As usual, Lance Lewis makes a few good points below in his latest article...

Regards - VHF

-

• That Indian imports were up 25% in July.
• That they’re even stronger here in August, now that the price of gold has fallen.
• That the ECB is done selling gold for its fiscal year and its member banks haven't sold gold in months.

Gold falling below $850 therefore appears to have been caused purely by selling in the US futures market - and purely futures-driven moves don't typically stick for long.

I'd also note that DB Gold Double Short ETN (DZZ) traded within a hair of record volume yesterday. When was the prior record volume day? May 1, 2008, which was the first time gold probed below $850 and bottomed. I'd also note that the GLD ETF likewise sold zero gold on that breach of $850 back in May.

As for the miners, the XAU/Gold ratio fell 0.5% to a marginal new low at 0.165 yesterday, a ratio not seen since the 20-year bear market low in gold and gold mining shares back in 2000. The miners were priced relative to the metal as if they’d all soon be out of business: Gold was at $250 when mining was unprofitable. In other words, at today's prices, the market seems to be pricing the gold miners as if gold will collapse soon and put them all out of business. Is that rational?

Let me stress again: If the equity market is wrong about gold collapsing back to its August 2007 lows (as has been priced into the gold miners already) -- just as it was wrong about gold collapsing last August -- then the rubber band is going to snap back to the upside in an even more violent fashion than it’s gone down.

That may be hard to believe, given the collapse that the miners have had, but that was precisely what occurred last year after the August low. And I obviously continue to believe that the market is indeed overreacting, just as it did last August.