Gold Today – The gold price closed at $1,293.30 down $3.40 on Tuesday, in New York. In Asia the price rose slightly, but London lifted it over $1,300 at the opening. The gold Fixing was set at $1,300.25 up $7.50 and in the euro at €948.326 up €8.418 while the euro stood at $1.3711 nearly half a cent weaker. Ahead of New York’s opening the gold price stood at $1,301.50 and in the euro at €948.89.

Silver Today – The silver price closed at $19.53 down 2 cents on Tuesday, in New York. Ahead of New York’s opening, it was trading higher at $19.74.

Gold _{(very short-term)}

The gold price will try to tackle resistance today, in New York.

Silver _{(very short-term)}

Silver will wait for gold’s moves then follow as usual, in New York, today.

Price Drivers

Bank of America and Merrill Lynch have advised clients to sell gold. The last time they did this was April 2013 when they and their clients hit the market with a ‘bear-raid’ involving around 400 tonnes of physical gold sales. The questions is, “Will they or can they do the same now?” It is unlikely that they will because the gold price was considerably higher then [$1,650] and there was around 1,300 tonnes of gold in the U.S. more than there is now. Therefore the risks are heightened for such a ‘raid’. Also, when they did this the U.S. and London gold markets were taken aback by the huge volume of buying that came in from Asia. Since then China has been buying possibly as much as all the newly mined gold globally. So if an attack on the gold price does take place it will make the market volatile but not yield the desired results!

There were no sales or purchases of gold from the SPDR gold ETF or from the Gold Trust on Tuesday. Their respective holdings stand at 780.456 tonnes and 164.02 tonnes. Heavy sales from these funds are needed for a ‘bear raid’ to be successful alongside the knowledge that prices will fall a long way. This is unlikely at this time, because Asia wants physical ounces of gold. This would lead to a ‘bear squeeze’ of significant proportions. High Frequency Trading would be insufficient to make the gold price fall significantly.  [For more on this, subscribe to www.GoldForecaster.com]

We note the continuing weakening of the euro at just above $1.37 is not being accompanied by a falling gold price. The prospective continued weakness of the euro is not necessarily a signal for gold weakness. What is clear is that the gold market is moving to a point where it comes alive dramatically. [visit www.StockbridgeMgMt.com to hold gold out of reach of potential confiscation.

Silver – As of the 14^th of August the London Silver Fix will be halted. Subscribe to the Silver Forecaster for more details [ www.SilverForecaster.com]

Regards,

Julian D.W. Phillips for the Gold & Silver Forecasters