Gold News

Following another chaotic weekend, markets seem somewhat calmer today following the dramatic buyout of Credit Suisse by rival bank UBS.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week has seen share prices slashed for many regional and mainstream banks around the world. While an outright banking crisis has so far been averted markets remain extremely tense.

Banks around the world have seen a ‘brutal’ sell-off in the past 24 hours, triggered by a share sale by Silicon Valley Bank that has caused a domino effect for the banking sector globally that has raised fears of a new potential banking crisis.

Having reached a new UK record last week, the gold price has pulled back this week following a strong job report in the US. Markets are now trying to work out the direction the Federal Reserve will take on interest rates at their next meeting.

Gold has climbed to a 10-month high this morning of $1,909.96, following a further slow down to the rate of inflation in the US. Annual CPI figures came in at 6.5% for December following 7.1% inflation in November.

The People’s Bank of China have recently announced two large purchases of gold to add to the country’s already significant holding for their reserves.

Interest rates continue to rise following another round of hikes from key central banks around the world, with the Fed, BoE, and ECB all increasing rates by 0.5 percentage points.

Cryptocurrencies have suffered further heavy selling this week following the near-collapse and bailout of FTX, one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges.

Demand for gold remains high in 2022, with central bank buying and bullion demand in particular boosting the precious metal back to pre-Covid levels.

Gold and silver have enjoyed a very strong week so far, pushing the metals up to a three-week and three-month high respectively in USD. Following a difficult summer, all precious metals saw a quick rebound in price this week.

Central banks around the world continue to raise interest rates to multi-year highs as inflation runs rampant and the dollar exerts its dominance against other currencies.

The Euro has sunk to a 20-year low against the Dollar this week as energy prices continue to soar, threatening a sharp downturn and winter crisis for much of Europe.

Zimbabwe have recently launched a new national gold coin, offered to citizens as a store of wealth and hedge against inflation. The new coin is already proving popular, and is a timely reminder of gold’s long history as money, and its ongoing status as a safe haven around the world.

Inflation in Europe's largest economy rose to 7.4% for April according to the latest figures from Destatis – Germany's federal statistical office. This makes it the highest level since unification.

China's premier stock market the CSI 300 suffered a 4.9% fall today following the Chinese government's decision to begin mass testing residents in the nation's capital.

Market analysts are forecasting three 0.25 point rises to the Eurozone’s interest rate in 2022, in response to hawkish comments from policy makers within the ECB. This is despite the latest revision of Eurozone inflation.

France's chief stock market, the CAC40, has been in decline for the past five days as opinion polls surrounding the upcoming French Presidential Election put far-right candidate Marine Le Pen a fraction behind incumbent Emmanuel Macron in the second-round runoff for president.

The United States Treasury has blocked access for the Russian government to use US banks for bond payments, forcing Russia to either pay in dollars from its own reserves or to default.

Defaulting would anger investors who have previously dealt with Russia, and would further damage their already-deteriorating reputation globally.

Gold and silver have seen volatility so far this week on growing tensions over Ukraine and Russia. Increasing rhetoric and warnings of a potential invasion have spooked stock markets, and spurred safe haven buying from investors.

The Central Bank of Ireland has added 2 tonnes of gold to its reserves this year, with gold purchases in September and October.