gold 1965 (2) from the useless Gus' collection of bits...

 

The gold price is the best performing asset class of 2016 and could be set to maintain its strong rally after its traditional negative correlation with the dollar broke down.

Yesterday, amid a fall in European markets prompted by the latest slide in oil, the metal continued to benefit from "safe-haven" trading and surged more than $30 to peak above $1,250 an ounce in New York. This was despite the dollar also rising as Brexit fears hit the pound and the euro dipped on hopes of further stimulus from the European Central Bank.

 

http://www.theweek.co.uk/gold-price/61682/gold-price-holds-at-higher-level-despite-dip

And by the way, should you read the first paragraph of the 1965 article, you need to know that De Gaulle, the French President at the time, hated the Yanks — for good reasons.

His clever idea was to annoy the US, by currency manipulation. The US did not like De Gaulle much either.

 

 

China is buying one of London's biggest gold vaults.

The Chinese state-owned ICBC Standard Bank (IDCBF), the world's biggest bank by assets, has agreed to buy Barclays precious metals storage business, including its state-of-the-art storage facility in London.

The deal will boost China's access to London's gold market, and expand the country's role in the gold business.

The vault is in a secret location in London, and can store 2,000 tonnes of gold and other precious metals. At current prices, up to $90 billion worth of gold could be stored inside.

Barclays (BCLYF) has previously announced a move away from the precious metal business. The bank opened the facility in 2012.

The financial details of the sale were not released.

Related: Gold tops $1,300, hits 15-month high

 

http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/16/news/china-buys-london-gold-vault/index.html?iid=TL_Popular

The closer wars loom, the more people buy gold... Soros is dumping stocks for gold... What do they know? Well, they know that the Yanks are trying hard to rattle the Russians and that the Chinese are settling "disputed" island in the China sea... Plus, the Middle East is still not a hub of Myrrh, inscent and gold...

But worry not... 90 billion is peanuts. China holds nearly 4 trillion $US in reserves... (IOUs from the US)

 

Central banks around the world are increasing their gold reserves at an incredible pace. Over the last three months alone, they have purchased gold worth 5.82 billion dollars, which is roughly a quarter more than the year earlier. It is noteworthy that the Bank of Russia and the Turkish Central Bank have broken a record in terms of gold purchases.

Gold Rush

According to data provided by the World Gold Council, central banks have bought as much as 148 metric tons of gold, which is 22 percent more than the same period last year. The Bank of Russia is leading in the purchases, which stand at 92 metric tons. Russia previously bought a comparable amount of the precious metal only at the height of the 1993 market reforms.

Taking into account the 106 tons the country purchased in the first half of the year, Russia’s gold reserve has now exceeded 2,036 tons, worth around 78 billion dollars. Russia thus entered the top five gold-holding nations, surpassed only by the US, whose reserve accounts for 8,133.5 tons, Germany with its 3369.7 tons, Italy (2,451.8 tons) and France (2,436 tons.)

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/business/201811031069477784-russia-turkey-china-...

 

Perspective: please note that the amount of "derivative" bets on the value of the world economic cogs are "worth" more than 1500 trillion US dollars... This is why from time to time, there is a "correction" of the stock markets worldwide, so the "investors" (gamblers) in derivatives can collect the difference between their bets and their own counter bets — on the due date, without really doing anything productive. 

 

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Russia is currently third in the global rating of gold miners after Australia and China. The Russian gold mining sector has nearly doubled its volume of extraction over the last two decades. Over the last ten years, the country’s producers mined 2,189 tons of gold, the Russian Union of Gold Producers reported in January.

Earlier this year, the Moscow-based Institute of Geotechnology forecasted that in less than a decade Russia may change its position in the rating of global gold miners. The country is expected to become the world's second-largest producer due to the further boost of production.

Russia's gold production had seen an annual growth by up to seven percent on average in ten years through 2017. Top producer Polyus and Polymetal used to account for most of the growth last year, and are expected to do so again in 2018.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/business/446177-russia-boost-gold-production/

 

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The chart of countries that horde gold is often incomplete, but :

The USA with about 8.200 tonnes of gold

Then Germany with 3,400 tonnes

Italy 2,500 tonnes

France 2,400 tonnes

Russia 1,300 tonnes

China 1,100 tonnes

 

etc. and they don't mention the IMF

 

The IMF holds around 90.5 million ounces (2,814.1 metric tons) of gold at designated depositories. Based on historical cost, the IMF’s total gold holdings are valued at SDR3.2 billion (about $4.6 billion), but at current market prices, their value is about SDR82.8 billion (about $120.1 billion).

 

The price of gold, despite some massive buying by Russia and China (and Germany), has stayed about the same for quite a while and this is hiding a most likely partial dump of the US dollar down the track. The price of gold is more or less kept "horizontal" by the IMF, discreetly selling its gold reserves to countries that are buying at a "fixed" price. This is somehow preventing a rush on gold by "ordinary floks" like us who cannot even afford a MacDonald's mini-hamburger on Sunday... Meanwhile, Australia has the biggest known exploitable gold reserves.

 

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