Bundesbank Repatriates Gold Bullion

The Bundesbank is to repatriate gold reserves held abroad in order to tighten control and combat future currency crises. It will repatriate a large percentage of its holdings from New York and all of its bullion from Paris.

This move signals the demise of the the Dollar as a reserve currency (as the gold stored in the Fed can be pledged to shore up the Dollar), and the resurgence of a quasi gold standard.

The lesson is clear, if you invest in gold do not rely on mere paper certificates to validate your holding.

The Collapse of The Rial - A Warning To The Eurozone

Iran's rial is collapsing, following an "innovation" last week by the Iranian government to supply importers with dollars via an "exchange centre".

Unsurprisingly, people have scrambled to exchange rials for dollars.

Reuters reports that the rial fell by at least 9% today:

"The rial was trading at about 37,500 to the dollar, down from around 34,200 at the close of business on Monday, a foreign exchange trader in Tehran told Reuters. Other Tehran traders said the rial had dropped even further, to 38,000 or 40,000."

The Iranian industry minister, demonstrating a typical politician's lack of understanding of how markets work, said that he hoped security services would root out speculators whom he blamed for the drop.

It would be ironic if the downfall of the Iranian government was brought about, not directly by sanctions or war, but by their lack of understanding of how markets work; ie their own hand.

The bureaucrats of the Eurozone should take note, markets are driven by fear and greed; ill advised attempts to control and manipulate them always end in tears!