After years of emulating the flashy United States stock markets, countries around the globe are now using America as a model for what they don’t want to look like.

Industry leaders and regulators in several countries including Canada, Australia and Germany have adopted or proposed limits on high-speed trading and other technological developments that have come to define United States markets.

The flurry of international activity is particularly striking because regulators have been slow to act in the United States, where trading firms and investors have been hardest hit by a series of market disruptions, including the flash crash of 2010 and the runaway trading in August by Knight Capital that cost it $440 million in just hours. While the Securities and Exchange Commission is hosting a round table on the topic on Tuesday, the agency has not proposed any major new rules this year.

This story showed up posted on The New York Times website on Tuesday...and it's well worth reading. The HFT chart in the left side bar part way down is worth the trip all by itself. I thank Donald Sinclair for our first story of the day...and the link is here.

China-based Sheenson Investments Ltd and a stakeholder agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle U.S. charges that it violated rules on the size of positions traders can hold in the cotton and soybean futures markets, a U.S. regulator said on Tuesday.

Sheenson Investments exceeded position limits in the soybean oil market in February and March 2009, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a brief release on the unusually large fine.

The CFTC order also found that Weidong Ge, through his ownership interest in Hong Kong-registered Sheenson and other firms, exceeded limits in the cotton market from January through February 11, 2011.

Of course the question begs to be asked...what about JPMorgan's groteque short position in silver, which is more than six times the current 5,000 contract limit for all months combined. I guess there are only violations when you are exceeding the limits on the long side. This Reuters story showed up on their Internet site early on Wednesday morning...and I thank Scott Pluschau for bringing it to our attention. It's a short must read...and the link is here.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc will pay more than $14 million to settle federal and state charges after it violated "pay-to-play" rules, in a case involving campaign contributions to former Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Timothy Cahill.

Neil Morrison, a former vice president in Goldman's Boston office, worked extensively on Cahill's 2010 campaign while also soliciting underwriting business from the Massachusetts treasurer's office, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.

Cahill at the time was Massachusetts state treasurer.

In what the SEC described as its first "pay-to-play" case involving contributions other than cash, Goldman settled without admitting or denying the charges.

This is another offering from Scott Pluschau...and another Reuters story as well. It was posted on their website late Thursday afternoon...and the link is here.

The scene is a Buenos Aires city-centre side-street. I stand pretending to look in a shop window until I catch the eye of a man loitering in a doorway. He acknowledges me with a wink and I sidle over. We talk without moving our lips.

“How much?”

“Six thirty five.”

“Deal. Give me five hundred.” With shifty glances over the shoulder, I complete the transaction and scurry away. Another day, another hit.

Bizarrely, the prohibited substance we are trading is the US dollar. But how, in the glittering, cosmopolitan capital of a proud and prosperous nation, did it all get so sordid? How did we sink so low?

This story originally showed up in The Telegraph Weekly World Edition...and was picked up by the businessinsider.com Internet site early on Thursday morning...and it's worth reading if you have the time. It's also Roy Stephens first offering of the day...and the link is here.

At the request of the Athens government, the British financial authorities recently handed over a detailed list of about 400 Greek individuals who have bought and sold London properties since 2009.

The list, closely guarded, has not been publicly disclosed. But Greek officials are examining it to determine whether the people named — who they say include prominent businessmen, bankers, shipping tycoons and professional athletes — have deceived the tax authorities by understating their wealth.

“These people have money and they are known — but it is not clear yet if they have violated any laws,” said Haris Theoharis, an official in the Greek Finance Ministry. Tax investigators have been examining the list to see whether there is any overlap between those who bought London properties and those already identified as being tax cheats.

This story showed up in The New York Times yesterday...and I thank Phil Barlett for digging it up on our behalf. The link is here.

Matteo Renzi is on a crusade to become Italy's next leader. With his calls for wholesale change in the political landscape, the mayor of Florence is generating excitement like few other recent Italian politicians. But his main opposition is coming from the bigwigs in his own party who would also get the boot if he won.

