Archive - Mar 26, 2014

Russia has increased its gold holdings by 7.247 tonnes to 1,042 tonnes in February. Turkey and Kazakhstan also raised their bullion reserves, data from the International Monetary Fund showed today. Turkey's gold holdings rose 9.292 tonnes to 497.869 tonnes, the data showed. Many analysts are ignoring the important context of today's new geopolitical backdrop. Russia alone has some $400 billion in foreign exchange reserves - mostly in U.S. dollars. If they were to diversify just 5%, worth some $20 billion, of those reserves into gold - it would be equal to nearly 500 tonnes of gold or nearly 25% of global annual production.  It will be interesting to see what Russian demand is in March and indeed in the coming months. Sanctions could lead to materially higher demand from the Russian central bank, Bank Rossii.

• One-Ship Ukraine Navy Defies Russia to the End (WSJ)
• Crimea-Induced Trading Surge Stokes Moscow Exchange Rally (BBG)
• Moscow says Ukraine stops Russian crews disembarking in Kiev (Reuters)
• New images show more than 100 objects that could be plane debris (Reuters)
• Anger of Flight 370 Families Explodes in Beijing (BBG)
• Murdoch Promotes Son Lachlan in Succession Plan for Empire (BBG)
• Facebook to buy virtual reality goggles maker for $2 billion (Reuters)
• Syrian Regime Exploits Rebel Despair (WSJ)
• King Digital IPO price may not bode well for stock (Reuters)
• Rothschild in Twitter Spat as Bakries Cut Ties With Miner (BBG)

Another morning melt up after a less than impressive session in China which saw the SHCOMP drop again reversing the furious gains in the past few days driven by hopes of more PBOC easing (despite China's repeated warning not to expect much). A flurry of market topping activity overnight once again, with Candy Crush maker King Digital pricing at $22.50 or the projected midpoint of its price range, and with FaceBook using more of its epically overvalued stock as currency to purchase yet another company, this time virtual reality firm Oculus VR for $2 billion. Perhaps an appropriate purchase considering the entire economy is pushed higher on pro-forma, "virtual" output, and the Fed's capital markets are something straight out of the matrix. Despite today's pre-open ramp, which will be the 4th in a row, one wonders if biotechs will finally break the downward tractor beam they have been latched on to as the bubble has shown signs of cracking, or will the mad momo crowd come back with a vengeance - this too will be answered shortly.