Ideas and analysis on money, markets and the world around us.
Gold and silver rallied this week, with gold up $14 from last Friday’s close at $1283 in early European trade this morning. Silver is up by 18 cents at $17.00 over the same time-frame. The best day was Monday, following…
Read the articleThe assumption in some quarters is that crypto-currencies will replace gold as money, or at least challenge it. This is an error borne out of a misunderstanding of catallactics, or the theory of exchange. It also…
Read the articleConclusion: The large draws continue as net imports remain very low. We continue to believe that we are in a large global deficit in 4Q17, but most of the draws seem to show up in the US for now. With Brent at $63.50 at…
Read the articleGold and silver prices steadied this week, with gold up $3 since last Friday’s close at $1275 in early European trade this morning (Friday). Gold lagged the other precious metals, and this was particularly noticeable in…
Read the articleAt last, there are signs a sense of reality is dawning on the EU’s negotiators about the futility of trying to force the UK to agree to a divorce settlement before talking about trade. However, there are still vestiges…
Read the articleGold, ornamentation and money: that was the sequence of events. Man discovered gold, found it malleable, durable and attractive. It was first used for ornamentation, then as social economics evolved into the division of…
Read the articlePrecious metals drifted lower this week, with gold losing a further $13 from last Friday’s close, to trade at $1267 in Europe this morning (Friday). Silver lost 30 cents over the same time scale, to $16.73. Prices have…
Read the articleThe accumulation of monetary policy errors by the Fed is increasingly certain to culminate in the credit crisis that always marks the end of the credit cycle. Credit crises are the result of globally coordinated…
Read the articleConclusion: Very large draw of crude and products, which was mainly driven by the record low net import number (mainly due to extremely high exports). While this has accelerated the drawdown in US petroleum stocks, it…
Read the articleConclusion: At first sight the stats look very bullish, with total stocks drawing >11mb more than normal. However, 7mb of that is due to production shut ins alone, which will likely be reversed next week. Record high…
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