Supply & Demand

New charts showing the relation of the known gold pool vs US gold derivatives.

We cannot understand today’s gold market without understanding the role China and, in a different way, India play in it. The gold market in general is very opaque and the Chinese one, in particular, is even more. In this article, I will look at China’s role in the gold market.

Chinese gold imports from Hong Kong for april. Net imports of 64.04 tonnes. Charts by Nick Laird

Let us look now at the relationship, if there is one, between gold and platinum. Is platinum “white gold”, or “little silver” as the Spaniards call it, or is platinum different from gold and silver.

Intraday Average Gold & Silver Price Movements. Charts by Nick Laird

These last few months have brought confirmation of an acceleration in geo-political and macro-economic events, and they all have mid-term implications for the precious metals markets and, more globally, on the future of the international monetary system.

With the help of a few graphs, going from the very long term to the short-term, let us look at gold and silver’s performance since the beginning of the 19th century.

The mechanism used to determine the price of gold and silver, the London fix, is under pressure and China, of course, wants to take advantage of this situation to have more to say on the way precious metals prices should be determined in the future.

Gold price fixing manipulation goes mainstream on public TV channel 3sat, a cooperation between Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The documentary exposes "an examination of gold prices reveals machinations fit for a financial thriller."

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) condemned Barclays bank this Friday to a 26 million-pound Sterling (32 million euro-) fine for attempting to rig the gold market.