Last Monday, he was in Rome. A week earlier, he ploughed through northern Italy. In just two days, he made stops in 20 cities -- from Mantua and Monza to Bergamo and Brescia -- logging 3,250 kilometers (over 2,000 miles) in the process. Everywhere he went, the rooms were packed and the crowds were enthusiastic. Now his journey is taking him to southern Italy, starting with Naples.

The journey is being made in a white camper with the word "Adesso!", or "Now!", written in big letters on the exterior. Inside sits Matteo Renzi, the 37-year-old mayor of Florence. He is confident, relatively young for an Italian politician -- and sparking fear within the establishment. He is determined to win this spring's parliamentary election on his own, to become prime minister and to lead Italy for the next five years.

The resonance has been massive. More than anyone, young, Internet-savvy Italians are excited that someone is finally sounding the call to the barricades. After all, the older generation has yoked them with unemployment and debts. Even older conservatives who used to vote for former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi are jumping on the bandwagon. Fausto, for example, a self-employed construction engineer in his mid-50s, says: "If Renzi runs, he'll get my vote!"

Well, dear reader, Matteo Renzi is a man to watch...and the political establishment has every right to be fearful of him. This story showed up on the German Internet site spiegel.de yesterday...and is Donald Sinclair's second offering in today's column. The link is here.

We discover – yet again, you might say – that Germany, Holland, and Finland will not stand behind their solemn pledge of solidarity when push comes to shove.

Spain’s premier Mariano Rajoy has been betrayed. Nobody should be entirely surprised if he and the Spanish arch-nationalists in his circle offer a condign riposte, and bring down the entire temple on the heads of the creditor powers.

He bit the bullet and agreed to the highly intrusive terms of a €100bn eurozone rescue for the Spanish banking system on a specific understanding: that the ESM bail-out fund would ultimately take over the burden by recapitalising Spain’s banks directly.

This deal has been breached. Can we believe anything that the Chancellor of Germany, the prime minister of Holland, and the prime minister of Finland say from now on? The EMU rescue edifice is built on sand.

Ambrose is not a happy camper in this rather long blog that was posted on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site yesterday. It's certainly a must read...and I thank Roy Stephens for being the first one through the door with this story yesterday. The link is here.

Uncontrolled security threats on the Internet could return much of the planet to an era without electricity or automated transportation, top U.S. and Russian experts said on Thursday.

Former National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden warned that the United States had yet to resolve basic questions about how to police the Internet, let alone how to defend critical infrastructure such as electric generation plants.

And if recently discovered and government-sponsored intrusion software proliferates in the same way that viruses have in the past, "somewhere in 2020, maybe 2040, we'll get back to a romantic time - no power, no cars, no trains," said Eugene Kaspersky, chief executive officer of Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, the largest privately held security vendor.

The back-to-back presentations at a Washington conference painted the starkest picture to date about the severity of the cyber-security problem.

This businessinsider.com article was posted on their website late yesterday afternoon...and I thank Roy Stephens for his final offering in today's column. The link is here.

The first is with BMO's Don Coxe...and it's headlined "Gold Now Trading at All-Time Highs as a Global Asset". Next is Jean-Marie Eveillard. It's entitled "A Faltering Global Economy, Neo-Keynesians & $15,000 Gold". Last but not least is Caesar Bryan...and his blog bears the title "Gold Could Easily Double From These Levels".

Acquiescing to significantly higher wage demands would put South Africa's gold miners into a very difficult position.

It was gathering the same talismanic quality as the Occupy Movement's 99%. And, bolstered by the steely determination of workers not to see slain comrades die in vain, the demand echoed throughout the platinum district, striking fear into the hearts of Lonmin investors and management.

The workers employed by the world's third largest platinum miner eventually lowered their demands somewhat, but the final settlement of 11 - 22% was nothing to sneeze at and Lonmin's workers were understandably happy.

Given that the increase came as the result of an unprotected strike, the most cynical of capitalists could argue that these miners should be happy just to still have a job, let alone an increase of unprecedented magnitude.

