Rates

Gold rose above $1,600 for the first time in more than two weeks, as concern that Europe’s debt crisis will escalate increased the appeal of the metal as a haven.

A great amount of money is being created by the central banks (FED, BCE, BoJ) but, for now, we’re not seeing a strong inflation

The european banking system remains entirely dependant on the ECB for its daily operations, and this is not good news

Only one thing can explain the backwardation in gold : loss of confidence. Potential buyers of futures reckon there is a significant risk that the contract might not be fulfilled

Away from the cameras, without invoking a « last chance summit », Ireland just benefited from a restructuration

Venezuelans have just been experimenting one of the risks associated with paper money. Actually, they just lost 46% of their purchasing power in a single day

Many large international banks, like Crédit Agricole, Commerzbank and UBS are announcing important losses for the last quarter of 2012

A currency system must be based on an indisputable money base that doesn’t bear the mark of one country. There is only one standard that meets those criteria and that must be gold.

Some investors are disappointed as gold only went up 7% in USD in 2012. After having compounded at over 19% p.a. over 11 years, gold certainly should be allowed to just gain 7% without some people calling an end to the bull market.

There is very significant news that has barely made the headlines : Last week, the Fed has paid $89 Billion in benefits to the U.S. Treasury. It is 18% more than last year’s payment and it wipes out the $79 Billion 2010 record