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-- Published: Wednesday, 6 July 2016 | Print | Comment - New!

Gold Today –Gold closed in London at $1,355.60 on Tuesday after Monday’s New York close at $1,344.90. In Asia the gold price jumped ahead of London’s opening and also adjusted for a decidedly weaker Yuan.

- The $: € rose to $1.1058 up from $1.1156.

- The dollar index moved higher to 96.19 from 95.54 yesterday.

- The Yen was stronger again at 100.41 up from 101.70 against the dollar. It appears that the Bank of Japan has lost its effectiveness.

- The Yuan was almost weaker at 6.69 from 6.6661 yesterday.

- The Pound Sterling fell to $1.2987! It was close to $1.48 before Brexit.

Yuan Gold Fix

With HSBC knowing it had to buy over 30 tonnes of gold in London after New York’s purchases of SPDR and Gold Trust shares, to supply the U.S. gold ETFs, it would be expected that the bank would take short-term positions in Shanghai to that extent.

Once London opened they would then find the gold and take it off London’s market, then sell its Shanghai position after the price rise, taking a turn in Shanghai.

Would this be a conflict of interests? Their role as a Custodian for ETF in the U.S. gives them an advantage over others as they have insider knowledge of the deals, but this is an arbitrage deal of sorts. Other banks such as Goldman Sachs also had distribution rights over commodity markets and took advantage of their positions, but worries over the regulatory aspect has obliged them to exit such markets. The arbitrage aspect of HSBC’s position may not make that necessary?

The effect of such demand and how it is handled, as above, puts the pricing power in Shanghai because of this structural aspect. China is the first market to be able to respond to ETF demand. [More on this in our newsletters - see addresses for subscription]

LBMA price setting: $1,370.00 up from Tuesday 5th July’s $1,344.75.

The gold price in the euro was set at €1,237.91 up €31.42 from Monday’s €1,206.49.

With New York returning for business today, the gold price ahead of its opening stood at $1,370.00 and in the euro at €1,236.46.

Silver Today –The silver price closed in London on Monday at $19.95. Ahead of New York’s opening the price was trading at $20.12.

Gold (very short-term)

The gold price is seeing the strong move we forecast yesterday. It will continue in New York today.

Silver (very short-term)

The silver price is, once again, likely to move higher today in New York.

Price Drivers

There is a new air of crisis in global financial markets this morning as:

- The pound sterling drops to a new low to $1.2933 this morning in London. This is a victory for Britain’s entrance into the ‘currency war’. Exchange Controls could have protected the pound’s exchange rates, but the advantage of a lower pound and retention of an open economy appears to be better for the U.K. than protection for the pound.

- The Italian government stands on the brink of bailing out Bank Monti Paschi signaling the start of an Italian banking crisis. Will this spread across the E.U. banking system in a systemic crisis, as many banks look decidedly weak? Bond and shareholders will be asked to carry some of the load should the bank fail.

- Protectionism is rearing its head again between the U.S. and China on the intellectual property front.

- German factory orders dropped surprisingly last month [ahead of Brexit] indicating further global growth sagging.

- U.S., German & Japanese bonds yields hit new lows.

This confirms the fears that Brexit has been the trigger for several crises that were building up before it. Please note this appears to be the start, not the finish of these problems.

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Gold ETFs – New York’s demand for gold was seen in the gold ETFs very clearly yesterday as a record amount of gold was bought into the SPDR gold ETF of 28.807 tonnes yesterday. In the Gold Trust 3.26 tonnes of gold was added making its holdings 211.43 tonnes.

These purchases feed through into the London market, where the physical gold is bought for the funds. This caused the price to leap this morning.

Since January 4th this year, the holdings of these two gold ETFs have risen 397.365 tonnes. Until the ‘gold season’ starts in September, Repeat: ETF demand is the main driver of the gold price.

Silver –Silver prices are bounding higher as U.S. investors pile into this small and volatile market.

Regards,

Julian D.W. Phillips

GoldForecaster.com | SilverForecaster.com | StockBridge Management Alliance [Gold Storage geared to avoid its confiscation]