Yuan

How can so much gold be supplied to China without someone buying it and thus being genuine demand? It cannot. Chinese gold demand as disclosed by the World Gold Council (WGC) is fallacious. We were already missing 2,500 tonnes from the WGC numbers and now we have to add another 604 tonnes...

• France, Russia strike Islamic State in Syria, EU aid invoked (Reuters)
• Pressure Grows for Global Response Against Islamic State After Paris Attacks (WSJ)
• Weakened Hollande Faces Election Backlash in Wake of Attacks (BBG)
• French Official Calls for Metal Detectors at Train Stations (NYT)
• Belgium Raises Terror Threat Level, Cancels Soccer Game vs Spain (BBG)
• Foreign Companies Scrap Paris Events After Terror Attacks (BBG)

Editor’s Note: The tragic events in Paris, terrorism and war throughout the world, show geopolitical risk remains high.  These risks will likely impact economies and financial markets and will see continuing safe haven demand for gold. “The future is uncertain and gold is the most effective insurance against that.”

• Belgian Police 'Arrest' Public Enemy No.1 (Sky News)
• France Widens Crackdown at Home as Bombs Rain on Islamic State (BBG)
• Putin Goes From G-20 Pariah to Player at Obama Turkey Talk (BBG)
• Paris Attacks: 150 Raids as France Goes to 'War With Terrorism' (NBC)
• 'Rocket Launcher Found' In French Police Raids (Sky)
• Geopolitical worries lift oil after Paris attacks, but glut weighs (Reuters)
• Japan's economy falls back into recession again (BBC)

It is important to keep in mind that the dollar’s attacks on gold always end the same way – in a painful knockout for the dollar. There have been no exceptions to this rule throughout monetary history, nor will there be this time. Hence the well-known market rule: “Any maximum of the gold price is not the last one.” It would be naive to believe that this golden rule is unknown to that grandmaster of patience, Vladimir Putin, and to Xi Jinping. By systematically increasing their gold reserves, Russia and China are relentlessly moving forward to strip the US dollar of its status as a global reserve currency. America’s standard military solution won’t work in this situation.

While the world was following the tragic events unfolding on Friday night in France where hundreds of innocent civilians were killed or injured, an important economic development took place at the IMF, whose staff and head Christine Lagarde, officially greenlighted the acceptance of China's currency - the Renminbi, or Yuan - into the IMF's foreign exchange basket, also known as the Special Drawing Rights. Here are the initial early responses by various Wall Street analysts.

How much did the PBoC spend propping up China's stock market in Q3? By how much did they overpay? How likely are they to take an outsized loss? BofAML takes a look.

In the latest confirmation that China's Politburo is getting far more nervous than it will admit, hundreds of workers at a Hong Kong-owned toy factory in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen have been protesting since last week after the owner "disappeared," leaving their wages unpaid.

In a sign that the slowing economy, rising bank NPLs, and lackluster demand for credit from overleveraged corporates is overwhelming Beijin's easing efforts, China's October loan growth data came in far weaker than expected in yet another sign that all is most certainly not well with the world's engine of global growth and trade. Meanwhile, fiscal spending soared as it now appears Beijing may have no choice but to go the helicopter route if it hopes to reignite growth.

Gold bullion coin and bar demand surged in Q3 as gold’s continuing COMEX driven price weakness in July and sharp falls in stock markets in China and globally in August saw store of wealth buyers internationally again accumulate bullion.

• Stock futures little changed as Yellen comments awaited (Reuters)
• Draghi stimulus hint underpins stocks, knocks euro (Reuters)
• Black Friday's Losing Its Mojo and Retailers Might Be Relieved (BBG)
• Macy’s Fights Downward Spiral With Bet on Off-Price Backstage Stores (WSJ)
• Greece Comes to a Standstill as Unions Turn Against Tsipras (BBG)
• Euro zone production falls more than expected in September (Reuters)
• Valeant played a key role in building, operating Philidor RX (Reuters)

The biggest event overnight came from Europe, where Draghi managed to once again jawbone the Euro lower by ober 50 pips when he told European lawmakers in a prepared testimony that downside economic risks are "clearly visible," repeating his October press conference statement, adding that the ECB will reexamine degree of accommodation in December as "inflation dynamics have somewhat weakened." And the statement that crushed the Euro: "If we were to conclude that our medium-term price stability objective is at risk, we would act by using all the instruments available within our mandate to ensure that an appropriate degree of monetary accommodation is maintained." I.e., another "whatever it takes" moment.

Amid warnings from Daiwa Capital Markets that policy-makers "will sacrifice Yuan stability" in order to manage the deterioration in the economy (trade and industrial production data confirming the weakness), The PBOC weakened the Yuan fix for the 8th straight day. This is the longest streak of weakness since August 2008.