In Case You Missed It – Week Ended March 12, 2016.

Stories from the week ended March 12, 2016.

The big economic news of the week was the European Central Bank’s announcement on Thursday that they would engage in more quantitative easing (bond buying) and lower interest rates further into negative territory. The Euro fell and rose, the dollar rose and fell, gold fell and rose and fell again.

Gold and silver

Gold closed last week at $1259.10 and closed this week at $1250.10
Silver closed last week at $15.51 and closed this week at $15.47

The gold and silver ratio ended the week at 80:1

The gold silver ratio ended the week at 80:1

Chart of the Week

Gold ETFs have experienced record inflows over the past month, the most since 2009.

Here are the stories we wrote, followed or commented on.

WE Missed it!

From the week ended March 4, 2015:

March 4, 2016

Indian Silver Imports In Perspective

Indian silver imports from 2013-2015 exceeded American Silver Eagle sales from 1986- 2016 and are about 80% of 2015’s global silver mining production

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March 6, 2016

Gold

Shanghai Gold Withdrawals Fall in February

Shanghai Gold Exchange withdrawals in 2015 were 2,597 tonnes. Through February 2016, SGE withdrawals are 333.404 tonnes.

March 7, 2016

Smaulgld on Rethinking the Dollar

Gold

China Boosts Gold Reserves by 9.9 tonnes in February

China has added over 130 tonnes (value approx $4.75 billion) of gold to its reserves since July 2015* (while selling over a half a trillion dollars of foreign reserves).

BlackRock gold fund IAU faces penalties over unregistered share issue

South African gold miners get boost from cheap Rand

Silver

Chinese Construction Bank joins the Silver Fix

Iron Ore Soars 19%. after Goldman Sachs call for lower prices

Oil

First Iranian oil arrives in Europe since sanctions were lifted

European Central Bank

Traders expect more quantitative easing from the ECB

Oil

Oil hits 2016 highs but glut concerns remain

Russia

Rouble hits 2016 high on higher oil prices

Fed Chatter

Fed’s Fisher sees inflation risk

Fed Vice Chair Fischer and Fed’s Brainard see inflation accelerating

March 8, 2016

Gold

Gold miners have more options with rising gold prices

$8,000 an ounce gold?

Goldman Sachs still negative on gold

China

Chinese Exports Plunge 25%

Oil

Oil fell 3% on renewed supply concerns

U.S. Mint sold 759,000 American Silver Eagles & 7,500 American Gold Eagles today.

YTD American Silver Eagles Sold 11,759,000/American Gold Eagles sold 165,000.

MTD Silver Eagles sold 1,022,500 MTD Gold Eagles sold 8,500

The US Mint sold 2,000American Gold Buffalo coins today- MTD 2,000 YTD 55,000

Buy 2016 American Silver Eagle Coins

March 9, 2016

Gold

Not just an inflation hedge

CNBC “pro” gold rally over again BOTH guests against gold

after this one two weeks ago- Feb 16 Gold is Done http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000494364&play=1

California Gold History

India’s gold monetization scheme analyzed

Silver

Barrons: Silver Raly has legs

Oil

Oil rises as output cuts are discussed… again

Central Banks

Japan holds off on futher rate cuts

US Mint Update

U.S. Mint sold 208,500 American Silver Eagles & 1,500 American Gold Eagles today.

YTD American Silver Eagles Sold 11,967,500/American Gold Eagles sold 166,500.

MTD Silver Eagles sold 1,231,000 MTD Gold Eagles sold 10,000

March 10, 20165

Silver

Bloomberg’s Eddie Van Der Walt of Bloomberg wrote a column on the silver’s prospects. In it contained a quote from Jeffrey Christian of the CPM Group

“Silver is in surplus, plain and simple.”

We immediately challenged that statement in this twitter exchange:

Mr. Van Der Walt noted that the CPM and Silver Institute were different entitites. We responded that the CPM group does NOT include silver bar and coin investment demand in its supply/demand surplus/deficit analysis.

For more information on silver supply and demand click here

ECB

ECB announces more stimulus

Gold declines on ECB rate cut as dollar strengthens

BUT

Fed's number one concern is dollar hegemony- if ECB cuts -fed does not have to raise. #Gold plays outside Central bank games

— Smaulgld (@Smaulgld) March 10, 2016

Negative interest rates

Negative rates dig a hole for Japan

Are negative rates an adventure in financial wonderland?

U.S. Economic Data

Initial Claims 259K, Exp. 275K, Last 277K

Reuters notes – “labor market strengthens”

US Mint Update

U.S. Mint sold 32,500 American Silver Eagles & 1,500 American Gold Eagles today.

YTD American Silver Eagles Sold 12,000,000/American Gold Eagles sold 168,000

MTD Silver Eagles sold 1,263,500 MTD Gold Eagles sold 11,500

March 11, 2016

Gold

Madagascar removes restrictions on gold exports

Gold ETFs see massive inflows

FT says gold is back in vogue

Gold Found on 115 year old Alaskan Ship wreck up for sale

The Dollar

Dollar falls for second week in a row

U.S. Mint sold no American Silver Eagles & 1,000 American Gold Eagles today.

YTD American Silver Eagles Sold 12,000,000/American Gold Eagles sold 169,000

MTD Silver Eagles sold 1,263,500 MTD Gold Eagles sold 12,500

Buy 90% Junk Silver From BGASC.com

Buy 2016 American Silver Eagle Coins

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