Diamond News Archives

(IDEX Online) - The World Gold Council (WGC), the market development organisation for the gold industry, has launched its Responsible Gold Mining Principles.

The organization says these principles address key environmental, social and governance issues for the gold mining sector and act as a framework that sets out

clear expectations for consumers, investors and the downstream gold supply chain as to what constitutes responsible gold mining.

Companies implementing the Responsible Gold Mining Principles will be required to obtain external assurance from a third party, independent assurance provider. By doing so, they will give consumers further confidence that the gold they buy is responsibly mined and sourced.

According to Terry Heymann, WGC chief financial officer, the Principles incorporate feedback from more than 200 organisations and individuals over two rounds of consultation and are designed to support the efficient operation of the gold market....

• Gold declines against a further climb in bond yields
   
  Overnight – gold rallies to $1509 against a weaker US dollar
• ·  
•       Gold advanced overnight, climbing in a range of $1496 - $1509. 
• ·        The move was fueled by a pullback in the US dollar (DX from 98.40 – 97.99), which was pressured from strength in the yen (108.26 – 107.90) from stronger Japanese Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization), the pound ($1.2330 - $1.2474) on reports the EU is ready to grant another Brexit extension), and the euro ($1.1065 - $1.1109) which continued its rebound after yesterday’s plunge from ECB’s easing. 
• ·        The yellow metal was able to climb despite significant gains in global equities (NIKKEI up 1.1%, SCI +0.8%, European markets unch. to +0.4%, and S&P futures +0.3%) and a further rise in the US 10-year bond yield (1.768% to 1.815%, fresh 5-week high) from additional easing of US-China trade tensions (Trump signals he would be willing to consider an interim deal, China to buy US pork and soybeans and will exempt them and other farm goods from additional tariffs)
• ·        At 8:30 AM, US Retail Sales were better than expected (0.4% vs. exp. 0.2%, last month’s reading revised higher). 
• ·        S&P futures edged higher (+10 to 3021), and the US 10-year bond yield climbed to 1.84%. 
• ·        The DX recovered to 98.19, and gold retreated to $1498. 
• ·        However, as we’ve seen many countless times recently, dip buying emerged to quickly lift the market back to $1501.  
• ·  

As Brexit upends U.K. politics and hammers the pound, some Britons are searching for a haven—and the chance to make a quick buck—in the gold market.

Gold prices have soared world-wide in 2019, lifted by falling interest rates, worries of a global recession, and instability in Hong Kong and the Middle East. In the U.K., where the narrow streets of the City of London sit above one of the world’s biggest hoards of bullion, Brexit uncertainty has injected further vim into the market....

Zimbabwe Hyperinflation is Back

Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe was a period of currency instability in Zimbabwe that, using Cagan's definition of hyperinflation^[1] [50% in a month], began in February 2007. During the height of inflation from 2008 to 2009, it was difficult to measure Zimbabwe's hyperinflation because the government of Zimbabwe stopped filing official inflation statistics. However, Zimbabwe's peak month of inflation is estimated at 79.6 billion percent month-on-month, 89.7 sextillion percent year-on-year in mid-November 2008.

In 2009, Zimbabwe stopped printing its currency, with currencies from other countries being used. In mid-2015, Zimbabwe announced plans to have completely switched to the United States dollar by the end of 2015. In June 2019, the Zimbabwe government announced the reintroduction of the RTGS dollar, now to be known simply as the "Zimbabwe dollar", and that all foreign currency was no longer legal tender. By mid-July 2019 inflation had increased to 175% sparking concerns that the country was entering a new period of hyperinflation.

The above from Wikipedia^[2], I added the link and the note about 50%.

It's hard to grasp numbers like 89.7 sextillion percent year-on-year in mid-November 2008.

Here is one way to visualize it: The Zimbabwe dollar and the US dollar were supposed to be pegged 1:1 but it took the staggering sum of $2,621,984,228 Zimbabwe dollars to buy one US dollar. Buying things with Zimbabwe dollars became next to impossible.

Zimbabwe hyperinflation stopped in 2015 but returned in 2019 when the country went back to the Zimbabwe dollar.

Zimbabwe Raises Benchmark Rate to 70% as Currency Plummets

Bloomberg reports Zimbabwe Raises Benchmark Rate to 70% as Currency Plummets^[3]

Zimbabwe’s central bank has raised its key...