by Alasdair MacLeod
Gold Money
Gold and silver showed little change on the week, with gold trading at $1932 in Europe this morning, up $8 from last Friday, and silver at $24.66, up 5 cents. In the first week of the new quarter, Comex turnover for gold was low, though it picked up for silver as the week progressed. The price action is reflected in our headline chart with moves tapering off to gains of 5.5% for both metals on the year so far.
Gold’s Open Interest on Comex has also pulled back, as shown in our next chart.
This is important for the bullion banks, indicating that their short positions have reduced somewhat, but undoubtedly, they would like to see Open Interest lower still. But the Swaps (mainly bullion bank trading desks) are still net short of $45bn in Comex gold contracts. This is next up.