Gold Manipulation Investigation In London
The gold price had a poor day today as regulators announced in Britain they would be launching a wide-scale investigation into the gold market as part of their overall Libor investigations.
The investigations into the Libor currency market exploded into a general investigation of all markets as increasing evidence of market manipulation in all markets has grown increasingly obvious and governments have been forced to act.
Already billions and billions in fines have been handed down, and already nine banks have confirmed they will be asking questions regarding the price of gold and how it is determined.
This is a big day for goldbugs who have long protested the unnatural trading of the gold markets. Big sells offs and counter-intuitive reactions to big news stories have spelled out the evidence for gold investors.
Regulators in Britain have stated the investigation is part of a$5 trillion a day currency market, Libor. Although the investigation is brand new, some goldbugs hope that it will mean a change to a gold market that has seen unsustainable amounts of paper trading unbacked, in many cases, by gold.
The gold fix takes price twice a day and provides the spot price for gold. The fix helps many people in the gold industry know what the price of gold is. The price, set twice a day in London, dates back to 1919, according to the London Bullion Market Association. Currently, Barclays, Société Générale, Deutsche Bank, Scotiabank and HSBC are the member firms that help set the daily benchmarks for gold in London. The gold fix is important for the gold mining industry as well. Upwards of 15 banks could be a part of the investigation.
Gold futures on Wednesday were at their lowest since mid-July. The Fed minutes were released and officials suggested that they want out of quantitative easing, but made no concrete plans towards that end. Nonetheless, many people expect Janet Yellen to continue the dovish Federal Reserve policies.
The investigation into the the gold market will take many months, just as the investigation in the US into the silver market did. That investigation, which began in 2011, only recently ended, with the CFTC claiming they had no evidence of silver manipulation. The SEC also concluded they had no evidence of manipulation in silver about one year ago.
