Bill Murphy writes......................
August 20 - Gold $412.90 up $6.30 – Silver $6.85 up 5 cents
May THE FORCE Be With Us
"THERE IS NO EXTERNAL POWER ON EARTH OR THE UNIVERSE THAT CAN BRING DOWN THE GOLD AND SILVER PRICES. DESTINY HAS BEEN WRITTEN AND I AM JUST PREDICTING IT AS IT IS." Mahendra late last week with gold around $395
GO GATA!!!!!
When I awoke this morning, gold was due $1.70 lower even though oil was well over $49 per barrel. The supposed culprit was a stronger dollar – the euro was fading fast in London for some mysterious unknown reason. Anecdotally, it seems to me whenever our stock market (it was due lower) could be under severe pressure (in this case due to the soaring price of oil), the dollar tends to strengthen rather remarkably. Today was no exception.
However, The Working Group on Financial Markets, has a short-term problem when it comes to gold. The gold physical market is on fire at the same time the funds are entering the fray in a substantial way. We know there is plenty of spec buying power out there due to the relatively low Comex open interest - as compared to what it has gone to over the past year. It is especially important to appreciate the fact that it is not only funds entering the long side of the paper market. You will recall our Stalker source telling us THE STALKER is out there buying $1 billion worth of physical bullion and a smaller fund was going to step up to the plate if gold showed it was on the move, mostly likely that meant taking out $405, which it did yesterday. Then, there is the Arab buying.
It is not that often when extremely valuable information comes my way and I am fortunate to be able to pass it on you. This past Monday was one of those days and is THE KEY to what gold did this week. For your review, from MIDAS on August 16:
A lot to report to you from the physical market front and add to John Brimelow’s superb input. London, as you might recall, was looking for gold to start its move the last two weeks of August. So far, so good. Our British dealer source checked in today and is very upbeat. NEW buying has surfaced out of Saudi Arabia and the Far East, notably Hong Kong (heavy buying). The feeling from England is that if gold closes above $405, it will shoot up to $428/$430 very quickly. Our London source is looking for $456 by the end of the year and $500 in the first quarter to second quarter of next year.
Also heard from a different source that THE STALKER is back in the market, after a sustained absence, and is going to buy 1 BILLION worth of BULLION. Meanwhile, a smaller stalker may also enter the fray, to the tune of 100 million to 1 billion. We don’t know the amount. What we do know is they are only going to buy strength, or when gold is "jumping." We take that to mean it has to take out $405 first.
Word to me this afternoon is that Morgan Stanley was a monster buyer today and it is related to new fund buying in the cash market. This fits in perfectly with the information brought to your attention from my STALKER and London bullion dealer sources. This is good, very good!
***
What a week! It seems a few very consistent gold trading patterns were broken. Today, for example, gold made new highs for the session over and over again. No more of this surge early, and then cap, cap, cap. Yesterday, the HUI surged while the general stock market was under pressure. In times past a weaker stock market has had a tendency to affect the gold shares. And as RL noted earlier, "the old cabal trick of intervening to support the dollar and bashing gold on the strong dollar pretext - that tired routine - isn't working today." Finally, gold closed higher on a Friday for the FOURTH week in a row.
The best news of the day was to see gold take off, even as the dollar rose a good bit, closing at 88.23, up .41. The euro was hit fairly hard, dropping .60 to 123.04.
As veteran Café members well know, gold rallying without dollar help has been a theme of mine for some time, even as late as last Tuesday’s MIDAS – "There is no reason gold shouldn’t rally $100 per ounce with the dollar doing nothing." Those out there who say gold is only about the dollar have it wrong. The key to the price is whether physical market buying can overpower a corrupt price-capping Gold Cartel. The cabal’s best laid plans went awry today. I can’t recall gold running this amount with the dollar so much on the upside.
You have to think the stunning Argentine central bank gold buying news has to be a HUGE plus too. As covered in last night’s MIDAS, this one seminal event could produce a sea change of thinking by other central banks. Incredibly, it was hardly mentioned anywhere by the mainstream gold world or financial market media. It’s bad enough the mainstream media hates gold, yet when the establishment gold world won’t jump up and down about this significant happening, it is OUTRAGEOUS!
