for those of us who watch the currency markets, e.g.
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/live_charts.shtmlthere were some interesting fireworks in March 2009 when the US government announced that they were printing $300 billion.
then more fireworks on November 4 when the announcement came out about India's central bank spending $7 billion to buy 200 tons of gold.
given that India is a large country with a large population, in the process of developing a large middle class, and a cultural heritage of hoarding gold, the purchase of 200 tons of gold by their central bank is about as newsworthy as a healthy bowel movement.
that's what central banks do ROUTINELY. Jesus, what if some central bank had announced plans to buy 1000 tons of gold ?
what happened on November 4 was, the dollar was upticking, gold & silver were downticking to 1 month/ 3 month lows. then WHAM, the announcement is made, gold & silver each rise 5-10% in one day.
exactly the same as the market behavior when the announcement about the $300 billion was made back in March 2009.
so my question is - if the markets react similarly to 2 different events, does it give a ballpark indication of the eventual price of gold ?
for example, $300 billion = 200 tons of gold.
when you do the math, it works out to about $1.5 million a pound - $100K an ounce.
normally i am very conservative about estimating gold & silver prices. my conservative estimate is that gold will rise to $1200 & that the gold/silver ratio will close from 60 to 50 (historically it's been much lower, but i'm trying to be conservative).
$1200 gold with a ratio of 50 leads to $24 silver. conservative estimates for the 2010-2012 time-frame, i think.
but i wonder to what extent you can compare similar market behavior to obtain valid price indicators. obviously just ballpark price indicators, but i thought it was very interesting - a sign of market nervousness - to see the gold & currency markets react to the announcement about India the same way they reacted to the announcement about the $300 billion.
of course, there may have been other news, or as yet undisclosed news, that was in the background on November 4, so that it wasn't just the announcement about India buying 200 tons that caused the PM prices to jack like they did.