It is long believed that the price of gold and silver has been manipulated, not only by the large bullion banks, but by some of the central banks with the full collusion of some governments. The number of articles concerning this very subject, complete with statistics, are too numerous to mention here.
The one that stands out for me was the recent news out of Russia by their financial community complaining about the 'artificial' low price of gold, with more credence afforded GATA (Gold Anti Trust Action) by the Russians when they sent a high level official observer to a recent world wide GATA conference. Shortly after this event, Russia publicly issued a statement voicing their concerns about the ongoing manipulation of the price of gold.
This must have been a subject of discussion amongst the BRIC countries at their recent summit meeting in Russia. The reason I come to this conclusion are the unconfirmed reports that the Chinese are about to inject major financial weight into hedge funds. They are pledging significant amounts of U.S. Treasuries from their reserves as 'collateral' in margin accounts.
If there is price manipulation taking place, the result will be a drop in account value that will trigger a margin call, thereby causing the sale of the Chinese owned Treasuries and a weakening of the U.S. dollar, with upward pressure on interest rates. Smart move by the Chinese, since how can they be blamed for dumping Treasuries, when they 'lose' on the stock market?
If indeed there turns out to be price manipulation taking place , then the manipulators would be caught between a rock and a hard place!
Disclosure: No position.
