South Africa police standoff with illegal gold miners escalates
The police sealed off access to the Buffelsfontein gold mine in Stilfontein several weeks ago to deny the miners access to food and other essentials.
Spot gold dropped one percent on Friday in Asian trade, extending losses from a fall of 1.6% in the previous session as risk appetite revived after reassuring US jobs data soothed anxious investors, but bullion remains poised for its best week since February 2009.
CNBC reports as gold futures briefled topped a record $1,800 traders that are long gold began to get nervous that they were behind a trade that may not have any potential new buyers left.
Reuters reports the surging price of gold is a vindication for the world’s gold bugs 40 years after US President Nixon announced the abandonment of the gold standard – the anniversary is on Monday.
CNBC reports On Aug. 2, holding by hedge funds hit “readings that are the highest ever in our records,” stated a Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysis of CFTC data. The $40.6 billion notional value of gold contracts held by speculators lead to chatter on trading floors about a fear that the market turmoil lately could trigger large hedge funds to raise money by selling one of the few things working for them: gold.
Technical analysis showed that gold may continue to be investors’ darling over the next few years, based on an analyst of the spot gold to S&P 500 ratio, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
DailyMarkets does not expect demand for safe haven to diminish over the coming period and speculations that the Fed will eventually undertake QE3 are mounting which should keep bullish momentum going for gold prices.
Reuters has an excellent review of the world’s gold bugs who kept the faith – even when prices stayed under $500 for nearly 25 years after their 1981 peak. Their passion derided, dismissed as hopelessly out dated doomsayers, their love for the metal seemed irrational. The gold bug label itself goes back to master of the supernatural Edgar Allen Poe and his story of that name, a tale of golden beetle whose bite sends the hero to a chest of gold and jewels.
Video of President Nixon announcing the end of the Bretton Woods international monetary system on August 15, 1971:
2 Comments
jamesont
I am sure that many people thought “the party was over” when gold went through $US 1000.00. The problem is that the economic problems that caused gold to rise initially are still there. As long as these are not solved, gold will continue to rise.
art
People like Nixon and Trudeau in order to satisfy short term political gain sold us down the drain here in North America. The gold standard might be the way to keep some control on the political that are doing it to us now.