.

Bill Murphy: 25 years of fighting the gold cartel

Remarks by Bill Murphy, Chairman
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
New Orleans Investment Conference
Hilton Riverside Hotel, New Orleans
Wednesday, November 1, 2023

In 1997 I came to this conference with my friend Frank Veneroso to present a copy of this "Gold Book" to its publisher, Jim Blanchard, the promoter of this conference before Brien Lundin took over.

A main feature of the book was that Frank learned through his sources, including The Bank of England, that various banks were leasing out their gold, to the tune of up to 8,000 tonnes.

In the fall of 1998 a legendary hedge fund, Long Term Capital Management blew up and had to exit all markets, including a supposed 400 tonnes of leased gold they had borrowed from various banks. I had just began my own daily commentary and noticed the same banks were stopping gold from blowing through $300 an ounce to the upside.

Over and over again the same thing, as it appeared these banks were covering for LTCM, whose lawyer was the famed Jim Rickards, and I began complaining about it every day. A new subscriber to my column, Chris Powell, tired of my rants, suggested we do something about it. Over the months ahead The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee was formed.

That name has a bit of irony attached to it as many out there call us a conspiracy organ ization. With so much talk about conspiracies these days, that rant-like criticism of us stands out because GATA is just the opposite, as per the anti-trust aspect in our name. Trusts are groups which privately band together to secretly control prices or
markets. GATA came into being to expose these types of operations, not become one.

Right off the bat my partner Chris Powell demanded we DO something about the blatant gold price suppression operations, not just complain. Over the first half of the last 25 years, that is just what we did. For example:

-- From 2001 to 2011 we held 4 international conferences -- in Durban, South Africa; Dawson City up in Canada; Washington D.C; and in London.

-- Went to the authorities in Washington numerous times to see what we could do. That included seeing James Saxton, Chairman of The Joint Economic Committee; Congressman Ron Paul; James Hastert, speaker of the House, who hastily set up a meeting that afternoon with Sp encer Bacchus, chairman of the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy; and Bart Chilton, Commissioner of the CFTC, among others.

-- We spoke at a well attended gathering in D.C. was televised by C- Span.

-- And GATA returned to the nations capital to make a presentation at an internet televised CFTC investigation event.

There was a lot more and it was all about exposing what I call The Gold Cartel, which includes some major US banks, various central banks, The Bank for International
Settlements, and the US Government, including the Fed and Treasury. THEY were the conspiracy bonded together to suppress the gold price, and we have been out there to expose this conspiracy all this time.

As you can tell, over the first half of our 25 years in existence we were quite active in the public arena, which was topped off in that fabulous year of 2011 with our highly
regarded conference in London, England in early August. Silver had soared to $ 50 in early May of that year and then began to correct. Gold popped to $1650 during our
conference, as predicted by one of our speakers, the legendary Jim Sinclair, who recently passed away and then spiked to $1920 a month later.

Thus, GATAs first half of our 25-year effort to expose and take down the cabal forces essentially ended with been there, done that.

The last half of our existence, and effort to expose The Gold Cartel, has been a different trip of sorts. Much of that has had to do with dealing with the price suppression
efforts by the cabal forces via our commentaries. Over that time, the last 12 years, the price of gold has exceeded $2,000 an ounce three times, only to be shoved back down by  THEM each time. Physical buying by Asian central banks provided much of the oomph to keep the gold price elevated. It has held up very well, constantly coming back from
orchestrated setbacks.

However, silver and the gold shares have been a totally d ifferent story. Gold share index, the HUI, rose to 622 in 2011, along with the gold price spike. It has been most
unpleasant since, recently spending time below 200, after all these years. And the junior mining shares have been a nightmare, to put it mildly.

While the price of gold has held its own, rising mining costs, alternative investment opportunities and Gold Cartel suppression have devastated the share market since its 2011 heyday.

And golds sidekick, silver, a focus of mine, has been a disaster, courtesy of JP Morgan. Thanks to these bums, investing in silver over the past decade has been something of a  horror show. So, here is my take on what has occurred.

JP Morgan set up the silver price move to $50 in 2011. The silver open interest on the Comex, which represents the total number of silver long and short positions, remained at a very low 135,000 contracts all the way up until the last month of the move. Then the open interest numbers began to reall y rise once silver took out $35 on the upside.

