by Alasdair MacLeod
Gold Money
Gold rose on the week, but silver was barely changed. From last Friday’s close, gold rose $47 to $1728 in early European trade this morning, while silver rose five cents to $15.23 on the same timescale. While silver still has a lot of catching up to do, in percentage terms it has outperformed gold since the mid-March sell-off. However, on the year that still leaves silver down 14% on the year so far, while gold is up 14%.
The big surprise is the lack of progress bullion banks have made in closing their short positions. The most recent Commitment of Traders report for 14 April showed the swaps (bullion bank trading desks) still short, slightly more so at a net 172,157 contracts, an increase of over 6,000 contracts on the previous week. Our next chart shows this very oversold position.