by Alasdair MacLeod
Gold Money
After last week’s spectacular run, gold and silver continued their rise until Tuesday, before consolidating. Gold tested $1980 territory, which is a new all-time high, while silver spiked as high as $26.20. This morning, in European trade gold was at $1976, up $75 from last Friday’s close, and silver up $1.36 at $24.12 on the same time frame.
Today is the last trading day for the August gold contract on Comex, and this morning we see that first day delivery is for 32,732 contracts representing 101.81 tonnes. Some of it might be arbitrage, given earlier in this contract’s active life a bullion bank could strip a $20—$30 premium by selling the future and buying spot. But it is an impressive figure, nonetheless.