Financial crisis

Egypt has devalued its currency by 48% and announced that it will be allowed to float – measures that meet a key demand by the International Monetary Fund in order to secure a $12bn (£9.6bn) loan over three years to overhaul its ailing economy. The devaluation pegged the Egyptian pound at 13 to...

We can’t help but see also the beginning of a flight away from the currencies. And, besides, those countries (China, Middle-East countries) are indeed big buyers of gold, whether through their people or their central banks.

In a hyperinflationary period gold will reflect the devaluation of paper/electronic money while in a deflationary period it will reflect the collapse of the banking system and people will resort to gold as in extremis money again.

The mistake that most people make is to measure gold in US dollars. Gold in pounds for example is only 8% from the September 2011 peak.

Today, we might be standing at another historical peak in the global economy. There are certainly many similarities like deficits, debts and decadence. Just like the Roman Emperors, current leaders have illusions of grandeur of a magnitude that the world has never seen before.

The possibility of a hike in long-term rates is becoming a recurrent issue of concern in the markets. Will the Fed raise its rates? Are investors anticipating a normalisation in the yield curve? More important is the question of all the liquidity created by the central banks since 2008.

In Major Victory For Gold And Silver Traders, Manipulation Lawsuit Against Gold-Fixing Banks Ordered To Proceed

The world economy is now at its most dangerous point in history. In virtually every major country or region, there are problems of a magnitude which individually could trigger a collapse of the financial system.

The financial and banking crisis can hit Germany as well – it could even become the epicentre of the crisis, given the size of Deutsche Bank.

The €42 trillion (notional) derivatives mess known as Deutsche Bank remains under severe pressure. Its market cap is $17 billion. It has no earnings and pays no dividend.     On April 23, Deutsche Bank was Fined $2.5 Billion over LIBOR rate rigging. Twenty-one people face criminal...