Great News For Gold

First off, I want to acknowledge the passing of Robin Williams here on this site that almost never (aside from Friday afternoons) goes off topic.  Considering Williams’ passing along with that of Philip Seymour Hoffman, there is now a gaping hole in the artistic landscape.  It always seems so stunning when brilliant people die too young, especially when it happens in ways that we might think could have been avoided.

Back here in the looney bin, here comes CNBC wondering about why gold cannot “find the vigor usually associated with rising fear” with respect to ongoing geopolitical strife.  You know, the more I read the mainstream media, the more I believe the writers just need to churn out the info bites.  Some might think it is all planted disinformation but I think it is just the watered down Zombie that is the MSM having to make quota on information, and the greater the pap quotient the better for easy digestion by millions of eyeballs.

Ah but CNBC then gets a quote from the knowledgeable Adrian Ash who soft serves it for the MSM and sets the record straight…

“Gold’s famous peak at $850 per ounce in 1980 came when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and also coincided with the Iranian hostage crisis at the US Embassy in Tehran in 1980. But while speculators trading gold futures and options do move the price by raising their betting on breaking news, such moves tend to be brief,” he said.

Some other guy closes out the discussion…

But chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers, Andrew Wilkinson said there has been “scant signs” of incremental demand for the precious metal, despite the turmoil.

“Gold has failed to find the vigor typically associated with rising fear. At around 55-million ounces held by ETF managers in response to trading flows in gold-backed funds, the total remains close to its lowest point of the year,” Wilkinson told CNBC via email.

“There is little evidence of accelerated buying as geopolitical tensions take center stage. When holdings of gold were previously this low in 2009, the ETF was trading at around $1,000 per ounce,” he said.

And there you have it, the best possible news for gold.  The relic has basically sleep-walked its way through the geopolitical problems with only minor spikes here and there.  That will prove to be helpful for the time when gold comes to be valued for a real fundamental reason, like monetary terrorism being perp’d 24/7 by global monetary authorities.