Dust flux, Vostok ice core

Dust flux, Vostok ice core
Two dimensional phase space reconstruction of dust flux from the Vostok core over the period 186-4 ka using the time derivative method. Dust flux on the x-axis, rate of change is on the y-axis. From Gipp (2001).

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Surging physical demand vs reduction in ETFs

The World Gold Council has released its latest issue of Gold Demand Trends (link to pdf on page). What jumps out at me is their bland assurances that gold demand decreased in the last quarter, as the surging demand for physical was offset by outflows of ETFs.

Maybe this is telling us about a loss in confidence in paper instruments. Of course, in some places in the world there never was any confidence in paper instruments. It's just that the lack of confidence may be spreading.

I like gold. But if paper instruments lose all credibility, finding food will become more of a challenge than most of us would like. So I really hope some action is taken to restore confidence, like arresting some of the multitudes of fraudsters out there. Unfortunately, some sort of draconian currency control regime seems more likely.

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