Ideas and analysis on money, markets and the world around us.
As Spain is bailed out, with some mystery over who exactly is going to be footing the bill, we are forced to focus once again on the existential threat facing the euro: will the teenage currency make it through…
Read the articleWith eurozone troubles taking yet another turn for the worse, China’s economy struggling, and US jobs data showing the American economy is again heading in the wrong direction, gold has at last started to make some…
Read the articleBloomberg recently published an illustrative slideshow titled “The Real Cost of Owning Gold”. As usual when dealing with precious metals, in an attitude that is widespread among the mainstream financial press, the tone…
Read the articleThe eurozone continues to keep us in suspense in the wake of the French elections, and pending the second Greek election in as many months, the underlying financial deterioration is accelerating. Funds are being…
Read the articleLast year's disastrous collapse of MF Global has impacted financial markets around the world in many ways. Given that it was one of the largest brokers of leveraged products, it is no surprise that this area has felt…
Read the articleThere is a big shift in political sentiment among G8 leaders towards less austerity and more emphasis on economic growth, which was evident at their meeting last weekend. The triggers are the election of Francois…
Read the articleThere has been a growing shift in favour of assets relative to bank deposits. This was initially encouraged by zero interest rates, but more recently there is little doubt that Cyprus’s bail-in has accelerated the…
Read the articleThe reason we accept paper money as a store of value is habit. This habit has its origins in history, when banks took our gold as deposit and issued paper receipts for it. The gold has gone, but the paper with its…
Read the articleThe dreary picture painted by recent headlines and the tiresome repetition that gold “has entered a bear market” seems to be taking its toll on gold investors, whose confidence levels appear to be hitting bottom. As…
Read the articleIn recent weeks, while the eurozone has suffered escalating levels of systemic stress in government bond markets and its banking system, the gold price has fallen under $1,600. One would have thought that – but for the…
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