But, if there was a glimmer of hope that the strikers had been appeased by the settlement at Lonmin, it was soon dashed by spreading strikes not just to other platinum mines but, to gold and coal mines as well. And, while some began as disputes over union leadership, increasingly "the number" has returned.

This longish article was posted on the mineweb.com Internet site yesterday sometime...and I thank Donald Sinclair for his final offering in today's column. It's certainly worth reading...and the link is here.

The miner has opted to play the waiting game against its striking workforce whilst mulling its dismissal options.

Gold Field's CEO, Nick Holland, has said the company will not be negotiating with illegal strikers and that, if need be, it can outlast its striking workforce.

"This is a war of attrition, if need be we can sit it out, we are financially very strong, we don't have to do anything anytime soon" said Holland in an interview with Moneyweb's Alec Hogg on SAFM radio Thursday.

Holland is hoping that the on-going strikers will be worn down through lack of financial means.

It will be interesting to see which side caves in first. I found this story on the mineweb.com Internet site just now. It was filed from Johannesburg earlier this morning...and it's definitely worth your time, if you have it. The link is here.

A limited edition of only 500 went on sale in Dubai for a mere $4,700 a copy...and that's the cheap model. This 1-minute long Bloomberg video was sent to me by Manitoba reader Ulrike Marx in the wee hours of this morning...and the link is here.

Nick Barisheff is President and CEO of Bullion Management Group Inc., a bullion investment company that provides investors with a secure, cost-effective and transparent way to purchase and store physical bullion. Recognized worldwide as a bullion expert, Barisheff is an author, speaker and financial commentator on bullion and current market trends.

This interview with Nick was posted on the commodityhq.com Internet site on Monday...and is definitely worth reading. The link is here.

Hedge funds are the most bullish on silver in seven months and investors’ holdings are expanding toward a record on speculation the metal will outperform gold as central banks seek to boost growth.

Wagers on rising prices jumped 10-fold since June, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Investors bought 717.2 metric tons valued at $797 million through exchange-traded products this quarter, the most in a year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Prices will increase for at least the next three quarters and average $38 an ounce in the three months through June, or 9.9 percent more than now, based on the median of 14 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

If history is any guide, silver will beat gold after the Federal Reserve announced a third round of debt-buying and central banks from Europe to Japan pledged more action. Silver rose about 53 percent in the Fed’s first quantitative easing from December 2008 through March 2010, twice as much as gold, and 24 percent during the second phase ending in June 2011, three times as much. Silver will probably keep beating gold in the next several quarters, Morgan Stanley predicts.

“The recent announcements on the part of central banks really sparked the rally,” said Peter Sorrentino, who helps manage $14.6 billion of assets at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati. “Silver has now become a two-way play, getting bids both on industrial demand as well as a monetary hedge.”

It's hard to believe that this really decent article about silver actually showed up on Bloomberg's website yesterday, but that's precisely what happened. It's a must read for sure...and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for sending it along. The link is here.

Gold climbed to a record priced in euros and Swiss francs on concern that central banks’ moves to boost economies will devalue currencies, spurring demand for the metal as an alternative investment.

Bullion for immediate delivery in London reached 1,379.32 euros an ounce and has rallied 14 percent this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Gold priced in dollars rose 13 percent this year to $1,771.30 by 4:49 p.m. local time and is trading 7.8 percent below the all-time high set in September 2011. The commodity set a record 1,667.18 Swiss francs today and peaked in Indian rupees earlier this month.

Bullion, typically priced in dollars, is extending 11 consecutive annual gains as the Federal Reserve announced a third round of quantitative easing and as central banks from Europe to China to Japan also pledged more action this month. Nations from South Korea to Kazakhstan are boosting their gold reserves and metal held in bullion-backed exchange-traded products rose to a record 2,551.9 metric tons valued at $145.3 billion on Sept. 25, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

This is another story from Bloomberg yesterday...and I thank Washington state reader S.A. for our final story in today's column. The link is here.