Auguries—Original Gangstas
July 5, 2012
By Kevin Michael Grace

Gold was up (at press time) $52.20 (+3.4%) for the week to $1,604.30, and silver was up $1.38 (+5.2%) to $27.67. Reuters attributed the increase to “increasingly poor economic data rais[ing] expectations that leading central banks will ease policy further to stimulate growth.”

The Bank of England announced a further £50 billion in quantitative easing Thursday, but gold fell $17.50 in response, which was blamed on the European Central Bank having “cut the main refinancing rate to record low of 0.75%.” According to Goldcore, “Analysts from Standard Bank in London say that a rate cut implies a lower real interest rate, which ultimately is bullish for gold.”

Further bullishness is indicated by the extraordinary events in London, where shamed former Barclays chief Bob Diamond testified before Parliament, a performance so graceless he will, in the words of Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone, “likely now replace Jamie Dimon (who replaced Lloyd Blankfein, who replaced Angelo Mozilo, etc) as the reigning hateable-white-guy Face of World Financial Corruption.”

Read more about gold prices and Barrick.