Michael Noonan, Irish Finance Minister confirmed yesterday that bail-ins or deposit confiscation will be used in the EU. The era of bondholder bailouts is ending and that of depositor bail-ins is coming.
Preparations have been or are being put in place by the international monetary and financial authorities forbail-ins. The majority of the public are unaware of these developments, the risks and the ramifications.
People internationally are opting to store gold in allocated accounts in Switzerland due to their tradition of respecting private property and the fact that their economy is very sound. Therefore it is a good place to diversify assets in order to protect wealth.
There was more irregular price action in trading yesterday between 1800 and 1830 GMT. Gold had trended slightly higher in the afternoon and was trading at $1,244/oz prior to a sharp but very brief spike to $1,254/oz and then sharp concentrated selling saw gold fall by more than $20 to $1,231/oz before bouncing higher and recovering to the $1,245/oz level again.
The trading was unusual as foreign exhange markets saw no price movements of note, nor did the silver, platinum and palladium markets.
An important question is what exactly is Goldman's motivation for the peculiar gold deal? Does it wish to have access to Venezuela's gold reserves? There area many other innovative ways that Goldman could help Venezuela with its current economic travails that do not involve gold. Were Venezuela to default on the bonds would Goldman become the beneficial owner of Venezuela's gold reserves?
It would likely also deal another blow to the U.S property market and the fragile U.S economy. JP Morgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo appear to be most exposed - meaning that either taxpayers will again be asked to bail out banks or more likely the coming bail-in regime will confiscate cash from depositors.
IN CHINA, THE GOLD RUSH CONTINUES as Chinese people buy jewellery, coins and bars as a store of wealth protection from inflation. The worlds largest jewellery group, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd., established in 1929, saw sales jump 49% during the first half of 2013.
The video covers the race to debase and the manipulation of precious metal prices: "They can mess around with the price all they want, ultimately the price of everything in the long term will be dictated by supply and demand, particulary for a physical commodity like gold".
And yet gold still seems to be stuck in a downtrend. This week's sell off may have been due to trading shenanigans on the COMEX and many, including the UK Financial Regulator are asking questions as to whether gold price rigging is taking place.
However, while price manipulations may work in the short term, in the long term gold prices will be dictated by the real world forces of physical supply and demand for gold coins, bars and jewellery. The smart money is fading out the considerable noise regarding volatile intraday price falls and focusing on gold's importance as a long term diversification in a portfolio.
“This is different" and "this location is different" is the mantra of every property bubble. We will soon see if the London property bubble is truly different or will suffer the fate of the bubbles throughout history. Of the four charts in our market update today, which ones do you think show characteristics of a bubble? Those diversifying and buying gold in the UK will be rewarded in the coming years. The smart money is reducing exposure to overvalued London property and increasing exposure to undervalued gold.
Bitcoin has increased more than tenfold since the beginning of 2013. One of the reasons for the incredible surge is that bitcoin is a freely traded market and not subject to rigging or price manipulation by banks or government. Physical Gold, either in your possession or in allocated accounts, remains a far safer alternative both to bitcoin, to digital gold platforms and to paper and electronic currencies in what is still a vulnerable banking system.
Gold prices pulled back this morning as traders booked gains and stagnant physical demand had the yellow metal out of favour. Recent confirmation by Janet Yellen that she will continue Bernanke's loose monetary policy lifted gold, but tapering appears priced into the metal already.
Yesterday, the World Gold Council released its Gold Demand Trends 2013 Report which demonstrates quite clearly that the Chinese continue to accumulate gold; gold continues to flow east to both government and consumer channels.
The financial crisis of 2007-2008 has sparked the most intense interest in international monetary reform since Richard Nixon closed the gold window at the New York Fed and devalued the U.S. dollar in 1971.
