SOMETHING is going on in the market. Re: precious metals.

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40. I'm reminded of the Hunt brothers' foray into the silver market.....

1979-1980. Two sons of the late oil magnate H.L. Hunt made an attempt to corner the silver market by buying futures contracts and taking delivery when the contracts expired. When the supply of physical silver dried up due to their manipulation, their scheme caught the attention of regulators, who stepped in to limit futures contracts, causing the Hunts' scheme to collapse. Consequently, they were forced to sell their holdings at huge losses, and eventually were forced into bankruptcy (although they nevertheless came out of it quite wealthy anyway). I think one (maybe both) of them was convicted of fraud for the scheme, fined millions of dineros, and banned from the commodities markets. It was quite a scandal, and led Congress and regulators to write some new rules.