Auguries—You Bet Your Life
February 23, 2012
By Kevin Michael Grace

Gold was up (at press time) $51 (+2.9%) for the week to $1,781.10, and silver was up $1.96 (+5.8%) to $35.48. Bloomberg reported, “Gold climbed to a three-month high…as the dollar weakened, spurring demand for the precious metal as an alternative investment. Silver jumped to a 15-week high.”

Bloomberg attributed gold’s rise to “strong economic numbers out of the US [if you say so] and Germany.” Reuters cited (wait for it) “a stronger Euro, coupled with growing concern over the impact on inflation from oil trading above $120 a barrel.” The Wall Street Journal quoted commodities analyst Ira Epstein, “What really got gold going was once Europe made up its mind that it was going to keep Greece alive with printing presses.” And FastMarkets quoted MKS Finance, “Even though Greeks received a 130 billion Euro package, there’s still perception that the Greek debt has been delayed rather than solved.” MKS concludes, “The macroeconomic picture is looking rather in favour of higher prices.”

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