I also watched a video interview this evening with Robert Fisk the writer of the article and it included the Global economist from HSBC so this story is getting major media coverage. Fisk pointed out that that in fact 4 meetings have secretly occurred amongst the participants and that of course he expected all governments involved to deny the meetings much as Gartman suggests below.

Gartman's comments:

Too, the dollar is being hit by a report given wide

and wider currency this morning in London’s The

Independent, noting a meeting held by the Gulf

States, China, Russia, Japan and France “to end

dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of

currencies including the Japanese Yen, the Chinese

Yuan, the EUR, gold and a new unified currency

planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council,

including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and

Qatar.” This is not new news of course, for such a

change from dollar pricing to some other

methodology has been discussed, rumoured, tossed

about for months, but this time we note that Japan

The Independent becomes quite serious

in that

The Independent has not been given to such

rumours in the past. This is not The Sun, nor the NY

Post.

The Independent is a reasonably credible news

source and we suspect that the leaks made to the

newspaper are to be taken quite seriously. Certainly

the markets are taking it as such, and we should also.

Finally, regarding this matter, no one should be

surprised to hear one denial after another from the

central banks and monetary authorities noted above

regarding this rumour. We are certain that

spokespeople for the every single nation will be

brought to the fore to deny that any such meetings

have occurred, that no such decisions have been

made, that it is not in anyone’s interest to have held

such meetings or made such decisions, and that The

Independent’s story is wholly and completely wrong.

The market will care not a whit, however, and will hear

and see those denials as evidence of “protesting too

much.”