The World Gold Council should be disbanded by the end of this year for the good of gold shareholders everywhere!
The gold open interest rose another 4747 contracts to 238,015. This represents tech funds and pricing due to physical market buyers taking on the despicable Gold Cartel, who have been desperately doing what they can to keep the price of gold from exploding. THIS could not be more clear as we know who the sellers were this past week.
Not everything has changed when it comes to the gold market. While the cabal was in full scale retreat today, they still managed to hold the line with the $6 RULE! When that tiresome rule is obliterated, we might have a good feeling the bad guys are going down for the count.
Next Thursday is option expiry. Some of the outstanding call gold call option strike price positions of note:
*405 – 5374
*410 – 2181
*420 – 10,000
*430 – 8771
Silver faded late for the second day in a row, putting in its second tired performance in as many trading sessions. With the cabal having serious trouble with gold, they seemed to have shifted some focus on keeping silver from taking out $7. My floor sources, who are bullish, were not perturbed the silver sell-off as long as it held $6.83, basis Sep, and it did.
The silver open interest rose 2231 contracts to 99,926.
As far as the dollar goes, if the July trade deficit was $55 billion with $40 oil, what will the August figure be with oil approaching $50, $65 billion? The dollar rally here is both ludicrous and contrived!
Fine looking gold and silver charts:
December gold
https://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/GD/84
Some base gold has built. All near-term technical resistance has been cleared. Next stop is to fill the gap right below $420 and then to $430.
September silver
https://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/SV/94
For months I have mentioned how atrocious The Café Sentiment Indicator has been, saying:
*Never seen it this poor for so long over the past 6 years, especially with gold doing so relatively well compared to days of yore.
*My hunch has been the lack of interest in gold by the general public was setting up a major move.
Even with the excitement this week, it is no better than a 3, tops. Unreal!
The John Brimelow Report
VERY bad for day for Bears
Friday, August 20, 2004
Indian ex-duty premiums: AM $5.74, PM $7.48, with world gold at $407.70 and $405.40. Adequate, and lavish, for legal imports. India, for whatever reason, appears to be an enthusiastic buyer of gold from overseas at these levels.
Standard London’s Dubai kilo bar premiums continued generous. The Shanghai Gold Exchange is showing steep discounts (over $2) from world gold, but very heavy volume. Exactly how the SGE fits into the world gold trade is unclear, but the volume suggests someone was a strong buyer during Chinese hours.
TOCOM reversed course. Volume exploded up 166% to (a still not impressive) 16,167 Comex equivalent, the active contract closed up 9 yen, and world gold went out up 60c above NY. The white metals were all soft. Open interest slipped another 728 contracts, but inspection of the (1 day lagged) Members position suggests spec liquidation on TOCOM may indeed be finishing. (NY yesterday traded 45,574 contracts, with open interest climbing 4,474 contracts. Comex open interest has risen 18,623 contracts in the four days reported this week, (or 8.5%) - 57.9 tonnes. Gold has only risen $7.80.
The dramatic events of this morning have superseded yesterday; suffice it to say that, as the open interest data has subsequently proved, serious buying was met with serious selling. Quite reasonably fearing a repeat of July’s successful defense of the $409 level, Refco Research prudently closed their profitable long, with the even more prudent advice to re open it if Dec gold got past $412.50. (This means they are now back in.)
Ian McAvity, the battle-scarred Canadian gold-friendly chartist, was seen earlier this week expressing skepticism on the sector unless gold could pass $410 and the HUI 215. One of these objectives looks possible today. Martin Pring, also dubious about gold recently, took, with the advantage of some more days of data, a friendlier attitude in his weekly this morning:
"We have been cautious on gold and gold shares for a while. This week though, the KST (a momentum measure –JB) for both series has reversed to the upside.
This suggests that there is a good chance that the overhead resistance…will be successfully overcome allowing both the shares and the metal to experience a worthwhile extension to the rally."
For technicians to turn friendly to gold would be a welcome development, notably lacking this year.
JB
CARTEL CAPITULATION WATCH
The PPT rescued the DOW this week and turned the trading crowd into buyers. Since last Friday it jumped 285 points to 10,110, up 69 today:
DOW
https://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/DW/X
The DOG rose 18 to 1878.