During the move to $35 or so, it was JP Morgan buying all the physical silver they could get their hands on. With buyers searching for not be found silver, the price kept going up and up. JPM then began to sell the paper market in April of 2011 on the Comex, as the open interest began to rise. And JP Morgan has used the physical silver they bought over the past 12 years to facilitate their paper selling on the Comex ever since, wiping out spec long silver investors time and time again. Just recently, after all this time, the price of silver was trading at less than $22 per ounce.

It should be noted that in September 2020 JPMorgan admitted to committing wire fraud in connection with: (1) unlawful trading in the markets for precious metals futures contracts. They were fined $920 million dollars for their crooked behavior. So what? Via deceptive trading operations they kept on going, which is why silver has traded so poorly t hese past three years. IMO, they have used off short accounts, or other banks such as Bank of America, to continue their paper fraud. And have made a great deal of money in the process ripping off speculators.

Over the past decade plus the cartel forces have gone all out to keep the precious metals under control and not let them reflect mounting inflation, money printing, and deficit spending in the US. Chris Powell and myself have also gone all out ourselves in our commentaries to point out what has been going on. Getting someone to seriously listen has been another matter.

Unfortunately, the financial media does not want to touch the subject with a ten foot pole. They have also facilitated the blatant price suppression via their silence, no
matter how obvious it gets. At the same time the gold/silver industry remains silent also, in total fear of upsetting their own financiers.

During this time, my colleague Chris Powell has done an outstanding job of handling the details of the GATA operations.

Meanwhile, Chris and I continue to do what we can to point out the obvious about manipulation of the precious metals via our commentaries, etc.

And that leads to what I hope gains day lighs to come over what GATA has worked on and put forth in the public domain over the last 12 years, much less the first 12 .

My expectation is for the price of gold and silver to soar in the near future. My reasoning is simple. That THEY will run out of enough physical supply to carry on like they have. FINALLY!

As the next few years plus plays out, the cabals dwindling physical supplies should lead to gold and silver price explosions. Once gold takes out its triple top of the past
years, it should go bonkers. Pitiful silver, as I have been calling it, unfortunately, for years, has to take out $30 to shoot for $50 for the third time in its history. Once
that level is exceeded, there is no telling how high its price c ould go.

In that regard, it is my opinion that Newtons Law of Equal and Opposite Reactions will take hold and kick in meaning as lousy as silver has traded these past years, it will trade equally that well once $30 is taken out. We shall see.

As a result of what The Gold Cartel has done over the past decade or so, investors have fled the gold share scene, and the silver market, like no time in history. Just
recently, the price of silver rose more than $2.50 per ounce and nearly $3 per ounce off a recent low, yet the silver open interest remained at only a little above 127,000
contracts. No interest for it in the public investing domain.

So where do we go from here after 25 years of being on the price suppression case?

As mentioned, my bet is the Gold Cartel will simply run out of enough physical supply to carry on like they have in the paper gold/silver markets.

The reasons for their prices to explode just become more blatant month afte r month. Investors, which had fled the gold, silver, share markets will return with a vengeance and this time the cabal forces will be unable to prevent all their prices from soaring.

Yes, Newtons Law will take over and the bums will be done for. At this time, those ignoring what GATA has been telling them for over two decades will register on their
scoreboards and will take hold as the truth about the bad guys will gradually surface, even if grudgingly.

Whether discussed, or admitted, in public commentary it will be clear the prices of gold and silver are going to where they should have years ago and that something unnatural was holding them back. As this is occurring, The Gold Cartel will be forced to backpedal and then backpedal again and again.

Couldn't happen to a nicer group!

And speaking of just that: The price of gold exploded late last Friday afternoon some $20 in a half hour, to blow through $2,000 an ounce. The reason was the visuals o f an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza were gutting the media.

There is no telling what sort of international chaos this is leading to, but wars of all sorts come to mind. Investing more and more in gold and silver will become paramount and they will suddenly soar as never before in history. The Gold Cartel/JP Morgan forces have not, and are not, prepared for what is in the process of occurring. The recent chaotic developments in the Middle East have caught them off guard in terms of dealing with physical demand.

At the same time, we are likely to see some growing civil unrest in the US early next year due to political differences that we have not dealt with for around 150 years. This  could have a profound negative effect on the dollar and be a big boost for the precious metals.

In my opinion, as this all plays out, gold/silver share investments, which are ridiculously undervalued and cheap today, will go berserk.

If you are on board, next year will be full of smiles.