The global markets will have a strong interest in just what is discussed and decided at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday of this week.
Will it see Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, bring about the lowering of US interest rates after he pontificates about the US economy.
Jackson Hole
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is one of the longest-standing central banking conferences in the world.
The event brings together officials from the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, together with economists, financial market participants, academics, US government representatives, and news media to discuss long-term policy issues of mutual concern.
Interest Rates To Lower
The betting is favouring the first of a couple of near-term interest rate falls, as early as Wednesday 18th September.
Which in turn could help the Governor of the Bank of England and his crew to drop our rates too.
In Times Of Uncertainty
Global markets of late have been somewhat jittery, especially two Monday’s ago after Japan fell out of bed.
However, certain levels of normality have been returning to our UK equity market, and that is despite the uncertainty caused by the unemployment figures together with other worrying economic and political factors.
In turn they have helped global players start to push the price of Gold through to new Highs.
Jackson Hole, fresh buying from India and China, together with the imminent run-up to the US Presidential Election could all combine to inspire increased trading in the precious yellow metal.
The Ultimate Liquidity?
Three factors set gold apart as an investment from most other commodities: it is indestructible; it is fungible; and the inventory of above-ground stocks is enormous relative to the supply flow.
Because of gold’s liquidity, it often acts more like a currency than a commodity.
Some Gold Facts
Around 187,200 tonnes of gold have been mined since the beginning of civilisation.
Over 90% of the world’s gold has been mined since the California Gold Rush.
If all of the existing gold in the world was pulled into a 5-micron thick wire, it could wrap around the world 11.2 million times.
One ounce of gold can be stretched to a length of 50 miles; the resulting wire would be just five microns wide.
One ounce of pure gold can be hammered into a single sheet nine metres square.
It is rarer to find a one-ounce nugget of gold than a five-carat diamond.
There are just over 31 grams in a troy ounce of gold.
The temperature of the human body is 37 degrees centigrade. Gold’s conductivity of heat means that it rapidly reaches body temperature – one of the reasons it has become valued for jewellery.
Gold melts at 1064 degrees centigrade.
The boiling point of gold is 2808 degrees centigrade.
Gold is often alloyed with other metals to change its colour and strength. Eighteen karat gold is composed of 750 parts of pure gold per 1,000.
At today’s rate one tonne of gold is worth $83m.
A “London Good Delivery Bar”, the standard unit of traded gold, is made from 400 troy ounces of gold.
The US Federal Reserve holds 6,700 tonnes of gold, in 530,000 gold bars. At its peak in 1973, the Fed stored more than 12,000 tonnes of monetary gold.
There are 147.3 million ounces – around 4,600 tonnes – of gold stored in the US Bullion Depository at Fort Knox.
Even at only 10 parts of gold per quadrillion, the world’s oceans are estimated to hold up to 15,000 tonnes of gold.
Just think – one gold bar of 400 ounces is today worth over $1m.
Around half of all gold mined today is made into jewellery, which remains the single largest use for gold.
In My View
Now at over $2,540 an ounce, observers suggest a gradual push to test the $2,600, $2,800, and then the $3,000 levels could be an early possibility.
For what it is worth, I see the price of Gold rising through the $2,600 level very soon, as it starts to creep even higher before the year-end.