Hard metals

Dollars and Nuggets Part II: Spain, Cyprus, and the Future

Mar 19th, 2013 | Filed under: Commodities, Currencies, Hard metals, Today's Post

The present global monetary situation, plainly, is not at equilibrium. Everybody else’s currencies depend upon the dollar, the dollar depends upon petroleum, and petroleum depends upon … whatever. Changes will continue (through a succession of crises if no other way can be developed) until a new equilibrium can be attained.

Dollars and Nuggets Part I: Cycles and the Big Picture

Mar 18th, 2013 | Filed under: Commodities, Hard metals, Today's Post

Last summer the CME Group's European clearing house for derivative products announced that unallocated gold would serve as collateral for margin cover. Was that the sort of illusory good news that marks the top of a trend or was that a symptom of a secular trend toward the de facto monetization of gold that will re-assert itself once the present cyclical down move is done?

A Thought for the Next Relapse: Europe and Gold

Oct 22nd, 2012 | Filed under: Alpha Strategies, Currencies, Hard metals, Today's Post

Either Portugal or Italy could kick off a move toward the use of gold as collateral for sovereign debts. Each country has significant supplies of the stuff. Portugal, for example, has 383 metric tons, equaling 90 percent of its foreign reserves.