by Alasdair MacLeod
Gold Money
This week saw a high degree of price capitulation as bullion banks used the dollar’s strength and a rally in bond yields to mount a bear raid on gold and silver. On Wednesday, silver traded as low as $21.45, down over 20% on the year, before rallying off these lows to trade at $22.19 in European morning trade today, down a net ten cents from last Friday’s close. After hitting a low of $1722, gold was marginally up by $4 at $1754 on the same time scale.
On the selloff, gold’s volume was high, aided by reports that China will import gas for electricity generation at any price to end crippling power cuts, driving WTI oil futures over $75. They have eased back a little overnight, but the message is clear: as we enter the northern hemisphere winter, global energy shortages and higher prices will be our fare. But for gold and silver, probably the real reason behind the bear raid was to get prices as low as possible for quarter-end book-keeping.