Top Stories This Week: Gold Still Down, Factoring in Price Manipulation

It’s been another week of downward momentum for gold, which was trading near US$1,825 per ounce at the time of this writing on Friday (January 15) afternoon.

That’s lower than the yellow metal’s 2021 starting point of about US$1,900, and more than US$100 off last week’s high point of around US$1,960.

Last week’s update covered a few factors that appeared to be responsible for gold’s price drop, including an increase that took US 10 year Treasury yields above 1 percent for the first time since last March.

This week, I got another perspective from Stuart Englert, author of the book “Rigged: Exposing the Largest Financial Fraud in History.” Stuart’s book breaks down the history of precious metals price manipulation, explaining why it happens, how it happens and what the implications are.

During our conversation, he gave a quick rundown of those topics, but also explained how we can see this manipulation happen on a day-to-day basis — he pointed specifically to the yellow metal’s recent price action, saying that he sees it as “in-your-face proof of price suppression and manipulation.”

“Manipulation continues today. We saw it last Friday (January 8) with the short selling on the COMEX and the periodic price smashes — gold was down US$50 at one time last Friday I think, and silver down US$1.70. We’ve seen these smashes time and time again in the last decade, and that to me is in-your-face proof of price suppression and manipulation” — Stuart Englert, author of “Rigged”

Precious metals price manipulation is a complicated issue. When asked what investors should do with the information presented in his book, Stuart said while everyone’s situation is different, it’s important to get educated on what’s going on and create a precious metals portfolio if appropriate.

“The primary reason for holding or owning precious metals is wealth preservation in a time of currency debasement, and that’s what we’ve got going on now, currency debasement. Each of us must assess whether precious metals should be part of our financial portfolios, and if so, in what proportion” — Stuart Englert, author of “Rigged”

With that in mind, we asked our Twitter followers this week how much they think about precious metals price manipulation when they’re investing. In total, 50 percent of respondents said they think about it often, while 27 percent said they sometimes think about it and 23 percent said they never think about it.

We’ll be asking another question on Twitter next week, so make sure to follow us @INN_Resource or follow me @Charlotte_McL to share your thoughts.

Like we’ve done for the last couple of weeks, I’m going to close out by highlighting INN’s outlook content. As a reminder, at the end of every year, our reporters reach out to experts in the many markets we cover, and then compile their ideas to give our audience a look at the year ahead.

This week I want to recommend our platinum and palladium outlooks. Gold and silver often steal the spotlight from these precious metals, but that doesn’t mean they should be forgotten.

Supply of both metals was affected last year by COVID-19 restrictions, and now in 2021 platinum and palladium could see higher prices on the back of low supply and improved demand. You can use the links above to click through and check out the full stories.

Want more YouTube content? Check out our YouTube playlist At Home With INN, which features interviews with experts in the resource space. If there’s someone you’d like to see us interview, please send an email to cmcleod@investingnews.com.

And don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates! 

Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.