It’s been just shy of a month since our last “post-election” market update and given the recent developments across markets, it seems a pertinent time for an update regarding our thoughts on the precious metals market.
One week after Fitch downgraded Italian banks to a negative outlook due to soaring bad debt, and risks resulting from the failed referendum, moments ago Moody's did the same,
Shariah Gold Standard Approved for $2 Trillion Islamic Finance Market
by Jan Skoyles, Editor Mark O'Byrne
The Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and the World Gold Council have made an important decision
The Prime Minister forced MPs to say whether they backed Brexit by asking them to vote in Parliament on whether they "respect" the will of the British people.
Sifnos Greece
This article was spotted on Sovereignman
In 524 BC, a group of pirates set sail for Sifnos, an ancient Greek island famed for its vast gold and silver mines.
The mines of Sifnos were unparalleled in the ancient world.
They produced so much gold and silver that the local government at Sifnos could erect countless monuments, invest in new public works, and still easily have a substantial balance remaining at the end of each year to distribute to the citizens.
When the pirates arrived,
As we noted last night, when we previewed the virtually assured "No" vote, we said that "a strong “No” vote will cause Prime Minister Renzi to resign, leading to political instability in Italy. Furthermore, a "No" vote is expected to kill a long-running attempt to rescue Italy's third largest and oldest bank, Monte dei Paschi, which has been desperate for a private sector bailout ever since it failed this summer's ECB stress test to avoid broader banking sector contagion;
Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $60 million to settle private U.S. antitrust litigation by traders and other investors who accused the German bank of conspiring to manipulate gold prices at their expense.
Despite propaganda to the contrary, China’s rise will be the big story in 2017.
Stephen Leeb: “Gold is back in business and barring some unforeseen event should soon resume its uptrend. As I recently argued,
Background
Gold prices are getting pummeled on a daily basis and appear to be coming down as fast as they went up.
First we had Brexit which resulted in both the Euro and the British Pound getting sold off hard. When these two currencies lose value the US Dollar is forced to go higher as per The US Dollar Index. As gold has an inverse relationship to the dollar then gold’s value tends to fall in dollar terms.
The election of Donald Trump also appears to good for the dollar as the expectation is that the re-building of the infrastructure, in all its forms, will give the economy a boost and so investment funds start to flow into the US.
Referendum in Italy
Background
The gold and silver producers made a blistering start to the year; however, the second half of the year has been a totally different story. The chart below depicts the rise and fall of the gold producers which make up the Gold Bugs Index the HUI. This Index has now fallen 60% from its recent high of 282 which suggests to us that the selling pressure should be just about exhausted. Overall the HUI remains some 72.2% off its high (630-175) made in 2011, so there is plenty of room for the stocks to rise once gold resumes its bull market.
The chart shows that a Cross of Death
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Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at 07:18PM