The major reason given for last week’s US stock market weakness was soaring oil prices. Even with today’s oil turnaround ($47.86 per barrel, down 84 cents after making a $49.40 high), oil was up $1.68 for the week. So why the big move in the DOW besides the PPT support. Guess it is because so many traders expect oil to crap out. Oil is still extremely overbought and could do anything short-term, however, a 20% correction from its highs will only take it back to $40 per barrel, a price considered onerous to the US economy only months ago.
The tech news released after yesterday’s market close was not good:
18:21 Semi equipment book/bill ratio fell to 1.05 in July vs StreetAccount consensus 1.07 (4 firms)
The June book/bill ratio was 1.07. The three month moving average of bookings rose 0.1% in July to $1.61B; billings rose 2.3% to $1.54B.
* * * * *
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 19 (Reuters) - North American semiconductor capital equipment makers reported that orders stabilized in July after nearly a year of gains, a U.S. trade group said on Thursday, suggesting the industry's recovery may be reaching a peak.
Orders for equipment used to produce microchips reached $1.61 billion in July, about flat with June, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International said in a monthly update.
Orders were still more than double the same month last year, when the chip industry ordered $706.9 million in equipment.
Billings, or shipments, were $1.54 billion in July, up 2 percent from June and up 96 percent from a year earlier. The year-earlier comparison matches with a recent report by industry leader Applied Materials Inc. , which on Tuesday reported a 104 percent quarterly revenue increase.
The ratio of orders to shipments, known as the book-to-bill ratio, was 1.05 in July, meaning that for every $100 of products shipped, $105 in new orders were received.
"The bookings and billings values for North American-based equipment companies have stabilized at high levels," Stanley Myers, president of the trade group, said in a statement…
-END-
This potential bombshell continues to quietly percolate:
US subpoenas Fannie Mae in accounting probe
WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Regulators investigating Fannie Mae's accounting practices have sent subpoenas to the No. 1 U.S. mortgage finance company in connection with the probe, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Fannie Mae's financial regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, began looking into the company's books after an accounting scandal at rival mortgage enterprise Freddie Mac led to a $5 billion earnings restatement and the ouster of top executives last year.
Regulators uncovered errors in the way Fannie Mae accounted for investments that had lost value and directed it in May to correct those errors. The company avoided an earnings restatement, but had to take a $278 million charge in the second quarter.
OFHEO Director Armando Falcon told Congress in July that Fannie Mae had been less than fully cooperative in meeting his office's requests for information and employee availability. Falcon said he had complained to the company in writing….
-END-
GATA’s Mike Bolser:
Hi Bill:
The Fed added $3 Billion in temporary repurchase agreements today August 20th 2004, an action that caused the repo pool to dip to $44.515 Billion.
The repo pool's 30-day ma has unmistakably changed from up to down and this is an important event that signifies a Fed tactical shift. Combined with the gold action today this isn't what the Fed normally does. They are acting as if they need less market and currency support or they have decided to abandon previous support efforts. Time will tell why this change has been made just ahead of a presidential election. Judging by the massive commodities pressure, the Fed clearly is in deep trouble so its a mystery why they are removing repo support just at this time.
Earlier in the day things seemed to be similar to previous mini-spikes in gold and silver most always followed by later disappointments. The metrics I look at predicted a gold ceiling of $410 or so, however, when I ran my synthetics at the Noon Fix, there is a DIVG channel break to 352.61 that may be significant due to mainly to MCDI pseudo-strength.
Yesterday I said:
" IF my interpretation is correct, the Fed has relaxed their hold to the top of their mini-cycle range and, in order to maintain its oscillation above and below $400 PM Fix , will add down pressure very soon, say, early next week. If this doesn't happen then the Fed may retreat to a higher DIVG defense level. It is a time of change for the Fed. Can they hold?"
I knew that either the Fed planned to foolishly hold the DIVG channel ma or they were planning a release to higher ground...it appears to be the latter.
Judging by today's action alone, the Fed can't hold the DIVG where they planned to hold it. They may be in DEEP TROUBLE right here at DIVG = 352.61 (more below).
The DOW is up 20 at this hour (12:30PM), bonds are quiet, with oil knocking on $49 per bbl. Indeed, oil looks like gold did in December 2002 when it ran up free of ESF gold sales because SECTREAS O'Neill had left (The president AND the Secretary of Treasury are required to operate the ESF).
