|
There's really not much to say, since the raw charted data is so obvious,
but there are some facts.
-
The correlation between the European
Central Bank's gold purchase and sale activity and the gold price
in Euros is .97. That means that 97% of the gold price changes since
1999 can be explained by ECB actions alone.
-
The left hand scale on both charts is in metric tonnes. One metric tonne
is about 32,000 troy ounces of gold.
-
As just one example of the very large size of ECB gold operations, during
the gold price increase from early April 2006 to the peak in mid May 2006,
the ECB sold 1,800 metric tonnes of gold. That translates to about 58 million
troy ounces.During the fall from mid May 2006 to a bottom in June 2006,
they bought back 2,345 metric tonnes, which is approximately 75 million
troy ounces.
-
The total gold price increase from about 325 to 500 Euros caused the average
ECB gold inventory to drop about 1500 metric tonnes or about 48 million
troy ounces.
-
The quantity of gold trading by the ECB dwarfs the total 500 metric tonne
sale limit of the Washington Agreement.
-
For those who might point out that futures trading quantities are far
larger, that's true. But not only are they only paper trades and physical
gold is seldom delivered, but also there are thousands of different traders
and none consistently trade in quantities similar to the ECB.
-
The data is published by the ECB anywhere from 2-6 weeks behind the events,
so it's not useful for trading.
-
Some might prefer to look at the data as evidence of control, as opposed
to manipulation.
The gold trading record of the ECB, since 1999

The 2006-07 close-up gold trading record of the ECB

"The last duty of a central banker is to tell the public the truth."
-- Alan Blinder, Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve, on PBS's Nightly Business
Report in 1994
M3 update
Just last week, we broke above a 12% annual rate of change which is the first
time that has happened since May 2001. For what its worth, the official recession
started in March 2001.

|
Bart
nowandfutures.com
IMPORTANT! What the lawyers make us say (disclaimer): The above
is presented for educational and/or entertainment purposes only. Under no circumstances
should it be mistaken for professional investment advice, nor is it at all
intended to be taken as such. The commentary and other contents simply reflect
the opinion of the authors alone on the current and future status of the markets
and various economies. It is subject to error and change without notice.The
presence of a link to a website does not indicate approval or endorsement of
that web site or any services, products, or opinions that may be offered by
them.
Neither the information nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation
to buy or sell any securities nor investments. Do NOT ever purchase any security
or investment without doing your own and sufficient research. None of the parties
adding to or affecting the content of nowandfutures.com in any way shall have
any liability for any loss sustained by anyone who has relied on the information
contained herein. Neither Nowandfutures.com nor any of its principals or contributors
are under any obligation to update or keep current the information contained
herein. The principals and related parties of nowandfutures.com may at times
have positions in the securities or investments referred to and may make purchases
or sales of these securities and investments while this site is live. The analysis
contained is based on both technical and fundamental research. Although the
information contained is derived from sources which are believed to be reliable,
they cannot be guaranteed.
Lastly, the predictions and forecasts shown are all based
on publicly available data from official government sources, the Federal
Reserve System, other central banks and international organizations like
the IMF.
Not copyright © 2006-2007 NowAndFutures.com
Image rendition and html coding Copyright © 2000-2009
SafeHaven.com
ADVERTISEMENTS
« Opinions expressed at SafeHaven are those of the
individual authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of SafeHaven
or its management. Articles are available via RSS/XML. Please
visit RSSHelp for instructions. »
|