JPMorgan to exit physical commodities trading

[Ad Orientem]

(Reuters) - JP Morgan Chase & Co is exiting physical commodities trading, the bank said in a surprise statement on Friday, as Wall Street's role in the trading of oil tankers, coffee beans and metals comes under intense political and regulatory pressure.

Wall Street's biggest bank said an "internal review" had concluded it should pursue "strategic alternatives" for its physical commodities operations, which includes assets like its Henry Bath metals warehousing subsidiary and a team of physical power and oil traders in Houston and New York.

The firm will explore "a sale, spinoff or strategic partnership" for its physical arm, the statement said, adding the bank remained "fully committed" to its traditional financial commodity business, including trading derivatives and its activities in precious metals.

The bank's announcement follows a week of unprecedented scrutiny of Wall Street's commodity operations, after the U.S. Federal Reserve said last Friday it was reviewing a landmark 2003 decision that allowed commercial banks to trade in physical markets to "complement" their financial activity.

Read the rest here...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/ ... 0M20130726

[Bean]

Their gold vault caught on fire, that is why this is happening.

I happened to be on my first day of vacation in New York City on (7/20) and walked down to Wall Street.  When I got there, fire trucks, ambulances, and respiratory units were everywhere, between the JP Morgan building and Wall Street. Thought it was a drill since there seemed like nothing was happening on the street.

Well the next day I walked by again and they had those air vents they use to get smoke and water out of a building, coming out of the JP Morgan building, plus they were putting out a ton of water. (Even got a photo of it)

Mentioned it to a local friend and he found this article:
http://investmentwatchblog.com/breaking ... iretrucks/

Amazing how this has got no press.

[MediumTex]

Their gold vault caught on fire, that is why this is happening.

I happened to be on my first day of vacation in New York City on (7/20) and walked down to Wall Street.  When I got there, fire trucks, ambulances, and respiratory units were everywhere, between the JP Morgan building and Wall Street. Thought it was a drill since there seemed like nothing was happening on the street.

Well the next day I walked by again and they had those air vents they use to get smoke and water out of a building, coming out of the JP Morgan building, plus they were putting out a ton of water. (Even got a photo of it)

Mentioned it to a local friend and he found this article:
http://investmentwatchblog.com/breaking ... iretrucks/

Amazing how this has got no press.

It was a fire, huh?

I had heard that JP Morgan lost all of its gold in a terrible boating accident. 

[Bean]

I would go with it completely combusted 

There is all sorts of speculation going on about what really happened and what was in the vault, since most think JP Morgans gold is in a different building.  From what I saw, and hearing from local friends, is that vault had some serious value in it, gold or otherwise.

Zero Hedge Article:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-2 ... gold-vault

[MediumTex]

I would go with it completely combusted 

There is all sorts of speculation going on about what really happened and what was in the vault, since most think JP Morgans gold is in a different building.  From what I saw, and hearing from local friends, is that vault had some serious value in it, gold or otherwise.

Zero Hedge Article:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-2 ... gold-vault

I want to know what the mechanics are of a serious fire occurring in a secure environment like that.  That's bizarre. 

Was a security guard smoking a cigarette while transporting a pallet of gold-plated propane bottles?

How does a fire like that happen in an area where there aren't even that many combustible items sitting around?  What was on fire?

[Bean]

Given my redneck knowledge and childhood fascination with fire my guess would be...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_explosion

[MediumTex]

Given my redneck knowledge and childhood fascination with fire my guess would be...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_explosion

Have you ever burned a tire?

No redneck (or French) life is complete without burning at least one tire.

Nasty.

[cnh]

I would go with it completely combusted 

There is all sorts of speculation going on about what really happened and what was in the vault, since most think JP Morgans gold is in a different building.  From what I saw, and hearing from local friends, is that vault had some serious value in it, gold or otherwise.

Zero Hedge Article:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-2 ... gold-vault

I want to know what the mechanics are of a serious fire occurring in a secure environment like that.  That's bizarre. 

Was a security guard smoking a cigarette while transporting a pallet of gold-plated propane bottles?

How does a fire like that happen in an area where there aren't even that many combustible items sitting around?  What was on fire?

I'm thinking it was paper IOUs...combined with security guard having a smoke.

[murphy_p_t]

from what i've seen, even the purest of goldbuggery sites have discounted any significance to this story.

[MediumTex]

from what i've seen, even the purest of goldbuggery sites have discounted any significance to this story.

I don't think it's significant as far as gold being damaged/moved/stolen or whatever.

I'm just trying to figure out how a fire starts in such a secure location.

[Bean]

from what i've seen, even the purest of goldbuggery sites have discounted any significance to this story.

I don't think it's significant as far as gold being damaged/moved/stolen or whatever.

I'm just trying to figure out how a fire starts in such a secure location.

If the answer to this question appears on the show Ancient Aliens, then I called it here first.

[smurff]

Since Hurricane Sandy, lower Manhattan has had lots of instability.  There are still buildings, including luxury apartment buildings, that are uninhabitable because of the damage and mold growth. It's a big unspoken secret, but articles come out now and then, discussing the ghost buildings interspersed among buildings where things seem to go okay most of the time. 

Lots of the hidden damage was related to electricity, damage to electrical conduits, elevator banks etc. I would not be surprised if something like that happened in JPM' s vault, whatever (papers) they are keeping in it.

As for the number of fire engines, a firefighter friend told me last week that firefighters have to fight fires in order to learn how to do it and keep their skills up.  I had asked him why trucks show up from as many as five separate Westchester County towns and villages to deal with a minor fire the local department could easily handle alone.  He said that whenever there is a fire within range, as many companies will get involved as possible, provided they can do so while keeping their own territories/neighborhoods covered.  They even have pre established hierarchies about which companies can help put out fires outside their own territories and who will cover whom when they have to be away fighting another town's fire. 

So I suspect that's why there were so many fire engines in Wall Street.  That, plus the fact it's a neighborhood  where so many firefighters were lost a decade or so ago, and again when damaged ground zero buildings were being torn down, means it's an area with lots of emotion around it, no matter how minor the actual fire.