The crucial difference with gold and oil today is that there may not be any remaining source of near-term sales (SPR) left to stop the oil price rise. If this is true, then the Fed is facing an oil abyss because China (a main oil buyer) has such a large dollar surplus it can afford to keep building its own SPR reserves while the US deficits explode.
Cayman Island Banks
Earlier this week, I mentioned that the big increase in Caribbean Island bank transfers might be back-channel repo actions but this appears only to be oil revenue flowing from US oil firms to sellers through off shore banks the increase amount ($17Billion) fairly matches the trade deficit increase so we can solve that little mystery.
Geopolitcs
I follow the simmering Georgian conflict because it reveals much about US/Russian relations in general, indicates whether Russian Central bank cooperation is under geopolitical stress and shows the extreme international risks taken by the Bush Administration in its wrong-headed policy of rival encirclement at a time when the US military is clearly overextended.
Friday, August 20, 2004
South Ossetia: Status Quo Is Unsustainable
Editorial
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/08/20/005-print.html
The long-frozen South Ossetian conflict has taken a violent turn this month in what both the conflicting sides and powerful regional stakeholders warn could lead to a full-scale war that would be devastating for the whole region.
Both sides are playing the blame game, accusing each other as well as a mysterious third force of instigating the violence. In addition, Georgia's populist president, Mikheil Saakashvili, has repeatedly pointed the finger at Moscow, accusing it of supporting the separatist regime.
The self-styled South Ossetian republic had no obvious interest in heating up the conflict frozen for more than 12 years. As time goes by, the international community has grown increasingly used to South Ossetia's de facto independence, if not to its claim to self-determination. Neither is Russia interested in changing the status quo, which gives it much leverage in dealing with Georgia. The fact that many South Ossetians have been granted Russian citizenship clearly reveals Russia's true intentions vis-a-vis its neighbor despite Moscow's status as a mediator and peacekeeper. END
+++++++++++++++++++++
I opined yesterday that the Fed might press gold down next week. This view was premature and didn't take into consideration some things I normally look at. Even though gold has run to $413 or thereabouts today, we should appreciate that the Fed precisely manages things day-to-day on long-term time scales. Therefore, when one of those long-term channels undergo a big change it is serious business. I have a forward-looking capacity and it is this metric that took a big upturn at the Noon synthetic Fix today. No one outside the Fed itself has this data.
There remains a chance that the Fed means to hammer gold in the near future and I can't rule this out, but combined with all the other bullish indicators, that outcome seems to be remote at this moment. My oscillation pattern is on the back burner. Monday's results will be very important in confirming this change so don't bet the milk money just yet.
Today's precious metals action suggests that the carefully crafted Fed plan for gold may be falling apart as badly as it is for crude oil (OR the Fed may have had in mind all along, only a temporary counterattack. I say this armed with certain knowledge regarding their previous Fed DIVG retreat which outwardly began in Feb 2004 with a 200 day ma change. The Fed had a VERY BAD day in the DIVG pits back on July 21, 2003 and it was on THAT day they decided to fall back. Gold AND the MCDI were up. Today is a day very similar to that previous gold cartel loss. It remains to be seen how much damage the Fed can absorb and keep clinging to the failed notion of a flat DIVG plan. It is also useful to note that Reg Howe in a conversation used the term "waypoint" to describe the recent Fed pressure on gold.
The Fed may think it's in control but Argentina's gold purchases and the café's reliable intelligence sources pointing to huge physical buyers entering the market all tell us that the Fed's game for physical gold is ending. The Fed must know that other central banks will join Argentina in buying gold.
I continue to search for an answer to the falling repo pool 30-day ma.
Mike
Something of intrigue to ponder suggests a Café member:
Bill,
This may be a little far fetched, but could Argentina be sending a subtle message to the IMF that they have no intention in "playing" their games, and that purchasing gold is just another way to communicate it?
Tsy's Taylor: Argentina Should Remain Engaged With IMF
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--U.S. Treasury Undersecretary John Taylor said it was important that Argentina stay actively engaged with the International Monetary Fund even as the country's third review with the Washington-based lender is delayed.
