“Interesting Times” Best Times To Own Real, Tangible, Physical Gold

Today’s AM fix was USD 1,708.50, EUR 1,324.11 and GBP 1,065.42 per ounce. 
Friday’s AM fix was USD 1,697.00, EUR 1,312.55 and GBP 1,058.71 per ounce.

Silver is trading at $33.41/oz, €25.95/oz and £20.87/oz. Platinum is trading at $1,624.50/oz, palladium at $697.00/oz and rhodium at $1,040/oz.

Gold climbed $6.10 or 0.36% in New York Friday and closed at $1,704.10/oz. Silver slipped to a low of $32.61, and then recovered to a high of $33.244 and finished with a gain of 0.24%.

Cross Currency Table – (Bloomberg)

Gold and silver were both down for the week by 0.53% and 0.93% respectively. 

Gold rose in Asian trade overnight and has maintained those gains in European trading. 

Friday’s economic data showed the US non-farm payrolls higher than expected at 146K and the unemployment rate lower than expected at 7.7%. The data may mask fundamental weakness in the US economy which is seen in much other data – including the continuing rise on those dependent on food stamps. 

The Federal Reserve will hold a policy meeting tomorrow and Wednesday. Most expect the central bank to declare continuing bond purchases of $45 billion per month but analysts say that this may not be priced into gold and could lead to higher prices in the short term.

Continuing extremely unconventional and ultra loose monetary policies favour gold bullion. 

The US Commodity & Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed that bullish bets on US gold fell to its lowest level since the end of August. Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators decreased their net-long position in New York gold and silver futures in the week ended Dec. 4, according to the data.

This shows that the speculative froth has been reduced in the gold and silver markets.

In Europe, Germany’s central bank cautioned Friday that the eurozone’s number one economy may slide into a recession and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti declared that he intended to resign early this has led to Italian 10 year bonds falling very sharply and the yield rising to 4.89% – from 4.448% previously. Spanish 10 year yields rose from 5.404 to 5.65%.

China delivered mixed news as factory output increased, retail sales climbed to 8 month highs and consumer inflation improved but trade data was poor. Japan reported weaker than expected GDP which suggests that Japan is on the verge of another recession and further yen debasement will be seen.

Gold ETF’s hit another record high 76.129 million ounces on December 7th showing investment demand remains robust despite recent counter intuitive trading.

US economic data this week follow: Trade Balance and Wholesale Inventories on Tuesday, Export and Import Prices, a FOMC Rate Decision, and the Treasury Budget on Wednesday, Initial Jobless Claims, Retail Sales, PPI and Business Inventories on Thursday, and CPI, Industrial Production, and Capacity Utilization on Friday.

 Chris Sanders is now working with the GoldCore research team and will be researching and writing research articles for GoldCore. His experience in and knowledge of the world of finance and energy will help inform about the macroeconomic, monetary, geopolitical and geological challenges facing the global economy and us all today.

He has written an article, entitled Interesting Times Best Times To Own Real, Tangible, Physical Goldwhich explores oil, energy and natural resource depletion and the importance of owning physical gold:

None of this, though, seems to bother the navigators of our ship, who are stubbornly steering us farther from care than danger on a course across an ocean of debt to follow the great white whale of business as usual. These are interesting times alright, and historically interesting times have been the best times to own real, tangible, physical gold.

Somewhere, of course, where the navigators can’t steal it.
(Excerpt)

Gold London AM Fix (Source: LBMA) & Brent Oil (Source: EIA) – Monthly

The full article Interesting Times Best Times To Own Real, Tangible, Physical Gold can be read here.