Gold on week high, Silver up 1%

Paul Williams, managing director of Solomon Global, said about the rise in gold prices that it was a “direct response to escalating trade tensions and the growing economic uncertainty that this brings.”

Source – Reuters

Futures – are contracts to buy or sell a specific underlying asset at a future date. In this case we are talking about gold.

They have been working flat out to do what the Bank describes as “digging out” gold bars for delivery to traders who’ve seized on a rare arbitrage opportunity thrown up by speculation that Donald Trump will impose tariffs on the precious metal, alongside a raft of other imported goods. 

The Bank’s vault keepers are busier than they’ve been in years, logistics companies are working overtime, and refineries are booked out for months with orders to recast gold bars from London into a form that can be delivered into the US futures market.

“What’s happening in the London market is a short term logistical thing, but it’s having real consequences,” said John Reade, senior market strategist at the World Gold Council, the industry lobby group. “There’s not as much gold in London as normal, but again, there’s still lots there. And once it can get out from behind the Bank of England, then everything should calm down.”

Source – Bloomberg