His remarks come as IMF chief Rodrigo Rato prepares to visit Buenos Aires ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings slated for early September. Argentina requested that the IMF effectively suspend its accord with the government until the turn of the year, so that the it can complete a $100 billion debt restructuring without IMF interference.
"While formal negotiations on the third review will be postponed until later this year, a continued engagement is important," Taylor said Thursday in remarks published on the State Department's web site. He also said it was important that Argentina get the restructuring process out of the way as it will promote sustained growth.
"I'm very pleased that Argentina is making progress on the macroeconomic side, the monetary policy on the fiscal side," Taylor said. "But as they have taken this opportunity to move to the third review of the IMF into the future, I'd very much hope it gives them the opportunity to negotiate with their creditors and come to a good solution."
Argentina defaulted on most of its public-sector debt in December 2001 amid political upheaval and a financial meltdown.
-END-
It’s nice having a lot more smiles these days:
Hi Bill,
"Oh for the time the cabal swine are buried."
I have really enjoyed some of the sarcasm in your daily summaries this week. However, before the cabal swine are buried, they should first be ground into sausage. I believe it was Bismarck who stated (paraphrased), "There are two things no civilized man should be witness to: the making of sausage and the making of laws."
Keep up the great work.
Best regards,
Trevor W. Heaver
Bear downs 36 beers, passes out at campground
Rainier, not Busch, the beverage of choice for thirsty black bear
The Associated Press
Aug. 19, 2004
BAKER LAKE, Wash. - When state Fish and Wildlife agents recently found a black bear passed out on the lawn of Baker Lake Resort, there were some clues scattered nearby — dozens of empty cans of Rainier Beer.
The bear apparently got into campers’ coolers and used his claws and teeth to puncture the cans. And not just any cans.
"He drank the Rainier and wouldn’t drink the Busch beer," said Lisa Broxson, bookkeeper at the campground and cabins resort east of Mount Baker.
Fish and Wildlife enforcement Sgt. Bill Heinck said the bear did try one can of Busch, but ignored the rest. The beast then consumed about 36 cans of Rainier.
A wildlife agent tried to chase the bear from the campground but the animal just climbed a tree to sleep it off for another four hours. Agents finally herded the bear away, but it returned the next morning.
Agents then used a large, humane trap to capture it for relocation, baiting the trap with the usual: doughnuts, honey and, in this case, two open cans of Rainier.
That did the trick.
"This is a new one on me," Heinck said. "I’ve known them to get into cans, but nothing like this. And it definitely had a preference."
-END-
Yes, the World Gold Council should be sent packing:
Further to your ongoing rant about the uselessness of the official gold community, check out the FT article below. Apparently the increase in physical demand that JB has been reporting for months is attributable to jewelry? An allusion is made to gold as a safe-haven investment in times of political turmoil but no mention of the buying actions of the Argentine CB or what this could portend should other CBs be following suit. Why would any gold company support these guys?
Also of note was the leap in the HUI yesterday for no apparent reason. Never mind technical analysis, my market activity is largely driven by activity in the gold indexes as leading indicators. They appear to be driven by inside information. When the HUI leaps and I can't reason why it always appears that those buying had an inside track on non-public information. Sure enough, bullion scores a big advance today on the back of reports showing that the US economic recovery is falling apart - wait until the increase in oil prices is reflected at the pump!!! I can only imagine what the August trade deficit will look like.
Brian Bacon
Demand for gold buoyant in second quarter
By Alex Skorecki
Published: August 19 2004
Demand for gold was buoyant in the second quarter of the year, driven by strong economic growth, the World Gold Council said on Thursday.
Consumer demand rose 11 per cent in weight terms and 25 per cent in dollar terms on a . year earlier according to figures from the precious metals consultancy GFMS.
However the World Gold Council also said that continuing uncertainty about the longer term economic and political outlook was adding a further boost to demand for gold, a traditional safe-haven asset.
Demand for gold jewellery was up 8 per cent at 664 tonnes in the quarter, in spite of a price rise of 13 per cent. Net retail investment rose by one-third to 79 tonnes, the highest second-quarter figure since 1999 when demand was driven by fears about the millennium bug.
