GoldCore's blog

Gold will also be vulnerable towards the end of an interest rate tightening cycle as was the case in January 1980. Today, central banks including the Fed  are having difficulty raising interest rates in even a small nominal way.

In the event of a systemic European banking crisis, however, laws could be changed at the stroke of a pen and “bail-in” mechanisms could become fully operational. Also, the comforting guarantee of €100,000 ($100,000 or £80,000) would likely be reduced in such a crisis.

Butler believes that since the end of the Bretton Woods monetary system, there is a strong case for having higher allocations to physical gold. He warns of the risk inherent in gold ETFs due to the levels of legal indemnifications.

Gold in euros rose sharply to the highest in three months after the European Central Bank signaled it will likely engage in more QE and may even move to negative interest rates. Draghi's comments are gold bullish - particularly in euro terms.

Gold can be useful as a hedge against inflation but it's been consistently so only in the long run.

“If Congress fails to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by [November 3], the US could risk a first-ever default on its obligations”.

The weaker US dollar, the probability of near-zero interest rates for the remainder of the year and a seasonal increase in demand is underpinning the positive potential for gold.

The LBMA wants to boost transparency and invited the market to suggest improvements including considering a new electronic platform that may lower trading costs and improve efficiency.

Audio - There were some very interesting insights and we believe high net worth and institutional investors and indeed all listeners will get useful information with which to protect and grow their wealth.

The “smart money” and by that we mean the more informed, aware and prudent investors and institutions internationally continue to have an allocation to gold and or add to existing allocations. The less informed continue to not understand or disparage gold and focus almost solely on gold’s short term price action rather than gold’s long term attributes as a hedging instrument and a safe haven asset.

Capital Economics "expects gold could hit $1,200 before the end of this year, rising to $1,400 by the end of 2016”

Marc Faber is an eloquent advocate of owning physical gold which he describes as being a way to become “your own central bank.”  He believes an allocation to physical gold will serve as vital financial insurance and that Singapore is the safest place to own gold in the world today.

“Tis the part of the wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow, and not venture all his eggs in one basket” - Cervantes in Don Quixote in 1605

The key to successful long term investing is diversification and owning a range of different quality assets.

Gold has been shown to enhance returns and to reduce overall volatility over the long term. This was clearly seen during the financial crisis when gold was one of the very few assets to surge in value.

Investors should hope for the best while making preparations for less benign scenarios. This can be achieved by reducing leverage and speculation and having a healthy allocation to physical precious metals in the safest vaults in the world.

Like other banks, Deutsche has been caught up in the Libor-rigging scandal, and faces another investigation in Switzerland for suspected price-fixing in the precious metal market.

Gillian Tett, ourselves and many others have warned that Deutsche and its massive derivative book has the potential to be a ”European Lehman Brothers”. Is Deutsche Bank, the largest holder of Warren Buffett’s “financial weapons of mass destruction” derivatives in trouble?