-- Published: Tuesday, 6 May 2014 | Print | Disqus
Today’s AM fix was U.S.D 1,308.50, EUR 939.61 and GBP 772.20 per ounce.
Yesterday London was closed for a Bank Holiday.
Friday’s AM fix was U.S.D 1,285.00, EUR 927.26 and GBP 761.03 per ounce.
Gold rose $12.20 or 0.82% yesterday to $1,310.50/oz. Silver climbed $0.16 or 0.94% to $19.61/oz.
The release of April U.S. non-farm payrolls data last Friday caused confusion across financial markets as traders and investors tried to look beyond the headline figure. The headline data showed a higher than expected number of new jobs added and a lower unemployment rate. But once the details were digested it became apparent that the unemployment rate had fallen because the labour participation rate had dropped due to more and more people dropping out of the U.S. labour force.
This reading caused stock markets to fall on Friday afternoon and investors flocked to safe havens such as bonds and precious metals. Therefore gold and silver rallied into the close of the week, with gold rising above $1,300/oz.
Trading was thin in the gold markets yesterday due to the holiday in London but the escalating tension in Ukraine continued to support the gold price, allowing it to rise as high as $1,315/oz. Resistance is seen around $1,320/oz, and gold is currently trading near $1,310/oz.
Gold in Weeks, 9 Year Chart - (Reuters)
Plaintiffs Consolidate Gold Fixing Lawsuits in New York
It appears that critical mass is finally being reached amongst the lawsuits that are being taken against the Gold Fixing bullion banks.
Yesterday, in Federal District Court in New York, more than 20 plaintiffs met up to coordinate their lawsuits against the five investment bank members of the Gold Fixing.
The various lawsuits, which are being pursued by public investors, hedge funds and private investors, stipulate that the five investment banks (Barclays, SocGen, ScotiaBank, Deutsche Bank and HSBC) have the ability to manipulate the gold price because the Fixing is unregulated and the fact that the banks can and do trade gold and gold derivatives during the twice daily Fixing calls.
The first lawsuit was filed in March by Kevin Maher, a former New York gold trader. However, over subsequent weeks, multiple lawsuits were filed, leading to a decision to try to consolidate the suits and appoint a lead lawyer.
According to The New York Times, the courtroom in Manhattan was so full of lawyers yesterday that it took nearly 15 minutes for the army of lawyers to introduce themselves. The presiding judge, Valerie Caproni, attempted to bring some discipline to the situation and said “I want to do this in an organized way to figure out who’s who,”, however, the sheer number of lawyers appeared too much for the judge as she added, “Not, that I’ll remember.”
It will therefore be interesting to see how these lawsuits progress now that the lawyers appear to have joined forces.
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-- Published: Tuesday, 6 May 2014 | E-Mail | Print | Source: GoldSeek.com