James Burton, World Gold Council chief executive, said: Our promotional activities have clearly helped boost demand in markets such as Turkey, China and India.
Turkish demand was up 36 per cent and demand in greater China was up by one-third. One of the strongest countries was Vietnam where demand soared by more than 50 per cent.
However, the WGC said the main cause of the rise in greater China was the effect of the Sars virus, which had depressed demand in 2003, producing a jump in this year's comparison.
Jewellery sales in the US were 4 per cent higher, with strong buying reported in the run-up to Mother's Day. In Europe trends remained generally negative, although the decline was less strong.
In the UK, concerns about the impact of rising interest rates on disposable income damped optimism, the WGC said.
-END-
On gold market manipulation:
Dear Bill,
Anyone who has any doubts about the manipulation/management of the markets only needs to look at the action this week.
Comex Gold futures were held in check for 3 days at the 410 level. Nine minute tick charts show clearly the selling that was occurring at this level.
Last evening on Comex Access, there were large blocks of 40, 50 & 60 lot trades capping the market at the 409-410 level until they got the market to break later in the session.
Today, Reuters released a news story that the Iraq Shrine was taken over by Iraqi security forces. The announcement hit the wire just as the Dollar Index on Nymex was about to creator.
A CNBC talking head stated today that the margins on Crude Oil futures should be raised to stop the "speculation" that is driving the market higher. These are the same folks who were totally silent about stopping the speculation in the stock market by increasing broker loan rates.
An article about the Gold hoard stored at the NYFRB was released with pictures of a wall of bullion – no shortages here!
The news of Argentine Gold purchases was given no media exposure.
Thank goodness for GATA’s efforts to keep the gold community informed.
John C
Mahendra had some week. Long gold, silver, the precious metals stocks, short-term bullish the US stock market, and calling for a technical correction in oil. Sure there was more. The FORCE seems to be with Mahendra. May that FORCE be with us too!
Houston’s Dan Norcini:
Hey Wild Bill:
Nice day for us good guys.
Have you noticed Seabridge Gold today? Very impressive gains. Up almost 14% as I write this.
Looks like crude is too much for these guys to handle.
I think that out of all the commentary out there, you have hit the nail right on the head Bill. No one that I have read has made the connection between Arab oil interests swimming in a sea of dollars that are swamping them as they rake in these oil profits and their gold buying. That is the most natural and sensible place for them to funnel that windfall especially given their propensity towards the yellow metal in that region of the world. Nice call partner!
Best,
Dan
Seabridge gold, a quality exploration company, closed at $2.98, up 33 cents.
Two weeks ago, Golden Star made it to the Toronto Stock Exchange's fortnightly list of top 20 largest short positions. It closed today at $4.93, up 16 cents and the third biggest winner in the HUI. No way GSS’s 15 million share short position, still on as of last week, has been substantially covered. Last year with gold at these prices, Golden Star was trading closer to $7. Since then, their gold resources have gone up by 33%. For GSS to be below $5, makes no sense at these gold prices.
The senior golds continued their move up with the XAU advancing 1.80 to 95.82 with the HUI leaping another 4.28 to 209.49. The HUI ran into stiff resistance once it took out 210 as it made a high right above 211. Still, it was some week.
The smaller golds remain comatose. Stale longs can’t wait to sell into rallies and continue to do so. There is just very little interest out there among the investing public as evidenced by the sorry Café Sentiment Indicator. Will be at this market business for 30 years soon. Can’t think of a time when the fundamentals of a market were so spectacularly bullish, the market actually starts moving sharply in the right direction for the right reasons, and investors could care less.
I reiterate. This sort of lack of understanding of what the gold market has been all about, and is about, is leading us to a giant move higher for the precious metals – and will give us that historic investment opportunity of all time.
What is so important for Café members to keep in mind and on the front burner is the gold market has been rigged for many years. The official price today is a contrived one, held artificially low by white-collar gangsters. Were it not for these sanctimonious thugs, the price of gold would be hundreds of dollars per ounce higher. Fortunately, these bums are going to run out of available supply to continue their scam. The surge in cash buying we are seeing now will hasten their doom. When the cartel clowns are carried out, the price of gold is going to go bonkers. It will happen sooner than THEY think!
GATA BE IN IT TO WIN IT!
MIDAS