Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD
1,738.00, GBP 1,102.23, and EUR 1,317.27 per ounce.
Yesterday's AM fix was USD 1,720.50, GBP 1,097.40, and
EUR 1,310.06 per ounce.
Cross Currency Table – Bloomberg
Gold edged higher in Asian and again in European
trading today. Gold has broken through all major moving averages and
Fibonacci levels this week due to a weakening dollar and geopolitical
concerns regarding Iran and the European solvency crisis.
Euro gold appears to be breaking above resistance which
should lead to new record highs above €1,359/oz.
Gold at €1,315/oz is
now just 3% below the record high from September 2011. The correction and
consolidation of recent months was necessary and healthy, and the intractable
Eurozone debt crisis should result in further falls in the euro and
€1,400/oz gold is likely.
Dennis Gartman, economist and
newsletter writer, said he is buying more gold priced in euros after he
“returned to this trade” last week. It is “time to add to
the trade and we are doing so this morning,” he said today in his daily
Gartman Letter.
"Mission Accomplished" As Venezuela Welcomes
Home Final Shipment Of Repatriated Gold Bars
Venezuela
repatriated 160 tonnes of gold that was held abroad
with the last shipment, 14 tonnes , arriving from Europe at the Caracas airport today.
Declaring the process a "mission
accomplished," government officials and state news crews met the 14-ton
load at a Caracas area airport and heralded the televised event as a boost to
national sovereignty.
“In two months, we’ve brought 160 tons of
gold valued at around $9 billion back to Venezuela,” Central Bank
President Merentes said on state television from
the Caracas airport. “Today marks the last day of the mission.”
Venezuela has the 15th largest holdings in the world,
according to the World Gold Council. Venezuela will leave around 15% of its
reserves, (50 tons), outside of Venezuela for financial transactions, said Merentes.
CFTC Data
CFTC data shows speculators are gradually beginning to enter the gold futures
market again.
Fund managers increased their bullish bets in Comex gold futures and options in the week ended Jan. 24,
according to Friday afternoon data from the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission (CFTC).
Reuters Global Gold Forum
The net non commercial gold
position rose for a third week in a row - by 6,194 contracts to 142,223 lots
versus an overall decline in total futures OI. This marks the longest stretch
of gains in CMX net non-com futures OI since July/Aug last year. Money
managers raised their gold holdings by more than 8,000 lots to 117,156
contracts, also the largest weekly increase since mid-November.
This raised their net long position 8.5% to 126,937
contracts, from 116,978 a week earlier.
The managed fund net long position represents around
12.6 million troy ounces of gold.
Importantly, the recent increase in net long positions
are from multi month record low levels after the liquidation seen after
gold’s sell off from nominal highs over $1,900/oz.
This suggests that gold should see further gains in the
coming months as these positions continue to be added to.
Silver Surges 21% in January - Silver Demand Is
“Diminishing A Supply Surplus”
There continues to be no coverage of silver in the non
specialist financial media and little coverage of silver in the
specialist financial media. However, both the Financial Times and Bloomberg
cover silver today which might be a harbinger of short term weakness.
The majority of articles on silver are bearish and most
bank analysts remain bearish on silver again in 2012 – as they have
been in recent years. Prices will average $37.50/ounce in Q4, according to a
survey of 13 analysts by Bloomberg.
The lack of coverage of silver and consequent
“animal spirits” in the silver market is of course bullish from a
contrarian perspective.
Analysts look set to get the silver market wrong again
as recent rocketing industrial demand for silver, from solar panels to
batteries to medical applications and growing investor demand for coins, and
small & large bars is “diminishing a supply surplus”
according to Nicholas Larkin of Bloomberg. This has led to
silver’s best January gains in 30 years with silver up over 20% from
below $28/oz to nearly $34/oz.
Barclay's estimates that manufacturers will need a 2.5%
increase of the metric tons used last year and investment demand continues to
grow due to risks posed by both inflation and systemic risks.
Silver like gold – cannot go bankrupt and will
always have a value.
Silver supply shortages are something we and other
analysts who are bullish on silver have been warning of for some time. This
is because the silver market is small versus the gold market and tiny versus
equity, bond, currency and derivative markets. This is why we believe
silver should rise to well over its nominal recent and 1980 high of $50/oz in the coming months.
While focus has been on silver’s fall from $50/oz last year – there is very little focus on
silver’s long term performance and how silver has massively
outperformed most asset classes in recent years
For breaking news and commentary on financial markets
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SILVER
Silver is trading at $33.55/oz,
€25.46/oz and £21.26/oz.
PLATINUM GROUP METALS
Platinum is trading at $1,614.00/oz, palladium at
$683/oz and rhodium at $1,325/oz
NEWS
(Reuters)
Gold edges up; heads for biggest monthly gain since
August
(MarketWatch)
Gold edges higher as dollar slips
(Financial Times)
Price of silver is given a further shine
(Reuters)
Gold falls on euro but technical outlook encouraging
(Financial Times)
Banks set to double crisis loans from ECB
(Bloomberg)
Silver Powering 20 Million Homes as Supply Surplus
Subsides: Commodities
(Bloomberg)
Venezuela Receives Last Shipment of Repatriated Gold
Bars
(Wall Street Journal)
Venezuela Welcomes Home Final Shipment Of
Repatriated Gold Reserves
COMMENTARY
(The MarketOracle)
The Coming Paradigm Shift in Silver
(U.S. News & World Report)
The Financial War Against Iran
(Gonzalo Lira)
Why Democracies Will Always Go Bankrupt
(GoldSeek)
Gold Procrastinators: The Endless Agony
(The Telegraph)
Mario Draghi, the Latin
Bloc’s monetarist avenger
(KingWorldNews)
Von Greyerz - Gold Market
Positioned for Massive Upside Move
(Barron’s)
Murray Coleman: Gold, Silver Demand Seen Picking Up;
Barclays Eyes 7% Silver Run
(ZeroHedge)
European Bailout Infographic:
Presenting The Truckloads Of Cash Needed To Rescue The Insolvent PIIGS
Mark
O’Byrne
Goldcore
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