by Alasdair MacLeod
Gold Money
The new year for gold and silver got off to a good start, before both metals got slammed midweek. From close of trading on Thursday 31 December (Friday being New Year’s Day when markets were closed) gold was down a net $7 at $1891 in European trade this morning, but silver was slightly firmer, up 20 cents at $26.55.
Since end-November, both metals have enjoyed a decent rally, but the underlying condition is one of the paper-bullion establishment being desperately short on Comex. There is very little free physical liquidity in London, despite the LBMA reporting further increases in vaulted gold, totalling 9,450 tonnes. But digging into the figures, of the 102 tonnes increase, only 59 tonnes was in LBMA vaults and the rest in the Bank of England. There was also net selling of gold ETFs in November, predominantly from North America and European investors — but not enough to make a material difference.