A wider perspective.

Ideas and analysis on money, markets and the world around us.

Interest Rates and Gold

It is commonly assumed that the gold price and interest rates move in opposite directions. In other words, a tendency towards higher interest rates is accompanied by a lower gold price. Like all assumptions about…

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Market Report: Quarter-end resilience

Gold and silver prices rose slightly over the course of this week, with the gold price up $15 to $1235, and silver up 20c to $15.38. London having been closed for Easter Monday, trading in the physical market was…

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A tale of two currencies

There is a widespread and growing feeling that financial markets are slipping towards another crisis of some sort. In this article I argue that we are in the eye of a financial storm, that it will blow again from the…

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Market Report: Dollar’s roller-coaster

In the run up to Easter, trading in markets generally has become both volatile and thin. It is usual in these conditions for negative factors to recede from traders' minds, and so we have seen continuing strength in…

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Guessing the future without Say’s law

Or some reflections to read over the Easter holidays With Japanese and Eurozone interest rates becoming increasingly negative, and the Fed backing off from at least some of the planned increases in the Fed funds rate…

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Market Report: FOMC backs off

Precious metal prices eased ahead of this week's 2-day FOMC meeting, which ended on Wednesday. Gold had drifted $30 lower before recovering it all in a matter of minutes on Wednesday afternoon EST, after the rate…

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