JBGJ regards Indians buying less gold as cash crunch bites primarily as evidence that FOBs (Friends of Bloomberg) are not in gold. If India’s domestic gold market was as weak as presented there would be a significant discount to the world price…In reality the Government has struck a shattering blow at the trust Indians have in holding wealth in any form accessible to the Authorities. When things finally unglue, India’s propensity to hold gold will probably be found to have risen – John Brimelow’s Gold Jottings report – LINK.
Yesterday’s sell-off in gold occurred after the Comex floor had closed for the day. The period of time between when the Comex closes – 1:30 p.m. EST – and the CME’s Globex computer system trading closes for about an hour – 5 p.m. EST – is one of the least liquid trading periods of the 23 hour, 5-day trading week. It makes that period of time susceptible to manipulative price take-downs.
As it so happens, likely not coincidentally, Janet Yellen began speaking about monetary 
policy at 2 p.m. EST. She stated that the Fed expects a few interest rate hikes per year until 2019. Geez, that would take the Fed funds rate up to maybe 2%? Of course, helped along the by the bullion banks, the hedge fund trading algos grabbed the soundbytes spewing forth from Yellen and concomitantly sold paper gold and bought dollars. The dollar spiked up and gold was taken down to $1200. It traded below $1200 overnight on the “fumes” of yesterday.
Gold, silver and the mining stocks have had a nice move from late December to now. They will not go straight up. Technically the sector was set up to be susceptible to trading activity related to Fed soundbyte propaganda like yesterday. This is yet another buying opportunity. Buy a little every month when the price gets taken down in the paper market. According to the Indian data presented by Brimelow, India is a huge buyer of gold below $1200. China is a steady buyer regardless of the price.
The Trump presidency will usher in a period in which Orwell’s prophecies will shift into overdrive. Popular mistrust of anything and everything Government will accelerate and Big Government’s attempt to counter-act this movement will take place in the form of intensified propaganda and a further reduction in civil rights. Along with this influx of political and media chaos will be an increasing distrust of fiat paper “fake” currency, which means the public will likely buy even more gold and silver than it did in 2016. Note: the U.S. mint sold a record amount of gold eagles in 2016.
In today’s episode of the Shadow of Truth, we continue our discussion of the precious metals sector, including some analysis of the gold / silver ratio: